I've voted for her twice, in the March 6 and May 22 primaries, and now I'll get a chance to proudly vote for her on November 6.
Former Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez made history last night by becoming the first Latina and first openly gay person to win a major party primary for Texas governor.
She captured 53.1% of the vote in beat Andrew White, the son of former Gov. Mark White who described himself as a conservative moderate Democrat.
Umm naw cuz, I'll pass on that.
"Tonight is a victory for all of us who are fighting for a stronger and fairer Texas. A tolerant and diverse Texas. A Texas where the everyday person has a voice and a fair shot -just as I had."
She stated her gubernatorial primary victory proved that no matter who you are, where you're from or who you love -- in this state you have a fighting chance.
Valdez now advances to take on incumbent governor Greg Abbott (R), who is sitting on a $40 million campaign war chest and a 24 year Republican winning streak that has to end sooner or later.
Asked about what is being considered an uphill battle to become the state's first Democratic governor since the legendary Ann Richards held the seat from 1990-1994, she said to supporters, "I am constantly hearing that this is an uphill battle - tell me when I didn't have an uphill battle. I'm getting darn good at uphill battles"
She had an uphill battle in becoming Dallas County sheriff, and eventually ended up serving four terms there.
Here's hoping Lupe Valdez shocks the world on November 6 as well.
It's Texas primary election runoff day! So rise and shine and handle your business at your regular precinct if you didn't do so.
There were 33 March primary races in which the candidates didn't get more than the 50% they needed to declare victory and move on to November, Those candidates who advanced to this runoff want and need your vote. There are two runoff candidates, one from each party, who are incumbent state House reps.
So starting now until the polls close at 7 PM CDT (7 PM MDT for you peeps in El Paso and the portion of West Texas in the Mountain Time Zone), you need to handle your electoral business.
Bring your yellow voter registration card and your photo ID. There are some races I'll be watching after the polls close .
The big one is the Democratic gubernatorial one between Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez and Andrew White.
The US House District 7 battle on the Democratic side between Laura Moser and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher. to see who takes on the incumbent Rep John Culberson in the fall.
I'll be watching to see if Fran Watson gets a step closer to becoming only the third African American woman ever elected to the Texas Senate as she faces off against Rita Lucido in the TX Senate District 17 race. Winner will take on incumbent transphobe Joan Huffman (R)
I'll also be watching the US House District 22 race between Sri Preston Kulkarni and Letitia Plummer and the San Antonio area US House District 23 race between Gina Ortiz Jones and Rick Trevino
On the Republican side, I'm watching the US House District 29 battle between the beauty queen and the transphobic bigot. Phillip Aronoff is taking on former Miss Venezuela Carmen Montiel, with the winner facing off against TX state senator Sylvia Garcia.
The US House District 2 race to replace the retiring Rep. Ted Poe has gotten contentious between state Rep. Kevin Roberts (no relation) and former Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw.
Roberts was the frontrunner on March 6 with 33% of the vote, but Crenshaw leapfrogged several GOP candidates with longer political resumes by capturing 27% of the vote.
And he's making the GOP establishment supporting Roberts nervous
While Roberts has the backing of longtime conservatives Steven Hotze and Terry Lowry, Crenshaw picked up the endorsements of influential Houston conservative talk radio host Michael Berry over the weekend and former Texas governor Rick Perry.
We'll find out what happens after the polls close later today. But no matter what party you support, go handle your business
Turns out while I and Ana Andrea Molina were in Dallas over the weekend for Carla Pavon's vigil, a few miles away from where I was staying on Saturday they were fishing the body of a deceased Black trans woman out of White Rock Creek
At 7:30 PM CDT on May 12 a kayaker called Dallas PD to report a body in the creek near the 6900 block of Merriman Parkway in Lake Highlands that Dallas Fire- Rescue officials pulled from the creek.
The person in question was 5'3' and weighed 130 pounds. Body was in a severe state of decomposition, and wearing a black t-shirt and black scrub pants with no tattoos or identifying marks on the body
Dallas PD is seeking the help of the public in identifying this person since the body didn't match the description of any current missing person's cases.
If you have information regarding the identity of this individual, please call Detective Chaney with the DPD Homicide unit at 214-671-3650
The death is currently classified as an unexplained one pending cause of death determination from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office.
