Happy Heavenly Birthday Nikki!

Today would have been the 45th birthday of my homegirl Nikki Araguz Loyd.   It was always easy for me to remember it because she shared the same June 4 birthday of my late grandmother Tama

If she were still here with us, I can imagine her figuring out a way to despite the 'Rona, pull off some fabulous socially distanced event to celebrate the occasion.

But unfortunately, that's not going to happen because she's now been hanging out with the transcestors for nearly seven months.

She may have been only 5'5" inches tall, but she was a giant fun loving presence in the lives of all of us privileged to call her a friend.

She will also have a giant footprint in our trans history books.  It was her tenacious and ultimately successful six year fight in the Delgado v. Araguz case that led to the reestablishment of marriage rights for trans Texans.

She even became the first out trans person to be elected as a PTA president in the Lone Star State.

She was passionate about a lot of things, including her businesses, her activism on behalf of our community and other causes near and dear to her heart.   But what she was most proud of was being a wife and mother.

Nikki made it a point to drag my homebody butt out of the house from time to time.   There were numerous times when she and her bestie Meagan Gillett would roll up in her car and we'd hit the road.  Those road trips would inevitably end up with a stop at some restaurant for us to grab some food, have a few drinks, and some in depth conversation. 

Even though both of us got busy, she would still check in on me from time to time.  I'd pick up my phone and she'd say "Hello Goddess", to which I would reply "Hello Diva!"

The last conversation I had with Nikki was two weeks before she died.   I had actually called to check on her hubby Will to find out what was going on in his life.   When she heard Will say my name, she grabbed the phone out of his hands and we ended up talking for the next hour and a half.    It was during that call we started the planning for a slumber party at her house once we picked a date that would work for the both of us and everyone she planned to invite to the event.

Before we hung up, she told me 'I love you".  I said in response, "Love you too, Diva"
I was glad I got the chance to do that. 

Yes diva, I and everyone who is still on this space rock loves and misses you.  Our trans community and the world are far less fabulous without you in it. 

Happy heavenly birthday, Nikki.

Happy 100th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others' 
-Nelson Mandela 

Today would have been the 100th birthday of former South African president and human rights warrior Nelson Mandela, who died December 5, 2013 at age 95. 

You TransGriot readers are probably aware of his remarkable life story.   His fight against an unjust and racist apartheid system that led to him being imprisoned for 27 years of his life before being released in 1990.   He became the first Black president of South Africa in 1994 and served until 1999. 

And he was admired and respected around the world.  While he would humbly say "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances ", the rest of the world saw him as a global icon and a leader in the same territory as the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Mahatma Gandhi.

We sill have his words to peruse, do some hard solid thinking about, and most importantly live by, especially on this day.  .        

Happy 82nd Birthday, April Ashley!

Today is the 82 birthday of British trans icon and pioneer April Ashley.  She has led an amazing life as a Vogue model, received an MBE back in 2012 and was a plaintiff in Corbett v Corbett, a 1970 marriage case that went the wrong way for her and trans folks in Great Britain of which the repercussions of it didn't get cleaned up until the Gender Recognition Act was passed.

But by living her life, she inspired others in Great Britain to live as their true selves, and she deserves much credit and praise for that.

Happy birthday April!   Thank you for being that trans pioneer that we all needed, for the wonderful trailblazing life that you have lived up to this point, the honors that you have received, and may you be blessed to see many more

Here's two clips of her 2015 interview on the British TV show Loose Women

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A film that documented April's visit to her hometown of Liverpool for her 80th birthday to receive an Honour of the City.

Happy 65th Birthday, Sylvia Rivera!

Today would have been the 65th birthday of trans human rights icon Sylvia Rivera had we not lost her to cancer back in 2002.   At the time she died she was in her hospital bed fighting for trans inclusion in a SONDA bill that NY trans people were eventually cut out of, and my New York State trans cousins are still waiting over a decade later for legislative coverage for their human rights.

If Sylvia were alive today (I met her in May 2000), she'd probably not only be marveling at the progress we've made since 2002, she'd still be raising hell about getting cut out of SONDA, and the repeated stalling of the Republican controlled NY Senate to pass GENDA. She'd still have no love for the Human Rights Campaign, anti- trans attitudes in the lesbian and gay community and LBJ because of the Vietnam War.  

We agreed to disagree on that last one..



She'd probably be displeased about the attacks on our humanity by Republican politicians, our youth being bullied and the high suicide rates, and the lack of trans specific services available.

But what Sylvia probably would be happy about is trans people lobbying our government at the local, state and federal level and working to get elected to public office.  She'd be happy about the progress we've made in terms of the 17 states and the District of Columbia that do protect trans rights and President Obama being the most trans rights friendly president of our lifetime to the point trans people are working in his administration..

