The Houston Dem Presidential Primary Debate Final Qualifiers

As many of you political junkies are aware of, yesterday was the last day for the remaining 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates to qualify for the September 12 debate in Houston

The standards were doubled to require that candidates seeking to be on that stage reach 2% in four DNC approved polls and draw 130,000 unique donors.   400 of those donors need to be from at least 20 different states. 

Ten people qualified to be in the H&PE Arena on the Texas Southern University campus in two weeks.

They are former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Rep Beto O"Rourke, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Andrew Yang and Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

The rest failed to make the cut, meaning there will be only one night of debates in Houston.

The scramble is on for tickets to the event, with current TSU students, faculty and staff getting first shots at the tickets for the event in the 8100 seat venue starting at 12 noon CDT on Friday August 30.   

TSU is also planning to have a campus debate watch party in Sawyer Auditorium for students, faculty, staff and the general public
   

Looking forward to all the debate related candidate events that will be taking place in the 713 during that week 

Bill King's Shady Mayoral Campaign Mailers

Back in 2015 Bill King narrowly lost in a December runoff to current mayor Sylvester Turner in large part because ethnically diverse Houston, and especially the Black and Latinx parts of it ain't feeling Republicans right now. 

Our city hasn't elected a Republican to sit in our mayor's chair in over 40 years, so in this run, looks like King is deploying deception and racism in his attempt to knock Turner out the mayors chair at The Horseshoe.

He has already been called out for his dog whistle racist signs that are still up in many parts of town that say 'Clean Up City Hall', as if to imply there is rampant corruption going on with the Black mayor in charge.

Since our Houston municipal elections are theoretically nonpartisan, to imply that his Republican behind has bipartisan support, a mailer has appeared targeting the predominately suburban white Kingwood area in Northeast Houston  that lists some Democratic precinct chairs and makes the claim they support him.

Only problem is that many of those Democratic precinct chairs listed in the mailers DON'T support King, and were majorly pissed to find out their names appeared in his campaign literature without their knowledge.   Those Democratic precinct chairs want their names removed from King's campaign literature ASAP.

King apologized on August 7,  then three days later sent out another mailer targeting the predominately white Clear Lake area in suburban southeast Houston replicating the same tactic.

This statement appeared on the Harris County Democratic Party's website expressing support for their party precinct chairs outraged at the unauthorized use of their names or that they implicitly supported the King campaign.   

The Harris County Democratic Party has been made aware that Bill King, Candidate for Houston Mayor, recently mailed a political advertisement that identified as supporters, among others, Democratic Precinct Chairs. 

Our Precinct Chairs have unequivocally stated that at no time did they express support for Mr. King’s campaign or otherwise give their consent to be listed as supporters of his campaign. 

“We take the concerns of our Precinct Chairs very seriously, we always have their backs,” said Lillie Schechter, HCDP Party Chair 

We stand behind these chairs in asking that all candidates conduct their campaigns with the utmost integrity and obtain consent before listing any HCDP Precinct Chair as a supporter. 

Why am I not surprised that King would do what Republicans always do when they run for office?   Lie and do whatever shady crap they have to do to win.

Arrest Made In Tracy Single Williams Case

The Houston Police Department (HPD) has announced it has made an arrest in the Tracy Single Williams case. 

The waste of DNA who did it was dating her.

25 year old Joshua Dominic Bourgeois was arrested on Friday and has been charged with the murder of the 22 year old Williams.   She was living in an apartment on Houston's west side at the time of her murder and was in a dating relationship with Bourgeois. .   

Her body was found in a gas station parking lot along the 11700 block of  I-10 in west Houston just west of Beltway 8 around 3;30 AM back on July 30, and her death was ruled by the Harris County coroner as a homicide.   Williams body according to HPD spokespersons had severe lacerations in addition to a puncture wound.

Bourgeois is currently cooling his heels in the Harris County Jail without bond, and it is unknown as of this writing if he has a defense attorney.

