You Will Not Erase American Trans People

'Should the self destructive white privilege fueled racist tendencies of white voters prevail on Tuesday, we will be stuck with people who hate us having offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the Justice Department gleefully making policy backed by the federal government that rolls back all the human rights games we have made since Stonewall.'
-TransGriot  November 4, 2016
I have noted since 2014 the disturbing conjoining of the Republican Party, the evilgelicals (mainly the Southern Baptists), TERF's and conservafool media with the goal of making a coordinated attack on the humanity and human rights of trans people.

As I warned before the 2016 election, trans people's humanity and human rights were on the ballot, and if Hillary didn't get elected our next president, it was going to be a problem for our community. 

Some of you dismissed my warnings as 'scare tactics'.  Now I reluctantly get to say 'I told you so' before I dive into what I need to say here.

I hope it is clear to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the GOP and their allies hate trans you and especially Black trans me.  If you're one of the trans idiots who voted for Trump and still support him, I repeat, you are a sellout to the trans community.   You deserve  every bit of derision and shame we can heap upon you as a trans community sellout because you also voted for you own oppression.

But while venting on the sellouts will only make us temporarily feel good for a minute, when we're done chewing them out, it still won't change the fact that we have for at least another two years a federal government and in some states GOP controlled ones that are gleefully hostile to our trans existence.

The New York Times leaking a memo that details another fresh Trump misadministration attack on the human rights of the American trans community is definitely alarming. 

But as a Black trans person, I shake it off as just another day at the office. As a Black American. I'm used to whiteness and white supremacy trying and mostly failing in their 400+ year quest to attack my people's humanity and human rights.   To borrow Maya Angelou's words, and still we rise.

Yes, our ongoing centuries old human rights fight has seen some spectacular wins and progress for us and some disappointing losses and setbacks.   But as the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr reminds us, "We must accept finite disappointment, but must never lose infinite hope." 

The bottom line is our trans ancestors and elders have seen worse attacks, and they not only withstood them, they managed to build a movement that we have now taken international.

Yes, we as a community have made tremendous progress.  But it was also inevitable that a conservative backlash would emerge that would attempt to roll back whatever trans rights progress we have made in the United States.

Yes, we see the progress that trans people around the world are making as their nations recognize the human rights and humanity of their trans citizens.  One day the United States will belatedly join them.  But unfortunately that time isn't now. 

So no, take heart in not only the history of my people that we will win, but the history and resilience of the trans community.   No matter how hard the anti-trans haters try, they will not erase American trans people from existence, because frankly, they can't.

They had a better shot of doing so when we were in the closet.  We're not any more and haven't been since February 1953.   Nor are we American trans people going back into the closet.  We are going to fight Republican oppression of us with every fiber of our beings because we must for ourselves and for our trans kids.

That fight starts by firing every politician with an 'R" behind their name on November 6 at all levels of government.   And no, there aren't any 'good Republicans' if they are silent about the persecution of trans people.    It includes trans people running for office.   Then we mark the calendar for November 3, 2020 to get Agent Orange and his reprehensible misadministration out.

That fight also includes building allies.  Calling out our enemies every time they go low and attempt to push disinformation out there about our trans lives.  Educating people.   Drawing strength and comfort from our trans history.   Being our out, proud, amazing and unapologetically trans selves.

It also means that we need funders to get off the sidelines and invest in trans led organizations.  Donation money is also critically needed by POC trans led orgs like Black Trans Advocacy Coalition,  Trans Latina Coalition and others across the nation.

And yeah, if you like what I have to say on TransGriot, drop some change in the TransGriot Tip Jar in the upper left hand corner of the blog or my PayPal

Dry the tears of our trans kids.  Hug, love on and appreciate our Mama and Papa bears because they are also being viciously attacked by the right wing fake faith based haters in addition to our trans kids. 

Trans allies and trans family. check on the trans people in your lives and envelop them in love.   Listen to our trans elders for advice on what we do to navigate these troubled waters.   Trans adults, do whatever you need to do within reason to calm those rattled nerves,

Trans leaders, our trans younglings and our community constituency are looking to us for leadership, and we must provide it in this moment.

