World War T Is a Protracted Battle, Not A Conservative Political Blitzkrieg

In the wake of the Obergefell v Hodges ruling the conservative movement lost in 2015, that was the moment they decided to shift tactics and commit to politically attacking the transgender community.

On the surface, we looked like an easy target.  We don't have large well funded national or statewide political organizations.  We're an estimated 5% of the US population at best.  We have people in the lesbian and gay ranks of the community who have been documented engaging in hating on and repeatedly throwing us under the political bus since the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion we kicked off.

We aren't as well known to the general public as our lesbian and gay counterparts even though we've always been here and part of the diverse mosaic of human life.   Our media coverage comes in bursts.

So when the  Right Wing started the World War T attacks on trans people in their media, in their conservative 'religious' ranks, and eventually the Republican Party legislative win with the aid of our longtime enemies in the TERF movement, they thought they were going to roll to a conservative blitzkrieg, then move back to attacking the then Black POTUS and focusing their efforts back on their longtime enemies in the LGB community.

It isn't turning out as easy as they thought.  
If the GOP thought we trans folks would just roll over and cry in the corner as they trampled on our human rights, they were sadly mistaken. What they are finding out is that we are a far more formidable opponent than they assumed we'd be.

When you have had to for decades fight tooth and nail, scrap, claw and rumble every day just to have your humanity, human rights and your life respected, you're not just going to roll over and meekly whimper in the corner as the Right Wing Noise Machine rolls into action to take away our human rights

You're going to fight them with every fiber of your being.

And we weren't alone.   We have allies and some pretty potent ones.  There's the bi community, that knows firsthand what it's like to be marginalized and erased themselves.  There are lesbian and gay peeps who get it that we are stronger together when we fight the conservative oppressors.  

There are cis women who get it that trans women are women, and realize that some of our issues are their issues, and welcome our help in tackling the issues of importance to them.  There are cis men who get it that trans men are men, and are forging those needed and necessary ties of brotherhood.

There are politicians who recognize that trans rights are international human rights, and are increasingly moving in various nations, as Canada will emphatically demonstrate today, to help pass human rights legislation and policies that protect our human rights and allow us to be the persons we are.

The best ones we've gained so far are the Mama and Papa Bears, the parents of trans kids.   When you peeps started attacking their kids, you brought them into the fight.

You also got peeps who were sitting on the fence on our side because you made the tactical mistake of attacking kids, and it made you transphobic conservafools look like the mean bullies you are

We have also seen the timely and much needed increase of trans masculine leadership, and especially the rise of trans masculine and trans feminine leaders of color.  We've also seen an increase in progressive church folk willing to step into this fight and say no to their loud and wrong conservative brethren cherry picking scripture to Bible beat people.

We've also seen an increase of trans characters in popular culture.   We do need more diversity in those characters including more trans masculine ones.   We need diversity in the stories being told beyond the 'tragic transsexual' meme, an end to cis men playing trans women and giving roles that call for trans women to trans women first.

But the overall trend line from Hollywood is positive.

We are and continue to tell our beautifully human stories whether in written form via books and blogs or in video blogs and documentaries..

We've been fighting for our human rights in the modern era for decades and are a lot more politically savvy than the right wing assumes we are.  Ask the lesbian and gay peeps still mad because we backed a skinny Black Illinois state senator with a funny name in the 2008 Democratic primary and then raised $10K for his ultimately successful run to the presidency.

Ask the now former Republican SC state senator who tried to pass anti-trans legislation that was beaten in large part to our trans kids leading the charge

We have also seen an increase in trans people willing to run for public office.   We have been pleased to see in other parts of the world trans people win election to their national legislatures as Geraldine Roman did last year in the Philippines.  

We have more trans folks running for public office at their city, state and federal level because frankly, we needed to.

And the number of people who state that they are friends with, know or have a trans person in their families is growing.

Like any war, we're going to lose people.  We're going to win some battles and lose some.  But the wonderful thing to note here is that World War T isn't a conservative political blitzkrieg.

This is a war the conservative movement started against trans people that is not only going to be a protracted struggle, but in the end one we transpeople win because we have the moral high ground and are determined to do so.

Texas Trans Kids, The Fight Ain't Over

At this point we all know what happened on May 21, 2017  in what will forever known in Texas history as Discrimination Sunday.  

The Texas House and Senate Republican majorities rammed through the unjust SB 2078 and  HB 3859 to satisfy their oppressor genes and to satisfy their right wing pastors and base.

