Tracy, Before You and The Evilgelicals Step To Me,...

Learn how to use a dictionary or spellcheck.

Seems Tracy Shannon, one of the alleged out of town residing Talabaptists, had a problem with me dropping truth bombs on them during the Drag Queen Story Time protest over the weekend, and wrote this screen shotted post on her page. 

FYI boo boo kitty, my award winning 'hate filled blog' is spelled TransGriot.  Damn, you sound too much like a certain white gay male blogger I know and give zero phucks about.

I also find it interesting that you're so bored with your fabulous life in Corpus Christi (if that's really where you live instead of Tomball or some other nearby intolerant Houston area GOP voting 'burb with a hate congregation), that you would burn up your precious gasoline to come to the gayborhood and protest a literacy event for kids with badly misspelled signs.

You and your friends need Jesus and a dictionary.

The truth always sounds like hate speech to a white supremacist Becky, especially a white supremacist faux KKKhristian trying and failing to hide behind the 'bybul' to justify their transphobia and homophobia. 

Word to you Tracy and any of your like minded Pharisees and Sadducees.  If you don't want to be called a transphobic bigot, stop acting like a transphobic bigot.   That way we don't have to call you out on it.

My friends living in Montrose would also deeply appreciate it if you and your fellow faux faith based hatemongers not come to the library next month.  They're worried you thugs and bullies showing up in the gayborhood on a regular basis will drive down their property values.

Let me close this out with a Bible verse you probably skipped over in the rush to drive to Houston to hate on the TBLGQ community in the name of your Lord and Savior Donald Trump.

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
-Matthew 7:3

You are also exactly what I said about you and your friends when I had the megaphone in my hands on Saturday.  You are the false prophets the Bible warned us about.

Smooches..

Merry Christmas 2018!

Merry Christmas TransGriot readers!

Hopefully wherever you are in the world you had if you're west of the International Date Line or are now in the early morning hours of it, having a wonderful day.

I'm planning to hang out with some of my blood family today and give my mom her Christmas gift.
The other thing I'm planning to do is to call some of my chosen family a little later in the evening.

Hopeful I'll get another present later tonight when the MegaMillions $325 million dollar jackpot winner gets announced.  Already received one on November 6 in a bluer Harris County.

It's looking like it's going to be a slow news day, so unless Orange Foolius does something monumentally stupid I will mock him for, I'm planning on stepping away from social media for the day and either catching up on some Netflix fave shows or movies that pique my interest or firing up Cities Skylines for a while.

Catch y'all on Wednesday.

Goodbye Ray Hill

One of our iconic Houston TBLGQ community and civil rights activists in Ray Hill passed away on November 24 at age 78 of heart failure while in hospice care at Bering Omega House. 

Yesterday we go to say goodbye to Ray at his memorial funeral service on the steps of Houston City Hall 

The service lasted three hours and was emceed by former Houston mayor Annise Parker, herself an iconic leader in our community.   It featured local politicians, people connected with KPFT-FM's The Prison Show, family members of Ray, past presidents of the Houston GLBT Caucus and a host of people gathered on a sunny December day to tell their Ray Hill stories and remember a man who had a huge influence not only our community, but Houston and the nation. 

He helped organize the massive 1978 march against Anita Bryant.   The Town Hall meeting at the AstroArena that led to the organization of the Houston TBLGQ community.  Was a supporter and thorn in the sde at times of the Caucus.

Hill was also the subject of two documentaries, with the most recent one entitled, The Trouble With Ray.



Of course I knew Ray, and bumped into him from time to time at our various community events.  I loved talking to him because it's not every day you get to talk to a historical community icon

The one thing I loved about him and I've also emulated in my own advocacy work is that he didn't just work on gay issues.    He was a prison reform advocate.   He supported the trans community and the First Amendment.

He was a proud, unapologetically gay agent provocateur and troublemaker pushing us in the TBLGQ community, local politicians and our community to be better. 

And we're going to miss him.

More Chromosomes Than Just XX and XY

Lately I've been hearing this talking point from the evilgelicals and the transphobically illiterate that goes 'you can't change your DNA'.   The other variant of it they like to throw is 'you can't change your chromosomes'.

They will then follow those initial attack comments up by saying, "If you have XX chromosomes, you are a woman.  If you have XY chromosomes, you are a man."

