Pouring Tea At U of L

I only stayed home long enough to change clothes, write a post and check my e-mail as I returned to the U of L campus for a 7 PM Pride Week event.

This time I wasn't leading the discussion. I got the pleasure of being a spectator after running my mouth with Dr. Kaila Story, Jaison Gardiner (or as I call him 'Nephew' since he calls me 'Auntie Monica') the gang in Blkout, the new African American GLBT organization on the U of L campus, and other assorted peeps on campus and in the Louisville GLBT and progressive community.

What I bounced out of the house for was to witness Dr. E. Patrick Johnson's one man play entitled 'Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales'

The play grew out of the oral histories that Dr. Johnson compiled while writing his just released book published by the University of North Carolina Press.

The book is entitled Sweet Tea: An Oral History of Black Gay Men of the South.

It covered topics such as coming of age in the South, religion, sex, transgenderism, love stories to coming out. The oral histories are from black gay men and a transwoman who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South ranging in age from 19 to 93.

It was a fascinating and enjoyable two hours listening to Dr. Johnson channel the various people depicted in this play. One of the people was an old friend of mine I met at the 2004 Southern Comfort Conference.

Some of the stories hit close to home, especially when Dr. Johnson got to the section of the play about Chastity, the trans character. I was also fascinated to hear 93 year old Countess Vivian tell his stories about Black gay life in segregated New Orleans.

I had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Johnson when it was over. He is on a fall tour on various college campuses with this play as I write this.

If it appears on your campus or a campus near you, go see it. You'll be glad you did.

The Trans Free BET Who's Who In Black GLBT America List

I was shocked that BET.com even puts out such a list, so just out of curiosity I decided to see which peeps they chose for their 'Who's Who In Black GLBT America'.

And as I suspected, out of the 33 people selected, there were no trans brothers or transsisters on it.

And no BET and rest of world, a Black New York based drag artist does not equal to transman or transwoman. Kevin Aviance is a drag artist

While I'm happy for the people that did make it such as Jasmyne Cannick, it speaks once again to how invisible Black trans people are, even in our own damned community.

There's a transman who is the board chair of the National Black Justice Coalition in Kylar Broadus. I've talked about Dr. Marisa Richmond on more than a few occasions on this blog.

But once again the Black trans community gets shut out.

I'm in agreement with my sis Dionne Stallworth. It's time that we Black trans people really start tooting our horns, seriously raise our profiles, compile our history, interview and pump up our people and fight for our place in the GLBT spotlight.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting more than a little sick of getting dissed, erased and ignored by the entire fracking GLBT community Black and White.

Advocate's (And The Gayosphere's) Jacked Up Reporting On Black Transwoman's Marriage

I spend a lot of time at TransGriot criticizing and correcting piss poor reporting from the MSM on transgender issues. Here's an example of it coming from the Advocate.

Yes, the Advocate.

Just because they are GLBT news and info outlets and are our 'alleged' allies doesn't mean they aren't capable of writing horribly transphobic crap. Ask anyone in the Boston transgender community who remembers the shoddy and disrespectful 1998 Bay Windows reporting about Rita Hester.

In this case, it's a story about African American couple Kimah Nelson and Jason Stenson. They were married May 26 at the New York City Clerk's Office ten days after receiving their marriage license. But unfortunately, their marriage license was revoked after the news broke because Kimah is a transwoman.

The New York Post is a typical Rupert Murdoch owned and run rag that's insensitive to everybody that isn't a white male. I expect that kind of crappy reporting from them and MSM sites like WINS-AM.

But there's no excuse for you, several gayosphere blogs, websites and other GLBT media outlets to repeat the glaring transphobia of the Post by cutting and pasting verbatim in some cases the jacked up Post article.

High five to Rod 2.0 Beta for noting a transwoman and her boyfriend got married.

Let's try this again, shall we Advocate and gayosphere?

The AP Stylebook rules for coverage of transgender people states:

transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If there preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

And here's what the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association has to say about covering transgender people as well.

transgender (adj.): An umbrella term that refers to people whose biological and gender identity or expression may not be the same. This can include preoperative, postoperative or nonoperative transsexuals, female and male cross-dressers, drag queens or kings, female or male impersonators, and intersex individuals. If an individual prefers to be called transsexual, etc., use that term. When writing about a transgender person, use the name and personal pronouns that are consistent with the way the individual lives publicly.

And just to make sure you got the fracking point, here's the GLAAD Media Reference Guide's transgender Terminology and definitions.

Transgender
An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The term may include but is not limited to: transsexuals, cross-dressers, and other gender-variant people. Transgender people may identify as female-to-male (FTM) or male-to-female (MTF). Use the descriptive term (transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, FTM or MTF) preferred by the individual. Transgender people may or may not choose to alter their bodies hormonally and/or surgically.

Transsexual (also Transexual)
An older term which originated in the medical and psychological communities. Many transgender people prefer the term "transgender" to "transsexual." Some transsexual people still prefer to use the term to describe themselves. However, unlike transgender, transsexual is not an umbrella term, and many transgender people do not identify as transsexual. It is best to ask which term an individual prefers.

Okay, first order of 'bidness' is that Kimah is living her life as female. She had begun the process of transition, and was living full time. That means not all of your ID is going to perfectly match.

Many of us still have ID's with mismatched name and gender code info or are in states that despite us having legal name changes, refuse to change gender codes until the person undergoes GRS.

