BET Apologizes To B. Scott For Awards Show Drama

Diamond has commented on it in her latest video blog along with other people in the blogosphere and outraged fans of multimedia personality B. Scott

The openly gay Scott sports an androgynous look and was hired by BET to be the host of the red carpet pre-show broadcast before Sunday's 2013 edition of the BET Awards.  

But just before Scott went on camera, drama ensued as BET producers demanded he tone down his makeup, pull his hair back, wear masculine clothing and not wear heels.

The producers also attempted to replace him with Adrienne Bailon before pressure from show sponsor Procter & Gamble forced them to drop that idea and got him back on the telecast.

Scott was not a happy camper about the behind the scenes homophobic drama, and it was noticeable during his first on camera interview.  He later took to Twitter to discuss his feelings about it and dished about what happened to a fellow blogger and BET took a public relations beating over it.

“It’s not just about the fact that BET forced me to pull my hair back, asked me to take off my makeup, made me changed my clothes and prevented me from wearing a heel,” Scott wrote. “It’s more so that from the mentality and environment created by BET made me feel less than and that something was wrong with who I am as a person.”

BET tried to ride out the controversy with silence as outraged fans of B. Scott vented on Black Twitter and elsewhere but as the firestorm of criticism continued and BET continued to take a public relations black eye over this they finally issued an apology to the multimedia maven.  

“BET Networks embraces global diversity in all its forms and seeks to maintain an inclusive workforce and a culture that values all perspectives and backgrounds,” the statement read. “The incident with B. Scott was a singular one with a series of unfortunate miscommunications from both parties. We regret any unintentional offense to B. Scott and anyone within the LGBT community and we seek to continue embracing all gender expressions.”

Yeah, right. You sure didn't demonstrate that 'embracing of global diversity' and 'valuing all perspectives and backgrounds culture' Sunday night with B. Scott and you are deservedly getting excoriated for it.

Diamond Stylz Comments On The BET-B Scott Controversy

Catching up on all the news I missed while traveling, and I'm just hearing about BET hiring the androgynous B Scott and then demanding he not wear heels on the red carpet for the BET Awards.

WTF?  

Cheryl Courtney-Evans has her theory on why BET was hatin' on B Scott despite hiring him because his claim to fame is being that over the top androgynous personality.

Diamond comments on it in her latest video as well.

 

Naw, It Ain't Your Business To Know Jazz's Or ANY Transperson's Old Name

Y'all know I have much love for my baby sis Jazz.  I keep up with her activist exploits on the blog and I'm looking forward to the day I finally get to meet her.

What prompted this post was this question I received in my comment feed from some person who shall remain nameless.

I have a question that you don't have to answer if you don't want to or feel uncomfortable with answering but do you know Jazz's original male name

Oh, I'm going to answer this question alright, but not in the way you expected me to.

Whatever Jazz's birth name was is not yours, mine or anybody else's business.  Even if I knew the answer to that question, I wouldn't put that information out there because she's a minor for starters and we have real haters out there that in many cases seek to do harm to us. I've also seen far too often in my time in this community that when that information gets out it tends to be used negatively by our detractors.  

Frankly, I like seeing news stories when they are written about Jazz that don't have the derailing line 'born as ___________'  or 'legal name is __________' in them.  

All you need to focus on is the fact that Jazz is a happy, healthy, well adjusted girl like us who is trying to live as normal a teenaged girl's life as possible.

She just happens to be a teen who has met a former president,. lobbied the US Soccer Association, been interviewed by Barbara Walters twice, spoken at various conferences, been featured in a documentary, appeared in a movie, and has a worldwide community who loves her and has her back.

A trans person's old name fall into none of your business territory along with whether we've had genital surgery.   Focus on the name that fits who we are now and what we told you what our name is to begin with.  

Your desire to know that personal information does not trump our desire as transpeople to keep that information private.  It's why I proposed an adjustment to the AP Stylebook guidelines concerning writing stories on trans people that prohibits the practice of injecting those old names into the story because transphobic ignorance follows.

So naw, it ain't your business to know what Jazz's or any transperson's old name is because it is not germane to who we are now. 

Tom Joyner Morning Show Team Dips Into Transphobic 'Comedy' In Garner Case

I'm a huge fan of the syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show that has a national listening audience of 11 million African-Americans. 

But right now I'm a little pissed about them dipping into transphobic comedy this morning to talk about the ongoing Tracey Lynn Garner case unfolding in Jackson, MS. 

