Stop Tripping Conservatives-Obama IS A US Citizen

You know, after eight years of an administration that had a president who called the Constitution 'just a scrap of paper' and showed their disdain for it at every opportunity, now they want to be sticklers for their specious interpretation of it now that an African-American who was once president of the Harvard Law Review is several weeks away from occupying the Oval Office

They've been loudly claiming that either President elect Obama isn't a US citizen because of his Kenyan father, has dual US and British citizenship, because he lived in Indonesia for a few years, the birth certificate isn't authentic or whatever lie du jour they come up with. The stories and conspiracy theories keep changing faster than their dirty drawers.

First, let's see what the Constitution has to say about qualifications for office.

Article II, section 1 US Constitution

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

That's what Article II, section one says about who is eligible to be president of the United States. That's means you can't run Ah-nold (thank God) for the office.



Now, let's take a look at Amendment 14 to our Constitution.

Amendment 14

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Did you catch that first sentence, conservaidiots? Let me repeat it for you if you didn't since I know you're used to having Faux News, your so called 'christian' pastor and right-wing talk radio tell you what and how to think and may not be used to actually reading and interpreting things for yourself.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Barack was born in Honolulu, HI. That, for you conservailliterates is a state, is United States territory and had been a state for two years at the time of his birth. That, and the fact that his mother S. Ann Dunham is an American citizen makes him an American under the 14th Amendment irregardless of his father being Kenyan or whatever other ancillary bull feces you wish to dredge up.

I guess Jeb Bush's children George P. 'I just remembered I was Latino in 2000' Bush, Jeb Junior and Noelle Bush based on that conservastandard aren't US citizens either because their mother Columba was born in Mexico and didn't become a naturalized United States citizen until 1987, after they were all born.

That birth announcement and the Hawaii secretary of state confirming that the president elect's 1961 birth certificate is authentic make that game, set and match in terms of swatting down this lame conservalie.

So y'all can stop hollering 'cover up', there isn't one. You were already discredited when you spent most of the 1990's foaming at the mouth and hissing that Bill and Hillary Clinton were serial murderers. You also spent most of this campaign cycle trying to paint the President elect and the First Lady elect as dangerous, militant angry radicals, so your 15 minutes has long ago expired.

Fortunately the Supreme Court (for once) and lower federal courts have dismissed the frivolous lawsuits filed by some of you sore loser Republicans and libertarians who are desperately trying to overturn the votes of 66 million people.

So stop drinking the right-wing red Kool-aid and get over it. You overwhelmingly lost in November and you will again if you send Sarah Palin's clueless Bible thumping behind our way in 2012.

The Muxe Of Mexico

TransGriot Note: The New York Times published this interesting story about the Muxe of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. As I and other transgender people have pointed out, there are various cultures around the world that make room for either a third gender category or simply make room for those who feel from birth they are female to live their lives.


A Lifestyle Distinct: The Muxe of Mexico

By MARC LACEY
Published: December 6, 2008
Katie Orlinsky contributed reporting and photos from Juchitán, Mexico

Mexico City — Mexico can be intolerant of homosexuality; it can also be quite liberal. Gay-bashing incidents are not uncommon in the countryside, where many Mexicans consider homosexuality a sin. In Mexico City, meanwhile, same-sex domestic partnerships are legally recognized — and often celebrated lavishly in government offices as if they were marriages.

But nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca. There, in the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call “muxes” (pronounced MOO-shays) — men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned netherworld between the two genders.

“Muxe” is a Zapotec word derived from the Spanish “mujer,” or woman; it is reserved for males who, from boyhood, have felt themselves drawn to living as a woman, anticipating roles set out for them by the community.

Anthropologists trace the acceptance of people of mixed gender to pre-Colombian Mexico, pointing to accounts of cross-dressing Aztec priests and Mayan gods who were male and female at the same time. Spanish colonizers wiped out most of those attitudes in the 1500s by forcing conversion to Catholicism. But mixed-gender identities managed to survive in the area around Juchitán, a place so traditional that many people speak ancient Zapotec instead of Spanish.

Not all muxes express their identities the same way. Some dress as women and take hormones to change their bodies. Others favor male clothes. What they share is that the community accepts them; many in it believe that muxes have special intellectual and artistic gifts.

