I Got E-Mail!

From time to time I get e-mail about some of the 1,800 plus posts here at TransGriot that have touched you in one way or the other.

Whether it's thanking me for tellin' it like it T-I-S is about one issue or another, just dropping me a line, inquiring about my availability to speak or sometimes asking me for advice on on trans related topic or another, I read them and try to respond to them in a timely fashion.

I get anywhere from 50-200 e-mails a day, so please be patient. If I don't respond as expeditiously as you'd like, bear with me. I stay busy between work, board meetings, living my life and compiling posts for you to peruse here.

Every now and then I get one that makes me smile and reaffirms why I started this blog in the first place.

Two years ago I was moved to write a tribute post to an old friend of mine on the occasion of her birthday who passed away far too soon.

A few days ago I received a comment from her husband Kenneth. He advised me that his daughter had been surfing the Net and found the post I'd written.

He thanked me for my kind words about his late wife.

You're welcome Kenneth. Monica was a classy, wonderful person. The world is poorer because she no longer is here to brighten up any of our days, use her God-given talents to heal the sick and teach our future physicians.

E-mails like this remind me of how widely read TransGriot is. Every time I feel like a lonely voice in the cyberwilderness and that no ones paying attention to what I have to say, I get a 'no you're not' reminder of just how silly that thought was.

Just clicking on my hit counter should tell me otherwise, but hey, I'm human.

The e-mail and comments you send let me know how much you dear readers appreciate what I write.

And for those of you who send the hate mail that I delete, y'all keep me motivated to continue speaking truth to power.

Live Your Life Well

Saturday Dawn, Polar and I spent a few hours at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Louisville attending the funeral of Robert Botts, one of our fellow CFAIR board members who died unexpectedly.

On the ride from the house to downtown I contemplated the fact that less than two weeks ago I was laughing and joking with him at a fundraiser being held at the Hyatt Regency hotel's revolving restaurant and talking to him at our last board meeting. Polar and Dawn last saw him at work.

Robert was an outgoing, friendly person always eager to help, and it was hard not to miss him. Now he's gone.

I did get an opportunity to say a few words at the service packed full of his friends, family and co-workers.

One of his relatives earlier had tried to make a comparison to his life in terms of space and the universe. I built upon his comments in my remarks and compared Robert's life to a supernova.

A supernova is a star that bursts with a brilliant flash of light that briefly outshines its entire galaxy before fading over weeks and months of time.

Robert definitely was a star and a stellar human being whose light shined brightly amongst us for years, and now unfortunately will fade away.

After being thanked by family members for my remarks before departing with Polar and Dawn for the day, I pondered the messages I took away from that service.

*Spending time in the service of others is the greatest gift you can give other people.

*Give it your best effort in terms of what you can personally do to live a quality life.

*Do not take your time on this planet for granted. Live every day as if it is going to be your last one.

While some of those messages are part of the values I try to pattern my own life on, every now and then you need a reminder.

So the next time I do some hard, solid thinking, I'll be contemplating what I can do to ensure I'm living my life well and getting the maximum output out of whatever time I have left on this planet.

It's' My America' Too

Fear of a Black President is making the Stupid GOP White Sheeple lose their damn minds and show their latent racism for the whole world to see.

I caught the video of a woman at a Little Rock, AR town hall Blue Dog Congressmen Mike Ross (D-AR)and Vic Snyder (D-AR) were jointly holding. She tearfully stated she was distressed at what has happened to 'my America' and saying she wanted to take 'her country back'.



Note to all you people. It's my America too. I was born here, educated here, and have to pay my taxes every April 15 like you do. Now that I have an occupant of the White House I can be proud of for the first time since 1993 and who also shares my ethnic heritage, y'all wanna start trippin'.

Last time I checked a map, LA, Houston, New York, New Orleans, and Miami were all inside the borders of the United States. America does not equal to conservative, sacrilegious, rural/suburban dwelling, gun fetishist, GOP voting White Anglo-Saxon.

I'm more than disgusted and tired of this vanilla flavored meme popping up in our national discourse. There are 300 plus million people who call themselves Americans and we ain't all White. We pay taxes, serve in its military, and have done more than our share to help this country grow and prosper. Get used to the fact that we voted on November 4 to take this country in a different direction. It's past time that our policy desires and priorities are pushed with our tax dollars as well and are front and center in the national discourse.

