TTNS Texas State-Day 2

It's Day 2 of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit in San Marcos, TX.

We pick up where we left off with more seminars and our keynote speaker being Daniel Williams of Equality Texas.

And yep, I get to teach my Contemporary Texas Trans History one that was well liked last year.in the morning concurrent seminar block. 

You can still join us at the LBJ Student Center.   Registration starts at 9:00 with the TTNS 2014 action starting at 9:30 AM.  If you can't be here in San Marcos, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.       

TTNS Texas State-Day 1

We're about to start a historic day in the life of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit!.  

For the first time ever the TTNS will be on a Texas college campus that isn't in the Houston metro area, and founder Josephine Tittsworth is excited about that along with the folks on the Texas State University campus.

We've got a full day of events happening at the LBJ Student Center starting at 9:00 AM CDT including the keynote from Dr. Gage Paine, Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

The TTNS as always is packed with exciting seminars along with the opening reception later this afternoon starting at 4:30 PM.

And speaking of tradition, hope they're still doing the chocolate break. 

6th Annual TTNS Hits The Road Next Month

One of my favorite events to attend since I'm moved back home and haven't missed is the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.

The second TTNS summit at Rice University was the first in state and in town event I attended mere weeks after my May 2010 return to Houston, and I haven't missed one since. 

This 6th annual edition of the TTNS is going to be a historic and interesting one because for the first time it ventures out of its Houston area backyard and hits the Lone Star roads as founder Josephine Tittsworth intended it to do.  

So whats the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit?  

The TTNS is a two day event that invites interested parties in higher education and interested advocates to discuss and come up with strategies and best practices in regards to codifying inclusion of "gender identity and expression" into institutional policy. 

The TTNS summit serves as a way to facilitate that policy and procedural inclusion.  It does so via discussion of divergent and respective strategies in regard to overcoming the inevitable barriers that always arise when proposing policies that will expand education opportunities for transgender students and the human rights for all.

The 2014 edition of the TTNS will take place at the LBJ Student Center on the campus of Texas State University August 8-9.  

Our keynote speakers for this year will be Dr. Gage E. Paine, Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and Daniel Williams, Field Organizer and Legislative Specialist for Equality Texas.

In addition to the keynotes, the TTNS will have two days worth of seminars covering various topics,  chances to network with other people doing this work and hopefully the TTNS chocolate break.

For the second straight year yours truly will be doing more than just chronicling the TTNS happenings, I'll also be teaching a seminar. 

What subject?   You'll have to roll to San Marcos and join us to find out.

But you still have time to do precisely that.
 

The 6th Annual TTNS Will Take Place In...

San Marcos, TX on the Texas State University campus!

For the first time in Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit history, it leaves the Houston area where it was conceived and hits the road to another part of the Lone Star State as its co-founder Josephine Tittsworth envisioned. 

A TTNS road trip was actually slated to happen on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station back in 2011, but unforeseen on campus complications in Aggieland unfortunately caused it to be shifted back to Houston.  

Barring any unforeseen complications, the 6th annual TTNS will take place August 8-9, 2014 on the Texas State University campus.

The 2013 TTNS event was held on the University of Houston campus for the third time (2009, 2011, 2013) with Rice University (2010) and UH-Clear Lake (2012) hosting the others.   

So what's the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit?  It a two day event that tackles TBLG issues pertinent to higher education.   Interested academics and other parties in higher education gather at the TTNS host campus to discuss and strategize about what does and doesn't work in regards to codifying inclusion of  'gender identity and expression' into institutional policy.

There are other issues of importance to the Texas transgender community discussed during the TTNS that will facilitate those goals.   

The TTNS since its 2009 founding and inaugural event on the University of Houston campus has grown to become a much coveted event in Texas academic circles.  The TTNS has been responsible for the increasing list of Texas colleges, universities and school districts that have added gender identity and expression language to their non-discrimination statements and anti-bullying policies.  

The TTNS not only has facilitated the education and training that led to these advances, but has also fostered discussions between activists, students and academics on how to create campuses that are more conducive and comfortable for transpeople to simply be themselves.  That results in trans students being better able to focus on getting their educations and becoming productive citizens.   

So mark your calendars and make your plans now to join the TTNS crew in San Marcos, Texas for what is sure to be another interesting and groundbreaking event.   One day I hope to see one of the Texas HBCU campuses in either Prairie View A&M University or Texas Southern University bid to host it. 

As soon as I receive it, I'll post to this TransGriot space more information about the 2014 edition of the TTNS in terms of when registration opens, when the call for presentations goes out and what your campus needs to do if you want to host the 2015 edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.

See you in San Marcos, and looking forward to that TTNS chocolate break again! .

5th Annual Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit Recap

The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit is a local activism event I always look forward to and haven't missed since I returned home. 

This year's edition of it took place on the University of Houston campus for the third time (2009, 2011 and 2013) in its five year history.  But this time instead of the Roy Cullen Building where it was held the previous two times we were on the UH campus, it was in the brand new Classroom and Business Building.

My alma mater has been on a building spree the last few years in addition to having one of the new METRORail lines under construction pass by the southern and western edges of the UH campus.

This 2013 edition of the TTNS was going to be different because in addition to my usual reporter role, I was teaching a TTNS seminar for the first time.  It was a fact that caused the TransGriot to not have a comfortable night of sleep before I arrived on campus.

I was not only nervously excited about doing that on the campus of my alma mater, I recognized the significance of it as a trans person of color doing so.  I had been up until 2 AM doing last minute research to make certain my presentation was on point which also didn't help in addition to me still being pissed off about the Zimmerman verdict.