You will not erase American trans people, consevafools.   We will fight you every step of the way when you try to pass unjust laws and anti-trans policies because frankly, we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.             

And the thing we have to gain is a better America and a better world for our trans kids.

The Trans Community Could Use Some Investment In Our Advocacy Infrastructure and Our People

I noted with interest a conversation Renae Taylor had on her FB page recently in which she talked about the struggle we trans advocates have just making enough money to sustain our lives or the viability of our organizations.

She expressed a wish that a fund be created that would pay the bills of a trans advocate for at least a year so that they can focus full time on advocacy work instead of having to work non advocacy jobs to pay bills.

Renae's modest proposal sounded to me similar to the MacArthur Foundation's Fellows Program, or what is called the 'Genius Grant'. 

Fellows must be citizens or residents of the United States, can be working in any field, and have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction".  

The Foundation doesn't take applications for it.   They solicit at a certain time anonymous and confidential nominations that are reviewed by a confidential group of a dozen people.  Those people review the nominations and recommend awardees to the foundation president and board of directors. 

Usually the first sign that a person has won a MacArthur Fellowship is when they get a congratulatory phone call from the Foundation.  According to the website, 'The fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishments, but rather an investment in a person's originality, insight, and potential". However, it is considered a significant honor to receive it.

MacArthur Fellows get a no strings attached $625,000 grant paid to them in quarterly installments over a five year period. 

That is a life changing amount of money.  These fellowship grants have been awarded to 945 people since 1981, and people such as Marian Wright Edelman, Junot Diaz, Ta-nehisi Coates and Alison bechdel are just some of the distinguished people who have received MacArthur Fellowships.

So back to discussing Renae's idea.

The trans community and trans activism suffers from a major lack of significant investment in our organizations via a vis organizations primarily focused on the lesbian and gay community.   If those trans organizations are focused on trans communities of color,  they get even less funding than their white trans counterparts..

Heaven help that trans organization if it is based in the eleven state southern US region, AKA the former Confederacy.   It gets as a whole only 8% of the available donor funding made to TBLGQ organizations, with the majority of that money being gobbled up by Atlanta and Houston based orgs.

These underfunded trans organizations are fighting well funded right wing orgs with people who get paid quite well to come up with ways to oppress us.  The ED's of many of the anti-trans hate orgs are making just on their salary alone, more than the annual operating budget of many POC trans led organizations.

And since 2014, the trans rights legislative battles have predominately been in the southern US.   Considering we're majorly outspent, it's a miracle we have been as successful and do the work we do on basically a shoestring budget.

So imagine what we trans folks could do, especially in communities of color if we could spend our days working full time in well funded organizations to help our communities,

Imagine if our most talented advocates didn't have to do Go Fund Me appeals just to get the money to pay their bills or have to spend time being stressed out and worried about how next month's bills are going to get paid

Just having them paid for a year would be a load off the minds of an advocate, and would allow them to focus on doing what is needed for the community and allow them to save what money they may earn elsewhere.

That's why Renae's idea is an intriguing one.   The question is where would the seed money come from for it? 

 Would be nice if Renae's idea became a reality, because at this critical point in our trans human rights struggle, we could definitely use the investments in our trans advocacy infrastructure and our people. .

Why I Put The 'T' First In TBLGQ

It has come to my attention that I have a white gay male blogger who is letting his anti-Blackness and transphobic racism flow, and I felt the disturbance in the TBLGQ Force.

That's mighty white gay male of him.   Be mad and stay mad that I won this year's GLAAD Media Award for outstanding blog and I'm the first trans blogger to do so.

Saying it loud, Black, trans and proud. 

This person is also getting frothing at the mouth angry that I have basically done what the late Coretta Scott King used to do and intentionally changed the letters in the LGBTQ acronym around.

Questions for this hater who knows who he is.   Have you helped passed good legislation that expanded rights for everyone and killed bad bills like I have?   Participated in vigils for murdered trans people?

