2017 TDOR at the PODCC

One of the things that has bothered me at times is that when we have TDOR events, the lists of the people who we memorialize are predominately Black and Latina, but the people speaking at and taking part in the memorial services have been predominately white.

I shared that disconnect in a conversation with Dee Dee Watters not long after I met her in 2010, and it was one of the things that prompted her to organize a Black trans person centered TDOR event that for the last several years has been hosted by her radically inclusive church Progressive Open Door Christian Center. (PODCC) on the TSU campus.

I have had at this TDOR event the honor of being a keynote speaker, a name reader and for the last two years, as the community historian, talking about why the TDOR exists.

Last night at PODCC the 2017 edition of the TDOR Dee Dee organizes was held.   In addition to yours truly breaking down the history behind the event, BLMHOU members Kandice Webber and Brandon Mack were there reading the list of names as event attendees lit candles in memory of the people we lost in 2017 to anti-trans violence .   

One of the moments at this TDOR that also drove home the point of how serious a problem anti-trans violence is was when Mia Lopez came from the audience and discussed an attack that happened to her on Halloween night in the Montrose area, the same night that Candace Towns was killed.

PODCC Pastor Marvella Walker was also in the house to offer prayers, and Dee Dee did another one of her powerful dramatic pieces before the event concluded with the a capella singing of the Stevie Wonder classic song 'Love's In Need Of Love Today'

One of the things I would love to see for next year's PODCC TDOR is more public officials from our community in attendance for this. 

It would be nice to know that you stand for your trans constituents as well, especially in light of the fact that the names we read every year are overwhelmingly trans people of color.

Wesley Muhammad Houston Hate Event Is Canceled!

Received the wonderful news a few moments ago that the hate lecture by Wesley Muhammad will NOT be held at the S.H.A.P.E. Center!

Told y'all we were NOT going to allow this hate monger to desecrate the 713 and the S.H/A/P/E Center with anti-science, anti-TBLGQ, anti- intellectual claptrap and ask people to cough up $25-$50 for the miseducation.

The infuriating part about this whole Muhammad deal was having to expend energy shutting this anti-intellectual crap down in the first place when we have more important issues cropping up like the PISD superintendent's white supremacist son and the medical transphobia at Memorial Hermann.

And yeah, in case some of y'all forgot or were unaware of, this is Transgender Awareness Week leading up to the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).

Thanks to everyone who played a role in making this hate 'lecture' die.

Guess Wesley will have to find another venue for this steaming pile of caca.  And if he does find one at this late date,, we'll be waiting and ready to protest outside of it.

Go home Wesley!  I hope we have sent the message that your facts free ignorance is not welcome in H-town.

Not Happy With SHAPE (And Some Peeps) Right Now

I spent a long frustrating day waiting for a meeting to happen that finally took place at the S.H.A.P.E Community Center Almeda location at 7 PM with myself, and Ashton Wood and Kandice Webber of BLMHOU in attendance.

The hate event is still happening at SHAPE Center as I write this, and if it does, will definitely be getting protested.

But the thing I'm most angry about is the seemingly cavalier dismissal of just how problematically bad Wesley Muhammad and his ignorant hate message is and the concern in Houston Black trans, bi and SGL World about it.

You can put a disclaimer on the website and posters that Muhammad's view don't represent SHAPE Center's values.  But by letting him rent your property for the event, you tacitly endorsed those hateful views.

We see Muhammad's hate event it as an attack upon us.  I'm also pissed off about the timing of it, falling right during Trans Awareness Week just before our local TDOR memorial events. 

And yeah Nation of Islam, where you at?

The Houston Black TBLGQ community and our allies are royally pissed about this.  The animus between the Black community and Black TBLGQ community building since the 2014 HERO passage and subsequent repeal led by the Harris County GOP in concert with sellout Black ministers is a factor.

So what is going to need to happen is a 'come to Jesus' meeting or series of meetings between the Houston Black TBLGQ community and the Houston Black community at large once Wesley's NOI flavored hate carnival leaves town.

