'Wildness' To Premiere At SXSW

Wildness is a feature length film by Wu Tsang that celebrates a four decade old Latino trans bar  in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park neighborhood called the Silver Platter.

It debuts at SXSW and Wu Tsang was interviewed by Colorlines

  

The 2nd Annual African-American Trans History Quiz

I got so much positive feedback after doing last year's inaugural Black Trans History Quiz I decided to make this an annual blog feature for Black History Month.

Just like last year's quiz, I'll give y'all a few days to mull over the questions before I post the answers in a separate post that I'll eventually link to this one.

And now, the second annual TransGriot African-American Trans History Quiz

1.  Transman Kylar Broadus founded an organization to lobby for the human rights of transpeople of color.  What is the name of that organization and what year was it founded?

2.  This People.com editor was recently named to TheGrio's 100 History Makers List for 2012.  Name her.

3. True or False:   An IFGE Trinity award has never been won by a Black trans man.

4. Last year we lost three iconic African-American trans leaders   Name them.


5. This transperson was the first to perform for a sitting US president.  Who is she?

6. What transwoman uttered this quote?  "I defy any doctor in the world to prove that I am not a woman.”   Bonus points if you can also answer what state she was born in.

7. Transwomen Patti Shaw and Diana Taylor have this in common.  What's the link?

8.  In what city will the first annual Black Transmen Empowerment Retreat Dinner and Conference on March 29-April 1 take place?


9. IFGE award winner Dr. Marisa Richmond heads this statewide trans human rights organization.  Name it.

10. This transwoman made Diddy's Band in 2009 and in the process became the first transperson to actually win a reality television show competition.  Who is she?

11. There have been three autobiographical books written about or by African-American transwomen.   Name them.  


12.  This transwoman in November 1995 confronted job discrimination aimed at her on a college campus.  Name her and the school that perpetrated it.

13.  Miss International Queen runner up and London resident Miss Sahhara was originally born in this African nation.   Name it.

14. This internationally known trans human rights warrior is from Uganda.   What's his name.

15. What happened to Washington DC friends Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis on August 12, 2002?

16.  What is the name of the organization that Miss Major is the executive director of?

17.  Name the two ballroom houses that Octavia St Laurent was part of.

18.  True or False:  The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition's first board chair was an African American transwoman.

19. This transwoman is chronicled in a1979 JET magazine article that discusses her life, her discrimination suit suit against GM and her founding of a Detroit gender organization.   Name her.


20. Toni D'Orsay now runs this Phoenix based organization founded by Regina Gazelle.  Name it.  Bonus points if you can also name what the letters in the group's name stand for.

21. What college did trailblazing NCAA division one trans athlete Kye Allums play for and what was his sport?

22. Video blogger Diamond Stylz was the plaintiff in a successful ACLU discrimination lawsuit that allowed her to wear her dress at her high school prom.  What year did it occur and bonus points for the state it happened in.

23. What continental African trans woman wrote this and bonus points if you can name the country she's from?  'I don't think saying something derogatory to someone who has insulted you is being unladylike. And maybe trans women need to knock it off with this perpetual ladylike garbage. Sometimes you can't be ladylike. Circumstances preclude that.'  

24. This transman was featured in the book 'Love Makes a Family' , a supporter of COLAGE and was a presenter at several True Spirit conferences in the late 90's.  Name him.  

25. True or False:  The TransGriot is the first Texan to win the IFGE Trinity award.

Arrest Made In Shelley Hilliard Murder

There's some good news this holiday season in that Qasim Raqib, the alleged murderer of Michele 'Shelley' Hilliard has been arrested and charged with the horrific dismemberment killing of her.

There's also news about a motive for it beyond the trans issues.  

Detroit Man Charged in Transgender Teen's Murder: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Seems that Michele was an informant for the Madison Heights, MI Police according to a report from Fox2 Detroit.  Facing jailtime, Hilliard agreed to take part in a drug sting for Madison Heights Police.

The deal went down and officers arrested Raqib.  He was certain that he was set up by Hilliard and wanted revenge. After posting bond Raqib purchased a cellphone and lured her to the Longfellow address in Detroit where she was dropped off on October 23 by a cab driver, ambushed and later killed.  
The family is pleased that her murderer has been caught and is facing justice.

Becoming Johanna Documentary

I'm always on the lookout for interesting trans documentaries, especially when they tell the stories of trans people of color.   Renee of Womanist Musings talked about this one with a post back in April that's entitled Becoming Johanna-The Struggles Of A Latina Trans Girl

It's part of a series of films from the Youth And Gender Media Project which is producing short films about the complexities and challenges facing gender variant youth.

These films are aimed at and seek to educate teachers, administrators, parents and students in school communities across the United States.    They also are designed according to the Youth and Gender Media Project website to introduce radical new concepts for many audiences.




They point out the very idea that a young child can be transgender and have the wherewithal to fight against the pressures to conform to a binary gender paradigm, to the new and still very rare use of hormone blockers to delay puberty. However, since the films are structured around universal themes such as parenting and acceptance, identity and difference, growing up and coming of age, tolerance, love and self-esteem, they remain accessible and deeply moving even to people who are resistant to the idea of transgender youth.to 

And based on the transphobic Hateraid, ignorance and discrimination we transpeople get buffeted with from all the communities we interact with, they are sorely needed.

Kye's Not Playing This NCAA Basketball Season

The 2011-12 NCAA collegiate basketball season is getting underway at collegiate arenas and gyms near you.

But if you surfed by the George Washington University athletic website and perused the 2011-12 lineups for the GWU women's or men's basketball teams, you will not see Kye Allums' name listed on either roster or in the team photos.

GWU announced that Kye Allums "has decided that it is in his best interest to no longer participate in intercollegiate athletics."

Allums had last year's historic season cut short by two early concussions he suffered early in the season that limited his playing time to a mere eight games and announced in May he wasn't going to play his senior season.

"I alone came to this conclusion," Allums said in a statement released by GWU, "and I thank the athletic department for respecting my wishes."

He's enrolled in classes at GWU for the fall semester, and was asked in an interview back in March what he would do if he couldn't play ball again.

"I'll just be trying to make some kind of difference in the world," he said at the time."Try to get into grad school and look forward to my life."

You're off to a great start in terms of making a difference in the world already, Kye. Your visibility as a trans athlete opened the door to have those serious discussions that needed to happen on the issue of trans participation in sports and led to NCAA rules that will make it easier or future trans student athletes to compete at the collegiate level.

Best of luck this semester, in the future and much success in whatever you choose to do with the rest of your life.

Shelley Hilliard Update

More details are coming out about the death of Michele 'Shelley' Hilliard, and it's even worse than I imagined when I heard the Wayne County Medical Examiners recovered her torso later on the day she went missing.   Turns out Shelley was dismembered and burned to death.

Body Found on Detroit's East Side ID'd as Missing Trangender Teen: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Tona's New Video Blog 'Tonacity'

Y'all know I have much love for my sis Tona Brown, who has done some amazing things including singing for a sitting US president in President Barack Obama. 

She's now starting up a video blog on YouTube called Tonacity, and this is her introductory video

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