Love The Official President Barack Obama White House Portrait!

For those of you who not only miss the No Drama Obama Administration days and how effortlessly cool he looked in his tan suit, it's back in his official White House portrait.

Unlike the portraits that were unveiled in 2018 for POTUS and FLOTUS 44 that are in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, these are curated by the White House Historical Association and hang in the White House.

President Obama and the First Lady chose the artists who created them in early 2017, but the contracts are negotiated by the White House Historical Association and kept confidential.

The National Portrait Gallery paintings of POTUS and FLOTUS 44  were created by Kehinde Wiley for President Obama and by Amy Sherald for First Lady Michelle Obama.

For the last 40 years, there has been an East Room ceremony that occurs at the tail end of a president's first term in which the current president invites his predecessor to unveil the official White House portrait. 

Although Lady Bird Johnson had hosted Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman for their portrait unveilings, and Richard and Pat Nixon hosted Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in 1971, the first unveiling ceremony involving a sitting president and his predecessor didn't take place until 1978, when then President Jimmy Carter hosted Gerald Ford.

The Obamas invited George W and Laura Bush to the White House in 2012 for their portrait unveiling. 

But with Forever President Obama not interested in setting foot in a Trump White House, and the White House Grand Wizard still jealously (and racistly) hating on Barack Obama and trying to blame him for his misadministration's failures, it's clear that tension between the two is at Defcon 2 levels and probably will be for a while.

Obama justifiably put him on blast recently for Trump's massively incompetent response to the coronavirus pandemic, and of course Orange Foolius responded in his usual petty and vindictive manner.
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So look for that portrait ceremony to happen if Joe Biden happens to become (and I pray he does) the 46th POTUS.
 

Looking forward to seeing what Forever First Lady Michelle Obama's official First Lady portrait looks like as well.  If it turns out better than her official First Lady photo, I wouldn't be surprised.

Biden Sweeps St Patrick's Day 2020 Democratic Primaries

Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, only three of the scheduled four states held primaries last night in Arizona,  Florida, and Illinois.   But that didn't stop the Joementum that has been building since Biden crushed Bernie Sanders in the South Carolina primary back on February 29.

Biden didn't just sweep all three primary contests, it was a political beatdown.  He not only decisively won Florida and Illinois to open the night, he prevailed in Arizona to open a sizable lead in the delegate count.

Florida was expected to be a 'YUGE' loss for Sanders because of his pro-Castro comments during that disastrous 60 Minutes interview combined with a Latinx electorate made up predominately of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who don't have warm and fuzzy memories of socialism.

Oh yeah, because I need to remind some of y'all who the base of the Democratic Party is, Florida also has a 16% Black population.

It turned out to be Sanders' worst political nightmare.   The Sunshine State was the big delegate prize of the evening with 219 delegates up for grabs, and Biden handled his Florida business by winning every county in the state.

Biden captured 61.9% of the vote and the lion's share of the available delegates.   It was the fourth state this 2020 primary season in which he swept every county.

It was just as bad for Team Sanders in Illinois, where 155 pledged delegates were in play.
Biden captured 59.1% of the vote and 101 of the state's counties.  The only one Biden lost was Champaign County, which is the home of  the University of Illinois 

And ahem, Black population percentage in Illinois is 14%.

It was closer in Arizona, where Latinx people make up 25% of the electorate and have been in Sanders camp for much of this primary season.   Black population percentage in the Grand Canyon State is 4.1%.

It only had 67 delegates in play, and Biden had been trailing in the state to Sanders as late as March 3.

Biden edged Sanders by a 43%-32% margin.   Arizona awards 23 of its delegates to the person who wins the statewide contest, and the other 44 are allocated based on how well you do in each of the states nine congressional districts.   Biden swept all nine congressional districts

Biden is now well on his way to capturing the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination, with after last night's  contests, 1165 delegates.    You need 1991 to capture the Democratic nomination on a convention first ballot.   Sanders has only 880 with states demographically friendly to Biden up on the calendar assuming those primaries aren't delayed like Ohio's was yesterday. 

