'Her Story' West Coast Premiere

You know I have mad love for Jen Richards, and can't wait for the web series premiere of Her Story to happen on the website January 19.

Wednesday night it had its West Coast premiere in the West Hollywood City Council chambers to a packed house that included my Houston homegirl Nikki Araguz Loyd, the cast of  Her Story, casting directors, actors, and West Hollywood Mayor Lindsey Horvath who presented a proclamation to the cast and crew.

The Advocate's Dawn Ennis was in the house to cover what happened, and here's her take on it.

One of the things that needs to happen in 2016 and beyond is more media productions written, acted, directed and produced by trans people so that we can tell our stories in the way they deserve to be told.

As I and others have pointed out, having Hollywood doing just that is just as important to our trans human rights movement as all the lobbying we do at the local, state and federal levels for human rights laws that protect us.   Positive media coverage, and especially accurate portrayals of us in non-fiction and fictional stories paves the way for that to happen.

It's why I'm rooting for the blockbuster success of Her Story,.and hope it leads to a second season for it and more of our stories being aired on network and cable television.  

Happy Anniversary, 'So POPular!'

Looks like TransGriot isn't the only media platform celebrating an anniversary in 2016.

Janet Mock's MSNBCshift show So POPular turned one this year as well.  Every Friday at 10 AM Central time Janet and her guests discuss pop culture and the issues of the day and do it in a informative, fun and lively way.   Just wish they would dump the prison shows and put this one on the regular MSNBC lineup.

If you're interested in catching up on past episodes of So POPular, here's the link to it.

Congrats Janet!   Here's hoping for another successful season of shows for you  

'Liberal Media', Why Is This Not Domestic Terrorism?

On Saturday a group of armed anti-government terrorists seized a federal building on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, announced their intention to occupy it and kill anyone who tried to remove them from it, and called for other like minded terrorists to join them in southeast Oregon.

And what is the media reaction to this event?   Cricket chirping silence.

There has also been the laughable and credibility straining extremes that various media outlets like the AP and ABC News took to avoid calling the armed thugs terrorists or this a domestic terrorist incident.

The only reason it is even beginning to get any coverage at all is because people have been all over Twitter and  on social media calling out the blatant hypocrisy of the initial coverage along with the silence of the major networks about it.

Where you at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX Noise?  Where's the video trucks?  The reporters?   Where are the armed po-po's, the National Guard and their tanks, tear gas and armored personnel carriers ready to take the building back and crush the resistance as we saw deployed against non-white unarmed protesters?

Still haven't heard the call for the Oregon National Guard or the local sheriffs to deal with this situation as was done in Ferguson and Baltimore.

And as you probably guessed, the Whiteness and White Supremacy Protection Brigade are rushing out to do their online defense of VanillaISIS and come up with every excuse to defend their actions of taking over a closed for the holidays federal building.

As a matter of fact, I suspected this would happen again after the 2014 Nevada standoff involving Cliven Bundy and friends, and the feds letting them walk in order to allegedly avoid bloodshed.

Guess when it comes to white lives, you'll do everything possible to do so. When it comes to non white peeps, we get no such considerations whether we're armed or unarmed.

Far from dissuading them from taking it to that level again, it has emboldened these vanillacentric privileged domestic terrorists to try it again.  This time law enforcement and the feds need to drop the hammer on these thugs so they never even think about seizing another federal or attempting another action like this again.    

But then again, the media and the conservative movement are desperate to cover up the fact that when it come to domestic terrorism in the United States, the face of it is an overwhelmingly white male conservative one.

We'll see how this latest incident plays out as the week progresses.

Caitlyn Comes To H-town, Screws Up Again

For the last few months I've been basically sitting back and observing the developing Caitlyn Jenner situation.  Been paying attention to the growing trans community backlash aimed at her ever since she came out as trans back in March and gave a well received speech at the ESPY's.

Unfortunately, whatever good will she earned from that initial coming out ESPY speech is rapidly dissipating.  She already had much suspicion aimed at her because of the visceral dislike many people have for her media hungry Kardashian stepdaughters, while other people in Trans World have a long list of other issues with Caitlyn Jenner they vent about .  

