When You Say POC, Y'all Ignore Me

photos-Lorrainne Sade Baskerville, the late Alexander John Goodrum


I got another reminder of why I'm starting to loathe the term POC (person of color) a few days ago. When POC gets used, the folks who are intending to be inclusive inadvertantly (or deliberately) forget the African-American part of that supposed inclusive term.

I was on a transgender activist list a few days ago when the fallout over the Advocate's lack of transgender nominees for their 40 Heroes of the GLBT Movement poll blew up. A few peeps immediately started putting together a short list of transgender heroes that met the Advocate's criteria.

Only one problem. There was not one African-American transperson on it. It took the 2006 winner of the IFGE Trinity Award to point out that glaring omission.

I'm getting more than a little fed up about the whitewashing, either unintentional or deliberate, of the African-American contribution to the transgender community's history. It's gotten so bad in the white transgender community that when I posted the initial names list of African-American transpeople I came up with it was greeted with "who are they?"

You mean, you don't know who Alexander John Goodrum, Lorrainne Sade Baskerville, or Kylar Broadus are?

You don't know (or don't wanna know) who my peeps are and their contributions to our history, but expect me to know and revere yours as heroes. Excuse me?

There haven't been as many African-Americans involved in the transgender rights fight as I would like, but the ones who have stepped out there have become major players. We've been involved in every major event and GLBT organization since the Stonewall Rebellion and our contributions need to be acknowledged and celebrated just like everyone elses. We are more than just martrys for transgender hate-crime violence or afterthoughts. We are in many cases the frontline troops or the peeps coming up with the out of the box strategies to advance the cause that you resist.

It was Dawn Wilson who stood tall for the entire community against bigotry in Louisville when the Forces of Intolerance came after our comprehensive GLBT rights Fairness law in December 2004. She uttered the definitive quote that was soundbited on the local news for the next several days.

"Bigotry cloaked in religion is bigotry none the less, and should never be allowed to stand."

Miss Major was at Stonewall (and the Attica Prison riot in 1971.) African-American transpeople helped found GenderPac and NTAC. In some cases we have been creators and innovators, as in the drag balls in Chicago and Harlem for example that have morphed into the ballroom community.

So if you're wondering why you've heard increasing calls from some African-Amerocan transgender people to put more emphasis on forming and supporting our own community, this is just one example of why we're increasingly working to make that happen.

Stealth vs. Out

photos-Halle Berry and Lonette McKee from the miniseries Queen, Ellen Craft, the ladies of the MBU pageant system, Iman

Besides telling family and friends that you are beginning the process of gender transition, the next biggest decision in a transperson's life is whether to do is openly or as we call it in the transgender community 'stealth mode'.

Basically stealth mode is a 21st century twist on what our ancestors used to do back in the bad old days of slavery and Jim Crow racism: Passing.

There are some African-American peeps who back in the day took advantage of their vanilla creme complexions and 'good hair' and basically faded into white society for various reasons. For example, some of Sally Hemings' children that she bore for Thomas Jefferson did so.

There's the fascinating story of Ellen Craft, the daughter of a white slave master and his slave mistress who executed a daring escape from bondage by passing for white. She and her husband, who posed as her slave, traveled for four days by train, boat and carriage from Macon, GA to Philadelphia. During one part of the journey Ellen even passed as a white man. There are other cases of Black people passing for white for employment or other reasons as late as the 50's and 60's.

From the early days of gender transition to about the mid-80's people were advised by the HBIGDA/WPATH orthodoxy at the time to blend into society and never let anyone know your transgender status. But by the time the 90's rolled around that paradigm was giving way to the 'out and proud' model of the gay and lesbian community.

By the time I transitioned in the mid 1990s transwomen had a choice. If they possessed naturally feminine features that didn't require extensive surgery, some went the stealth route while others of us went down the out and proud path.

For African-American transwomen, who tend to transition earlier and avoid the ravages of extended testosterone exposure on our bodies, our experiences are different from our white counterparts.

Because we transition earlier, the estrogen we take has less testosterone to fight and helps feminize us to the point where we are almost indistinguishable from our genetic sisters. Even if that African-American transwoman is tall like I am, the fact that we have many biosisters that are 5'10" or taller with various body builds helps us blend into society more effortlessly. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've been asked if I was a fashion model or a WNBA ballplayer.

