Fundraiser For Our Black Trans Masculine Elders

Our Black trans masculine elders have done much to advance the human rights of our trans community, but unfortunately don't get the props and praise they deserve for it.

Dr Kortney Ziegler is raising $100K to split between three amazing trans masculine leaders in Ethan Thomas Young,  Rev Louis Mitchell and Kylar Broadus.

While I'm not familiar with Ethan or his work (and that's the impetus for me to get familiar with it)  , I am however quite aware of Louis and Kylar,   I have known both for over a decade, and I am proud to call them friends and colleagues in the struggle.

I have witnessed both Louis and Kylar contribute their time, talents and sweat equity into building out community and organizations like the Trans Persons Of Color Coalition that Kylar founded in 2010.   Louis has been involved in faith leadership in our community and being a mentor to our trans masculine community. 

All three of our elders deserve your support, and if you can contribute something, please do so. .

Here's the link to donate to the fundraiser.    You can also hit Kortney up on Cash App if you wish to do so that way at $fakerapper

Thanks to Kortney for organizing it, and please show our trans masculine elders some love and help Kortney reach that $100K goal .

Tommie Ross Recovery Fundraiser

As many of you know, and I've told her personally, I have mad love and respect for my Houston homegirl and Miss Continental 1999-2000 Tommie Ross.

One of my early forays into Montrose was a trek to Studio 13 to watch her perform.  Her graceful elegance made her one of my transition role models.   I can't forget when I finally did meet her she not only is one gracious and lovely individual, she thoroughly whipped my butt when we played pool one night in 1990 at a defunct club called Uptown Downtown.

Was saddened and upset to hear that she suffered a mild stroke while traveling out of the country.  She drifted in and out of consciousness, had a fever, temporary kidney loss, suffered some memory loss and lost the ability to walk. 

I also didn't appreciate hearing about a shady drag queen making some disrespectful remarks about Miss Ross while she was in serious condition in a local hospital. 

More about that waste of DNA later.  Back to talking about Tommie. 

When she returned to the States, her condition worsened and after a battery of tests were conducted by her medical team, she was diagnosed with Legionnaires Disease.

After several rounds of antibiotics to treat the infection that got embedded in her lungs, she has begun to regain her ability to speak from the strole, and was able to stand up for the first time recently with the aid of a walker

Her medical team believes that she will fully recover over the next few months, and she is facing several rounds of physical therapy that she is determined to get through.

People have asked what they can do to help Tommie as she goes through this trying time.  A fundraiser has been set up with a $25,000 goal,.  So far as of this writing it has reached $3785,  so there's a long way to go to hit the targeted amount.

So if you can help a legendary sister out, please do so.   The link to the fundraiser is here.

TNA Halloween Fundraising Party At Hamburger Mary's Tomorrow

For those of you who don't want to watch Game 6 of the World Series and wish to break out your costumes  why not head over to Hamburger Mary's and do so for a good cause?

The Transgender National Alliance helps low income trans people get name and gender marker changes.  TNA helped me get mine back in February, so I got to see firsthand the work they do

TNA is hosting a fundraiser there tomorrow night that will be emceed by Lady Shamu and  Veronica Strutts.   In addition to the Zombies of Mary's, they'll have candy, games and a raffle with prizes that include original art, jewelry, champagne and whiskey .

$20 entry fee that includes the games, $5 for the raffle tickets. 

The TNA Halloween party benefits the Transgender National Alliance and Transgender Women of Color United for Change, and will run from 6-10 PM.

If you're interested, you can call Hamburger Mary's at 713-677-0674 to reserve your table.  Hamburger Mary's Houston is located in the heart of the gayborhood at 2409 Grant Street. 

Dawn Still Needs Help To Rep Team USA In Slovenia

I posted this back on August 6 about my homegirl Dawn Wilson  qualifying for the USA veterans fencing world championship team and trying to raise $3,000 to cover the expenses for her upcoming trip to maribor, Slovenia and the FIE Veterans World Fencing tournament set to kick off there on October 15.

So far she's only raised a little over $1,200 of the $3500 she's set as the target that she wishes to reach.

I know we have had several natural disasters that have gotten people's deserved attention.   but can y'all spear $1, $5, $10, $20 or more if you can to help her reach her goal.

Help a sister out so she can get to Slovenia and have a shot at bringing home world championship  gold (or silver, or bronze)

Here's the link to the GoFundMe 

Help Dawn Represent Team USA!

