Happy Dallas Transgender Day Of Visibility!

One year ago like every Black trans Texan, I was shocked and angered to learn that Muhlaysia Booker, who had survived a brutal videotaped attack on her in a South Dallas apartment complex just a month earlier by Edward Thomas, was found murdered on Dallas' east side.   

While we trans Texans remember her death and are reminded justice still hasn't been served yet in this case, I do have some positive news to share about this May 18 day thanks to Pocaphontas Duvall Crowe.

She, and the ladies of the Dallas based Transfusion Radio show have been working with Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, the Dallas City Council, the House of Rebirth and the Silver Pride Project to create recognition in the city of the fact that many of the 1.4 million people who call Dallas home are trans.

Today has been declared by Dallas city officials as Dallas Transgender Visibility Day!

From the City of Dallas proclamation:

WHEREAS, Dallas Transgender Day of Visibility will help raise the visibility of transgender people in the city of Dallas and address issues that members of the community face, and  

WHEREAS, during Dallas Transgender Day of Visibility, transgender people and their allies will educate the public about who transgender people are, share experiences and stories, and advance advocacy around the issues of discrimination, prejudice, and violence that affect transgender people, and 

WHEREAS,  the City of Dallas recognizes the significant contributions made by transgender people and affirms that they are a vital and important part of our community, and 

WHEREAS,  Dallas Transgender Day of Visibility will honor the memory of transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence, including the Black trans women murdered last spring in the City of Dallas, and 

WHEREAS, May 18 was chosen as Dallas Transgender Day of Visibility in order to honor  and celebrate the life of Muhlaysia Booker, who will never be forgotten. 

NOW,THEREFORE, I, Eric Johnson, Mayor of the City of Dallas, with support from Mayor Pro Tem Adama Medrano,  Councilmember Omar Narvaez, Councilmember Adam Bazaldua, and Councilmember Chad West, do hereby proclaim that May 18, 2020 be recognized as
                             DALLAS TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY   

The proclamation is signed by Mayor Johnson, Mayor Pro Tem Medrano, and Councilmembers Narvaez and West.

This is a historic day for trans Dallasites, and Crowe couldn't be prouder of her city.  .While she lamented the fact that these COVID 19 times have prevented the City Hall ceremony that would have accompanied such a momentous occasion, she did have this to say about the Dallas Trans Visibility Day proclamation and the process that shaped it.

As to why this date was chosen, Crowe said in a Facebook post to me

"May 18th also marks a year's passing in the death of our so-loved sister, Muhlaysia Booker. We chose that date because it was her murder that caused an international audience to recognize that trans women of color were in grave peril here in Dallas and throughout this entire country." "This proclamation pays tribute to a woman whose life was cut short; but even in death she managed to elevate our community as she did so often in her brief time with us. Our visibility began on this date. This is a fitting tribute for her incredible contribution," she wrote.

"In better times, we would have been invited to celebrate this day at City Hall. Since gatherings are impossible for now we must rely on social media to announce this achievement. Please support the efforts of the House of Rebirth and share these glad tidings with your contacts." Crowe added,"This is a shining moment in our history. This is the moment that the men and women governing Dallas paid tribute to the transgender community. On Monday, they will announce to the world that the City of Dallas respects and will stand with us.

As well they should, since trans people are an undeniable part of the city of Dallas, and that point gets driven home with each passing year. 

What happens in Dallas is also of major interest to me because it is not only Black Trans Advocacy Coalition's (BTAC) headquarters city, my mom grew up there until her junior year of high school and I still have relatives and friends living in the area .

While Dallas has had anti-discrimination ordinances protecting trans people on the books since 2002, the Dallas Black trans community still felt invisible to city leaders, the LGB community and the rest of the city's citizens.

Hopefully this Dallas Transgender Visibility Day is another step forward in changing the perceptions of how Dallas' Black trans folks see themselves and how they are treated by the city moving forward.

Congrats to Poca, Transfusion, the Dallas trans community and their allies!  Enjoy this momentous day!

What's The Texas Trans Community Doing In Harvey's Wake?

Plenty!

It's also ironic in the wake of a legislative session in which the Republican controlled Texas government tried to push fear and hatred of transgender people in the regular session and spent $800,000 of our tax money during the Special Oppression Session to mess with Texas trans people for their own political gain.

But when Harvey hit the upper Texas coast, it has been the Texas trans community who has also stepped up to not only organize efforts to help our own people, but people outside of it.

Hannah Simpson has been in Austin helping to coordinate Red Cross efforts there.   She has been reading stories to the kids there.  She's built a database to help with client management in the shelter, is working to help coordinate the volunteer scheduling and routing at the Austin command center and just doing what she can to help the place run smoother.

