Tracey Update

A few months ago I wrote about Tracey Wilson, the trans kid in Vancouver whose parents filed a human rights complaint with the BC Human Rights tribunal when her Catholic school refused to recognize her femininity, refused to authorize a name change, let her use the female restroom or allow Tracey to wear the girls school uniform while claiming they didn't have a policy for it.

There's good news to report in Tracey's case

The human rights complaint filed by Tracey's parents on her behalf against the semi-private Catholic school and the Catholic Schools Vancouver has resulted in a new policy entitled the "CISVA Elementary School Policy regarding Gender Expression and Gender Dysphoria.”

“Where a request for accommodation is received on the basis of gender dysphoria or gender expression, the administrative staff should respond in a prompt and supportive manner, and in accordance with the principles outlined in this policy.”

The new CISVA policy states the student has the right to be addressed by their preferred name, even if they don’t legally change it.  School  records will be amended to reflect any changes.  Gender presentation appropriate school uniforms will be provided upon written request by the student's parent/guardian . 

“Upon receipt of a written request by a student’s parents/guardians in the attached form, a school shall provide an alternative uniform for that student, in designated school colours. The alternative uniform shall be determined in collaboration with the student’s parents and the school administration.”

So it looks as though it was a huge human rights win for not only Tracey, but every trans child who will go through the Vancouver Catholic school system.

Now if only the province of British Columbia will follow suit and protect the human rights of Tracey and all its trans citizens like five other provinces and the Northwest Territories have already done.

Lumberton ISD Trans Teacher Reinstated

52 year old Laura Jane Klug had been a substitute teacher in the Lumberton Independent School District near Beaumont teaching without incident until last week.  Some transphobic parents complained after she substitute taught a fifth grade class at Lumberton Middle School and ignited a kerfluffle that roiled the area.

“I have always conducted myself in a professional manner and would never discuss my gender identity in school,” Klug was quoted as saying in a 12News story.

She also told Lone Star Q in an interview that she suspects it was one of her neighbors who outed her and contacted the media.

After meeting with Lumberton ISD Superintendent John Valastro she was suspended pending a meeting held on Thursday to determine whether she can continue to teach in LISD. 

As the story began to get national attention, Valastro then claimed Klug wasn't suspended as TBLG people in Southeast Texas and the rest of the state mobilized in response to the unjust treatment of Klug.  

Lambda Legal, and Equality Texas pointed out that LISD was in violation of Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled in Macy v. Holder that the provision covers transgender people. In addition, courts have ruled that government employers can’t discriminate against LGBT people due to the constitutional guarantee of equal protection.

The PFLAG Beaumont chapter sprang into action to coordinate a rally that happened before the 7 PM LISD board meeting that would determine Klug's teaching fate.  

That Thursday board meeting happened in front of an overflow crow in which the purple clad supporters of Klug outnumbered the transphobes.

After 13 speakers pro and con expressed themselves during the 30 minute public comment period, the LISD board went into a lengthy closed session to discuss her fate..

Klug was informed that she was reinstated, but told not to apply for the first open position in LISD until Superintendent Valastro meets with the district's principals on Monday.

“Hopefully this is going to be a really good learning moment for everybody involved,” Klug said. “It’s certainly an opportunity for principals to address the issue of people who are gender-nonconforming. Also, it might encourage somebody who is questioning their gender to maybe come forward.”

Whether Lumberton ISD was motivated by doing the right thing by Klug or a possible lawsuit is a moot point.   The bottom line is in this instance, the evil instigated by whatever transphobic troll jumped this off did not triumph and Laura Jane Klug is still able to teach. 

TransGriot Update:  Upon further review, looks like LISD is backsliding and trying to run out the school year clock on Ms. Klug.

UH Josephine Tittsworth Act Town Hall Meeting

I've been saying to the UHD Gators during my last several visits on their campus that I've spent more time visiting One Main Street than I have on my alma mater's campus since I came back home in 2010.

Well, seems like that imbalance of visits to the UH campus versus UHD is starting to rapidly change in the other direction.

Last week I was honored to be invited to speak at the Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson vigil held at the AD Bruce Religion Center on campus.  

This week I got a chance to finally see the newly renovated UH Student Center and attend a town hall meeting yesterday afternoon in a packed SGA Senate Chambers.

The town hall was called to give the UH community an opportunity to discuss the Josephine Tittsworth Act.  The UH SGA proposed this piece of legislation that seeks to have the University of Houston follow its existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing trans* UH students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles. 

Shouldn't be that controversial, right?   Well, one unidentified UH senator has been spreading lies and falsehoods about the Tittsworth bill and gotten the frats and sororities stirred up in the process.

A panel comprised of UH LGBT Resource Center head Lorraine Schroeder, UH SGA senators Guillermo Lopez and James Lee, UH SGA President Charles Haston, SGA Senator emeritus Josephine Tittsworth and 2014 Trans 100 honoree and UH senior Lou Weaver spent two minutes each making initial statements dispelling the myths and lies that had arisen concerning the Tittsworth bill before opening the floor to written questions.  

While the town hall was surprisingly civil, two of the questions asked were the highly offensive to the trans community bathroom predator and sexual offender ones I hear far too often from GOP operatives opposing trans human rights laws.  It not only made my eyes visibly roll and loudly scoff upon hearing them, it also made me wonder if there were campus Republicans in the room trying to stir up 'fear and smear' transphobic trouble.

Before the town hall concluded after 30 minutes,  Haston reminded everyone that diversity on the UH campus is not just ethnic diversity, but also includes diversity of opinions and thought and LGBT diversity.

