Moni Gets Mentioned In The Washington Post

Monica Roberts ‏@TransGriot

Rupert Murdoch, much less FOX Noise has ZERO credibility to part their lips & say anything about the US Black lives they regularly demonize

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9:55 PM - 7 Oct 2015
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Not every day that a comment you put out there on Twitter gets an audience besides your own followers and influence circles.

But that's what happened for me on Thursday when a comment I aimed at Rupert Murdoch and FOX noise for his 'real Black president' comment caught the attention of the Washington Post and was highlighted in a story they wrote about it.

Hey, just another day at the TransGriot office for me.    I think my friends and longtime TransGriot were more excited about the attention it received in this Washington Post article than I was.

Yeah, let me stop fronting about that.   It IS a BFD to me, too..

Here's the tweet that everyone has been paying attention to and thanks for the love..

I'm Being Who I Needed When I Was Younger

Earlier today I had the opportunity to talk to my sis Raquel.   Needed to get her perspective for a trans person from India considering attending the University of Georgia for her PhD studies about the campus climate as a recent UGA grad. 

And besides, I'd had so much fun talking to her when I met her at a trans anti-violence conference in Chicago back in March  So after we handled the business end of the call, we spent the next hour pleasantly catching up and discussing our current lives.

After I hung up with Raquel, I sat back and thought about the conversation I'd just had with her and wished I'd been able to do the same with my trans elders at the time when I was Raquel's age.

While there are a lot of things I love about being a teen growing up in the 70's, one of the things I lament and I'm happy about at the same time is the societal knowledge that we have about trans issues is light years different.  

We also have the exponential growth in Trans World of possibility models that our trans teens, trans twenty somethings and trans thirty somethings can look up to and be proud of.

We are getting the opportunity to have much needed intergenerational conversations about a wide variety of subjects.  We get to talk about things like our transitions in different decades, passing the community history down to each other and most importantly, get to build community.

And we trans elders learn just as much from those intergenerational conversations as our trans younglings do.

As a trans elder, I consider it an honor, privilege and a pleasure to share a portion of my day with our trans younglings. I also have the responsibility of being the person I needed and wished I'd had when I was younger and searching for knowledge of how to navigate being trans. 

I suspect our trans younglings need us just as badly to be the trans people we needed when we were their age.

Being who I needed when I was younger is an ongoing and evolutionary process, but it's a process that I'm blessed to have the opportunity to do, revel in and accept the challenge of making happen .

And I hope I'm successful at accomplishing that task.

Isis Is Featured In Supermodels Unlimited Mag Article

One of the things I am most proud of as a trans elder is watching the new generation of trans peeps achieve things that we elders could only dream about.

I've been able to see in my time in this community trans people do everything from work in the White House to become New York Times best selling authors to entrepreneurs

Another area my sisters have excelled at for decades is strutting the world's fashion runways, and was happy to hear the new from soon to be birthday girl Isis (October 1)  about being in the latest issue o Supermodels Unlimited magazine.

Keep telling y'all this generation of trans peeps would continue to excel and exceed what we were able to do in terms of pushing the envelope of acceptance of trans people while accomplishing their dreams.

Congrats Sis!   Happy early birthday and hope that next time you are featured on the cover of Supermodels Unlimited magazine and not just in it.

Who Knew Playing The Dozens Would Help Me In My Activist Life?

In the wake of Zoey Tur allowing herself to get baited by conservafool Ben Shapiro into losing her cool on national television, it underscored a few things that we were concerned about in Trans World.

She had already shown this propensity to be hardheaded and not listen to folks who had been in these trans human rights wars decades before she transitioned.   She'd also shown a problematic tendency in intracommunity conversations to be hotheaded, which burned her in that disastrous TLC interview last Thursday.

As I have pondered what happened,  I thought about the fact that our community would have been better served by someone with a cooler head in that situation.

But that's a subject for another time and post, and I'm going to move on to the main topic of this one..

People have asked me how I stay calm in the face of situations like that or in last year's HERO battle.  Last year as we fought to pass that much needed Houston human rights ordinance, we faced hours of unrelenting insults by our right wing opponents trying to get a rise out of us that they could seize on to bash us over the head with later..

