Chicago TransLife Center Trans Respect Billboard Campaign Launched

I believe we have been given another opportunity to attack and destroy another meme deployed against us that feeds into the unjust treatment being aimed at us.

It's the 'all transwomen are sex workers' meme.

TransGriot, April 15, 2014, 'Attacking The All Trans Women Are Sex Workers' Meme  


Nice to see someone was paying attention to that post.

One of the things that is a microaggressive (and sometimes macroaggressive) irritant in the life of a trans woman of color is some idiot assuming that we are all turning tricks. 

It's an assumption that plays into triggering much of the anti-trans animus aimed at us and I suspect can be one of the precursors that leads to the anti-trans violence aimed at us.

That tired meme has also led to po-po's behaving badly when it comes to encountering us as the Kenneth Furr case in DC was an egregious example of, along with the Monica Jones 'Walking While Black Trans' case  in Phoenix.    That meme was why stop and frisk police stops were aimed at non-white transwomen simply minding their own damned business.  

So it was nice to hear about a billboard campaign TransLife Chicago launched July 2 with the simple but powerful message "She’s just walking, not working. Respect Transgender Women.”

It was needed especially in the wake of the Chicago Sun Times republishing the foul June article attacking the femininity of Laverne Cox they later apologized for.   There are also several transfeminine murder cases in the Windy City that have yet to be solved, much less see the perpetrators of them be arrested.   

TransLife Center Care Coordinator Channyn Parker said in a Windy City Times interview concerning the billboard launch, “Transgender people constantly live under the cloud of an assumption that us taking a simple walk down the street means that we’re actually out doing solicitation or prostitution.”


She said: “[It] couldn’t be further from the truth. I sincerely hope this message gets down at the base level that trans people are human.”

Ten of these billboards are being deployed on Chicago's South and West sides and like Channyn, I hope they convey the message to the rest of cis society what transwomen already know.  Transwomen are human.

We're also just trying to live our daily lives without added drama or BS.

Louisville Forum Still Stonewalling On Adding Trans Panelist

So yes Louisville Forum, it it time to allow transpeople to plead their own cause.  Without a trans person on that panel, your impartiality and credibility as a non partisan public issues group will be called into question when it comes to this debate on trans issues.
-TransGriot. June 23, 2014, 'Louisville Forum, 'Why Are You Hosting A Trans Issues Forum With No Trans People On The Panel?'

With the scheduled Louisville Forum 'Growing Up Transgender' panel set to take place next Tuesday, the questions that Jaison and I asked began to be echoed around the Louisville metro area in local media outlets as Dale Josey and the Louisville Forum unconvincingly insisted that the exclusion of a transperson from the July 9 panel was not intentional.

But their stonewalling in terms of not immediately correcting their mistake gives people in Louisville and across the country the impression that's exactly what is happening in Da Ville.

Louisville Human Relations Commissioner Dawn Wilson echoed the thoughts of many people, myself included.  While we commend the Forum for taking on this trans-themed topic, it's problematic there is no representation on this panel from the Louisville trans community, as she noted in the WFPL-FM story about the controversy written by Laura Ellis.

"“It’s a very good start. But we really do need somebody who has the experiences of school, growing up transgender, growing up as a person who is questioning gender, that perspective needs to be there," Wilson said.

Wilson, who is black, likened the panel to a discussion on African-American issues by a panel of white experts.

“It doesn’t really make much sense, because they’re never had that experience. They’ve never been through those trials and tribulations," she said

The comments of Dale Josey have also been disquieting for the Louisville trans community and our allies. Josey is co-chair for the programs and issues committee for the Forum, made some problematic conflations of sexual orientation and gender identity in Ellis' article, and it emphatically points out why a transperson is needed on this upcoming panel in light of the fact an opponent is already on it.  

Because the Louisville Forum is usually being done in a room full of predominately white male business leaders, politicians, and other influencers, and it's being videotaped, I cannot underscore how vitally important it is to have the perspectives of an actual trans person in that discussion.

So do the right thing Louisville Forum and add the trans panelist.  It will not only balance the panel, it will improve the quality of the discussion.

And since you are discussing our trans lives, it needs to happen. 


TransGriot Update:  Looks like a change has been made to the July 9 panel.   Trans teen Henry Brousseau has been added to the panel.

Louisville Forum, Why Are You Hosting A Trans Issues Forum With No Trans People On The Panel?

Since 1984 the influential Louisville Forum has been a nonpartisan public issues group that hosts monthly meetings to discuss and debate issues of importance to the Louisville metro area. 

From their website:  The Louisville Forum is a nonpartisan public issues group. Founded in 1984, the Forum hosts debates and discussions of contemporary and sometimes controversial public policy issues that affect the greater Louisville community. The Forum provides an arena for the presentation and analysis of different sides of vital issues affecting the Louisville Metropolitan area.

As an independent and nonprofit organization, the Forum itself never takes a position on issues. Instead, we bring together speakers who aggressively articulate their specific and often opposing viewpoints. Membership is open to the public at large, and guests are welcome at all meetings.

Since its founding, the Louisville Forum has held monthly meetings to discuss wide-ranging matters of public interest, covering economic, political, environmental, health, and social issues. Members and guests receive firsthand information from community and industry figures: business leaders, elected officials, industry experts and others deeply involved in shaping Louisville's future.

So with the July 9 forum luncheon scheduled to tackle transgender issues in the wake of what happened at Atherton HS recently, it was interesting to discover courtesy of Jaison Gardiner, one of the co-hosts along with Dr Kaila Story of the Strange Fruit radio show on WFPL-FM, that the Louisville Forum panel has no transpeople represented on it.   

Yes Louisville Forum, one of the panelists is the mother of a trans child, but the fact remains there is no transperson on it to talk about trans issues.   That is the equivalent of having a discussion on gay issues, having no gay people on the panel to discuss and debate it, and the only person there to discuss the issues pertinent to the gay community is the straight mom of a gay child. 

And that's before I even point out how monoethnic the panel is to begin with..

You mean to try to tell me that in the entire Louisville metro area, you couldn't find one trans person to sit on that panel?   Or did you even try?   All you had to do was give Chris Hartman a call at the Fairness Campaign and I'm sure he and Fairness could have easily recommended more than a few trans candidates for that panel to you. 

I lived in that city for 8.5 years.  I know for a fact there are transpeople who can eloquently talk about being trans, and one of them is Dawn Wilson, who is a current member of the Metro Louisville Human Relations Commission.  

When the country is finally paying attention to the issues that transpeople face, it is vitally important to have people who actually are trans and dealing with those issues to be talking about them in these type of forums.