Let's tell it like it T-I-S is.  Caitlyn's first few months as a freshly out trans woman have been problematic at times.   She gets honored with an ESPY and named by Barbara Walters as her Most Interesting Person of 2015, but follows it up by uttering jacked up commentary rooted in her conservative political beliefs and vanillacentric privilege.

Yesterday Caitlin bounced into my hometown to tape an episode for the second season of I Am Cait to talk about HERO. Yes, it's  a discussion we need to have now that we have just gotten past a contentious runoff election, we narrowly continued the 30 year Democratic control of the Houston mayor's office, held the controller`s seat and kept a progressive majority on Houston City Council come January 2.

And I find out Caitlyn's here while watching last night's 10 PM newscasts.

But the irritating thing for me is you have that HERO discussion with Kate Bornstein, Mara Keisling and Candis Cayne, none of who live in Houston by the way, and you flew Mara in from DC to tape this show.

Yes you get Ann Elder, an amazing ally to our community who the Houston Chronicle wrote a wonderful feature story on along with her trans child Ben that was published on Sunday.

The problem I have with it along with many of our allies is that the taping had no Houston trans representation, and especially Houston trans people of color leaders to discuss on camera an issue that we have been all in about and are the experts at discussing in HERO.   In Dee Dee Watters and my cases, we have been fighting to pass our human rights ordinance since January 2014.

And yeah, beside this being my hometown, we also have a diverse crew of kick ass trans activists and leaders that your I Am Cait viewers should have been able to get to know., but because of your (or your producers) lack of vanillacentric privileged vision, that won't happen.

So what happened to showing the diversity of the trans community and its leaders?  Massive fail that I'm not happy about.  I'm also not happy this happened while the waste of DNA who killed Ty Underwood was on trial 198 miles away in Tyler.

Then you compound the melanin free photo screw-up by going to the Christmas pageant at Second Baptist (Hate) Church, a venue in which its senior pastor Ed Young was hypocritically preaching anti-HERO and anti-trans vitriol from his pulpit as one of his youth ministers was getting carted off to jail for molesting teen Second Baptist girls.

Never mind the fact that Melissa Murry has been leading that initiative here locally, but was nowhere in range of the camera when this photo was taken .

Naw, this ain't about me 'not getting camera time' as someone shadily threw at me on my Facebook page when I complained about the melanin free photo devoid of Houston trans representation.

This is about once again the predominately white trans community conveniently ignoring the fact that some of our trans leaders don't look like y'all, and blowing another opportunity to use your vanillacentric privilege and media access to showcase some of those leaders.

 

Y'all Still Hatin' On Serena

Was happy to find out that Sports Illustrated chose Serena Williams as their 2015 Sportsperson of the Year, and deservedly so.

When you come within two sets of accomplishing a tennis feat that hasn't been successfully completed since 1988, you dominated your sport so thoroughly at age 34 that the biggest news in it was you losing in the US Open semis,yeah, you deserve it.

But there are some folks out there, starting with the LA Times who were hatin' on my fave tennis playing sibling and showed their racist  behinds by disrespectfully running a poll comparing her with a horse.and transmisogynist horse racing fans showing their asses on Twitter.

Bet you wouldn't do the same thing to Maria Sharapova, who BTW, wishes she had 1/10th of Serena's talent along with the rest of the European glamazons she routinely beats on the WTA tour.

This ongoing racist and trans misogynistic hatred of her unapologetically Black self is why I and the rest of Black America love her and gleefully celebrate Serena's Grand Slam wins and mourn when she loses in Grand Slam tournaments.


And I and Black America are tired of you vanillacentric privileged haters attacking her femininity.

And with the 2016 tennis schedule about to kick off with the first Grand Slam tournament of the year being the Australian Open from January 18-31, frankly I'm hoping Serena uses it as a springboard to accomplishing the Golden Slam in 2016.

What's the Golden Slam?   Winning all four tennis majors plus the Olympic singles gold medal in a calendar year, which is what Steffi Graf accomplished in 1988.

And speaking of Graf, with one more Grand tournament win, she ties Steffi for all time Grand Slam tournament wins, and Margaret Court's 24 wins are in striking range of Serena this upcoming season as well.

Go Serena!  See y'all haters in Melbourne next month for the Australian Open.