It's a skill that believe it or not, I learned in my childhood when I used to play the dozens with my friends.

What's the dozens you ask?  It's a game in which you and an opponent square off and hurl insults at each other with two goals in mind.  Goal number one is to make everyone watching the battle of wits laugh at the insults you are hurling at your opponent.   The second goal is to make your opponent lose their cool.



You win the game when either that losing their cool by your opponent happens, you are judged by the people watching to have landed the more humorous verbal jabs or y'all keep throwing barbs at each other, no one loses it, and both of you end it and just go on your merry way.

But little did I realize at the time that playing the dozens in my teen years would have real world applications in my adult life.   Playing the dozens taught me how to think fast on my feet, which is an invaluable quality to have when you are lobbying, doing a media interview, in a tense customer service situation, combating the Ignorati or writing a blog.

And as two faith based haters found out in Houston city council chambers last year when they crossed my path, it also taught me how to quickly come up with humorous insults that would cut to the bone, as when I called them 'Bible-thumping Barbies' or shut down an HRC lobbyist who stepped to me the wrong way at the 2000 National Transgender Policy Meeting.

Hey, as I've said more than a few times, I don't have to be nice to or respect people who wish to oppress me.

It also taught me how to even if I'm pissed about something you said, I don't let you see it, and stay focused on the task at hand.   Depending on the situation, I can either coolly come back with factoids to rebut your erroneous statements in a lobbying setting, or strike back hard with a rapid fire verbal volley of my own capable of making you lose your cool for the world to see.

But who knew that playing the dozens would have real world applications, and become an invaluable tool in my activist toolbox?

Black Trans History Is A Fascinating And Evolving Story

I was surprised, pleased and honored to see a meme created by TransMusePlanet that quotes me on the importance of Black trans history. 

It's why my blog is named TransGriot and one of the reasons it exists.   While I'm writing many of the posts here to chronicle it and pass it on to my transpeeps that wish to get acquainted with it, it needs to also be seen by my cis Black family and our human rights allies.

I come from a family of historians.  My late godmother Pearl Suel was the founding president of the Houston chapter of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life, wrote the first Black history curriculum for HISD and taught history at the collegiate and high school level.  

That's where she encountered my mother, who was one of her star students, and my late father.   My mom got her bachelors in history, and passed that love of history to me.  I was involved in History Prep Bowl academic competitions in junior high as was captain of the team in my 8th grade year.

My dad was an admirer of Marcus Garvey.   I also count amongst my friends several collegiate history professors teaching at institutions across the country.

The love of history runs deep in my life, and I am keenly aware of the importance of it for marginalized groups and how it can be used to empower them.

Our opponents are aware of the power of history as well, which is why they work hard to keep you from not only having knowledge of your history, but seek to whitewash or eradicate any mention of it every chance they get.  It is no accident that one of the things our Texas conservafool majority is up to is trying to rewrite the history books so that their misdeeds and failures are glossed over.

One of the first questions I pondered when I transitioned in 1994 was about trans history and Black trans people's contributions to it.  Who are our heroes and sheroes?   Who are the people who preceded me and set the table for our community at the time I encountered it?   What can I do to help make this community better than when I first started hearing about it in 1975?

This blog is one part of the answer to that question.   We not only need to know our Black trans history, but Black cis people ignorant of our trans existence and the contributions we have made to the Black community.   Black trans people are part of the kente cloth fabric of the African-American community and the African Diaspora, and just didn't pop up out of nowhere in the second half of the 20th Century.

While we have known that trans actresses like Alexandra Billings, Alicia Brevard, Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Candis Cayne existed, it was a current actress in Laverne Cox, no stranger to making history and blazing trails, was thrilled to find out that she was walking in the path of a girl like us actress named Ajita Wilson. 

Diamond Stylz and I still chuckle about the time she busted a cis woman on the Net who made the erroneous comment as a joke there would never be a transfeminine JET Beauty of the Week, only to be informed by Diamond, armed with the links to the info,  that Ajita Wilson had done that as well.

