Moni's Headed To The 2014 LGBT Media Journalists Convening!

One of the first trips I'll make in the New Year will be back to Washington DC, but it won't be to lobby. 

I'll be headed inside I-495 to attend the 2014 LGBT Media Journalists Convening that will be taking place in our nation's capital.

The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NGLJA) is the proud host of the 2014 LGBT Media Journalists Convening, and it is sponsored by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.

The theme of the 2014 LGBT Media Journalists Convening is "Honing Our Game," and will be held Friday, February 28 to Sunday, March 2, 2014.  The goal of this fifth annual forum is to strengthen the capacity of TBLG  members of the media and blogosphere to more deeply understand and more effectively communicate critical issues facing the BTLG community, as well as assist in increasing the presence and diversity of GLBT bloggers in the national blogging community.

Translation, the convening is a business trip to help me become a better blogger and meet with many of my counterparts around the country to talk shop.   

Last year's event in Philly was the first time I was able to attend it.  I'm still bummed I missed the 2012 one in Houston, and from what I heard when I was in the City of Brotherly Love for it, so were many of my fellow bloggers.

So as the date gets closer to it and other attendees start talking about it,  I'll have more to say.  But one thing I'm already aware of is the hashtag we'll be using for the 2014 convening, which will be #LGBTMedia14.

I'm looking forward to 'Honing My Game' with my fellow bloggers and journalists and hanging out with y'all in late February.

Racist TMZ Poll Wants You To Decide Whether To Call Us African-Americans Or N**gas

I guess TMZ thought because of the holidays no one would be paying attention to that racist poll they have on their site, but they guessed wrong.

Suge Knight parted his lips in a December 16 article posted on the site to say he's 'offended' when people refer to him as an African-American because he's not African.  

Your DNA says otherwise, you idiot even though you weren't born on the African continent.

Sheesh, where is the D.R.O..P. Squad when you need them?  

And vanillacentric privileged elements of the white community don't consider you to be simply an American, either.   And they would love to call you the word you don't have a problem with.  

But TMZ for whatever stupid, clueless, racist, they though it was funny or all of the above reasons decided to create a poll which had this question. 

What should black people call themselves?  

The only possible answers in this reprehensible poll are African American or N**ga.    And you know that white folks are constantly bitching because we have told them NOT to call us the n-word and are gleefully flocking to this racist one.  

Over 82,547 votes have been cast at this writing, with N**ga currently ahead of African American at a 54%-46% clip as of this writing.    The script on that poll needs to be flipped ASAP while at the same time we cuss TMZ and their editors the hell out for even coming up with that racist poll in the first place.   

Yo Hallmark Channel, Next Year Can We Get More Diversity In Your Christmas Movies?

Yes, Black people fall in love, get married, buy  romance novels, and like watching romance movies, too.   It would be nice to see ourselves occasionally represented in your made for TV romances especially since we persons of colors are part of the 87 million homes that have Hallmark Channel as part of their cable package.
--TransGriot, October 15, 2012, "Yo Hallmark Channel, Black People Fall In Love, Too"

As an incurable romantic, I do like reading romance novels and love a good romantic movie from time to time as an escape because the topic I write about are serious in terms of human rights issues.

Hallmark Channel bills itself as 'The Heart of TV'  and built its cable brand on broadcasting made for TV romance movies it produces along with broadcasting classic TV shows like Frasier and The Golden Girls.  It is part of many cable TV packages and has 86 million viewers.

It also likes to do holiday themed programming.  Its popular and highly rated 'Countdown To Christmas' lasts from the first weekend in November to Christmas Day as the network broadcasts 24 hours of Christmas themed movies. 

From December 26 to January that shifts to the 'Countdown to New Year's Day' which ends with the broadcast of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA.  In February it's all romance all the time leading up to Valentine's Day.

But no matter what the theme, there is one consistent, nagging issue about that themed programming that becomes glaringly obvious in 24 hour rotation.  

The overwhelming whiteness of it.

I noted that in my post last year about it, and I see that nothing's been done to correct the problem I noticed last year.   This year's 'Countdown to Christmas' themed movies probably made Fox Noise and Megyn Kelly smile because they had the diversity of a Republican Party convention.

Black folks meet, fall in love with each other and get married during the holidays, too. As a matter of fact that simple point is what keeps royalty checks consistently flowing into Kayla Perrin's and other Black romance writers bank accounts.

As The Best Man Holiday and its $69.8 million box office emphatically continues to prove, we African-Americans do have universal stories that will appeal to a wider audience and want to see ourselves represented on the small and silver screens..

The same is true of the Latino and Asian community and movies that are performed by an all-Latino or all- Asian cast.   They would like to see themselves represented in the media they watch, too 

In fact when I do discover movies such as Nothing Like The Holidays, which was a Christmas movie released in 2008 with a predominately Latino cast, I see them as a refreshing change, because romantic movies with all white casts are so been there, bored with that.

So next year Hallmark and into the foreseeable future, what I and many non-white viewers of your channel want is so deceptively simple when 'Countdown to Christmas' 2014 rolls around.