It's past time for the Sanders campaign to assess where they are, because the unmistakable message that is being sent by Democratic primary voters is they don't think you can win in November. 

You have lost 19 contests since February 28, many by lopsided margins, and it's past time for you to consider dropping  out in order to unify the party so that Biden can pivot to Job Number One in making Donald Trump a one term impeached POTUS.

But I don't expect you to do that.

It's Texas Primary Election Day!

It's Texas primary election day!   It's also Super Tuesday, in which Texas and 14 other states and territories are conducting their primary elections today.

While Texas and  California are the biggest delegate rich prizes today, the other states and territories participating in Super Tuesday are American Samoa, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia, North Carolina,  Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Colorado and Utah

Polls in Texas open at 7 AM and close at 7 PM    If you are in line at closing time, you must be allowed to vote.   Any shady behavior or voter suppression attempts at your polling places can  be reported at 866- OUR-VOTE

If you're unsure of who to vote for, I have some suggestions.

In case you're wondering if Moni practiced what she is preaching to y'all, I sure did.   I voted in the Democratic primary during the first day of early voting back on February 18.

If you live in Harris County, you can vote at any voting center in the county when the polls open.

So go handle your business.  Only takes a few moments out of your day and it's part of your civic duty to do so.  Besides, the kids who can't vote yet are counting on you to do it for them. 

Past Time To Ban The Trans Panic Defense

When I talk about the trans panic defense, it is a shock to judges and even attorneys who have been practicing law for decades.

So what is the trans panic defense?   It is a reprhensible legal strategy used by defense attorneys working for clients who have killed trans or gender non conforming (GNC) people.  It asks juries to find that the victim's gender identity or secual orientation is to blame for the defendant's loss of self control and violent reaction that led said defendant to harm or kill that trans or GNC person.

Yeah, it's BS, but since the trans panic defese plays upon transphobic 'deception' meme and taps into the transphobia that may be present in a jury, it unfortunately works.   

We saw it being deployed by Dallas defense attorney Andrew Wilkerson in Dallas last October to get his client Edward Thomas off on a lesser charge.   Thomas was the person who viciously beat down Muhlaysia Booker in a videotaped fight last April. 

Thomas was convicted on a misdemeanor asault charge instead of the felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon one.

But it exists, and there is now a movement to ban it.

There is a US Senate bill, S 1721, that has been filed to ban the trans and gay panic defense on a federal level.   The American Bar Association (ABA) and the LGBT Bar Association supports its elimination. 

We are now up to nine states in which the trans panic defese is banned.   Those states are California (2014), Illinois (2017), Rhode Island (2018), Nevada, Connectitcut, Maine, Hawaii and New York (2019), and New Jersey (2020)

The District of Columbia (2017 and 2019), Minnesota and Pennsylvania (2018), Texas, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Wisconsin  (2019), Washington (2019 and 2020), Maryland (2020)  and Gerogia (2020) 

The one in Washington state is called the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act in memory of the trans teen who was murdered there, and is now being debated by their state legislature, 

It will interesting to see if more states join the movement to ban the trans panic defense.  It's something that should have been done a long time ago.

The Final 2019 US Trans Names List

 As the ball is about to drop in New York's Times Square to signal the end of the 2010's and the beginning of  a new year and new decade, still had this bit of old business to deal with. 

I don't have to tell you TransGriot readers that 2019 was another deadly year, specifically for Black trans women.  Texas was the epicenter of it, with us losing four trans women.   It could have easily been six had Pinky in Houston and Daniela in Dallas not survived being shot by assailants who are at this writing, still at large.