Since I wasn't in any hurry to head back home right away, I consented to an interview along with Josephine about the Act with Daily Cougar reporters Kelly Schaffer and Cara Smith.  We talked about Houston and UH trans history, and discussed the positive effects UH could expect from the Tittsworth Act should it gain SGA approval.  

I also had a chance to talk to several cis and trans UH students and talk a walk around the newly renovated building that is way different from the 1967 UC I was familiar with before heading home.

Will keep you posted on the developments concerning the Josephine Tittsworth Act as it moves toward a final vote.      
 

Josephine Tittsworth Act UH Town Hall Wednesday

The University of Houston SGA has proposed a bill that seeks to have the University of Houston follow existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles.  

The bill is named the Josephine Tittsworth Act after my awesome homegirl, fellow Cougar and who while on the UH campus was an SGA Senator.

It's expected to get voted on April 16, but in advance of the vote, to do a little education on the issue, a town hall meeting will be conducted on Wednesday in the UC North Senate Chambers in the UC North starting at 5:30 PM

The Josephine Tittsworth Act will be discussed and what it means for student safety, academic success, and fulfilling our Nondiscrimination Policy's promise.  As a Cougar I support the passage of it and plan on being at the town hall to report on what happens.  

Saving JJ-The Sequel

Last year I wrote about the controversial efforts of HISD Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier to close my high school alma mater that was thwarted by a coalition of people that included moi.

We bought ourselves some time after last year's unanimous 8-0 HISD board meeting vote to table it, but like Jason, the proposal being pushed by Grier to close Jones isn't dead yet.

This time the proposal was to close Jones and send the students to Worthing and Sterling.   That proposal got the same thumbs down at the February 11 community meeting held on JJ's campus as the Jones-Sterling merger got  last year and I said as much during that meeting that was attended by a multicultural crowd of  over 100 people.

Read my lips and this post HISD school board.   The students, teachers and the South Park community want Jesse H. Jones High School to stay open.  Most importantly we want HISD to fix the mess that was created when the Vanguard magnet program was shadily stripped off the campus back in 2002 and time to come up with alternatives to boost enrollment.  

Marketing the school to the growing South Park Latino population would be another one.  Creating programs and activities that would appeal to the neighborhood kids whose talents gravitate to things other than the STEM program along with bringing Vanguard back home by creating another VG high school program on that campus.  .

If it weren't for the removal of the Vanguard program and its subsequent housing on a separate campus now relocated to the Montrose area,  Jones would have an enrollment of 1030 students and I wouldn't even be writing this post.   It would help if we had stability in JJ's principal's office along with HISD ceasing and desisting with the yearly threats to close JJ. That would be a great start toward boosting its enrollment because some of the transfers out of the Jones attendance zone are driven by that.   

I had the pleasure at that February 11 meeting of talking to the current Falcons who were excited and happy to know that they weren't alone in this fight and alums were in the JJ house to help them in this battle to keep Jesse H. Jones High School open.


HISD is still peddling the same snake oil they were trying to sell the community last year to justify the closure.  Low enrollment, high transfer rate out of the Jones attendance zone, high budget cost per student and changing neighborhood demographics that were all debunked in this March 5 Houston Forward Times article.

Performance has not been a factor with the closures.   Some of the 19 schools that were closed, like Rhoads Elementary were exemplary ranked schools.   Dodson Elementary, which has the highly successful HISD Montessori program on its campus that my sister attended, is also slated for closure Thursday and sits along I-45 in the EaDo shadow of downtown Houston mere blocks from the Purple Line light rail line being built. 
   
The African-American community is still pissed that the bulk of the school closings during Grier's controversial tenure as superintendent since 2009 have disproportionately been aimed at schools in African-American neighborhoods, with the school properties subsequently sold to charter outfits, private schools or in Ryan's case after its closure last year turned into a magnet school.     

Some of the players have changed since last March.   Juliet Stipeche is now the HISD board president, and removed three of the schools slated for closure off the list.    Too bad she didn't kill it period.  

At this upcoming Thursday board meeting you'll have Wanda Adams, my former city councilmember sitting in the seat formerly occupied by Grier ally Lawrence Marshall.  Adams just penned a Houston Chronicle op-ed concerning the shifting goalpost for school closures and the need for a consistent set of metrics for doing so

The shifting goalposts and dismissive lack of action on what the community says is needed to reverse the negative enrollment problem HISD caused is what is pissing many of us off in this fight to keep JJ open.

We know the district caused the problem, arrogantly will not listen to the community suggestions to fix the problem, and are continuing to use debunked talking points to try to justify the school's closure.  

If you wish to speak at Thursday's board meeting, you have until 4:30 PM today to sign up and it's Item F-1 on the board meeting agenda.   

  
Stay tuned because there will be fireworks at this Thursday's HISD 4 PM CDT board meeting.    
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Congratulations Omar!

The Lone Star State as you know has some fantastic activists living in its 268,561 sq. miles of territory and in the 16 years I've been involved in the TBLG human rights fight I've gotten to meet and know a few of them.

One of the people I have the pleasure of talking to from time to time is Omar Narvaez.

Omar is based in the Dallas area, is the former president of the Stonewall Democrats of Texas and is the community educator for Lambda Legal’s south central regional office in Big D. 

Narvaez made a little history when he was sworn in February 26 as the first openly gay trustee of the Dallas County School Board.    The DCSB governs the 14 school districts in Dallas County and has three countywide positions and four district seats that align with the Dallas County Commissioners Court

The DCSB's primary job is providing services for the Dallas County ISD's in the areas of transportation and information technology, as well as continuing education for teachers.