As the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr stated, "We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

Yes, this was a loss, but it was only one battle in the long road we are traveling towards trans liberation and ultimate victory in World War T.   The world is increasingly coming to the realization that trans rights are international human rights, but as usual, the conservative movement is on the wrong side of history.

Texas trans kids, know that this fight isn't over.   I, your parents, your trans elders, our allies and all who love you will continue to fight to ensure that you have better quality lives than we did growing up,  I have the infinite hope that we will in my remaining lifetime on this space rock emerge victorious and see Texas stop attacking your humanity and instead embrace it as we do.

I have the infinite hope this will happen because I see the determination in your and your parents eyes to make this a reality, and it inspires me to keep fighting.
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Texas is your state, too.  It, the state seal, the Texas flag and our state capitol building in Austin are not the wholly owned subsidiaries of the Texas Republican Party.   This diverse multicultural state will be blue again, and once that happens we will once again see common sense legislation coming from under the Pink Dome.

But we have a lot of work to do to get it to that point, and Discrimination Sunday made it clear what we must do starting today and in every election cycle at all levels of government in our state from now on is #FireTheTexasGOP.

If it takes some of us running for office to flush transphobia from Texas government, then that what's going to and must happen.

They messed with you, Texas trans kids.  It's time for them to pay a political price for that, the same one that Debbie Riddle and Gilbert Pena did for sponsoring anti-trans legislation in the 2015 session.

They thought that attacking you would help them in their Texas GOP reelection campaigns, but both of them found themselves when this 85th Texas legislative session started in January out of office

Know beyond a shadow of a doubt Texas trans kids, you are loved, you are worth fighting for, and we will not rest until the Lone Star State realizes that the humanity and human rights of trans people are not a political wedge issue.

My Thoughts About Brenda Bostick's Murder

So we now know the name of the tenth person we've lost to anti-trans violence in the US in 2017, and as I feared,  she shared my ethnic background in Brenda Bostick.

As of yet, haven't heard of any memorial service or candlelight vigil happening for Brenda, but if and when I do, I'll pass that information along as I receive it.

But I must admit that Brenda's murder is hitting me a lot harder than the other nine trans women killed so far this year for several reasons.  At age 59, she is the oldest trans women killed in 2017.

Brenda's murder has me in my 'there but for the grace of God' and 'it could have been me' feelings  It's the fact she died as I was celebrating my 55th birthday.  It's the fact that Brenda was just a mere four years older than me when she was brutally attacked and left unconscious on that April 25 evening before she was found near that Chelsea neighborhood Five Guys on Seventh Avenue.

It has me thinking about what I was doing at that moment, and on that date and at the 10:30 PM EDT time she was found I was in Dallas finishing up a hectic first day of our just concluded BTAC 2017 conference in which we had folks from the New York area in attendance.

It's an event in which I got to hug later that week one of my trans elders in Sharyn Grayson, who had just gone through surgery, and promised her I'd do a better job of calling and staying in contact with her.    

It's also Miss Sharyn's 'They're killing our babies' words that reverberate in my head every time I hear the news about one of our young trans sisters dying or I'm in the process of writing the TransGriot stories about their lives tragically being cut short.

Now these wastes of DNA aren't stopping with killing our young trans women, they are going after our trans elders.   And it's sending me into Maya Wilkes mode thinking about it.

It also has me thinking about my trans elders and their safety right now.

If you think that the anti-trans rhetoric being spouted by the Republican party and right wing pastors isn't fueling this spike in anti-trans murders and hate crimes, then you are being willfully clueless about that.

But I have to talk to you cisgender Black people for a moment.  

Once again I have to ask the question, where are you NAACP?   Why aren't you as loud and vocal about the murders of Black trans people as you have been for the Jordan Edwardses, Trayvon Martins and Mike Browns of the world?  

Is it because they aren't being killed by police but by other Black people?   Is it because the people being targeted are Black transgender women?    Is it because the NAACP as an organization has an internal transphobia problem that keeps them from using their gravitas filled voice and bully pulpit to speak out loudly to our community that it is wrong to discriminate against and kill trans people, and the first place it needs to cease and desist is in the Black community?

Where are you Congressional Black Caucus?   Black church?   Black Lives Matter and other orgs working to uplift our people?   Black SGL people?

Black trans women are there standing up for everyone else's movements and causes, but as my sis Diamond Stylz said a few months ago, when will people stand up for and with us?

