Where Does Hillary Stand On Trans Issues?

Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton declared today she is a candidate for the 2016 Democratic nomination for president. 

While many people are justifiably excited on our side of the political spectrum that she has finally done so, she's seen as a prohibitive favorite to win the nomination, the general election and be inaugurated as the 46th and first female president of the United States, there is still a long way to go until that possibly happens.

Should we have that happen, and on January 20, 2017 we end up with a second President Clinton, one of the questions we are currently asking in Trans World is whether she would be as great a president on trans issues as President Obama currently is.



The question on whether she would be that trans friendly president combined with her early endorsement by an HRC we were royally pissed at in 2007 is why many of us in Trans World (myself included) not only supported then Senator Obama, we also took the unprecedented step of putting our money where our mouths were by setting up an ActBlue page.

That page raised over $10K for his ultimately successful capturing of the Democratic nomination in June 2008 and the presidency five months later, and as we'd hoped, President Obama did indeed become the most trans friendly POTUS ever.

Now there is no fracking way I'll be voting for a Teapublican in 2016.  I know this election is far too important.   Four SCOTUS seats may pop open during this next term. There are still vacant seats in the federal judiciary.   We have serious issues like income inequality and global warming amongst others to tackle. 

And with the GOP controlling both houses of Congress, we will need a Democratic POTUS standing by with her (or our eventual nominee) veto pen.

You ignore the trans community at your political peril, as we proved in 2008.   But I have to ask if a President Clinton will appoint a qualified trans person to either her cabinet or to positions in her administration?  Will she continue the trans inclusive policy direction that the Obama administration has set in motion?  

Will she push for a trans inclusive ENDA?   Will her attorney general interpret the 1964 Civil Rights Act as covering trans Americans and vigorously prosecute anti-trans discrimination?

Will she even say 'transgender' or acknowledge our existence during and after her we hope will be successful campaign?

She stated she wants to be a champion for everyday Americans/   Does that extend to trans* Americans?

These are questions that many of us in Trans World will need to have answered by her or her campaign before many trans skeptics will be 'Ready For Hillary'.

 

There Will ALWAYS Be Somebody Prettier Than You...Deal With It

Sisterhood should not end when Oprah goes off. Truth be told, there will always be someone prettier, sexier, stronger, and smarter. I'm sorry Boo - that's just the way it is. But that's ok.....just do you!
Robin Bonner, September 23, 2013  Sisters, Let's Stop Hatin' On Each Other

I was talking to one of my trans homegirls recently and the subject turned to what Robin discussed in the September 23. 2013 guest post in terms of sisterhood.  While Robin's guest post was talking about it in general, me and my trans homegirl were talking about how it manifests itself in our transfeminine ranks.

The conversation was triggered by our observations about one of our sisters who has a self esteem problem.   She can't see her own beautiful self because she is so fixated on the other women in our circle that happen to be drop dead gorgeous.  She has used that as an excuse to decline from participating in the ongoing community building and crafting of sisterhood circles we are engaged in here in Houston.

I'm going to borrow and focus on a section of what Robin said in that quote I highlighted at the beginning of this post and say it once again.  

There will always be someone who is prettier, sexier, stronger, smarter, et cetera, and that's life.

Do I have some cis and trans women in our community I'm envious of and admire?   You damned skippy I do because I'm human.  But at the same time I'm aware that I have a combination of qualities they are just as envious of and admire about me that inhabit my statuesque body.  

I've also had 20 plus years to evolve and do me, and to borrow to words of my brother Kye Allums, I am enough.

That salient point about the diverse community of women encapsulated in Robin's quote is also reflected in Trans Feminine World.  

The reality is there are always going to be trans women who got the genetic luck of the draw.    There will be trans women who will be prettier, sexier, stronger, smarter, or have combinations of those various characteristics inhabiting their bodies.

There are going to be increasing numbers of trans women who because they transitioned in early childhood, their teens  or early in life are going to be indistinguishable from the average cis woman. 

And yeah, let's be real, trans women can be our own worst critics about how we look. 

There are those of us in Trans World that will also because of varying reasons that include fiscal ones, be able to avail themselves of surgical enhancements, hormones and GRS to correct or enhance whatever they perceive needs to be corrected on their bodies that results in their personal happiness and satisfaction.