Can we get some holiday movies made by you that reflect the diversity of this country?

And when I say diversity of this country, I don't mean an all or predominately white cast with a token Black, Latino or Asian actor in the background for half a second as the white leads are making goo-goo eyes at each other. 

If you don't have the writers on hand to produce those scripts with the (and this is vitally important) cultural nuances of my people, then get writers to produce those Christmas romance scripts who are culturally competent to make it happen and hire directors well versed in those non-white cultures to make them.

So Hallmark, can you do that for your non-white viewers, who are part of the 86 million people who watch your channel?

Cleveland Media Back To Disrespecting Black Trans Women Again

WKYC-TV and WTAM-AM radio, did y'all learn anything from the media hate crime that the Cleveland Plain Dealer committed against Cemia Dove Acoff earlier this year?  

Apparently not.

So once again, since you Cleveland media peeps just can't seem to get it right when it comes to covering trans people be it the print, television or radio ends of it, here's the AP Stylebook guidelines for 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.

We have had two transpeople killed in the Cleveland area in the last 24-36 hours.   Betty Janet Skinner, a 52 year old disabled transwoman who was found dead in her apartment by her home healthcare worker on Friday morning, and now 22 year old Brittany-Nicole Kidd-Stergis

She was found in a car in the 21200 block of West 25th and Barber Streets at 2:30 AM EST Friday morning with a gunshot wound to the head and pronounced dead at the scene. 

Brittany was not as you reported WTAM-AM, a 'man dressed in female clothing' or as you reported it WKYC-TV, a 'man found with gunshot wound to the head'..   

Do you Cleveland media people not get the fact that every time you disrespect the lives of transwomen, you not only are disrespecting the deceased ones, but piss off the trans women who are trying to live their lives in the Cleveland area?

You are also by your transphobic reporting making it difficult for the police to solve these cases.  Many people in the Cleveland trans community only know Brittany by her femme name, not the male one you gleefully posted in your article WTAM-AM along with the salacious headline.

That misgendering of Brittany could potentially make it difficult for local law enforcement to access information that may only be available in the trans community that leads to the killers of Brittany being captured and punished if you keep going down the media misgendering rabbit hole.

Your media misgendering of trans people also fuels the anti-trans biases that manifest themselves into anti-trans violence.

The other point of contention is that we trans women, and especially non-white trans women, are beyond sick and tired of predominately white news organizations disrespecting and misgendering Black trans women who have unfortunately lost their lives

It's a pattern of disrespect that we have seen happen far too often, most recently in the Cleveland area back with Cemia's case in May.
 
Sad when bloggers and people in the community show more respect for the murder victim than the local media of record, and that needs to change.

'Race-Themed' Movie My Azz, USA Today

I was not surprised when I heard that The Best Man Holiday was kicking butt and taking names at the multiplexes during its opening weekend.  

I said this when I wrote about it in my SUF post on Friday.

Already checked and many of the theaters I like to hit are pretty much sold out, so don't be surprised on Monday if you hear that it was the number one movie this weekend.

Thor made a last minute run to beat The Best Man Holiday in this weekend's money race by earning $38 million to BHM's $31 million, but even Miss Cleo and her defunct Psychic Hotline could have predicted a sequel to a beloved classic African-American movie with the same star studded cast that we've been waiting 14 years to see again would clock serious dollars. 

It actually made more money Friday night ($10.7 million) than Thor did ($10.4 million) before the screen advantage kicked in.   The Best Man Holiday was on far less screens (2024) than Thor's 3841, cost only $17 million to make, didn't have the same advertising budget as that (ho hum) comic book movie but still made big bucks.. 

So why was USA Today hatin' on the Best Man Holiday by calling it a race-themed movie? 

Yeah, you knew Black Twitter would put its collective foot in USA Today's and writer Scott Bowles' azz for that full of fail original headline and article as the race-themed Black blogosphere came for them in rapid succession. 

Birth of A Nation is a race-themed movie, Scott Bowles.  The Best Man Holiday isn't.  .

While the movie had a predominately African-American cast, the movie themes covered universal issues of friendship, love, family and loss just to name a few and will easily top the $34 million the original movie made back in 1999.

If Hollywood would make more movies in which I can see myself reflected on the silver screen in everyday situations as The Best Man Holiday does, I'd be more inclined to spend money at the multiplex.  I'd be even more inclined to do so if that particular African-American film is written and directed by someone besides Tyler Perry. 

And surprise surprise, even non-white folks would come to see them if you spent as much advertising dollars promoting them as you do on movies like Thor.
I'd also make some calls to the agents of Nia Long and Larenz Tate and work on getting that sequel to Love Jones made or call a few Black novelists and enter into discussions with them to turn their novels into movies.   


But if you're insistent on doing another comic book movie, I have two words for you if you want to make money:  Black Panther. 

Would love to see who would play him or what Wakanda looks like on the silver screen.

My Trans Images In Entertainment Expanded Commentary

Because of the global reach of my blog and I'm not 'scurred' to give my thoughts about many issues inside and outside of the trans community, I get my share of opportunities to comment on the issues of the day.  

