Showing My Transsistahs Some Love

Hey ladies, I know it's really hard some days in the face of the avalanche of negative news, daily slights, slings and arrows we get from all quarters and losing more of our sisters to anti transgender violence all over the planet to feel positive about being a Black transwoman.

Well, I'm here to tell you, dry your tears, wipe your face, go to the full length mirror in your bedroom or bathroom, look at your reflection in it and give yourself a good hug.

If that makes you feel better, good. Sit down and read this if it didn't.

Ladies, we are descended from women who survived the Middle Passage, slavery and the horrors of Jim Crow. While the current assault on us ain't pretty, in the grand scheme of things this current attack on Black transwomen by our haters will soon pass as well.

Remember that we had some wonderful firsts this year in terms of Dr. Marisa Richmond representing us at the Democratic National Convention as the first African-American transgender delegate to a major national convention. 'Number Two' is also on the case as she and the TTPC continue to fight for justice for our fallen sisters in Memphis and elsewhere in Tennessee.

We not only had one of our transsistahs witnessing history, we helped make it as well. Our votes helped us elect a president who not only shares our ethnic heritage, he understands that we transgender Americans deserve to not have to live our lives in fear. Hopefully we'll see the passage of ENDA and hate crimes laws that will send the message that it's no longer open season on transgender people.

Isis King and Laverne Cox turned heads and made history making turns as they appeared on the reality TV shows America's Next Top Model and I Want To Work For Diddy. They not only showed the entire world how beautiful and intelligent we Black transwomen are, they struck some blows toward eradicating the ignorant fallacy that we can't be beautiful and intelligent women.

If they didn't get that memo from the wins we rack up at various transgender beauty pageants, somebody ain't paying attention.

Then again, maybe the haters are, and the 'Fear Of The Black Transwoman' is why we're facing some of this negativity.

I have to pop my own collar as part of this post. Damn right I'm doing it. If not me, then who?

I was advised that in the short history of the Weblog Awards, I'm the first transgender blogger to become a finalist in the Best LGBT Blog category. Not bad for a blog that just turned 3 years old on New Year's Day.

We have young transsistahs like Amanda Morgan and Cydne Kimbrough doing their part to make things a little better for all transwomen in the future while pursuing their own dreams of higher education. If you're in college, get that knowledge and get that paper.

Our enemies can never take that away from you, and don't ever stop acquiring knowledge either.

Tona Brown is a musically gifted and talented sister who is making her way in the classical music world, and is proud to be a transwoman of African descent while doing so.

Remember that we along with our Latina sisters used our creativity to take a Harlem Renaissance era tradition of drag balls and turn it into an event and a community that the world marvels at through two documentary films (Paris Is Burning and How Do I Look) and numerous print articles about it.

That's just a small example of the talent we have in the African-American transgender community that's waiting to be harnessed for the greater good of our society.

It's also interesting to note that some of our biosisters of color have realized that we are potentially their greatest allies as well. It's going to be interesting to see as the year develops how these conversations take shape.

But to my transsistahs, take a leap of faith and befriend one of those biosisters you've been dying to get to know. She may feel the same way about you and not all biowomen are 'The Enemy'. You may also gain a lifelong friend in the process.

To my younglings like Rochelle Evans, stay in school and dream those big dreams. You are the reason I and others fight so hard so that your adult lives will be a little easier than ours. You inspire us with your courage to live your lives openly and proudly at such young ages or like KK Logan, are currently fighting for justice.

To those of you who are struggling with those issue or are in less than ideal family situations, deal with your transgender issues when the time is right and after prayerful consideration.

I know we have major work ahead of us. We continue to lose our sisters at a alarming rate. We're pretty much alone when it comes to dealing with our myriad problems. Let's show ourselves some love and begin doing the work to confound our critics and build our community.

And to paraphrase Sister Maya, and still we rise.

It's Official-Barack Obama Won

A little after 1 PM Eastern Standard time today, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. officially became the president-elect of the United States.

