What Are Houston Black Trans Leaders Doing? Plenty

I understand there's some grousing going on with some peeps in the Houston Black trans community claiming that 'our leaders aren't doing anything' when it comes to the Pinky shooting.

That couldn't be further from the truth.   I actually heard about the shooting on Thursday while watching the 6 PM news.   Didn't find out the woman in question ABC13 was reporting on was trans until the Chronicle's initial transphobic spin on the report was published and it was relayed to me late Friday evening.

This post went up on TransGriot  in response to the problematic transphobic article and to alert the community (and the nation) as to what the facts were at the time I wrote it.   There were some erroneous comments we had to immediately correct that Pinky had been killed.

That initial TransGriot post has not only gone viral (and has over 10,000 hits as I write this), it was linked to by the Dallas Voice and OutSmart magazine where I write a monthly column.

While I ended up in front of a FOX 26 TV camera last night with Houston GLBT Caucus president Mike Webb on the Isiah Factor Uncensored,  it doesn't mean that nothing is happening or that those of us who are considered leaders in this Houston trans community are just twiddling our thumbs.

I'm coordinating with our media contacts.   Both of our HPD LGBT liaisons were in Detroit attending Creating Change when Pinky was shot on Thursday.  I just caught up with one of them on Tuesday afternoon.   They are waiting to talk to Pinky, who was unconscious until Sunday, to determine next steps in this case and to hear from her what happened.  The detective in the case is also waiting to talk to her as well.

Atlantis Narcisse, Dee Dee Watters, Diamond Stylz and Jessica Zyrie are also working behind the scenes in our different lanes to find out what happened    We had allies in TENT ED Emmett Schelling and Eric Edward Schell calling the Houston Chronicle to address the transphobic coverage.

Our colleagues at BLM-Houston are standing by.  Ana Andrea Molina and the trans Latinx community are ready to help along with our Latinx community allies.  Equality Texas is wanting to know what they can do to help.

So are our trans brothers and trans GNC siblings. People around the country are asking me and other Houston leaders what can they do to help Pinky.

But next steps for how we proceed are on hold until we can talk to Pinky.   Remember that she was shot three times at point blank range and is STILL sore from it.   One of the bullets hit close to her throat so she couldn't talk.

We want to give her a little space and time to recover a bit physically and emotionally.

HPD also wants this fool off the streets as quickly as possible.  Anyone who would indiscriminately fire a gun at someone at a crowded gas station is a menace to society that needs to sent to the nearest TDC corrections facility.   Our HPD liaisons EJ Joseph and Alexa Magnan along with the detectives on this case want to solve it as well.

You can help make that happen by relaying any information you have on this case to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477) 

Sometimes activist work is tedious, multilayered and needs to happen behind the scenes, not in front of the unblinking eye of a camera.   If people in Houston Black Trans World were wanting us to head to City Hall and go off on Mayor Turner, the council, and HPD's command staff, not gonna happen. 

There are a lot of questions in this case we needed answers to before we take our next steps. 

One step we are planning is a Black trans town hall, with date and location to be determined

The thing that we can be most grateful for is that Pinky survived this horrific attack.   Next thing we all want is to get that waste of DNA who shot her off the streets and in jail as expeditiously as possible.  We want justice for Pinky. 

But there's a lot of work that needs to happen until those goals are accomplished.   

Leaders Need Love, Too

'If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.'
-John Quincy Adams  

I've been in trans activism and holding a leadership role in some capacity in it for 24 years now.   While there are times I enjoy it, there are other times it can be a pain in the rear end in terms of executing the responsibilities that come with that leadership mantle.

While it is fun and exciting at times to be networking at various conferences, dinners, board meetings, participating in panel discussions and lobby days, and meeting, spending quality time with and getting to know some of the amazing activists, allies and leaders inside and outside our community, some of the things that aren't fun are the travel.

Getting up before the sun rises to catch flights to and from home especially for those of us who don't live on the coasts involves a multi hour plane ride with multiple connecting flights at times. While that's great for my frequent flyer miles, your body is saying 'what the heck are you doing to me?'  