There have also been some colorful characters in our history such as Lexington, Kentucky resident James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon, Georgia Black, Lady Java, Jim McHarris, and Lucy Hicks Anderson to remind us they were fighting to be their true selves in conditions and a time period far more hostile to Black people be they cis or trans.

Back in 1992 we had a transperson named Althea Garrison elected to the Massachusetts state legislature, and hopefully that will happen again in my lifetime.

And while trans models of all ethnic backgrounds like Geena Rocero, Lea T and Andreja Pejic are probably aware there has been a long stylish line of  trans models dating back to the 60's starting with April Ashley. our current Black trans models like Isis King and Arisce Wanzer are also aware of and hopefully inspired by the fact they were preceded on the catwalks and magazine covers by Tracy Africa Norman. 

We know that Miss Major and Marsha P Johnson raised hell at Stonewall a mere 4 years after a group of African-American gender variant kids in Philadelphia kicked off a trans-themed protest at Dewey's Lunch Counter.

And speaking of Black trans leaders, it isn't just Black trans women who have been fighting for and shaping the direction of our movement.   Black trans men like Marcelle Cook-Daniels, Alexander John Goodrum and Kylar Broadus have also been handling their human rights business.

We have people who were plaintiffs in human rights court cases like Patricia Underwood and Patti Shaw, just to name two of them.

We have people in the religious leadership ranks like Rev. Yeshua Holiday, Rev. Carmarion Anderson, and Rev Lawrence T. Richardson among others making the case that Black trans people are also people of faith.

We have had trans trailblazers in the music world like Wilmer Broadnax, Jordana LeSesne, Jaila Simms and Tona Brown who cover many types of musical genres with others following in their trailblazing footsteps..

Black trans history isn't just a recitation of past accomplishments. We have people making history today in tech entrepreneurs like Dr. Kortney Ziegler and Angelica Ross.  We have people in academia like Dr Van Bailey, Dr Kai Green, and Dr. Marisa Richmond.  

And I can't forget Kye Allums and my WMMA sis Fallon Fox.   Kye broke ground as a NCAA Div I collegiate basketball player, and Fallon is kicking butts and taking names in the octagon while representing our community and our athletically inclined transpeeps blazing trails and busting stereotypes in the sports world

And I'm still doing my part to not only help chronicle our Black trans history, but help make some of it as well.  Stories of back in the day Black trans people  that once were untold are now being discovered and told to a new generation of trans people to educate and inspire them to greater heights.

And that telling of our Black trans history is a crucial piece of building up our Black trans kids resistance to the urge to end their lives prematurely, and reinforce the point that #BlackTransLivesMatter.

We still have much human rights work left to do and much left to accomplish.   We have an amazing and evolving story to tell as Black trans people.   I'm proud to do my part as a trans writer walking in the footsteps of Roberta Angela Dee to bring it to you.

What's Wrong With A Trans Woman Being A Stay At Home Mom?

Stevie Wonder and Karyn White sang decades apart about superwomen from their masculine and feminine perspectives.   While we have some amazing girls like us representing our community, one of the insults we trans women get hurled at us from the TERFs who hate us is that we trans women are 'reinforcing gender stereotypes'.

But one of the beautiful things about femininity and especially the trans version of it is that there is no specific way of being a trans woman. 

It is as multidimensional as the women we are, just like it is for our cis counterparts.   For every time Laverne Cox rocks a red carpet, Geena Rocero travels the globe advancing our human rights, Arianna Lint appears on Spanish language television to talk about trans human rights issues from a Latina perspective, or yours truly bouncing from one convention to the next around the country, there are some of our trans sisters whose biggest transition dream was not only morphing their bodies to match the persons they always knew they were, but also seeing themselves with a husband, 2.5 kids and a house with a white picket fence.

I ain't mad at my sisters who chose that path, and neither should you be.   I also know some trans women who are working moms with kids.  One I know was named 'Working Mother of the Year' in 2014.