It's imperative in a space in which influential policy makers gather, are in the audience, and the discussion is videotaped for future multiple broadcasts on Louisville public cable television.we transpeople are represented.

It is important for a trans person to be on that Forum panel room when there is far too much disinformation and lies being gleefully spread by our opponents in order to derail trans human rights concerns. 

It is imperative to have a trans person on that Forum panel when the Southern Baptist Church, which has a seminary on Lexington Rd, just voted on June 10 to openly oppose trans human rights laws and deny our existence as human beings. 

As Samuel Cornish and John Russworm once said in 1827, 'We wish to plead our own cause.  Too long have others spoken for us.  Our vices and degradation are ever arrayed against us, but our virtues are passed by unnoticed.'  

So yes Louisville Forum, it it time to allow transpeople to plead their own cause.  Without a trans person on that panel, your impartiality and credibility as a non partisan public issues group will be called into question when it comes to this debate on trans issues.

There is time for you to reconstitute the panel so that a trans person is present and in the room representing our community on July 9.  If you can't  (or won't) do that, at least have a trans moderator there asking the questions.

MHP On Open Military Service For Trans People

You know where I stand on this issue, and I believe it's past time for it to happen. 

Melissa Harris-Perry in one of her commentaries just before Memorial Day took hater Elaine Donnelly to task for promoting the exclusion of transgender people from our armed forces.

Director Thompson, How About A 'Transgender' Category For the 2020 Census?

US Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson wrote a blogpost yesterday announcing that a Local Census Office was opening in Washington  DC for a Local Census Test scheduled to take place on July 1.

It will be conduced in 200,000 homes in parts of Washington DC and Montgomery County, MD and is designed to research way to make the 2020 Census more cost effective, efficient and easier for people to respond to accomplish its goal off accurately counting the population of our country.

That announcement has also got me thinking once again about something that I have been pushing for to happen ever since I made my first trip to DC 16 years ago this month.   I have been asking for as part of the identity options available for checkoff on the US census forms to add a 'transgender' category to it. 

So what say you, Director Thompson?   Transpeople have been part of our country for over a century and it's past time we started counting them.  I've been saying 1-3% of the population is transgender based on the Lynn Conway prevalence of of transsexualism ratios she came up with, and it would be nice to have some hard Census data to back that up.    

We need to find out exactly how many transpeople reside in the borders of the United States and get US census data on our lives that can't be dismissed or ignored by our conservafool opponents.. 

Nations such as Nepal and India already do so.   It would be nice to walk into a city, state or federal legislative office when you're lobbying them for a human rights issue, and when they deploy the 'I have no trans constituents' lie, the rebuttal can be "The census says you have X amount of trans people in your district."

With the next US Census being six years from happening, it's time we as a community began pushing hard now for the ability of transpeople to be counted in 2020. 

Naw Mark, Shame On Your Clueless Racism Denying Azz

I wasn't even back in Harris County 24 hours from my empowering BTAC 2014 convention birthday weekend excursion to Dallas last week when I was alerted to an attack piece that 'I'm white not Latino' transman Mark Angelo Cummings aimed at me along with a bigoted tweet from Kelli Busey on my birthday of all days.

I've already put Kelli on blast on my FB page for her jacked up shyt.   It's Mark's turn to feel the wrath of Moni now that I've had a few days to marinate on his loud and wrong as usual bigoted screed.

There's the bell.   School is now in session.  

Naw Mark, shame on your clueless azz for trying to step to me when I was on the eve of testifying on behalf of the entire Houston community again advocating for passage of the HERO. 

Too bad you dismissed Kat Blacque instead of listening to her when she was trying to educate your ignorant behind on the fact that race matters, even in the trans community. 

As a matter of fact I find you borderline delusional for trying to claim that racism doesn't exist.  I'm also laughing my butt off at you for even trying to utter the BS 'reverse racism' conservacrap.  Dude, have several sections of seats in Marlins Park and a nice tall glass of shut the hell up with your Cuban sandwich on that one. 

Since you missed it and seem to be confused about what racism really entails, let Moni try to 'ejumacate' you once again on the topic even though I'm tired of having this discussion of these simple to grasp concepts with you and your dwindling cadre of like minded acolytes that even the GEICO cavemen understand.

Ahem, pay very very close attention:  Racism = prejudice and bigotry + systemic power.  
 
Racism is the systematic discrimination, denial of rights and benefits by whites against non-whites in all areas of human activity.  (economics, education, labor, law, politics, religion, sex and war).

Since non-whites (at least until 2040) are not the majority population in the United States, it is impossible for us to be racist.  We can be bigoted and prejudiced, but we do not have the collective societal power to turn our bigotry and prejudices into societal policy detrimental to the lives of white people.  .  


Once again I ask the question I haven't got an answer to from Mark and his like minded side yet.

What is it about Black trans people owning our power and simply doing the same thing that white trans people have done for decades in terms of building community amongst themselves and determining our own political destiny, that terrifies you so much?

As I've said since 1998 and will not back down one millimeter from nor apologize for, race matters in the trans community. 

The fact that you posted such a racist response to my initial February post critiquing your clueless behind on seeing the Black Trans Renaissance as a 'threat' or 'dangerous to the trans rights movement'  is prima facie evidence why I see myself as Black first, trans second.

It's also why I advocate for transpeople of color to have our own blogs, advocacy groups and supportive community infrastructure because we can never be certain of when  vanillacentric privileged white trans peeps like you will throw us under the bus to get your lost levels of white privilege back.

And yes, there is ample precedent of the white trans community doing precisely that.  Riki Wilchins sold out the community and backlobbied her own GenderPac Lobby days in 1998-1999 to curry favor with an HRC then hostile to trans human rights issues.  She then took GenderPac out of the trans rights lobbying fight at the federal level to embark a a failed 'gender rights' approach that led to the 1999 formation of the multicultural NTAC to fill the unexpected trans advocacy void.   

Because NTAC was led by nonwhite executive directors who weren't drinking the 'HRC is our Friends' blue Kool-Aid and had no problem calling out the Equal Sign Org on their transphobic BS, it was savagely attacked by white trans people claiming NTAC 'didn't represent them' to the point they formed NCTE in 2003.

That sorry history is one of the reasons why we are closing ranks and building community in African-American trans spaces now because we are tired of being ignored, dismissed and treated like an emasculated junior partner in mixed trans company. 

We are unapologetically Black trans grown folks determining our political destiny, building community and making informed decisions about who we will and will not ally ourselves with. Can you hear us now?

