ConGRADulations Trans Class of 2019

Now that we're in the middle of May, it's graduation time for many of the folks in our community who are getting that paper and the 'ejumacation' that is going along with it.

I wanted to take a moment to celebrate all you trans folks who are part of the Class of 2019 like my Louisville homegirl Amirage Saling    She's  not only receiving her degree in social work from the University of Louisville,  she also made a little history when she received the honor of carrying the Kent College of Social Work banner into the ceremony.

And just when you think Jazz Jennings couldn't be more awesome, now comes the news that she has been accepted to go to Harvard University in the fall!   Harvard Class of 2023 here she comes!

I also needed to show some love in this post to my BTAC forever King Sybastian Smith, who is also walking with his Georgia State University classmates and getting his degree.

Congrats to you as well Sybastian!   So proud of you!

Shout outs also go to you Trans Class of 2019 members who are moving from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, high school to college, or college to postgraduate education.

Some of you like Charlie Baum, even made history while you were matriculating at your high schools..

Many of you Class of 2019 members have persevered despite enduring in some cases  unnecessary bullying and harassment aimed at you by parents, fellow students, teachers  and administrators   You continuing on your educational path will not only be a great benefit to yourselves personally,  but to our community.

ConGRADulations, Trans Class of 2019!   I salute you, and everyone who loves you also is celebrating the major milestone in your lives.  Can't wait to see what happens for all of you in the near future.

Not Feeling The Syracuse Theta Tau Chapter Bigotry

Once again we have another instance of the racism that has exploded out of hiding in our American culture ever since the White Supremacist in Chief entered the White House.

As I have said since 45's disgusting inauguration, the bigots now feel empowered to let their swastika flags fly and openly wear those Klan robes in public.  They also feel empowered to say racist and bigoted crap until they get called on it. 

This time the students behaving badly video comes from Syracuse University, and it was a videotaped fraternity initiation that was acquired by the independent student newspaper the Syracuse Orange.

The frat caught behaving badly was the Theta Tau professional engineering one

The first videotape shows a student on his knees sweating to hate Black, Jewish, gay and Latinx people and using the slur words for each group. . A second person is taped in it using a derogatory word for Jews and makes a veiled references to Nazi gas chambers

A second videotape has also surfaced in which mimics a sexual assault on a disabled person while reciting derogatory language.

When the videos surfaced, the Theta Tau members tried to weakly claim the comments were 'satire' (yeah, right) and that they were lampooning a conservative Republican member of Theta Tau.

Naw fools, don't even try and insult my intelligence with that bull feces laden lie.  Y'all were gleefully uttering those racial slurs and forgot that cameras are everywhere these days.

Syracuse University was not amused, and after Chancellor Kent Syverud apologized for the reprehensible comments and videos, SU dropped the disciplinary hammer on Theta Tau. 

The fraternity has been permanently banned from campus.   The tapers were turned over to local law enforcement because the frat is being investigated for possible criminal charges.

19 students are also facing being expelled from the university 

If you peeps haven't learned anything from this pot, take this point away from it.  Racism can cost you 'bigly', and your boy Trump isn't going to do or say a damned thing to save your azz when the hammer comes down on you for being a bigoted douchenozzle.

UH Will Name Renovated Hofheinz Pavilion After Tillman Fertitta

Hofheinz Pavilion has been the on campus home for the University of Houston Cougar basketball team since it opened in 1970.   While growing up here I got to attend several concerts held there like the Jackson 5 and Prince, along with a few Houston Rockets games after they moved here from San Diego in 1971.  It was the Rockets home arena for four seasons until The Summit was completed in 1975.

When Hofheinz Pavilion opened it had a seating bowl that could hold 10,000 fans, but after 1998 renovations that added luxury boxes to the top of the seating bowl along with an alcove honoring NBA Hall of Famer and Cougar alum Elvin Hayes, the seating capacity after the removal of seats to facilitate construction of the boxes was reduced to 8,479.