“It’s not a well-known seat, but it’s one that affects the entire county as far as schools go and ISDs,” he said in a Dallas Voice interview, adding he’s excited to focus on a position that affects youth. “They are the most important entity for our future.”

Narvaez is serving out the remaining DCSB term of trustee Maricela Moore, who resigned from it in January.  That term expires in May 2015 and he has yet to decide if he is going to run for reelection on the DCSB.  

He is also quite aware of the fact that he is now one of the few openly gay officials in Dallas County.  It is a short but distinguished list that includes Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, District Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons and 116th Judicial District Court Judge Tonya Parker.

“There’s not a lot of us, but at the same time we are putting ourselves out there, and our orientation does not deter us from running for office,” Narvaez said.

Congratulations Omar!   Knowing you, you'll have no problem focusing on being the best person on the DCSB.  The children in those 14 Dallas County ISD's couldn't have a better advocate for them.
   

MHP Discusses Structual Racism In The Classroom

There was a recent MHP Show about discussing structural racism in the classroom with Professor Shannon Gibney. 

We're Still Watching You, Smith College

Smith's dean of admissions, Debra Shaver, announced a committee would form to address the needs of prospective trans students at Smith. The committee will begin meeting in September, and in the interim, Smith will stop denying admissions to trans girls and women listed as male on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, which is what happened to Wong.

TransGriot  September 1, 'Smith College, Don't Assume The Trans Community Forgot About What Happened To Calliope "


The Fall 2013 semester is rapidly drawing to a close on the Smith College campus and this article that popped up in the University of Connecticut student newspaper concerning Calliope Wong reminded me about the controversy that erupted last May when her application for admission was denied twice.

That firestorm led to the announcement at the time by Smith Dean of Admissions Debra Shaver that a committee would be formed that would start work in the fall to address the needs of prospective trans students at Smith.

Calliope is now a freshman English major at UConn and was named to the OUT100 List as a trans teen advocate along with Jazz and Zachary Kerr.  

And Smith could have been reaping the benefits of Calliope's presence on their campus.

But this is the question we all want to know the answer to Trans World because there has been cricket chirping silence coming out of Northampton since the semester started.

What's going on with the committee that was supposed to start work on this trans admission issue?

I asked that question on my Facebook page, and JoJo Thomas, a Smith alum who is one of my longtime TransGriot readers was kind enough to send an e-mail asking that same question on the alumni listserv. 

JoJo did get a quick response to her query.  According to her, a fellow alum advised her that according to the student group working on this issue Audrey Smith (the VP of Enrollment--head of Office of Admissions and Student Financial Services) would be making announcements "soon" about changes in the policies.

How soon is "soon" in terms of a definitive date that a policy change announcement will happen, we don't know yet.  But if there more feet dragging until the end of the 2014 spring semester, Mama Moni ain't gonna be happy and the volume is going to be cranked up on this issue by moi.

Transgender Awareness Week Is EVERY Week On TransGriot

Because there are folks in the trans community who believe the Transgender Dy of Remembrance memorial ceremonies are in their words 'too somber', there has been movement over the last few years in several cities that host these TDOR events to host a week of events in the run up to November 20 to educate the cisgender community about our issues, concerns and expose them to our trans world.

Those efforts have led to Transgender Awareness Week. 

The Transgender Awareness Week events can range from trans themed movie nights, lectures, panel discussions, speeches by trans community leaders and elders and debates. 

But why just limit those education and enlightenment efforts to just the week before a TDOR or college campuses?   They can be held at community centers, friendly churches and any venue or room big enough to host them.  

The media that covers us definitely needs that trans 'ejumacation'.  So does law enforcement, the clergy, the legal profession and even our SGL and bi allies.

I submit those trans education efforts are becoming more important because the right wingers are shifting tactics and coming after the trans community with their patented fear, smear and lie tactics.

Yes, those futile efforts to halt the momentum of trans human rights here and around the world will fail, but we will need to do our part to ensure that happens.   One part of that education battle is to do these Transgender Awareness Weeks not only during TDOR, but ensure they happen everyday and everywhere.

Far too many of our own trans people and our allies allies are unaware of our proud history, the trans community's iconic leaders, our trailblazers like Sylvia Rivera and countless others, and the role we transpeople have played in advancing human rights for all people including our own community while fighting a pitched battle to have our own humanity respected and protected.  

Some of those people we know their names, while there are others who fought battles and then faded from the pages of history and we will never know their names, but their contributions were just as valid to enable us to move the trans human rights drive forward to that inevitable civil rights touchdown we will score.  

And yes, I'm proud to have played a role in getting that information and history out there, especially about my own trams community of color.  

I'm also not forgetting about our international trans peeps like Audrey Mbugua, Naomi Fontanos and Victor Mukasa just to name a few who are doing their part to advance the knowledge of trans people and their human rights in their own locales.

Sometimes those trans folks stepping up to lead in other nations are doing so at great risk to their own lives or have sacrificed them to do so like Cynthia Nicole Moreno in Honduras and Agnes Torres Hernandez in Mexico.

I have every intention of continuing to drive home the point that trans rights are an international human rights issue, and will continue to say it as loudly as I can as long as TransGriot exists.  

Transgender Awareness Week is EVERY week on this blog and always will be.

   

Why Trans Education Efforts Are Vitally Important

It's been 60 years since Christine Jorgensen stepped off that SAS flight from Denmark and into the view of the unblinking eye of the world's media. 

