After dancing the night away and party hopping at ten star studded balls in celebration of a historic inauguration, accepting the congratulations of other world leaders on his historic ascension to the presidency, and having 2 million people on the mall to witness it, it's time for President Obama to get to work.
First order of business was halting all of the last minute regulations Bushie boy tried to ramrod through in the final days and hours of his misadministration, making the first moves to shut down Guantanamo Bay, enacting tough new ethics rules and making calls to world leaders in the Middle East.
One I was especially concerned about as a transperson was the one that allowed health care personnel to deny treatment or dispense medication for religious reasons, and hopefully, that's one of the policies that's under review.
In the meantime, enjoy Will.I.Am's slammin' song that matches the title of this post.
TransGriot Note: Lost in all the loud hue and cry over Rick Warren's invocation was the fact that civil rights icon Rev. Joseph Lowery, a friend of the GLBT community was giving the benediction. Here's the text of that benediction
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou, who has brought us thus far along the way, thou, who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee.
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand true to thee, oh God, and true to our native land.
We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day.
We pray now, oh Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration.
He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national, and indeed the global, fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hands, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations.
Our faith does not shrink though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.
For we know that, Lord, you are able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds, and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor, of the least of these, and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.
We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that yes we can work together to achieve a more perfect union.
And while we have sown the seeds of greed — the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.
And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.
And as we leave this mountain top, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.
Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little angelic Sasha and Malia.
We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone.
With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.
TransGriot Note: Y'all knew I was gonna come strong with my first song rewrite for the '09. In honor of the inauguration of our 'Brother President' and the immense pride I feel about it, here's a rewrite of the classic McFadden and Whitehead song 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now'
Barack's The President Now (sung to the tune of 'Ain't No Stopping Us Now' by McFadden and Whitehead
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! Barack's the president now! Things will improve!
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! Barack's the president now! Things will improve!
The last eight years has really got me down. And the Republicans have jacked this country around. I know we've got, a long tough road to hoe, But on the 20th, Bush must go. But we won't let this mess hold us back, We're getting our stuff together, Getting our troops out of Iraq! If you ever felt disenfranchised before, I know you'll refuse to be disenfranchised anymore!
Don't you let neoconservatives, Stand in your way! I want y'all to listen, listen, to every word I say, every word I say!
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! Barack's the president now! Things will improve!
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! I know, I know Barack's the president now! Things will improve! We got it.
You know Faux News and friends will push that negative vibe And when things improve they'll all want to imbibe Hatin' on him is the way they wanna go Sarah Palin in 2012? Oh hell no But we won't let this mess hold us back, We're getting our stuff together, Getting our troops out of Iraq! If you ever felt disenfranchised before, I know you'll refuse to be disenfranchised anymore!
Don't you let neoconservatives, Stand in your way! I want y'all to listen, listen, to every word I say, every word I say!
Barack's the president now! Yo Yo Yo We're on the move! We're moving, improving
Barack's the president now! Moving improving moving improving Barack's the president now! I know things will improve!
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! I know things really, really will improve
The GOP's lying But I ain't buying
We're leaving the negative people Way behind
Because our turn has finally come around
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! Barack's the president now! Things will improve!
Barack's the president now! We're on the move! Barack's the president now! Things will improve!
And so begins the day that our people have been waiting ages for, the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States.
The best part to me is that Barack Hussein Obama II not only shares my ethnic heritage along with the First Lady, we are sharing with the nation the best of our community.
I can't even begin to express my joy, elation and immense pride over what is about to transpire in just a few hours. The fact it's happening on my niece's birthday makes this day even more special. My niece will now spend the next 4-8 years of her life with her first cognizant presidential memories being of Barack Obama's administration.
Yeah he's walking into a mess. Yeah, some of you are probably so cynical about politics that you aren't going to even allow yourself the chance to believe that maybe we finally do have the right guy in the Oval Office to inspire us in this country to do great things, tackle tough problems and solve them together.
