Moni's Thoughts About The EQTX Gala

I'm back in Casa de Monica after traveling a grand total of 3315 miles by air and bus from IAH to San Francisco, the SFO to Austin nonstop 'Nerd Bird' and back home to Houston from the ATX on the 'Bougie Bus.

Y'all might have heard I was blessed to receive another award, this time courtesy of Equality Texas, the Transgender Activist Award.

Hopefully EQTX will name that award for some pioneering trans Texan in the future.

Yes it was quite special to receive it on the same night as the Texas LGBT legislative caucus founders were honored along with my feisty Emmy Award winning niece Kai Shappley and her mom Kimberly Shappley     Kai and Kimberly received the Glen Maxey Activism Award

Reps Mary Gonzalez (D-El Paso), Jessica Gonzalez (D-Dallas), Julie Johnson (D-Carrollton), Celia Israel (D-Austin) and Erin Zweiner (D-Driftwood) were honored with EQTX's LGBTQ Leadership Award

Rep Sarah Davis (R-Houston) was given the EQTX Profile In Courage Award  while the Legacy Awards went to retiring state senator Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso) and Rep Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) 

Got a little pissed when they mentioned  Rep Thompson and the state James Byrd Hate Crimes Bill that I have been pushing since 1999 to include trans Texas people . 

My first state lobby day trip to Austin twenty years ago was for trans inclusion in the state's James Byrd Hate Crimes Bill, and I'm still pissed about how we got cut out of it twice. 

It was a fact I made clear to the assembled audience during my acceptance speech, and after the awards ceremony was over, one of the EQTX board members came to me afterward and apologized for that decision he helped to make back then that cut Texas trans folks out of that much needed bill.

That moment aside, I did enjoy meeting the new EQTX CEO Ricardo Rodriguez, seeing the EQTX team again, my ATX fam,  Dallas Councilman Omar Narvaez and all the wonderful conversations I had that night.

I must do another trip to Austin before the 2021 session jumps off.

.

Never Demetria

The late Maya Angelou once said that when somebody shows you who they are the first time, believe them.   One of the candidates in the 2019 Houston mayoral race has a long ugly history of showing us exactly who she is as an unrepentant transphobe and a homophobe.

That would be Demetria Smith.     And Moni has receipts.

Yep, the same Demetria Smith who has run for since 2013 a District D city council seat, Texas governor in 2018 and now twice for mayor in 2015 and this year.

The same Demetria Smith who is anti-HERO and still futilely trying to gaslight you into believing she isn't.

The same Demetria Smith that threw a hissy fit at a January 2018 Houston GLBT caucus meeting when her time ran out to speak at that meeting, then took to her social media in the wake of that public meltdown to falsely claim "the GLBT's are trying to silence me."

The same Demetria Smith that can't spell her own name right on her own campaign material.

She is the same Demetria Smith whose $3,750 filing fee check for the governor's race bounced, leading the Texas Secretary of State to declare her ineligible to run for the governor's office. 

It's not like she would have gotten any support had she been able to stay on the ballot in that Blue tsunami wave election year.   She got less than 1% of the vote the last time she ran for mayor in 2015, and is well on her way thanks to her unrepentant homophobia and transphobia to failing spectacularly again.

Oh yeah, almost forgot.  Don't you still owe the state of Texas $22,000 in delinquent filing fees?

The last few days have found Smith on social media once again letting her anti-gay and anti-trans flags fly.  She has attacked At Large 5 city council candidate Ashton P. Woods, Kandice Webber, Eric Edward Schell, Nick Arvizu-Hutchinson  and an increasingly lengthy list of other peeps in the Houston TBLGQ community tired of her bull feces and calling her on it.

It's reading time    But let me hydrate first.

(Moni cracks knuckles)

I am personally tired of your ignorant mentally constipated transphobic behind pushing the bathroom predator myth as your weak as well water excuse to hate on HERO.   And yes Demetria, you ARE a transphobe and homophobe who is unfit to hold any public elective office in Houston, Harris County or the state of Texas.