There was a joint session of the Congress held today in which representatives from the House and Senate officially counted the votes from the December 15 convening of the Electoral College. On that date meetings were held in every state capital and the District of Columbia for the electors to cast their ballots per the election results in each state.

During that joint session of Congress today Vice President Dick Cheney crawled out of his undisclosed location in his role as President of the Senate to declare Sen. Obama as the winner, which was welcomed by a standing ovation of all lawmakers present.

Cheney presided over the quadrennial ceremony in which the sealed certificates from each of the states were opened, handed to clerks in alphabetical order and handed to one of four tellers for tabulation. Two tellers were members of the House and two tellers were members of the Senate.

Just as it broke down on Election Night, the 538 total electoral votes broke down to 365 for Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama and 173 for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

When it was over, Cheney then proclaimed to the cheering chamber what the world has known since November 4, that Barack Obama and Joseph Biden had been elected the next president and vice president of the United States.

The new day is coming folks. Just hold on.

Becoming A Quality Black Woman

One is not born a woman, but becomes one.

That Simone de Beauvoir quote is one this Phenomenal Transwoman recites to herself on a regular basis, especially on her unpretty days. It reminds me that even though I was born with body and mind not matching, womanhood is an ongoing evolutionary process for a biowoman as well.

But the question I have pondered (and still do) on a regular basis even before I took my first hormones to begin transition is how do I become a quality Black woman?

How do you evolve into Black womanhood despite not having the body from birth, being socialized into the role or feeling like you have to play catch up with the biosisters of yours or any generation?

I know one of the things I was adamant about when I began transition was that I was not going to do anything that would be seen in my mind as bringing dishonor to my biosisters or the women of my own family.

I wanted to carry myself with the utmost class, pride and dignity, and be seen as an asset to the sisterhood, not a caricature to it.

Another concern of mine was falling into the trap some transwomen do of being so overly focused on the body morphing part of transition that you forget womanhood is moreso a spiritual and emotional journey.

I was also keenly aware of the fact that I wasn't just stepping into a gender role. I was cognizant of the history impacting Black womanhood and the awesome legacy attached to it. I felt that I had to be mentally ready to accept that history as well and be worthy of it before I swallowed a single estrogen pill to begin that transformation.

So as I began my journey, I adopted the mindset that if I was going to be a woman, be the best damn woman I could be. I wanted to be a quality Black woman,

When I say 'quality Black woman', I wanted to be the type of woman that even if you knew or discovered after meting me I was a transwoman, you wouldn't care, you'd see me as an asset and not a liability on the balance sheet of femininity and you'd want me in your life as a friend.

In order to get to that point, I thought about the various women inside and outside my family I admired who I felt fit that bill. I paid close attention to how they lived their lives, carried themselves and how they interacted with people around them while incorporating my own evolving sense of the type of woman I wanted to project to the world.

Through trial and error, I eventually found my way, began to over time confidently assert myself as the person I always knew deep down I needed to be and reveled in every glorious moment of it. I made mistakes, wasn't afraid to laugh at myself about it, and then sought out advice and help from my biosisters to correct those mistakes.

As for how I'm doing fifteen years into transition, like all of you, I'm a work in progress. I'm not perfect, nor do I want or claim to be. While being a Black transwoman is always going to be part of me until the day I die, all I want to be in the end is a quality Black woman.

A quality Black woman who is doing her part to uplift the race, be a concerned citizen, an intelligent, spiritually tuned and morally upright person, a good friend to the people fortunate enough to be in my life and be the best person she can be.

Oh yeah, and be the sistah turning heads when she walks in the room as well.

Bust A Cap In 'Em?

On one of my days off a few months ago, a friend and I were having a long discussion about the alarming rise in murders of Black transwomen. After I relayed the particulars of a few cases, the person looked at me and said, "Looks like one of y'all needs to bust a cap in one of them to send a message to leave y'all alone".