It has not been classified by DPD or a Dallas County Medical Examiner as a homicide yet.
If that happens, she would become the 10th trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence in the US, the sixth Black trans person we've lost in 2018 and the second in Texas this year.
And yes, Texas Republican Party, your anti-trans rhetoric is responsible for this happening.
First let's get this sister identified as expeditiously as possible, so that we can then focus on the task of obtaining justice for her .
All Bobby Rodriguez wanted to do was dance. So the 21 year drove 40 miles to Corpus Christi from suburban Kingsville, TX to go to a club called Whiskey River to do just that
But Rodriguez only got as far of the door of the establishment at 5702 S. Staples St. in Corpus Christi when he was told by a bouncer that in order to enter the club he would have to remove his lipstick and false eyelashes due to the club's dress code.
A dress code that not only wasn't posted at the door according to Rodriguez and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, but one bars people from entering unless they have 'gender appropriate attire'.
Gee, where have I heard those words before?
"I approached the door I handed my ID to the security at the door (and) his words were and, I quote, 'unfortunately, you cannot enter because you are wearing makeup and we have a rule here that says men need to dress like men,'" said Rodriguez.
Despite being upset about what he was told, Rodriguez complied by wiping his lipstick off in his car, but later complained about the discriminatory happenings on his Facebook page.
The club's owner Angela Blohm, called Rodriguez's allegations in a Caller -Times interview a 'bunch of frivolous baloney' and denied it happened while admitting that the club has a 'gender appropriate attire' dress code.
And as you probably guessed, people are rushing to defend and excuse the homophobic and transphobic dress code.
If Blohm thought the best way to handle this was be insulting, dismissive and deny it happened, that was the wrong response. What she should have done was apologize to Rodriguez, not double down on the arrogant defiance.
That dismissive response has not only drawn negative commentary from people incensed about the way Rodriguez was treated, it has triggered a protest organized by Kathy Huff that is scheduled to happen this Thursday.
The May 17 protest of Whiskey River is scheduled to run from 6-9 PM CDT. It is drawing support from Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) and other Texas based advocacy orgs.
It also has driven home the case of why nondiscrimination laws are needed that cover gender identity and expression in every Texas city and statewide.
Early voting for the Texas party primary runoff elections start today and runs until Friday for the May 22 runoff election date
The race that is getting much statewide attention is the Democratic gubernatorial runoff between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White, but there are other candidates trying to get to represent their party in the fall.
There are several races we are watching in the Houston area. One is the state Senate District 17 race in which Fran Watson is seeking to become only the third Black woman in Texas history to be elected to the state senate.
Who were the previous two? Barbara Jordan (1966) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (1986
But to make that trailblazing history, she has to get past Rita Lucido in a district that covers parts of Harris, eastern Fort Bend and Brazoria counties.
If Fran is successful in advancing from the runoff, she'll then take on the incumbent transphobic Sen. Joan Huffman (R).
The US House District 7 race is another one Houston area political junkies are watching between Lizzie Pannill Fletcher and Laura Moser. This race started with six candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in this race to take on Rep. John Culberson (R)
Depending on who you support (and I'm supporting Moser), voters are pissed at the two surviving candidates for one reason or another. But only one will survive to take on Culberson in the fall.
The other local race I'm watch is the District 29 Republican one between Carmen Maria Montiel and Philip Aronoff in which the winner will take on Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D), who beat six candidates back in March to secure her spot on the fall ballot
Aronoff has my undivided attention because of the transphobia he unleashed to get into this GOP runoff, and you know I want him to go down in flames. But then again Texas GOP primary voters have repeatedly shown their racist tendencies when an Anglo candidate goes up against a Latinx one.
Montiel is a former Miss Venezuela who emigrated to the US. Even if she beats the odds and winds May 22, Garcia will be a formidable opponent.
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Early voting starts today and runs through May 18. If you don't handle your electoral business this week, you'll have to wait until May 22 to do so.
But whether you do it this week on on May 22, just do it. Exercise your right to vote.
I missed this when it happened on Friday because I was traveling to Dallas. Now that I've found the video for it I'm posting it for you peeps who are trying to make up your minds which person you wish to see take on Greg Abbott in November.
