Southern Comfort 2007

I'm a little bummed that I had to miss Southern Comfort this year mainly because of my work schedule. It's one of my favorite transgender events to attend since it's held in the ATL.

This year's version started on September 10 and is running through the 16th. The bulk of the convention will be transpiring today, Friday and Saturday with the start of the seminar tracks and the upcoming formal dinner on Saturday.

Southern Comfort, now in its 17th year, is the largest transgender event in the US. It's where we get together to transact our community business, have fun, get reacquainted with old friends, meet new ones, and learn a little something while were there. From humble beginnings it quickly became a must attend event during the 90's. It's even been featured in a documentary by the same name.

I first started attending SCC in 1999 and returned in 2000 for an NTAC board meeting we'd scheduled during the event. I skipped a few years letting my finances recover from my move to Louisville before I attended another one in 2004. The 2004 event was the first one I attended at the midtown Atlanta hotel they moved to after SCC outgrew the neighboring Buckhead area hotels that hosted it.

The 2000 Southern Comfort was the most memorable one for me. It was the year that SCC not only set their attendance record, but we had a record 26 African-American and Latino transpeeps attend SCC as well.

That attendance sadly has been the high water mark in terms of an African-American presence at SCC. One of the things that has been embarrassingly obvious to the SCC planners is that while they realize that they are sitting in the Black GLBT mecca, (a fact I and Dawn Wilson pointed out when we were participating in numerous SCC planning meetings over the years) the event has been shunned by the local community.

One of the major problems that contributed to the attendance gap at SCC is one that's common for many national transgender conferences. They are geared towards a middle to upper middle class clientele, in locations with little to no access to public transportation and hotels that aren't cheap or in suburban locations.

Even though SCC offers scholarships and 'sweat equity' programs to help defray costs, it's still in a hotel that's not cheap and the conference registration is separate from the hotel charges. The financial barrier helps to promote in the African-American community a perception that 'we're not wanted', and the end result is a convention that's 99% white.

Despite that feeling from time to time of being the Lone Sistah, I sometimes took advantage of being in the ATL and just got away from the hotel to see Atlanta's sights and attractions. I strolled through Piedmont Park after the 2004 SCC barbecue. Me and several other African-American attendees bounced to a nearby restaurant and had fun getting to know each other,

Since SCC is a Who's Who of people in the transgender universe, I've had the pleasure of meeting a lot of those well-known peeps as I was becoming one of them myself. In 2004 I had a wonderful conversation with Calpernia Addams. I had the pleasure of dancing with Jamison Green at the 2000 formal dinner and finally meeting TAVA founder Monica Helms. I got to meet and hang out with Dawn at the 1999 event. It's also fun to interact with the hotel staffs and guests as we're chillin' in the lobby or at the bars.

SCC is important on many levels. It's a event that transpeople plan and execute with military precision. It sends the message to the rest of the world that we aren't as invisible as some of you wish we would be, we aren't going away, and we aren't the ogres that your pastors tell you we are. It's a time and place where many transpeople first come out because it's an event where they feel safe, begin to build those support networks and gather the information that is crucial to a successful transition. It's one of the reasons why I came up with the idea of doing a similar conference for African-American transgender people that we made happen in 2005 and 2006. As a matter of fact, the job fair that SCC is promoting this year came from us coming up with the idea for our 2005 TSTBC conference.

And most importantly, SCC helps to instill pride in who we are as transgender people.

Transwoman Calls For Greater Tolerance Of Gender Diversity In Singapore

Trans woman calls for greater tolerance of gender diversity in Singapore
11th September 2007 16.50
by Gemma Pritchard
from Pink News, UK

A transsexual woman from Singapore has embarked on a mission to help turn around the "culture of shame" surrounding transsexuals in Singapore.

Unlike many other transsexuals in Asia who prefer to live privately because of the social stigma of sex change, British-educated Leona Lo has chosen to live a normal life, but in public.

Leona, a 32-year-old communications specialist who heads her own public relations company, told Agence France-Presse (AFP):

"Somewhere out there, not just in Singapore but throughout Asia, there are lots of young people who are suffering the way I suffered years ago."

These days, she draws on her experiences of gender identity crisis, rejection and discrimination to challenge social mores on behalf of the so-called silent community.

"It's this entire culture of shame that gets under your skin. It's not something that you can isolate and demolish because it is so much a part of our culture," she says.

While a few transsexuals are gaining prominence in Asia, notably China's Jin Xing, most continue to live in silence.

In May,a 32-year-old South Korean transsexual entertainer (Harisu), whose sex alteration led the country to change its family registry laws, married
her rapper boyfriend.

