Update In The Luna Younger Case!

Trans Texans, our Mama and Papa Bears and allies have been anxiously watching a North Texas court case involving a young trans girl that unfortunately got politicized by the Texas Republican Party, the conservafool media and Texas evilgelicals.

The saga started when Luna's mother, Dr Anne Georgulas, an American Academy of Pediatrics board certified pediatrician, filed for an annulment of their marriage from Luna's father Jeffrey Younger and sought full custody of their AMAB twins that was granted in 2016. 

Luna had been exhibiting signs of gender dysphoria and has identified as a girl since age 3.  Luna's clearly expressed female gender identity and gender dysphoria diagnosis was confirmed by a therapist who specializes in gender issues.   Luna was allowed by Georgoulas starting at age 5 to express her femme gender identity full time.

Jeffrey Younger was opposed to this decision, and decided to get the Texas conservafools involved in their family business by claiming he objected to the transition on ;religious grounds'. 

He set up the now defunct website SaveJames.com to raise fund for his case and started talking to conservative media outlets like the virulently transphobic LifeSite News, claiming that he was fighting to 'protect' his children.  The SaveJames.com website raised $43,930 of its $75,000 goal before it was shut down. 

The Texas Republican Party, eager for a distraction from a major scandal involving Texas House speaker Dennis Bonnen (R-Angleton) and never missing a chance to demonize Texas trans people in the process for their nefarious political gain, stuck their reprehensible noses in this family business.   

They not only outed Luna, but also Dr. Georgulas.   That outing of Dr Georgulas caused major drama in her life and led to vandalization of her property and attacks on her medical practice

As the Right Wing Noise Machine saddled up to attack and smear Dr. Georgulas, Gov Greg Abbott (R), Sen Ted Cruz (R) and Rep Dan Crenshaw (R) tweeted their support of Younger at the #SaveJamesYounger Twitter hashtag. 

Our indicted TX AG Ken Paxton (R) along with Gov Abbott, quickly announced an investigation of the case was being launched by Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

That investigation found that Luna identifies as a girl, and did so consistently in three interviews without both parents present.   Luna also expressed during those interviews fear of her father because he refused to allow her to express herself as the girl she identifies as.

The Texas Freedom Caucus also stuck their reprehensible noses in this case.  Rep Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) pledged to author a bill that would declare  transitioning of a minor child as 'child abuse', and Rep Matt Krause (R-Fort Worth) wants to introduce a bill banning the use of puberty blockers in children.

With the faux right wing outrage mounting, in October 2019 Judge Kim Cooks (D) of the Dallas based 255th District Court caved, reversed the previous court ruling in favor of Georgulas, and awarded partial custody of Luna to Younger. 

That led to Georgulas filing a motion in November 2019 to have Cooks removed from the case after problematic posts about it popped up on Cooks' Facebook page and called into question her impartiality.  (Cooks is up for reelection in 2022). 

While the FB post was removed, the motion removing Cooks from the case was granted,by Judge Tena Callahan of the 302nd District Court in December 2019.

Judge Mary Brown (D) of the 301st District Court was assigned to the case with a hearing slated for September 25.  The evilgelical devils are already busy spreading their special brand of hate in advance of this court date.   The evilgelicals are also desperately trying to rev up the Right Wing Noise Machine and faux outrage in order to generate donations for the case.     

According to my sources, the evilgelicals have resorted to picketing outside Judge Brown's house with bullhorns in order to loudly express their hateful selves and their brand of not so 'christian' love. 

As for what Jeffrey Younger will do, the Texas trans community, our Mama and Papa Bears,  our allies and the organizations who support us will be watching to see what happens with this trans youngling and her mother and act accordingly. 

We are also only nine seats away from flipping control of the Texas House blue for the first time since 2002, so the upcoming November election will be an even higher stakes one for the Texas trans community. 

Once we're past Election Day, the Texas trans community will also be watching and ready to fight any bill proposed by the TXGOP in the 2021 session that seeks to criminalize or end life saving early transition for trans kids.

We will also be watching for any unjust bills that seek to criminalize doctors for providing such treatment or that attack parents of trans kids.  