Day 1 dawned sunny and I arrived for registration in the CBB lobby after having to detour around the UC because it was under reconstruction after getting off my METRO stop on the Calhoun side of campus.  

On the 18th was the second annual Transgender Health Summit sponsored by Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) that since I was still honing my presentation I decided not to attend.  Turned out I missed Carter Brown who had Megabussed it down I-45 to attend, Tye West and Dee Dee Waters who did show up for it..

After handling my registration business with Dr. Maria Gonzalez and Kim Herhold and greeting them with hugs, I started the meet and greet portion of my day and saw Katy Stewart and Lauryn Farris, who had made the drive down I-10 east from San Antonio.   Got to see local folks like Daniel Williams, Kristopher Sharp and Nikki Vogel who was volunteering at TTNS this year.  We also had a Latina PFLAG member from Brownsville, TX who was there along with a nice mix of cis and trans folks, gay, lesbian, bi and straight allies, activists, social workers and collegiate admins as we availed ourselves of the breakfast, juices and coffee in the lobby.  

I also got a hug from Antonio an HCC-Southeast student I met during an event I done there. 

At 9 AM we were beckoned by Josephine Tittsworth to Room 124 at 9 AM for the welcome to campus by Dr. Gonzalez, our introduction from Josephine to open this edition of the TTNS and our Mistress of Ceremonies Jenifer Rene Pool taking the podium.

We also had a cameraman from Channel 39's NewsFix filming during the first half of the day before departing back to their southwest side studios.

After our first break we returned at 10 AM to hear the introduction for our first keynote speaker, Dr. Kristen Benson of North Dakota State University.   Dr Benson's research focuses on gender identity and family/ partner relationships, is a frequent author and presenter on gender identity inclusion and transgender affirmative practices. 

It was entitled Earning an A in Transgender Inclusion: Higher Ed's Role as Advocate, Academic and Ally and my former Louisville roommate Dawn Wilson would have loved this keynote because it was themed as 'Defying Gravity' and featured the song from the musical Wicked of the same name as an intro.

Dr. Benson in her keynote proceeded to highlight how universities can earn those A's by advocating, focusing on the academic aspects of trans issues and being standup allies for trans students so they can excel in the academic environment before we broke for lunch at 11:15 AM.

After lunch came the start of the first round of concurrent session starting at 1215 PM.  The three sessions you could choose from were Transgender Legal Issues, taught by Angela Oaks and Tracie Jackson in Room 110, Transgender 101: A Safe Space For Dialogue by Lou Weaver and Becca Keo in Room 104 and the one I did attend Engaging the Conservative Movement In Meaningful Dialogue by Christopher Busby in Room 124 where I'd been teaching my seminar in the next round..  

Christopher is a Log Cabin Republican who along with Jenifer did the heavy lifting in getting the HISD school board with three conservative leaning members to in 2011 unanimously add gender identity and sexual orientation to their employment policies, non-discrimination statements, and anti-bullying policies before I returned home in May 2010 from Da Ville to add the element of being a trans HISD alum.

The seminar helped us understand the conservative mindset and us liberal progressives learn the counterintuitive for us ways of talking to a conservative when we must to advance our human rights agenda and what conservabuzzwords to use when doing so.

After our 1:45-2:00 PM chocolate break, which I missed because I was getting ready for my seminar came the second round of concurrent sessions starting at 2:05 PM.

In addition to the one I was teaching in Room 124 on Contemporary Texas Trans History, Robin Mack and Jay Mays were in Room 104 teaching 'the Gender book Presents: How to Change The World In 3 Easy Steps and Judge Phyllis Frye was teaching another one on Transgender Legal Issues in Room 110 with one of her law firms new associates.

I pointed out that trans history has a Texas twang and focused on trans history in Texas from the mid 70's to the current day, covered many of the players, heroes and sheroes and events that shaped not only the Houston and Texas trans communities, but also had an impact on the national and in some cases international trans community. 

As far as how well it was received, I'll find out when I get the evaluation scores later.   But I did have a few of the attendees tell me how much they appreciated learning what I had talked about and I'm thinking about submitting this seminar either for the upcoming Creating Change event in Houston or as part of the programming of our POC hospitality suite.

After the closing remarks from Jenifer starting at 3:35 PM to conclude Day 1, we headed over to the TG Center for the traditional BBQ Dinner and social event they hold starting at 6 PM.  Spent another several hours in conversation with the TTNS and other people there on discuss the first day and other subjects of interest before I headed home and crawled into bed at 1 AM Saturday morning to end a day that started for me at 6 AM.

I started this cloudy Day 2 behind.  I set the alarm for 7 AM but made the fatal rollover and didn't wake up again until 7:45 AM.  Missed my first bus and the next one wasn't coming since it was on a Saturday schedule until 8:48 AM   Still got to UH and walked into the CBB right at 9 AM because this time I cut through the Melcher Building across from the CBB.

A few moments later we were assembled in Room 124 to hear Jenifer's opening remarks, announcement of a change to the schedule and started the day viewing the NewsFix report on TTNS Day 1.     



After watching it, we moved into the first Concurrent sessions of Day 2.   Our choices for the 9:20-11:15 AM hour were in Room 124 Helping Transgender Students Thrive On College Campuses: A Comprehensive Approach by Dr. Colt Meier and Utilizing HRC's Municipal Equality Index To Advocate For Transgender Legal Protections In Texas Municipalities by Michael Porcello.

Guess what room I ended up in?   Yeah, my dislike of HRC is still strong.  Besides, Colt is one of our local trans kids we've been investing in since 2003, and it was wonderful seeing one of our trans younglings grow up.  He just received his doctorate in May and is back home after his Texas Tech stint to start on his medical school work.