And just like cis women, trans women come in all shapes, sizes, skin tones and body configurations.   There are going to be some of us who have the classic hourglass shape, perfect cheekbones and single digit shoe size.   Some of us will be petite while others of us will be supermodel height.  Others of us will be full figured and have a double digit shoe size or other various combinations of characteristics.  

In Black trans feminine ranks, we come in 24 different shades ranging from light bright and damned near white to deepest darkest ebony in terms of our skin tones.   All of them carry baggage beyond run of the mill trans issues, and all those skin tones are beautiful.

And as my homegirl Joanna Cifredo enlightened me to during a conversation we had in Chicago, trans Latinas also have to contend with the overall cultural beauty standards that cis Latinas have to deal with.

All that  matters is that we get to a point in in our ongoing feminine journeys in which as we get comfortable in our skins, we have personalities that are just as beautiful inside that match or exceed the outside shell.
What is also important as a trans feminine community is that as we evolve toward acceptance of the reality there will always be somebody prettier that we are, we deal with it by not projecting our insecurities, jealousies and issues onto our sisters be their cis or trans.

We need to be focused on the bigger prize of being about the business of building sisterhood in our ranks..

Blasting Off On Planet Privilege

Trans human rights, the final human rights frontier.   These are the voyages of the USS TransGriot, having to check somebody once again for something they wrote and didn't give much thought to before firing up their laptop,.   My guest post at the Dallas Voice

I read that 'Planet Confusion' post from Leslie McMurray of the Dallas Voice, and let me just say for starters it was a hot mess.  You know it ain't good and you have screwed up in Trans World when our TERF enemies and the TS separatist useful fools are gleefully linking to it, disrespectfully misgendering you at the same time and you are getting called out by your trans family for the problematic commentary in it.

And once again, we have another instance of a late transitioning trans person saying some problematic crap.

The first problem with the post was using that Jackie Robinson analogy.  It didn't fit this situation, and you would have been better off leaving it out of the post.  

It was also problematic the conclusion jump that was made based on a cis woman's assertions that Carlotta Sklodowska, the trans woman in question,  was a crossdresser.   She's not, and has stated that she was trans.  So why would you do Yvette Cormier's and the conservafools dirty work for them by not only continuing to erase her declared identity, but then go on an anti-crossdresser rant on top of it?

Sklodowska could have looked like Heidi Klum when she walked into that locker room to hang up her coat and purse and she still would have been misgendered.unjust

I started transition in 1994.  I was wearing femme attire in public long before that   It is a cardinal rule in Trans World that when out and using public restrooms that correspond with gender presentation, we ALWAYS sit to pee period, and for you to insinuate we don't reinforced the transphobic 'men in dresses' trope.

It may be news to you Leslie, but those of us who have been out and proud longer than 2012 are a lot more  politically and PR savvy than you gave us credit for.  Did it also not occur to you Ms. McMurray to ponder the point Yvette Cormier may have had an agenda and been lying? 

No police report, no arrest, no predator.   Anyone who has been in TransWorld long enough to pay attention knows that far too many conservative white peeps  have been crying wolf and white women's tears over nonexistent trans predators.  Now they and the anti-trans industry and their non-white sellouts are desperate to create some phantom predators to back up their transphobic lies and the unjust anti-trans bills popping up like kudzu.

I'm concerned about those unjust bills  too.  So much so I and a group of trans people  and our allies in business attire took a day out of our busy lives to travel to Austin to fight them because if they are enacted, they will disproportionately affect trans people of color.

In addition to the problematic anti-crossdresser rant, the post had the vanillacentric privileged stench of trans identity politics that makes me sick.   Not everyone in Trans World can plunk down $20K and jet to Thailand to get SRS for various personal. fiscal and medical reasons, and you need to keep that fundamental point in mind in the future.

You also need to keep in mind there are many ways to present as female, and cis and trans women come in all shapes, sizes and genital configurations.

But the bottom line in this whole sorry mess is this.   Yvette Corrmier lost her membership for bullying and being a transphobic jerk, and now she has the audacity to want Planet Fitness to pay for her precious delicate nerves being disturbed by a trans woman merely existing.

Blake Brockington Commits Suicide

“I’m still a person, and trans people are still people. Our bodies just don’t match what’s up (in our heads). We need support, not people looking down at us or degrading us or overlooking us. We are still human.”
Blake Brockington

I have mixed emotions as I'm writing this post because I have the sad duty of informing you courtesy of QNotes that history making trans activist Blake Brockington took his own life March 23.