Every November, muxes inundate the town for a grand ball that attracts local men, women and children as well as outsiders. A queen is selected; the mayor crowns her. “I don’t care what people say,” said Sebastian Sarmienta, the boyfriend of a muxe, Ninel Castillejo García. “There are some people who get uncomfortable. I don’t see a problem. What is so bad about it?”

Muxes are found in all walks of life in Juchitán, but most take on traditional female roles — selling in the market, embroidering traditional garments, cooking at home. Some also become sex workers, selling their services to men.

Acceptance of a child who feels he is a muxe is not unanimous; some parents force such children to fend for themselves. But the far more common sentiment appears to be that of a woman who takes care of her grandson, Carmelo, 13.

“It is how God sent him,” she said.

2008 Bardstown Aglow

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of one of Louisville favorite events, Bardstown Aglow. From dusk until 10 PM many of the merchants, restaurants and shops along Bardstown Rd in the Highlands neighborhood open their doors for holiday fun, discounts and other assorted events to celebrate the return of the Christmas season.

Some of the churches in that strip also have events as well, and for the second straight year my church, Edenside Christian, as part of their Bardstown Aglow program asked me to put on my DJ hat again and play Christmas songs with soul.

As always they had hot coffee, apple cider, lemonade and cookies for people to snack on. In the church basement it was set up so that people could create Christmas cards for us to send to our troops abroad.

Edenside will also be celebrating the 100th anniversary in March in that particular building.

So yesterday I walked into my fave music store, the Doo Wop Shop to rent my DJ equipment from them. They have a great rental rate and if I so choose, I can convert it if I like the DJ setup into a monthly payment plan until I pay it off.

This was however, my first visit since the fire a few months ago, and while it looks the same on the outside, I almost didn't recognize the place on the inside. The same friendly, helpful staff got me registered on their new computer system, helped me select the components I needed, tested them and got me on my way in just under an hour. Once I got the equipment home I set it up and started practicing to get familiar with the equipment setup and rehone my DJ skills.

My DJ turn actually got off to a rocky start. I had the equipment set up and plugged into my roomie's power strip I'd borrowed, but I didn't know it was about to die. It would pick that moment to give up the electronic ghost.

After coming up with an alternate solution and additional cords the power problem was resolved and music began playing until 10 PM EST. I've got the equipment until next Friday, so I'm going to play with it for a few days before I turn it in and get my deposit back.

I had fun once again spinning Christmas tunes and I'm looking forward to next year.

Gainesville, FL Anti-GLBT Amendment Wording Approved

TransGriot Note: Here we go again. Usually towns and cities that are homes to colleges are fairly progressive, but apparently Gainesville FL, home city for the University of Florida has a group of haters who feel it's their 'right' to deny civil rights protection for a minority. When will this lunacy stop?



Commissioners OK amendment wording

By Megan Rolland
Staff Writer

Published: Friday, December 5, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 11:04 p.m.

City commissioners unanimously approved language for a ballot amendment Thursday night, despite opposition from the political action committee that's behind the petition drive that would put civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals to a vote.

On March 24, registered voters in the city of Gainesville will decide whether the city's anti-discrimination ordinance should be the same as Florida state anti-discrimination statute.

If local law were altered to mirror the state statute, the change would eliminate the words "sexual preference" and "gender identity" from the classes of people in Gainesville who are granted equal access to housing, employment, public accommodation and credit.

Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan emphasized Thursday that without the city's added protections, it is perfectly legal for a business owner to refuse to serve a gay person or for a landlord to deny housing to a transgender individual.

She said the city has chosen to protect these people from discrimination.

"If you take away your community's right to do that and cede that right to the state, then you defacto say, that, 'OK, we are willing to allow those discriminations.' "

Earlier in the evening, the commission voted to adopt a resolution opposing the amendment.

Members of Citizens for Good Public Policy said the adopted ballot language was a clear attempt to bias the focus of the amendment.

"You clearly wish to slant the wording of the amendment in such a way as to create prejudice about it," said Jim Gilbert, who worked with the organization in collecting more than 6,000 valid signatures. "I ask the commission to drop its double standard and admit that you got this one wrong."

Gilbert and Cain Davis, president of the citizen organization, both approved the ballot language initially brought before the City Commission.

Initially, the amendment merely stated what the protected classes were in the Florida civil rights statute.

The language adopted Thursday night lists those classes that are currently protected by the city but would no longer be if this amendment passes.