I've talked more than a few times on this blog about the fencing exploits of my Louisville homegirl Dawn Wilson, and me getting to tag along and watch from time to time when I lived in Da Ville.

She's good at it as well.  Dawn donates her time to a lot of worthy causes in the Louisville area in addition to serving on the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission and as an elder at her church.

But her passion is fencing.  She is one of the top five 5 ranked veterans saberists in the USA, and recently she accomplished a long sought after goal of qualifying for and making a USA Veterans national fencing team.

She now gets a long sought after opportunity to prove she's one of the best in the world.      

That USA Veterans fencing team will be competing in the FIE Veterans Fencing World Championship tournament in Maribor, Slovenia October 15-21, and it will be an expensive trip for travel and lodging while she's there.  Dawn can cover some of her expenses, but to be at her absolute best, she would also like to bring her coach with her.  

The goal is to raise $3,500 and you can click on this link to the GoFundMe page to donate whatever you can afford and whenever you can do so.  

Help her get to Slovenia for this tournament and rep Team USA to the best of her ability.

Tee Tee's Funeral Go Fund Me Page

Tee Tee Dangerfield was murdered earlier this week, and like many families in this situation, the unexpected death of a young family member has left them scrambling to cover the expenses for her funeral costs.

***

Thank you so much for stopping by this page to honor and celebrate Tee Tee Dangerfield’s life and legacy. 

The Dangerfield family would like to thank everyone who has expressed their condolences – and blessed us with their prayers during this extremely difficult time. 

Our family never thought we would have to bury our loved one – unexpectedly. 

Tee Tee was murdered on July 31st, 2017 around 4:30AM at an apartment complex in College Park, Georgia. Police say, someone shot her multiple times while she was sitting inside of her car. When medics arrived, they rushed her to the hospital, but sadly she died upon arrival. We know this story has touched many people in the Atlanta-metro area and across the country. Especially, those in the LGBT community. We want you to know your love and support has meant everything to our family. We also want you to know that Tee Tee was a prideful transgendered woman and happily supported her community. 

If you feel compelled to donate to Tee Tee’s Fund to cover her burial and funeral expenses, we would gladly appreciate it.  

For all those who a part of the LGBT community, in transition, scared of people’s perceptions know that Tee Tee would say – “Be fabulous, honey!”  

Our sincerest gratitude, 

The Dangerfield Family 
***
The GoFundMe page for Tee Tee has a goal of raising over $10,000, and hope that we can not only meet but exceed it..   Here's the link to it.

The Divine Cassadine Transition Scholarship Fundraiser

There are a few posts on TransGriot in which I discuss silicone pumping, the negative effects of it and chronicle the pumpers who get busted and brought to justice or killing people while doing so.

Tanisha Caston AKA 'The Divine Tanisha Cassadine', was born in Memphis  September 16, 1968 and touched many lives inside and outside the House of Cassadine and the pageant and ballroom community    She died on March 16 at age 48 due to complications from silicone injections.

It was a death that shocked many in the pageant world who knew her, and brought home to people the danger of silicone pumping


Miss BTIPS 2016 Taliyah Cassadine is also the founder of Say No 2 Silicone Injections to promote awareness of the danger of silicone pumping.

She created the Divine Cassadine Transition Scholarship to not only keep memories of the legacy of Tanisha alive, but also help create a funding stream to help trans women who want to transition in a healthy and safe way without using silicone.   It can also be used to remove silicone from a person's body, which can also be a costly process.

The Divine Cassadine Transition Scholarship will be awarded at future BTAC conventions.  Fundraising for the $3000 goal started April 1 with the hope that the goal will be reached and hopefully exceeded by next April 1.

If you're inclined to give $5, 10, 20 or whatever your heart moves you to do at this time, please do so. No amount is too small to give in order to reach and hopefully exceed the goal to seed this fund.  

Even $1 will help the cause, and here's the link to the fundraising page. 

TNA Fundraiser At Hamburger Mary's Tonight

Later tonight at our brand new Hamburger Mary's location in the heart of the gayborhood the Transgender National Alliance will be hosting a fundraiser event there.

So what's the Transgender National Alliance?   It's a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization that seeks to employ and empower the transgender community by providing funding, outreach, education and support for the issues affecting our community and allies. Focusing on providing name and gender marker changes, we distributed more than $50,000 in 2016 providing surgical procedures and legal funding to more than 50 people.

TNA exists to support and give a voice to our trans community in addition to empowering them with name and gender marker changes.  

I was one of the most recent recipients of one of those gender marker changes last month, and it helped complete a nearly 20 year journey for me in terms of getting my documentation changed.