We were more than a little pissed when you people were in control and fracking the country up that we spent 8 years painstakingly cleaning up from the Reagan-Daddy Bush years. Now that President Obama is cleaning up Junior's mess you conservatives are all of a sudden 'concerned about the deficit'.

At least this man is tackling the problems you peeps refused to deal with. What's making you even more upset is that it's your worst nightmare, an intelligent Ivy league educated Black man with his summa cum laude Princeton educated wife that's succeeding.

So keep crying those crocodile tears lamenting the America you lost. Good riddance to that Jim Crow ridden America and welcome to the 21st century.

If you want to be pissed at somebody, aim it at the conservatives who look like you and bamboozled you into repeatedly voting against your own economic interests in the first place.

Ah Kua Show

I was surprised when I received an e-mail from Leona Lo, my sis in Singapore a few months ago with a request. She asked me to compose a comment for the program of her Ah Kua Show she was putting together.

In case you haven't been following the progress of it on her blog, the Ah Kua Show is a play she wrote based on her life which will run from August 6-8 at the Substation Theater.

I was deeply honored to be asked to write the commentary by one of the people in the worldwide trans community I admire. I felt it was my small way of being a part of the show even though as much as I would love to, I couldn't be there in person to support it.

For those of you in the Singapore area, better hurry if you want tickets to the show. Two nights are already sold out and not many tickets remain.

The comment I wrote is underneath the Ah Kua Show poster. Leona, thanks once again for giving me the opportunity and honor of composing it.


Hello Patrons of the Ah Kua Show and greetings from the Bluegrass State of Kentucky!

I am Monica Roberts, a 15 year transitioned African-American transperson originally from Houston, Texas. I am a longtime activist, the editor of the TransGriot blog, and a 2006 winner of the IFGE Trinity Award. I’m only the third African-American transperson to receive the second highest honor given by the United States transgender community for outstanding service.

I’m deeply honored to have been given the opportunity by Leona to share a few words with you as you peruse the Ah Kua Show program. I wish I could be in Singapore watching the play with you.

Contrary to the negative message being pushed by the Forces of Intolerance around the globe, being transgender is nothing to be ashamed of. We are part of the mosaic of humanity and it is something to be embraced with pride.

It is past time that our fellow transpersons and citizens around the world realize that we are beautiful, talented and intelligent people with much to offer the societies of the various countries we inhabit if just given a chance to do so.

I’ve often said that a transperson’s family expands, not contracts after we transition to become the beautiful people we were made by our Creator to be.

I’m proud to have Leona Lo as part of my worldwide extended family, and I wish her and the Ah Kua show much success.

International Blog Against Racism Week? Thanks But No Thanks

I recently received an e-mail invitation to participate in International Blog Against Racism Week which will take place July 26 to August 2

While I'm honored and deeply appreciate the invite on one hand, on the other it's mildly insulting.

TransGriot, Womanist Musings, Racialicious, Race Wire and countless other blogs inside and outside the Afrospear deal with the subject of racism and all its ugly permutations and perniciousness in our society 24/7/365 (366 days in a leap year).

So to have a week dedicated to blogging about race tends to make me roll my eyes and say thanks, but no thanks.

I know the hearts of the people who organize this annual blogosphere event are in the right place. Yes, I am cognizant of my role as one of the leading African-American bloggers who also happens to be trans and a womanist.

I catch enough hell during the other 51 weeks when I talk about race issues in conjunction with living my life as an out and proud African descended transperson and nobody wants to hear it.

What makes any post I write during this week any different from the almost 1800 plus ones I've written on TransGriot?

Those of us who blog about race issues for more than a week already know and are painfully aware that racism permeates everything about how this society is organized and how it functions. It's going to take more than just one week of blog posts focused on the issue in order to permanently eradicate 400 plus years of accumulated racist baggage from our society.

If people are serious about eradicating racism and not just dealing with it in half hearted piecemeal fauxgressive measures, then it is going to take consistent, sometimes painful education, lots of work and constant self examination to make eradicating racism in our society a reality.

