One of the things I am beyond sick of is white Republicans racistly denigrating the intelligence of President Obama, who has repeatedly proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is smarter that the average anti-intellectual Republican.
The latest Republican trying it is one who definitely needs to have a stadium full of seats and STFU about even trying to criticize someone's intelligence is the half term governor of Alaska in Sarah Palin.
As far as intelligence goes, let's point out the fact that your behind went to four different colleges to get a bachelors, while the POTUS is a constitutional law scholar, the first Black president of the Harvard Law Review, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.
President Obama is light years more intelligent than you and your GOP colleagues combined. You and your conservative buddies are mad because it is the Black POTUS that is making y'all 'intellectually superior' conservatives look like the clueless idiots you are on a regular basis.
And I still find it had to comprehend eight years later that out of all the people in the Republican Party, McCain picked her to be a bad heartbeat of his away from the Oval Office.
You are the last person than needs to be calling people stupid when we have ample recorded evidence of the multiple interviews in which you revealed you lack of intellectual prowess to the world.
Bye Sarah, don't even try it. You are the special kind of stupid you tried to pin on the POTUS, and you need to stop protecting it to the world.
Been wondering when the conservafool movement would deploy their Kneegrow Auxiliaries to regurgitate the same trans hate the GOP politicians and conservative white folks have been spouting for the last few months.
Well, I now have my answer. The sellout kneegrow (they don't deserve to be called Black) pastors were recently deployed to coon it up in North Carolina for the unjust Hate Bill 2, and now Stacey Dash has received her marching orders from her conservafool paymasters..
Ever since I first saw Stacey Dash in the movies Mo' Money and Illegal In Blue and later Clueless, I've been a fan.. The brothers drooled over her photo shoots in various Black men's magazines. But over the last several years that has waned as she has started drinking the conservafool Kool-Aid.
Now that the FOX Noise Fembot has revealed herself to be an unrepentant transphobe, as far as I and everyone else in Black Trans World and our allies are concerned it's Bye, Stacey time.
Since you're a clueless conservaidiot, pun intended, let me break this simple concept down for you Ms. Dash. Trans women are women, trans men are men. We're also human beings.
Let my unapologetic Black trans behind tell your sellout ass where I and every other trans woman on this planet will be going to poop and pee, and wash our hands when we're done. It won't be in the bushes, it'll be in the women's bathroom stall right next to you, just as we have been doing for your entire life and you probably didn't even know it.
And oh yeah, guess you forgot there are Black trans people whose #BlackTransLivesMatter to all who love them. It is our lives that have been and will be disproportionately affected by the anti-trans violence and GOP legislative discrimination that your transphobic words gleefully endorse.
.
Trans people demanding to have our humanity be treated with dignity and respect and our human rights recognized is not as you disrespectfully put it 'the tyranny of the minority'. And how dare you as part of the conservative tyranny of the minority peddle that debunked anti-trans bathroom lie so you can peddle your new book that only the FOX Noise watching ignorati will read
Bye, Stacey. And on behalf of Black Trans America, you can kiss our unapologetically Black trans behinds..
Of all people, Rupert Murdoch decided to tweet a comment about GOP sellout Ben Carson and take a swipe at President Obama at the same time.
Let's just say the reaction to it from Black America was swift and negative, and Black Twitter hasn't come for his azz yet.
But first of all, who the phuck are you to even part your lips about anything related to the racial divide, when your FOX Noise propaganda network is majorly responsible for the amped up racial negativity in the United States?.
You also don't get to decide from your residence in Canberra who is 'Black enough' for us. Black Americans collectively do.
We have had a Black POTUS since 2008, despite your effort to ensure that historical milestone wouldn't happen.
While there are times that we have had contentious disagreements about how much President Obama has done for our community, Black America is exceedingly pleased and proud that he, the First Lady and their beautiful daughters live at that nice white mansion built by our ancestors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Ben Carson on the other hand, has gone the other way. He went from being respected in Black America to being seen as a sad joke by the vast majority of us. It's insulting and laughable for you, Mr 1% to even say 'president' and 'Ben Carson' in the same sentence..
The only way Ben Carson will see the inside of the White House is either by taking the White House tour or if President Obama invites him for a visit.
But back to riffing on you for even daring to tweet that nonsense you did. Your network gleefully traffics in race baiting and anti-Black animus for ratings and GOP political advantage, so you, much less anyone at FOX Noise have ZERO credibility, especially since your ass lives in Australia, about race matters here in the United States
And if you seriously wish to contribute to lessening racial tensions in the United States, how about starting by pulling the plug on that electronic Klan rally you call a news network?
Clean up your own crap with Australia's indigenous population and then you might be able to have a somewhat credible conversation about it.
Until then, have several sections of seats at the MCG, a vegemite sandwich and shut the hell up.
One of the things I'm really getting sick of along with the Black trans community is Black cis folks acting like we Black trans folks don't exist. The latest to fall into this trap is rapper Waka Flocka Flame, who opened mouth and inserted foot in it while on the syndicated The Breakfast Club radio show in New York on Friday
He went on a rant during the interview attacking Caitlyn Jenner as an 'affront to God' and then kept going to attack the entire trans community.
The transphobic comments start at the 9:15 mark
'Transgenders, they're marketing evil, man" he said on air before he went on to accuse the trans community of 'doing the devil's work' and as a test of society that we needed to 'outbeat'.
Back in the day there were church folk that claimed (and still do) that rap music was 'marketing evil'. If you're so concerned about the culture. then you and your fellow rappers as people who have negatively contributed to the culture you decry need to stop disrespecting women in your alleged recordings and go back to producing rap music that uplifts the community.
Not gonna hold my breath that will happen anytime soon.
And speaking of 'rebellions against God', by you having tattoos and long braided hair, you are hypocritically doing the same thing you falsely accused trans people of.
And before you start trying to Bible beat trans folks, I suggest you read Matthew 19;12, Acts 8:26-40, Isaiah 56:5 and Galatians 3:28 for starters.