Dr. Meier laid out during his presentation a comprehensive model honed on one of the more conservative Lone Star collegiate campuses in Texas Tech University in Lubbock.   The model identified what departments to target, the people and decision makers to sway and what needed to be done in order to make college campuses more accessible and comfortable for transpeople, employees and faculty.

The 11:15 break hit way too soon, and at 11:30 it was time for Jennifer to introduce our keynote speaker for this day in Dr. Heather Kanenberg who had a Houston connection.   She'd taught at UH-Clear Lake for several years during the time that Josephine and Dr. Arch Erich were getting UH-CL to enact their trans inclusive policies.  She's been out of the state in Pennsylvania but is headed back to teach at UH-CL this fall.

Dr Kaneneberg's keynote was entitled Policy Change in Higher Education and in her speech she hit upon these major points that needed to be successfully accomplished in order to accomplish that policy change you seek.

1. Delineate The Policy
In other words you must know what you wish to change in order to accomplish that task.

2-Get The Facts
Make sure you do you homework because the opposition damned sure will and won't hesitate to pounce upon any errors, mistakes or lack of knowledge in order to deny grating the change you seek.

3-Who Holds The Power?
Who are the decision makers who wield the power to make your policy change a reality?  What is the chain of command?  Any rivalries or personality conflicts between the power players that could affect your proposed policy change adoption?    Knowing who the power players are and cultivating relationships with them in order to get your policy change approved.

4-Building a Coalition of Allies
Allies are vital in getting your policy change adopted nd showing you have broad based support.

5-Taking Thoughtful and Measured Action
Coming up with a strategy and game plan in order to get your policy change passed and having alternative routes to get to you end goal in case Plan A doesn't work.

6-Attend to Politics 
College campuses can be more politcal than Washington, your state capitol, your county commission or your city council.  Never forget that politics is part of the process and do your homework about the political dimension of this task.

Dr. Kanenberg closed it with two Dr. King quotes.   'True peace is not the absence of tension: It is the presence of justice" and "We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

After some questions and comments we moved to lunch at 12:30 PM.   It was at that point the skies opened up and we got one of those summer monsoon like rains we tend to get in H-town during this time of year that continued for about 45 minutes.

Our final concurrent sessions for the 2013 edition of the TTNS to choose from were Tips for Teaching Transgender to Health Professionals on College Campuses by Dr. Colt Meier and Lou Weaver in Room 104 and Katy Stewart of TENT's Trans Health Data From The National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS).   It was an interactive one in which were given aspects of the NTDS and asked to present those stats and how they related to the higher education sphere.

The one I ended up in Katy's seminar with was the Family Life stats, in which I pointed out during my presentation that lack of stability in family life affects your K-12 educational performance, can prevent you from even having the ability to attend college, or if you happened to be in college, lack of stability in home life or worrying about it because of fear of what disclosure of your trans status will do to that home life can affect and be a major distraction your collegiate educational performance.  The last one was an issue I was intimately familiar with.

3:00 PM came far too soon, but that meant we were about to hear from our final keynote speaker of the 2013 TTNS in Judge Phyllis R. Frye.

She talked about The History of the LGBT Movement At Texas A&M University, which is a very colorful one.  She gave trans shero and pioneer Sarah DePalma a shoutout, talked about the hell Sarah went through at A&M during the time she was there fighting anti-LGBT discrimination. and mentioned what Lowell Kane was subjected to as he built the GLBT center on the A&M campus I had the pleasure of visiting during my presentation up in Aggieland. 

The Closing Plenary, like the ones for Dr. Benson on Friday and Dr. Kanenberg's were videotaped and when it concluded a little after 4::00 PM, Jenifer returned to the podium to make her What Is Next? remarks.

Jenifer pointed out that much of what she learned at the 2009 TTNS she used to successfully lobby HISD and Rafael McDonnell did the same after attending a TTNS, taught a seminar in 2011 and returned to the Dallas area to get trans inclusive policies passed for DCCCD and the DISD.  

We finally got to the bittersweet point of a TTNS where Josephine made her closing remarks.  She made her call for hosts of the 2014 summit at the end of those remarks and when she finished speaking, just like that, the 2013 edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit was over.

Where will the 6th annual edition of the TTNS be in 2014?   That's a question that will be answered in November.  The TTNS board's goal has always been to have this event rotate to different parts of Texas to make it accessible to everyone across our bigger than France state.  They don't want it to be just a Houston party but that's how it has evolved so far. 

So far it's been just UH (2009, 2011, 2013) Rice (2010) and UH-Clear Lake (2012) hosting the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit with HCC and UH-Downtown also waiting in the wings if no one else in the rest of the state is willing to step up to be the eager hosts of the 2014 TTNS. 

To be honest, I'd like to take a road trip to San Antonio, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin or even better one of our Texas HBCU campuses in Texas Southern University or Prairie View A&M to attend or teach a seminar at a TTNS one day.   The cluster of San Antonio folks who were there in attendance had a quick preliminary discussion not long after the TTNS ended in order to discuss that possibilty of organizing and hosting it on one of the college campuses in their area and I hope they are serious about making that happen. 

But wherever it goes, you TransGriot readers will find out when I get the word.

5th Annual Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit Day 2

Still not too late to join us at the brand new Classroom and Business Building on the University of Houston campus for the 5th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.

Onsite registration in the CBB starts at 8:30 AM with today's TTNS seminars and activities commencing at  9 AM CDT.   

If you didn't go yesterday, you missed some wonderful seminars including my own seminar on Contemporary Texas Trans History. 