And yes, you can bet that the Houston area trans community and our allies will be closely watching this case to ensure that justice is served for Tracy and her family.

UH College of Medicine Building Plans Unveiled

The city of Houston has had since 1945 the world class Texas Medical Center that has grown to a 2.1 square mile complex of densely packed medical building and hospitals that do cutting edge cancer and other medical research.

The first college of medicine to be started in the state of Texas in nearly 50 years became closer to becoming a reality after a bill establishing the new UH College of Medicine passed both houses in the 2019 session and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

The UH College of Medicine will start classes in the fall of 2020 with the goal of 50% of its graduates engaged in primary care.   An anonymous $3 million donation that was announced in July 2018 will cover tuition for the entire inaugural class of 30 students.   Another donation from the John O'Quinn Foundation will cover a third of the second class, with enrollment expected to grow to 480 students over the next 8 years. 

It still has some major steps to pass before classes can start.  UH was recently granted permission in a unanimous vote of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for the new Doctor of Medicine degree.   In December it will submit its application to the federal accrediting body for medical programs called the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME)

The university is finalizing a partnership with HCA Houston Healthcare, the largest hospital company in the nation, to bring a total of 389 new resident positions to the College of Medicine over its first six years.

Those new doctors will be needed and necessary.  Texas ranks an abysmal 47 out of 50 states in primary care physicians to population ratio, and the new medical school will be a major step towards rectifying that

Hopefully the new medical school will also take some time to teach their students about the medical needs of transgender patients, since we do have a large population of trans folks in the Houston metro area.    UH already has degree programs in nursing, pharmacy, optometry and social work, and the new medical school will be complementary to all those existing programs

“They clearly recognize the need for more primary care physicians in underserved urban and rural communities, and the University of Houston remains laser-focused on creating a new kind of medical school with an innovative curriculum to address the shortage," said founding College of Medicine dean Dr. Stephen Spann said in a statement

The school's four story 150,000 square foot building will be located on a 48 acre wooded plot of land just south of the main UH campus across from MacGregor Park along Martin Luther King Blvd the university purchased in 2008. 

Construction is slated to start in the spring of 2020 and be completed in 2022.

UH and TSU Are Back To Being Harris County Polling Locations

When I was a student at UH, the 1980 presidential election was happening during my freshman year.  While I eventually cast my ballot in my home precinct at Crestmont Park, I was still happy to know that we had a polling location set up in the UC for students to vote at. 

The same was the case at Texas Southern, which is one of the largest HBCU campuses in the nation and just a few blocks west of the UH campus.

When the Republicans got control of ethnically diverse Harris County, knowing that it provides at this point 25% of the vote total in a statewide election, the polling places on the UH and TSU campuses were removed.

At the same time, Texas Republicans when they passed their voter suppression laws in 2011, made sure that student ID's from a Texas college or university were no longer valid identification in order to make it harder for college students to vote.

Elections have consequences, and one of the happy consequences of the 2018 Blue tsunami that flipped Harris County back to dark blue Democratic Party control was the election of Dr. Diane Trautman to replace the odious GOP hack Stan Stanart as our Harris County Clerk. 

The county clerk, for you non-Texans, is the Chief Elections Administrator.  She's the person that establishes the procedures and policies that determine how elections are run in the largest county in Texas by population, where we vote and even the times we're able to do so subject to state and federal election law and approval of Harris County Commissioner's Court.



In addition to the welcome policy of being able to vote at any polling location in Harris County, polling locations were reestablished on the University of Houston and Texas Southern University campuses.

"It's important for young people to be involved in the elections process", said Dr Trautman. "These additional voting locations will make it easier for students, faculty and staff, as well as the surrounding communities to vote " 

That's significant, because UH has over 40,000 students and 7000 faculty and staff, while TSU has over 9000 enrolled students.   They deserve a say in who will govern them while they are matriculating on the UH and TSU campuses at the local, state and national level.