Parinya "Nong Toom" Charoenphol' s rags-to-riches story was made into a movie, Beautiful Boxer.

Former Chinese People's Liberation Army colonel and now woman Jin Xing is a prize-winning dancer and choreographer.

Discrimination is the biggest challenge faced by transsexuals, Leona says, recalling repeated rejection by prospective employers in Singapore despite her academic credentials.

"Singapore may be a cosmopolitan city, but many things are still swept under the carpet,"

No reliable figures on the number of transsexual men and women in Singapore, or the region, are available, mainly because those who feel they have been born in the wrong body prefer to endure their situation in silence rather than embarrass their families, Leona told AFP.

"It's because a lot of transsexual women face discrimination at work and experience failure of relationships that a lot end up in suicide, depression. They end up on the streets as prostitutes," she says.

This is why she has taken time away from her thriving public relations consultancy promoting beauty products to wage her campaign.

After much persuasion, one local university allowed her to speak to an audience of students but she is finding to find a way share her thoughts with the corporate world.

On September 14 she is to launch her autobiography, From Leonard to Leona: A Singapore Transsexual's Journey to Womanhood.

From Singapore, Leona plans to travel across Asia to bring her message for greater tolerance of gender diversity.

Leona says the association of transsexuals with prostitution in Singapore harks back to the 1960s when there was a flourishing culture of drag queens, including some transsexuals, on Singapore's Bugis Street.

As Singapore transformed rapidly into a modern Asian business centre, the government cracked down on Bugis Street. Transsexuals were lumped together with homosexuals, transvestites and prostitutes.

It was in this environment that Leona grew up.

"I did not think I was gay. I just felt that I was a woman trapped in a man's body," says Leona, who has a younger sister.

At age 15, Leonard discovered a book about transsexualism, which sowed the seeds of her eventual decision to undergo a sex-change operation in 1997.

"I discovered that book in the library and I said 'Oh my God! There are actually people like me!" she reminisces.

"That changed my life and I discovered that I could go for the sex change operation."

As an able-bodied man at the time, Leona entered Singapore's compulsory two-year military service at around 19.

Pressures of being forced to be "macho" during the training led to a nervous breakdown and drove her to attempt suicide by drug overdose, she says.

In 1996 Leona went to study in Britain, where a more tolerant university environment allowed her to cross-dress for a year as part of her preparation for sex-change surgery.

In 1997, she checked in to a Bangkok surgery for the operation.

"I was afraid. I could go in and I could die. But I knew at that point that I was going to change my life forever," she recalls.

"I had carried that burden within me for so long and I couldn't live anymore without doing it."

Leona endured a lot of pain during the procedure, which took 14 days, but the feeling of having a new identity was "wonderful, euphoric!" she told AFP.

She warns other transsexuals who might be considering sex change surgery that getting a new identity "is not a magic wand" and they will have to live under a culture of shame and discrimination.

Family support is crucial. Her mother was the first person she told after the operation, and her father had already learned to accept her for who she is. "By that time, they had already decided that they would rather have me as a woman than lose me as a child," she says.

She hopes now to become a wife and mother.

"I look forward to a fulfilling relationship with a loving man, getting married and adopting three children.

"I've also reached a critical juncture where I'm more self-assured and finally able to lay to rest the painful aspects of my past and move confidently as a woman."

Chill With The Anti-Texas Hateraid

One of the things I'm getting a little tired of as a proud native Texan and native Houstonian is the increasing level of anti-Texas hateraid.

Whether it's peeps chomping liberal portions of Hater Tots because of Beyonce's continued success, multitalented Jamie Foxx grabbing an Oscar and making noise in the music business, or Texans having prominent roles in sports, business and government, the hate is getting to noticeable levels.

I suspect that much of the root cause of it stems from the idiot we have in the White House. But news flash for y'all, George W. Bush was born in New Haven, CT. He is a Connecticut Yankee who resides at a pseudo ranch he bought just before the 2000 campaign started in a pitiful attempt to emulate LBJ. (He's not as smart as LBJ) The only Texans who claim his butt these days are right wing radical neo-cons and so-called Bible-thumping 'christians'.

That anti-Texas hate has even materialized in the transgender community. Last year I was about to do an appearance on Ethan's Internet radio show when the previous guest started bashing Texans. I had to spend a few minutes pointing out that much of the history of the 20th century in the United States and the world has Texans as major players in it or has Texas connections. The Roe v. Wade case has Texas roots, and so does the Lawrence v. Texas one that toppled sodomy laws in this country.