I would love to see a full house at this Hamburger Mary's TNA fundraiser tonight so that other trans people may also experience the joy of knowing that their documentation matches the person they know they are and present to the world.

The Hamburger Mary's Charity Drag Bingo night will also feature in addition to their wonderful dinner menu, games and performances by their showgirls with the proceeds to benefit the Trans National Alliance .

There will be $10 bingo cards and $5 raffle tickets available for purchase, and six prizes valued at more than $1000 will also be given away during the evening

Also neat to know that international fashion model, founder of Gender Proud and trans advocate Geena Rocero will also be in the house tonight. along with some GLAAD award nominated blogger y'all know.   Thanks to TNA, after a 19 year journey, I now have my documentation in order thanks to a TNA New Year's Eve fundraiser that raised enough money to also cover my gender marker change.

And as someone who does a lot of air travel with a trip coming up next week, I'm ecstatic that this upcoming trip will be the first one I take in which I get to show a driver's license with corrected gender markers  

I want others in our community to know what that feels like, and I hope you'll join us from 6-10 PM   Hamburger Mary's is located at 2409 Grant #A.

Seating is limited, so call Hamburger Mary's at 713- 677-0674 for reservations.

TransLatina Coalition's G.A.R.R.A.S. Fashion Show Tomorrow

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, if you're looking for an event to attend that also serves as a fundraiser, tomorrow night the TransLatina Coalition's G.A.R.R.A.S.  Fashion Show will take place starting at 6 PM PDT.

G.A.R.R.A.S. stands for Groundbreaking Activism Redirecting and Reforming All Systems.  The show is not only a fundraiser for the TransLatina Coalition, it is a fashion show in which all of the participants are trans women.

The G.A.R.R.A.S. Fashion Show is an event that provides visibility for the Los Angeles area trans community and supports the Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness, which is a program of the TransLatin@ Coalition.



There are some limited tickets available for the fashion show that transcends borders, with the ticket prices ranging from $15-$100.   You can click on this link to purchase those tickets.

The G.A.R.R.A.S. Show will take place at the Florentine Gardens, located at 5951 Hollywood Blvd. in  LOs Angeles, CA from 6-9 PM    If you need further information about it, you can check out the TransLatina Coalition website.

Hope that this year's edition of the G.A.R/R.A.S. show is once again a success, and please check out and support my Los Angeles area trans Latina sisters for a night of high fashion and fun for a great cause..

TransMilitary Project Documentary Kickstarter Campaign

As many of you TransGriot readers are aware of, I am a big supporter of open trans military service for many reasons.   It not only needs to happen for the over 15,000 trans people already serving in the US armed forces, but it honors those trans vets who have served our country.   It also will allow our trans kids growing up who wish to do so an option to serve as themselves.

The TransMilitary Project is a documentary film directed by Gabe Silverman and produced by Fiona Dawson  and Jamie Coughlin that seeks to tell the stories of the courageous trans folks in the US Armed Forces that have risked their military careers to push for open trans military service.

They are seeking to raise $89,500 to produce this documentary in this Kickstarter campaign that has 24 days to go.

The documentary will highlight what it means to be trans in our military and illuminate the discrimination they face in their military and civilian lives.

While the ban on transgender military service was supposed to end this month, it is getting transphobic resistance inside the military despite the fact that 18 nations and many of our NATO allies allow their transgender citizens to serve in their military.

So if you can contribute to making this documentary happen, please do.

Bryanna Needs Some Support

My Baltimore based sis Bryanna Jenkins has been accepted to DePaul University's College of Law in Chicago and will be headed to Chicago in August to join the Class of 2019!

I'm proud of her for getting a step closer to her dream of becoming an attorney, and Bryanna wants to concentrate on the areas of public interest and civil rights law.

The 27 year old Jenkins is an award winning advocate for our community who was recently honored with a 2016 BTAC Rising Stars Award.

While she was awarded a $60K renewable scholarship and has applied for countless others, as those of us who have pursued higher education know, scholarships don't cover all the costs of your legal education.

She'll also be resigning her position at her job in Baltimore in August to make that move to Chitown and get her legal education started.

Bryanna started a GoFundMe page two months ago with a goal of raising $5000 to help her defray some of her moving expenses and get settled in Chicago.

However, I've been distressed to see that at the time I'm compiling this post, unfortunately she has raised just $805 toward that goal, and the clock is inexorably ticking toward the August moment that she will have to move from Baltimore to Chicago to get settled for her first year of law school at DePaul.