18 year old Brockington made history last year as the first ever African-American trans masculine homecoming king when as an East Mecklenburg High School senior he beat out 12 other nominees and raised $2355.55 for a school chosen charity to win the honor.

Since his graduation from East Mecklenburg HS he has been involved in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a mentor to other trans kids and an outspoken advocate for our community.  I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to his at the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference to congratulate him on his historic win and tell him how proud I was of him.

And that's one of the parts that is pissing me off and literally has me in tears as I compose this.  Brockington is the third trans person of color youth suicide this year, and that unhappy trend must end.  22 year old Aubrey Mariko Shine jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge February 24, and was preceded by the February 11 death of 19 year old Melonie Rose of Laurel, MD.

And to add insult to both those deaths, the families of Shine and Rose added to the hurt and anger we feel over these death by deliberately erased their trans identities at their funerals

We lost another one of our trans younglings to the ramped up anti-trans violence and hatred.   If #BlackLivesMatter,  don't #BlackTransLivesMatter too?

Trans younglings, your best revenge is living well and setting the goal of living to see your 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th birthdays.  If you need to talk to someone, find a trans elder or call the Trevor Project.  
It would have been interesting to see how Blake's life would have turned out, but we've been robbed of that opportunity.   

Rest in power, Blake


 For TBLG youth (ages 24 and younger) contemplating suicide, the Trevor Project Lifeline can be reached at 1-866-488-7386. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 can also be reached 24 hours a day by people of all ages and identities.

Why Maya Avant Is More Important Than You Think

On Wednesday morning while I was rolling toward Austin to fight some anti-trans bills at the Pink Dome, the CBS soap opera Bold and The Beautiful was dropping a cliffhanger that would light up the Twitterverse for several hours in terms of the Maya Avant character, played by actress Karla Mosley, being revealed to be a trans woman. 

Seven years ago I wrote about the importance of Rebecca Romijn playing Alexis Meade on the ABC show Ugly Betty.   I compared it at the time to Nichelle Nichols playing Lt. Uhura on Star Trek in terms of the groundbreaking nature of it.

Now for the first time ever, we have a soap with a trans African-American character.   You know I not only have wanted to see a regular trans character that reflects my ethnic background for years now, I have also expressed my frustration at the ignorance level of elements of my people when it comes to trans issues.

The Maya Avant character has the potential if handled correctly by Bold and the Beautiful writers, to finally bust some myths about what a trans person of African descent is like, and educate about many of the issues we deal with.

And while we African-American trans women have had amazing possibility models in Janet Mock and Laverne Cox capture the country's and the world's attention, and are an immense source of pride in our ranks, we now have a fictional character gracing the nation's television screens and the TV screens of the 100 nations where this soap is broadcast.

So when Bold and the Beautiful returns following the weekend's March Madness games, we'll see what happens with this unfolding storyline that suddenly has a lot of people inside and outside the trans community talking and  paying attention to the exploits of Maya Avant..

We Lost A Media Friend When 'Ronan Farrow Daily' Was Cancelled

Was pissed when Ronan Farrow Daily and Joy Reid's The Reid Report shows were cancelled on MSNBC for two reasons.   In addition to the fact I loved Joy's show, I was in talks with the Farrow folks to do a show talking about the off the charts murders of African-American trans women that had spiked at that time.

The other reason I was not happy about the cancellation of the show besides my lost opportunity to talk to a national audience is because when it comes to media outlets, the Ronan Farrow Daily show was the gold standard when it came to respectful and diverse coverage of trans issues.

And they also did something groundbreaking that has only been replicated so far on Melissa Harris-Perry.  They brought trans people on their sets to talk about trans human rights issues.

It was Ronan Farrow Daily that along with Mel Wynore debunked the bathroom predator lies surrounding the Maryland trans rights law last May and forcefully called it a myth. 



It brought Allyson Robinson on to talk about trans military service.  Tiq has been on the show multiple times to discuss the TIME trans tipping point article and the detention of trans immigrants.  

And in the wake of the Leelah Alcorn suicide, Ronan Farrow Daily did a week of trans themed programming coveting a wide variety of issues that earned him a GLAAD Media Award nomination.

It remains to be seen whether we'll get the same level of coverage about issues of importance to our community on other MSNBC shows.  Lord knows we're still waiting for Rachel Maddow to even say the word 'transgender', much less cover our issues in depth on her show.