That pattern is especially true in the transgender community. Some of the early leaders like Phyllis Frye, Sarah DePalma, and Jane Ellen Fairfax were Texans. That continued into the new millennium with myself, the late Brenda Thomas and Vanessa Edwards Foster stepping up to leadership roles in various capacities. There are as of this writing five Texans including myself that have won IFGE Trinity Awards, and my win in 2006 capped a streak of three years in a row that a Texan had won it. (And for you folks from Dallas, all those wins have been by peeps residing in or from Houston.) Kat Rose, one of the transgender community's historians, writers and creative legal minds hails from the Lone Star State as well.

We Texans helped found GenderPac, It's Time America, ICTLEP (the International Center for Transgender Law and Employment Policy) and NTAC just for starters. One of the first early national transgender events was the Boulton and Park Society's Texas 'T' Party that was held in San Antonio before Southern Comfort grew to be the must attend mega convention it is today. One of the nation's best gender clinics is in Galveston and has been around since the 70's.

Texans Christie Lee Littleton and Michael Kantaras were involved in legal cases that affected our people. Fort Worth resident Rochelle Evans' fight to transition on her high school campus garnered nationwide attention earlier this year and has made other transkids aware along with Crystal Vera that they can follow in their pumps.

So the bottom line is that The Lone Star State, with three of the top ten cities in population in the US size wise inside its borders (Houston, Dallas and San Antonio) and being the second largest state in size and population, will continue to play a major role in shaping events in the transgender community and beyond for the foreseeable future.

My Memories of September 11, 2001

As many of you know, today is the sixth anniversary of the terror attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC.

Like people who remember what they were doing in my parents generation when they heard about JFK and Dr. King being assassinated, or people like myself who remember what they were doing when the Challenger exploded after liftoff in 1986, that moment in time is frozen in everyone's memories.

I was back home in Houston preparing to fly to Louisville the next day for interviews I had set up. But that morning I couldn't sleep. I kept tossing an turning to the point I finally gave up and got out of bed about 6:30 AM CDT. I flipped on the TV to Good Morning America and used it as the backdrop for checking my e-mail and typing a few chapters of my first novel I was working on.

I was alerted to the first inklings of the tragedy to unfold when Charles Gibson broke with the story of a fire being reported at the World Trade Center. That piqued my curiosity enough to make me walk into my living room, angle the TV where I could see it and go back to my bedroom to resume what I was doing on the computer.

I called my homegirl Carol Lee who lives in Yonkers to find out what she'd heard and as the story kept unfolding I gave up trying to rework that chapter in Capital Gains.

I was watching the live feed when the second plane crashed into the other tower. I knew from my airline industry time that it was a commercial bird by recognizing the profile of a 767 and that it was no accident. There are no-fly zones around mega skyscrapers like the World Trade Center set up to specifically avoid repeats of planes colliding with buildings like a plane did in 1945 with the Empire State Building.

Well, I was on the phone wih Carol for the next several hours as the rest of that terrible morning unfolded before hanging up. I thought about my last vacation visit to New York in May 2000 and how my wish to go up to the observation deck on the 110th floor would go unfulfilled. I was planning to do that during my trip but weather wouldn't permit it. The first two days I hung out with Carol it was rainy and cloudy before the skies cleared to have brilliant sunshine that Saturday. I was also waiting for a piece of my luggage to get delivered to her place that didn't arrive with me as well. I decided to blow off the trip to the WTC until my next visit.

I haven't been near the NY area since.

After confirming that the other peeps I knew in the area were safe, I thought about those previous trips to New York. No matter what part of town you were in, the imposing view of the Towers let you know you're in New York.

It's weird now when I watch movies that are set in New York and see the Towers in those shots. It's just as weird NOT seeing the Towers in the New York skyline.

God bless all the people who lost their lives in those heinous attacks, their families who are still struggling without them in their lives, and the folks who are suffering medically because they selflessly went to help their fellow human beings in a time of need.

Ebony Magazine's Top 25 Black TV Shows of All Time

In the October 2007 issue of Ebony there's an interesting article by Bryan Monroe that attempts to choose the Top 25 Black TV Shows of all time.

