TransMusePlanet's 20 Most Influential Trans People of 2015

It's the TransMusePlanet fourth annual poll of the 20 Most Influential Trans People and as a testament to the increased visibility of trans people in 2015 there were some changes on the list this year.

TransMusePlanet's fourth annual 20 Most Influential Trans People list started in 2012, and is determined by readers and Sabrina's and visitors to the TransMusePlanet Facebook group created by TMP founding editor Sabrina Samone.

These were the twenty people that her readers were talking about during this soon to be ending year and here's the link to that post.

The Fascinating Story Of Mary Jones

The ongoing mission of TransGriot is to unearth nuggets of our trans history so that we drive home the point that trans people didn't just pop up in the second half of the 20th century.

We have not only been part of the divers mosaic of human life, we have also been as I have stated more than a few times on this blog, part of the kente cloth fabric of the Black community.

Thanks to Mey from Autostraddle and Transas City, I was introduced to another historic Black trans person in the story of Mary Jones.

Jones was born Peter Sewally, and spent time in New Orleans working with call girls there.  In addition to making their beds, she would welcome their clients and collect the money.

She was encouraged by them to wear feminine attire because in her words, 'She looked better in them' and continued to do so during her time living in New Orleans.  Jones became a New York resident in the 1830's and in addition to making a living engaging in sex work, also was a pickpocket.

It was that second talent that got her in trouble in 1836 for lifting a wallet containing $99 ($2600 in current US currency) from a white john she'd slept with.   When she was arrested, interrogated and strip searched it was discovered she not only had male genitalia, but a leather device in the shape of a vagina she wore around her waist to keep her clients from learning her secret.

When police searched her home they discovered more wallets, trinkets and watches she'd liberated from her wealthy clients who were fearful of reporting the thefts in an increasingly morally conservative time period.    

At her sensationalized trial that began on June 11, 1836, she testified that she had always dressed in femme attire while living in New Orleans and attending parties amongst our people.   But this trial was also happening in the wake of recent anti-abolition and anti-amalgamation riots, and it was unlikely she as a Black gender variant person was going to escape punishment for the crimes committed against New York's upper class citizens in that environment n which as she was led into the courtroom was jeered, accosted and prodded.

The media also humiliated her, referred to her as 'the Man-Monster' and revved up the hysteria

Hmm, Thus setting the trend that has continued in today's media climate of demonizing Black trans women.

Sarcastic moment over, back to the story.

On June 18 she was convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to five years imprisonment.  Upon being released from serving the grand larceny sentence, Jones was convicted and sentenced to another five months in Sing Sing for crossdressing.

After serving that time, Jones disappeared from recorded history.
 
.  

Open Letter To The Houston Black Community

Dear Houston Black Community,
It has been two weeks since many of you stupidly let the Texas and Harris County Republican Party, Dave Welch, Jared Woodfill, Steven Hotze in collusion with sellout ministers hoodwink and bamboozle you into voting against a human rights law that protected you.

How's that working out for you?

And yeah, as a proud native Houstonian who grew up in South Park, loves this city and who is an unapologetically Black trans woman who has no problem owning her power, I'm still majorly pissed off about what transpired November 3.

The embarrassment is strictly on those of you who were part of the 160,286 people who got played, but the negative consequences of that misguided vote will be felt by all 2.2 million of us who reside in the city limits of the 600 square miles of Texas soil we call Houston.

Whatever excuse you came up with to justify your NO vote doesn't take away the fact that I have to deal with the realization that many of you voted that way because you ignorantly fear or hate me and other trans Houstonians enough to take away your own civil rights.

The bottom line is that me and my fellow trans Houstonians were peeing and pooping in Houston public restrooms without incident for the last five decades prior to November 3, and we will continue to do so afterward.

It's also painfully obvious that some ongoing Trans 101 'ejumacation' needs to happen.




We Black trans people exist, and we will not go back into the closet or go into hiding because you don't want to deal with the fact you are less than enlightened when it comes to the transgender community, and that lack of knowledge was exploited by the same right wing conservative oppressors who have hated Black people forever.

We trans peeps are Black people first before the trans stuff even enters the human rights equation and my 6 foot 2 body is a walking study in intersectionality.  But the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance never was about bathrooms.  It was about creating a human rights non-discrimination ordinance with a local enforcement mechanism that we don't have now.  Thanks to some of you peeps failure to use Google to look up other sources of information about the HERO besides negative ads on KCOH and Majic 102, are embarrassingly without again

Let's bring this back to talking about the community whose humanity has been under attack since last April.  At least 1-5% of the folks who live here are estimated to ID as transgender, and I hope that the 2020 US Census will include a transgender identifier category so we can get more precise numbers.