I have seen Black men of all ages for the first time in a long time express not only a resurgent interest in politics and doing things in the community, but chest thumping patriotic pride in the fact that the incoming president is a 'brother'.
Michelle Obama as the First Lady will hopefully give us the opportunity to forever blow away misconceptions, stereotypes and myths that have arisen about African American women across a wide array of issues. It is also a major point of pride to African-American women that the First Lady is 'one of us' as well.
It's also a joy to see the Obama's beautiful girls Malia and Sasha. I have been heartened to see young Black boys and girls across this country stand up a little taller since November 4. The younglings now believe it when their elders tell them that they can be anything their heart desires in this country. Conversely, their elders don't have to feel anymore as if they are lying to their kids or feel that sharp sting of historical pain when they say it.
John Thompson, Sr. said it best in a recent interview when he stated, 'The Emancipation Proclamation freed our bodies from slavery, the election of Barack Obama freed our minds.'
While what ails Black America won't be magically cured in 24 hours, a week, a month or maybe even during the four to eight years of this presidency, it's a start. It's also nice to know that with this presidential inauguration it shows us and more importantly our kids what is possible when you dare to dream, and then go after it.
This day is not just one for my community, but for all Americans. It's also cool to note that this historic day for our country is also resonating with people all over the world and across the African Diaspora.
It is also my hope and prayer that the afterglow from this day will last long after the music has faded from the parade and the last inaugural ball and the real work begins for the Obama administration.
Today is the day we've all been impatiently waiting for since November 4. Inauguration Day!
Today, five days after Dr. Martin Luther King's 80th birthday, President Obama takes the oath of office and we signaled to the world that the United States is under new management.
Out with the old tired, non-compassionate conservatism and paralyzing partisanship, in with the new school bipartisanship and return of reality based decision making to national politics.
The inaugural balls and parties will be going on until the wee hours of the morning, and when the sun rises on January 21, 2009, the work begins on restoring our country.
TransGriot Note: Well, unfortunately Rev. Gene Robinson's prayer mysteriously failed to make it on air for the HBO broadcast of this event. (I'm waiting with baited breath to see if the rainbow Obama haters blame him for HBO's frackup, too)
Anyway, for those of you who missed it, here's the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson's wonderful prayer with a hat tip to Episcopal Cafe for posting it.
A Prayer for the Nation and Our Next President, Barack Obama
By The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire
Opening Inaugural Event Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC January 18, 2009
Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.
Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.
And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.
The Electronic Villager has released the January 2009 edition of the Black Blog rankings, so let's check them out and see how TransGriot fared.
The rankings continue to grow with 1575 blogs now ranked, an increase of 59 blogs since the December 20 holiday edition of the BBR rankings.
The Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, who was nominated as a Weblog Awards Best LGBT Blog finalist for the fourth straight year.
I fell short of my goal of having a 150 Technorati ranking by January 1, but I did achieve my goal of being in the BBR Top 50 blogs before that date.
My new goal is to be in the BBR Top 25 blogs and have a Technorati ranking of 200 by my May 4 birthday. One unexpected pleasure was being nominated for and becoming a 2008 Weblog Awards finalist for Best GLBT blog.
So how did I do?
As of the January 1 compilation date for this edition of the BBR's TransGriot gained one spot since the holiday rankings. I was sitting at Number 46 with a 144 Technorati ranking.
My Technorati ranking is still tripping, but I'm still in the BBR Top 50 Blogs. Hopefully by next month's rankings whatever drams happening with my Technorati ranking will straighten itself out and begin to actually reflect the progress I've made toward building this into a quality blog.
During and after the wake of the racist attacks on me from the Queerty commenters over my Obama post, my mind kept drifting back to a quote attributed to the late poet Gwendolyn Brooks.
Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There's a preference for candy bars
One of the things about me and this blog (and any other one that I'm given the honor to post to) that won't change is that I'm blunt and to the point about calling out bullshit when I see it. It hasn't made me the most popular person sometimes in GLBT circles, but that's the cross you bear when you are striving for the higher goals of passing broad based civil rights legislation, creating an inclusive community and a better world for all.
If you're going to solve the tough problems we have in the GLBT community and beyond that revolve around race, gender, class and inequality, you have to honestly and openly talk about them, even if that discussion gets contentious at times.
As an African-American leader, I subscribe to the principles of Black leadership and try my best to role model them. In addition to as Dr. Ron Walters articulated it, the task of Black leadership being to provide the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.
Those goals are freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires and results in you as a Black leader disturbing the peace when you speak truth to power. It also make some people uncomfortable and causes controversy at times as well.
Yes, we have those problems in the GLBT community since we are a microcosm of the parent society. Ignoring those problems or candy coating them won't make them go away. Neither will viciously attacking people who bring them up in the course of fostering honest discussion or because they are expressing an opinion which runs counter to your worldview.
One of the promises I made when I started this blog that in the best traditions of my people, I will tell it like it T-I-S is. If I see something that's wrong, or feel that we can and should be doing better on an issue, I'm not going to hold my tongue or shut down the word processor to placate the folks that prefer doing nothing or chomping candy bars on tough issues.
It almost skipped by me that today is Michelle Obama's 45th birthday.
Talk about an interesting year. Watching your husband fight through a historic primary to get the nomination, and then make history by being elected president on November 4.
It's going to be fun over the next four to eight years watch her make history as well
As the first African-American First Lady she will be in a wonderful position to blow up the stereotypes and myths about Black women that have been promulgated here and around the world over the last 400 years.
So happy birthday Madame First Lady. Hope the president and the kids got you something nice for your big day.
For those of you who are Battlestar Galactica junkies, y'all know that the Dee I'm referring to is Lt. Anastasia 'Dee' Dualla. For those of you who don't, the final episodes of Battlestar Galactica are being broadcast.
They ended with a startling cliffhanger of the fleet arriving at Earth after three years of interstellar travel and discovering it's a nuked out cinder.
In this episode we find out that Earth was not only nuked 2000 years ago, but it was inhabited by Cylons. We also discover that Kara Thrace died on the planet and before you holler 'she's the fifth Cylon', she isn't.
The fifth Cylon is survey says, Ellen Tigh
But the thing that shocked me more than all those discoveries was the suicide of my fave character on the show. Seems as though Dee was very troubled by the discovery of the nuked out Earth and finding jacks buried in the scarred landscape.
We see her babysitting Hera, going out on a date with Lee after encouraging him to take the reins of colonial political leadership and then retreating to her quarters after kissing him goodnight, putting a pistol to her head and pulling the trigger.
Even though Battlestar Galactica's my favorite show, one of the things I griped about when it first was reimagined was the lack of main African-descended characters on the show. Elosha, the priestess and spiritual adviser to President Roslin was killed off in the second season, and with Dee's suicide, the only African-American character left on the show is the Cylon Simon.
But one of the things I've always hated about sci-fi is that it seems as though if there's an African-American character on the show or an episode of it, they'll be killed off.
One of the few exceptions to that rule has been Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, Capt. Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek DS9, Lt. Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager and Lando Calrissian from Star Wars.
But unfortunately Lt. Anastasia Dualla won't be one of those characters.
Downtown Louisville to be precise. About to jet out of the house and make a short run to downtown Louisville and the Kentucky International Convention Center to watch Dawn compete in a major fencing tournament here.
The NAC D is one of eight major fencing tournaments for competitive fencing in the United States. For US based fencers wishing to represent our country in the 2012 London Games, this is a first step to making the national team from which our Olympians will be chosen.
The competition will be fast, furious and high level.