You don't like people calling you out about being a homophobe and transphobe?   Then stop saying homophobic and transphobic crap.   It's that breathtakingly simple.

But tragically, you can't help yourself, and I'm not expecting that miracle to happen.

News flash for you Miss Thang.   It ain't the trans folks you need to worry about.  It's Baptist preachers, deacons, Catholic priests, Republican politicians and creepy uncles.

It's also pissing me off you're flapping those loud and wrong gums about 'predators' when we have predators who have declared open season on Black trans women.   Where's your concern about that? 
Don't their lives mater?

These are dangerous times in America, and we need intelligent leaders at all levels of government who stand up for everyone, not just heterosexuals.   If my rights as a trans Houstonian aren't secure, nobody's are.

HERO 2.0 without public accommodations language or coverage for trans people is a non starter.

Your beliefs as you call them are not grounded in anything but sheer ignorance, and as an award winning blogger and journalist, my job is to speak truth to power, call crap out and stamp out ignorance inside and outside my community.

You are batting .1000 when it comes to spreading that ignorance. 

And let me get something straight with your reprehensible behind..  Gaybaiting is not a good look on you sweetheart.  Neither is willful ignorance or transphobia, and it's time for a makeover and a trip to the library.

It's also quite obvious that you desperately need education about LGBTQ issues but are unwilling to learn.   You also keep doubling and tripling down on your homophobia and transphobia and posting it on social media for the world to peruse as if that is something to be proud of. 

That's why you continue to fail whenever you run for office.   This 2019 election cycle will be another one in which you fail to learn from past mistakes, and you will get less than 1% of the vote in this upcoming election.

You have made it quite clear since 2013 that you are NOT that person we need at City Hall, and it's why I and an increasing majority of Houstonians are on Team #NeverDemetria

Moni's Back In Austin Again!

While BTAC 2019 concluded yesterday, still couldn't go home just yet.   I hopped a Megabus from Dallas down I-35 to come to Austin for the fifth time this session.

An opportunity presented itself to go on legislative offense for a change when I was notified that HB 1513 was scheduled for a hearing in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee today.

HB 1513 would add gender identity and expression to the Texas James Byrd Hate Crimes Law, and it is something that is long overdue.

It's authored by Rep Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) with Reps Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas), Jessica Gonzalez (D-Dallas) and Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City)  signing on as co-authors

I came to the ATX after BTAC ended because there's a 9 AM CDT press conference being held by Rep Coleman that I'm speaking at this morning.    I'll also be signing up to testify in favor of the bill when it has its scheduled hearing at 2 PM in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

The committee is chaired by Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Ft Worth) with her Vice Chair being Rep Bill Zedler (R-Arlington)

The members of House Jurisprudence are Reps Keith Bell (R-Forney), Jessica Gonzalez (D-Dallas), Todd Hunter (R-Corpus Christi), Phil King (R-Weatherford), Joe Moody (D-El Paso), Andrew Murr (R-Junction), and Rep. Leo Pacheco  (D-San Antonio)   

You may wish to call their offices and politely ask them to vote in favor of HB 1513.    I'll do my best to make the case when the hearing starts at 2 PM CDT in room E2.112 why they should do so.

That hearing will be broadcast, and you can check it out on the Texas House legislative website. 

Moni's TENT Trans Lobby Day Speech

This is the full text of the TENT Trans Lobby Day speech I gave on the north steps of the state capitol building earlier this morning,

***

To Emmett Schelling and the TENT leadership team,  the Texas NASW leadership team, my fellow trans Texans, you Mama and Papa Bears,you citizen lobbyists, friends and allies in attendance.

It is a tremendous honor, blessing and privilege to be standing before you today as we prepare to head into the Pink Dome and lobby our state legislators and senators for our human rights. And since I am the TransGriot. I needed to take a moment to drop your trans history on you before we send you on your way to lobby your state reps and state senators.  

Our job today, citizen lobbyists is very simple. It is to advocate for just laws to get enacted and do our best to ensure that unjust laws don’t pass this session.