During the 7:00 AM CDT hour of today's TJMS show Joyner started reading the story about Garner on air and seized on something that I've complained about in terms of covering trans people.  I don't like it along with many people in the trans community news outlets or reporters printing the old names of transpeople in stories when they are not germane to it because it opens the floodgates for transphobia to happen.  What I feared would happen did when Joyner read her old male name on air.  

J. Anthony Brown, Sybil Wilkes and Joyner then seized on that aspect of it to crack jokes about not only Ms  Garner but the very serious issues of silicone pumping that have cost the lives of hundreds of people inside and outside the trans community over the last decade and have Tracey Lynn Garner facing life imprisonment for performing the silicone pumping buttocks injections that resulted in the deaths of Karima Gordon and Marilyn Hale.  

TJMS, love y'all as a longtime fan on the show, haven't forgotten to your credit that Jacque Reid interviewed Laverne Cox back in March 2010, have mad respect for the 'Fly Jock' as a Black radio pioneer who also knew my late father, but got to put y'all on blast for this one.

Trans people and especially Black trans people are catching hell out there.  Back in April we had three African-American transwomen killed because elements of our community think it's okay to exterminate us for simply being who we are and far too often murderers of Black trans people have been fellow African-Americans.  Far more in our community think it's okay to make fun of or engage in transphobic rhetoric disparaging our lives.

That TJMS segment during the 7:00 AM CDT hour didn't rise to the level of what Lex and Terry recently did in actually calling on June 3 for the murder of trans people, but it's still harmful and hurtful to the transpeople of African descent who are like myself fans of your show.
 
It also give cover to the Fox News ongoing campaign to disparage the lives of American transpeople that fuels the disrespect and anti-trans violence aimed at us and disproportionately takes the lives of African-American and Latina transpeople.  

I like a good joke from time to time, enjoy some of the TJMS bits that happen on the show along with your commentators thought provoking commentary that sometimes inspires my TransGriot posts, but belittling or joking about trans peoples lives doesn't help especially when we are struggling to gain human rights coverage and have our humanity respected. 

That education on trans issues is especially needed in the African-American community and those efforts were set back this morning by the TJMS team's jokes about not only this individual transwoman who committed a crime that she (yes, she) will probably be punished for, but you reinforced a problematic pattern that it's okay to turn trans people's lives into a punchline of a joke.

Truth.Be.Told. Take Two IndieGoGo Campaign In Homestretch

Learned recently about an IndieGoGo campaign which is focused on funding a pilot for a documentary TV series called Truth. Be.Told. that focuses on Black :GBTQIA-SGL-TS visionaries to tell their stories.

Over 50 people have committed to tell their stories in Seasons 1 and 2 including Staceyann Chin (Jamaican-born, Tony Award-winning playwright); Emil Wilbekin (Editor at Large for Essence magazine), Patrik-Ian Polk (Creator of Logo TV's "Noah's Arc" series); Mia McKenzie (Creator of the Black Girl Dangerous blog) Linda Villarosa (a former Editor for the New York Times); Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs (Co-Creator of the Mobile Homecoming Project); Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler (Filmmaker/Transgender Rights Activist); and Justin Robinson (Grammy Award-winning musician, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops).

The Truth. Be.Told. Executive Producers are Carol Ann Shine (who produced Noah's Arc for Logo TV, plus all of Patrik-Ian Polk's films), and Jennifer MacArthur,  Public Media Engagement Consultant for Independent Television Service (ITVS) and former Director of Television + Digital Media Engagement at the National Center for Media Engagement. Katina Parker is the Creator/Director for Truth. Be. Told.

From the IndieGoGo page, here's the explanation of the basic premise of the proposed documentary series.

The basic premise of Truth. Be. Told.: is in order to become all of whom we were sent to be, as Queer Black people, we have been pushed to question everything about our multiple layers of identity - race, gender, sexuality, class, vocation - and then reconcile who we know ourselves to be with the identities our families and society-at-large have constructed for us. Some of us face rejection from our parents, children, spouses, and other family; some of us experience job loss, religious persecution, personal attacks and violence; some of us are more afraid of who we might become than our loved ones who have been waiting for us to speak our own truth. By virtue of being Queer, we do this work in spite of the risks, in order to live more fully.

Truth. Be. Told. is a success that we build together. If you fund it, I will make it. And what I make will do us proud. Together, we will create the most comprehensive exploration of Queer Black identity, to date.  