It's the first time I've ever done one at the TTNS and I enjoyed discussing the events, heroes and sheroes since 1975 that have shaped not only the Houston and Texas trans communities, but the national and in some respects international ones.

And yeah, you missed our traditional TTNS chocolate break, too.

It was fun for me to be teaching a seminar for a change instead of being in my usual position at his even of just being a reporter, although I will sit down and compile a report as I always do reviewing this year's 2013 TTNS, keynote speakers and highlights from some of the seminars I was able to attend.

So I'll be busy getting my learn on today instead of being in the interesting position of teaching a seminar.  Enjoyed it so much already thinking about doing another one next year.

Hope the people who attended it enjoyed it as much a I did, and hope you'll bounce over to UH and the Calhoun street side of the campus to participate in Day 2 of the Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit.

5th Annual Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit Today

At the moment I'm getting my beauty sleep in preparation for a long day on the campus of my alma mater for the 5th annual Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit at the University of Houston today and Saturday July 20.

This is not only one of my fave local events, it's one that for the first time since I came back home I'm actually taking the plunge of not just reporting on it as I've done since 2010, but teach a seminar too.

The seminar I'm teaching is going to be on Contemporary Texas Trans History.  I have about 45 minutes to cover the last 40 years of Texas transgender history.   I have a fascinating and interesting story to tell and I'm looking forward to doing so.

It's not too late for you to join us, so head on over to the University Classroom and Business Building behind the University Center on the Calhoun street side on the campus and join us starting at 8:30 AM CDT 

And are you doing the chocolate break again this year? 
 

2013 TTNS Dates And Location

One of my favorite events I like attending that happens here is the Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit   Haven't missed one since I returned home in May 2010 and won't have any excuse this year either.

Been advised of the location and dates for the fifth annual TTNS, and it will be happening on the University of Houston campus July 19-21, 2013 at UH's Roy Cullen Bldg.

Last year's TTNS happened at UH-Clear Lake and included for the first time a Trans Health Summit pre-conference event conducted by TENT, the  Transgender Education Network of Texas.  

If you're wishing to help gain transgender human rights coverage at Texas colleges and universities in their institutional policies, or seeking to learn more about the Texas transgender community, this is the event for you to attend.

If you are a member of the trans community or one of our enthusiastic allies, the welcome mat is rolled out for you and you are cordially invited to attend this annual strategy sharing summit chock full of informative seminars, presentations and inspiring keynote speeches.

And oh yeah, can't forget the chocolate break.  

You'll also make connections with those persons in the Houston area and around the state already doing this work. Learn from their successes and experiences. Gain insight and create a supportive network of interested like-minded individuals,activists and academics. 

You'll learn what works and what doesn't in changing policy on campuses to protect transgender faculty, staff, students, and allies as was recently done at SMU, and what Texas schools currently have those policies.


The TTNS website is being updated and relaunched soon, so when it officially comes online I will post the link to it and other information.  I'll also keep you TransGriot readers updated as to keynote speakers and other TTNS related info as I receive it.

Double Birthday Shout Out To Josephine and Lowell!

Two of my fave people in our community are celebrating birthdays today, and I'm not letting this date pass without giving both of them the TransGriot birthday treatment they deserve

Since beauty and wisdom goes first, my first birthday shout out goes to Josephine Tittsworth.  

I've known her for over a decade, am proud to call this fellow Cougar my friend, and she has done much to help advance the cause of trans human rights in Texas and across the nation..

And oh yeah, happy birthday Jo!

She's the creative force behind the two day Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summits that I've been reporting from for the last three years.

The TTNS not only helps focus attention on getting trans friendly non-discrimination policies enacted at Texas colleges and universities and school districts, it also has trans related policy discussions, keynote speakers and programming about our lives.

And oh yeah, I can't forget to mention the TTNS chocolate break.

Since the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit started in 2009 it has grown to become an event coveted by area universities to host.  Josephine has the vision and desire to not only take it statewide, but wants to host it someday on one of our Texas HBCU campuses.

The other person I'm giving a TransGriot birthday shoutout is Lowell Kane.  I met this handsome Aggie during the 2010 TTNS that was held on the Rice University campus along with a few of his Aggie students in his capacity as the coordinator of the LGBT Center on Texas A&M's campus that he helped found in 2007. 

The campus climate toward LGBT students improved dramatically on the A&M campus during his time there and he's now moved on to become the founding director of the new LGBTQ Center on the Purdue University campus.

He's now busy in the Hoosier state building their LGBTQ center and I have little doubt he'll have the same success up there that he did at Aggieland.

We already miss him in the Houston area (and so do I), but our loss was Purdue's gain.   At least they sell Blue Bell ice cream in West Lafayette to go with that cake he gets to eat for his big 3-0 birthday.

Happy birthday to both of you.   Love you both, thanks for all you do on behalf of our rainbow community, may you have continued success in your personal and professional lives and may you continue to celebrate many more birthdays to come. 

2012 TTNS-Day Two Recap

It's Saturday, and once again I got up at 6 AM in order to get dressed and head down I-45 south with Professor Baggett to take part in the Day Two activities of the 2012 Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit on the UH-Clear Lake Campus.

Unlike TTNS Day One, which is a mix of festive opening day ceremony and activity before we get to the business end of the conference, once we finish our continental breakfast and Jenifer Rene Pool delivers the housekeeping announcements, we go straight to the concurrent seminars.

Professor Baggett and I were joined for the Day Two Bayou Building happenings by Erick, one of her students I'd met when I took part in HCC-Southeast's gender conference a few months ago

After the Day Two welcome was delivered by UH-CL's Linda Contreras-Bullock, it was time for the Saturday's concurrent sessions to begin.

