Hillary Clinton Calls Out Trump For 'Steady Stream Of Bigotry'

Hillary Clinton put Donald Trump on blast during a speech in Reno, Nevada on race relations that rebutted Trump's ludicrous charge that Clinton was a bigot.

Stop projecting, Donald.

Clinton didn't call him a bigot, but made it clear without uttering his name that she was talking about the Republican nominee. She  came armed in this Reno speech with numerous examples of Trump's bigotry during this campaign and in his personal life.

"There's always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, a lot of it arising from racial resentment. But it's never had the nominee of the major party stoking it. encouraging it, and giving it a national megaphone until now." Clinton said in her speech.

Here's the link to that speech if you missed it.

Rev Dr William Barber's DNC 2016 Speech

Another one of the outstanding speeches of this just concluded DNC convention in Philly was delivered by a man that I had the pleasure of meeting while I was living in Louisville, and got reconnected with him during the 2015 LGBT Media Journalists Convening when he was our keynote speaker for the event.

I'm talking about the Rev Dr. William Barber II, the president of the North Carolina NAACP and a fierce social justice warrior.  Thursday night America got to witness what many of us who have had the opportunity to hear him speak already know.  This is a man who is an unapologetic truth teller who has no problem speaking truth to power and tellin' it like it T-I-S is.

I was handling some TTNS business and unfortunately missed it live, but when I found out he had spoken to the DNC, when I got some downtime I checked it out.

Here's Dr. Barber's DNC speech for those of you who missed it.

TTNS 2016 Keynote Address

This is the text of the keynote address I delivered at the 2016 Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit in Killeen, TX.                                               

Good afternoon to TTNS founding executive director Josephine Tittsworth, our mistress of ceremonies Jenifer Rene Pool, TTNS executive and advisory board members, TTNS attendees, Texas A&M Central Texas faculty and students, TTNS volunteers, my trans siblings, honored guests, allies and friends.

I am pleased, honored and proud to have been asked to deliver your keynote address today at this 8^th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.  
I also found it apropos this 2016 edition of the TTNS is being held on this college campus in the shadow of Fort Hood mere weeks after the groundbreaking July 1 open trans military service announcement by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter that allows my trans siblings to openly serve in our nation’s armed forces.

I mention that factoid because a quick perusal of modern trans history will reveal that many of our past and present leaders in this movement, including our TTNS founding director and tomorrow’s keynote speaker Phyllis Frye, have the common thread of military service as part of their activist resumes.

I was told prior to taking this podium that this Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit in Killeen is now the new record holder in terms of registration and attendance for it, so please give yourselves a hand for being part of this evolving TTNS history.

So why is the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit so important to me? 

The TTNS mission was similar to a 2007 effort I was involved with in Louisville. KY to enact trans inclusive policies for students, faculty and staff in the Jefferson County Public Schools.  We were only able to my frustration get sexual orientation coverage only in JCPS, but after I left Da Ville JCPS finally added gender identity to that policy we passed under contentious circumstances in 2015.

When the 2009 TTNS event was held at the University of Houston, I was 1000 miles away in Kentucky and bummed about not being there for it.  Well, as Josephine, Jenifer. the TTNS executive and advisory board members and other people who have longtime connections to this event can tell you, haven’t missed one since I returned to Texas from Louisville in May 2010.

This is now the seventh consecutive summit that I have attended, and the TTNS is special to me because the second TTNS held at Rice University was the first activism event I had a chance to participate in mere weeks after returning to my hometown.

The TTNS event at Rice allowed me to quickly reestablish my connections with old and new Houston area advocates that I’d lost in the eight years I was away from Texas and introduce me to people I didn’t know or were new to me, but had gotten involved in Houston and Texas activist work while in was in Kentucky. 

The  subsequent TTNS events provided me opportunities to network and conme to continue to expand on those networking make connections with other advocates in Houston, Texas and from around the country that have remained useful to this day.