So what is a just law versus an unjust law?   As the Rev Dr Martin Luther King so eloquently put it in his 1963 ‘Letter From Birmingham City Jail’, ‘Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Translation:  if you’re trying to pass laws that denigrate marginalized communities and people you don’t like, it is an unjust law.   If you’re trying to pass laws that uplift people, they are just laws.

I had fun reminding Sen. Lois Kolkhorst and Lt Governor Dan Patrick of that point two years ago. I will continue to drive that point home to any legislator who believes their dry as dust religion gives them the right to oppress and discriminate against people they don’t like..

I’m happily here in the ATX with you a mere 26 days before my 25th transition anniversary on April 4.  I’m also here exactly 20 years to the day I made my first trip to Austin to participate in a trans specific lobby day.   

I’m also doing so with a heavy heart.   Sarah DePalma, one of our trans elders who was the former executive director of TENT’s progenitor organization TGAIN, the Texas Gender Advocacy Information Network, passed away a few weeks ago at age 67   Her memorial service is today. .

She not only was TGAIN’s executive director, she also headed an early national trans rights organization called It’s Time America   She was proudly standing up for our human rights in the late 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s, and walked these Capitol building halls multiple times.

Sarah was also along with Phyllis Frye one of my activist mentors.   She was standing up for trans rights before I transitioned in 1994. She was a co host on KPFT-FM’s ‘After Hours’ show

As TGAIN’s executive director, DePalma also organized trans lobby days over multiple Texas legislative sessions.   She fought for trans inclusion in lesbian and gay orgs resisting it until Parkinson’s Disease started affecting her in 2005.

We in Texas and the nation are indebted to our transcestor for being a fierce warrior for our community.

DePalma wrote in a 1994 letter a comment that was published by the This Week In Texas LGBTQ magazine that I’m going to remix here  “Transgender people and drag queens cannot be hidden without our cooperation, and we refuse to hide. Get used to it, Texas.”

May we please take time to honor Sarah DePalma by having a moment of silence in her memory? Thank you

It’s roll call time!  What part of the Lone Star State are you peeps from?.  Dallas-Fort Worth-North Texas, where y’all at? East Texas?   The Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange Golden Triangle? The Rio Grande Valley?  West Texas? The Panhandle? San Antonio? Austin? Central Texas? Houston, are y’all in the house?

Raise your hands if this is the first time you have participated in a trans lobby day or a lobby day of any kind.  

Whether this is your first time or you’re a veteran of these events like me, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to let your legislators know that your human rights are precious to you.

There are nearly one million of us TBLGQ Texans in the Lone Star State.   If all of the estimated 930,000 of us were living in our own fabulous rainbow flavored city, we would be the fifth largest city by population in Texas.  It would also be a city that had non discrimination protections for its citizens, something that the unjust SB 15 wants to take away.

And note to all you politicians within and beyond the sound of my voice.   We LGBTQ Texans vote in EVERY election cycle..

As I mentioned, I first ventured to Austin for a trans lobby day in 1999.   The political landscape was different at that time. George W Bush was our governor.   The Texas House had a six seat Democratic edge, and a one seat Republican one in the Texas Senate.

We had a modest goal of getting included in the James Byrd Hate Crimes bill and getting a TGAIN sponsored name change bill passed that would take the name change process out of the Texas court system and make it an administrative process.

While we weren’t successful in doing so in 1999, what we did accomplish was visiting all 150 house offices and all 31 Texas senators despite having about 20 people to do so who were predominately from Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.

Today that torch on the name change legislation has been picked up by Reps Jon Rosenthal with HB 1835, HB 2089 by Rep. Garnet Coleman, and Sen. Jose Rodriguez with SB 154.

We’re also still trying to get included in the Byrd Hate Crime bill, and Rep Coleman has sponsored HB 1513 to make that happen    

One of the things we didn’t have 20 years ago that we do now is the support of many organizations like the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, PFLAG, Equality Texas, and HRC,

Texas based organizations now exist that advocate for the issues of trans people of color like the Dallas based Black Trans Advocacy Coalition founded by Carter Brown, and the Houston based Organization Latina de Trans in Texas founded by Ana Andrea Molina   

We also have fighting alongside of us the parents of transgender kids that we lovingly call Mama and Papa Bears.   They have been invaluable, along with our trans kids themselves, in dispelling the myths and stereotypes that crop up about trans people, and even getting legislators through their lobbying efforts to change their minds about unjust legislation and pass    

The trans kids have also been some of our best community ambassadors for spreading the word that trans people exist, and that we are an undeniable part of the diverse mosaic of human life.

