Transcending MLK’S Dream

Local activist Tracee McDaniel speaks her truth in an attempt to spark change

By Ryan Lee
Friday, February 09, 2007
From the Southern Voice

MOMENTS BEFORE TRACEE MCDANIEL prepared to approach the podium outside The King Center on what would have been the revered civil rights leader’s 78th birthday, she began to second-guess the speech she was about to give.

She wondered if the hundreds of people who gathered in the Sweet Auburn district to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. last month were ready to hear a new message about tolerance, about expanding King’s dreams of equality. For a minute, she questioned if she was ready to be the one who delivered it, or if it might be better for her to at least tone down her words.

“I finally just decided, it’s too late to be changing the speech now,” says McDaniel, who is the first transgender individual to speak at the rally that concludes Atlanta’s annual MLK march. “I thought the message needs to be expressed, and I was just so happy and excited that I was the one who was asked to do so.”

McDaniel received a call from organizers of the MLK march about 10 days before the event inviting her to speak, and ironically was in the middle of studying about MLK and Coretta Scott King for a public speaking and communications course at Georgia Perimeter College.

“I had been doing research and I read about their inclusiveness of the TLGBQ community as a whole, to make sure everyone is represented when it comes to equal rights,” McDaniel says, adding that she was somewhat nervous addressing the mostly black crowd.

“I would say it’s more challenging to build bridges with the African-American community basically because of what we’ve been taught and conditioned to believe over the years,” McDaniel says. “I just relied on the fact that Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King included openly gay members in the civil rights movement.

“It was one of the most important speeches of my life,” she adds.

That legacy of inclusion is part of what motivates organizers of Atlanta’s MLK march to permit all of its partner organizations — including In The Life Atlanta, a black gay group — to select a speaker to participate in the post-march rally, said Rev. James Orange, who organizes the march on behalf of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

“We always have gays and lesbians participating in our rally because it’s their right to be there, too,” Orange says. “We’ve always tried to allow each of [the partner organizations] exposure.”

ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, MCDANIEL would’ve had a difficult time imagining herself talking with anyone about being transgender, let alone giving a speech in the shadow of The King Center. She moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta in 2003, around the time she was considering ending the silence in which she lived for more than 15 years.

“I was in the closet because I was fortunate enough to be one of the ones who could pass,” says McDaniel, who recently turned 40 and has been living as a woman since her late teens. “It was easier that way, just to blend in.”

McDaniel recognizes parallels between her experience and light-skinned blacks who avoided discrimination by passing as white, and says she realized it was time for transgender individuals to begin making more noise in order to be treated fairly by mainstream and gay society.

“I feel like we’ve been placed last on the list of everything,” says McDaniel, who has immersed herself in community activism since arriving in Atlanta. She is the transgender liaison for the Atlanta Human Rights Campaign’s diversity committee, serves on the Atlanta Police Department’s GLBT advisory group and is an associate board member for the Atlanta Pride Committee.

Last year she founded the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, a transgender non-profit agency.

“I had to be comfortable expressing who I am and not apologize for who I am or being born transgender,” McDaniel says of how her activism sparked changes in her own life.

The nascent Juxtaposed Center for Transformation is creating an infrastructure that McDaniel hopes will make it a safe place for transgender individuals to receive group support, legal advice, counseling and referrals. She also expects the organization to chronicle transgender history, including the key role of transgender people in the Stonewall Riots.

MCDANIEL CONSIDERED HERSELF female for as long as she can remember, and her feelings were well known throughout her family, albeit never discussed. Throughout McDaniel’s childhood her mother made her read Bible verses condemning homosexuality, filling McDaniel with anticipation of leaving Sumter, S.C., when she turned 18.

Upon striking out on her own McDaniel stepped inside a Myrtle Beach mall that forever changed her life.

“I was walking through J.C. Penney and instead of walking to the male’s department I went to the female section where I’ve been shopping ever since,” she says. “I went home for [a grandmother’s] funeral and I did not change my dress or make-up, and my mother and I were having a conversation.

“I remember telling her the family was going to talk about the way I presented myself,” McDaniel remembers. “She told me if anyone had anything to say, they better keep it to themselves.”

Despite their earlier struggles, McDaniel says her mother eventually told her she loves her because she is her child, not because of her gender.

“Now my mother calls me her daughter when she’s introducing me to new people back home,” McDaniel says.

Hardaway Hates Gays-So Do Some Other Black Peeps

Tim Hardaway's anti-gay comments made me recall a conversation I had with my father when I was a teen. He stated that he had more respect for the Klan than he did for some of the Black community's so-called friends.

When I asked him to clarify that, he pointed out that a Klansman's hatred for Black people is well known and out in the open. With the people that profess to be our friends, they can eat dinner with you and still hate you with the intensity of a Klansman. His thought was that he'd rather know who his enemy was upfront so the appropriate response to deal with him could be formulated.

That conversation resurfaced in my mind as I listened to the replay of Tim Hardaway's radio interview. It turned ugly when the interviewer asked questions about retired NBA center John Amaechi's announcement last week that he is gay.

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people," he said while a guest on Sports Talk 790 The Ticket. "I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

When the host asked Hardaway how he would interact with a gay teammate, he said, "First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room."

Incredibly, he went there and indicated that he'd ask for the gay player to be removed from the team.

"Something has to give," Hardaway said. "If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."

John Amaechi, who just released his autobiography Man in the Middle, yesterday said that he hoped his coming out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse.

Unfortunately, it seems that the words 'intelligent discourse' don't enter some peeps minds when it comes to GLBT issues.

When Amaechi was asked by the Miami Herald about Hardaway's comments, "I'm actually tempted to laugh." he said. "Finally, someone who is honest. It is ridiculous, absurd, petty, bigoted and shows a lack of empathy that is gargantuan and unfathomable. But it is honest. And it illustrates the problem better than any of the fuzzy language other people have used so far."

To his credit, Hardaway later apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Miami's WSVN-TV. "Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that," he said. "That was my mistake."

Hardaway has reportedly been removed from any further league-related appearances by NBA commissioner David Stern. "It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," Stern said in a statement to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

If anyone questions the fact that homophobia in the African-American community needs to be confronted, then this should leave no doubts not only as to the extent of the problem but the work we need to do in our community to eradicate it.

There are other Tim Hardaway's out there in our community. Unfortunately some of them stand in pulpits and utter the same rhetoric as he just unleashed except they try to hide their homophobia behind scriptures.

Thanks Tim for letting us know that you're on the same team as the Eddie Long's and Gregory "I'd ride with the KKK" Daniels' of the world.

Valentine's Day Musings

TransGriot Note: photo of the painting 'In The Garden' by Keith Mallett

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Like most people I'm part of that percentage of the population that is single. It's not that I choose to be, I just am.

I'm a bit of a romantic, and that's the toughest part of being single on Valentine's Day. Enduring the endless commercials that are pushing jewelry, candy, flowers, et cetera. The romantic movies that get dusted off and broadcast. Ironically I was up until 2 AM this morning reading a Kayla Perrin romance novel and spent most of yesterday afternoon writing my own.

One of the things that I factored into my decision to go ahead with transition was the fact that I could possibly be spending a lot of Valentine's days alone. But I love myself far too much to allow myself to wallow in the unhappiness that was part of my life prior to transition.

Maybe there is a special person out there for me, maybe not. I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. I know what's it's like to be in love, albeit from the other side of the gender fence. It's one of the hard facts of being transgender that love isn't any easier to find or deal with than some of the other life issues we grapple with. We all realize that it is gonna take someone that is secure and confident in their personality and their own lives to love us. That love is tougher to find when the genitalia between your legs doesn't match up with the rest of your gender presentation.