Because of attending TTNS, I’ve gained knowledge on a wide variety of issues that have helped me not only in my ongoing advocacy work, but help provide a base level of knowledge that I can subsequently talk about and expand on in my TransGriot articles.

And yeah, it’s been fun to see different parts of this beautiful state with people I love, respect and admire and spend quality time with you as I do so. 
  
Finally, why the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit is important to me is because I come from a family of educators.  My late great grandmother Jane Davis was a teacher.  My mother in addition to being a historian, is a retired HISD teacher.    My late godmother Pearl Suel, who along with my mother instilled my love of history in me, taught at the high school and collegiate levels.   I also have cousins and people in my circle of friends who are educators that I admire and deeply respect.

I know the importance for people, and especially marginalized people to have a quality education.  As one of my sheroes Barbara Jordan has said and I quote her, ‘Education remains the key to both economic and political empowerment.’ 

It is a lesson that my people have taken to heart ever since that June 19, 1865 day when Union General Gordon Granger read Order Number 3 from the balcony of Galveston’s Aston Villa and declared that all Texas slaves were free people.

Education is the gateway to a quality life.   A quality education is something the folks that wish to oppress us can never take away.   A quality education also makes us better citizens, and allows us to do our part to make our beloved state and our union better.

And in the words of former State Senator Wendy Davis, ‘Real Texans want their kids to have the best education possible, not the one politicians looking to brag about budget cuts have left us with’.

That is the TTNS mission in a nutshell.   We are gathering here on this campus for the next two days, and have done so other Texas colleges and universities over the last eight years with one mission in mind, so that our kids and we trans people accessing that education system at all levels can have the best education system possible. 

When TTNS started in 2009, only three Texas colleges and universities
had trans inclusive nondiscrimination policies.  As of this eighth TTNS event, that number is up to over 30 colleges and universities, and also includes some of the largest ISD’s in our state in Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and El Paso.  

It’s also interesting to note that as part of the Obama Administration having the trans community’s backs, a Dear Colleague Letter jointly issued by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice that to sum it up, says that you must treat transgender students with the same dignity and respect in school settings as you do for cisgender ones, and give them the same access to a quality education that you demand for cisgender children.

If that is all the DOE/DOJ Dear Colleague Letter is stating, why is the conservative movement tripping about it to the point that Texas and 12 other states have entered into an unholy alliance to fight a battle they are doomed to lose by filing an unjust lawsuit to justify discrimination against transgender students?

Why is Gov. Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and my indicted attorney gender Ken Paxton to paraphrase the eloquent words of Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston, attempting to spread the hellfire flames of transphobic bigotry and aiming it at Texas transgender students?

Why has their party made it their mission to make the lives of trans Texans and trans students in this state more difficult than they need to be?

Much of it is because they hate President Obama and still massively resist any policy initiative he likes.   Another piece of that transphobic puzzle is because in the wake of their loss last year on marriage equality, they needed a new group to hate, and unfortunately have settled on attacking trans kids as their new targets to show their base they are doing something to oppose a POTUS they foaming at the mouth hate.

But I and other trans elders, my trans siblings and our allies in the human rights struggle have a major problem with that   As someone whose formal education in this state started in a segregated elementary school in 1967, I have a major problem with this remixed Jim Crow bull feces you are aiming at our trans kids.

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting trans kids here in Texas and their amazing parents.  All these parents want is the best education possible for their kids who are now matriculating in Texas schools and universities without unnecessary drama

All these trans kids want to do is go to school, get their education, make friends, blend in and live their lives as their true selves without being singled out for bullying by their peers, willfully ignorant adults or misguided politicians 

It’s why it’s our duty to ensure that we do the work here in the Lone Star State to continue to expand the numbers of colleges, universities and school districts that have trans inclusive policies for students, faculty and employees and feel empowered to unapologetically defend them from attack.

It is our duty to ensure that the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit has the resources and funding it needs to survive and thrive as continues its ongoing mission of being a strong education advocate and voice for our kids.