I had a conversation recently with a trans woman who is one of those trans moms raising kids.  Her face lit up when she talked about how this was her dream when she transitioned in her teens, and the reality of living her dream and having a husband, kids and family has made her exceedingly happy. 

Heard the same sentiments from even those trans women I know who are working mothers, and truth be told, sometimes I'm a little envious of them.

Being an either stay at home or working mom while trans is just as much a revolutionary act as me and everyone else bouncing up to the state capitol or Washington DC to fight for our human rights.  The more that society sees trans people doing mundane, everyday things that are beautifully human, the better.

So what's wrong with a trans woman being a stay at home mom?   Absolutely nothing.

Why I Write

I'm rapidly approaching 6 million hits on this nine year old blog, and it's an upcoming milestone I'm exceedingly proud of.   I'm also proud of the fact that despite some of the challenges that have occasionally popped up, I've been blessed to be able to keep writing on these unapologetically Black trans electronic pages for almost a decade.   

But the reasons I write on this blog are multilayered.   First, I love doing it.   There are times I'm up until 3 or 4 AM in the morning compiling posts because a thought crossed my mind and I can't sleep until it has been placed on electronic paper.

There are time I've arisen before the sun to start a writing day that continues for eight to ten hours.

And as many people who have been to conferences with me know, sometimes they have been frustrated in their attempts to spend quality time with me in the lobby or bar because I have retreated to my room or the hotel's cluster of computers to write for hours.

Most of the time is to inform you of what's going on in Trans World, but not exclusively.   I have thoughts about what's going on in the world around us, and have no problem sharing them with you loyal TransGriot readers.

And from time to time I have to tell y'all what's going on in my own life.

Many times I write to inspire my trans brothers and trans sisters to aim higher in their own lives and be better people than our haters.   It's vitally important in a time period in which society is attacking our very humanity and telling us we shouldn't exist, that someone is writing and saying things that not only counteract the anti-trans negativity, but motivate us to bump the haters and handle our business.

And yes, there are times when I write to help me think about and get over some issues I'm personally dealing with on my own evolutionary feminine journey so I can be that leader, role model and quality human being I strive to be.

I've had at least four people write me over the life of the blog and tell me that perusing my TransGriot blog posts kept them from committing suicide.   I've had others say my posts helped them get through difficult and trying times in their own transitions or was the nudge they needed to make it happen.

And as a writer intimately familiar with the trans community's history, it is my duty to disseminate it to you so you can pass it down to the next generation of trans people and those new to our community.

Hey, that's why the blog is named TransGriot

I've had countless others say thank you to me for doing what I do and for TransGriot's existence.   Well, you can thank my sis from another mother Jordana LeSesne for kicking me in the behind until I started it in January 2006

But the main reason I write is encapsulated in a Maya Angelou quote in which she said, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

I have been blessed with the talent, ability, and a glorious opportunity to tell those stories, and I am compelled to tell them.

And that's why I write.

TransGriot Note:  Initial photo is of my Louisville homegirl, writer, and fab reporter Angie Fenton

More 2015 Birthday Musings

One promise I made to several of my CAL co-workers and a few women when I had those early conversations with in the wake of my transition at IAH was that I wanted to be seen as a complement to Black women and Black womanhood and not a detriment to it.

Don't know if they were aware of it, but I admired and was watching how they effortlessly role modeled the different types of women they were, and I was taking mental notes. 

I was painfully aware in that spring of 1994 there were very few out Black transfeminine role models, and it was going to fall on me to be that person in my influence circles.

I've been told a few times since then they and the other cis women I made that promise to are very proud of me, and y'all don't know how much that means to me.

I've also heard the same commentary inside the community from Black lesbian identified women, my trans sisters and Black cis feminine allies to our community

Since it is my 53rd birthday and the 21st I've celebrated since my body finally caught up to being the person I always knew I was, it's been an amazing journey that I still marvel at.
I have this life that I've bounced across this country to discuss trans issues from an African-American perspective, and one day after I get my passport, it is my fondest wish to be able to do that in various nations around the globe.