One week of blog posts may jump start the education, discussion, and some action on the racism eradication front, but it can't stop with just a week of blogging and then go back to 'bidness' as usual.

It is going to require people stepping out of their comfort zones to confront racism as it occurs. It also means that some peeps need to get their 101 on.

And the fundamental piece to begin all of these upcoming Racism 101 discussions is based on this formula you'll need to commit to memory.

Racism=prejudice plus power

If you think otherwise, then this discussion is over before we even get a chance to get it started, and whatever post you compile for this week is a waste of your time and mine.

Why You 'Scurred' Of Me?

One of the things I get mildly irritated about and have been throughout my transition journey is when fellow transpeople either run like Flo Jo away from my presence or consciously avoid interacting with me in public situations.

While I understand that some of my transpeeps can be antisocial at times, and others are so adamant about maintaining their stealth bubble to the point they want zero public interactions with any transpeople, it still wouldn't kill you to say hello and keep steppin'.

If you're 'scurred' because you think that being in proximity to my out and proud of being Black and trans behind will lead to people questioning your gender identity, chill.

The cisgender women friends I have in my life have that same possibility of shade being thrown at them just for the radical act of being proud to have me as their friend and be seen with me in public. If it doesn't deter them from getting to know me, what's your excuse?

If my cisgender girlfriends and cisgender male friends realize it's one of the tradeoffs for having the Phenomenal Transwoman in their lives on an everyday basis and they aren't ashamed or afraid of it, then why should my own transpeeps be?

It's especially galling in light of the slings and arrows I constantly take being the sword and shield for you. I'm fighting for yours and my civil rights that you are too timid to stand up for. I'm dispelling through this blog and other myriad education efforts the falsehoods and race based myths regurgitated about you.

I'm taking the time to 'ejumacate' people about how our transitions are different from vanilla flavored ones. I'm cheerfully and willingly spending my personal time, cash and vacation time in doing that trans education simply so that future generations of transkids can just focus on being the best people they can be.

I'm not asking for a chocolate chip cookie. All I'm asking for is just a simple "Hi, how are you doing?" when I pass you in the 'hood.

If you want to take the conversation beyond that, that's all good as well. The more loyal friends I have in my life, the better.

But I'm not the person you should be 'scurred' of. The peeps you should be keeping a nervous eyeball on are part of the Forces of Intolerance.

I'm the one that's diligently working to make your life better, not harder.

Computing Reeducation

As many of you know the motherboard on my desktop died last Friday. A new replacement one has been ordered and hopefully I'll be back doing my thang on Computer Prime soon.

In the meantime, Polar graciously lent me his Compaq laptop in order to tide me over until I get my beloved desktop up and running.

I have owned a computer since I bought my first HP 2600 series minidesktop back in 1997. I prefer and love desktops probably because the vast majority of my computing time and Web surfing over the last decade has been spent in a desktop environment.

Since I've never owned one, much less played with one for an extended period of time until now, it has taken me a few days to get acclimated to the quirks and idiosyncracies inherent in laptop computing.

It took two days for me to get out of the habit reaching to my right and using my right hand to manipulate a mouse to do whatever I needed to do while typing various posts. My thumb kept brushing the pointer thingy and moving my cursor as I typed, which kept pissing me off while typing the first post I attempted to do.

It also took me far longer time wise to compose that first laptop generated post than it normally does on my desktop system.

I had to adjust some of my computer quirks I feel comfortable doing as well.

I use a technique in which I rapidly move the cursor instead of just highlighting the messed up text and hitting the 'delete' key. I had to not only go back and correct the jacked up text, but figure out how to move the cursor to do it.

I type 55 WPM as well, so it's slowed down my typing speed as I've had to get acclimated to holding my hands up in a much higher position than normal and being cognizant of not trying to inadvertantly hitting combinations of keys that may trigger stuff I don't want or need to happen.

I'm relearning how to cut and paste on this laptop. I'm also trying to figure out what I have to do so I can start putting photos back in my posts to make them look nice and illustrate what my words have to say.

Yeah, I could simply call Polar and ask, but the Taurus in me wants to at least try to do it on my own before punting and dialing up the Bear Cave to ask him.