I wrote a post a little over 24 hours ago that basically called the gay community out for their continued pattern of knee jerk hostility to President-elect Barack Obama dating back to last year's Democratic primary. I pointed out that the man hasn't even spent one day in the Oval Office yet and the predominately white GLBT blogosphere is already making comments that he'll be the worst president ever on GLBT issues.
Well, Queerty linked to that post and the commenters slapped on their pink pointy hooded sheets and began blasting away in the comment thread. One commenter compared me to Jasmyne Cannick, who is another African-American LGBT blogger that white gays have a visceral hatred for because she tells it like it is as well and got a Chuck Knipp Shirley Q. Liquor performance in LA cancelled.
By the way Queerty fans, being compared to Jasmyne Cannick is an honor, not an insult.
But comparing me to Jasmyne was one of the nicer ones. The rest were nasty, racist personal insults, weak justifications of their hatred of Obama, et cetera.
The Queerty peeps negativity in this comment thread is an example of what I and other Black GLBT and non GLBT people have dealt with for years when trying to work with the white gay community in coalition with them. While not all white GLBT peeps exhibit this behavior and are wonderful allies in many cases, there are however too many of them that exhibit the same reprehensible tactics to silence messages they don't want to hear to where it constitutes a major problem.
Too many times white GLBT people will whip out the white privilege card and dish out criticism concerning my community, but are too thin-skinned to take it. They will get their noses out of joint and bellow 'homophobe', 'transphobe', 'you're playing the race card' or cry 'racist' at you if you dare utter it. If you are Black (or any color) GLBT or non-GLBT person and call them out on their shady, borderline racist or less than honorable behavior, they go apoplectic about it and give you that 'how dare you?' look as you do so.
White GLBT people, if you can't take constructive criticism then you are going to continue to have problems working in coalition with other people, especially fellow GLBT peeps of color who are supposed to be your allies.
Another fact of life is that you don't get to decide what offends me or my community, nor will I or any other person of color stop speaking our minds or telling it like it T-I-S is on this blog or any other we post on.
You have the right to disagree with what I have to say, but you don't have the right to call me everything but a child of God for simply pointing out that something is unfair and my viewpoint doesn't neatly line up with your worldview.
The sterling example of the racism on the Queerty thread exposed the Number One reason with a bullet why Black GLBT peeps get so sick of your crap to the point that we say 'Enough' and form our own organizations, clubs, and pride events.
Yeah, your pink sheets are showing, and if you don't stop using the Cali Prop 8 loss as an excuse to let out your inner racist, you're not only going to continue to have a difficult time getting African descended GLBT peeps to help you garner support and craft a message for same gender marriage that wins in our community, you risk creating the permanent split between you and the Black community that the Religious Right was trying to foment when they peddled that 'Blacks voted 70 percent for Prop 8' lie in the first place.
As a third generation Texan, I was very happy to see my home county (Harris) go blue in the recent presidential election and begin throwing out the Republican rascals in the county courts.
I was also happy to see a Delaymandered Texas House designed for a 120-30 Republican majority dwindle down to a 76-74 GOP majority and best of all, Tom Craddick is no longer Speaker of the Texas House.
But the best news I received in the wake of those positive trends is that the Democratic Party may finally be getting serious about returning Texas to its progressive roots and making Texas competitive again by the 2012 election cycle.
The state Democratic Party has been resurgent and wants to become a player even sooner, as in 2010. Whether it's 2010 or 2012, it can't be soon enough after 14 years of Republican mismanagement of my beloved birth state.
In 2005 Texas became one of several states in which the combined minority population outnumbers whites. With the 2010 Census looming, most projections show a possible three seat gain in Texas' already sizable 32 member congressional delegation. If those numbers hold it means that Texas increases in value to 37 electoral votes and becomes even more important on the Electoral College map.
