It's Renee's Birthday!

Once again it's time to salute my favorite Coach purse loving Canuck on the day she arrived on this planet north of the border.

One of the things she is most thankful for as she celebrates the anniversary of her 30th birthday besides her children, the unhusband and the female unlapdog is that she was not born in as she calls it 'that wretched province'.

One thing I'm thankful for on her special day is the blessing of calling Renee my friend.  

I'm looking forward to the day I finally get the opportunity to visit that part of the world and have a chance to visit her and the family in person.

And on that day, I'll find out what's up with ketchup flavored potato chips and if Timmy's is as good as advertised.       .

Oh yeah, can't forget the cake that is more appropriate for such an auspicious occasion.
 

Happy birthday Renee!   May this one be full of abundant blessings, you have a blessed low stress day, your family treats you like the royalty you are and may you have many more.

Happy 60th Birthday Sylvia

Today would have been the 60th birthday of the mother of the trans and gay rights movement, Sylvia Rae Rivera and it's a bittersweet moment as we celebrate the day she was born in New York City in 1951.

This birthday anniversary dawns with transpeople in New York state facing another long, hot frustrating summer of dealing with the fact that GENDA lopsidedly passed the New York Assembly for the fourth consecutive session, but once again died in the New York Senate.

I had the pleasure of meeting her in May 2000 and having a long conversation with her about the then state of the trans community.  I have a pretty good idea of what her reactions would be to this news if we were still blessed to have her around.

She'd be pissed, and Trans Nation and trans peeps in New York need to be thinking about this situation in WWSD terms  

What Would Sylvia Do? 

What would she do?   Be in people's faces inside and outside our community fighting tooth and nail to get GENDA passed by any means necessary.   Sylvia's legacy demands nothing less than our best efforts to do that and replicate her fighting spirit in our own locales and at a national level.


And it would be a fitting birthday present to have GENDA be New York state law by this time next year.

Happy birthday Sylvia.  You are missed.

Happy 40th Birthday Tupac

"I want to grow. I want to be better. You Grow. We all grow. We're made to grow.  You either evolve or you disappear. "   Tupac Shakur


Today would have been the 40th birthday of actor and rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur had he not been gunned down in Las Vegas back in 1996. 

As of 2007 he'd sold over 75 million albums worldwide and 37.5 million of them in the US alone under his stage names of 2Pac and Makaveli. 

But when he died on September 13 at age 25, many of us since then have wondered what would have happened if Tupac was still living on Planet Earth right now and was able to celebrate his birthday today?

No doubt he'd probably still be recording and acting.   Would have loved to had him around to see and hear his reactions to the 2000 and 2004 selections, Hurricane Katrina and the election of President Obama along with other issues impacting the African American community that he expounded about in his rap songs and poetry.   

Would Will Smith had much stiffer competition for the heart of Jada Pinkett had he been around since both Pac and Jada have admitted they had a special friendship back in their high school days and she only got married to Will in 1997?

We'll never know that and the answer to other questions since he was taken away from us way too soon thanks to senseless violence.
 
Happy birthday, Tupac.  Your voice is definitely missed.

Happy Birthday Gabby!

While watching the various news programs on MSNBC discovered today was the 41st birthday of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords  (D-AZ).  Considering what she went through just a few short months ago it's a miracle that she's still here to celebrate it.

She's rehabbing here in H-Town and according to the doctors charged with her care is making fantastic progress, but she still has a long hard road of rehab to go

Happy birthday Gabby!   May you have many more!

Happy Birthday Sass*!

It actually happened yesterday on her side of the International Date Line, but today is her birthday on my side of it.   

I'm going to take a moment to wish my transpinay sister Sass Rogando Sasot a very happy birthday!   She's the founder of the now 9 year old STRAP, a highly respected international trans leader in the Philippines and abroad and one of the people the TransGriot looks up to for inspiration.

Hope your birthday was a peaceful, blessed and low stress one and may you have many more!.

Happy Birthday Kim Coco!

Had to take a moment and give a birthday shout out to one of our pioneering transwomen, former Hawaii State Board of Education member Kim Coco Iwamoto.

She was reelected to a second four year term in the 2010 election cycle, but Hawaii voters approved a change that gives the governor the power to appoint the state Board of Education, and Governor Neil Abercrombie appointed 9 new members.


I have much love and respect for her and looking forward to the day I finally meet her.

Kim, thanks for all you have done and will continue to do for the people of the trans community and the citizens of the state of Hawaii.  

Oh yeah, happy birthday!    May you have many more!
 

Happy Birthday Patti!

Today is the birthday of iconic Grammy winning singer and actress Patti LaBelle, who in 1944 was born on this date in Philadelphia, PA.

The career of the 'Godmother of Soul' spans several decades and she is an iconic presence in the African American community.

She's especially loved in the rainbow African American one.    Back during the 80's and early 90's the two most popular people my FI friends used to emulate were Diana Ross and Patti LaBelle.    She's also loved in the African American TBLG community for her advocacy work that earned her a GLAAD Media Award in 2007. 

She's not only an Apollo Legends Hall of Famer, she was listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of 'The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time'.  Her voice is the one that Oprah used for her show's theme song from 1996-1998



And those of us who were (and still are) fans of the groundbreaking  television series A Different World can't forget her recurring role performances as Dwayne Wayne's mother Adele Wayne.

Happy birthday Patti!   May you have many more!