And oh yeah, something else I need to say to the Texas Republican Party:  Don't mess with Texas trans kids or their parents.   It won't go well for you.

Courting Nikki

She's been with the ancestors for the last seven months and her 44 year life was way too short for all of us who loved her, but Nikki Araguz Loyd will never be forgotten by me or anyone in our community.

She will also not be forgotten for her ginormous contribution to trans rights for us trans Texans.  It was her tenacious and ultimately successful six year legal fight in the Delgado v Araguz case that secured marriage rights for us here in the Lone Star State.

Courting Nikki is a short documentary by Cressandra Thibodeaux that follows Nikki through this case.  It also brought back some memories for me of that time and the amazing complex woman I was blessed  to call my friend.

This documentary video was shown at Nikki's memorial service

Number 14- Rest In Power Selena Reyes Hernandez

She is the sixth Latinx transperson to die in 2020 and the 14th transperson this year, but I'm just now finding out about this May 31 murder because of misgendering of her by the Chicago medical examiner, Chicago PD and the Chicago media

Even her family went there in disrespecting her in death, choosing to bury her in her native Mexico under her deadname.

The murder also took place on one of the deadliest days in Chicago in 60 years, with 18 people being killed in a 24 hour period.

37 year old Selena Reyes Hernandez was seen with 18 year old Orlando Perez, who lived several blocks away from her, entering her Marquette Park area home around 5:30 AM CDT. 

Perez told investigators when he asked if Reyes Hernandez was a girl, she told him he was trans.  He told her he had to leave, and returned 20 minutes later at 6 AM according to surveillance cameras armed and with a dark face covering.    He is shown on surveillance cameras pulling out a handgun, racking the slide and hopping the fence to Reyes Hernandez's home in the 3300 block of West 71st Street

He discovered the door was open, walked in and shot Reyes Hernandez in the head and back before running out of her home. 

Perez thought would be enough to kill her, but was so transphobically angry he returned to shoot her several more times as her body was on the floor.   Her body was found by someone who heard loud noises later that morning.

Perez was arrested, and the gun with the same type of bullets used to kill Reyes Hernandez was found in his Marquette Park home.   Multiple video camera show him going back and forth to the scene of the crime.

Perez is being held in the Cook County jail with no bail.   His next court date is on July 6.   Prior to killing Reyes Hernandez, he had no criminal history, but has sadly let transphobia ruin his young life.

And if he's thinking about trying to use the trans panic defense in an attempt to get off or get his sentenced reduced, not gonna happen.  Illinois is one of the states that bans it.

Rest in power, Selena.   Your Chicago trans fam is not going to rest until you receive justice.  Hopefully someone also has a photo of her as she lived her all too brief life.


TransGriot Note: Thanks to Elizabeth Rivera for finding and sending me the photo of Selena that graces this post. 

Mad About The Partisan SCOTX Ruling? Punish Them At The Polls!

I and other peeps in the Lone Star State are justifiably angry about the predictable ruling that came out of our all Republican Texas Supreme Court (SCOTX) on May 15.

Wouldn't be surprised if they were probably motivated by and 'scurred' of the fact that four of them are facing reelection this November and possibly may not be sitting in those cushy leather seats next year.

After taking L's at the state district court and 14th Court of Appeals level on the question of expanding mail in ballot access in the midst of COVID 19 fears, indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) appealed to the Republican controlled Texas Supreme Court to halt progress on getting mail in ballot voting in place in time for the 2020 election this November.

There are fears that another nastier wave of COVID 19 will strike this fall.  We have already witnessed 70 people testing positive for the Trump Virus after another GOP controlled state Supreme Court in Wisconsin issued partisan rulings that forced people to vote in person during their primary back on April 7.

Wanting to avoid that disastrous scenario, Texas voting right advocates and the Texas Democratic Party have been pushing for expanded access to mail in ballots for this upcoming election.

But fears of another blue tsunami coming November 3 have skittish Republicans being hypocritically opposed to expanding mail in ballot access, a method they frequently use.