So yes, white trans people's past penchant for throwing transpeople of color under the bus, ignoring our issues and concerns, and failing to include us in the senior leadership ranks is why I and other trans African-Americans are in the 2K10's executing a multipronged advocacy strategy whether you like it or not.  
And yeah, our people have been doing this for over two centuries, so this is nothing new or shocking to African descended trans people.  

And as long as TransGriot exists, I'm going to articulate those concerns of African descended transpeople here in the United States and across the African Diaspora.    

Mark, since you and your like minded friends have not given us a reason to confidently feel you have our backs or our best interests in mind in national trans advocacy since the late 90's, we're going to be unapologetically pro-Black, seek out allies of all ethnic backgrounds, and build up our community while simultaneously advocating for trans rights for ourselves and the human rights of all.

As the HERO battle is making clear to us in Houston, we have trans issues education to do with our own people, and we African-American trans people are the folks best positioned to do that as we take leading roles in helping push its passage.

I and other African-American trans people are puzzled to hear that our long overdue communal need to close ranks, build unity and pride in being Black trans people in conjunction with our Black trans masculine brothers, build community so that we can be a stronger partner to the entire TBLG community and all the ones we interact with is considered 'a threat' or 'dangerous' to white trans people.

Seriously?   We in Black Trans World are only replicating what the white trans community has done since the late 80's.  Why is it 'a problem' or 'a threat' now?    

I am an unapologetic Black trans community leader, and Black leadership has different parameters from garden variety white trans leadership.  

Because you white trans peeps are already well represented at those leadership tables, and far too many times I may be the only trans POC sitting there, you damned skippy I'm going to make sure the needs of POC transpeople are in the conversation.  I'm also going to be determined in making you aware how we POC's view any proposed trans human rights legislation or how any policy initiative being discussed impacts us.     

The racism and bigot eruptions in the trans community along with the racist misogyny aimed at trans women of color have also fueled this push for us to own our power just like our parents, grandparents and great grandparents have had to do once upon a time.   


As some of you have made crystal clear with your hate pieces and bigoted tweets aimed in mine and the direction of other trans leaders of color, it is impossible for us to exist in Trans World separated from our race and ethnic background.

Neither do I nor any transperson of color wish to operate in any space that demands we separate ourselves from our Blackness just to be a part of a collective group or because us being our  unapologetically Black selves makes you white trans peeps uncomfortable.

We Black trans people can't be 'just trans' because of the deep seated hatred for blackness and Black people that also infects Trans World and you are exhibiting unmistakable signs of.  We are deeply aware of the fact we trans people of color are judged by our skin color first before we can even begin to tackle the trans issues that impact us.

If you don't like the fact I'm unapologetically Black, and I will not allow you or ANY fauxgressive and bigoted trans person or 'ally' to deter me from calling out the bigotry and racism that exists in trans world while seeking to expeditiously root it out of our ranks, then you (and errbody else) that shares your delusional opinion that racism doesn't exist or 'I'm angry' for daring to talk about it can kiss my 'angry' Black trans ass.

By the way Marky Mark.   You and your white trans friends boringly repetitive attempts to tear me down not only reveal your own racist ignorance, but validate what I've been saying and writing about for the last decade and a half concerning your sector of the trans community.  

With every bigoted keystroke you aim at me, you make yourself more irrelevant.  When they see these unwarranted and vicious attacks leveled at me, it also pisses off people in the trans communities of color and our allies who have mad love and respect for me and what I do human rights wise inside and outside the trans community.

And FYI, for every attack you level at me, to quote Maya Angelou, and still I rise.  

So no Mark, shame on you for being bigoted and foolish enough to continue to repeatedly do something so monumentally stupid, and being arrogant enough to think you can get away with doing so without me calling your azz out on it. 

The First Steps To Trans Liberation Are...

Self Love and Pride.

As Mary McLeod Bethune once wrote in the Journal of Negro History in January 1938, "If our people are to fight their way out of bondage, we must arm them with the sword and the shield and the buckler of pride--belief in themselves and their possibilities based upon a sure knowledge of the past.   That knowledge and pride we must give them--if it breaks every back in the kingdom.

The enemy of self love is one of the banes of a transperson's existence in the unholy trinity of shame, guilt and fear.  For us to love ourselves, we must vanquish that three headed monster.

Shame, guilt and fear work in tandem to paralyze us into inaction.   The unholy trio makes us afraid to acknowledge who we are as transgender human beings.   It causes us to want to retreat into another closet and not be open about who we are.   It causes us to question our trans lives, fear moving around in society, and acquiesce to disrespect and discrimination aimed at us.

It's hard to develop that self love and pride when we are hated by society for simply daring to openly live our lives to the best of our ability.    But develop it we must in order to become the tough minded individuals and people we will need to be to break free of the shame, guilt and fear in order to fight for our trans liberation. 

Time For Trans College Students To Run For SGA Seats

I know you trans students matriculating on our nation's college campuses have a lot to deal with not only managing your personal lives, but handling your academic business with finals coming up.  

Best of luck to all of you.  But when that's over and you destress from dealing with finals, Moni has something else she wants y'all to think about during the summer and consider doing when you come back to your campuses in the fall

Own your power and run for seats in your SGA's.

So what's an SGA?   It's your campus student government association.   They are the liaison between the students, faculty and university administrations.  They provide appointments to a variety of internal SGA and university committees, task forces and boards that establish or influence a wide range of policies, procedures and the general direction of academic and nonacademic programs and services offered on your various college campuses. 

And they have a national organization in the American Student Government Association that supports them..

It occurs to me after watching the drama that transpired in the UH SGA over the Josephine Tittsworth Act and the attempt of the XULA SGA to sneak this blatantly transphobic ballot question on the Xavier student body, it is past time for trans students on every college campus they matriculate on in the United States to starting next school year, seriously consider running for and winning seats on their SGA's.

I say that because we trans folks can't always count on having trans allies in SGA's to eloquently articulate our issues as Yesenia Chavez, James Lee, Guillermo Lopez and UH SGA President Charles Haston did recently at the University of Houston or the other college campuses like LSU and Sam Houston State in which pro trans legislation passed and is headed up the administrative leadership chain.  

In some campus SGA's we will have people in them who are future trans oppressors, proud of it, and  who harbor enough transphobic animus to pen anti-trans legislation.   We will have cisgender SGA members with enough ignorance concerning our issues to let slide stuff like the transphobic ballot initiative that L'lerret Ailith is battling as I write this on her XULA campus. 