But now that I've had the opportunity to play with a laptop, I have to admit that I'm beginning to like it enough to the point I may seriously consider buying one in the future as a backup.

The price has come down on them and the computing power is going way up. The portability is also a nice selling point as well.

It would help me in terms of being able to access info during my lobbying trips to DC. If I need to blog while I'm on one of my road trips I won't need to hunt for a desktop so I can do so. It would allow me a more rapid response time as well in those situations.

So yeah, my desktop being down sucks. It puts a crimp in some of the stuff I like to do while composing posts, but I can always go back and paste the photos on them later.

In the meantime, I'm going to start making lemonade out of this lemon situation and get 'ejumacated' on the mysteries of laptop computing.

Cisgender Isn't An Insult

It's been a hot topic lately on some transgender blogs, so it's time for me to weigh in with my thoughts on the word 'cisgender'.

So what is 'cisgender'?

It's a term coined around 1994 by Dutch transman Carl Buijs that refers to the alignment of gender identity with your physical body.

In other words, it is the opposite of transgender, in which there is a mismatch between your body and the gender identity housed in your brain.

So why do some peeps have a problem with it?

I believe the people having a problem with the word are wallowing in unacknowledged cisgender privilege. They are taken aback that there is a trans community term coined by trans people to describe them.

That throws them for a loop and they get upset because in their minds, they are the 'normal' people and as such, are the only people who get to define 'others', not the other way around.


Shoot, all you have to do is look at the comment fields on my Bilerico posts and elsewhere around the Net to see how many peeps get upset and call me 'racist' over the 'vanilla flavored privileged' term I used to describe white privilege.

Come to think of it, they call me 'racist' anytime I criticize the underlying structural assumptions that buttress whiteness.

But getting back to our current discussion.

Cisgender is a neutral term that doesn't have the negative accumulated baggage of being used to 'other' or used as a rallying cry by the Forces of Intolerance to oppress someone's human rights rights like trans has.

There are no people being made the butt of societal jokes because they are cisgender. There's no 'cisgender panic defense'. There's no one being denied a job because they are cisgender. There's no one being killed because of folks hating on you for being cisgender. There's no Cisgender Day Of Remembrance.

I repeat, cisgender means your body and the gender identity housed between your ears is comfortably aligned, nothing more, nothing less.

It means that from the time you were born until this point today in your lives, you were not only comfortable in your gender identity-body matchup, you are comfortable with the societal gender role you perform based on that body to the point that you hardly ever think about it.

If we're going to make the point that being transgender is an everyday biological/medical/social condition, we had to have some word in the vocabulary that describes most of the people walking Planet Earth who are not trans.

It's the same concept that underpins why gay people call non-gays 'straight'.

So why are y'all tripping, cisgender people? Cisgender isn't an insult.

The Trans Free BET Who's Who In Black GLBT America List

I was shocked that BET.com even puts out such a list, so just out of curiosity I decided to see which peeps they chose for their 'Who's Who In Black GLBT America'.

And as I suspected, out of the 33 people selected, there were no trans brothers or transsisters on it.

And no BET and rest of world, a Black New York based drag artist does not equal to transman or transwoman. Kevin Aviance is a drag artist

While I'm happy for the people that did make it such as Jasmyne Cannick, it speaks once again to how invisible Black trans people are, even in our own damned community.

There's a transman who is the board chair of the National Black Justice Coalition in Kylar Broadus. I've talked about Dr. Marisa Richmond on more than a few occasions on this blog.

But once again the Black trans community gets shut out.

I'm in agreement with my sis Dionne Stallworth. It's time that we Black trans people really start tooting our horns, seriously raise our profiles, compile our history, interview and pump up our people and fight for our place in the GLBT spotlight.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting more than a little sick of getting dissed, erased and ignored by the entire fracking GLBT community Black and White.

How Do I Feel About The Gay Community, And How Does the Gay Community Feel About Me?

We are rapidly approaching the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that kicked off in New York June 28, 1969.

It was the impetus for the increased activism of the modern TBLG rights movement, but I'm ambivalent about it as an African descended transperson.

My attitude toward it reflects the Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. line in the HBO movie The Tuskegee Airmen. In this particular scene he was testifying in front of a Senate committee at the behest of a racist senator whether to shut down the Tuskegee Airmen.

