We Trans Peeps Are Not An Easy Right Wing Political Win

One of the things I thought about on the Sunday plane ride home from Boston was how proud I've been about the US trans community standing up for itself against Republican tyranny and oppression.

If the right wingers in the wake of their SCOTUS loss on marriage thought that by shifting their focus to attacking transgender people they would get an easy political win, they were sadly mistaken.

We are people who have had to fight a long list of people for decades that includes the TERFs, transphobic lesbian and gay folks, politicians, the media, academia, our blood families, the medical establishment and clergy just for our right to exist,

What made the Southern Baptists, the Roman Catholic Church, the Republican Party and the conservative movement think that people who have had to fight tooth and nail just to exist wouldn't fight their azzes just as hard to beat them?

You're finding out that you should have left us alone, accepted your SCOTUS marriage loss and moved on.  But you conservafool wanted to continue your centuries long tradition of being wrong on the human rights issues of the day and exercise your oppressor gene against another marginalized community 

You started World War T against us, and now you're finding out that we give just as good as we get. We had no choice.  You stated attacking our trans kids, and those attacks on the humanity and human rights of our kids we trans adults could not allow to go unchecked. 

By attacking our kids, you also got people off the fence about where they stand about trans human rights and helped us get a whole lot of allies.  It also brought the Mama and Papa Bears in our ranks. By attacking trans kids, you forced their parents into the fight to protect their humanity and human rights against your state sponsored legislative bullying.    

You are also finding out that not only are trans adults formidable opposition, our kids are formidable leaders as well and inspire us to fight even harder for our community.. We trans folks are also justice seeking individuals who want a world better than the one that we arrived in.   

We trans peeps and our allies have the moral high ground in this international human rights fight.   You didn't and never will, and your desperate oppressive actions and anti-trans propaganda aimed at our community only make that increasingly clear to us and all who are paying attention that you are the unjust oppressors and the trans community are the aggrieved party whose human rights are under attack by you.  

And we have legislators and a growing list of organizations on our side who are willing to stand up and call out your oppression against our community.

So if you thought we were going to be an easy political win or we would just roll over and cower in the corner as you gleefully stripped away our human rights, naw boo boo kitties, we aren't 

To borrow the words from Kara Thrace of Battlestar Galactica, we're fighting you until we can't, and we're fighting until you leave us alone to live our lives without your loud and wrong interference. 

Airline Customer Service Matters

Been getting asked about my thoughts since I worked in the airline biz and this recent incident in Chicago happened once again on United which merged with my old carrier.

I defended them in the last incident because it involved non-rev passengers and you do have dress code rules you have to follow for traveling on a non-revenue pass.  I felt they were being unjustly attacked for that dress code mess.

Now in this latest incident that happened, while I understand the situation that drove them to have to solicit for volunteers to get off the last flight to Louisville to put a must ride crew on, is still WTF level and indefensible.

It's also an unfolding PR disaster to add to the other ones United has had this year.

I've been in that situation as someone who worked IAH departure gates in which a must ride crew suddenly pops up at the last moments before departure on a full flight and I have to solicit for oversale volunteers because they must be on that plane to take it out on time from that outstation city in the morning

And yes, it is like pulling teeth to get volunteers in that situation, but if you make the deal sweet enough, eventually you'll get them.   In the situation I encountered, I needed two seats for a captain and a first officer,   It took me $1000 vouchers for each of the two passengers I needed to give up seats, 50,000 OnePass miles, dinner and seats on the next bird four hours later to make it happen.

This situation on the UA Chicago-Louisville flight could have and should have been handled far better than it disastrously turned out.  Some folks need to lose jobs including the security guard and whoever is handling public relations for United.

It is definitely as of this writing negatively affecting UA's stock price, it's got United once again taking a PR beatdown in the news to the point even the White House has commented on the incident, and its stock price has fallen 6% since the Dow Jones opened today.

Air travel is still the best and only way to travel long distances quickly. But since we have gone down via mergers to four major national airlines (American, Delta, United and Southwest) plus smaller regional carriers like JetBlue, Frontier, Spirit and Alaska, some airlines have forgotten the lesson that superior customer service can increase profits.