The building was named for Irene 'Dene' and Judge Roy Hofheinz (yep, the same Judge Hofheinz that got the Astrodome built) and a prominent politician and philanthropist in Houston, after they donated $1.5 million to help complete construction of it

With an eye on positioning UH to be included into a Power Five conference in the next round of Power Five conference expansion or their ultimate goal (along with Cougar alums) of joining the Big XII, money has been invested in upgrading the athletic facilities in recent years.

The opening of TDECU Stadium in 2014 was part of that, and the football stadium is designed so that an upper deck can be added to increase its capacity when necessary.  

With that football stadium issue being resolved along with the opening of the METRORail Purple Line that passes the stadium and the western and southern half of the campus, in 2010 a $60 million renovation to the aging Hofheinz Pavilion was announced complete with a naming rights deal to a then anonymous donor.

The sticking point became the naming rights of the arena that the Hofheinz family contended belonged to them in perpetuity because of the original 1969 donation with the stipulation the area be named for Hofheinz.  The Hofheinz family was also not happy they found out about it in a news report, and both sides filed lawsuits to resolve the issue.

A press conference was held this morning announcing a settlement to the naming rights kerfuffle, in which a plaza bearing the name and a bronze statue of Judge Hofheinz  in front of the renovated area that will be named starting in the 2018-19 season the Fertitta Center, after Houston entrepreneur and Landry's, Inc owner Tillman Fertitta.

Fertitta donated $20 million to the project. that is scheduled to be completed by the 2018-2019 season and sits on the UH Board of Regents as its chairman.

In addition, UH will petition the city of Houston to name the portion of Holman Street that runs in front of the renovated arena between Cullen Blvd and Scott St for Judge Hofheinz and make his papers available in the school's library and in the UH alumni center adjacent to the renovated arena.

"We know our father would want the athletic department at UH to prosper", said Fred Hofheinz, who served as Houston's mayor from 1974-1978.  "So we know he would support this move."

As for UH being announced as the newest member of the Big XII conference, that's still to be determined..

'Go To College' Video

In order to help push the message of the FLOTUS' 'Better Make Room' initiative that launched back in October and encourages kids to go to college, First Lady Michelle Obama and SNL cast member Jay Pharaoh teamed up to do a video to promote it.

And yes, the FLOTUS briefly spits some rhymes in it.  South siiiiide!

Here's the video.

 

Dawn Wilson Scholarship Established By U of L

Happy to see my Louisville homegirl and Louisville Human Relations Commissioner Dawn Wilson was honored October 1 by the University of Louisville during its 2015 Pride Week festivities with the establishment of a scholarship in her name.

"Tonight , I was honored to not only to have a scholarship named in my honor at the University of Louisville but I also met the dynamic Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement,." said Wilson in a statement on her FV page  "This new scholarship will offer LGBTQ students of color opportunities to pursue their collegiate dreams"

Patrisse Cullors was the keynote speaker for UL Pride Week, and her keynote speech also happened on Thursday night.

Dawn Wilson is one of the pioneering trans peeps y'all need to get to know.  She took part in the Phyllis Frye run lobby day in Washington DC in 1994, founded the Louisville based Bluegrass Belles trans group, helped pass trans inclusive human rights ordinances in Louisville and her hometown of Lexington in 1998, was the first African-American trans person to win the IFGE Trinity Award in 2000, helped organize the Transsistahs-Transbrothas trans POC conventions in 2005-2006 in Louisville and has been an integral part of the Louisville and Kentucky human rights community for over two decades. 

And yeah, she's one of my mentors.

The Wilson scholarship is for LGBTQI college bound students of color who wish to attend college on the University of Louisville campus, and may be the first of its kind offered on a college campus located in the South.,  

HCC Southeast LGBT Of Color Panel

Had the pleasure of taking part in another panel on the HCC Southeast college campus yesterday in the Angela V. Morales Building that focused during this Black History Month on the issues of LGBT People of Color.