Sometimes they even end up in print in places other than this blog.

Recently GLAAD and The Wrap asked me and 10 other personalities in the community that included Kye Allums, Isis King, Jamie Clayton, and Mia Ryan from Houston Beauty to comment on Trans Images in Entertainment. 

My comments for the article:

1. What transgender story or character has been particularly meaningful or impactful to you?

"The best trans characters so far have been Edie Stokes in a 1977 episode of  The Jeffersons and the Alexis Meade character on Ugly Betty."

2. What is a common stereotype or cliché in stories about transgender people that you never want to see again?

"Trans media representation has been a mixed bag. We still have media outlets that refuse to follow GLAAD and AP Stylebook standards. What I would like to see are trans actors and actresses actually playing trans people, trans writers writing those roles and stories."

***
Since I was limited in the amount of words I could say in this commentary, I wasn't able to expound on them as I would have liked or can do on these electronic pages. 

So let me get started with that process right now.

As for Question 1, as someone who was wrestling with gender identity issues at the time and wondering where the trans people were who looked like me, the Edith Stokes character was a revelation at the time.  I would see after that episode two years later the first of the JET stories about transpeople who shared my ethnic heritage.

The Alexis Meade character played by Rebecca Romijn, although it was in a dramedy, actually was groundbreaking in showing a glamorous trans woman in a professional work atmosphere and in a position of power and influence.  It also realistically at times touched upon the very real issues of discrimination, differing immediate family reactions to the transition and Alexis adjusting to life in her gender role.

To expand upon my answer in Question 2, one of the things that has bothered me when I ponder the issue of fictional trans media images, is that the Edith Stokes character has been one of the few African-American trans fictional characters that hasn't fit into a stereotype.

Ever since then it has been the loud drag queen, the street hooker, the escort or the over the top personality for comic relief especially when it involves a trans character of color.  Some don't even get to survive longer than the opening five to ten minutes in the program because they are a victim of a crime.  

Other times we don't get a trans woman to play a trans woman.  It's either a male actor in drag or a cis woman playing a trans woman.  Sometimes they even do so with the cis woman's voice electronically lowered as Pam Grier's was in the 1996 movie Escape From LA when she played the transfeminine character Hershe Las Palmas.

When we finally did get a trans woman to play a trans character on the ABC show Dirty Sexy Money, Carmelita Rainer, the trans girlfriend of Sen. Patrick Darling IV played by Candis Cayne was killed during the second season.  

When Kerry Washington played a trans woman in the 2009 movie Life Is Hot In Cracktown, she revealed during an interview that she almost didn't get the role of Marybeth because she was considered by the director 'too beautiful' to play a transwoman.

Excuse me?  And that's before we even start talking about trans men.  Fictional characters to represent them are pretty much non-existent for trans men of color. 

While that's starting to change a bit, we still have a long way to go in terms of getting some balance for the fictional media images of transpeople and especially non-white trans people

Bella Maddo was a film that featured an all-trans cast.  Jamie Clayton played trans woman Kyla for several episodes during the third season of the HBO show Hung and Laverne Cox currently has a groundbreaking role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix show Orange Is The New Black.

But one thing I would love to see is a fictional trans woman, and especially a transwoman of color play a professional character who happens to be a trans woman more often.  I'd like to see more trans men pop up in fiction  We do exist in the real world Hollywood, so get busy creating them. 

Or if you're too busy for the job, you hand me the cash and I'll be happy to come up with the script for one. 

We can only hope that happens sooner rather than later.     

Tampa Area Media, Read Your AP Stylebook

White I was happy about how the Tavares Spencer trial turned out in terms of being tried as an adult for his hate crime perpetrated upon Ms. McDonald, and convicted of all five charges yesterday in his attempted murder trial, one thing I was NOT happy about was the repeated misgendering in the Tampa media of Coko McDonald

Tampa Bay Times , Bradenton Herald and other area media, Coko McDonald is not a 'transgender man', 'a crossdresser', 'really a man' or a 'man dressed as a woman', she is a transgender woman and as such, feminine pronouns should have been used to describe Ms. McDonald in any story you wrote or broadcast about her.

Several Tampa area television stations weren't much better in reporting this story either and I am more than beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of African-American trans women being disrespected in the media in life and death.  

Coko was the one who was shot and robbed by Spencer, remember Tampa media?    
 
Sigh.  Let's do this once again and review what the AP Stylebook has said since 2001 about the coverage of transgender people in the media.

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 in case you are confused about something so simple even the GEICO caveman gets it. 

So did WPTV-TV, the NBC affiliate.  They got it.  

So let's see Tampa media if you get it right when i comes time to sentence Tavares Spencer and beyond when it comes to reporting on trans people, because this won't be the first or the last time you'll encounter a transperson as you do your jobs..