These are the names of the trans folks in the US who have been killed in this 2019 calendar year

Dana Martin, 31, Montgomery, AL
Ashanti Carmon, 27, Fairmount Heights, MD
Jazzaline Ware, 34, Memphis, TN
Muhlaysia Booker, 22, Dallas, TX
Michelle Washington, 40, Philadelphia, PA
Claire Legato, 21, Cleveland, OH
Paris Cameron, 20, Detroit, MI
Chynal Lindsey, 26, Dallas, TX
Chanel Scurlock, 23, Lumberton, NC
Zoe Spears, 23, Fairmount Heights, MD
Brooklyn Lindsey, 32, Kansas City, MO
Denali Berries Stuckey, 29, North Charleston, SC
Marquis Kiki Fantroy, 21, Miami, FL
Pebbles LaDime Doe, 24, Allendale, SC
Jordan Cofer, 22, Dayton, OH
Tracy Single Williams, 22, Houston TX
Bailey Reeves, 17, Baltimore, MD
Bee Love Slater, 23, Clewiston, FL
Ja'Leyah Jamar Berryman, 30, Kansas City, MO
Elisha Stanley, 46, Pittsburgh, PA
Itali Marlowe, 29, Houston, TX
Brianna BB Hill, 30, Kansas City, MO
Nikki Kuhnhausen, 18, Vancouver, WA
Yahira Nesby, 33, Brooklyn, NY

Stats Breakdown
Female- 23
Male-  1
Age
0-19 -  2
20-29 - 14
30-39 - 6
40-49 - 2
50-59- 0
Race-Ethnicity
White- 2
Black- 22
Latinx-0
Asian-Pacific Islander-0 

The three things that jump out at me besides the fact that 22 of the 24 people that we lost were Black and 14 of them we between the ages of 20-29, is that we lost ZERO Latinx people to anti-trans murders. 

Not that there weren't any attempts on the lives of our Latina trans siblings.  It's just they were blessed those attempts didn't turn into fatalities.

For those of you claiming Layleen Polanco, who died while incarcerated at Rikers Island was murdered, not according to the NYC coroner.   That is why she is not on this list, which follows the protocols of the Remembering Our Dead project founded by Gwen Smith 20 years ago.

One thing we can all agreed on is 24 murdered trans people is far too many, and these are just the ones we're aware of.  It may be far more .  There is a Black trans woman in Oakland who has been missing since December 1

May they rest in power with the ancestors.   May the peeps who murdered them also be found guilty of their crimes and be punished to the full extent of the law for their crimes

Trump Impeached!

Y'all knew I was doing the happy dance when after eight hours of debate, the US House made history by impeaching Donald Trump. 

Trump becomes only the third POTUS in our nation's 241 year history to be impeached, and the first to have it happen in his first term.   He also got impeached by the most votes ever.

Richard Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974 before the House got to impeach and remove him from office.

Both articles of impeachment passed primarily on party lines.

Article I, the abuse of power one, passed the House by a 230- 197 vote.    Article II, the Obstruction of Congress one, passed the House on a 229-198 vote.

There were two Democrats who voted NO on Article I and three who voted NO on Article II.  One of those Democrats who voted no is leaving for the Republican Party

Rep Tulsi Gabbard (Russian asset, HI) , confirming what Hillary Clinton said about her, voted 'PRESENT' on both articles of impeachment.  It's a .decision that is not sitting well not only with the voters of Hawaii's 2nd District, but with many people in the Democratic party questioning why she's even still in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary race

While Trump will forever carry the stain of being on the short list of White House occupants who have been impeached, it does not mean he has been removed from office,

The impeachment is on a simple majority vote, and is basically an indictment.   The process now moves to the US Senate where the trial, presided over by Chef Justice John Roberts, will take place

It will take 67 senators voting YES to remove trump from office, and bear in mind that as of yet in US history no impeached president has been removed from office.

But we do have an election in November that will allow us to do just that. .

Trump Is A Racist, And So Are You If You Support Him

Like every rational African American, I supported and voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election because as I warned y'all repeatedly in the runup to that election,  Trump was historically bad  and unqualified to become POTUS.

Some of y'all were too caught up in your 'Bernie lost' fee fees to get over it and see the big political picture that I and many Black voters saw as November 8 loomed.

It was about the SCOTUS and the federal court system, stupid

Because of your lack of political vision, we are now navigating the worst presidency of my lifetime, and I was a teen during the Nixon years.

Black people have known for decades that Trump was a racist, and after his unwarranted attacks on four POC US congresswomen, some of y'all are finally shaking off the willful ignorance along with the media to call his racist azz out.

