UH Tittsworth Act Opponents Still Bitter They Lost

It's been a week and the opponents of the UH Tittsworth Act are still grousing in their not so quiet Internet rooms about their overwhelming defeat.  

The arc of the moral universe bent toward justice for UH trans students last Wednesday night and we are deliriously happy about that win .

Far from taking their defeat and moving on to other subjects of importance to the UH student body, they are still flapping their loud and wrong gums about the Tittsworth Act after parting their lips admonishing us to not 'rub it in their faces' or 'celebrate our win'.

Contrary to what the Daily Cougar article headline stated, as I witnessed at the April 9 town hall and the SGA meeting last Wednesday, the UH student body is not divided on this issue. 

The Tittsworth Act opponents had two months, a town hall and the SGA meeting to express themselves.  They also know like 'errbody' else on the UH campus the SGA office is in UC North. 

So I ask the question I pondered last Wednesday and during the town hall.  Where were all these students the opponents kept citing as their motivation to oppose the bill?  

When the time came for opponents to prove it and this groundswell of faux opposition to stand up and be counted during the town hall and SGA vote on the Tittsworth Act they failed to do so.  

But it's interesting to note immediately after the vote was over, the opposition immediately took to social media to complain about being 'bullied' and their free speech being 'suppressed'. 

That spin line may work in conservaworld, but not in the reality based world the rest of us live in.   I also note at what passed in the LSU SGA Senate unanimously the very night we were having the town hall at UH. 

I still have to chuckle about what SGA Senator Alan Garza, one of the few opponents who had the guts to openly name and claim his loud and wrong opposition to the Tittsworth bill, had to say in the Daily Cougar article. 

"Despite taking every measure to approach the bill in a “reasonable, open-minded way,” Garza expressed his “disappointment” with students assuming he has closed-minded ideologies simply  because he disagrees with the semantics of the bill."

Um Alan, if you and your friends make bigoted ill-informed statements about transpeople, disrespectfully refer to the Tittsworth Act as 'The He/She Bill', deploy long discredited 'bathroom predator' attacks as your main argument to oppose a simple policy change that will benefit a marginalized campus group, make ridiculous claims the bill is 'vague', or that proponents of the Tittsworth Act were 'intolerant' when the evidence overwhelmingly shows y'all threw the first transphobic shade, don't be surprised if members of the trans community and their supporters see you as a bigot or oppressor.

You also suggested during the SGA meeting, Senator Garza, that trans people not be allowed to change their names on university ID unless the state of Texas recognizes it.   As I told you outside SGA chambers last Wednesday, we've been fighting for a law in Texas since 1999 to streamline the name change process.

There are three states, Tennessee, Ohio and Idaho that will not allow transpeople to change birth certificates regardless of the transitioned status of the transperson in question.  So if you're a trans UH student that happens to come from these states, they would be SOL under your proposal     

As I additionally pointed out to you, what 18 year old trans kid after paying for college tuition, fees and books, has a spare $18,000 lying around for genital surgery or the court costs to do a legal name change?  

And I damned sure don't have any sympathy for a white UH Greek system that 45 years ago was loud and wrong in its racist opposition to the election of UH's first African-American homecoming queen in Lynn Eusan.  Your arguments against this policy sounded to my ears like,."OMG, you mean we'll actually have to admit THEM to our ranks?

Naw, you Greeks can still be as self selective as you wanna be and the Tittsworth Act didn't change that.  But frankly, it's your loss if you don't admit transpeople into your Greek ranks because of your narrow minded ignorance.  You'll be missing out on some quality trans human beings who will make any  organization who opens their arms and extends membership to them infinitely better than yours.  

Tier One universities protect all of their students.   They are also charged with creating policies ensuring every student that steps on their campus can feel safe, successfully learn, and grow to be well rounded human beings in loco parentis while earning whatever degree they are pursuing there. 
 
The bottom line is that justice prevailed last Wednesday night for the trans community.   The vote not only said to trans Cougars, you are fellow Cougars and you matter, it the same message that echoed beyond the campus to the city of Houston and around the world.   It not only resonated with trans alumni, but students who are at the middle and high school levels considering where they wish to attend college. 

That policy will do wonders for the University of Houston not only for the trans students matriculating on campus right now, but future Cougars the policy will attract to our Tier One level campus we are exceedingly proud of.

UH Josephine Tittsworth Act Passes!

Was on the University of Houston campus to watch a little history being made in the ultramodern UH SGA Senate chambers in the UC North as UH 51.001, the Josephine Tittsworth Act came to a final vote

The SGA meeting started at 7:30 PM with the TransGriot an overflow crowd anxiously watching the proceedings.

