WTF? Whitney Ain't Even In Her Grave Yet...

And we already have a white gay activist repeating an old news rumor she already debunked over two decades ago. Renee of Womanist Musings had her say about it, now it's my turn.  

What's disgusting about this bull feces is that Peter Tatchell is doing so as preparations for her funeral in Newark are happening and she isn't able to defend herself.

“Whitney Houston RIP. She was happiest and at her peak in the 1980s, when she was with her female partner. They were so loved up and joyful together,” said Tatchell on his Facebook page the day after she died..

“It’s important to tell the truth about this aspect of her life. Colluding with the cover-up of her same-sex relationship is not right."

Cover up my azz, Peter Tatchell.  Neither is it right for you in your vanillacentric arrogance to repeat decades old rumors about one of our African-American icons when you know damned well she has repeatedly denied the rumors during her lifetime and isn't here to defend herself. 

This is what Whitney had to say about the alleged same sex relationship.

“You know what? I am so tired of this. I’m really sick of it. People want to know if there is a relationship: Our relationship is that we’re friends,” Houston told journalist Anthony DeCurtis in 1993. “We’ve been friends since we were kids. She now is my employee. I’m her employer. And we’re still best of friends. That’s what it is. You mean to tell me that if I have a woman friend, I have to have a lesbian relationship with her? That’s bulls—.”

In addition, you have dragged a grieving Robyn Crawford into this mess to pimp your own agenda.   It's even more aggravating for me to discover Tatchell started flapping his gums the day after Houston passed from this plane of existence.

This is the kind of crap that pisses African-Americans off about the white dominated GL community and white gay men in general   Not all of y'all exhibit these nekulturny tendencies, but far too many times elements of you act in ways that give others the impression outside your group that the GL(bt) movement is all about y'all, your quest for regaining full fledged WMP, and you don't care or give a rats anus about anybody else unless it fits your agenda.

When it comes to people of color inside or outside the community, that impression is magnified.     

And no, this isn't the first time that a white gay person has pulled this crap and we've had to call y'all on it.  The same thing was done to Luther Vandross after he passed away in 2005.   Vandross also dealt with persistent rumors about his sexuality during his lifetime and also publicly denied them. 

There was also the recent attempt to claim that Malcolm X was bisexual several decades after his 1965 assassination that angered the African-American community as well. 

Oprah Winfrey has endured the same persistent rumors about her longtime friendship with Gayle King that Whitney dealt with. 

Alicia Keys and Queen Laitfah are being hounded as well to 'come out of the closet' despite repeated denials from both women they are part of the rainbow community.   

Now there is nothing wrong with being a member of the rainbow community.  Hey, I'm a proud African descended transwoman myself.

But the difference is I am open about being a transwoman and made that choice to do so.  For my friends who are transsexuals but who don't want the world to know that, I respect their wishes in not wanting to risk their lives, family relationships and careers for a political cause that doesn't fully represent our people and the issues important to the African-American community. 

Besides, when we have TBLG African-Americans who are out and proud about being part of the rainbow community but have minds of their own or opinions diametrically opposed to your vanillacentric groupthink, sure is interesting to note that y'all ain't rushing to claim them. 

I'm not running around outing people, nor do I plan to unless they are acting in ways deleterious to the human rights progress of the trans community.  I also operate under the rule that until a person declares that they are a member of the trans and SGL community, I presume they are cis. 

As much as I loved Whitney Houston as an artist and a complex human being, it ain't my business to know who she was sharing her bedroom with nor do I care.

If she wanted to divulge that information to the world, that was her prerogative to do so and no one else.

She also had 48 years of her life and multiple opportunities in the hundreds of media interviews she conducted during her career to do just that.    

What Peter Tatchell did was egregiously foul and grossly unfair to her, Robyn Crawford, the grieving Houston and Brown families, and Whitney's fans all over the planet.  .  

How (Not) To Write About Black Trans Women

Karnythia of the Angry Black Woman blog had an interesting post I ran across entitled How To Write About Black Women in which she slammed all the tropes, memes and blanket statements aimed at Black women when others outside our community write about us. 

One group she didn't mention is Black trans women, and here's where I was inspired to pick up the baton and happily run with it where Karnythia left off. 

(Moni cracks knuckles) 

Let's get started with this post, shall we?

Only acknowledge the existence of Black transwomen when we are murdered or the victim of a crime, salaciously involved in some scandal or news story you wish to highlight, during the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance, you wish to pump up your Nielsen ratings during sweeps week or you wish to use us to insult Black cis women you hate.

Ignore the African descended trans activists who have toiled for decades to represent our community or have eloquently written about those issues for years because only white transwomen do that.  Don't bother quoting Black transwomen on issues of importance to the rainbow community at large, write positive stories about them speaking on trans issues or believe there are engaged Black transfeminine leaders involved in fighting for the human rights of their community and others.        .

Use a sellout Black gay male drag queen, white trans activists at inside the beltway Gay, Inc organizations or local rainbow community orgs to speak as 'experts' on Black trans lives.

Violate the AP Stylebook guidelines on covering transgender people by misgendering Black transwomen at every opportunity.  When known, mention their old male names even if it isn't germane to the story in order to other them and reinforce the point they weren't originally born female.  

If a Black transwoman is a victim of a hate crime or discrimination, you take the police spokesperson or the right wing anti-trans organization word as gospel truth without questioning if the 'man' they are describing in their press conference is actually a transwoman..  Inject the 'deception meme' into the story, add any criminal record your research may have uncovered if they have one and make certain you use either the mug shot or an unflattering picture of her.  Throw in for good measure without any evidence to back it up shady commentary or your presumption the transperson in question was soliciting

Quotes of family members or neighbors misgendering that person work for the story as well.   .


When in the process of rebutting a critique a Black transwoman has written, call her 'angry', 'obsessed about race', take digs at her education and demand she produce dissertation level citations to prove her points. If that doesn't work, call her a racist.  If all of the above fails, call her a 'man'.

If you're a cis female or radical feminist do all of the above, flaunt your ability to menstruate, birth them babies and add misogynist to your list of charges. If you're a white transsexual separatist, obsess about surgical status in addition to doing all of the above.

Position the Black transwoman as the 'unwoman' juxtaposed to cis women and non Black trans women you have anointed with honorary cis privilege.  The Black transwoman doesn't exist except to fulfill the 'tragic transsexual' meme or as martyrs to use in order to fundraise for Gay, Inc organizations.  

They are also handy for browbeating Black civil rights legacy orgs into supporting same gender marriage, taking Black legislators to task to garner support for getting marriage equality laws passed for GL people or ramrod through unjust trans rights laws without public accommodations language.

If Black transwomen object to the erasure or the misuse of their fallen transsisters lives and histories in that manner, accuse them of being divisive, refuse to engage with them, microaggressively engage in tone arguments or lob sexist, bigoted and misgendering comments at them while doing so..

Presume that your cis privileged life and your observations based on collegiate gender theory classes trump the lived experiences and everyday lives of a Black transwoman.  Dismiss it when she states that race matters and aim pre-1963 Dr. King quotes at her while chiding her for not being colorblind   Obsess about the Black transwoman's sexuality and make blanket statements and presumptions that her only interests in life are partying, getting high, getting pumped and turning tricks. 

Make blanket statements and assumptions that she is neither concerned about nor intelligent enough to discuss the human rights issues that affect all transpeople or that she has spirituality, hopes, dreams and aspirations in life just like any other human being on the planet.