Now it's time for you folks who fell for the okey doke, voted for Trump and gleefully support him to come to grips with an unpleasant truth about yourselves.

Since you are enabling and unquestioningly defending his azz, that makes all you MAGA hat wearing white peeps and the 53% of white women who voted for Trump racists as well.

And before you go there, don't even part your conservalips to illogically call me 'racist' for calling out the racism I undeniably see. 

You don't like Moni saying that unpleasant truth about you?   Too damned bad.   You voted for and still support a man that David Duke endorsed.  With every passing day of this incompetent mispresidency he makes it clear he hates Black and non white people.

And y'all are eating up the oppression, hate speech and cruelty he aims at us.  Some of you are even engaging in it.

Spare me the whitesplaining about how saying 'go back to you country' is not racist because it is.

To me, the most disgusting Trump supporters are ones who are in the trans and SGL community.  That's a rant for another time.

Note to you Trumpettes and MAGAts.  I am not obligated as an American citizen to unquestioningly love this country.   That what you conservafools do.   I love my country enough to praise it when it does the right thing and when it's wrong, to use my First Amendment rights to speak truth to power and call BS out.
 
I love my country when it comes closer to living up to its democratic principles and I see people who look like me participating in governing it.  I want it to be better and always striving to evolving to be a more perfect union.

Trump and his ilk want a dark, white supremacist America that is the antithesis of the beloved community that the Rev Dr Martin Luther King talked about  Your racism is not patriotism, and the sooner you MAGAts grasp that concept, the better our country will be.

Trump is undeniably a racist.  Disagreeing with him doesn't make me un American.  It makes me a patriot. 

USA Women Are The Four Time FIFA World Champs

Looks like Dolt 45 has a decision to make after the USA women handled their soccer business and completed their run to back to back titles for the first time in program history by defeating the Netherlands 2-0.

This was Team USA's fourth FIFA world championship, and they left no doubts about the fact they are the world's best team despite a stiff challenge from the Netherlands, the reigning European champions who were playing in their first FIFA women's World Cup final. 

The Netherlands was riding the hot goalkeeping of eventual Golden Glove winner Sari van Veenendaal, who kept the USA scoreless until  Alex Morgan drew a penalty in the 61 minute that led to Megan Rapinoe's sixth goal of the tournament.   That snapped van Veennedaal's scoreless streak at 314 minutes, and seven minutes later Rose Lavelle sent a scorching shot from 18 yards out past van Veenendaal to make it 2-0 and start the party in Lyon for te American fans there and back in the USA. 

Rapinoe not only captured the Golden Boot  award for the tournament's top scorer, she also snached the Golden Ball (MVP) trophy as the tournament's best player. 

Take that Donald Trump!

The Netherlands along with England and Sweden did walk away from this tournament knowing that they have qualified for the 2020 Olympics..    Sweden also won the Third Place game 2-1 against England.

But all hail the queens of the FIFA soccer pitch.    Will they threepeat in 2023?   We'll have to wait to find out the answer to this question.

Apollo 8 50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago today the Apollo 8 mission was launched just four days before Christmas.

1968 had been a rough, tumultuous year.  We'd lost the Rev Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy to assassins bullets.  Riots had broken out in several US cities.  Czechoslovakia got invaded by the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact to put an end to the Prague Spring.
The Vietnam War was raging, and the protests against it were ramping up.  Nixon was now the president-elect after LBJ declined to run for another term.

Despite all the national and international drama, NASA was still working to make President Kennedy's challenge to the country to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade happen.

And this mission was critical to making the other goal happen with the clock inexorably ticking toward the end of the 1960's.

After launching on December 20 with astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders onboard   was one packed with historical firsts.   The first to leave Earth and set out for another celestial body.  Most importantly in that Cold War space race period, the first manned mission to orbit the moon. 

It arrived at the moon to start its ten orbits of the moon on Christmas Eve.   And then the got the sight and the photo of a lifetime, the famous shot of Earth rising above the moon.

They also sent a message from lunar orbit to the people back on Earth breathlessly watching the mission.