We Black trans people are your brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and neighbors.

And we vote.

We Black trans people are an intertwined kente cloth part of the Black community, and that symbiotic relationship ain't changing.  What ails Black Houston also hurts Black Trans Houston and vice versa.

If you think I'm sellin' woof tickets about that last point, it was a Black trans woman named Leyth Jamal who Saks Fifth Avenue in the Galleria discriminated against in 2012

If we are facing 26% employment discrimination, that hurts not only Black trans people, but the Black community as a whole if we can't get legitimate jobs and have to go to the underground economy to earn a living.   If Black trans kids are being bullied to the point of dropping out and don't continue to get as much education as they can, that hurts the Houston Black community as a whole.

What else hurts is seeing ministers that look like us oppressing us, mouthing the same dehumanizing anti-trans lies as white conservatives for over a year and fomenting hatred in Black Houston toward us.   That is  not only problematic, it is greasing the skids for hate crimes to be perpetrated against us.

If we have two HBCU's in the Houston area in Texas Southern and Prairie View that don't have non-discrimination policies that cover gender identity or policies in place that help make trans students feel safe and welcomed on their campuses, they will go to the PWI and HBCU colleges and universities that do.

I own my power.  Post- HERO I will redouble my efforts toward encouraging my Black trans brothers and sisters to own theirs and exercise it in conjunction with our allies.  You will have to deal with us becoming more active and visible in the Black community in the wake of this loss because it's painfully clear to me that needs to happen.

You don't like that, too bad, you brought it upon yourselves.

While this education is going on, new rule is in effect: You will not be allowed to uncritically demonize or dehumanize us.  You will give us the same respect that you demand for yourselves and if you can't or won't meet that basic condition of engagement, you will be called out.

We have far more problems in Black Houston that we can solve by working together.  Demonizing the trans community won't do squat for that, so chill with that anti-trans drama so we can get busy building the progressive Houston we all want, need and deserve.

I and other Black trans Houstonians, despite attempts to erase us from the Black community, exist and aren't going away.   Deal with it.

Yours in the struggle,
Monica

Upcoming Must See Trans TV- The 'Transgender In America' Show On HLN

I'd talked about it in terms of the O'Bannon women being on this show, and now the preview videos are finally coming out.

On August 26 and 27 HLN's  Dr Drew show will be broadcasting over two nights a Transgender In America show in front of an all-trans audience starting at 8 PM CDT.

You may wish to set your DVR's for this one, and here's the preview video of the upcoming broacast .


Once again, the Transgender In America show will be broadcast on HLN, and I'm looking forward to seeing what people I know show up not only as the guests on the show, but in the studio audience.,

2015 US Trans Survey Launches August 19

When the National Transgender Discrimination Survey launched in 2011 and its findings were ensconced in a report entitled Injustice At Every Turn, little did the almost 7000 people who filled out that survey in 2008-2009 realize that their answers would help be a catalyst for change and drive the trans movement forward.

I used that sobering data repeatedly when it was time to lobby or write articles for the blog, and the 2011 NTDS survey served as a snapshot of the US trans community that has had far reaching policy implications.

Now NCTE is gearing up to do so again with the 2015 version of what has now been renamed the US Trans Survey.   It kicks off August 19 with the goal of getting 20,000 trans people to take the survey.

I'm urging all trans folks, and especially trans people of color around the country to take the time to fill this out because it is that important.   If want data about the lives of trans people of color to show up in the subsequent reports that will be generated from this survey, then we need to represent and do so.

The data collected in the US Trans Survey will go toward pushing policymakers, organizations, and lawmakers to do the right thing for trans Americans, and help researchers compile that 2015 snapshot of trans Americans we'll be relying on for that work of advancing our human rights cause until it's time for the next one in 2019..

So when August 19 gets here (and that date is rapidly approaching), let's at least double the amount of people taking this year's survey, and let's also strive to get participation in all 50 states so we can get statewide data to peruse for your various states as well.

But in order for that to happen, you must participate. You can hit the link at ustranssurvey.org to do so when it goes live, and make sure you share it with other trans people in your influence circles.

Thailand's Apple Modeling Agency Opening All-Trans LA Branch

The Bangkok based Apple Modeling Agency back in November decided to open up a branch of their local office there dedicated specifically to promoting trans models.  

Business must be booming, because they are now opening up a trans specific branch office in Los Angeles.

While trans models have had a long distinguished history in the fashion world, we are at a moment in time in which people, designers and corporations are openly soliciting for their services.  

Jazz Jennings is the face for Clean and Clear.  Carmen Carrera has signed with Elite Models and has made clear her desire to become the first trans Victoria's Secret Angel.  . Lea T has signed a deal to become the global face of Redken beauty products, and trans models like Ines Rau, Arisce Wanzer, Geena Rocero, Isis King and Andreja Pejic are popping up on runways from New York to Milan in catalogs and elsewhere..