The Tittsworth Act sought to have The University of Houston follow its existing EEOC and non discrimination policy by allowing trans students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles. .  
But this simple turned into a surprisingly contentious issues that plucked nerves on both sides of it.

The frats and sororities were the initial Tittsworth Act opposition, and there were reports the UH campus Republicans were also stirring the injustice pot as well.  The opposition initially went to the all too familiar play to the trans community and our allies of 'fear and trans smear' along with complaining about being called bigots during the debate.

Well opposition people, when you actively oppose a measure for a marginalized group by throwing long ago debunked trans bathroom and sexual predator myths as you did in last week's town hall (which I made my pissivity about that stunt clear), it's not a good look and puts you on the wrong side of the arc of the moral universe not only in my eyes as a trans person but in the court of public opinion.  .

I also noted that the UH frats and sororities 45 years ago were on the wrong side of history when they opposed the election of Lynn Eusan as UH's first Black homecoming queen, and sadly, they were repeating that history by attempting to oppress another on campus marginalized group.  

The opponents sought to delay the vote, claiming that the Tittsworth Act 'had been rushed', with many of the junior SGA senators complaining they 'hadn't had enough time' to present the issues to their constituency groups

SGA President Charles Haston and Tittsworth Act lead sponsors SGA Senators James Lee and Guillermo Lopez  were having none of that along with the senators who supported the bill .  

President Haston spoke eloquently during his time in favor of the bill to a standing ovation when he concluded his remarks.   He also wrote this op-ed concerning the Josephine Tittsworth Act.

The Senate will vote tonight on a bill that, unfortunately, a small group of students has voiced visceral opposition to. I'd like to make some things clear. 

I have had several conversations with CFSL (Center For Student Life)  and this bill literally has NO impact on fraternities or sororities.

A student said today that Greeks would be "discriminated" against if they chose not to admit a trans student to their organization. This bill is about protecting students who are actually discriminated against and the notion that we shouldn't protect those students because an organization is worried about bad PR is disgusting.

Over the last 237 years, 1,264,000 Marines, soldiers, and sailors have died to protect the freedom of all Americans, but especially the freedom of those the majority may disagree with. That includes everything from Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest military funerals, to women and minorities right to vote.

You don't have to agree with the personal choices of others, but as an institution we have an obligation to promote tolerance in order to ensure that all students can thrive at the University of Houston.

***

After handling the initial business items on the meeting agenda, the meeting turned to the issue the overflow crowd was waiting to see, the outcome of the Josephine Tittsworth Act.  

The initial plan was to allow three speakers from each side to speak for two minutes for or against the bill.   But after none of the peeps flapping their transphobic gums on social media stepped up to speak against it (surprise, surprise), an additional three speakers in favor of the Tittsworth Act filled that time.

The first and most moving speaker of the evening was Autumn Packard.  She is the mother of a trans child who urged the UH SGA to pass the bill so that her trans daughter, should she grow up and wish to attend UH someday could do so in safety.  Becca Keo-Meier spoke about the problems she encounters as a person who has androgynous appearance on campus and read a statement from her spouse Dr. Colt Keo-Meier.    After the rest of the affirmative speakers had their say (I was on standby),  the debate shifted to the SGA senators who would determine the fate of the bill.

Senator Pooja Magadi in response to an opposition senator who stated he was voting against the bill 'for his constituents', reminded the senators to a standing ovation that the trans students on the UH campus were also their constituents, too.

After some final questions and answers, the vote on the Josephine Tittsworth Act finally happened a little after 9:15 PM    The vote was 11 in favor, 4 opposed and 2 abstentions.

The Josephine Tittsworth Act now goes to the Faculty Senate and up the UH administrative ranks before it becomes university policy.  

But I'm so proud of my Coogs and the UH SGA for passing the Josephine Tittsworth Act.  Thanks to James Lee, Guillermo Lopez, Yesenia Chavez, President Charles Haston, the 11 SGA senators and all the people who were drum majors and drum majorettes for justice that got this done.  

It was a deeply appreciated step not only for the safety and security of UH trans students, but also resonated beyond the campus with alums and supporters of the University of Houston and the Houston TBLG community.

Tonight you proved that the justified pride in UH being one of the most diverse campuses in the nation isn't empty rhetoric as far as trans students were concerned.

Go Coogs!

UH Josephine Tittsworth Act Vote Happening Tomorrow

The town hall event was packed last week, and I expect the same thing will happen tomorrow when the UH SGA Senate returns to their ultramodern Senate chambers in the UC North to vote on the Josephine Tittsworth Act tomorrow.

That meeting will start at 7:30 PM.

Just as a reminder, the UH SGA proposed this piece of legislation that seeks to have the University of Houston follow its existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing trans* UH students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles. 