Jason saw Kimah as and married a woman. That means that this is a HETEROSEXUAL marriage, not a same gender one.

This is also a concrete example of the GL same gender marriage push having a deleterious effect on legal transgender marriages. The ignorant are mischaracterizing a transperson's legal opposite gender marriages as same gender ones. We're getting the unintended consequences and backlash from society's faith-based frustration over same gender marriage in which our marriages are being annulled.

SRS is not the end all and be all to determining gender identity or when a person transitions to the other gender.

As far as I'm concerned, the second you swallow you first hormone or take your first shot of testosterone, begin living in the opposite gender and make moves to harmonize your body with that gender role that may or may not include surgical options, you ARE that gender

Many transpeople who would like to have it either aren't able to afford genital surgery or have health issues that prevent it. There are many transpeople successfully living in our new gender roles despite possessing neoclits in our panties.

To break this point down for you: gender is between your ears, not your legs.

I also believe that the reporting would have been much different if you flip the race of the couple involved. No references to homeless shelters, no disrespecting Kimah's transgender status.

I realize NY gays are righteously angry at the NY state senate's inaction on the marriage equality bill despite Governor Paterson's willingness to sign the legislation if it hits his desk. But don't take it out on the Black couple who managed to get married despite the obstacles.

And congratulations Kimah and Jason. A bureaucrat may claim you're not married, but you and the Higher Power know differently. It's not the first time in our people's 400 year history in the Americas that the powers that be tried to place obstacles in front of the varied expressions of Black love.

If the lack of a piece of paper didn't stop our ancestors, don't let it stop you.

And note to the Advocate and the gayosphere, if you claim you're our allies, respecting us is Job One. Get it right on the pronouns and just reporting on our lives, period.

Congrats Laverne!

My sis Laverne Cox had a wonderful trip to San Francisco recently. During the May 27 GLAAD Media Awards her appearance in the I Want To Work For Diddy reality show tied with Calpernia Addams' Transamerican Love Story for the Outstanding Reality Series Award.

Here's Laverne's speech from that evening, followed by Calpernia's.



Congratulations to both of you ladies for representing us with class, glamor and dignity. As you said in your speech, Laverne, it was an amazing year for transgender representation on television. Hope it only gets better.



Deepest thanks and appreciation to you Laverne for ensuring that for the first time, we had a media portrayal of a Black transwoman that wasn't rooted in stereotypes.

Homo Harlem Film Retrospective

TransGriot Note: Received this interesting e-mail from the Maysles Institute in NYC about a TBLG film retrospective slated to kick off on Juneteenth (June 19) at the Maysles Cinema.

With arguments often eerily reminiscent of old rationales for black oppression, gays and lesbians remain openly, legally and even, 'righteously', discriminated against.

For LGBT people of all races, knowing ourselves, making our extraordinary history known to others, much as with blacks, becomes a key component to liberation. If LGBT heritage remains often obscured and belittled, achievements of African American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, are less well known still.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the film festival, Homo-Harlem: A Film Retrospective, Friday, June 19th-Saturday, June 27th, cosponsored by the Maysles Cinema at 343 Malcolm X Boulevard with Men of All Colors Together, seeks to help to remedy this lack of recognition.

Through a series of coordinated screenings, critical discussions and walking tours, Homo-Harlem for the first time officially brings Stonewall observations uptown to focus on and honor, figures as diverse as poets Audre Lorde and Langston Hughes, social justice activist Bayard Rustin, composer Billy Strayhorn, photographer Marvin Smith and living legend Storme DeLarverie, whose courageous stand at the Stonewall Bar, 40 years ago, literally helped set in motion the entire Gay Pride Movement.

We LGBT people have always been busy making Harlem better, as one resident reported in 1928, "Never no wells of loneliness in Harlem..." Space is limited for this exhilarating experience, so be sure to make a reservation in advance and get ready to be enlightened, to be amazed and to party hard!

Homo-Harlem Curator and Author Michael Henry Adams

Please direct all press and requests for reservations to cinema@mayslesinstitute.org
Homo Harlem: A Film Retrospective

$10 Suggested Donation For All Screenings

Friday, June 19th
Opening Night at the Museum of the City of New York
(1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd St, Enter at 104th St)

6:00pm Cocktail Reception

7:00pm Discussion: Kirk Shannon-Butts, Michael Henry Adams

7:30pm Screening
Blueprint (Short Preview)
Kirk Shannon-Butts, 2008
Harlem shot and set, Blueprint is the story of Keith and Nathan - two New York City college freshmen trying to make a connection.

Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life
Robert Levi,1999, 83 min.
Today, historians and scholars agree that Billy Strayhorn remains one of the most under-recognized American composers in history. Born in 1915, Strayhorn chose to live openly as a gay black man. It was perhaps this decision-and his lifelong devotion to Duke Ellington-which contributed to his near anonymity as a major American composer. While Ellington is arguably the most influential and celebrated jazz composer of the 20th century, Strayhorn is unrecognized. Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life poses answers to the question of who was Billy Strayhorn, and why is he still relatively unknown?

(Maysles Cinema, 343 Lenox Ave. between 127th & 128th Street, June 20th-27th)

Saturday, June 20th
2:00pm
The Edge of Each Other's Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde
Jennifer Abod, 2002, 59 min.
This powerful documentary is a moving tribute to legendary black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992). One of the most celebrated icons of feminism's second wave, Lorde inspired several generations of activists with her riveting poetry, serving as a catalyst for change and uniting the communities of which she was a part: black arts and black liberation, women's liberation and lesbian and gay liberation.