If you have the ability to drop some contributions in TTNS’ direction on a regular basis, please do so.   You’d be amazed to learn how far $5, $10, $20 or more if you’re feeling generous can go.

It is our duty to increase the number of Texas ISD’s that have these inclusive policies to include all of the over 1000 ISD’s that are in the borders of our massive state. 

It is our duty to dispel the disinformation and outright lies that our not so esteemed opposition, misguided political leaders and the media is spreading concerning these trans inclusive policies and the DOE/DOJ letter.

It is our duty. because your human rights are inextricably tied to the human rights of transgender Texans, to fight for a world in which our humanity is respected and protected just as yours is.

This anti-trans intolerance will not be tolerated by the Texas trans community, parents of trans kids, and our allies.  Their attempts to justify human rights oppression aimed at the Texas transgender community it will be resisted with every fiber of our beings. 

So yep, I’ll be making as many trips from Houston to our state capital in Austin as necessary and my schedule permits when that 2017 legislative session kicks off down I-35 south in January.  I hope others across the Lone Star State join us when we make those trips to the state capital to kill whatever oppressive anti- trans legislation they attempt to pass.

Our legislators must get the message that we are Texans whose human rights matter, not a wedge issue or punching bags for you to score political points with your base for.   Neither we allow your misguided hatred of trans people to mess with our state’s economy.   If you don’t wish to receive or you willfully ignore that message, we’ll send another via the ballot box on Election Day to remove you from elective office. 

TTNS is one of the trans led organizations in this state positioned at this crucial time in our history to do the education and policy work that will lead to affirmative education policies that benefit all Texas students.

Those of you in this Texas A&M Central Texas campus space attending this TTNS event will spend today and tomorrow acquiring the information and tactics necessary that allows you to help promote and enact good policies, and kill the bad ones when you return home to your various corners of the Lone Star State.

It’s a war we didn’t ask for, but it’s one that we must fight and win for all those trans kids across the state of Texas.   They are counting on us, their trans elders and allies to ensure that all they have to do is go to school, get excellent grades, dream big dreams about what they wish to accomplish in their adult lives, and get the quality education they need to make those dreams become a reality.

First Lady Michelle Obama's DNC 2016 Speech

For those of you who didn't get to witness it live, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the DNC 2016 stage last night and delivered a speech for the ages that reminded me at times of the one her hubby dropped at the 2004 DNC event in Boston.

No wonder Melania Trump plagiarized the FLOTUS' 2008 DNC speech last week.

This #DNCinPhilly speech was so outstanding that when she was done she should have dropped the mic and walked off the stage when it was over.

But hey, judge for yourselves.   Here's the video of the DNC 2016 speech.

Hillary Clinton 2016 NAACP Convention Speech

Lost in all the news of the opening of the RNC convention is the fact that 250 miles away on the southern end of Ohio, the 107th NAACP National Convention is taking place at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati.

As per tradition, both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates were invited to speak to the NAACP convention delegates, with Sec. Hillary Clinton accepting her invitation to do so while Donald Trump declined.

Then again, if I sucked as bad on issues of importance to African Americans, had been saying racist crap for decades and my presidential race poll numbers were worse than Romney's, I'd be finding any excuse NOT to speak to 'The Blacks' either or put myself in a position to be called on it.

Here is the video of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's Monday speech to the NAACP convention.

   

Hillary Clinton Remarks At AME National Convention

"For now, let's focus on what we already know - deep in our hearts.  We know there is something wrong with our country. There is too much violence, too much hate, too much senseless killing, too many people dead who shouldn't be.  And we know there is clear evidence that African Americans are much more likely to be killed in police incidents than any other group of Americans."
--Hillary Clinton, July 8, 2016   

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was at the African Methodist Episcopal Church National Convention in Philadelphia when the shootings on Tuesday of Alton Sterling in Baton rouge, Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul the next day and the Thursday sniper attack in Dallas following a peaceful protest of the deaths by cop of Sterling and Castile broke out

Clinton spoke to the AME convention delegates and condemned the level of tension and violence that hasn't been seen in this country in decades.
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This is her speech to the AME National Convention on Friday, and it's one that needs to be heard.
Here's the transcript for it.