This should be a non controversial issue, but falsehoods have been spread by agent provocateurs who have gotten the white frats and sororities riled up.

And as I reported last week, the bathroom predator and sexual predator lies have been deployed as well.

All this over the top transphobic hatred for a measure that would simply allow trans UH students to update their university ID's to match the people they are now.

Hope that the UH SGA is cognizant of the fact they have an opportunity to be drum majors and drum majorettes for justice and do the right thing.  

UH Josephine Tittsworth Act Town Hall Meeting

I've been saying to the UHD Gators during my last several visits on their campus that I've spent more time visiting One Main Street than I have on my alma mater's campus since I came back home in 2010.

Well, seems like that imbalance of visits to the UH campus versus UHD is starting to rapidly change in the other direction.

Last week I was honored to be invited to speak at the Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson vigil held at the AD Bruce Religion Center on campus.  

This week I got a chance to finally see the newly renovated UH Student Center and attend a town hall meeting yesterday afternoon in a packed SGA Senate Chambers.

The town hall was called to give the UH community an opportunity to discuss the Josephine Tittsworth Act.  The UH SGA proposed this piece of legislation that seeks to have the University of Houston follow its existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing trans* UH students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles. 

Shouldn't be that controversial, right?   Well, one unidentified UH senator has been spreading lies and falsehoods about the Tittsworth bill and gotten the frats and sororities stirred up in the process.

A panel comprised of UH LGBT Resource Center head Lorraine Schroeder, UH SGA senators Guillermo Lopez and James Lee, UH SGA President Charles Haston, SGA Senator emeritus Josephine Tittsworth and 2014 Trans 100 honoree and UH senior Lou Weaver spent two minutes each making initial statements dispelling the myths and lies that had arisen concerning the Tittsworth bill before opening the floor to written questions.  

While the town hall was surprisingly civil, two of the questions asked were the highly offensive to the trans community bathroom predator and sexual offender ones I hear far too often from GOP operatives opposing trans human rights laws.  It not only made my eyes visibly roll and loudly scoff upon hearing them, it also made me wonder if there were campus Republicans in the room trying to stir up 'fear and smear' transphobic trouble.

Before the town hall concluded after 30 minutes,  Haston reminded everyone that diversity on the UH campus is not just ethnic diversity, but also includes diversity of opinions and thought and LGBT diversity.

Since I wasn't in any hurry to head back home right away, I consented to an interview along with Josephine about the Act with Daily Cougar reporters Kelly Schaffer and Cara Smith.  We talked about Houston and UH trans history, and discussed the positive effects UH could expect from the Tittsworth Act should it gain SGA approval.  

I also had a chance to talk to several cis and trans UH students and talk a walk around the newly renovated building that is way different from the 1967 UC I was familiar with before heading home.

Will keep you posted on the developments concerning the Josephine Tittsworth Act as it moves toward a final vote.      
 

Josephine Tittsworth Act UH Town Hall Wednesday

The University of Houston SGA has proposed a bill that seeks to have the University of Houston follow existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles.  

The bill is named the Josephine Tittsworth Act after my awesome homegirl, fellow Cougar and who while on the UH campus was an SGA Senator.

It's expected to get voted on April 16, but in advance of the vote, to do a little education on the issue, a town hall meeting will be conducted on Wednesday in the UC North Senate Chambers in the UC North starting at 5:30 PM

The Josephine Tittsworth Act will be discussed and what it means for student safety, academic success, and fulfilling our Nondiscrimination Policy's promise.  As a Cougar I support the passage of it and plan on being at the town hall to report on what happens.  

Houston Britney and Crystal Candelight Vigil Tomorrow

For those of you in the Houston area and can do so, hope you're planning on joining me in the chapel of the AD Bruce Religion Center on the University of Houston main campus tomorrow evening, April 2  for the candlelight vigil honoring our fallen sisters Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson.

Both died on March 8 and were just 24 years old.

I will be speaking along with Tamira 'Augie' Augustine, Dr. Rachel Afi Quinn and Pastor Ernie Turney from Bering United Methodist Church.

The event starts at 6:30 PM CDT and is being sponsored by the UH Women's Resource Center , UH LGBT Resource Center, Global at UH, NAACP UH Chapter, Equality Texas, Texas Freedom Network, the Student Feminist Organization at UH and  The Montrose Center .

AD Bruce Religion Center is on the Wheeler St/Cullen Blvd side of the campus with the closest entrance to AD Bruce and parking lot being Entrance 13 off of Cullen Blvd.    

Please consider joining us and the Houston community tomorrow  as we remember these young women and begin an open and honest dialogue about violence against the LGBT community.

And since it is being hosted on campus, I hope to see a strong UH Cougar presence at the vigil.