Comments like yours also amp up the anti-trans hate in the Black community that lead to anti-trans violence and murder of our people. Of the 20 trans people that have been murdered this year, 14 have been Black, and 10 of those murders were trans women under age 40.
By the way, Waka Flocka Fool, in case you didn't know it, and based on that radio interview you don't, there are millions of transpeople around the world not named Caitlyn Jenner, and surprise surprise, some of them are Black.
We did not lose our Black cards when we transitioned, and many of those Black trans folks are doing amazing things and have been part of the kente cloth fabric of our community for over a century. In addition to New York Times best selling authors, Emmy Award nominated actresses, and a GLAAD award nominated blogger, we have doctors, lawyers, college professors, athletes, models, classically trained singers, soldiers and parents raising kids in our ranks.
All we want to do is live our lives to the best of our ability and contribute our talents to uplifting the Black community without drama. But far too many of you are bringing the faux faith based negativity and drama to us instead of hitting Google and educating yourselves about our lives.
If you make negative transphobic comments on a 100,000 watt radio station, we trans people who are negatively impacted by those comments have no other choice but to infer about you based on those comments that you are a transphobic idiot.
You cannot claim Waka Flocka Flame you have 'nothing against transgender people' after you spew transphobic comments in a Friday radio interview and then say you stand by those comments.
I'm not a fan of judgmental rappers who seem to think they know more about trans lives than the folks who actually live them and the scientists who have done decades of research about them. We trans folks are superheroes and supersheroes just for getting up in the morning and living our lives to the best of our ability in a world that irrationally hates on us.
And Waka Flocka Flame, giving a half-assed non apology apology doesn't erase the real damage those The Breakfast Club comments unleashed to the psyche of a child or person in our community struggling with gender identity issues.
Hate thoughts + hate speech = hate violence, and those comments can lead to a trans kid being bullied at school, suicide or to a trans adult who has to deal with the real threat of anti-trans violence fueled by the anti-trans hate speech of you and your buddies in the rap world. .
I am what God made me, an unapologetically Black trans woman, proud of being both Black and trans. If you don't like that, tough. I don't give a rat's anus whether you do or not. But what I will not stand for as a longtime advocate for the human rights of trans people for nearly two decades is you and other misguided Black people demonizing the trans community, and by extension, African descended trans people without calling your behind out on it because our Black trans lives matter too.
#WeExist, and it's because of unnecessary transphobic comments like yours that our lives are a struggle.
So Waka Flocka Flame, shut the fucka uppa and have several sections of seats at Madison Square Garden when you do so.
No thanks to the Texas Supreme Court, I and 2.3 million Houstonians (for now) no longer have local human rights coverage in my hometown.
Despite evidence of massive fraud by the HERO opposition and clear failures of the opponents to follow the Houston City Charter rules for ballot initiatives and collect enough signatures to place it on the ballot, the GOP dominated Texas Supreme Court once again landed on the side of injustice and gave the oppressors what they wanted.
Per their unjust ruling, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance that was passed last May is not only suspended, the Texas Supreme Court ordered that it either be repealed in 30 days (August 24) or placed on the November 2015 ballot.
In a statement, Mayor Annise Parker expressed her disappointment in the TX Supremes jacked up ruling.
"Obviously, I am disappointed and
believe the court is in error with this eleventh hour ruling in a case
that had already been decided by a judge and jury of citizens.
Nonetheless, we will proceed with the steps necessary for City Council
to consider the issue. At the same time, we are consulting with our
outside counsel on any possible available legal actions. " "Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance is
similar to measures passed by every other major city in the country and
by most local corporations. No matter the color of your skin, your age,
gender, physical limitations, or sexual orientation, every Houstonian
deserves the right to be treated equally. To do otherwise, hurts
Houston’s well-known image as a city that is tolerant, accepting,
inclusive and embracing of its diversity. Our citizens fully support
and understand this and I have never been afraid to take it to the
voters. We will win!"
Needless to say I am pissed off about this unjust ruling. People's human rights should NEVER be put to a vote, and if you think they should be, you're sadly mistaken.
The HERO isn't going to be repealed by council. But what this ruling just did was ensure that the 2015 Houston mayoral election will be the most hyperpartisan and contentious one in Houston history if the federal court appeal goes the same way.. The money will be flowing to ensure that the conservafools can protect their vanillacentric privileged right to discriminate against anyone they don't like.
And since the faux faith based haters lost big on marriage, nothing would please them more than to get a huge high-profile win in the fourth largest city in the country and the largest in Texas by rolling back a human rights law that also includes BTLG protections in a city run by a lesbian mayor..
Shyt just got real Houston LGBT community. If you were planning on sitting on your azzes in this election cycle and not voting, you may wish to rethink that plan because the Texas Supreme Court just made it possible for the tyranny of the majority to vote on your human rights. They also potentially set off what promises to be a nasty and divisive high stakes fight that will put the economic future of Houston at risk if the federal appeal reversing the unjust Texas Supreme Court ruling fails.
What are the stakes you ask? In addition to the future of the HERO, don't forget that we have at least $10 billion dollars of economic impact on the line with the 2016 NCAA Men's Final Four and the 2017 Super Bowl scheduled to be played here at NRG Stadium.
If we lose this fight, we will probably lose both of those signature events, future corporate relocations and future convention business as well as our local remedy for fighting discrimination since the GOP dominated Texas legislature is in no hurry to pass a statewide human rights law.
If you believe that HERO being on the November ballot is unfair, then you take out your frustrations on the six Houston City councilmembers who voted against the HERO last year. You also take your righteous anger out on any mayoral candidate like Ben Hall who supports its repeal and enacting a new one without human rights protections for TBLG Houstonians. You also vote for the people who support you.