How, where, and who shows up at that come to Jesus meeting is still being determined, but one thing I can definitively state is that it's long overdue.

MAJOR! Screening and Panel Discussion November 20

I had the pleasure of meeting the legendary Miss Major Griffin-Gracy back in 2012 when I was the keynote speaker for the TransSaints conference in Charlotte

In addition to getting to know our trans elder and hear her tell me her stories about being a trans human rights warrior in a much more regressive time period, I've had the pleasure of seeing her at other events over the last few years including BTAC.

And I get the pleasure of having her call to check in on me from time to time as a bonus.   Even better, she's not too far away in the Little Rock, AR area..

While I've seen the film, I'm still pleased and proud to be in the house for the Houston premiere of MAJOR! at the University of Houston. from 6-9 PM CST.

The screening is sponsored by Transform Houston, and will take place in the Agnes Arnold Auditorium 2.   It will be followed by a panel discussion that includes Jessica Zyrie, Fran Watson and some blogger y'all know. 

Address is 3553 Cullen Blvd and hope to see y'all in the house for the film and the discussion afterward.

Wesley Muhammad Bringing His Hate Speech To Houston

"This man and this event is an assault on Black manhood! Cancel this event. Hate is not welcome in Houston."
-Ashton P. Woods

No this ignorant fool isn't coming to my Houston backyard to peddle his divisive bullshyt

After not learning his lesson in a city he couldn't even spell  and having to move the event to a Wilmington, DE Nation of Islam Muhammad mosque in that city once the Philly community got wind of it, 'Dr' Wesley Muhammad is bringing his special brand of transphobic hate speech to the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center on November 17 and 18.

Not only is Muhammad trying to peddle his TBLGQ hate speech here in H-town, he's charging people $25-$35 to walk through the doors of the S.H.A.P.E. Center  to hear it.

Naw Wesley, changing the title of it from 'How To Make A Homosexual; The Scientific Assault On Black America' to 'Chemical Feminization and the Assault on Black Manhood' isn't going to stop my Black trans azz from bringing the wrath of Moni and the rest of progressive Houston upon you.

You thought they were rough on you in Philadelphia?  You ain't seen nothing yet. 

What's even more odious is this hate event is happening during the week we memorialize 21 murdered trans people during the Transgender Day of Remembrance  on November 20, of which 17 of those murder trans people are African American. (16 Black trans women, one Black trans man)

No hate in my Houston backyard!.  Unless it gets canceled, my Black  trans azz  is planning to be there at 3903 Almeda Road to protest it.

So tell me S.H.A.P.E.Community Center  and Deloyd Parker.   How does hosting this Wesley Muhammad hate event fit in with your mission statement? 

Just a reminder of what it says:

'To improve the quality of life for people of African descent  (all people) through programs and activities with an emphasis on Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith'

It doesn't. In fact it will be counterproductive to that mission statement. 

So how about doing the city of Houston and the Black community a favor not allowing this hate speech laden event and Wesley Muhammad to darken the doors of the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center period?   

Handle Your 2017 Election Business Tomorrow

If you missed your opportunity to early vote, don't get upset because Election Day is tomorrow..

You'll just have to handle your election business at your usual precincts instead of the early voting locations that were open until November 3.

Polls will be open from 7 AM-7 PM CST.

While this is a Houston centric election reminder post, I am keenly aware of the fact there are people running for office across the country in critical elections, including four trans candidates in Minneapolis, New York State and Virginia looking to make history tomorrow..

Our Lone Star State ones for governor, lieutenant governor, the Lege and other critical positions in our state government aren't happening until next year.   It'll be 2019 for the city of Houston elections .

But we do have control of the HISD school board up in this election cycle with six seats up for grabs,  two HCC boards seats , five Houston city propositions and several state constitutional amendments that require you to say YEA or NAY to.

As usual the Houston LGBT Political Caucus has their endorsed slate of candidates you can vote for the endorsed candidates on their card

Who are those endorsed candidates?   Glad you asked.