And nobody cares that she's using the women's bathroom when she has to pee.  It's past time to stop wasting valuable Texas legislative time aiming discrimination efforts at us.

Political rant moment over, back to the post.

Meanwhile here in Houston my fab sis Nikki Araguz Loyd and her husband Will went out during the deluge on their jet skis in their northeast area part of the city to help people caught in the floodwaters during Harvey.   They  ended up rescuing this 82 year old woman during one of their jet ski rescue runs.

Ana Andrea Molina and the Organizacion Latina de Trans in Texas (OLTT) despite losing a computer to a roof leak (since generously replaced) caused by the storm at Casa Ana Andrea, is standing by with up to six beds to shelter trans people made homeless by Harvey.

They are also pitching in to help where they can to help our trans community and other quicly recover from the storm.

One of my homegirls who is a pilot and operations director for a charter airline, has made flights along with her charter airline's pilots chock full of medical supplies to bring back here to Houston.   One of those medical supply flights was to Hobby Airport, which was closed at the time and she was told by the tower to 'land at her own risk'.  She landed the plane safely along with the supplies.

Other trans Houstonians and trans Texans are in unsung ways helping clean storm damage at other people's homes, volunteering at local shelters, coordinating aid and relief efforts, raising money and simply doing their part as fellow Houstonians and Texans do to pitch in and help people recover from this storm.

And that's before I even mention the countless trans folks around the country who are doing things in their area to help their Texas trans, bi and SGL fam in their hour of need.

Harvey is giving us the golden opportunity to prove that trans Texans are an undeniable part of the fabric of the Texas community.

We are eagerly rolling up our sleeves and seizing this opportunity to do so by handling our business and helping our fellow Texans.

Going To Miss You, Rev. Lura!

Was sad to hear just before Thanksgiving that at the end of this month Houston is going to lose another member of our progressive faith community in Rev. Lura Groen.

She and Jess are moving to Maryland before the end of the month so that she can get back into congregational life and also write a book.

I first met Lura during our fight to pass HERO in 2014, and while she was the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church attended a few services there.  One thing I loved about her sermons is that she not only is an unapologetic truth teller, but they are thought provoking as well.

She has been a blessing to our progressive faith community here in Houston, and we are going to miss her.   I have been blessed to have you in my life Lura, and will miss you as well.

Megablessings to you and Jess and safe travels to your new home.  May you have much success in the next chapter of your life.  Hopefully our paths will cross again, and with the way I travel, we probably will.

Putting Ourselves First

One thing we have long needed to do in the trans community is seriously focus on the TBLG rainbow community, our role in it and demand that we be treated as equal partners in the TBLG community's political affairs.

It's one of the reasons I started putting the 'T' in TBLG first, will add the 'I' sometimes to represent the intersex community or will sometimes mix up the lettering in posts.

But one thing we damned sure need to do is be more forceful and vocal about the fact that we need civil rights coverage, we are tired of being marginalized, ignored, lied on and disrespected by friend and foe alike and will not tolerate it in this second decade of the 21st century and beyond.

Putting ourselves first as transpeople not only means the symbolic nature of putting the 'T' at the head of the alphabet soup designator for this community, it also means being tough minded enough to criticize in Kingian love our allies when they engage in actions that are detrimental to our community.

It also means having the intestinal fortitude to kill legislation that is not in our best interests and loudly protest injustice aimed at us.  We must also rediscover the will to do direct action when needed to highlight issues that affect us and call out and repudiate disinformation about this community wherever it comes from.

We trans people need to stop using conservalanguage like 'race card' , 'politically correct' and 'lifestyle' when discussing policy inside and outside our community. 

And oh yes, speaking of community, we must reject the ridiculous assertion pimped by transsexual separatists that there isn't a trans community.    That's conservafool 'rugged individualist' BS, and when you are a marginalized community denied your civil rights, rugged individualism isn't going to work against an oppressor determined to not give one millimeter on granting you the civil rights you not have a God-given constitutional right to like any other American citizen, but are fighting tooth and nail to obtain.

Putting Ourselves First also means if you claim to love transpeople, that means all transpeople, not just a certain slice of the community.

Kwame Ture said it best,  'In order to participate in the greater society, you must first close ranks.'   We deserve and need to demand first class citizenship and not stop until we get it.   When trans protective laws are proposed, they need to be comprehensive and as loophole free as possible when they are first introduced, not toothless wastes of legislative time, nor allow our allies to browbeat us into accepting 'incremental progress' when they won't do the same for their issues..

We need to do a better job of closing ranks and focusing on developing that national sense of community if we wish to have lasting civil rights coverage.


Transpeople, it's nation time!    It's past time to put ourselves first in this civil rights conversation, and our transkids are depending on us to be the trans men and women we say we are so they aren't 20 years from now struggling to deal with the same problems we are jousting with in this decade..