Apple Model Management LA is set to open under the guidance of Cecilio Asuncion and already has six transgender models on their initial roster and are looking for more. 

“We see trans individuals as beautiful,” says Apple's LA  agency director Cecilio Asuncion. “Our strong commitment to developing them as successful models is never about quantifying or qualifying their gender. It's never a question of if they are women or men, it's about their passion and commitment to being the best possible models they can be.”

So if you are a trans woman  5'8" or taller or a trans man who is 6’ or taller and are interested in being represented by them, you can apply by following the application guidelines at the Apple Model Management website.

 

Application materials and photos may be emailed directly to Apple Model Management L.A. Director Cecilio Asuncion at cecilio@applemodels.com.

H/T  The Advocate

The Maya Avant 'Bold And The Beautiful' Storyline Is Groundbreaking TV

I've been saying for a few months now the evolving Maya Avant trans storyline on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful has the potential to be a groundbreaking, evolutionary and important one, and so far I haven't been disappointed.

Coming up this week on B&B is a fashion show episode that will air on July 16 featuring Isis King and Carmen Carrera.

But back to talking about this groundbreaking trans character played by Karla Mosley.   While some folks in Trans World are disappointed this character isn't being played by a transfeminine actress, that's mitigated in my eyes by the fact Maya Avant is a major character on the show and is a woman of color..   

This is also groundbreaking on multiple levels. It has been rare to see fictional African-American  trans feminine characters on television, and rarer still for them to be a major show character.   It's why I was thrilled to see this happen, gave the side eye to some peeps who were grousing about the fact the character wasn't played by a trans woman, and I'm hoping this ongoing storyline starts driving a positive discussion about trans issues in the Black community. 

FYI, to underscore how serious the B&B producers are about this storyline, transmasculine actor Scott Turner Schofield pops up on the show as Maya's best friend and mentor Nick.

Last week we got another major peek into Maya's backstory when her parents Julius and Vivienne Avant, played by veteran actors Anna Maria Horsford and Obba Babatunde show up in LA.

They are on a mission to bring little sis Nicole back to Illinois with them so she isn't in her father's mind 'under the influence of Maya.'

Dude, Nicole is an adult woman who loves her big sis.  Get a life and a clue that trans people exist and aren't going away. 

Julius has major problems with Maya's transition, and refuses to wrap his head around the fact he has another daughter and Maya was never comfortable in her skin until after her transition.

Like myself, Anna Maria Horsford is also hoping this storyline jump starts a much needed conversation about trans and SGL subjects in our community and across the country.

"Gay and transgender subjects are not comfortably discussed in the African-American community," Horsford says. "We might see that our children are different but we don't tell anybody about it. We all know that church choir director who never got married and his mother still insists it's because he never met the right girl. We may want to say, 'Oh, Mama, c'mon, we know!' But we keep it polite. I love that this story on The Bold and the Beautiful is ultimately about truth and integrity and acceptance. It's going to stir up a lot of positive talk in our community—and hopefully in all communities."

Another subject in which I hope this Maya Avant trans storyline on B&B will help foster a needed discussion about is blowing up the misguided notion that trans women aren't viable life partners for cis men.

Trans women are women, and many of us have no problem attracting masculine attention because we are quality human beings just looking for love like everybody else on this planet.

The other lie that also needs to be expeditiously shut down is the one bandied about that a cis man attracted to a trans woman is 'less than a man'  for doing so.   Umm no.  Society needs to stop denigrating the men who genuinely seek us out for long term relationships.

I know trans women who are in relationships with, engaged to or happily married to cis men, and it's past time society stop beating up on the men who love us or being shocked that trans women got it going on like that.. 

It's also past time for trans women to get over our internalized issues and believe that we are worthy of being loved by any man, cis or transgender.

And if a soap opera storyline can make all those needed conversations happen, I'm all for that.

TERF's Have Zero Say In Defining My Black Trans Life

I got to see the transphobic piece of TERF trash written by Elinor Burkett for the New York Times (which I refuse to link to) and have held my tongue for a few days to process that waste of bandwith op-ed that has been seized on by transphobes who want to get the anti-trans hate on. 

People have asked me my opinion about what she wrote. so here goes.  

I have zero respect for people who hate me and my trans community and wish to oppress it by any means necessary.

I have zero respect for another Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist white woman who makes it clear in another published screed she never has and never will know what being trans is like, arrogantly thinks she has the power to define us and uses her privilege and media access to demonize and oppress trans people.

I'm also beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of media outlets repeatedly giving white TERF's space in their publications to publish these so called contrarian pieces that are barely disguised TERF anti-trans hatred.