"I think there are some very misleading things going on here tonight," Davis said.

In collecting petition signatures, Citizens for Good Public Policy was accused of using misleading tactics by portraying the issue as one of men using women's restrooms.

The group organized in opposition to a City Commission vote in January putting "gender identity" into the list of protected classes.

Davis has argued that because transgender individuals are now guaranteed access to public accommodation, men can use women's restrooms, a right that would be abused by sexual predators.

"Sexual orientation" has been in the city's ordinance since 1998.

City Attorney Marion Radson said it is the duty of the city to ensure that the ballot language "be fair and advise the voter sufficiently to enable him or her to cast an appropriate ballot."

Radson said that the language commissioners adopted Thursday night passed that test.

A Crossdresser's Story

While there are many African-American transpeople like myself whose stories are just beginning to be told, I can't forget the African-American peeps who are crossdressers silently in some cases sorting through their issues.

Unlike some transpeople who wish to forget they ever were and even hate on crossdressers, I and others don't. It was that period in my life that helped me sort out that I was truly transgender and it wasn't a passing phase.

While crossdressing and transsexualism may seem similar on the surface in terms of the clothing issues, the reasons we wear them are separate and distinct.

The major difference between a crossdresser and a transperson is that many enjoy their birth gender and wish to remain card carrying members in it, we don't.

But just as there are many flavors of transpeople, there are also variances in the crossdressing community as well.

I stumbled across an interesting site belonging to Zoe, who tells her story.

Genevieve has been telling her continually evolving story in her blog The D Line since June 2005.

Past Miss International Queen Pageant Highlights

Since Thailand's recent political turmoil postponed Miss International Queen 2008, thought I'd post some video from the past pageants to give y'all an idea what we pageant fanatics missed this year.

I'm happy to hear that some of the Thai political turmoil is starting to fade a bit since the Thai constitutional courts weighed in on the issue that triggered the crisis and led to the opposition group's boycott and occupation of Bangkok's two airports.

The shutdown stranded over 300,000 international tourists in Thailand and is estimated to have cost the country $2 billion USD in tourist revenue.

Now that they're on the road to sorting out the political problems, let's hope political stability reigns in the 'Land of Smiles' for a while, people resume visiting Asia's best beaches and my Thai transsisters can get back to work dazzling tourists at the various cabarets they're famous for along with the other 1.8 million Thais the tourism industry employs..

It'll also be cool to see those two highly anticipated transgender pageants take place there in 2009.


The 2004 Pageant


The 2005 Pageant


The 2006 Pageant

Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century

As evidenced in several places here on TransGriot, I've given a few speeches here and there at various times for various reasons before and since I started this transition journey. I love reading the website American Rhetoric sometimes for inspiration when I'm asked to compile one for delivery.

Speaking of compilations, an Electronic Village post about Professor Anita Hill's opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 1991 Uncle Thomas confirmation hearing making the list of 100 Greatest Speeches of the 20th Century led me to wonder not only who else made the overall list, but with our tradition for oratory, how many African-Americans did.

It's a fascinating journey through the last century of American oratory, and it speaks to why President elect Obama's recent campaign resonated with so many people. The list reads like a Who's Who of oratory with familiar names such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.



The Number 1 speech is of course, Dr. King's 1963 'I Have a Dream' speech which beat out John F. Kennedy's 1961 Inaugural address for the top spot. But clocking in at Number 5 is Barbara Jordan's 1976 DNC Keynote Address and at Number 7 is Malcolm X's 'The Ballot or the Bullet'.

In the Top 25 speeches, Rev Jesse Jackson, Sr. is at number 12 in the speech hit parade with his 1984 DNC Address in San Francisco and Dr. King at number 15 with the April 3, 1968 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech.



Dr. King makes an appearance again at Number 43 with his April 4, 1967 Riverside Church speech blasting the Vietnam War entitled 'Beyond Vietnam- A Time To Break Silence', followed closely behind by Mary Church Terrell's October 10, 1906 speech 'What It Means To Be Colored in the Capital of the U.S.' to close out African-American speech makers in the Top 50.


Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. is at Number 51 with his 1988 DNC Address delivered from the Democratic convention in Atlanta in the wake of his presidential nomination run that fell just short. Kwame Toure's (Stokely Carmichael) 1966 'Black Power' speech in Berkeley, CA made it at Number 65, and I already mentioned Professor Anita Hill at Number 71.