Yeah, The Conservafools Are Definitely Fighting Us Now

"Our human rights win is inevitable no matter how much money, time and propaganda the haters deploy to stop it.  We have a human rights win that is there for the taking.  But that win will become a reality only if we transpeople here in the United States and around the world are tough minded enough to push back even harder against all our trans oppressors lies." 
-TransGriot February 20, 2013  'First They Ignore You...'

Told you they were coming for us.   I fact, I've been warning y'all the conservafools would be coming for us on this blog since 2007.  

And now, more signs that the wingnuts are about to pull the plug on their lost culture war against the gay and lesbian community over marriage equality and shift their money and energy to fighting the trans community with their patented 'fear and smear' tactics. 

We already have seen it come to pass with the transphobic falsehoods that Fox Noise has been broadcasting against us.  Going on the attack against the San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance that sought to add gender identity and sexual orientation language that still overwhelmingly passed thanks in part to soon to be former San Antonio councilmember Elisa Chan's transphobic utterings.

Now they are going after our trans kids.  The most recent pathetic example was Bryan Fischer's disgusting bullying of Cassidy Campbell after her historic homecoming queen win.  The California conservafools are gearing up to gather signature to force a referendum to repeal AB 1266 backed by the California Republican Party.  

And now we have former South Carolina GOP chair Todd Kincannon letting fly with the transphobic remarks and stating trans people should be interned in camps. 

Surprised the TERF's haven't declared Kincannon an 'honorary woman' for that one.  

So transpeeps, if you thought I was selling you woof tickets about the two front War on Transwomen the right wing is about to ramp up on their front, the unmistakable evidence piling up leads no doubt to the conclusion that is exactly what's happening.  

And for those of you in the trans community who continue to vote for Republican candidates or claim you are 'proud conservatives', you are complicit in and contributing to enabling your own oppression.

So get ready trans peeps, we have a fight on our hands, and it's a war we must win.
.  

Sue And Newark Star-Ledger Still Being Obstinate About Not Correcting Her Misgendering Article

Been over a week now and Sue Epstein, the reporter stenographer at the Newark Star-Ledger still hasn't corrected the misgendering story about Eyricka Morgan that has caused her to get called out by the local and national trans community, moi, Janet Mock , our allies and GLAAD for failing to do so

And no Newark Star-Ledger, posting a link to a subsequent story about Eyricka, while a step in the right direction because it has the correct pronouns, does not absolve you from doing what the trans community has asked you to do. 

We're still waiting on you to follow the AP Stylebook guidelines and correct the story we find and have already told you was disrespectful.

Looks like I'm going to have to show you peeps how you do it.

***

New Brunswick man charged with stabbing transgender woman to death in city boarding house.

A New Brunswick man is charged with fatally stabbing a transgender woman in the city boarding house where they both lived.

NEW BRUNSWICK — A New Brunswick man was arrested today and charged with fatally stabbing a transgender woman at the boarding house where they both lived.

Devonte Scott, 21, was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in the death Tuesday of Eyricka Morgan, Middlesex County Acting Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said.

Carey said the investigation began when police were called to the boarding home on Baldwin Street in New Brunswick at 8:17 p.m. Tuesday.

He said officers arrived to find the victim injured. Morgan was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in the city, where she was pronounced dead at 9 p.m.

Carey said an investigation by Detective Kenneth Abode of the New Brunswick Police Department and county Investigator Jose Rodriguez determined that Morgan was stabbed. The results of an autopsy by the county medical examiner’s office were not immediately available, he said.

Police arrested Scott at 9:45 a.m. today at an undisclosed location, the prosecutor said. He was taken to the Middlesex County jail, where he is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Carey said the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Abode at (732)-745-5200 or Rodriguez at (732) 745-3300.

***

See how easy that was? 

I'll bet if this were a story that disrespected a deceased person in the Jewish or any other cis communities in the area it wouldn't be sitting on your website uncorrected for over a week.

But in your minds, that unprofessional journalistic behavior is okay for a dead Black transwoman.  

I Define Me: A Trans Movement for Awareness And Self-Validation

TransGriot Note: Guest post by Bryanna Aeon Jenkins.

How do I begin? I am a proud black woman of trans experience (24 Years Old) and I am not backing down anymore. Let me start off by saying that I am hurt, tired, and I am definitely ready to make a change. I am so tired of people getting to tell the world who I am, shout it from the mountain tops for everyone to hear and see, while I am told that I should just deal with it because I am deranged and crazy anyway, or the ever famous “that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it.”

I am tired of people religiously believing the opinions of trans phobic black gay men and black lesbians, while what I say, which is based on factual knowledge, feeling, and personal experience is denied, diminished, and dismissed. I was under the false assumption that when I transitioned in the fall of 2008 I was in a LGBT community that loved me, accepted me, understood me, and would defend me when I didn’t have the strength to do it for myself.

What a foolish and misguided young girl I really was. 

It's is now on this day, Friday September 27, 2013, that I declare LGBT is not a community as we have all be conditioned to think. We have to be very mindful of the words that we use to define and call ourselves because the world will treat us as such, a very good friend had to remind me of that.