During my 14 years in the airline business, I watched Continental go from during my time there from 1987-2001 from one of the worst during the Frank Lorenzo regime to under Gordon Bethune winning multiple JD Power awards.  We did so by emphasizing customer service, on time performance.and a corporate culture that emphasized treating employees with dignity and respect

The emphasis on customer service, treating customers and employees with dignity and respect and on time performance in the 90's took us from bankruptcy in 1993 to profitability in a very short time, and led to us being in that strong financial position when the merger with United happened.

I've noted the decline in airline customer service in the 2000's as carriers focused on becoming larger.  When you do have a flight with a meal service, you have to pay for it   You have to pay to check bags.  It's past time airlines started emphasizing customer service again instead of coming up with ways of how to squeeze every last dollar out of you when you fly.

They'll discover that when you relentlessly focus on customer service and treating employees and passengers with respect, the end result is you'll build a brand loyalty that will be profitable for you and your fiscal bottom line long term.
Airlines also need to relearn the message and recite it like a mantra that airline customer service matters.

Sometimes It's Your Own Funky Personality That Makes Peeps Not Like You

I've talked about how at times in this gender marathon journey we're on, you'll run into trans folks who have other issues besides just the gender identity ones.

Some of those peeps haven't done or refuse to do the introspection, self analysis or gotten the professional help they need to see the negative behavior patterns everyone else they come into contact with does so they can overcome them.

There are just people with fracked up personalities period or who walk through life with such negative energy that no amount of transition is going to change that.  If they were jerks before transition, they will be jerks after they do so.

Those peeps need to be honest with themselves. You can tell yourself ad nauseum that people don't like you because you are transgender, but the truth is for those of you who role model the bad behaviors I'm talking about, is people don't like you and don't want to be around you because of the crappy persona you project to the world.

Nobody wants to be around a negative person, be they cis or transgender.

And the first step in correcting that nekulturny behavior pattern is take a long hard look in the mirror, holding yourself accountable for that bad behavior and stop blaming being transgender for people not liking you.

Yeah, we have people who irrationally hate on us.  But your sucky personality is probably exacerbating that dislike in your case.   As my fellow writer Denny Upkins once said and I'm going to remix his original words here, being trans does not give you an all access pass to show your azz to the world.

So time to get busy correcting those defective personality traits that make people not like you and stop trying to deflect blame for you personality shortcomings on being trans.

Conducting yourself with decorum and class will get you far not only in our activist ranks, it will carry you a long way in life period.

Thank You For Voting For Me For Houston Pride Parade Grand Marshal

The opportunity to vote for the 2017 Houston Pride Parade grand marshal closed at 5 PM CST yesterday afternoon, no now it's all about counting the votes and finding out who won later this month

I want to thank all of you who did vote for me and helped spread the word about my candidacy for it side I have been quite busy this month fighting the Lone Star Forces of Intolerance, and attending two conferences in Boston and Orlando that were set up months before I agreed to place my name in nomination for 2017 female pride grand marshal.

I won't find out until later this month if I made history by becoming only the third African American female grand marshal in Houston pride parade history and the first ever Black transgender one.

It would also be wonderful if Lou Weaver made that history with me.  He would not only become the first ever trans masculine Houston Pride parade grand marshal, if we both won in 2017 it would would be the first time ever for ANY pride parade to have trans masculine and trans feminine parade grand marshals concurrently serving in the same parade.

We'll see if I made history again in a few weeks
   

It's About Our Kids

I was in a panel discussion last Thursday night and was asked the question what keeps me motivated to keep fighting despite the odds for trans human rights coverage.

My answer to that question?  "It's all about the trans kids."

It has alway been my goal to make it better for the trans kids coming behind me, just aa the trans advocates who preceded me had my generation in mind when they fought they oppressors of their day.

I'm paying it forward, because as the song 'The Greatest Love Of All' that Whitney Houston so eloquently sang says, the children are our future.   It's why they are being attacked by our pseudo faith based opposition and why we must just as vigorously defend their humanity and human rights.

It's our job to plant the human rights trees whose shade we may never get to sit in.  Now if we happen to be around when the trees grow tall enough to produce the shade that will shelter our trans kids when they are our ages from the blazing sun of intolerance, and we get to enjoy the benefits of our labor we're putting in now, that's all good as well.

