Julie Bindel-Mary Daly For The New Millennium

Mary Daly is no longer walking this planet, but fear not, her transphobic radical feminist replacement is on the case.

Julie Bindel is spreading lies and disinformation about trans peeps and sitting in vanilla flavored privileged judgment of our lives.

Like Janice Raymond, she gleefully wallows in transphobia and advocates that biology is not destiny unless you are trans.

Real nice words coming from a lesbian. The oppressed now becomes the oppressor.

Bindel has the nerve to whine that trans people are stifling her free speech. Yeah right. Free speech has consequences, Mary Daly for the New Millennium.

Did you actually think transpeople were just going to sit in a corner and sulk while you spewed forth transphobic rants and insults with impunity?

Um no Miss Deluded Thang, unlike the Disco Era where our voices were drowned out by the trans hatred chorus of Daly, Greer and Raymond, new decade, new rules.

We can and will hit back just as hard.

Besides, as a minority, I know all too well that hate speech such as Bindel's must be called out as early and forcefully as possible, not greeted with silence.

Too often over recorded human history hate speech becomes hate violence which leads to genocide.

And it's past time that Julie Bindel be called out for her transphobia, not excused for it.

Loudoun County VA Trans Bigot Delgaudio Gets Smackdown

In the wake of Loudoun County passing the measure adding sexual orientation and gender identity to their anti discrimination policy back on January 5, Loudoun County Supervisor and trans bigot Eugene Delgaudio kept flapping his gums and got into political hot water in the process.

He sent out an e-mail letter with this transphobic statement to his constituents in the wake of the January 5 majority vote expressing his opposition to the passed policy changes.

"The board votes six yes, Waters and Delgaudio 'no,' with York abstaining, to add 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' to the hiring of employees which means if a man dressed as a woman wants a job, you have to treat 'it' the same as a normal person.''



And in a recent January 20 Loudoun County Board of Supervisors meeting he got rebuked for it by his fellow board members.



Supervisor Jim Burton stated, "Regardless of how one may feel about the policy in question, there is no excuse for referring to other human beings as 'it'."

Supervisor Andrea McGimsey stated, "I think that the actions and words of Mr. Delgaudio prove why we needed to institute the policy that we did the other day. There's clearly some people who need those kinds of policies in place."

She said she believed his language was dangerous.

And for far too long, we transpeople have let people like Delgaudio and his like minded christobigot fzriends get away with dehumanizing us.

New rules for a new decade. Time to loudly call them out. If these bigots hold political office or are attempt to get elected by using transpeople as a wedge issue, time to vote them out.

Negro Michigan Republican Secretary of State Candidate Won't Allow ID Gender Changes For Transpeeps If Elected

I've always loved my Lone Star homegirl Kat's writing, and check out ENDABlog on a regular basis to see what she and the other great peeps writing there have to say on many pertinent issues of the day.

Well, this particular post which mentions a negro secretary of state candidate in Michigan caught my attention.

Check out one of the things Repugnican Paul Scott wants to do if he's elected to the job that's being vacated by current Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land (R).

I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance.

As if transpeople didn't have it hard enough in Michigan, this 'brother' and half term state rep is now demonizing transpeople and using us as a wedge issue in order to move up the electoral food chain and prove he's more 'conservative than thou'.

All he's proving is how transphobic he is. And the thing that's pissing me off is this person shares my ethnic heritage. But as Zora Neale Hurston once said. All my skinfolk ain't my kinfolk.

One major recurring problem we transpeople face is ID that doesn't match our presentation. Non matching ID can and has opened the door to anti-trans discrimination, and this conservafool has just openly stated that he would if elected make it policy to not allow ID changes for transpeople under ANY circumstances.

We need the ability to change our ID to match our gender presentation, not permanent prohibitions against doing so.

This is a concrete example of not only why many African-Americans can't stand Black conservatives and negro Republicans, we see you for the butt kissing Michael Steelesque sellouts you are.

Okay transpeeps and fair minded peeps in Michigan, y'all know what to do and it's breathtakingly simple.

Make sure Scott never sees the secretary of state's chair.

If you can't knock his transphobic butt out in the primary, work your butts off to ensure he doesn't get elected this November by supporting his Democratic opponent. Let that Dem know upfront, be it Jocelyn Benson or whoever comes out of the Dem primary one of the reasons why you are supporting them so they don't forger why they're in that chair later.

After you deny Scott the Secretary of State's office, you then work to knock his transphobic behind out of the Michigan legislature.


H/T ENDABlog

Words Mean Something – And So Do Letters

TransGriot Note: This is a guest post courtesy of another one of the people in the community I have much love and admiration for, trans historian and attorney Katrina Rose.

This was originally posted at ENDAblog,

Engaging in historical revisionism must give some people a buzz comparable to Pineapple Express.

Exhibit 639,172,825: Former Scampaign head Tim McFeeley.