This will be effective for the upcoming November 5 municipal elections.


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Never Demetria

The late Maya Angelou once said that when somebody shows you who they are the first time, believe them.   One of the candidates in the 2019 Houston mayoral race has a long ugly history of showing us exactly who she is as an unrepentant transphobe and a homophobe.

That would be Demetria Smith.     And Moni has receipts.

Yep, the same Demetria Smith who has run for since 2013 a District D city council seat, Texas governor in 2018 and now twice for mayor in 2015 and this year.

The same Demetria Smith who is anti-HERO and still futilely trying to gaslight you into believing she isn't.

The same Demetria Smith that threw a hissy fit at a January 2018 Houston GLBT caucus meeting when her time ran out to speak at that meeting, then took to her social media in the wake of that public meltdown to falsely claim "the GLBT's are trying to silence me."

The same Demetria Smith that can't spell her own name right on her own campaign material.

She is the same Demetria Smith whose $3,750 filing fee check for the governor's race bounced, leading the Texas Secretary of State to declare her ineligible to run for the governor's office. 

It's not like she would have gotten any support had she been able to stay on the ballot in that Blue tsunami wave election year.   She got less than 1% of the vote the last time she ran for mayor in 2015, and is well on her way thanks to her unrepentant homophobia and transphobia to failing spectacularly again.

Oh yeah, almost forgot.  Don't you still owe the state of Texas $22,000 in delinquent filing fees?

The last few days have found Smith on social media once again letting her anti-gay and anti-trans flags fly.  She has attacked At Large 5 city council candidate Ashton P. Woods, Kandice Webber, Eric Edward Schell, Nick Arvizu-Hutchinson  and an increasingly lengthy list of other peeps in the Houston TBLGQ community tired of her bull feces and calling her on it.

It's reading time    But let me hydrate first.

(Moni cracks knuckles)

I am personally tired of your ignorant mentally constipated transphobic behind pushing the bathroom predator myth as your weak as well water excuse to hate on HERO.   And yes Demetria, you ARE a transphobe and homophobe who is unfit to hold any public elective office in Houston, Harris County or the state of Texas.

You don't like people calling you out about being a homophobe and transphobe?   Then stop saying homophobic and transphobic crap.   It's that breathtakingly simple.

But tragically, you can't help yourself, and I'm not expecting that miracle to happen.

News flash for you Miss Thang.   It ain't the trans folks you need to worry about.  It's Baptist preachers, deacons, Catholic priests, Republican politicians and creepy uncles.

It's also pissing me off you're flapping those loud and wrong gums about 'predators' when we have predators who have declared open season on Black trans women.   Where's your concern about that? 
Don't their lives mater?

These are dangerous times in America, and we need intelligent leaders at all levels of government who stand up for everyone, not just heterosexuals.   If my rights as a trans Houstonian aren't secure, nobody's are.

HERO 2.0 without public accommodations language or coverage for trans people is a non starter.

Your beliefs as you call them are not grounded in anything but sheer ignorance, and as an award winning blogger and journalist, my job is to speak truth to power, call crap out and stamp out ignorance inside and outside my community.

You are batting .1000 when it comes to spreading that ignorance. 

And let me get something straight with your reprehensible behind..  Gaybaiting is not a good look on you sweetheart.  Neither is willful ignorance or transphobia, and it's time for a makeover and a trip to the library.

It's also quite obvious that you desperately need education about LGBTQ issues but are unwilling to learn.   You also keep doubling and tripling down on your homophobia and transphobia and posting it on social media for the world to peruse as if that is something to be proud of. 

That's why you continue to fail whenever you run for office.   This 2019 election cycle will be another one in which you fail to learn from past mistakes, and you will get less than 1% of the vote in this upcoming election.

You have made it quite clear since 2013 that you are NOT that person we need at City Hall, and it's why I and an increasing majority of Houstonians are on Team #NeverDemetria

Number 16- Rest in Power and Peace Tracy Single

Unfortunately we are in a moment in which the trans murders have been happening at a fast and furious pace in the last few weeks.    The latest one happened in my Houston backyard back on July 30.