But yes, when we're talking about the bottom line as to who we are fighting for, it's all about our trans kids.   .  

The Race And Everyone Else Enters With Me As Well

On this 23rd anniversary of the 1994 day I nervously clocked in for work one month before my birthday to begin the public coming out as moi in the middle of IAH's Terminal C, one of the quotes that has  stuck with me through this journey in this part of my life is one from sociologist, civil rights leader and educator Anna Julia Cooper.

'“Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole Negro race enters with me.”

That's true for me as well, but I also have a few extra groups tagging along as I get the blessings and opportunities to blaze trails on behalf of myself and the communities I represent in this six foot two inch tall intersectional body.

Everywhen and anywhere I go, the race enters with me as well.  I'm always cognizant of that as a Black trans woman.   I'm always acutely aware that my presentation must be on point, I must be knowledgeable about many subjects, and fearless about speaking my truth in a world determined to silence or shut down my voice

And it's a role that I have gleefully accepted since that day I stepped into Terminal C and haven't looked back.

Why No TransGriot April Fools Prank Post This Year

Normally as part of a longstanding TransGriot April Fool's Day blog tradition, I would have taken the time to think about and unleash upon you a prank post.

And as some of you who fell for them in previous years know, I'm pretty good at writing them.

But because of that 2016 election cycle that was dominated by fake news and the real and serious costs it had for our country in addition to having an ongoing barf inducing April Fools Day joke sitting in the Oval Office, I decided not to prank y'all this year because the wounds from that election are still fresh on everyone's minds.

Maybe next April 1 I'll hit y'all with one, but I'm going to cut y'all some slack this year.  

Transgender Day Of Visibility 2017

Today is the 8th annual celebration of the International Transgender Day of Visibility

It got its start in 2009 because its founder, Rachel Crandall, believed we needed a day that was the polar opposite on the TDOR that focused on the folks who are living and our community successes.

One of the points I wanted and needed to drive home on this day is that visibility matters.

It is only because we have come out of the shadows, told our stories and gotten more politically active is why we have made the societal progress that we have made and the hatemongers see us as a threat worthy of spending millions to oppress.

Trans rights are human rights.   They know it, we know it, and we have the facts and the moral high ground in this human rights struggle.

That visibility is also important for trans communities of color.   Far too often in the Black community there is this impression that being trans is a 'white thing'.  We have far too many sellout Black pastors and faux faith based haters in our ranks busy trying to use that impression to deny our existence,

No, boo boo kitties.  Black trans folks exist.   Gender variant people have been around as long as humanity has existed and live on nearly every continent ,including on the African continent where humanity started,  

We aren't going away.

Black trans folks are also leaders, and it's past time the TBLGQ movement recognized that and the undeniable fact that if they want to win this human rights fight, it will be needed and necessary to hire us and pay us for our talents and abilities. If you don't wish to do that then don't get mad or upset when we build our own leadership tables.

So stand tall, be proud and when you're comfortable to do so, be visible.

You Just Proved My Point, Gays For Trump Conservafool

Little did I know when I wrote my innocent tweet that it would start a Twitter dragging in which myself, Alvin McEwen of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters went in on this fool Peter Boykin,the head of Gays For Trump, with another gay conservafool jumping in to dig the hole even deeper for themselves.

Note the racist response to the original tweet.

As James Baldwin pointed out in a 1984 Village Voice interview,  the gay world is no more prepared to accept Black people than anywhere else in society.  We as also painfully aware of the fact that in elements of GLBTQ world, there are folks who are part of this community who can be just as racist, biphobic, transphobic, sexist, misogynist, homophobic as their cis straight counterparts.

When they combine that willful cluelessness with swimming in white privilege, they come off as even more douchebaggy.   Being part of the LGBTQ community doesn't change the fact that you by dint of your white skin have more privilege than any POC member of the community ever will.  

One of the ridiculous comments Boykin deployed early in the thread was holding up his biracial boyfriend as 'evidence' he wasn't racist, even though he'd already demonstrated it by the racist meme he aimed at me in addition to being the president of the Gays For Trump, and making the statement in favor of continued NC discrimination aimed at transgender people which is why I wrote the Twitter comment aimed at him and other like minded gay and lesbians in the first place.  

