Candlelight Vigil For Shante & Willie Friday

As the Houston Police Department talks to trans woman Serenity Colquitt, who turned herself into the police yesterday afternoon in the Shante Thompson-Willie Sims murder case, the planning continues for an upcoming vigil Friday evening to honor the victims of this heinous crimes.

Some of the eight people who viciously attacked are trans themselves, and HPD detectives are seeking a person of interest in the Thompson-Willis case.  .

The vigil will take place at Houston City Hall starting at 6 PM, and in addition to honoring the memory of Shante and Willie, it will be a call to action to end anti-trans violence.

In addition to speakers, it will also have a moment of silence for the person we have lost so far in 2016 to anti-trans violence.

Hope you can make it to Houston City Hall Friday night for this event.

 

Moni Checks Out 'The Vagina Monologues' H-town Style

I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time ever a live performance of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues Sunday night in which many of my friends and FB friends were involved.

It was ably produced and directed by Natalie 'Fox' Maisel in addition to being a sold out fundraiser for the Houston Area Women's Center.

Meagan Gillett and Veronika Simms were two of the cast members I knew going into the event, and Sheena Sunshine and Natalie 'Fox' Maisel are two of my FB friends involved in the production.

I also got to sit at a table in Blue by Massa's right by the wonderful group of ladies performing this play with Dee Dee Watters and Vancie Vega cracking me up at our table before it started.

It was an amazing evening of great food, fun, music and spending a few hours watching the production that at times, has moments besides the trans specific monologue that was performed by Veronika, that connect with girls like us.

I and the crowd, laughed, cheered, chanted, cried.and went into thoughtful mode as those various monologues were performed over the next hour and a half,  I also enjoyed talking to many of the cast members before and after the event and congratulating them on a job well done.

Brava once again Natalie 'Fox' Maisel, Julianna Alexander, Mary du Plessis, Anna Faro, Leslie Claire, Meagan Gillett, Monika LaBadie, Veronika Simms. Sheena Sunshine, Stephanie Fenton and Abby Buchold.

And thanks to my tablemates for making it an even more enjoyable evening and a wonderful way to spend a Valentine's Day .

State Of Black Lives Convening Day 2

Spent an interesting first day at the State of Black Lives Convening sponsored by Freedom Bound Texas and #Black Lives Matter at the Emerson UU Church near the Galleria area yesterday.

I took part in a discussion moderated by Dee Dee Watters entitled "Before I'm Trans, I'm Black' that was merged with one conduced by Dr Rachel Afi Quinn and Eesha Pandit that focused on gender based violence.

It was also wonderful to spend some quality time talking with one of my JJ Falcon classmates in addition to the other first day attendees.

Dee Dee felt that the two topics needed to be merged since gender based violence is an all too real part of trans feminine lives.  It led to a dynamite panel that could have gone on for another hour.

Another event anticipated today is the keynote speech from Elaine Brown, th former president and Minister of Information with the Black Panther Party.

You can check out the hashtag #FreedomBound to see some of the tweets about today's panels and other discussions that take place today, or even better, if you can, show up.
     

Community Debrief On HERO Tonight

This should be interesting.  

Tonight a conversation about HERO will take place to discuss what's next and map out a future course for what will happen next.  But this is also the same Houston Unites crew that I called Prop 8 2.0 for the way that the defense of our human rights ordinance was screwed up.

Will be interesting to see who they have taking part in this discussion from the Houston Unites side and what they have to say about how they conducted the campaign.

It starts at 6 PM at the Ripley House Neighborhood Center Gym.   The address if you wish to attend is 4410 Navigation Blvd.

Should be an interesting discussion.    

Two Houston Trans Feminine Leaders Speaking Tonight

Two Houston transwomen are handling their human rights business on the same night with 1500 miles between them.  Hey we H-town trans women just got it like that.   We have a long distinguished history of being kick ass fighters and activists, and we're keeping that tradition moving forward into the 21st century.

Collar popping done, back to the post.  'll start with the trans feminine leader doing the local event.

Here inside Beltway 8 Dee Dee Watters will be at the January meeting of the Houston Stonewall Young Democrats to discuss transgender equality and how to talk about trans issues in the media.

If you wish to attend, it will be at Little Bigs, located at 4617 Montrose Blvd near the Museum District.  Social half hour starts at 6:30 PM, with the meeting and Dee Dee's discussion taking place at 7 PM

Meanwhile on the Left Coast, Nikki Araguz Loyd will be on the University of La Verne campus for a speech entitled My Experiences In Life & Law.