It's also interesting when you are traveling from Houston in the winter or early spring to a cold weather locale and experience a 50 degree temperature drop in mere hours and you're trying not to catch a cold because of that wild temperature swing.

Sometimes getting jacked up by TSA security isn't fun, and in some cases neither is doing that travel solo.  There are moments during those plane rides that you have time to do some hard solid thinking about whatever issues that are cropping up in your life at that time.

And if I hear the phrase 'holding someone accountable' one more time I'm gonna scream.

There's also the keyboard activists that you rarely see doing any action, at a lobby day, or working intersectionality with other groups but have the nerve to criticize you and claim 'you don't represent them' or are spitting the word 'elitist' at you for whatever reason.

I know that's part of the territory, but it's still an irritant, and we need love, too.

Being a leader ain't easy. but when you help pass good legislation and kill bad bills, make someone's day simply by talking to them, motivate people to stand up for their human rights because they are following your example, and have your classmates, community members  and former coworkers tell you they are proud of you for what you do, the rewards so outweigh whatever criticism I receive from nattering nabobs of internet negativism.

It's also where the self care aspect comes in.  Having a group of people around me that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that love you, tell you the unvarnished truth and have your back is vital. They'll give you that hug when you need it and a motivational kick in the azz when it's required

It's also nice to talk to people who do the work and discuss stuff beyond what's happening in the movement and just catching up with their lives. There are also those phone calls in which we get to vent with each other about the crap we're seeing.

Those peeps who love and care about you will not allow you to get 'big head syndrome' either and keep you focused on why you do the work in the first place.  .

In a world that is hostile to trans people and especially trans people of color, it's vital to have people in your life who unconditionally love you.

They help make you not only a better leader, but a better human being as well.

Black Trans Women Are Leaders

"It's got to stop somewhere, and it won't unless somebody steps forward and takes a stand.  I guess that's me.  Lady Java,  October 21, 1967 

On the way back from Austin I was thinking about once again in the early morning hours of International Women's Day the comment Diamond Stylz made about all the ways that Black trans women show up for many movements, but are in many cases dissed, dismissed or ignored as we are whitewashed out of the historical narrative.  .

And that needs to stop.  'Black trans women aren't just here to entertain you, provide melanin for your photo opps or be saddled with the 'tragic transsexuals' meme that your predominately white LGBTQ equality org uses to fundraise and lobby on.

Even when talking about trans kids, far too often the issue is framed through a white cultural lens. Black trans kids exist, and their voices need to be in this ongoing cultural conversation.  

There is this problematic narrative in the Black community that being trans 'is a white thang'. The best way we Black trans people and our community allies counter and attack it is having visible Black trans leaders combined with whacking the haters saying this with historical examples of the existence of Black trans people.

It can't be just in some photo op.  It must be a targeted, sustained media effort as well.

Black cis people need to consistently see and hear Black trans people talking about trans issues.  A white spokesperson can do that all day long and the massage will just be ignored.  

But let Laverne Cox or another Black trans person say the same message and their ears will perk up. We know how to talk to our people.  

When we lobby local, state and federal legislators, there are things I can say that doesn't have quite the same context when a white trans person says them.   And let me remind you that some of those local, state and federal legislators we're trying to persuade have my ethnic background.

Note that it was Laverne Cox that came up with the perfectly succinct line to talk about the Grimm case and our lives in general.

To further illustrate my point in the importance of centering Black trans people in our work, there was an incident that happened during the SB 6 hearing yesterday in which Sen. Eddie Lucio said to Dr Colt Keo-Meier that 'you don't know what discrimination is like".

Do you think Sen Eddie Lucio would have dared say that to me?

If he had tried that with me,  I would have immediately pushed back and said, "Sen Lucio,  I'm old enough to have started my school days in a segregated HISD school.  So yeah, being Black and trans I know what discrimination is like, and SB 6 is a discriminatory bill."

