Come On Out to the Ballgame

From an August 2004 TransGriot Column
Copyright 2004, THE LETTER
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One of the things that amuses me about the trans community is the lengths that we'll go to reject anything thought of as 'masculine' (unless you are a female to male transsexual). I'll get strange looks whenever I'm around some of my transgendered friends and start talking sports with a genetic male or another T-sports fan. The other people in that group will roll their eyes and inevitably come back with a lame comment such as 'I hate sports' or 'women aren't sports fans'.

Women aren't sports fans? Please. My former coworker Lucy Schroeder rivals my intensity in terms of being a sports fan. My mom loves the NFL, and my late grandmother Tama faithfully tuned in to Astros games. My late friend Glenda Baker used to give me a run for my money when we fired sports trivia questions at each other. If you take a trip to any stadium, NASCAR track or arena you'll discover that sometimes the most rabid fans are women. I'd see women screaming louder at the refs over bad calls than their boyfriends, sons or husbands.

I usually can't wait for the NFL and college football seasons to start. Admit it, some of you feel the same way, too. Liking football is part of a Texan's DNA just as a person born in Indiana or Kentucky gets misty eyed about basketball. I'm a college basketball fan, and don't get me started about March Madness. I love it except when they show repeats of a certain slam dunk from the 1983 NCAA Championship game with my beloved Cougars that makes me sick to my stomach.

I embraced the WNBA when it began play in 1997. I'm an NBA fan but hate the corporate crowds that treat going to the game like attending a golf tournament. The WNBA's affordable ticket prices allow Joe and Jane Fan to see a pro ball game with the best women players in the world. The other interesting aspect of the league is the number of GLBT people that attend games. The league estimates that ten percent of its season ticket base is GLBT.

I can confirm that. I had Houston Comets season tickets for several years until I moved to Da Ville and make a trip to Indy every summer to see my girls play.
There's a post op girl from my old gender group that had her season tickets in the same section as mine ten rows up from my seats. A lesbian couple sat on the row immediately in front of me, and another one sat behind me. I saw GLBT folks when I walked the Compaq Center concourses. We were joined by mothers and sons, fathers and daughters and entire families. We were united in our love for the Comets and our dislike of the Los Angeles Sparks and New York Liberty. You also had the sense of history unfolding in front of you.

Watching those games helped me get over the height hangup I had when I started transition. I couldn't gripe about being 6'2" after seeing Tina Thompson on the court. There are even taller women in the league such as the LA Sparks 6'5" Lisa Leslie and 7'2" Margo Dydek of the San Antonio Silver Stars. I discovered that many WNBA players have double digit shoe sizes such as Sheryl Swoopes and Washington's (now LA Spark) Chamique Holdsclaw. I don't complain as much when I'm hunting for fashionable shoes. I'm in good company.

It's time for us transgendered sports fans to come out of the closet. There are numerous ways to express femininity and being a sports fan doesn't detract from that. Whatever your favorite sport was growing up, enjoy and embrace it. It's okay to let your inner sports fan out.

Oops, gotta go. Sportscenter's on.

March 2006 TransGriot Column

Faith Based Homophobes
Copyright 2006, THE LETTER

photo-Rev. Bernice King, Bishop Noel Jones

African-American author Ralph Ellison once wrote in his novel ‘Invisible Man’ that ‘I am invisible because they refuse to see me.’

It seems as though that’s the attitude that some peeps in the African-American community have taken towards GLBT people. Many of them either want to deny that we exist or implore us to keep it quiet so that we don’t ‘embarrass the race.’ Being GLBT is one of those ‘dirty little family secrets’ that Caucasian people aren’t supposed to know about us.

Well, that secret’s out along with another one: We can be just as homophobic as the rest of America. It was one of the reasons the GOP made that alarming 4% gain of the African-American vote during the 2004 presidential election. (12% versus 8% in 2000). The Republican Party for years has been desperately searching for a wedge issue to use that would resonate with African-Americans and they struck pay dirt with this one.

While the rap music world has been saddled with much of the blame for this state of affairs and rightly so, the Black church is equally responsible. An institution with a long history of battling bigotry and oppression is unfortunately taking cues from its White fundamentalist brethren. It’s picking up where rappers like Jamaica’s Beenie Man and friends left off. We have a group of GOP leaning homophobes who are groveling for faith based bucks from the Bush administration. They hang out with Lou Sheldon and James Dobson professing their support for the worst president in US history and polices that adversely affect their congregations. It also explains some of the odious anti-gay tirades that have come from their pulpits recently that would make Fred Phelps proud.

Rev. Gregory Daniels of Chicago stated in February 2004, “If the KKK opposes gay marriage then I'd ride with them."

Rev. Willie Wilson of Washington DC suggests during a July 3, 2005 sermon that “Black women are becoming lesbians because they are making more money than their black counterparts and that "lesbianism is about to take over our community." The sad part about Rev. Wilson’s comments is that he was once considered a friend of the Washington DC GLBT community.