It was a choice between Transgender Legal Issues by Angela Oaks, one of the partners of Frye, Steidley, Oaks and Benavidez,  a continuation of Josephine's Day One session entitled Role Play for Ethical Strategic Applications and TENT's Katy Stewart in the one that appealed to me as the child of a retired teacher in Discrimination In Education-State of Affairs and Implementation of Solutions.

Katy's seminar was a nicely paced blending of statistics and  interactive discussion focused on the discrimination that trans people face in the K-12 and university settings.  One of the interesting stats pointed out a remarkable resilience of gender variant students who were harassed in K-12 settings going on later to enroll in higher education and get degrees.   

Further study is needed to clarify that to determine if the higher prevalence of  gender variant student in higher ed is also a function of the crushing unemployment we face and so we have time on our hands to strengthen our educational credentials.

Break time came far too soon at 10:20 AM.   As always it's a lot of information and thoughtful discussion but the clock is ticking, so it was back to the Garden Room to listen to Jenifer's into of our Saturday keynote speaker Dr. Genny Beemyn of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst's Stonewall Center, the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals and the Transgender Law and Policy Institute.

Dr Beemyn, Antrece, Erick and I were already engaged in an interesting discussion about Texas politics before it had to end it in a 'hold that thought' moment to do the keynote

Dr Beemyn started off by asking the assembled TTNS audience some multiple choice questions that highlighted the fact that governments and Fortune 1000 businesses are doing a better job of protecting the human rights of transpeople than the academic world, but not by much.

Beemyn also pointed that the Internet was a game changing development for the transgender community in terms of breaking the isolation many transpeople felt, beginning the conversations to tackle how we identify ourselves and think about these issues and build community. 

After leaving some time at the conclusion of the speech for questions and answers, it was time for lunch and for me Dr Beemyn, Antrece and Erick to finish that conversation we started before the speech.

At 12:55 we went into the final concurrent session for TTNS 2012 in which we had a choice between the Transgender Case-Law one from Darrell Steidley,  another one of the partners from Frye, Steidley, Oaks and Benavidez  or Making Space for the T in the LGBTQ Organizations, a subject near and dear to my heart by Kimberly Jorgenson  from Texas Woman's University.

Jorgenson's summit was an interactive one as well that generated a lively discussion amongst the participants in Rm 2234 on such topics as the invisibility of transpeople in organizational spaces, media stereotypes, historical whitewashing and erasure, inclusion of POC voices and the importance of doing so and suggestions of practices and ways to foster that inclusion.

Once again a lively seminar which ended far too soon at 1:50 PM and meant we had to go back to the Garden Room to hear our Closing Plenary speaker in Houston area Equal Employment Opportunity Deputy Director Martin Ebel.   

I'd seen Deputy Director Ebel speak at the Houston Transgender Unity Banquet back in April, so it was a treat to see and chat with again.  

After eliciting a laugh with the 'he's from the federal government and he's here to help' opening line of his speech, he got serious and pointed out the ways that the Obama Administration EEOC was aggressively on the case for the LGBT community and apologized for the EEOC not being in previous years a muscular advocate ferreting out employment discrimination aimed at our community.

Elections matter people, because one of the new EEOC commissioners is someone I met back at Creating Change 1999 in Chai Feldblum.  She was appointed to the EEOC by President Obama  .

But back to my post     Deputy Director Ebel made it clear that the EEOC position is that LGBT people are covered under 'sex' in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.   He talked about the history of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Price Waterhouse v Hopkins case, the Mia Macy case and even brought up one I'd personally experienced in Denny's attempts to ethnic cleanse their restaurants in the 1980's-early 1990's.

I'd shared with the TTNS audience one of Denny's reprehensibly racist tactics in trying to charge $5 cover just to get in.

After closing the speech he took questions for the audience before our mistress of ceremonies Jenifer Rene Pool spent a few moments asking the 'What Is Next questions.  

She yielded the mic to Josephine Tittsworth for the 2012 TTNS closing remarks.  It was at times an emotional moment for her in terms of being back on the UH-CL campus where she received her undergrad degree and fought her first battle in 2003 get gender ID and expression included in the UH-CL nondicrimination statement and policies.     Josephine also pointed out that everyone in the room was an agent of change and that we get busy making it happen.  We still have much work to do to make the Lone Star State inclusive in its college and university systems.  


We had a lot of first time attendees such as Professor Baggett in the room this year.  Many are eager to come back for TTNS 2013 wherever it's held in the Lone Star State.   We have several colleges and universities wishing to host the event inside and outside the Houston area and the TTNS desire to have it not be just a Houston-centric event. 

Thanks again to the TTNS committee that did a womderful job organizing and executing another well organized and seamlessly run conference.

As to where TTNS 2013 will be held, as soon as the TTNS board tells me, y'all will know as well.   But you can bet that wherever that location is, I'll do my best to be there and report on what's happening there.
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Back To TTNS For Day Two

I'm back on the picturesque UH-CL campus as you read this for the 4th Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit taking place at UH-Clear Lake. 

If you think I'm kidding about that, this campus is the bomb.  It's wooded, has a bayou winding through it and saw a deer as we left yesterday. 

Still not too late for y'all to join us in the Bayou Building and get your learn on.   There's more exciting seminars on tap for today, you get to chance to network with some wonderful people, get CLE credits, and they even feed you.

You also get a chance to discover what you can do to advance the cause of trans human rights in Texas academic settings.
  

In the meantime, here's what happened yesterday at the 2012 TTNS.