And since the Texas Supreme Court justices are elected, you take out your frustrations on them at the ballot box too
If you can do so, please take a moment out of your schedule over the next four months leading up to November 3 to volunteer to defend HERO. If you can make a contribution to defend HERO in a possible referendum battle, please do so once the links are set up.
And most importantly, talk to your friends, neighbors and people in your influence circles about HERO now. Debunk the lies the opponents are about to tell and point out it covers 15 categories including pregnancy, veterans status, sex and national origin just to name a few in addition to gender identity and sexual orientation.
ANY candidate seeking my vote for any office in this 2015 cycle who doesn't support the current inclusive HERO will NOT get my vote in 2015 or future election cycles. I'm already planning to be at my fave early voting site on the first day we are able to early vote in this election.
I also expect my Democratic candidates and my federal, state and local officials to unequivocally state where they stand on HERO..
Houston NAACP and Houston Urban League, I expect you to also side with the human rights of all Houstonians instead of a bunch of sellout preachers cooning it up for longtime professional gaybaiters like Dave Welch and Dave Wilson.
I already know where much of the Texas GOP is on HERO, and it ain't for human rights as Gov Abbott just demonstrated. If you're a Republican who believes in human rights, surprise me.
And finally Houston SGL, trans and bi Houstonians, this is a call to action. If you value your human rights, I suggest you get off your derrieres and join me in once again sending the message that it's obvious the Harris County and Texas Republicans parties, The Baptist ministers Assn. of Houston and Vicinity and the Houston Area pastoral Council didn't get on May 28, 2014.
I met Jennicet Gutierrez during the 2015 edition of Creating Change in Denver, and I enjoyed the time I spent getting to know her.
She is passionate about immigration issues as a undocumented trans Latina and other trans human rights issues.
A lot of people have been bumping their gums about Jennicet speaking truth to power during the recent LGBT reception on June 24 and interrupting President Obama's speech with a call to stop the jacked up incarceration of trans feminine detainees with the cis boys in ICE detention centers.
She was not only escorted out of the White House event, but hurtfully booed by other LGBT leaders as people opined, some in mind numbing ways, with their take on what happened.
Comparing her to Kanye West? Seriously? That's worthy of an SUF nomination. But back to the post.
Here's what Jennicet had to say about it:
"[Obama] came out, started speaking and started to get into his speech on how wonderful everything is, and I couldn’t help but think about the conditions that my LGBTQ Latino/Latina, especially trans women of color, are facing in detention. So, to me, that was the moment I had to speak up. I had to raise awareness to the President and to everyone else watching that I’m not just going to celebrate, when my trans sisters are facing a lot of violence in the detention centers. [Trans women are facing] sexual and physical abuse, and I just had to send a message."
While I'm not happy about what happened since I believe along with a wide majority of African-Americans this POTUS has had far too much disrespectful crap aimed at him on a consistent basis, neither am I happy about the vitriol that has been aimed at Jennicet either.
Some of that vitriol has been borderline racist and transphobic in nature in some corners of the Internet, and it also in LGBT World has had the foul stench of respectability politics.
As far as I'm concerned, Jennicet at that moment was channeling another trans Latina who in 1969 kicked off the very movement we celebrated at the White House during the last weekend of June in Sylvia Rivera.
As someone who met Sylvia in 2000. I can guarantee you that if she were still in this plane of existence, she would not only approve of what Jennicet did, but probably had she been in the East Room, joined her in speaking truth to power in calling on President Obama to halt what was happening to trans detainees and calling out you peeps who booed her.
For those of you who bask in the afterglow of respectability politics and a landmark Supreme Court case win, complete with access to those power circles, instead of whining about how 'it wasn't the right time or venue' to bring that issue up, how about you peeps using your influence to get something done about the inhumane treatment of trans feminine detainees when you can spare a moment from planning your weddings.
The safety of trans people in ICE detention may not be an issue of importance high enough on your priority list for the all marriage all the time peeps, but it has been important enough for people to get arrested protesting the horrid conditions in ICE detention for immigrant trans women.
And it was also important enough for Jennicet Gutierrez to interrupt President Obama's speech amongst her LGBT leadership peers and risk the consequences of that action.
I also note for those of you trying to claim that Jennicet's action was ineffective, how do you explain the fact that 24 trans feminine women are being transferred soon to an ICE women's facility?
And it's interesting to note that 35 members of the House of Representatives recently sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson urging him to end the detention of LGBT undocumented immigrants.
How do you explain the conversation that has been started about the conditions trans women face in those detention centers? Not bad for a so called ineffective gesture.
So stop giving Jennicet hell, and start giving ICE hell until they stop housing trans feminine women with cisgender men in those detention facilities for starters. Then we can move to the next step of ending incarceration and deportation of all LGBT people back to countries they fled to the United Stares from.
Because in many cases, the reason they are in the United States is because it wasn't safe for them to live their TBLG lives in their birth nations in the first place.
One of the things I get tired of and pissed off about is the blanket blocking of trans themed sites because of the erroneous assumption that all that deal with trans subjects are porn related.
I had this issue with Uniguest until they finally saw the light and recognized my GLAAD Media Award nominated blog is exactly that, an information site that happens to tackle trans topics, and looks like I'm going to have to bitch and yell until Megabus (or whoever is managing their Wifi for them) gets that message as well.
On my last trip to Dallas from Houston a few weeks ago, since I had four hours until I arrived there, I wanted to write some posts for my blog, but the Megabus WiFi wouldn't allow me access to do that, much less see if the auto posts I'd set before leaving actually went up on the blog because its filter assumed it was porn related.
Now I've had the same crap happen on my Houston-Austin run, and I'm beyond pissed off about it.
Hey Megabus, news flash for you: There are transgender themed blogs that are legitimate news sites. Some of your passengers also happen to be trans people who spend our hard earned T-bills to use your double decker buses for inexpensive intercity travel from one place to another like I and others do inside the borders of the Lone Star State.