She'd also be pleased about trans kids being able to transition, having the support of their parents, and in some cases being the frontline human rights warriors fighting for all our rights..

And I know she'd be happy about the increasing diversity of our community and seeing our stories told in documentaries, on television and the silver screen.

Happy 65th birthday Sylvia, you are missed, but we're not quieting down.  We're telling our stories, we're fighting for our rights, and we're not going to stop until human rights for the transgender community is a reality.

Happy 87th Birthday, Dr King!

Today is what would have been the 87th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest Americans our people have ever produced, as Tavis Smiley has said..

While our conservative friends like to focus on the Dr King pre-August 1963, the reality is that Dr King had a lot more profound things to say about America beyond the  March on Washington  'I Have A Dream' speech.

Much of what he wrote and said not only during his all too brief life, and especially post August 1963 is just as fresh and relevant in 2016 America as it was at the time when he uttered those words.

And yes, he is a sterling example of speaking truth to power.

This is an excerpt from the 1967 'Beyond Vietnam' speech that he gave at New York's Riverside Church one year before he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.   I think it is so appropriate that we read and heed those words in this critical election year for our country.

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin—we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

A true revolution of values will lay a hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war.

Happy birthday Dr. King.  America is a much better nation because of you, and had you been blessed with longevity, would be an even better nation.   That's up to us to make that dream of yours a reality.

Happy 86th Birthday Dr. King!

Today is what would have been the 86th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a man that as Tavis Smiley once called him, the greatest American our people have ever produced.

But as we approach the MLK holiday on Monday, we are in a 2015 America that is more racially divided and contentious than it was 50 years ago.   Much of  that is at the hands of a conservative movement what is stirring up racist hatred of President Obama and exacerbating racial tensions no thanks to Southern Strategy 1.0 and 2.0 to secure political power for themselves so they can enact their extremist agenda.

A far too long list of African-Americans of all ages and genders are  dying from negative interactions with police as the justice system repeatedly fails to hold them accountable.

The predominately white perpetrators of these death by po-po cases are also inflaming racial tensions from Ferguson to New York City and across the nation..

#BlackLivesMatter,  but the justice system and elements of American society seem to have failed to get the memo.

Speaking of elements of society failing to get a memo, one of them is our own African-American community when it comes to the trans, bi, lesbian and gay members of it. 

Black trans women are being killed at near genocidal rates, are facing 20% unemployment, but when we are included in human rights laws to rectify that problem, sellout black ministers in concert with white  fundamentalists are fighting the advancement of those human rights.


And some of the people pimping the anti-trans lies are other Black LGB people. 

Black community, Black trans people are also Black people and #BlackTransLivesMatter.

As a proud African-American who happens to be transgender, I'm going to do my part to help drive home that reality.

I would rather be in the position of helping uplift the entire community.   I despise being constantly being put in the position of fighting ignorant elements of it who because of my trans status want to erase my Blackness and my femininity.

And I ain't having it.   Until they get it through their thick skulls that transpeople did not forfeit our Black cards when we transitioned, fight I will.

So yes Dr. King, we have some work to do in our Black community ranks as we seek to build the greater Beloved Community you so often spoke about. 

And while we've had some setbacks with renewed attacks on our voting rights, advancing human rights, the war on poverty, and economic prosperity for all, we are even more determined to get to the Promised Land of freedom and equality and fight with every fiber of our beings with our allies to help make it happen..

Happy birthday Dr. King.   Hopefully on your 87th birthday I'll have better news to report as to how we're faring as a people and a nation since you were tragically taken from us..

Rev. Dr. MLK Jr's 85th Birthday

Today would have been the 85th birthday of the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  

An assassin's bullet took him away from us far too soon, and I wrote about it last year in terms of what our nation probably would have seen and heard from him if he had gotten to live to be the age of many of his civil rights movement comrades.

Dr. King's 85th birthday and the upcoming national holiday brings us to another interesting set of historical anniversaries as it relates to the African-American civil rights movement.   

We just passed the 50th anniversary of LBJ's 'War On Poverty'  State of the Union Address on January 8.    June 21 will see the 50th anniversary of the murders of Chaney Goodman and Schwerner in Philadelphia, MS.   July 2, will see the 50th anniversary of LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and December 10 will mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. King receiving his Nobel Peace Prize. 

Our nation is definitely poorer for not having his voice speaking out about the issues of the day, and you know Dr. King and his Nobel laureate self would be loudly speaking about the unjust policies of the Republican Party from their attack on voting rights to their attacks on women and the poor.

And it's a day I tend to reflect on his legacy and do what I can to live up to Kingian principles in my own life.  