Ted Kennedy’s leadership in defense of the civil rights and aspirations of LGBT Americans has been remarkable, and his death leaves us without our fiercest champion in the United States Senate. The value of one strong advocate in the Senate — someone who will use every parliamentary, personal and political lever to preserve, protect and defend an issue — cannot be overstated, and Senator Kennedy was the LGBT community’s lion-hearted advocate.

Whether working with Republican Senator Lowell Weicker to secure the first funding to care for people with AIDS, or standing up to the incessant, vile attacks on gay Americans and people with HIV/AIDS from Jesse Helms, or ensuring that all people with HIV are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Ted Kennedy was the “go-to” Senator for LGBT Americans for over 20 years. Senator Kennedy was not deterred by a lack of political support; whether our side could deliver 50 votes or 5 in the Senate, and whether the public opinion polls favored the gay side or not, if Kennedy felt the issue deserved his support, he would hold the Senate floor as long as necessary to achieve the best result.

Would that be the same ADA that includes not one, but two, explicitly anti-trans provisions – provisions that led to the erasure of pro-trans Rehabilitation Act precedent?

Senator Kennedy was not deterred by a lack of political support….

Really?

Then why was there never even a trans-inclusive ENDA bill in the Senate until three weeks before Kennedy’s death?

And, if folks are keeping track, Kennedy died in 2009 – not 1994.

One day in particular stands out in my mind: July 29, 1994, a hot summer Friday in Washington. The Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA) had its inaugural introduction just a few weeks before, and Senator Kennedy as Chairman of the Labor Committee scheduled a hearing on the bill for 10 a.m. We lined up outside the hearing room two hours in advance, and as the doors opened we had to jostle with a phalanx of right-wing ministers led by Louis Sheldon and his daughter Andrea who broke ahead of the line to try to pack the room. A scuffle and angry words brought Capitol police officers to restore calm, and before the hearing officially commenced Senator Kennedy had to denounce the uncivil behavior at a hearing to discuss civil rights. Here was the leader of every major civil rights bill protecting women, ethnic and racial minorities, and people with disabilities taking up the fight once again, this time to stop discrimination in the workplace against LGBT Americans.

Really?

What was Sen. Kennedy – or any senator, much less you Mr. McFeeley – doing in July 1994 to stop discrimination in the workplace against transgender Americans? You know – July 1994? When not only was there not a trans-inclusive ENDA but when trans activists were blocked by a Senate committee from even testifying? When one senator not named Kennedy managed to get the written testimony of two trans activists (Phyllis Frye and Karen Kerin) added to the record?

Yes – that July 1994.

But believe it or not, my posting here is not anti-Teddy. I’m willing to accept the possibility that Teddy may finally have come around – but, honestly, there’s not really much of a record (other than his co-sponsorship of the Senate ENDA bill) to back that up.

But that’s not the issue here.

The historical record, when it is finally in full view, may even provide some room to at least maneuver him out of the Barney Frank category; maybe he meant better than his lack of official action indicates – though, it does seem as though there are too many indicators that he indeed was the Senate roadblock that trans people have asserted him to be for the last decade and a half.

But even that’s not the issue here.

The issue is yet another purple-n-yellow-blooded professional queer creating more nuggets of fake trans-inclusive histories of a trans-exclusive movement and a disgustingly transphobic organization, to muddy not just the water but the air and everything else.

And honestly?

If there’s anyone who should be more pissed off about it than trans people…

its Ted Kennedy.

Germaine Greer- Still Hatin' After All These Years

The conventional wisdom is that people mellow out in their golden years and get more thoughtful and flexible about issues they were intractable about during their youth.

Well, judging by this comment, Germaine Greer still hasn't learned jack despite thirty plus years of research on transgender people blowing her disco-era transphobic screeds to shreds.

Peep the comment she slipped in on a Guardian commentary she wrote on the Caster Semenya dustup.

Nowadays we are all likely to meet people who think they are women, have women’s names, and feminine clothes and lots of eyeshadow, who seem to us to be some kind of ghastly parody, though it isn’t polite to say so. We pretend that all the people passing for female really are. Other delusions may be challenged, but not a man’s delusion that he is female.

And y'all wonder why I can't stand radical feminists who worship at the altar of Greer, Daly, Raymond et al?

The only 'ghastly parody' here Germaine is you.

Didn't you get the memo? Hatin' on transpeople is so 20th century.

Perez Hilton may call himself the 'Queen of Mean', but he's just a pretender to the throne. The real queen of mean is Her Royal Hater Queen Germaine I.

All hail the Queen of Mean. May her reign of ignorant, intolerant transphobic meanness mercifully come to an end as expeditiously as possible.

Get Real

TransGriot Note: In honor of Black Music Month, it's time for another song rewrite.

This one's dedicated to the WWBT's, our community's haters. So fire up those iPod's and sing along with the fresh new lyrics



Get Real
(sung to the tune of 'I'm Real' by James Brown.