Litany For Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde
Ada Griffin and Michelle Parkerson, 1995, 60 min.
From Lorde's childhood roots in Harlem to her battle with breast cancer, this moving film explores a life and a body of work and makes connections between the civil rights movement, the women's movement and the struggle for lesbian and gay rights.

Greetings from Africa
Cheryl Dunye, 1994, 8 min.
In this highly entertaining short, Cheryl Dunye uses her dry wit to ruminate on lesbian dating '90s style. Cheryl (playing herself) is searching for someone to date. Unfortunately, most of her friends are still stuck in those long-term "relationships from the '80s". Just when she thinks all is lost, she meets L, a beautiful, mysterious and captivating woman. Cheryl gets caught up in the chase and L leads her in and out of hot water.

Sunday, June 21
2:00pm
Prepare for Saints: The Making of a Modern Opera
Steven Watson, 1999, 27 mins
A chronicle of the making of the Modernist 1934 Virgil Thomson/Gertrude Stein opera, Four Saints in Three Acts, (which included an all-black cast from Harlem church choirs and nightclubs.)
Q&A with Director Steve Watson

Portrait of Jason
Shirley Clarke, 1967, 105 min.
Interview with Jason Holliday aka Aaron Payne, house boy, would be cabaret performer, and self proclaimed hustler giving one man's gin-soaked pill-popped, view of what it was like to be black and gay in 1960's America.

Monday, June 22
7:00pm
Storme: Lady of the Jewel Box
Dir. Michelle Parkerson, 1987. 21 min.
"It ain't easy...being green" is the favorite expression of Storme DeLarverie, a woman whose life flouted prescriptions of gender and race. During the 1950's and 60's she toured the black theatre circuit as a mistress of ceremonies and the sole male impersonator of the legendary Jewel Box Revue, America's first integrated female impersonation show and forerunner of La Cage aux Folles. Storme herself emerges as a remarkable woman, who came up during hard times but always "kept a touch of class." Storme was also a witness to the Stonewall Rebellion 40 years ago and is a founding member of the Stonewall Veterans Association.

How Do I Look
Wolfgang Busch, 2007, 48 min.
How Do I Look captures the Harlem "Ball" traditions that originated in the 70s, which was historically an off shot from the Harlem "Drag" Balls from the 20s. Because of the loss of hundreds of members and leaders of the "Ball" community due to the HIV epidemic, this film recorded an important aspect of history while it was still available.

Panel TBA

Tuesday, June 23
7:00pm
Brother to Brother
Rodney Evans, 2004, 87 min.
Winner of numerous awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize and the Gordon Parks Screenwriting Award, Brother to Brother follows the emotional and psychological journey of a young black gay artist as he discovers the hidden legacies of the gay and lesbian subcultures within the Harlem Renaissance.
(with a short clip of an interview with Bruce Nugent on Gay life in the 20s.)

Q&A with Tom Wirth, Literary Executor for Bruce Nugent

Wednesday, June 24
7:00pm
Brother Outsider, The Life of Bayard Rustin
Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer, 2002, 83 min.
This meditation on the parallels between racism and homophobia illuminates the life and work of Bayard Rustin, a visionary activist and strategist who has been called the "unknown hero" of the civil rights movement. Daring to live as an openly gay man during the fiercely homophobic 1940s, 50s and 60s, Brother Outsider reveals the price that Rustin paid for his openness, chronicling both the triumphs and setback of his remarkable 60-year career.

Panel:
Dir. Bennett Singer
Walter Naegle, Rustin's partner until his passing in 1987 at 75
Ernest Green, The Little Rock Nine
Adam Green, Historian, Author of "Selling the Race: Culture, Community, and Black Chicago, 1940-1955"
Moderator: Michael Henry Adams

Thursday, June 25
5:30pm
Walking Tour*

7:30pm
Paris is Burning
Jennie Livingston, 1990, 78 min.
Many consider Paris Is Burning to be an invaluable document of the end of the "Golden Age" of New York City drag balls, as well as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, and gender in America.

9:30pm
Dinner & Afterparty at Billie's Black*

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and after party) cost is $50.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com
60 person limit on tickets so get them while you can!
Tickets for the screening only can be purchased at the Maysles Cinema the night of.

Friday, June 26
5:30pm
Walking Tour*

7:30pm
Looking for Langston
Isaac Julien, 1988, 45 min.
A black and white, fantasy-like recreation of high-society gay men during the Harlem Renaissance, with archival footage and photographs intercut with a story. The text is rarely explicit, but the freedom of gay Black men in the 1920s in Harlem is suggested and celebrated visually.

James Baldwin: Witness
Angie Corcetti, 2003, 60 min.
A minister's son from Harlem, James Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village and began writing essays for left-wing journals. With the success of his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and dozens of non-fiction works, Baldwin became an international voice on American Black life in the 1950s and 60s. A look at this Black American Gay icon's life.

9:30pm
Dinner at Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too*

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and dinner) cost is $50.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com

Saturday, June 27
11:30am Brunch at Chez Lucien*

1:00pm
Walking Tour*

3:00pm
M&M SMITH: For Posterity's Sake
Heather Lyons, 1996, 57 min
Morgan and Marvin Smith, twin brothers and prolific African American artists, boldly moved from Kentucky to New York in 1933 to pursue artistic careers. By 1937 they had opened a photo studio next door to Harlem's renowned Apollo Theatre. Thus began 50-year-long careers as still and motion picture photographers, painters and sound recordists. This story is richly visualized through the Smiths' photos, films and paintings and poignantly told by Morgan and Marvin Smith and friends such as Eartha Kitt.