They Still Mad Because Jesse Williams Spoke Truth

I've been amused by the reaction by bigoted white peeps and the Conservafool Outrage Machine about the recent BET Awards speech Grey's Anatomy actor Jesse Williams gave when he accepted his 2016 Humanitarian Award.

Someone named Erin Smith (if that's her real name) laughably started a Change.org petition seeking to get Williams fired from his Grey's Anatomy gig for his 'racist' speech.






















Shonda Rimes, Jesse's boss, is unmoved by your shedding of tasty white tears, and neither is the president of ABC Entertainment who by the way, is also a sistah.

Yo Erin, a note for you and 'errbody' else that shares your misguided definition of racism:  Racism = Bigotry and Prejudice + systemic power used by a majority group to retard, roll back or eviscerate the societal progress of a minority group.

It is not a epithet white people like you shadily throw at Black people they are pissed off at because the Black person in question called out the negative behavior of white people and their fee fees got hurt.

That's the definition I and many others learned in Sociology 101 and it's obvious you either chose to ignore or were asleep in sociology class during that classroom discussion about racism.


To quote from Jesse's acclaimed BET speech:

And let’s get a couple things straight, just a little sidenote – the burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander.That’s not our job, alright – stop with all that. If you have a critique for the resistance, for our resistance, then you better have an established record of critique of our oppression. If you have no interest, if you have no interest in equal rights for black people then do not make suggestions to those who do. Sit down.

And since you don't have an established record of critique for our oppression, have several sections of seats and sit your azz down.

The reality for non-white Americans that we deal with every day is that white skin matters in America.  Societal privilege based on melanin-free skin color, AKA 'whiteness' exists, and white supremacy is based on maintaining the dominant position of white skinned folks in this society.  Whiteness is part of that system of oppression and goes hand in glove with white supremacy.

Jesse Williams spoke truth that night on the BET Awards stage, and the bottom line is that you, the peeps who signed that misguided petition and the conservative movement can't handle it.

President Obama's Speech To Canadian Parliament

President Obama took a quick trip north of the border to Ottawa to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for a trilateral meeting,

He then spoke to the Canadian Parliament yesterday in the wake of that North American Leader's Summit meeting.

Here's the video of the speech.

President Obama's Hiroshima Speech

On May 27 President Obama made more history in an already historic presidency.   He because the first sitting US president to travel to Hiroshima, where the first atomic bomb was droppedon August 6, 1945.

Ten other US presidents had declined to do so, but President Obama didn't.

While the right wingers here in the US have predictably gone off the deep end about it, the rest of the world and reality based America have praised him doing so and the speech he gave in front of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial marking the Ground Zero spot above where the bomb exploded..

Here's the video of that historic speech

Rep. Alan Grayson Calls Out NC's Cisgender Bigots

Y'all know how much i love Rep Alan Grayson (D-FL) who is making a run for the Florida US senate seat that Marco Rubio is leaving.

Grayson has had no problem calling out the conservafools, and I wish more Dems would follow his lead and call them on their WTF level hypocrisy and doublespeak.
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I wish Rep. Grayson had gone further in this 13 minute House floor speech and called out all the cisgender bigots, including my governor, lieutenant governor, and indicted attorney general..

Here's Rep. Grayson floor speech.

President Obama's Last SOTU Speech

The last State of the Union speech of his \historic presidency happened last night in Washington DC, and President Barack Obama is getting rave reviews for it.

Here it is for those of you who missed it.

President Obama's Last SOTU Speech Tonight

The reality that 2016 is not only an election year, but President Obama's last as our president will become crystal clear at  8 PM CST when he gives his final State of the Union Address to a join session of Congress and what is sure to be a large television audience.