The Repugs know this as well and are alarmed because their presidential election scenarios start with Texas as the base for their electoral vote calculations. They will fight tooth and nail to keep Texas in their column
But demographics, their own shortsightedness in failing to diversify their party, coupled with the young multiethnic coalition the Democrats built that carried Obama to victory will probably put Texas in play in the next four to eight years.
But the national Democratic Party needs to do its part, too. It needs to quit using Texas as a political piggy bank and source for volunteers to send to other states. It needs to invest money in the Texas Democratic Party and aggressively go after the Latino and African American vote there as well.
It also needs to put serious money in statewide races as well. Rick Noriega was probably the best candidate in a decade we've had for the US Senate, and was up against an unpopular Republican. Had the national party passed more cash to him, we'd probably be hailing the first Latino Senator from Texas and we'd have our 60 seat majority in the Senate.
It's past time that the Democrats made a serious play to take Texas back from GOP clutches. The conditions are ripe for it and Texas Dems are more than eager and willing to do the work to make it happen.
Today would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's 80th birthday had he not been taken away from us on April 4, 1968.
If he were alive today I think he'd be happy with some of the progress we've made in integrating ourselves into American society. We're about to inaugurate an African-American president. ,We have made major progress in getting Black people elected to positions of political power and even have a few breaking ground in corporate America and other fields.
But Dr. King would also note that we have a long way to go before we can even say that a color-blind society is a reality. We still have problems with racism, inequality and poverty in this nation. He would probably decry our involvement in Iraq just as he would condemn the violence happening in our neighborhoods and terrorism around the world.
And, based on what his late wife Coretta has stated, Dr. King would not be a fan of people like his own daughter Bernice and other ministers who seem to think it's okay to hide behind scripture and hate on GLBT people.
This world and America itself would have been a much better place had Dr. King been around to share his wisdom with us for the last 40 years.
What we can do is study his writings that he did leave us, thank God for the time that he did walk amongst us as an inspiration to African descended people and others around the world, and strive to in our own way to make this world a better place for all its inhabitants.
One of the things that's not sitting well with me right now is seeing some elements of the liberal-progressive side and especially the GLBT blogosphere criticizing President-elect Obama before he's even had a chance to take the oath of office.
Several GLBT bloggers have already declared in their wisdom that he's the worst president on GLBT issues since Clinton, he doesn't care about us, and other bullshit du jour they can come up with.
I note that most of the criticism is coming from those same mostly white GLBT peeps who supported Hillary in the Dem primary.
Note to the GLBT Obama haters: Hillary lost and y'all need to get over it. She got over it enough to become his Secretary of State.
Like a lot of African-Americans I'm still more than a little peeved about the disgusting display of racism that erupted in the white GL community after the Prop 8 lass and the continued harping on the now thoroughly discredited 'Blacks Voted 70% for Prop 8 line' that some peeps used as justification for letting their race based animus flow.
Once again, I'm not saying that President Obama should be immune to criticism. What I and the African-American community are talking about here is simple fairness. We see it as shady that you're blasting the man before he's even taken the oath of office and had time to prove what type of president he'll be for the GLBT community. Hell, y'all gave George W. Bush's idiot savant behind more slack than you're giving the presidential brother.
Oops, need to apologize to all idiot savants for comparing them to Bush. You're far more intelligent than he is.
The bottom line is that Barack Obama by this time next week will be our president. All I and those of us who supported him from Day One ask for is that you give this man the same opportunity to prove what he can do for the GLBT community that you gave the previous non-Black occupants of the Oval Office from both parties.
Genny and I briefly touched on this in the comment thread on my 'Becoming a Quality Black Woman' post, but one major consideration for a Black transwoman is how well she measures up not only o other Black transwomen, but ultimately to the sophistication level of the biowomen around her.
Just as Black men have that certain cool swagger that they go through life with, Black women carry themselves with a sophistication and level of class that has multiple elements.
What are those elements? Moni's gonna break it down for you.
The first element for a sophisticated lady is pride. Pride in herself, pride in her history and pride in who she is and where she wants to go as a woman and as a person.