All you copy cats out there
Get offa my chip
'Cause I'm Moni R with the full, full force
Ain't takin' your lip

Heey, good God
Moni R, Moni R

Peeps in the blogosphere, check out what I say
The WWBT's think they're bad
They're delusional that way

I'm the cool transsistah
Who started TransGriot and I'm glad
I'm the award winning, original
I know I'm bad

All you assorted haters, bitin' me so hard
Posting clueless racist nonsense on your so called blogs
I don't care about you, or your ludicrous goal
This transwoman's Brown and Moni's got soul

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
And there's no WWBT good enough
Or has the juice I have

Get real
I'm the real super bad
And there's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Que pasa, que que pasa
Que pasa, people, que pasa, hit me

The WWBT haters think that they got pull
I take your links off my blog posts
Cause you're full of bull

You peeps denigrate me
In your cyberhomes
And falsely claim I'm racist
Yo bitches, now it's on

Can't do what I do
You latte sippin' girls
Peeps know I'm nice, I'm so real
You wanna be me, boo

All you copy cats out there
Get offa my chip
'Cause I'm Moni R with the full, full force
Ain't takin' your lip

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Get real
I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Peeps, can I take you to the bridge
Can I take you to the bridge?
Can I take you to the bridge?
Can I take you to the bridge?
Good God

There it is, WWBT's
Someday you might be good as me
You tramps ain't smart enough to rhyme
What's your Technorati? Minus three?
Admit it, I'm your mama, baby

Get real
Come on y'all, do the camel walk
And get the hop out your back, hit me

Get busy, yeah, make it funky
Hit me, get on the good foot
Hit me, get up
Cool time, mama's got a brand new bag

Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have

Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there

No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there

Get real, Get real
I'm the real super bad, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT out there
That has the skillz I have

The Rad Fem Collective- Still Hatin' On Transwomen

We are the Rad Fem Borg. Lower your intellectual shields and surrender your brains. We will add your biological and feminist distinctiveness to our own. You will adapt to hating transwomen just like us. Resistance is futile.

In my 'Ain't Feelin' Feminism' post one of my commenters remarked that the anti-transgender sentiments that drive some of the radical feminist movement had subsided, to which I dissented on that point.

While I had in the back of my mind the things I'd read on the Questioning Transphobia blog about rad fem bloggers still stuck in the 70's, we got fresh indications that the transphobic infection of idiocy has been implanted into new rad fem drones.

One was even dispatched to Womanist Musings recently to attack the esteemed editor of that blog because as a trans ally, Renee politely asked for her post to be removed from a rad fem blog carnival that turned out to be an anti-transgender hatefest.

The rad fem hatred of transpeople continues with a post that rad fem transhater Margaret Jamison wrote because Renee called the Nicky drone out concerning a transphobic comment this person left on a post she wrote on intersex tennis pro Sarah Gronert. Nicky then ran to her space and tried to claim that Renee was 'rude' to her.

Renee exercised her right as the owner/editor of the blog to call out the transphobic comment, and because Nicky got smacked down, she's exercising her white privilege to claim that Renee was 'rude to her.'

You know, I'm beyond sick of the deluded transphobic hatred expressed by some rad fems, some gays and lesbians and some intersex people being spun as 'truth'. When you call them out on it, they hop in their Borg cube and run back to the collective at warp speed and whine on their blogs we're being 'rude', especially if you're a POC calling them out. And just like right wingers, they attempt to falsely project their nekulturny behaviors onto the transgender community and claim we're engaging in it.

You don't deserve civility when you are colluders aiding, abetting, and enabling the attitudes that result in transgender people being discriminated against or killed, disrespecting the real life experiences of transpeople and come into our spaces and the spaces of our allies to express your anti-transgender hostility.

Resistance to the disco era thinking of the rad fem collective is not futile.

It Ain't Activists Causing Problems In Your WWBT Lives, It's Our Enemies

Y'all know how much disdain I have for the WBT's (women born transsexual) or as I more truthfully label them the WWBT's (white women born transsexual). The reason I don't like them is because they are the kissing cousins to radical feminists.

They are too busy clutching on to privilege like a wino holding his last bottle of MD 20/20 and disrespectfully attacking anyone who disagrees with their attempts to create this bullshit racist hierarchy to separate themselves from the rest of the multicultural transgender masses based on whether or not you have a neovagina.

It came to my attention that a WWBT was pissed because she was disrespectfully asked to leave a Catholic church parish that she'd been faithfully attending for over 20 years.

That's jacked up, but instead of focusing her righteous anger on the Roman Catholic Church who has spread the anti-transgender poison that's now filtering down to the Catholic flock level, who does she blame?

The activists in the community.

One of their frequent rants of the WWBT crowd on transgender message boards is that if we activists wouldn't 'rock the boat' then the haters would leave us alone to live in peace.

Yeah right. I don't know what world you live in, but our enemies have no intention of leaving us alone. It's either stand up and fight for your dignity, self respect and human rights or get run over by fundamentalist fueled tyranny. Sometimes you even have to call out your friends and allies for disrespecting you as well.