President Obama gave a preview of his upcoming speech in a video in which he stated he wanted to focus "not just the remarkable progress we've made, not just what I want to get done in the year ahead, but what we need to do together in the years to come:  The big things that will guarantee an even stronger, better, more prosperous America for our kids.  That's what's on my mind."

What's on our mind is the upcoming November 8 presidential election and coming to grips with the fact that on January 17, 2017 you and your family will be leaving the White House.  I'm definitely not ready to think about that near future event.

Well, it's still January, and we still have him, the FLOTUS and the First Family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. until then.

Serena's 2015 SI Sportsperson Of The Year Acceptance Speech

Y'all know I'm ride or die for Serena Williams, and was pleased to hear that she was named the 2015 Sportsperson of the Year.   She became the first woman to win the prestigious award by herself and not as part of a team since 1983.

And then Serena's racist haters unleashed their vitriol, with some of those racist haters being on the LA Times payroll.  I had my say about it along with other social commentators.

But here's Serena in a dropping the mic moment as she accepted the award and dropped some truth nukes while doing so.

Just an FYI haters, the Australian Open starts January 18   Hope that's the start of a Golden Slam for one of my fave tennis players and the Greatest Of All Time, if not her generation.


 

President Obama's 2015 NAACP Convention Speech

While the Latino community leaders were gathering in Kansas City for the National Council of La Raza Convention, at the same time in Philadelphia the NAACP was meeting July 11-15 for its 106th national convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

And yep NCLR Conference delegates, as you and I suspected, there were no sightings of GOP presidential candidates at the NAACP convention either.

One of the speakers for that just concluded convention in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was none other than President Barack Obama.

He spoke to the assembled delegates on Tuesday, and here's the text and the video of his speech.

Caitlyn Jenner's ESPY Speech

Well, no matter where you stood on the issue pro or con, the bottom line is that ESPN chose her to receive this year's Arthur Ashe Courage Award. 

As to where I stood, it's on the pro side.   I appreciated the fact that it's the first time a trans person has received an ESPY of any kind.   I don't doubt because of all the interest and controversy leading up to this speech, will probably be far more folks tuning in to hear it than the total number of people that have ever surfed to read posts on my blog in its 9.5 years of operation.

So don't hate.  Appreciate the fact that we have a girl like us in Caitlyn who is sincere about being an advocate doing good in the community, is an experienced public speaker, and she's wanting to 'ejumacate' some peeps about our lives inside and outside that Microsoft Theater and do some good for trans kind.

And here is Caitlyn's acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Hillary Clinton TSU Voting Rights Speech

Hillary Clinton has been in Texas for the last three days to do some fundraising and other events in the Lone Star State to shore up the Democratic base here.

Yesterday afternoon she was on the Texas Southern University campus to receive a public service award named for the late Rep..Barbara Jordan, who was an alumnus of the university.

The speech was broadcast live on C-SPAN, and for those of you missed the speech, here's the video of it.

LA State Senator Rips Jindal A New One

In 2005, after the Texas Legislature passed that unjust constitutional marriage ban, Texas State Rep Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) let loose with a memorable floor speech excoriating it.

Ten years later, east of the Sabine River in Baton Rouge, State Senator Karen Carter Peterson (D-New Orleans)  took to the Louisiana Senate floor to rip Governor Bobby Jindal (R) for his unjust executive order intended to do an end run around the Louisiana Legislature to institute HB 707, a 'right to discriminate' law the Legislature rejected and the Louisiana business community didn't want.

But since Piyush is running for president on the GOP side, in his attempt to pander to Iowa social conservafool voters, he decided to unilaterally issue this executive order.that all the states competing with Louisiana for Super Bowls, Final Fours and other convention business are saying thank you very much for your stupidity.

Here's Senator Peterson's floor speech.

2015 UT-Austin Lavender Graduation Speech

This is the text of the speech I'm delivering at UT-Austin's Lavender Graduation.