We need to have trans peeps in SGA's to talk about our trans lives and break down that ignorance.  Most importantly, we need trans SGA members in them not only proposing campus legislation, but in position to kill the bad stuff before it gets going.

And if you are in an SGA, consider running for a leadership position in it or serving on the leadership of a committee to hone your leadership skills before running for the presidency of it.  That will if you win that office, put you in an even more powerful position to strike down bad legislation with your veto pen or propose good ones.

I've always said that transpeople need to be at the table helping write legislation, not begging to be included in it.  The events of the Spring 2014 semester have convinced me that yes, that needs to be expanded to sitting at collegiate SGA tables as well.
 

Why RuPaul's Drag Race Should Eliminate RuPaul...And Itself

TransGriot Note:  If you think trans people outside the borders of the United States aren't paying attention to Drag Race's use of shemale and the t-word and are fine with it, this guest post by Malaysian activist Yuki Choe will blow that perception up.

She's in her words "a lone transsexual advocate and a vocalist, one who performs without drag."
***

It is now exactly a month since the fateful segment on the reality show Drag Race drew widespread condemnation from the transgender population, and what is deemed as transphobic slurs have since been removed from the show. There are discussions aplenty on where to draw the lines when it comes to terms that are hurtful to transwomen, like “she-male”. Words do count, but not for some who just refuse to understand how much influence words can get, especially specific terms that society usually use to mock transwomen.

Society is too lazy to study Trans 101, and they will eventually pick up information by what they observe along the way. People would look to the idiot box and find RuPaul, a man, in drag. They will reason that transwomen are males who drags like RuPaul. He uses “she-male” like nobody’s business, so there cannot be anything wrong with it. And for RuPaul, all this mash up is no big deal. But, it is. “She-male” is a term that is oft used to shame transwomen into mere sex objects. Such words are meant to demean any womanhood that any transwoman could have. It has all the motivations to humiliate transwomen by reminding them of just how incomplete their lives are with their bodies.

Do we hate him?

We hate RuPaul not because we have internalized transphobia; we hate what the character RuPaul brings to the front. We hate the imagery he represents because it is a caricature in which society determine how to define a transwomen – a she-male, a drag, a shim, a cross-dresser. He turns us into entertainment. He transforms the lives of transwomen into a Howard Stern styled comedy. Many attacked RuPaul for being transphobic, but I really doubt it. He may not even comprehend what the hell the outcry is about simply because he is not really a transgender. He never knew what that means 20 over years ago, and probably never will.

We are called to accept his drag world as a transgender representative, even by GLAAD’s definition of transgender. But he is not. His approach is one of a gay guy who thinks he is doing us a favour. That is the arrogance we so despise. We also cannot stand the fact that he still does not wish to learn from us. He has been ignoring the needs of the transgender population to be addressed with respect for many years.

Talking past each other

Some of the comments I read from the blogs highlighting this controversy, mention about policing of words. That this is transfacism. It is actually far from it. This is about words created to impact a population. Words come with its own definitions. Would a transwomen want to be described with terms bearing male pronouns like “she-male” and “lady-boy”? Perhaps the reason some insist there is nothing wrong with such derogatory words is obvious, is it not? They want to use the word because they feel nothing, but we feel hurt. Words like “tranny“ are widely used to bully children and verbally abuse transsexuals. People who stand by RuPaul just could not relate to that.

The words are meant to harm, which is why one should avoid using it. It has the power to degrade transwomen. It is easy to say we only give strength to the word if we bother about them. It does not work for transwomen. Because lest we forget, we are only less than 1% of the population. These words determine whether we are fit for the next interview to get a room for rent, or be forced back into the closet at churches. To drags and cross-dressers, it is all about dressing part-time or dressing full-time, the mentality is that transwomen are “really” genetically boys, as opposed to the term “genetic girl” when addressing cisgender women.

The point that transgender activists have been trying to say for the past month, is not only confined to that infamous game segment. It has been echoed for years to even the majority straight population – we are not a show, we are not freaks, so stop using media to turn us into jokes. But all this while, RuPaul sees transwomen as only men in women’s clothing, like him. There is not even one moment from him that shows he truly knows what it feels being born in the wrong sex. He parrots the belief that we are all drag queens in the end, and that some of us just decided to go further into hormones then SRS, which is so painfully far from the truth.

RuPaul’s Ignorance

When RuPaul implied about revolution by citing Orwell’s Animal Farm, he is talking about his own “drag queen” revolution that has very little to do with any revolutions that may or may not take place in transwomen’s world, a world that needs protection from the flurry of abuses that are generated by a vastly transphobic generation, and meant to punish transwomen; RuPaul would accidentally be behind another face of his revolution, one that is directly against transwomen.

He does not realize that in defense of words like “she-male”, he shows little understanding of how much damage it would have on trans women, all the while as he removes his makeup and pumped up dresses after shows to be Andre Charles again, with his package of male privileges. For him, it is his art, jumping into womanhood for a while, after being RuPaul for several hours.

But, for tens of thousands of transwomen, it is not an art. It is not an entertainment or a game. Gender Identity Dysphoria is a real condition that affects lives. Transwomen born with it need to transition. Their body mapping must change to accommodate their brain sex, and the intense distress is painful and lifelong. While he sits in his car out of drag, and heads for home after his show, many transwomen would be struggling to hold on to their jobs, and some may even encounter violence. RuPaul can jump out of his drag. Transwomen cannot jump out of their skin and be non-transgender.

RuPaul would expect us to “toughen up” and be “queen”. But we are tough, only not queens. We are simply women, but women who are tough because we have to endure hundreds of hazardous situations he most likely will not encounter even once in his life. And he is not helping. Until this gets into the thick skull of his and every other sympathizers he has, the discussion will not go anywhere.

Visibility breeds stereotypes

And people assume transwomen are “in-drag”. So people would disparage transwomen, and forcefully consider them men. Religious conservatives always lay claim to a “change” of “gay lifestyle” if transwomen want to. And those with lesser knowledge would just brand transwomen as a life choice, and when difficulties arise, sometimes even life-threatening, it is “really” transwomen’s fault because we “choose to drag”.

As transwomen, we wish we could just say to hell with the world. Unfortunately, as a minority at the mercy of a general public who find transwomen useful for tease and ridicule at best (and we do not wish to be reminded what happens at worst), what society think of us does count; it affects our jobs, our insurance, our education, our relationships, everything. And we already have to bear with misrepresentations from religious fundamentalists painting us all as child predators, rapists and fetishists.