This is the one and done debate between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White that occurred on Friday evening in Austin. It was moderated by Dallas Morning News reporter Gromer Jeffers, and as you probably suspected, got testy at times, especially since early voting for the May 22 runoff election starts today and runs through May 18
So who am I supporting in this race? I voted for Valdez in the primary in large part because I didn't like White's donation to the Kentucky Republican Party and his self description as a 'conservative moderate Democrat.' and I will be voting for her again in this runoff.
We need real Democrats, not Democrats-lite in these Trumpian times.
Once again it's my sad duty to inform you that we have lost another trans woman due to anti-trans violence.
The location for this latest trans murder is right up I-45 from me in Dallas, TX. Our sister we lost far too soon is Carla Patricia Flores-Pavon and she was just 26 years old.
According to Dallas Voice reporting by David Taffet, the Dallas PD and Dallas fire department emergency units were called to her apartment in the Citadel at Preston complex at 6104 LBJ Freeway near Preston Rd at 4:17 PM.
A Latinx male was seen running from her apartment before Dallas fire department emergency response and police units were called. Her body was found strangled inside her apartment, and she was taken to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.
DPD confirmed at a 3 PM CDT press conference Pavon died from homicidal violence, but there is according to them there is not enough evidence at this stage to investigate this case as a hate crime.
Carla is the 9th person we have lost to anti-trans violence this year in the US. She's the seventh trans person of color and the second trans Latina we have lost in the US in 2018.
She also the first trans person in Texas we have lost this year. This murder also is infuriating me not only because it happened in my home state, but because she was just 26 years old.
She was just beginning to embark on her life journey, and who knows what Carla could have accomplished had she been allowed to simply live her life.
This is still an active DPD investigation, and as of yet there isn't a designated person of interest in this case or any suspects at the time I'm writing this.
I'll update the post as more news becomes available. If you're in the DFW area and you have any information that will help solve the crime and bring Carla's killer to justice, please call the Dallas Police Department or Dallas Crimestoppers at 214-373-TIPS (8377) You can also call DPD Detective Tommy Raley at 214- 283- 4856
TransGriot Update: Age that was written in the DPD report was incorrect according to the recently concluded press conference. Carla's correct spelling on her name is with a C. Someone was spotted running from her apartment prior to Dallas police and fire department emergency response units being called.
If a vigil is being planned, will pass on that information. Post has been updated as of 3:45 PM CDT to reflect the latest info :
Today also happens to be the day set aside for municipal elections in Texas. Polls opened at 7 AM and will be open until 7 PM CDT/MDT.
Just an FYI, if you're in line when the polls close, stay there until you get to cast your ballot.
There are some key ones I'm watching, one in suburban Pearland and another in the town of New Hope, TX, northeast of Dallas.
In New Hope, Jess Herbst will be attempting to get reelected as mayor of the town of 524 residents. She was mayor pro tem when the previous mayon Johnny Hamm died. After being appointed as mayor, came out as trans. Now she's running her first campaign as a out trans person against Angel Hamm, the wife of the deceased mayor and two other candidates.
We'll see if she was successful in getting reelected when the polls close, because in New Hope, the most votes wins.
The other Texas municipal elections I'm watching are both in Pearland. Dalia Kasseb makes her second attempt to get elected to a Pearland City Council seat.
The Pearland ISD has two races that could determine control of the school board and lead to the ousting of their homophobic and transphobic superintendent Dr. John Kelly
One of the school board candidate challenging a PISD incumbent board member is Daniel Hernandez, the imam of the local mosque
Here's hoping the fair minded citizenry of Pearland turn out and send a message to the haters that Pearland is a diverse city, and representation on the school board and on city council need to reflect that .
We'll know for sure what happened when the polls close and the votes get counted.
TransGriot Update: While Dalia made the runoff in her council race, Jess wasn't as fortunate on election night.
Couldn't let today pass without giving a TransGriot birthday shoutout to another amazing Houston area trans leader in Ana Andrea Molina, the founding executive director of Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas (OLTT)
It's also interesting to note that many of the kick butt activists here in the Houston area who get stuff done and have no problem bluntly speaking truth to power are predominately Tauruses.