Sick Of You Washington Media Peeps Disrespecting My Departed Sister Zella

It's bad enough that we US based trans people have lost 22 trans women to anti-trans violence this year with the latest being Zella Ziona Smith a few days ago

It's even more infuriating when their local media outlets add insult and disrespect to their memories by misgendering them.

And it happens far too often to murdered trans women of color.

Once again for you media peeps who refuse to get the message, since 2001 the AP Stylebook has guidelines has guidelines that tell you how you should cover 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.   We determine that by gender presentation, not genitalia. .
GLAAD has a media guide you can peruse in addition to the NLGJA one.  
Once again, we have a trans sister in Zella Ziona Smith murdered, and the local media get it totally wrong by referring to a trans feminine person  as a 'transgender man'

Yeah FOX5, WTOP, I'm talking about you and your messed up stenography in this case so far.

Now let's try to once again get you media peeps to understand a concept so simple that even the GEICO caveman will get it.   A transgender woman is a woman, a transgender man is a man.

It is also not necessary for a reader to know Zella's dead  name or add to the story the problematic lines 'her legal name is ______' or 'born as'.  You have already let your readers know that Zella is a trans feminine person by stating that fact in the headline or opening paragraph of the story or in your opening commentary

Throwing the old name in the story is disrespectful, unnecessary (and in some cases triggering) to the trans community and the people who knew and loved Zella.

If we mere bloggers easily get this and consistently write stories with this in mind since we sadly have had way too much practice over the last few years doing so, what's your problem Washington media?

It's not like you are not going to have the situation of not compiling a  story about a transperson ever again because we make up 3% of the population in the Washington metro area and elsewhere.

And may I remind you that some of the people you write or broadcast these news stories for are transgender people  depending upon you as the professional journalists to get it right the first time.

 

Whitewashed Stonewall Movie Tanks At Box Office

'So when Stonewall the whitewashed trans history erasing movie comes out, save your hard earned T-bills.   Just say no to erasure and whitewashing of the undeniable trans and person of color influence in what went down on a sultry June 1969 night that changed the course of American history and started a human rights movement,'
-TransGriot,  August 5, 2015

Roland Emmerich's Stonewall opened last weekend, and it not only received overwhelmingly negative reviews, it spectacularly tanked at the box office.  It made only a measly $112,414 from 127 theaters.

Heh, heh, heh.  Looks like the movie going public and the critics have spoken.  The disaster film king made a real life cinematic disaster, and Emmerich needs to stop trying to make excuses for it..

Note to Hollywood, next time don't be so quick to erase people of color and trans folks from an event we helped jump off.   If you had centered the movie around the real life history of it, the money you made would have been exponentially more than the paltry sum you did make on opening weekend.

The Stonewall Rebellion was not a planned Fire Island gay action as the movie tried to depict it as.  It was a spontaneous reaction by trans people, butch lesbians, drag queens and other denizens of the Stonewall Inn on that sultry June 1969 night fed up with repeated harassment from the NYPD as the Fire Island gays cowered in their closets.

The historical record backs that up.  

The gay rights revolution was jumped off by the peeps the Fire Island 'good homosexuals' reviled and who had nothing to lose by fighting the powers that be.

Deal with it.

Hollywood has done many movies based on historical events, most recently Selma. and for the most part they stayed true to the historical story while taking mild dramatic license with it.  

Stonewall was a straight up crime against history that could not be allowed to stand, because it sought to erase trans people and people of color from the seminal historical event they jumped off.  

It's also not an accident that white gay men like Larry Kramer rushed in to try to defend the indefensible erasure.   Who's crazy now, Larry?

As the child and godchild of historians and heir to that distinguished legacy of trans activism, I'm doing the happy dance because Stonewall tanked at the box office.

Next time you want to do a movie about an TBLG historical event Hollywood, ground it in the actual history of the event you're trying to put on the silver screen..  

Not Feeling The MSNBC Ethnic Cleansing

'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.'  
--TransGriot  May 13, 2013. CNN The Caucasian News Network

I wrote that in response to my pissivity over CNN rightward drift combined with their ethnic cleansing of many of the African-American and Latinx personalities and shows I loved to watch.

Now MSNBC has unfortunately decided to go down that ethnic cleansing road.