Are you repeatedly called on to participate in panels at colleges and conferences that discuss politics, current events, human rights,  reproductive justice or criminal justice? 

Do you have a regular column in a TBLGQ magazine?   Are you asked to write pieces for other TBLGQ news outlets?

Have you been interviewed on camera to talk about human rights issues?   Are you quoted in other journalists work?    Have you gotten awards from various organizations for your human rights work? 

I have receipts.  Do you?   

Have several seats now that I'm done responding to your transphobic nonsense posted in your two bit three block blog.

So why do I write the community acronym as TBLGQ in much of my writing?   I prefer to put the 'T' first to remind you gay and lesbian folks that it was trans folks who have repeatedly put their behinds on the line to advance the human rights of our community.

That history of trans people standing up for their human rights and everyone else's goes back to the 1959 Cooper's Donuts Riot in LA, the 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit In and Protest in Philadelphia, the 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco, and of course, Stonewall in 1969.

It is also trans women of color like Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson, Lady Java taking on the LAPD's infamous Rule No. 9 and countless other trans people throughout the decades who have also fought tooth and nail not only for our human rights, but yours as well. 

And that tradition continues with our trans kids like Gavin Grimm, Jazz Jennings, and Nicole Maines just to name a few.

I put the T first to remind my trans younglings that I and their trans elders love them, we acknowledge they are our future leaders, and we have their backs.  I and their trans elders want them to stay in school, get that education, and live their best lives by being unapologetically proud of who they are.

I put the 'T' first in TBLGQ because we are being violently attacked, and it is my Black trans segment of the community taking the brunt of that anti-trans violence.

I put the 'T' first to remind our peeps that your best revenge against the anti-trans hate is to not end your life, but to survive, live and thrive.

I put the 'T' first because it is a reminder to the gay and lesbian segments of the community and society as a whole that trans people still need human rights coverage codified in legislation, and our human rights fight is not over.

I put the 'T" first because I want to remind the world that the humanity of trans people is not up for debate or discussion, especially by cis people who are hostile to our existence. 

That's why I put the 'T' first in TBLGQ.  Because it deserves to be there, and we have paid in blood, sweat and tears for it to be there.

And if you don't like the fact I'm doing it, too bad.

Moni's Thoughts On The Friess Op-Ed

Looks like some rainbow vanillacentric privileged nerves got plucked in the aftermath of the incident during the closing NLGJA reception in which Marshall McPeek was called out for a problematic 'things and its' comment while emceeing the event. 

Mary Emily O'Hara wrote an article about the incident, I followed it up with my thoughts about it, and now Steve Friess has written a shady op-ed in the Bay Area Reporter in which he asserted that 'everybody was wrong' , but focused much of his commentary on attacking the trans community and what he derisively called 'Pitchfork-wielding Trans Twitter'.

Gee, how mighty white gay male of him. 

Here was my response I posted in the comment thread to his op-ed.

Steve Friess, 

Referring to human beings as 'things and its' is not a joke to the trans community, and especially the African American one who are taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence aimed at us. 

It is never wrong to immediately call crap out. And FYI, you don't get to tell trans people what we should and shouldn't be offended by or how offended we should be about anti-trans insults.  

I can forgive mistakes. But as a representative of the group taking the brunt of that anti-trans hate violence that starts with comments like that, I am also compelled to immediately call that comment out, because far too often, gay men like yourself have been slinging those anti-trans insults inside community circles and LGBTQ organizations with zero accountability.  

If you have a problem with this NLGJA member calling that problematic comment out at a reception sponsored by a so called 'news' organization that makes their money demonizing Black and trans people on a regular basis, too bad. 

One of the jobs of the media and LGBTQ journalists is to speak truth to power, even within our own circles and organizations, not sweep crap under the rug.

I repeat, it is never wrong to instantly call out problematic commentary.  And as TBLGQ journalists, it is not our job to be stenographers for our community organizations.  When they do something that is worthy of praise we will give them their kudos, and when they frakk up, we will call them on it.