Not so fast my transphobic friends.   Humans come in far more chromosomal varieties than XX and XY.   There;s XO, XXY, XYY, XXYY, XXXY, XY/XO, XX/XO, XX/XY....

Biology is not a nice, neat binary.

And that's before I get to blow your feeble minds by pointing out an intersex condition that occurs in one in every 20,000 births called androgen insensitivity syndrome that ends up producing women with XY chromosomes like my homegirl Alicia.

She blew some minds in the Texas Lege last year when they were trying to pass SB 6 and came out as intersex     So when you faith based fools ignorantly assert that 'women have XX chromosomes', not all women do.

Another FYI for you scientifically illiterate peeps.  Medical science is rapidly advancing to the point where humans will be able to edit the DNA code in vitro and create 'designer babies'.

Chinese genetics researcher He Jiankui has claimed he helped create the first gene edited babies.  That news is causing controversy in the international scientific community.

So there goes your 'you can't change your DNA' talking point.

That's why I and other scientifically literate peeps in Trans World laugh at you transphobes and call you ignorant when you start spouting those inaccurate talking points.

We know that our trans lives are not subject to debate.  We know better than anybody that gender is between your ears, not your legs.  We also know that the scientific research backing this point up is increasingly on our side as well. 

We also know that science and biology blow up whatever faith based lies you come up with.

The Holidays Can Be Hard On My Trans and GNC Family

The 2018 holiday season is about to commence.  People are heading to airports, train stations and hitting the interstate highways to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day with family and friends. 

But as you prepare to make new holiday memories with family, friends and all the people who love you, bear in mind those happy pics you post on social media and the conversations you have about your wonderful holiday dinners can be painful to many of my trans and GNC siblings.

And that depression brought on by forced family separation, exacerbated by constant reminders of the season with the classic holiday Christmas TV shows and movies, Christmas music on the radio, and people out and about doing holiday shopping, can lead to suicide.

Many of my trans and GNC siblings are facing a fall and winter of separation or banishment from their blood families for being their true selves.   It's also true for the Mama and Papa Bears that face the same issue for choosing to support their trans and gender non conforming child over their familial ties with disapproving family members.

So for those of you not in that situation in our community, please do everything in your power to lift our trans and GNC family up during this holiday season.   Invite them to your home for a gathering.  Call them on a regular basis from now through New Year's Day.  Check on them via social media.  Go out with them and do something fun when you can. 

For my trans and gender non conforming fam in that situation this holiday season, do not spend one nanosecond brooding about these holidays and the family that rejected you.  It is not your fault they foolishly chose not to accept the amazing and fabulous person you are.

It's their loss they won't have you at them family gatherings that will be less wonderful without your presence.

While there are some days during this period that are going to be hard not to do so, I challenge you to focus on building holiday memories with the chosen family who do want you in their lives,  I can tell you from experience I light up when I get Christmas cards, baked goods and gifts from my chosen family

There are some cities that have holiday events at their local LGBT centers for the trans and GNC community, so consider attending them.   Hang out with your trans and GNC friends.  Do fun stuff with them, be it Christmas or non Christmas related.  Call other people who may be having a rougher time than you are and talk to them. 

We love you, want you and need your fabulous trans selves to be around for 2019 and beyond

Call trans help lines if you aren't able to talk to someone locally or online, And for you trans allies and accomplices, show your trans family some love this holiday season   Do what you can to make a trans person's life that you are acquainted with better during the holidays.

As I continue to point out, we are an international trans and GNC community.  We are your family,  We understand and feel your pain.   Many of us, myself included, either have been or are still going through it, and we are determined to help you get through this emotion laden rough patch of a season.

I know the holiday can be hard, trans and GNC family.   But there are people inside and outside our community who are standing by to make it better and less sucky for you.   All you have to do is reach out to them and let them help you make things better.

Tired Of The Racist Commentary Being Aimed At Judge-elect Hidalgo

On Tuesday night no doubts were left that Harris County is undeniably blue as the blue tsunami knocked every remaining Republican judge off the bench, fired the much disliked Stan Stanart, and left every executive position in Democratic hands when the night was over.

Lina Hidalgo's upset win over longtime county judge Ed Emmett combined with Adrian Garcia's win for the Precinct 2 commissioners court seat put the Democrats in control of that body for the first time in over a decade.