If you'd grown up as a person of color instead of privileged white males you'd know this. Thank God there are far more people that are cognizant of that and not only aren't going to meekly submit to injustice, but are willing to fight it head on.

They should be commended for doing so, not attacked and disparaged as you WWBT's tend to do. You can split hairs all you want and call yourselves sufferers of HBS (Harry Benjamin Syndrome), but to the unwashed Fox News watching masses out there you're still transsexuals or worse. You put your pantyhose on one leg at a time just like a pre-op or non-op does and you are still targets for the same discrimination and violence we face.

The difference between you and me is that we activists here and all over the world are putting our lives on the line in some cases to fight the madness so that future generations don't have to.

It's time for y'all to put the big girl panties on and fight your real enemies. The religious fundamentalists are. The neo-Mattachine anti-inclusion gays and lesbians are. The radical feminists are. These are the people causing the problems in your lives.

The activists are the peeps who are trying to solve them.

Catholic Church Is STILL Hatin' on Transgender People

What the frack is wrong with the old Nazi who's running thangs in the Catholic Church?

Of all the things going wrong in the world these days that he could have taken the time in his Christmas speech to call attention to, he chose to call transgender people a threat to humanity?

But then again, with Paul McHugh, one of the transgender community's longtime haters advising him, I knew that the anti-transgender rhetoric was only going to get progressively worse.

I also have to consider the source of these irrational comments as well. These are the same peeps who 400 years ago persecuted Galileo for daring to suggest that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not the other way around, so it takes a little while for science to catch up with Catholic religious dogma.

Gee, didn't know that transpeople fighting to live their lives around the world was such a threat to a bunch of sexually repressed old men chilling in the Vatican.

You idiots have far more in common with fundie christians than living the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for sharing that message this holiday season, Pope Benedict.

Once Again HRC-Keep Your Moneygrubbing Mitts Off Our TDOR

I've been advised that the Homosexual Rights Corporation is sponsoring TDOR events in Columbus and Cincinnati, OH.

Those events are supposed to be FUBU productions for us to memorialize our dead with our allies.

While there's some concern in the Dallas-Fort Worth transgender community about HRC's local Federal Club chapter sponsoring an event on the same night and time as the TDOR observances in Dallas and Fort Worth that have been publicized for weeks, let's get real for a minute.

The people who attend that event aren't likely to have compassion for our community, so don't sweat it. Handle your business and honor our people with class and dignity. You'll also know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the peeps who do show up for the DFW events are allies and friends who truly care about the community, not backstabbing sellouts.

If you feel they deliberately targeted the TDOR, then protest their next Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area events and their dinner.

HRC cannot, in any spin driven hallucinogenic stretch of the word consider themselves to be an ally to the transgender community. Don't think we forgot about HRC selling transgender people out last year and being the lone holdout in the United ENDA coalition.

Those of us who are paying attention know y'all ain't changed one bit. That's why your dinners are still being protested.

Until HRC becomes a true ally to this community and joins the mainstream of the GLBT community in working together to pass a transgender-inclusive ENDA, y'all need to keep your grubby paws off the TDOR events.

Here's what I said about it last year and it bears repeating and rereading, especially by you transgender peeps who are continually sipping the 'HRC is our friends' Kool-aid.

Faux News Ignorance

Y'all know how much I loathe Faux News or any right-wing conservaoutlet. It's nothing but a propaganda organ for the Republican party for starters and racist to boot. Add transphobic to the list of reasons why I make sure any TV I own doesn't spend a millisecond parked on any channel that carries it.

The news broke of Isis' groundbreaking addition to America's Next Top Model and wasn't even 24 hours old before the Faux News KKKlowns, with an assist from Us Weekly magazine's editor ar large Ian Drew started their insulting and demeaning comments.



Soon after the segment aired, GLAAD contacted both Fox News Channel and Us Weekly, calling on both to apologize. Us Weekly issued the following statement: “We apologize if any group was offended by our editor’s comments as it was by no means his intention.” Fox News did not respond.

Typical of Faux News, the bigoted white boys (and girls) club masquerading as a news organization. Feeling bad because you can't measure up, little boys?

If you feel like letting out some frustration at Faux News, here's the contact info.

Fox News Channel

Gregg Jarrett - Anchor
(212) 301-3000
gregg.jarrett@foxnews.com

Jay Wallace - Executive Producer
(212) 301-5168
jay.wallace@foxnews.com

Tom Lowell - Senior Producer
(212) 301-3000 (outlet)
tom.lowell@foxnews.com

Dag, Can I Pee In Peace?

One of the things that all transpeople get slapped with is what bathroom we're going to use after we transition.

Lately it seems that our right-wing enemies, who have no rational reason in the light of overwhelming evidence that granting civil rights coverage to transpeople is fair and just, are resorting to scare tactics to deny us those rights.