Clip of Short Conversation with Marvin Smith
40 min.

*Complete package (walking tour, screening and brunch) cost is $45.00
Contact- homoharlemtour@aol.com

2009 Houston Splash-Miss You Cookie

Houston Splash happened the week of May 7-11, the same time I was in Washington DC. It's our contribution to the schedule of Black prides that take place across the country.

This year's event probably was tinged with sadness on a few levels. In addition to the fact Galveston is still recovering from the direct hit it took from Hurricane Ike last year, East Beach, where the beach party portion of the Splash events takes place is still torn up from Ike's assault on it.

The other part is that Splash's longtime emcee, 'The Mouth of the South' AKA Cookie LaCook is no longer with us. Cookie is still missed even though its been almost two years since she passed away.

I'm Joining HRC

This may come as a shock to all of you who've known me for years as one of HRC's most virulent critics, but I'm pleased to announce that I am joining the Human Rights Campaign outreach team to the African-American GLBT/SGL community.

Some of you may see this as selling out, since I've had much to say on this blog and many others about some of the less than honorable stuff this organization's done in the past to not only impede the rights of transgender people, but ignoring my community as well.

But they asked, and it's an attractive offer I couldn't turn down.

In addition I get to go back home just in time to participate in Annise Parker's historic campaign and reestablish my eligibility to vote in my beloved home state. I'll get to travel on a regular basis as part of this job, speak to various groups, do interviews and I'm getting paid quite well for doing so. I'm getting tired of doing the right thing for peanuts while others in the GLBT movement are living large. It's time for me to get paid for my writing and speaking abilities and garner the higher profile I deserve.

Hey, I gotta look out for number one. I gotta eat too, and I like fly designer clothes as well.

Neiman-Marcus here I come.

Oh yeah, I wonder if they make Jimmy Choo pumps in a size 12. Hey it won't matter, because as much money as I'll soon be making, I'll special order them.

Oh yeah, before you flood this post with hate comments, check today's date at the top of it. ;)

Be Part Of The Solution Instead Of Bitching About The Problem

One of the things that gets on my last nerve is when I hear peeps in the African American GLBT community gripe about how mainstream organization in our community aren't inclusive.

One of the organizations that's been in the cross hairs of this crowd is the NAACP. The iconic civil rights organization is now beginning its second century of work after celebrating it's 100th anniversary on February 12. It also has a dynamic young leader in Benjamin T. Jealous.

These peeps will whip out a laundry list of complaints about this organization not being inclusive or that organization being seemingly hostile to our interests, but when you ask them if they are members of that organization or what they've personally done to change it, they'll make excuse after excuse to justify why they aren't.

The point is, you peeps who are complaining about the NAACP for example, need to be part of the solution instead of bitching about the problem.

Have you taken the time out of your busy party or pageant schedule to actually attend a local NAACP meeting to articulate your concerns?

More importantly, have you and a group of like minded friends joined the NAACP?

If your answer is no, then you may want to consider it. That's a more constructive way to tackle the problem of these iconic organizations not being cognizant of our problems, and at the same time they'd appreciate the infusion of new members as well.

If you truly feel that the organization has been less than responsive to African-American SGL and transgender people's issues, then the way to correct that problem is to actually join the organization, do the work and get yourself in a leadership position to help change the policies.

Just Not Into RuPaul

RuPaul's back on TV with a reality show called RuPaul's Drag Race on Logo. Yeah, I know I've griped for years about the lack of visibility of GLBT African-Americans in the media, but this is one show that I and many African-American GLBT peeps won't be watching.

The reason? Many of us consider RuPaul a sellout.

RuPaul's road to Clarence Thomas-Condoleezza Rice territory basically began in 2002, when he started defending Chuck Knipp and his odious blackface minstrel show that many of us in the SGL community and our allies have major problems with.

When New York activists protested and succeeded in shutting down a 2002 show, RuPaul leaped to Chuck's defense.

RuPaul also had this to say when he appeared at Southern Decadence in New Orleans a few years ago.

"Critics who think that Shirley Q. Liquor is offensive are idiots. Listen, I've been discriminated against by everybody in the world: gay people, black people, whatever. I know discrimination, I know racism, I know it very intimately. She's not racist, and if she were, she wouldn't be on my new CD."

I'm a critic and a lot smarter than you are. Obviously your racism detector is way off and your ignorance of black history speaks volumes. It's also why that 'Foxy Lady' CD tanked.

If you'd paid attention in history class, you'd know that your racist runnin' buddy does a blackface minstrel show that on multiple levels is offensive and racist. Hiding behind your short skirts won't shield him from the deserved criticism and negativity he gets for doing so.

RuPaul also said on a gay radio show,
“I love it. People really need to take a chill pill and people really aren’t sophisticated enough to know that when a person is coming from a place of love as opposed to coming from a place of hate. Shirley Q. Liquor is so clearly coming from a place of love.”

How much 'sophistication' was Chuck showing when he (or one of his cronies) photoshopped Jasmyne Cannick's head to the body of an nude African American porn model on his website because she successfully led the effort to shut down one of his California shows?

Did that come from a place of love? Hell, naw.

RuPaul, you can stop trying to defend Chuck. It's the reason many of us aren't enamored of you any more, and the sooner you realize that, the better.