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Going Bowling

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights. This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
--TransGriot November 1, 2013

Damn, did I call it or not UH Cougar fans?  

My fave college football team was riding high at one point of this 2013 NCAA college football season   The freshman and sophomore dominated Cougar squad was 7-1, unbeaten in AAC conference play at 4-0 and hitting the most critical two weeks of their season with road games against UCF and Louisville.

If they win them both, they would be in the driver's seat for the inaugural AAC title and have the inside track for UH's first ever BCS bowl game.  

We're going bowling, but it won't be a BCS one.

In their November 9 nationally televised AAC showdown with Number 21 ranked UCF, UH came 30 seconds, two dropped end zone passes and seven agonizing yards short of walking out of Orlando with a win after coming back from a 19-7 deficit with 4:04 left in the game.

But the 19-14 defeat gave them their second loss of the season, their first in AAC play and dropped them into a second place tie with Louisville.

The Cougars took their 7-2 (4-1 AAC) record on November 16 to 'The Pizzeria' for their first trip to Louisville since 2003 and both were members of C-USA.   Sadly once again 13th ranked Louisville is bouncing for another conference (the ACC this time) just as we join them in the Conference Formerly Known As The Big East.

With a BCS bid still in reach for either team if they won, this first UH-Louisville tilt since 2004 was a far more competitive game than the one I had to hear about for several weeks as a Texan in Exile up there after they lost big in 2003 and 2004.  

But I did talk much trash after the 2002 upset win over the Cards in Houston.

At halftime it was looking good for my UH boys.  Despite losing all world wideout Deontay Greenberry to a head injury in the first quarter, the Cougars were up 13-10 at halftime and had Teddy Bridgewater under control.   The Cards made their halftime adjustments and shifted to a runcentric attack behind junior Dominique Brown.  He rushed for a career high 137 yards on 27 carries as the Cards ate up 12:24 of the third quarter, got the go ahead TD and added a John Wallace field goal late in the third quarter to eventually send the Cougars to another frustrating 20-13 loss in the last game we'll play against the Cards until 2015.  

With the Cougars at 7-3 for the season (4-2 in AAC play) and their slim hopes for a BCS bowl gone, they focused their attention on trying to end their losing skid against Cincinnati on November 23 in a soggy and cold BBVA Compass Stadium.

The temp was 40 degrees at kickoff with intermittent rain and the UH offense was as sloppy as the playing surface. 

The offense once again sputtered, scoring only one touchdown and O'Korn coughing the ball up deep in Bearcat territory on UH's opening drive.  The Cougars fell behind 24-7 before starting their second half comeback.  It was jumpstarted by safety Trevon Stewart's 15 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to narrow the UH deficit to 21-14.

The Bearcats also gave John O'Korn and the Cougars one last chance to snatch victory from the jaws of  defeat after they missed a short field goal with 1:24 left and no timeouts. But the Coogs ran out of time at the Cincinnati 32 yard line to lose 24-17 and drop their third straight game in AAC play by a TD or less and go 7-4 (4-3 AAC) on the season.

On November 29, the day after Thanksgiving the Cougars and the 'Third Ward D' feasted on our AAC instate rivals SMU and rolled them 34-0 at Reliant Stadium. 

While the offense was breaking out of its malaise with a 67 yard bomb to Daniel Spencer from O'Korn on the opening play of the game, the defense was making life miserable for SMU redshirt freshman QB Neal Burcham. 

They sacked Burcham five times, forced four turnovers and allowed only one Mustang trip inside the 20 yard line to post the first UH shutout since they were members of the SWC.

On December 2, 1989 the Cougars beat Rice 64-0 in their last game of the season to cap a 9-2 SWC campaign in which they finished second in the league, were ranked #14 during a probation marred season and saw Andre Ware run-and-shoot his way to the Heisman Trophy.   

Speaking of quarterbacks, John O'Korn did finish the regular season setting a UH freshman QB record with 26 touchdowns

The Cougars finished their first season in the AAC with an 8-4 record and 5-3 in conference play to finish fourth.  Not bad considering they were picked to finish sixth and did this with a freshman and sophomore dominated line up. 

While it's not the BCS bowl they had designs on when they started the year, on January 4 the Coogs will travel to Birmingham, AL to play in the BBVA Compass Bowl against their SEC opponent, the 8-4 Vanderbilt Commodores at Legion Field in what should be a fun game. 
   
While this inaugural AAC season turned out to be much better for the Coogs and their fans than we anticipated, the future looks so bright for the UH Cougars they need shades. 

In addition to those freshman and sophomores getting valuable playing time in their maiden AAC campaign, they will be playing in the new on campus football stadium scheduled to open on August 30, 2014.