Community implies a group of people who are similar and who share common interests and beliefs. On this journey from 2008 to now I have found these things to be untrue of LGBT people, we are not the same nor were we ever meant to be. We are a coalition at best, a group of different factions of people who come together for the purpose of organizing and achieving a common goal, but that is simply where all similarities end.  We as trans people have got to stop hiding in the shadows of gay and lesbian people who are not our community and who do not have our best interests at heart. Only we know what is best for us. This is truly a matter of life and death.

To the transphobic gay and lesbian people who do not understand our struggle, nor want to for that matter because they see us a shame or burden, you do not have the permission to publicly spread untruths, misinformation, and stereotypes for the world to hear about who I am and about what I represent to the world.

I was enraged when I saw a video posting of the popular YouTube show “The Skorpion Show”, that is hosted by Kevin Simmons and Makael McLendon, say on a global platform that Trans-Women are all gay because we are born with penis’, as if they are the authorities on the subject of who we are. Then in a subsequent video they defended their myopic and detrimental views about what we are. The show's creator Kevin Simmons even when on to say that we (trans women) are still gay and are really men, but he will call us women just to respect us. NEWS FLASH: I don’t want your respect if it comes at the price of compromising the essence of what me and my trans brothers and sisters really are, and this goes beyond physically passing in society. When I tried to reach out to the show's creator I was blatantly told that he didn’t want any education on the subject of trans people and I can’t get mad at his opinions.

However let's be really clear.  When you're are at the forefront of a public platform where your viewers are watching your opinions and receiving them as fact then you have a social responsibility to put out accurate and correct information. Also if you have little knowledge about a topic, especially on one that is complex as the transgender spectrum, then it is up to you as the deliverer of this topic to be as educated as you possibly can be.

The fact is that you need a certain level of educational clarity in order to accurately discuss the issue of trans people. Making comments based off of ill formed opinions only works to further perpetuate stereotypes and misperceptions about the trans community. Many of these stereotypes and misperceptions are the basis for hate crimes against trans people, discrimination in the fields of healthcare, legal systems, and the workforce, and the misunderstanding from our familial bases.

I am not mad because of what they said  I have become accustomed to the worst treatment from trans phobic gay and lesbian people. It was the fact that the creator of the show did not want to invest the same time and energy into promoting the correct facts about trans people for the world to hear and receive. The bigger picture is that “The Skorpion Show” is a microcosm of Black gay and lesbian intolerance and Black societal intolerance as a whole when it comes to trans people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me4GA8ytQDg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apknk5z-IRY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISYPMigh4bw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycJmEexXkdY

I partially have myself to blame for this situation because I should have addressed it when this issue of disrespecting trans women was a common theme throughout their show since 2008, but I foolishly remained passive and thought things would get better on their own because we were all one community.

There goes that damn word again, “COMMUNITY”. 

Like I said I was foolish. I know that there is no such thing as an LGBT community, which is just a term by the hetero-normative community to put us all into one box that was never meant for us to be in initially. However, there is a trans community full of pride, full of dignity, and full of respect. When I publicly disavowed my support for “The Skorpion Show” and its creator Kevin Simmons, because of the show's lack of accurate depictions and discussion of trans people, many girls from my own sisterhood told me that I should let it go and wash my hands of the situation. I get where they come from because sometimes as a trans person you get so tired and weighed down by having to defend your worth to people who refuse to open their minds and ultimately their hearts.

Then I think what if those Black kids at the Woolworth’s lunch counter had simply kept walking past that “WHITES ONLY” counter and said. "Not today" or if those trans people like Miss Major, who was a part of the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, said "Bitch, Imma just get locked, I don’t feel like fighting today". We young trans women have got to shake the foundation to create changes and put in transphobic people's faces exactly what they don’t want to see…trans people who are grounded, assertive, and comfortable with who they are and what they put out to the world.

Trans people are not a subset of anybody’s group. We are our own legitimate cause and until the day comes where there is no more breath in this body I will continue to fight for what fair and for what is right.

I don’t ever want to see another transphobic gay or lesbian person accept another dollar of government funding, accept LGBT media awards (http://blackweblogawards.com/past-winners/), or indulge in the fruits of the mainstream acceptance of gays and lesbians that was gained on the backs of the suffering and degrading of trans people, certainly those of color.

I do not want to go to another funeral of one my fallen sisters, where not only is she purposefully misgendered by societal media, but she is also misgendered by her family who refuses to accept the reality of her unique position in life and ultimately why she had to leave this earth in an all too common violent way. We are here, We are authentic, We exist, We can speak for ourselves and we will not remain silent anymore!

To the allies who fully understand the conversation, I want you to feel empowered to encourage us trans people to tell our own stories because WE have to be at the forefront of our own movement if things are to ever change

Another Day, Another Dead Black Transwoman Misgendered By The Media

So tired of this bull feces on multiple levels.  

First up, it is my sad duty to inform you that thanks to Lexie Cannes, I was alerted to the unfortunate demise of another Black trans woman who will not live to see her 30th birthday. 

Time for me to let loose my inner Florida Evans before I continue.