Paxton cited their usual 'voter fraud' talking points lie to weakly justify opposing it in a letter he sent to the SCOTX last Wednesday urging them to halt progress on expanded mail in ballots, 

"Among the State’s highest and most profound interests is protecting the integrity of its elections," Paxton wrote Wednesday. "To advance that interest, the Texas Legislature requires almost every voter to vote by personal appearance at a designated polling place, where trained poll workers confirm the voter’s identity before issuing him a ballot."

Yeah right, miss me with that BS, since you Republicans are committing much of the voter fraud you claim to be trying to prevent.  You're also cynically using COVID 19 as a new tool to try to suppress turnout.

The partisan SCOTX ruling means that while the merits of the case are being decided, nothing can happen until the appeal of the state district court case moves forward through the legal system.

And while we wait for Lord knows how long that to happen, that delays efforts for Lone State State election officials to get prepared to implement and administer an election that uses vote by mail ballots.

While Patton and Texas republicans by extension were pleased with Friday's ruling, Texas Dems and voting rights advocates justifiably put the partisan unjust ruling on blast.

''This is a dark day for our democracy.  The Republican Texas Supreme Court is voting to force the people of Texas to choose between their health and their right to vote.  They would have Texans die, just so they can hold on to power, "said Texas Democratic party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa. 

"Voters should have the ability to vote by mail during a pandemic if they feel their health is in danger. Every single justice who ruled today should be ashamed of themselves.  They are the new Republican death panel, Hinojosa added. .

Yeah Chairman Hinojosa, the Republicans in Texas and everywhere else in the US , including the White house, have made it clear they want the rest of us who aren't 1% cishetero conservative white males to die.

And while we wait for that to happen, that delays efforts for Lone State State election officials to get prepared to implement and administer an election that uses vote by mail ballots.

So yeah, be mad about this ruling.  But just being angry about this ruling doesn't do squat to change the fact that all nine seats on the Texas Supreme Court are still GOP controlled.

But punishing them at the polls will. 

As I like to say, the best way to get back at a politician who pissed you off is to make then an EX-politician.  Translation: I take my anger at the stuff Republican politicians do by heading to my fave early voting location and firing them.

Four members of the GOP SCOTX have terms expiring in 2020.  They are Jane Bland in Place 6, Jeffery Boyd in Place 7, J. Brett Busby in Place 8 and Chief Justice Nathan Hecht .

They are being opposed by Democrats Kathy Cheng, who is running for Place 6, Judge Staci Williams for Place 7, and Judge Gisela Triana in Place 8.  Judge Amy Clark Meachum is running for SCOTX Chief Justice.

Cheng is a Houston area attorney who previously ran for SCOTX Place 6 in the 2018 cycle, won in the primary, but unfortunately lost in the general election to then incumbent Justice Jeff Brown.  After winning that full four year term, he was subsequently appointed to a federal judicial bench by Trump. 

That has given Cheng another shot at the Place 6 seat, this time against Bland, who was appointed to the seat by Governor Abbott in September 2019.

Judge Staci Williams has served as the judge of the Dallas based 101st District court since 2014. 
She handily won reelection to her 101st District Court bench in 2018, and will be the Democratic candidate for SCOTX Place 7 taking on Justice Boyd..

Judge Gisela Triana has served since 2018 as a judge on the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals Place 6 seat, based in Austin.  She will be the Democratic nominees for the SCOTX Place 8 seat held by Justice Busby, who like Bland, was appointed to fill the seat by Governor Abbott in February 2019.

Judge Amy Clark Meachum, who currently serves on the 201st District Court, in Travis County (Austin for you non Texans) is running for Chef Justice.   She has served on the 201st bench since 2010, and was reelected in 2014 and 2018

Normally only two to three SCOTX judges are up for reelection in a cycle.  Because we had one move up to the federal bench after the 2018 election, we have a rare opportunity as liberal progressive Texans to potentially flip four seats and dramatically speed up the day the Texas Supreme Court flips to Democratic control

That tantalizing possibility of the SCOTX speedily flipping has Greg Abbott, Potty Dan Patrick and other Texas GOP politicians quaking in their cowboy boots.