Burkett, Burchill and everyone else in TERF World want to keep ignoring the fact that despite trans exclusionary radical feminism's unrelenting 40 plus year failed effort to morally eradicate transsexuality from existence,  and still we trans feminine women rise.

That rise is being led by trans women of color sick of their words that translate into death, pain and misery visited upon our trans ranks.   And contrary to what your vanillacentric privileged TERF egos may tell you, you don't get to define the parameters of trans womanhood and what terrain the discussion will be held on, we trans women do.

The other thing that has pissed me off about this whole ongoing Caitlyn Jenner discussion is that  unless it has happened and I've missed it while handling some personal business, I have yet to hear the voices of cis non-white women in this media conversation.

When it comes to what feminists are thinking about trans women, I will take my cues from people like Melissa Harris-Perry, Kaila Story and Brittney Cooper just to name a few along with other thoughtful Black cis women who know that we Black cis and trans women have far more issues that unite us than divide us.

Both Black cis and trans women are also aware that Black womanhood has been under attack for four centuries, and it is in our mutual interests to end that demonization of Black femininity.

It's also in our mutual interests to jointly hammer home the point to the Black community that if #BlackLivesMatter, some of those Black lives that matter are also Black trans lives. 

It does not help our community when Black trans people are facing 26% unemployment.   We Black trans people need to be in a position to whee we can not only make a decent living, but be in the position in which we can contribute our talents to uplift all African-Americans.

And that needs to happen sooner rather than at some future date.

It is also in the mutual interests of Black cis women in the spirit of Black lives mattering to speak up against the attacks by white TERF's on the femininity of their trans sisters.  They need to drive home the point white women do not speak for Black women when it comes to discussing the parameters of what femininity is, and especially what Black femininity is.

One of the things that has helped me the most in my own ongoing evolutionary Black feminine journey is to have Black cis women in my corner who understand that trans women are women.   They have let me and other Black trans women know in no uncertain terms that I and other Black trans women are their sisters.

And the cool thing about that is we continue to have dialogue about what sisterhood between Black cis and Black trans women looks like in practice.

You TERF's don't get to in your loud and wrong terms slime trans women because you have never walked a nanosecond in our pumps.  Neither do you as white cis women know what it is  like to be a non-white cis or trans woman because race impacts our transitions and our trans lives.   

But non-white cis women are intimately aware of that intersection of race and femininity, and have more than a clue about what it's like to be hated for who you are for existing on Planet Earth in a Black feminine body. .

So no TERF's, you have zero say in defining my Black trans life.  I and other trans women of color thought leaders do.

Hello Caitlyn!

The Jenner Vanity Fair July cover and photo shoot will be in the issue hitting newsstands on June 6,  and like the Diane Sawyer interview, it's generating media coverage and generating conversation inside and out side the trans community.

And we have finally learned Jenner's femme name.   I presume we'll find out later how Jenner came to choose that name, but interestingly enough she didn't spell it with a 'K'.  

No matter what your opinion is on how this Caitlyn Jenner femme rollout has transpired, the bottom line is that it is generating a much needed discussion on trans issues across the media, and especially in Trans World.  

I believe that any positive discussion that happens about trans people in the USA and educates the moveable middle is good for the entire trans community. 

Caitlyn will also be getting the ESPY's Arthur Ashe Courage Award that has been given to the late Stuart Scott and Robin Roberts just to name two recipients of it.

Personally I think Fallon Fox should have gotten that award, but nevertheless that's another Jenner accomplishment that should be celebrated and cheered by our community. 

The attention Caitlyn is getting also gives the rest of us in Trans World an opening with our local media outlets to spring off of that attention and shape a trans discussion that touches upon the issues that we deem important in our local communities..

Yes, there will be some haters and jealous folks in our trans ranks upset because they aren't getting that kind of media attention that rates a photo shoot by Annie Leibovitz.  

Some of transkind will be pissed because they don't have access to the finances, surgeons, laser epilation and trans specific medical care that is going to speedily upgrade Caitlyn's body from one of a former Olympic champion to the babe that has been inside her for 65 years and is now being introduced to her family and the world.

Hell, I'm envious of that at times even with cis women with hourglass shapes, but unfortunately, that's life.   Sometimes we get DNA blessings that others don't.   There will be women cis and trans who are smarter, prettier and sexier.   Hormones can also be  much more generous to some trans women than others.  Some have the finances to get the trans specific procedures they need when they want them while others will have to wait decades or never be able to get them.. 

All I or any trans woman can do is work with the hand that we're dealt and evolve to become the best women we can be.