I recalled and pondered this conversation in the wake of Leeneshia Edwards lying in a Memphis hospital bed suffering from three gunshot wounds.

I've never been a big fan of guns even though I co-owned and shot with my brother under supervision a BB gun. My dad owned a handgun, and both of my late grandfathers possessed shotguns. I'm not a fan of the NRA or their fetishistic defense of the Second Amendment because I believe in reasonable gun control laws and being a big city kid, I've seen the result too many times of what unfettered handgun ownership has done to our neighborhoods.

But after 31 murders last year including one of my friends, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't be echoing the Pink Pistols slogan of 'armed gays don't get bashed'

I wonder what would happen and how it would affect the current 'hunt the Black trannies' mood if one of our would be assailants found themselves on the wrong end of a gun with caps busted in them.

Let's suppose for example that Leeneshia had been packing a pistol in her purse, was in a position when she exited the coffee shop to see her assailant draw his gun first but was not only quicker on the draw but fatally shot his ass.

What would be the reaction of the 'shoot the Black queers' crowd then?

They'd probably back the frack off if they knew going in that their potential bashing targets were possibly packing heat. But that temporary drop from the surprise of one of their ranks getting killed would probably spur a new orgy of killing, and we'd be right back to square one.

We all know how having one handgun for every American has failed to deter crime, drop our murder rates, or prevent sexual assaults and other crimes, so to me, the solution to our problem isn't a knee jerk rush to gun ownership, but has to be a multilayered one.

We need the ENDA and hate crimes laws in place to send the message tranny hunting season is permanently closed. Law enforcement must not only arrest and prosecute those who wish to harm us, but purge their ranks of rogue officers whose idea of protect and serve the citizens doesn't include transgender people.

Now, if some transwomen wish to arm themselves or take self-defense courses, feel free to do that as well. Just make certain that you take gun safety training classes and undergo regular firearms training.

But I'd much rather see a resolution to the problem of anti-transgender violence that doesn't involve busting caps in people.

Are Black Transwomen's Lives Less Valuable Than Others?

Let's start this off with a hypothetical question.

If 70% of the Remembering Our Dead List was made up of people sharing your ethnic heritage, out of the 31 killed in the previous year 3/4 shared your ethnic heritage, your transwomen were called 'ugly', automatically associated with prostitution and criminal behavior despite positive accomplishments to the contrary, and your attempts to call attention to this ongoing genocide were questioned, dismissed, or called 'alarmist', you were greeted with silence by the organizations inside and outside your community that are supposed to help and represent you, and you just watched two more of your sisters get shot (one fatally) to close out the holidays, how would you feel?

Well peeps, you just got to try on the pumps Black transwomen have been struggling to walk in lately.

Don't feel too good now do they?

This assault on Black transwomen reminds me of an old comment that I often heard growing up within the African-American family, but is surely apropos here to paraphrase.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

That comment would play out like a mantra when I witnessed from a distance the lousy sentence that was given our in Boston to the killer of Chanelle Pickett. When I heard about an EMT in our nation's capital denying lifesaving medical treatment to Tyra Hunter, or when I heard about Tiffany Berry's killer in Memphis being set free on a ridiculously low bail.

One of the reasons I went nuclear over transpeople being cut out of ENDA in September 2007 was because I feared that it would result in what we're seeing now, a spike in hate violence and killings of transgender people. I also feared that many of those transwomen who died would share my ethnic heritage.

Fourteen months later my fears have come agonizingly true. We have seen a major spike in hate crimes directed at transpeople, and unfortunately Black transwomen are taking the brunt of those fatal hits.

And what's the reaction of the organizations that are alleged to represent me either as an African-American or a African-American transperson?