Let a trans sister know what the problem is so we can address and solve it.

If Black lives matter, then Black trans lives matter as well since we are a part of the kente cloth fabric of the Black community  Brenda Bostick's Black trans life mattered.

 I don't want Brenda's death and the deaths of the other eight Black trans women we have lost in 2017 to be for nothing.  I want something substantive to come from these tragic losses, and to me that substance would be to permanently recognize that Black trans women are Black women, and Black trans people are Black people.

And to borrow Dee Dee Watters' words, 'Before I am trans, I am Black.'   If we realize that undeniable truth in Black Trans World, what's taking y'all so long cis Black America to recognize it?

Yes we Black trans folks, parents of Black trans people and our allies want to hear you say those Black Trans Lives Matter words, pray you mean them and aren't selling us woof tickets when you do so
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It's even more important to us in a time in which we no longer have a trans friendly POTUS and attorney general in power who sees and hears us at the federal government level, and hostile Republican run state governments gleefully trying to pass unjust anti-trans legislation.

But what we'd love in Black Trans World even more is if your actions as cis Black people and the organizations you are a part of begin to consistently back up those spoken words to prove you love and support your trans siblings.

Unfortunately if and when this happens, Brenda won't be around to see it, and will be resting in power and peace.  But it does need to happen as soon as possible.  

Bloggers Are An Afterthought Again At GLAAD Media Awards

Bloggers are being treated like stepchildren by GLAAD again.

A year after we TBLGQ bloggers had to raise hell just to get the Outstanding Blogger category reinstated after it was dropped from the GLAAD Media Awards entirely, looks like GLAAD is backsliding once again into the problematic behaviors that pissed many of us in Blogging World off and compelled us to write about it in the first place.

In the drop down category menu for the New York awards show that is taking place tonight at the New York Hilton Midtown, there is no mention of the Outstanding Blog award nominees.  

In fact one of the reasons my statuesque behind will be in Texas tonight and not New York for it is because the blogging category isn't even going to get an onstage presentation.

If you claim that bloggers are indispensable to the movement and jump starting policy and societal conversations about TBLGQ and other issues, then your GLAAD Media Awards show actions and how the blogging category is handled doesn't convey the 'we're valued' sentiment to me and other bloggers who put in the time and effort to create informative quality content for the readers of our platforms.

And I'm saying that as someone who received a Special Recognition award that is sitting on my shelf just a few months ago during the GLAAD Gala San Francisco.

I'm not feeling the love when a GLAAD Award Best Blogger category I've now been nominated for twice and will hopefully win in a few hours, doesn't even get the prestigious respect of being handed out onstage.

TransGriot Update: The Outstanding Blog award finally went to Alvin McEwen's Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters tonight.  This was his fourth nomination for it.      

Thank You For A Fab 55th Birthday!

Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone here in Houston, Texas and around the world who played a role in making my 55th birthday a special one.

Even the H-town weather cooperated to make Cuatro de Mayo  a special day.  Blue skies, low humidity and temps in the low 70's.  A perfect Houston Chamber of Commerce weather day.

I know many of you wanted to be at the surprise party but couldn't because of your work schedules. so maybe it's time for me to actually plan a birthday party for next time.

I have 365 days until the next one, so maybe next year since it's on a Friday I'll actually get to throw a 70's themed (or whatever i come up with)  party with music and alcohol from the 70's through the 90's .

I am feeling a Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler today.  Wonder if they have that retro alcohol at Spec's?

But once again it was all of you peeps in my life who made this day special.  Whether it was my blood family, my chosen family, my fam in Da Ville, my BTAC one, my CAL-UA one, my classmates or the activist one, you made sure you let me know early and often starting with my international fam on the 3rd y'all were thinking about me.

I can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy lives to shower me with appreciation and love.

Whether it was the surprise birthday party at Pride Photos with Eric, Januari, Lou, Jessica, Erika, Crimson and Audrey, dinner at El Tiempo with Dee Dee and Kandice, or the hundreds of messages, texts, phone calls (that are still coming in as I write this) , once again I deeply appreciate everything that you did personally to show me some love.

Until my next Cuatro de Mayo celebration.

Why I'm Proudly Stating My Age Today

During one of the BTAC 2017 panels I was on last week, a question came from one of the attendees as to why since I look fabulous at 55, why I was stating my age to the world.