She'll also need for her dorm room appliances, bedding, and old law school textbooks while she's getting her legal education in the Windy City.

Can we show our trans sister some love and contribute to her fund?  Chicago based trans fam, can y'all also do what y'all can to help Bryanna out when she arrives in your backyard?

If you can drop $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can spare on her GoFundMe, every little bit helps to get our sis closer to that $5000 goal.  You can also consider whatever you donate to Bryanna's GoFundMe it an investment in the education of a future legal advocate for our community, and the more trans attorneys we have, the better.

Thank you for considering helping our trans sister out.

2015 Bunnies On The Bayou Party

One of the Houston LGBT community traditions that happens every Easter Sunday is the plaza and park in front of the Wortham Theater Center becomes the site of a major fundraising party that draws people from as far away for it as New York and California and over its history has raised over $550,000.

It's the Bunnies on the Bayou Party, and this 36th edition of it drew a crowd of thousands 21 and up that enjoyed a cool and cloudy Houston day to listen to the sounds of DJ Joe Ross and DJ Special K with proceeds going to several LGBT community organizations.

The Bunnies On The Bayou party got started in 1979 as a small Easter Sunday party amongst friends in a Clay Street apartment complex.   The word of mouth about the event spread throughout the gayborhood and helped it grow into an outdoor party the next year that added an outdoor sound system and sent out invitations for it.

With AIDS taking a terrible toll in the Houston LGBT community by the mid 1980's, the party evolved to help people in our community struggling to overcome it.  The party hosts decided to help their friends suffering from AIDS by charging a bag of food as admission for the still growing event.

By the 1990's the outdoor party had grown so large it was moved to the brand new Wortham Center Plaza downtown next to Buffalo Bayou, and Bunnies on the Bayou was born as the party evolved once again, set up a 501(c)3 organization and began to raise money for local charities.

This was the first time I'd ever attended the event, and was nice to not only see some familiar friends in the H-town SGL, bi and trans community wandering Fish Plaza and the Buffalo Bayou hike and bike path that the massive party covered, but meet some new ones while enjoying complementary adult beverages and wonderful conversation with people outside my usual circles of influence in the Houston BTLG community/.  

It was also fun to see the people who came dressed in costumes for this event that included two gentlemen who were covered in full silver body paint while other attendees wore bunny ears..

It was a fun, festive charity event that I'm looking forward to see what happens in its 37th edition next year.

Save The Sexual Minorities Archives House

As you long time readers of TransGriot are aware of, one of the missions of this blog is to talk about our history as transpeople.

One of the people I met back in 2008 when I spoke at a trans rally in Northampton, MA was transman Bet Power, who is the curator of the Sexual Minorities Archives in that city. 

The Sexual Minorities Archives was founded in 1974 with the name New Alexandria Library for Lesbian Women and houses one of the oldest and largest collections of LGBTQI literature, history, and art in the United States.  

When Bet Power inherited the archive in 1992, he expanded its scope to LGBTQI, and changed the name.

Since then Bet as the curator for the SMA has been adding to the collection.  He is now working to add the Leslie Feinberg Library to it.   The Leslie Feinberg Library contains 1000 books, photos, and a transcript of interview with Sylvia Rivera, the mother of the trans rights movement

The Archives House is home to nearly 10,000 books, over 900 periodicals sets, comprehensive subject file materials on LGBTQ life, multimedia, art works, and rare LGBTQ historic materials. Each year, 300 to 500 people visit the SMA to browse, conduct research, volunteer their time, work as student interns, or attend support group meetings.    The SMA received a grant from UMass this summer to digitize the collection..

It also serves as Bet's home, and Bet was recently informed that the landlord wants to sell it.   The landlord did give Bet the first option to buy it, but because he has a rare medical condition, he is on SSDI and can't afford to purchase the house on his own despite qualifying for a NACA mortgage.

Unless he can raise the $20,000 needed by November 15, the home will be sold to another buyer and the SMA (and Bet) will be forced to move.

Bet has raised $12,384 so far, but still needs your help to reach the goal.  So if you can, please help toward saving the SMA archive and our LGBT history.  Only $7,616 is needed to hit the target, and any amount you can give is deeply appreciated and will get Bet closer to being able to purchase the home to house the archives there.

If you need further information:

July 31 interview on New England Public Radio.