Is there room for improvement?   Yep, because I believe that a transition is an ongoing evolutionary journey that doesn't end until you pass away from this plane of existence.

I'm also continuing to strive to be come that quality Black woman I've talked about on this blog a few times.  Still doing the work to evolve,continue to live up to that promise and exceed it, but so proud and happy there are more amazing examples of Black trans women doing some amazing things and looking fab doing it.

Intersectional Houston Saturday

Yesterday, April 11 was a Saturday in which I woke up with two events on my mind, and ended up at three.  

My day started at the Montrose Center for the HPD-LGBT Community Dialogue that kicked off at 10 AM and was scheduled to run until 1 PM.   HPD Chief Charles McClellan and his command staff, along with LGBT Liaison EJ Joseph and several LGBT officers were in the house to discuss the spike in Montrose crime  which has sadly taken a life, along with John Gaspari, who was shot in a hate crime, and other concerned residents.

I suspect that spike is crime is related to the anti-LGBT rhetoric that was (and continues to be) uttered and broadcast post passage of HERO by our not so favorite christobigots, and as Ashton Woods pointed out during this meeting, the gentrification of Montrose which leads the folks with criminal intent to think that peeps in the gayborhood are walking ATM's.

After the first segment of it involving the chief and command staff was conducted with news cameras rolling, the second segment happened with Officer Joseph and four LGBT HPD officers..  That lasted until 12 noon before it concluded with Q&A and moi being teased by Officer Joesph about my lack of quality time with her due to my recent trips to DC twice, Philadelphia and Chicago for TBLG community events.

After talking to a Houston Chronicle reporter, other African-American HPD officers and laying the groundwork for future projects and collaborations, I got snatched up by Brandon Mack and Ashton Woods to join them in a hilarious at times car ride through intermittent rain and showers to the Acres Homes area and Sylvester Turner Park for state Rep. and current Houston mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner's 8th Annual Family Fun Day.

Hey, y'all thought I was kidding about my wicked sense of humor.  But back to the post.

There was free food, water and juice along with music ranging from R&B classics to hip hop and a live zydeco band as I got to talk to several candidates for Houston elective offices like Dwight Jefferson, Laurie Robinson and see HISD school board trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones.

I had an interesting conversation with Ms. Robinson, who is running in the Houston City Council at Large Position 4 race. in which we discussed HERO (she supports it) , my trans activist life, and life on the campaign trail as a city council candidate.

After hanging out there for two hours and grabbing a smoked turkey leg, it was time to get ready for my first HRC Houston Gala at the Westin Galleria.

35 years ago I was on the other end of the Galleria at the now Westin Oaks Hotel for my high school prom, and now I was attending for the first time at the invitation of Ian Barrett to what is referred to in Houston LGBT circles as 'Gay Prom.'

After arriving around 5:30 PM for the 18th annual edition of it, it was a succession of running into old friends, meeting new ones, seeing political leaders like HISD Board President Anna Eastman, Councilmembers Robert Gallegos and Mike Laster and killing time until we were able to sit down at our tables for the gala.

Yeah yeah, I know I'm one of HRC's longtime national critics.  But I was invited to the gala by a Houston based African-American national board member, and curiosity about what happens during one of these events drove me to accept the invitation and have an open mind about the experience.

And yeah, I got to do so while seated with Brandon, Ashton, and Synthia Walton.

The big surprise of the night for me was when HRC President Chad Griffin during his speech gave me a shout out in it.  That ended my anonymity at that event because after that I was approached my dozens of people thanking me for my longtime service to the community.

I'd like one of them to thank me with a public policy job in Austin, Houston or Washington DC, but that's another post.

I was successful in getting my fangirl moment in during one of the breaks.  I finally got to meet my slam dunking Houston homegirl Brittney Griner, who you longtime readers know I have mad love for.   Brittney joked during this photo it was nice for once to not be the tallest woman in the room.

So when I returned to Casa de Monica, I had a new collection of business cards to add to my collection, more opportunities for community building, and a bunch of pleasant memories to what turned out to be a doubleplusgood  day for yours truly practicing what I preach about intersectionality.