It was moderated by Professor Marjorie Brown, and in addition to some blogger y'all know and love, it included HCC Southeast students Vickie Kight and HCC Southeast student leader Robert Loreto. 

It was an interesting 90 minutes in which we discussed coming out as a person of color in our community and the impact on family, bullying, the racism in the LGBT community ranks, invisibility, the violence aimed at the trans community having an anti-Blackness and anti-woman animus as part of it, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, and our lives.

It was also an interactive panel in questions and comments came from the audience as well.

As usual, it was another panel that  we could have had another hour to discuss the issues that impact LGBT communities of color and answer questions about, but  the end came far too quickly.  After some final thoughts from Professor Antrece Baggett, the program conclude.

Thanks to Professor Baggett and the HCC Southeast team for the invitation and another enjoyable foray onto their campus, and looking forward to the next time I can head their way for a visit.

5th Annual TransGriot Black Trans Trivia Quiz Coming Soon

Been a little quiet during this Black History Month with the history related posts because of all the breaking news and #CC15, but that's going to end soon when I unleash my latest edition of the Black Trans History quiz upon you.

Fear not, because it's an open internet test and I'll give you a couple of days before I post the answers to it. 

It's a mix of current events and Black trans historical figures and event questions, so don't trip.

And here's what you have to look forward to.   These are the questions I asked during the first, second,  third, and fourth annual editions of it.

It's time to get your Black Trans History learn on. so be looking out for the 5th Annual Black Trans History Quiz to pop up on these TransGriot electronic pages soon.

Road Trip With The Gallery Girls

After my Monday Trans 101 panel discussion that included Nikki Araguz Loyd, UH student Skye, Lorraine Schroeder and myself, got an invite from Nikki and Meagan Gillett to join them on a road trip to Prairie View A&M University northwest of H-town to spread their special brand of sunshine to cheer up a young trans woman in her final semester of school on that HBCU campus.

While we have several colleges and universities in the state of Texas that cover transpeople in their non-discrimination policies, sadly Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M aren't among that list.

TSU's Thurgood Marshall Law School is, but they need to do the same for the rest of the TSU campus

It can be lonely and tough at times for a transitioning trans woman in any space.   But those feelings of isolation can be magnified on a college campus.

And you haven't lived until you've taken a road trip with Nikki and Meagan.

After killing time at an outlet mall and scooping up some bargains, we rolled up to Prairie View and the apartment our trans sister shares with two other students around 8 PM CST to scoop her up and take her to a nearby Mexican restaurant.

She'd been a little bummed out about some personal issues, but she's handling her classroom business, is looking forward in this last semester at PV to graduating in May and getting started with her life that's so bright she'll need fashion forward shades to navigate it.

And yeah, hitting Bucee's on the way back to Houston with the Gallery Girls was the bomb.

Enjoyed meeting my trans sister, rolling up 290 and back with Nikki and Meagan, and looking forward to the next time I can spend some quality time with them.

Texas Fall College Democrats Convention At UH This Weekend

Since I'm right down the street from the UH campus (for now)  and the price is right (FREE), will probably go get into reporter mode and check out the  Fall conference of the Texas College Democrats which is being hosted on the UH campus 

Will be nice to be around all that youthful energy and see the future Democrats of our state who will be working hard to get Wendy, Leticia and all our Texas Democratic candidates across the ballot get elected November 4.

And just a reminder, if you aren't registered to vote in the Lone Star State, you have until October 3 to do so.   If you are, early voting in Texas starts October 20

Convention will run from 11:00 AM-3 PM, so if you wish to see and hang around our younglings who will play a major role in turning our state back to its progressive roots, might wish to swing by the UH campus and check it out.

Bryn Mawr Students And Alums Craft Trans Inclusion Petition

Following the lead of Oakland's Mills College, Mount Holyoke College became the first Seven Sisters one to change their admissions policies to openly welcome transfeminine and gender variant applicants to their campus.