To make that season happen, they are trying to raise $4000 to produce a pilot episode for Truth. Be. Told  to augment the $4000 already raised from their first campaign.  The deadline for this campaign is June 17 at 11:59 PM PDT

So if you can, consider dropping $5, $10 or if you're feeling generous more to help reach this fundraising goal and bring this much needed documentary series to life. 

A Modest AP Stylebook Proposal

For those of you who have taken the time to peruse the over 6500 posts here, you'll notice that many of the posts I have written over the last seven years have chronicled the many journalistic fails in terms of following the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on transgender people.

To remind people, here's what they say in terms of writing about trans people:

transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the individuals live publicly.

Translation: transgender woman=use female pronouns in story. Transgender male=use male pronouns in story.  

GLAAD has a media guide you can peruse in addition to the NLGJA. 

Since there seems to be confusion, a lack of reading comprehension, or outright blatant ignoring or disrespect of the trans person's humanity a la the Cleveland Plain Dealer's recent journalistic hate crime in these stories, I propose adding this line to the current AP Stylebook guideline in covering transgender stories.

When in doubt, use the name germane to the acquired characteristics or the way the persons live publicly and do not use a name inconsistent with those characteristics.

What that will do is make the stories about trans people more consistent, respectful and less confusing to readers, the trans community and our allies.  It is not necessary for a reader to know in a human interest story for example that Karen's name used to be Kendall or because Karen has yet to get her identity documents changed to seize on and add to the story 'her legal name is Kendall'.

You have already let your readers know that Karen is a transwoman by stating that fact in the headline or opening paragraph of the story.   Throwing the old name in the story is disrespectful, unnecessary (and in some cases triggering) to the transperson in question. 

The bottom line is trans people aren't going back into the closet or going away.  We are spread out all over the country and will eventually make news good, neutral or bad that you'll be in a position in your various locales to report on.

We in the trans community would prefer that those media interactions be positive ones and not adversarial. 

Oh Hell No Sirius XM!

If you want to know why we have unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence disproportionately affecting POC trans people, one of the root causes is the unchecked hate speech aimed against trans folks.

Whether the anti-trans commentary is regurgitated on the Net, in the news media or the blogosphere, as I've said before and I'm paraphrasing here, trans hate thoughts lead to trans hate speech which equals to trans hate violence and the deaths of trans people . 

And the watchdog organization that's supposed to call it out is cricket chirping silent about it.

Another example of hate speech running amok in the media ironically occurred on an outlet founded by a transwoman.   SiriusXM was founded by Martine Rothblatt back in the 90's and hosts on its many channels various talk shows from across the nation. 

On one of them, during the June 3 broadcast of the Lex and Terry show they discussed the April Tampa incident in which transwoman Coco McDonald was lured to an abandoned house, robbed and shot twice by a perpetrator who was later arrested.

Lex and Terry not only condoned the crime, but one of them said they would have done the same thing themselves. 

Gee, nice to know you wastes of DNA condone the murder of other human beings.



Cristan Williams and Cheryl Courtney-Evans are some of the bloggers who have spoken out against this hate speech being broadcast on the air.  Cheryl had this to say about it in her Abitchforjustice post:

Surely this type of behavior and goading the public is just as inflammatory as Don Imus' "nappy-headed hoes", and deserves repercussion, apologies and/or firing(s)! Are not WE as human as the Rutgers University's female basketball team? Are not our persons as at risk when made to be viewed a certain way to the general public (that may hold individuals of low intelligence who might take this type of talk to heart and act on it)? I believe this type of speech borders on the criminal, in that it can incite violence on transgender individuals...

To me it's even more insulting that this happened on a network that was founded by a transwoman and I cosign what my trans sister Cheryl said.  It's also galling to note that this broadcast happened days after a Los Angeles transwoman was brutally beaten and left for dead as the transphobia runs amok in Bossip's comment threads.

But back to focusing on Sirius XM and this Oh Hell No moment.   Lex and Terry need to be suspended or fired for advocating violence against transwomen that as the lengthening TDOR name lists tell us, far too many people are willing to carry out.

TransGriot Update:  A Change.org petition has already gotten started with the goal of getting 500 signatures to demand that Clear Channel apologize for Lex and Terry's transphobic antics. 


SiriusXM has already apologized for it.  They issued the following statement regarding this issue and Clear Channels responsibility for programming the Lex and Terry show.