Countdown To Cuatro De Mayo 2015

With the passage of April 4, the countdown starts for me to Cuatro De Mayo, AKA my birthday which is now 29 days away.

I love birthdays, because it is the one day on the calendar in which you can legitimately say is your personal holiday to celebrate as you wish.

Birthdays are days of celebration as well in which you revel in the satisfaction of surviving another 365 days (366 in a leap year) on this space rock.

And as a trans woman of color, it is a revolutionary act for me to be celebrating a birthday at an age that is well past our sad trans WOC life expectancy of 35 years of age.

With the rapid approach of another birthday, I tend to fall into introspective mode and analyze my life over the last 12 months.  I look at what things I did well, the stuff that was a disaster that I can learn lessons from, and the areas in which I can improve.

I try not to be too hard on myself during that 29 days I'm analyzing my life, but it happens that sometimes I'm more critical about some of the things that happened in the preceding twelve months that is necessary.

And yes, it's a process that ensures I don't get  'Big Head Syndrome' as I become more well known for my human rights activism.  

Then again I have people in my inner circle of friends who make it their job to ensure they are standing by with the needles that keep me at the proper level of humility about the blessings I've received in return for fighting for the human rights of a marginalized community. 

I'm blessed to have a group of friends across different age groups that have no problem keeping me grounded in reality, giving me the motivational kick in the butt when necessary, a hug when I feel down, or giving me sound advice when I need it.

And yes, I'm cognizant of the fact I'm considered a possibility model by people inside and outside our community.  I also take time during this introspective countdown to my birthday in contemplating proper self-care.  I strive to balance the demands of that public role with making space for living my life when I'm not on the trans human rights clock

The end result of this process is that when May 4 rolls around again, I want to be in a better position to be the best human being I can be.  

I'm A Skilled, Trained Professional

As you long time TransGriot readers are aware of, ,it makes my day to point out the ignorance and hypocrisy in the world, especially when it involves conservafools.

And sadly, my Shut Up Fool business has been booming lately.

In my way too brief time with my LGBT media colleagues, they have expressed to me just how much they enjoy me tearing our conservafool opponents a new anus.  And far too often, they just keep handing me the ammo to bash them with on a silver platter

Hey, Mr.T did say that fools are everywhere.

But as much as I like calling them out and that's good for my hit counts, that;s not good for our country and those of us who like to see government work   We the people deserve better that that.

We deserve a democracy in which both parties put their competing visions for running this country in the marketplace of ideas, and let us voters decide which one we like better, not one in which one party checks out from reality, and then tries to rig the game so you as a reality based voter can't toss their asses out of office for daring to be that monumentally stupid and arrogant.

So as long as there are fools, I'll be calling them out

Moni's Washington Musings

One of the things I was thinking about on the 3.5 hour plane ride back to Houston was the overwhelming sense of deja vu that enveloped me in the days leading up to my Washington trip to handle my TPOCC board  business, while I was in my room, and during that facilitated board meeting..

In addition to the fact this TPOCC meeting happened on the same weekend as the 50th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, the facilitated board meeting took place in a hotel across the Rhode Island Avenue street from the headquarters of HRC, an org that in the 90s was more of a trans human rights oppressor than an ally.

Fifteen years ago a 37 year old TransGriot was the political director of a neophyte multicultural trans rights organization called the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition.   A national transgender policy meeting facilitated by the Task Force was scheduled to happen January 27, 2000 amongst the major LGBT organizations at the time and it was going to be NTAC's debut at those policy tables


But that initial meeting was delayed due to a surprise snowstorm that started January 24 and dropped several inches of snow on Washington DC and a wide swath of the Midwest and northeast US.   I was at Intercontinental Airport along with Vanessa Edwards Foster trying to get to DC as two other NTAC board members drove from Louisville, KY and Columbus, OH in that snowstorm following a snowplow as they entered Maryland to actually make it to the front doors of The Task Force headquarters. 

Dawn and Sarah did get a meeting with then Task Force leaders for their efforts, and when we were able to convene the rescheduled policy meeting a few weeks later I was in the room  representing the interests of trans people of color at that table .  