I had the pleasure of speaking on Bryn Mawr's campus in 2009 and urged them at that time to start working toward coming up with trans inclusive policies.  

If some Bryn Mawr students and alums get their wish, Bryn Mawr will be the next Seven Sisters college to include trans students on their campus.   They have penned an open letter and started a Change.org petition that as of this writing has amassed 1275 signatures that they hope will expeditiously jump start the process.

From the open letter accompanying the petition: 

Bryn Mawr’s current approach to handling trans student applicants is ineffective and insufficient. As long as Bryn Mawr continues to exclude trans and nonbinary students, it continues to neglect its essential educational mission. Bryn Mawr has a long history as an institution that offers educational opportunities to students who face discrimination because of their gender. The time has come to expand Bryn Mawr's safe, supportive community to fully include trans students and other gender minorities. This fall, Bryn Mawr faces a great choice: return to our historical mission of helping students break through the gender-based limits imposed on their education, or stand still and watch as others make change. 

The open letter also requested the following six things occur at Bryn Mawr:

1. Bryn Mawr to commit to adopting a trans-inclusive admissions policy by October 15th, 2014--one month before the Early Decision I application deadline for transfers and the class of 2019;

2. Gender inclusive restroom signage to be implemented no later than January 20, 2015, which is the first day of second semester classes;

3. A revision to the College's statement of nondiscrimination to include gender, gender identity, and gender presentation as protected classes;

4. Bryn Mawr to follow the students’ example and use gender-inclusive language in all College documents and signage, including but not limited to: the College website; marketing, recruitment, fundraising materials, and Alumnae Association materials;

5. The development and implementation of accessible, simple, and thorough procedures for students to change their preferred names and pronouns on various platforms used by the College, including but not limited to: Moodle, PeopleSoft, transcripts, diplomas, medical records, and other university records and documents;

6. A demonstrated dedication to further providing and supporting continuing education and training for the entire campus, focusing on the involvement of faculty and staff, and ensuring that the voices of current students and trans women are prioritized.

***

It will be interesting to watch and see if Bryn Mawr's administration takes this seriously and it becomes the next Seven Sisters institution to welcome trans and gender variant students to its lovely suburban Philadelphia area campus, or another Seven Sisters campus beats it to that distinction.

In either case, the trans community and our allies will be watching and waiting along with the parents of trans feminine kids rapidly approaching college age.

Mt Holyoke College Is Officially Trans Friendly

Mills College on September 1 became the first women's college to officially enact policies welcoming transfeminine students to enroll on their campus, and I know a transfeminine Mills College alum and longtime TransGriot reader who is exceedingly happy about that development. 

I had the pleasure of being on the Bryn Mawr campus a few years ago for a speaking engagement, and said to one of the deans at dinner before I departed for Louisville it was a matter of time when, not if you were going to see transfeminine students seeking to enroll and become students at traditional women's colleges. 

I pointed out that with transkids transitioning as early as age 4, today's transkids will become tomorrow's transteens looking for a college to attend.  I pointed out if the Seven Sisters colleges wanted to tap into that pool of college students, earn their loyalty and their parents tuition money, they better deal with the reality that transfeminine women exist and may possibly wish to attend a women's college.  If they didn't want to or refused to do th work necessary to attract them, those trans feminine students would attend other schools that are willing to do so.

I suggested Seven Sisters colleges like Bryn Mawr work on including gender identity in their non-discrimination statements and crafting trans friendly policies to make that inevitable day as seamless as possible instead of having those policies forced on them via court decisions they will lose..

Smith College has gained the righteous ire of transpeople for the jacked of treatment of Calliope Wong and other transfeminine applicants as they have hypocritically allowed transmasculine students who transitioned after they started school on that campus to complete their degrees.