Having RuPaul and his show amplifies even more stereotypes of transwomen. We should go even as far as to say he is abetting bullying of transgender children, and encouraging verbal abuse towards transgender people. After all, words are not sticks and stones, right? NOT.

The bigger questions

This is perhaps an appropriate period for us to ponder, what really is transgender now? Should RuPaul be even considered a transgender? While the American Psychological Association includes drag queens in its definition for transgender, many trans people have started to address themselves as transsexual and not transgender, simply because of the disparity in experiences of people born with gender identity dysphoria, and the rest under the transgender umbrella.

Is it not time to correctly address transsexuals as transsexuals and drag queens as drag queens? If we were to say drag queens are transgender, would we not have to include bio queens as well? Or even some animals in drag? Is it not time to consider a more accurate definition of transgender in GLAAD and other trans resources? Should RuPaul even be associated with the “T” still?

Maybe RuPaul is far from transphobic and has the right to use whatever word he wants; but he or any cross-dresser, drag queen, or any men who dresses as women, could and should spare a thought for transwomen afflicted by being born trans.   Unlike them, because any claims of sensitizing society is offset by their own misuse of words that attacks transwomen, the incongruence suffered by transwomen is real.

For transwomen, it is not about dressing, let alone over-the-top with a face buried in tons of makeup and purposely deepening their voices.  We are living our lives.  RuPaul would do well continuing his work, but not at the extent of creating collateral damage on the lives of transwomen everywhere.

Someone should start knocking a hard fact into RuPaul; the difference between a drag queen and a transgender, is that everybody can be a drag queen, even the queen of England. Not everyone can be a transgender, and for those who are unfortunately born transwomen, their lives are problematic enough without being trivialized by RuPaul.

Overpolicing Language? Seriously?

TransGriot Note:  I read this essay Fallon Fox posted to her Facebook page concerning the still simmering controversy over serial transphobe RuPaul's use of terms the trans community has repeatedly told him were dehumanizing to our community and his white gay male fanbase rushing to defend him. 

The predominately white gay male supporters of RuPaul are holding up any trans woman who seems to side with him as a human shield to bash the rest of us with.  

Why?  Because they are hypocritically pissed off transpeople of all ethnicities had the temerity to do what they have done for decades.  We called and are STILL calling his azz out for using the 'shemale' and 't----y' terms we find offensive to our community and LOGO listened.

LOGO pulled the offending show with the female or shemale game form their site and will no longer used the offensive words on it and elements of the white gay male community are tripping.   What part of 'the trans community will decide what words are or aren't offensive to it' do you not get?  

The latest entry in that small minority of RuPaul trans defenders besides Calpernia Addams and Andrea James is Our Lady J, who recently penned an essay published in the Huffington Post that Fallon is rebutting here.

It deserves a signal boost.   And now, here's Fallon's essay.
**Warning - I'm spelling out derogatory words in this post in order to discuss an important issue.****

Is it true that Ru Paul recently complained to Amanda Byrnes use of the term 'faggot' in a tweet, stating: "Derogatory slurs are ALWAYS an outward projection of a person's own poisonous self-loathing." Just saw that online. That, and the Huffington post article by Our Lady J. I know, I'm a little late on that one.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/our-lady-j/rupauls-drag-race_b_5148719.html

I disagree with Our Lady J on this. 'Drag Queen' is an occupation created primarily in gay culture, in similar fashion, 'Rap artist' is an occupation created primarily by black culture.

Some people argue that 'shemale' is a harmless fun word. You ever Google the word 'shemale'? If not, then I suggest you do. See what you come up with. It's pages and pages of porn. While I like porn myself and see nothing intrinsically wrong with it, (other than the exploitation some porn entities use) - I do not appreciate the language alluding to me being a porn star or sex worker. Because that's what that word actually means.


It's that whole 'chick with a dick' derogatory language from cisgender people I've had to endure for years. No, there's nothing wrong with a woman with a penis. Nothing at all. But, that whole she-male term is wrapped around a very real history of forced sex work and porn. I say forced, because for the most part the trans women who have engaged in those occupations over the years have done so, because of lack of opportunity as trans women. It's pretty much slavery or a type of servitude in some situations. One needs the money to transition or risk losing ones sanity. One needs a job for that. But, one can't find or hold down a job in many situations if one is trans. So, where does that person go...? No other options but sex work or porn in many situations. Trans women are forced out of the openness of general society into a narrow channel that leads to sex work of some kind. And we are forced to endure the labeling of those outside of us. Labeling that seeks to never let us escape us being reduced to genitalia.

Look at the word shemale. We didn't pick this word for ourselves.
SHEMALE = "She" (female in mind ) + "male" (in the pants).

It was meant to mark trans women, and pin us down to what's in our pants pre-surgery (if we elect for it). It was derogatory.

See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemale
I remember when I first stepped foot in a drag bar. It was the only safe space I could find in town that I lived. Yes, some drag queens called themselves tranny, or she-male. And they got me to do it very briefly. But, as time went on, I realized how different I was from that drag mentality. I realized that I was trans, not gay. I was offered many times to be a performer because of my potential 'passability'. However, I declined, as I also realized one important thing about myself. I was not a parody of a woman. I was not seeking to be a parody of a woman even temporarily. I wanted to embody 'woman' both inside and out at all times. And not a hyper feminized, non realistic, rigid unmalleable version of one confined to a bar in the secluded side of town either. No, an intelligent, respected woman who had 'options', and held an occupation in spaces straight cisgender people did.


One thing is for sure. If I ever see a Cuban rap artist hold a TV show, have other Cuban rap artists come on the show, then tell those rappers to pick which rap artist in ANY ethnicity or a "nigger", depending on the partial photo presented, I'm going to lose it.

I don't care if Cubans and blacks are under the same umbrella of 'people of color'. I don't care if both of us face discrimination. I wouldn't give Cubans a free pass to hold a tv show and use that harmful word at blacks expense.

Let's look at the word 'nigger'. Where did that come from? The exploitation and hatred of black people in this country. Yes, they loved the benefits they got from us when we were slaves. They marketed us as 'niggers'. I'm quite sure if slavery was still in use today, you could do a google search for 'nigger' and come up with pages of pages of people trying to sell you a 'niggers' service.

Again, where did 'she-male' come from? The exploitation and hatred of trans women in this country. Yes, they loved, and still love, the benefits they get from us as sex workers and porn stars. They market us as 'she-males'. Some of us got lucky. We found ways around this horrible servitude. But, many of us would like out. Many of us want an education. Many of us are stuck, and living similarly to newly released slaves. Some of us see no potential for escape of the framing, no potential life outside of sex work, porn, or drag and accept the term. Some just decide to embrace it. Some, (and this is very, very rare) just like the ring of it. You can find some of them online if you search. Don't worry, it's not hard. Just type in 'shemale', and observe pages and pages of entities trying to sell you a 'shemales' service.