And everything we are doing here on March 7, 2019 is to ensure that 20 years from now the Kai Shappleys, Libby Gonzales’ and Zuri’s of our state who are in elementary and middle school don’t have to come here to lobby every session for basic human rights coverage.

I want them to be building upon the trans lobbying work we do in our Capitol today. But since I’m still doing this work 20 years later, I won't be surprised if I'm still blessed to be around in 2039 to witness it that I will probably see them doing so on behalf of our community

Yes, Trans Lobby Day is about our trans and gender non conforming kids and making life better for future generations .  Some of what we elders do here we may never reap the benefits of it. But if it does happen for us trans elders sooner than that, that’s all good as well.  

Texas trans kids, here’s a message to you from your Aunt Moni.  I and your trans elders will fight for you with every fiber of our unapologetic trans beings   You are our future. We will do our utmost to make it a great one for you. So dream big, get those good grades, make friends with people who unconditionally love you, and be better quality people than the bullies who irrationally hate on you.

One of the things we also have going for us now we didn’t have in 1999 was the overwhelming support of the business community.   They said it loud and clear in 2017 and before this session started that they see diversity as a core principle of their businesses, and discrimination hurts their bottom line.  

Target and Victoria’s Secret are excellent examples of what I’m talking about here.   Target just reported their best earnings since 2005 and business is booming for them.  Meanwhile a business that went in the opposite direction in Victoria’s Secret is seeing lackluster sales and is  closing 58 stores.

Bigotry costs you money   As North Carolina proved in the wake of the passage of the unjust and transphobic HB 2, it can also cost you convention and hospitality business and sporting events that bring in millions of dollars to your state's economy. .  

We also have increasing support from progressive pastors who have no problem telling the world we trans people are God’s children despite whatever faux faith based anti-trans hate speech Dave Welch, Jonathan Saenz, Steven Hotze and other Texas right wing hate mongers keep putting out there.

I also must give thanks to the people in the social work, education, media and medical communities who unequivocally support our human rights struggle and fight back against the ignorance and attempts to demonize and dehumanize our community.

In closing I want to salute you citizen lobbyists and give you a few pro tips.   Relax, take a deep breath and don’t be scared to talk to your state senators and state reps.  Yes, they reprepresent you here in Austin and have the power to write legislation, but the bottom line is that they still work for you.

Frankly, your legislators and staffers enjoy talking to a constituent who made the effort to come to Austin from their district far more than they do some paid corporate lobbyist with an expense account who is here in the Pink Dome nearly every day    

Know your bill numbers and the basics of what they do when you talk to staffers and legislators so they can be on the alert for them when that bill hits their committee or the floor  They can also tell you where they are in the legislative process as well in their respective chamber.

Please and thank you works, especially in liberal progressive offices that get a constant barrage of nasty calls from our loud and wrong opposition.   Thank them for doing their demanding jobs and being legislative supporters of our TBLGQ community.

And before you leave Austin, take some time to get to know some of your fellow citizen lobbyists here today.  You may make a lifelong friend before this day is over.

Your authenticity is your strength as a citizen lobbyist.  You have a unique story to tell, so tell as much of that story to your reps and the legislative assistants in their offices as you feel comfortable in doing.  

You don’t have to be perfect.   Just be the beautifully human people I know all of you are.  

Moni's Thoughts On The Friess Op-Ed

Looks like some rainbow vanillacentric privileged nerves got plucked in the aftermath of the incident during the closing NLGJA reception in which Marshall McPeek was called out for a problematic 'things and its' comment while emceeing the event. 