Another key ingredient in the sophisticated way that Black women go through life with is confidence. Some of my sisters walk around as if they are the finest thing walking on the planet, and let's face it, in some cases they are.
You'll see her standing tall, head up, shoulders straight, impeccably groomed, perfect makeup and outfit coordinated with nary a wrinkle or a run in her hose if she's wearing them.
If she's going to church, you'll see a slamming hat added to the ensemble for good measure. Don't let it be Easter or Woman's Day at the church, because the 'Hat Wars' will be fierce.
Another element making up the sophisticated lady is spirituality. She has an unshakable belief in a higher power, is tuned in to her spiritual side and takes 'me time' out of her day to recharge her spiritual batteries for a moment of quiet contemplation and reflection time.
The sophisticated lady also recognizes that beauty and a curvaceous body is fleeting. While she appreciates being blessed with it because Black women do have curves, she also knows that beauty is also internal as well and radiates out, not the other way around.
The sophisticated lady also takes time to develop her mind as well. Beautiful body means nothing if you can't coherently articulate your thoughts, do so using faulty or nonexistent logic, or the first thing out of your mouth about a complex issue is "I don't know". Let's be real for a minute, when a guy is looking for a woman to be the mother of his kids, intelligence is definitely high on his list.
But it ain't about the fellas, it's about us. Being intelligent is also important when one of the first things uttered by our many detractors is that we are less intelligent than they are. We know that's a fallacy, so let's enjoy blowing that one away at every opportunity.
Then there is the class factor. The sophisticated lady seems to combine all of these elements into one impressive package and can glide into a room making an entrance without being loud and brassy. She's the person whose feminine charms and demeanor can get someone's romantic attention without dressing like the next hoochier-than-thou centerfold in a men's magazine.
To me, it's all part of being the total package when it comes to projecting the type of woman you wish to be.
I and my transsisters not only want to be quality Black women, we wish to do so in a way that honors this heritage of class and sophistication that we observed from the outside looking in and marvelled at.
So many times as Black women our beauty, grace and intelligence was ignored or downgraded by the dominant society, and now we get the chance to show our flava in in all its glory in all segments of society.
And its going to be cool watching a sistah First Lady demonstrate for the world what being a sophisticated lady is all about.
If you are a music lover like I am, take a moment today to bow in the direction of Detroit before it's over.
Today was the day 50 years ago that Berry Gordy received an $800 loan that he used to found Motown Records.
The 'Sound of Young America' eventually became a music juggernaut that swept the country. Music fans of all races danced to its infectious beat and Motown was the label that signed and launched the musical careers of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mary Wells, and later Rick James, Johnny Gill and Teena Marie.
The 'Hitsville USA' moniker that was on the outside of Motown headquarters was prophetic. An astounding 75% of the songs released under its label made the Billboard and other national Top 40 lists.
Shoot, is it any wonder with the talent assembled there? Don't even get me started talking about the producing team of Holland, Dozier, Holland or the 'Funk Brothers' or the marvelous musicians that backed up the vocal talents of that Motown stable of talent.
Motown has long since left Detroit and after spending time headquartered in LA, moved to New York. It eventually became the largest Black owned entertainment company in the US before it was eventually sold to MCA.
But during that time it built a proud, pioneering legacy. It has even left its mark on Detroit politics with Martha Reeves currently serving as a Detroit city councilmember.
Motown is not only credited with paving the way for integration to happen in some cases, it radically altered the perceptions of African-American artists, how they are marketed and left an indelible mark not only on our culture, but American music forever.
One of the beauties of surfing the Net is that from time to time, you'll stumble across a nugget of history or some photo that you weren't even aware existed.
I've mentioned that JET, EBONY and the now defunct HUE magazines when they first started back in the day served as historical chroniclers of the Black experience in America. Google just negotiated a deal in which they will be digitizing pre-1960's EBONY and JET magazines so that you can access their content on the Net.