While the Houston based OLTT is focused primarily on the issues affecting our trans Latinx immigrant population in Texas, OLTT also has Casa Anaandrea, which is a shelter for trans and gender nonconforming person open to all
OLTT also does a wide range of events and programs immigration help, name changes and the Mr and Miss OLTT Pageant designed to support the trans community
But it could also use some funding, because it does cost money to provide those services. OLTT is also trying to raise $30,000to renew the rental agreement for the home Casa Anaandrea is housed in with the goal of eventually owning this place.
Andrea has quickly established herself as one of our major Latina trans leaders in Texas and the United States, and we in Houston are fortunate to have her in our midst.
She also a wonderful friend and I have mad love and respect for her as a leader.
Feliz Compleanos, Andrea! May you celebrate many more birthdays to come!
This day arrived way too soon and it always carries for me a mix of sadness and disappointment.
Sadness and disappointment that comes with the realization that BTAC 2018 is over and we all have to go our separate ways. Some of us had to leave and board at the crack of dawn flights back home before the closing ceremony starts.
I've got a four hour Megabus ride back to Houston with Dee Dee Watters.
But it is also a day in which we revel in the new friends we've made, gotten to hug and hold tight old ones, and look forward to the future recharged and energized to take on the world.
Already know the dates. It'll be April 22-28 once again in Dallas, and we'll announce the hotel and reservation details once the staff recovers from putting this year's event on.
At 11 PM the closing interfaith service led by when we now call our Golden Flames, our elders from age 55 and up will be conducted. Once it's over, the countdown starts for BTAC 2019.
The Awards Gala was amazing last night. Everybody was looking fly last night including our emcees for our gala Dezjorn Gauthier and Jessica Zyrie
It was priceless to also see the surprised looks on both their faces when they also received awards .
Speaking of awards, congrats to Kayla Gore who is the 2018 recipient of the BTAC Monica Roberts Advocacy Award, our BTMI Man of the Year Trenton Johnson and BTWI Woman of the Year Jade Lenore. Congrats as well to our 2018 award recipients in our Rising Star and other categories..
Y'all have time to think about who will be next year's award recipients when the nominations ballot goes up on the website.
In the interim, today is Family Day. We're headed out to the Circle R Ranch in the Dallas suburb Flour Mound, TX where we get to chow down on barbecue, chill out, and play games.
It's also the time I get to dispense more domino beatdowns as the defending BTAC domino champion Syria is back this year to reclaim her crown from Jade as the queen of the spades players
Once we get back from our trip to the Circle R Ranch, we get ready for the Black Diamond Ball with the theme this year of Wakandan Realness.
We'll see who came close to that theme later tonight in that and other categories and who got chopped for not doing so.
Looks like the peeps who want the bigoted status quo to stay intact in Pearland are having a hard time dealing with the reality that their once sleepy little suburban town is a multicultural city of over 130,000 people.
With the city evolving to become a diverse metropolis, the political leadership of it at city hall and the school board need to reflect that reality.
Daniel Abdullah Hernandez is running for the Pearland ISD school board's Position 4 against incumbent Sean Murphy. That board is close to flipping to liberal-progressive control if the conservative faction controlling it now lose one or two more seats.
If that happens, PISD's homophobic and transphobic superintendent Dr. John Kelly is probably going to be one of the casualties since he is a polarizing figure there.
Hernandez has not only been critical of Pearland ISD's treatment of trans kid Kai Shappley, he has also been critical about the district's racial and fiscal problems.
Hernandez would also be the first Latinx person amd Muslim elected to the PISD board should he be successful in winning his race on May 5. Hernandez is also the imam at the Pearland Islamic Center.
Dalia Kasseb, who ran for the Pearland City Council last year, is making another run at a Pearland City Council seat. You'll remember that anti-Muslim rhetoric was deployed in her race last year in which she led all candidates in her race by getting 41% of the ballots cast.
Unfortunately that wasn't enough for her to win the seat outright on Election Day. Kasseb was forced into a runoff for that Position 7 seat that she unfortunately lost.
She does have two other challengers for the Position 4 seat in Sonny Atkins and Adrian Hernandez, and was endorsed by the Texas Democratic Party. Here's hoping that Kasseb is successful this time in making history, capturing the seat on the Pearland City Council that eluded her last year and does so in 2018 without a runoff.