That list of anti-gay preachers unfortunately includes Rev. Bernice King, the baby daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King. You needed to have more frequent chats with your late mother Coretta about where your father would’ve stood on this issue. I’m willing to bet that it wouldn’t have been at the side of Atlanta’s Bishop Eddie Long leading an anti-gay march that started at the foot of your father’s grave. .

Then there’s Bishop Noel Jones of LA. The brother of disco diva Grace Jones took a November 2004 trip to Jamaica to implore them not to bow to pressure from US based gay-rights groups to change their anti-gay laws. He’s been divorced for a decade and is a running buddy of unmarried ex-gay New York gospel singer and pastor Donnie McClurkin. McClurkin was quoted on the CBN website in 2004 as saying "I'm not in the mood to play with those who are trying to kill our children." I wonder if one of the songs Rev. Donnie has been singing when his friend Noel visits is ‘Pull Up To the Bumper’?

Frankly Donnie, I’m not in the mood to put up with homophobic bigotry from the pulpit of Black churches. What pisses me off is that they are climbing in bed not only with the Republican Party but White fundamentalists that were front and center (and still are) in actively opposing the Civil Rights Movement.

Time for y’all to check the alarm clock and wake up.

February 2006 TransGriot Column

And the Winner Is…..Moi!
Copyright 2006. THE LETTER



Since February is Black History Month I usually like to devote my column to someone in the African-American GLBT community who has made history. I originally wanted to talk about Miss Major. She’s an African-American transperson that I met at TSTBC 2005 who was at the Stonewall Inn the night of the rebellion and has a fascinating story to tell.
I’ll tell her story in a future column. But in the meantime I have breaking news about someone else who’s just made history. Your humble columnist.

On December 30, 2005 I was notified that I’ve become the third African-American transwoman to win an IFGE (International Foundation for Gender Education) Trinity Award. I was sick in bed that day, but hearing that news definitely made me feel a whole lot better despite the fact I had a sore throat that made me sound like Harvey Fierstein when I picked up the phone.

IFGE has given out this award since 1987 to transgender people and their allies. Some of the biggest names in the transgender community have received it. Phyllis Frye, my activist mentor in Houston. Monica Helms and Angela Brightfeather of TAVA, Jamison Green and Vanessa Edwards Foster just to name a few. There's another one for lifetime service to the transgender community called the Virginia Prince that IFGE also gives out. To earn that one you have to put in 15 years of service to qualify for it.

To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to get the Trinity Award this soon because there are other African-American transpeeps that I felt have been overlooked. I’m amazed that the late Alexander John Goodrum hasn’t won a Trinity. Come to think of it, NO African-American transman has won it yet. Lorrainne Sade Baskerville of Chicago is a person that I thought would get one. Chanel Tresvant in Los Angeles has done wonderful work in the Los Angeles area. Earline Budd in Washington DC has run a program to help Washington DC transwomen for several years.

There are the connections between Dawn Wilson, Marisa Richmond and me.
Besides the fact that we’re the African-American Trinity winners, I helped present Dawn before she accepted her 2000 Trinity in Washington DC. 2002 Trinity winner Marisa succeeded me as NTAC Lobby Committee Chair. We’ve all bumped into each other either at Southern Comforts, IFGE conferences or other transgender community events. We’ve criticized each other at various times, turned to each other for advice and bounced up and down I-65 to visit each other.

While winning the Trinity is a huge honor, I never got into activism just to receive awards. If that’s your sole focus then you’re doomed to failure. Awards are based on a track record of measured success and other intangible factors. In my opinion the ultimate measure of success for an activist is how many lives you’ve positively impacted through your actions.

Finally, winning the Trinity is a testament to just living your life openly and being unabashedly proud of who you are. All I wanted to do in 1993 was transition and become the best person that I could be. In the process I became a leader, mentor and role model not only to my generation, but more importantly the next generation of transpeople as well.

That means as much to me as the Trinity I’ll be picking up on April 7 in Philadelphia.

Shirley Q. Liquor-Minstrel Show For the New Millenium

From a TransGriot Column I wrote in May 2005
Copyright 2005, THE LETTER
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Let me create a little scenario for you. What if an African-American GLBT person covered himself in white makeup, a la the Wayans Brothers recent White Chicks movie? Let’s say that this person toured GLBT nightclubs across the country as a character called Buford T. Moonshine and used every negative stereotype of Kentuckians or Caucasian people. Finally that person created a promotional website that posted those insulting stereotypes online and sold merchandise emblazoned with those images. How would you feel about that?

Well, you just got a chance to walk in the African-American GLBT/SGL community’s pumps. Many of us are angry with Charles Knipp, the white gay man who portrays Shirley Q. Liquor, a ‘black woman who’s a welfare recipient with 19 chirren’. I’m about to explain why.