But instead of hating, let's celebrate the fact a trans woman made the cover of Vanity Fair.   Let's celebrate the fact we have a positive discussion happening about trans issues right now that will potentially speed up the timetable for trans human rights achievement.    Let's celebrate the fact this may be another huge step toward the attainment of our ultimate goal of acceptance of trans people's humanity in all facets of our society.

And let's celebrate the fact that Caitlyn is finally coming out of a cocoon she's been in for 65 years and is coming out to the world as her true self.

Trans MPD Officer Named As Head Of DC GLLU

The last time the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department had a trans feminine officer in their ranks was the late Bonnie Davenport O'Neal who served from the late 70's until her retirement in 1999.

During a TDOR event in DC last November in which  Metro Police Chief Cathy Lanier spoke, the DC trans community was surprised to learn they now for the first time since Bonnie Davenport O'Neal retired, have a trans officer on the force in Sgt. Jessica Hawkins.

Her coming out to her colleagues had occurred before she introduced Chief Lanier at that Transgender Day Of Remembrance event in front of the 250 people in attendance.  After hearing from Chief Lanier the news of Hawkins' coming out as trans, gave her a standing ovation.

As of March 3, Sgt. Hawkins makes history again as the first trans person to lead the DC Metropolitan Police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.  

That groundbreaking GLLU news was welcomed by local TBLG groups and longtime DC activist Earline Budd, who said in a Washington Blade interview, "I'm going to work with her to do whatever I can to help her get acclimated to the community, especially the trans community of color."

Congratulations to Sgt. Hawkins, and hope she does a wonderful job as she assumes this historic leadership position in the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department.

I’m very pleased to hear and, yes, ecstatic that the city has moved forward with putting a transgender person in such a position, which is needed within the police department,” said Budd. “But at the end of the day I just really need to know that Sgt. Hawkins understands what she’s taking on in terms of that position based on those like Sgt. Mahl and Sgt. Brett Parson who have held that position and understood that they really have to get to know the community and did get to know the community.” - See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/03/10/trans-woman-named-head-d-c-gay-police-unit/#sthash.dAZGR063.dpuf

9th Annual TRANSforming Gender Conference This Weekend

I had the honor and pleasure of being a keynote speaker for the 2008 edition of this event, and this weekend will mark the 9th annual edition of the TRANSforming Gender Conference March 13-14 sponsored by the University of Colorado's LGBTQ Resource Center,

The keynote speakers this year will be TPOCC board member Mattee Jim and Amos Mac.

If you're in the Boulder area, you may wish to check the TRANSforming Gender Conference out on the picturesque CU campus that's FREE and open to the public, and hear these two dynamic speakers in addition to checking out the workshops and seminars.

President Obama Says The 'T' Word In His 2015 SOTU Speech!

"That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender."
--President Barack Obama, January 20, 2015

The 2015 State of the Union speech was broadcast to our nation earlier tonight.

While there was a lot to like in President Obama's speech, one of the things that has electrified Trans Nation was the fact that he made a little history by mentioning us in it.

While cynics will say that the POTUS uttering the word 'transgender' in the State of the Union speech won't magically change the lives of trans people in the United States, it still matters to every trans person inside the borders of this country.  

What it does do is act as a shot of inspirational self esteem to a downtrodden and maligned community that damned sure can use it.  At a time when the Religious Right and the conservative movement is increasingly attacking us with falsehoods and lies, it makes us feel included in the life of this country.

We'll also be standing a little bit taller in the morning with wider smiles on our faces. 

It's wonderful when the leader we trans peeps elected with our votes twice in 2008 and 2012 recognizes us with the nation's and the world's television cameras on him.

It says to us trans folks, we matter.   It also mattered that our trans kids got to hear their president say 'transgender' tonight along with their trans elders.
 
Yeah, we in Trans America know we have a lot of work ahead of us until trans human rights are a reality across this nation.  But hey, let us trans peeps revel in our historic moment.

This is one State of the Union speech we'll never forget.

Trans Woman Making Bid To Run NC Democratic Party

In 2012 Janice Covington Allison was one of the thirteen trans delegates to the Democratic National Convention being held in Charlotte, NC. 

She was also the first trans delegate ever from the state of North Carolina  and has held leadership positions in the North Carolina Democratic Party's LGBT Caucus..

Now she is running to lead the Democratic Party in the Tarheel State.

When the party's Executive Committee meets in Raleigh on February 7, she will one of a large field of candidates to lead the party in the wake of former Party Chair Randy Voller stepping down.

And if she is successful in winning the job, Allison would become the first out trans person ever to lead one of the major political parties at the state level.

“I know that I will have great barriers to overcome, because I will be the first transgender woman in our country’s history to seek out a state’s Democratic Party chairmanship,” Allison said in a recent news release. “However, I think because our party is the party of the future, acceptance and diversity, I will be accepted, based on my ability to do the job.”