But then again, like all good sellouts, you'll salute, take the money they offer you, continue to stab your people in the back and expect us to be quiet about it.

Why Some Black GLBT Peeps Hate the 'Q' Word

While there are some people who refer to the GLBT community as the 'queer' community, as you probably noticed as you peruse this blog I'm not one of them. It's also a sentiment shared by some of my fellow GLBT African-Americans.

When I used to do the 'After Hours' radio show with Jimmy Carper back home on KPFT-FM, he'd use the tag line 'Queer radio with attitude'. It made me uncomfortable, but since it was his show and I was only a rotating co-host, not much I could do about.

Some of my personal dislike with the 'Q' word not only has to do with it being used as a derogatory epithet, but the dictionary definition of it as well.

1. Deviating from the expected or normal; strange: a queer situation.
2. Odd or unconventional, as in behavior; eccentric. See Synonyms at strange.
3. Of a questionable nature or character; suspicious.
4. Slang Fake; counterfeit.
5. Feeling slightly ill; queasy.
6. Offensive Slang Homosexual.
7. Usage Problem Of or relating to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, or transgendered people.

As a proud transperson of African descent, why would I embrace a term that doesn't describe me? I've heard many of the arguments that raged in the mid 90's about taking back the 'Q' word to strip it of the negativity, but I also heard the same parallel arguments about reclaiming the n-word, and I hated that reclamation project as well.

So why do Black GLBT peeps hate the 'Q" word?

As the Task Force's 2002 Say It Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud report pointed out, the term 'queer' was selected by less than 1% of the respondents as an identifier in the 2000 Black Pride Survey that the report was based on.

Some of that dislike of the 'Q' word is fed by negativity to the racism that Black GLBT people found greeting them in 'queer' spaces. We also have our own created terms such as SGL (same gender loving) that became popular in the 1990's or the 'in the life' one that dates back to the Harlem Renaissance and some of us are more comfortable with because they reflect our cultural heritage.

'Queer' has also become in the Black GLBT community a synonym for white, wealthy, privileged gay male. You also have to look at the reality that many Black GLBT peeps live in the Deep South, which is not exactly the most welcoming area at times for a GLBT person.

Our discomfort with the term also has to do with the fact that Black people, whether we're GLBT or non-GLBT, are politically liberal but socially conservative due to our historic church ties. Those of us who grew up attending church, Sunday School and Vacation Bible School on the regular still struggle with reconciling our faith with who we are as GLBT people, and the 'Q' word doesn't fit.

So if you're wondering why most Black GLBT peeps use other terms to define themselves or get quiet when many of you start shouting at protest marches, 'we're here, we're queer, get used to it', now you know.

Dag, White Gays-Stop Trippin'

What's up with the sniping and whining coming from some quarters of the white gay community concerning our president elect?

I suspect some of their dislike for Obama comes from the fact that he came from nowhere to beat Hillary, their (and HRC's) preferred candidate, then ended up in the White House thanks to the votes, money and elbow grease of the rest of us despite their lukewarm, tepid support for him.

But the man hasn't even taken office yet and some white gays are already complaining in some quarters that 'we're being forgotten', 'we're being dissed' and whatever cheese they snack on with the whine du jour.

Hello people, Inauguration Day is January 20. It is way too early to discern what type of president he's going to be for the GLBT community because he's NOT in a position until that date to start creating or implementing policy.

It is way too early to engage in conclusion jumps based on incorrect assumptions you have about Obama based on what happened to the GLBT community during the Clinton administration.

That's two different men, two different historical situations and the only thing they have in common is their party affiliation and some Clinton peeps taking on different roles in this administration.

Now that Obama has invited Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, you've taken even more swigs of the pink flavor Hateraid and let the hatred flow.

Didn't y'all get enough of that after the Democratic primary ended in June and the Prop 8 loss?

I'm warning you now that many African-Americans (gay and non-gay) are still majorly pissed about the anti-Black hate that flowed from some quarters in the white gay community after the Cali Prop 8 loss. You still have major fence mending to do with the Black GLBT community, and it would be wise for you to chill with the attacks on the president elect since it's only pouring gasoline on the still smoldering anger of Black peeps.

I'd also put H. Alexander Robinson's number on speed dial and start chatting with the National Black Justice Coalition. They need to be included forthwith as a facilitator and EQUAL partner to those much needed conversations and whatever future strategizing happens from this point forward.

Many of us are millimeters close to saying to hell with y'all and doing what we should have done eons ago-say goodbye and good luck to you, formulate and push our own inclusive GLBT civil rights agenda to our peeps and others that factors our needs into the mix while you continue jousting at same gender marriage windmills for a small sector of the community.

Don't get me wrong, I'm for same gender marriage, just not at the expense of more higher priority legislation that benefits the entire GLBT community such as hate crimes and ENDA. You can't get married if you're dead or don't have or can't get and keep a job to support a partner.

You can also stop pushing the specious argument that granting marriage rights to same sex couples is going to grease the skids for other civil rights to flow from it.

The bottom line is that marriage is not a high priority right now for me and many GLBT people of color. Getting and keeping a job and keeping people from thinking they have carte blanche to kill us is. Those basic civil rights aren't going to flow from the right to marry, it's the other way around as history books and the Civil Rights movement forcefully demonstrate.