Then there are the misconceptions that potential suitors have about us. News flash to the peeps that want to step to me or any transwoman. I'm not one of the fellas. I look at life, romance and love through a feminine prism. To get with me will not break your bank account, but a prerequisite is treating me like any other sistah you want romantic attention from. (that means flowers, chocolate and my fave perfume)

Another thing that's a must is that some of the things I like to do require you to take me out during daylight hours. If your ego can't handle being talked about by society for having me on your arm, then don't step to me, period. I want the person I love to be just as proud of being seen and being around me as I am of them. If you can't meet that simple requirement, step.

Finally, I am not a booty call or looking to be the other woman. I do believe in karma. I'm not going to deliberately be the cause of any discourse in a stable relationship. I don't want any relationship I eventually get into vulnerable to the reverse spin of the karmic wheel because I disrespected somebody's relationship or their marriage.

So as you can see I haven't and won't give up on love. I have much respect, admiration and a little twinge of jealousy for those people in the community and beyond who are in stable, satisfying relationships or who have experienced the heady rush of having someone worship the ground they walk on. Maybe that will happen for me one day.

In the meantime, what time is the next showing of Daddy's Little Girls and the closest place I can go to get some chocolate to scarf up?

Angelica's Had It Up To Here (And So Have I)

Yesterday Elizabeth (one of my TransGriot guest colmunists) posted a link from You Tube of a video from Chicago transwoman Angelica Love Ross.

Angelica expressed her frustration with the images out there of African-American transwomen. She made it clear that she wasn't criticizing those people who are involved in the pageant, showgirl and adult entertainment worlds, but implored them to think about life after being in those worlds. She drove home the point that we are capable of doing far more than that. Angelica does shows but has a real estate license and a business she's putting together that she's launching later this summee.

She drew from her Native American heritage and personal example to implore African-American transwomen to look past fleeting beauty and stretch themselves spiritually and emotionally to become better human beings that can make positive contributions to society.

I couldn't agree more.

It's a subject that I and other African-American transwomen have discussed for almost a decade now. Many of us are beyond Fannie Lou Hamer status when it comes to 'being sick and tired of being sick and tired' of negative images. Somewhere along the way we veered away from the classy image of Justina Williams to shemalewhatever.com and I have a theory as to when it started.

My suspicions point to the early 80's. That's when AIDS was ravaging the GLBT community and taking out those people who would have been mentors to my generation of transpeeps. Those who were willing to do so, that is.

Factor in what gender clinics told their patients back in the day about gender transition. They advised them to have SRS, blend in with society and cut any ties to the transgender community. Many did. In the case of some African-American transpeeps they went stealth for employment, personal security reasons or both.

The problem with 'stealth' is that we end up not having any knowledge about successful transwomen like the Lynn Conway's of the world unless they come forward or are outed. That becomes more critical when you are part of a minority community and you look for role models for additional inspiration and strength. One of the factors that held up my transition was because I didn't have multiple examples of college-educated transpeeps who looked like me. I didn't meet any until the late 90's.

There's an old saying that 'nature abhors a vacuum'. The lack of visible role models, the death of many in the 80's due to HIV/AIDS, stealth status of others who could have acted as mentors, lack of a community information and support structure similar to our Caucasian sistets and brothers and lack of media coverage created a vacuum that allowed the 'only thing a Black transperson can do is shows or adult entertainment' myth to flower into existence. That's BS, but until you see out and proud African-American transpeeps that are successful in life and the business world, then that negative perception is one we are going to have to expend a lot of energy counteracting.

That image makeover needs to happen right now. We have some churches in our communities preaching hate sermons against us. Because of ignorance and misperceptions about gender identity in our community we comprise a disproportionate share of the people tragically affected by anti-transgender violence. Some 'ejumacation' is sorely needed in the African-American community about who we are and what we have to offer our people.

That information dissemination also needs to happen amongst our fellow transpeeps. There are other ways to 'get paid' and education is the key to a better life. There are African-American transistahs and transbrothas who not only sucessfully work nine to fives but are helping uplift our race as well.

Kim Coco Iwamoto-The Highest Ranking Elected US TG Official

When  Kim Coco Iwamoto was growing up in Hawaii,  her parents stressed that education was the key to achieving her goals.

 After graduating from high school she subsequently earned her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University and a law degree from the University of New Mexico.

On November 6, 2006 she was elected to Hawaii's State Board of Education. In the process she became the first out transgender person to win a statewide office and has the distinction of being the highest ranking transgender elected official in the U.S.

"I didn't run to get this attention as an individual. I ran to be an advocate for the students," the 38-year-old civil rights lawyer said.

Iwamoto credits the higher values Hawaiian culture places on responsibility to family and community over personal identity for giving her the confidence to seek out success.

Eevn though a number of states, municipalities and major corporations have passed laws and rules banning gender discrimination, it's still a struggle for transgender people just to get a job. While New Zealand (Georgina Beyer) and Italy (Vladimir Luxuria) currently have transgender members of their parliaments, it's a struggle for transgender people in the United States just to get elected into public office.

"For me it's about resilience and having a strong core of self-esteem, which I was very fortunate to have the support and love my parents, my family," she said. "Really, in the face of adversity you have to tap into that place where you feel valued as a member of family and a larger community."

Following her win, Iwamoto's father, Robert Iwamoto, Jr., who heads the well-known Roberts Hawaii tour bus company, issued a statement congratulating his daughter on her successful campaign.

Iwamoto pointed out that Hawaii voters have ushered in a host of electoral firsts in addition to her successful run for statewide office. They include the ratification of the federal Equal Rights Amendment in 1972 and the election of Hiram Fong, the first Asian-American U.S senator shortly after Hawaii gained statehood in 1959.

"This election speaks less of me and much more, I think, of the place and the people of Hawaii — the fact that Hawaii's always been a place of fair-minded, critical thinking voters who vote on the issues and who see people for the substance of their character," Iwamoto said.

She didn't make her gender status a part of her campaign, but she has long been a vocal advocate for the transgender community. She also listed her attendance at an Honolulu all-boy's school, St. Louis High School, and her board membership of Kulia Na Mamo, a local transgender organization, in her campaign materials.

When asked when she knew she was different, Iwamoto replied, "I've only been me."

Iwamoto got involved in local education after becoming a foster parent three years ago. By advocating for her children, two of which are now in college, and other youth, Iwamoto said she found herself testifying before the board on a variety of issues. Board Chairman Randall Yee said he was "very impressed" by Iwamoto's testimony and called her background "excellent."

"She has a legal background. She has a business background — business family. And I just felt that in terms of bringing different individuals with different perspectives on the board, I felt that she would bring a good perspective," he said.

Iwamoto said her personal experience also validates the message for education.

"Whatever the situation, I think if kids grow up with a core sense of self-esteem and feeling like they're a valuable part of their family, of their classroom, of their school, their community and if we teach to their potentials," she said. "I think that's the key to having them be in a position where they can give back to their families and communities."

Congratulations, Kim for making history.

Barack Is In!

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - (AP) Democrat Barack Obama declared himself a candidate Saturday for the White House in 2008, evoking Abraham Lincoln's ability to unite a nation and promising to lead a new generation as the country's first black president.

The first-term senator announced his candidacy from the state capital where he began his elective career just 10 years ago, and in front of the building where in another century, Lincoln served eight years in the Illinois Legislature.

"We can build a more hopeful America," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery. "And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States."

Obama did not mention his family background, his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia or that he would make history if elected president.

Instead, he focused on his life in Illinois over the past two decades, beginning with a job as a community organizer with a $13,000-a-year salary that strengthened his Christian faith.

He said the struggles he saw people face inspired him to get a law degree and run for the Legislature, where he served eight years before becoming a U.S. senator just two years ago.

"I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness, a certain audacity, to this announcement," Obama said. "I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.

"Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done," he said. "Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call."

Obama, 45, gained national recognition with the publication of two best-selling books, "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," and by delivering the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. His optimistic message and his compelling biography immediately sparked talk of his White House potential.