Over the last few months they have eliminated shows headed by non-white folks featuring Karen Finney, Joy Reid, Alex Wagner, Martin Bashir, and the  Rev Al Sharpton.

Jose Diaz-Balart's Rundown show was rumored to be headed for cancellation as well until a coalition of 40 Latinx organizations including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists loudly blasted the report and let MSNBC president Phil Griffin and NBC news head Andrew Lack know their displeasure concerning that proposed move. 

MSNBC has also eliminated the show of Ed Schultz, who is a unabashed left leaning voice of working class people.  Ronan Farrow's show is gone, and so is The Cycle, the ensemble show that featured the diverse crew of Krystal Ball, Abby Huntsman, Toure and Ari Melber.

They left Morning Joe on, and replaced the ethnically cleansed MSNBC talent  with Chuck (Yuck) Todd, Andrea Mitchell, Thomas Roberts and soon the disgraced Brian Williams.

Right now the only non-white people hosting MSNBC shows are Tamron Hall and Jose Diaz-Balart (for now) during the week and Melissa Harris-Perry on the weekends   That's unacceptable in an America that is increasingly becoming more non-white, and one that desperately needed MSNBC to be an intelligent counterweight to the nonstop right wing propaganda from FOX Noise.

 I also liked and needed to see someone from my community who can intelligently talk about events from my lived African-American perspective on the news channels I watch.

Andy Lack, if you are doing the MSNBC ethnic cleansing  to mimic FOX,Noise, that's the wrong programming play.  FOX Noise is number one in the ratings because that's the ONLY (alleged news) network conservafools tune into for their daily does of propaganda and their Two Minute Hate.    

If anything MSNBC, you should have dumped Morning Joe, the prison shows on the weekend and doubled down on liberal progressive programming and putting on air more pundits who look like America,  I refuse to watch Meet The Press because of Chuck Todd's obvious right wing bias when Sunday morning talk shows are already too heavily right wing biased in the first place.




Now you've  replaced Rev Al and Rd Schultz to put Todd on in the afternoon?  How much hallucinogenic drugs were y'all doing when y'all made this boneheaded decision?

I damned sure don't want to watch someone who thinks it isn't a journalist's job the educate the public with the truth when Republicans, (or any politician) lies.

Neither do I want to continue watching a network that mistakenly thinks the road to better ratings is paved with mimicking FOX Noise and eliminating non white show hosts..   As pissed off as  I am about MSNBC's ethnic cleansing, the only reason I'm still watching it  is because of your evening lineup featuring Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell and Chris Hayes and my cable package doesn't have Al Jazeera America.
But if this MSNBC ethnic cleansing continues, I'll be tuning in to the BBC and  lok at how much will adding Al Jazeera America will cost  since MSNBC no longer reflects what I expect to see, hear and
demand from a news network.   
, 

Upcoming Must See Trans TV- The 'Transgender In America' Show On HLN

I'd talked about it in terms of the O'Bannon women being on this show, and now the preview videos are finally coming out.

On August 26 and 27 HLN's  Dr Drew show will be broadcasting over two nights a Transgender In America show in front of an all-trans audience starting at 8 PM CDT.

You may wish to set your DVR's for this one, and here's the preview video of the upcoming broacast .


Once again, the Transgender In America show will be broadcast on HLN, and I'm looking forward to seeing what people I know show up not only as the guests on the show, but in the studio audience.,

Alberto B Mendoza To Become NAHJ Executive Director

You TransGriot readers are familiar with him as the founding creator of the Honor 41 list that recognizes LGBT Latinos, but on September 1 Alberto B. Mendoza will be recognized for another reason.   On that date he will become the executive director of the National Hispanic Journalists Association.

“Alberto is the right leader at the right time for NAHJ,” said Mekahlo Medina, NAHJ President. “He comes with decades of non-profit experience, exceptional organizational skills, sponsorship building and a history of elevating organizations to the next level.”

That extensive non-profit experience includes recently serving as the Regional Vice President with Jumpstart: Children First where he led the operations in California, Texas and Washington which served over 3300 children. He also served as the President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air, a California policy and advocacy organization, where he was the first Latino leader to run a statewide environmental organization.