If you can't join us, I'll still be there today to take notes and later recap TTNS Day Two.

2012 TTNS- Day One Recap

Ever since I returned home to the Lone Star State, I've made certain that one of the activism events I attend is the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.  

This year's event is being hosted by the wonderful folks at UH-Clear Lake's Intercultural and International Student Services and Women and LGBT Services.   It's the first time since 1979 that I'd been on their picturesque campus..

There was a traveling exhibit of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party  that year and the Houston stop for that tour was on the UH-CL campus.  My high school Vanguard English class got the opportunity to do a field trip to see it.  I also looked a little different the last time I was on this campus as well.

But back to compiling the TTNS Day One report.

I told a few friends about this event and one of them was Antrece Baggett, my homegirl who also happens to be the Africana and Women and Gender Studies director at HCC-Southeast. 

She decided to join me for the fun this year and after we arrived at the Bayou Building, greeted a few people including some of her HCC colleagues, picked up our info packets and partook of our continental breakfast  before we got started in the Garden Room a little after 9 AM with Josephine Tittsworth introduced  Dr Darlene Biggers, who welcomed us to the UH-Clear Lake campus.

After Dr Biggers speech, Josephine gave an overview of the progress that has been made since the first TTNS occurred in 2009.  She pointed out the three large Texas school districts (HISD, DISD and FWISD) , increasing numbers of colleges and universities in the Lone Star State and around the country that have added 'gender identity' or 'expression' language in their non-discrimination policies or non-discrimination statements, with examples of them in our registration packet.

Lorraine Schroeder of the UH LGBT Center got a chance to update us on additional progress that was happening at my alma mater policy wise beyond the Izza Lopez Letter, and we also discussed the recent positive news that happened at Texas A&M.

Josephine also relayed some news from Rafael McDonnell (who couldn't make it this year) about an interesting development in the Tarrant County College District.  They had been resistant in adding that gender identity and expression language in their non-discrimination policy,.  As you probably guessed TransGriot readers, some transphobic discrimination happened on that campus to a former employee, the TCCD was  sued, ended up embroiled in a discrimination lawsuit they lost and cost them and the Tarrant County taxpayers $160,000 to fight that losing legal battle..

Josephine yielded the mic to our TTNS MC Jenifer Rene Pool and after some housekeeping duty, brought Julie Smith front and center to lead us in an icebreaker exercise for a few minutes that called for us to move around The Garden Room tables from the people we knew and take ten minutes trying to find common threads between you and the new peeps you sat down with.   We all got good laughs out of that exercise before the floor was yielded to Jenifer.

She introduced our keynote speaker Dr. Jean Latting, the author of the book 'Reframing Change'   Ironically in one of those small world moments, Dr. Latting had sent m an e-mail yesterday asking for permission to use a TransGriot blog post.

Yep, she loves my blog.   

During her speech, she discussed how we get to the point of creating the conditions on college and university campuses for advancing inclusionary policies.   She discussed it in terms of the 'jaguar vs educator' advocacy models, with a jaguar representing pounce and destroy emotional mode.

She pointed out in the university and collegiate setting, if we want long term systemic change, it was going to have to be more of of the educator mode that would carry the human rights day.

We broke for lunch (yep, they feed us people) before heading into the first of our concurrent sessions at 1:20 PM.   TTNS participants had the choice of Transgender Legal Issues, presented by Sal Benavidez and Tracy Jackson of  Frye, Steidley, Oaks and Benavidez  or UH-CL's Safe Zone Ally Program Ethics, Successes and Limitations presented by IISS's Julie Smith.

I went for the legal presentation while Antrece attended the UH-CL Safe Zone.

The legal presentation had Benavidez handling the first half of it, and he discussed the 6 essential legal documents that everyone should have

1.  Will
2.  Statutory Durably Power of Attorney
3.  Medical Power of Attorney
4.  Directive to Physicians, Family or Surrogates
5.  Declaration of Guardian
6.  Appointment of Agent to Control Disposition of Remains

He pointed out why they were important for LGBT people to have these documents, and if you're single, not only do you need those documents as well, make sure they are updated and leave a copy with a trusted friend or relative who you have discussed this with.

Ms. Jackson discussed employment and labor law, and focused on Title IX, Section 1893 of the Equal Protection Act, the EEOC trans ruling and how they impacted the community.

That hour ended much too soon, and after our snack and chocolate break it was time for Concurrent Session 2 with three seminars to hoose from in this 2:40-3:40 PM block  

There was Transgender Legal Issues with Judge Phyllis Frye,  Josephine's Understanding Ethical Engagement Strategies, and Intersex 101 by Kimberly Jorgenson 

Antrece and I both attended the Intersex 101 seminar and we weren't disappointed because it was an hour packed with information.   It covered the history of the intersex moment, pointed out there are a variety of conditions that fall under the intersex label that in many cases aren't discovered until later in life

It was one of those seminars we needed more than a hour for and it still wouldn't have been enough time to cover it.

We returned to the Garden Room to wrap up TTNS Day 1 with the Closing Remarks in which TTNS attendees get to make announcements and ask questions about the TTNS past, present and future.  One question that came up was about why the move of the 2011 TTNS from the Texas A&M campus back to UH which she and another TTNS board member addressed.

We called it a day on the UH-CL campus and headed back to Houston for the BBQ at the the TG Center.  Antrece had other commitments, so she dropped me off at my undisclosed location before I headed back to the Center with the Netroots Nation memorabilia from the June panel discussion. 