One of the Seven Sisters colleges has decided to follow the lead of Mills College and clarify their policy on admittance and enrollment of trans students 

This is a welcomed and much needed development, and it will be interesting to see now that a Seven Sisters college has done so, will the others like Smith, who have been hostile to transfeminine students enrolling, finally do so.  

UH Cougars New Football Stadium Opening In A Month

A month from now the University of Houston Cougars will start their 2014 season on August 29 in their new football stadium with an 8 PM CDT kickoff against the UTSA Roadrunners.

Thanks to a lucrative $15 million ten year naming rights deal, it will be known as TDECU Stadium

The new TDECU stadium is a significant upgrade from the old Robertson Stadium which was demolished after their final game versus Tulane in 2012. 

TDECU Stadium in addition to a 40,000 seat capacity expandable to 60,000, thanks to the new east-west orientation of it, will have spectacular views of the nearby downtown Houston skyline from both the upper and lower seating bowls.   It will also have premium seating options, a state of the art video board, luxury boxes, Wi-Fi access, improved concessions and more.   Open and spacious concourses with views to the field and plentiful bathrooms were part of the TDECU Stadium design. 

The lights and new S5-M turf field manufactured by UBU Sports has been installed.   S5-M is a slit-film turf blade with a sand/rubber combination for infill. 

It's a low maintenance surface designed to host a multitude of events, including but not limited to, high school football games, concerts, band practice, specific UH intramural events and more.  It has both dark and light green turf that alternates every five yards, a west end zone design that incorporates the Houston skyline into it and an east end zone that highlights the secondary Cougar athletics logo.

In addition, TDECU Stadium will be served by the Robertson Stadium/UH/TSU Station on the soon to be opened METRORail Purple Line.

Over the next four weeks construction crews will be feverishly working to complete any remaining interior and exterior landscaping work left on the $120 million stadium that is just four weeks from opening for business. 

And will be interesting to discover what nickname the Coogs on campus will chrtisten it with.

ConGRADulations Trans Class of 2014

You may even make a little history in the process since as of yet we have never had to my knowledge an out transperson become a homecoming queen, prom king or high school class president.
-TransGriot, June 8, 2013, 'Trans Class Of 2014, Start Planning Now To Beat Your Trans Oppressors'


Has it been almost a year since I wrote that post?.   Obviously it has since I have another birthday coming in three days.  

Congratulations Trans Class of 2014, you did make some trans history in this 2013-14 school year.   Cassidy Lynn Campbell wasn't a member of this class, but became the first ever out trans feminine homecoming queen when she was elected by the Marina HS student body back in September.  

Meanwhile the first out trans homecoming king in New Hampshire also happened this year with the landslide election of  Ray Ramsey at Concord HS.
 

We also had the first ever out African-American trans masculine homecoming king happen just in time for Black History Month when Blake Brockington accomplished that feat at East Mecklenburg High School 

However, we did have some situations in which the haters came out to play.    Cassidy's haters and cyberbullies included right wing talk radio hosts like Bryan Fischer.  Kasey Carron didn't even get the opportunity to run for homecoming king because his Johnston, PA school district refused to let him do so.   Hopefully they will at least let him walk in the male cap and gown. 

Down in the Rio Grande Valley Jeydon Loredo had to fight the transphobic LaFeria ISD with the legal help of the Southern Poverty Law Center just to get his male senior picture added to the yearbook.

And as usual, just in time for prom season we had the situation crop up of potentially problematic prom rules in the DeSoto ISD.   In the New York City borough of Queens, senior Anais Celini is not being allowed by her private high school to take her trans boyfriend to her May 22 prom.

And how many trans students in the Class of 2014 will have to fight just to wear the cap and gown that properly reflects their gender identity and expression?

Trans Class of 2015, just as I advised this year's seniors to start preparing now to come up with their game plans to beat your trans oppressors, you have a few months to do the same.    And there is still trans hsitory yet to be made on many of your campuses.   I'd love to see the first Black transfeminine homecoming and prom queens happen.   Trans student body presidents.  Trans valedictorians.   

