Allen ISD Refuses To Respect A Trans Teen's Identity At Graduation

I'm not surprised given that after the Dodie's Place restaurant in that town gleefully engaged in transphobia to mark its restrooms, that I would hear about more transphobia rearing its ugly head in Allen, TX.

 Jay Alfie began his transition during his freshman year at Allen High School.  A few months ago he checked with school administrators and made the simple request that his chosen name be used at the graduation ceremony.

They told him that it wouldn't be possible because in their words, it had to be legally changed.

Alfie's name change is pending, so his family is wondering why the Allen HS administrators are being so unreasonable about it

“It makes me feel sad that they’re not going to allow him to enjoy that last moment,” said Jorge Alfie. “What are we talking about here, 10 seconds? But it’s probably one of the 10 most important seconds of his life.”

Every young person’s identity as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer should be honored, celebrated and supported. Allen High School should respect Jay Alfie’s identity and recognize him by his chosen name. To ’deadname’ a student as they cross the stage for graduation in front of their peers, friends, and family constitutes an act of abhorrent bullying and harassment,” Chuck Smith, CEO of Equality Texas, told NewNowNext.

“Alfie's sister has created a MoveOn petition that has nearly 5000 signatures that is simply asking for the Allen ISD to just announce Jay by his chosen name and not his dead name at his graduation..

We'll see this Friday if they do so, or just want to be transphobic bigots about it.

Trans Teen Prom Queen Crowned In Wisconsin

Despite the best efforts of the evilgelicals and Republicans, transgender people continue to make our mark on American society and give the middle finger to those efforts to erase us from society.

One of the more memorable events of your time in high school if you attended it is your prom. With more trans people transitioning in elementary, middle and high school, this news is going to pop up more often.

A TransGriot shoutout goes to Nikko Nelson of Mequon, WI.   She was crowned last Saturday as Homestead High School's prom queen.  The high school junior may think she's not a trailblazer in her town of 25,000 people, but anytime that you are living your trans life in America, that's exactly what you are.

What's even better for me and all her trans elders to hear is that Nelson's prom queen win happened without controversy or drama.

Nelson transitioned in middle school, and wore her first dress at her eighth grade graduation ceremony.  Now she has been elected prom queen by her classmates.

As Nikko said in an interview, "I didn't win prom queen for being a transgender girl.  I won it because I was Nikko Nelson."

Congratulations sis for doing so, and continued good fortune and success in your future life. 

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Mack Beggs Is A Back To Back Undefeated Texas Class 6A Wrestling Champ

Because the UIL played itself and refused to change a rule that forced Euless Trinity trans masculine wrestler Mack Beggs to wrestle against girls when he would prefer to be wrestling against boys, Beggs cruised to an undefeated 2017 season in his 110 pound weight class and capped it off with a Texas Class 6A state title

In case you wondered what happened in the wake of his initial 110 pound division title, a group of Republican legislators tried to pass during the 2017 legislative session a bill that would have barred him from competing because of the testosterone he was taking for transition purposes. 

Beggs took a low enough dose to start the masculinization process but not enough to build muscle.    That bill passed the Texas Senate (what else is new?) but died in committee with the legislative grownups in the Texas House.

All the University Interscholastic League, the governing body for Texas high school athletic and academic competitions  had to do was follow the NCAA standards.  But noooo, y'all still wanna do the right wing thing and stubbornly use for partisan political reasons the birth certificate as the basis for determining where you're placed for UIL competition purposes

Beggs is mulling a scholarship offer from an out of state college, and if he decides to wrestle in college, he'll get his wish to wrestle against men because the more realistic NCAA rules classify him as male.because of the testosterone treatments.

The 'Mack Attack' is back, and once again advanced to the UIL state wresting tournament being held in the northwest Houston suburb of Cypress, TX that started yesterday and concluded today.

Beggs successfully defended his Class 6A title, going undefeated once again to do so with a 36-0 record.    He won two matched by pinfall on Friday to advance to today's semifinal and finals.

But first, he had to get past Cypress Ranch senior Kayla Fitts, who is undefeated herself at 52-0 to get to the final.  He got past Fitts and earned a rematch with Chelsea Sanchez of Katy Morton Ranch, who he defeated last year to capture his first title. 

The championship rematch ended up with Beggs defeating Sanchez 15-3 by decision to cap the back to back title run.

So hate on transphobic haters.   Y'all wanna be mad and stay mad at someone, you need to direct your frustration at the UIL, not a kid simply trying to compete in the sport he loves.

Congrats to Mack Beggs for putting in the work to become a two time undefeated state wrestling champ.   Proud of you for handling your business despite the transphobic haters and being a class act. 

And note to the UIL.  Beggs is not going to be the last trans athlete who wished to compete in Texas.   There are trans kids matriculating rights now in Lone Star State elementary and middle schools, and it's past time y'all cleaned up the rules to let trans people play high school sports in their target gender as cisgender kids can do. .

Good luck to you Mack Attack when you move on to the collegiate ranks.

Now it's up to the UIL to do what they should have done and align their competition rules to mirror the NCAA ones so we don't have this happening again .   

I Am Jazz Season 4 Debuts Tonight

As many of yo longtime TransGriot readers know I've had the pleasure of getting to meet Jazz Jennings and her amazing family.

While I don't like many reality TV shows, this is one that I make an exception for and have watching for the last three seasons.

Tonight on TLC marks the debut of Season 4 of I Am Jazz, and our fave trans teen is now a junior in high school.  We get to see her deal with the challenges of weight gain and having to shed 30 pounds before she can have the gender confirmation surgery she wants, dating, transphobic haters  and Hurricane Irma



I know I'll be watching the season premiere.  Hope you will as well .

This #MustSeeTransTV show is on at 10 PM eastern.9 PM Central 

'I Am Jazz' Gets Renewed For Season 3

This is wonderful news to talk about on the Transgender Day of Visibility

It's took a while for ti to happen, but the news finally dropped that TLC has renewed I Am Jazz for a third season.

The second season received strong rating, so people were wondering why it took so long for TLC to greenlight a third season of the show chronicling the live of our fave trans teen,

In Season 3 we'll see her taking on conservative commentator Tomi Lahren (or maybe not since lahren is suspended from The Blaze) , trying to deal with all the issues of being a teen in addition to the aspects of it brought on by transition.

So starting on June 28 we'll be getting new episodes of I Am Jazz, and looking forward to seeing it this summer

Scandinavian Electronics Store's Trans Themed Holiday Commercial

While this holiday season has been a roller coaster of emotions for the trans community, had to drop some news about this heartwarming trans themed commercial that comes from Denmark and the Scandinavian electronics store Elgiganten.

Elgiganten was founded in Sweden in 1994, and has stores in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

This heartwarming trans themed commercial is entitled 'Let The Gifts Talk' , and features an early transitioning trans teen in the midst of the family holiday celebration clearly struggling to fit in.

Dad walks over to give her a holiday gift, and after she opens it you could see the joy light up on her face after opening the gift that spoke volumes, even though not one word is said during this entire ad.

Here's the commercial fo you to peruse.



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