Seven months later, the mission that President Kennedy had set the nation on course to complete would be accomplished with Apollo 11 landing on the moon that July.

2018 US Trans Murders- Updated List

Here's hoping that 2018 comes to an end at 11:59 PM on December 31 with no more addition to this list that has been compiled from January 1-December 31. 

We needed a list in which we actually counted people killed during a calendar year from January 1 to December 31 and not from TDOR to the next TDOR.

And here we are.   24 lives needlessly snuffed out before they could reach their full potential  It's past time for one of these murderers of trans people to get the death penalty for doing so.

As long as they feel they'll get a slap on the wrist or nobody will care about a dead trans person , they'll keep doing it.   I do, because trans lives matter.just as much as you cis ones to all who loved the people who have prematurely joined the ancestors

2018 US Trans Murders


Christa Lee Steele-Knudslien, 47, North Adams, MA
Vickky Gutierrez, 38, Los Angeles, CA
Zakaria Fry, 28,  Albuquerque, NM
Celine Walker, 38,  Jacksonville, FL
Tonya Harvey, 35, Buffalo, NY

Phylicia Mitchell, 45, Cleveland, OH
Amia Tyrae Berryman, 28, Baton Rouge, LA
Sasha Wall, 29, Chesterfield County, SC  
Carla Patricia Flores-Pavon, 26, Dallas, TX
Nino Fortson, 36, Atlanta, GA
Gigi Pierce, 28,  Portland, OR
Antasha English, 38, Jacksonville, FL
Diamond Stephens, 39, Meridian, MS

Catalina Christina James, 24, Jacksonville, FL
Keisha James, 58, Cleveland, OH
Sasha Garden, 27, Orlando, FL
Vontashia Bell, 18, Shreveport, LA
Dejanay Stanton, 24, Chicago, IL
Shantee Tucker, 30, Philadelphia, PA
Londonn Moore Kinard, 20, North Port, FL
Nikki Janelle Enriquez, 28, Laredo, TX
Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier, 31, Chicago, IL
Tydie Dansbury, 37, Baltimore, MD
Keanna Mattel,(Kelly Stough)  35, Detroit, MI

2018 Trans Murders Stats Breakdown
Female 23-Male/GNC 1)

By Race
White-3   (3 female-0 male)
Latina-3   (3 female-0 male)
Black -18  (17 female-1 male/GNC)
Asian- 0
Native American- 0

By Age

50+  1
40-49  2

30-39  10
20-29  10
10-19- 1

May they all rest in power in peace, and may the wastes of DNA who took their lives be caught, prosecuted and and incarcerated . . 

What Does Being A Democrat Mean?

I was challenged by someone in a Facebook thread to explain what being a Democrat means. 
This is what I came up. 

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What does being a Democrat mean?

That evidence and fact based policy matters. That scientific research matters and needs to be consistently funded.

It means we Democrats believe public schools and universities matter because they teach our kids, and they deserve proper funding because an educated populace is important.

We Democrats believe that healthcare is a right that all citizens enjoy, shouldn't be denied because of preexisting conditions or ability to pay, and a healthy society is a policy imperative.

Being a Democrat means that our military should only be used to go to war as a last resort, and not as a first policy option.   We also believe that when people make the sacrifices necessary to serve in our military, they be compensated properly for it.   The Veterans Administration should be properly funded and serve our warriors when they return home from foreign shores. 

It means we recognize that our government at all levels works best when a diverse group of people step up to lead, and that when people of all ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to run for public office.

Democrats believe that people be paid a fair wage for their work, have the right to form a union to collectively bargain for reasonable wages, and get regular wage increases at those jobs.

Being a Democrat means that you believe that all people inside our borders should be treated fairly and with dignity and respect, even ones that aren't citizens of our country.  Who you love or your gender identity should not be justification for mistreatment. 

Being a Democrat means that we believe our country is better when we welcome people not born here to immigrate and contribute their talents to building our society.  It also means that as a multicultural society, hate speech, bigotry and xenophobic commentary is unacceptable and deserves the strongest condemnation  

Being a Democrat means that we believe the Constitution is a living document that evolves as our country and society evolves. It means that all people eligible to vote should be able to cast a ballot that counts in our elections, not suppressed out of participation in them.