26 year old Eyricka Morgan was fatally stabbed Tuesday night in a boarding house in New Brunswick, NJ.  

Police were called at 8:17 PM to the boarding house on Baldwin Street where they found Ms. Morgan injured. She was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where she died at 9 PM EDT. 

21 year old Devonte Scott was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in Eyricka's death and is being held in the Middlesex County Jail on $1 million bond according to Acting Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey.

The investigation into the murder is continuing, and anyone with information is asked to call Detectives Kenneth Adobe or Jose Rodriguez of the New Brunswick PD at  (732)-745-5200 for Det. Abode or Det.  Rodriguez at (732) 745-3300.

Now for part two of what's pissing me off.   Once again a dead African-American transwoman has been misgendered in the media because Sue Epstein, the Star-Ledger reporter in question either failed to do her job or as I suspect, the New Brunswick Po-Po's information officers misidentified and misgendered Ms. Morgan for whatever reason. 

By the way Sue and NBPD media officers, this is what the AP Stylebook guidelines are and have stated since 2001 concerning reporting about 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 individuals live publicly.

Okay, New Brunswick PD, if your officers on the scene knew they were dealing with a transgender female,. they need to accurately pass that info on to you so it can be properly reported and you get the information you need to solve the case.  

Every time you law enforcement or media peeps misgender a murdered trans female as a 'man', you are not only pissing our community off with your insensitivity because this crap happens far too often around the country to transwomen of color, you are sabotaging the wheels of justice in the case by misgendering that person. 

In many cases we in the trans community only know trans women by their feminine names, so hearing their old male names will only register blank stares to the people who currently know them as the female bodied person they interact with.

So get busy correcting the stories about Eyricka.

And rest in peace, sis.

TransGriot Update:  Missed this story that quotes a 23 year old Eyricka when I wrote the initial post:

Dr KRZ-Commentary On The New Black Trans Narrative On OITNB

I just spent Sunday evening and early Monday morning watch the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black mainly to check out my homegirl Laverne Cox's performance as Sophia Burset and see what kind of job the writers did on this trans character.

I had some reservations about the role before the series started in whether it would be playing into stereotypes of Black transwomen, but because Laverne was playing this character, I was confident that whatever flaws were in the original script she'd be able to point out and correct.

I was blown away by not only by Laverne's performance throughout the first season, but how three dimensional a character Sophia has turned out to be.

Orange Is The New Black was renewed on June 27 for a second season.

.Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler in his latest post discussed OITNB and the Sophia character.

Sophia’s choice to rely on strategy and intellect instead of her body to get what she needs, is not the limit of her sexual agency. As a trans woman who is married to a cisgender woman, the portrayal of their relationship explodes overarching myths that have positioned trans women of color as sexually undesirable outside of pornographic imagery. At the same time, their union also calls attention to the nuances of marriage equality in relation to trans individuals who are victims of the prison industrial complex–an issue that has yet to gain traction in the marriage equality debate.

Please click this link to read the rest of Dr. Z's post entitled 'Orange Is The New Black and the New Black Trans Narrative'.

Pat Robertson Has Another Broken Clock Trans Moment

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have gleefully pointed out that televangelist Pat Robertson, who has a long history of uttering racist and anti-gay remarks has actually said that 'transsexuality is not a sin'

Well, duh.  And nope, it's not April 1. 

Pat made that comment during a October 5, 1999 broadcast of his 700 Club show and has had other broken clock TBLG moments as to when this show happened a he was asked a question last year about Christians bullying BTLG kids that he had a surprising answer to.

And now, here's another broken clock Pat Robertson trans moment that comes in response to a question during his 'Bring It On-Line segment from David

"I work with two people who have decided that they are females. I know what the Bible says about homosexuality, but is it wrong to refer to them as females since they have had their gender status changed in the eyes of the law?"




Surprise surprise, Pat says NO.   While he take a swipe as SRS and transition as 'radical' and dangerous', he basically echoed the 1999 comment in saying transsexuality wasn't a sin. 

Better get busy people copying this before they delete the video along with the transcript of his remarks from the 700 Club website.
 

Laverne's 'Orange Is The New Black' HLN Interview

Laverne Cox is on HLN talking about her role on the Netflix series 'Orange Is The new Black' in which she plays (gasp) a transwoman.

Hey Media Peeps, Trans People Wish To Work With You, Not Fight You

After another media mess up over pronouns that in far too many cases happens with non-white trans people, it's time we trans folks make this point crystal clear to the media 

Trans people wish to work with you to accurately get our stories out there, not fight with you.

As someone whose late father was in the media for over three decades, I witnessed firsthand the power of the media and its ability to shape the perceptions of a marginalized group fighting for visibility, acceptance and understanding. 

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was also cognizant of the media's power to mold and shape opinion and galvanize people to action for a human rights struggle.  He said so in an August 1967 speech to the National Association of Radio and Television Announcers.(NATRA).   

I would prefer to have that media power on our side working with the trans community to expand knowledge of it.