The fact that we don't have at present a large organized community like our white counterparts and face more negativity if we openly transition, we gravitate more toward the stealth path.

But in the fifty plus years since Christine Jorgensen's very public transition, we African-American transpeople have come to painfully realize that having a history to pass down and role models are important elements of the process as well. Our images have been negatively distorted by too many transwomen taking the escort and female illusionist path in the mistaken belief it's the only way they can make money as a transperson. We have African American transwomen succeeding in various fields such as IT, teaching, modeling and various other fields just to name a few that I'm aware of. The problem is that because these people are stealth transwomen the WORLD, our people and our fellow transpeeps don't kmow that.

It's one major reason why one of the things we are doing in terms of taking our image back is having more of us boldly proclaim that we are not only proud African-Americans but transgender as well. You will see more of us organizing and getting involved in fighting for transgender issues as well.

The Stealth vs. Out debate can evoke intense and passionate emotions on both sides when transpeeps discuss it. I was reminded of that thanks to a discussion thread we've had going in Transistahs-Transbrothas since Thursday about the issue.

Both paths have their pros and cons. If you go stealth, the benefits are that you blend in with society. Stealth transpeople are in positions to hear what people really think about transpeople that they won't say in front of us. Those who continue to stay in contact with the transgender community are then able to pass that information back to the out activists. They can also do education on the inside as well. The cons are isolation from your fellow transpeeps and the necessity of constant vigilance to ensure your transsecret doesn't get out.

Out peeps don't have that problem. The people they interact with may or may not know and they don't worry about it. We out transwomen concentrate on living our lives. One of the cons of out status is that it does open you up to more discrimination, drama and the possibility of being targeted for a hate crime.

The stealth vs. out debate will continue to be an ongoing discussion in the transgender community into the forseeable future, even with the Internet and the erosion of the right to privary as factors.

The most important point to make concerning the issue is this: We're all on the same team with the same goals. We have the ongoing mission of getting African-American peeps to embrace their transgender brothers and sisters, 'ejumacating' them along the way, and getting them to recognize that helping transpeeps get full citizenship rights helps expand civil rights coverage for all of us.

755!

Barry Bonds has finally tied Hank Aaron's home run record.

In the second inning of the Giants 12-inning 3-2 loss to the San Diego Padres, Bonds smacked a Clay Hensley fastball into the left field stands and off an advertising sign at Petco Park for a no doubt about it opposite field home run. He'll sit out today's game in San Diego so that Bonds can break the record in San Francisco. The Giants will have a seven game homestand at AT&T Park starting Monday versus the Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates.

How you feel about about this milestone achievement depends on your ethnicity and I've commented on it in a previous post.

MLB commissioner Bud Selig released this statement concerning the milestone homer.

"Congratulations to Barry Bonds as he ties Major League Baseball's home run record. No matter what anybody thinks of the controversy surrounding this event, Mr. Bonds' achievement is noteworthy and remarkable.

"As I said previously, out of respect for the tradition of the game, the magnitude of the record and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty, either I or a representative of my office will attend the next few games and make every attempt to observe the breaking of the all-time home run record."

Too bad Hank Aaron and Barry's critics aren't giving him that presumption of innocent until proven guilty.

Fracked Up

An MKR Poem



photo-actress Kandyse McClure as Battlestar Galactica's Lt. Anastasia Dualla-Adama














Fracked up
Jacked up
Makes me wanna act up
To keep me from blowing up

'Bout how you hate me
Berate me
Constantly denigrate me
My African-American family

There's other transpeeps like me
Out and proud as can be
From sea to shining sea
Sharing your DNA history

Praying to be free
To match mind and body
With our gender identity
That's our reality

Want to live our lives
Without the shuck and jive
Not struggle to survive
Ready and eager to thrive

Sick of your jealousy
Your faith-based hypocrisy
Taking out your anger on me
About our jacked up society

Just because I changed gender
Doesn't make me a pretender
I'm a phenomenal contender
My Blackness I refuse to surrender

Don't care if you think
It's fracked up
Jacked up
Or I just need to shut up

Because you think I should be
In my birth body
Deny my true identity
To make your insecure azz happy

Keep chomping on the Hater Tots
Ashamed of being transgender I'm not
No more tears, anguish and strife
Cause I'm honestly living a life

That's not fracked up

Miz Bones Makes No Bones About Her Schtick

By Betty Baye
Louisville Courier-Journal
August 2, 2007

Just when I thought the insulting of black women couldn't get any worse (think Don Imus, think Eddie Murphy), a recent issue of The Louisville Eccentric Observer brought news of Shirley Q. Liquor. The headlines said, "The Most Dangerous Comedian in America. Why in the world is a gay white man putting on blackface and performing as a boozing welfare mother who drives a Cadillac?"