Mary Emily O'Hara wrote an article about the incident, I followed it up with my thoughts about it, and now Steve Friess has written a shady op-ed in the Bay Area Reporter in which he asserted that 'everybody was wrong' , but focused much of his commentary on attacking the trans community and what he derisively called 'Pitchfork-wielding Trans Twitter'.

Gee, how mighty white gay male of him. 

Here was my response I posted in the comment thread to his op-ed.

Steve Friess, 

Referring to human beings as 'things and its' is not a joke to the trans community, and especially the African American one who are taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence aimed at us. 

It is never wrong to immediately call crap out. And FYI, you don't get to tell trans people what we should and shouldn't be offended by or how offended we should be about anti-trans insults.  

I can forgive mistakes. But as a representative of the group taking the brunt of that anti-trans hate violence that starts with comments like that, I am also compelled to immediately call that comment out, because far too often, gay men like yourself have been slinging those anti-trans insults inside community circles and LGBTQ organizations with zero accountability.  

If you have a problem with this NLGJA member calling that problematic comment out at a reception sponsored by a so called 'news' organization that makes their money demonizing Black and trans people on a regular basis, too bad. 

One of the jobs of the media and LGBTQ journalists is to speak truth to power, even within our own circles and organizations, not sweep crap under the rug.

I repeat, it is never wrong to instantly call out problematic commentary.  And as TBLGQ journalists, it is not our job to be stenographers for our community organizations.  When they do something that is worthy of praise we will give them their kudos, and when they frakk up, we will call them on it.

As an African American TBLGQ journalist, I am part of that century plus long tradition Black journalists have of not only speaking truth to power, but activist journalism that moves the ball forward in our ongoing human rights struggle.

The fact that am transgender, I do so as an NLGJA member from a GLAAD award winning decade plus old blog, a monthly column in a regional LGBTQ magazine and have 15K followers on Twitter doesn't diminish the power of my written words or the importance of them, it enhances them.

And you would be wise to listen to what the hell I have to say as an unapologetic Black trans someone who also has 20 years of award winning activist experience.

As journalist Ida B. Wells once said, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." 

That is what has been taking place here.   When we point out stuff that is wrong in our community, in our organizations, or discuss problematic commentary, we are doing so in the spirit of constructive criticism so that the mistake can be corrected.    We are doing so to make organizations better. 

The bottom line is that comment should have never been uttered in an organization dedicated to respectful coverage of the TBLGQ community.   And if people who are part of our community's media organization think it's okay to call trans people 'things and its', what hope do we trans folks have of getting respectful coverage from mainstream media, much less have NLGJA stand up for us when the inevitable misgendering or facts free anti-trans reporting happens?   

We trans journalists are representing our community and our readership, and they demand of us that when necessary, we hold you accountable.

We also need you as organizations representing the TBLGQ community to role model the change we wish to see in this currently screwed up Trump run country. 

Moni's Thoughts About Justice Kennedy's Retirement

US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy alarmed many people yesterday after a string of depressing from my perspective 5-4 decisions to announce that he was retiring from the SCOTUS.

It's bad news because he was the swing vote on many critical issues like affirmative action, a woman right to choose and gay marriage just to name a few.   I didn't forget that he was a conservative appointed by Ronald Reagan, and in this 2017-18 SCOTUS term he swung far too often to the right for my tastes.

That news from the SCOTUS was being heralded with weeping and gnashing of white liberal progressive teeth, but was met with me and others in Black TBLGQ world with a collective shrug.

Bottom line is we, Hillary Clinton  (and especially this blogger) told y'all what would happen if y'all didn't get over your butthurt Bernie fee fees, look at the big political picture, realize the 2016 election was about the SCOTUS and federal judiciary and vote accordingly.

My humanity as an unapologetic Black trans person was on the ballot, so you damned skippy I was with her.

And many of you failed to do so in enough numbers, especially in several critical swing states for Trump to shockingly win.

So what do we do now?   Exhale, and prepare to fight tooth and nail to mitigate this disaster by firing everything with an 'R' behind their name on the ballot in November.

This is not a surprise to me because Kennedy is 81 years old.   As I have been pointing out since 2012 there were a potential four SCOTUS nominations that would potentially come open either in Barack Obama's second term of the term of the 45th president. 