Houston Community College Board of Trustees
HCC Trustee District IV -  Carolyn Evans- Shabazz
HCC Trustee District IX-    Pretta VanDible Stallworth

Houston Independent School District Board of Education
HISD Trustee District 1-   Elizabeth Santos
HISD Trustee District III- Carlos Perrett
HISD  Trustee District V-  Kara DeRocha
HISD Trustee District VI-  Holly Flynn Vilaseca
HISD Trustee  District VIII- Anne Katherine Sung

And for the first time the Caucus has also come out with an official position on issues pertinent to our community.

City of Houston Propositions
FOR City of Houston Propositions A, B, C, D and E

If you're wondering how to vote on those Texas Constitutional Amendments,  here's analysis from Daniel Williams, one of the smart people I pay attention to when he talks about Texas politics and the Texas Legislature.

So consider this a practice run for 2018 and 2020 and go handle your electoral business.

Houston Tapped To Host 2024 College Football Championship Game

Texas conservafools, this is another undeniable example of the Lone Star State getting nice things when you peeps don't go to Austin and pass hateful legislation. 

Houston was a finalist for the initial rounds of College Football Championship games that in large part because of the HERO repeal referendum vote being in the news when these games were awarded on November 1, 2015, subsequently went to Atlanta (2018), Santa Clara, CA (2019) and New Orleans (2020). 

The sites for the next four College Football Championship games from 2021-2024 were announced yesterday.  Guess what Texas city made that final list? 

Assuming the Texas GOP conservafools don't do something stupid to cause it to be moved, the 2024 College Football Championship Game will be hosted at NRG Stadium in Houston.

The 2021 game will be played in Miami, in 2022 Indianapolis, and in the soon to be opened stadium in Los Angeles in 2023.

So don't screw it up, Texas conservafools.  Or to ensure they don't mess with our tourism money, I suggest we reality based Texans kick their butts out of power in the Lone Star State so we can continue to have nice things like major sporting events and conventions come to Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Astros One Win Away From Earning World Series History

I was up late along with much of Houston watching that World Series record five hour extra inning game that put my fave baseball team one win away from capturing our first World Series title,

And it wouldn't be true to the nature of a Houston sports team if it didn't come with a heaping helping of nerve wracking tension.

The Astros fell behind 4-0 in the first inning to the LA Dodgers and their ace Clayton Kershaw who shut them out for three innings until their bats woke up in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

And then it got crazy.   Yuli Gurriel smacked a three run homer that tied the game in the bottom of the fourth at 4-4, only to have  the Dodgers go back in front in the top of the fifth after Bellinger hit a three run homer to put the Dodgers back up 7-4.

The Astros, as has been their pattern all season came back and tied it on he'd better be AL MVP Jose Altuve's three run shot in the boom of the fifth to knot the game at 7-7 and knock Kershaw out of the game.

The Dodger went back up 8-7 in the top of the seventh after George Springer's diving attempt at a sinking line drive by Bellinger got past him for a triple that scored Kiki Hernandez from first base.

Springer atoned for his fielding error by smashing a massive homer that tied the game at 8-8, which was followed up by a Bregman single, a double by Altuve that scored Bregman, and a two run homer from Carlos Correa to push the Astros to a 11-8 lead.

The craziest game in World Series history finally ended when Alex Bregman got the walk off hit that allowed pinch runner Derek Fisher to score from second base for the 13-12 Astros win that gave them a 3-2 series lead, closed out their home playoff run with a stellar 8-1 record and put them one win away from earning the franchise's first ever World Series title.

Can't wait to see if Game 6 in Los Angeles will be a trick or a treat Astros fans have been waiting for since 1962.  I like our chances with Justin Verlander pitching for us and the best offense in baseball now awake at the right time.

Get Your Early Vote On Texas!

We have a year until the 2018 elections happen in Texas, so get you practice in for that critical election cycle by getting your early vote on for November 7. 

Early voting in Texas started on October 23 and is running until November 3.  So if all that chatter in the wake of the appalling 2016 election about resistance  wasn't you sellin' woof tickets, prove it by getting up off the couch and heading to your fave early voting location to handle your democracy business.