And hopfully you'll be able to ride the METRORail Purple line to the stadium when the new Cougar football home opens with a game against the UTSA Roadrunners.  

Now all we need is a few four and five star recruits to sign and come play in it. 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Halloween Treat For The Coogs

My fave collegiate football team had a short week because this Halloween night American Athletic Conference game against the University of South Florida Bulls was being nationally televised on ESPN.  

It also had all the earmarks of being a potential trick instead of a treat for unbeaten in conference play UH but didn't start that way.

The Cougars took just three plays to score on their opening drive and sprinted out to a 21-10 halftime lead before the script flipped in the second half.

UH came into this game as the nation's leading team in turnover ratio at +20 but coughed the ball up in the end zone on the opening third quarter drive that would have given them a 28-10 lead.  The Cougars started shooting themselves in the foot on offense with mistakes, mental breakdowns and a personal foul penalty by Kenneth Farrow that stalled another drive as the Bulls mustered enough offense after going a month with scoring touchdowns to narrow their deficit to 28-23.

But the Bulls (2-6, 2-2 AAC) committed 19 penalties for 170 yards, with the most backbreaking one happening with UH clinging to a five point lead deep into in the fourth quarter.  USF's true freshman QB Mike White tossed a pass along the right sideline to Bulls receiver Andre Davis that had him stepping out of bounds just short of the goal line but was flagged for offensive pass interference for pushing off on UH cornerback William Jackson. 

The penalty wiped out a 27 yard gain and pushed the Bulls back to the UH 42 yard line.  On the very next play Cougar defensive end Tyus Bowser sacked White and forced a fumble that was recovered by Jeremiah Farley for their first and most critical turnover of the game.  

UH then put the game away with a drive capped off by a determined Kenneth Farrow 5 yard TD run and a late interception to help the Coogs close out the 35-23 win and go to a spotless 4-0 in AAC play.

It was also the 16th straight game that the Cougars have had 2+ turnovers. 

Next week the 7-1 Cougars travel to Orlando to take on their first ranked opponent of the season in the 6-1 University of Central Florida Knights.   The Knights are no slouches with their lone loss being a narrow 28-25 non conference one to South Carolina.  UCF is also unbeaten in AAC play and walked into the Pizzeria October 18 and knocked off then number 8 ranked Louisville 38-35. 

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights.    This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
  

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Routing Rutgers

Before the season started the media covering the American Athletic Conference picked the Cougars to finish sixth in the inaugural AAC season poll. 

That dissing didn't sit too well with the UH football players, and as they started their season 5-0 the Cougar players continued to be incensed by the lack of media love and perceived disrespect.

"I was watching the Louisville (Central Florida) game and the ESPN commentators were talking about they were going to run the conference and do this and do that," said Cougar safety Adrian McDonald.  "They didn't even say anything about us. Coach talked about it. This is motivation. We're coming from the bottom and we're just going to work our way up."

If the media wasn't paying attention to UH.and ignoring them when it comes to ranking them, they most certainly are now. 

McDonald had two of the NCAA leading Cougar defense's five interceptions that turned a tight game into a 49-14 rout over Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ. 


True freshman quarterback John O'Korn led a high octane Cougar offense that amassed 611 yards of total offense.  O'Korn was 24 of 30 for 364 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Cougars rebounded from last week's narrow loss to BYU in a major way.    

The Cougar offense scored two second quarter touchdowns in the span of 58 seconds, one being a 83 yard strike from O'Korn to Deontay Greenberry that broke open the game and gave UH a 28-14 halftime lead.

The Cougar defense came into this game having forced 24 turnovers and a +14 turnover margin and added to it with the six turnovers they forced in this conference matchup.

With the win the Cougars are now 6-1 on the season (3-0 in AAC play) and bowl eligible but have bigger goals in mind.

The AAC champ is eligible for a BCS bowl, and after narrowly mission out on one in that near BCS busting season in 2011, definitely have their eyes on that prize in addition to the inaugural AAC title.

Next up is another AAC game in Reliant Stadium against the 2-5 (2-1) South Florida Bulls on Halloween night that will be televised on ESPN.

Hopefully the Cougars after that game will be one step closer to a BCS bowl and an AAC title that no one thought this freshman and sophomore laden squad would be able to win.   

2013 UH Cougar Watch-Tough Loss To Those Utah Based Cougars

The collegiate football pundits had my fave undefeated collegiate football team penciled in as a ten point underdog at Reliant Stadium to that other Cougar team from Utah.

The UH Cougars didn't pay attention to the oddsmakers and got into an entertaining four hour marathon offensive shootout with BYU.

The UH Cougars scored on big plays like a 95 yard kickoff return, their first safety since 1992, a pick six interception return and touchdown receptions of 41 and 69 yards as both Cougar teams combined for 1,164 yards of total offense and BYU tied an FBS record by running 115 plays in the game. 