I also got to call out the HRC rep for sabotaging our lobby days dating back to 1994 and let her know in no uncertain terms that the new trans human rights sheriffs were in town, and we were here to pass legislation and advocate for policies to fix the problems that ail trans world.

HRC could either join u in that effort or get the hell out of the way.

That memory was on my mind as I sat in the Hobby Airport gate lobby about to hop a flight to Washington as another snowstorm was bearing down on our nation's capital.   I thought about the fact that I was about to take part in a board meeting for another multicultural trans organization during a historic weekend for African-Americans.

I pondered the fact after safely arriving during a snowstorm at DCA, I was once again in a city I had visited so many other times before in my activist life helping to formulate policy and chart the course of another organization tasked to represent the human rights interests of trans people of color.

And I want this one to be around for the next generation of trans people of color to run when our founder and the rest of us at that policy table on Friday need to pass the leadership torch to the next generation.

TPOCC has a unique voice in these trans human rights matters that needs to be heard before formulating policy that affects all trans people, and in this fifth anniversary year you will increasingly hear that voice.. 

Should We Count Silicone Pumping Deaths In TDOR Stats?

Back on February 20 I was in a discussion with another activist about the number of people we have lost to anti trans violence.   When she started listing the number of people who have died so far this year, she included someone who died because of a fatal silicone pumping incident.

That started a debate between the both of us in regards to whether people who die from silicone pumping should be recognized at a TDOR event.

I argued NO, and here are my reasons why.. 

The reason the TDOR was founded by Gwen Smith in the first place back in 1999 was because we had an epidemic at the time of trans murders, no or blatantly transphobic and crappy coverage even from gay media about it, and we trans peeps were starting to forget the names of the deceased that dated back to the 70's.

That's why the TDOR was created.  To memorialize the dead, ensure we didn't forget those people who were violently taken from us  basically because they were living their trans lives, begin building a historical record that it was happening, create an event that would attract media coverage about the issue and give our allies a way to support us.

The event quickly went international because we live on all inhabited continents on this planet and anti-trans hate and violence is an international human rights issue.

While silicone pumping and the cis and trans people who die from it is a problematic issue that I have covered on these electronic pages since  2006, the fact remains that unlike a murder, the person who dies from silicone pumping, knows the potential risks of pumping, knows that people have died because of it, but still chose to do so.

The pumper may be charged with murder or a crime after the fact, but the pumper isn't forcing that person against their will to plunk down the money to undergo a procedure that they may not survive.

Silicone pumping deaths, like suicides, also generate their own media publicity, unlike trans murders.

A silicone pumping death shouldn't be elevated to TDOR list recognition.  Just as with suicide deaths, they are a separate category from trans people being murdered for who they are, and it is what the Transgender Day of Remembrance needs to continue to focus on.

The TDOR does not need to 'evolve' as I was told in that conversation I had with this particular activist, it is executing what it was designed to do. 

So why mess with the success of the TDOR or attempt to alter its Prime Directive?

So no, silicone pumping deaths do not need to be counted in TDOR stats, nor should they be recognized at a TDOR event now or into the future.

Love Your Trans Friends

Saw this trans themed Keep Calm poster and it inspired me to write this commentary about it.

Love your transgender friends because in some cases, you may be the only person in their lives who loves them unconditionally.

And how important is that unconditional love?    In a world in which we turn on the TV, our smartphones or our laptops and hear the leader of one major world religion compare us to nuclear weapons, an almost weekly report of another transperson being killed somewhere on the planet, others claiming we're confused, politicians gleefully oppressing us, and having every jerk with a Facebook or Twitter account spouting their loud and wrong scientifically deficient opinions about us, nice to know that someone cares about us and wants us in their lives

So yeah, it ain't easy being trans, especially at a time in which when we are on the cusp of a human rights breakthrough and our legions of haters know it.  

Some of us are so deeply wounded by all the negative stuff that has happened to us we will find it hard to accept that unconditional love at first.   But keep holding those arms out to embrace and envelope us in that unconditional love anyway.   Sooner or later we'll drop our guard and make the cautious moves to accept it.