There are a few reasons why I'm doing so, and I can't think of a better time of laying out why I do so than on my birthday.

First off, I'm at the point in my wonderful trans flavored life in which every birthday I reach is a happy one.  That 55 year old milestone birthday is magnified for me as an unapologetic Black trans woman who has witnessed and documented far too many of our Black trans feminine younglings die way before they reach my age.

I've also received the blessing and opportunity to meet, talk to, at times mentor and watch an amazing group of young Black trans women who are just doing the damned trans human rights thing and making me proud as I witness their evolutionary growth into some fabulous women.

They are and will accomplish things I haven't even dared dream could happen.

We have a live fast and die young mentality that needs to change in Black Trans World.  That mentality feeds into some of the negative behaviors like silicone pumping and risky sexual encounters.   I don't want to be a pretty corpse.  When that time comes, I want to be one that lived her life well, did stuff that mattered, and leaves this community in better shape than it was when I arrived.

And frankly, one of the other reasons I reveal my age is that our young Black trans women need to see examples of what 55 and Black trans feminine looks like.

I didn't always share that sentiment.  When I turned 50 I was bummed about it and and made the mistake of whining about it while having drinks at a northeast Washington DC bar during the 2012 NBJC OUT on the Hill conference with Kimberley McLeod and Janet Mock that September evening.

Yes, that Janet Mock

Janet quickly put an end to that nonsense by calling me on my crap.  She and Kimberley reminded me of all the trans sisters that we'd lost that year who hadn't reached their 40th, much less 30th birthdays and here I was complaining about the blessing of reaching 50 years on this space rock.

Janet also said that when she turned 30 the next year, she was going to celebrate that milestone birthday.

I pondered what both women said, took another sip of my amaretto sour, concluded that my sisters were right and told them so.  Since then I've basically had the attitude that every birthday I reach is a happy one.

I have some role models to look up to when it comes to being a fabulous and 50 Black woman.   Some of them are my high school and collegiate classmates.  Some are in Hollywood.  Some are my former co-workers.  Some are inside the community, some aren't.   Some are just women of any age and ethnic background I admire for a lot of reasons.  

But they all give me a template for role modeling and putting my own interpretation on what that looks like for Black Trans World because I am quite aware of the fact that I'm looked at as a iconic leader in this community, even if I don't feel that way at times or try and fail to downplay it.

Yep, Moni's has hit 55 today.   On to the next milestone birthday in 2022, if I'm blessed to make it.

But with a maternal grandmother who turned 95, a great aunt who lived to be 102 and a mon who is still celebrating anniversaries of her 39th birthday, I like my chances.
 

BTAC 2017 Post Conference Thoughts

Like many of my BTAC trans fam, I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep and get adjusted into being back in a world that can be hostile at times to trans people.  

I'm also trying to deal with the reality that I'll have to impatiently wait 365 days before another opportunity presents itself to spend an amazing and empowering week in Dallas with the peeps who I am blessed to have as part of my chosen family.

And I already miss them.   Oh well, that's what phones and Facebook are for.  We'll continue to connect by chatting with each other until it's time for us to meet in Dallas once again.

And yeah, I have another birthday coming up in 48 hours.  

Our sixth annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference is now another one for the history books, and we already know the dates on which #BTAC2018 will happen (April 23-29).

Your job for those of you who wished you could be at this year's edition but couldn't is find a way to get there for the life changing experience that is our Afrocentric trans family reunion.

We had a lot of first time BTAC attendees this year.  We had a group come from Birmingham.  More peeps from NYC, the Carolinas, the ATL, Kansas City, Seattle.  The DC and Maryland peeps were in the BTAC house .  Some of our BTAC family like Dr. Kortney R. Ziegler returned, while others who couldn't make it were in our thoughts during our week long BTAC 2017 event.

We'll also start in a few weeks the BTAC 2017 Regional events in which we bring a taste of BTAC to your city or state..  

This is the early schedule, and so far BTAC regionals will happen for Seattle (July 15-16), Kansas (July 28-29), Tennessee (August 5-6), Baltimore (August 19-20), Philadelphia (September 9) Houston (September 23) Atlanta (September 30)  California (October 14-15).

The New York and Carolinas BTAC Regionals events are TBD at this time.   There's also the possibility that more many happen, so as I get information about them and the dates from BTA, I'll pass that along to you.