Deafening silence.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

And to add insult to our injuries comes elements of the Black church joining with white fundamentalists and the Roman Catholic Church attacking us as well.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

The media disrespecting our dead with incorrect pronouns and names that didn't reflect the people they are now.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

Even though society is sending us this overwhelmingly negative message and it would be easy to sigh in frustration and say, "We can't fight this overwhelming negativity', I look back at our history and realize that our ancestors dealt with far worse circumstances than we mere African descended transwomen are a mere eight years and a few days into the twenty first century.

We African descended transwomen know deep down that we are worthy, beautiful human beings. Instead of being turned away from the American family table we are demanding our place setting at it by having our constitutional rights respected and protected. And we will not be turned around from this by faith based haters, the ignorant, or politicians looking to do the expedient thing and not the morally correct thing.

We are struggling to maintain our humanity under this tsunami of negativity. Even though the wave threatens to crush us, we hold on to something solid, wait for it to crest, subside and head back out to the ocean, then we'll go from there.

That something solid is our faith. Just like our ancestors, despite the brutality that was occurring around them, what drove them was the hope that one day things would be different for their children.

While I and others are trying to work on a shorter timetable than the ancestors had to deal with, my faith that what I have visualized and written about on this blog will one day happen is just as strong as the faith my ancestors had in their hopes and dreams coming true for my generation.

Even though this situation as of January 2009 can be depressing as hell sometimes, I take comfort from perusing our history in knowing that through concerted action with allies and ourselves, we can turn this around by doing the hard work to make the necessary legislative victory happen.

In the meantime, we African descended transwomen do our part by continuing to excel individually and as a group. We bond with our biosisters so that we'll stop hearing the noisy negative mantra in the background and replace it with one that says, 'Black transwomen's lives are just as valuable as any other'.

I hope and pray that as the 110th Congress begins its session today, they, our allies and others who need to hear that message will hear that positive mantra as well.

I also pray that the people who hear that mantra the loudest are Black transwomen.

You Really Wanna Know Why We Call You Black GOP Peeps Sellouts?

Two weeks ago I was channel surfing and stumbled across an interview that Michael Steele was having about the 2008 election and why the Republicans can't attract African-Americans to their party.

Usually anytime I see his mug on a TV screen or any of his fellow conservative Stepford Negroes I'm clicking past the channel, but for some reason this time I stayed tuned in. After hearing him complain about why Blacks in the GOP are considered 'sellouts' and ones in the Democratic Party aren't, I'd had all I could stand and flipped it to CNN.

Well Mike, since you asked the question, let Moni school you on why we call y'all sellouts.

It's because you and your friends repeatedly show more loyalty to the conservative movement and your bank accounts than you do for your people.

Exhibit A- Chip Saltzman sending out a CD that included the Rush Limbaugh fave song Barack The Magic Negro. Newt Gingrich sharply criticized it, but not you sellout Negroes. All I've heard from all thirty six of you Black Republicans about this issue was silence.

Oops, my bad. Ken Blackwell spoke about the controversy and what was his response? He dismissed it as "hypersensitivity."

Your reluctance to say anything about it wouldn't happen to be because you and Mikey Steele are running for the RNC chair?

But then again Kenny Boy, I lost whatever modicum of respect I had for you in 2004 when you helped steal Ohio for Bush. You not only as Ohio Secretary of State did everything possible to make it difficult for African-Americans to vote in that election, you suppressed 166,000 provisional ballots to do it.

Don't even get me started on Uncle Thomas, that's another post.

The Black female Republicans aren't much better. Condoleezza Rice has been their poster child since this century began and that's a whole 'nother post as well. Others such as Tara Wall and Amy Holmes are basically young, pretty Black faces regurgitating the same tired conservative talking points that white male conservatives have echoed ad nauseum for years.

Ann Coulter's skinny scarecrow looking behind has attacked Michelle Obama in her latest waste of trees masquerading as a book, and I have yet to hear any Negro female conservative call her azz out for it, much less rise to the First Lady to be's defense.

Ann's jealous because deep down, she ain't even 1/1000th of the woman that Michelle Obama is, with or without her jaw wired shut.

