Yesterday afternoon I was having a particularly crappy day until I got a phone call from the new Houston GLBT Political Caucus president Jovon Tyler that had me singing Ice Cube's 'Today Was A Good Day' when it was over.
Jovon called to inform me that I was being honored with the 2020 Don Hrachovy Lifetime Achievement Award!
Who is Don Hrachovy? He was the second president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus and Texas A&M Aggie alum who not only was a ten year member of the organization, but spent thousands of hours putting together that formidable 100,000 name database that has made the Houston GLBT Caucus one of the Big Four must get endorsements in Houston area liberal progressive politics.
That database Hrachovy created has paid dividends in helping endorsed Caucus candidates get elected and making the Caucus a formidable political force. He was also one of the founders of Resurrection MCC and the second person to receive this award named for him in 1987.
Before he died at age 37 from complications from AIDS on June 4, 1988, Hrachovy requested that the AIDS Quilt panel being designed for him be made to look like a voter registration card. He served as the Caucus chair of membership and voter registration.
This is not the first time I've been honored by the Caucus. Back in 2016 I received the John Paul Barnich Award from them at that year's Equality Brunch in recognition for the work I'd done to that point.
But this one is huge. The Hrachovy Life Achievement Award was last given out in 1995, and the list of people who have previously won it reads as a Who's Who list of iconic Houston TBLGQ leaders.
The award was first given out in 1986, with Cicely Wynne receiving the inaugural award. Hrachovy received it in 1987 The other iconic Houston leaders who have received this award are Joe Thornton (1988) Jack Valinski (1989), David Fowler (1990) , Pat Hall (1991) Ray Hill (1992) Annise Parker (1993), Eugene Harrington (1994) and Jim Owens (1995)
For some reason they stopped giving out the Hrachovy after 1995 at the Equality Brunch until Tyler and the Awards Committee revived it for this year.
As you probably guessed, when I do receive it, I'll be making history once again. I will become the first Black and first Houston trans person of any ethnicity to win it . The Caucus wasn't open to trans folks when it was founded, and it sadly took until 1999 to change that.policy.
A meeting my neophyte activist self was sitting in the room for when the Caucus board voted to change it.
That's why despite us having some formidable trans leaders in the 713 like Toni Mayes, Phyllis Frye, Sarah DePalma, Dee McKellar, Vanessa Edwards Foster and Brenda Thomas who have done the work and whose shoulders I stand on, it's ironic and humbling that I will be the first trans person to receive this lifetime achievement award.
While I'm always focused on my goal of doing what I can to make, Houston, Texas, and the nation better than when I encountered it and haven't been concerned about getting awards for the work I do, it is nice and deeply appreciated when that work is recognized by your community.
I'll have to wait until the Equality Brunch happens on October 4 to receive it, but already clearing some space on my increasingly crowded awards shelf for it.
Like a lot of Trans World peeps I was more than a little heated when the women of POSE were once again snubbed for Emmy consideration despite stepping up their acting games and putting in some Emmy worthy performances.
Tell me you didn't cry watching Candy's funeral? Or laugh your azz off when Elektra read that Karen for filth in that Hamptons seafood restaurant scene.
Billy Porter was nominated for and won an Emmy last year for his Pray Tell performance and is now only lacking an Oscar to become only the 15th person ever to complete the EGOT.
What's the EGOT you ask? An EGOT is when an entertainer during their career wins an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award.
So yeah, he's mad talented. He also said this when being interviewed last year for his historic Emmy win. The part I'm salty about starts at the 2:51 mark of this video
That video with his 'we in the building' comment is heightening my irritation with that comment a year later. While Porter received a second consecutive nomination for playing Pray Tell, the POSE women got snubbed for a second consecutive year.
You can still be in the building and still be ignored. You Mr. Porter and your fellow cis people all need to recognize that despite the 2020 Emmy nominations for Rain Valdez and Laverne Cox (and congrats to both those amazing women) the #EmmysSoCis.
Brian Michael Smith and Scott Turner Schofield are talented trans masculine actors who were not given 2020 Emmy consideration, either.
Yes, trans actors are in the building. But they still have to fight tooth and nail for the few roles in which trans women play trans feminine characters. Hell, trans women have had to fight just to play a cis feminine character in Hollywood.
Trans masculine actors have to fight just as hard to play a trans masculine character. It took a major outcry from our community to get Halle Berry to reconsider a role in which she would be playing a trans masculine person. Same with getting Scarlett Johansson to change her mind about playing Dante 'Tex' Ritter in the Rub and Tug movie.