We'll find out on February 7 if that happens for her.  You know I'm hoping it does.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/01/05/4452136/two-more-candidates-running-for.html#storylink=cpy

Searching For My Transfeminine Cousin

We are on Christmas Day countdown in which we are out and about trying to get those last minute presents, prepare meals for Christmas dinners, or wondering what gifts are under the Christmas tree for us.

If there is one gift I'd love to have for the 2014 holiday season, it is to be reunited with my trans feminine cousin that I'll call Janet for the purposes of this post.

We lived in the newly developing (and segregated) Crestmont Plaza subdivision while my cousin Janet and her brother lived in a South Park whose demographics were rapidly changing due to rapid white flight from it.    Janet and her brother were also one of the few local Roberts cousins I was aware of and grew up with in early childhood.

Besides the trans issue, we are similar in a lot of ways.   In addition to her sharing my last name and us being roughly the same age, we are both the firstborn kids of our respective families.  My brother and I attended their birthday parties and got to see and play with them on a regular basis until we lost contact with them after their parents divorced in the early 70's.  

While from time to time I wondered what was going on in their lives, it began to pale in comparison with me try to navigate growing up transfeminine in 1970's Houston and she and her brother faded from my memory for a while.

That changed one day when I was in my high school health class during my junior year at JJ in 1978. A cisfeminine .sophomore student who had gone to Johnston Jr. High with my cousin asked me in front of the entire class if Janet (and used her old male name while doing so) was my cousin.   When I replied yes, she called her the f-word that rhymes with maggot, and I swiftly chewed her ass out for disrespecting my cousin and moi. 

I also sarcastically said to  the messy cis female when I finished calling her out it bothered her because she was probably attracted to my cuz.  We rolled our eyes at each other and moved on.

That was my first clue that something was going on with Janet.   I wouldn't get another one until I took a non-rev trip to California in 1992 and ended up visiting the home of Janet's father while accompanied by a then close cisfeminine cousin of mine who was living in Cali at the time. 

While we were visiting his expansive house, I noted the pics of his two sons on the wall of his study, but none of Janet.  Since I was seriously contemplating getting my own transition party started at the time, I silently sat there and wondered if that was going to be my fate with my own family. 

Two years later I was on the verge of beginning my own transition, and sat my parents down in the living room of our home to inform them of my intentions to do so.  In their attempt to dissuade me from transitioning, they mentioned the existence of Janet and alluded to how challenging her life was.  When I heard I had a trans cousin, all I felt at the time for my parents was anger for keeping that information from me and tuned them out.

It's now Christmas Eve 2014.  I've gotten over the anger I felt for having Janet's existence hidden from me   I often wondered if our paths crossed while I was running around Montrose in the 1980's and 1990's, and .she has never been too far from my thoughts since then even as I navigated my own bumpy at times transition road. 

The trans historian part of me  really wants to know how her life has turned out, especially since she had the guts to transition in the more challenging 1970s and 1980's.  

And yes, because she's my blood family and also trans, if Janet is still alive, I want to get reacquainted with her because we are both trans and have a lot of catching up to do.

So if you happen to be reading this Janet, get in touch with your cousin.  It's been way too long since we saw and talked to each other, and I'd love to have lunch with you as a starting point especially if you're still living in H-town..

And I hope and pray that Christmas wish is granted..

TransMusePlanet's 20 Most Influential Trans People of 2014

Been a while since I've had the pleasure of signal boosting a TransMusePlanet post, but this is one that needs the extra eyeballs on it.

It's TMP's annual 20 Most Influential Trans People list as determined by Sabrina's readers and visitors to the TMP Facebook group.   These were the twenty people that her readers were talking about during this soon to be departing year.

And yeah, you may see a familiar name or two on this list.

So you can click this link to see who were the TMP 20 Most Influential Trans People for 2014.

Thai Modeling Agency Starts Trans Division

The long stylish line of trans models gets an assist in extending its legacy for another generation from Thailand.

With an ever increasing list of trans models coming out like Andreja Pejic, Ines Rau and Geena Rocero,  others are getting steady work including our sis Isis King,

LeaT brpke new ground by signing a deal to become the face of the global beauty brand Redken, while Rau became the first trans woman since 1991 to pose for Playboy.

The Bangkok based  Apple Modeling Agency, one of the leading and largest agencies in Thailand, announced on November 11 they were launching a transgender model division that already has 18 girls on its books.

Director of the Apple Agency Siwaporn Hotarapawanond stated the agency has three physical types of trans models.  "First is the transgender model who is all natural.   Second, the transgender model who has had breast surgery only.   Third, the transgender who had complete surgery." 