So yes, I'm painfully aware that elections matter, and since we have for now partisan election of judges in the Lone Star State,  having Democratic judges matters

The late Nikki Araguz Loyd, if she were still with us, would tell you how much it matters. 
She lost the first round of her trans marriage case in state district court, but it was overturned at the Democratically controlled 10th Court of Appeals level. 

It was waiting for a hearing at the SCOTX level when the Obergefell SCOTUS marriage case dropped and made her and the Texas trans community a winner.

I'm still pissed off about the partisan July 2015 SCOTX ruling that forced the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance onto the 2015 ballot and its subsequent repeal that November.

It's past time to end Texas Republican control of the SCOTX, and we liberal progressive Texans need to seize the opportunity to do so now.   Will do us no good to flip the Texas House and start the process of flipping the Texas Senate if a conservative SCOTX remains to stymie any progressive legislative and legal progress Texas sorely with their partisan rulings. 

It's also past time that the SCOTX looked like and reflected the diversity and life experiences of all Texans, instead of being overwhelmingly comprised of conservative white males

By electing Judge Amy Clark Meachum, Judge Gisela Triana, Judge Staci Williams and Kathy Cheng this November, you will ensure that the SCOTX not only looks like the people of the state of Texas, you will ensure that the Texas Supreme Court finally has fairness and justice on it.

So let's get that party started, shall we?

WTF? Edward Thomas Convicted Of Misdemeanor Assault

The Edward Thomas trial in Dallas closed after final arguments from the prosecution and the defense in judge Hector Garza's courtroom..

The prosecution was arguing for a felony assault conviction, while defense attorney Andrew Wilkerson kept deploying his reprehensible spin on the trans panic defense by deliberately misgendering Muhlaysia Booker and claiming the fight was between two men.

Looks like it worked. 

After four hours of deliberation, the jury found Thomas guilty of the lesser charge of misdemeanor assault and sentenced him to 300 days in jail.   If he doesn't appeal the conviction, the time that Thomas has already served since April will count toward fulfilling the terms of that 300 day sentence.

Translation:  Thomas will be getting out of jail in four months.

Really?   This is straight up BS.   Thomas was offered $200 to beat Booker, allegedly sucker punched her while using brass knuckles to start the fight  and was videotaped viciously beating Booker to the point she was rendered unconscious.

Booker suffered a broken wrist, and had to be pulled out of the situation by six cis women and placed in a car for transport to a nearby hospital, and all this mofo gets is 300 days in jail for that? 

Dallas trans advocate Mieko Hicks agrees with that sentiment.   She blames Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall and DPD detectives for the in her words botched investigation that led to this verdict.

Thomas should have been convicted of felony assault, and should be doing some serious time for that hate crime.

But no thanks to Dianne Hardy Garcia and the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby (LGRL), Texas trans folks were stripped out of our state's James Byrd Hate Crimes Act in  the 1999 and the 2001 Texas Lege session when it passed with sexual orientation but not gender identity as one of the categories eligible for enhanced punishment. .  .    .

I and other trans Texans across the Lone Star State will be working to fix that problem in the 2021 session.    But that doesn't do anything about the anger and disappointment we're feeling right now ,with the verdict and the (in)justice system that produced it..

Transphobic Defense Attorney Andrew Wilkerson Found In Contempt Of Court

Had a feeling this was going to happen sometime during this Edward Thomas trial, and today was that day.

Thanks to reporter Dana Branham, who is tweeting this trial for the Dallas Morning News now in its second day,  we've learned that Andrew Wilkerson, the transphobic lead defense attorney for Edward Thomas, the person videotaped beating Muhlaysia Booker in that infamous viral video, went too far in his as he termed it "zealously, righteously, and fearlessly defending his client."

Before the trial started, he tried and thankfully failed to deploy the trans panic defense to get his client who is facing 20 years in prison a lighter sentence.

Wilkerson and Michael Campbell, the other defense attorney in this case, continued to misgender and deadname Booker.   Wilkerson also made the BS laden claim that Booker instigated the attack that left her with a concussion and a broken wrist by 'talking smack'

He also continued to argue with Judge Hector Garza, who warned his transphobic behind several times that he was going too far with his courtroom antics before Garza cleared the jurors out of the courtroom and found Wilkerson in contempt of court.

