'Assigned Male' Cartoonist Sophie Labelle In Houston Today!

I met Sophie during the 2012  Philly Trans Health Conference and fell in love not only with the French Canadian cartoonist, girl like us and public speaker, but her Assigned Male comic.

Assigned Male chronicles the adventures of Stephie, a young Canadian trans girl from Montreal getting adjusted to life while trans.   The cast of Assigned Male also includes her gender nonconforming friend Ciel, their cis friend Eirikur, her boyfriend Frank, her brother Virgil and a diverse cast of minor characters.

And yes, I'm a fan of Assigned Male, with its cast of unapologetic trans and gender nonconforming characters making their way in the world.  It also has some timely commentary on events transpiring in Canada, the US and the world concerning trans people.

It has also drawn it share of right wing haters who hate the unapologetic truth telling that Assigned Male brings to its updated three times a week webcomic pages. 

Labelle is currently doing a US Tour, and the southern US leg of it started in New Orleans with stops in Austin last night, Houston today and Denton on Tuesday.

Looking forward to seeing Sophie and welcoming her to H-town.  If you want to see her and get some Assigned Male swag at the same time, you'll need to swing by the Montrose Center starting at 4 PM CST.

POSE's Dominique Jackson Coming To UH!

Been wanting to meet Dominique Jackson from POSE.   Now she's coming to Houston. 

The University of Houston Center for Diversity and Inclusion as part of their fall speaker series is bringing her to H-town.   Dominique will share her story about being a transgender woman and other aspects of her life. 

And she may talk about the show and her role as Elektra Abundance Evangelista on POSE. 

This conversation will take place on October 16 in the Houston Room on the south side of the UH Student Center at 6 PM.   Hope y'all come, check it out and show Dominique some love.     

Where's President Joseph Charles?

Houston City Council public comment sessions can be entertaining at times with people from all walks of life able to speak for up to three minutes on whatever topic they choose. 

That means that in addition to having people come to City Hall to comment on issues like flooding, potholes, public safety and other issues germane to life in a large city, we also get our share of peeps who use their time to discuss conspiracy theories worthy of an Alex Jones InfoWars episode.

One way we regulars who speak at Houston City Council meetings definitively know that we have come to the end of a public comment session is when President Joseph Charles comes to the podium to get his one minute to say whatever he wants until his time has expired.



He's been a fixture at every City Council public comment session for over a decade, but during my last visit to City Hall I noticed that somebody was missing:  President Joseph Charles.

No one at City Hall has seen or heard from him over the last several months, so that has my inquiring mind asking the question where is he?   

Is President Joseph Charles still in town?  Has an illness or medical issue cropped up that has kept him from coming to City Hall?   Or has he passed on? 

It would be nice to have a definitive answer to these questions I'm posing.

Nikki Goes To Prairie View

Nikki Araguz Loyd took another road trip inside the borders of the Lone Star State Tuesday, but this time it was up US 290 to speak on the campus of  Prairie View A&M University.

She was invited to the suburban Houston HBCU school as part of their Students Participating In Transcending Knowledge (SPIT) Lecture Series

She was introduced by junior psychology student and #girllikeus Londyn Williams before taking the stage at the Opal Johnson Auditorium to a crowd according to PV Panther reporters Amanda Leon and Joshua Bennett unsure of how to react to Nikki, but her larger than life personality and her compelling story quickly changed that dynamic.

Nikki not only discussed the traumatic sexual assault she endured at age 13, she talked about the drama surrounding the death of her husband Thomas Araguz and the subsequent legal case now winding its way through the Texas legal system.

And when she departed the stage, it was to rave reviews..

Senior sociology major LaFredrick Smith said, “The event was wonderful to have on a campus that was created in results of equality issues. I wish more people would have attended the event due to the fact that more people on this campus need to be educated on the subject. But then again the ignorant will be ignorant and not open to expanding their ways of thinking. Nikki Araguz-Loyd was amazing. I love how open and down to earth she was. She left nothing out. That’s what we look for at S.P.I.T Knowledge! My favorite quotes from Nikki were: “Love shouldn’t have to be defended” and “My vagina says I’m a woman.”

Prairie View,, I'm amazed that you invited any trans woman up to your campus period for a chat about trans issues and hope that trend continues. 

So when will another conversation continuing the discussion that Nikki helped start happen?

NAACP's Ben Jealous To Be Keynote Speaker At 2012 Creating Change

The 2012 Creating Change Conference will be held in Baltimore, MD from January 25-29 which also happens to be the historic headquarters city for the 102 year old National Association For The Advancement of Colored People. 

So it didn't surprise me when I heard the announcement that NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous will be the opening plenary keynote speaker on January 26. 

The NAACP is making a commitment to doing a better job of advocacy on TBLG issues, even though they stumbled out of the gate with it at their convention in Los Angeles with the trans and bi free panel discussion.  

Under Jealous' leadership the NAACP launched its LGBT Equality Task Force in 2009 in partnership with the National Black Justice Coalition.  Most recently, the Baltimore NAACP chapter joined the steering committee of Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the broad and diverse coalition working to bring civil marriage equality to Maryland.

Should be interesting to hear that speech and what he has to say and hope I can make it to Baltimore to be in the house for it.
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