I realize that black oppression and trans oppression are different. But, they do have very striking similarities. And as a black woman I have no problem with pointing them out. It makes sense, and is important to do so in order to attempt to fix the similar problems that plague both minority classes.

...But wait, there's more.

I ask a few questions. And they are open for anyone to answer. And you may have already thought of it.
Are black people who call themselves 'nigger' or 'nigga' (and identify as such-which is rare), similar to trans women calling themselves 'she male' or 'tranny' (and identify as such-which is rare also)?

Are black people who call themselves 'nigger' or 'nigga' (and identify as black- which is common), similar to trans women calling themselves 'shemale' or 'tranny' (and identify as trans - which is also common... Kind of)?

I think so. And how does all of that relate to the topic of Ru Paul's she-male game?

UH Josephine Tittsworth Act Town Hall Meeting

I've been saying to the UHD Gators during my last several visits on their campus that I've spent more time visiting One Main Street than I have on my alma mater's campus since I came back home in 2010.

Well, seems like that imbalance of visits to the UH campus versus UHD is starting to rapidly change in the other direction.

Last week I was honored to be invited to speak at the Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson vigil held at the AD Bruce Religion Center on campus.  

This week I got a chance to finally see the newly renovated UH Student Center and attend a town hall meeting yesterday afternoon in a packed SGA Senate Chambers.

The town hall was called to give the UH community an opportunity to discuss the Josephine Tittsworth Act.  The UH SGA proposed this piece of legislation that seeks to have the University of Houston follow its existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing trans* UH students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles. 

Shouldn't be that controversial, right?   Well, one unidentified UH senator has been spreading lies and falsehoods about the Tittsworth bill and gotten the frats and sororities stirred up in the process.

A panel comprised of UH LGBT Resource Center head Lorraine Schroeder, UH SGA senators Guillermo Lopez and James Lee, UH SGA President Charles Haston, SGA Senator emeritus Josephine Tittsworth and 2014 Trans 100 honoree and UH senior Lou Weaver spent two minutes each making initial statements dispelling the myths and lies that had arisen concerning the Tittsworth bill before opening the floor to written questions.  

While the town hall was surprisingly civil, two of the questions asked were the highly offensive to the trans community bathroom predator and sexual offender ones I hear far too often from GOP operatives opposing trans human rights laws.  It not only made my eyes visibly roll and loudly scoff upon hearing them, it also made me wonder if there were campus Republicans in the room trying to stir up 'fear and smear' transphobic trouble.

Before the town hall concluded after 30 minutes,  Haston reminded everyone that diversity on the UH campus is not just ethnic diversity, but also includes diversity of opinions and thought and LGBT diversity.

Since I wasn't in any hurry to head back home right away, I consented to an interview along with Josephine about the Act with Daily Cougar reporters Kelly Schaffer and Cara Smith.  We talked about Houston and UH trans history, and discussed the positive effects UH could expect from the Tittsworth Act should it gain SGA approval.  

I also had a chance to talk to several cis and trans UH students and talk a walk around the newly renovated building that is way different from the 1967 UC I was familiar with before heading home.

Will keep you posted on the developments concerning the Josephine Tittsworth Act as it moves toward a final vote.      
 

Josephine Tittsworth Act UH Town Hall Wednesday

The University of Houston SGA has proposed a bill that seeks to have the University of Houston follow existing EEO and non discrimination policy by allowing students to update their university identification with their preferred name, discerned gender and titles.  

The bill is named the Josephine Tittsworth Act after my awesome homegirl, fellow Cougar and who while on the UH campus was an SGA Senator.

It's expected to get voted on April 16, but in advance of the vote, to do a little education on the issue, a town hall meeting will be conducted on Wednesday in the UC North Senate Chambers in the UC North starting at 5:30 PM

The Josephine Tittsworth Act will be discussed and what it means for student safety, academic success, and fulfilling our Nondiscrimination Policy's promise.  As a Cougar I support the passage of it and plan on being at the town hall to report on what happens.  

Will April Be A Deadly Month For African-American Transwomen This Year?

With the calendar page flipping from March to April, the weather gets warmer (at least in some parts of the country), the shorts come out and people emerge to enjoy the wonderful spring weather. 

And over the last two years, what has emerged is a distressing pattern of the month of April being a particularly deadly one for African-American trans women.  

There were three slayings of African-American transwomen in April 2012, and that pattern continued in 2013.   Kelly Young and Ashley Sinclair were killed 48 hours apart in Baltimore and Orlando, and Cemia Dove Acoff's lifeless body was discovered on April 17.

So will we see a threepeat of that pattern in 2014?   I hope and pray we don't, but with the increased attention transpeople and trans issues are getting in the media, it has also fueled backlash.  Some of that backlash will be manifested in people who are mean spirited, hateful and angry enough to take their transphobia to murderous levels. 

And let this post serve as your wake up call.   Remember you are walking around in Black feminine bodies, which like our cisgender Black feminine counterparts, draw their share of murderous attention, too.

So my transsisters, be vigilant and most importantly be safe so I don't have to type out stories of a transwoman being killed somewhere in this country during the month of April.   

Thanks To My Cis Sistas

I'm rapidly approaching the April 4 day that I started the public phase of my transition 20 years ago. 

It was an exciting but anxiety filled few days as the calendar turned to April and the day I'd been emotionally building up to for years was finally arriving.

While I had feminine role models that I wanted to emulate, it's a big jump from imagining the person you wish to become and doing the hard work to make that person a reality.   
 
Becoming me was a team effort.  In addition to my medical team at the gender clinic ensuring that I stayed healthy as I morphed the body and navigated the dizzying emotional changes,  I also had a support team of my cis sistas.

They helped me understand what I was embarking on by sharing their own stories about their evolving feminine journeys.   Some of the things they told me were fascinating to hear, others were humorous, while others were raw, painful deeply personal stuff they had yet to share with anyone else but did so with me. 

Some of them took it to another level and became some of my first sistafriends.

My cis sistas who were in my corner were my swords and shields against the haters.   They gave me the motivational kick when I needed it, challenged me and helped me figure out my evolving fashion style.  They told me to pull up the big girl panties when I would complain about getting whacked by the sexism they've had to navigate their entire lives. 

My African-American cis sistas helped me understand the challenges of navigating the world in a Black female body.  They stayed on my butt to ensure that I would become the woman I promised them in our conversations post April 4 I wanted to be and wished to project to the world.   