Good afternoon to the UT-Austin faculty, alumni, students, guests, friends and the UT-Austin Class of 2015.

If UT alum Matthew McConnaughey can speak to the graduating class at my alma mater UH as he did last Friday, I guess y'all can indulge having this Cougar speak to you today.

I am honored to be here as your keynote speaker for this 8th annual Lavender Graduation that is co--hosted by the Gender and Sexuality Center and the UT Queer Students Alliance (QSA).    The Gender and Sexuality Center is celebrating its 10th anniversary of service to UT campus community, and I salute the wonderful work that they do in providing opportunities for all members of the UT Austin community to explore, organize, and promote learning around issues of gender and sexuality.

The center also facilitates a greater responsiveness to the needs of women and the LGBTQ communities through education, outreach, and advocacy, and I thank Liz Elsen for the opportunity to address you today.

I also thank Melinda Bogdanovich for being here with me today and opening her home to me while I am here in the ATX.  I spent a long enjoyable night catching up with her, and so looking forward to the next time I get to spend some quality time with her and he family.

It's also an anniversary for myself in that 35 years ago today I was in the Astroarena back in Houston graduating from high school and preparing to take that next step and get my college education.   But I was also dealing with wrestling with a word that I'd heard just five years earlier that perfectly encapsulated what I was struggling with.

Transsexual.

In Houston until 1980 we had an anti-crossdressing ordinance on the books that criminalized people wearing opposite gender clothing, and it was used at times by HPD to harass the Houston LGBT community.   A trans woman by the name of Toni Mayes was being messed with by HPD to the point that every time she used a female restroom consistent with her gender presentation, she was arrested,   She got tired of it, sued, and won her case.

Then Renee Richards transition and her legal case in which she sued for the right to play in the US Open as a woman blew up in the news less than a year later.   A soon to be high school age TransGriot was contemplating the fact that what seemed to be impossible was a very doable thing in terms of being her true self.

It took me almost two decades and a few twists and turns to get to that point when I summoned the courage to take that next step, but here I am, a proud, internationally recognized unapologetic Black trans woman.

But enough about me.   This Lavender Graduation is  about you, the Class of 2015. about to step out into the world as your true selves armed with not only the knowledge you gained as you walked across the UT-Austin campus, but the life skills and acquired knowledge you gained just by living your out and proud lives.

And as one of your trans elders, time for Moni to arm you with more of your history before you leave this campus with those hard won diplomas.

As we are quite aware of, it has become fashionable in liberal-progressive circles to beat up on Texas because of our conservative leaning government that believes in oppressing people rather than investing in people.

I know you're tired of it and so am I of being told by people on the coasts for us to leave our beloved state and come to the so called liberal oases that in some ways  may seem to be better, but have their own problems and issues.

But hear me now East and West Coasts.  You got the opportunity of passing your LGBT friendly legislation in an era that was less politically partisan.  We here in Texas and the rest of what you derisively call 'flyover country' have to fight tooth and nail for whatever progress we get.   

And yeah  we  heard the sneers that we wouldn't be able to stop those 18 anti-LGBT bills, but  we did. it because we're Texans and it's in our DNA to do what's considered the impossible.

Now we'll have to be vigilant until June 1 to ensure those bills stay dead, but tom line is we did what the rest of the country thought we couldn't do.

So in order for us to get the human rights in our red state that you enjoy in your blue states, we have to stand and fight for them.  Changing Texas for the better and making its laws and policies more TBLG accepting cannot be done from New York or San Francisco. 

But what many people also fail to realize outside of the borders of the Lone Star state is that much of the modern LGBT human rights movement has a Texas twang to it.

Ray Hill, who is a legendary activist in the Houston area, was a key player in the early national LGBT ranks that included Harvey Milk and Frank Kameny.  