And your point in doing so?   Strom Thurmond had a Black daughter, but that still didn't stop him from being a lifelong segregationist and fighting mightily until he died to oppress her and her people.

Ann Coulter is dating Jimmie Walker.   Dating a non white person is not a get out of jail free pass to keep you from getting dragged for your casual racism .

But all your facts free ranting did was prove my point that some of you white gays and lesbians are not only bigger human rights oppressors than the GOP, you are gleefully participating in pushing unjust legislation for whatever self hating reason.

And once again, if you voted for Trump, especially if you're trans, you are a sellout to this community who voted for your own oppression.   When the GOP is done messing with trans folks, they will be coming to repeal your rights including your hard won ability to get married. .

Your pink sheets are showing, so don't get mad when the people who that unjust legislation is being aimed at call you on your crap.
 

The Existence Of Trans Women Is Not Up For Debate, Period

Once again we have a situation in which a cis woman has put her pumps in her mouth, spouted loud and wrong opinions about trans women in the media, and gotten mad and because she's being called out for uttering the loud and wrong disco era TERF flavored lies about trans women.

Well, not caring if you are mad Chimamanda Adichie.   You had the option of letting trans women speak for themselves, but instead you waded into a topic you know nothing about and are getting called out on the Net and by us for it.

Let's say this one more time so there is no mistaking it.   Trans women are women.

Now repeat that for the people in the back who didn't or the transphobic bigots who didn't want to hear it.

People have spouted their loud and wrong opinions about trans women (and trans men) since the 70's with little pushback from us.  The most gleeful anti- trans cheerleaders have been the TERF's (trans exclusionary radical feminists), of which many of them were lesbians.  

Because of the way that transitions were done at that time, we were encouraged to hide and assimilate in plain sight.  That had the unintended effect of silencing our voices to push back against this onslaught of anti-trans rhetoric coming from Janice Raymond, Mary Daly, Germaine Greer and other predominately white second wave feminists.

Meanwhile, it was trans folks like Christine Jorgensen and other people fighting local battles through the 70's, 80's and 90's who were holding up the trans banner while fighting for their humanity and human rights.

But because we were hiding in plain sight, and y'all had a louder megaphone unless we were outed like Renee Richards, Tula and a too long list of trans women at that time were, our voices were effectively silenced.  

Now we trans people are unapologetically out and proud of who we are, and we are going to speak our minds, tell our stories and defend our human rights and our humanity as we do so.  We're also going to call your cis behinds out when you disrespect or attempt to legislatively oppress us.

Don't like it that trans people are standing up to defend our humanity and human rights? Too bad.  You can roll your eyes, suck your teeth and snake your necks all you wish about what I just wrote,

But the facts are, and I'm going to say this one more time, that trans women are women.

We are beyond sick and tired of 40 years of predominately white cis women, TERF's and others having a mostly unobstructed run of facts free sliming of the trans community for your fun, profit and personal electoral gain.

We in Trans World really don't care if you or anyone else don't like it when the trans community calls bullshyt on cis people's unsolicited opinions about our lives, because those unsolicited opinions result in the deaths of non-white trans women .

And that's unacceptable to me, our trans men and other trans women. 

If you want to learn about trans women and our lives, how about doing the simple thing of actually talking to a trans person, reading our books, inviting us to speak (and paying us fairly to do so) on college campuses and having us do the media interviews to talk about our lives. 

That is the only way to accurately learn what it is like to walk in our pumps and live our trans feminine lives.

Just as there is no universal experience for being a woman on this planet, neither is there a universal experience for being a trans woman.  

But the salient point I want you cis women to take away from this is that the existence of trans women is not up for debate, period.

We exist, and we're tired of you cis women and your allies trying to deny the obvious fact that we do.

The Voices Of Black Trans People Need To Be Heard At These Press Conferences & Rallies

There was a  #StopSB6 rally that Equality Texas organized starting at 11:45 AM to push back on SB 6 that I wanted to attend but after a few moments of observing it, the problem with it became glaringly apparent to me.

