Chaz Bono On DWTS-Cue Transphobia In 5...4...3...2...1.

The new competitors for Season 13 of DWTS have been revealed, and among the celebrity contestants chosen to compete for the mirrored ball trophy one surprise was Chaz Bono.    He will be the first trans contest ever for the show and will be partnered with Lacey Schwimmer.

"At this point I want people to know that transgender people are just like everyone else. We're not people to be afraid of or misunderstood," Chaz told Us Weekly. "I would love to get that message across."

Unfortunately some peeps not only don't want to get that message, they don't wanna hear it.

While that piece of trans and television history excited and pleased the trans community and our allies, it didn't take long for the transphobes and christohaters to chime in on this historic moment.

Kmto61056 said, "This show has completely lost a viewer(s). I am DISGUSTED that you would have Chaz Bono on there. He/she can live however he/she would like to live, but do we need to flaunt it for ratings? Really? I hope your ratings sink as low as you have sunk in having Chaz on there."

Your ignorance is showing Kmto61056.

Cher took to Twitter to defend her child and others swarmed the DWTS website to do battle with the transbigots.

I'm usually watching other shows instead of Dancing With The Stars, but in solidarity with Chaz I will be tuned in starting on September 19 and will keep watching it as long as he is competing .

Laverne Cox On Joy Behar Tonight

If you're channel surfing and looking for something interesting to watch, check out the Joy Behar Show later tonight at 9 PM CDT on HLN.   There will be a panel discussion on the topic of trans people in entertainment.

Laverne Cox is one of the people on this panel along with Chaz Bono, Gun Hill Road actress Harmony Santana and Don Lemon?  

Okay.  Big ups to the fact there is a multicultural trans panel for this one.  But why is Don Lemon a part of this discussion if the subject is trans people in entertainment?

I'm just askin' a question.

Good luck ladies and gents, hope the discussion is an informative one and I will definitely be tuned in for it. 

TransGriot Note:  Found out Don is the guest host and Isis King is also part of this panel.   He's subbing for Joy while she's on vacation.   Gives me even more of a reason to watch tonight's show.

Isis Will Be Back On America's Next Top Model

When America's Next Top Model kicks off its latest season on the CW network next month it will have a lot of familiar faces on it.  One of them will be our homegirl Isis King.

This cycle of ANTM will be an all star show that starts on September 14, and they decided to bring back many of the fan favorites and give them another shot at winning the America's Next Top Model crown. 

In addition to Isis, they have brought back Cycle 15's Kayla Ferrel who came out as a lesbian during that show's run and made it to the final four.

Other girls coming back are Shannon Stewart (Cycle 1), Camille McDonald (Cycle 2), Brittany Brower (Cycle 4), Lisa D’Amato (Cycle 5), Bre Scullark (Cycle 5), Bianca Golden (Cycle 9), Dominique Reighard (Cycle 10), Isis's castmate Sheena Sakai (Cycle 11), Allison Harvard (Cycle 12), Laura Kirkpatrick (Cycle 13), Angelea Preston (Cycle 14), and Alexandria Everett (Cycle 16).

For those of y'all who haven't watched the show in a while, Tyra of course is one of the judges along with Andre Leon Talley and Nigel Barker.   The contestants are still being mentored by catwalk expert “Miss” J. Alexander and photo shoot director Jay Manuel.

ANTM cycles always have celebrity judges, and the celeb judges for this all star show cycle will be Nicki Minaj, Kathy Griffin, LaToya Jackson, Ashlee Simpson, Kristin Cavallari, Coco Rocha, Anthony Zuiker and fashion photographer Nikos.


Okay CW and Tyra, y'all just gave me a reason to watch this show again, even if it's just watching it in catch up mode.  This time I hope Isis has a more positive experience on it and goes all the way.  

Rev. Al Sharpton On MSNBC As Permanent Host?

In the wake of Cenk Uguyr's departure as the host of an MSNBC show that comes on in the 6 PM ET timeslot, Rev Al Sharpton has been filling in for the last several weeks on it as a guest host.

This came in the wake of the NAACP, the National Black Journalists Association, the Blackosphere and the African American community getting more than a little perturbed about the 5-11 PM ET blackout that was occurring during the cable news shows broadcast during that time slot on MSNBC and CNN.

They once again fell into the pattern of having liberal-progressive leaning white men and women squaring off against conservative leaning white men and women, while every now and then sticking a Latino or African-American on to add some melanin to the predominately white panel discussing issues of the day from their cultural perspective.

These 5-11 PM shows in addition to being the most watched hours of cable news programming, also drive much of the political chatter and issues discussion. 

I noticed that in the wake of our loud complaints about it, Melissa Harris-Perry just finished a week long stint on the Rachel Maddow Show and Michael Eric Dyson is currently doing the same for Ed Schultz on his MSNBC show as well. 
 
It hasn't escaped MSNBC's attention either that since 'the Rev' has started showing up in that 6 PM ET timeslot, the ratings of the MSNBC Live show have dramatically improved to the point that MSNBC only trails Fox Noise in that timeslot amongst adult 25-54 viewers and they are considering making Rev. Al the permanent host of it.

It's about damned time.  Some of y'all may hate on Rev. Sharpton, but he has much respect and love in the African-American community that he earned for being a tenacious fighter and tell it like it T-I-S is spokesperson for our community on a wide variety of issues.  

But I'm not going to be happy until I see more diversity in these 5-11 PM news shows and more diverse viewpoints are being expressed in those timeslots.