One thing I will say for some Republican sistahs. They will call crap out or do what's best for the community when they get fed up. I remember when the late Colorado Secretary of State Vikki Buckley, who won a historic election in 1995 as a Republican and was asked to chair the party's African-American recruitment efforts, blasted the party in 1999 for not taking it seriously.

Sheryl Underwood openly supported Barack Obama in this election cycle and even Condoleezza Rice makes statements at times that make me wonder if she stopped practicing the piano long enough to actually watch some of the protest activity that was going on in Birmingham.

But to answer the original question, when you start doing what's right by our people and not what's right wing, then we'll stop calling y'all sellouts.

Voting Starts For Weblog Awards Today

Sometime today the voting for the Weblog Awards will kick off and run until January 12.

Once the polling does start, you are allowed to vote once every 24 hours until the polling closes.

The Weblog peeps are testing everything out to make sure it runs smoothly and if it gets started late, then the polling will be extended until January 13.

You Can Call Him Senator Franken

If anyone ever regurgitates that tired 'my vote doesn't count' line as their excuse for not voting, point to this race.

After counting 933 absentee ballots excluded in error over the weekend, Al Franken's lead grew from 49 votes to 225.

Since there are no more outstanding ballots left to count, the Minnesota state canvassing board, which oversees the ballot process, is scheduled to meet today and formally declare Franken the winner today or tomorrow.

Of course, Norm Coleman is going to file suit asking for a fresh count, but since the new Congressional session starts this week, Franken could be seated as Minnesota's senator on an interim basis until the matter is resolved.

If it holds up, that increases the Dems Senate majority to 59 seats, one short of the magic 60 seat mark.

Why Some Black GLBT Peeps Hate the 'Q' Word

While there are some people who refer to the GLBT community as the 'queer' community, as you probably noticed as you peruse this blog I'm not one of them. It's also a sentiment shared by some of my fellow GLBT African-Americans.

When I used to do the 'After Hours' radio show with Jimmy Carper back home on KPFT-FM, he'd use the tag line 'Queer radio with attitude'. It made me uncomfortable, but since it was his show and I was only a rotating co-host, not much I could do about.

Some of my personal dislike with the 'Q' word not only has to do with it being used as a derogatory epithet, but the dictionary definition of it as well.

1. Deviating from the expected or normal; strange: a queer situation.
2. Odd or unconventional, as in behavior; eccentric. See Synonyms at strange.
3. Of a questionable nature or character; suspicious.
4. Slang Fake; counterfeit.
5. Feeling slightly ill; queasy.
6. Offensive Slang Homosexual.
7. Usage Problem Of or relating to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, or transgendered people.

As a proud transperson of African descent, why would I embrace a term that doesn't describe me? I've heard many of the arguments that raged in the mid 90's about taking back the 'Q' word to strip it of the negativity, but I also heard the same parallel arguments about reclaiming the n-word, and I hated that reclamation project as well.

So why do Black GLBT peeps hate the 'Q" word?

As the Task Force's 2002 Say It Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud report pointed out, the term 'queer' was selected by less than 1% of the respondents as an identifier in the 2000 Black Pride Survey that the report was based on.

Some of that dislike of the 'Q' word is fed by negativity to the racism that Black GLBT people found greeting them in 'queer' spaces. We also have our own created terms such as SGL (same gender loving) that became popular in the 1990's or the 'in the life' one that dates back to the Harlem Renaissance and some of us are more comfortable with because they reflect our cultural heritage.

'Queer' has also become in the Black GLBT community a synonym for white, wealthy, privileged gay male. You also have to look at the reality that many Black GLBT peeps live in the Deep South, which is not exactly the most welcoming area at times for a GLBT person.

Our discomfort with the term also has to do with the fact that Black people, whether we're GLBT or non-GLBT, are politically liberal but socially conservative due to our historic church ties. Those of us who grew up attending church, Sunday School and Vacation Bible School on the regular still struggle with reconciling our faith with who we are as GLBT people, and the 'Q' word doesn't fit.