I'd like to have the ability when I'm traveling to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio or in the future to New Orleans and other Megabus destinations, to have the ability to not only work on my blog that has garnered 6 million hits since its 2006 founding, but also read other trans themed sites that cover the new that pertains to my community.
Can we make that expeditiously happen Megabus? Sure hope so.
In the last two weeks we have had two Black trans women, aged 24 and 30 killed in Virginiaand Texas. Both have been misgendered and disrespected in their local media, and Lamia was further disrespected by having her arrest record salaciously added to the story by media stenographers who failed to read their AP Stylebooks
Meanwhile I'm observing a large corporation fighting a discrimination suit filed by another Black trans woman by asserting they have a right to discriminate against Leyth Jamal and by extension, all of us.
And yeah, seeing King Hater Dave Welch and Steve 'Swastika Cakes' Riggle accompanied by his not so merry band of sellout kneegrow ministers at the opening of the HERO trial here in Houston yesterday isn't helping my mood right now.
Because I'm thinking about two more Black trans women in Lamia and Ty that not only won't live to see my age as a Kennedy Baby, they won't live to celebrate their 40th birthdays.
Hell, Ty won't know what it's like to celebrate her 30th birthday.
So if you wonder why I get pissed off when I see media misgendering of my living and deceased sisters, or call out people spreading anti-trans hatred and lies in comment threads or in the blogosphere, it's because unchecked anti-trans hate is not harmless.
I'm also beyond sick and tired of lesbian, gay and SGL peeps ignorantly or willfully enabling that anti-trans hate online, while we're trying to live our trans lives interacting with the world, and in their not so quiet rainbow rooms.
Unchecked anti-trans hate speech kills. And I'm tired of the Black and Latina trans feminine communities having to deal with the violent repercussions of that anti-trans hate speech morphing into families having to prematurely bury their child or starting a gofundme to come up with the cash to do so.
I'm sick and tired of the lost potential to us and the world at large of these young trans women who have left us far too soon. Ty was studying to be a nurse, so we will never receive as a society the benefits of her permanently interrupted nursing education.
#BlackTransLiveMatter. Unchecked anti-trans hate speech kills whether it's online, in the media or from the pulpit. When is the Black cis community going to focus the same level of urgency of stopping the genocidal level of murders of Black trans feminine people as they do for the rest of cis Black America?
How long Black America before the loss of Black trans women to senseless anti-trans violence is also unacceptable to our community?
How many of us trans folks have to die before you cis people care?
One of the pleasures of my first ever Philadelphia Trans Health Conference experience was getting to see Janet Mock's keynote speech in which I got an unexpected shoutout during it.
But what is pissing me off is that in the wake of it, is Sharron Cooks dipping a nasty cup in the post PTHC Kool-Aid and engaging in Hate on Janet Mock Derangement Syndrome.
The Philadelphia based activist leveled the charge on her Facebook page that Janet was paid a five figure fee for her keynote speech at the just concluded conference. That didn't sound right, so I called Janet myself to get the lowdown.
Let's just say according to Janet, Ms. Cooks numbers are highly inflated by about $11,000. What Janet told me her compensation was didn't even come close to that.
PTHC is now the largest trans themed convention in the US and arguably the world. The room was overflowing when Janet spoke Thursday afternoon.
Let's shift the conversation in another direction for a moment . How many people who were on the fence about coming to PTHC 2014, made the decision to come because she was the keynote speaker?
Activists need to pay bills and replenish our bank accounts too, and because we do this work many of us will have a hard time getting 9 to 5 jobs. So if we have the ability to leverage our status as activists into speaking fees, what's the problem with that?
One of the things I have griped about for years on this blog is Black transpeople not being paid what we are worth or conference organizers trying to go cheap on our speaking fees when we are asked to keynote conferences or speak on the college circuit. It's even more galling when you have white transpeople who literally can make a living from doing so.
Dan Choi at one point reportedly wouldn't speak anywhere unless he got a minimum $10,000 fee plus first class air travel to wherever he was going. The Rev. Dr. ML King Jr in one year in 1960's dollars reportedly made $600,000 in speaking fees. The PTHC is a free conference, so where are the funds going to come from for Janet to get paid the $12K speaking fee that Ms. Cooks alleges happened?
My inquiring mind also wants to know what is Ms. Cooks' beef with Janet when she also adds the shady 'she's not an activist' line in her loud and wrong critique?
And my additional question to you Sharron, is what in your mind makes you think Janet ISN'T an activist? Did you not consider that activism isn't just screaming and direct action protesting in the streets and it takes multiple forms?
Activism is changing hearts and minds of the fence sitters when it comes to our human rights struggle. It's pushing back against the falsehoods and lies of our opponents. It's lobbying legislators to pass trans inclusive legislation that helps ALL transpeople live quality lives. It's giving hope and a voice to people in this community who feel like they don't have one. It's also providing role models to our trans community that people can look up to and emulate.
All of us involved in trans community activism have certain missions and roles to fulfill and the skill sets necessary to complete that particular mission we gravitate to. And as Janet has stated in those multiple venues she has access to, there is room for all of us to shine as we do so.
Janet, because she worked in media as a former People.com editor, has a masters degree in journalism, and yes is attractive, is perfect for the role of being the trailblazing media savvy Black transwoman along with Laverne Cox and Tiq Milan for engaging with the media and telling our stories.
That is her activist lane, and we need to be doing whatever it takes as a community to support her in that role.
I'm curious to know Sharron, what exactly does 'NOT an Activist' mean? Does it mean you have to take a vow of poverty in order to become an activist? That only certain forms of activism like street protests are 'acceptable activism'? Does it mean that because I have an internationally read blog in TransGriot that has over 5.5 million hits and I have spent 8.5 years building it into a go to resource and voice for our community, I'm 'not an activist'?