Initially he said he would not run for president. But he said last fall that he was considering it after receiving so much encouragement. He formed a presidential exploratory committee last month.

Despite his thin political resume, Obama is considered New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief rival among many vying for the Democratic nomination.

Obama planned to travel throughout Iowa on Saturday and Sunday before a rally Sunday night in Chicago, where his campaign has its headquarters.

He planned to visit New Hampshire on Monday on the heels of front-runner Clinton, whose first visit to the state as a presidential candidate over the weekend provided some early competition for attention from Obama's announcement.

Thousands of people in their warmest winter wear came out for Obama's campaign kickoff despite temperatures in the teens. The crowd huddled in close for warmth and to squeeze into the closed off streets around the Old State Capitol.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us," said Bethany Scates of Ridgway, Ill., who drove four hours with her family for the announcement.

Brenda and Michael Calkington of Muncie, Ind., said they have never been involved in a political campaign, but both were laid off from jobs with a lighting company and plan to volunteer for Obama.

"He makes you feel like it is possible to change things," Brenda Calkington said.

She seemed to be reading from Obama's songbook.

He spoke of reshaping the economy for the digital age, investing in education, protecting employee benefits, insuring those who do not have health care, ending poverty, weaning America from foreign oil, fighting terrorism while rebuilding global alliances.

"But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq," Obama said. "America, it's time to start bringing our troops home. It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war."

Obama was not yet elected to the U.S. Senate when Congress voted to give Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq, but Obama gave a speech in 2002 opposing the war. He said Saddam Hussein posed no imminent threat to the United States and predicted the invasion would lead to an occupation with undetermined costs and consequences.

Obama has introduced a bill to prevent President Bush from increasing troop levels in Iraq and to remove U.S. combat forces from the country by March 31, 2008 - legislation that has virtually no chance of becoming law while Bush is president.

Obama's address was steeped in American history.

He talked how previous generations have brought change - fighting off colonizers, slavery and the Great Depression, welcoming immigrants, building railroads and landing a man on the moon.

He repeatedly referred to Lincoln and his success in moving a nation. He said it is because of Lincoln that Americans of every race face the challenges of the 21st century together.

"The life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible," Obama said. "He tells us that there is power in words. He tells us that there is power in conviction. That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people. He tells us that there is power in hope."



Associated Press writers Deanna Bellandi and John O'Connor contributed to this report.

It's Black History Month In Canada, Too!

TransGriot Note: photo is of former MP Jean Augustine, who pushed the motion establishing Black History Month in Canada.

Black History Month is not just a uniquely American event anymore, it's an international one. In 1979 the Ontario Black History Society initiated the formal celebration of February as Black History Month within the City of Toronto and the province of Ontario.

The official recognition of Black History Month in Canada is the result of a December 1995 motion introduced by the Honorable Jean Augustine, Member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore and the first Black Canadian woman elected to the Canadian Parliament.

That motion carried unanimously by the House of Commons and the Canadian Parliament resulted in the first official recognition of Black History Month in Canada taking place in February 1996.

Despite a presence in Canada that dates back farther than Samuel de Champlain's first voyage down the St. Lawrence River, as one of my Canadian readers commented to me in another post, people of African descent are largely absent from Canadian history books. There is little mention of the fact that slavery once existed in the territory that is now Canada, or that many of the Loyalists who came here after the American Revolution and settled in the Maritimes were Black.

Few Canadians are aware of the many sacrifices made in wartime by Black Canadian soldiers as far back as the War of 1812. African-Americans are unaware that we do have spiritual, cultural and historical connections with our Canadian cousins. African-Canadians were at the forefront of the anti-slavery movement in the 1800s and were equally involved in human rights struggles in the 1960s and 1970s.

African-Canadians took critical looks at their own society as a result of watching the numerous violent incidents, church bombings and overly violent reactions to non-violent protest directed at the African-American community. Canadian segregation was addressed following the 1946 Viola Desmond incident but the work to change legislation, societal behaviors and practices on both sides of our shared border is ongoing.

Dr. Woodson would probably be pleased to know that the event he started as Negro History Week in 1926 is beginning to take on an international dimension. The people of African descent who live in the United States would benefit from not only remembering and learning about our struggles but expanding our minds to learn about the history and culture of our Canadian friends and African communities throughout the Diaspora.

Viola Desmond-Canada's Rosa Parks

Almost ten years before that fateful December 1, 1955 day that Rosa Parks sat down on a Montgomery, AL bus that was headed home and jump started a movement, Viola Desmond did the same for African-Canadians.

Viola Desmond (1914-1965) was a young Halifax businesswoman and beautician who owned and operated a beauty school there. On November 8th, 1946, she was on her way to Sydney, NS for a meeting when she got caught in a blizzard in New Glasgow, NS and her car broke down.

When a mechanic told her he couldn't fix the problem until the next day she found a place to stay for the night. Desmond decided to pass the time with a movie at the local Roseland Theatre. She asked for a ticket for house seats, but the teller sold her a ticket for the balcony, which was where Black people had to sit in that town.

When she sat in the lower "Whites Only" house seats, the manager ordered her to sit in the balcony, which was designated for Black patrons. When she refused, he called the police and she was arrested. Desmond was dragged from the theater and thrown in jail overnight. Bruised and angry, she sat upright all night and for the next 12 hours on the hard jail bench while wearing her white gloves.

In the morning she was charged by the magistrate with "attempting to defraud the Federal Government" based on her refusal to pay the one cent amusement tax difference between the 3 cents charged to those sitting in the balcony and the 2 cents charged to those sitting downstairs. Even though she had offered to pay the difference in ticket price, she was convicted of failing to pay the tax on the downstairs ticket. After a short trial, Viola was sentenced to a fine of $20 plus court costs and 30 days in prison.

Viola Desmond's arrest galvanized the Afro-Canadian community into action. The new Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NSAACP), founded only a year earlier by William and Pearleen Oliver, raised the money to pay her fine and fight her conviction. Carrie Best, the founder of Nova Scotia's first Black owned and operated newspaper publicized her story. Best was familiar with Desmond's situation. She'd been thrown out of the Roseland Theater herself four years earlier for refusing to sit in the balcony and unsuccessfully filed a damage suit against the theater's management.

Desmond's lawyer took the case to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, but her appeal lost on a technicality. She reappealed the case and won on a technicality. The case helped topple segregation laws in Nova Scotia and the provincial government repealed them in 1954.

Tres Chic

The dictionary definition of chic reads: smart elegance and sophistication especially of dress or manner. That's a dead-on target description of one of my favorite bands of the 70's.

Chic's music like most of the stuff I grew up listening to has proven to be timeless and ground breaking as well. I fell in love with their amalgamation of deep bass guitars, the lush strings courtesy of the Chic Strings (Cheryl Hong, Karen Milne and Marianne Carroll) and funky rhythms. Sometimes it was at a disco pace. Other times it was pure 70's funk with some cool soulful ballads and instrumentals thrown in just for good measure.

While Dad introduced me to Parliament-Funkadelic, I discovered Chic on my own. I opened the package of promo albums that got mailed to the house one day back in 1977 from Atlantic Records and noticed Chic's debut album. It was the self titled one that contained what would become their first hits 'Dance Dance Dance' (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah) and 'Everybody Dance'.

Dad sometimes used me to screen albums because I tend to be analytical about the way I listen to music. The lyrics are extremely important for me. I'm into great guitar players, sax players who can blow and great producers. I got spoiled listening to peeps produced by Holland Dozier Holland, Gamble and Huff, Maurice White, Quincy Jones, et cetera. In Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards they already had the quality producers and musicians.