But conGRADulations Trans Class of 2014.   Much love to you for accomplishing this major life goal and may you have continued success as you continue to climb the educational ladder or take those first daunting steps toward taking the world beyond your college campuses.

Time For Trans College Students To Run For SGA Seats

I know you trans students matriculating on our nation's college campuses have a lot to deal with not only managing your personal lives, but handling your academic business with finals coming up.  

Best of luck to all of you.  But when that's over and you destress from dealing with finals, Moni has something else she wants y'all to think about during the summer and consider doing when you come back to your campuses in the fall

Own your power and run for seats in your SGA's.

So what's an SGA?   It's your campus student government association.   They are the liaison between the students, faculty and university administrations.  They provide appointments to a variety of internal SGA and university committees, task forces and boards that establish or influence a wide range of policies, procedures and the general direction of academic and nonacademic programs and services offered on your various college campuses. 

And they have a national organization in the American Student Government Association that supports them..

It occurs to me after watching the drama that transpired in the UH SGA over the Josephine Tittsworth Act and the attempt of the XULA SGA to sneak this blatantly transphobic ballot question on the Xavier student body, it is past time for trans students on every college campus they matriculate on in the United States to starting next school year, seriously consider running for and winning seats on their SGA's.

I say that because we trans folks can't always count on having trans allies in SGA's to eloquently articulate our issues as Yesenia Chavez, James Lee, Guillermo Lopez and UH SGA President Charles Haston did recently at the University of Houston or the other college campuses like LSU and Sam Houston State in which pro trans legislation passed and is headed up the administrative leadership chain.  

In some campus SGA's we will have people in them who are future trans oppressors, proud of it, and  who harbor enough transphobic animus to pen anti-trans legislation.   We will have cisgender SGA members with enough ignorance concerning our issues to let slide stuff like the transphobic ballot initiative that L'lerret Ailith is battling as I write this on her XULA campus. 

We need to have trans peeps in SGA's to talk about our trans lives and break down that ignorance.  Most importantly, we need trans SGA members in them not only proposing campus legislation, but in position to kill the bad stuff before it gets going.

And if you are in an SGA, consider running for a leadership position in it or serving on the leadership of a committee to hone your leadership skills before running for the presidency of it.  That will if you win that office, put you in an even more powerful position to strike down bad legislation with your veto pen or propose good ones.

I've always said that transpeople need to be at the table helping write legislation, not begging to be included in it.  The events of the Spring 2014 semester have convinced me that yes, that needs to be expanded to sitting at collegiate SGA tables as well.
 

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!

Trans*forming Communities Conference At CSU-Chico

Another day, another opportunity for those of you on the Left Coast to attend a trans conference

This one is taking place on the California State University-Chico campus and is sponsored by the Associated Students Gender and Sexuality Equity Center of CSU-Chico.

It is their first annual one, entitled TRANS*forming Communities and will be taking place on Saturday, March 29, 2014 from 12-5 PM PDT at the Bell Memorial Union Auditorium.   The conference will include a keynote address by Eli Erlick (Executive Director and founder of Trans Student Equality Resources), workshops by Lexi Adsit, Lynn Breedlove, Isa Noyola, and Marisa Boyce, and everything else they can pack into a single Friday. 

TRANS*forming Communities will consist of speakers, workshops, and panels dedicated to celebrating and honoring the diverse identities and experiences of trans* people. It will be a safe place for trans* people and allies to come together, share resources and knowledge, and create a community where people can flourish and live authentically. Anyone with a desire to learn and better our communities is welcome.

It's their first one, so show them some love if your schedule is free, you're in the Chico, CA and can attend and get your learn on.  Won't cost you anything since it's gratis and they're even feeding you lunch if you make the effort to show up and support the hardworking students who put this together. 