It is sponsored by the University of La Verne College of Law and the Coalition For Diversity, and will start at 6;30 PM PST in the La Fetra Lecture Hall

For those of you in SoCal and the Los Angeles metro area wishing to check her out, the University of La Verne is located at 1950 3rd Street in La Verne, CA.

Good luck tonight, ladies!  Hope both your presentations are done to capacity crowds.  Have no doubts you'll knock them out of the park.

Upcoming 'The New Black' Screening And Panel Discussion

My first event of 2016 is going to be an interesting one.  It will be a January 14 screening of the Yoruba Richen documentary The New Black followed by a community panel discussion about the HERO and our way forward as a community.

I've seen the movie already, and it documents the marriage equality fight in Maryland and the successful ballot campaign to defend it in a state with a significant African-American population.

The movie had a few familiar faces in it for me like NBJC executive director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks and one of my activist homegirls in Samantha Master.

The panel after the movie will be moderated by Januari Leo, and be comprised of Fran Watson, Christina Gorczynski. Shekira Dennis and moi.

It is sponsored by the Iota chapter of Delta Phi Upsilon Fraternity, Inc and will take place at 14 Pews starting at 6 PM CST with a reception followed by the movie screening starting at 7 PM.

14 Pews is located at 800 Aurora St. in H-town, and hope to see you there .

The Transgender National Alliance Gala-Petite Is A Success

The first ever Transgender National Alliance Gala-Petite on Friday night was an amazing sold out event at Blue By Massa's downtown in which the Houston trans community and our allies got glammed up to raise money for TNA and have a wonderful time.  

And yeah, a certain blogger y'all know was in the house as well.

The theme for this inaugural TNA Gala was Metro Glam, and folks in attendance were dressed in the style of rock meets Grammy purple carpet in this case.  We also sat down to a delicious meal as Vancie Vega handled her business and did an amazing job as our Mistress of Ceremonies.

We were also blessed to have at this initial TNA gala the lovely Durga McBroom serenading us with her lovely and powerful voice.

In addition, the inaugural TNA Be Amazing Award was given to TransTech founding CEO Angelica Ross, who has had a wonderful 2015 with her upcoming star turn in the web series Her Story and hope 2016 is even more exciting for her.

In addition, there was a silent auction and door prizes to raise money for TNA's work as a nonpartisan non-profit organization that seeks to recognize, celebrate and employ the diversity of the transgender community while providing funding, outreach education and support for the issues affecting our community and our allies.

Was nice seeing everyone there including our friend Lauryn Farris from San Antonio and her daughter Izzy.   Looking forward to seeing what transpires for this wildly successful TNA event and what they will pull off in 2016.

Inaugural TNA Gala-Petite Tonight

The Houston based Transgender National Alliance is in two hours kicking off its inaugural Gala-Petite at Blue By Massa's.  And yeah, you know I'll be in the house to check it out.

Suggested attire is rock and roll meets high fashion, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
It has the Metro Glam theme, and the inaugural TNA fundraising event is honoring TransTech founder and star of the web series Her Story Angelica Ross with their initial #BeAmazing Award.

This gala also includes a night of red carpet fun, champagne, gourmet buffet, a swag bag along with a raffle ticket for amazing prize,s a performance by Durga McBroom Hudson from Pink Floyd, door prizes and since it's the holiday season, an appearance by Bad Santa..  

Tickets are $25, so if you have some spare change burning a hole in your pockets, may wish to swing by 1160 Smith Street and check out this first ever event.

First Ever HCC-Southeast TDOR Tonight

Usually I'm either out of town for somebody's TDOR, but this year it didn't happen for me.  

That development was probably fortuitous for my hometown because we had four different TDOR events in the Houston area for people to attend or participate in, and I was tapped for participation in two of them.

Later tonight at 5:30 PM CST on the HCC-Southeast campus I'll be delivering a keynote speech for this first ever one sponsored by the Black Student Association, Women and Gender Studies Program, Counseling Center, and Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

It will take place Thursday evening from 5:30-7 PM in the Angela Morales Building - Lecture Hall on the HCC-Southeast campus, and will also feature Lou Weaver along with Dr. Ilija Immanuel Gallego 

The HCC-Southeast campus is just off I-45 at 6815 Rustic St.., and hope to see you there.