So while some peeps are trying to rehash the 2016 election, the bottom line is that 2016 election ship has sailed.   As usual I and every Black person in America, despite us trying to warn you white liberal progressives of the danger of a Trump presidency, unfortunately still have to deal with the fallout from liberal progressive lack of political vision and massive failure to pay attention to the big political picture.

What's that big political picture?  Every election matters.  The federal judiciary matters, especially to marginalized and non white Americans.   Control of Congress and the White House matters.

Trust Black women 

Seeing the big political picture means that some of y'all on the left need to stop hating on the Democrats and realizing that they are the only political party big enough and in the position to stop the slide toward authoritarianism.

Translation:  That means your puny third parties aren't big enough or organized enough to take on the massive job of stopping this country's slide toward conservative authoritarianism.  It also means your azzes are going to have to do what George Will and others have asked you to do and vote for Democrats up and down the ballot this November.

I don't want to hear jack about the Democrats didn't do this or that, left wing ideological purity or 'I voted my conscience'.   The only people that have a credible claim toward voting their conscience are the 65, 843,063 Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton to become the 45th POTUS.   

Focus.  Everything and every policy we value as liberal progressive is in danger of political extinction.   It's past time you far left peeps fight the Republicans who are the major cause of the political drama you hate as hard as you do the Democrats.

Black and other POC Americans have been in fighting mode because we have to be.  Would be nice for the rest of y'all to get in formation and join us in firing the GOP this November at the ballot box and in every election cycle for the next 20 years.

Because your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews are counting on you to do so.

   

BTAC Forever!

I'm now back on my end of I-45 after spending the past empowering week in Dallas at the 7th annual National Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

And it seems like the fact of BTAC's unapologetically Black trans self existing bothers some of you  white trans peeps.  Too bad. 

BTAC is a FUBU production in which everyone is welcome to attend, but you must bear in mind if you aren't Black, when you step into our trans Wakanda it is one of the few conferences in Trans and GNC World that is grounded in unapologetic Blackness. 

I'm hearing some bull feces laden chatter from assorted bitter white trans peeps that BTAC is 'racist'.

Um no boo boo kitty, let Moni school you are something.  Racism equals bigotry and prejudice plus systemic power and majority population numbers used by a majority group to retard, roll back or eviscerate the human rights progress of a minority group.

And don't even step to me with that weak azz Webster's Dictionary definition of racism or you will get your wig snacthed.

Back to talking about BTAC. 

Black trans and GNC peeps being at a conference in they meet others like them and unapologetically celebrates our heritage them isn't 'racist'.   You need to stop sniffing that vanillacentric privilege and talking out the side of your neck about an event you probably haven't been to.

And for those of you who doubt what I'm saying, you can come see for yourself when we gather in Dallas again April 22-28 for BTAC 2019. 

BTAC wouldn't have been a needed and necessary response to the ongoing marginalization of Black trans and gender non conforming people inside and outside the TBLGQ world if a long list of white led trans and SGL 'equality' organizations like GenderPac, NCTE, HRC, TENT, and Equality Texas had been doing their job of properly advocating for Black trans people.

More importantly, when they advocate for Black trans people, they hire us to do the advocacy work for and in our community  Since you equality orgs are belatedly coming to the realization that Black trans people exist and aren't going away, BTAC will.

This BTAC event was founded and built by Black trans men, who get even less credit for the yeoman's work they have done to build our trans movement, and that crap needs to stop

For seven years BTAC has handled its business and been a healing place for the Black trans and GNC community. It also been a place where we network, learn and do so in an unapologetic Afrocentric environment that welcomes all who wish to come.

It is needed, life saving and necessary in a world hostile to Black trans and GNC bodies.  Even more galling to us, that anti-Black trans hostility also comes from white trans peeps as well

BTAC is also a place where we can meet others who look like us, their supportive spouses and accomplices who unequivocally support Black trans people in Texas and beyond

It is also a place when we can sit down, interact with and listen to the wisdom of our trans elders. 