But whatever your deep seated problem with President elect Obama is, it's time to work through getting over it as soon as possible. Just because I supported him for the presidency doesn't mean, nor should you assume that I don't think he shouldn't be criticized. If President Obama does something wrong during the next four to eight years of his administration, I'll be the first one chewing on his behind.

But give the man a chance to at least warm up the damn chair in the Oval Office and implement policy before you start criticizing him.

Notable African-American Transgender People

TransGriot Note:-This will be an ongoing project of the TransGriot Blog. Our transkids and our people need to know (along with the GLBT community in general) that there are African-American transpeople that are doing thangs.

And yeah, I have to humbly toot my own horn and add myself to this list as well. If you are aware of African-American transpeeps who are doing things that I may not have heard of, please do not hesitate to forward that info to me.

Justina Williams
Dr. Marisa Richmond
Dawn Wilson
Valerie Spencer
Miss Major

Jordana LeSesne
DJ Miss Honey Dijon
Sharon Davis
Tracy Jada O'Brien
Earline Budd

Lorrainne Sade Baskerville
Kylar Broadus
Rev. Joshua Holiday
Laverne Cox
Zion Johnson

The Lady Chablis
Tommie Ross
Sharyn Grayson
Stasha Sanchez
Domanique Shappelle

Octavia St. Laurent
Dionne Stallworth
Louis Mitchell
Cydne Kimbrough
Tona Brown

Isis King
Imani Henry


Our Continental African Transpeeps

Juliet Victor Mukasa
Mia Nikasomo
Barbara Diop
Nick Mwaluko


Our Deceased Transbrothers and Transsisters

Marcelle Cook-Daniels
James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon
Tyra Hunter
Alexander John Goodrum
Roberta Angela Dee

Cookie LaCook
Cathay Williams
Amanda Milan
Stephanie Thomas
Ukea Davis

Chareka Keys
Chanelle Pickett
Gabrielle Pickett
Rita Hester

NBJC Survey

5 Questions from the National Black Justice Coalition

NBJC wants to remain in touch with your needs as a Black LGBT/SGL community. So we thought up 5 quick questions we would like for you to answer.

Please click here to respond. It takes less then 3 minutes to complete.

Why A Transsistahs Convention?

TransGriot Note: This was written in February 2005 to explain to our Caucasian brothers and sisters why we were planning a convention of our own that took place later that year.


Why a Transsistahs Convention?
By Monica Roberts

Ever since the word got out that Dawn Wilson and I are helping a committee of young African-American transpeople to organize a convention for later this year, there has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Caucasian transgender community. What does the Caucasian transgender community have to fear from a group of African-American transpeople getting together in Louisville to spend several days networking, learning and bonding with each other, just like you peeps have done at Southern Comfort, Gold Rush, IFGE, and various other events?

The simple fact is that we have cultural differences that aren’t being reflected in the current organizational setup of the Caucasian transgendered community. Our community is built with a belief in God as the central pillar of our daily lives. We don't see that reflected in the Caucasian trans community and we have issues and concerns that aren’t being addressed.

What issues you ask? Issues such as HIV/AIDS, the disproportionate number of African-American and Latina transpeople that make up the Remembering our Dead list, socioeconomic issues, ignoring the roles that people of color have played in shaping transgender history, and the pervasive racism within the community. When African-American transactivists and other activists of color have tried to point them out they are dismissively told that their concerns ‘aren’t trans issues’ or ‘quit playing the race card’.

We have qualms about the Caucasian transgender political leadership continually trying to align itself with HRC. It’s a group that has a sorry history of being disrespectful to the African-American GLBT/SGL community and repeatedly sabotaging transgender lobby efforts. The Caucasian TG leadership even sabotaged a 2002 African-American transgender led initiative to the Congressional Black Caucus that would have benefited the entire trans community and boasted about it afterward.

A conservative administration is entrenched in Washington DC. Many African-American transpeople reside in areas run by conservative state and local governments. It was past time for us to build our own institutions so that we may better weather the storms of ‘compassionate conservatism’ and the backstabbing from our so-called allies.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the fact that there have been people and organizations within the Caucasian trans community who have tried to be inclusive and sounded the alarm that we needed to be welcomed into the fold or else. Their pleas and ours have fallen on deaf ears. I’ve noted the growing frustration within our community reflected in the posts on my Transsistahs Yahoo discussion list that I founded a year ago and other African-American GLBT/SGL lists. Those posts have repeatedly called for us to build institutions that will give African-American transkids something to be proud of and resources that they can tap into that reflect their cultural heritage. We’ve finally decided to act on that.

The gathering in Louisville is in the mold of our African-American cultural tradition. We have a proud heritage as African-American women of doing things that not only help us but also uplift the race at the same time. The sistahs are doing it for ourselves to paraphrase an old Aretha Franklin song. We’re not doing it to permanently separate ourselves from the Caucasian trans community, but so that we may work together with our mainstream African-American brothers and sisters. Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael to you folks who remember the Civil Rights Movement) stated, 'Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks.'

Well, the African-American transcommunity is closing ranks. Louisville, here we come.

Destruction Of The Black Transwoman Image

One of the things that I and my transsisters have in common with our biosisters besides our shared cultural heritage is defending the images of Black women from constant assault inside and outside the community.

Ever since the advent of the slave trade, the Black female image has been subjected to a wide array of slights, outrageous comments, and bigoted or racist behavior.