If she does accomplish that feat, she would become the first Muslim to win a political race in Brazoria County in addition to becoming the first to win a Pearland city council seat.
But there are some peeps in Pearland who aren't liking the fact that since 2000, the town has grown more diverse. It is now 47% Anglo, 25% Latinx, 17% African American and 9% Asian.
While it's denied by city leaders, there is an increasing divide between the longtime conservative leaning residents and the more liberal progressive ones in the newer, more ethnically diverse suburbs west of FM 518. It's starting to play out in the city's politics.
A hidden camera recently caught an elderly white woman tearing down a Daniel Hernandez campaign sign. There was YouTube video of it happening, but of course it has been taken down in an attempt to protect the guilty party who didn't know she was on camera when she performed her nefarious deed.
Stealing, defacing, mutilating or willfully destroying a political yard sign on private property is a misdemeanor crime in Texas punishable by a $2500 fine, a year in jail or both.
The same thing is reportedly happening to Kasseb's yard signs according to one of my Pearland TransGriot readers.
Good luck to both Daniel Hernandez and Dalia Kasseb as they both seek to make electoral history in Pearland. Shame on the folks who are engaging in thuggish political behavior.
Early voting starts on April 23, so Pearland peeps, make your voices heard and beat back the election bigotry that is occuring once again in this city.
The bottom line is that Pearland is getting diverse, and the people who are seeing public office there will only continue to be more representative of the entire community, not less so
The Texas Log Cabin Sellouts Republicans must feel like Charlie Brown at this point when he tries to kick a football that Lucy is holding.
But like Charlie Brown's failed attempts to kick that football, the Texas Log Cabin Republicans keep trying and failing .
What they keep failing at is having a booth at the Texas Republican State Convention. For the last 20 years they have tried to get that booth, while other GOP party affinity groups get theirs with no problem .The Texas Log Cabin Sellouts keep getting kicked in the teeth and smiling after it happens for the whole world to see.
This time the State Republican Executive Committee debated for two hours before they came up with the inevitable no. While they had some supporters, they were dwarfed by the faux faith based TBLGQ bigots in the room
The record breaking year of Texas TBLGQ people running for public office continues as Danielle Skidmore has decided to run for the Austin City Council's District 9.
The seat is currently held by Austin Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, who is running for reelection and has held the District 9 seat since 2011.
I had the pleasure of meeting Danielle last year as part of the team of trans Texans and allies working hard to kill SB 6.
She has appointed Alicia Roth Weigel as her campaign treasurer, but won't be able to officially file to run for the central Austin city council seat until July 23
Skidmore is an engineer who also serves on Austin's LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission
If Skidmore is successful in the race this November, she'd become only the second openly trans elected official in the Lone Star State and the first ever in the city of Austin, which has a statewide and national rep as a liberal progressive enclave.
I wish her the best of luck, and I'm eager to see if Danielle gets to make that history later this year.
Color me not shocked to discover that the terrorist bomber that caused fear all over the city of Austin killed two people and wounded three others was a white male.
Maybe that explains the reluctance of the media to call the series of bombings a terrorist attack.
23 year old Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, TX blew himself up with an explosive device as SWAT officers were closing in on him.
Austin PD and the FBI tracked him to a hotel parking lot in Round Rock, TX, 18 miles north of the ATX where they found him .inside his vehicle. The officers on the scene wanted to wait for backup before engaging him but Conditt drove off.
Conditt stopped on the side of the I-35 frontage road and as a SWAT officer approached the car Conditt detonated an explosive device, killing himself and injuring the SWAT officer approaching the vehicle. Shits were fired at the car in response.
After being cricket chirping silent about the terror attacks for weeks, White Supremacist in Chief Trump finally commented on the terror attacks by congratulating the officers for their 'excellent police work'
No words from Trump to the families who lost loved ones to the bombing like Draylen Mason or Anthony House, or those who are recovering from their injuries.
Then again, why expect someone like 45, who cares about no one but himself, to have empathy for others?
Austin can exhale a bit, but officials are warning there may still be some bombs he shipped or mailed before he killed himself, so they are advising people to be alert
But once again, just proves the point the Republicans an the conservative movement tried to suppress in 2009 that domestic terrorism in the United States has a right wing, white male face.
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