Yo One Million Moms, This Is What A Trans Feminine Fashion Model Looks Like

Was chuckling to myself when I saw the story in the UK based Pink News about the right wing hate group One Million Moms (actually 3500 men)  who are trying to start another failed boycott against a retailer they accuse of being too trans friendly.



H&M has a new 'She's a Lady' ad campaign featuring several diverse women of all ages and body types modeling different styles of clothing.

One of the women involved in this campaign is female Muay Thai boxing champion Fatima Pinto, who One Million Haters transphobically misgendered and attacked.

But while I'm chuckling about the loud and wrong One Million Haters reactions, this is in reality a serious issue that I, other trans people and our allies have been talking about for some time in terms of trans misogyny not just affecting trans women.

The One Milling Haters peeps were so busy focusing their faux faith based transphobic ire on Ms. Pinto that they completely missed model Hari Nef, who was also featured in the ad.

Far too often the unwoman meme is not only aimed at transgender women, bit it is aimed at cisgender women, and especially cisgender women of color like First Lady Michelle Obama, Serena Williams to demonize any woman who doesn't fit the stereotypical feminine societal mold

This also points to something else I've talked about on this blog and elsewhere in terms of not only the beauty of non-white women being demonized. it also plays into for trans women the far too often a stereotypical and media perpetuated 'that's a man' assumption of what a trans woman is or isn't supposed to look like.

Let's start with the Trans 101 basic tenet that trans women are women.  Once we start taking estrogen, doesn't take us long to look the part.  Some of us when we start hormone replacement therapy also got the genetic luck of the draw and morphed into very attractive and beautiful women.

That reality makes some of us who did get the genetic luck of the draw and are model height to get the call from the fashion world to strut the fashion runways of New York, London, Paris  Milan and Tokyo.

And FYI One Million Haters and everyone who shares their less than enlightened views about girls like us, trans women walking runways, gracing the covers of magazines or participating in multimillion dollar ad campaigns is not a new phenomenon.  

We've been doing so since the 1960's, and the long stylish line of trans models has continued into the 21st century.

FYI since y'all are woefully ignorant about the topic, here are just a few glamorous examples of what trans feminine models actually look like.

Meet the lovely and fabulous Geena Rocero.  And yes as someone who has met her, she's even more beautiful in real life.

And this is another trans model in Carmen Carrera

Another longtime trans model in Isis King

And just to rub it in some more, still another trans model in Andreja Pejic.

Noticing a pattern here?   Trans women's body types and shapes are as varied as our cis feminine counterparts, and all are beautiful in their own way.

That's why the long stylish line of trans models has been in existence since the 1960's, and will continue no matter how much unhinged ranting One Million Haters does.

Whoopi Tears Into Kellyanne Conway On 'The View'

If the Trump campaign team had been listening to Mitt Romney's infamous 47% tape form the 2012 election cycle, they should have paid close attention to the section of it in which Romney told his donors in that quiet room not to go on ABC's The View, and specifically named Whoopi as a major reason why conservatives should stay away from the show.

Trump Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has the unenviable task of trying to clean up Trump's messes, and took to The View to try to do just that.  

But she ended up getting her clock cleaned by Whoopi.

Enjoy.

Prime Minister Trudeau's First UN Speech

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson may not be able to name a foreign leader he admires, but I can rattle off a long list of them.

One of the top people on my list is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who recently gave his first UN General Assembly speech at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

And yeah, Prime Minister Trudeau called out a certain oompa-loompa running for president without mentioning him by name.

Here is the Prime Minister's UN speech.

Rep. Geraldine Roman Handling Her Legislative Business

Back in May Geraldine Roman became the first out trans person elected to the Philippine Congress and only the sixth person internationally to become a member of that small sorority of trans national legislators.

It was a BFD when it happened, and it's still a BFD now.that she is now officially Congressmember Roman.

There has been recent debate in the Philippines concerning an anti-discrimination bill that would include sexual orientation and gender identity language, and she has been at the forefront, since she is now a legislator, of helping craft that legislation

Here's two videos that you need to watch.

The first is a privileged speech that starts at the 36:00 minute mark that she is making concerning the proposed bill.

The second is the Q&A she is engaged in with several legislators concerning the proposed legislation.

Enjoy it, and imagine it happening in the USA.

Someday we will have one of our own trans peeps elected to Congress, and I hope I'm still around to see that glorious day occur..
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It's what we need to have happen in our US Congress and state houses across the nation in terms of electing trans people to our national and state legislatures to help write good laws and kill bad ones.

Thanks Rep. Roman for doing so with dignity and class.
 

Joel Silberman Calls Out Media's Low Expectations For Trump

I first met Joel Silberman when I went to New York in 2012 to take part in the GLAAD POC Media training sessions that weekend.

I learned a lot during that weekend, and they are lessons I've used in the few subsequent televised media opportunities I have done since completing that training.  I also used them to capture the 2016 Netroots Nation Pundit Cup title in St. Louis with him looking on during my final match like a proud teacher watching his star pupil excel.