Norma Jean Wright started out as Chic's front singer. They decided after a year of touring to support the first album they needed another female singer to expand what they could do in the live show and musically. Norma Jean suggested her friend Luci Martin. When Norma Jean Wright was forced to leave the band because of her contractual solo career obligations. Alfa Anderson, who sang backup on the second album C'est Chic was moved up to replace her in 1978. Norma Jean did get to sing some vocals on the monster Sister Sledge 1979 We Are Family LP.

C'est Chic got released in late 1978 with 'Le Freak' as the lead single and sold six million copies. Risque was released the next year. It contained a a song that would help propel a new music genre to prominence. That song was 'Good Times' and it became the basis for the Sugarhill Gang's breakthrough hit 'Rapper's Delight' and a host of other rap records that sampled it throughout the 80's. The basslines were sampled by rock, rap and R&B producers as well.

C'est Chic was supposed to contain the song 'He's The Greatest Dancer'. While producing Sister Sledge's album they decided that this song was a better fit for them and swapped it with another song. The song they exchanged it for that ended up on the Risque album was 'I Want Your Love'. They also featured an up and coming commercial jingle and session singer by the name of Luther Vandross on several of their albums. Luther hit it big singing lead vocals on Change's 1979 album featuring the hit singles 'The Glow Of Love' and 'Searching' and set the stage for his debut Never Too Much LP in 1981.

Nile and 'Nard also produced Diana Ross' hit singles 'Upside Down' and 'I'm Coming Out' for her 1980 Diana LP.

They struggled to get airplay in the early 80's and disbanded. They did produce Madonna's 1984 breakthrough album Like A Virgin album and scored some successes producing other artists.

After a 1992 party in which Nile and 'Nard played old Chic tunes along with Paul Shaffer and Anton Fig to thunderous applause they organized a reunion of the band and produced CHIC-ism. It not only charted but received critical acclaim and airplay all over the world.

In 2005 they became three category inductees in the Dance Music Hall of Fame. They have received nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003, 2006 and 2007 but have yet to be elected.

Here's hoping that someday they'll be enshrined there as well.

A Tale of Two Transgender TV Characters

In the last two months we've had transgender characters appear on two ABC network shows. One of them is on ABC's flagship soap All My Children . The other is on Ugly Betty.

Both shows stated they wanted to treat the subject with respect and dignity. The early returns are in from the transgender community. One has gotten rave reviews while the other is getting panned.

I've been a longtime fan of All My Children. I arranged my college schedule around it and the Young and the Restless back during its 1980's heyday. I was excited at first when I heard that AMC was going to tackle a transgender storyline with actor Jeffery Carlson playing Zarf. AMC has had a history of tackling tough and controversial subjects throughout its 36 year run that range from abortion to Bianca being a lesbian.

Then I watched the initial show featuring Zarf. To quote Blaine and Antoine from In Living Color: "Hated It!"

Now fast forward a month later to Ugly Betty and the way it has handled Rebecca Romijn's insertion into the show as Alexis Meade. For several weeks she appeared as a shadowy mystery woman plotting with Wilhelmina Slater. The mystery woman's identity is revealed a week before the Mode fashion show. (See the 'I'm Coming Out') Ugly Betty episode.

In the last two shows I have see Alexis since the reveal describe the alienation from friends, discuss family issues and be slapped with the discrimination and bigotry we face in a sports bar scene.

Ugly Betty gets two snaps up. Somebody was doing their homework on this one. Maybe the Ugly Betty writing team needs to have a chat with the AMC one and give them some tips on how to build a transgender character.

The difference to me and the transpeeps I've talked to online is the realistic way that Alexis has been portrayed versus the disappointingly schlocky way that Zoe has been portrayed so far on AMC. I know that Jeffrey Carlson wanted to do the character in a way respectful to the transgender community.

As with all TV shows it's all about the script writing. Hopefully they will get it together on AMC and get Jeffrey the material that he needs to make this character better.

While having genetic female actresses playing transwomen is a sore point with some peeps in the community, I don't have any complaints about a supermodel playing a transwoman if it's done well.

News flash to some of you: In some cases the surgery results ARE that good. If you have the cash as Alexis did, you could conceivably look convincingly feminine when you're done, especially if you have the right body build to start with. Rebecca's 5'11" height adds an even more realistic touch to it.

Granted, I'd love to see more transwomen actresses get those roles and I'm beyond ready to see another person who looks like me playing a transwoman. (No, Tyler Perry's Madea doesn't count)

Until somebody else gets the cojones (pardon the pun) to create a transgender character that's not killed off in the first five minutes of the show I'll have to enjoy these two.

James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon

When I first moved to Kentucky I began to hear the stories from Dawn and other Lexingtonians about their legendary transgender resident 'Sweet Evening Breeze'. I stumbled across this article while doing research one night for another column.

"Sweet Evening Breeze"
by Jeff Jones

James Herndon was born in Scott County, KY and was the youngest of John and Kate Herndon's eight children. According to Leigh Angelique,local entertainer, drag queen, and friend of the late Mr. Herndon, James was born in 1889, one year prior to Leigh's grandmother.

In his many decades living in Lexington, KY he was widely regarded as the city's most colorful character, and there are numerous stories (both true and legendary) about Herndon. In fact, few Lexingtonians really know him as James Herndon. He is more widely known by his nickname, "Sweet Evening Breeze," or "Miss Sweets."

He often wore make-up, occassionally performed or appeared on Main St. on Saturdays in drag, and was apparently quite effeminate. Long before there was RuPaul, Lexington's Sweet Evening Breeze was titallating and gaining respect from locals.

For most of his long life, Sweets worked at Good Samaritan Hospital. Taken to the hospital for an eye injury by his uncle as a child, he was left overnight there. Details are obscure, but apparently the boy was basically left at the hospital. He became friends with Miss Lake Johnson, the hospital superintendent, who gave him a room there. He eventually began delivering the hospital mail and playing his ukulele for patients. Through his late childhood and teen years spent living and working in the hospital, he finally learned the profession of orderly, a career that he followed for 40 years at Good Sams. He was widely regarded as the best orderly in the hospital and usually trained new orderlies.

Eventually moving to Prall Street, a part of a hundred year old African-American neighborhood across from UK behind Alfalfa's and Bourbon St. Cafe, he filled his home with antiques and kept it spotlessly clean by all reports. Considering that Herndon lived in the era of segregation, his job as an orderly gave him a relatively high income for African-American Lexingtonians during the early part of this century.

Stories about Herndon are numerous. Some of the authenticated include:

-Herndon was considered in his day to be an excellent cook. During World War II he would meet troops passing through Lexington at the train station and give them his homemade cakes. His fruitcake... the irony not being lost here... was considered his crowning culinary achievement.

-His most notable drag performance apparently was at the Woodland Auditorium where he was lowered from the ceiling in a basket dressed in "feminine frills" and danced the "Passion Dance of the Bongo Bangoes."

-Decades before Ziggy Stardust and David Bowie gave new emphasis to gender-bending, Miss Sweets would spend his Saturdays visiting with friends and acquaintances on Main Street. Upon seeing RuPaul on TV, one elderly woman in Harrodsburg told my friend Marc that Ru was nothing new. She reminensced fondly of trips with her fiance (later husband)long ago into Lexington to shop on Saturdays. The couple always made a point to stop and visit with "Miss Sweets." As Sweet Evening Breeze, Herndon might appear in a range of dress that might include a suit plus lipstick and eye-liner.

-When the doctors and nurses at Good Sams would play each other in basketball, Sweets was the cheerleader.

-Every year during the Bluegrass Fair, Herndon would hold a large banquet for his family coming in from Scott County. He also regularly sent or would take gifts back to his family and old neighborhood there.

-For many years he was a member of historic Pleasant Green Baptist Church. Upon his death, he apparently left a considerable amount of money to the church.