Happy birthday Dr. King.   You are definitely missed.   
 

Happy 95th Birthday, Nelson Mandela!

'The very fact that racism degrades both the perpetrator and the victim commands that, if we are to be true to our commitment to protect human dignity, we fight on until victory is achieved.'--Nelson Mandela
The odds were looking bleak a few weeks ago in terms of him being around to celebrating this birthday.  He was battling a lung infection that had him on the ropes for a while, but today has dawned with him still in our plane of existence.

Today is former South African president Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday, and the world greets the news that the 1993 Nobel laureate is seeing this day with great relief.

As we celebrate his legacy, we in the United States also note that Mandela's 95th birthday is coming on the on the heels of our human rights being messed with on multiple levels by our Republican oppressors.  We are also emotionally reeling as we process our reactions to an unjust court verdict in which the teen victim was put on trial and not the adult gun toting bigot who killed him. 

It is also Nelson Mandela International Day , in which the global call to action goes out that celebrates and makes the point that each individual on our planet has the power to transform the world and the ability to make an impact.

The Mandela Day campaign message is a simple one.  It points out that Mr. Mandela gave 67 years of his life fighting for social justice.  It asks individuals to start with 67 minutes of their time supporting their favorite local charity or serving their community.

Mandela Day is a call to action for individuals across the planet to take responsibility for changing the world into a better place, one small step at a time, just as Mr. Mandela did.

There are weeks like this one in which that seems like it will be an impossible task, but in the spirit of this day we must do our part to at least try.

Happy birthday Madiba!    May you be blessed with many more.

It's Rosa's 100th Birthday

Today would have been the 100th birthday of iconic civil rights leader Rosa Parks, who was born on this date in Tuskegee, AL in 1913.

She is known for being the catalyst of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but she'd been active in the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP since December 1943 and was a member of the Voter's League among her other civil rights work.






The 'Mother of the Civil Rights Movement' when she passed away in October 2005 becaue the first woman and only the second non-politican to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda

She also has a statue in the Capitol building's National Statuary Hall in addition to being a recipient of the NAACP's Spingarn medal in 1979,  the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.  
And because she was tired of enduring injustice, she sat down and allowed herself and our people to stand up and fight for our human rights.

Happy birthday, Rosa.  

Happy Birthday, Miss Major!

This is a post I'm so happy to write because at times she's had a challenging year.  

One of the highlights of my trip to Charlotte besides the honor of giving that keynote speech at this year's TransFaith In Color conference was having Miss Major sitting by my side before I got up from the table to deliver it and being able to spend some quality time with her.

Today is Miss Major's 70th birthday and I wanted to take some time to wish one of our iconic sheroes and trailblazers a very happy one.  

I and the transwomen of my generation and beyond thank you for being out there fighting for our human rights, being a tell it like it T-I-S is advocate for us and representing us with class and dignity all these years while doing so.  

Thank you for the quality time and wisdom you share with me every time we are blessed to get to spend some time together in the same locale, some of the community history that you enlightened me with during those times, and giving me the strength to be an out and proud as a African descended transwoman.   Hopefully I and others will continue to blessed with the opportunity to bask in your presence and wisdom as one of our trans elders and icons

May your birthday be full of love and blessings and you get to enlighten us with your wisdom for years to come.

Love you, and Happy Birthday Miss Major!     May you have many more to come.

MJ-Gone Too Soon

Today would have been Michael Jackson's 54th birthday.   There's a celebration going on in his hometown of Gary, IN today. 

While this song Michael Jackson is singing is  along with the video about Ryan White (and AIDS is still a major problem in our world) the lyrics also apply to MJ in terms of his legions of fans around the world losing this remarkable talent and all around wonderful human being way too soon.

 


Rest in Peace, King Of Pop.   You are missed.

Happy Birthday, Malcolm X

"I've had enough of someone else's propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole."

He was called by Ossie Davis ' our shining Black prince' and was a tireless advocate and spokesperson in our struggle against oppression and for human rights who was violently taken away from us and his family far too soon in 1965.

Today is the birthday of El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz, better known to the world as Malcolm X, and yes he's a Taurus born in North Omaha, NE on this date in 1925.   

James Cone said something about Malcolm X in the 1991 book Malcolm and Martin and America that resonates loudly with me as I ponder the man, his words and their relevance in our 21st century human rights struggles.

"Blacks today who are proud to affirm their African heritage should thank Malcolm.  More than anyone else he created a space for them to affirm their blackness.  More than anyone else he taught Blacks that there can be no freedom in the United States without self-esteem, a high regard for themselves as Black people."