I'll paraphrase it here.

'How do I feel about the gay community? And how does the gay community feel about me? Are we to only be considered part of the gay community when the mood suits you or at your whim? All we want is a fair chance for the same respect and equality that you'd expect, no, demand for yourselves.'

The paraphrasing of this line speaks to a conundrum that I and many Black GLBT/SGL peeps talk about within the family and our Black cisgender allies about the white-dominated gay community.

Our perception is that we are not only a political pinata being bashed by both groups, but that sometimes we don't belong to either.

We're either 'too Black' for the gay community, or 'too gay' for the Black community.

We also face the maddening drama of both sides not considering us a part of 'their' group while being thrust into the no-win position of being told we have to choose one or the other.

A lot of my personal mood has been shaped by past and present events. While both sides are guilty of repeatedly crapping on and disrespecting Black SGL and trans people, it's particularly hurtful and galling to be ignored and disrespected time and again by your alleged allies.

Combine that with the GL leadership ranks lack of diversity, the repeated slights, appropriation and disrespect of out culture and history, and witnessing the racism that exploded from white gays after the Prop 8 loss.

Pouring gasoline on this simmering anger is what I and many Black GLBT peeps perceive as overly hostile criticism hurled at President Obama at the hands of white gay peeps who supported his Dem opponent.

It's leaving me and many Black TBLG/SGL peeps feeling like the only reason we're wanted is to provide melanin for photo ops.

Happy Pride? Yeah, right.

So how do I feel about the gay community? And how does the gay community feel about me?

That's a good damned question.

Dag Gay Peeps-Stop Tripping II

There's increased frustration and sniping coming from the gayosphere about their perception that President Obama is 'ignoring' them.

May I remind you gay peeps once again that President Obama is more than a little busy cleaning up the political and economic mess left him by the previous misadministration that many GLBT peeps got bamboozled by?

I'm getting more than a little annoyed with GLBT peeps whining less than six months into Obama's presidency that 'he isn't moving fast enough on our issues', especially when many of y'all:

A-supported Hillary
B-gave the Bush administration more time to do absolutely nothing for us.

I'm not saying President Obama isn't above criticism. But my lack of patience with it is tempered by the fact that I recall many white GLBT peeps calling him the worst president ever on GLBT issues and he hadn't even taken the oath of office yet.

So yeah, I'm giving him more time to let his deeds live up to his words.

The point is that there are more important things on the national plate than your ability to get married, DOMA and DADT repeal. I want ENDA and hate crimes passed like yesterday, and like many African-Americans we have issues on the table that we've waited years to get dealt with, too.

But the difference between the African-American community and the gay community is that we're looking at the big political picture. The GLBT community is politically immature and impatient at times, muddles its political messages, fails at times to look at the big picture and doesn't grasp the importance of unspoken communication and symbolism.

The flag issue is an example of that, and don't even get me started on its monoracial leadership.

Well, the way to build political power is to be a good ally first. If you help them pass their pet issues or support them with more than lip service, then they'll be on board with helping you with yours.

That means the next time the labor movement needs a helping hand with a protest, Latino/a's request your support on the Sotomayor nomination or African-Americans request some help trying to get congressional representation for DC, that y'all need to show up and push just as hard for those issues as you would your own.

The 2012 election cycle will be here soon. Obama has to worry about the 53% of the population and the 69,492,376 peeps that put him in the Oval Office, not just 13% (African-American US population) or 10% (the GLBT US population).

Contrary to the vanilla flavored bullshit many GLBT peeps are spouting, y'all didn't put Obama in the White House by yourselves. We Americans wishing for a progressive direction for the country did.

That means Democrats, Republicans, independents, liberals, moderates, conservatives, African-Americans, Latino/a's, Asians, Whites, Native Americans, gay, straight, bi, intersex, transgender, cisgender...Well, you get the picture.

That means gay boys and girls, to paraphrase Spock's line from Star Trek, the needs of the progressive many outweigh the needs of the progressive few.

It may have escaped those of you GLBT peeps who live in The Castro, inside the Capital Beltway or in Manhattan south of Christopher Street, but the progressive GLBT agenda for those of us in 'flyover country' doesn't begin and end with same gender marriage, DADT and DOMA repeal

You don't think GLBT peeps need universal health care? That GLBT peeps don't want or need good jobs at good wages? That there are GLBT service members not ensnared in DADT issues who want the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to end and come home?

