More Important To Get The Story Right

Like everyone else I've been very concerned about the status of our Chicago based #girllikeus sister KOKUMO ever since I got the word last night she had been missing since Thursday and was seen leaving the Baltimore area hotel she was staying at in a confused state.

I received the call at approximately 8 AM CDT from my BTMI-Maryland Chapter brothers Vann and Brendon that KOKUMO was found, is safe and with them right now.  

The other aspects to this ongoing story concerning what happened are still in flux and require more time to sort out. 

I had someone on my Facebook page demanding to know what was up literally minutes after I got the call from Vann telling me they had found her.   The person in question had a problem with me telling her to chill out and removed herself from my FB page in a huff

Good riddance.  Leaves a spot open for someone who wants to be there. 

The reason I relayed this interaction with you is because I want to point out something about my blogging philosophy.   It has never been important to me to get news out first because I like to verify it before posting.

There are posts I compile that I spend much time researching and writing before  I'm satisfied enough with the flow of them to feel comfortable hitting the PUBLISH button and unleashing them on the world.

Now I tend to have an ability to get TransGriot scoops out there because I'm connected with so many people in this community, they trust me, and I know how to keep my lips zipped so they continue to tell me stuff that may turn out to be blog post worthy.   

Because I do a lot of hard, solid thinking about many issues of importance to this community, you'll see them posted her first before somebody else writes about them maybe a year or two years later. 

And yes, I do have no problem calling crap out when I see it. 

But the most important thing to me is get a story right before I post it, not get it out right now..  I'm also quite aware of just how many people are counting on me to do my job of chronicling our stories respectfully and correctly since far too many blogs and journalistic outposts don't when it comes to transgender issues.    

I have spent 8.5 years building this blog to be an accurate go-to source for news and information about this community.  I'm proud of what I've accomplished in terms of the over 5.6 million people worldwide and counting who have read posts here since I started TransGriot on January 1, 2006.   The blogging awards I have either received or been nominated for speak to the wisdom of the decision to go down that less traveled blogging path.  

TransGriot is one of the longest running blogs run by and edited by a trans person of color, and I take that responsibility seriously of getting stories right because of that.  

Quality blogging is about getting the story right, not getting it out right now

The Root's Trans Free Black LGBT List

Since June is Pride Month, in honor of the occasion The Root put together a list of 20 notable Black LGBT people    I was curious to see if things had progressed in the African-American blogosphere since I had to call the Grio out about a trans free LGBT leaders list in 2010. .

On the one The Root compiled many of the folks on this list I have had the pleasure of meeting and I admire such as Aisha Moodie-Mills, Phill Wilson, and Donna Payne are on it.   The others they included are familiar ones like poet Staceyann Chin, Jonathan Capehert, Don Lemon, Sapphire, Keith Boykin, Jasmyne Cannick and Wanda Sykes.

What I didn't see in this Black LGBT list was you guessed it, Black trans people.

No Janet Mock (who made the Grio's 100 list BTW).  No Laverne Cox.  No Kylar Broadus, Isis King, Valerie Spencer, Rev. Louis Mitchell, Miss Major, or even some award winning blogger who was part of the first ever trans panel at Netroots Nation 2012..

Just the same old crap, different day in terms of Blackosphere media outlets putting together these Black LGB(t) lists and not including any trans people in them.

Bottom line, if you're going to take the time to put together a list that purports to be representative of the LGBT community leadership, then I, the trans community and our allies expect that trans people be included in said list if you claim it is a TBLG one.

Far too fracking often these trans free lists are overwhelmingly LG dominated, B peeps as an afterthought with no T ones.

Black folks, y'all need to get with that include the trans community program as well because we Black trans peeps are beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of being erased from these Black TBLG leaders lists y'all put together.  

We aren't ashamed of being Black and trans but the constant erasure and the frequency with which it happens make us wonder if you're ashamed of us.  

That erasure of African descended trans persons leads to situations in which Black transpeople haven't even been invited to discuss trans issues that impact us like the CeCe McDonald case on the Melissa Harris Perry show or NAACP convention LBG(t) town hall meetings with no trans people on those panels

Will be eagerly watching the upcoming NAACP convention next month in my hometown to see if Julian Bond keeps the promise he made in LA last year to ensure the next NAACP convention town hall has trans representation on that panel. 