If you tried to say that about me in Houston, elsewhere in this country and the trans community, you'd be laughed out of the room. Who are the other people who meet your 'not an activist' criteria? Is Geena Rocero 'not an activist' because like Janet, she was an undisclosed trans woman and supermodel until recently, but since coming out has had the well received TED talk, lobbied in her birth nation for trans human rights friendly laws to be passed there, formed an international trans rights organization in GenderProud and was also in attendance at this year's PTHC?
Or is it envy that Janet was asked to keynote that PTHC speech in your hometown conference and not you?
Was it jealousy that Ms. Mock has been interviewed in multiple national media print outlets, cable news programs like the Melissa Harris-Perry Show and now has a New York Times bestselling book that people eagerly line up to get autographed that makes her in your mind 'not an activist'?
Frankly, I'm tired of the attacks that have been being aimed at Janet Mock and other Black transwomen including moi since February. They aren't acceptable when they come from jealous white transwomen and their clueless boyfriends. It's also an interesting things that make you go hmm moment to note that some of the white transwomen attacking Janet reside in your Philly backyard.
Those attacks are problematic and unacceptable when they come from our own people.
Sharron, you have every right to your opinion about who is and isn't an activist. But where I draw the line is when your opinion leads to false attacks on a sister doing the work and mimic 'Janet is not an activist' shade that has been thrown by jealous and borderline racist white transwomen.
And yes, I characterize a statement that Janet Mock is 'not an activist' as an attack on her.
Ms Cooks, It flies in the face of logic and reason and makes you look petty and vindictive when you claim Janet Mock is 'not an activist' when it is clear in her own way she is.
Guess you weren't paying attention when she used her media profile and blog to draw attention to the plight of transteen Jane Doe in Connecticut. Or you were probably too busy rolling your eyes to notice in that very PTHC room where she delivered her keynote and answered questions after concluding it, when she only had time for one more question, she insisted the last one come from a transperson of color. .
You stated on your Facebook page 'We cannot have unity without honesty'. Bearing false witness against someone and calling it the truth doesn't promote unity, either.
I met you during that same just concluded PTHC conference. I'd like to sit down and have a serious conversation with you one day and get to know you better. But one of the things I have very little tolerance for is a trans sister of color unjustly attacking another one. Seen too much of that divisive dynamic in white trans feminine world, and I refuse to let that dynamic even get a foothold in ours.
So whatever your issue is with Janet, take it off the Net, pick up the phone, call her and work it out. .
One of the things I was NOT a happy birthday camper about during my just completed trip to Dallas for BTAC 2014 was having another negative encounter with Nashville based Uniguest, the company that provides computer blocking software for many hotel chains.
Once again I ran into the problem of when I entered the Doubletree's business center Saturday to attempt to use their computers to get access to my blog, it kept kicking me off. Black Transmen, Inc also had a similar problem accessing their website.
This isn't the first time I've had this problem. It happened to me during last year's BTAC event and during the 2012 Netroots Nation. Their excuse the last time was that my blog contained the words 'white supremacy' in it.
Yep, it sure does. But if your obtuse behinds had taken the opportunity to read those posts in question, they were yours truly putting white supremacy on blast.
Then again, maybe that's why you blocked it so nobody would read them.
One thing I do know is I'm beyond getting sick and tired of when I go to a hotel business center on my road trips and conferences around this country, need to access TransGriot for the purposes of printing something or just feel like using the hotel computers instead of my laptop to compose a post, I get ACCESS DENIED.
I'm also not happy that I couldn't get anyone on your help desk number to complain about it and attempt to expeditiously fix the problem, which is why you're getting called out on my blog. .
Uniguest, I understand there are some problematic blogs out there. But if your blocking software can't tell the difference between those problematic sites, a GLAAD Award nominated trans blog and a website for a Black trans advocacy organization, then your software has some issues.
Bryan Fischer went off the deep end again and launched into another Two Minute Hate against trans people on his radio propaganda show. for the SPLC certified hate group the American Fascist Family Association..
Fischer's latest transphobic rant was inspired by FOX Noise's "Dr." Keith Ablow hatin' on California's School Success and Opportunity Act.
He took to the airwaves to declare that transgenderism and trans people in his words are a 'lie of Satan' and can be 'cured' through consistent prayer.
Yeah right. Look how well praying to Conservagod has worked to cure SGL people all these years. Does Exodus and their failed faith-based gay to straight conversion programs ring a bell? So what makes you think that those will work on transpeople any better than they did on gays and lesbians?
Frankly Bryan, I see you and your conservative buddies as....help me Church Lady
Now where was I? The Scriptures are also very clear that 'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor'. But as usual you white male conservafools will cherry pick scriptures. You will also do and say anything for ratings to keep those donations from your useful conservafools pouring in and to pump up the AFA's flaccid political influence.
Your 'scientific research' smells more like you pulled it out of yours or Keith Ablow's anuses to buttress your facts free transphobic rant. You are already a known serial transphobic bully who has less credibility discussing trans issues as the TERF's do.
The only broken clock moment you had in that entire broadcast was saying that God doesn't make mistakes.
You're absolutely right because God made transpeople, and we are part of the diverse mosaic of human life on Planet Earth.
The only person who needs prayer here is you and your misguided friends at the American Family Association, and you need to have several seats and a nice tall glass of STHU.
Why am I not surprised to hear about transphobic crap coming not only from Black gossip blogs, but the Black gay people who run them?
They flap their lips to say 'they're not transphobic' while gleefully trafficking in the transphobia running rampant on their sites.
Thanks to The G-List Society, was made aware of the transphobia outbreak that happened recently on MediaTakeOut aimed at Mia Ryan.
For those of you who watched the OWN reality series Houston Beauty, Mia was one of the breakout stars of the show. Her storyline in which she was trying to complete her beauty school education at Houston's iconic Franklin Beauty School while trying to leave the escorting world and conquer her personal demons was at times fascinating and painful to watch.
MediaTakeOut claims in an April 15, 2013 commentary it has the 'utmost respect for all people regardless of sexuality'.
But that respect sure doesn't extend to transpeople.