That is true of African-American trans people as well.  Until we have love, self-esteem and high regard for ourselves as trans people of African descent, we will continue to fall short of our desire to have human rights coverage for ourselves and the love and respect of our community that we demand and deserve.

"You don't have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to be is an intelligent human being" Malcolm X,  December 20, 1964

Happy birthday, Malcolm.   Your thought provoking words still continue to inspire our people and all who seek human rights and social justice.

Happy 100th Birthday Bayard Rustin

Today is the 100th birthday of civil rights warrior Bayard Rustin, who was born on this date in West Chester PA in 1912. 

Rustin was an unapologetic Black gay man in an era that demanded you be in the closet about it.  He was an architect of many of the innovative strategies that the African American civil rights movement used for it human rights advances. 

He introduced Dr. King to Gandhi's nonviolence techniques and was one of his advisors.  He planned the 1963 March On Washington, and his 1947 Journey of Reconciliation was the basis of the concept and tactics of the  Freedom Rides that would be used to great effect in the 1960's to desegregate public transportation in the South. 

He later turned his attention to gaining human rights coverage for gay and lesbian people

One of my favorite quotes by Rustin is one in which he was talking about te Civil Rights movement, but it is so apropos to the current trans rights movement as well.

“Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us. Our aim was to try to create the kind of America, legislatively, morally, and psychologically, such that even though some whites continued to hate us, they could not openly manifest that hate.”

One the 100th anniversary of the date of his birth, let's keep that quote in mind as we strive to create and win the same type of America for trans people.





Happy birthday, Bayard Rustin.   Your words, deeds and organizational tactics are still helping oppressed people to win their human rights today.

It's Barbara Jordan's Birthday

Today would have been the 76th birthday of a trailblazing Houstonian in Rep. Barbara Charline Jordan.
I wrote about my shero on the occasion of her 75th birthday last year.

When it comes to my politicians and the prototype person I'm looking to vote for, she is the template for it and I sincerely believe that this country would be in much better shape if we had more Barbara Jordans in Congress.

Here's her keynote speech from the 1976 DNC.  

It's Caroline's Birthday!

The Caroline I'm speaking of who is having a birthday today is British born trans woman Caroline Cossey. 

She broke ground as a fashion model, author, Bond Girl and Playboy magazine centerfold    She also fought for trans marriage rights in her native country winning in 1989 and losing on British government appeal in September 1990 her case in the European Court of Human Rights..

She was also one of the people who turned the light bulb on for me in the 70's.  Seeing her story in the news helped me begin to define and realize I was trans and it was possible to make something happen to rectify the situation.   

She's happily married these days and living on our side of The Pond and hope she has a blessed low stress birthday.

It's UN International Mandela Day

Today is the 93rd birthday of former South African President Nelson Mandela, and it is also the second observance of UN Nelson Mandela International Day. 

It was officially declared by the United Nations General Assembly in November 2009, with the first official UN celebration of it occurring on his July 18 birthday last year.   There were other groups that celebrated it on July 18, 2009. 

Here's a videotaped message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about today.



UN Mandela Day is basically an international call to action that celebrates the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world and make an impact. 

They ask that people take 67 minutes out of their day, equivalent to the 67 years that Mandela fought for social justice.   And to borrow from the statement that was issued for this day on behalf of Mandela, "do something to bring people around the world together to help fight poverty, promote peace and reconciliation."

Happy birthday Madiba, and let's get busy changing the world. 
 

Happy Birthday Thurgood Marshall!

Today would have been the 103rd birthday of the late Supreme Court justice and civil rights warrior Thurgood Marshall, who was born on this date in Baltimore, MD in 1908.

He not only was the first African American Supreme Court justice from October 1967 to October 1991, he spent his time on the court being the voice of the voiceless.  

Prior to that he was the US Solicitor General from 1965-1967, a justice on the US Second Court of Appeals from 1962-1965 and the chief counsel for the NAACP.

He successfully argued 29 cases before the Supreme Court, and many of them were landmark cases that demolished Jim Crow segregation in the United States such as the 1954 Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Browder v. Gayle, Sweatt v. Painter and Shelley v. Kraemer just to name a few of them.

I'm taking a moment to remember Justice Marshall and compare and contrast him to the man that followed him on the SCOTUS.   A man that has sold out his people, hasn't asked a question on the Court in several years, and votes in lock step with Scalia and corporations as opposed to being the voice of the voiceless.

Uncle Thomas is an embarrassment to everything that Marshall and legions of African American attorneys and jurists such as Marshall's mentor Charles Houston stood for.

Happy birthday, Justice Marshall.   You are definitely missed as our legal champion.   Hopefully President Obama will get the opportunity to put an African American on the SCOTUS more in line with your legacy rather than being the antithesis to it.