And at a time when we have hostile GOP state and federal administrations, we don't have time for non-intersectional BS.  It's nation time as far as we're concerned.  We're wanting action and solutions to the problems that ail our community, because we see this as a Defcon 1 emergency level situation because our sisters are being murdered,

The bottom line is that if you wish to have lasting success in this trans rights movement, it ain't gonna happen without Black trans women being at the table helping to formulate the strategies and tactics to do so.

We have numerous examples around the country of Black trans feminine leaders like Raquel Willis, Angelica Ross, Sharron Cooks, Janet Mock, Dee Dee Watters ,Precious Brady Davis, Andrea Jenkins, Tracee McDaniel, Rev Carmarion Anderson, Jazzmun Nichala Crayton, Lourdes Hunter, Elle Hearns, Bryanna Jenkins, Kim Watson and countless others,

There are also emerging young Black trans feminine leaders like Trinity Neal.

We Black trans women have been handling our leadership business even before Stonewall when you think about Lady Java, Lucy Hicks Anderson,  and post Stonewall in the person of Miss Major, Dawn Wilson, Marisa Richmond and yeah, some Texas based blogger y'all know.

So ponder this thought during International Women's Day in that Black trans women are leaders. We have a proud legacy of Black feminine leadership to draw on from our history and build upon.

In many cases  we are making history as we blaze these leadership trails   So why wouldn't you have capable Black trans women in your organizations?

You can either reach out and have us at the table to help create a winning strategy for all of us, or you can continue to wallow in the depths of anti-Blackness and spite, not include us as equal partners, and watch us do the damned thing anyway and look fly while doing so.

Your call.

Houston Black Trans Men, Time For Y'all To Step Up And Lead

A few days ago Dee Dee and I were discussing an e-mail she had received in which a local magazine was looking for Black trans masculine men to highlight in an upcoming issue that was going to discuss local LGBT leaders.

While there are several out Houston trans masculine leaders we thought of immediately such as Lou Weaver and Dr. Colt Keo-Meier, we were hard pressed between the two of us to come up with any unapologetically out H-town African-American trans men.  Of the two we came up in Tye West and Tajir Hawkins, Tye has moved away.

Besides myself and Dee Dee, there are others here in H-town like video blogger Diamond Stylz and Atlantis Capri.   While Dee Dee and I are probably the most recognizable H-town Black trans feminine faces because of the HERO fight and our frequent appearances at City Hall, collegiate and civic panel discussions and other events, what she, I and other Houston Black trans women are irritated about is the lack of visibility of Houston's Black trans men.

The education of the Houston Black community about trans issues can't be just the sole responsibility of me, Dee Dee and other Houston Black trans feminine people.  While I understand some of you brothers may not wish to get involved in politics, or wish to stay nondisclosed about your trans status, the bottom line is that the Republican Party and their assorted faith-based haters are coming for you and our entire community just like they tried and failed to do in the 2015 Texas Legislative session.

Don't think for a nanosecond if Rep. Debbie Riddle (R) and her Teabagging legislative buds get their way in 2017 and succeed in criminalizing Texas trans people's ability to live our lives, that by hiding y'all won't be negatively affected by that unjust legislation.

Just like us, you are currently affected by the HERO repeal that the suburban Forces of Intolerance and Texas GOP relentlessly demonized trans women to bamboozle 61% of Houston voters into voting against their own human rights and ours.

And we could have used your help my trans brothers in fighting that.

Just a warning my H-town trans brothers.  We are getting fed up with repeatedly and unapologetically putting our butts on the line for the human rights of our community while many of you hide in the shadows.

As the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr once stated, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

Well, we're at one of those moments of challenge and controversy.  Where do you Houston trans brothers stand?

Yes, there are things you Houston Black transmasculine peeps can do to support the efforts of your trans feminine sisters while remaining nondisclosed.   But the one thing your Black trans sisters really need you to do at some point is have one or several of you trans brothers who call Houston home to consistently step up and be the unapologetically visible Black trans masculine leaders we need inside Beltway 8 like Carter Brown and the men of BTMI are in their cities across the country.