-There are also conflicting tales over a legal episode in Sweets' life: At some point circa 1960, a teenaged Leigh Angelique, another local African-American drag queen, was arrested for violating Lexington's ordinance against cross-dressing except on Halloween. One story holds that Sweets bailed Leigh out of jail and subsequently defended her in court. When the case was brought before the judge, Sweets supposedly pointed to a woman in the courtroom and told that judge that if it was a crime to wear makeup, then the woman should be charged equally to any man. The judge then threw the case out on the grounds that the ordinance unfairly punished one sex for behavior accepted for the other as well as on particular holidays.

Leigh Angelique herself claims, however, that actually both Sweets and herself were jailed. While in jail they even performed a mini-drag show for the curious guards who even went so far as to tip the "girls" for their act. Either a jailor or other prominent friend of Sweets spoke to the judge on their behalf. Sweets spoke up against jailing men for makeup and not women, and the case was dismissed.

With this judgement, Lexington's ordinance against public drag was apparently overturned.

-On the more risque side, older gay men in town remember that Sweets could be seen on occassion frequenting the bathrooms of the Phoenix Hotel and Union Station for "tearoom trade." His home on Prall Street according to these accounts also served as a meeting place for gay people and a sometimes sexual outlet for a number of otherwise closeted UK students.

-Whether Sweets ever settled down and found a partner is difficult to say. Local legends do not mention such a man, but his obituary does hold this tantalizing sentence: "He is survived by... a host of great-nieces and nephews; close friends, INCLUDING HUGH STERLING (emphasis added), and his church family." Perhaps this Hugh Sterling was Herndon's partner?

Through the Depression, World War II, and desegregation, Herndon cut a path as an openly gay man, drag queen, and possibly even a transgendered person. Legend holds that Herndon was accepted in part because he was a hermaphrodite whose will donated his body to UK for scientific study. Nothing I have yet uncovered, however,
substantiates this donation or supposed hermaphroditism. Sweets' many friends described him as sensitive and kind. They relate that he was often deeply hurt and enraged when people would make fun of him.

Herndon died on Friday, Dec. 16, 1983, at the Homestead Nursing Center. He was thought to be in his 90s and was survived by many loving friends and family. For his achievement of being himself against the odds, the Royal Sovereign Imperial Court of All Kentucky named its highest honor the James Herndon Award. Last year the Lexington Men's Chorus also named its small singing ensemble Sweet Evening Breeze in his honor as well.

If one does research on Lexington's gay and/or African-American communities, there is very little information on individual lives before the 1950s. There is, however, an entire slim file in the Kentucky Room on none other than the man that several writers have called Lexington's most memorable and colorful character:

James "Sweet Evening Breeze" Herndon.

Roberta Angela Dee

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

Roberta Angela Dee was an early voice of the African-American transcommunity for several decades. She challenged the medical community through her intelligent articles on psychology and gender and thoughtful online writings.

Roberta was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1950 and grew up on Long Island. She graduated with a degree in journalism and at age 25 began living as a woman.

Although much of her writing was on medical issues, she was an accomplished fiction writer who wrote several novellas on trans issues. She also wrote columns for Jo Ann Roberts' TG Forum website in addition to founding the Women on the Net (WON) website -- an early transgender resource for women of color. She also ran a Yahoo discussion group called TG Woman until her death in 2003.

I was a member of TG Woman from its inception. Roberta created a place that was different from the average transgender group. There wasn't the whiny, 'woe-is-me' tone that tends to permeate some transgender groups. We talked about issues beyond just transgender ones and it had over 2000 members at one point. When I started Transsistahs-Transbrothas on New Year's Day 2004 I patterned my group on that TS Woman model.

Roberta was a no-nonsense reality based kind of girl that never shied away from expressing her strong opinions about many subjects. I loved that about her.

She's also an inspiration to me as a writer as I endeavor to polish my skills and take them to the next level.

She transistioned but opted not to have SRS. As she once said, "I'm a woman in mind, heart and spirit. That's all that matters. They can cut things off, paste things on, or reconfigure my body parts. If you're a woman, you're a woman. Period"

You're so right about that Big Sis. You are definitely missed.

Black Canadian Snapshot

According to the 2001 Canadian Census, there are 593,335 people who identify as Black and of that number 70,000 also claim European ancestry.

78.4% of Black Canadians are clustered in five cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax and the Canadian capital city of Ottawa. 70% of the Canadian Black population is further concentrated in Montreal and Toronto.

Black Canadians are not recent arrivals. The first African to arrive would be navigator Mathieu da Costa, a free man who was hired as a translator for Samuel de Champlain's 1605 excursion. Unfortunately in 1628 the first enslaved ones would arrive in Canada as well.

While the folks in Halifax and the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia trace their heritage to our escaped ancestors and loyalists who settled there after the Revolutionary War, many of our peeps who arrived in Canada via the Underground Railroad eventually settled in Windsor, Chatham, London, Hamilton, Collingwood, Toronto and other rural areas in southern Ontario. Others trace their heritage to Nigeria or the Caribbean and half of Canada's Black population is of Jamaican origin.

While Black Canadians have had major impacts on Canadian history, politics, the media and the arts in their country, they have also influenced the culture and history of their southern cousins as well.

The NAACP's progenitor, the Niagara Movement was the result of a 1905 meeting held in Niagara Falls, Ont. The first woman publisher in North America, Mary Ann Shadd moved there after the Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850 and later became the first woman to attend Howard University's law school. Inventor Elijah McCoy was born there.

The influence is even more pronounced in the entertainment world. Singers Tamia Washington-Hill, Deborah Cox and Evangelist Denise Matthews (aka Vanity) are respectively from Windsor, ON, Toronto, and Niagara Falls, ON.

A Motown group called Bobby and the Vancouvers discovered Gladys Knight. Bobby also brought the Jackson 5 to Berry Gordy's attention after the J5 performed as an opening act for them. Another interesting tidbit from Bobby and the Vancouvers is that Tommy Chong was their guitar player (yes, of Cheech and Chong fame and daddy of actress Rae Dawn Chong). Actresses Cree Summer, Tonya Lee Williams and Kandyse McClure of Battlestar Galactica fame were either born there or have a Canadian parent. Melyssa Ford, the current poster model that almost every Black male and rapper drools over is from Toronto along with novelist Kayla Perrin.

Baseball fans of my era remember Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, who was from Chatham, ON. Before Ben Johnson, the most famous Canadian sprinter was world record holder and three-time Olympian Harry Jerome. Donovan Bailey won the 100m gold medal at the Atlanta Games.

The best hockey player on the planet is considered to be Calgary Flames captain and 2002 Olympic gold medalist Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames. Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr tended the nets for the four time Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers. ESPN analyst John Saunders is Canadian as well.

Like their southern cousins African-Canadians have also faced faced discrimination and prejudice. In some cases their experiences eerily mirror ours.

In an incident that galvanized civil rights forces in Canada, on November 6, 1946 Viola Desmond was arrested for sitting in the 'White's Only' section of a theater in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia and charged with tax evasion. The NSAACP supported her as the case rose all the way to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

In 1954 Blacks visiting rural Dresden, ON were denied service in two restaurants there. The Toronto Telegram sent Black testers to those same restaurants that confirmed the discrimination and published the the story. It confirmed what Black Canadians had suspected all along even though the provincial government only ten years earlier had passed the Racial Discrimination Act on March 14, 1944.

Civil rights activists would persuade the Canadian government to dismantle the odious immigration polices designed to keep Blacks out of Canada. Anti-discrimination laws and policies subsequently were enacted that ended Jim Crow-style laws there and put Canada on the road to acquiring its world-renowned reputation as an oasis of diversity and tolerance.

It's a reputation that we in the States would do well to emulate.

That reputation drew Michaelle Jean's family to Canada from Haiti. She was born there in 1957 but her family relocated to Montreal in 1968 to escape the Duvalier regime. She grew up to become a journalist and commentator for the CBC and Radio-Canada and the first Black Governor General of Canada. She was nominated by former prime minister Paul Martin and assumed the office on September 27, 2005.