For starters, you transphobic idiots, if you're going to insult us with the t-word that we've more than made clear across Trans World and beyond is a slur, learn how to spell it properly.
Frankly, I'm more than sick and tired of the repeated pattern of transphobic hate being spread by Black gossip blogs like yours, Bossip, Sandra Rose and The Skorpion Show . I'm fed up with the rampant transphobia that runs like sewage in your comment threads.
I'm also sick and tired of being sick and tired of the fact that you Black SGL peeps, who should know better and be intimately aware of how hurtful that crap is, would stoop to that level in the first place.
We get enough transphobic microaggressive and macroaggressive bull feces aimed at us as Black trans women from society, the media, our families, white trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERF's), the Religious Right, the Republican Party and Fox Noise..
We don't need you transphobic idiots at MediaTakeOut gleefully pouring gasoline on the flame of anti-trans hatred in the Black community that results in us getting burned with it, and leads to far too many Black trans women getting murdered.
One of the questions I got asked this weekend by a few of my white allies during the just concluded TTNS who sincerely wanted to understand what was happening was why I and many African-Americans were highly pissed about the unjust verdict that went down in Sanford, FL.
Grab a seat. This might take a while.
While many of us weren't shocked and were even expecting to hear the words 'not guilty' come out of the mouths of a six person jury that had ZERO African-Americans on it (and do not even try in the comment thread to point out there was a Latina on it) it was still painful to hear and realize that this grown azz white man (and that what Zimmerman is, people despite his Latina mother) just got away with killing a Black teenager.
That fact continuing to be ignored by many of you predominately white and conservafool peeps either gloating about this verdict or trying to whitesplain it is much of the reason we're seething about it. It also didn't help before this verdict even went down that four black robe wearing white men and a sellout self hating knee-grow on the Supreme Court gutted Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.
Black folks have and NEVER will forget our 400 year negative history with the people who continue to gleefully oppress us and our continuing human rights struggle in the US. All that verdict did was remind us is there are elements of the white community who will always hate us, and elements of you who are clueless as to the white privilege you walk around with that shapes your opinions to the point you have blocked from your minds that an unarmed 17 year old kid was killed by a grown azz man and got away with it.
It was also galling to see Zimmerman's attorneys gloat in victory, Georgie boy arrogantly demand the Black community 'apologize to him' and his bigoted brother Robert, Jr express fears on CNN that his brother would be shot by armed vigilantes.
WTF? It was also a bitter slap in the face that reminded us that where the US justice system is concerned, it's definitely not color blind and Officer Friendly has a problem with POC's be they cis, gay or especially trans.
Every time a white person parts their lips to disrespectfully call our legitimate vocalizing of the jacked up things we see happening to us as 'playing the race card', we get even more offended and angry about it.
In addition for the renewed fear I have for my teenage and toddler male cousins (and frankly female ones aren't safe either) and their chances of not fulfilling the depressing statistic that 1 in 4 Black males will die before their 30th birthday, the verdict also reminded me of all those microaggressive and macroaggressive racial incidents I dealt with on the other side of the gender fence.
A DWB traffic stop in Highland Park, TX just a few days after Christmas in 1980 in which mine and my cousin's crime was wanting to see Christmas lights. Another 1983 one in Southwest Houston in which me and my friends after leaving a club were pulled over and disrespectfully asked by a white cop after we all showed our IDs why we were in Southwest Houston with South Park addresses on our licenses.
It brought back the bitter memories of being followed in the Joske's in Gulfgate Mall by store security as a white male scooped up a rack of designer jeans and ran past them on his way out of the store.
It brought back the 1990 memory of me in an IAH Terminal C parking garage elevator on my way to work, the elevator door sliding open on the 4th floor of it and a white woman my age switching her purse in her arm and cowering in the corner as I seethed and gave her the side eye.
I said to her at the time,"If I were the larcenous type, do you really think I would rob you while on my way to a job that pays me quite well every two weeks, wearing a loud ass red jacket with a Continental badge hanging from it with my name in bold print and a loud yellow City of Houston Aviation department badge with my social security number on it?"
It also reminded me of the verdicts in which the murderer of Chanelle Pickett walked out of a Massachusetts courtroom a free man and CeCe McDonald is sitting in a Minnesota jail for defending herself against a neo-Nazi. The anger and frustration boils over as I think about what Roger B Taney wrote in 1857 in terms of being considered someone who 'has no rights a white person is bound to respect' and seems to be a mantra that the Republican Party and the conservafool movement gleefully puts into political action.
So if you're wondering why I'm still pissed about the Zimmerman verdict, now you know.
Shaquille O'Neal opened his mouth and inserted his size 22 foot in it by joining in the chorus of Los Angeles sour graping after Dwight Howard let the world know he's taking his basketball talents to our end of I-10 next NBA season.
The peeps in LA are hatin' because it's the first time in their franchise history a superstar player in his prime left Los Angeles to play ball elsewhere.
The fact he's leaving LA for Houston and about to sign a contract with the Rockets was a blow to their massive civic basketball egos in addition to the fact they were in the position of having to beg Howard to stay there in the first place.
The Rockets at times have been an NBA thorn in the side of the Lakers. In the four appearances the Rockets have made in the NBA finals (1981,
1986, 1994 and 1995) the 1981 and 1986 NBA Finals ones were at the Lakers expense.
The 1981 one was embarrassingly so as a 40-42 Rockets team that barely qualified for the NBA playoffs knocked them out in the first round powered by Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy. The 1986 one was a 4-1 Western Conference Finals domination courtesy of Hakeem and Ralph Sampson that was deliciously satisfying to all of us who packed The Summit and sports bars around the city to yell "Beat LA!" at the top of our lungs.
And what was even more satisfying for Houston Rocket fans was that the 1981 and 1986 Rocket playoff knockouts of the Lakers kept them from repeating as NBA champions.
Now Dwight Howard has left La La land for H-town.