Much of the racist vitriol about the shellacking the Harris County Republicans took Tuesday night is being aimed at our new county judge-elect, who at 27 is the youngest person ever elected to the position since 1937.  She's also the first Latina to also hold the top executive position in Harris County. 

And frankly. I'm tired of it.

As you have probably guessed, the commentary from the right wing peanut gallery is that 'straight ticket Democratic voters put her in office'.  And that came from sore loser Ed Emmett. 

The MAGAt's have picked up on that attack line, in addition to calling her 'unqualified' and 'inexperienced' along with other epithets I won't repeat in this post.   As for the other ridiculous charge of 'she's never attended a Harris County commissioners court meeting' or 'hasn't spent much time in the county', hello, she was spending that time outside the county getting a Stanford degree. 

I am a native Houstonian and I've never attended a commissioners court meeting either.   So what's your point with that BS line?    I know one commissioner court meeting I am going to attend soon is the one in which she and Adrian Garcia are officially sworn in.

Hidalgo has a degree from Stanford University and studied public policy at Harvard.  She's going to get a chance to put that education to work on behalf of the 5 million residents of Harris County. 

I find it interesting y'all don't worry about qualifications and experience when it's a Republican white male running for a position.   You also didn't complain about straight ticket voting when it benefitted your party in 2010 and 2014.

And speaking of complaints, I'll bet if Hidalgo were a white female with the same or lesser qualifications, we wouldn't be hearing a peep out of the GOP peanut gallery, especially if she was on their political team.  But because she's a Latinx woman, and her upset win flipped control of commissioner's court to make it look more like our diverse county, y'all wanna hate. 

I'm also tired of hearing people on the left grousing about Emmett being bounced.  Really don't care, because as far as I'm concerned, the only good Republican politician these days is an out of office one. 

If Emmett were a good man as y'all claim he is, he would have left the Republican Party.  Since he didn't, he paid the political price for it in a county that is filled with non-white people sick and tired of being repeatedly attacked and demonized by the Texas GOP.

Harris County is blue, I and the majority of Democratic voters wanted Democrats in these positions and we seized the opportunity to make Harris County blue again. 

And yes, I think she'll do an excellent job in the position. 

So be mad and stay mad about that Harris County GOP snowflakes.   But what we will not do is tolerate racist commentary being aimed at our new County Judge-elect.|

It's Election Day, Family! Go Vote!

At 7 AM the polls will open in Texas and across the nation for a crucial election that will determine the course of this country.    If you haven't voted already, please do so.

Nah, scratch that.  That crucial election to our country was two years ago.  The one today will determine how fast and how much of the mess gets cleaned up from Agent Orange's disastrous mispresidency. 

As for how I feel at this moment?   I'm nervous, but a lot more confident we'll have some successes to celebrate later tonight than I was in the last days before the 2016 election..

I've already cast my ballot.   I did so on the first day of early voting, and was part of the massive early voting turnout in Harris County that saw over 855K of us heading to the polls nearly matching our 2016 presidential election numbers.   There were over 5 million Texans lining up to do so across the state as the last minute attack ad blitz and nonstop political ads had me frequently picking up my remote to hit the mute button.

So who did I vote for?   Damned sure wasn't my Texas Republican oppressors.  I had plenty of great Democratic candidates to vote for up and down the ballot. 

In Harris County, I got the pleasure of voting for the 19 Black women who are seeking to sprinkle their sorely needed Black Girl Magic, Black Excellence and diversity all over our Harris County court system.    Good luck to you, ladies.

We have trans candidates on the ballot across the country seeking to transform politics and make history in their respective states.   Christine Hallquist is running for governor of Vermont.  Brianna Titone and Amelia Marquez are seeking to become state legislators in Colorado and Montana.
Martin Rawlings-Fein and Mia Satya are running for positions on the San Francisco school board.

And in the Lone Star State, Danielle Skidmore, Jessica Cohen and Finnigan Jones are running for the Austin City Council and Texas Legislature.

I'll be casting an nervous eye toward Massachusetts to see if Question 3 either passed to protect the human rights of trans Bay Staters or enough transphobic Massholes voted NO to gut the just passed trans rights law.

I'll also be looking at Georgia, Florida and Maryland to see if all three states elected their first Black governors in Stacey Abrams, Andrew Gillum and Ben Jealous.