The campaign of the so-called Citizens for Responsible Government that seeks to overturn the law the Montgomery County MD County Council passed 8-0 that prohibits discrimination against transgendered people in employment, housing, and access to public accommodations is wholly based on this tactic. They even went so far as to use notmyshowers.com as the website URL for their hate campaign. They know they have no shot to overturn this law if you use logic based arguments, so the conservatives do what they do best: lie.

Only problem is that it's my bladder and the bladders of other transpeople on the line here along with a law that's desperately needed.

We've heard the Forces of Intolerance throw this shade in Montgomery County MD, Daddy D throw it (and continue to exhort his sheeple to do so) in Colorado in the wake and passage of SB200, and even at the melanin-free hearing last week on transgender unemployment the opposition brought up bathroom based arguments against expanding civil rights for transgender people.

It's ironic, but not unexpected that the Reichers are recycling the same arguments they used to keep Black folks out of 'their' bathrooms back in the bad old days of Jim Crow for the new millennium.

If God forbid, a sexual predator wants to go into the women's restroom to commit his foul deed, he ain't gonna spend two plus hours getting in drag to do it. He'll just walk into the bathroom and do it.

And nine times out of ten they will call themselves Christians.

It's not like you don't have men or women using the opposite gender bathrooms already. There were more than a few times back in the 80's when The Summit/Compaq Center used to have long women's restroom lines, women would duck into the men's room to handle their business. Women take their toddler sons into their restrooms because they are leery of the possibility of heterosexual male perverts (98% percent of those being white males) fondling their boys if they send them in the men's room alone. And don't forget dads who have taken their toddler daughters in the men's room.

I do believe that no matter what the gender sign says on the wall, they all have sit down stalls with privacy doors.

When we begin this transgender road, one of the things that is stressed in gender club meetings, our conventions and seminars about transition is the fact that you not only use the bathroom consistent with your presentation, you do it correctly and get out. We as a community are very sensitive to that issue and ain't trying to start any static over it or garner any negative PR over it. That's why Theresa Rickman and our Montgomery County MD opponents had to fake a locker room incident and lie to people just to get enough signatures for their petitions forcing a November referendum on the law.

Even our 'frenemy' Congressman Barney Frank stooped as low with the infamous 'penises in showers' argument to oppose our inclusion in ENDA back in the 90's that our opponents are throwing now.

“There are workplace situations — communal showers, for example — when the demands of the transgender community fly in the face of conventional norms and therefore would not pass in any Congress. I’ve talked with transgender activists and what they want — and what we will be forced to defend — is for people with penises who identify as women to be able to shower with other women.” Congressman Barney Frank

When I go to the bathroom, I'm in there for a specific purpose. My mission is to pee, wash hands, check my makeup and get out. Every now and then I may have to do the number two. But I or any other transperson shouldn't be forced to use a bathroom opposite of our everyday gender presentation because of a Talabaptist's incorrect interpretation of Biblical Scripture or a transphobic gay congressman has a problem with us.

The bottom line here is that all I and any other transperson want is to pee in peace in the bathroom appropriate to our current exterior gender presentation.

Is that too much to ask?

Easy Pickin’s Protesting In The Big Easy

Guest Post by Vanessa Edwards Foster
From the Trans Political Blog

“When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.” — Bayard Rustin, Civil Rights Movement & Gay Activist

“Well, I saw the HRC sign and I thought “what’s this about?” and had to come over here and see. I don’t like HRC either, which is why I never donate to them! I just want to say I support you – you go, girl!” That was a quote from a gay man from Lapanto, Arkansas who had just returned from a cruise with two lesbian friends from there and happened to be staying in the hotel directly across the street from the Intercontinental Hotel in New Orleans as the Human Rights Campaign banquet began Sunday afternoon.

He watched us for a while, went back to the hotel, then came down a half hour later and helped us protest HRC. He also liked some of the raunchy, loud rock – like Linkin Park – which I was blaring from my boombox.

As it turns out, the boombox music worked well. It was very ugly, angry and possibly abrasive to the ear. But it accomplished what I had wanted: drawing the attention, expressing the mood and doing it all without us saying one word. No cheers, no chants, no shouting matches with attendees – and most pointedly, no words that the HRC people will then use to blast us and justify their marginalization of us later.

It’s also distinctly trans music – not of the typical gay disco, dance, diva or even show tune fare that typically is the choice of gay and lesbian America. It’s the stuff that typically is heard blaring from the jukeboxes of what’s affectionately known as “tranny hooker” bars.

An additional bonus to the music was a surprise: we got a number of thumbs-ups and supporters who either liked the music (some of the Buffalo Soldiers contingent in town for a get together, as well as Gen X & Y types who were also enjoying!) even support from the riders on the passing trolleys. It was quite the spectacle!

“I don’t get it. Why would they do that? They’re wacked! That’s not being equal.” Such was the quote from a very polite young junior high-aged teen, replete with longish blonde hair, braces and a Bob Marley T-shirt upon hearing why we were protesting HRC. Truth told, he appeared drawn as much for the Korn song playing as our signs and protest march.