So if you're wondering why most Black GLBT peeps use other terms to define themselves or get quiet when many of you start shouting at protest marches, 'we're here, we're queer, get used to it', now you know.

2008 Weblog Awards Voting Page

Y'all knew I was going to make it as seamless as possible for you to vote in the 2008 Weblog Awards Best LGBT Blog poll that runs from January 5-12.

In addition to clicking on the finalist badge to access the poll, here's the link to the Best LGBT Blog Voting Page

http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-lgbt-blog/

If you wish to cast ballots in the other polls, here's the link to the main page
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/

I wasn't the only transgender blogger nominated. Zoe, one of my frequent commenters is a finalist in the best Australian and New Zealand Blog.

Two of my AfroSpear colleagues blogs are also finalists
Rev. Lisa Vazquez's Black Women, Blow the Trumpet is a finalist in the Best Small Blog Category

The field negro is also a finalist in the Best Individual Blog Category.

Thanks to Kevin Aylward and his team for creating, moderating and doing yeoman's work in putting these awards together.

Tona Brown

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

I haven't had an opportunity to meet her in person yet, but Tona is someone I've known for a few years, chat with on a regular basis and marvel at her musical gifts.

The Norfolk, VA resident has been involved in the music world since she started learning how to play the violin at age 10. She attended the prestigious Governor's School For The Arts in Norfolk and has won numerous musical competitions and garnered awards since age 14.

She's continued her lifelong involvement with music since her transition several years ago, and was selected in April 2006 to take part in the Tranny Roadshow, a touring group of transgender performance artists and is studying with mezzo soprano Robynne Redmond among her other ongoing projects.

Tona feels that it's important to show that an African descended transwoman can achieve and succeed in any endeavor that we put our minds to, and she's been a wonderful role model in that regard.

She's making her mark in the classical music world, and best of all she's doing it as an out transwoman.

You can check out her website at http://www.tonabrown.net/home

Happy 60th Birthday Donna Summer

While I was perusing the celebrity birthdays on New Year's Eve, I discovered that one of my favorite singers was celebrating a milestone birthday.

Back in the day I was a huge disco fan, and one of my favorite singers was Donna Summer. She started off as a gospel singer, but what a lot of people don't realize about her is that she's an accomplished songwriter as well.

She has won five Grammys and is the only artist to have three consecutive number one double albums and three number one pop singles in the same year. While she's known for the disco hits, her musical repertoire encompasses rock, pop, R&B and gospel.

She has sold over 130 million records worldwide and I definitely have my share of Donna's music in my collection. She's one of the most successful female artists of the 1970s and 1980's and was inducted in 2004 to the Dance Music Hall of Fame.\

Happy birthday, Donna and may you have many more.

Coogs Win A Bowl Game!

I have to give my alma mater a shout out for winning a bowl game for the first time in 28 years by beating Air Force 34-28 in Fort Worth's Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.

The last time my school won a bowl game (the 1980 Garden State Bowl in which we beat Navy 35-0) I was a UH freshman, Bill Yeoman was the head coach, we were a member of the Southwest Conference and we were playing our home games in the Astrodome.

But this current crop of Cougars and head coach Kevin Sumlin were sick and tired about hearing and seeing the 'Cougars are 0-8 in bowl games' comment. With a national TV audience watching, they were determined to do something about it.

I was proud of my boys. They played hard, it was an entertaining game that the Cardiac Coogs as usual made interesting, but eventually prevailed.

Great season Coach K. The team finished 8-5, were in the running for the C-USA title until the final weekend, won a bowl game and have some outstanding players returning such as QB Case Keenum and running back Bryce Beall.

Oh yeah, we're also sitting in the best place in the state for prime high school football talent.

But just one request from this Coog alum. Beat the hell out of Rice next year!