Trans women actors have a problem getting trans feminine roles because studio execs and casting directors are still fixated on putting cis male actors in drag to play those roles.
And to our trans community's horror, those cis men (and a cis woman in Hilary Swank) have gallingly gone on to win the awards trans actors get routinely snubbed for by telling our trans stories..
So no, trans people aren't even close to having equity or seeing the change you claimed had come in that 2019 interview. Your Emmy interview to our ears sounded like the dismissive 'wait your turn' crap we've been hearing from Black gay men with clout for over 50 years.
The way Black trans women are being genocidally murdered also adds a fierce urgency of now element to not only this situation, but everything we do.
POSE is one of the few productions in Hollywood in which we not only get to tell our stories, we have trans people in front of and behind the camera writing and directing them like Janet Mock and Our Lady J. That makes it a unique and beloved show in our trans community, and we want to see MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Angelica Ross, Hailie Sahar and Indya Moore succeed.
That means if these women's POSE performances merit Emmy recognition, we want to see them nominated for those performances. If those nominations then turn into trans historic Emmy wins, we're good with that.
That is also the case for the trans folks working behind their camera. If they are doing award worthy work, they need to be recognized for that.
Frankly, I love seeing all my Hollywood trans family succeed whether you are in front of the camera or behind it. The measuring stick for how successful you are in Hollywood is winning or being nominated for major awards like Emmys, Oscars, or Golden Globes.
But to have a shot an winning an Emmy or any of those awards I mentioned, you have to be nominated for it. This is the flaw in Billy Porter's 2019 'we in the building' speech.
You can be in the building all you want. But if you're in the building, doing exemplary work, and are still getting ignored for unspecified reasons up to and including Hollywood transphobia and anti-Blackness, that's a problem that needs to be called out and addressed.
The last time I had the opportunity to talk to Janet Mock face to face was back in August 2016 when we were at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York. We were less than 24 hours from becoming the first out Black trans folks to hit their historic Amphitheater Stage to talk about trans issues and the current events of the time period.
Since then, she's been a little busy. Her first book in 2014, Redefining Realness, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list She released a second book in 2017 entitled Surpassing Certainty that focused on the years in her life that she was not out as trans.
Y'all may have heard about a hit TV show she writes, directs and produces called POSE on FX.
Janet Mock has been making history ever since I had the pleasure of meeting her when I was in New York in 2012 for a GLAAD POC media training.
Some of the things Janet Mock has been recognized for have been TIME naming her to its 100 Most Influential People list, The Hollywood Reporter naming her one of its 2019 “Women in Entertainment Power 100,” Ebony naming her to the Ebony 100 list, Vanity Fair named her on its “New Establishment” list, while the PEN Center USA honored her with an Award of Honor during the 2017 Literary Awards.,
In Hollywood, Mock has continued to blaze trails. She became the first trans woman of color to write and direct a television episode when the 'Love Is The Message' episode was broadcast during POSE's first season.
She also became the first Black trans person to sign a deal with a major movie studio when she inked a multiyear deal with Netflix.
Janet is Black Trans excellence personified, and I'm proud to call her a friend in addition to watching her make moves and still do some amazing things.
And yeah, I'm a huge fan of POSE and can't wait until its third season happens.
When Creating Change kicks off in Dallas, I'll be getting another award for my 22 years of activity in the TBLGQ movement.
I'm being honored with the Susan J. Hyde Award for Longevity in the movement during the opening plenary on January 16.
I'm not the first Black trans person to receive this award. Kylar Broadus received it during the 2011 Creating Change event held in Minneapolis. It's nice that I'm following someone in receiving this award that I have much love and respect for.
I'm looking forward to that when it happens, and it also means I'll have a speech to deliver as well
For those of you planning to attend, see y'all in two weeks.
Well, for once I'm doing an ATX trip that doesn't involve me spending most of my day at the Pink Dome. But it's a little unique in how I'm getting there.
For the first time in 20 years, back in my Air Marshal days, I'm flying to Austin for an event. It's also the first time I will fly into Austin Bergstrom Airport, which opened back in May 1999 and has been expanded since then to house 34 gates.
It used to be Bergstrom Air Force Base until it closed in 1993. Austin's tiny local airport on the north side of town was generating increasing citizen noise complaints, and the city asked to Air Force to consider making Bergstrom a joint civilian-military field. Those requests were rejected until the base closed.