There was a July 30 news report of a woman found dead in a gas station parking lot along the eastbound feeder road in the 11000 block of the Katy Freeway (I-10 to the rest of y'all)  at 3:34 AM CDT   

Two local stations, ABC13 and FOX 26 reported her as a woman who did not die of natural causes, and HPD detectives were investigating the case.  It took a week to pass here in H-town before we were advised by our HPD LGBT liaisons that the woman who was found along I-10 back on July 30 was actually trans and was murdered. 

Dee Dee Watters subsequently organized an August 11 town hall meeting that led to us finally IDing  Tracy so we can now officially #SayHerName.

Now for the business end of this post. 

The 22 year old Single is now the 16th person we have lost to anti-trans violence in the US in 2019, the third in the state of Texas this year, and the 12th person under age 30 that has joined the ancestors far too soon.

If you peeps in the Houston area have any information that will lead the arrest and conviction of her killer, you are urged to call the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600  or call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).

Tracy is being remembered here in Houston by having City Hall lit up in the trans pride flag colors today and tomorrow.   

There's also a stretch of six arched bridges along the below grade portion of I-69 here in Houston that cuts through the southern edge of the Montrose gayborhood that can be lit up in various colors.

Like City Hall, those bridges will be lit up thanks to Houston Mayor's LGBT Advisory Board Chair Harrison Homer-Guy in trans pride flag colors to honor our fallen sister.

As soon as I get confirmation of the funeral arrangements and memorial service, I'll pass that information along when I receive it

Rest in power and peace Tracy.   You were taken away from us way too soon, and we will not rest in the 713 until the person who killed you is locked up for a long stretch in a TDC unit.

You Mad Because I Didn't Meet With You, Nick Hellyar? Stay Mad

The municipal political season is starting to heat up here in H-town with our November 5 election day rapidly approaching.

That also means that because many people in the Houston area respect my time in the movement and my political opinions as a social media influencer, candidates who are running for office believe that it is important to contact me and seek my endorsement. 

My political star has also been rising in the wake of the HCDP's JRR luncheon and the well received acceptance speech for the Barbara Jordan Breaking Barriers Award back in May.

The candidates that I endorse for local office will be announced in a TransGriot post I'll write before early voting in our municipal election starts on October 21.

We had a contentious GLBT Caucus endorsement meeting this past weekend in which I discovered during the debate for the Caucus' At Large 4 endorsement that candidate Nick Hellyar was talking shyt about me behind my back.   

In his words, Ana Andrea Molina, myself and Ashton Woods are in his words 'poor leaders' because we didn't take time out of  our busy schedules to meet with his vanillacentric privileged azz to discuss an endorsement.

And I have receipts in terms of how busy I have been.   This is just a snippet of some of the things I have done since April.  What was more important than spending my time with Nick Hellyar to discuss an endorsement? 

Let's see:

*Traveled to Minneapolis to participate in the Andrea Jenkins Lecture Series on the U of Minnesota campus

*Attending a rally for Muhlaysia Booker in Dallas    

*The 8th annual BTAC Conference April 23-28

*A Lambda Voices radio interview on KNON-FM in Dallas  

*A 9 AM press conference on April 29 in Austin urging passage of HB 1513 

*The HB 1513 hearing in Austin at 9 PM on April 29 
*Supporting Frankie Gonzales Wolfe's potentially historic council run in San Antonio on my May 4 birthday.  