Arrest Made In Elzy-Hunt Killings, But I'm Still Pissed

According to The Bilerico Project and Indy TV and newspaper reports, an arrest has been made in the Elzy-Hunt killings.

U.S. Marshals and Fort Wayne police took 20 year old Fort Wayne, IN resident Christopher Conwell into custody Wednesday morning and transported him back to Indianapolis for questioning. Elzy's dark blue 2001 Mercury Sable, missing since the discovery of their bodies on December 26, was found in Fort Wayne.

It also appears that Elzy and Hunt had known their alleged killer for a few months and he'd been a repeat visitor to their northside Indy home in Broad Ripple. Elzy's sister noted that when she met him recently, Conwell mentioned to her that he admired Taysia's car and had been to their home a few times.

But the coverage is still giving me the effect of nails screeching across a chalkboard.

First up, I'm sick of the Indy media using mug shots when there are photos of Taysia and Michael as a couple. If it had been two white peeps killed, would the media have used mug shots for them? Maybe if one of the peeps involved was transgender, but I doubt it.

What Taysia's birth name was prior to the killing or whether she's had SRS or not is not germane to the fact that she and her boyfriend are now dead.

Oh yeah, this is a whole 'nother post, but just because a bioman is dating a pre-op, post op (or ANY) transwoman, it doesn't make him gay.

Once again media peeps, and try to focus here. this is what your journalistic Bible, the AP Stylebook has to say about covering transgender people:

Transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

Okay, if we mere bloggers get that, what up with you MSM peeps with the journalism degrees not understanding those two paragraphs and consistently getting it wrong?

TAYSIA Elzy was living her life as a woman, so SHE should addressed as such since you have clear evidence that is her preferred gender presentation.

Or do you simply not care?

The other thing that's pissing me off is the nasty, racist and transphobic comments being posted by some peeps on the Indy Star comment threads covering the killings.

It didn't help that the Indy media posted the couple's mug shots early on in the coverage and some of them are still doing so despite having other photos available.

But I guess when you wish to paint the transsistah and African-Americans in the worst possible light, even in death, other photos don't matter.

And that aspect of the Elzy-Hunt killing is even more disgraceful than the piss poor lazy reporting so far.

In Solidarity

TransGriot Note: One of the things I want to do this year is foster open discussion and communication between transwomen and our biosisters about various issues. From time to time I'll be opening up TransGriot to various women of color bloggers in order to facilitate these conversations, and I've been invited to do the same on several of their blogs as well.

My Canadian sister Renee of Womanist Musings kicks off this series of posts.

Hello everyone, my name is Renee and I write a blog called Womanist Musings. I would like to first say thank you to Monica for sharing her space with me. It is a real honour to be given an opportunity to blog here.

On my blog one of the things I focus on is having the conversations that no one else is having. I believe that unless we speak for the marginalized and exploited bodies of this world they will continue to be ignored in our quest to amass greater and greater privilege. This is detrimental not only to us as a society, but to our little blue planet.

I have spent a lot of time in conversation with Monica recently. Yes, she is as marvelous as you think she is. In our conversations we seem to come back to one reoccurring theme, the need for cisgendered women of color and trans women of color to unite. As a womanist I have had many dealings with the feminist community and one thing has become overwhelmingly clear, though many pay lip service to intersectionality, it really is about progressing the needs of white women. While discussing my frustration with feminism with Monica, she related a similar story about the trans movement.

Oddly enough I met Monica when she came to cuss me out. I laugh about it now because we have developed a wonderful friendship, though girlfriend still owes me a cornbread recipe. At any rate, as we got to know each other and share our different experiences the more I began to realize that if two individuals, hundreds of miles apart from each other could forge a bond based in our mutual frustration with racial discrimination and a belief in our self worth, then it is quite possible to create a larger coalition.