It is past time for you, my Houston area Black trans brothers, to do your part in standing up for the human rights of all trans Houstonians. We need that to happen now more than ever, especially when the discussion cranks up again at Houston City Hall to pass HERO 2.0 in the near future.

If you fail to do so, I will tell y'all straight to your faces to STFU the next time I hear any complaints coming from a Houston based trans man, especially if he is a nondisclosed one. about how Black trans women get all the media attention and how 'nobody talks about their issues'.

The best way you ensure your voices are heard my brothers, is to be standing tall at the mike and talking about them.  But you can't do that from a closet.

It's nation time, Houston Black trans men.  Time for y'all to step up and answer the leadership call at this crucial point in our history.  Will you answer that call?  

Sorry Ashley, Rev Al IS A Black Leader With A Big Voice

Over at Kulture Kritic there is a post by Ashley Naples that caught my attention.   It is basically critical of the Rev Al Sharpton and legacy orgs like the NAACP.

Personally, I like The Rev for his tell it like it is style and his willingness over several decades to speak truth to power.  I also disagree with her assessment of The Rev and here's why.

My first point is that if Rev Al Sharpton isn't considered a Black leader, why does FOX Noise, right wing talk radio  and the conservafool movement spend every waking moment demonizing him as a 'racist'?  If the conservafools are demonizing him and spending their valuable propaganda air time doing so, they obviously fear him and consider him important enough to make the effort to slime him.

Naples asserted in the article that she aimed at White America that his 'popularity is quickly waning'.  By what metric are you judging that?   Rev. Al's Politics Nation MSNBC show is second in popularity only to whatever waste of programming FOX Noise is broadcasting in that 6 PM ET time slot.   The protest march that he called for in the wake of the Garner non indictment in New York back in December drew thousands and national news coverage.

Speaking of that MSNBC show, the fact that it is on five days a week, he has a daily and Sunday syndicated radio programs means that he has the ability to reach far more people than all those social media bloggers that Naples touted but never named in her piece.

While Ms Naples may sneer at his access to President Obama, I'm willing to bet she hasn't come close to signing her name in or running the White House security gauntlet for a meeting with the POTUS or his advisory team as Rev Al has done multiple times.
.

And you never diss or dismiss anyone who has access to the President of the United States, much less got an invite to his second inauguration..

You may be sick of hearing that Rev Al is a leader, but there are other African-Americans who are glad that he is one of the people speaking for our community.

And right now, he is a Black leader with a big voice.

If The Trans Rights Movement Wants To Win...

Trans people of color will and must be able to lead it. 

I've been complaining for years along with other trans people of color about the senior leadership ranks of the LGBT movement looking like a Republican Party convention.  We have the same problem in the Trans Division as well. 

One of the reasons I keep saying the obvious is because it hasn't sunk in yet (or maybe it has and you continue to ignore it) is that trans people of color have since birth been at the receiving end of discrimination and oppression.   We come from people who have historically had to fight, claw and scratch just to get what modicum of human rights they do possess in his nation and have to fight even harder just to keep those hard won human rights from being rolled back. 

So we trans people of color come from a history of human rights warriors who have a tried and true playbook for winning them that we would love to execute on behalf of the trans community.   

We would like to do that in concert with our white trans brothers and sisters and our allies, but sadly some of you are more concerned with getting your lost white privilege back (which won't happen)  than working in a diverse, intersectional movement that advocates for the human rights of all of us.  

Faye Wattleton once said, 'the only safe ship is a storm is leadership'.   Trans people of color have been hit with a Category Four level hurricane of anti-trans discrimination and violence.  Because the brunt of the anti-trans discrimination and violence is being directed at our communities, we can no longer wait for you to come to your damned senses and help create that movement because we need to have things happen to eradicate and eliminate that oppression aimed at us now, not 5, 10, or 20 years from now.

That's why the status quo situation is no longer acceptable to us as trans communities of color.  If you will not willingly share power and create that movement, then we will have no option except to own our power and do it our damned selves.  