It means that we Democrats believe that what determines whether a person receives justice in this country shouldn't depend on their skin color, whether the judge has a D or R behind their name, the federal judge was appointed by a Democratic or Republican president, or the size of their bank account

It means we Democrats believe in a media with journalists dedicated to speaking truth to power and reporting the facts.   We believe the media is an indispensable part of our democracy and a crucial component of creating the informed society we need so this American democratic experiment works properly.

Being a Democrat means we recognize there are many religious traditions in this country, not just right wing evangelical Christians.  The practice of those other religions inside our borders must be respected and protected.    We also recognize and respect the right of people to have no religious tradition at all, and the separation of church and state matters in a multicultural nation.

It means we recognize that infrastructure matters and it needs constant attention, funding and improvement

It means that as people who wish for America to be worthy of being called and seen as a great nation around the world, we praise our country when it is doing things right and constructively criticize it when it is on the wrong evolutionary path

It also means that we Democrats love this country, too

This is what a Democrat means.

Down Goes Canada! USA Women (Finally!)Win Hockey Gold!

The last time the USA women won a gold medal in women's hockey was during the Nagano Games in 1998.   Team USA beat Canada 7-4 in the preliminary round, then beat them when it counted 3-1 for the first every medal awarded in women's hockey.

Since then, as my green tea drinking north of the border homegirl has been reminding me, it has been a frustrating series of Olympic defeats for the USA women's hockey team despite successfully (and repeatedly) beating those Canadian behinds in the IIHF World Championships.

There was the 3-2 gold medal game loss to Canada on home soil in Salt Lake City in 2002.  Four years later in the 2006 Turin Games Team USA didn't even make it to the gold medal game.  They shockingly lost in an 3-2 OT shootout to Sweden in the semis and had to settle for the bronze medal.
 
In 2010 the USA lost to Olympic hosts Canada in Vancouver 2-0 in the gold medal match to collect another silver medal.   

The 2014 Sochi Games was the most frustrating USA women's Olympic hockey loss.  Team USA was up 2-0 in the third period and 3:26 from avenging those defeats until Canada scored twice to force overtime, then won it with a golden goal in overtime to win their fourth straight gold medal.

That loss has fueled the Team USA fire for the last four years.  As usual, they've beaten Canada in four straight IIHF world championships, with three of them happening post-Sochi, but would it finally translate to Olympic gold for Team USA?

Yep it did in PyeongChang. 

This was the third consecutive Olympiad that the USA and Canada had met in the gold medal match and as I warned my green tea drinking homegirl, Olympic win streaks can come to an end.

.Even with a 2-1 loss in the preliminary round to Canada back on February 15 Team USA was a confident bunch going into this game with their bitter rivals.

Team USA struck first late in the 1st period with a Hilary Knight goal to give them a 1- 0 lead.   But Canada struck back after the first intermission with two goals in the 2nd period to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room at the second intermission.

It wasn't looking good for Team USA until a failed 2-1 break and botched Canadian line change resulted in a breakaway goal from Monique Lamoureux with 6:21 remaining that tied the game at 2-2 and sent it to overtime.

After 20 minutes of overtime and constant pressure by Team USA on the Canadian goal resulted in no game winning golden goals for either side.  it was shootout time.

The USA won the coin flip and elected to go second and Amanda Kessel, Gigi Marvin and Jocelyn Lamoreux delivered in the shootout to gain revenge for Sochi and earn Team USA's first women's Olympic hockey medal in 20 years,



The World Champs are finally the Olympic Champs!

See y'all in Beijing,  Renee.

Trump Trying To Push Medical Transphobia

One of the things that I and every Black trans person is painfully aware of is the story of Tyra Hunter. 

On August 7, 1995 she was involved a survivable SE Washington DC traffic accident.  She was unfortunately denied medical care by DC Fire Department EMT Adrian Williams and at the hospital where she was eventually transported and died as a result of the medical transphobia she experienced.