And without Texans such as Phyllis Frye, Sarah De Palma, Tere Prasse, Jane Ellen Fairfax, and Dee McKellar, the modern trans rights movement would have taken a lot longer to get organized, get its messaging on point, and even do lobbying at the local, state and federal levels.

That organizing happened at the ICTLEP conferences held in Houston starting in 1992 through 1996., and were responsible for not only putting out an International Bill of Transgender Rights, but focusing our early direction of passing an inclusive ENDA, passage of the hate crimes bill and passing local trans inclusive ordinances.

Just down I-35 in San Antonio,  Linda and Cynthia Phillips were busy not only running a trans group called the Boulton and Park Society, but what would eventually become the largest trans gathering in the country until Southern Comfort overtook it in the Texas T Party.

The T was for transsexual, not teabagger.

Even two critical trans marriage law cases, the Littleton v Prange one and the ongoing Araguz v Delgado one both involve plaintiffs from the Lone Star state.

And yeah, there some award winning African-American trans blogger from Houston y'all might have heard about who helped organize a muticultural trans rights org called NTAC in 1999 and has a blog with 6 million hits as of yesterday nobody reads.

That legacy of pioneering Texas trans leaders that we proudly uphold also extends to people like Carter Brown, Lou Weaver, Katy Stewart, Dr Oliver Blumer, Lauryn Farris and Dee Dee Watters just to name a few on the trans Texan end of the LGBT leadership scale.

There are also outstanding Texas leaders who are also proud members of our community like Rep Mary Gonzales,  Rep. Celia Israel, Omar Narvaez, Rafael McDonnell and countless others all over the 268, 820 sq miles of Planet Earth we call home who are doing that they can in their own way large and small to make their communities and Texas a better place for all of us.

Yes graduates, you have a proud history, and you'll hopefully get an opportunity to put your stamp on that history.   I have no doubt that some of you sitting here today will go on to do great things and I hope I'm around to see you accomplish them.

But your biggest accomplishment will be to simply become the best human beings you can be.

The best thing you can do is live your life boldly and proudly as the wonderful people we know you are and are evolving to become.   Know that you are not alone in this quest.   In addition to family members, and family in this instance doesn't necessarily mean the people related to you by blood, but chosen family.    You also have friends, allies, your BTLG elders and other interested parties who will be invaluable to you as you continue on this path to being the best persons you can be.

In closing, I want to once again say congratulations to the UT-Austin Lavender Graduation Class of 2015.  As you step off Forty Acres and the world know that we love you, we're proud of you, and as you fulfill your lifelong dreams in whatever field you choose on behalf of our LGBT community and yourselves, I;ll be eagerly watching for it to unfold and write it down.

Congratulations graduates!

Angelica Ross 2015 HRC Corporate Equality Index Keynote

Y'all know how much love and respect I have for Angelica Ross, the founding CEO of Trans Tech Social Services and She's one of the leaders in our national trans feminine community that people need to be paying attention to.

She was the keynote speaker at a March 31 event revealing the 2015 HRC' Corporate Equality Index Awards, and had some interesting things to say as she stylishly stood at that podium.

And now, here's Angelica.

FLOTUS Tuskegee Commencement Speech On Race

First Lady Michelle Obama was the commencement speaker for Tuskegee University's 2015 commencement last Saturday, and in that 30 minute speech she touched on some of the racist disrespect that she and President Obama have received that predated his election in November 2008.

Mrs. Obama recounted the racist comments she and her husband have endured during their time in the political spotlight as the eventual First Couple.  The reprehensible highlights included she and the future President being assumed to be “the help” by fellow guests at formal events and Fox News calling the First Lady her “husband’s crony of color” and “Obama’s baby mama.”

Yeah, that last one pissed me and my mother the hell off when we heard it.  We both went on a long rant discussing it one night

But the point the FLOTUS was making in this speech is that it isn't about her, but the ongoing systemic problem of racism in America.  She also urged affected communities to never give up hope for a better tomorrow as we fight the ills that negatively affect us today.

So here's the video of the Tuskegee University commencement speech