I'd promised Cristan I'd donate that Netroots Nation panel stuff to our history archive and we'd been missing each other with our hectic schedules   Killed a few hours at the TG Center before I headed back home to compile this post so you'd have the record of TTNS Day One to peruse.

And yes Lowell Kane, you are missed.  

Time for me to get some sleep because 9 AM will be here before I know it.  

4th Annual TTNS Starting Today

At this moment I'm on the beautiful UH-Clear Lake campus getting my learn on and covering the 4th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.  As usual, I'll be chronicling the proceedings over the next two days and getting feedback about the pre-conference event that took place yesterday.

Had blog related and other person stuff to take care of that prevented me for being there and reposting on what happened in conjunction with TENT's  Trans Health Summit.

So check back on the blog a little later this evening for the recap of the day one TTNS events, and if you have time on your hands you can still join us for day two of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit tomorrow.

4th Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit Starting Tomorrow

The clock is ticking toward the start of the 4th Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit that will be kicking off July 20-21 on the UH-Clear Lake campus.

A new addition to the TTNS this year is a July 19 pre-conference Trans Health event sponsored by the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT)   It will run from 8:30 AM-5 PM and is an all day event designed to focus of the health policy concerns and needs of trans students on our Lone Star State colleges and universities.

The TTNS will start at 9 AM CDT on Friday and the University of Houston-Clear Lake campus is located at 2700 Bay Area Blvd in Clear Lake, near NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

The keynote speakers for TTNS 2012 will be on July 20; Dr. Jean Latting, author of Reframing Change and on July 21 Dr. Genny Beemyn, Director Stonewall Center, University of Massachusetts.

Registration is $10 for students and $20 for all other attendees.

2012 TTNS To Include Trans Health Summit

TransGriot Note: The 4th annual edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit  will be happening on July 20-21 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake campus. 

I'm planning to be there to cover the summit events and there is exciting news I get to report concerning the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) conducting a pre-TTNS event on July 19.    

Here's the press release from the TTNS organizers.

HOUSTON, TEXAS—The Fourth Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit (TTNS) is scheduled for July 20-21, 2012 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. As in years past, the Summit will concentrate on the needs and policy changes that support a transgender community. 

New this year is an exciting educational opportunity at the Texas Transgender Health Summit by Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) scheduled for Thursday, July 19 as a pre-summit event

“We are very excited by this new opportunity to expand our educational opportunities with the Health Summit the day before the Trans Nondiscrimination Summit,” said TTNS President Josephine Tittsworth.“We know policy about the trans community needs to include health policy and hope that the Health Summit will accomplish our goals of creating inclusive policies at Universities.”

2012 TTNS At UH-Clear Lake Approaching

Just another reminder that we are exactly four weeks from the start of the 2012 edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit that will take place on the picturesque UH-Clear Lake campus July 20-21

The TTNS will start at 9 AM CDT and the University of Houston-Clear Lake campus is located at 2700 Bay Area Blvd in Clear Lake, near NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

The keynote speakers for TTNS 2012 will be on July 20; Dr. Jean Latting, author of Reframing Change and on July 21 Dr. Genny Beemyn, Director Stonewall Center, University of Massachusetts.

Registration is $10 for students and $20 for all other attendees.

As you TransGriot readers know, I covered the 2010 TTNS event and the 2011 TTNS event and plan to do the same for this one.  

I enjoy reporting on the proceedings and being with folks from the activist, professional and academic worlds around the Houston area and the state to talk about the best practices for making trans human rights and equality happen in the educational setting in Texas.

And yes, I do actually get my learn on at the same time.

This is the 4th annual edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.   It is a joint effort of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit (TTNS) and the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA) that will have as its gracious hosts the UHCL International Intercultural Student Services (IISS)-Women’s and GLBT Resource Center at the University Of Houston-Clear Lake.

If you wish to attend, time is passing quickly.  The deadlines to lock in you meal choices (yes, they feed you) and get you info in are approaching.  You can E-mail txtgsummit@gmail.com or call 832-409-3363 for info and registration information.  .  

Their snail mail correspondence address is.

TTNS
P. O. Box 1095
Baytown, Texas 77522

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible there at UH-Clear Lake July 20-21

4th Annual TTNS To Be Held At UH-Clear Lake

With us being two weeks away from the start of 2012, it's time to start saving the dates of the various conferences and events you may wish to know about or simply attend in order to become better educated about and be a better advocate for the transgender community.

One of the events I've had the pleasure of taking part in since I've come back home is the Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit.   So what's the purpose of the TTNS?   Glad you asked.

Basically it's a strategy sharing event in which we spend two days discussing how we get inclusive transgender rights ensconced in the policies of Texas colleges and universities and other learning institutions. 

We talk about what works and what doesn't work in terms of creating effective changes to policy on those campuses to protect transgender faculty, staff, students, and allies.   . 

You get the benefits of making connections with people across the state who are already doing this important work and learning from their successes and experiences, gain insights and create a supportive network of like-minded individuals and institutions.

So where and when will it be held in 2012?  

The dates for the 4th annual TTNS will be July 20-21 and it will be held on the campus of the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

The event will be hosted by the UHCL International Intercultural Student Services (IISS)-Women’s and GLBT Resource Center at UH-Clear Lake. :

Registration for the TTNS is $10 for students and $20 for others wishing to attend

If you need additional info:

Email txtgsummit@gmail.com for info and registration.
Correspondence: TTNS P. O. Box 1095 Baytown, Texas 77522

Phone 832-409-3363

And yes, Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available for LBSW, LMSW, LCSW, LPC, and LMFT (CEUs cost $10). 

Will definitely be keeping people updated on the Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit as the July 20-21 date draws closer. 