For a week we get to live in a Black Trans Wakanda in which we talk about community issues and come up with solutions to those problems.  It is a place where we get to build friendships, are affirmed, loved on and in many cases get to heal from the micro and microaggressive crap that is hurled at us the rest of the year by an increasingly hostile to trans folks outside world until it is time for us to head to our various locales to live our lives.

This year BTAC 2018 had three seminar tracks for trans women, trans men and our anchors, AKA the spouses and allies.   We're planning to add tracks for gender non conforming peeps since we had some show up this year in numbers and they expressed their desire for that t happen. 

We're  planning to have tracks for our trans and GNC elders above age 55 that we call the Golden Flames because we value their wisdom, respect and love them, and realize they have much to teach us in terms of their lived experiences and our history.

We hope that one day as this BTAC conference continues to grow we will have enough parents of Black trans kids and Black trans kids in attendance so that we can programming for them as well   . 
 

At BTAC we get to hear our names called for awards named for distinguished leaders in our community and celebrated at a Friday gala, not a TDOR that was hosted by Dezjorn Gauthier and Jessica Zyrie . 

We show off our talents at Trans Manifest Live early in the conference week.   Our pageant peeps get to compete for the Mr. and MIss Black Trans International titles in which they know before even stepping on that stage that when they win that title, they will expected to be advocates during their reign for our community

And we cap it all off with the Family Day, Black Diamond Ball, and the closing interfaith ceremony led by our elders on Sunday.

BTAC is needed and necessary, and it needs to be supported.   It would be nice if we got to see our Black legacy civil rights orgs like the NAACP step up as sponsors for our conference or the gala. 

It would be wonderful for our BTAC attendees to see our Black trans superstars in the house someday.

But until then, this Dallas, Texas based conference will continue to chug along and serve our community.   If you wanna hate on that, that's on you.

I and the rest of my BTAC fam here and increasingly around the world will smile, mark off our calendars to the last full week of April and return here to Black Trans Wakanda. 

BTAC Forever! 

Photo credits: Rebecca Jackson 

My Thoughts On The Houston GLBT Caucus-Baptist Ministers Assn. Initiative

People are weighing in on the what WAS a quiet effort to talk to the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston and Vicinity and the GLBT Caucus.

As one of the people considered a major unapologetically Black trans leader in the Houston, Texas and national TBLGQ community, I have also been asked my thoughts about this from multiple people including political candidates, members of the Caucus, and other thought leaders.

So here's what I have to say about it

You know from perusing this blog that I not only have been a vocal critic of the Baptist Ministers Assn, I was not in 2014-15 happy with them colluding with the Harris County GOP and our longtime assorted haters in Dave Welch, Dave Wilson and Steven Hotze.

And Moni STILL isn't happy with them and the rampant miseducation about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance they helped grease the skids for that was critical in how it was framed and why it was rejected in the Houston Black community . 

But I also have been just as critical about the piss poor effort of Houston Unites and their Prop 8 2.0 campaign that spectacularly failed to educate about and defend the much needed ordinance in my community in large part because of the failure to listen to Houston Black TBLGQ leaders.

In order for us to pass and successfully defend a HERO 2.0 ordinance, you not only need to listen to Houston Black TBLGQ leaders, we are going to have to deal with the Baptist Ministers Assn and also the just as odious to me COGIC PAC. 

I also have some ideas about what else needs to happen, but it's going to cost you to hear what they are.  Y'all in the market for hiring experienced Black trans leaders, equality orgs?  It's kinda obvious we're needed and necessary to advance equity in this human rights movement, and not just equality.

We cannot allow Houston Black voters to ever again be hoodwinked and bamboozled into voting against a local human rights law that protects them in the Bayou City.   Neither can we tolerate sellout Black folks who collude with the Harris County and Texas Republican Party and white fundamentalists to make that miseducation happen.

It is past time for a 'Come to Jesus' Houston Black community meeting with those groups.  This is a family conversation that Houston Black trans, bi and SGL leaders need to facilitate because we need to and KNOW HOW to talk to our people. 