We apologize for this programming and don’t in any way condone it. The Extreme Talk channel and the Lex and Terry show are programming providing to us by Clear Channel. The channel and all the shows on it are under the control of Clear Channel. We are required to carry the channel based on pre-existing agreement with Clear Channel. We have made Clear Channel aware of this issue and the complaints from listeners.

Patrick Reilly
Senior Vice President, Communications

TransGriot Update: The Lex and Terry show has been dropped by Clear Channel from the SiriusXM Extreme Talk channel..  Lex and Terry according to GLAAD are apologizing for the jacked up comment.

'The New Black' Film Festival Tour

The New Black is a documentary film I was cognizant was in the process of being shot, and I'm happy to discover it has been completed and is about to hit the summer film festival circuit.

NBJC is traveling across the country to celebrate an authentic and illuminating depiction of the tension, triumphs and victories that take place at the intersection of religious beliefs and civil rights with the launch of The New Black

It is a provocative new documentary film that powerfully illustrates the story of how the African-American community is grappling with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in light of the marriage equality movement and the fight over civil rights.

It chronicles the recent marriage battle in Maryland and shows activists, families and clergy on both sides of last year's campaign to legalize gay marriage in the state.   It examines homophobia in the African-American community's institutional pillar ---The Black Church-- and reveals the Christian right wing's reprehensible strategy of exploiting this cultural phenomenon in order to pursue their anti-gay political agenda.  

There are some familiar faces in this film like NBJC Executive Director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks and several NBJC emerging leaders such as Samantha Master and Karess Taylor-Hughes and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

The New Black is directed by internationally renowned documentary filmmaker Yoruba Richen, who teams with notable producers Yvonne Welbon, producer of Living with Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100, and Emmy nominated Angela Tucker to bring us this story anchored at the intersection of Black American culture and the LGBT equality movement..

So for those of you residing in Los Angeles (June14-16) New York  (June 19-20), Washington D.C. (June 22-23) and San Francisco (June 29)  you'll get the opportunity to check out Tne New Black at your local film festivals this summer.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait until it hits an H-town multiplex near me.

Ackshun Jackson Disses Jordana On His YoYo DC Podcast

'No fight is more just than the battle for self determination of one's own identity.'Jordana LeSesne April 2013

Last night got an e-mail alerting me to a situation in which a podcast called 'YoYoDC' went into problematic territory on a May 28 show they were doing concerning a local pediatrician, Dr. Robert Dickey who was facing pedophilia charges.

Three quarters of the way into it Ackshun Jackson as he calls himself segues from that discussion to disrespectfully talking about Jordana LeSesne, the girl like us who is a pioneering DJ, music producer and current frontwoman for a metal band. 

He claims he's a huge fan of hers, but referred to her as 'it' during the show banter that ensued while the track she produced and he claimed was his favorite played in the background.     

And yo, shouldn't you as a fan know how to spell your idol's name?   I'm just sayin'.

It's already treading into questionable territory to bring up a transperson, much less have a discussion about one on a show in which you started it discussing a pedophile doctor.   BTW, 98% of the people who get busted for doing so are heterosexual white males

I DESPISE the 'politically correct' term far too many conservafools and people attempt to use as a shield to insulate themselves from the jacked up crap they say.   The Golden Rule exists for a reason and I love this Dion Beary quote about the politically correct term that one of my TransGriot longtime readers Lilith posted in the discussion thread that ensued on Jordana's page.

''Politically correct" is just a term assholes came up with so they can dismiss people who have the nerve to want to be respected. Demanding not to be stereotyped is not political correctness, it’s a human right, and you are not some hero for refusing to respect people’s right to be treated like humans.'
—Dion Beary

Back to our post.

I need to get into the other ways this podcast was problematic.   He used her old name which was not germane to the discussion since 99% of the music she produces is under Jordana.    References were made to chopping off dicks, 'different strokes' comments and other transphobic language thinly disguised in bad joke drag.

It's also problematic in terms of the show being based in Washington DC and these comments being juxtaposed against the long, ugly history of anti-trans violence and discrimination aimed at POC trans women in the District.    

When Ackshun Jackson was advised Jordana was not amused by his show, he surfed over to her Facebook page to chat with her and ask for an interview.   And yes, Jordana asked me to be part of that discussion. 

While he was contrite about insulting her, Ackshun Jackson still has a ways to go in terms of Trans 101 education.  While Jordana believes he wasn't trying to be malicious about it, clueless transphobic bigotry still hurts the same as the willful transphobic variety.