This year has been a particularly historic one in terms of coverage we have received with the launch of the inaugural Trans 100 List by Antonia D'orsay and Jen Richards I was proud to be named to.  There was the inclusion of five Latin@ trans people on the inaugural Honor 41 List that spotlights the achievements of TBLG Latin@ people created by Alberto Mendoza.

We have also had the benefit of Janet Mock and Laverne Cox beautifully gracing the nation's televisions screens and drop knowledge on programs from the Melissa Harris Perry Show to Huff Po Live and beyond.  

Laverne has also made news as a girl like us playing a trans character on the breakout hit drama series Orange Is The New Black.


We even had trans people make lists that aren't specifically geared to our community like Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler being named to The Root 100 list of Top Black Influencers and Laverne win the Out 100 People's Choice Award by a comfortable margin. 


Internationally my transsisters Audrey Mbugua, Naomi Fontanos and Wendy Iriepa have made appearances on the television screens of the world and in their respective homelands.   They intelligently discuss our issues in multiple venues and fight for human rights and justice.

But to borrow the eloquent words of my friend Denny Upkins, sometimes it seems as though the trans community is ice skating uphill when we attempt to smash those anti-trans stereotypes that are used by the Forces of Intolerance to oppose and continue oppressing us. 

In some cases it's the media we have to battle in terms of the people responsible for pushing those unflattering memes that result in on the Internet search engines of the world trans masculine people being erased from the conversation about trans issues and transfeminine people being disrespectfully being conflated with or called men. .

Toni said tin her blog post concerning those unflattering Internet memes:

This is why the work of improving the image, recognizing the greatness and the amazing power that we have, and why we must continue to push forward and make sure that trans women are not the only ones seen, the only ones spoken about — even as we change the way they are seen, and the way they are spoken about.

Sadly, many of those people who need that Trans 101 'ejumacation' besides the media peeps are in our own LGB ranks. And frankly, we need those education efforts in our own pink and blue flag waving trans ranks, too.  We need to be teaching our history to our newly out trans folks.  We need to give them the baseline knowledge, tools and vocabulary to tell their stories and talk about their lives.

As frustrated as we are at times in our trans ranks about the Trans 101 and 102 level of conversation in Cis World about our issues, until we get a solid majority of people acclimated to those Trans 101 and 102 discussions and blow up the obfuscations and falsehoods about us, it makes it more difficult for those who are not in Trans World to understand Trans 201, 202, 301 and 302 conversation levels. 

The trans education work must continue because of not only our four decade old TERF enemies hatin' to the disco beat, we now have the undivided attention of the Religious Reich. 

Defeating the patented Fox Noise fear and smear conservatactics and faith-based anti-trans hate already being deployed against us is going to be an all hands on deck project   We must give social justice minded people who see trans rights as human rights the base level of knowledge about our trans lives in order for them to be the fierce advocates and allies we need them to be. 

And yes trans peeps, sadly that trans education project will be an ongoing one. African descended cis people have been on North American soil for four centuries and we're STILL debunking in the second decade of the 21st century the negative myths that were propagated about us.  

So yes, we need to be tough minded enough to make it happen.   We also need to be cognizant of the fact these trans education efforts are long haul ones vitally important to our lofty goal of acquiring and expanding trans human rights for all of us.  

Malala's Triumphant Year

One year ago today a gun toting Taliban thug boarded a school bus and shot Malala Yousafzai in the head for daring to speak up and criticize their efforts to turn Pakistan's Swat Valley back to the Middle Ages. 

Girls' education was banned, women were beaten for leaving their homes without a male relative escorting them, and her hometown of Mingora featured floggings and executions in its central square

She was airlifted to Britain as the world prayed for her survival, and spent three months in a Birmingham hospital recovering from her grave injuries.

She not only survived, but the voice the Taliban thought they silenced forever on that October day has grown louder and has an even bigger international platform. 

Yousafzai celebrated her 16th birthday by speaking to a July 12 United Nations youth conference .   In that memorable speech in front of the nearly 1200 participants and assembled dignitaries, she declared  "Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world."

When Birmingham opened their massive new public librarly last month, she again proclaimed that education is "the only weapon that can defeat terrorism.”

And she says that the West needs to engage the Taliban in peace talks if the social and political conflict in South Asia is ever to be resolved.  "The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue," she said.

In the run up to this bittersweet anniversary the wise beyond her years teen has been interviewed by the BBC.  She was named Time Magazine's Most Influential Person for 2013, is already the youngest person ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and is considered the frontrunner to receive it when the winner is announced October 11 in Oslo, Norway.  If that happens Friday, she would become the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala's message is being heard globally as she works to complete her own education while traveling the world speaking about the equal rights for girls and education for all.issues that are near and dear to her heart.

The nonprofit Malala Fund advocates for girls' education and raises money for schools and tuition in her native Pakistan.
 
A lot has changed for her since that horrific day, but she still has dreams of going back home, getting into politics and changing Pakistan for the better.  "I will be a politician in my future," she said, vowing to make education compulsory.

"I hope that a day will come when the people of Pakistan will be free, they will have their rights, there will be peace, and every girl and every boy will be going to school."

People around the world hope that you get the opportunity to make that dream for your homeland a reality.  

Malala's Very Happy Birthday

Malala Yousafzai's 16th birthday was on July 12 and it was one the Taliban tried to prevent her from seeing.

Thankfully for her family and the world they failed.

They attempted to assassinate the award winning Pakistani teen activist who advocates for children's education and women's rights on October 9, 2012.  