Wilkerson was sentenced to 14 days in jail and a $500 fine, and led out of the courtroom in handcuffs before testimony resumed in this case. 

Wilkerson is now in jail for the rest of this trial, and hopefully his client Edward Thomas will be joining him in the Dallas County Iron Bar Hilton soon.

TransGriot Update: Wilkerson was released from jail Friday on a personal recognizance bond 

Edward Thomas Trial Starts Today

The reason that Diamond Stylz and I made a quick trip up I-45 to Dallas late Sunday night was to bring awareness of the fact the Edward Thomas trial was starting today in the Frank Crowley Courts Building.

Thomas was arrested for the April 12 beating of Muhlaysia Booker in a South Dallas apartment complex after a minor fender bender that left her with a concussion and other injuries.

She was murdered a month later.

We joined with local Dallas trans advocates Mieko Hicks and Stacey Monroe in a Monday morning press conference to not on shed light on that upcoming trail, but the transphobic comments of Thomas' defense attorney Andrew Wilkerson.

Wilkerson also attempted to sow the trans panic defense in this case by trying to get Booker deadnamed and misgendered during this trial, motions that Judge Hector Garza shot down.

We also called out the problematic release of Domingo Ramirez-Cayente and the murder of Atatiana Jefferson by a Fort Worth police officer that happened just before we departed for Dallas

Ramirez-Cayente is the waste of DNA who attempted to kill Daniela Calderon.   He was not only ridiculously charged with aggravated assault, but bond was set at only $25,000.   He was also allowed to leave without being required to wear an ankle monitor, and as you probably guessed, took the first opportunity after his released to point that red truck down I-35 south and run to the border.

Back to the Thomas trial.

Hope that my Dallas trans fam will pack the courtroom for this trial, and send a message to the jury, the defense and prosecuting attorneys that Muhlaysia was loved by a lot of people in the Dallas area.

For those of you who don't live in the DFW area, Dallas Morning News reporter Dana Branham is following the trial on her Twitter feed.

Why Was An Attempted Murderer Let Loose In Dallas?

Daniela Calderon Rivera is still recovering from the six gunshot wounds she received when a motivated by anti-trans hatred Domingo Ramirez Cayente tried to kill her.back on September 20.

ICE is also claiming according to the Dallas Morning News that Ramirez-Cayente was deported to Mexico back in 2010. 

We presumed in the DFW area and Texas trans community based on that emerging info, that when he was arrested, Ramirez-Cayente would be locked up until his trial, but we were wrong.  Instead of being charged with attempted murder, the Mexican national was only charged with aggravated assault

WTF?


To add to the high levels of WTF level issues in this case, Magistrate Judge Hal Turley issued a $25,000 bond for a hate crime.   Since you only have to pay 10% of that amount, that meant that all Ramirez Cayente had to come up with was $2500 to be sprung from the Dallas County Jail.

Turley compounded his bond amount mistake by not ordering him to wear an ankle monitor to ensure that he could be tracked.   

Turley also failed to consider the fact that Dallas is only a 7.5 hour drive to Laredo and the Mexican border, and that Ramirez Cayente may have a major incentive once released from jail to point that red Chevy truck he owns onto I-35 south and skedaddle across the Rio Grande into Mexico.

It appears that Ramirez-Cayente has fled the Dallas area, and that a fugitive warrant was issued by the Dallas Police Department on October 7 for his arrest. 

Local advocate Stacey Monroe is holding a press conference at 3:15 PM at the Frank Crowley Courts Building to discuss the latest developments in this case.

Daniela Calderon Rivera deserves justice, and has every right to be fearful in light of the fact the violent transphobe who tried to kill her is a fugitive from justice.   Some folks in the Dallas County justice system failed her, and they must  be held accountable for that.

We also need to know the answer to the question of why an attempted murderer was released in Dallas?

Amber Guyger Guilty!

To be honest, I didn't think I would be writing these words in relation to that case, but that's what happened.  A cop who killed an unarmed Black person in their own home finally will be held accountable for it.

And the coolest part of this whole story is it happened in my home state.