To avoid the nerve wracking anxiety of watching the clock and trying to resist the temptation to watch MSNBC and CNN until the polls close, I'll definitely be relying on my DVD movie collection and Netflix subscription to distract me.   

When the polls finally do close,  if I don't attend somebody's watch party,  I'll be at home hitting the laptop going to the Harris County elections website and yelling "Fire Stan Stanart" as our election returns get released at a snail's pace.

Remember, voting is like driving a car.   If you want society to move forward, you vote 'D'.  If you want society to move backwards, you vote 'R'

 Once again, it's Election Day!  Handle your electoral business and go vote.

Why I Hate The 'Vote The Person, Not The Party' Line

One of the things I have been sick of hearing in the 2018 cycle is Republicans, knowing they are about to take a serious butt whipping at the polls on November 6, trotting out that 'vote the person not the party' line in a desperate attempt to save themselves from the Blue Tsunami that is about to engulf them.

What has me doing some hard solid thinking about this issue is a couple of local races.   There was an AKA candidate forum held here about two weeks ago in which one of the Black Republican judges, Melanie Flowers, got huffy because the Democratic ones kept saying vote a straight Democratic ticket during all their presentations. 

Flowers got appointed to the 257th District Court seat by Gov Greg Abbott, and is now being challenged by the Democratic nominee Sandra Peake for it.   

Because we have partisan election of judges here in Texas, we are subject to having these wild swings in which during the GOP waves of 2010 and 2014, we lost all the Democratic judges who had the misfortune of running that year, and in 2008, 2012 and  2016 the reverse happened to the Republicans. 

Black Republican judges also have to deal with the fact they get primary challenged by their bigot wing.  Flowers was bounced from a previous judicial bench in a GOP primary.   It's one of the major  reasons why besides the fact that Flowers is in the wrong party, why I'd rather have Peake serving on that judicial bench.

I've also been pissed by far too many white liberal progressives in my circles stating they are going to vote for the ten year incumbent Ed Emmett's problematic behind for Harris County judge instead of the eminently qualified Democratic nominee in Lina Hidalgo.   They usually say that BS line in a weak attempt to justify it, or harp on the nebulous 'experience' excuse.

Really?  Hidalgo is a Stanford grad pursuing a joint degree in law and public policy.

The vote the person, not the party' argument is highly problematic in a time in which one party has basically become unrepentantly fascist.   If you are a still a member of the Republican Party, by being a member of it you are signaling to me as a Black American you aren't a good person.

It's even more problematic to me if you are a person of color who is a Republican

You signal to me as a trans person of color by being a Republican that you are okay with the gleefully executed persecution of all non-white people, the TBLGQ community and immigrants.

You signal to me that you are okay with white supremacy as long as it doesn't personally impact you, your wallet, or that you can stay blissfully not woke about how it affects non white Americans.

You signal to me that you are okay with Trump's mispresidency, the anti-Black, anti-POC and anti-civil rights policies pushed by the Republican Party, and you're down with its platform.

Well, these Trumpian times call for you 'good Republicans' to make a choice.  If you don't want to get thrown out of office, and consider yourself a 'good person', the time has come for you to take a principled stand and switch parties.

Or you can stay and not only get swamped by the Blue tsunami that's coming, but lose your soul as well.   The choice is yours

Republicans don't vote the person.   They without question fall in line and vote for their party.  If they were really all about 'voting the person and not the party', Hillary Clinton would be living with Bill in the White House family quarters right now, Alabama Republicans wouldn't have voted in massive numbers for that pedophile Roy Moore to be their US senator, and Texas Republicans wouldn't have voted for a three time indicted felon in Ken Paxton to be our state's attorney general.

So no, why should we Democrats not do the same thing in terms of unrelentingly supporting our candidates?  Because the last few years should have taught us by now that you can't get liberal progressive policies from conservative politicians.

You also can't get justice from Republican judges who are making rulings in many cases based on concerns with fending off primary challenges from their bigot wing or getting GOP donors to back them for their next race.

If we want a liberal progressive policy agenda to be legislated into law, we must get control of our government back.   The only way that is going to happen is if we elect Democratic candidates in every election cycle in sufficient numbers.

Republicans have made it clear they don't care about the person, they vote their party.  It's past time that Democrats unapologetically do the same.
  