But it was the plays that UH didn't make like the two missed Richie Leone field goals from 40 and 45 yards, the missed extra point, the failed two point conversion, the three O'Korn interceptions and 10 penalties that kept critical drives alive for BYU and led to a narrow 47-46 loss.

Instead of the expected punishing BYU ground attack they expected going into the game BYU quarterback Taysom Hill flipped the football script and came out throwing the ball for a career high 417 yards and four TD's with three interceptions.  UH quarterback John O'Korn nearly matched him with 363 yards passing and three touchdowns in a first half that was a track meet in which the longest drive for either team was three minutes. 

The 38-34 halftime score favoring UH gave way to a third quarter defensive battle in which linebacker Derrick Matthews, who had three sacks along with the 29 yard pick six recorded the only point with that safety.

But it was Hill's 11 yard pass to Skyler Ridley with 1:08 remaining followed by O'Korn's killer third INT of the game by BYU's Alani Fua with 1:05 left that sealed the win for the now 5-2 Utah based Cougars and sent the UH Cougars to a frustrating first loss of the season.  

The Cougars don't have time to dwell on the loss because from now on their remaining scheduled games are all AAC conference games.    Next up for my freshman and sophomore dominated squad is a Saturday trip to Piscataway, NJ to play Rutgers before they join the Big Ten next season. 

2013 UH Cougar Watch-5-0!

The good news is that H-town has one unbeaten football team playing inside Loop 610, and nope it ain't the guys who get paid to play in Reliant Stadium.

The Cougars once again played some serious defense, forcing 4 turnovers to add to their NCAA leading +14 turnover ratio and limited the Memphis offense to five field goals.

UH needed the defensive bailout, because the Air Raid offense took awhile to get going with Memphis' number 15 FBS ranked defense holding the usually high octane Cougar offense to a season low 247 total yards. 

UH got the scoring party started at BBVA Compass Stadium early with a 17 yard O'Korn to Daniel Spencer touchdown strike on their opening drive after Memphis turned the ball over.

But after that initial UH touchdown drive, the Coogs couldn't muster any sustained offense.  The Tigers narrowed the gap to 7-6 before a Leone second quarter field goal pushed the lead to 10-6 and Memphis got another one from Jake Elliott to narrow it to 10-9 at the half. 

The Cougar offensive struggles continued into the second half and Memphis eventually took a 15-10 lead in the third quarter before a 33 yard goal line catch by Xavier Maxwell seat up the first of Kenneth Farrow's two scoring touchdowns. 

Welcome back, Kenneth! Boy have they missed you in red zone situations.  The subsequent successful two point conversion gave them a three point lead before UH put the game away in the fourth quarter for the 25-15 win. 

With the victory UH not only matched their disappointing win total for last season, but go to 5-0 to start a season for only the fourth time in school history.  They also joined Louisville and South Florida at 2-0 for the AAC lead.

“There’s nobody in our program satisfied winning five games,” UH coach Tony Levine said in a Houston Chronicle interview. “There is nobody in that locker room — players, coaches and staff — that is driving home saying one more win and we’re going to a bowl game. That’s not our focus.”

Especially since the Coogs are now in an AQ conference and the winner of the AAC title, at least for this season automatically qualifies for a BCS bowl. 

The undefeated Cougars get tested next week when those other Cougars from BYU come to Reliant Stadium followed by a AAC road trip to New Jersey to play Rutgers.

Trials Of LGBT Out Vs.Not Out Panel Discussion Event At UH Tonight

It's National Coming Out Week, and I've been invited to take part in a panel discussion on the University of Houston campus later this evening. 

It's part of the on campus series of events conducted to enlighten the UH community on LGBT issues in the runup to National Coming Out Day on Friday.

The event I've been invited to take part in is hosted by Gamma Rho Lambda Sorority's Kappa Chapter and is a panel discussion entitled 'Trials of LGBT: Out Vs. Not Out'.    I'm excited to not only be back on the campus of my alma mater, but be part of a panel of people who have either had the experience of either coming out or are unable to do so due to extenuating circumstances.

It'll be at the Agnes Arnold Building on the UH main campus tonight, October 8 in Room 30 and starts at 6:30 PM   

Hope you folks in the Houston area and on or near the UH campus can make it for what should be an interesting discussion.

2013 UH Cougar Watch- Coogs Are 4-0!

While Computer Prime was in the shop, the NCAA college football season got cranked up along with the first year of my Houston Cougars playing in the American Athletic Conference, AKA the rebranded Big East.

They went 5-7 in their last C-USA season and were picked in the AAC preseason media poll to finish sixth in the league.  But historically my alma mater has a habit of exceeding football expectations in the first year they enter new conferences. 