The white women's tears she cried on the witness stand didn't work, as the jury made of of 5 Black peeps, 5 Latinx peeps and 2 whites returned a unanimous verdict convicting her of entering 26 year old Botham Jean's Dallas apartment on September 6, 2018 and killing him.

Can't do the happy dance just yet.  Trial is still in the punishment phase, and the racist texts the former Dallas PD officer unleashed have come out     She is facing 5-99 years in a TDC cell, so to me justice won't be truly served unless she's doing as close to 99 years as possible.

We'll find out soon how much time she got.

But the people I feel for are the Jean family, who have lost someone they can never get back 


TransGriot Update:   And how much time did she get?  10 effing years?   Really?  People, and especially POC's have gotten more time for selling drugs or robbing a bank.

Suspect Arrested In Shooting Of Dallas Trans Woman

A suspect has been arrested in the shooting of 35 year old trans woman Daniela Calderon.

According to reporting from the Dallas Voice, Dallas police arrested 29 year old Domingo Ramirez-Cayente and charged him with aggravated assault in the shooting that took place on September 20 in the 11000 block of Dennis Road.

According to the arrest warrant, Calderon was walking along Dennis Road when Ramirez-Cayente pulled up alongside her in his red Chevy truck and yelled anti-trans and anti-gay slurs at her.  Calderon walked away from the truck and toward a nearby DART bus stop so she could leave the location.

Ramirez-Cayente then pulled up to the bus stop as she was waiting there and shot Calderon several times with a handgun.

Calderon was taken to a nearby hospital where she underwent surgery for her injuries, and spoke to investigators in September 22..   Ramirez-Cayente's truck was captured by nearby security video cameras and was eventually identified by detectives on September 24. 

Ramirez-Cayente was arrested on traffic warrants, and while being interviewed by detectives at DPD headquarters admitted to shooting Calderon.     .

Ramirez-Cayente is still in the Dallas County jail as of this writing on charges of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury and three minor traffic violations.   His bond on the assault charge was set at $25,000.

Once again, this is another concrete example of what I I'm talking about when I say anti-trans hate thoughts + anti-trans hate speech = anti-trans hate violence and murder.

I'm thankful that Rony Calderon didn't become the fourth Texas trans person to be lost to anti-trans violence this year.   I also wish her speedy healing and recovery from her injuries.

May the Dallas County DA handle their business and throw this waste of DNA under the jail for what he tried to do.     

TransGriot Update:  Stunned and angered to learn that Ramirez-Cayente was released on bail. 

Motion To Deadname Muhlaysia Booker Denied

Andrew Wilkerson, the transphobic defense attorney for Edward Thomas, tried it. 


Knowing that his client is on videotape beating down Muhlaysia Booker into unconsciousness for $200, and knowing that there are witnesses to that hate crime, he tried injecting transphobia in the mix for the upcoming October 14 trial.

Wilkerson is cynically trying to get the April 12 assault by the 29 year old Thomas characterized as a fight between two men, instead of a man beating up a woman.

The 29 year old Thomas is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second degree felony that if convicted, can get Thomas anywhere from 2 to 20 years in jail.

The attack left the 22 year old Booker with a broken wrist and a concussion.

Fortunately for us trans Texans, Judge Hector Garza (D) saw through this BS attempt to use a cynical variation of the trans panic defense in this trial.

Wilkerson is claiming that recognizing Booker as the female she was will 'prejudice the jury', and tried to have the name on the indictment changed to Booker's deadname.   Prosecuting attorneys argued that indictments can be amended to include aliases, and since Booker had been living as her true self for several years and answered to Muhlaysia, the court should honor that.

"Our position is one of respect," said lead prosecutor Jason Hermus to Judge Garza.

Wilkerson has been a serial transphobe in this case.   He also disrespected and misgendered Booker in a June 7 Facebook post, which led to Judge Garza issuing a gag order for both attorneys.

Judge Garza ruled that when this case goes to trial, the jury will hear the name Muhlaysia Booker, not her deadname.

Remember that trans Dallas when Judge Garza runs for reelection for the 195th Judicial District Court next March.