While I agreed with many of the comments that were expressed in the time that I did watch it, and I appreciated the fact you has a trans masculine and trans feminine person speaking it was problematic in the wake of the conclusion of a month is which we lost five Black trans women, not one Black trans person was tapped to speak at it.

And oh yeah, I was there in Austin to lobby against SB 6.

The reason I'm posting about is that I was pissed off having to watch a Black pastor from San Antonio earlier today violate several commandments while talking about the effects of their non discrimination ordinance, and thinking about the fact that so far, we haven't had anyone from my demographic group  being shown as speaking for the trans community and against SB 6.

Visibility matters.  It especially matters when we are fighting a pitched battle to educate and inform my African American community about trans issues.

It is important that we have Black TBLGIQ people and our allies vocal in this trans rights fight be seen and heard during these press conferences because there is this mistaken belief in elements of the Black community that being trans is a 'white thang' .  And why wouldn't they have that perception when the only people my people see speaking in the media in opposition to SB 6 that purport to rep all demographics of the community are overwhelmingly white?

May I also remind you that some of the people who share my ethnic background are Texas legislators that will be voting for or against this SB 6 bill.

Black trans people aren't just here to entertain you, provide melanin for your photo opps or be the 'tragic transsexuals'.  We're trans folks trying to live our lives to the best of our ability. We helped jump off Stonewall.   We're pioneers and innovative leaders in this movement.

We're also more than qualified to talk about trans human rights issues, especially when we show up for everyone's human rights fights in addition to the one our people have waged since 1619.

I'm disappointed that once again an opportunity was missed to send a message to the assembled media that Black trans people exist and their lives matter as well.

We Black trans people exist.  That message to my people, however in order to be received, sometimes has to be sent by people who look like me.

I Repeat. NAACP, Where You At?

Their new ad slogan is 'The NAACP Is Today', but I don't see you addressing the very real issues that transgender people of African descent face today here in the States. If the NAACP is claiming to represent African-Americans, then I respectfully submit that it includes me as a transgender African-American as well. -TransGriot,  June 21, 2008

I wrote these words in 2008, and sadly, I'm still having to ask the same damned question nine years and dozens more deaths of Black trans women later

Yo NAACP, where you at?

We have had seven trans women killed in the opening two months of 2017, with six of them being African American.  The silence coming from the NAACP is not only deafening, but increasingly irritating to the Black trans community.

But if it had been cis Black men being killed at this rate by the po-po's, y'all would be making a beeline for the National Press Club, various media outlets, having town halls across the country to generate nonstop conversation about it, and standing arm in arm with Congressional Black Caucus legislators demanding that Congress act to stem the tide of the violence.

Instead, what we have here when it comes to Black trans women being murdered is cricket chirping silence from the oldest civil rights organization in our community, and that needs to stop.

Where are you NAACP when Black transpeople need you in this time of challenge and controversy to stand up for us?   Are we not Black enough for y'all?  Do our Black trans lives that are being savagely taken matter to you?   Does the fact that many of these trans women being killed are under age 40 even move you to act on our behalf?

So what's up NAACP?  Inquiring minds wanna know, especially in Black Trans World.

Black trans people are Black people.  We are also the Black men and Black women we say we are.  In many cases we fight for our very existence in the same neighborhoods cis Black people live in and we grew up as part of.  We Black trans people are also there when it comes to fighting for the causes that are important to the Black community as a whole,

Now it's past time, NAACP for you to stand with us.

We Black trans folks not only want the NAACP to talk about it, but consistently be about standing up for the humanity and human rights of Black trans folks.  We need y'all as the oldest civil rights organization repping our people being a committed partner at the table doing so like white orgs are starting to do and the National Black Justice Coalition and Transgender Law Center have been.

And if you need info, how about chatting with Black Transwomen, Inc or the Trans Persons of Color Coalition to help start your Black Trans 101 'ejumacation' to craft that message, or even better, hire some Black trans folks to handle that job?

With a hostile administration now assuming power in Washington DC and GOP controlled state legislatures aiming anti-trans legislation at us that will disproportionately harm Black trans folks, the time is now NAACP for you to step up your leadership game on behalf of Black trans people.