Bergstrom was also where Air Force One repeatedly flew into from Washington DC when Lyndon B. Johnson was president and enjoying time on his nearby LBJ Ranch in Johnson City, TX.
The city of Austin eventually acquired it, demolished all the old base structures except the runway and the circular 12th Air Force HQ building that got converted into a hotel.
The main terminal at the ABIA airport is named after trailblazing Texas legislator Barbara Jordan, and there's a statue of her in it.
Most of the time when I go to Austin from Houston I'm rolling past the airport on TX 71 either as a bus or car passenger. But since I was in a United hub city in San Francisco and I needed to be in the ATX, decided to save myself a trip and just fly nonstop to Austin instead of flying back home to IAH, heading to downtown Houston, then taking a nearly 2 hour bus ride back to the ATX.
It was going to be a 'Bougie bus', AKA a Vonlane, but still, why do that to myself?
I will be taking the bus back home to Houston when I'm done up here
What is that business? I'm here for the 30th anniversary gala for Equality Texas that's happening on Saturday night, and they're giving me an award.
And yes, I will have room on my trophy shelf for it.
That 30th anniversary gala will happen at the AT&T Conference Center in downtown Austin on Saturday night, and looking forward to seeing and spending some time with my ATX family
"While I may be the first African-American trans person honored with this Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award, I emphatically believe I won't be the last one to be so honored.
We have some people who have been and still are trailblazing African-American leaders such as Marisa Richmond, Kylar Broadus, Dawn Wilson, Miss Major and Louis Mitchell just to name a few who could have easily been standing here today instead of me." Monica Roberts, Virginia Price Transgender Pioneer Award Acceptance Speech October, 2015
Now, four years later, Marisa Richmond will become the second African American trans person to win this prestigious award when Fantasia Fair kicks off in Provincetown. MA October 20-27.
And I couldn't be happier for her. She has been blazing trails in our trans rights movement since 1992, and I'm pleased and proud to call her a friend.
In 1992 she founded the Tennessee Vals gender group that is still in existence. She was a board member of NTAC, AEGIS and NCTE. She founded the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition. In 2008 she became the first African American trans delegate to the Democratic National Convention that was held in Denver. In 2008 she also became the first openly trans person to win an election in Tennessee when she was elected to the Davidson County Democratic Party Executive Committee.
Marisa was also the 2016 Democratic National Convention's official timekeeper
She is also a sought after speaker on trans issues in addition to being a college history professor
Congratulations Marisa! It's well deserved, and hopefully I can get to FanFair 2019 and be in the room when she accepts her award
I've never been to the annual Johnson Rayburn Richards event that Harris County Democratic Party conducts.\ It's one of their biggest fundraisers, and one of the biggest for any of the Democratic Party organizations in the Lone Star State.
But this year I'll be attending it for the first time, and a I have pretty good reason for doing so.
I've known about it for a week now, but was asked to keep it quiet until the official announcement could be made.by the HCDP.
I'll be receiving the Barbara Jordan Breaking Barriers Award at this year's JRR luncheon!
As a native Houstonian who was a witness to the remarkable trailblazing political career of this legendary H-town Democrat, it is a high horor to receive an award named for her.
That also means I'll be writing a speech for the occasion, and so looking forward to being there on May 24 to deliver it and receive the award along with my fellow JRR Award honorees Yolanda Black Navarro and Ai-jen Poo for it.
The book is focused on the Houston Black trans community, and interviews some local trans women for it. It also offers some suggested action steps that need to be taken to reduce anti-trans violence aimed at Black trans women and is on my personal bookshelf.
I was happy to discover that Toxic Silence has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in the LGBTQ Studies category
The Lammys as they are nicknamed, have been around since 1988. They are given out by the US based Lambda Literary Foundation, and honor published works that celebrate or explore LGBTQ themes.
To be eligible for the Lammy. a book must have been published in the US in the year current to the award The Lammy categories have grown from 14 to now 24, and cover fiction, nonfiction, biographies, and LGBTQ studies just to name a few of them.
The finalists for this years Lammy Awards were selected by a panel of over 60 literary professionals. Those literary professionals then sorted through over 1000 book submission from over 300 publishers to get down to the finalist books.
The 31st annual Lammys award ceremony will take place on June 3, and is being hosted by a Lammy award winning author and performer in Mx Justin Vivian Bond
Congrats on your nomination Dr Hoston! I'm hoping the Houston area, UH-Clear Lake and you have reasons to celebrate on that evening.