Black women are not strangers to work. From the moment we stepped on this continent in chains ours have been lives of intense labour. We have worked under the cruel threat of the lash and we have more often than not laboured to benefit others. When you examine any social justice movement you will find white people in leadership roles with black women serving as support staff. The one commonality of all organizations or corporations is the distribution of labour; it is the support staff that does the real work without any real acclaim, or reward. I am tired of whiteness being the face of my labour, and I am sick of whiteness being the beneficiary of my blood sweat and tears.

TWOC and CWOC have divorced from each other and given our energies to our separate social justice movements. The end result of this is that neither one of us has been able to achieve much social progress, nor are we in leadership positions in our respective groups. Essentially we have allowed whiteness to divide and thereby conquer us.

When I talk to Monica, I know that I am talking to a comrade in arms. We have dealt with many issues that are common in our efforts to try and achieve equality for WOC. Our blackness and our femininity are our common bond. There will be times when we face different issues based in the fact that I am cisgendered and that she is a trans woman; however our desire to forge a relationship has caused us to focus on our commonalities, and talk our way through difference. This has reinforced my belief that we must begin to coalition build between cisgendered WOC and trans WOC. Whatever petty divides we have had in the past must be released if we are going to move forward as women.

No one is out there fighting for us; and therefore we must join forces and fight for each other. The issues of my Trans sister of color are my issues. When she is harassed on the streets, beaten or murdered it very well could me, and knowing this cisgendered women cannot turn their backs. TWOC are attacked as much for gender issues as they are for their race. Their vulnerability is my vulnerability.

In this coming year it is going to be my goal to try and forge more bonds with my trans sisters in the hopes that we can stand together and fight the forces that oppress us both. I know that my freedom can never truly occur until my trans sisters are also free. We are women and we are one. If the world cannot recognize this we must join together and make them see what their privilege denies. Together in solidarity I cannot imagine a force of nature stronger than black women aligned in the cause of justice.

Happy New Year And Happy Anniversary TransGriot Blog!

Goodbye 2008...Hello 2009!

Happy New Year to all you loyal TransGriot readers! Today also happens to be the fourth anniversary of the founding of this blog and boy how my baby has grown.

I started it on January 1, 2006 as simply a real-time way to comment on breaking news I couldn't do as a former GLBT alternative newspaper monthly columnist, and now it's considered a must read blog.

As you noticed I have over 1200 posts here on various subjects since January 1 and I've made it easier for you to access some of the TransGriot Golden Oldies with the new search feature. You can thank Renee at Womanist Musings for the gentle hints that I do so.

I'm also pleased to see the growth in this blog and my writing from the time I started back in 2006 to now. TransGriot became an AfroSpear blog in July and its also been a blessing to have the Black Blog Rankings as a measuring tool to chart the growth and progress of this and all Black blogs as well.

BBR Top 25 here I come!

I've also enjoyed getting to know some of my blogging colleagues thanks to some wonderful substantive real time conversations I've been able to have with various bloggers over the year. I hope I'll be blessed with the opportunity to attend the second annual Blogging While Brown Conference in Chicago this summer.

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to read TransGriot. For you lurkers, come on in, pull up a chair and join the family. I also don't mind if you drop me an e-mail every now and then or comment in the posts. I realize that your Internet browsing time is valuable, so thanks for perusing the posts and sometimes even commenting on them. I deeply appreciate it.

And for my biosisters, one of my resolutions and goals for this year is to do my part to ensure that we end 2009 with a better understanding of each other.

I want to understand your issues and concerns while at the same time I and my transsisters give you the 411 about ours. What I'd like to see as a result of this is not only intelligent discussions as a result of these conversations, but we create the conditions in which transwomen and biowomen do more in this historic year to have each others backs.

If you have any questions about something I've raised on the blog or just one that fits into the Trans 101 category, just e-mail me.

Even though we are starting Day One of a brand new year, one thing that will not change is my ongoing mission to provide thoughtful commentary on various issues inside and outside the transgender community and across the Diaspora, and do it from the perspective of a proud African-American transwoman.

Oh yeah, only 19 more days until the Obama inauguration!