People who don't understand oppression, have been insulated from it, deny race, white supremacy and class are a component of it or believe they don't need to educate themselves about that system arrayed against us  are ill prepared to lead a human rights movement that has the herculean task of liberating oppressed trans people.   Trans people of color intimately understand those intersections, because they are negatively affected by them and have been long before they took their first testosterone shot or swallowed their first hormone to begin their.body transitions.

So it's past time that the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of those civil rights warriors be integrated into the leadership ranks of not only professional TBLG orgs, but at the regional, state and local levels if the trans rights movement wants to win.

Gay, Inc Needs A Trans Rooney Rule

With the close of the NFL season, five head coaches were fired for their teams 2013 performance or lack thereof.    Five teams, including my Houston Texans initiated searches for their new head coaches, with the Texans doing so before the season concluded. 

One of the very first interviews given for the vacant head coaching position of my fave NFL squad was to Lovie Smith, the former head coach of the Chicago Bears.  He has since been interviewed and hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The reason the interview for Smith happened, and you will see that repeated for other non-white NFL coaching and GM candidates was to fulfill the requirements of the now decade old 'Rooney Rule'. 

The rule is named for Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman of the NFL's diversity committee Dan Rooney, due to the Steelers' long positive history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership and coaching roles.  The Rooney's themselves before hiring Mike Tomlin as their head coach in 2007 interviewed current Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera for the job. 

Since 2003 the National Football League's Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for open head coaching and senior football operation jobs.  It started because of the sorry history that up until the hiring of Tom Flores by the Oakland Raiders in 1979, there had been in the entire history of the NFL only one non-white head coach, and that was African-American Fritz Pollard in 1920.


Tom Flores made history not only as the first Latino starting quarterback (for the 1960 AFL Raiders), but the first Latino NFL head coach.  He's also the first non-white head coach to make it to and win two Super Bowls (1980, 1983) and win one as an assistant (1976).   Why he's not in the NFL Hall of Fame is a travesty, but that's another post.

The institution of the Rooney Rule raised the percentage of African-Americans coaches by 2006 to 22% from 6% in the year prior to its implementation.  It was subsequently expanded in 2009 to all ethnic minority coaching and GM candidates and there are proposes to expand it to offensive and defensive coordinator jobs. 

The Rooney Rule is not a quota as its vanillacentric privileged detractors like to call it.  It simply says you must interview minority candidates for these positions.  Who you hire is still up to you as the owner.  But it is obvious that the Rooney Rule worked to promote diversity in the coaching and GM ranks until the 2012 season and it was tweaked again. 

This heavy dose of NFL history about the Rooney Rule has a point.  

What got me thinking about this in terms of TBLG community circles is a conversation ENDABlog 2.0 blogger Katrina Rose and I were having about the Rooney Rule and its implementation in the current NFL hiring cycle.

Katrina made a comment that Gay, Inc orgs need to have one and she has a point.   When it comes to their hiring record concerning the people they choose to lead their organizations, only white gay men need apply.  

When the leadership rannks of your Gay, Inc organizations resemble Republican party conventions, if you're transgender why even apply, especially if you're a trans woman of color? 

The only Gay, Inc organization that has bucked that trend so far is the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.   In its over three decades the Task Force has had multiple female executive directors in Jean O'Leary, Urvashi Vaid, Kerry Lobel just to name a few and since 2008 has been led by current Task Force executive director Rea Carey.


Even with the Task Force's remarkably consistent record when it comes to feminine leadership, they unfortunately have the same pattern as other Gay, Inc orgs in terms of the overall lack of hiring of trans people despite the September hiring of Kylar Broadus to helm their Transgender Civil Rights Project.   

The same project that was led for over a decade (2001-2013) by cis woman Lisa Mottet until moving on to NCTE..

Allyson Robinson is the only person who has ever headed a Gay, Inc org that doesn't have trans human rights as a primary focus, and OutServe-SLDN unfortunately imploded a few months later into her term.


Like Kylar and others prove, it's not like trams people, and especially trans people of color don't have the education, talent or innovative ideas that would serve this community and movement well at an organizational level.  