Here's an interview drag queen Pangina Heals conducted with ten of the Apple trans division models as they participated in a photo shoot for Thai based Lips Magazine.

This seems to be the tipping point moment when trans feminine women in photo shoots or ripping the runways is not seen as a exotic element, but a fact of life in the fashion world. 

'We have three physical types of transgender models,' said Siwaporn Hotarapawanond, director of the agency.
'First, the transgender woman who is all natural. Second, the transgender who had breast surgery only. Third, the transgender who underwent the complete surgery.'
Transgender models are fast becoming a
- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/thailand-launches-worlds-first-transgender-modeling-agency141114#sthash.dB5swmax.dpuf

TDOR 2014- Who We're Remembering

As noted from time to time as you've perused these electronic pages, I have also covered the deaths of our fallen sisters as they have happened.  

The date is rapidly approaching in which we pause to remember all the trans women around the world we have lost to anti-trans violence from November 21, 2013 to November 20 of this year. 

Let us continue to work for and pray for a  time in which trans human rights will be an unchallenged reality and a time in which the Transgender Day of Remembrance events are no longer necessary.   But until that day comes, let us remember our sisters who were killed because someone hated them enough to do so. 

May the people who committed these heinous crimes be swiftly captured and brought to justice. May the grieving families and loved ones of the departed see justice happen sooner and not later.

And now, the 2014 TDOR memorial list.

Not A Good Night For Trans Candidates Either

It's raining here in Houston, and it's matching my mood as I type this post sorting through the news coming from a forgettable political night.

While it's no secret the Democrats had a lousy Election Night 2014, it wasn't much better for trans political candidates either.  

We'd already witnessed Paula Sophia miss in an August runoff taking an open Democratic leaning Oklahoma state legislative seat back in August by an agonizing 23 votes.

There were two other trans candidates in this election cycle trying to make history, with Lauren Scott attempting to claim the historical footnote for the GOP and get elected in the state of Nevada as an out transgender legislator.

While it was a great night for her party, which erased a 27-15 Democratic advantage in the Nevada State Assembly to take control of the Nevada House, unfortunately for Scott she wasn't one of the GOP success stories.

She fell to AD 30 incumbent Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle (D) by a 54%-46% margin.  While that was impressive along with the 5,293 votes she got, wasn't enough to overcome the 6,187 votes that Sprinkle received for the win.

In Wyoming, Democrat Larissa Sneider lost her bid for a House seat against a popular GOP incumbent Garry Piiparinen in Wyoming's 49th District.

Sneider was unopposed in the Wyoming Democratic primary, but in the general election had to deal with a three way race that included Independent Clarence Vranish.

Vranish finished second in the balloting and garnered 724 votes to winner Piiparinen's 1,333.    Sneider picked up 417 votes in her unsuccessful effort to make trans legislative history.

So we are still waiting for an out trans candidate to be elected to a state legislature in the US.  It's going to happen, and it's a matter of if and not when that trans political history is made.

It's just last night wasn't the night for it and 2014 wasn't the year that trans history came to fruition


 

Happy Trans National Holiday 2014!

In the trans* community, Halloween is sometimes known by us by another name.

It's called the Trans National Holiday.

We call it that because Halloween, like Mardi Gras and Carnival in Brazil is one of the few periods on the calendar in which you can engage in cross gender dressing and not get judged for it.

It's the other days on the calendar that are problematic.

My first Halloween en femme was spent in 1980 at the old Studio 13 on Westheimer Rd.  I thought it highly humorous at the time that one of the major streets that transited the Montrose gayborhood had the same name as the famed sexologist Dr. Ruth Westheimer.  In my case, I was taking another step toward the giant leap of me becoming Moni.

Since I'm now 20 years into transition, Halloween doesn't have that same excitement for me that it once did, but for those peeps who are on the CD end of the community, this is a big night for them until they can get to their next CD conference or group meeting or those questioning whether they should start a gender transition.

It's also a big night for the folks who provide the transformation services that help them look their gender best, too.

I do the hard solid thinking about the Trans National Holiday pondering the historical aspects of it in terms of the elaborate Harlem Renaissance drag balls of the 20's and 30's and their ballroom community successors.  

Chicago's Finnie's Ball  and similar ones that took place in New York City and elsewhere around the country drew large crowds and people competing for cash prizes that sought to flawlessly look like for that evening the man or woman they in some cases secretly wanted to be full time.

Those drag balls are a piece of our trans history we should never forget.   We should also never forget the CD peeps are also part of our community.  As the joke with a grain of truth goes that we tell in gender groups and at conferences like SCC, today's crossdresser is tomorrow's trans woman booking a flight to Bangkok for GRS.