That there are GLBT peeps who understand the importance of having a Democratic president in office for the next seven years not only selecting diverse progressive federal and Supreme Court judges, but pushing progressive change?

Whether you believe it or not, politicians noticed the gay community's decades long penchant for selling out its transgender allies and couching it in 'incremental progress' weasel words to selfishly get their own rights passed.

They also noted the lack of intersectionality work by gay community peeps who loudly dismissed it with the words 'it isn't a gay issue'.

The way the political peeps look at it, if you gay peeps repeatedly sell your own allies down the river, what are they going to do with us?

If they have to face angry constituents back home, the political peeps factor that into their cost-benefit electability analysis.

Besides, the president can't sign progressive legislation if Congress doesn't introduce or pass it. It's on us to hold Congressional feet to the fire and let them know that it's progressive change we want, not bills watered down by conservacrap.

So yeah, I believe much of the GLBT criticism being directed at President Obama is sour grapes.

I'm sick of it and y'all need to stop tripping.

40 Trans Heroes? You're Kidding, Right?

One of the reasons I became a trans activist a decade ago was because of my pissivity over a relatively melanin free IFGE list of out and proud transpeople.

To pour gasoline on it, they not only neglected two future IFGE Trinity winners in Dr. Marisa Richmond and Dawn Wilson who were doing thangs at the time, the only two African descended people on it were RuPaul and Dennis Rodman, who have publicly stated they aren't and didn't want to be.

Well, history repeats itself.

The International Court System in conjunction with The Task Force put together a list of 40 Trans Heroes to in their words, 'highlight the importance of the transgender and gender-nonconforming community as an equal and important part of the broader LGBT community.'

The “40 Trans Heroes” were solicited and selected from hundreds of nominations by a special committee of the International Court Council.

And this is the final list they came up with.




Sylvia Rivera
Shannon Price Minter
Mara Keisling
Jose Julio Sarria
Ru Paul
Marsha Botzer
Nicole Murray-Ramirez
Norma Kristie
Masen Davis
Melissa Sklarz

Lady Bunny
Leslie Feinberg
Gunner Scott
Lynn Conway
Chi Chi LaRue
Marsha P. Johnson
Riki Wilchins
Barbra Casbar Siperstein
Yosenio Lewis
Robin Tyler

Coco LaChine
Valerie Spencer
Jim Flynn
Nancy Nangeroni
Lady Chablis
Rosalinda dela Luna
Cecilia Chung
Loren Cameron
Maria Roman
Theresa Sparks

Karina Samala
Grace Sterling Stowell
Donna Sachet
Shirley Bushnell
Cole Thaler
Darcell
Jamison Green
Sister Roma
Billy deFrank
Frank Marino

"This is by no means a complete list or a ‘best of’ or ‘top 10’ list. It is merely a beginning tribute to the thousands of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals that have made our modern-day movement possible," says Thom Hansen, president of the International Court Council.

“This momentous tribute to the transgender community is a long time coming. The International Court System is honored to partner with the Task Force. Together, we pay tribute to those whose lives and works have impacted each and every one of us."

“On the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, let's remember the legacy of those who started our struggle for equality and liberation," says Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"Recognizing 40 of the many transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals who have worked tirelessly and passionately in favor of full LGBT equality throughout these four decades is a reminder of the determination and persistence of the transgender community and of the human spirit. Let's continue to honor these important contributions toward a more just and equal society for all of us.”

The International Court System will present a commemorative plaque inscribed with the names of these outstanding individuals on June 25 to be placed at the Stonewall Inn.

If the joint Task Force-International Court compiled list was intended to honor transpeople, it is not having the desired effect.

Transgender historian, scholar and attorney Kat Rose minced no words after seeing the list.

"Did NGLTF actually have anything to do with this list? Or is it a counterfeit list made up by that Stampp Corbin guy to make his claim on Bilerico the other day (that HRC 'put the T in LGBT') seem believable?