One of the things I discovered to my delight is that in order to fulfill their mission of documenting the Black experience, EBONY and JET also covered events and discussed Black GLBT issues.
In addition to asking pointed questions about the Black GLBT experience, they also covered the New York and Chicago drag balls as well.
The other night while searching through Flickr and other places for photos of African-American transwomen for future posts, I stumbled across some African-American transgender history.
Most of it is the coverage of Chicago's Finnies Ball and the New York ones. I chuckled when I saw the HUE article that asks if you can tell the difference between female illusionists and genetic women.
I also noted the incorrect pronouns and the 'her' in quotation marks used in some of the articles.
While it was atrocious in the 50's, I noted that by the 70's, JET was doing a better job of discussing transgender issues with accuracy and sensitivity two decades before the AP Stylebook guidelines even were published.
But unfortunately some of the attitudes reflected in those articles are still expressed by some of my people.
Some of my peeps think that me and my fellow transpeople aren't serious about this path we're taking, or think it's a joke.
It's serious business. Why would anyone subject themselves to the amount of ridicule, physical violence and abuse if they weren't serious about this?
The other fallacy that keeps popping up is that Black transgender people are a new phenomenon. These articles dating back to the early 50's and the history of the Harlem Renaissance say otherwise.
Equatorial Guinea is probably still celebrating the championship they won in the Africa Women's Cup soccer tournament two months ago and the Nigerians are still hatin'.
Instead of admitting that the five time defending champion Super Falcons played piss poor soccer in that tournament and were lucky to finish third in it, they found every excuse to try to explain away their loss, including filing protests accusing the Equatorial Guinea team of playing 'men', especially before their 1-0 tournament semifinal loss.
The protests were eventually dismissed by the CAF, the governing body of African soccer, but probably because the 2010 tournament will be a qualifier for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, they will institute gender testing for that tournament.
However, there are problems with that approach. There's the 'where do you classify intersex people quandary? FIFA considers you female if you're menstruating, even if you have ambiguous genitalia. The IOC dropped gender testing in 1999 because it was embarrassingly inconsistent but Olympic and IAAF rules allow for gender tests if an athlete's gender is challenged by another athlete or team, or event officials.
The most famous case was Polish sprinter Ewa Klobukowska, who failed one during the 1964 Tokyo Games but gave birth to a healthy baby four years later.
Then there's the humiliation and potential psychological damage that a positive test could cause. After India's Santhi Soundararajan was stripped of a silver medal after a failed test in the 2006 Asian Games, she attempted suicide.
During the whole tournament the whining from Nigerian and Cameroon that Equatorial Guinea was playing with 'men' was insulting and deafening. Y'all just mad that they stepped up their game for this tournament and y'all didn't. Equatorial Guinea's captain Anona Genevova scored more goals in the entire tournament than the Super Falcons did as a team.
Nigeria and Cameroon, you lost, get over it. It would be deliciously ironic if the gender testing that you demanded be initiated by the CAF catches a few Cameroonian players and some Super Falcons instead.
Thank you to all the people who are showing me, and continue to do so love in the voting for Best GLBT Blog in the 2008 edition of the Weblog Awards.
Yeah, Towleroad is running away with this, but to be a finalist in this competition is a major achievement. It will not change my focus in continuing to create a quality blog for people to peruse and talk about issues in the transgender and GLB community from an Afrocentric viewpoint.
Lord knows it's needed now more than ever.
It's also needed for our sakes. To let transwomen of color know that you can aim your dreams much higher. That you have a history and people to be proud of and that there are biosisters that don't hate you, but wish to embrace you.
After dancing the night away and party hopping at ten star studded balls in celebration of a historic inauguration, accepting the congratulations of other world leaders on his historic ascension to the presidency, and having 2 million people on the mall to witness it, it's time for President Obama to get to work.