So Happy Trans National Holiday!   If your plans are to dress in femme attire, be a drag king or your favorite person of whatever gender, hope you have a wonderful evening doing so.  

And I also hope that tonight serves as the opening steps to your arriving at your own gender epiphany, and your future happiness flows from it..

Future Trans*

From time to time I like to engage in hard, solid thinking about various topics.   There are times I like to take a ride on what Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson called on Cosmos The Ship of the Imagination and ponder what our world will be like decades from now and what issues will impact it.

The last time I actually wrote down what I was thinking, I was in junior high school writing an essay for a NASA sponsored contest that asked us to predict what the space program would look like in 2000.   I nailed the International Space Station, but I'm still waiting for the permanent moon base and manned Mars missions.

That essay did earn me a trip to Johnson Space Center in which I got to meet Nichelle Nichols and the first group of Black shuttle astronauts along with a non standard tour of JSC.

One of the things I was pondering recently was triggered by me seeing a pic of a five year old trans girl.  I began to ponder what her Trans World that we 2K10's activists are fighting tooth and nail to shape, would be like 10 to 20 years from now.

One thing we can say for certain in one important aspect, she's in trans territory that our current trans teens intimately know or are experiencing firsthand.  This five year old trans girl is getting the benefit of living her childhood predominately in her targeted gender. 

So will her five year old trans masculine counterpart.

Trans kids in 2034 that tell their parents they want to be the other gender will have advanced medical techniques available to either delay puberty or put them on the desired gender development transition track.

Our societal knowledge about gender identity and the medical side of it will exponentially increase as mounting research evidence continues to drive home the point that gender is between your ears and not your legs.   

What things will our current five year old trans child who triggered this trip on The Trans Ship of the Imagination benefit from by the time they have hit age 25?

Gender transition specific healthcare will be covered because it will have long since been proven to be a medical necessity and not a debatable political, religious and medical ethics issue.

That trans child by the year 2034 will probably be able due to those rapid advancements in reproductive technology to bear a child using reproductive organs created from her own stem cells.   Hopefully that same route, the biomechanical or a medical breakthrough as yet unknown will lead to realistic functional genitalia for our trans masculine peeps that desire it.

Hopefully that advancing medical technology will lead to a better quality of life for us 2030's trans seniors

That trans child in our thought experiment will see a world in which nondiscrimination laws that add gender identity to the list of categories that discrimination is banned will cover more than just the current 18 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 180 jurisdictions. 

More nations will have laws that ban discrimination against their trans citizens as well as allow them to change identity documents easily.

People in the 2030's will wonder what the fuss was about or why was there so much resistance when these no-brainer laws expanding human rights coverage were proposed and enacted.    

The trans kids of 2030 will be be able to go to schools and colleges that have trans nondiscrimination policies in place.  

As a result trans people will be able because of the widespread nondiscrimination laws that cover gender identity have a better opportunity to get better paying jobs.

With transsexuality being less stigmatized, society being more open,  and people being out, open and proud about being trans men and women, it should lead to a lessening of anti-trans violence. 

That will probably change the nature of Transgender Day of Remembrance to a memorial reminding transpeople in the 2030s how bad it was 20 years ago, still mourn the person killed that year, celebrate the societal progress that has been made since that dark time and resolve every November 20 to never go back to those days again.

Trans children will grow up being able to simply focus on making their dreams a reality.   While trans activists making trips to Washington DC and the various state capitols in 2034 will be fighting to keep hard won political and judicial courtroom gains ensconced in law like the federal Gender Identity and Gender Recognition Act and avoid any slippage, that trans child will be able to see various representations of himself in various parts of society.

Transgender politicians, teachers, business people, clergy, athletes, beauty queens, bodybuilders, actors, models, and families headed by trans parents won't be front page news or scoffed at, but an accepted part of life that once again will draw chuckles as to how backwards those transphobic cisgender people back in the 2010's were.

And yes, there probably will be some negativity aimed at our transpeeps in 2030.  Murders and sexual assaults of our peeps will probably still happen and necessitate activists having to still organize TDOR's.   The transphobic bigots will get more creative with their anti-trans bigotry.  Rapidly advancing medical technology will cause other issues of concern for trans activists on the 2030s that we have yet to even think about.  

What issues will crop up that cause intra trans community drama in 2030?  While my data banks are coming up with 'Insufficient Data' responses to that question, I'm willing to bet the four century old issue of the color line will still be a problem in Trans World .  Class issues  will continue to necessitate coordinated action and work between trans political organizations to solve the problems they cause.

Since the world will probably be more interconnected 20 years from now than it is today,  hopefully that will result in better international human rights cooperation between trans people across the planet..  

Hopefully I'll be around to see how much of this turned out to be on target.  

I'll also be interested to see if my NASA moon base finally gets built.