At one point I was debating whether or not I would go to Creating Change in Philadelphia after going through the contentious and mentally draining 2016 edition of it in Chicago.
But my presence was requested for some events taking place at #CC17 like the National Black Justice Coalition's (NBJC) Black Institute and by the Trans United Fund , so that means I'll be leaving the Lone Star State and heading up to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection for this 2017 edition of the Creating Change Conference.
Creating Change will be taking place from January 18-22, and the #CC17 host hotel will be the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. With the start of #CC17 coming a mere 48 hours before a president hostile to our TBLGQ community will be inaugurated, the timing of this Creating Change couldn't be more crucial or critical to our human rights movement, especially for the transgender contingent of it.
I'm looking forward to witnessing the plenary keynote by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II that will happen Thursday night. I've had the pleasure of not only meeting Rev. Barber, but hearing him speak at previous events I've attended in Louisville and the last LGBT Media Journalists Convening hosted in Philadelphia in 2015.
I'm also looking forward to participating in the events I will be involved in that I know abou like Thursday's NBJC The Black Institute. Also looking forward to tearing into a few Slurpees and some cheesesteaks while I'm there.
Speaking of being there in the #CC17 house, as always, when I step into the Marriott Downtown host hotel, don't be shy, say hi. If I'm not rushing off to a panel, some off the hotel property event or engaged in conversation with someone, I'm more than happy to talk to people, and my trans, bi and SGL younglings will get priority.
Hillary Clinton wasn't the only woman making history last night at the Wells Fargo Center . When Sarah McBride stepped to the podium on the DNC convention stage, she became the first out trans person to deliver a speech at a major party political convention
It's apropos that she is making this history as we showed up at #DNCinPhilly with a record trans contingent of 28 people..
Srah standing on that stage helped fulfill something I was hoping along with the rest of the American trans community would happen, and emphatically points out that the Democratic party is the one what supports the humanity and human rights of trans Americans.
We're now past Day 1 and Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia as we rush toward the historic Thursday night that Sec Hillary Clinton will make her acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination. But before we get to that historic day, we have to get through Day 3 of the #DNCinPhilly
Day 3 kicked off with now 14 year old Sebastien De La Cruz singing the national anthem to start the #DNCinPhilly proceedings day. If you don't remember my fellow Texan, several years ago during the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat his then 11 year old self got hated on by bigoted ignorati on Twitter after singing the national anthem. It prompted the Spurs to issue another invitation for the 'Little Mariachi' to sing the national anthem during the Finals.
Since then De La Cruz has appeared in an episode of Telenovela, since Eva Longoria is a big fan of his along with President Obama, Longoria also produced the documentary for ESPN about the incident. He sang his way into the semifinals of America's Got Talent, and back in March sang the national anthem before the Clinton-Sanders debate in Miami.
The big business of the day was the vice presidential nomination, which was formally done by acclamation for Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) which he accepted in his speech later that evening.
The Democratic vice presidential nominee showed off his Spanish language skills as he whacked Trump on his fitness for office..
There was also the enjoyable takedown of the Trumpenfuhrer by former New York mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who called him out as a 'dangerous demagogue' and on his shady business practices.
It was also nice to see Vice President Joe Biden's speech tonight He reminded everyone of the stakes in this election and also talked about our presidential nominee in comparison to the opposition..
Texas bragging moment alert. We're showing up and showing out at this DNC event. Eva Longoria, Sebastien De La Cruz, Cecile Richards, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Ilyse Hogue...
And that's before I start talking about my fellow Texans who are there repping the Lone Star State in the Texas DNC delegation like Ashton Woods, Melissa Vivanco, Kim Frederick, Lou Weaver, Brad Pritchett and countless others. Also cool to know that my H-town homegirl Yesenia Chavez, who is working down I-95 in our nation's capital is in the DNC house
I'm enjoying your FB and other photos your're posting of the convention action and the celebs you're running into. Makes me feel less bummed about being there.
I enjoyed seeing the various Democratic legislative leadership caucuses like the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific Islander Caucus on stage reminding people that we not only have some amazing leaders in our party, but some up and coming young ones like Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon.