As I explained to him who we transgenders were, who HRC was, what they’ve done historically and how “equality” isn’t equal to all people, I watched his young face watching me and noted a seeming androgyny. I’ll never know if his curiosity was more than just cursory. One thing I did note was he was very diligent in his learning, was patient to listen to the entire story and even thanked me for the information.

Indeed we reached at least one youth (as well as loose gaggles of other teens and/or young adults who passed by).

And those were just two of the folks among the numerous curious who asked. Two of the MCC ministers who volunteered for the HRC banquet came out, got a full education from protesters Phyllis Austin and Kelli Busey (who rode down from Dallas). There were hugs all around and animated chat as well as some new local connections made or renewed by both local girls, Phyllis and Courtney Sharp. One of the ministers who wore his “equal sign” pin removed it!

Another older woman engaged Courtney in explaining her reasons for protesting the banquet. When Courtney explained, the woman asked “are you against transgenders?” Obviously Courtney replied to the contrary, and the woman answered “good! Because I was about to protest YOU if you were!”

Of course we had security running around monitoring us nervously, but there was one big distinction this protest: there was NO police presence! We somehow managed to get the drop on them before they had chance to react (either that or they couldn’t convince the NOPD that the handful of tranny protesters was worth expending resources and manpower on.) Oh, the menace of transgenders ….

“[T]he Gay Elite condemns them and others to death because of our obsessive need to be seen as the Morally Superior Victimized Minority.” — Tammy Bruce, columnist for FrontPageMag

Some of the most memorable items: one black, obviously gay male in a red and white striped shirt talking frantically on a cell phone walking out and giving a head count of the protesters and asking what could be done about us. It was satisfying to see the unnerving.

One of the hotel’s patrons walking by and yelling at me to “turn that shit off!” while the Geto Boys blasted “F*ck ‘Em All!” from the boombox. He clearly wasn’t into our musical choice!

One apparently conservative guy who asked me about the protest and offered support for our protest – but then asked why I was supporting transgenders: “you’re not one of them, are you?” When I assured him I was (including the part about my football days), he stood agape giving the once over a few times. He then gave me a little compliment, wished me “good luck” and walked back across the street rubbing his chin and looking like I hurt his feelings. Poor guy – at least he supported us!

And of course the banquet-goers themselves: nervous people with fast walks averting eye contact with a fixed-straight myopic stare, the cold-hearted elite glares and smug eye-rolling glances and those few who gave physical flinches at both the sign messages and the raunch music with looks of shock and, yes, a few pained expressions. It is painful, and it’s admittedly not a great thing to sate oneself with others pain.

In the case of the Human Rights Campaign, though, it’s collateral damage that has to be factored and accepted into the equation. Sadly, that’s the only option other than our giving up completely and being obliterated. Not only does HRC not care to know about trans people nor the irreparable pain they’ve inflicted, they actively engage in continuing the damage and increasing the intensity.

As with Rep. Barney Frank, HRC takes continuing pleasure in watching the havoc from the chaos they create for us with their strategies, manipulation and implementation. They delight in watching us learn to mistrust our own community by their own selective wedging operations and externally assisted classism. They practically pee their pants laughing at the disenfranchisement, unemployment, economic tragedy and vulnerability they create for us with their own empty promises.

And they will continue this pattern.

They have the money, most all the media and certainly the power: there’s nothing to stop them, and everything to gain by continuing the damage to the trans community. The only way they will learn what we’re feeling is when they have to live with the same pain, the same fear, the same desperation and to feel the effects of the same type of damage.

Money, power and attention (and increasing all three for themselves) is their only desire. Only once those have been impacted will they make “attempts” to come around – even if true reconciliation never comes.

Meanwhile, we make impact … as we did with the last inquiry: a modelesque twenty-something with her equally attractive boyfriend. She was going into the restaurant across the street with her beau and (after seeing our signs) felt compelled to ask us why we were protesting HRC as she had attended their banquet at the Ritz-Carlton the year before. “I’m confused. Why would you protest [HRC]?”

We enlightened her completely on “equality” as opposed to everyone being equal, to which she replied: “Well that sucks! Thank you for letting me know that!” Control that damage, HRC.