Why indeed?

Shirley Q. is poor. She drinks malt liquor (hence her last name), has 19 "chirrun" with colorful names and talks "ignunt" about most anything that pops into her head.

Shirley Q. is the black-faced (yes, a minstrel) creation of a white, gay man named Chuck Knipp, who seems to leave no stereotype behind.

David Holthouse's Rolling Stone article, reprinted in LEO, said that Knipp "has emerged from the dive bars and semi-underground gay clubs in the South, and he has rapidly developed a second-tier celebrity cachet." Wealthy whites book Knipp for private parties, prompting him to tell LEO, "I can see that my being there as Shirley makes them feel it's acceptable to openly mock black people in a way they otherwise would not, and that does cause me to have second thoughts. If what I'm doing is truly hurtful, then I need to stop."

But he won't. His minstrel act pays, so Knipp soldiers on as Shirley Q., despite the protestors who dog his appearances.

Knipp has offered various rationalizations for his monstrous Mammy creation. He's compared himself to Dave Chappelle making fun of white people and to Eddie Murphy's Rasputia, the fat, black, over-sexed character in the movie "Norbit."

Knipp also has insisted Shirley Q. is a response to a higher calling. "I think God's plan for me is to get right in the middle of all the tension (between whites and blacks) and just make them laugh."

In response to my e-mail, he offered a different explanation, but he wanted me to know, too, that "most African Americans who have seen my show laugh heartily; they see Shirley Q. Liquor as a representative of the dirty laundry and 'down home ignunce' that embarrasses so many people of color."

He added that most African Americans have taken up Dr. King's challenges to excel "as individuals of excellence and character," but others have chosen "to revel in perpetual victimhood … and rather than deal with their own cultural choices, i.e., hip hop, neckboning and clowning, some in the Black community still find it easier to play the underfunded card to justify the more embarrassing aspects of black culture."

Knipp believes he's performing a public service. But for which part of the public? The Klan?

And to think, many of the same people who have contempt for fat, poor, black women have equal distain for fat, white, gay drag queens.

But everybody needs somebody to look down on, I guess.

Monica Roberts, a member of the Louisville Fairness Campaign's advisory committee, appealed to the owners of a local establishment that caters to gays to reconsider an invitation for Knipp to perform.


Roberts, an African American, described Knipp's act as a minstrel show using "blackface images" that, even in the 21st Century, "carry much pain, anger and historical baggage." Not only that: Inviting Knipp to perform in our city gives cause, according to Roberts, "for African-American GLBT people in Louisville to seriously question our place in this community if our concerns, as your supposed allies, are going to be cavalierly brushed aside."

Carla Wallace, also of the Fairness Campaign, often has made the point that there are "interconnections between racism, sexism and homophobia."

What these sustained hateful assaults on poor, black women in music, film, "comedy acts," and sometimes even on the floor of Congress, suggest is that the women's lib movement has left many poor, black women behind. Otherwise we should hear a greater outcry.

It seems that Knipp's southern upbringing has trumped any extra compassion or sensitivity one might have expected, or at least hoped for, from someone who surely knows how badly stereotypes can wound, or even provoke some people to violence. But what goes around comes around, and maybe one day the joke will be on Knipp.


Betty Winston Baye is a Courier-Journal editorial writer and columnist. Her column appears Thursdays. Her email address is bbaye@courier-journal.com

2007 Black Weblog Awards Nominations Are Open

The nominations are now open for the 2007 Black Weblog Awards. I believe and I'm told that this is a quality blog and I've put a lot of time and effort into making TransGriot entertaining as well as informative.

Awards give those comments credibility. But since I can't submit my own blog for consideration, that task falls to you dear TransGriot reader. (Hint, hint)

From now until August 15 you'll have the opportunity to nominate TransGriot for awards covering several categories. This year there will be TWO winners per category. The winners will be announced September 5.