As an African American TBLGQ journalist, I am part of that century plus long tradition Black journalists have of not only speaking truth to power, but activist journalism that moves the ball forward in our ongoing human rights struggle.

The fact that am transgender, I do so as an NLGJA member from a GLAAD award winning decade plus old blog, a monthly column in a regional LGBTQ magazine and have 15K followers on Twitter doesn't diminish the power of my written words or the importance of them, it enhances them.

And you would be wise to listen to what the hell I have to say as an unapologetic Black trans someone who also has 20 years of award winning activist experience.

As journalist Ida B. Wells once said, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." 

That is what has been taking place here.   When we point out stuff that is wrong in our community, in our organizations, or discuss problematic commentary, we are doing so in the spirit of constructive criticism so that the mistake can be corrected.    We are doing so to make organizations better. 

The bottom line is that comment should have never been uttered in an organization dedicated to respectful coverage of the TBLGQ community.   And if people who are part of our community's media organization think it's okay to call trans people 'things and its', what hope do we trans folks have of getting respectful coverage from mainstream media, much less have NLGJA stand up for us when the inevitable misgendering or facts free anti-trans reporting happens?   

We trans journalists are representing our community and our readership, and they demand of us that when necessary, we hold you accountable.

We also need you as organizations representing the TBLGQ community to role model the change we wish to see in this currently screwed up Trump run country. 

Moni's Thoughts About The 2018 NLGJA Convention Closing Reception

As you TransGriot readers are aware of, I've spent the last several days at the just recently concluded 2018 NLGJA Convention in Palm Springs as part of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening that was embedded in it. 

This was also my first time at the NLGJA Convention.  While I always enjoy my down time with my LGBT Media Journalists fam, getting to know them on a more personal and professional level, and the mutually beneficial networking that happens while there, the reality is that the LGBT Media Convening space I've been interacting with over the last six years has been far more diverse than the NLGJA convention itself.

That's not just an NLGJA problem, it's a problem consistent across many LGBTQ community convention spaces because of the fiscal barriers that lock many POC and trans people out. 

As someone who was a panelist during the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention in Boston in 2014 and attended the Unity NABJ-NAHJ one in DC in 2016 as part of their efforts to reach out to trans people and learn how to respectfully cover us, the contrast between those media conferences and the NLGJA overwhelmingly white cis gay male one is jarring. 

The microaggressive and macroaggressive reminders it wasn't going to be like those NABJ-NAHJ events started when I opened the convention program book in my Hotel Zosa third floor room to encounter my first Maya Wilkes moment.   Several pages into it was a full page ad from FOX News along with a FOX News branded item in the swag bag.

FOX Noise since its founding has been anti-Black, racist and hostile to people who look like me.  It has been ramping up since 2014 the on-air hostility to trans, nonbinary and GNC people. 

What person or persons within NLGJA thought this was a wonderful idea to have them as a corporate sponsor?  Did they not consider the optics of that sponsorship, much less how the Black trans, bi and SGL journalists you're trying to attract to this conference would see this?

FOX Noise doesn't like Black people, the feeling is mutual, and when I'm looking for credible news sources, they definitely aren't it 

So imagine my shock and awe level surprise when I hear and have visual evidence of a network hostile to my existence on multiple levels being a 'proud sponsor' of this NLGJA convention. 

That was deeply troubling, but I was already here in Palm Springs and needed to focus on what I needed to do to be ready for the plenary I was participating in on Friday. 

Guess I did alright, since I kept hearing congratulatory commentary about it from other attendees from 3 PM PDT until I left yesterday morning for the Palm Springs airport. 

But Friday inexorably moves to Saturday and the conference's closing reception which was also sponsored by FOX News.  I almost skipped it to hang out with a trans sister who lives there, but decided I needed to be in that room.

So while I'm helping myself to some of the food at this reception the program starts and one of the emcees, later identified as Marshall McPeek  makes the 'things and its' comment that has been reported in Mary Emily O'Hara's story that I immediately called out and will repeat again.