The lies, the hurt, the pain, the hate
Really keep fucking with me –
There's no where else to go.” — Korn, Embrace

More HRC Events You Can Protest

Here's more HRC sponsored events you can protest:

HRC at the Mystics: Washington Mystics vs. Los Angeles Sparks
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Washington, DC

Trans-Unity Pride
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

Ladies Spectacular at the WNBA Chicago Sky
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Chicago, IL

HRC Equalizers Softball Game
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Nashville, TN

HRC Night with the Indiana Fever
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Indianapolis , IN

2008 HRC Utah Gala Dinner
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Orem, UT

HRC Columbus Gala Dinner 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Columbus, OH

Third Annual HRC Pride Cruise
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
New York, NY

2008 HRC Chicago Gala: Summer Chic
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Chicago, Il

2008 HRC San Francisco Bay Area Gala
Saturday, July 26, 2008
San Francisco, CA

3rd Annual HRC Dinner: Life, Liberty & Pursuit of Equality
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Las Vegas, NV

2008 Twin Cities Gala Dinner
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Minneapolis, MN

9th Annual Pacific Northwest Dinner
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Seattle, WA

2008 HRC National Dinner in Washington DC
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Washington, DC

27th Annual New England Gala Dinner
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Boston, MA

Annual HRC San Antonio Gala Dinner
Saturday, October 25, 2008
San Antonio, TX

Black Tie Dinner, Inc.'s 2008 Dallas/Ft. Worth Gala
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Dallas, TX

Big Plans For Big Easy And The Little Equal

Guest Post by Vanessa Edwards Foster
Courtesy Trans Political blog

This will be a short blog post as I’m awaiting my riding buddy coming in from Dallas. Yes, a couple of tranny road warriors will be hitting I-10 shortly, heading east into the Big Easy to help protest the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Banquet. Who knows? Maybe we can draw out the riot squad replete with barricades and horseback crowd-control officers just like Houston?

At first I pondered whether to make a trip over to New Orleans, whose community has been decimated since Katrina and still remains mostly scattered to the four winds. Then my good friend and longtime trans activist, Courtney Sharp, sent the below advertisement for HRC’s New Orleans Entertainment Extravaganza!:

Note how their version of entertainment is having someone in the form of Bianca Del Rio caricaturize women and more particularly the image of gender transgression. Example: transgender! Yes, we trans people (who everyone in Congress and gay-elite-land knows are beyond help in the form of justice or rights) are the perfect fodder for humor for their little tete-a-tete. Yet another reminder how objectified we trans people really are in elite G&L America, and hooray for HRC for reminding us of that again!

You gotta know we’re making gains when they’re back to remembering us in caricatured form again.

Since the HRC has already written off the lion’s share of transgender activists as people to avoid and circumvent, and added a nice little character assassination to top it off, why not make it a self-fulfilling prophecy for them? Certainly when you have nothing to have ever gained, there’s nothing to lose!

More pointedly, HRC in its contemporary version really has no clue what protesters and “loose cannons” are all about. They complain about this now! These folks really have no recollection or awareness of the old days, the Act-Up days, the Stonewall days. In short order after the next congressional session (and maybe sooner), they will. It’s time to give them what they want to portray us as and what they expect – protests and acrimony, venom and voices raised to a pique.

Maybe it’s time to “give the people what they want” … so to speak.

So off to protest in the Big Easy with Kelli Busey and Courtney and the good folks hosting in New Orleans! Then time to hit the French Quarter too! (Hey, you’ve gotta have some diversion to get your mind off of the depression borne from the GLBT politic!)

TransGriot Note: Give 'em hell Ness, Kelly and Courtney! The protests continue. No ENDA No Peace!

Belly of the Beast-The Atlanta HRC Dinner

TransGriot Note: The transgender community's protests of HRC dinners continue. Last weekend was the Atlanta HRC dinner, and Monica Helms in a post from her Trans Universe Blog tells us what went down in the ATL.

The "Belly of the Beast" – The Atlanta HRC Dinner
By Monica F. Helms


At the last minute, I didn’t know if I could attend the Atlanta HRC Dinner protest in front of the Hyatt Regency, May 3, 2008. Work had me signed up to do 2 hours of overtime right in the middle of when the protest was scheduled. Luckily, I was able to trade the hours to a co-worker.

On Saturday, I had to formulate a plan to talk with the most people I could at the dinner. But in order to do that, I needed to go inside the “Belly of the Beast.” Being a former submariner, I was familiar with submarine war tactics, which have helped me as an activist in the past. You sneak into an enemy’s port, lay a few torpedoes in the sides of their ships, then slip silently away. They never know what hit them.

For this dinner, I needed a disguise, in other words, a “duck blind.” When hunting ducks, the hunters have to blend into the environment, so they build a camouflage enclosure where they can see the ducks, but the ducks cannot see them. For this, I would wear my long evening gown that had no back. It’s also how spies blend into a fancy party. “My name is Bond. Jane Bond.” I was ready to do some shaking AND stirring. Of course, I probably blew my cover when I wore my “Trans and Proud” and “TAVA” buttons.

I knew that I would not get into the dinner without a ticket and I had no intention of buying one. However, they always had their Silent Auction before the dinner and you didn’t have to have a dinner ticket to go in there.

When I arrived at the Hyatt, two people were already handing out flyers and holding signs. Sir Jesse was outside and Anneliese was just inside the hotel door, handing out flyers as people came in. Others who arrived later were Jamie, Jae, Marisa, Dante, Betty and a friend of hers, Ghetto Gospel.