In 2009, United States Senator Barbara Boxer honored Mendoza with the first ever U.S. Environmental Leadership Award. Alberto was also the founding Regional Executive Director for the Drug Policy Alliance- Southern California office and also led programs for Girl Scouts USA, Public Counsel and AIDS Project Los Angeles.

And as pleased as NAHJ was to name him on June 10 as their new executive director, he is just as pleased to be joining the organization.

“I’m extremely honored and excited to join the NAHJ family,” said Mendoza. “The caliber of our membership and the organization’s impressive reputation, are the two key elements of why I wanted to take this leadership role. While there’s lots to do, I am confident we will achieve new levels of success for NAHJ and our members”

Congratulations Alberto!  I have no doubts that NAHJ is headed to the next level as a journalism organization with him in their executive director role that he will assume full time in September.  I've known him for several years as one of my FB friends and couldn't be happier for him. 

I'm looking forward to the day I finally get to meet him.  May have to do so at that joint NAHJ-NABJ conference in Washington DC next year.

Janet's Guest Hosting On MHP This Weekend!

It wasn't too long ago I was jumping up and down excited because Janet Mock was making an appearance on the Melissa Harris -Perry Show on MSNBC.   Now she gets to be the guest host of #Nerdland for this weekend!

Congrats Janet and so bursting at the seams proud of you!   I will definitely be tuned in to watch as you handle your broadcasting business.  I also hope that this weekend's guest stint leads to something bigger and better for you. 

If you wish to check her out or set your DVR's for watching it later, the shows will air this Saturday and Sunday starting at 9 AM CDT.

NIkki Araguz Loyd Eviscerates Dave Welch In Local News Debate

Y'all know I love my sis Nikki Araguz Loyd,  who is a kick butt activist in her own right fighting a now five year long battle to have recognition of her marriage to her late husband Thomas Araguz III restored.

The case is now at the Texas Supreme Court level, and in like of the Oberkfell SCOTUS ruling legalizing same sex marriage, it remains to be seen how this will  affect Nikki's still pending case.

Nikki was on FOX 26 last night not to talk about her pending marriage case, but to tangle with Dave Welch in a segment moderated by FOX 26's Isiah Carey.  

Dave Welch is a longtime hater and professional gaybaiter who before heading the Houston Area Pastoral Council, the predominately white right wing group of haters that Max Miller and his Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity cooned it up for in last year's HERO fight, worked for Ralph Reed's Christian Coalition in Washington DC.

He's been back in Texas attempting to spread his special brand of hate with the aid of sellout non-white preachers like Miller and friends.

Note to Zoey Tur, this is how you deal with a right wing hater.

Here's the link to the FOX26 webpage if you can't see the video..

Welch is probably tired of getting his azz kicked when he tangles with Houston trans women.  First Cristan took him down to the point where he refuses to debate her any more, then moi, and now Nikki have made him look bad on local TV.

But hey, the existence of trans people is not up for debate, and neither is whether or not as Houstonians, Texans and Americans we should have human rights protection.

Anybody like Welch who thinks their religious beliefs and praying to Conservagod trumps human rights  is our enemy, and doesn't deserve our pity or respect.

The Maya Avant 'Bold And The Beautiful' Storyline Is Groundbreaking TV

I've been saying for a few months now the evolving Maya Avant trans storyline on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful has the potential to be a groundbreaking, evolutionary and important one, and so far I haven't been disappointed.

Coming up this week on B&B is a fashion show episode that will air on July 16 featuring Isis King and Carmen Carrera.

But back to talking about this groundbreaking trans character played by Karla Mosley.   While some folks in Trans World are disappointed this character isn't being played by a transfeminine actress, that's mitigated in my eyes by the fact Maya Avant is a major character on the show and is a woman of color..   

This is also groundbreaking on multiple levels. It has been rare to see fictional African-American  trans feminine characters on television, and rarer still for them to be a major show character.   It's why I was thrilled to see this happen, gave the side eye to some peeps who were grousing about the fact the character wasn't played by a trans woman, and I'm hoping this ongoing storyline starts driving a positive discussion about trans issues in the Black community. 

FYI, to underscore how serious the B&B producers are about this storyline, transmasculine actor Scott Turner Schofield pops up on the show as Maya's best friend and mentor Nick.