While I am happy McPeek came back later and apologized and NLGJA an organization I've been a member of for several years has released a statement about it, the damage was still done.

No Mr. McPeek and by extension, NLGJA and FOX News, there were no 'things and its' in that Hotel Zoso room that September 8 night.   There were trans, gender non-conforming (GNC) and non-binary (NB) people in there    There were your trans, GNC and NB media colleagues in that room. 

Most importantly, there were your trans, NB and GNC identified journalism students in that audience who are aspiring to and working diligently towards getting to the level when you are. 

How do you think that 'things and its' comment, which has been derisively and sometimes violently spat at the trans community by all transphobic comers over the last few years made us feel? 

How do you think it made me personally feel as the lone representative at NLGJA 2018 of the demographic group who is taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence in this country?

And to underscore that last point, I was made aware of the latest trans feminine murder victim of 2018 as I was in transit to attend the NLGJA conference and waiting for my connecting flight from Phoenix to Palm Springs

Far too often, that derogatory 'things and its' comment has been hurled at us by gay men and our detractors.   It definitely shouldn't have happened during a journalism organization convention dedicated to ensuring accurate and respectful coverage of the TBLGQ community, and problematically hosted by a 'news' organization that routinely demonizes trans, NB and GNC people.

Trans, NB and GNC peeps are not 'things or its', and that is an unacceptable thing to say at any time, even inside the TBLGQ+ community..  It is also unacceptable to say during a time when the trans, NB, and GNC community is under legislative assault and their humanity is under attack by the Republican Party, trans eexterminationalist radical 'feminists' and the conservative movement .


The lack of diversity in media is not just an NLGJA problem.   It's a problem that needs to be fixed across the American media landscape, not just in LGBTQ media circles. 

The lack of trans journalists in the overwhelmingly white male dominated newsrooms of the country also needs to be addressed

LGBTQ media can lead the way in demonstrating what a diverse and inclusive newsroom looks like and pointing out that diversity is good for your news outlet's bottom line.

Trans folks are 1-3% of the US population, and we read and watch the news, too.

As demonstrated by my 2016 Netroots Nation Pundit Cup title and later getting the opportunity to do political punditry on my hometown ABC13 station during Election Night 2016, and others doing so on various national shows here and around the world, trans journalists can discuss more than just trans issues. 

One of us even got elected to the Virginia House of Delegates last year.
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But we need to get more opportunities to demonstrate that ability, and more importantly, get paid a regular check for doing so.

NLGJA has been handed a moment in which it can be a leader in addressing and helping to solve the dearth of trans journalists problem. 

The question is will they seize that opportunity?  Will we see progress in increasing the abysmal numbers of trans, NB and GNC journalists before we gather again a year from now in New Orleans?

That remains to be seen. 

Why I'm In Favor Of Houston Hosting The 2020 DNC Convention

There is some chatter occuring in sections of Houston LGBTQ World coming from predominately white peeps inexplicably opposing the city's bid to capture the hosting duties for the 2020 Democratic National Convention. 

Their rationale to buttress their flimsy opposition to the city's bid for the 2020 DNC is that since Houston doesn't have a non discrimination ordinance, it shouldn't be hosting the convention.

FYI for you peeps.  Guess y'all forgot we DID pass the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance on May 28, 2014.   We lost the repeal battle after HERO was forced on the ballot by the conservative leaning SCOTX and right wing fake faith based evilgelicals.

The Houston 2020 DNC convention bid also has bipartisan support from local Republican legislators and former president George HW Bush, who wrote a letter to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner supporting the bid.

I support the city of Houston going after the 2020 Democratic National Convention.  As of this writing we are one of the three finalist cities for it in addition to Miami and Milwaukee. 

First, the bid.   Ours is based on using the George R Brown Convention Center and the next door Toyota Center for the convention    The Convention Center district has two 1000 room hotels (the Hilton Americas and the Marriott Marquis) connected to the GRB and several thousand more downtown within easy walking, free shuttle bus or a METRORail train ride to the GRB-Toyota Center complex 

These downtown hotels, should we land the bid, would be filled with people attending the convention.  Houston has also proven multiple times that we can easily handle large scale conventions and events.