Shaq knows about the '95 Rocket NBA title run since he watched us
get the trophy in H-town at his and the Orlando Magic's expense and repeat as NBA champions.
Shaq got his Two Minute Hate on for Howard's departure from the LA Fakers Lakers by not only saying he couldn't handle the bright lights of LA, but dissed Houston by calling us a 'little town.'
Dude, you once owned a house in the Houston 'burb of Sugar Land. And isn't the mother of one of your kids a Houstonian?
Yeah, we're a 'little town' of 2.2 million people you probably still have your hate on for because your Orlando Magic got swept by the Rockets in 1995 and Hakeem Olajuwon pwned your behind in that series.
And I never will forget Yao Ming's 2003 rookie year and that first game y'all played against each other at Toyota Center. Yao stuffed your first three shots attempts in a game the Rockets eventually won 108-104 despite the 31 points you scored.
But let me school you on a few more things about my hometown that you should already know since you played two years
of high school ball in San Antonio and won the 1989 state title at 3A
Cole High.
It is at 600 square miles larger than Los Angeles which is only a measly 469 square miles in size, not including Lake Houston which adds another 28 square miles. It is the fourth largest city in the United States, the county seat of Harris County and the largest in Texas. It is as your ESPN and TBS employers will tell you the tenth largest TV market in the country.
Houston is also like LA considered a global city with a diverse population. Only New York City has more Fortune 500 companies headquartered here than Houston does. There are 92 foreign consulates here in metro Houston, of which only two other cities have more.
And I'll also point out my 'little town' is home to the Texas Medical Center, the world largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions along with NASA's Johnson Space Center, which ensure the first words spoken by a human being from the moon in 1969 wasn't LA.
I could point of the long list of people like Beyonce, Dan Rather, Tony winning actress Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green, Michael Strahan, Michael Dell of Dell computers, Isaiah Washington, Loretta Devine, Jaclyn Smith, Yolanda Adams, Randy and Dennis Quaid, AJ Foyt, NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and Rep. Barbara Jordan who were born or raised here including our current mayor Annise Parker.
I could go on but I'd need another post to detail all the notable peeps who were born and raised in my little town' of Houston.
And by the way DL Hughley, these are just some of the centers who have donned a Rocket uniform, Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon for starters and Yao Ming, Ralph Sampson and Otis Thorpe who was on the 1994 championship squad.
So Shaq, you and 'errbody' else in LA need to stop hatin on Houston. Even Stevie Wonder could see that Dwight Howard was a bad fit offensively and chemistry wise for the Lakers like you were when you got traded to Phoenix by the Miami Heat.
I have far more ammo to use to slam LA with than you ever could come up with to diss Houston.
I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence that are taking away far too many under 30 transwomen of color before they've had a chance to live their lives. We are not only losing them, but their potential contributions and talents toward building all the communities we intersect and interact with.TransGriot April 5, 2013
Translation from Jordana's eloquent quote: they died because somebody hated the fact they were trans and arrogantly presumed they had the power to erase them from this plane of existence.
Kelly died on April 3 in Baltimore, MD. 48 hours later Ashley was killed in Orlando, FL and now we discover that Ce Ce Acoff's body was found with multiple stab wounds on April 17.
Right now I'm angry, and it's not just because of the jacked up Cleveland Plain Dealer article in Ms. Acoff's case. I'm pissed off because this is the third African-American transwoman we have lost this month.
What's making me even more upset right now is the latest girl like us to die was only 20 years old.
I hear the news about this latest April 2013 death on the very night in Oakland they are having a memorial candlelight vigil for Brandy Martell who was killed one year ago today.
The three deja vu trans deaths of April 2013 eerily replicates the deadly trifecta of African American trans murders that happened just 12 months ago last April. So you can understand why I went nuclear over that transphobic Acoff article and mad that history repeated itself .
The painful reality we're dealing with is that three more African-American transwomen will never reach their 40th birthdays. In Ce Ce Acoff's case,she like Chicago's Paige Clay will never see her 30th, much less her 25th birthday. It's three more names we will have to read through blurry, tear soaked eyes on November 20 on a Transgender Day of Remembrance list that will probably be adding more names to it before the cutoff date for the 2013 TDOR memorials take place all over the world.
A TDOR names list that once again will be overflowing with the names of Black and Latina transwomen.
Once again I'll be headed to another birthday thinking about the transwomen that won't get the opportunity to grow a year older and celebrate it like I'll hopefully be doing on Saturday.
TransGriot Update: Thanks to tips from readers Lilith and Jahaira discovered Ms Acoff's femme name is Cemia Dove. Her friends called her Ce Ce.
.
Every now and then, despite me being more than aware of the Black Unwoman Meme constantly being aimed and deployed against all Black women cis and trans from birth throughout their lives, even I get shocked at times of just how low whiteness and white supremacy can go with it.
I'm usually ignoring Oscar night, but was paying attention because young Quivenzhane Wallis was up for a Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie Beasts of the Southern Wild I was shocked and angered to learn that the satrical paper The Onion had this to say about Quivenzhane.
It's Maya Wilkes time....What the hell is the The Onion doing (or whatever fool was tweeting for it last night) calling an African-American 9 year old girl the c-word?
What the frack is wrong with you? Did you ever aim that word at white female child stars such as Dakota Fanning? So why would you ever think it's appropriate to do so at a Black girl?.
We are talking about a 9 year old who not only had this disgusting tweet
aimed at her, but was also on one of the biggest nights in her young
life made the butt of a tasteless Seth McFarlane joke.
And I do not want to hear or see any comments trying to justify this BS, claim what The Onion did was 'just satire', 'nobody complained when (insert name of white actress) was called that disgusting term", or we're 'suppressing 'free speech' when we call. out this BS.
Free speech has consequences and is a two way street. Calling any woman the c-word is not a joke Just as whoever wrote that tweet has the right to say it for whatever mind-blowing reason they did so, they can't expect a community who has been dehumanized on a regular basis for over 400 years to sit silently when one of their daughters is disrespectfully attacked.