Last week we got another major peek into Maya's backstory when her parents Julius and Vivienne Avant, played by veteran actors Anna Maria Horsford and Obba Babatunde show up in LA.

They are on a mission to bring little sis Nicole back to Illinois with them so she isn't in her father's mind 'under the influence of Maya.'

Dude, Nicole is an adult woman who loves her big sis.  Get a life and a clue that trans people exist and aren't going away. 

Julius has major problems with Maya's transition, and refuses to wrap his head around the fact he has another daughter and Maya was never comfortable in her skin until after her transition.

Like myself, Anna Maria Horsford is also hoping this storyline jump starts a much needed conversation about trans and SGL subjects in our community and across the country.

"Gay and transgender subjects are not comfortably discussed in the African-American community," Horsford says. "We might see that our children are different but we don't tell anybody about it. We all know that church choir director who never got married and his mother still insists it's because he never met the right girl. We may want to say, 'Oh, Mama, c'mon, we know!' But we keep it polite. I love that this story on The Bold and the Beautiful is ultimately about truth and integrity and acceptance. It's going to stir up a lot of positive talk in our community—and hopefully in all communities."

Another subject in which I hope this Maya Avant trans storyline on B&B will help foster a needed discussion about is blowing up the misguided notion that trans women aren't viable life partners for cis men.

Trans women are women, and many of us have no problem attracting masculine attention because we are quality human beings just looking for love like everybody else on this planet.

The other lie that also needs to be expeditiously shut down is the one bandied about that a cis man attracted to a trans woman is 'less than a man'  for doing so.   Umm no.  Society needs to stop denigrating the men who genuinely seek us out for long term relationships.

I know trans women who are in relationships with, engaged to or happily married to cis men, and it's past time society stop beating up on the men who love us or being shocked that trans women got it going on like that.. 

It's also past time for trans women to get over our internalized issues and believe that we are worthy of being loved by any man, cis or transgender.

And if a soap opera storyline can make all those needed conversations happen, I'm all for that.

Jazz And Jeanette On 'The View'

So what did you do this morning?  

If you're the fabulous trans teen  Jazz Jennings you woke up early this morning in New York along with your wonderful mom Jeanette to get ready for a live TV appearance on ABC's The View. 

I think Jazz has more frequent flier miles than I do this year, but I digress.

As you all know the TLC reality show featuring Jazz and her amazing family I Am Jazz is set to start on July 15.  Jazz is also a spokesmodel for Clean and Clear, has written a picture book to inspire other trans kids with the same title, and as someone who has had the pleasure of meeting her, is one very sweet kid.

She's had some amazing stuff happened for her. as she continues to live her life, fight for the human rights of transpeople, educate others along the way and be a shining example for other trans kids.

Hey. she's also a wonderful role model for us adult trans folks as well.

As soon as I find the video for this morning's broadcast, I'll post it on the blog for you peeps to see it.

Looking forward to seeing this The View episode since I missed it, the reality show and seeing what happens next for this amazing young lady.

Nicole's 'Royal Pains' Episode To Be Broadcast June 23

I mentioned in a recent post I wrote about her last month that the amazing trans teen Nicole Maines was taping an episode of USA Network's show Royal Pains

Well, get ready to set your DVRs because that episode in which she plays a character named Anna will be broadcast starting June 23.

Will be looking forward to seeing it when it gets broadcast, and hope it leads to more acting work for you.

And best of luck to you as you start your freshman year of college

Another Day, Another Amazing Laverne Cox Cover

Hey, have I told y;all how much i love my sis Laverne Cox and proud of her ongoing success?  Well, y'all need to read this blog more often

It's another day and  another amazing cover for Laverne, this time on Entertainment Weekly magazine along with an article which talks about her early career struggles, Caitlyn Jenner, and acceptance.

Need to get a copy of this magazine so I can read the article along with the one in which she recently appeared on ESSENCE for the second time.

Media Peeps, The Trans Community Has A Flag- Please Use It!

Today is Flag Day, which celebrates the day the American flag was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1777.

I've written some posts that have implored the TBLG community to ensure that when we have human rights events and protests, we include Old Glory in them along with our group flag to send the message that we are citizens of this country that deserve to have our human rights respected and protected.