Sexual Minorities Archives
Sexual Minorities Educational Foundation, Inc. 
Northampton, MA 


Sexual Minorities Educational Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 1023
Northampton, MA 01061-1023
Phone: 413-584-7616

The Sexual Minorities Education Foundation, Inc as August 11, 2014 has received its 501c3 non-profit status from the IRS, so that means any donations to SMEF are tax deductible.

Help Addie Get To DC For Her Internship

Addie Vincent is one of our Left Coast girls like us who has earned an exciting opportunity to intern with the Victory Fund in our nation's capital

While I have my issues with the Victory Fund concerning their lack of endorsements for viable trans candidates, this is still an opportunity I'd love to see Addie have happen for her. 

She's trying to raise the funds to get there, and it's crunch time for her.   The internship starts in less than a week and she's only halfway to her goal of $900. 

Here's Addie:

I'm writing this because I need your help: I've been offered an exciting opportunity to intern with the Victory Fund, an amazing organization in DC that endorses queer and Trans candidates for office!! I hope to do wonderful things with them and create much needed change for our community, but I need help getting there!

The internship begins in just under a week, and I'm only halfway to my goal. There's a chance that if I don't get even close to my goal, I won't be able to afford going at all.

And that would be a shame if she can't take advantage of what this internship with the Victory Fund can do for her if lack of funds derails her from getting to Washington DC in the first place.

Here's the link to Addie's gofundme page.   Let's see if we can help her meet or exceed her modest goal of $900

Last Day Of Gender Proud Indiegogo Campaign

I did want to take some time to highlight today is the last day to donate to the indiegogo campaign to help raise funds for Gender Proud, the international organization model and girl like us Geena Rocero founded.

Gender Proud's mission is to pass laws that make it easier for trans people in our various nations to change documentation and gender markers to match their gender presentation 

This inaugural Gender Proud campaign's goal is to raise $15,000 in order to cover expenses for legal aid, transportation, and stipends for front line activists doing the work and they have already raised as of this writing $13,875.     Gender Proud is just $1,125 short of its goal, so if you can drop $1, $5, $10, $20 or more if you can, it will help the org get closer to reaching it on the last day of this campaign.

Here's the link to Gender Proud's website to do that 

TransGriot Update:  Gender Proud reached its fundraising goal and surpassed it, raising $16,025 as of 1 AM CDT on May 17.    Congratulations!


 

Tona Brown To Carnegie Hall Campaign Update

In case you're wondering where our sis Tona Brown's indiegogo campaign is in terms of raising the $3,500 she needs to get to Carnegie Hall this June, she's more than halfway to her goal.

She has as of this writing raised $2,685, but let's keep the positive momentum going.  Even if you can only spare $1, that one dollar closer to her goal.   Of course if you can do $5, $10, $20 or more that would be deeply appreciated, too

Help Tona make some more history.     And to understand why this is important to me and other transwomen, here's Dane Figueroa Edidi to explain why.

 

Georgina Beyer Being Honored At Upcoming NZ Fundraiser

Georgina Beyer will go down in history as the world's first trans mayor and first trans MP, but has been battling chronic kidney failure that requires her to do dialysis four times a day as she awaits a kidney transplant.  

With her 56th birthday approaching on November 14, people from across the New Zealand political spectrum and the TBLG community will gather at The James Cabaret in Wellington from 6:30-11:30 PM local time to celebrate the life of Ms. Beyer, her birthday and raise funds to help support her while continues her quest to recover from her health challenge.

Event organizer Jo Paku said in a GayNZ.com report the event is also about formally recognizing the work Beyer has done in shaping New Zealand’s political and social landscape, and the positive impacts that she has had on the global stage.


“She has been an inspiration to many lives through her work with community organizations, local and central Government and her commitment to art, culture and heritage,” Paku says.


“It is her unique story that we are paying homage to, as well as commemorating her 56th birthday.

Yes, she has not only been an inspiration to people ion New Zealand, she's been an inspiration to transpeople around the world.  Beyer's historic November 1999 win has spurred transpeople in several nations to run for public office with mixed levels of success.

Get well soon Ms Beyer and hope that fundraiser is megasuccessful.

Damn, Y'all Starting The 'War On The Girl Scouts' Again?

The conservative movement 'War On Women' for the last few years has also included because of their progressive outlook, attacking the Girl Scouts.

The fundies have foaming at the mouth hatred for Girl Scouts of the USA because it not only didn't get taken over by the wingers like they did the Boy Scouts, GSUSA has stated on its website the organization “does not have a relationship or partnership with Planned Parenthood,” and that it will remain a “secular organization” that will not take a position on human sexuality, birth control, abortion.