"Darcell? No offense, but who or what is a Darcell? Chi Chi LaRue? I guess I should have gone to porn school instead of law school. And Robin Tyler? Based on her stance on ENDA in 2007, she should be on John Aravosis's top-40 list instead of this one.

On a personal level, I have no love lost for Phyllis (Frye) - but in objective terms, I would have to say she rates higher than most of these people, and significantly higher than some.

And Cole Thaler, eh? Easy to make it onto the list when you get to be in the position to be on the list because you're a young FTM and the organization you work for won't hire 40 year old MTFs.

Oh well - I'm off to read some more imaginary history books written by that imaginary transsexual woman, Susan Stryker.

2005 IFGE Trinity Award winner, NTAC founder and Trans Political blog author Vanessa Edwards Foster stated:

"RuPaul? As one of the 40 top trans people? And Robin Tyler (if it's the lesbian activist) has never to my knowledge voiced that she's trans (and used to have some less-than-inclusive thoughts on us to boot!) Well, being from the Imperial Court ... I can believe it. Way to endorse, NGLTF!

There's a bunch of folks on here I've never heard of ... and note the pro-NCTE slant of their choices! No NTAC folks (besides Yo), no Phyllis Frye, no Alyson Meiselman, no Kat, no Randi Barnabee, no Ethan or anyone from IFGE (or other competing orgs), no Jessi Xavier or Joanna Keatley, no Andre Wilson or Dawn Wilson, no Julie Johnson, no Calpernia (Addams) (strangely enough for them!) and on and on! Ca-LUE-less!

Then again, maybe they meant the 40 top Drag heroes!"

I'm channeling my inner Maya Wilkes and saying a hearty, "Oh, Hell No!" to this list.

First, the list doesn't have the 'Godmother of the Transgender Rights Movement' in Phyllis Frye. No Vanessa Edwards Foster, no Kat Rose, no Dr. Susan Stryker, no Monica Helms, a 2003 IFGE Trinity Award winner who co-founded with Angela Brightfeather the Transgender American Veterans Association.

It's predominately East and West Coast centric. It ignores the major contributions to the transgender movement of people who live in 'flyover country'.

And as usual, out of the four African-Americans on this list, two are entertainers. I like the Lady Chablis, own an autographed copy of her Hiding My Candy autobiography and have met her, but I haven't seen her lobbying on Capitol Hill.

Get this through your heads gay people. RuPaul has stated he isn't and doesn't want to be trans. I'm beyond sick and tired of vanilla flavored privileged people holding him up as an example of an African-American transperson.

How the hell did you forget (or conveniently did so) the only three African-American IFGE Trinity Award winners in Dawn Wilson, Dr. Marisa Richmond and some award winning blogger who happens to be one of the founding members of NTAC, helped create the first standalone African-American oriented transgender conventions in 2005-06 and oh by the way, won the 2006 IFGE Trinity Award in the process?

Dr. Richmond in addition to winning the 2002 Trinity Award, was the first African-American transgender delegate to a major political convention and runs the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.

Dawn helped pass transgender rights bills in Louisville and Lexington, KY in 1998 and was the first African-American Trinity winner in 2000.

Hell, at least they did recognize Marsha P. Johnson and Valerie Spencer, but you left off Lorrainne Sade Baskerville, who happens to be a 2000 inductee of the Chicago GLBT Hall of Fame. Dionne Stallworth is not on this list, who is a founder of GenderPac, and neither is Cydne Kimbrough.

But Robin Tyler? Please, she's regarded by some peeps in the trans community with the same distaste I have for Ward Connerly, Michael Steele, Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice.

Don't even get me started ranting about the long list of trans leaders around the planet who aren't US based.

But this speaks once again to an issue that I constantly harp on, along with Kat and Dr, Stryker. Know your history, claim it, own it and zealously defend it from all attempts at whitewashing it.

Because if you don't, others will write it for you, and you may not like the resulting portrait they paint of you when they're finished.

Dear Haters II

Dear Haters,
If you were expecting your transphobic laced commentary on the Pink Sheep Of The Family post to be approved, you are part of the moronic sheeple who watch too much Fox News and are divorced from reality.

This is my cyberhome, and only rational commentary gets posted on the blog. The best part about it is I get to define rational.