And yeah, would be nice to get a regular paycheck for fighting for the human rights of this community.   It would also make a small symbolic dent in the trans unemployment numbers, send the message you practice what you preach to Fortune 500 companies and to governmental bodies that you are trying to convince to pass non-discrimination legislation.

It would also send the message that as allies you do value the contributions of trans people to the movement.

But it is probably the all-marriage all the time agenda of these predominately gay white male run orgs that is a reason why a civil rights oriented non-white candidate to this point hasn't been allowed near the leadership ranks of these groups.

You can also add other possible reasons as to why the lack of trans leaders in these Gay, Inc orgs is the dearth of trans hiring at mid-management and senior management levels of these organizations like it routinely does for white gay and lesbian people, or inclusion on their boards of directors so they can get the experience to someday be considered to run the entire organization .  

And let's be real about this, racism and transphobia probably plays a role in this lack of Gay, Inc leadership diversity as well.

For that paradigm to change, we are going to have to see more trans people make it into the good old gay boy and girl networks so they are familiar to the people who can hire or make recommendations to hire.

And it may take Rooney Rule type efforts, or these Gay, Inc organizations realizing that diverse leadership leads to better policy development to do so.     
 

Houston Black Trans Community-Time To Step Up

One of the conversations I was engaged in as I attended a recent community event was one in which I was pulled aside by two of my African-American trans sisters and we discussed the state of the Black trans community here in Houston vis-a-vis our white counterparts.

I addressed some of their concerns as they saw it and have talked about the mounting frustrations about our invisibility and lack of visible local non-white trans leaders.


I have repeated my call for more visible diversity in the Houston (and Texas) trans communities and pointed out to the African-American community that Black trans issues are Black community issues.  .

But at the same time it would be intellectually dishonest to not point out this problem isn't just on Houston's white trans community.  Houston Black trans community, you have some internal things you need to do to fix this problem especially when white trans people of goodwill in the area are doing their part to reach out to us because they realize the importance of doing so.

We've got to step up, become visible and lead.   This situation isn't going to change unless people come out of the shadows to accentuate the point that trans African-American Houstonians exist.



I hear the commentary from elements of you stating 'there's nothing for the gurls' here in H-town, you don't feel comfortable at the TG Center, you feel left out or you would like to have trans events like (fill in the city) does. 

But when people have stepped up in the past to try to fulfill that FUBU need or organize those events, you either have an enthusiastic turnout of people at the first couple of meetings, then it fizzles out when it's time for the work to be done.

Or you don't support it for various reasons.  

Yes, I agree we could use some trans POC infrastructure geared toward our community and I understand a meeting was held in southwest Houston on July 22 to get that party started. 

But those chococentric trans organizations, events and support groups aren't going to create themselves.  They will take sustained organizational activity to get off the ground and need to be constructed with long term stability in mind.  They also need to be designed to benefit the entire community long after the founding members have left the scene.

If somebody wants to handle that task, I'll be happy to give them advice on what to do and the pitfalls to avoid.  I'll also provide moral support at whatever meeting you call that you make me aware of is happening.

But it's put up or shut up time.  The cohesive Houston Black trans community you tell me you want to build isn't going to happen organically.

Moni isn't going to be the one doing the heavy lifting on this project because I have others I'm involved with on a local, state and national level that need my undivided attention.    

But if 'having something for the gurls' is what you desire, time for those of you who desire it to step up, determine what it is you want, and exhibit the visionary leadership and drive to make it happen.

Allyson Robinson To Helm OutServe-SLDN

This weekend two organizations that have fought hard for the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the rights of LGBT servicemembers , the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe are finalizing a merger.  

The new combined 6000 member OutServe-SLDN that will emerge has pledged to continue to fight for the rights of rainbow community service personnel.

As I and many trans people have pointed out, the 2011 repeal of  DADT left trans servicemembers behind, puts us at risk of being tossed out of the military if our trans status is discovered and still does not allow any trans person to openly serve our nation as transpeople in six countries can now do.. 