As each of those groups took the DNC stage, they reminded everyone to not stop at the top of the ticket, but finish the job and vote for every race on your November 8 ballot . We have a great shot of flipping the US Senate back to Democratic control, and a longer one at getting control of the US House back
But the big speech of Day 3 was given by President Obama. Kinda obvious he's the second best speechmaker in that family, but he succinctly laid out the case for supporting Sec Hillary Clinton and making sure she's taking the oath of office January 20 as our 45th president.
Day 1 of #DNCinPhilly was contentious at times, but this was the day that eluded Hillary Clinton eight years ago and that sound you heard was the glass ceiling finally shattering.
Move over boys, Hillary Clinton has now made history as the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party . It was a long road to get to this point in American history with many women trying to do so but ultimately falling short of making that history.
Somewhere Ann Richards, Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan are smiling because that glass ceiling she put 16 million cracks in back in 2008 has finally been broken.
After Hillary Clinton narrowly missed the big prize in 2008, she finally made it happen in 2016. Now if we can just get her to the point in November of calling her 'Madame President' instead of 'Madame Secretary'.
The LGBT Caucus happened today, and one of the highlights of it was Barbra casbar Siperstein presenting the Jane Fee Award to Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA).
While some of the Bernie Sanders supporters are still upset about the fact that you can officially stop calling Clinton the presumptive nominee, the efforts continue in this convention space and beyond to get those folks who see the big picture of what needs to happen on November 8 to be totally on board with her instead of 'I guess I'm with her.'
Some of the highlights of Day Two of the DNC besides the Roll Call of the States were speeches by the Mothers of the Movement to the shouts in the Wells Fargo Center hall of 'Black Lives Matter'
They pointed out that they trust Hillary Clinton , not Donald Trump to reduce racial tensions between police and the Black community because of her longtime commitment to social justice and urged people to vote for her.,
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also took the stage to point out Trump's problematic fawning over authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, who recently endorsed him.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) also repeated something I've been concerned about as a Kennedy baby who grew up during the Cold War and had to do duck and cover nuke attack drills in elementary school until 3rd grade.
I don't want Donald Trump's paws and thin skinned behind near the US nuclear launch codes, and McAuliffe echoed my thoughts in terms of cautioning the nation about giving control of the nuclear launch codes to a man who praises Putin and Saddam Hussein
The speech by former Attorney General Eric Holder debunked the lies that Trump has been telling, and pointed out that violent crime has gone down since President Obama took office.
He went on to passionately endorse Hillary Clinton for president.,
The big speech of the night was given by our Democratic presidential nominees' husband, who happens to have been the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton.
Bill talked about his wife, how they met and her lifetime of fighting for liberal progressive causes as his daughter Chelsea looked on from the arena box seats.
It was a side of her that many people, haven't heard in terms of her undercover work in Alabama on behalf of Marian Wright Edelman to spike the tax exemptions for the racist private academies that sprang up across the South in order for white parents to avoid sending their kids to integrated schools.
It was nice hearing from Bill about how they got married before he launched into his case as to why she should become our 45th president.
And yeah, not only has the music been better at this convention, ,so has the star power.
For those of you who didn't get to witness it live, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the DNC 2016 stage last night and delivered a speech for the ages that reminded me at times of the one her hubby dropped at the 2004 DNC event in Boston.
This #DNCinPhilly convention is tuning out to be even more historic for trans kind than I anticipated. In addition to having a record 27 trans delegates attending the event and the American trans community eagerly awaiting Sarah McBride's Thursday podium speech, there's more news cementing this Philadephia DNC convention as one of the most trans friendly events in American political history.
Longtime Nashville based trans advocate Marisa Richmond has been active in Democratic Party politics for years and has been a delegate to several DNC conventions including the 2008 one in which she witnessed history in then Sen. Barack Obama's historic nomination.
She'll have a lot closer seats than she did in 2008 to witness another historic nomination this time, like on the convention stage.
Marisa's task as the convention's official timekeeper is to keep all the speakers on schedule and within their allotted time limits. Through her roles with Trans United For Hillary and the Democratic Party's LGBT advisory board she was contacted and subsequently offered the position.
"It's a personal honor and privilege to be up there on the stage," said Richmond in an interview with The Tennessean. "I'll be just a few feet away from all of the speakers all four nights. it's literally one of the best seats there."
"It shows that this is easily the most trans friendly convention ever, " she said. "It shows that this party has really made progress in terms of inclusion and diversity."