So I will ask again the question that many of us in Black Trans World are anxiously awaiting the answer to

When will we see the NAACP step up to the plate and call out the scourge of anti-trans violence aimed at Black trans women in the same way that we see you fearlessly speak truth to power on other issues of importance to the Black community?   .

Own Your Power - Get Out Of The House

We've lost three trans women in the span of a week and five this month and I can understand why people would feel anxious, scared and reluctant to be out in public. But what can you do short term to push back against the anti-trans violence being aimed at us?

Be visible.

Step outside your homes.  Be visible.  Even if you are just stepping outside for 30 minutes to go to a local store or the mall, taking a short walk in your neighborhood, hanging out with your home girls at some restaurant or coffee shop and go back home after you do so.

Being visible in this case is a trans revolutionary act.   Our opponents and haters want us to be scared to go out and be in public spaces that we have a constitutional and human right to be in.

Don't give in to that fear.  Defy it.

Coming up with the long range strategies, tactics and policies that we'll need to implement to reduce anti-trans violence will be something that we can't do overnight, and falls in the category of a long term project.

We must be cognizant of the reality as trans women that walking around in a female body on Planet Earth will always have issues attached to it and adjust accordingly.  We also have to deal with the reality that because of systemic anti-Blackness, Black womanhood has always been demonized and under attack.

Those are issues that we'll have to work on along with our cis Black feminine counterparts and our allies.  But we can do something right now to take back our power to deal with the anxiety that we feel in the wake of these latest trans murders and it's deceptively simple.

Be out and visible   Be your unapologetically trans self in public, and bump the haters.
 .
This is the best way in the short term you can honor the people we've lost to anti-trans violence.  

We Black Trans Women Stand Up For Everyone - When Will People Stand Up For Us?

One of the things that was said during the emotional memorial service we held in Houston for Chyna Gibson Sunday was a comment that had some profound truth backing it.

Diamond Stylz in her comment to the assembled Montrose Center crowd was this: "We Black trans women are there for everyone's movements.  We're there for gay people.  We're there for the women's march.   We're there for Black Lives Matter.   When will people be there for us?"

Indeed, that is the question for these Trumpian times.  We Black trans women stand up for everyone and their human rights.  When will you begin to consistently stand up for ours?  When will people consistently be there for us?

We Black trans women are walking examples of intersectionality. We are an undeniable part of the Black community.  We are part of the TBLGQ one. We are part of the Black SGL community We are trailblazing women doing our part to uplift all the communities we intersect and interact with.

If there is a human rights cause or struggle out there, you can count on Black trans women to practice what we preach about intersectionality and be on the front lines with you.

Whether it's at Ferguson, MO and elsewhere with Black Lives Matter, speaking from the women's march stages in DC and elsewhere. march for a woman's right to choose, at a anti-police violence rally, speaking at a memorial service, or any cause that requires us to be there in solidarity with our people, we're there to not only lend our voices to it, but in some case we will step up to lead or organize it.

But when we Black trans women need you to stand with us on issues important to our community, far too often many of you are MIA.

Black trans women are catching hell from multiple angles.  We have people hating on us because we are transgender . We have people hating on us for having the audacity to exist.  We have people hating on us because we are unapologetically Black.  We have people hating on us because of our #BlackTGirlMagic.  We have people hating on us because we are walking this planet in feminine bodies.

But despite that, we rise, survive and thrive as proud Black trans women.   But we're not superhuman. We're facing near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence aimed at us, and it is going to take a village to help us stem the tide and stop it.   Four of the five trans women killed due to anti-trans hate violence in 2017 have been African American, and three of the four murdered this year have been under age 40.

That's unacceptable to us.  It should be just as important to the cis Black community and all the communities we intersect and interact with that Black trans women get to live long, healthy and productive lives as it is a Prime Directive imperative for us.

So where y'all at Black community?  When will elements of you peeps in the faith community stop cooning it up with right wing politicians and white fundamentalist Christians gleefully using the Bible to attack our humanity?

When will you, NAACP, Urban League, and other traditional Black civil rights orgs step up and loudly and consistently call out the injustice aimed at Black trans women?

When will you cis Black trans attracted men get over your shame and guilt issues, stand up, and boldly proclaim to the world you love and stand with trans women?  