Having people in our lives cis and trans who unconditionally love us is vitally important, and those of us who know the value of those friendships are deeply appreciative and thankful to have them.

And if you take the opportunity to love your trans friends, you'll be pleased to discover that it's a mutually beneficial experience.

Keep calm, and love your transgender friends.  Moni definitely approves this message.

Have Much Love For My Trans Latina Sisters

One of the things I got to do during the just concluded 27th edition of Creating Change in Denver that I really didn't get a chance to do much of during #CC14 in Houston because of host committee duties was hanging out with my trans sisters at the convention hotel.

The cool part about this conference was not only getting to once again share the same space with the legendary Bamby Salcedo, Isa Noyola and my amazing sis Arianna Lint, but getting to meet other trans Latinas like Johanna Saavedra and Jennicet Gutierrez.  It was also nice getting to know fellow blogger Johanna Cifredo a little better after meeting her in Washington back in July at the Innovation Summit.

Diego and Yosenio, you know I have mad love for both of you handsome brothers, but this post is about the trans Latina sisters

And yes Ruby Corado-Walker, you were missed in Denver.   Somehow I know that the next time I go to DC, you will find a way to ensure that some portion of my trip inside I-495 is spent in your presence..   Alexis Martinez I'll get to see the next time I'm blessed to be in Chicago.

We owe much of our trans rights movement to a trans Latina by the name of Sylvia Rivera who jumped off the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and I had the pleasure of meeting in 2000.  She also fought tooth and nail to her deathbed to ensure we were heard and we had a seat at the table so our policy concerns could be dealt with.



Trans Latinas continue that proud trans movement leadership legacy thanks to the TransLatina Coalition ,the fearless leadership of the members of it ,and other trans Latinas toiling locally across the USA and the world

Ruby Corado-Walker in just three years has built Casa Ruby into the go to service organization in the Washington DC metro area.  Mariah Lopez, who was Sylvia's mentee and daughter, is increasingly stepping out to fight for trans issues in the New York area

While some of the trans issues that I and my trans Latina sisters face are different such as the immigration one, there are others we have in common.  

Trans Latinas and African-American trans women both suffer unacceptable levels of anti-trans hate and violence aimed at us, faith-based demonizing of our lives, unemployment number double the rate of Latin@ and African-American cis people, lack of representation in the community leadership ranks, silicone pumping, HIV/AIDS and lack of visibility in our respective cultures and the TBLGQ community..

While that last one is starting to change thanks to the Spanish language media efforts of Arianna Lint, my fellow alum of the 2012 GLAAD POC Media training and the Transvisible documentary featuring Bamby., we still have a long way to go in terms of the visibility of trans Latinas.

And the voices of trans Latinas need to be heard at the policy tables inside and outside our TBLGQ community and in their legacy orgs such as LULAC.

One of my missions in 2015 in addition to raising the voices of trans Latinas and be a better ally to them on the issues that matter to the trans Latina community, is also raising the voices of trans women of color period including my Asian-Pacific Islander and my Native American sisters.  

As for my trans Latina sisters, I would like to see better coordination and cooperation on the issues we share between the trans Latina community and other trans women of color.   I'm looking forward to meeting other trans Latinas like my San Antonio homegirl Nicole Ramos.   I'd love to someday meet chef Monica Barros-Greene and talk to her about her Dallas city council run back in 2005 among other subjects and Harmony Santana about her Gun Hill Road role.

I'm also looking forward to meeting and conversing with every trans Latina on my Facebook page about the trans issues of the day and other subjects.

And in my 713 backyard, I want to do a better job of connecting to and working with Houston trans Latinas on all of our issue concerns. .

I have much love for you, trans Latinas, and it only grows with time.  We also have the common goal of ensuring that trans people are treated with dignity and respect, and our human rights are also ensconced into our nation's laws.

Let's get busy doing the work in 2015 and beyond we are called and need to do, build sisterhood and make some lifelong friendships while doing so.