You can register for this free conference at this link: www.transformingcommunities.eventbrite.com

 

If you need any further information about the inaugural TRANS*forming Communities Conference, you can check out the blog or give Sarena Kirk a call at (530)-898-5724 

Moni's Hanging With The UHD Gators

The Gators at the University of Houston Downtown, that is.

On this overcast, cold and wet Thursday afternoon I headed over to the UHD campus yesterday to check out their first spring semester Safe Zone meeting for a few reasons.  It was the last one being facilitated by Kristopher Sharp before he resigned the presidency of the group to do his internship in Washington DC.    They were also electing new Safe Zone officers and the UHD SGA was having an open house after that I was invited to.

I was also in the UH-Downtown house to represent the Creating Change Houston Host Committee to talk about the conference starting a few days from now. 

I also had the bonus of seeing our future city councilmember Jenifer Rene Pool ( Jen's going to run again in 2015) speak to the assembled Safe Zone meeting attendees about advocacy and civic engagement.

So yes, it was cool to watch the new student leaders step up and explain in one-two minute speeches why they wanted their various leadership positions and qualifications for doing so, followed by the votes of their peers.

Congratulations to all the new and returning Safe Zone officers.  May your efforts to continue to build the best organization on the UHD campus be wildly successful.

When it was my turn to speak I went into a brief overview of the conference, let the students know about how they could volunteer, some of the seminars and workshops available and why they should consider attending CC14 if possible. 

So after I spoke, Dr Hudson said a few words and we headed across the hall to SGA's offices for pizza, drinks and a tour of their space in which they work hard to make the UHD campus better for all UHD Gators as evidenced by the recent passage of the gender neutral restroom resolution that got major media coverage inside and outside the Houston area  

I also had a wonderful time talking to SGA President Isaac Valdez, Heather, Sarah, Ashton, Marie Angel, and the rest of the assembled UHD students there about everything from the upcoming Super Bowl to politics to the evolution of music portability from 8-tracks to iPods.   

Didn't leave the campus until nearly 6 PM because I was enjoying the time I was spending there.   But with all the stuff Safe Zone is planning this semester along with the UHD SGA, probably won't be long before I'm back at One Main Street reporting on it.

Told Y'all Some UT Fans Hated The Charlie Strong Hire

If you thought I was kidding about the less than warm welcome that greeted the news of Longhorn Elementary The University of Texas hiring Charlie Strong from some elements of their vanillacentric privileged, entitled and spoiled burnt orange wearing fanbase, well, you shouldn't be surprised.

UT megabooster Red McCombs, who has donated $100 million to UT, did his best Al Campanis impression when commenting of the hiring of the first African-American head coach for ANY UT men's sport.   

“I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,” McCombs said during a  interview on ESPN 1250 in San Antonio. “I don’t have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator.  

“But I don’t believe (he belongs at) what should be one of three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don’t think it adds up.”

McCombs was lobbying for former NFL coach and ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden to get the UT job. 

So tell me, how is the hiring of a coach who never had a losing record in his four years at Louisville, won a BCS bowl game, currently has a 37-15 record, won two Big East/AAC conference titles and has recruited and coached the possible number one overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft in Teddy Bridgewater a 'kick in the teeth' hire? 

Says more about Red McCombs.   And naw white peeps, don't even attempt to defend what McCombs said by using Dennis Green as a shield.   Dennis Green was hired in 1992 and was already in his sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings when McCombs bought the team in 1998, and as soon as Green had his first losing season in a decade as the Vikings coach in 2001 a year after narrowly missing a trip to the Super Bowl fired him. 

McCombs did apologize and walk back his comments, but McCombs is symptomatic of the arrogance I talk about in the UT fan base.  It's why I get gleeful enjoyment when their burnt orange wearing football team of four and five star recruits gets their butt kicked in Big 12 play or in bowl games..  

As I said in the earlier post, Charlie, good luck brother, you're going to need it.  Going to be interesting to see if they Ty Willingham you if you have one bad season there in Austin. 

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.