Malcolm X makes another appearance at Number 91 with the November 10, 1963 'Message To The Grass Roots' speech and at Number 94 Rep. Shirley Chisholm's eloquent August 10, 1970 speech 'For The Equal Rights Amendment'.

Never 'misunderestimate' the power of a great speech.

Chic Nominated Again For Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Pardon Nile Rodgers and the rest of Chic if they're starting to feel like All my Children's Susan Lucci. Susan was nominated 18 times for a Daytime Emmy Best Actress Award before she finally won it in 1999.

They've been nominated in 2003, 2006, 2007, and now 2008 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and when the votes are counted, they fall just short of becoming one of the five inductees in that year's class.

Chic is one of my my fave groups from my high school days (and still are). For those of you with knee-jerk reactions to disco, you can stop right now because this band was cutting edge.





Ask the Sugarhill Gang, because without Chic's Good Times song, Rapper's Delight, the song that catapulted hip hop into prominence doesn't happen.



Ask Sister Sledge, who thanks to Nile and 'Nard's production talents, created a song that became a championship anthem for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.



Once again Chic has been nominated along with Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Metallica, Run-D.M.C., the Stooges, War and Bobby Womack, but only five of these outstanding nominees will get in. After the votes are tabulated, the announcement will be made next month as to who will comprise the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2009.

The induction ceremony will take place in April, and this time I'm hoping along with other Chic fans that they'll FINALLY get in.

Transwomen And The Great Pantyhose Debate

When it comes to pantyhose, women are in two camps.

They either are ambivalent about them or despise them, and that attitude only begins to shift when the weather turns cold.

Where do transwomen fit into the Great Pantyhose Debate? Depends on the transwoman and what generation she belongs to.

Personally, I like wearing hose. I think they add an extra polished touch to whatever outfit I'm wearing. When it comes to what I wear to church, whether it's dress suits, pant suits or dresses, pantyhose are a must with them even if the temps are climbing for me.

Yeah, they can be uncomfortable when the waistband rolls on you or they slide down your legs if they're not quite the right size for us long legged people. But they also add extra insurance for pre-ops against neoclits popping out at inopportune times as well as improve the looks of my legs.

So what side are you on in the Great Pantyhose Debate?

Showdown On Parliament Hill

Our Canadian friends may be getting a new leader on December 8.

It was only a few weeks ago that the Conservatives and Prime Minister Stephen Harper received an expanded parliamentary majority in Canada's October 14 national elections. But because they fell short of the 155 seats they needed to govern on their own without interference from opposition parties, they are in a minority government situation once again.

Their opponents in the Liberal, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois parties are loudly calling for change north of the border as well. They are gearing up to oust Prime Minister Harper by calling for a vote of no confidence on Monday unless an economic stimulus package to help Canadians facing their worst economic crisis in 80 years was passed immediately.

The opposition is pissed and was unified by a Conservative attempt to cut their $1.95 per vote federal political subsidies. They are much more dependent on them than the Conservatives and they saw it as a naked attempt to hamper their abilities to fund and conduct their next campaign.

Even though the Conservatives backed off of that ill considered plan, the opposition parties are not thrilled that the Conservatives aren't backing down from their plans to present an economic stimulus package as part of their fiscal budget plan in early 2009.

The Liberals, the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois command a majority of House of Commons seats and if the no confidence vote is successful in ousting Harper, the political ball then goes to Governor General Michaelle Jean's court.

She's cutting short a European trip to head back to Canada and was scheduled to return today. She'd have to decide whether to hold snap elections or ask the opposition parties to form a coalition government.

She's been working closely with her advisers and constitutional experts and stated from Prague, Czech Republic, "The prime minister and myself need to have a conversation. My door is open. I have to see what the prime minister has to say to me and what he is actually thinking of doing. I don't know exactly anything of his intentions yet."

Meanwhile, back at the Conservative ranch, the prime minister is gearing up for the fight to save his job.

"We will use all legal means to resist this undemocratic seizure of power," he told fellow Conservatives at their annual Christmas party at an Ottawa hotel. "My friends, such an illegitimate government would be a catastrophe, for our democracy, our unity and our economy, especially at a time of global instability."