But she survived it, is now living in the UK with her family and has become an even bigger and well respected voice for those issues and women's rights and is now the youngest person to ever be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

In honor of Malala, her 16th birthday was designated by the United Nations and UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon as Malala Day. as she celebrated it with her first public speech since the cowardly Taliban terrorist tried to kill her on her way to school in Pakistan's troubled Swat valley.

She spoke in front of a UN Youth Assembly in New York in an impassioned speech in which she invoked the names of non-violence advocates Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. and the late Benazir Bhutto and called on the world's government to provide free education to every child among other issues.





"Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world," Malala said to the nearly 1000 young leaders from around the world..

"The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage were born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same," the rights activist said.

Telling the UN Youth Assembly that she was focusing on women's rights and girls' education because they were suffering the most, she called upon world leaders to change their strategic policies in favor of peace and prosperity.

"We call upon all governments to ensure free compulsory education for every child all over the world," she said, also calling on governments to fight against terrorism and violence, to protect children from brutality and harm.

Happy birthday Malala.  May you have many more.

What Would Spelman College Do In This Trans Feminine Student Situation?

“Schools should be focused on building our next generation of leaders, not discriminating against them." Calliope Wong

I had an interesting conversation with Samantha Master the other day about getting HBCU's to recognize that Black TBLG students exist.   HBCU law schools are ahead of the game when it comes to having non discrimination policies that included gender identity and expression but the HBCU main campuses that host these law schools surprisingly don't. 

We discussed how it would be in their best short and long term interests to ensure their campuses were open, inclusive and affirming places for TBLG students and they needed to get busy enacting policies and procedures to make that happen.   And yes, as a group they also needed to improve on the sorry situation of having only one of the 105 HBCU's (Bowie State University) having a dedicated LGBT center on campus.

Our conversation turned to transteen Calliope Wong and her recently being turned down twice by Smith College for enrollment while hypocritically allowing transmen to matriculate on campus if they transition after they have been admitted.  Smith College according to Dean of Admissions Debra Shaver and HuffPo Gay Voices has put together a committee to look at the issues that affect trans applicants. 

The Smith committee will begin its work at the start of the 2013-14 academic year in September and includes students.   The students involved on this committee have indicated that Smith would stop using the gender marker on FAFSA applications when evaluating trans students for admission.

While I hope the situation at Smith is substantive change and has a positive resolution for future trans applicants to the college, mine and Samantha's HBCU centric discussion put me in 'What if?' hard solid thinking mode. 

What would happen if you flipped the racial script and instead of Calliope Wong, had a bright African-American trans feminine student named Kendra Nicole Williams in this mix?  

Kendra wants to attend the elite African-American women's HBCU Spelman College because it's her dream school and applies.  She transitioned at age 14 and has a supportive family who helped her live her trans teen feminine life.   Kendra excelled academically in her high school and has begun the process of changing her identity documents. 

But because her family doesn't have a spare $20K in the bank genital surgery is out of the question right now because they see it as a bigger priority to use whatever extra money they have to help Kendra get the quality college education she needs.   


How would Spelman handle that situation I just outlined?  Would Kendra be accepted into the Spelman Class of 2017 with open arms or would they fumble the ball just as badly as Smith did?  

Atlanta based Spelman, which was founded in 1881, is one of the oldest historically Black women's colleges in the nation. I chose Spelman for this thought exercise because it is analogous in its elite status to Smith. in addition to it being among the nation's top ten best women's colleges as ranked by Forbes magazine, it has prestigious notable alumni and faculty.

For the sake of this exercise in hard solid thinking, let's assume Spelman fumbled the ball and refused to admit Kendra for the same reason Smith did.  It denied admission to Kendra based on a mismatched FAFSA gender code.   How much media negativity do you think Spelman would get right now because of that decision? 

I submit it would be ten times worse than what Smith got.   

In those media stories roasting Spelman over the coals you would see the ''Blacks are more homophobic' meme repeatedly come up in whatever stores they chose to write about it in addition to pointing out they are across the street from all-male Morehouse College and talking about its homophobic fails over the years.  

The mainstream media seems to take perverse pleasure in flipping the journalistic middle finger at POC trans women, and you can bet their penchant for doing so would come into play here.

Don't even get me started about the Black gossip blogosphere and the transphobic ignorance they gleefully display on a regular basis.  You can count on a few hip hop formatted radio station morning shows jumping into this transphobic media mix and yours truly having to spend a few weeks putting some outlets on blast for the negative and sensationalistic reporting that some newspapers of record would aim at Kendra just for grins in addition to asking Spelman what's up with not admitting Kendra?

And to tweak the hard solid thinking on trans issues still further, what if the Kendra student in my earlier example was a cis female who enrolls and a year later transitions to male?   I have heard of this situation occurring at Smith and other Seven Sisters institutions but haven't heard if it has occurred at Spelman yet.

What would Spelman do when (not if) that happens?  Do they have non-discrimination policies and support structures in place to make it a welcoming environment for that now transmasculine student?

So let's end the 'What If' exercise for now and move on to the known quantities about Spelman.  Beverly Daniel Tatum, the current Spelman president has a well earned reputation of being a supportive ally on the SGL issues.  Spelman has been ahead of the curve in terms of being a role model for HBCU's that embrace tackling LGBT issues.   

In addition to Spelman having AFREKETE, the highly regarded LGBT and ally organization on its campus, it was the host campus for the groundbreaking Audre Lorde Historically Black College and University Summit on April 29, 2011.   The one day summit was spearheaded by Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, the founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center, attended by representatives of nine HBCU campuses from across the nation and was enthusiastically supported by President Tatum.