There are seven proposed Texas constitutional amendments on the ballot awaiting your YES or NO vote.  In Houston we not only have five propositions on the ballot, we also have people running for the HiSD school board in Districts I, III, and VIII, but an HCC trustee election in District IV.

And in HISD, the largest district in the state of Texas, there are six school board seats up for grabs .  Due to the death of District III trustee Manuel Rodriguez, Jr with two years left on his four year term, a special election is being held to fill the remaining time on his term.  Four candidates, Sergio Lira, Carlos Perrett,  Rodolfo Reyes and Jesse Rodriguez have filed to fill that seat

Incumbent trustees in Districts I (Anna Eastman) and V (Michael Lunceford) opted not to seek re election.   Three candidates, Gretchen Himsl, Monica Richart and Elizabeth Santos filed for the District 1 seat.   Four candidates, Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, Sue Deigaard and Susan Shafer    filed for the District V seat.

Incumbent members Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca (District VI) , Anne Sung (District  VII) and Wanda Adams (District IX) have challengers   Vilaseca has two challengers in Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin. Sung is being challenged by John  Luman, and Adams by Karla Brown and Gerry Monroe 

Houston is not the only spot in the Lone Star State with November 7 elections.  There are other people running across the Lone Star State for public office who would love to have your votes

Since this will sadly be a low turnout election given the stakes, every vote matters.   Your vote may also be the difference in you candidate either winning or making a runoff.

So go handle your election business,..

My Houston Statue Replacement Suggestions

Don't think that because we're still recovering from Hurricane Harvey's aftermath that we've forgotten about that hideous Spirit of the Confederacy statue desecrating Sam Houston Park that alas, Harvey's raging floodwaters didn't mercifully wash away.

We still want that statue celebrating the triumph of Jim Crow segregation and put up during that time to go away.

Some folks have asked when it is taken down, and when is the operative word here, what should go up in its place?

Easy. Put a statue up honoring a prominent Houstonian.

First up is to erect a statue in that spot honoring Barbara Jordan, a proud daughter of this city.  

She became in 1967 the first (and sadly so far) only Black woman elected to the Texas Senate and the first Black Texan to be elected to the Texas Legislature since Reconstruction.  

She then made history again by getting elected to the US House of Representatives in the newly created 18th Congressional District in 1972.   She was on the Judiciary Committee during the Watergate impeachment hearings , made two historic keynote speeches to Democratic national conventions in 1976 and 1992 and was the ethics advisor for Gov Ann Richards.

She made history even when she died in 1996.   She became the first Black Texan to be interred in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, where she is buried with other Texas heroes and sheroes right next to her friend Gov. Ann Richards.

My next suggestion is US Rep. George Thomas 'Mickey' Leland,

While he wasn't born here, (born in Lubbock,TX)  Leland grew up in 5th Ward, graduated from Wheatley and later from TSU.

He was a two term state legislator who succeeded Barbara Jordan when she retired from the US House in 1978. He served as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 99th Congress, and chair of the House Select Committee on Hunger

Leland was a humanitarian and advocate who was killed in an August 1989 plane crash at age 44 while on a mission to bring food to famine stricken Ethiopia.  

May I also suggest for a statue the first female mayor of Houston in Kathy Whitmire?  

Many of the powers that be hated her, but she was actually the first candidate I was eligible to vote for in a Houston mayoral election.

The native Houstonian CPA and UH grad served as our city controller before she won election in 1981 by building a broad progressive coalition that she successfully maintained it for 10 years across five two year terms.

Her bid for a sixth consecutive two year term as mayor was derailed when her diverse coalition suffered major defections by Lanier taking some of her white support and Black voters supporting Sylvester Turner's bid to become Houston's first Black mayor.

She broke the power grip that the 'good old boys' had on city politics and the mayor's chair.  It's why the Houston conservatives pushed term limits after Bob Lanier won in a 1991 runoff with future (and current) Houston mayor Sylvester Turner.