*Being given the Barbara Jordan Breaking Barriers Award at the HCDP JRR Luncheon  

*Attending Muhlaysia Booker's wake and funeral  

*Interviews with CNN and other media outlets concerning anti-trans violence aimed at Black trans women  

*Lobbying the Texas Lege a total of six times this session  

*Marching in the Dallas Pride Parade with the BTAC and Dallas Black trans people contingent 

*Participating in the March For Black Trans Lives in Dallas 

*Being a Houston Pride honorary Grand Marshal  

*Being honored by Sara Ramirez on the Barclays Center stage with Ana Andrea Molina and Ashton P. Woods at NYC WorldPride opening ceremony  

*Taught during the 2019 TXTNS a seminar on Contemporary Texas Trans History 101 

*MCing A Black Trans Lives Matter rally in Austin 

          *Netroots Nation 2019 panel discussion in Philadelphia 

*BTAC board meeting and Leadership Institute in Dallas  

*Taping an ABC Nightline interview with Dee Dee Watters and Diamond Stylz 

*Writing my columns for OutSmart and my TransGriot blog posts

The At large 4 seats started drawing candidates from other crowded races because At Large 4 incumbent CM Amanda Edwards decided to run for the US Senate., 
The Caucus decided not to endorse anyone in the At large 4 race   Dr. Leticia Plummer also screened for it after switching from At Large 5, and I wish she could have gotten that endorsement. 

Christel Bastida, the candidate originally in the At Large 4 race (and a problematic one at that) didn't even bother to screen for it.   Hellyar only switched to At Large 4 after it became clear he wasn't getting any traction in this district.   It has two strong front runners in Shelley Kennedy and Abbie Kaman who are likely to be in a runoff.
Speaking of problematic candidates, the more I looked into Hellyar and talked to people about him, the more problematic stuff came out, including his controversial turn as GLBT caucus president.  

Questions about whether he actually lived in District C, which was the position he was running for before filing for At Large 4 came up, in addition to his condescending answers at a Pride Forum focused on council candidates 

It also came to my attention that trans folks are not part of his vision for HERO 2.0 either. 

So be mad and stay mad that I haven't met with you.   And news flash, when I endorse in At Large 4, chances are very high you won't be getting the TransGriot thumbs up.

 

Warning H-town Progressives, Bill King and Tony Buzbee Are Republicans

Houston municipal elections are officially via the city charter nonpartisan, but a little digging into voter records,  Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) and Federal Election Commission (FEC) campaign donations records will reveal despite any spin attempts whether you're really a Republican or Democrat.

Because of the blue tsunami last year that flipped Harris County to Democratic control and the desperation of the Harris County Republicans to capture a Houston mayor's chair they haven't held in over 30 years, they are trying to peddle the fiction, especially in Houston's Black community, that mayoral candidates Tony Buzbee and Bill King are Democrats.

Um naw players, not on my H-town watch.  Buzbee and King are undeniably Republicans.  Don't want any Republicans in my mayor's chair.

Thanks to Melody Tan and Erik Manning, I have the receipts.

Let's start with Buzbee.   That's him on the right in this pic at the top of the post with Rick Perry and Lugenprasident at Buzbee's River Oaks mansion.

Um no.  He not only held a fundraiser for Trump, he has according to this FEC filing, made multiple donations to the Republican National Committee and Trump,

Buzbee has also given money to the state Republican parties of AR, CT, LA, MS,NJ, NY, TN, VA, WV and WY.

Nope, #NeverBuzbee   You were canceled when you donated money to Trump.

Now for Bill King,  the former mayor of the suburban community of Kemah who narrowly lost to Sylvester Turner in 2015.   He still wants to take his act to the Horseshoe. 

Um. no boo boo.   Not on my watch  Democrat my azz. Peddle that lie to someone that isn't paying attention.   #NeverKing

Note King's donation record.    Rep. Jarvis Johnson, the person who succeeded Mayor Sylvester Turner in HD 136 is the only Democrat on this donation list.   The rest of his cash is going to Republican leaning groups like the Houston Realty Business Coalition,  the Kingwood Republican Women's Club, The Spring Branch Republicans, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt's (R) problematic behind, and the Coalition For a Greater Houston.

And yes, King since 2006 has been voting (when he has cast a ballot ) in the Republican primary.