But when misgendering, blatant salacious reporting and indifferent to hostile attitudes from media people occur when we trans people point out the instances of problematic reporting and they continue despite having guidelines in the AP Stylebook and other places such as GLAAD, the National Association of LGBT Journalists (NGLJA) easily accessible on the Web that explain how to respectfully report on trans people, we have the right to be highly pissed about it. 

Speaking of the AP Stylebook, what does it say concerning the respectful reporting about 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 individuals live publicly.

Translation.  If the transperson in question has acquired the outward physical appearance of a female regardless of the genitalia configuration between their legs, that person is a transgender female and needs to be referred to with feminine pronouns and a feminine name.   If the transperson in question has acquired the outward physical characteristics of a male regardless of the genitalia configuration between their legs, that person is a transgender male and needs to be referred to with masculine pronouns and a masculine name.

Their old birth names that do not fit the person they are now aren't germane in many cases to the story and our 'real name' is what a transperson tells you it is.  Neither is it any business what the genitalia configuration of a transperson is.  You've already done so by mentioning the person is trans given the reader a clue that their genitalia may not match their physical gender presentation. 

Badly written or salacious stories also add to the climate of intolerance and fear that facilitates anti-trans violence and can lead to court cases in which justice is denied to the families of trans murder victims.

We realize that you have a tough job under deadline pressure to get a story out fast, first and accurately.   But the accuracy part is what we are focused on.   Not only is it important for you to tell our stories in the first place, it's vitally important they be told accurately so that we can get justice for our fallen transpeople and start the process of organizing vigils. 

When you misgender transpeople in stories, peddle the 'deception' meme or use old names we don't recognize, that delays the process.  

And yes, we'd like media coverage to happen for the trans community when we have positive things to report in our community and not just during TDOR or when someone gets murdered. 

There are trans people that have fascinating and universal stories to tell, events we organize and conduct that will drive home the point we are engaged members of our various communities. 


Those guidelines aren't that hard to follow.   Following them will get you and your news organization much love and respect in the trans community when doing so.

Don Lemon Schools A Conservafool On His Vanillacentric Privilege

I've been hard on Don Lemon for his trans fails, but have to give him his props for schooling conservafool Ben Ferguson on his privilege and his knee jerk reaction to President Obama's remarks last Friday on the Zimmerman verdict.

Nefertiti, Read Your AP Stylebook

Nefertiti Jaquez until January 2013 used to be an award winning reporter and part time anchor working for KPRC-TV, our local NBC affiliate here in H-town.

She now works for the NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, and it's why I'm majorly disappointed to hear that in this unfolding case in which Charles Sargent has been arrested for killing and dismembering a girl like us, the story about it misgendered the victim, the 'male prostitute' angle was highlighted, an old arrest record and mugshot was plastered all over it without any attempt at balance in terms of finding anyone in the trans community who knew the victim.

View more videos at: http://nbcphiladelphia.com.

The How Not To Report On Black Transpeople playbook was followed once again to perfection..

But then again Nefertiti, if you'd taken the time to call the William Way Center to balance this story out or use the femme name once you discovered the person was trans, maybe you would have quickly found someone who knows Ms. Williams by her femme name. 

The reason you're getting pushback from trans community people all over the country and GLAAD is that we have this crap happen far too often.  It happens far too frequently with trans victims of color and were beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of it..

BTW, here's what the AP Stylebook says about reporting on 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 individuals live publicly.

Translation.  If the transperson in question has acquired the outward physical appearance of a female regardless of the genitalia configuration between their legs, they are a transgender female and need to be referred to with feminine pronouns and a feminine name.   If the transperson in question has acquired the outward characteristic of a male regardless of the genitalia configuration between their legs, then that person is a transgender male and need to be referred to with masculine pronouns and a masculine name.

One of the reasons we're getting more combative about insisting on respectful media coverage for transpeople is because potential jurors that watch these misgendering and sensationalized reports are being poisoned with this slanted anti-trans coverage that could result in the murder victim at trial not getting justice and the alleged killer going free.

Granted we realize you were possibly on a deadline to get it out, or you possibly received incorrect gender info from the PPD about Ms. Williams, but whoever is doing the fact checking or research needs to be aware of that and ask that question, especially when the killer says he committed the deed because he discovered he 'slept with a man'.

That's a hint and a half that you're dealing with a trans woman, and questions you need to ask to get a story respectful to the victim need to change to fit this situation. 

TransGriot Update:  Been advised by several Philly activists Ms. Williams femme name is Diamond.  As soon as I get or can find femme pictures of her, I'll post them on subsequent posts about this case instead of that jacked up mugshot.

 

This Racist Joke About A Plane Crash Isn't Funny

Somebody either at KTVU-TV or the NTSB is in serious trouble for a racist joke that ended up getting broadcast as news on a San Francisco television station.    

Some genius thought it would be hilarious to come up with offensive names for the pilots of Asiana Flight 214 that crashed in San Francisco last Saturday with now three people dead.

NTSB policy is to not release the names of pilots or crewmembers involved in aviation accidents to the media. When KTVU-TV called Friday morning wishing to do just that and get that information for their ongoing local reporting on the story, according to a NTSB press release a summer intern acting outside their authority erroneously released the names that ended up being read during their noon broadcast.