The faith-based haters not only have stopped organizing and supporting Girl Scout troops, in some cases they are denying them meeting spaces.  They have even gone as far as organizing their own conservative alternative organization called the AmeriKKKan American Heritage Girls.

They have also over the last few years attacked the Girl Scout cookie drives which are one of the funding streams for the organization. 

Thanks to longtime reader Jazmine for bringing to my attention another 'War On The Girl Scouts' attack to shine a bright spotlight on. 

This latest violation of the Ten Commandments comes from right wing pastor Kevin Swanson.   He urged his Generations Radio show listeners not to buy Girl Scout cookies because 'the organization promotes lesbianism' 

“I’d say you ought to say no to the Girl Scout cookies,” Swanson told listeners. “I don’t want to support lesbianism, I don’t want to support Planned Parenthood and I don’t want to support abortion, and if that be the case I’m not buying Girl Scout cookies.”

And if that fear and smear line wasn't enough to stir up the sheeple, Swanson called the Girl Scouts of the USA  ”a wicked organization,” that doesn’t promote “godly womanhood.”

He also attacked my mayor and threw the c-word in there:  Communist. 

And oh yeah, the commandment Pharisee Swanson violated was 'thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.'

Yeah, it's time to rebuke this fool in the name of Jesus by tripling your orders of Girl Scout cookies when the GSUSA cookie drives start in your area.

And yeah, he's earned a Shut Up Fool award nomination for this one.

MAJOR! Obliterates Fundraising Goal!

Congratulations go out to Annalise and StormMiguel who not only hit but exceeded their fundraising goal for getting the MAJOR! documentary completed and at a theater near you.

They have at this writing 541 backers who have contributed $26,122 toward getting this project done.  

See trans community and allies, we may not have a whole lot of money in the community, but when we come together and pool it, we can make some amazing things happen like getting a POTUS elected and reelected, a trans hackathon funded, and now a documentary movie funded.  

They still have in this Kickstarter campaign until 6:00 PM PT-9:00 PM ET Tuesday night to raise those much needed production funds.  Since they cleared their goal, they'll get everything they raised, now let's help them keep going and see if we can get them to $30,000!

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy's story is too important, NEEDS to be told, and needs to be preserved for history's sake and for future generations of trans people.   Every dollar still matters. Please continue to support them with $1, $5, $10, $20 or whatever you wish to contribute until the clock runs out to get this much needed movie made!

MAJOR! Documentary Kickstarter Campaign

Two of the many people I met during last weekend's Trans*H4CK were longtime TransGriot reader StormMiguel Florez and Annalise Ophelian.

In addition to the long, thoughtful conversations I had with both of them Friday night we talked about the documentary project they are filming and raising funds in a Kickstarter Campaign in order to complete it.

The documentary they are filming is called MAJOR!  It's about one of our trans icons in Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, who is an internationally recognized human rights activist who transitioned back in the 50's, the Executive Director of the Oakland based Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) and a Stonewall veteran.

At age 70, she's still traveling the nation and the world lecturing, speaking and fighting for the human rights of the trans community. 

Miss Major testified at the United Nations about the abuses that trans women of color are dealing with and is a beloved elder stateswoman in the community. 

I met Miss Major when I was invited to speak at the TransPride March and Rally in 2008 and she was the Grand Marshal for the event.  Every now and then we end up in the same space like we were last year at the TransFaith In Color conference in Charlotte and when that happens, I don't hesitate in stopping what I'm doing and taking a few moments to bask in her wisdom and knowledge,

She'll also call and check in on me to see what's happening in my world in addition to her being one of the people I talk to when I want to know something about the back in the day history of the trans community.



This is a documentary film that needs to be completed because Miss Major's story is one that needs to be told and preserved for the benefit of ourselves and future generations. It would be nice if MAJOR! can be finished and shown in theaters while she's still here with us in this plane of existence to enjoy it. 

If Annalise's name sounds familiar, it's because of the last award winning documentary she directed and produced entitled Diagnosing Difference, which looks at how medicalizing certain gender identities as "disorders" affects trans people.  StormMiguel in addition to being a media worked at TGIJP for five years with her.  

They have raised $11,611 toward their goal of $25,000 by the 9 PM EDT October 8 deadline as of this writing, so if you can contribute a little something to help StormMiguel and Annalise reach their fundraising goal, please do so. You can also check out the Major! Facebook page for up to date information about it.

Even $1, $5, $10, $20 or whatever amount you can afford will get them that much closer to making this film a reality.