It focused on LGBT issues within African-American and HBCU communities and included a session on LGBT organizing paneled by the Human Rights Campaign's Deputy Director for Diversity Donna Payne and National Black Justice Coalition CEO Sharon J. Lettman-Hicks.  

But I don't know as of yet what President Tatum's stances are concerning trans issues and I would love to have that conversation with her.  Spelman despite being the undisputed leader on LGBT issues in HBCU collegiate world still as of this writing doesn't have a dedicated LGBT resource center on its campus like Bowie State does..   

I believe that in my earlier example, based on the groundbreaking work that Spelman is already doing that my fictional trans student Kendra would be admitted.   She might have a few issues she'd have to deal with like what would happen if she wanted to pledge one of the Divine Nine sororities on campus or the possibility of somebody transphobically tripping in the dorms because of her pre-operative status, but in terms of getting a quality education in an HBCU setting as a trans student, she'd probably be in the best place for it on paper.

Trans students will bring some issues to the table that may seems daunting to a women's college but are manageable with thoughtful preparation, clear enforced policies and procedures, and established support systems.  Most importantly, they have administrations that make it crystal clear discrimination aimed at trans and SGL students will not be tolerated.     


What I said to close out my 'HBCU's Better Recognize Black TBLG Students Exist' post still applies a year later. 

HBCU's need to send the unmistakable message to their faculty, current and future students, alumni, and the communities they serve that discrimination against LGBT students on HBCU campuses will not be tolerated.   HBCU's need to show they have inclusive and welcoming campuses, and they are willing to include LGBT students in their ongoing missions to uplift the race through educational achievement.

I believe that Spelman and the other Black HBCU women's colleges such as Bennett are taking what happened recently at Smith as a cautionary tale.  I hope they are engaging in hard solid thinking to avoid the public relations nightmare Smith fell into because of the lack of admissions procedures and policies in place for trans feminine students.  

Based on the work they've already done, I'm confident Spelman will be prepared for the inevitable day when a Black trans woman comes application in hand to fulfill her dream of getting an education on their distinguished HBCU campus and become one of the exceptional Black women Spelman College has produced for over a century.  

Israeli School Firing Award Winning Trans Teacher For Coming Out

The international trans community discovered thanks to Dana International's 1998 Eurovision win that transpeople exist in Israel.

Because of the subsequent media attention Dana, other Israeli trans women and the Paper Dolls documentary garnered, Israel on the surface has the reputation in the international trans community of being the most trans friendly spot in the Middle East compared to its regional neighbors. 

But disturbing news is coming out of that nation that is making people in the international trans community question the trans friendly perception.

This one also concerns me as a proud teacher's kid.

According to Gay Star News, an award winning mathematics teacher named Marina is facing dismissal after she openly talked to her students about being a trans woman.

Marina has been and outstanding teacher and mentor for the last three years and says that Israel’s Center for Educational Technology (CET) wants her fired for merely discussing her gender identity.

Marina is justifiably shocked that this is happening especailly since there have been no complaints filed against her.  She pointed out in a Channel 2 Israel interview: ‘I tried to explain that I am a human being just like they are and that it has no bearing on me being professional, and they need to accept people as they are’


She also pointed out ongoing work with pupils includes small talk, and she refuses to hide her identity, ‘coming out should encourage teachers to come out to students to teachers so that neither teachers nor students feel ashamed of themselves’.

Eran Dey of Israel’s LGBT community Facebook page, told Gay Star News: ‘I think transgender people are the least well treated out of the LGBT community in Israel. Employees make their life a living hell if they even manage to make it through a job interview, due to prejudice.


'I find it crucial for cases like Marina’s to go before court to ensure that future employers in Israel would treat transgender and genderqueer people with dignity, equality and respect’.

Yadin Sapir, chair of Ha’vanaa, an organization dedicated to fighting against homophobia and transphobia told Gay Star News: ‘It is particularly insulting to hear a claim as if she wasn’t ‘qualified’ to speak with her students; a claim that hints that the fact she’s a transgender woman is ‘embarrassing’ to CET and requires a ‘special qualification’ when it comes to being discussed with students.

‘This highlights the need not only to bring the institution to court but also to conduct diversity training to employers in Israel’.

Smith College Teach In Tonight

For those of you in Western Massachusetts, you may wish to roll over to Northampton and check out a teach in that's happening on the Smith College campus tonight from 6:30-7:30 PM EDT  outside the Smith Campus Center.

It's being hosted by Smith Q & A (Queers & Alliez)  in response to the issue of exclusion of trans women from being able to enroll and matriculate at one of the premiere women's colleges in the country.

A petition calling for the end of transphobic discrimination in Smith admissions policies has garnered over 4000 signatures.

One of the people who will be speaking is longtime activist and historian Bet Power, and I hope the video cameras are rolling for this one.

Hope you'll come and show your support for this event.

May 1 Teach-In At Smith College

If you oppose discrimination and would like Smith College to admit trans women as undergraduate students, please come to this event. Bet Power will be speaking, and trans community members and allies are very much needed in this effort to press Smith College for change.

And if you haven't done so yet, here's the petition asking Smith to change its policies and admit qualified transwomen who wish to attend the school.

Smith Q & A (Queers & Alliez) is hosting a Teach-In next Wednesday, May 1 at 6:30-7:30 PM. EDT, outside the Smith Campus Center, in response to the issue of trans women's exclusion from Smith. It is an opportunity for coalition work between the larger queer community and Smith, as well as an opportunity for us to do education work around transmisogyny. It is not a protest, or a violent space -- but rather, a space to continue educating our communities.