Some have been there by my side since the beginning.  Others moved on or our lives took us in different paths after they taught me the lessons I needed to learn at a particular point in my evolutionary feminine journey.   Some have joined me at a certain points in that journey and been along for the ride dispensing their wisdom along the way.

For those of you in my sistacircle as I approach this anniversary date, thank you.   You not only have qualities that I admire and incorporated into my own life, your unconditional love and support made it a lot easier for me to tackle going from zero to femininity. 

You are all loved and deeply appreciated by me for doing so and helping me become the Phenomenal Transwoman you see standing before you today.

Drag Culture Is A Major Reason We Even HAVE A Trans Community

As I awakened from my slumber this morning I checked my Facebook page to see that I'd been tagged with a Bilerico Project article penned by Brynn Tannehill (who I have mad love and respect for)  asserting that drag culture hurts the trans community. 

While there are times the drag community has pissed me off, and I have had no problem sounding off  about it, I have to throw the penalty flag on this Tannehill post and bring a little historical context into this discussion. 

I wrote in this February 2013 post the obvious point that drag does not equal trans womanhood.   I have called out the Black cis community along with our allies for giving far more respect to Tyler Perry dressed as Madea than the average trans woman walking Black America's streets.  

But as someone with a deep appreciation and love of history,  I also have to admit the following point as a long time trans activist.   Without the drag community and pissed off trans women together fighting the po-po's fracking with them at the 1959 Cooper's Donuts, Compton's Cafeteria (1966), and Stonewall Rebellions (1969), the gender variant kids at Dewey's Lunch Counter protesting their oppression in April-May 1965 with a combo sit-in and protest, I submit it would have taken us a lot longer getting this trans rights movement party started.

Far too many trans women during that time period were in stealth because of the HBIGDA/WPATH transition standards in place at the time or in denial of their transness when they when questioned about it. The only visible ones were the illusionists, the trans women bold enough to openly live their lives and not care what people thought like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Christine Jorgensen, and Coccinelle just to name a few or outed ones like April Ashley. 

Remember it was a Black female illusionist in Lady Java who struck the initial blows against the LAPD's odious Rule Number 9 that eventually caused the whole rotten thing to go away 

There have been more than a few times in their various locales female illusionists like Lady Java have been the ones who put their asses on the line and stepped forward to fight for the human rights laws that benefit our entire community.   While they were doing so, the stealth trans women who were hiding and refusing to participate in the trans community because 'they are women now', were grousing online in their not so quiet Internet chat rooms ranting about that 'drag queen' speaking in front of that governmental body their 'I'm a woman now' selves didn't have the guts to speak in front of. 

And let's not forget it's the drag community that peeps in the LGBT ranks call on when it's time to raise some money for whatever SGL community cause needs to be fundraised for.  


Yes, there are problematic peeps in the drag community, and many of them are the gay males who blanch at the thought of having a surgeon's scalpel do GRS on their Almighty Phallus or have internalized hatred of femininity (and trans women by extension) for whatever reason.  

And we are justified in calling their asses out.  

But I submit it's not the drag community that is harming the trans community by itself.  I've observed this anti-drag argument far too often in white trans community ranks over the last decade and a half I've been a national trans activist of color.   Brynn's post also has the problematic flavor of 'respectability politics' baked into it.

I've also had to call my white transsisters out for making the problematic conflation of drag = blackface.   No, it doesn't.      

It also ignores the fact it is cis societal hatred for trans people fueled by ignorance of the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity that causes the problems the trans community is forced to navigate.

The trans exterminationalist radical feminists (TERF's) as a group have done far more damage to the trans human rights cause over the last four decades with their disco era transphobic hate they attempt to layer with the thin veneer of academic credibility than any drag performer. 

Elements of the gay and lesbian community who repeatedly threw us under the legislative bus since the 1970's to selfishly pass human rights legislation for themselves or misgendered us in their print outlets have done far more damage to the trans community than any drag performer.  

Neither was it the drag community that coined the Religious Reich's favorite anti-trans human rights talking point in terms of the 'bathroom panic' meme.  It was openly gay former Rep. Barney Frank talking about 'penises in showers' in a US House committee meeting. 

One of the reasons I and other POC trans people have mixed emotions about the drag community is because we know firsthand that for us historically and as Drag Race contestant Monica Beverly Hillz emphatically demonstrated last year, it is one of our pathways to begin our transitions in communities that are far more socially conservative.   

I've seen more than a few examples of today's femme queen walking a ballroom floor, standing on a pageant stage or performing at a gay club's Talent Night emerging a few years later after having their gender epiphany and using that community to hone their feminine presentations to become a #girllikeus.  

As Chanel Winn-Decarlo pointed out in the Facebook comment that was shared with me: 

Drag is an artform and entertainment and actually something I enjoy.  I am often insulted and offended by drag queens but I don't want to blame the ignorance of people on entertainment
I think at this stage of the game even if you don't know it all, everyone, even a child can understand the difference between a transsexual (WOMAN) and a drag queen (ENTERTAINER)

And to piggyback on Chanel's point, right wing haters are gonna hate.   We know they are going to throw the 'bathroom bill' and 'drag queen' shade in their zeal to do their funders bidding and stop trans human rights advances.   They know they don't have any logic or reason based arguments to deny the implementation of much needed trans human rights laws, so 'fear and smear' is the only tactic they have left.  

We must be ready as trans advocates to debunk and utterly destroy those talking points until the conservafools are 'scurred' to open their mouths and say them for fear of being called out as the transphobic bigots they are. 

We trans folks can and should be able to accomplish that task without throwing the drag community under the bus, because without them being tired of the BS, we wouldn't HAVE a trans community.    


TransGriot Note:  Sahara Davenport is the lovely person in the color photo.

It Is Revolutionary To Be Trans

Laverne Cox was speaking tell it like it T-I-S is truth when she stated, "It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist."


And the world tries to send us that message in multiple ways.   We have the cisgender know-nothings who in spite of overwhelming visual, historical, cultural and medical evidence continue to deny there's no such thing as trans people.  Christofascists who are now trying to retool and peddle their failed ex-gay conversion therapies in our direction.   Media people who try to have disrespectful, insulting genitalia centered conversations about who they think we are without having us at the table.  

And sadly, there are the wastes of DNA who use extreme violence to kill us as we navigate the world.

Yes, it is a monumental task to try to navigate being trans in a world that can be at times brutally hostile to us. 