So naw Harris County Republican Party and all you Houston activists mad at Mayor Turner to the point you're considering spitefully voting for these two.   The Houston mayor's chair is not something to be played with because of its immense power in our strong mayor form of governance.

We know the Harris County GOP is big mad about being swept out of power, so they are trying to push that 'Buzbee and King are Democrats' lie to siphon enough votes from Turner to force a runoff.

Frankly, I don't see a compelling reason why Mayor Turner should be kicked out of office after only one term.  Neither am I inclined to fire only the second African-American and first Black Houstonian to have the job without an exceptional candidate to replace him.

I'm also not happy about the dog whistle racism that King has deployed in his second campaign implying there is  'corruption' at City Hall, or the dog whistle racism being aimed at him by some of his detractors.

As Trump has overwhelmingly proved, being a businessman doesn't mean you have the ability to handle the demands of being mayor of the soon to be third largest city in the US.  If these two are trying to cover up the fact they are proud Republicans, what else are they covering up?

Because of the charter change, the mayor no longer serves just a two year term.  If we don't handle our electoral business, we're stuck with that person in our mayor's chair for four years. 

So we must choose wisely on November 5. 

But at least you're going into the voting booth when early voting starts on October 21 armed with the knowledge that Buzbee and King are not Democrats, but undeniable Republicans. 

TransGriot Note:  Lugenprasident = lying president in German 

Houston Puts In Bid For 2023 World Pride!

I got a small taste of WorldPride when I made that quick trip to New York last month to participate in the opening ceremony for it at Barclays Center.   There's now a possibility that I may get to stay in my H-town backyard and participate in a WorldPride. 

So what's WorldPride?   It's an international Pride event sponsored by InterPride, the international organization that represents and is composed of producer organizations of TBLGQ community pride events from around the globe. 

WorldPride is generally a month long and is comprised of parades, panel discussions, parties and other events that celebrate the TBLGQ community.

The first one was held in Rome in 2000, and since then has held in Jerusalem  (2006),  London (2012), Toronto (2014), Madrid (2017)  and the just completed one in New York for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion 

It was the first time that WorldPride was ever held in the US, and New York successfully handled their business, drawing over 5 million attendees for it.   

WorldPride will next be held in Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden from August 12-22, 2021 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Christine Jorgensen's successful GCS in 1951 and the 50th anniversary of the 1971 founding of the Danish chapter of the Gay Liberation Front.

The EuroGames will also be held in the two cities during WorldPride.

Pride Houston, our local group that coordinates our local pride event, has put together a bid to host the 2023 WorldPride event.   We have the fourth largest pride event in the United States (after New York, LA and Chicago), are the fourth largest city in the US (at least until we leapfrog Chicago to become the third largest after the 2020 census) and the only one that  has a nighttime parade.

Houston will be competing to get the WorldPride bid against Sydney, Australia and Montreal, Canada.   Pride Houston will have a 30 minute presentation to make at the InterPride annual meeting being held in Athens, Greece this October in order to secure it.

Houston Pride President and CEO Lorin Roberts (yep, my cousin) believes that we can do so. 

"We're Houston, where everything is bigger and better. Our main thing when it comes to this bid, is that even though we're a small town in the south of the U.S., you can see the world when you come to Houston," Roberts said in an ABC13 interview .

The theme for our Houston WorldPride 2023 bid is "Come to Houston, See the World, Feel Your Pride."   We are considered one of the most diverse cities in the United States, and only New York has more international consulates than we do.   
"We're trying to win this thing because we see so much in Houston as a Pride organization and within our community, that we just want to share with the rest of the world," Roberts said.

If we get WorldPride 2023, it would also be happening during the 45th anniversary of Pride Houston's formation and the 20th anniversary of the Lawrence v Texas SCOTUS case that declared sodomy laws unconstitutional in Texas  and a dozen US states. .

Good luck, and hope it does happen for us.   Would love to experience a WorldPride without having to leave Texas to do it .