Come learn about how and why excluding trans women from Smith is inexcusable, works against the mission of Smith as a women's college, and is not a Title IX issue. Hear students, faculty, and Northampton community members speak about historic exclusion of trans women, and the odds that trans women face trying to gain access to higher education.

The Smith College Campus Center is located at 100 Elm Street, Northampton, MA.

I'll repeat and expand on what I said in the Smith trans hypocrisy post.   This issue isn't going away because trans people now transition as early as ages 5 and 6.  More are transitioning in their teens.  Those 5 and 6 year old trans kids will grow up to become trans teens who one day will be looking to earn a degree on someone's college campus. 

Some of those trans teens will be trans feminine students who could be prospective students wishing to attend your campus.   You already allow transmasculine students on your campus after they transition, so why the problem with having transfeminine students on campus?  

Transfeminine students would not only benefit from matriculating at an all women's college with Smith's academic reputation, but we would bring something to the table in terms of educating you on our issues and having your students get to know the trans women who get to attend the school.

Hope you can attend, because Bet is an amazing speaker and you don't want to miss it.

Thousands Call On Smith College To End Trans Applicant Discrimination

GLAAD, students, alumni voice support of trans-inclusive admissions policy

New York, April 11, 2013 - GLAAD, the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, today announced that it has joined more than 3,000 Change.org petition signers and student organizers at Smith College to call for an end to the school's policy that unfairly rejects the admission applications of some transgender women. That petition is available here: http://change.org/smithadmissions In March, Smith denied admission to Calliope Wong because the gender marker on her FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Financial Aid) form did not match her stated gender identity of female.  Despite Smith's reputation for being inclusive, this policy turns a blind eye to the many complications and challenges trans people - especially youth - sometimes face when attempting to correct gender markers on personal identification documents. "Through the pressure from this petition and the campaign in general, I hope that Smith College becomes a more responsible and transparent institution," said Wong. "What that means to me is that Smith College will no longer use arbitrary and legally dubious bars against transwomen in the application and admissions process." "Thousands of Smith's supporters are telling the school that it needs to end its policy of refusing to consider the applications of women whom they decide aren't 'woman enough' based on inconsistent documents," said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. "Smith is setting a poor example to all of its students by not even accepting the applications of women like Calliope." "To me, the inclusion of trans women at women's colleges is a feminist issue. Trans women experience misogyny on multiple levels, making it all the more important that they have access to affirmative women's spaces like Smith," said Smith Q&A member and student Elli Palmer. Smith Q&A organizer Ollie Schwartz agreed, saying, "While Smith admissions policies remain muddled, one thing is becoming clear: our communities will not stand idly by while trans women are treated differently." Blogger and Yale student Sarah Giovanniello has been writing about Wong's story. She noted that, "the support the petition has received in just a few days is overwhelming. I hope that the widespread attention Calliope's case has gotten communicates to the Smith administration how important trans women's rights are and should be to the college's mission. Ideally, the college would commit providing trans women with the same level of support as any other applicants." For more information, visit http://glaad.org/smithadmissions ### About GLAAD: GLAAD amplifies the voice of the LGBT community by empowering real people to share their stories, holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively. By ensuring that the stories of LGBT people are heard through the media, GLAAD promotes understanding, increases acceptance, and advances equality. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org or connect with GLAAD on Facebook and Twitter.

Smith College's Trans Hypocrisy

Transteen Calliope Wong being rejected for admission twice by the prestigious all women's* school Smith College located in Northampton, MA has blown up and caused conversation all over the Net.  It wasn't grades or her SAT scores that caused the collegiate application rejections for this high school senior, it was her trans feminine status. 

Smith's admissions office told Wong the FAFSA designation makes her ineligible based on Smith's policy that applications and supporting papers consistently reflect that the student is female.


Wong's paperwork to Smith, including transcripts and references, identifies her as female.  But the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form from the U.S. Department of Education marks her as male.   The state of Connecticut will not allow her to change the gender code on her birth certificate unless she has GRS, and she can't  change the gender code on the FAFSA form until her birth certificate is changed. 

Can you say Catch 22 boys and girls?  As Bet Power wrote in a March 20 Advocate comment thread on this story, "Trans people should not be compelled to undergo sexual reassignment surgery in order to change our gender ID legally to our proper gender! Our bodies are NOT the point. Our MINDS are."  


Needless to say the Whyte Womyn Gone Wyld trans oppressors are jumping up and down about it spouting their usual hateful claptrap.  In order to keep your blood pressure from rising when you read it I won't waste my time or yours linking to their hateosphere to highlight the usual vanillacentirc privileged potpourri of virulent transphobia. 

But the rejection of Wong by the college looks even more hypocritical in light of the fact that Smith College allows transmen to stay on campus if they transition after enrollment.

It's also galling in the fact that Smith has a social justice mission to educate women, but yet continues to deny that trans women are part of that mission and bar access to trans women who are qualified to go there.

"No one should have to go through what I went through, Wong told the NewYork Daily News via email. “Schools should be focused on building our next generation of leaders, not discriminating against them."

Smith has admitted only female students since it opened its doors in 1875 due to the lack of higher education opportunities for women.  Wong, elements of the trans community and our allies believe Smith seized on the FAFSA code as their excuse to deny Wong admission. 