And the 'we can't find any trans activists' excuse doesn't wash now any more than it did two years ago.

Sadly what I said in the post calling out the erasure and non- inclusion of Black transpeople on Black LGB(t) lists is applicable in this one as well.

My point is that if our own people don't or won't show us some love when you compile these leadership lists, and you write for one of our leading blogosphere sites directed at the African-American community gay and straight, how in the hell can we Black trans leaders who are doing the work expect the predominately white TBLG community to respect us as well?

It's bad enough that Black transpeople get shut out of the predominately vanillacentric upper middle class narrative and get very little to no media attention except when we get killed in a hate crime.   It's disappointing and hurts even more when we get ignored by our own media outlets.

Thanks For The Blog List Love!

The Wherethegirlsgo blog recently put together a list of Twelve Queer Blogs To Watch, and guess which blog is mentioned at Number Four on their list?

Yep, moi.

Wow, this is an unexpected blessing and it is most deeply appreciated.  Nice to know that people like reading TransGriot and enjoy my posts.   It's also wonderful to discover (as I did during Netnoots Nation last week) people like the Afrocentric focus on TBLG issues this blog provides.

Thank you for the honor, Wherethegirlsgo Blog and thank you dear readers for continuing to spend your valuable web surfing time here at my cyberhome..

Appreciate the blog love

TransGriot Is Joining Transadvocate As A Contributor

With the What Are Y'all Gonna Do New York Trans Community? post, I wanted to announce that I am officially joining the roster of people who post at the Transadvocate blog such as Katrina Rose, Transadvocate editrix Marti Abernathey, and Gemma Seymour

Marti and I have been talking about it off and on for a few months and I believe it'll be a win-win situation for both of us.  It was simply time to make the move, have another venue and group of readers to expose my writing talents to and my style fits in with TA's tell it like T-I-S is approach.

You'll see selected TransGriot posts show up there more frequently. 


I'm pleased and honored to be posting at a transcentric group blog like TA on a regular basis as well with a great group of thoughtful writers who are just as passionate about the advancement of trans civil rights coverage and talking about trans issues as I am.   

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Happy Fifth Anniversary TransGriot!

Five years ago at midnight on January 1, 2006 I wrote and published my first post on TransGriot.    At that time I hadn't really figured out my mission was, how frequently I was going to update it, or even found my blogging and writing voice, but I eventually wrote 124 posts that year.

It wasn't until a year later that I put the hit counter on the blog and discovered that I was getting 400 hits a day from people around the world who were reading it.

TransGriot has evolved into a blog in which my mission is to talk about trans issues from an African American perspective, give voice to my African descended cousins across the African diaspora, document our history, serve as a platform for me to vent about the issues of the day inside and outside the TBILG community, and showcase at times my creative writing skills.  

And along the way I've been nominated for and won a few blog awards because y'all like me..


As of today I average about 3000 hits per day, just came off a year in which I wrote over 1200 posts, surpassed the 1.5 million hit mark, the 2500 and 3000 post marks, finally won a Black Weblog Award and I'm closing in on 2 million hits.  But I couldn't or wouldn't have this success without you loyal readers who surf over here to read my posts in the first place.

Thank you for being a major component to the blog's success and from contributing from time to time to help keep this place surviving and thriving, suggesting post ideas, and helping me to build a highly respected blog not just in the Transosphere, but across the blogosphere as well.

Looking forward to more great things this year and in the future.
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Recharging The Batteries Day

I'm having one of those days where I'm experiencing   a little bit of writer's block and just need to clear my head. 

Considering I've had four consecutive months in which I've written over 100 TransGriot posts and I'm on track to do it again, it's probably understandable why I'm feeling that way. 

Usually when writer's block strikes for me, I step away from the computer for a while and that cures the problem.   You can bet that before these 24 hours are up I'll be inspired to write something about the issues of the day.  

I have six posts that are in various stages of completion, but I just felt weren't at the quality level for a TransGriot post I demand of myself.   So I'll do what I always do in that situation.

I'll set them side and look at them again in a few hours.   By that time somebody will write something somewhere either on Facebook or Twitter that will either piss me off or make me say 'what in Hades were you thinking?'   I may also get one of those 'aha' moments after engaging in hard, solid thinking that makes perfect sense,.fits into the theme of the post I was compiling and allow me to complete.it.

Thanks for your patience and will have some fresh content up ASAP.