The trans community since August 16, 1999 has had the pink, blue and white flag representing our community .   It was created by Monica Helms and first flew in the 2000 Phoenix pride parade.  The original Helms trans pride flag is now housed at the Smithsonian and ever since its creation has slowly grow to become an internationally recognized symbol for our community and international human rights movement.

While we recognize the LGBT rainbow flag, and we trans peeps have no problem when we are working intersectionally or in community with our GLB allies flying, marching under or displaying the Baker flag, it is irritating when we have a trans themed event to have the Baker flag and not have the trans pride flag prominently displayed.

Monica Helms noted the same thing in a February 25 comment on her Facebook page.

I have seen several web-based media groups writing about the multitude of situations where trans people are murdered, states voting on anti trans bills or the new Secretary of Defense saying that trans people should serve in the military. Invariably, the writers of the articles, or their editors select the first picture that comes to mind, a picture of a rainbow flag.

Excuse me! We may be part of the LGBT group, but we have our own flag and our own colors that represent us specifically. The Transgender Pride Flag has been around for 15 years and there are thousands of photos and drawings that have our colors or our flag. The original flag is even in the Smithsonian. If you are trying to show us some respect by pointing out the hatred others have towards trans people, then why not show us some respect in the photos you select for the article? Is that too much to ask?

It also irritating to see an article that is primarily about a trans person or a trans issue have a graphic that superimposes the rainbow flag and not the trans pride one.

I'm going to repeat the same question Ms. Helms asked.   If you are trying to show us some respect by pointing out the hatred others have towards trans people, then why not show us some respect in the photos you select for the article and include our flag in them?

The trans community has its own flag media peeps.  Please use it in articles or graphics that you create pertaining to my community.

Another Day, Another Conservative Anti-Trans Lie Debunked

As many of us in Trans World are aware of, our right wing opponents have been busy scaring their people with the debunked bathroom predator lies in a desperate attempt to stop the passage of trans inclusive non-discrimination policies. 

They have taken those attacks to another reprehensible level by attacking trans kids, who as the US Department of  Education has pointed out, transgender students are protected under Title IX.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education today issued official guidance which makes clear that transgender students are protected from discrimination under Title IX. Title IX is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs and activities. Specifically, the guidance states that "Title IX's sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation." [GLSEN, 4/29/15]

Media Matters decided to ask 17 large school districts covering over 600,000 students nationally if the right wing scenario they drone on about cisgender kids misrepresenting themselves as trans to gain access to opposite gender facilities is actually occurring.

And as you probably guessed, the conservalie isn't true.  These 17 large school districts stated there not only have been ZERO incidents of the type conservafools have been frothing at the mouth about.




So not surprisingly, the conservative lie claiming that protecting transgender students in school settings results in confusion and inappropriate behavior is demonstrably false.  It also corroborates what was discovered last year in the evisceration of the trans bathroom predator lie.
There's that pesky truth rearing its liberal biased head again.

So the next time your conservafool FOX noise watching uncle or aunt ties the bring up this lie, hit them with this avalanche of truth.

Hello Caitlyn!

The Jenner Vanity Fair July cover and photo shoot will be in the issue hitting newsstands on June 6,  and like the Diane Sawyer interview, it's generating media coverage and generating conversation inside and out side the trans community.

And we have finally learned Jenner's femme name.   I presume we'll find out later how Jenner came to choose that name, but interestingly enough she didn't spell it with a 'K'.  

No matter what your opinion is on how this Caitlyn Jenner femme rollout has transpired, the bottom line is that it is generating a much needed discussion on trans issues across the media, and especially in Trans World.  

I believe that any positive discussion that happens about trans people in the USA and educates the moveable middle is good for the entire trans community. 

Caitlyn will also be getting the ESPY's Arthur Ashe Courage Award that has been given to the late Stuart Scott and Robin Roberts just to name two recipients of it.

Personally I think Fallon Fox should have gotten that award, but nevertheless that's another Jenner accomplishment that should be celebrated and cheered by our community. 

The attention Caitlyn is getting also gives the rest of us in Trans World an opening with our local media outlets to spring off of that attention and shape a trans discussion that touches upon the issues that we deem important in our local communities..

Yes, there will be some haters and jealous folks in our trans ranks upset because they aren't getting that kind of media attention that rates a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz.  