Knipp’s show has been criticized and protested by a wide array of groups within the gay community since 2002, including NGLTF, The Audre Lord Project and the New York Black Gay Network. The latter two groups spearheaded a recent protest that canceled a Martin Luther King Day performance scheduled for a New York City nightclub.
In 2002 The National Association of Black and White Men Together said, "We find the Shirley Q. Liquor performance objectionable on three fronts. First, this performance resurrects distorted racist caricatures common to the blackface performances that became popular in 19th-century American vaudeville. Second, the Shirley Q. Liquor character is constructed on a negative and degrading image of women. Third, the character is based on the classist stereotype that people who need public assistance are fundamentally lazy. On all three counts, this act offends current sensibilities of what is appropriate."

It’s interesting (but not surprising) to note HRC’s silence on this issue. NGLTF contacted CafeShops.com and asked them to remove the Shirley Q Liquor merchandise from their website, but it’s still there. They did get rid of the offensive caption that stated ‘Welcome to my boutique of ignunce. Please do not shoplift while you is up in here!"

RuPaul has resolutely defended him since 2002. At a recent Southern Decadence he stated, "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." RuPaul’s been complaining about the lack of GLBT support for it, but I don’t think he’s considered the fact that it may be the controversial company he’s keeping these days.

This goes much deeper than simply protesting a drag show. Blackface has been used to demean, lampoon, and ridicule the images of African-Americans since the 1830’s in order to reinforce white supremacy. A cottage industry of ‘darkie’ products from household goods, jokes and theatrical pieces such as ‘Birth of A Nation’ arose to support that image. Those images still carry a lot of pain for African-American people.

Shirley Q Liquor makes it harder for the GLBT civil rights movement to gain traction in the Black community. Some African-Americans are already upset about the comparisons to the 1960’s Civil Rights movement and some of that backlash fed into the gay marriage debate. Their impression is that the ‘rich white males of the GLBT movement’ have no understanding, sensitivity or concern for the historical and current obstacles faced by African-Americans.

I know that’s not true, but it’s difficult to argue to the contrary when Shirley Q Liquor’s on stage and Knipp’s GLBT southern white male fan base is hysterically laughing at his antics.

January 2006 TransGriot Column

Monica Is Baaack!
Copyright 2006, THE LETTER

Happy New Year dear readers! I wish you much success and happiness.
I’m celebrating my second year writing TransGriot and for those of you I’ve bumped into as I’ve been out and about in the community, thank you for letting me know how much you enjoy reading my column. I love writing TransGriot and its nice to know my efforts are appreciated.

Basically I’ve been on hiatus from THE LETTER taking care of personal issues and recharging the creative batteries. I was part of a team that helped put together a successful African-American transgender convention that took place at the Galt House in September. I coordinated the programming for the event and taught three seminars.

One of them was on African-American transgender representations in the media. Another one I taught was on the cultural differences between the white and African-American trans communities and how they impact us working together. The final seminar I taught was on African-American transgender history. It was a great honor to meet African-American Stonewall veteran Miss Major, who gave us a firsthand account on what happened at Stonewall that night. We were thrilled to have Mandy Carter as a keynote speaker for TSTBC 2005. It was a lot of fun seeing old friends and meeting other African-American transpeople from various parts of the country. Those of us who attended TSTBC share a vision of erasing the negative perceptions of African-American transpeople. We’re determined to make it happen in our lifetimes.

In November I took part in the Transgender Day of Remembrance observance at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. It was the fourth year I’ve been involved in the TDOR in some capacity either as a featured speaker, teaching a seminar, or taking part in the candle lighting ceremony. I enjoy the time I get to spend with Mary Sue Barnett, The Women’s Center and the students, faculty and other great people associated with the LPTS that put it together. I have been asked by the National Black Justice Coalition to write occasional articles for their newsletter on transgender issues, which I accepted. I needed to make sure their publication deadline didn’t conflict with my new TransGriot deadline.

Finally, I needed some time to work on my novels. I enjoy writing fiction as some of you who read my August column discovered. I’m tweaking them and working on some short stories for various writing contests I plan to enter in 2006. I’m debating whether I have the time in my busy schedule to start a blog.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about New Year’s is the symbolism. It’s a time to reflect on what happened to us either positively or negatively in the preceding twelve months and not just resolve to do things better, but follow through and commit yourself to making those things happen.

When I started the Transsistahs-Transbrothas list on January 1, 2004 I started posting my personal resolutions for the upcoming year on the list. That way I have a record of how well I did in living up to them.

This is what I posted to TSTB on January 1, 2005:

I resolve to continue my efforts to meet, cultivate friendships with and network with other T-sistahs, do my part to ensure that we have a successful September convention, mentor our young T-sistahs that ask for help and advice, seek them out when I need it, and become a published author by the end of 2005.

Well, I’ve fulfilled every one of those save one, getting one of my novels in print. I'm STILL working on that ;)