I dropped the link to the GLAAD Media Reference Guide trans section in our discussion along with dropping knowledge about the 1995 Tyra Hunter case, the 2002 Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis execution style murders, Kenneth Furr's August 2011 incident firing his service revolver at a car with  three transwomen and friends in it and getting probation and the Deoni Jones killing Gary Niles Montgomery will be going to trial for next month. 

To Ackshun Jackson and everyone one else out there, here's two basic facts about a trans person's identity that you need to commit to memory.   

You don't get to define our identity, we do.

And disrespecting that identity, whether it's done overtly or covertly still hurts. 
 

Melissa Harris-Perry Eviscerates EW Jackson

Seems I wasn't the only African-American who was shining a spotlight on that cookie-chomping knee-grow  E.W. Jackson on Saturday

She tore him a new anus during her MHP show segment in which she penned a 'letter of advice' to the newly minted Virginia lieutenant governor candidate.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Can't wait to hear what Rev. Al has to say about him..

WTF Advocate?

I shouldn't be surprised after 15 years in the TBLG community to see the Advocate failing when it comes to talking about trans issues.

But this disastrous May 22 op-ed from cisgender woman Suzan Revah swimming in vanillacentric privilege and appropriation was an eye-rolling experience that I fortunately read on an empty stomach. 

It was also highly insulting to read that jacked up op-ed when three girls like us who share my ethnic background were killed last month and we are two weeks from the first of the five accused killers of Evon Young being tried in Milwaukee.

When the backlash swiftly came from trans folks calling out the BS in the comment threads, the White Women's Tears came out from Revah and the 'poor defenseless white woman' had people (predominately gay men in that Advocate comment thread) rushing to defend her.  

And naw Suzan, trans people correctly pointing out where you massively failed in this piece.doesn't make us 'haters', and it's mighty white of you to part your lips to say so. 

To borrow a snippet of Gemma Seymour-Amper's comment that encapsulates much of what trans peeps who responded to the jacked up post had to say: 

FYI, the entire trans community stopped reading when you called yourself a "normal Real Girl", because when that's the mindset you hold, everything you say about trans issues after revealing that fact is immediately and automatically invalidated by your immediate dismissal of the authenticity of trans women as women, and as female, for those who think that making that distinction is going to save them from the inevitable march of public opinion.

We only get that far, because I've chosen not, at this particular moment, to point out the absolute overweening arrogance of The Advocate (once again) in choosing a white, cis, and from what I can tell from this pathetic and demeaning article probably heterosexual, person to speak for the trans community, as if we are incapable of speaking for ourselves. Kyriarchy, much? Oh, well...I guess I *did* just point it out, didn't I?

Note to the LG community, let me make this point crystal clear on behalf of my trans brothers and sisters. 

You do not EVER get to determine for me and my transpeeps what is and isn't offensive to the trans community.  We do.   We are also the final authorities as to what is and isn't trans because they are issues that we are intimately familiar with and have major impacts on our lives.   We don't like our existence trivialized, and those of us in the non-white trans community have a major problem with it especially since it's our trans women who are taking the brunt of the anti-trans discrimination and dying for it.

If you claim to be an ally, there are times when you need to be in sit down and shut up mode, respectfully ask us what help we need and when we tell you, then you make it happen.

Advocate, did it ever occur to you or the editors that let this full of fail piece fly that the best way to discuss trans issues on your site is to (gasp) have real live trans people write the fracking op-ed's?

The Trans 100 List is a nice place to start if you are clueless in finding transpeople that can expertly discuss the issues that affect our community.

You may wish to consider that point the next time you feel the need to do an op-ed piece on trans issues that doesn't piss us off in the process.
 

Trans People Got Erased By Rachel Maddow

I've repeatedly made the point in this blog how important it is for us to know our trans history.  We need to have a working knowledge of it not only just for our own sakes, but to empower our trans kids, keep us from being erased in the media and frankly, so we are armed with the knowledge to rebut any lies coming from our detractors.

Former Minnesota resident Katrina Rose points out that while watching a Rachel Maddow Show story last night discussing the Minnesota gay marriage fight, while talking about the 1993 landmark gay rights bill she neglected to mention exactly why it was a landmark bill in the early 90's. 

It was a landmark bill because it was trans inclusive in an era when we trans folks were gleefully getting thrown under the legislative bus so often by the GL community we could tell by the tire tracks the brand name of the tires that ran over us.