Speaking of seats, if you're looking for her, during the television telecasts, where the arrow is in the photo by Mara Keisling is where Marisa will be sitting and doing her timekeeping duties during the convention.
The Tennessee Democratic Party was also pleased about Richmond being chosen as the 2016 DNC convention timekeeper, and Tennessee State Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini said she was thrilled by her selection.
Mancini noted that Richmond, the former chair of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, has been one of the strongest LGBTQ advocates in Tennessee and across the country for many years."
And yes, I'll definitely cosign that sentiment. I've had the pleasure of knowing her trailblazing self since the late 90's, and I'm proud of her for getting this amazing honor.
What a first day for the #DNCinPhilly Debbie Wasserman Schultz gets called out at the Florida delegation breakfast and subsequently resigns as chair of the DNC because of the drama stirred up by the Wikileaks hack. Donna Brazile as a result becomes the interim chair of the DNC.
The Berners showing their assess in the Wells Fargo Center convention hall by booing Rep. Marcia Fudge, & Rep. Elijah Cummings, which isn't sitting too well right now with the Ohio and Maryland delegations and Black Democrats like myself, and only adds to the pissivity we feel about Sanders supporters.
The Sandernistas were ranting on social media (and probably still are) claiming that Bernie was cheated out of the Democratic presidential nomination because the process was 'rigged'.
Naw Bernie boo boo kitties, Hillary beat him, and he lost because he and his campaign team forgot that in Democratic Party primaries, #BlackVotersMatter. Even your own peeps are admitting that the process wasn't rigged.
They got mad at me on social media because I called them out about the #DNCinPhilly bigotry eruptions aimed at women and POC speakers. Don't care if you don't like it and my block game on Twitter is strong once I get tired of playing with y'all. Not happy about you dissing Black Democrats as y'all have done during this entire Democratic primary process, and gonna call out the Green Tea Party bigotry when I see it.
As for what network I'm watching for my DNC coverage, I'm predominately watching C-SPAN. I got tired of the incessant CNN and MSNBC chatter about e-mails and Hillary's 'likeability' and flipped it to C-SPAN at 3 PM CDT.
They cover everything with no commercial interruptions and no talking heads commentary.
It was also cool seeing my New York homegirl Melissa Sklarz on stage with the rest of the New York delegation as they took to the stage to express their support for Sec. Clinton, who was their former junior US senator from 2001-2009
But once the speakers starting hitting the stage, the beautiful diversity of our party revealed itself.
We had more lesbian and gay peeps on stage in the first three hours of DNC 2016 once it was gaveled into session by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake than the Republicans had in their entire four day run in Cleveland. We still have my trans sister Sarah McBride's historic speech coming on Thursday. She been getting a lot of media attention as this Time.com profile story attests to.
Congrats Marisa on this honor. Will be paying closer attention to the podium for the rest of the DNC Convention
Loved the speech by my Texas homegirl Eva Longoria before she introduced Sen. Cory Booker to the stage.
She is a longtime Democratic Party activist, and was asked a few years ago to consider running for the US Senate in the Lone Star State which she declined for now.
Longoria had a few mic drop line of her own she talked about herself being a 9th generation Texan, and stated during her remarks 'we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us.'
#NoLieDetected in that comment. Also keeping up with all my Texas homies and homettes via their Facebook pages concerning their experiences at #DNCinPhilly
The 2016 Democratic National Convention gets started in Philadelphia today with the opening gavel in the Wells Fargo Arena scheduled at 3 PM CDT. Should be much better than the Klan rally masquerading as the Republican convention in Cleveland last week even with the drama of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation
The featured speakers lineup for today is First Lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
Looking forward to once again seeing a Democratic convention hall that looks like America, and I'm exceedingly proud of the fact trans Democrats will be in the hall in full effect. There will be a record 28 person DNC trans delegation and they and Trans World will witness a historic Thursday speech by Sarah McBride from the convention stage..
I'm taking a moment to give a TransGriot shout to my Houston home peeps who are part of the Texas DNC delegation. Like I've said before, we have some amazing advocates repping H-town at the DNC, and those Texas delegation meetings at your host hotel should be a lot of fun.
Wish I could be there with you for this historic convention which will witness the first woman to be nominated as a major party presidential candidate but have another commitment I made I must fulfill. But definitely will be with y'all in spirit.