Black Canadians continue to make their marks on the world stage inside and outside their country. We're proud of our shared history with our Canadian cousins as part of the African diaspora. We Americans need to exert more effort on the southern side of the border to familiarize ourselves with Canadian Black history since it's another chapter of our story as well.


TransGriot note: photos-Her Excellency the Rt. Honorable Michaelle Jean, the Governor General of Canada, Mathieu da Costa artist's rendition, Mary Ann Shadd, Melyssa Ford, Jarome Iginla, Viola Desmond, Michaelle Jean throne speech.

Why Can't We Be 'Just Americans'?

TransGriot Note:
This one started as a response in a Think Progress blog thread discussing Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) disengenuos desire to amend the House rules and abolish the Congressional Black Caucus. Several people agreeing with Tancredo used the conservative buzz words 'why can't we hypenated folks be 'just americans?'

Some of you ask the question why we African-Americans can't be 'just Americans?'

Because for 400 years y'all have refused to let us be 'just Americans'.

You brought us here in chains and refused to compensate us for the 246 years of chattel slavery. Every time we sucessfully built up our own neighborhoods, towns, institutions and economies without your help you started race riots on false pretexts and swooped in to burn those very neighborhoods down.

You organized gangs of white-hooded terrorists to invade our neighborhoods and homes and engage in an orgy of lawlessness, rape and murder designed to intimidate, brutalize and 'keep the Blacks down'.

You lynched us by the thousands and called it 'entertainment'. You discriminated against us, jacked with our voting rights and refused to let us participate in making the laws that affect us even though it stated in the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments of the Constitution that you couldn't do that to fellow American citizens.

You have called us 'stupid and ignorant' when it is my people who have created many of the inventions, medical procedures, scientific advances and processes that have enriched this country and improved life for all of us.

You have called us 'lazy' when it is our labor that built Washington D.C., the railroads and much of this country's infrastracture.

You have mocked our beauty and called us 'ugly' even as your women rush to spend thousands of dollars to bake their skin under ultraviolet light and surgically acquire the features that African-American women possess from birth.

You have called us 'Unamerican' even though we have fought and shed our blood in EVERY war this country has been involved in and come home from battle to have the rights and freedoms we fought to extend overseas to others denied to us on American shores.

You have repeatedly denigrated and disrespected my people and my culture even as you secretly admire our creativity and seek to emulate it.

You have never apologized for the centuries of pain and suffering that you have inflicted upon my people, but have the nerve to tell me to 'get over it'. Why can't you humble yourself to say to my people "I'm sorry?'

Why can't we be 'just Americans'? I don't know. Why don't you answer your own question for me?

The Man and the Story of The Black National Anthem

On February 12, 1900, “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” also known as the Negro National Anthem and the Negro National Hymn was sung publicly for the first time at the Stanton School, a Jacksonville, FL school for African-Americans.

It was written by James Weldon Johnson with music composed by his brother J. Rosamond Johnson. The song was written for a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday at the school.

He and his brother had forgotten it, but the students who heard it that day didn't. They taught it to their children and other children throughout the South. The song became so popular that the NAACP offically adopted it as the Negro National Anthem in 1920.


Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears have been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on 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 our GOD,
True to our native land


The man who wrote it, James Weldon Johnson led quite an interesting life. Attorney, teacher, poet, diplomat, novelist, Broadway lyricist and civil-rights leader.

He was born in Jacksonville, FL in 1871 during the heady optimism of the Reconstruction period. His mother was a schoolteacher at the Stanton School, his father a head waiter at one of Jacksonville's numerous resort hotels and young James and his brother grew up with middle class backgrounds. After completing the eighth grade he was sent to Atlanta, GA to attend the college prep school and university divisions for Atlanta University since there were no high school at the time in Fhis hometown for African-Americans. After graduating from Atlanta University in 1894 he returned home and became the first African-American attorney in Florida since Reconstruction.

He soon tired of practicing law and became principal of his alma mater the Stanton School. Thanks to the influence of Booker T. Washington in 1906 he was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as consul to Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. In 1909 he moved to a more significant consular posting in Corinto, Nicaragua but left the consular service in 1913 after the election of Woodrow Wilson to the presidency.

He joined the NAACP in 1917 and as a field secretary established local chapters througout the South and increased overall membership from 10,000 to 44,000 by the end of 1918. In 1920 he became the first African-Ameerican secretary (CEO) of the multi-racial NAACP and held that post until 1931.

He was also continuing his literary efforts and was more renowned as an writer than a civil-rights warrior. During this time period he'd moved to New York, gotten married and played an active role in the Harlem Renaissance. He served as a mentor to writers Langston Hughes and Claude McKay and urged others to draw upon everyday African-American life as inspiration for their creative works.

He was deeply commmited to exposing the brutality and injustice heaped upon African-Americans and eliminating it. He pushed hard to get the Dyer Anti-Lynching bill passed that would have made lynching a federal crime. He not only worked successfully to get the NAACP on a firm financial footing but was responsible for the NAACP becoming a clearinghouse for civil-rights court cases. He worked with noted attorneys of that time in litigating a series of cases that attacked the legal pillars propping up segregation and worked closely with W.E.B. DuBois and Walter White (the man who succeeded him) to coordinate strategy.

He became a professor at Fisk University in 1931 and spent the remainder of his life teaching creative writing, American and African-American literature and writing. He was killed in an automobile accident near Wiscasset, Maine in 1938.

Johnson acknowledged in 1926 that he didn't originally set out to write a unifying national anthem when he penned the words to 'Lift Ev'ry Voice' and admitted that he'd let the song pass from his mind. But as songs sometimes do they take on a life and meaning of their own.

Thank you James Weldon Johnson, for all that you've done to uplift our people.

2003 Louisville Transgender Day of Remembrance Speech

TransGriot Note:photo is of the late Amanda Milan, who died in June 2000 after having her throat slashed at the NY Port Authority terminal.

In 2002 and 2003 I was asked to be the keynote speaker for the local TDOR event in Louisville. This is the text of the speech I gave that night.

Giving honor to God,
I am pleased to have the privilege of speaking to you on the occasion of the 5th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. This is the second annual observance
that has been held here in Louisville on the LPTS campus. I'd like to thank Mary Sue Barnett, More Light, and The Women's Center here at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary for their hard work in putting this event together and honoring me with another invitation to speak so that I can make more people mad on the Internet after this speech gets posted.

I'd like to give you a brief history on how this event began. It honors Rita Hester, an African-American transgender woman who was found brutally stabbed twenty times in her Boston apartment on November 28, 1998. When Rita's death was announced in the gay and straight newspapers she was disrespected to the point where transactivists in Boston picketed the news outlets. It led to the Associated Press revamping their guidelines in terms of how they refer to transpeople in news stories. It was also the impetus for Gwen Smith to start the Remembering our Dead Project.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance works on several levels. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people. It allows us to publicly mourn and honor the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. We express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. It's a reminder to non-transgender people that we are your sons, your daughters, your relatives, your parents, your lovers, and your friends. It allows you an opportunity to stand in solidarity with us and gives the transgender community a chance to thank our allies and friends.

Last year I spoke to you on the steps of this chapel as a dark night gave way to a beautiful late November fall morning. When you think about it, there was some interesting symbolism to last year's observance. The early morning chill gave way to the warmth of the sun rising to start a new day. Well, this year's speech has its own symbolic touch. The ceremony for this year's vigil has moved from outside Caldwell Chapel to indoors. To me, it's a powerful statement of the commitment of the progressive elements of the Presbyterian Church, More Light, LPTS, and elements of other faiths to include its transgender children in its mission. They are oases of inclusiveness in a sweltering desert of intolerance and it couldn't have come at a better time.