The Governor General doesn't share his assessment of the situation. "This is part of our democratic system," Jean said. "The role of the governor general is to make sure that our governance is on the right path. So as soon as I'm back I will fulfill my duties in total, sound judgment."

There's more drama in this political mix. Liberal leader Stephane Dion announced his upcoming resignation after his party's October electoral beatdown. Even with the loss, the Liberals hold the second largest number of seats in the House after the Conservatives.

Because they hold the largest number of seats in the proposed coalition, the job of prime minister in a Liberal-NDP coalition government would normally go to him. However, the Bloc Quebecois is opposed to making Dion prime minister, and the Liberals weren't planning on replacing Dion as party leader until their party convention in May.

So the Liberals have the problem of an unsettled leadership situation to throw into this political stew while they participate in negotiations to form the possible coalition government continue between the three parties.

It's going to be an interesting and nerve racking couple of days in Ottawa.

My Houston Comets Memories

Little did my H-town homeboys and girls realize when they walked out of Reliant Arena on September 9 after a 75-68 win over the Connecticut Sun it would be the last game the Houston Comets played in Harris County.

I heard the shocking news today that another one of the Original Eight WNBA franchises bit the dust. Unfortunately it was my hometown team.

The peeps that know me know how much I love WNBA and Comets basketball in general, and in reaction to this news my phone has been blowing up all day.

It was reported that my hometown WNBA team was suspending operations for the 2009 season. The current players, with the exception of unrestricted free agents Latasha Byears, Mwadi Mabika, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, Michelle Snow and Tina Thompson, would be eligible to be selected in a dispersal draft being conducted on December 8.

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, who led the Comets to those four titles and is now the women's basketball coach at Prairie View A&M said, "This is disturbing news. This is a team that was an integral part of the WNBA. It is a team that helped establish the league, helped the league grow roots."

"It's a sad, sad, sad day for me," said Van Chancellor, the former Comets coach and GM who now coaches the women's team at LSU. "I just feel bad for everybody. I hate to see the city lose such a great franchise. I have so many memories.

"Houston is losing a big piece of its history. The Houston Comets' four championships will always be a big piece of WNBA history and a big piece of the city's history."

WNBA Commissioner Donna Orender stated, “Multiple investors have come forward and expressed significant interest in purchasing the Comets and having them continue to play in Houston in 2009. However, we made the judgment that we would not be able to complete a transaction with the right ownership group in time for the 2009 season. The WNBA is extremely grateful to the Comets organization, to the city of Houston and to the team’s loyal fans for helping build both the WNBA and the game of women’s basketball.”

Okay Donna. If the league's flagship franchise, first dynasty and a team that has a display at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA dedicated to it just folded due to lack of stable ownership since Les Alexander sold it, what does that say for the rest of the WNBA?

And for the sake of those loyal Houston fans, you and the WNBA leadership should have tried harder, helped and allowed more time for a local ownership group to get put together and purchase the team in time for the 2009 season.

My love for the team goes back to the first season. I was a season ticket holder from 1999 until I moved to Da Ville after the 2001 WNBA season. I was at Compaq for the 1997, 1999, and 2000 WNBA championship games and watched three of the four championships be won on our home floor. Even after I moved to Louisville I'd make the hour drive to Indianapolis to watch my girls play the Indiana Fever.

But my love of the Comets is beyond just the basketball. The Comets dynasty is intertwined with my transition as well. I was three years into transition when the WNBA started, and being that an estimated 10% of the WNBA fan base was GLBT, Comets games were some of the first sporting events I attended post transition.

Watching these and the rest of the women of the WNBA helped me get over my hangup about being a 6'2" sistah and be proud of it.

While transition was a small part of my love for the team and the league, it was also the excitement of watching sports and WNBA history unfold before your eyes and being a part of it. It was the joy of watching the Comets take four straight titles to follow up the ones the Rockets won in 94-95 for a championship starved city.

It was being part of the 'Sea of Red', the noisy, boisterous Compaq rocking home crowds that screamed 'Beat LA' at the top of our lungs during the 1999 and 2000 WNBA Western Conference Finals versus the hated LA Sparks.

It was watching the Big Four of Cooper, Swoopes, Thompson and Arcain take on all comers and swat them aside during the dynasty years. It was also a city wrapping its collective arms around the team and mourning along with them the untimely death from cancer of their feisty point guard Kim Perrot during the 1999 season as they threepeated in her memory.