I’m not demanding a dissertation from Rachel.  I’m not even saying there was a need to go into his opposition to trans-inclusion in 1975 or his being on board with inclusion when a bill finally passed in 1993. 

But if you are contextualizing Minnesota in the wake of it becoming the twelfth state with same-sex marriage rights, you do have to do the bare minimum of pointing out that it was the first with trans-inclusive civil rights.

Yes, Rachel.  You do indeed have to.

So, Rachel…

I’m saddened that I have to ask this: Why didn’t you?

You did mention the 1993 law.

Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that question myself.  Here's Kat's ENDAblog 2.0 post. 

And let's see if the fact the 1993 bill was trans inclusive makes it to a future Maddow show Department of Corrections segment

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill Wins GLAAD Outstanding Digital Journalism Award

Dr Marc Lamont Hill was presented with the award for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article by Trans 100 honorees actress Laverne Cox and writer and filmmaker Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler at the 24^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco on Saturday night.

Hill won the award for his Ebony.com piece "Why Aren't We Fighting for CeCe McDonald?"

While the Ebony magazine print version has garnered several GLAAD Media Awards this was the first time Ebony.com has won a GLAAD award.  

During his moving acceptance speech, Dr. Hill led the audience in a "Free CeCe" chant.

CNN-The Caucasian News Network

When my family installed cable in our home back in the early 80's, one of the things as a news junkie I absolutely loved was CNN.  From James Earl Jones distinctive voice in its commercials announcing 'This Is CNN' to having Bernard Shaw as one of its early anchors.  It was one of the channels I turned to when I wanted to keep up with what was happening in the nation and the world.

But that's over now.   I've been more than pissed at CNN for a lot of reason from the rightward drift in its coverage, CNN President Jeff Zucker's initial hires only being white journalists to its refusal to have non-white anchors on except on the weekends and in the mornings.

The CNN relaunch ad that is at the top of the post didn't help, since the only non-white folks in it are Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria.  It also served to bitterly remind us in the African American community CNN has lost Black and Latino anchors off its airwaves such as TJ Holmes, Tony Harris, Rick Sanchez, Soledad O'Brien and  Roland S. Martin in stark contrast to rival MSNBC embracing diversity. 

My fellow Houstonian and 2013 NABJ Journalist of the Year wasn't shy in verbalizing his thoughts as to why CNN has had a problem with diversity.

"You have largely white male executives who are not necessarily enamored with the idea of having strong, confident minorities who say, 'I can do this,'" he said. "We deliver, but we never get the big piece, the larger salary, to be able to get from here to there."



People of color are all over MSNBC in a variety of capacities from contributors to anchors such as Tamron Hall, Rev. Al Sharpton, Melissa Harris-Perry, Karen Finney, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and Joy Reid just to name a few of the faces you'll see there along with Martin Bashir and Alex Wagner.  It's also led to an astounding 61% growth in MSNBC's African-American audience as well. 

The dearth of CNN African-American and Latino anchors has led me to stop watching what I sarcastically call the 'Caucasian News Network' and go elsewhere to channels like MSNBC, for national and international news.  I'm not supporting a channel that won't hire or use pundits who look like me.   

It ain't just me complaining about the ethnic cleansing that's happened at CNN.  The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists also ain't liking what has happened at CNN either.

In a multicultural nation, it is vitally important if you want balanced news to have viewpoints coming from a diverse group of people.   News executives, 'diverse group of people' doesn't mean old white men, young white men, liberal white men, or conservative white men with a white female or two thrown into the mix.

It means Black and Latino folks need to be at your news anchor desks since we do represent a sizable chunk of the US population.  I can even tolerate conservatives as long as somebody is sitting at that desk to counter their crap.  

I also want somebody sitting at that desk that reflects my lived experiences as well. 

Brandi's In JET Magazine!

If you search the JET magazine archives in Google books, you'll find articles on Black trans women throughout its nearly 60 years of publication that run the gamut from positive to not so positive.

Some of those JET articles were light years ahead of the mainstream media in terms of respectfully using correct pronouns while others would be right at home in our current media environment when it comes to covering trans women of color.

We even had a girl like us appear as a JET Beauty of the Week.in its August 20, 1981 issue in the late actress Ajita Wilson

There's a saying in the African-American community that you haven't made it until you appear on the pages of JET or EBONY.

I was deliriously happy and pleased to discover via Janet Mock and ELIXHER that JET"s April 29 issue contained a one page article featuring Washington DC trans woman Brandi Ahzionae.