We lost a media friend and trans human rights ally when Ronan Farrow Daily was cancelled, and it will be interesting to see what MSNBC show picks up that torch and is willing to use its broadcast platform to discuss our issues.
.

Nicole Ramos-'You'll Always Be A Man"

To give you another taste of the birthday girl's video blog, check out what my Lone Star sis had to say in this January 2015 post about the all purpose insult that our cisgender detractors like to fling at us in the "You'll always be a man" one.

Upcoming February 25 Can We Talk For Real Podcast Appearance

With 2015 already shaping up to be a horrific year for anti-trans murders, I've been invited to appear on my first Can We Talk For Real podcast for this year.

I always look forward to talking to the CWT4R team, but during this February 25 show Ina, Michelle, Terri Boi and I will discuss what's happening, some possible reasons why the trans murders have spiked since June 2014 and some possible solutions to it..

You can call 347-215-8985 to take part in that discussion or listen to the show starting at 10:30 PM Eastern time, 9:30 PM Central time, 8:30 PM Mountain time and at 7:30 PM Pacific time.

Hope that many of you TransGriot readers will tune in for this conversation as well.

Diamond Stylz - You Want To Be Me

In Diamond's first video of the year, she breaks down the insult that some cis women hurl at trans women whenever we get into arguments with each other.

The UH Trans 101 Panel

Had been back in Houston from Creating Change less than 24 hours, but crawled out of bed Monday morning to honor a commitment I'd made to head to the campus of my alma mater to appear in a Trans 101 panel.

The panel discussion was sponsored by the University of Houston Friends of Women's Studies, and took place in the MD Anderson Library Rockwell Pavilion as part of the Barbara Karkabi Living Archives Series.

It was also videotaped for posterity as part of that Living Archive series, which features public interviews with Houston women on diverse topics.  The videotaped interviews are then placed in the Corey C.Stewart Women's Archive in the UH Library's special collections.

It's also one that some of the misguided peeps in last spring's successful Tittsworth Act fight should have have had a seat in so they could learn something about the trans community.

So yeah, it's a wonderful feeling anytime this Cougar gets a chance to step back on this continually expanding and still under construction campus she once walked back in the day.   It's even more awesome to know that the video of this panel I played a role in will be viewed by future UH students and all who peruse them in the Stuart Archives.

So I joined the fabulous Nikki Araguz Loyd, UH LGBT Resource Center Director Lorraine Schroeder, UH student Skye and moderator Dr. Guillermo De Los Reyes at 11:30 AM for a well attended and fascinating discussion in which we covered a wide range of topics from being trans on a college campus to how cispeeps can be better trans allies.

The 1 PM end of the panel came way too soon, and after hanging out to talk to some of the panel attendees, it was time to head off with Nikki and Meagan to a lunch that turned into a road trip.

But I'm really looking forward to the next time I get to step onto the UH campus for an event.

Arianna On The Maria Elvira Show

Made a commitment while I was at Creating Change Denver to highlight and raise the profiles of my trans Latina sisters and talk about their issues they face on the blog.

To get that started, going to post the video of my sis Arianna Lint,.  I met her when we were both going through GLAAD POC Media training in 2012, and we've been close ever since.

This is a Spanish language video from Arianna's recent appearance on the Maria Elvira Salazar show that discussed a Cuban transwoman, the Catholic Church position on trans people, and the Bruce Jenner situation

It's Important To Have Those Trans Community Intergenerational Conversations

One of the things we will definitely need to do this year and beyond is have intergenerational conversations inside and outside the trans community.

While I'm here in Denver during Creating Change, I plan to practice what I'm about to preach to y'all  and when I get back to H-town.

For us trans peeps, it's past time that we have those sit downs with our elder trans statesmen and stateswomen.

The reason being is a multipronged one.  In addition to actually getting a chance to chat with your trans elders, they also get the opportunity to actively listen to what you have to say.  

Yes I've been involved in trans human rights activism for 17 years, but even I can learn some things from you younglings .  You may during a discussion drive home a point that is so profound it may cause me to think about an issue I have opinions on in a different light.

At the same time, it is also my duty as a trans elder to pass down your history to you and all who are willing to listen to what I am passing on to you.

Intergenerational conversations are important two way communications streams that build a movement and most importantly, build community.