Black women have dealt with everything from being sexually assaulted by slave masters who considered them less than human to being toured as carnival exhibits as Saartjie Baartman was in the early 19th century as the Hottentot Venus. We also have our wide-ranging skin tone palettes, full lips, curvaceous bodies and ample butts constantly derided as either 'exotic' or 'ugly' vis-a-vis the Eurocentric standard of beauty.



We African-American transwomen share like our biosisters the same problems in addition to others brought on by our transgender status. At least my biosisters don't have to contend with being disrespectfully called 'sir' or called a man.

Oops, check that. Any sistah who's 5'8" or taller, has short cropped hair, is an athlete, or full figured and tall with broad shoulders has had that shade thrown at them. I just remembered the Khadijah Farmer case now currently in litigation.

But I'm digressing. The transwomen division part of the Black female image destruction is in large part courtesy of the escort and porn worlds. We didn't start out with negative images. Over the latter half of the 20th century as coverage of transgender issues became more frequent on local, national, and international newscasts, there was a corresponding explosion in transgender themed adult material. One major irritant to me and many African-American transwomen (and the irritation is shared by our Latina and Asian transsisters as well) is that the images are predominately women of color.

While there are also white transwomen involved in those worlds, they have balance because John and Jane Q. Public have also seen news stories in which white transwomen are seen as businesspeople, politicians elected to office, et cetera. Since the stories are either ignored or aren't being told that transwomen of color are doing mainstream and remarkable things, the negatives get disproportionately shunted to and pile up for African-American transwomen.

Many of us take our transitions seriously. We are talented, intelligent, accomplished women in our own rights. But you wouldn't know that (and probably don't) know that based on the disproportionate attention focused on the subset of our transsistahs involved in the escort and adult entertainment world.

Unfortunately the tendency to judge African-Americans by the worst we produce, combined with our near invisibility in terms of the 55 year history of positive media coverage of transgender people vis-a-vis our white sisters have been devastating to our efforts to educate our fellow African-Americans on transgender issues. It's probably one of the factors in why we initially lost eight CBC votes in the ENDA debate last fall.

We also haven't been helped by Hollywood movie or television portrayals or fictional accounts that perpetuate the 'Black transwomen are hookers' myth. You only need look at two television characters to see what we African-American transwomen have to contend with.

On one hand, you have Rebecca Romijn's Ugly Betty character Alexis Meade, who plays a major role in running a magazine empire. Jazzmun gets to play Dontrelle, who is guess what?

What is a prostitute, Alex?



I'm a big fan of actress Kerry Washington, but in the upcoming movie Life Is Hot In Cracktown based on the novel of the same name, she gets to play a transwoman. While I'm not thrilled that she's playing a character who once again feeds into that 'Black transwomen are hookers' stereotype, I know based on her past work that she's a stickler for authenticity.

She hired Valerie Spencer as her advisor and had Valerie on set to ensure that her character was on point in terms of the emotions and drama that we deal with. I'd just like to see Kerry Washington, any sistah actress or Jazzmun one day get to play an African-American transgender character like Alexis Meade or the Edith Stokes character Veronica Redd played back in the 70's.

Unfortunately, the stereotype is overpowering whatever positive things we try to do as African-American transwomen. When the members of TSTB were in the process of organizing the first Transsistahs-Transbrothas Conference in 2005, the white transgender community was fearful we'd take that moment to permanently separate ourselves from them. I took pains as one of the organizers to write an open letter in February 2005 explaining why we were doing it and posted it to a few transgender oriented lists.

One of the responses that came back on the tgusarights list was from a person calling herself Brenda Jean, who stated that our conference 'would make it easier for us to service our tricks'. That negative image was revealed during the wrongful death trial of Tyra Hunter to have partly played a role in her untimely death from an auto accident. She was not only disrespected at the accident scene by the EMT, but was ignored after she arrived at DC General Hospital and administered a drug that they give to emergency patients they presume to be drug addicts.

There was one night back home when I was watching my friend Sivi Ross do a drag show in a predominately white GLBT club called Cousins. I ended up reading a patron the riot act after he disrespectfully propositioned yours truly by saying the words "How much?" to me.

We also have to contend with as African-American transwomen when we enter relationships with us being lumped on the 'exotic' end of the scale. In some men's minds, what could be more 'exotic' than a beautiful African-American woman with (or who used to have) daddy's equipment? (And you know the stereotype about African-American men)



Just as our biosisters have to constantly fight a never ending battle to debunk these stereotypes, African-American transwomen will be in the same fight on a different flank to combat the stereotypes unique to us.

HBCUs Have A Responsibility To LGBT Students

HBCUs Have A Responsibility To LGBT Students
Campus Silence Is Read As Lack Of Support

By Eric Pritchard
May 17, 2007, 09:00 AM
From diverseeducation.com

The article, “At Conservative Black Colleges, Gays Struggle to Find Their
Voice,” that recently ran on DiverseEducation.com hit home for me like no other news story in recent memory. In 2002, I graduated from a historically Black college. A first-generation college student, I was a celebrated student-leader who was well-respected by the administration, faculty and my peers on campus. Still, being Black, gay, proud, but fearfully silent, my college experience was not all that different from the experiences of the lesbian and gay students referenced in the story.

It was never said but implicitly understood that being gay was not going to win me any allies or let me keep any. There weren’t any student support services made explicitly available to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender students on campus. And, I imagine that even if I could convince other LGBT students to create a student organization with me, I might have been met with the same resistance experienced by the students quoted in the article.