President John F. Kennedy stated during a televised June 11, 1963 speech on civil rights that ‘Every American ought to have the right to be treated as they would wish to be treated, and as one would wish his children to be treated. Sadly, that is not the case.'

Forty years later, it's not the case with transgender Americans and our brothers and sisters around the world. We are being demonized by fundamentalists so that they can pursue political power. The Roman Catholic Church recently banned transgender people from serving as lay ministers, priests or nuns. There are some African-American and other Baptist churches that have cast out their transgender members at a time when we as Christians need to be INCLUDING transpeople into the fold and not EXCLUDING them.

We are here tonight because of hate violence directed toward my people that has snuffed out thirty-nine more lives. Once again we are adding people to a somber list that is approaching 300 names. That's a little over one killing a month since this project started tracking those stats in 1999. The thirty-nine individuals that we are remembering tonight represents the highest number of people that we have ever honored at a Day of Remembrance vigil. Once again we are gathered to hear about the causes of deaths of people who are simply struggling with trying to live their lives and being killed because of it. The sad part about it is that in many cases people either don't care or are unwilling to see the perpetrators brought to justice.

I mentioned earlier that I received some e-mailed criticism from some transpeople after my 2002 speech was posted on several transgender Internet lists. Most of the e-mails I received agreed with what I said in last year's speech, but objected to me calling out conservatives and fundamentalists as the root cause of some of the violence being expressed toward transpeople. They cited the October 5, 1999 televised 700 Club comments of Pat Robertson stating that ‘transsexuality is not a sin’ as evidence that conservatives weren't the bad guys in terms of what's happening to our people. I pointed out to those folks that some of the people involved in the transgender bashing proudly call themselves conservative.

I reminded them of Pat's silence as Jerry Falwell sat by his side and blamed GLBT people for the 9-11 terrorist attacks on his TV show. I also reminded them of Pat Robertson's sorry history of opposing civil rights, so if the white sheet fits, too bad.

I've noticed over my lifetime that when conservatives get elected to office, society seems to descend to a mean spirited Darwinian tone and attacks on people that they don't like start happening with increasing frequency. It's as though the bigots feel that it's safe to slither out from under their rocks and openly act on their prejudices, since they see their politicians and ministers openly attacking GLBT people. They feel it's okay to do whatever they want to ‘those' people and get away with it.

It happened in my birth state of Texas once the conservatives got control of the governor's mansion and state government in 1994. The intolerant attitude cultivated over the last ten years has contributed to a rise in hate violence that led to the James Byrd dragging death in 1999. Two of tonight's people that we memorialized here come from my hometown, and although Kentucky as of yet has not lost a transperson to hate violence, I fear that it will happen soon. The bigots have already started to verbalize their feelings since the recent November 4 election.

The recent incident I was told about upset me. A married non transgender woman with a short haircut was confronted downtown near Kinko's by several young males cruising Market Street. They hurled anti-gay slurs at her, and when the woman showed her tormentors her wedding ring, one of them responded, "Aww, you're probably married to one of them blankety-blank F to M transsexuals."

The interesting thing about this incident is that the woman in question is a student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They have been taught down the street and at their churches over the last twenty years that GLBT people are the enemy. Now that one of their own has been confronted with the hatred that we face, some of the students on that campus are starting to see the light.

Society needs to see the light, too. All that I and any other transgender person wants is to be able to use our God-given talents to make a decent living for ourselves and uplift our society. I was not put on this Earth to become a target for people who are upset at their how their own lives have turned out, are insecure about their own gender identity or sexual orientation, or want to use transpeople as bogeymen to scare people into donating to their pet political causes. Treat me and other transpeople as you would wish to be treated.

What needs to happen is that society needs to send a message that it will no longer tolerate its transgender citizens being brutally killed. We need to be included in hate crimes legislation at the state and federal level, and prosecutors need to start giving murderers of transpeople the maximum penalties under the law, and not plea bargaining them down to minimal probation terms.

I'm going to close this speech by quoting the Rev. Pat Robertson from that October 5, 1999 700 Club show:

‘God does not care what your external organs are. The question is whether you are living for God or not. Yes, He loves you. Yes, He forgives you and He understands what is going on in your body.’

Enough said.


TransGriot note;
On May 22, 2005 the fear that I expressed at the TDOR came true when Timothy Blair, a 19 year old transgender youth who was in drag at the time, was shot to death at 28th and Magazine Streets as he walked home from a bus stop.

Phyllis R. Frye

photo-IFGE's Denise LeClair, me and Phyllis Frye at the 2006 IFGE Convention in Philadelphia.



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

What can I say about the Phyllabuster?

She's a dear friend, a fellow Texan, my activist mentor and one of the first people along with Sarah DePalma that welcomed me into the Houston transgender community with open arms. Phyllis is a major reason why Houston not only has a large transgender community, but why so many of us from there have leadership roles at the local, state and national levels in it.

She was born the second of three children in San Antonio and was an Eagle Boy Scout, her high school’s ROTC Commander, a multi-scholarship university student at Texas A&M, a member of the Aggie Corps of Cadets, a career military officer, a licensed civil engineer, a husband and a father.

She began to address the transgender issues that she'd tried to bury since age six in the early 1970's. She was not only bounced from the military but ended up getting divorced from her first wife. She remarried, but had a tough time finding a job in the macho world of Houston's engineering firms and decided to go to law school.

Phyllis Frye spearheaded the successful effort to overturn the Houston anti-cross-dressing law in 1980. (the story of the events that led up to it is on the blog). In 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985 Phyllis was elected as an out transgender delegate to the Texas Democratic Party Convention. She was instrumental in persuading the Party to adopt a gay rights plank in 1983.

She also served, as an out transgender woman, as an elected director and later a vice president of the Houston League of Women Voters. In 1998 she was also appointed by the State Bar President to the Committee for Legal Matters Concerning the Indigent in Criminal Matters. In 1993 she was honored with the highest award giving by the transgender community to one of its own -- the Virginia Prince Lifetime Contribution Award from the International Foundation for Gender Education.

She's a founding partner in the Houston law firm Nechman, Simoneaux and Frye. She has been not only at the forefront of fighting for GLBT civil rights but has been a supportive and outspoken ally about pushing the GLBT community to include people of color in leadership roles. She's still married to her second wife Trish and was recently honored in 2006 by being voted as grand marshal for the Houston Pride parade.

She also plays a mean guitar ;)

I firsr heard about her when I was a freshman at UH and she was a law school student at the time. Ironically our paths didn't cross until 1997. My old gender clinic in Galveston has a twice yearly meet-and-greet event in June and December in which past and present (and sometimes future) clients get together to talk about issues and how our lives are going. That's where I met her, Sarah DePalma (Mommy Sarah I call her) and the late Dee McKellar. At the December 1998 one she and Sarah were there.
Right after she overheard me agreeing to do an interview on 'After Hours', a Houston GLBT themed radio show on KPFT-FM that I later co-hosted with Sarah and Jimmy Carper for two years, Phyllis challenged me to show up in Austin for the TGAIN lobby day that was in the final planning stages at that time.

I did and had the honor of walking into several legislative offices with her at my side. She's one of the people I call or e-mail when I need a historical perspective on things or I get homesick. I've even clashed with her strong-willed behind on occasion (hey, we're Texas women and we ain't wimps. She's an Aggie, I'm a Cougar. What can I say?)

I admire her creative legal mind and have much love and respect for her. She's taught consumer law at TSU's Thurgood Marshall Law School, written numerous law review articles and been a featured speaker at a wide array of events from gender, civil rights and legal conferences to the 1993 March on Washington.

She's gone through some drama like we all have on one level or another. But one of the lessons that she taught me and everyone one else is when you get punched by life, get off the canvas and don't let anyone jack with your civil rights without a fight.