Obviously you have personal insecurity and self-esteem issues about your gender identity on a deep level. Cisgender people who are secure in their gender identity and sexual orientation aren't bothered by the presence of transpeople on this planet.

If you pick up a science magazine every now and then, you'll soon discover that gender in the animal kingdom isn't as immutable as you haters think it is.

The only people who would actually sit down at their computer and leave a despicable comment like you did are people whose comfort in their personal sense of manhood or womanhood is shaky at best.

Maybe you didn't read the post, so I'll skip to the heart of it since you and your ilk seem to have the brain and penis size of an atom.

The bottom line is that transpeople exist. The moral arc of history in terms of transpeople gaining first class citizenship in our various countries is inexorably on our side. You and your ilk are on the same side of the legions of groups like the Ku Klux Klan and other proud conservatives throughout world history who opposed the march of humanity, social and societal progress, and common sense.

I suggest you peeps get some therapy to deal with those lingering self esteem issues that are keeping you from having regular dates and intimacy with anyone other than plastic dolls.

And as for your ludicrous assertion that no one will ever accept us as the women and men transpeople were born to be but unfortunately were stuck in the wrong bodies, you are about as off base as Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the people you get your tired talking points from.

Maybe no one who's a white male conservative 'christian' will accept me and my trans brothers and sisters, but Real Christians, real people of other faiths and a vast majority of compassionate thinking people do.

My own story and the stories of countless others blow your diatribe to smithereens.

For every person who doesn't accept me, I have ten who do. I have the respect of my employers. I have sistahfriends and friends across the spectrum who see me as nothing but the tall proud sistah I am and was born to be.

So get thee behind me cyber Satan. You've built a Berlin Wall around your heart and mind that renders you incapable of expressing compassion, love and human decency to another human being.

But just like the actual Berlin Wall fell, the one around your mind and heart will fall as well.

Journey To Womanist-hood

TransGriot Note: This is a guest post I wrote for Womanist Musings coming out of the closet so to speak about being a womanist and claiming the label.

As a transwoman of African descent I've developed during my 15 plus year transition a distaste for feminism.

Much of that dislike of it is multifaceted, but has its roots in the virulent disco-era hatred still expressed by some rad fem drones. It's also fueled by witnessing the lack of support, disrespect, back stabbing and drama given to Black women to the point that they left the movement.

I paid very close attention to the almost pathological hatred that some feminists have for Black men that is rooted in the historical fact that Black men got the vote courtesy of the 1870 ratification of the 14th Amendment several decades before the 19th Amendment gave women the vote in 1920. I also noted that the meme played out once again in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary between then Senators Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

I was annoyed by the naked hypocrisy of seeing feminists rush to the defense of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin at any perceived slight during that campaign as well, but their lips were and continue to be zipped for any attack on now First Lady Michelle Obama.

Ain't she a woman, too?

It also didn't escape my attention that some of the loyal cisgender Black female friends in my life tended to identify themselves as womanists.

Being the intellectually curious type I am, I started reading womanist sites and picked up writings by Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. I noticed that much of what womanism espouses and had to offer fit my worldview.

But with the rad fem haters fresh in my mind I wondered if there was space in the womanist movement for me and other transwomen of color, or was I setting myself up for more of the same old 70's era transphobia?

I found it ironic that as I was going through my womanist musing phase, a commenter compared my writing style on some issues to bell hooks. I don't know if I can walk in her pumps, but I do consider it an honor to even be thought of in the same lofty company with her.

The interview I recently conducted with Renee also jumpstarted my thinking as to why I was reticent in claiming the womanist label for myself. While I've accomplished much in the transgender community on an activist level and still have much work ahead of me still to do, I still had questions in my mind about where I fit, if I could measure up, and had concerns about how my cisgender sisters would react if I did.

So I'm taking a deep breath, stepping out on faith and making the declaration that yes, I am a womanist. I know my journey is far from over and I have much to learn, but I intend to be a compliment to all that the pioneering womanist thought leaders have built. I want to continue taking major steps toward continuing to bridge the knowledge gap between my cisgender sisters and my transsisters on various subjects, and collectively work together toward taking the movement in bold new directions.

And if I continue to learn and grow as a proud woman who happens to be transgender, then that's all good, too.