Moni's Take On The Bruce Jenner Situation

Been seeing increasing chatter about whether Olympian Bruce Jenner is about to transition, and I've been getting asked questions about it.

Here's my take on it.

I'm going to treat this like the Lana Wachowski situation a few years ago, which was similar to this one in terms of a public personality facing rampant unconfirmed rumors that they may be about to or have started a gender transition..

This reminds me of 2003, when there were rampant rumors coming from the West Coast that Lana was about to come out as trans.

Despite photos at various events of her en femme, reports of divorce proceedings, a Rolling Stone article, medical procedures, et cetera , it still took a few years before Lana finally announced she was part of Team Trans in 2012.

My rule has been in these situations that if a person hasn't declared they are trans, I consider them cisgender. until that declaration happens.

Until Bruce has that press conference, rumors about a Jenner transition are just that, rumors.

'Boy Meets Girl' Has A Trans Actress...

Playing a trans woman..

This indie romantic comedy directed by Eric Schaeffer is the story of Ricky, a young Southern trans girl who deals with friendship, romance, transphobic hate, and all the other gray area issues that trans peeps have to navigate while working to get accepted at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.

It stars Michelle Hendley in the role of Ricky, and she had an interesting route she took to get this role.  Schaeffer found her courtesy of her YouTube video, and OUT magazine interviewed them both in this article..  

Boy Meets Girl will be in limited release in February, and hopefully I'll get to see it.

Speaking of seeing things, here's the trailer

Fix Society, Not Trans People!

Lourdes Hunter last Saturday cut loose a powerful speech during a Washington DC rally attended by over 200 people organized to call for justice for Leelah Alcorn. 

She laid out the problems that trans people face in a society hostile to us, and issued an impassioned call to fix the problems now that ail trans kind.

"I am here to tell you that we don't need to be fixed," she said in the speech. . "What is wrong is society's depraved indifference, willful ignorance, complicity, and inactive engagement with the systems that deny trans people our humanity and our right to life."

Amen, sis.   Here's the speech.

Stuff Just Got Real With The ICD-11 Revision

With the outrage building is the international trans community about our Russian peeps being under attack with the BS driving ban, something unfamiliar to many US based trans folks but central to this oppressive drama has come to our attention in the USA.

The UN's World Health Organization puts out every few years the International Classification of Diseases or ICD Manual.

The ICD-10 was endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and has been used in WHO Member states since 1994.  

So why is the ICD important?  The ICD is not only the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes, it is used by physicians, nurses, other providers, researchers, health information managers and coders, health information technology workers, policy-makers, insurers and patient organizations to classify diseases and other health problems recorded on many types of health and vital records, including death certificates and health records.

In addition to enabling the storage and retrieval of diagnostic information for clinical, epidemiological and quality purposes, these records also provide the basis for the compilation of national mortality and morbidity statistics by WHO Member States. Finally, ICD is used for reimbursement and resource allocation decision-making by countries.

Translation:  insurance companies use it for coding purposes, too.

And as witnessed in Russia recently, the ICD has been used to attack and pathologize the trans community for decades.   As Dr. Kelley Winters, who tracks these issues on her GID Reform blog said on my Facebook page on January 10: 

"They've been used every day to attack us, for generations, by conservative bigots on the right and Raymondites (TERFS) on the left. Gender reparative psychotherapies are still practiced from the Clarke Institute (CAMH) in Toronto, to private practices and "religious counselors" in every state. Countless more trans children are shamed into the closets of their birth assignments by parents, doctors, shrinks, school administrators and school counselors, based on these bigoted and scientifically baseless diagnostic policies. Leelah was just one of many youth who lost their lives to the stigma and false stereotypes promoted by these policies."

Homosexuality was removed from the ICD in 1990, and trans people in several nations including Canada's Jenna Talackova have been pushing to have the same thing happen for transsexuality in the ICD-11, which is currently being revised.   It is scheduled to be released in 2017.

The World Professional Assn for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the American Psychological Assn. (APA) have also called for the depathologization of transsexuality.

According to Dr. Winters, this is what is currently happening in those ICD-11 efforts.