Calliope published an email exchange on her Tumblr with Jon O’Bergh, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of the US Department of Education, which appears to bolster her's and the trans community's perception of events and challenges Smith's decision.  It stated that “The FAFSA sex reported is only used for Selective Service purposes. Neither FAFSA nor the Department of Education cross-checks sex information with Social Security,”.

“Smith College could choose to accept me or at least process my application, if the administrators wanted to. Smith is not bound by any kind of federal mandate…Thus, Smith College’s decision not to process my application based on my FAFSA sex marker is at Smith’s sole discretion. Their hand was not forced; they chose this. Smith College is fully capable of reviewing my application and making an admissions decision for me based on my credentials. Just—it’s so simple, really. This is obvious discrimination on Smith’s part.”

Of course Smith says otherwise.   Laurie Fenlason, Smith's vice president for public affairs, said the school does not comment on the status or admissibility of individual applicants. But she added, "Every application to Smith is treated on a case-by-case basis, and application materials must reflect female identity."

Fenlason is claiming the school has legal concerns over changing its admissions policies and concerned they could lose federal funding under Title IX, a law that bans sexual discrimination in education but exempts single-sex institutions.

"Title IX is an important factor in our consideration but not the only one," she said. "Smith is focusing on the broader policy challenge of how to be inclusive and supportive of transgender students while being faithful to the mission of a women's college."

Yeah Smith, we get the point that applicants to Smith need to be female bodied and presenting as female.  That's not in dispute.  But for Smith to seize on the FAFSA form as your reason for twice denying Calliope Wong's application makes the school look hypocritical and shady not to mention transphobic.   It's also morally repugnant that Smith appears to be using the groundbreaking Title IX law as your excuse to exclude qualified transwomen admittance into the school.

Smith alums don't like it and neither do we trans women and our allies.  In addition to a supportive photo project that has popped up, a Facebook group has been created called Trans Women Belong At Smith College for supportive alums, trans people and allies who support the admission of trans women on campus.  .  

This issue isn't going away.  Trans people are transitioning as early as ages 5 and 6.   Those trans kids will grow up to become trans teens who one day will matriculate on someone's college campus.  Some of those trans teens may be trans feminine students who could be prospective students wishing to attend your campus one day.

Calliope, transwomen and our allies are determined to continue fighting to ensure those transkids if they have the grades and wish to do so when it's time to select a college have that option to attend a college such as Smith..

So Smith College you have a choice.  Will you willingly work on changing your admissions policies so they aren't blatantly discriminatory to trans feminine students?  Or will you have to create them in the wake of losing a trans discrimination lawsuit?

It's your call.    

Morehouse College LBGT History Course Starts Today

HBCU's need to send the unmistakable message to their faculty, current and future students, alumni, and the communities they serve that discrimination against LGBT students on HBCU campuses will not be tolerated, they have inclusive and welcoming campuses, and they are willing to include LGBT students in their ongoing missions to uplift the race through educational achievement.

TransGriot July 23, 2012 'HBCU's Better Recognize Black TBLG Students Exist '

In a remarkable advance for a campus that in the 90's was considered one of the Most Homophobic by the Princeton Review, Morehouse College's first ever LGBT history course got started today. 

The student initiated course is entitled "A Genealogy of Black LGBT Culture and Politics" and meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.   It has the goal of outlining various concepts in Black feminism, cultural theories, and the methodology behind them.

SafeSpace, the campus gay-straight alliance and student advocacy organization partnered with former Morehouse student and Yale University professor Dr. Jafari Allen in order to bring the idea to fruition.

Allen is teaching the course t his semester via video conference from Yale and student reaction to the groundbreaking class has been positive.   More than 20 people registered for the class; with some of them coming from neighboring all-female Spelman College.

It will be interesting to see how this class evolves as the semester plays out.   There will also be interested observers inside and outside the ATL watching to see if there will be more LGBT class offerings on the campus that proudly claims Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr as an alum.
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East Aurora, IL School Board Caves To The Bigots Again

What started out as a wonderful happening for the kids in the East Aurora, IL district when their school board passed a trans inclusive policy only to cave on it days later after opposition from the SPLC certified hate group the Illinois Family Association is getting more exasperation inducing as it goes along. 

After the IFA browbeat the school board into rescinding the policy, the East Aurora board announced the formation of an ad hoc committee to formulate a new policy to protect their trans and gender variant students.

But as I feared when the board caved initially to the IFA in October and emboldened the transphobes, they simply doubled down on the bullying tactics in an attempt to kill any trans inclusive policy from being crafted and adopted.   At a November 30 meeting of the ad hoc committee they filled the room with 120 opponents of the trans inclusive policy and disrupted it to the point the committee couldn't conduct business.   

Anita Lewis, the school board member chairing the ad hoc committee declined to schedule another meeting, and now the East Aurora IL school board has caved once again to the transphobic bigots. 

The board dissolved the ad hoc committe that was formed to craft a trans policy that would be in their words when they formed it 'a model to the nation'.

Yeah East Aurora, IL school board.   You're a model to the nation all right.   You caved in the face of intolerant bigots, reversed a policy that would have protected your trans and gender variant students and now left them vulnerable to the very bigots you sought to protect them from.

You also sent a message to those trans and gender variant students in this district that you as a school board would (and have) throw them under the bus and not stand and deliver for them when they needed you to. 

I hope your profiles in cowardice are rewarded with all of your being voted out of office by progressive minded parents and residents and you are replaced by civic minded people who will do what's right for all the kids of the East Aurora district.  

They need school board members who will stand by their principled decisions,  not retreat from them in the face of loud and wrong opposition.