But one of the things that will get us through it is overcoming the shame, guilt and fear that the hostile world and others try to saddle us with by turning it into self-esteem and self love.

It is a self esteem and self love built upon a rock solid foundation of pride in being a trans person, faith in yourself and whatever you call the Higher Power and knowledge of our proud history.

I love this quote by Dr. Louise Hart in which she says, "Self-esteem is as important to our well being as legs to a table.  It is essential for mental and physical health and happiness."

While it can seem like we trans people in the borrowed words of Denny Upkins are ice skating uphill in our ongoing attempts to build that healthy self esteem in the face of a world that consistently pushes the message we don't exist, it doesn't mean that it will never happen for us either.   You can and must as a trans human being as a necessary survival strategy develop healthy self-esteem in order to navigate a world hostile to us.

We unfortunately have to work a lot harder at not only achieving it, but maintaining it.   

But when you do achieve that goal, it makes it so much easier to be out, proud of who you are and the wonderful evolutionary human being who just happens to be visibly trans you are.

When you love yourself, consistently work on building your self-esteem and live your life to the best of your abilities,  you can then begin the revolutionary process of being seen, visible and living your trans flavored life. 

If cis people inside and outside the TBLG community don't like it, tough.  They can #bemad and #staymad about the fact you are a revolutionary, and it is revolutionary to be the wonderful person of trans experience you are.  
  

DeSoto ISD Posts Problematic Prom Dress Code

Well Trans* Class of 2014, I did warn y'all last June to be ready to fight your trans oppressors.   And word to the wise Trans* Class of 2015, you may want to start prepping now so you have a stress free senior year.   

In the eight years I've been chronicling the events of the trans community on this blog, one of the things you'll note as you peruse my archives is the frequent fights between trans students and transphobic school administrations that sometimes have to get resolved in the court system.

In the fall it's trans students having to fight the school powers that be because they were barred from having the opportunity to run for homecoming king or homecoming queen. 

Sometimes it's battles just to be able to take and put in the yearbook a senior class photo that reflects the person you are now like Jeydon Loredo had to do back in November versus the LaFeria ISD board.  

And yeah, I'm willing to bet there will be in May and June more instances of  transphobic school boards and administrators fighting tooth and nail to not allow trans students to attend their high school graduations or receive their hard earned diplomas wearing the cap and gown and clothing appropriate to who they present as now.

Now with the 2014 calendar in mid-March, thoughts are turning to prom season and the next looming high school gender expression battleground before the commencements start.     

There has been drama with prom dress codes between trans students and school administrators going back over two decades now, but it's happening far more frequently now as trans students transition earlier, assert their human rights to be themselves and school administrators cling to the gender binary like winos holding their last bottle of MD 20/20 

The DeSoto ISD in the Dallas 'burbs is the latest one to go there.   They attempted set a policy to ban cis feminine students from wearing tuxedos and men's suits and cis masculine ones from wearing prom dresses to their May 17 event.  

DeSoto ISD has every right to set those policies and general standards like requiring formal wear or barring revealing clothing.   But as written, the DeSoto ISD prom dress codes are problematic for trans masculine and transfeminine students. 

Not allowing a cis female or transmasculine student to wear a tuxedo or barring a cis male or transfeminine student from wearing a dress may subject the school to legal liability, including a sex discrimination claim under state education laws, antidiscrimination laws, Title IX or the U.S. Constitution.  

With Lambda Legal's regional office being located n Dallas, they are already on the job reminding the DeSoto ISD about what happened in the K.K. Logan case. 

Back on May 19, 2006  Logan was physically barred by her transphobic principal from entering the venue hosting her Gary, IN high school prom in feminine attire despite the fact that Logan had been presenting as female since the start of her junior year of high school.

West Side HS principal Diane Rouse probably wasn't aware the battle she was fighting that night had already been lost.  Diamond Stylz sued and won a similar court case against her Indianapolis area HS back in 1999.
 
Logan sued with the help of Lambda Legal, arguing that the school violated K.K.’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech, symbolic action and expressive conduct.

The matter was resolved in 2010, including an undisclosed amount paid to K.K. as well as revisions to the school district's dress code and nondiscrimination policies.  The Gary school district's policies were revised to contain specific protections for TBLG students.  The Gary, IN  school district also agreed to conduct training for the administration and school board members on LGBT issues and respectful treatment of LGBT people.

DeSoto ISD, it would be wise for you to make the necessary adjustments in that problematic policy before you find yourself in court on the losing end of a lawsuit. 

Stay tuned, because the 2014 prom season is coming up.  I'll be willing to bet I'll have one school district somewhere in the United States that shows its anuses before the 2013-14 school year concludes. 

H/T Lone Star Q
 

AB 1266 Repeal Referendum Fails To Qualify For 2014 Ballot!

Great news out of California!  The Forces of Intolerance-California Division have failed in their mission to overturn AB 1266!  

The School Success and Opportunity Act was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown August 13 and took effect January 1.   It requires that the gender identity of trans students in grades K-12 is recognized and they have access to facilities, activities and sports teams based on their gender identity

Of course the right wing haters didn't like that, and mobilized in an effort to get AB 1266 repealed. The spot check was at just a high enough percentage to move the verification process to the next step of verifying all the signatures and cause concern for the trans community and our allies in California and across the nation. 

The Orwellian named Privacy For All Students opponents were spearheaded by NOM's Frank Schubert, who orchestrated the Prop 8 repeal campaign. 

PFAS needed at least 504,760 signatures to force a public vote on AB 1266 and get the repeal referendum placed on the November 2014 ballot.   Had that happened, it was sure to be a just as nasty and divisive a campaign as the Prop 8 one was.

PFAS submitted 619,387 signatures, but California county election officers determined that just 487,484 of them were valid, according to a final count posted on secretary of state Debra Bowen's (D) website.

Translation: they failed.to qualify.

While the PFAS anti-trans coalition is telling their supporters they will continue the fight against AB 1266, the Support All Students Campaign that introduced and passed the law is celebrating along with transpeople across the country.

Said Transgender Law Center Executive Director and Campaign Chair Masen Davis: “This law gives schools the guidelines and flexibility to create an environment where all kids have the opportunity to learn. We need to focus on creating an environment where every student is able to do well and graduate. This law is about doing what’s best for all students — that’s why it’s supported by school boards, teachers, and the PTA.”

- See more at: http://www.frontiersla.com/frontiers-blog/2014/02/24/breaking-frank-schubert-loses-effort-to-overturn-trans-student-law-fails#sthash.6Dxaluu5.dpuf

And the big winners today are the trans students in California.