Other lessons I learned from her is that transition shouldn't stop us from full participation in society. We transpeople need to get out there and get involved with mainstream organizations. We also need to have fun doing the things that you like to do. She was a shining example to me when I needed one about being out and proud of being transgender.

She's still got it going on.


TransGriot Notes:
For more info on Phyllis, click on her name to see her website http://www.transgenderlegal.com/

Lorrainne Sade Baskerville

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


As Lorrainne puts it, she said, "I did not come out to this community. I stepped on the scene as Lorrainne Sade. No way I ever considered myself a man!"

She grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing projects of Chicago as the eldest of seven children. She said that since early childhood, she "self-identified as a girl. But I had to search [for information]. I thought I had a mental illness. I was always very feminine acting. I grew up with a father missing from the family. My mother was a very strong person. I learned from her."

She left home at 17 and started working every kind of job to make ends meet. Lorrainne began her transition by doing research at the library and connecting with other people like herself.

She has also noted like myself and Dawn the cultural differences betwen white and black transpersons and how it affects transition.

"White transgender people have a risk involved," she said, while African-American people like herself, often battling poverty and discrimination, have less at stake. "That's why we start out early dealing with gender at 13 or 14.

"Look what happens [to white transgenders]: They suppress everything, go in the Army, do all the stuff society says. At a certain age, they're married, kids, picket fence and the volcano erupts."

Baskerville eventually decided to resume her education and in 1994 earned a bachelor's degree in social work from Northeastern Illinois University.

In the 1970s, she became familiar with sex workers' conditions and sometimes was forced to confront a city ordinance of the times that prohibited her appearing in public while wearing female clothing. When AIDS struck a member of her family in the mid-1980s, Baskerville took its health threat seriously. She began to work as a volunteer as a volunteer at organizations such as the Howard Brown Health Center
and Horizons Community Services.

In the 1980's Baskerville became a social worker and founded TransGenesis in 1995, a social service agency for transgenders in Uptown. One of her major goals was to reach out to transgender youths, who often drop out of school because of verbal and emotional abuse and end up on the streets.

She also had a goal of starting a health clinic for transgenders and a fund to award grant money for surgery. She also shares my concerns about young transwomen who undergo dangerous silicone injections from "unqualified, incompetent providers underground," at 'pumping parties' in an attempt to feminize their bodies. She's seen the consequences that r4esult from the multiple use of unsterilized syringes that include everything from gangrene to HIV infections.

In her community activism since 1986, Baskerville has served on the board of Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN), in the Chicago HIV Prevention Planning Group (HPPG), and in the Chicago Police Department's 23rd District Gay and Lesbian Advisory Group.

In 1997, Baskerville received the Greater Chicago Committee's first Georgia Black Award for service to the transgender community. She chaired the Youth Events Committee for the Chicago Black Pride 2000 conference. She was selected by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the 13th International AIDS Conference to lead a panel on transgender issues at the conference that was held in Durban, South Africa in July 2004. She is also an advocate for transgendered victims of hate crimes and
violence and was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2000.


TransGriot Notes:
Lorrainne is married and living in Thailand now, but I do have hopes of finally meeting her in person one day. We trade e-mails from time to time.

Cathy Hughes

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

As a child who grew up around radio stations, Cathy Hughes is someone I have much love and respect for. If it weren't for her your local Black radio stations probably wouldn't exist or much less have the intense community oriented focus that the 71 Radio One stations in 22 markets nationwide pride themselves on.

Born in Omaha, NE in 1947, the founder and chairperson of Radio One, Inc is considered one of the most powerful women in Black America. Essence Magazine named her one of '100 Persons Who Changed the World'. Radio Ink lists Hughes as one of the “20 Most Influential Women in Radio”. She and her son Alfred C. Liggins III, Radio One's President & CEO run the largest African-American owned and operated broadcast company in the nation. She's also made a lot of history in the process.

Radio One is the first African-American company in radio history to dominate several major markets simultaneously. Hughes also has the distinction of being the first woman in radio history to own a number one ranked major market station. In 1995, Radio One made broadcasting history again when the largest transaction between two Black owned companies occured when it it purchased Washington, D.C. WKYS-FM for $40 million.

In May 1999 another milestone historical moment occurred. When Cathy Hughes and her son took their company public, it made her the first African-American woman with a company on the stock exchange. In 2000, Black Enterprise named Radio One, “Company of the Year”, Fortune rated it one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” and Radio One was inducted into the Maryland Business Hall of Fame.

Her goal of building a broadcast empire with a solid foundation in the African-American community has come to fruition. Radio One’s value is currently in excess of $2 billion, and with that increace in revenue opportunities for minorities and women in the white-male dominated radio buisness have increased as well.

Hughes currently has more than 1,500 Black broadcasters on staff at Radio One, Inc. the seventh largest radio corporation in the United States. Radio One stations reach over 18 million Black listeners daily in 15 states and just celebrated its 25th anniversary last August.

Her dedication to minority communities, entrepreneurial spirit, pride in our heritage and mentoring of women are proudly manifested in her work and life. It has earned her many awards, including an honorary doctorate from Howard University.

She's been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Area Broadcasters Association, The Seventh Congressional District Humanitarian Award. In 2001, she received the National Association of Broadcasters’ Distinguished Service Award and the Advertising Club of Metropolitan Washington’s Silver Medal Award. Hughes was presented with the coveted Golden Mike Award from the Broadcasters’ Foundation; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters; and a 2002 Essence Magazine Award.

She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1971 and became a lecturer in the newly-established School of Communications at Howard University. She entered radio in 1973 as general sales manager at Howard University’s WHUR-Radio, increasing station revenue from $250,000 to $3 million in her first year.

In 1975, Hughes became the first female vice president and general manager of a station in the nation’s capital and created the "Quiet Storm" format. It is the most listened to nighttime radio format and is currently heard in over 50 markets nationally. Purchasing her first station in 1980, Washington D.C.'s WOL-AM she pioneered yet another innovative format -- “24 hour Talk from a Black Perspective.” With the theme, "Information is Power," WOL became the most listened to talk radio station in the nation’s capital.

Radio One’s newest venture is TV One, Inc., launched in partnership with Comcast on January 19, 2004. TV One caters to the adult lifestyles of African Americans offering quality programming such as “B. Smith with Style,” and an array of original programming. Hughes is on the board of TV One, is the Executive Producer of “The Gospel of Music with Jeff Majors,” and also hosts TV One’s interview show, “TV One on One.”

Radio One also owns REACH Media, Black America web.com, and The Power, a 24/7 satellite radio channel on XM radio 169 devoted to talk about social, political and economic issues from an African American perspective.

She went though some trials to get to that point. She was all set to go to college in 1965 until the discovery that she was pregnant put an end to those plans. She was a divorced single mother when she made 32 presentations to banks trying to get the loan she needed to purchase WOL-AM. The 33rd presentation to a new Latina loan officer at Chemical Bank garnered her $600,000 of the $1 million she needed with the remainder coming from venture capitalists.

That was only the beginning. When Hughes took possession of the station she discovered that the previous owner fired the entire staff and they responded by trashing the station. She had to bring LP's from her personal collection to play on the air. In addition during those lean years she had to sell a family heirloom white gold watch made by slaves that belonged to her great-grandmother for $50,000. When her house and car were repossessed she slept in a sleeping bag in the station for 18 months. She and her son persevered and six years later WOL turned its first profit.

So the next time you're listening to the Quiet Storm on your local radio station or are checking out TV One on cable, say a word of thanks to Cathy Hughes and her son for not only making history, but keeping Black radio alive in the 21st century.

The Washington Post had it right. In D.C. Hughes was called 'The Voice of the Black Community' from her days as an outspoken talk show host at WOL-AM with deep roots in it. She's now expanded that reach to cover the entire nation.