I'm looking at my Comets sweatshirt, 1998 championship hat and other WNBA memorabilia and I'm feeling mixed emotions right now.

I'm angry because in my opinion male-dominated sports reporting takes a too-dismissive and almost disrespectful approach to women's team sports that has a negative effect in getting male sports fans to open their minds and attend these events. Nowhere is that dismissive attitude of sportswriters more openly on display than when it comes to the WNBA.

I'm sad over the fact that this franchise isn't going to be around to pursue that fifth ring and WNBA Championship trophy. It's also the realization that when the 2009 season starts, it will be the first time in 12 seasons a WNBA campaign will kick off without a Houston team involved in it.

I'm hopeful that the WNBA team drought will be a short lived one because Commissioner Orender didn't rule out another WNBA franchise returning to the Bayou City and civic leadership in Houston is just as determined to have the league there.

To everyone ever associated with the Houston Comets, thanks for the memories and thanks for representing our city with not only consummate skill, but more importantly, with dignity and class.


TransGriot Note: The quotes used in this post come from a Houston Chronicle story by Jenny Dial and the WNBA.com website.

Kerry Washington

Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.

Beauty and brains is a combination that the women I admire share, and even if Kerry Washington doesn't think she is, most fellas have a dissenting opinion about it.

The Bronx native graduated from the same New York prep school as Gwyneth Paltrow, and graduated magna cum laude from George Washington University with a degree in theater arts. She has played opposite Oscar winners Forest Whitaker (Last King of Scotland) and Jamie Foxx (Ray) and likes playing challenging roles herself.

She also shares my brother's and my cousin's January 31 birthday.





She's a three time NAACP Image Award winner, and if I wasn't impressed by her intellect before, I was even more so when one night I watched her take on two conservatives on Bill Maher's HBO show and more than hold her own in the debate as an Obama supporter. She's also testified in front of Congress as well on behalf of the Foundation for the Arts.

She's also playing a transwoman in the upcoming movie Life Is Hot In Cracktown, and had LA transactivist Valerie Spencer as an advisor on the film to ensure she was accurately portraying her role.

I'm curious to see how she'll pull it off, and if it's anything like the other projects she's participated in, I shouldn't be disappointed.

Hopefully one day Kerry will be collecting her own Oscar one day instead of playing beside Oscar winners.

January 2009 ESSENCE Covers

January 20 is already circled on our 2009 calendars thanks to the upcoming inauguration of our first African-American president. As that historic day approaches anything that has the president elect's picture on it is rapidly disappearing off book shelves, store shelves and magazine racks.

Coming soon to a magazine rack (or your mailbox if you subscribe to ESSENCE) on December 12 are the historic covers for the January 2009 issue of the magazine. There will also be a 56 page tribute to our soon to be 44th president and the First Lady.

I'm willing to bet that those magazines will probably sell out quickly like everything else Obama has graced the cover of since November.

Shoot, that reminds me, I need to renew my ESSENCE subscription ASAP.



While you're waiting for January 20, enjoy the 60 Minutes interview.

December 2008 Black Blog Rankings

Merry Christmas peeps! The Electronic Villager and his elves were busy over the holiday weekend compiling the latest edition of the Black Blog Rankings while I was enjoying some classic Christmas songs with soul.



This month there were 1496 blogs ranked, only one less than last month. But seeing how popular these rankings are and how they've come to be viewed as a highly anticipated event in the Blackosphere and a valuable tool to monitor the progress of Black blogs, I have no doubts the January edition will crack the 1500 blog mark.

Top Black blog is Pam's House Blend. You can check out the rest of the Top Ten and Top 25 blogs at Electronic Village.

Okay, so did I reach either one of my goals of cracking the BBR Top 50 and having a Technorati ranking of 150?

As of the December 1 date of these posted rankings, the number 50 BBR ranked blog is survey says, TransGriot!

I jumped up 13 spots from last month's rankings and the Technorati ranking went up 11 points as well. I have as of this date a Technorati ranking of 143. I'm only 7 points and 30 days away from meeting my Technorati goal of 150 by January 1.

Seeing that I've finally hit the Top 50 BBR blogs, I've set my sights for my next goals.

I want to be at a Technorati Ranking of 200 and in the Top 25 BBR blogs by my May 4 birthday. If I get there sooner, I definitely won't complain.