I was surprised to discover that this was the first time MSNBC has invited him on any one of their shows, and he made his first appearance a memorable one.

Silberman, who works with Democracy Partners, in addition to doing the trainings I attended, has been a media coach for politicians and media personnel for debates and public appearances.

And I can tell you from experience he's good at it.

Here's yesterday's MSNBC appearance, and he has been invited back on the network for a subsequent appearance.   Looking forward to seeing it.

Kerry Washington Puts Trump On Blast

I love actress and advocate KerryWashington for a lot of reasons, and one of them is because she is  keen observer of what's going on politically in our country.

And in her recent appearance on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher is just the latest example of of her getting political, and in this case putting the Trumpenfuhrer on blast.

Enjoy her snatching his combover off his head.

Roland Martin Calls Out Bill O'Reilly

Y'all know how much I love my Houston homeboy Roland Martin, and one of the highlights of the joint NABJ-NAHJ convention I recently attended in DC was actually getting to meet and talk to him for a moment about TBLGQ issues.

Roland has never been shy about expressing his opinions on his NewsOne Now show, and in this video he puts Bill O'Reilly on blast for attacking Colin Kaepernick and questioning his patriotism.

Roland give O'Reilly a much needed history lesson while calling him out, and suggests a few books for him to read to get an understanding about what it's like to be Black in America..

The GLAAD Gala San Francisco Speech

Angelica Ross recorded much of the speech, but here's the video of my complete GLAAD Gala SF speech I delivered on September 8, 2016.

On this night I accepted a Special Recognition Award from GLAAD for the decade of service to the community as TransGriot's founding editor and my nearly two decades of activism on behalf of our community.

Tamron Hall Practicing Journalism On MSNBC Again

One of the reasons I love my Lone Star home girl Tamron Hall is because like Joy Reid, hat she practices journalism on her MSNBC show and doesn't let spin slide.

That's a lesson the rest of the media needs to learn and do so quickly in the 62 days left we have left in this campaign.  Call a lie a lie, and don't  let those lies and spin go unchallenged.

The media is not here to be a politician's best bud.  We are here to do the job of getting information voters need to cast informed decisions when they step into the ballot box and hold politicians and others accountable for their BS, not be stenographers to power.

That means at times hard questions need to be asked to get that information, and when the subject tries to spin and obfuscate, you relentlessly keep asking the questions to need the answer to until they do.

The politician needs you to get their message out, not the other way around.

The latest person to learn that lesson the hard way that Tamron's not playing was senior Trump adviser  A.J. Delgado.  She found out quickly that she wasn't on FOX Noise or Caving News Network

This is what real journalism looks like, and what we should have been getting across the board during this entire campaign.

Nicki Ramos-Transgender People Are Lying?!?!

While I'm flying to the West Coast, here's one of my fave video bloggers for you to enjoy.  

She had this to say back on August 25, 2015 about the claim that trans people are lying when we tell you that we are transgender women

My trans Tejana sis Nicole Ramos breaks it down

Jen Richards Speaks About The 'Anything' Movie Controversy

I've had my say about the current controversy surrounding Matt Bomer and the Anything movie perpetuating the tired and frustrating pattern of cisgender male actors playing trans women and me being fed up with it along with others in Trans World.

And as a reminder, cisgender women playing is not always ideal either.  Some of them are subject to the same transphobic biases that the parent culture has been pushing about trans people and can say some jacked up mess about us as well

But with the controversy about the movie heating up, I linked to a post quoting Jen Richards' Twitter feed and tweet string on that controversy and her thoughts about it when I was compiling my post.

Since Jen has now posted a video adding more clarity on where her thought process was when she wrote that tweet string the other day, I need to post that for you to TransGriot readers to view and ponder.

HRC #ThisIsTransgender Video

Our right wing oppressors, oops opponents continue their efforts to be on the wrong side of human rights history.  But as they continue to try to justify discriminating against and dehumanizing transgender people for their own nefarious political gain, we continue to fight them tooth and nail.  

Yesterday the Human Rights Campaign released this video that has a few peeps in it I know in their #ThisIsTransgender campaign along with my reprehensible Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick and the hopefully soon to be one term governor of North Carolina Pat McCrory.

Enjoy.

Positive Bud Light Transgender Ad

While checking out Rio Olympic coverage two nights ago, was surprised and pleased to see this ad as part of the 'Bud Light Party' ad campaign featuring Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer.

Normally I'm tuning out the ads, but when it mentioned the words 'gender identity' my ears perked up to see where they were going with this.  

I liked the ad, and I'm posting the video of it on these TransGriot pages for you readers to peruse and judge for yourselves if this is a positive ad or not.

'Doubt' Trailer

I've mentioned that Doubt was greenlighted by CBS back in May and is going to premiere during the 2016-17 television season,

One of the reasons you should be as excited about the show as I am is because it will be historic television in terms of having Laverne Cox play Cameron Wirth, the first scripted trans main character in a dramatic series played by a trans actor on broadcast television.