Some of transkind will be pissed because they don't have access to the finances, surgeons, laser epilation and trans specific medical care that is going to speedily upgrade Caitlyn's body from one of a former Olympic champion to the babe that has been inside her for 65 years and is now being introduced to her family and the world.

Hell, I'm envious of that at times even with cis women with hourglass shapes, but unfortunately, that's life.   Sometimes we get DNA blessings that others don't.   There will be women cis and trans who are smarter, prettier and sexier.   Hormones can also be  much more generous to some trans women than others.  Some have the finances to get the trans specific procedures they need when they want them while others will have to wait decades or never be able to get them.. 

All I or any trans woman can do is work with the hand that we're dealt and evolve to become the best women we can be.

But instead of hating, let's celebrate the fact a trans woman made the cover of Vanity Fair.   Let's celebrate the fact we have a positive discussion happening about trans issues right now that will potentially speed up the timetable for trans human rights achievement.    Let's celebrate the fact this may be another huge step toward the attainment of our ultimate goal of acceptance of trans people's humanity in all facets of our society.

And let's celebrate the fact that Caitlyn is finally coming out of a cocoon she's been in for 65 years and is coming out to the world as her true self.

Can The Rick and Maya B&B Relationship Lead To An Enlightened Attitude Toward Trans Relationships?

Yesterday Maya Avant told her boyfriend Rick Forrester on the CBS soap 'The Bold and the Beautiful that she is trans.

Rick didn't take the news well initially, but when Maya was about to walk out of the door of that Big Bear cabin and out of his life forever with her heart breaking in the process, Rick once again declared his love for her.

We'll see how the rest of their relationship transpires, especially as media mogul Bill Spencer is about to blast Maya's trans business all over the tabloids in upcoming episodes along with the various reactions of the B&B characters to that news..

But the happy tears I was shedding as this episode transpired led to me doing some hard solid thinking in the wake of it.   I know that many relationships in which a cis man dates a trans woman don't survive her telling her partner, and in far too many instances, the trans woman faces the risk of intimate partner violence when she does disclose her status.

But the other question I pondered in the wake of this broadcast is will the broadcast of the Maya and Rick romance finally lead to a honest discussion about the stigma and attacks on their masculinity that cis men like Rick endure for dating a trans woman they love and the attacks on the femininity of the trans women that are the objects of their affection?

While we have instances in our community in which you have couples like Myles and Precious who are trans masculine and trans feminine people who love each other enough they are engaged to be married, far more prevalent are hetero normative relationships in which a trans man is coupled with a cis feminine partner and a cis man is coupled with a trans feminine partner.

It's been happening ever since Christine Jorgensen stepped off the airplane from Denmark in 1953 and Cupid's arrows stared targeting their hearts.  

Pioneering French trans woman Jacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy married her first husband at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral in 1960.

But that was in an era before the TERF's started attacking the femininity of trans women in the early 70's, and the rise of the gay rights movement led to a social conservative backlash and attack on the human rights of LGBT people.

The bottom line is that trans men are MEN, and trans women are WOMEN, but for far too long cis men who love us enough to pursue us and put a ring on our fingers have had their masculinity questioned.  

Some of those cis men have even experienced the discrimination their trans partners get as the trans women, especially if their trans partner was low or no disclosure until yanked into the spotlight.   And as Mister Cee discovered, your masculinity, especially when it is revealed that you like trans women, is rigidly and at times viciously policed.

That scrutiny and hostility is magnified if you are a cis man who admits that you like and prefer dating trans women as my brother Troy has pointed out to me in numerous conversations over the years.

Even Hollywood has demonized trans women and the men who love us.  The movie Ted 2 has a scene in which derogatory comments are made by the teddy bear when he finds out his friend has trans porn on his computer.

We need to have an ongoing conversation about our relationships in which the baseline for having it is that our femininity as trans women is not erased and the cis men who prefer us as their partners are not demonized for doing so. 

The cis men who love us are going to have to step up and meet us trans women halfway.  They are going to have to come out of the shadows and say in no uncertain terms they love us, we are the women they want to marry, and to kiss their behinds if you don't like it.  

If a soap opera storyline can lead to an enlightened conversation about a real world issue, then by all means lets get that conversation started.