TransGriot Note: Renee of Womanist Musings not only her own commentary up about this, but has started a Change.org petition to demand The Onion apologize for the reprehensible tweet. Just deleting it and hoping this will blow over is not enough.
One of the things about being a person of color, especially a POC activist is you never know when and where the vanillacentic privileged idiocy is going to come from.
Believe it or not the latest chapter of somebody tripping and stepping to me was on my own Facebook page.
I have over 1600 people on my personal page and over 150 people trying to get on it. I'm not trying to hit my personal page limit yet, and after I cleaned out my page of TS separatists and their sympathizers back in 2011 because they couldn't behave themselves, I instituted a rule that if you had any of those known TS separatists on your Facebook friends list, I didn't know you, you put no reason for why you wanted to join my page, you left your profile info sketchy, or you didn't come recommended by someone I personally knew and had already admitted I wasn't adding you to my page.
Last night I received a personal Facebook message from Robyn Carolyn Montague wanting to know why I hadn't approved adding her to my page.
I
had sent a friend request some time ago ... I find it odd that that
request had as of yet not been approved. True, I do follow some of the
lesser liked in our Community, but what better way
to follow other's opinions and rhetoric. If there is a specific issue
that you have about me, that is understandable, but would like to hear
that rather than guess.
Robyn
You can find it odd all you want. There are some peeps that don't check their Facebook page every day, and I do have a life beyond this blog.
7:29pm Monica Roberts
I
tossed the TS separatists off my FB page after they started major drama
on my FB page...anyone who had those folks on their FB friends list I
was NOT approving at that time..
Note I didn't say she was a TS separatist, but I guess reading comprehension wasn't her strong suit in school. 7:36pm Robyn Carolyn Montague
I
am not a separtist dear ... I work for the Community, I am (really) on
the streets working for our homeless, those without jobs ... I work for
economic justice, not gay supremacy ...
Whatever you wish to believe ... At any rate, thank you for responding, I appreciate that ....
Much love Robyn My intuition is telling me something is up with this, so I throw her another bone to see where her head is at.
7:37pm Monica Roberts
And I also get 20 to 30 requests to join my FB page per day it takes me time to sort through them...
I'm still handling my other online business when this message pops up 7:38pm Robyn Carolyn Montague
And yes, Ashley, Teresa are all blocked, I watched them for as long as I could ... I sent the request a year ago ...
The Ashley and Teresa she's referring to are Ashley Love and Teresa Ellen Reeves, people I kicked to the Facebook curb during my WWBT purge. So I go back to compiling a post I was working on, then this puzzling message comes up.
7:50pm Robyn Carolyn Montague
Never
mind ... I will continue to follow you on Twitter ... you don't have to
follow me ... my stuff there is about 'people' 'trans' and some of the
humor I share, and the reality of life ... Yes I am privileged, white
and trans ... I remind people of that all of the time ... I cannot share
it in $ but do share it in the work I do ...
Not being confrontational (sp?) simply that I have for the most part, agree with you ....
I sign off of Facebook to go watch the 'Necessary Roughness' season 2 finale and catch up on the news of the day. While I'm doing that check out the next message this vanillacentric privileged rhymes with itch sent me.
9:03pm Robyn Carolyn Montague
ps ... you are a racist, too ... I'm chilling out and watching 'Necessary Roughness' at that time in the living. Nowhere close to my computer that is in my bedroom.
10:22pm Robyn Carolyn Montague
You have lost all respect I had for you. you are no better than Ashley
I sign back into my computer a few enjoyable hours later to see that bull feces and resisted my first impulse to rip her a new anus. She better be glad I'd had my Blue Bell Homemade in the Shade ice cream. Frankly my dear, I really don't care what the frack you think after you leveled that tired ass 'racist' charge at me.
11:43pm Monica Roberts
Bullying me isn't going to get you access to my Facebook page...in fact, you're making it less likely you'll be accepted on it..
So I post the conversation to my Facebook page and other peeps comment on it. I didn't get around to blocking her and this message comes through
Ha
... speaking about bullying, hmmm ... who is the bully .... instead,
you are quite the bully bitch ... I know all about you ... but instead, I
remain qute the lady .... much unlike yourself (meaming attitude)
...
I woud like to meet you ....
***
I blocked her azz after that. But now it's time to do the anus ripping I declined to do last night.
Naw, trick, that's Ms Bitch to you, and you're about to find out how much of one I can be.
You're not a lady, you're another late transitioning asshole that still is carrying around that WMPesque attitude you spent much of your life marinating in. You disrespect me, call me a racist and have the vanillacentric privileged gall to think I want to meet you?
I doubt that you would have disrespected any white activist who has the same status level I do as you just did to me, and you're a prime example of what I talk about in terms of why POC transpeople are loath to have anything to do with boorish transpeeps like you.
Please, you're the one who is making an ass out of yourself begging to get on my Facebook page . BTW racism=prejudice plus systemic power, and if you'd retained any of your Sociology 101 you'd know that.
And naw, you don't know me, because if you did, you'd know better than to step to me in that disrespectful way you did last night and ensure you'll never join the ranks of the now 1,690 people and counting people who enjoy my Facebook posts. The 1,690 people I have on my page now are people of intelligence,
class, substance and style, qualities you failed to demonstrate with
your passive-aggressive commentary.
This is my Facebook page, my rules. There are people who I've requested to be FB friends with that don't check their pages as frequently as I do and I had to wait weeks or months before I got cleared to join their pages.
Ss what makes you think you're so special that I'm just supposed to drop whatever I'm doing and add your azz to my page? Oh yeah, silly me, that white privilege you proudly proclaimed you have. You better put down whatever hallucinogenic drugs you're smoking and leave me the hell alone.
You just became an example to the entire world of how not to ask someone to add them to their personal Facebook page.