Black Weblog Awards Categories I believe TransGriot fits in.

3. Best Blog Post or Blog Post Series
This category is for a single post in a blog or a series of posts in a blog about a particular topic. Posts can be fiction or non-fiction, but post series must be linked by a common and identifiable theme with the ability to skip forward or backwards through the series (for judging purposes).

The May Genetic Women and Transwomen post series fits that category.

6. Best Culture Blog
This category is for blogs which talk about Black culture in a multifaceted and dynamic way.

15. Best LGBT Blog
This category is for blogs that relate to or are about the LGBT community. No pornography, please (for judging purposes).

18. Best Niche Blog
This category is for blogs of topics not included in the present Black Weblog Awards categories. (Hey, we can’t catch ‘em all!)

19. Best Personal Blog
This category is for blogs which feature the opinions of the author. Blogs do not have to adhere to a specific theme.

22. Best Political/News Blog
This category is for blogs which are about politics or current newsworthy topics.


27. Best Writing in a Blog
This category is for blogs which have exceptional writing. This category is judged not on a single post basis, but on the overall posts of the blog.

28. Black Blogger Achievement Award
This category is for bloggers that have been blogging visibly since January 1, 2003. This award can only be won once (sorry George and Lynne…we still love ya).

29. Blog of the Year
This category is pretty self-explanatory; the blog of the year has it all: great writing, frequent posts, active comments, and a strong reader base.

30. Blog to Watch
This category highlights the best “undiscovered” blog in the blogosphere; keep your eye on this one! This is for that great blog that not everyone knows about…but should!

The Black Weblog Awards have been around since 2005. It's rapidly becoming a coveted prize for those of us in the African-American blogosphere. I'd love to have TransGriot considered for one (or more) of those awards this year since I didn't find out about them in time last year to get TransGriot nominated.

So may the best blog and blogger win.

August 2007 TransGriot Column

Universal Health Care-What’s In It For The GLBT Community?
Copyright 2007, THE LETTER

While only 7 months into his administration, President Harry S Truman proposed implementing universal health care. The ideas Truman set forth in a November 19, 1945 speech came to Congress in the form of a Social Security expansion bill. It was co-sponsored by Senators Robert Wagner (D-NY) and James Murray (D-MT) along with Representative John Dingell (D-MI) and became known as the W-M-D bill.

Predictably, the American Medical Association launched an energetic attack against the W-M-D bill that capitalized on American fears of Communism by calling it "socialized medicine". In a foreshadowing of 50’s McCarthy-era rhetoric, critics labeled Truman White House staffers ‘followers of the Moscow party line.’
President Truman gamely continued efforts to implement the W-M-D bill until the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 forced him to abandon them.

In the latest attempt to implement Universal Health Care, Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) has introduced HR 676, which would create a single payer health care system in the US. It would cover all necessary medical care for US citizens and include prescription drugs, primary and preventative care, emergency services, dental and vision care, chiropractic and long term care, mental health, home health care, hospital, surgical, outpatient services, physical therapy, substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation.

HR 676 would also end deductibles and co-payments and economists predict that 95% of Americans would see a reduction in their health care costs

HR 676 is currently in committee and has 75 cosponsors. (Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) is one of them). The Louisville Metro Council, Boyle County, the city of Morehead, KY and the KY House of Representatives have passed resolutions along with other municipalities across the US supporting the bill. HR 676 also has support from labor and other organizations such as the Jefferson County (KY) Teachers Assn., the American Library Association, the (national) NAACP, and the National Education Association.

It even has some corporate support. US based corporations are tired of competing with a handicap in the global marketplace. It’s one of the factors affecting the survival of US automakers. For example, if you buy a GM auto, $1200 of the price you pay for the vehicle is to cover the cost of the worker’s health insurance that built it. Toyota doesn’t have to factor health care costs into their auto pricing.

So what’s in it for transgender peeps and the GLBT community? My initial reading of the bill leads me to logically conclude that the medication and other care we require should be covered. AIDS medication would be available and acquired at much lower costs. Because GID is a medical condition listed in the DSM-IV, a transperson could get their hormones, medical exams, counseling, surgery and checkups covered at reasonable rates as is done in Canada, Great Britain and several other countries with universal health care plans. The Reichers and health care companies will fight tooth and nail to ensure that we aren’t.