Whitmire appointed our first Black police chief in Lee Brown, who in 1998 would later become our first African-American mayor.  She appointed now state Sen. Sylvia Garcia to a municipal judgeship as our first Latina municipal judge, and was a vocal supporter of METRO's plan to build a rail component to our public transit system.

She also tried to pass in 1984 a non discrimination ordinance that also covered gay people that met the same death by referendum fate as HERO did 30 years later  

But those are just three worthy Houstonians I can think of who deserve to have a statue commemorating them in Sam Houston Park instead of that white supremacist abomination that sits there now.  

BLM Houston Is Handling Its Harvey Business

One of the things that pissed me off was seeing that fake news story from a right wing website that falsely tried to claim that BLM was blocking a military rescue convoy with supplies headed to Houston.

It was a blatant lie that was easily debunked.  What it did do was motivate me to write this post telling the real story about what BLM Houston is doing in the wake of the passage of Harvey to help the people of Houston and southeast Texas affected by the storm.

It was needed and necessary for me to do especially in light of the fact that I know several members of BLM Houston's leadership including its founder Ashton Woods and Kandice Webber.  I also met in Denver during Creating Change 2015 the founders of BLM national in Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Khan-Cullors.

I have witnessed firsthand what the peeps at BLM Houston have been doing for our Houston community before and since Harvey moved out of the area

For starters, BLM Houston member Brandon Mack is collecting school supplies for people who need them once the area schools restart.  Some of the local school districts had already started classes for the 2017-18 school year when Harvey struck while HISD was scheduled to start classes on August 28.

What is needed are pencils, white copy paper, spiral notebooks, notebook paper, post-it notes, clear backpacks, and binders.  Those school supply donations will be accepted through the end of September. 

BLM Houston is helping coordinate the clean up of people's flooded homes in northeast Houston, and has another Day of Action cleanup event scheduled for September 9.

BLM Houston has also been shopping for and accepting donations of supplies to distribute to people in need.

They are helping first responders and military personnel in town to help Houston recover from the floods.

In short, BLM Houston has been handling its Harvey business, and have been front and center in the efforts to help our people recover from this historic storm.

But you aren't hearing that from local or national media, or the right wing websites invested in spreading hatred of and disinformation about BLM.

If you are interested in helping BLM this weekend, their Houston Day of Action cleanup event they have scheduled will run from 10 AM-7 PM, and the gathering address will be the Fiesta at 9419 Mesa Rd in northeast Houston.
 
BLM Houston will provide the masks, cleaning supplies, gloves, goggles and tools for this event.  All they need is for you to show up to volunteer for it in jeans and closed toe shoes.

Thanks BLM Houston for doing your part at the grassroots level to help our community recover from Harvey.
 

What's The Texas Trans Community Doing In Harvey's Wake?

Plenty!

It's also ironic in the wake of a legislative session in which the Republican controlled Texas government tried to push fear and hatred of transgender people in the regular session and spent $800,000 of our tax money during the Special Oppression Session to mess with Texas trans people for their own political gain.

But when Harvey hit the upper Texas coast, it has been the Texas trans community who has also stepped up to not only organize efforts to help our own people, but people outside of it.

Hannah Simpson has been in Austin helping to coordinate Red Cross efforts there.   She has been reading stories to the kids there.  She's built a database to help with client management in the shelter, is working to help coordinate the volunteer scheduling and routing at the Austin command center and just doing what she can to help the place run smoother.

And nobody cares that she's using the women's bathroom when she has to pee.  It's past time to stop wasting valuable Texas legislative time aiming discrimination efforts at us.

Political rant moment over, back to the post.

Meanwhile here in Houston my fab sis Nikki Araguz Loyd and her husband Will went out during the deluge on their jet skis in their northeast area part of the city to help people caught in the floodwaters during Harvey.   They  ended up rescuing this 82 year old woman during one of their jet ski rescue runs.

Ana Andrea Molina and the Organizacion Latina de Trans in Texas (OLTT) despite losing a computer to a roof leak (since generously replaced) caused by the storm at Casa Ana Andrea, is standing by with up to six beds to shelter trans people made homeless by Harvey.

They are also pitching in to help where they can to help our trans community and other quicly recover from the storm.