Also sending love to my Kentucky peeps who made it to #DNCinPHL and all the peeps on my FB pages and Twitter feeds who will be in the house with their various state delegations.
Already enjoying reading your Facebook statuses and tweets, and anticipating the pics and posts I'll see as the DNC is gaveled into session later today and it winds to its climax of Sec. Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech on the 28th..
Hope y'all have fun, handle your business, get to spend a little time enjoying the city and make some amazing memories while you're in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.
I'm hoping that the 2016 trans DNC contingent during their time in Philadelphia will actually see more trans history made with one of our people actually making a speech to the convention attendees and hopefully the nation from the convention stage. -TransGriot July 24, 2016
Wow, talking about speaking something into existence. I mused about having a trans speaker in a 2012 DNC post along with literally posting several hours ago my expressed hopes that the upcoming #DNCinPhilly event would witness one of the out members of our community speak from the DNC convention stage for the first time.
I'm happy to announce that Sarah McBride will get to make that history on Thursday as the first out trans person to speak from the Democratic National Committee stage in Philadelphia.
She said in a statement to The Hill that she is honored to have the opportunity to do so.
“People must understand that even as we face daily harassment, tragic violence, and an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ political attacks across the country, we are real people merely seeking to be treated with the dignity and respect every person deserves," she said in a statement.
"I'm so proud to stand with the LGBT Caucus and speak out in support of Hillary Clinton, because we know she stands with us.”
What an honor for Sarah, and what an amazing and apropos step forward for the American trans community in a year in which we will send a record 28 trans people to the Democratic National Convention. That's a huge evolutionary step from Jane Fee being the lone trans delegate in Los Angeles in 2000. Since then we have had six trans DNC delegates in Boston in 2004, eight in 2008 in Denver and the then record 13 in Charlotte. I am happy and proud that Sarah will be the person on that DNC Wells Fargo Arena stage, and frankly it's not surprising me that she's the one being tapped for it.
Ever since I met her as a White House intern back when I was attending a 2012 National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) OUT on the Hill White House briefing, she struck me as someone who was going to do some wonderful groundbreaking things for our community, and over the last four years I have been proven correct in my assessment of her.
The only question I have is will Sarah's DNC speech be in prime time on Thursday or sometime during the convention day? If it's during the convention day, I'll have to watch the C-SPAN DNC feed to be able to see it without the network pundits and commentators chattering over it.
Congrats Sarah, this is one amazing accomplishment, and I'll be along with Trans America and our allies eagerly awaiting your historic speech.
Something else that is taking place a little over 100 miles from me is the opening day of the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference. It is arguably the largest attended trans themed event in the world, and will draw close to 3000 attendees to the Pennsylvania Convention Center. .
Looking forward to being there for the morning panel I'll be taking part in on June 10 with Mari Brighe, Joanna Cifredo and Brynn Tannehill, and looking forward to seeing everyone who is in attendance.
So don'tr be shy, say hi to moi if you spot me walking the halls of that ginormous convention center. I'll probably be in conversations with a lot of people while I'm there, and would love to do the same with those of you in attendance from the nation and around the world.
See y'all tomorrow at #PTHC2016 after I handle my DC business.
After scrambling for the last few days to make the logistics of this trip work, my departure day has finally arrived. I'm at my old Houston Intercontinental stomping grounds for the first time in two years to take a flight once again on United to the East Coast.
But this one will be a little more emotional for me. In addition to getting to see some of the CAL airline peeps who haven't retired yet that I used to work with, Terminal C is where my very public physical transition began back in 1994.
I then add to that emotion by traveling to Washington DC for tomorrow's White House LGBT Pride Reception and the first time ever I get to attend..
After seven years of frustratingly not being invited to it, I finally got the nod, and most importantly to me is I got to go when President Obama is still in office. This will be the last LGBT Pride Reception he will host, and I'm so looking forward to being at the White House, seeing who else got invited to attend, and trying not to cry as I observe the event.
Then it's heading up I-95 when that event concludes for the drive up to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection for the 15th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.
I have a panel discussion on June 10 I'll be participating in with Mari Brighe, Joanna Cifredo and Brynn Tannehill. Should be an interesting one and i hope those of you in attendance at PTHC come check it out.