I heard earlier from Betty that on Thursday, May 1st, Joe Solmonese had a meeting with a half dozen transgender people here in Georgia . I wasn’t invited, nor was a few other transgender people who have worked at the national level, such as Dana Owings, Kristin Reichman and Cole Thaler from Lambda Legal. I’m willing to bet it was not accidental.

I was told that Joe “. . . apologized for misspeaking at Southern Comfort . . .” and that “. . . had he known what was going to have happen, he wouldn’t have said what he had said.” To me that translates to “HRC has no integrity when it comes to speaking to transgender people and I have the backbone of a jelly fish.” George Orwell would be so proud.

Once inside, I strolled into the Silent Auction like I belonged there. In reality, if HRC was more supportive of transgender people and their needs, then I would have indeed belonged there. But, I was nothing more than an interloper in the game of intrigue. Okay, so I’m getting a bit melodramatic.

The first thing that I noticed was that in a city that has a large population of African Americans, the crowd looked distinctly white and distinctly male. There were some attendees who were People of Color and there were attendees who were female, but where I saw the most diversity was with the “hired help” and the volunteers. Interesting enough, one of the dinner’s co-chairs (Ebonee Bradford) was an African American woman.

The theme for the evening was a Las Vegas casino, complete with the bright lights, Vegas showgirls and an Elvis impersonator. I mingled with the crowd, talking to various people there, some who openly admitted they were part of HRC’s organization. I spoke with one woman who touted HRC’s “wonderful” Corporate Equality Index, having no idea I would be the wrong person to try and convince their CEI was so “perfect.” I proceeded to point out that my 100% company screwed me over simply because I’m trans when I needed a medically necessary operation that others in the company can get.

I told the woman the bar for transgender medical issues was set so low that an ant could jump over it. HRC does that to falsely inflate the numbers on the 100% list and to placate the corporations by allowing them to medically mistreat their transgender employees, just as long as their gay and lesbian employees are treated fairly. Transgender people don’t need to be treated fairly, by HRC’s standards.

During my journey through “ Never-Never Land ,” I had a chance to speak to the Beast Master himself, Joe Solmonese. I was nice and I complimented him on how appropriate the casino theme for the dinner was. “This is such a perfect theme you have here, Joe. It’s all about gambling . . . and you’re gambling with people’s lives.” I suspect he didn’t appreciate that.

Of course, I wasn’t going to stop there. I informed him about the Transgender Veterans Survey, conducted by TAVA that had just ended and it had 827 responses to it. Besides the military and VA-related questions in the survey, we had a great deal of general questions. I said he needs to see how many of our transgender veterans were unemployed and under-employed, and how many have been discriminated on the job. It didn’t seem to faze him. Ask me if I’m surprised.

Interesting, the number of transgender veterans who took our survey far surpasses the number of responses on the questionable survey HRC conducted to see if transgender people should be in ENDA. Also, you have to factor in the small population our respondents came from to really get the impact.

Then I asked Solmonese why I didn’t get an E-mail inviting me to the meeting on Thursday. He said, “I don’t know who put that together.” Ah, really? Does he expect me to believe he’s that clueless on something as important as a meeting? He then asked me, “What did you hear of the meeting?” I responded by saying, “That it took place and I wasn’t invited.” Also, the media wasn’t invited. I guess he doesn’t want to take a chance of going on record with what he says to transgender people. I wonder why.

The one thing that really set me off was when I had a chance to speak with a person I thought was a friend. He is an effeminate gay man who is the partner of a lawyer who I know through SLDN and the American Veterans for Equal Rights. He proceeded to tell me about his four-hour session at the spa to get ready for the event. I told him I was there to educate people on the need for a fully inclusive ENDA.

He said, “Oh, I don’t support that at all. They said there aren’t enough votes with transgender people in the bill. Besides, we need a win.”

I was pissed. “So, you want a win on the backs of millions of transgender people?” He tried to say something, but I continued. “You are an effeminate gay man and without Gender Identity and Gender Expression in ENDA, you’re just as fucked as transgender people. You and butch lesbians will be screwed, just like me.” He didn’t respond to that. Besides, he had his sugar daddy, so to hell with everyone else. I walked away.

The best thing I found out was when I went back outside to join the protest. Betty, a member of the Atlanta Pride Committee, informed me that they just had a vote that day to turn down HRC’s offer to be a sponsor for this year’s Pride. In a year where the expenses have increased in putting on Atlanta Pride, they turned down $5000 from HRC because of their stance on ENDA. I always knew I loved the people on the Atlanta Pride Committee, but this made me love them even more. I hope others will take that stance with HRC at their pride events. Betty also informed me that a trans man will be the Grand Marshall for the Pride Parade.

So much for the Atlanta HRC Dinner. I may not have made an impact on many people, but a friend reminded me that every little bit helps. I want to express my appreciation to Jamie Roberts and Sir Jesse McNulty for putting this together. It’s people like them and the Atlanta Pride Committee who make me proud to live in Georgia.