Now where's my champagne bottle?

Oh yeah, killed it last month celebrating Barack's election. Champale will do nicely, too.

The Gender Power Shift

TransGriot Note: I was invited by Renee at Womanist Musings to write this guest post for her blog.

I had a long and wonderful conversation with her over the weekend getting to know her and getting an 'ejumacation' about life north of the border for peeps of color.

So take a moment to wander over there to check it out and some of Renee's other writings on her quality blog, or just scroll down to read it.




When you transition from one gender role to another, you do more than just swap bodies and sometimes genitalia. You are also picking up all the cultural and societal expectations and baggage associated with that gender role as well.
Race and class also enter into this mix as well in terms of the differing reactions we have in terms of transition for white male to female transwomen and male to female transwomen of color.

One of the things I noted when I first transitioned back in 1994 was how much White transwomen lamented transitioning. I was the lone African-American along with a Latina in my gender group at the time, and she and I discussed in our conversations how so many of the discussions for some of them centered on laments about how much money they lost after they transitioned, pining for the executive jobs they held, or how shocked they were about how nasty and virulent the discrimination they were facing for the first time in their lives was..
It was my first exposure to The Gender Power Shift.

Basically, in Western societal structures, it’s all about the White male. Even if they have a PhD, a GED or no degree, they grow up with a sense of entitlement based on their skin color that makes them feel as though they are superior to anyone, much less a mere person of color.

And as I have stated for over a decade, the GLBT community is a microcosm of society at large. Whatever problems and ‘isms’ are prevalent in the parent society are manifested in our little subset of it.

Some carry those attitudes into transition feeling that they’ll have their new gender role, the cash and the power to go with it. They get a rude awakening from their former brothers in arms, which see them as delusional for willingly stepping down from the role as a White male and angry because in their eyes it’s one less white male to help procreate and keep whites in the majority population against the surging tide of rising minority birth rates and immigration.

To punish them for their ‘crime’ of voluntarily stepping down from the white male club, they get busted them down to white women power levels and face heightened levels of discrimination to keep them there.

Now, at the bottom of the societal power structure is the Black male. They’ve been told their whole lives by the parent society they’ll never amount to nothing, they’re predisposed to criminal activity…well, you get the drift. So when a Black male transitions, the parent society doesn’t care as much, but the end result is that it’s a power upgrade for that individual.

Black society is matriarchal based and power is shared somewhat equally between males and females. So when a Black male transitions, while we’re seen as less of a threat to the white power structure than we were as males, it’s conversely a step up in terms of power and prestige because of our new gender role.

In addition to that, being a Black woman is liberating to the person that chafed at being stuck in the Black male gender role. They get the benefits of no longer being considered a ‘menace to society’ with the corresponding improvements in quality of life. So to them, transition becomes a step up in class and power levels and it’s reflected in their perceptions of it.

The reactions of biowomen to transwomen are also different based on race and class. White transwomen are battling the burden of getting whacked with the anti-transgender feminist backlash instigated by Janice Raymond and Germaine Greer in the 70’s and 80’s and their radical feminist disciples. They are seen as interlopers in women’s spaces still seeking to wield WMP despite being in female bodies.

The reaction of Black biowomen to their transsisters is totally different. Black women have had their own bruising battles with those same Raymond-Greer radical feminists, and for the most part reject their philosophy. They are womanists, and reject the demonization of transgender women as espoused by the radical feminists.

As long as Black transwomen immerse themselves in and take seriously the role of Black womanhood, we are down with the goals of uplifting the race and advancing the causes of all women, we are accepted for the most part as women by the biowomen in the Black femininity club.

In addition, Black transwomen because of lack of capital, not only have extended transitions, they tend to focus more on perfecting the inner femininity first before they get to the point of dealing with surgical issues. That helps us hone the social skill we need to smooth our acceptance into the ranks by some Black biowomen.

White transwomen, who tend to start with more capital, blitz through the transition process, get SRS, then focus on the internal femininity issues. Their progress is also retarded by the resentment that some White biowomen have toward White transwomen as well for various reasons.

And in case you’re wondering, White transmen have noted their increased societal power gain after they transitioned, and Black transmen have noted the increased negative perceptions of them post transition as well.

So yes, race and class affect transition in many ways, and the Gender Power Shift is only one small example of it.