The 2020 DNC convention would not only provide business to these downtown hotels during the convention business summer doldrums, it would provide work for all the people in our Houston service and hospitality industry during the four days in 2020 that Houston would be hosting the Democratic Party leadership, delegates from across the country, and media covering the event. 

Must point out that the people working in the Houston hospitality industry would definitely appreciate the opportunity of making some money during the summer convention doldrum period.

Many of those people working in the Houston hospitality industry are Black and Latinx Houstonians who would benefit personally by the DNC being here.

It has been 90 years since Houston last hosted the DNC in 1928, and 1992 since the city hosted the RNC at the Astrodome.

It's way past time for the city of Houston to host the Democrats in our hometown again.

Rest In Power Joel Silberman

I was saddened to hear that Joel Silberman lost his battle with cancer on August 2 just as we started this 13th edition of Netroots Nation.

Silberman came from the world of Broadway, but is well known and respected in liberal progressive political circles as the political media consultant and trainer extraordinaire for Democratic candidates who also was part of the Netroots Nation family

I first met Joel when I traveled to New York in 2012 for the GLAAD POC Media training which he conducted.  It was because of him I learned the basics of how to do television interviews and got to feel more comfortable in front of the unblinking eye of a camera.

Netroots Nation honored his memory by signing show tunes on Friday in the Town Square area of the convention and this memorial.

I ran into him again at a subsequent LGBT Media journalists convening in Baltimore, and again in 2016 at Netroots Nation in St Louis.   I considered him a media mentor, and I believe he was prouder that I was when he witnessed me become the 2016 Pundits Cup champ.

I last talked to him during the 2017 Netroots Nation in the ATL, and was stunned when I heard the news.   He is a person who is going to be deeply missed by all of us in the liberal progressive political world 

Rest in power and peace ,Joel

Hell Naw, We're Not Gonna Be Nice To Y'all!

Republicans, did you fools think you were going to be able to oppress, disrespect and abuse the human rights and humanity of people and they were just going to take it?

Y'all been watching too much FOX Noise.  It was just a matter of time before people got tired of your antics and started pushing back. 

You conservafools had it coming.  Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long.   But then again, stuff don't start happening until white peeps start feeling the GOP pain that non-white peeps have been dealing with for decades.

So yes, it warms the cockles of my yellow dog Democratic liberal heart to see Mitch McConnell getting protested everywhere he goes in Louisville.  Racist Stephen Miller getting flipped the bird.  Steve Bannon getting called out. and Sarah Suckabee Sanders getting a taste of what she supported happening for LGBT people in terms of recently being denied service at a restaurant, and Trump administration staffers not being able to buy a date.

And naw Tomi Lahren, you can stop trying to lie on Rep Maxine Waters.   Your Propaganda Barbie azz got water thrown in your face in that Minneapolis two months ago.

The bottom line is that you conservafools have been doing this for decades to abortion doctors and anyone else y'all didn't like, and now that we're treating you the way you have been treating us, you want to call for 'civility'.

Civility?   Frack civility.   You didn't care about civility during the eight years of the Obama administration when you were calling him and his family everything but a child of God. 

You've done the same thing to Hillary Clinton since the 90's, and come to think of it, you attacked Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea since her teen years. |

Don't make Moni start pulling receipts to show the people the many ways you conservafools have sinned and are now whining about it. 

You conservafools are political bullies. The only way to deal with bullies and get them to leave you alone is to punch them in the ballot box nose on November 6..

Make them fell the political pain of losing the US house,Senate, state legislatures and eventually the White House.  SCOTUS we'll have to fix later.

So cry all you want in conservative media about how mean the liberals are being to you conservsnowflakes.    This is past due payback for previous sins.

And hell naw we're not obligated to be nice to people who are gleefully trampling on our civil and human rights and think we're supposed to just sit in the corner and cry about the abuse.

No democracy, no peace to GOP oppressors.