So what would I like to see at BTAC 2018?   More representation from Houston and other cities in Texas for starters.  We had people come from Austin and Amarillo.  Houston and the DFW area were well represented since it's their hometown and home state event, but would love to see people from Corpus Christi, San Antonio, the Valley and other cities across the Lone Star State come.

I deeply appreciate the media peeps who came like David Taffet of the Dallas Voice, Dezjorn Gauthier of Black T Magazine , Lauren McGaughy of the Dallas Morning News, and Jessica Diaz Hurtado of KERA who covered our conference and interviewed people in attendance.

I also appreciate all the love that people showed me as a trans elder.   I loved the conversations I was proud and honored to be a part of with my trans siblings.   I enjoyed talking to the spouses.  I loved talking to and connecting with my first time attendee trans sisters and taking the first steps toward building that bond with them.

It was also nice seeing and spending some quality time with Daye Pope and Jessica Herbst, spending some quality time with Sandy James and Rebecca Kling, Lou Weaver and other folks and sponsors at the gala.

It was also cool to get to spend some quality time with Rachel Gonzales after I arrived in Dallas and wish I could have spent more time the local DFW area Mama and Papa Bears, but that will have to wait until the next time I'm in north Texas or they come to Houston.

I want to see and meet more trans parents and trans kids, and especially trans parents and trans kids of color.  I want to meet more spouses, siblings of trans people and have even more diversity in our BTAC ranks.   I want to continue to have those conversations with our millennial trans peeps because I learn just as much from them as hey tell me they do from me.

I also want to see more of my Houston trans brothers and more of my Houston trans siblings make the four hour drive up I-45 to meet their brothers, sisters and siblings from around the country and increasingly the world.

If one of our trans family members from Jamaica can come for the second consecutive year, what's stopping you Houston trans masculine folks from coming to BTAC?  

We set an attendance record this year with over 300 attendees.  We had the most trans women ever in attendance.  We want to break that attendance record we just set next year.  We want to continue having those thought provoking conversations during the Black Trans Community summit.  

We  want more contestants in the BTIPS Mr and Miss Black Trans International national pageants. We want to sell out the awards gala again next year.  We want you to experience the Black Diamond Ball, the Family Fun Day and the spiritual power of the opening and closing ceremonies.

And we ultimately want more people from across the African trans diaspora and our allies to experience this event.

We at BTAC want to be having and aren't afraid to have those ongoing conversations in the hotel lobby, our rooms, in the hospitality suite, with hotel guests and employees and at nearby restaurants in the area. We want to be laughing, crying and loving on each other until the wee hours of the morning.

And just so you know, some of those conversations are The Black Trans Revolution Will Not Be Televised level ones.

And warning, I want to be administering more domino table butt kickings at next year's Family Fun day or if you can't wait that long, in the hospitality suite.  Since y'all are in my home state I'll be nice and won't make y'all sign the score sheet when it's over.

Most importantly, we at BTAC want more people inside and outside the trans community to experience the life changing event and family reunion that we call the Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

100 Days Of Trump

I've been here with my BTAC family focused on talking to all of my friends and the amazing leaders in the  community, so it slipped my mind that that travesty of a presidency we're enduring has now entered its 100th day.

This 'Make White America Great Again' exercise in white male fragility and mediocrity has exposed for the whole world to see just how incompetent not only Trump is, but the whole premise of conservative white male leadership.  

They have to lie, cheat and steal to accomplish anything, and Trump is a sterling example of it.  He's only in it for himself and his 1% buddies.   It also exposes to the world just how morally bankrupt conservatism is.

The cluelessness of the peeps who voted for this clown was brought home to me a few weeks ago when I was hanging out with several cis girlfriends in the Galleria area.   We were having a great time at Panera Bread enjoying each others company and minding our own business when this elderly white woman walked yup to our table and inserted herself into our conversation.

When she found out I was a blogger , she asked me my opinion of Dear Cheeto Leader, and I let her have it.

I called him the worst POTUS of my life since Nixon. decried the racism that got him elected, and pointed out Trump was not qualified for or had the temperament to be president.

And then I went back to finishing my meal and conversation with my company that included two college professors and a banker.

Yeah Bernie or Busters and Stein and Johnson voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania,  Ohio and Florida, I'm still pissed at you for your November 8 decision that greased the skids for this disastrous mispresidency.

I'm even more pissed off at all you trans peeps that voted for Orange Julius.