I'm not the only Black trans person who will be watching and waiting to see if I get a GLAAD Media Award when those shows happen in LA and New York.
My BTAC sister Shea Diamond has been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in the Best Music Artist category for her album Seen It All. |
Here's her website if you wish to check out her music. Of course, Shea would also deeply appreciate it if you buy it as well and add it to your music collection.
My fave songs on the album are American Pie and I Am Her.
Just like my Outstanding Blogger category, it's a stacked field. She is part of a ten person nominee field that includes another trans music artist in Kim Petras, Janelle Monae, Troye Sivan and Hayley Kiyoko just to name a few of the folks she's competing with for the honor..
Congrats Shea! Here;'s hoping that you get to make some history of your own when they announce the winner of this highly competitive category. ,
It's still Wakanada Forever as Black Panther makes more movie history.
When the 2019 Golden Globe nominations were announced on Thursday, Black Panther was nominated for three of them. It also became the first ever superhero film to snag a Best Motion Picture Drama nomination
The other Black Panther Golden Globe nominations were for the Best Original Song (All The Stars') and Best Original Score.
The Ryan Coogler directed film made $1.3 billion in worldwide box office and is the highest grossing superhero movie in US history.
It is also beginning to get some Oscar buzz as the January 22 announcement date draws closer . .
We'll see when the Oscar nominations come out in a few weeks if it does. But until then, it's time to celebrate Black Panther making more cinematic history.
TransGriot Update: Black Panther didn't win in any of its categories. The most shocking was Bohemian Rhapsody winning best picture. Really?
She nearly died after giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia on September 1 ,2017, and had to have four surgeries for life threatening blood clots.
But there she was in May, standing majestically in a black catsuit at the French Open and playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since she won the 2017 Australian Open in her usual dominating fashion while 24 weeks pregnant.
She made it through three rounds at Roland Garros before she had to withdraw due to a pectoral muscle injury. Williams made it to the Wimbledon and US Open finals but fell just short of capturing her 24th Grand Slam title.
Along the way she continues to exposes the ugly underbelly of racism and misogynoir that keeps getting aimed at her by the champagne swilling tennis powers that be.
And that racist BS is why I'm ride or die for Serena and big sis Venus.
While she hasn't passed that homophobic twit Margaret Court yet for all time Grand Slam wins, at age 37, what Serena did do in this un-Serena like year on the court is remarkable in itself. She returned to playing near championship level tennis mere months after having a child, which was miraculous in itself.
Superhero and #BlackGirlMagic personified.
Williams was named the AP Female Athlete of the year for the fifth time .
World champion gymnast and Houston homegirl Simone Biles, who had a historic year herself, finished second. Notre Dame basketballer Arike Ogunbowale, who hit game winning shots in the 2018 NCAA tournament semis over mighty UConn and in the national championship game over Mississippi State to help the Fighting Irish win its second a national championship,was third in the voting. Snowboarder Chloe Kim and swimmer Katie Ledecky, the 2017 winner, completed the top five vote getters.
Williams is one win away from tying the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who won the award six times. She previously won the AP Female Athlete of the Year Award in 2002, 2009, 2013 and 2015 in large part for absolute domination of her tennis competition.
This award was more for persevering through a personally challenging year for her.
Hope she returns to tennis dominance in 2019, starting at the Australian Open in a few weeks.
In addition to the upcoming CASN Birthday Brunch where I'm being honored along with other local kick butt Houston area advocates, I'm also being honored at this year's OutSmart Gayest and Greatest Awards
While I now write a monthly column for OutSmart entitled Unapologetically Trans, I wasn't a writer for them at the time these awards were chosen by a community vote.
This year I'm being honored with the Favorite Trans Community Hero one and the Favorite Local LGBTQ Blogger
I was a finalist for the Most Prominent Female LGBTQ Activist that went to Fran Watson, and Most Prominent Trans Activist that went to Alexis Melvin.
Thanks to everyone who voted for me, and I'll hopefully see y'all at the awards reception on October 17 from 5-8 PM CDT at JR's
I'm getting another award for a locally based org soon along with another group of amazing Houston activists from the Clinic Access Support Network.
The Clinic Access Support Network is a Houston based non profit that provides free transportation, accommodations, and emotion support for people seeking abortion services.
And they are celebrating their fifth anniversary with a birthday brunch.
CASN Birthday Brunch is happening on October 14 from 11:00 AM - 2 PM CDT, and is a fundraising event for the organization.