The Black community’s contentious relationship with gender and sexuality is not a new phenomenon, yet I believe there is a depth to the situation that should be further explored. For example, to evaluate the relevance of an LGBT student organization the same way one might a drill team or fashion club is outrageous. The LGBT identity of these students is not a hobby, but represents a part of their lives and directly impacts their ability to succeed academically. What I think is truly problematic is the fact that students are being forced to develop their own means of support in the first place. The development and sustainment of an affirming and safe space for LGBT students is an institution’s responsibility. It is absurd for HBCUs to demand that a student demonstrate academic excellence when administrators are unwilling to create a space where academic success and development are even possible. Simply letting LGBT students organize their own groups seems like a toothless solution to the emotional and physical terrorism of homophobia and transphobia that they may endure on any given day.

I am not so naïve as to believe that my appeals to the humanity of others to react humanely toward students will be seen as anything more than idealistic. To that end, I want to appeal to the dollars and sense of administrators, for if they don’t care about people, they must certainly care about their own pocketbooks. Every time they have a situation where they do not take a stand against hatred and bigotry, they create a silent declaration that hate and bigotry are tolerable. In the case of the HBCUs, silence is read as a publicly adamant lack of support for the LGBT students on their campuses. This contributes to a culture of hate that will ultimately result in someone being hurt or killed. Many HBCUs are already under-resourced and struggling financially. Therefore, it would be prudent to avoid lawsuits by taking the necessary steps to change the culture of the campuses toward LGBT students.

One could try to excuse some of the lack of support by pointing to the minimal financial resources HBCUs have in comparison with their predominately White counterparts. However, that argument cannot hold when the Human Rights Campaign’s HBCU outreach program is not taken full advantage of by those institutions. While I applaud the efforts and successes of HRC’s program, I would encourage anyone invested in the success of LGBT students of color to be equally mindful of their experiences at traditionally White institutions. There, these students often experience race- and class-based oppression in their LGBT support services and campus centers.

LGBT students at HBCUs give me hope as an HBCU alumnus. The growth in visible LGBT communities on these campuses, when coupled with the organized agitation of the trustees, administration, alumni and fellow students, could help change the tide in some way. Also, I encourage all HBCU alumni, administration and faculty who identify as LGBT persons or allies to promote courageous conversations about gender and sexuality at their institutions, for this is necessary to facilitate change. As Black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde reminds us, we are not separated by our differences, but by our silence.

Eric Pritchard is a doctoral candidate in the English, Composition and Rhetoric Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

'Ejumacation' of the African-American Community

We wish to plead our own case. For too long others have spoken about us, but our virtues go unnoticed.

That 1822 comment by John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish was spoken over 180 years ago about African-Americans, but it could easily be applied to 21st century African American transpeople as well.

I remembered the quote after reading some unflattering comments on various gay blogs in the wake of the passage of Barney's transgender-free ENDA. Over 150 years ago the Supreme Court told Dred Scott that we African-Americans had no rights a white man was bound to respect, and sometimes I wonder if they still operate in the world under that premise.

It's bad enough when I hear white gay males, a gay US congressman, some conservative pundits and bigoted alleged 'christians' spout this bull. But when I hear like I did during our recent JCPS battle a longtime African-American civil rights warrior in Louisville say those same negative things along with a Black conservative pundit, it's time to say enough.

Time for the TransGriot to school my own peeps about their African-American transgender brothers and sisters.

There are 35 million African-Americans in the United States. It's estimated that transpeople make up about 3% of the population, so you're looking at about roughly 1.1 million transpeeps that share your heritage. Like you, we are concentrated population wise in the South, Midwest, Northeast, the West and many major cities.

We share those same cultural bonds that connect us back to the Mother Continent of Africa and are proud of that heritage as well.

We vote, too. According to the Black Pride Survey taken in 2000 at nine Black pride events in Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Oakland and Atlanta, we African-American transpeople participate in politics at much higher rates than our SGL brothers and sisters. The SGL community as a whole participates in politics at a higher rate than our bio brothers and sisters.

The only difference between you and transgender African-Americans is we had a medical condition that forces us to alter our bodies to match the gender imprint on our brains. Gender is between your ears, not your legs, and that fact is fundamental to understanding what we go through.

And what do we go through? Hell.

We face a double portion of discrimination based on uor race and being transgender. We battle faith-based scorn, disinformation and ridicule, massive ignorance and violence simply because we have the courage to be honest with ourselves and take the steps to openly be who we are.

All we're asking for as your transgender brothers and sisters is to be accepted and unconditonally loved as fellow African-Americans. Help us pass the civil rights and employment protections that amend us into the 'We The People' preamble of the Constitution and give us a chance to earn a living. Finally, give us the opportunity to not only take our place at the African-American family table, but do our part to uplift the race.

Is that too much to ask?

There She Goes Again

Just when I was about to give The View's Sherri Shepherd props for calling out Elisabeth Hasselbeck on her 'Hillary Clinton is evil' conservarant, Sherri blows whatever cool points she'd begun to earn with me with her comments about Patti Labelle.

While commenting on the Stellar Awards, she mentions taking a picture with gospel legend Shirley Caesar and ' the Black Patti Labelle'.

I know she's knowledge challenged at times, but damn, even I had to do a double take when I saw this clip.

Whoopi reminded you, so will I and probably 'errbody' else in the blogosphere and beyond. Miss Patti is DEFINITELY a sistah and a beloved icon to the African-American GLBT community.



I'll say it again. Sherri Shepherd is an embarrassment to our people.