29 year old Brandi opens up about her journey to be a girl like us in that JET issue that may still be available on your grocery store magazine racks with the 'Missing And Black' cover story.  

Brandi was subsequently interviewed on the electronic pages of ELIXHER.   She said something in the ELIXHER interview I enthusiastically agree with, especially in light of the ongoing journalistic hate crime being perpetrated by the Cleveland Plain Dealer aimed at Cemia Acoff.


I’d like to see Black trans women portrayed in a more positive light. I want the media to give us just as much of a right to be “normal” as anyone else. This is an opportunity to start a movement and gain some respect in the transgender community. The T in LGBT is excluded. We are a separate issue and people need to learn this.

Amen Brandi and congratulations on continuing the tradition of Black trans women being featured in one of our community's iconic magazines.    

Cleveland Plain Dealer STILL Hatin' On Cemia

Far from seeing the error of their transphobic ways and correcting them, the Cleveland Plain Dealer continues to flip the journalistic middle finger at the Cleveland trans community.

In their latest article, the stenographers at the Plain Dealer continue to conduct a journalism class case study in how not to report on Black trans people. 

They continue to misgender Cemia and demonize her by using the mug shot and problematic references that people found so odious in the first place.  

As a reminder, not that you care anyway Cleveland Plain Dealer, here's what the AP Stylebook says about covering transgender people:

transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

It's sad when a smaller local news outlet in Cleveland, out of town news media and bloggers show more respect for the victim of the crime than the local paper of record.

It's crystal clear at this point through this latest article they are defiantly obtuse about how offensive this is to the trans community and instead of making their corrections, have tripled down on the transphobia.So what can you TransGriot readers do to help our friends and allies in the Cleveland trans community? 

Help our Cleveland transpeeps and allies get that sorely needed meeting with the Plain Dealer editors and staff to discuss their fracked up coverage on Cemia.  Call them out in the comment threads on these pathetic stories.   And if that doesn't work, be civil and e-mail the reporters in question as you point out the continued blatant AP Stylebook violations.   

Seattle And Portland Screenings Of 'Still Black' This Weekend

In the interest of journalistic integrity I do wish to disclose that I'm proud to know one of the transmen featured in it and the director of this award winning documentary.

But for those of you in the Portland and Seattle areas, Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler is headed your way with his groundbreaking film 'Still Black A Portrait of Black Transmen'.

The screening is a collaborative effort of Gender Odyssey and Sister Sinema  with partial proceeds going to the Gender Odyssey Scholarship Fund.

The Seattle screening is scheduled for Saturday, May 11 and the Portland one on Sunday, May 12, so use this link to purchase tickets for one excellent film spotlighting the lives of six transmen.

here's hoping for sold out screenings on both nights and y'all show Dr. KRZ some love.

Help Eden Lane Get On 'The View'

One of the people I'm so looking forward to meeting one day is trailblazing Denver based journalist and girl like us Eden Lane.

She's the first trans on-air broadcast journalist with a major network and since 2009 has been the host of the KBDI-TV shows In Focus with Eden Lane, Colorado’s popular local arts and culture news magazine, and OUTSpoken, a prime time special series devoted to the LGBT community that has been on the air for 20 years.

She was also a reporter covering the historic 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver for PBS.

There is a campaign complete with a change.org petition that seeks to have ABC's popular daytime gabfest The View invite Eden Lane on the show.  It's a good time to do so seeing that Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck are leaving soon.  

ABC, why not give Eden a shot and help make a little broadcast history in the process as well? 

And yes, I enthusiastically signed the petition. This is what I added in the optional comment section when I signed it.

Eden's qualified and deserves the opportunity to do so.  It's past time to have transpeople appear on talk shows and be able to show America we can talk about a wide variety of subjects just like anyone else

Actually, she's more than qualified for it, and I hope it happens for her.  She not only deserves it, I'm also looking at the big picture long range implications of Eden sitting at that table with Whoopi, Barbara and Sherri.  

It not only gives us another chance to make a positive impression on Mr and Ms. Middle America, it also opens doors once Eden knocks that appearance out of the park. (as I have every confidence in her she would)   It gives other trans women a chance to be considered as guest hosts for The View and other television shows similar to it as well.  

Acoff Murder Updates

As I continue to get details about this senseless killing from people in the area, I'll post them to the blog.

Thanks to several readers, have discovered that the femme name for our fallen Cleveland sister that will be used in TransGriot stories from now on was Cemia Dove.  Cemia was also called Ce Ce by her friends and the people whose lives she touched in her all to brief 20 years on this planet.