When they realized the embarrassing error, KTVU-TV apologized on air and on their website blaming the NTSB

Despite the finger pointing at each other, both organizations quickly apologized and owned up to their parts in the station being pranked. 

But you also have to ask yourself how diverse is KTVU-TV's staff if a racist list of names got through their multilayered fact checking verification process in a station that has a broadcast area with a sizable Asian population?

It also isn't funny because three people have died so far in this aviation accident with six others still hospitalized and being treated for their injuries as the NTSB investigation into the crash continues.

NTSB has promised action to ensure it doesn't happen again.  But whoever did it better start updating their resume. 

TransGriot Update: The Asian American Journalists Association is justifiably pissed off about what happened and isn't buying the clueless act of the NTSB or KTVU-TV.   Somebody in one of those orgs came up with the offensive name list.    

Dallas Observer LBGT Movers And Shakers List Has No Trans, Bi Or Lesbian People On It

Received a link from one of my DFW area TransGriot readers to an interesting Dallas Observer article by Alicia Auping that discusses seven LGBT movers and shakers in the Dallas area.

When you peruse the list of seven people named, can you guess what the common thread is?

Yep, the people featured in it were all white gay males.  

The list the Observer put together is not only devoid of ethnic diversity, it is also devoid of people from the trans, bi and lesbian community of Dallas as well.  

Just on the trans end of it you have inaugural Trans 100 honoree and Black Transmen Incorporated (BTMI) founder Carter Brown living in the Dallas city limits.  So does Dr. Oliver Blumer, the board Chair of the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) and Rev. Carmarion Anderson, the South regional minister for the national group TransSaints of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries.

Brown, Dr. Blumer and Rev. Anderson are three highly respected Dallas area trans residents making a difference not only locally but in the Lone Star State and on the national level.  

There's Judge Tonya Parker, the first elected openly gay judge in Dallas County and the first openly gay African-American elected official in the state of Texas that you could have included on this list but didn't. 

There's Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez who was just featured in an HBO documentary.   Dallas based GetEqual activist CD Kirven.  Lambda Legal community educator Omar Narvaez.  Resource Center Dallas CEO Cece Cox.  Patti Fink, the president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and current co-host of the longest-running LGBT-exclusive radio program in America and Lividia Violette, who is a national board member of Bi Net.  

They are just some of the Dallas area BTL people who are movers and shakers too and should have garnered recognition for their efforts to make Dallas, Texas and the nation a better place.  

But instead, what the Observer did in this article is fall into that troubling pattern of ignoring or erasing the accomplishments of people in the TBLG community who are not white gay males.

If you claim that the LGBT community is a diverse one, it's vitally important that you showcase that diversity especially since not all the members of the rainbow community are white gay males. 

That visibility is also vitally important in a red state like Texas.  When GLBT people of color come out who are trailblazing leaders in the community, that needs to be highlighted.  

It's also important to consider when you put together these LGBT lists that you have not only ethnic diversity, but also representation from the bi, trans and lesbian part of the community in addition to the gay male one.

B. Scott Ain't Accepting BET's 'Apology'

BET thought they had quelled the growing blacklash (pun intended) over their homophobic dissing of B Scott at Sunday's BET Awards with their apology to the multimedia maven.

But in an interview he conducted yesterday, B. Scott made it clear what he thought about BET's apology and asserted he made it crystal clear to the network how he planned to look on air. 

“I want a real apology from BET. This was a not a mutual misunderstanding or miscommunication. I pride myself on being very professional,” he said.

Scott has made past appearances on the network wearing feminine attire and was supposed to appear during the pre-show BET Awards red carpet activities as the sole host commenting on fashion.  

But when he showed up, he was physically yanked off the carpet and told that he had to dress more conservatively, and was later paired with singer-actress Adrienne Bailon.

“This was my day to come out in one of the biggest days of my career and I was publically humiliated,” Scott said. “I’m just hurt by it. I just want people to know that it’s ok to be who you are.”

I agree with my trans elder Cheryl Courtney-Evans and what she had to additionally say about this crap at her Abitchforjustice blog.

HOW does one "miscommunicate" the words, "GET OFF THAT MAKEUP, HIGH HEELS, PUT ON A SUIT AND COMB BACK THAT HAIR!!" ??? Get the fuck out of here with that shit...that "miscommunicate" is what con artists use when they get caught out in a lie and they want to try and explain it away ("Oh, there was a 'miscommunication', dear."... yeah, riiight)..."BET embraces diversity..."??? Okay, prove how much you do; show how you eschew mistreating folks of diverse lives...FIRE THE HOMOPHOBIC PRODUCERS!

Still, Scott said he had some supporters at the network and believes the mandate to change came from a single executive. He also said he could see working with the network again “if I knew for sure that they wanted me to be there and I could express myself how I normally express myself and my brand.”

And with the PR beating BET is taking on this issue, y'all better give B. Smith that real apology he's seeking  ASAFP