What Does Being A Democrat Mean?

I was challenged by someone in a Facebook thread to explain what being a Democrat means. 
This is what I came up. 

****
What does being a Democrat mean?

That evidence and fact based policy matters. That scientific research matters and needs to be consistently funded.

It means we Democrats believe public schools and universities matter because they teach our kids, and they deserve proper funding because an educated populace is important.

We Democrats believe that healthcare is a right that all citizens enjoy, shouldn't be denied because of preexisting conditions or ability to pay, and a healthy society is a policy imperative.

Being a Democrat means that our military should only be used to go to war as a last resort, and not as a first policy option.   We also believe that when people make the sacrifices necessary to serve in our military, they be compensated properly for it.   The Veterans Administration should be properly funded and serve our warriors when they return home from foreign shores. 

It means we recognize that our government at all levels works best when a diverse group of people step up to lead, and that when people of all ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to run for public office.

Democrats believe that people be paid a fair wage for their work, have the right to form a union to collectively bargain for reasonable wages, and get regular wage increases at those jobs.

Being a Democrat means that you believe that all people inside our borders should be treated fairly and with dignity and respect, even ones that aren't citizens of our country.  Who you love or your gender identity should not be justification for mistreatment. 

Being a Democrat means that we believe our country is better when we welcome people not born here to immigrate and contribute their talents to building our society.  It also means that as a multicultural society, hate speech, bigotry and xenophobic commentary is unacceptable and deserves the strongest condemnation  

Being a Democrat means that we believe the Constitution is a living document that evolves as our country and society evolves. It means that all people eligible to vote should be able to cast a ballot that counts in our elections, not suppressed out of participation in them.

It means that we Democrats believe that what determines whether a person receives justice in this country shouldn't depend on their skin color, whether the judge has a D or R behind their name, the federal judge was appointed by a Democratic or Republican president, or the size of their bank account

It means we Democrats believe in a media with journalists dedicated to speaking truth to power and reporting the facts.   We believe the media is an indispensable part of our democracy and a crucial component of creating the informed society we need so this American democratic experiment works properly.

Being a Democrat means we recognize there are many religious traditions in this country, not just right wing evangelical Christians.  The practice of those other religions inside our borders must be respected and protected.    We also recognize and respect the right of people to have no religious tradition at all, and the separation of church and state matters in a multicultural nation.

It means we recognize that infrastructure matters and it needs constant attention, funding and improvement

It means that as people who wish for America to be worthy of being called and seen as a great nation around the world, we praise our country when it is doing things right and constructively criticize it when it is on the wrong evolutionary path

It also means that we Democrats love this country, too

This is what a Democrat means.

MegaMillions $1.6 Billion Jackpot Drawing Tonight

As early voting is commencing in several states, the powerball and Megamillions drawings this week are worth a whole lot of life changing money.

The MegaMillions one that draws tonight is worth an all time MegaMillions record  $1.6 billion dollars.   If you take the cash option, it's only worth a measly $905 million.

The Powerball jackpot that draws on Wednesday night is worth $624 million

Even if you don't play it a lot, if you don't by at least one two dollar ticket, the only thing it guarantees by that non action is that you're NOT going to win the grand prize.  So it's why I'm going to take a chance at it and spend up to $6 maximum to get a few Powerball and MegaMillions tickets.

Yeah yeah,  I know I'll  have better odds of being struck by lightning twice or getting a date with Idris Elba than winning either jackpot, but what if I DO happen to purchase the winning ticket? 

For starters, I'm taking the cash option instead of the 30 year annuity.   After setting up my niece's college tuition trust fund, and a foundation that will benefit trans folks, may spend a hard cap amount  on some stuff I've always wanted.

The rest of that money would be invested wisely.   And yeah, I'd STILL be writing my blog, but from my own office space.

There is no doubt it would changes my life.  My family, and the trans community would benefit from my bank account getting a few extra zeroes in it.

And all you folks who hated on me before that jackpot win would get to stay in that corner and keep hating afterward.   No new friends, long lost relatives, or relatives who don't speak to me because I'm trans needed or necessary.   If you were ashamed to claim trans me before, frakk y'all afterward. 

But we'll see what happens at 10 PM EDT.   Time to go stand in line at the nearby convenience store and get my tickets.

TransGriot Update:  The winning ticket was sold in South Carolina.