November 3, 2020 can't get there fast enough for me

We Don't Need Alt-Facts In Black Trans World

One of the things I've been pondering in the run up to the start of BTAC 2017 in Dallas is the recent incident with a Black trans woman with a large YouTube media following in TS Madison Hinton having a trainwreck of an interview with a person who misgendered and disrespected trans men by calling them lesbians.

Note to that person, trans men are men.

That interview justifiably pissed off my trans brothers, and to TS Madison's credit, she wants to clean up the media mess she helped create and have a trans man on her channel who actually knows something about and can expertly talk about being a Black man of trans experience.

But that incident drives me to make this point.  Our social media platforms, whether they are on blogs or video channels, are powerful informational tools that are not to be played with.  When you have a large media following, great responsibility comes with that social media platform, and what you say and how you say it matters.

When you put something out there on your social media platforms, especially as a Black trans person, it needs to be accurate and on point.because you don't get to make mistakes.  Neither should you be putting alt-facts out there either.

Not everyone is qualified to talk about trans issues, especially if you aren't living our trans lives.   There are also some folks in Black Trans and SGL World who need basic Trans 101 'ejumacation' themselves.

We already have the burden in Black Trans World of overcoming the myth with cis Black people fed by right wing kneegrow sellout preachers cooning it up for white fundie pastors that being trans is a 'white thang'.   There's also that myth in LGBTQ World that Black people are 'more homophobic' that needs to die as well.  

We Black trans peeps are far too often invisible to the media except when they want to cover another Black trans woman being murdered, and still screw it up.  

That media invisibility is even more pronounced for Black trans men, who get little to no coverage about the issues of importance to them   Neither do Black trans kids or their supportive parents.

It's rare where we are shown in the media speaking intelligently about TBLGQ politics and other issues beyond the 'tragic transsexual' meme, so when we get those media moments as Black trans people, they are priceless educational opportunities to be used wisely.

That also includes our blogs and video platforms.  It takes a long time to build them up as credible sources, and it only takes one of two egregiously bad mistakes to ruin the years of hard work put in to get them to that point.

We also must remember that some of the peeps we need to educate on what ails the Black trans community are in our own cis Black community.   We must also be cognizant of the fact that with this ongoing national Republican push to pass unjust anti-trans laws, some of the legislators who will be voting YES or NO on those unjust bills share our ethnic heritage and are being lobbied by those misguided sellout pastors spouting facts free lies about us.

So facts about our Black trans lives matter.  Accurate telling of our Black trans stories matter.   Factually accurate discussions about our Black trans lives is mandatory, especially when you have a camera or a microphone in your face.

It's why we don't need nor should we tolerate any alt-facts about Black trans people in our Black trans community.
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Black.Trans. Unapologetic.

I am an unapologetic Black trans woman. I cannot and will not be intimidated. I will fight for my humanity and my human rights, and I'm not going anywhere.
-Monica Roberts 

I have loved Rep. Maxine Waters ever since I briefly met her in her office during a 1999 GenderPac Lobby day.   I was looking at the quote she said in the wake of the attacks being aimed at her by the conservafools and I basically did a moni remix of it for myself and my Black trans sisters.

We come from a long line of women who have been fighting for our humanity and human rights since that first involuntary boat ride from Africa.    I'm also part of a long line of Black trans feminine multitaskers who have not only fought for our right to exist, we have also fought tooth and nail to be recognized as the women we are while fighting for everybody's  human rights.

And nope, just because Republican legislators are trying to attack our humanity and human rights for their own electoral gain next year doesn't change that fact.

We aren't going anywhere.  We are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.   We are part of the kente cloth fabric of the Black community.   We are wives, sisters, daughters, aunts, friends and beautifully human people who just want to be left alone from political attacks so that we can concentrate our intellect and talents on simply being able to do our part to contribute to society and looking fly while doing so.

It's past time Black community, that you recognize the fact that if our human rights as trans people aren't secure, yours aren't either.   I'm also tired of seeing ministers who look like me colluding with Republicans and white fundamentalist preachers to spread falsehoods about the trans community.

Black trans women like me exist here and across the African Diaspora.   Our lineage goes back to ancient Egypt.   We are beautiful.  We are talented.  We are intelligent.  We are girls like us who if just given the opportunity, can accomplish amazing things.

And if you think we're Black T Girl Magic personified, wait until you see the next generation of Black trans women.

I am Black.   I am a woman of trans experience.   I am unapologetic about it,and will keep saying it until you peeps get the point.that trans women are women. .