It's the second one for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone once I get to DC and Philly..
This will be an interesting trip in which I get to fly to one city and drive to another one.
19 year old Jose Pena and 24 year old Tiffany Floyd were arrested this week and charged with murder and conspiracy in Young's death.
Floyd was denied bail and is being held pending her scheduled March 16 hearing at 9 AM in Room 306 of the Criminal Justice Center.
Pena was also denied bail, but is being held in a juvenile facility. His hearing is scheduled at 9 AM in Room 306 of the Criminal Justice Center on March 23. In case you Philly area peeps wish to witness the proceedings in either case, the Criminal Justice Center is located at 1301 Filbert St.
Will be checking on this case to see if our fallen sister receives justice .
Sad to report that another US trans woman has been murdered this year.
25 year old Maya Taylor was found stabbed multiple times in the neck and chest in the 4800 block of Penn Street at 11:50 PM EST Saturday in the Frankford section of Philadelphia.
She was taken by police to Aria Health-Frankford, less than two blocks away from where she was found. where she was pronounced dead at 12:21 AM EST on Sunday.
"The community is heartbroken once again with the senseless slaying of another transgender woman of color," wrote Naiymah Sanchez, a coordinator with the Philadelphia based TransHealth Information project on her Facebook page.
The Philadelphia Police Department is looking for information in this case, and if you have it, you can call the PPD Police Homicide Unit at 215-686-3344 or 911.
A $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case.
As I get more details about this case I will post them
Rest in power and peace, Maya. Not happy about your life violently ending before you even got a chance to spread your wings and fly.
Thanks to a tip from a concerned citizen to Philadelphia PD homicide detectives, one of the wastes of DNA who participated in the brutal October 6 attack on Keisha Jenkins has been arrested.
That tip led them to 24 year Pedro Redding, who was arrested Sunday and charged in the murder of Jenkins. Redding has a prior history of criminal activity, was denied bail, and was arraigned by a judge on murder, conspiracy and weapons charges.
Redding is part of a pack of men who are suspected of committing other robberies in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia where he lived.. The Jenkins case at this time is not being investigated as a hate crime
Three other people are being sought by detectives in this ongoing murder investigation
22 year old Keisha Jenkins was ambushed and beaten by five to six males as she got out of a car in North Philadelphia at 13th and Wingohocking Streets early Tuesday morning at 2:30 AM EDT. One of the males then pulled out a gun and shot Jenkins twice in the back.
Jenkins was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead upon arrival. As of yet there has been no arrest in the case..
Nellie Fitzpatrick, Mayor Nutter's
LGBT community liaison, called Jenkins' death "a tremendous and
tragic loss for the entire city, our LGBT community, and, more
specifically, our trans community."
"This type of wicked, inhumane violence just has no place here," Fitzpatrick said. "We can't take anymore. It's just too much."
Jenkins is the 21st American trans woman killed in 2015, the 16th Black trans woman, the second killed in Philadelphia, and the 11th under age 40, and I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of reciting these stats.
When will our #BlackLivesMatter, Black community? When will #BlackTransLivesMatter? When will it NOT be okay to indiscriminately kill a Black trans woman?
And I'm tired along with everyone in Black Trans World of repeatedly asking those questions.
When I receive information about her homegoing services, I'll pass them along to you folks in the Philadelphia metro area who may wish to attend them and pay your respects.
Speaking of information, the Philadelphia PD needs it to help solve this case.
Anyone with any information on the killing is asked to call the PPD homicide unit at 215-686-3334 and 215-686-3335, or the department's anonymous tip line at 215-686-TIPS.
Stay tuned to these TransGriot pages for updated news about this latest trans sister who has been brutally taken away from us.
While the Latino community leaders were gathering in Kansas City for the National Council of La Raza Convention, at the same time in Philadelphia the NAACP was meeting July 11-15 for its 106th national convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
And yep NCLR Conference delegates, as you and I suspected, there were no sightings of GOP presidential candidates at the NAACP convention either.
One of the speakers for that just concluded convention in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was none other than President Barack Obama.
He spoke to the assembled delegates on Tuesday, and here's the text and the video of his speech.
In the latest update on the Padge Windslowe pumping case, she was found back in March guilty of third degree murder for the February 2011 death of Claudia Aderotimi
The 20 year old Aderotimi flew across The Pond from London to get he derriere enhanced by the self proclaimed "Michelangelo of Butt Injections' but the pumping procedure went horribly wrong.