One of my homegirls who is a pilot and operations director for a charter airline, has made flights along with her charter airline's pilots chock full of medical supplies to bring back here to Houston.   One of those medical supply flights was to Hobby Airport, which was closed at the time and she was told by the tower to 'land at her own risk'.  She landed the plane safely along with the supplies.

Other trans Houstonians and trans Texans are in unsung ways helping clean storm damage at other people's homes, volunteering at local shelters, coordinating aid and relief efforts, raising money and simply doing their part as fellow Houstonians and Texans do to pitch in and help people recover from this storm.

And that's before I even mention the countless trans folks around the country who are doing things in their area to help their Texas trans, bi and SGL fam in their hour of need.

Harvey is giving us the golden opportunity to prove that trans Texans are an undeniable part of the fabric of the Texas community.

We are eagerly rolling up our sleeves and seizing this opportunity to do so by handling our business and helping our fellow Texans.

Mixed Houston Harvey Emotions

Today is Houston's 181st birthday, and I woke up to a sight I haven't seen in several days in terms of a sunrise and no angry rain swollen cloudy skies.  

Harvey is now rolling through Louisiana dropping rain as the waters recede here and we can try to get life back to H-town normal.  

While I woke up this morning with a roof over my head in my bed, I'm deeply cognizant of the fact that I was indeed blessed and fortunate to be in the sections of Houston that didn't flood this time.

There are other Houstonians who woke up this morning in the George R Brown Convention Center, the Toyota Center, NRG Arena and other shelters scatted across the 650 square miles of Texas territory we call home.   I have friends that range from escaped any serious damage to their homes and apartment domiciles to losing everything they owned in rising floodwaters.

And so far 16 people have lost their lives including HPD Sgt. Steve Perez

So yes, this morning as the sun peeked through my windows for the first time in nearly a week, I'm pondering all that as the waters recede from this historical level flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey how lucky I was, and thinking about all the folks who weren't.  

A Houston Harvey Mass Evacuation Would Have Been A Disaster

Been hearing chatter critical of the decision that Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and other Houston and Harris County leaders made to not call for an evacuation of Houston with Hurricane Harvey's Category 4 storm self bearing down on the Texas coast.

There are two major reasons why they probably called for Houstonians to shelter in place.

The first is speed in the storm development.

Harvey went from being a disorganized tropical depression on the verge of dissipating as it crossed the Yucatan Peninsula to a Cat 4 hurricane in two days after it reached the Bay of Campeche. .

This storm caught everyone, myself included by surprise in terms of how fast it developed, and there simply wasn't enough time to plan an evacuation.

Reason number two was everyone remembers what happened during the 2005 evacuation of Houston as a then Category 5 Hurricane Rita was bearing down on the Houston area and people tried to get out of its way mere weeks after Katrina devastated the New Orleans area and Mississippi Gulf coast.

That evacuation caused the worst traffic jam in Houston history and resulted in 100+ deaths

And that was in 95+ degree heat.   That traffic jam was so bad it took my family, who was trying to reach our relatives in Dallas, 13 hours just to get to Huntsville, TX a mere 100 miles away.  When they reached Huntsville they basically gave up, exited I-45  and successfully found a hotel room there to wait out the storm.  Rita eventually veered away from the Houston-Galveston area, weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border.

I still hear horror stories today about what a disaster it was and how long it took people to get to San Antonio, Austin or Dallas. .

Houston is now in 2017 way larger than it was in 2005, with over 6 million people living in our metro area.   The city of Houston itself is 627 square miles, which makes it larger than New York and Los Angeles in area

So to expect a smooth evacuation with a Cat 4 hurricane bearing down on the city that was projected to drop 25 to 30 inches of rain on the area was about as likely as Dolt 45 being accepted into Mensa.

Based on the flooding those same evacuation roads and freeways are currently experiencing, there would have been people who probably would have drowned in their cars because of that fast rising water that is nine to ten feet deep in some spots.

And it's why when this is over, the decision to have Houstonians shelter in place may have turned out to be the right call this time.