"The current plan of record for the ICD-11 is mostly good news-- to eliminate trans related (transsexualism, GID, GID-childhood, and transvestic) categories from the mental disorders chapter (chapter 5/ F-codes) and replace them with non-mental codings, named Gender Incongruence, in a new chapter on Sexual Health (chapter 6). Gender Incongruence of Adults and Adolescents (GIAA) will be used to facilitate access to hormonal and/or surgical transition care for those who need it -I support this new category, though I think its descriptive text needs clarification and more age flexibility (for adolescents who may need access to blockers or medical care before Tanner Stage 2 characteristics are outwardly visible." "A second new category proposed for the ICD-11, Gender Incongruence in Childhood (GIC) is controversial. Since children do not get hormonal or surgical treatment and need no coding for them, there is no clear benefit of a pathology coding for trans (including socially transitioning) children. Yet the stigma of pathology/defectiveness and the torture of consequence gender-conversion/gender-reparative psychotherapies puts their lives at risk. Global Action for Trans* Equality (GATE) has proposed a less harmful alternative proposal to replace the GIC coding in the ICD-11. My own opinion is that there should be no GIC childhood coding in the ICD-11 and that the alternative GATE proposal (I helped define it) should be implemented instead."

So as you can see, the revisions to the ICD-11 are of critical importance to us in the USA and the international trans community not only in terms of our human rights fight.

It is also a fight to assert our very humanity as trans people in the face of increasingly organized efforts by the Southern Baptist Church, right wing politicians and the TERF's to deny it

SXSW Interactive Trans Tech Panel

Not too early to get started thinking about what conferences and conventions you'll have an opportunity to attend in 2015 and get your trans learn on.

If you're attending the SXSW Interactive event in Austin, TX from March 8-17, know that transpeeps will be in the house.

One of the fascinating panels that will be taking place during the SXSW Interactive portion of it will be entitled Transgender In Tech: Past Present and Future.

Unfortunately, this will also be the ONLY trans themed panel at SXSW, and that's another issue we need to discuss in another post.

We have a long proud legacy in the tech industry that we can trace back to Dr. Lynn Conway. who has served a role model to many trans peeps currently in the tech industry. 

The panel will bring together three people who have helped forge the path toward trans inclusion in tech spaces.   Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler will be in the SXSW house to talk about Trans* H4CK, his innovative hackathon and speaker series that highlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship and has had successful sessions in Oakland, Las Vegas, Chicago and most recently Boston. 

Dr Lynn Conway will also be there.   IBM fired her after she transitioned in 1968, but Dr. Conway went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics.

The third panelist will be Brielle Henderson.  She is a user interface engineer at Facebook who helped create and implement the custom gender options that you can select on your Facebook profiles.

The facilitator of this fascinating panel will be Allyson Robinson, the VP for Knowledge and Impact with the LGBT Technology Partnership based in Washington, DC. 

She'll facilitate a conversation amongst the panelists that will focus on the trajectory of trans inclusion in technology and what it will mean for an industry that struggles with diversity and inclusion.

So if you are planning to be in Austin for the SXSW Interactive event, you may wish to be there for this fascinating panel. 

This panel brings together three figures who have helped make history advancing transgender inclusion in tech spaces. Lynn Conway was fired by IBM and nearly ended up on the streets when she transitioned in 1968, then went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics. Brielle Harrison, a user interface engineer at Facebook, helped create and implement that platform's industry-leading custom gender options. Dr. Kortney Ziegler envisioned and built Trans*H4CK, a hackathon and speaker series that spotlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship.
Allyson Robinson, Vice President for Knowledge and Impact at the LGBT Technology Partnership in Washington, D.C. and a transgender pioneer in her own right, will facilitate a conversation among these trailblazers about the trajectory of transgender inclusion in tech and what it might mean for the future of diversity in the industry.
- See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/39695#sthash.lAYHcBET.z50gWX0o.dpuf

Hour Magazine 1980 Trans Interview

While looking for something to watch on YouTube stumbled across this video of a 1980 Hour Magazine host Gary Collins interviewing trans women Heather Fontaine, Amanda Winters and Shalei Latrelle

Hour Magazine was one of the first national talk shows that discussed transsexuality, and Collins would later interview on his show Caroline 'Tula' Cossey and Christine Jorgensen.

This show also featured a few moments of their performances at the Queen Mary drag club in Studio City, CA.

It was a professional but very Trans 101 interview by Collins in what has a feel to be a conversational style.  And yes, some questions from the studio audience.

And I'm feeling old watching this.disco-era video.

But this show was a godsend to peeps like me in the pre-Internet era.