Doubt also stars Katherine Heigl, Dule Hill, Dreama Walker, Elliott Gould, Steven Pasquale, and Kobi Libii

Here's the trailer for the dramatic legal series that starts next month.

Rev Dr William Barber's DNC 2016 Speech

Another one of the outstanding speeches of this just concluded DNC convention in Philly was delivered by a man that I had the pleasure of meeting while I was living in Louisville, and got reconnected with him during the 2015 LGBT Media Journalists Convening when he was our keynote speaker for the event.

I'm talking about the Rev Dr. William Barber II, the president of the North Carolina NAACP and a fierce social justice warrior.  Thursday night America got to witness what many of us who have had the opportunity to hear him speak already know.  This is a man who is an unapologetic truth teller who has no problem speaking truth to power and tellin' it like it T-I-S is.

I was handling some TTNS business and unfortunately missed it live, but when I found out he had spoken to the DNC, when I got some downtime I checked it out.

Here's Dr. Barber's DNC speech for those of you who missed it.

First Lady Michelle Obama's DNC 2016 Speech

For those of you who didn't get to witness it live, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the DNC 2016 stage last night and delivered a speech for the ages that reminded me at times of the one her hubby dropped at the 2004 DNC event in Boston.

No wonder Melania Trump plagiarized the FLOTUS' 2008 DNC speech last week.

This #DNCinPhilly speech was so outstanding that when she was done she should have dropped the mic and walked off the stage when it was over.

But hey, judge for yourselves.   Here's the video of the DNC 2016 speech.

Dads For Transgender Equality Video

I've talked more than a few times on this blog about the 'Mama Bears', the awesome mothers of transgender children call themselves who are fighting for the humanity and human rights of their gender variant kids.

We don't hear too often from the fathers of those trans kids, but many of them are just as involved, amazing and determined to make lives better for their kids as the mons are.

I've met and enjoyed talking to one of those trans dad in Wayne Maines, and have been getting more acquainted with those trans das as my interactions with trans parents hear and around the country increase.  

One thing I'm happy to see is that Wayne and the other fathers of trans children are stepping up their leadership game and becoming more vocal advocates for their kids.

Here's a video from HRC highlighting the Dads For Transgender Equality

Trans Commercial To Air During RNC Convention

The Republican National Convention kicks off at noon EDT and during the event as of yet we have not heard of any trans delegates that will be in attendance, unlike the DNC one that will happen next week.

But one of the interesting things that will occur is a commercial that will be run on FOX News pushing for transgender equality courtesy of fairness.org.

You know I'm highly skeptical of what good it will do broadcasting this ad it on a network that at times has mocked and demonized our humanity, but if there are movable people who call themselves conservatives, it can't hurt to try.  

Besides, in addition to getting some of our own recalcitrant peeps on the left to understand that trans rights are human rights issues and it's not cool to discriminate against us, we do have to try to persuade people on the right of that basic premise.

Here's the ad in question.

Dale Hansen Calls Out Lt Gov. Dan Patrick In Dallas Shooting

Since I have many of my relatives on my mother's side of the family in Dallas and my mom grew up there, I spent a lot of time on that northern end of  I-45, and still do because of my annual BTAC trip.

One of the joys of being on that end of Dallas is being able to watch longtime WFAA-TV 8 sportscaster and journalist Dale Hansen call it like he sees it about sports and other pertinent issues.   I've posted some of his Hansen Unplugged commentaries on the blog, and this one calling out my reprehensible Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) is one that definitely needs to be signal boosted.

Hansen calls him out for blaming everyone but himself and his Texas Republican colleagues for passing the open carry law that allowed Micah Johnson the ability to buy the automatic weapon that he used to kill 5 DPD and DART police officers and leave 10 other people wounded.

And he calls him what I would have called him had his remarks come in time for last week's SUF Awards.

Hansen also drops this truth bomb during his commentary while calling the shooting 'an attack on our basic humanity.'

"A white man in America doesn't die for selling cigarettes on the street corner, he gets a ticket.  A white man in America doesn't die for driving with a broken tail light, he gets a ticket, too.  And the officers who abuse the badge and the power they have should be punished, but too many times they are not.'
But I'll let you hear and see once I find the video for it his eloquent takedown of Patrick and his commentary about the Dallas shooting..  

Hillary Clinton Remarks At AME National Convention

"For now, let's focus on what we already know - deep in our hearts.  We know there is something wrong with our country. There is too much violence, too much hate, too much senseless killing, too many people dead who shouldn't be.  And we know there is clear evidence that African Americans are much more likely to be killed in police incidents than any other group of Americans."
--Hillary Clinton, July 8, 2016   

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was at the African Methodist Episcopal Church National Convention in Philadelphia when the shootings on Tuesday of Alton Sterling in Baton rouge, Philando Castile in suburban St. Paul the next day and the Thursday sniper attack in Dallas following a peaceful protest of the deaths by cop of Sterling and Castile broke out

Clinton spoke to the AME convention delegates and condemned the level of tension and violence that hasn't been seen in this country in decades.
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This is her speech to the AME National Convention on Friday, and it's one that needs to be heard.
Here's the transcript for it.