The wonderful Houston area activists being honored for their work along with moi at the historic Whitehall Hotel are Daniel Cohen, Maximo Cortez, Kandice Webber, Nisha Randle, Hannah Thalenberg, Kenya Martin< Fran Watson, Jessica DeFeo and Katya Strinka.
Our keynote speaker for the CASN Birthday Brunch is one of my sheroes I've been dying to meet in former Texas senator and 2014 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis
FYI, CASN is already taking nominations for next year's class of Houston area activist heroes and sheroes. You can nominate the Houston area peeps doing outstanding local work at the following link here: http://bit.ly/ActivistHero
The 9th Annual Equality Bruch will be taking place later this month to not only raise funds for the Houston GLBT Caucus, it will also honor some our local advocates and accomplices in our TBLGQ rights struggle.
I was honored by the Caucus with the John Paul Barnich Award in 2016, and now the Caucus has released the names of the persons that will be honored at the upcoming edition of the Equality Brunch in the Hotel Zaza's Grand Ballroom.
Since I mentioned it, I'll start by announcing the winner of the John Paul Barnich award for 2018.
The Barnich Award goes to the person whose work is rooted in justice for the LGBTQ+ community, and this year it goes to Ana Andrea Molina.
The Eleanor Tinsley Award for distinguished community ally goes to Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen
The Don Hrachovy Award for distinguished Caucus member goes to Jim Taylor.
The Kristen Capps Award for social conscience (and well deserved) goes to Kandice Webber.
The President's Award for distinguished community leadership goes to Parker Sheffy
The Tony and Bruce Award for distinguished philanthropic leadership goes to Legacy Community Health
The Tim Brookover Award for lifetime achievement goes to Bill Baldwin.
The Equality Brunch will take place on September 30 from 12:00 noon to 2 PM at Hotel Zaza, located at 5701 Main Street near Hermann Park. Tickets are going fast for it, so if you wish to attend, you may wish to get busy securing those seats or tables before they sell out.
You know MJ Rodriguez as Blanca Rodriguez Evangelista from the hit FX show POSE that will kick off Season 2 in 2019. MJ Rodriguez, the actress who plays Blanca, is poised to make history when the 31st annual Hispanic Heritage Awards take place in Washington DC at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The 27 year old Rodriguez will be honored by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation with the Trailblazer Hispanic Heritage Award.
It is a prestigious one in the Latinx community that has previously gone to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Gloria Estefan, Rita Moreno, Celia Cruz, America Ferrera, Gael Garcia Bernal, Zoe Saldana, Ricky Martin and Placido Domino just to name some of the recipients of that award.
Congratulations to MJ as her name joins that distinguished list of honorees.
Rodriguez is being recognized for her “talent, courage and social impact,” according to Jose Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. “Her story is a journey of triumph as she leads the way for transgender representation in Hollywood and beyond,” he said in a statement.
Rodriguez will become the first trans feminine woman ever to win this award, and the Hispanic Heritage Awards can be seen on PBS later this month.
I'd gone out to run an errand and was passing the complex office when one of the apartment managers let me know they had a package for me.
When I took it back to the apartment to open it, inside was the GLAAD Media Award I'd won back in April!
This isn't the first time I've won an award from GLAAD. Two years ago I was on the Left Coast at the GLAAD Gala San Francisco to pick up a special recognition award from them presented to me by the lovely Angelica Ross for my ten years of telling it like it T-I-S is about what's happening in our community and beyond.
Hope I get to return the favor for Angelica someday.
After two previous Outstanding Blog nominations in 2014 and 2017, the third time was the charm as they say in 2018 as I finally captured the Outstanding Blog award over some tough but equally deserving competition.
And to be honest, before they called my name, I thought Mark S. King's 'My Fabulous Disease' would get it this year
I'm exceedingly proud to say that I'm the first (and hopefully not the last) trans blogger to win it.
I'm the second trans person, however to be nominated for it. I'm only the first trans feminine person to do so. Dr. Kortney Ziegler's blac(k)ademic back in 2013 was the first blog by any trans person to get a GLAAD Outstanding Blog nomination in this category
It was also historic in the context of for the first time ever in the history of the GLAAD Media Award Outstanding Blog category, two Black LGBT bloggers won this award in consecutive years.
Alvin McEwen's Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters did so last year.
Next year I'm looking forward to seeing who wins the Outstanding Blog category. But for now, I'm thinking about just how good it looks on my shelf next to my decorative silver typewriter and how much work I put in to get it.
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