So far it looks like that may be happening for this prepubescent Cougars football squad now.  

Because they are building a $105 million 40,000 seat on campus football stadium on the former spot that Robertson Stadium used to occupy that isn't scheduled to open until next August, their 2013 home games are being played at Reliant, Rice and BBVA Compass stadiums.

The Coogs got this 2013 football party started with a 62-13 August 30 thumping of the Southern University Jaguars from the SWAC at Reliant Stadium. 

The next week, September 7 they traveled to Philadelphia to make a little history and play the very first American Athletic Conference game against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field. 

It was a tight and frustrating affair for the Cougars as they lost junior starting QB David Piland to a concussion and sophomore RB Kenneth Farrow to a season ending injury.

Piland's concussion paved the way for true freshman John O'Korn to take over the reins and his freshman counterpart Greg Ward to get some playing time.  The UH Air Raid offense moved the ball at will on the Owls until they got in the red zone, the Temple defense would stiffen and they would settle for field goals.  Cougar kicker Richie Leone kicked five field goals as they went an abysmal 1 for 8 in the red zone. 

Been watching the Texans too much.    

But the Cougar defense stepped up and got a red zone pick to end one Owl drive with them clinging to a 15-13 lead and stiffened on another drive that led to a missed 25 yard field goal that would have put Temple in front 16-15.   Ryan Jackson’s 8 yard fourth quarter touchdown run let the Cougars exhale and get out of town with a 22-13 win to go 2-0 on the young 2013 season and get their first AAC conference win. 

The Bayou Bucket showdown at Reliant Stadium with our crosstown rivals the Rice Owls was next up on the schedule on September 21.  It was in addition to being John O'Korn's first collegiate start a game chock full of offensive fireworks as the Cougars found themselves trailing 13-7 after the first quarter before they woke up and grabbed an 17-13 halftime lead.   

The Cougars built a comfortable 31-13 they took into the fourth quarter lead before Rice came storming back.  

Alex Lyons picked up a blocked Cougar field goal attempt with 2:18 in the game fourth quarter and raced 62 years for a Rice TD to narrow the lead to a scant five points.   Rice kicker Chris Boswell subsequently executed a highlight worthy back-footed onside kick the Owls recovered to give them one last chance to bring the Bucket to their side of town.

But a fourth down pass from the UH 36 on that potential game winning drive fell incomplete and the Bucket remains on the UH campus for the third straight year after the 31-26 win over the Owls to go 3-0.

Because the Cougars and Owls are now in different conferences for the first time since 2003, that was the last scheduled game between UH and Rice for the next four years.  Both schools have indicated they wish to continue the Bayou Bucket rivalry which has occurred since 1971.


Yesterday the unbeaten Cougars traveled down I-10 west to take on the 2-2 UT-San Antonio Roadrunners at the Alamodome for the first time. 

But this had the makings of a trap game.  The UTSA program may only be three years old, but it's headed by Larry Coker, who once led the Miami Hurricanes to a national championship in 2001.  UTSA sits in the second largest city in Texas and has quality high school programs in the area like Houston that produce lots of FBS caliber high school football players.  The Roadrunners recruited enough of them to where they went 8-4 last season and 3-3 in the WAC but because they are making the transition from FCS (Division I-AA) aren't fully bowl eligible until 2014.    

For three quarters UTSA stayed competitive with the Cougars in a back and forth game in which the lead exchanged several times.  It unraveled in the fourth quarter for the Roadrunners when Cougars defensive lineman BJ Singleton blocked a Sean Ianno field goal attempt that Brandon Wilson scooped up and turned into a 79 year touchdown that gave UH a 31-21 lead. 

It also turned a close game into a rout as the Cougars forced five fourth quarter UTSA turnovers including a 96 yard pick six with 48 seconds left in the game by William Jackson for a 59-28 win and remain undefeated in this 2013 football season. 

The 4-0 UH Cougars play their second AAC game on Saturday morning October 12 at BBVA Compass Stadium against Memphis.

Going to be interesting to see them trying to keep the forward momentum going in this inaugural AAC season with this freshman dominated squad.  .

Will be hoping they do. 

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.

UH Offically Joins The American Athletic Conference

A lot of soap opera worthy things happened since I wrote that November 2011 post about the University of Houston joining the Big East Conference

TCU was supposed to join the Big East in 2012, but backed out after they received an invitation to join the Big 12. West Virginia also bolted on the Big East after it was invited to join the Big 12 along with the Horned Frogs for the 2012-13 academic year.  

The Big East Catholic basketball only schools (The Catholic 7) bailed to form their own conference. 

They subsequently negotiated a deal to keep the Big East name, the contract for the basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden and also depart today.