We GLBT peeps are inevitably gonna get older. Wouldn’t it be nice to pay a flat fee for the medications and care that you require instead of the grossly inflated prices we pay now? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to HAVE medical coverage that’s not tied to whether or not you’re employed? The 46 million people that are currently uninsured definitely think so.

If you want more information, check out www.PNHP.org the website of the Physicians for a National Health Program, www.kyhealthcare.org or call (502) 899-3861 or (502)636-1551.

It's not gonna be easy. You will see obscene amounts of money spent, negativity and disinformation spread about Universal Health Care that makes what the GOP, the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies did to kill the Clinton plan in 1993 seem like a church picnic by comparison.

But it will probably happen in the next five years. Universal health care is not only a human rights issue, but also one with broad-based support that the GLBT community should get behind. It’s a bridge-building opportunity that gives us a chance to work with labor, business, government and other interested parties. We need to get off our behinds, educate ourselves about universal health care and fight for our issues in the implementation of it.

Marvin Zindler 1921-2007

Like many Houstonians all over the planet and people who lived there once upon a time, I was saddened to hear about the death Sunday of one of our iconic personalities in Marvin Zindler.

I had the pleasure of watching him on KTRK-TV from the time he first joined the station in 1973. Marvin was there only a few months when he took on the legendary bordello in LaGrange, TX called 'The Chicken Ranch' and got it shut down.

While Marvin's style was flashy, with his natty suits, trademark blue glasses, silver toupee and multiple plastic surgeries, he got results. He created the consumer fraud division in the Harris County Sheriff's Department prior to joining KTRK-TV at the urging of long-time anchor Dave Ward. He pioneered consumer advocacy reporting. Restaurants in Houston brag about getting Marvin's Clean Kitchen Award. They know that if they make Marvin's Friday Rat and Roach Report their business will suffer.

While Marvin was the son of a wealthy local clothing store owner, he'd experienced prejudice first hand while accompanying his Adrican-American nurse who raised him around town. He was forced to sit in the same 'colored' areas as she was and that experience led him to fight discrimination wherever he found it. He constanly reminded us 'it's hell to be poor' and was a lifetime member of the NAACP.

For 33 years Marvin not only fought 'slime in the ice machine,' he fought real life slime in terms of shady businessmen, uncaring bureaucrats, getting crime ridden areas and neighborhood eyesores cleaned up and fighting for people wronged by the judicial system. Just uttering the words in Houston "I'll call Marvin" was enough sometimes to make these folks quake in their boots.

Through Marvin's Angels he helped people get needed medical treatment as well. There were many times he made forays not only in the Houston area but various places around the world to bring children and others who needed medical treatment to Houston to get it at Texas Medical Center hospitals free of charge.

Marvin had a heart as big as Texas, and loved his job. Even to his death, he was helping people. From his hospital bed he interviewed his doctor about the pancreatic cancer that took his life at age 85.

A one of a kind person has been called home. It's going to be sad the next time I go home, tune it to Channel 13 and not see him or hear his trademark sign off, Marrrrrrrrvin Zindler, Eyeeeeeeeewitness News.




You are definitely going to be missed.

The GOP Hates Science

Sung to the tune of 'She Blinded Me With Science’ by Thomas Dolby’




It's ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
But the GOP hates science
"The GOP hates science!"
Because they failed biology

Stem cell research won’t occur
‘Cause the GOP hates science-science!"

"Science!"

Kissing up to the fundies
"The GOP hates science-science!"

"Science!"
"Science!"

Mmm - but it's ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
The GOP hates science
"The GOP hates science!"
Because they also failed geometry

Global warming’s a myth you see
"The GOP hates science - science!"
"Science!"
Mmm Mmm, Mmm Mmm- Rig voting booth machinery
"The GOP hates science - science!"
"Science!"

It's ignorance in motion
Fox News constantly lies to me
They’re causing a commotion
Messed with our nation’s harmony
The GOP hates science
"The GOP hates science!"
Hate SRS technology

"Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're a transsexual!"

Hey -I don't believe it!
They’re on CNN!
Talking that 'intelligent design' BS again!
All the anti-gay research
And junk science books
Based on Biblical contortions

But- It's ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
Oh - but the GOP hates science
"The GOP hates Science!"
The GOP hates -