And as a member of Black Lives Matter HOU, I'm confident that we can successfully along with POC Caucus leaders and other Houston Black community leaders have that conversation.  Both groups are coming to the table with the common points of our Blackness and being sick of the narrative we are 'more homophobic and transphobic' than the white folks who draw high five figure paychecks working in anti-TBLGQ orgs , the white fundies ministers that get their jollies hating us, and support a Republican Party dedicated to oppressing us. 

Just before the January 2018 Caucus meeting, Mike Webb pulled me aside and asked if they could talk to me about an initiative that was being worked on.  I now know because of the drama this was the initiative they were talking about. 

I'm also not happy about the conclusion jumps being made in the article that the trans community is 'being thrown under the bus' and that Houston Black SGL leaders expressing their opinions about this situation informed by their Blackness and political knowledge of our Houston Black community and the players in it is 'cisplaining'.

Really?   Don't even insult my intelligence with that BS. 

This initiative is a Houston Black family conversation that once again, we need to and must have.  That means Houston white TBLGQ community, y'all are going to have to sit on the sidelines for this one until if and when we call for you.

It is an initiative that I definitely agree needs to have Houston Black trans representation at the table since we were the people attacked by the inflammatory anti-trans rhetoric.  Because of that anti-trans hate speech, Black trans people have undeniably taken the brunt of the anti-trans violence uptick that resulted from that 2015 campaign, the GOP efforts to pass anti- trans 'bathroom bills'  and the anti-trans rhetoric surrounding the failed dual attempts to pass SB 6.

So would I talk to a group that as you know I'm seriously pissed off at?  I sure would.   I definitely wouldn't mind talking to Max Miller, FN Williams and whoever else is leading the Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity as long as that apology to the trans community happens

The ministers need to know from a living breathing Houston Black trans person we not only exist, that their collusion with our longtime enemies was hurtful to Houston's trans community.

The Black ministerial collusion was harmful specifically to the Houston Black trans contingent of it, and the Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity need to as a starting point publicly apologize to us for their reprehensible actions to the Houston Black trans community.

And the Houston Black TBLGQ community will have a major say in how and what that looks like.

Wesley Muhammad Bringing His Hate Speech To Houston

"This man and this event is an assault on Black manhood! Cancel this event. Hate is not welcome in Houston."
-Ashton P. Woods

No this ignorant fool isn't coming to my Houston backyard to peddle his divisive bullshyt

After not learning his lesson in a city he couldn't even spell  and having to move the event to a Wilmington, DE Nation of Islam Muhammad mosque in that city once the Philly community got wind of it, 'Dr' Wesley Muhammad is bringing his special brand of transphobic hate speech to the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center on November 17 and 18.

Not only is Muhammad trying to peddle his TBLGQ hate speech here in H-town, he's charging people $25-$35 to walk through the doors of the S.H.A.P.E. Center  to hear it.

Naw Wesley, changing the title of it from 'How To Make A Homosexual; The Scientific Assault On Black America' to 'Chemical Feminization and the Assault on Black Manhood' isn't going to stop my Black trans azz from bringing the wrath of Moni and the rest of progressive Houston upon you.

You thought they were rough on you in Philadelphia?  You ain't seen nothing yet. 

What's even more odious is this hate event is happening during the week we memorialize 21 murdered trans people during the Transgender Day of Remembrance  on November 20, of which 17 of those murder trans people are African American. (16 Black trans women, one Black trans man)

No hate in my Houston backyard!.  Unless it gets canceled, my Black  trans azz  is planning to be there at 3903 Almeda Road to protest it.

So tell me S.H.A.P.E.Community Center  and Deloyd Parker.   How does hosting this Wesley Muhammad hate event fit in with your mission statement? 

Just a reminder of what it says:

'To improve the quality of life for people of African descent  (all people) through programs and activities with an emphasis on Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith'

It doesn't. In fact it will be counterproductive to that mission statement. 

So how about doing the city of Houston and the Black community a favor not allowing this hate speech laden event and Wesley Muhammad to darken the doors of the S.H.A.P.E. Community Center period?