Part 1


Part 2

Rev. Richardson's Thoughts On The Alcorn Suicide

Rev. Lawrence T. Richardson wrote an essay for his The Salt Collective Blog entitled 'Transgender and Christian..and Crying For Leelah Alcorn'

In it Rev Richardson has this to say about the tragic events.

In response to her parents’ rejection, her own depression, and the feelings of hopelessness, Leelah ended her pain by walking in front of a tractor trailer on the highway. I cry for Leelah. I cry for Leelah because the hatred and the rejection she experienced at the hands of the very people who gave her life is what ultimately contributed to her death. I cry for Leelah because she didn’t know another way. I cry for Leelah because she represents the nearly 50% of all transgender people who attempt suicide. I cry for Leelah because her parents used their Christian faith to justify not loving and affirming their child for who she was and, like many trans folks, this hits too close to home for me… - See more at: http://thesaltcollective.org/leelahalcorn/#sthash.wLgMTtRW.dpufOn

"In response to her parents' rejection, her own depression, and the feelings of hopelessness, Leelah ended her pain by walking in front of a tractor trailer on the highway.  I cry for Leelah.  I cry for Leelah because the hatred and rejection she experienced at the hands of the very people who gave her life is what ultimately contributed to her death."
Rev. Lawrence T. Richardson

You can click on this link to read the rest of Rev. Richardson's essay.

Trans Community, We Need To Be Better Friends To Each Other

One of the things that jumped out at me while reading my Facebook feed was one transsister not wanting to go out on New Year's Eve, but expressing her wish of just wanting to quietly usher in 2015 at her place with a friend and watch the New York ball drop on TV because she really wasn't feeling being in a club that night.

I feel her on that.  She was also aware that because it was New Year's Eve, her mission to find someone who wouldn't be out clubbing or at somebody's house party would be tough.

She managed to get in contact with another trans sister at home that night, but Person B as I'll call her declined. 

To be fair to Person B, she could have had a rough day that played into her decision to decline the invite and had no intention of hurting the person in question's feeling.

But Person B declining that invite led the person to question whether she actually had any trans sisters as friends in the community in which she lives that cared about her.

I know the person in question, and she is a warm, funny, and sweet person who is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside..  I would have loved to have spent a few hours on New Year's Eve (or any time) in her company since the last time I was in her presence I enjoyed it so much.

And on New Year's Eve I was at home alone myself and looking to spend some quality time with somebody that evening, so that story she recounted on her Facebook page resonated with me.

The reason I'm mentioning this is because I have a bigger point to make as it relates to transkind and the current spike in suicides we are experiencing. 

One of the reasons I believe we have the suicide problem in trans circles is because for the most part, we tend to be loners to begin with. 

I have had to fight that loner tendency myself.   You combine that with rejection from family and friends because of the trans issues, add a dash of isolation and depression, and you have the perfect storm of conditions to grease the skids for a suicide attempt.

To me, one way to combat that is simple human contact with people who love and care about you and your well being..  Facebook chats and phone calls are fine, but nothing beats sitting with your homegirls at their home or yours chatting about whatever issues pop up in your mind.  Or if that's not your speed, going to lunch or dinner with a friend.   Going shopping.   Going to a movie.  Going to a museum.  (insert fave activity here)

Human beings are social animals, and we need regular contact with other humans on a frequent basis. So transpeeps, go do something you like in which you have regular contact with another human being.cis or trans.

And one thing we trans folks need to do a better job of is hanging out with other trans people.   I love my cis sisters and have learned much in my own feminine evolution because of the conversations and  quality time I've spent with them over the years and will continue to do so because every trans woman needs sistahfriends in her life.

But there are times when you have to have conversations with other trans people who have gone through the drama of living life while trans.

And some of those trans people you can learn things from are trans guys.

It's not like this is a new idea I'm suggesting in terms of being better friends with each other..  I've talked about the importance of sisterhood for years and it being a necessary component of building a strong community.    With this outbreak of recent suicides, the message about reaching out to other transpeople and forming lasting lifelong friendships needs to be repeated once again.

So in the spirit of fixing society as Leelah urged in her final words, let's do this.   This is one of the easy things we can do as a community that doesn't require legislation and we can expeditiously implement it.

It's also necessary for us to do so because our only sane response to a world hostile to transpeople is to close ranks, hold each other tight, and love each other and the allies who love us.

And yep, I have a few people in mind I'd love to do that with in 2015.