Boise State and San Diego State after initially agreeing in November 2011 to join the league, backed out after all the turmoil and mass defections started and decided to stay in the Mountain West Conference. 

Boise State filed a lawsuit in April to avoid paying the $5 million exit fee to the Big East/AAC.  The Bi East/AAC is also embroiled in litigation with West Virginia, Pitt, and Rutgers.   They recently settled out of court with TCU for $5 million.

Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers also said see ya to the Big East to head to other conferences.  Pittsburgh and Syracuse are headed to the ACC starting today, Louisville will join in 2014 and Rutgers is headed to the Big Ten in 2014.   Notre Dame, which was a Big East member for all its other conference sports except football also joined the exodus for the ACC and that affiliation starts today.

Since the Big East name departed with The Catholic 7, the conference in now named the American Athletic Conference.  The good news is that the automatic BCS football berth remains, which is why UH left C-USA to join the AAC in the first place, is still available to play for this year until the new plus 4 playoff structure starts in 2014.

There was just as much drama and activity on Cullen Blvd.in the runup to this day.  

During the middle of a 2011 season in which UH was on the brink of being a BCS buster in football Kevin Sumlin shadily was negotiating on the eve of the C-USA title game against Southern Mississippi to scurry off to Texas A&M.   The Cougars were upset 49-28 in that game and went from playing in the Sugar Bowl to the Ticket City Bowl where they flattened a scandal plagued Penn State team to finish 13-1 .  . . 

Tony Levine became the UH head coach after Sumlin's departure and had a disappointing injury plagued 5-7 season that included a scary November 2012 incident in which cornerback DJ Hayden nearly died on the practice field.   Robertson Stadium was torn down after the Cougars played their final game in it, a 40-17 victory against Tulane on December 3.

Construction started in February on the new $105 million football stadium after Robertson was demolished and the site cleared.  In the interim the Cougars will play their inaugural AAC season home football games at Reliant Stadium until the new 40,000 seat on campus football stadium opens in August 2014.

UH's new collegiate conference home will have 10 teams in 2013-14, which is two short of what you need to host a football conference title game.   AAC members in this inaugural season are Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, Temple, UCF and USF.  

After Louisville and Rutgers leave the AAC, East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join the American for all sports in July 2014 and Navy will join as a football only member in July 2015.

A new chapter in the Cougars collegiate sporting history starts today and we UH fans and alums can only hope it will be a successful and less drama filled one.

Isaac and Kris Win!

Score one for the karnic wheel quickly working!

Congratulations to the new UH-Downtown student body president and vice president Isaac Valdez and Kristopher Sharp!

Sharp during the campaign was subjected to a vicious smear attack by some fool who has a future in the Texas Republican Party.  Fliers popped up on the UH-D campus disclosing Sharp's medical information on the back and urging students not to vote for the Valdez-Sharp ticket.

Those flyers seemed to have the opposite effect.  It not only pissed off people on campus, it galvanized the Houston LGBT community to help the ticket get elected and donations came pouring in.  The election was held last week with the Valdez-Sharp ticket romping to victory.

Glad to see that reprehensible tactic of using homophobic bigotry to win elections  failed this time and know that Isaac and Kris will be two wonderful student leaders at the head of UH-Downtown's student government ..

Now if they can catch the fool (or fools) who spread those flyers on campus in the first place.

Good Luck Kris!

One of the new folks I met on the UH-Downtown campus when I participated in their panel discussion last week was Kris Sharp, the UHD student body vice presidential candidate and junior social work student who was targeted by homobigots.

Somebody who has a future in Republican politics in this state or nationally (assuming they don't get arrested for the theft and misuse of Kris' medical information) created flyers with Sharp's medical information and HIV status

Of course, Sharp was flabbergasted this happened but doesn't want to prosecute this fool.

Sharp told the Houston Press, "There's a culture at UHD that is somewhat less accepting of LGBT youth, but something of this magnitude is completely mind-blowing. I knew, going into the election, that I could possibly be targeted because of my sexuality -- but I had no idea that it would go to this level."

The person then followed up their initial criminally shady behavior by impersonating Sharp online and claiming in an e-mail they sent to the Houston Press there would be a campus rally on April 3 to protest what happened.  Since 2009 impersonation of someone on the Net in Texas is a third class felony, so if it's the same fool, he's in even deeper trouble. 

But more on this developing situation later.   It's election week on the UHD campus which started yesterday and runs through the 26th.   Time to cast votes for the Valdez-Sharp ticket if you are a UHD student.  This is one in which I hope the karmic wheel moves swiftly on two fronts and the perpetrator is caught.

Good luck Kris and hope you and Isaac Valdez overcome the haters and you emerge victorious.