Cis Black women, when will you call out the unacceptable level of violence aimed at us and help us do the ongoing work of building sisterhood in our ranks that will be required to stem the tide of it?

Black politicians at all levels of government, when will you step up to the plate to use your political influence and bully pulpits as President Obama and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch did while in office to call out unjust legislation aimed at us and author just legislation and policies that will help us?

Black SGL community, when will you call out your fellow peeps in LGBTQ World and let them know that shadily attacking trans people is unacceptable, and diligently work to eradicate transphobia in our community ranks?

When will you Black community, make it clear that demonization of Black trans people will not be tolerated inside or outside our community?

We're anxiously awaiting in Black trans feminine world your answer to all those questions.

A Busy H-town Day For Me

This Sunday finds me doing multiple events in my hometown

There's a rally at Houston City Hall organized by a coalition of groups taking place at 3 PM that myself and a long list of Houston area advocates and leaders will be speaking.

Some of the organizations that are part of this 'We The People Connect The Dots' event and march. are Fiel Houston . National Organization for Women (NOW) - Houston Area , Houston LGBT Caucus, Texas Coalition of Black Democrats Harris County, Black Lives Matter: Houston, Muslim Society of Houston, International Center for Spiritual and Social Activism, SEIU, Pantsuit Republic, Harris County Democratic Party, Women & Allies, and KPFT-FM's'The Prison Show 

After my turn at the mic, I leave downtown and head over to the nearby Guava Lamp club for a Pride Houston Grand Marshal Nominees Meet and Greet.  It's not an official Pride Houston event, but it gives people a chance to meet us and put faces to the names on the ballot. 

Voting has already started for who will be the 2017 Pride Houston Parade Grand Marshals and run through April 9.  That event starts at 5 PM and runs until 8 PM

Going to be a busy day, but when it comes to repping my community, don't have a problem taking the time to do so

Happy Valentine's Day, My Trans Valentines!

I may be single again on Valentine's Day, but that won't stop me from showing love to all my trans valentines today.  

Hey, that rhymed.    Sometimes the poet in me comes out at unexpected times.  But back to the post.

#MyTransValentine will go to a long list of people

I'll start with all my trans kids.   I don't and at this point in my life probably won't have kids of my own, and I have two blood nieces. but I'm so proud you have made me your Auntie Monica.

I  take that role seriously as your adopted aunt, and I'm just as proud of all of you as you have repeatedly told me you are proud of me for simply living your lives.   I'm even more proud to witness that and some of you have stepped up to be the eloquent and amazing leaders the entire community needs now and not just for your peer group.

My Trans Valentines are also the Mama and Papa Bears who are raising my trans nieces and nephews and working hard to ensure they not only become the best people they can be, but are tenaciously fighting to protect their humanity and human rights.

Love y'all just as much as y'all have told me on numerous occasions that you love me.

The Mama Bears have begun to add to that mission of protecting their kids, being the moms and dads many adult trans people lost when their blood families turned their backs on them for transitioning.

It's needed and necessary to help some of the adult trans folks in that situation heal from the hurt and pain that separation caused.

My Trans Valentines also go out to all of you who are in relationships while trans.   Loving a trans person is a revolutionary act, and when both members of that couple are trans, it is a powerful statement in light of the fact we now have an administration in place for at least the next four years that is hostile to our lives.

There's also a long list of trans masculine and trans feminine people who I admire and look up to for various reasons who are my Trans Valentines

Another Trans Valentine goes to all the cis women who have my back.   You have included me in your sistahcircles.  You have given me advice and told me your stories good, bad and indifferent going back to your girlhoods and your current lives.   Because you did so, you made me a better person in this ongoing evolutionary process of me becoming and being that quality Black woman I aspire to be.

You've also been there for me when I've needed to vent or get some 'ejumacation' on how to navigate the world while inhabiting a feminine body and look fly while doing so.

And finally, my last Trans Valentine goes to you loyal TransGriot readers.  Some of you donate on a regular basis to my blog, while others of you share my posts and  tweets.  It's thanks to you I've been around for 11 years, over 10K poss and 6.5 million hits since 2006 and i deeply appreciate it..

Happy Valentine's Day, my trans valentines.