Tyra Hunter is not the only case of documented medical transphobia that resulted in death.   There's the case of Robert Eads, whose story is told in the documentary Southern Comfort.   He died of ovarian cancer because 20 doctors refused to take him on as a patient and treat the disease when it was detected in the early stages and he had better odds of surviving it

These are mine and my community's nightmare scenarios as trans persons when it comes to medical care, and it's why we cheered when the Affordable Care Act was passed with provisions in it to end medical discrimination and medical transphobia aimed at transgender Americans.

Now Dear Orange Idiot, in his never ending attempts to pander to white fundamentalists who hate the trans community, is proposing that medical personnel be allowed to deny treatment to transgender people on the basis of their religious beliefs. 

Not no but hell no will we allow that to happen

What Trump is proposing is allowing the Health and Human Services civil rights office to protect healthcare workers who don't want to provide abortions, treat transgender patients, help them transition or any other medical procedures they have a religious or moral objection to like artificial insemination a woman who is part of a lesbian couple who wishes to have a child.
. 
This is the use of religion to hurt people because you disapprove of who they are," said Harper Jean Tobin of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Any rule that grants a license to discriminate would be a disgrace and a mockery of the principle of religious freedom we all cherish."

For for faith based bigots who are in the medical professions, if you didn't want to serve and provide care for all people as you Hippocratic Oath and various professional ethics orgs require you to do, then you should have NEVER gotten into those health care professions in the first place.   

If Health and Human Services goes there, see y'all in court.

Erin Jackson Is Going To The Olympics!

24 year old Erin Jackson has only been participating in long track speed skating full time for four months.   Coming into the US Olympic Speed Skating Trials in West Allis, WI she had posted a personal best 39.51 time in the 500m back on December 23 in Salt Lake City.

But the former University of Florida engineering student and inline skater from Ocala, FL picked a great time to set new personal best times, and did so when the pressure was highest.

"I really wasn't expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can. " said Jackson. "A couple of weeks ago I was still in the 40's.  So this has all happened pretty fast."

The best she can is going to take her to Pyeongchang, South Korea and the Winter Olympics.

She went 39.22 in her first heat during the Trials Friday night, and even faster in her second heat at 39.04 to become the first Black female athlete ever to qualify for a US Olympic long track speed skating team.

Jackson finished third in the 500m, behind her Ocala, FL homegirl Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma to punch her ticket to Pyeongchang.

February 8 and the start of the upcoming Winter Games is getting more interesting by the day with all this Black Girl Magic happening.

Transgender Americans Can Enlist In The US Armed Forces Today!

Despite everything Trump and his misadministration attempted to do to thwart it, one of the things that happened starting today is that transgender Americans who wish to do so can enlist in the US Armed Forces.

The Trump Administration decided on Friday they would no longer challenge the policy in court after taking losses last week in two different circuit courts which rejected their bid to put on hold orders from lower court federal judges requiring the Pentagon to admit transgender recruits starting today.

“Plaintiffs allege, and the Court agrees, the ban sends a damaging public message that transgender people are not fit to serve in the military,” U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal said in his ruling. “There is nothing any court can do to remedy a government-sent message that some citizens are not worthy of the military uniform simply because of their gender. A few strokes of the legal quill may easily alter the law, but the stigma of being seen as less-than is not so easily erased.”

That makes six federal courts that have rejected the Trump Administration on this issue.

As you probably guessed, the potential transgender recruit will have to clr a series of lengthy urdles before they can join the branch of our military they are applying for, but after dealing with a gender transition, those hurdles will probably seems like a cakewalk to that person. 

The recruit must be certified by a medical provider they are clinically stable in their preferred gender for 18 months, and are free of significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other areas.

Like advocates for open trans military service, I'm concerned that the Pentagon's guidelines, especially in the hands of a hostile political regime and people inside the military resistant to the enlistment of transgender recruits will result in little to zero trans people being allowed in to join the over 15,000 trans people already serving in our armed forces..

We in Trans America will be watching along with our allies to see if the Pentagon not only allows transgender recruits, but does so in a fair and impartial manner.