The merged organization recently announced its new executive director and the person tapped to lead  OutServe-SLDN is someone I know and have run across a few times in my travels around the country in Allyson Robinson.

She's definitely qualified to become the new executive director of this merged organization.  She is a 1994 graduate of West Point, commanded Patriot missile units in Europe and the Middle East on multiple deployments, was recently the deputy director of HRC's Workplace Project and has a Texas connection.  

After Robinson resigned her commission in 1999 to pursue her ministerial calling and focus on social justice issues, she earned her Masters of Divinity in theology at Baylor University in 2007.

Robinson stated “I am honored to lead the new OutServe-SLDN into this next phase of advocacy and action on behalf of our brave LGBT service members, veterans, and their families. Until they are guaranteed equal opportunity, recognition, support, and benefits, our mission is incomplete. We cannot and will not leave them behind.”

In addition to becoming the first trans person to head a major TBLG organization, Robinson has promised to advocate for the gender nonconforming service members left behind by DADT repeal as well. 

“We cannot stop until we reach the day when all qualified Americans who wish to wear the uniform of our armed forces have the opportunity to do so with honor and integrity – and without fear of discrimination or harassment – whether they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.”

Congratulations Allyson on this historic appointment to head OS-SLDN.  May you have much success in executing your new human rights mission.

If Push Comes To Shove, I'm Speaking My Truth

One of my favorite quotations is something Frederick Douglass once said on April 14, 1876.

He stated that 'Truth is beautiful and proper at all times and in all places.' and it most certainly is.

One of the things I've learned throughout my life and my time as an activist, especially in spaces where I tend to be the lone POC in those spaces and any others I happen to inhabit is to fearlessly speak my mind and my truth. 

There were times when I bit my tongue in some situations and regretted it, because when I got a chance to do some hard solid thinking and ponder the situation, my input at that particular time would have injected a much needed African descended perspective in that particular discourse and I was upset because I didn't do so at that time.

The point is as African descended transpersons, we don't have many of us out there as spokespeople authoritatively articulating the views of our people, and we need to take advantage of those opportunities when we get them.  

Since people see me as an iconic leader, I'm going to own it, name it and claim it.  I can't, don't and won't worry about whether I'm going to be liked or not for speaking my mind. 

One of the tenets of leadership, especially in the African American community is speaking truth to power.  Being a Black trans leader means that in order for me to be an effective advocate for my community, I have to challenge status quo thinking and policies. 

Neither am I going to sugar coat what needs to be said to make it palatable for people who wish to keep certain negative memes about my people going for their benefit or to ignore or erase my existence.

As I've said more than a few times on this blog, the 2K10's are shaping up to be a new decade of awakening and discovery in terms of how the Black trans person seems themselves.  We have our trans Talented Tenth beginning to own their power.   We have trans African American kids either fresh out of college or currently matriculating in them.  We have veteran leaders like myself who are looking at the current trans landscape and lousy situation we find ourselves in as transpeople of African descent and aren't liking what we see. 

We want and deserve better for ourselves and our people.  That means in order to achieve that goal, I and others are going to be speaking up and exercising power in ways that doesn't fit with the 'all marriage all the time' groupthink of the white GL community, nor are we going to be sitting quietly as we are erased from trans community discourse, trans history or the leadership ranks of the trans community.

If you don't like that, tough.  You've had ample opportunity on your own to correct the problem and failed to do so.  It's past time for African descended transpeople to express ourselves due to our experiences as African-Americans in ways and policy stances that are Afrocentric in character.

Whatever policy stance we support in our minds need to have visible benefits not only for our downtrodden trans slice of the community, but the trans community in total.  

And then there's just factoring in the reality of life as a person of color.  We're going to be hated whether we speak our minds or we don't, so we might as well give our haters a damned good reason to despise us for. I'm going to lower my stress level by saying what I was thinking and getting it off my chest.

So when push comes to shove, whether it's a panel discussion, a community forum, a radio show or podcast, on this blog or any others I have the honor of guest posting on, I'm going to speak my truth.