2011 TTNS-Day 2 Recap

After allowing myself some extra beauty sleep because I got in late from the welcome barbecue at the TG Center and compiled the post recapping the Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit's Day one activities, it was back to the University of Houston campus for the second day of TTNS events.

After we assembled in the Roy Cullen building's Room 104 at 10 AM to begin the second day, we were treated to the welcoming speech by Dr. Wyman Herendeen, the chair of the UH Department of English after intros from Lou and Maria.   

The TTNS trivia contest continued with Team 3 finally getting on the contest scoreboard by answering a question correctly about the May 1959 Los Angeles Cooper's Donuts riots.

We then launched into our third set of concurrent sessions in which I once again had to choose between two excellent presenters and topics.  

It was either Katy Stewart's 'Transgender Health Priorities: A Knowledge, Barriers, Vulnerabilities Model' one in Room 105 or the one I did attend in Room 102 that was conducted by Resource Center Dallas' Rafael McDonnell entitled 'Inclusive Language and Policies For School Districts and Junior Colleges:: A How To Toolkit'.  

Rafael is one of the people I correspond with on a regular basis and finally got the pleasure thanks to the TTNS of meeting him last night and talking shop with him on a few issues.  

As a TK I like education policy issues and Rafael took us through a fascinating two hours of info concerning the backstory of their efforts in Dallas and how the education policy hierarchy is set up for the over 1000 independent school districts in Texas.   He also dropped a very interesting tidbit about Texas Junior College policy that came as a pleasant surprise to us Houston area activists.

We looked at the policies in the Amarillo and San Antonio ISD's as a case study, and noted the similarities as Rafael pointed out the areas that needed to be focused on by BTLG activists in order to enact comprehensve rights coverage for TLBG people and students.  The presentation also focused on how to do the same for the 50 junior colleges in the Lone State State. It was pointed out that only 5 have policies with sexual orientation language and only one has sexual orientation- Gender Identity and expression language.

Once he wrapped up the presentation and took questions, we moved back to Room 104 for Meghan Stabler's keynote speech.  Once again she's one of the people I have regular contact with and it was a sincere pleasure meeting her.   I also got a chance to chat with someone I haven't seen in years in Stacey Langley-Watts and her husband Michael.

Meghan's speech was entitled 'You, A Life Worth Living' and she talked about some triumphs and challenges in her own life as she inspiringly spoke about the themes of living our trans lives with pride, dignity and being cognizant of the legacy we leave behind.

After Meghan answered some questions and finished her keynote speech it was time for Lorraine to read another trivia question.  Team 2 finally got on the TTNS trivia contest scoreboard with a correct answer before we broke for lunch inside Roy Cullen. 

During that lunch we were not only catching up with each other and in some cases talking political shop, w were also chatting with the media folks who just as they were doing for Day 1 of the TTNS, were recording the events of Day 2.   I got a chance to talk to a reporter for the UH student newspaper The Daily Cougar and talk about Texas A&M's women's NCAA b-ball championship run with Phyllis.    


The final concurrent sessions for the 2011 TTNS once again made it tough to decide which one to attend.  It was either listening to Judge Phyllis Frye break down Transgender Case Law in Room 102 or head to room 105 and check out Jenifer Rene Pool and Chris Busby's seminar entitled 'Building Grassroots Change In Your Community.'

As much as I like listening to Phyllis and Darrell Steidley talk about legal issues, I ended up in Chris and Jenifer's seminar.  I wanted to hear the story on how we got to the point that we had the historic win Thursday night, since much of this process transpired while I was in Kentucky.


In addition to Jenifer and Chris discussing that HISD backstory and how it played out over three years, thy also talked about grassroots activism.   They pointed out one of the most important questions you should ask before formulating any grassroots organizing strategy is What Do I Want?     They pointed out it needs to be the question you focus on like a laser bean and never forget even while going through the ups and downs in attaining your ultimate goals.   

They also stressed another point in you being the advocate.   There are times that we shouldn't or can't depend on major orgs to come in at a grassroots level and do the civil rights work for us.   Sometimes we have to be the advocate and do it ourselves.   We also can't assume that others are doing it for us either. 

When those seminars were over we returned to Room 104 to conduct the finale for the TTNS Trivia Quiz and hand out the prizes.  Moni had to go potty because all the liquid refreshments she was drinking started catching up with her and while I was gone they asked the question.   It was one that stumped most of the people in the room by the time I saunter back in.   While I'm walking through the doors of Room 104 Lorraine and several people asked me what team I was on as I'm getting seated.  After replying I was on Team 5 I ask her to repeat the question.

The question that stumped the room?   Who was the transperson in the book and movie Midnight In The Garden of Good And Evil?  I start smiling because I knew who she was. I have an autographed copy of the Lady Chablis autobiography Hiding My Candy on my bookshelf.

Well, my correct answer gave Team 5 the trivia contest win and we got to take home UH LGBT center badge lanyards as our prize.  I joked after giving the correct answer 'It pays to be the trans community historian."

The summit is starting to wind down to its final acts for 2011 as we talk during a moderated discussion about future plans for the community and the TTNS.   The 2012 site is yet to be determined, and it is the intent of the founders for this not to be just a Houston party, but move it all over the state. 

That's a hint for you peeps who want to consider hosting the TTNS on your campus to put your bids in for the 2012, 2013, 2014..(you get the drift) future events. 

After remarks from Josephine, the 2011 TTNS came to a close.

Once again, I felt a little sadness that it was over.   It's always a pleasure to get to meet and see people from different parts of the state, and it excites me when I get an opportunity to do that.

Well, looking forward to the 2012 event, wherever it happens.