The silicone from the pumping injection traveled through Aderotimi's system and caused her death according to the medical examiner of a pulmonary embolism several hours later.
Windslowe has expressed remorse for Aderotimi's death and was facing 20 to 40 years in prison for the conviction.
She was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for it and the 42 year old Windslowe will be eligible for parole in 7 years.
Today starts the 14th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, and once again something has come up that has prevented me from attending it..
Guess I'm going to have to go to last year's strategy of not planning on going, and then things will fall into place and I'll be at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for it.
Anyway, let me get over being bummed I'm not there for it and get back to reporting on the country's (and possibly the world's) largest trans themed conference with over 3000 attendees..
The welcoming ceremony for this year's conference kicks off at 8:45 AM EDT and as usual it will be packed with informative seminars over the next three days.
And the timing of it once again comes at an interesting moment for the trans community with all the media attention on trans issues post-Caitlyn Jenner reveal. The other thing I love about it is that the PTHC is blessed to have attendance and panels from trans people and leaders from around the world in addition to the professional tracks,.
And once again I'm missing it. I'm also going to miss the start of a new PTHC tradition, a trans flag raising that will fly at Philadelphia City Hall for the duration of the event.form June 4-6
The keynote speakers for this year's edition of the PTHC will be Tiq Milan this afternoon at 1 PM EDT and Trudie Jackson on Friday. Turner Stulting and Peter Fair will be the youth speakers on Thursday and Friday.
So for those of you in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, have a cheesesteak for me and enjoy the next three days at this year's edition if the PTHC.
After the initial flurry of trans women that were killed in the first two months of 2015, things had gotten quiet on that front in the United States until today.
News stations in Philadelphia are reporting that 21 year old London Chanel Allen was stabbed tin the back and neck after a fight between her and her 31 year old attacker that occurred in an abandoned rowhouse on North Philadelphia at 12:40 AM EDT in the 2200 block of Ingersoll Street
She was rushed to Hahnemann University Hospital where she was pronounced dead just after 1 AM., police said.
"My heart goes out to her family, friends and the community as we mourn
her death," said Nellie Fitzpatrick, Director of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia. “I know that the police department will work
tirelessly to fully investigate the case."
Allen had a Texas connection. She was born in Victoria, just 127 miles southwest of Houston and moved to Philadelphia several years ago. She'd reconciled with her mother Veronica Allen, was in the process of getting her name change done and moving back to Texas when she was murdered
“She was going to go to court to change her name and then she was going
to come home," Veronica Allen said. “That’s what we were working towards, but
that man took it away from me."
A candlelight vigil is set to be held this Friday at that location, and a bank account has been set up to collect funds to pay to return London's body back to Texas for burial
But once again, we sadly have another young trans woman of color dead before her 25th birthday.
RIP London
TransGriot Update: 31 year old Raheam Felton has been arrested and charged with London's murder.
But time was flying as I was in this lovely hotel that has been my home away from home for the last few days and I got reunited with all my friends in LGBT media world.
The 2015 LGBT Media Journalists Convening that those of us from 22 states and the District of Columbia flew, drove or took the train to get to has come to an end.
We had the opportunity to get our learn on about issues from HIV to the bi community. We got a chance to meet people who haven't gotten the opportunity to attend this event. We've exchanged business cards, networked, and caught up with each others lives.
We got the opportunity to roll over to the John C/ Anderson Apartments and talk to our LGBT elders who not only gave us a window to the past as they told their stories, they gave us a glimpse of our futures as they proudly lived their TBLGQ lives as residents of a unique retirement building.
It was also wonderful seeing Tiq, Gwen, Cristan, Gretchen, Becky, Brynn, Jos and Dawn again and get to talk to them about the issues that impact this community.
It was great being part of the LGBT Media Convening Women's meeting in which we discussed a wide variety of issues from why lesbian clubs are closing to how to better support the trans feminine and bi communities and each other.
Only thing I do regret is not having the opportunity to hang out with some of my Philly based friends. Oh well, maybe I'll be back up here in a few weeks for the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference
It's been fun, but after our brunch and the tour of gay Philly, time to go back to Texas to handle my business.