Cleveland DJ Zoe Renee Lapin (and girl like us) was in the process organizing a rally in memory of Ce Ce.   The rally will be tomorrow May 1 at Willard Park in Cleveland at 3 PM EDT, so for any further details about this event get in contact with Zoe. 

I'm asking if anyone has nice pictures of Ce Ce, please send them to me or post them somewhere like Facebook so we trans bloggers can use something other than a mug shot for her.   That article was bad enough.   I don't want to participate (and neither do my fellow trans bloggers) in indirectly heaping more disprect on her by having the only photo of her be a fracking mug shot.

And for you peeps in the Cleveland area still pissed about not only the murder but the journalistic hate crime that happened after it, what you may wish to do is what the New York and Los Angeles trans communities did after their papers of record printed jacked up articles about deceased transpeople and refused or were recalcitrant about retracting or correcting them.

New York and Los Angeles are media centers that have GLAAD offices in both cities, so meetings were set up with their local papers of record to express their displeasure with their trans news coverage in New York and Los Angeles and suggest concrete steps to correct them.  

My suggestion to you trans peeps and allies in the Cleveland area since you don't have a GLAAD office there like the New York and LA trans communities did to help coordinate the meetings is you get in contact with your local and statewide TBLG orgs, the local NAACP chapter, your Cleveland city councilmembers, Ohio state reps and Ohio state senators, US Congressmember Marcia Fudge (D), your US Senator Sherrod Brown (D) over Ce Ce's murder and have them help you get that meeting with the Plain Dealer.  

Once you get the meeting to discuss with the Plain Dealer's managers, editors and the stenographers Caniglia and Corrigan the horrible coverage of the Ce Ce Acoff story, you point out the problems and how hurtful and triggering it was to the local, national and international trans community. 

You also get the Plain Dealer to commit to from this day forward to making immediate and long term corrections in the way they write trans stories up to and including hiring an openly trans reporter.  

Following the AP Stylebook guidelines on covering transpeople would be a mandatory minimum standard so that journalistic hate crimes like the Acoff story don't happen again to another Cleveland area trans person.  

That would be one way to honor Ce Ce's memory and ensure something positive comes out of this for the Cleveland area and Ohio trans community.

The K-11 Issues Are Still The Same...

That still doesn't change the fact that once again you had ciswomen playing what is ostensibly a trans role. 

Even with different casting.   

When I first wrote about the movie in 2009,  Nikki Reed and Kristen Stewart were set to play the lead roles in the movie K-11.   But as can happen with movies in development, scheduling conflicts can arise or other issues occur that force announced actors to pull out of a project.  

Kristen Stewart was forced due to a scheduling conflict to pull out of this film her mother Jules Stewart was producing.   She still has a small voice cameo in it and the role of Butterfly she was supposed to play was given to Portia Doubleday.   The Mousey role, the queen bee of the K-11 dorm went to veteran Latina actress Kate del Castillo after Nikki Reed dropped out of it.

Granted Calpernia Addams and Andrea James served as coaches for del Castillo, she embraced the challenge of it, and I'm not saying ciswomen can't or shouldn't play transwomen if they are offered the part.  Felicity Huffman, Kerry Washington, Rebecca Romijn, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Chloe Sevigny come to mind as ciswomen who have pulled it off successfully and to rave reviews in various movie and television projects.

But ciswomen are offered those roles far too often, especially when you have transwomen who are acting in Hollywood such as Laverne Cox, Jamie Clayton, Calpernia Addams, Candis Cayne, Alexandra Billings, Aleshia Brevard, and others who are striving to get the level of recognition these ladies have.

It would be nice for them to get paid and get a shot at a role they have some intimate familiarity with like transwomen in other countries get a chance to do more frequently than their American counterparts..

And I also have to agree with Gina Morvay of the Skip The Makeup blog and this comment she left on the original K-11 post that is still valid.

As you've pointed out, in many other countries trans people have played trans people... and, surprise, it comes out a lot more moving and full blooded than having someone like Nicole Kidman or Nikki Reed do their actor schtick and pretending it's accurate. And the biggest joke is, people would be more interested to see a film with real trans actresses or actors than seeing yet another Nicole Kidman bomb or Nikki Reed vehicle (anyone remember '13'?).

I know just like you, I'd be quite interested in seeing a movie or television series in which trans women play realistic trans characters.   I'm not holding my breath on that happening any time soon.