Happy Trans National Holiday!

No, the date is correct, it is October 31 and today is Halloween.   We also jokingly call today in the transgender community the Trans National Holiday.

It is the one day on the calendar besides Mardi Gras in New Orleans in which a cis male can put on feminine attire and not be looked at cross-eyed or have their manhood or sexuality questioned.   Outside of those days, different story.


This night back in the day used to be an eagerly anticipated one on the south side of Chicago.  Finnie's Ball happened on Halloween night and was a must attend event for several decades that drew thousands of people. 

It was so big that the 1952 one got covered in EBONY magazine.  JET magazine routinely devoted a page to it in one of its November weekly issues to discuss the ball and the drag king and queen prize winners of the affair until the 70's.  There were similar events in New York as well as other parts of the country with significant clusters of TBLG people.

October 31 was one of the days on the calendar we transpeople circled so that we could be our true selves, if just for that day and night.  It was when you did so on days besides October 31 is when you had a clue that there were other gender related issues going on. 

I have written a few Halloween themed TransGriot posts throughout the years on a few topics pertaining to this day that you can peruse for your reading pleasure here..

I hope you TransGriot readers had fun at whatever Halloween parties you attended this past weekend.

If you're escorting costumed younglings out and about tonight in their search for candy, please be safe while doing so.

And yeah, I'd love some candy corn. I'm out of it.

Mass quantities of chocolate will work as well.

Happy Thanksgiving Again, Eh!

Today is Thanksgiving Day for my Canadian readers and my homegirls in Newfoundland and Ontario. I wanted to take a moment and show y'all some love as you folks spend this day with family and friends.

Hope you've had a great year (know they did in Winnipeg now they have their beloved Jets back) and you have plenty of delicious food to eat with all the trimmings on your holiday table.

Today is also a day we take stock of our blessings, and even though I won't get to do that over a turkey until next month, one of the blessings I'm thankful for is the enduring friendship of Renee and Paula.  I'm also thankful to all of you who spend your valuable websurfing time in the Great White North and elsewhere around the world perusing my blog.     

Thank you for showing me the love, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!. 

Happy Labor Day TransGriot Readers

Happy Labor Day to my US and Canadian readers!   

The first Monday in September is not the day we set aside to act as the symbolic end of the summer season, barbecue, serve as the kickoff for the college football season, the Miss Continental Pageant weekend in Chicago or the fashion world's demarcation line for when to stop wearing wearing white clothes and shoes.  The first Monday in September is set aside to recognize the accomplishments of organized labor and working class people.   

On Labor Day 2011 it's even more important we remember that salient point because organized labor has been under renewed attack by conservafools at a level not seen since the early 20th century. 

GOP controlled state governments and the Republican controlled House are pushing extreme anti-labor legislation such as the stripping of collective bargaining rights for government workers.  They are also doing everything they can to weaken the ability of unions to organize and fight for working class people against unbridled corporate power up to and including holding hostage the reauthorization of vital government organizations like the stunt they pulled last month with the FAA if they don't get their way. 

To the labor movement's credit, they have pushed back hard to resist it just like they did when they fought to establish the 40 hour workweek, child labor laws, the minimum wage, workplace safety regulations, and those collective bargaining rules that are under attack.  

However, the labor movement really could use some help from citizens and bloggers who value workplace fairness and the labor friendly politicians they helped get elected to office like the Wisconsin 14.

Strong unions and the policies they advocated helped build the American middle class, not greed is good laissez-faire capitalism.  Don't forget that the reason Dr. King was in Memphis on that fateful April 4, 1968 day was to support striking sanitation workers.

It's past time that on Labor Day, as we have fun, relax, and do what we're gonna do to enjoy this long weekend, we also should take a moment to contemplate the sacrifices made by people, up to the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives to get us the workplace fairness that we take for granted in the early 21st century.

It's The 4th of July Again

It's Independence Day, the day 235 years ago that the United States was born and I have to admit earlier post not withstanding I'm harboring conflicted feelings on this day.

The Constitution that declared me and my ancestors 3/5ths of a human being would come a few years later in 1787.  But thanks to the work of a lot of people who fought, marched, protested, and died for my and my people's civil rights coverage, when I cash my citizenship check it doesn't come back 'insufficient funds'.    . 

We are also on this 235th Independence Day approaching the 150th anniversary of the first land battle of the Civil War, have an African American president and his family in the White House, have over 310 million people living inside the borders of the United States, and are more politically divided than at any time in our nation's history since the War To Perpetuate Slavery jumped off 150 years ago. .  

So yeah, I have my moments about just how proud I am of this country (and my home state) and they coincide with just how much my country loves me back as a proud African American.   Sometimes my feelings and frustration about my country matches this July 5, 1852 Frederick Douglass speech.

I also have had the honor and the burden as a proud African descended transwoman of fighting for civil rights coverage in her homeland for her people.

It's even more galling on this day to see where we transpeople are at the civil rights table vis a vis other Americans.  This day finds me wondering when me and my transpeeps are going to get to see the fruits of citizenship that we have paid in blood for.   That thought combined with the anti-trans violence and discrimination we have to deal with on a regular basis seriously pisses me off at times.  

Hell, first class citizenship is not just for cis people only.  My transpeeps as American citizens demand it as well.    

To you conservafools who read this and are thinking about leaving messages in my comment thread saying in effect leave this country if I don't like it, I suggest you refrain from that madness because in the mood I'm in right now as I'm compiling this post I will straight up embarrass your behinds.

Some of y'all not only need remedial civics classes y'all need to read the fracking Declaration of Independence that led to this day and the Constitution. 

Even though you clueless conservafools and Tea Klux Klan members piss me and my people off at times, I still love this country.   I've just been along with other POC's more thoughtful about how.and why.

I'm frustrated because I want for my country as my late Texas shero and Houston homegirl Rep. Barbara Jordan said, an America as good as its promise.

In my case I want one better than its promise.

You conservafools under your misguided rule are ruining that promise, not making it better..  I don't want a selfish, mean-spirited, oppressive, I got mine you get yours greed is good country.  I want one in which shared prosperity and shared sacrifice are not empty political rhetoric.

I want one in which we once again measure ourselves by how we treat the least of our citizens, not how big our bank accounts are.   I want us to once again dream big, think about how our actions today impact future generations and act accordingly.

I want us to say 'Yes We Can' when it comes to leading the world in innovation and investment in national infrastructure instead of  'Hell No We Can't' as Speaker Boehner and his GOP buddies incessantly chant.

So yeah, it's the 4th of July again.    Happy birthday USA!   Break out the barbecue and the Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream while you're at it..  

And take a moment to contemplate as you're chowing down on the barbecue and good food, watching those fireworks displays (if you're lucky enough to get them) and watching Independence Day parades how we are going to make this country as good as its promise for all its citizens.