The Ebony editors looked at over 100 shows over 60 years of television. Some of the shows that didn't make it were Room 222, The Mod Squad, Julia, That's My Mama and Being Bobby Brown. Readers also weighed in on www.ebonyjet.com

And now, the envelope please:


1-The Cosby Show
2-A Different World
3-Living Single
4-The Jeffersons
5-In Living Color

6-The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
7-Sanford and Son
8-Martin
9-Good Times
10-Soul Train


11-Girlfriends
12-Soul Food
13-The Bernie Mac Show
14-227
15-Showtime At The Apollo

16-What's Happening
17-The Steve Harvey Show
18-Grey's Anatomy
19-Amen
20-New York Undercover


21-Fame
22-Roc
23-The Flip Wilson Show
24-The Jamie Foxx Show
25-Diff'rent Strokes and Family Matters (tie)


Top 3 Black Talk Shows or Daytime Shows
1-The Oprah Winfrey Show
2-The Arsenio Hall Show
3-Judge Mathis



Top 3 Black Animated Shows
1-Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
2-The Jackson 5ive
3-The Boondocks



The only beefs I have with the list is that Julia should have been on it, The Flip Wilson Show should have been ranked much higher than number 23, and I think Martin should have been ranked much lover than number 8. I don't think it's the same quality level as A Different World, The Cosby Show, Living Single or The Jeffersons.

But then again, I'm just now finding out about this poll.

Gotta renew my subscription to Ebony ;)

He’s My Daughter

By ELIZABETH TAI
September 9, 2007
from The Star(Malaysia)

photos-transwoman Sarika, a Malaysian transwoman entering a non-profit organization in Kuala Lumpur

Appalled by how transsexuals are generally mistreated by society and even their families, the third winner of FreedomFilmFest07 hopes to change mindsets by showing how a mother’s love and acceptance can make all the difference.

IT was an assignment that seemed straightforward enough: do a video clip on transsexuals in Malaysia for a news website. But after meeting and interviewing transsexuals and learning about their lives, Indrani Kopal, 28, could not get them out of her mind.

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English defines a transsexual as a person who feels that they should have been born the opposite sex, and therefore behaves and dresses like a member of that sex, or a person who has had a medical operation to change their sex.

In real life, that’s much harder to do. The transsexuals Indrani met told her stories of how they were harassed and abused by strangers when they walked down the street. Some were turned out by their loved ones. As a result, many became sex workers because they could not fend for themselves as no one was willing to employ them. And this led to the arrests by the police.

Indrani quickly realised that her short video clip for Malaysiakini was not enough. She kept in touch with the many transsexuals she had come to know and looked for the chance to tell their stories in a bigger and more profound way.

She first thought of highlighting the injustices faced by transsexuals, because “in the Asian region, our country is the worst for transsexuals to live in,” but that angle did not feel right nor new to Indrani.

Then, she got to know Sarika Samalakrishnan, 23, a university graduate who works in a human resource department of a company.

After hearing numerous tales of how transsexuals were turned away by their families, she was astounded to find out that Sarika’s family accepted her for who she was.

“Her mum went to the extend of buying her clothes and cosmetics! I was amazed, and thought, ‘Wow, that’s a cool mother!’ And I thought, why not document it?” said Indrani.

Indrani knew that she had found the perfect angle for her documentary.

And when the FreedomFilmFest judges received her documentary proposal, they thought the same and Indrani became one of three winners who were awarded a RM5,000 grant.

Her documentary is called She’s My Son. It wasn’t easy to juggle her busy work as a video journalist and find time to film and direct her project as well.

But nothing prepared her for the crisis that hit the production. Three weeks after pre-production in April, one of Sarika’s sisters feared that the documentary would make Sarika’s “issue” public and thus harm the chances of their younger sister getting married.

Sarika had to withdraw from the documentary.

“It was a moment of complete panic for me,” said Indrani, shuddering at the memory.

For two weeks, Indrani frantically searched for a new talent. Then Sarika introduced her to Suganya, 30.

“I wasn’t so sure about her at first. Then, at a party held by transsexuals, Suganya came to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, you will love my mother.’ And when I met Suganya’s mother Samsed, I realised that she was godsend. Everything I had in my mind, she just laid it out. She was expressive, confident, and cooperative,” said Indrani.

The relationship between Suganya and Samsed, 49, was just beautiful, she added.

When Suganya went through a sex change operation recently, the whole family celebrated it.

“It was a huge ceremony for them and they invited their relatives to the party,” said Indrani.

One thing you will not find in her documentary is religious debate because Indrani feels that the focus should be on families instead.

“The root of the problem is the family. If the family respects a transgendered child, then they will educate society (into accepting transsexuals). Why do you want to blame the authorities when you can educate the family? And who can educate the family? The media.”

The real star of the documentary, she said, is Samsed.

“I want people to know that there are mothers who accept their transsexual children,” she explained. “When I was young, I didn’t give them any attention. I thought they were normal, but I wasn’t aware of what was happening to them in society.”

Society needs to realise that transsexuals have the right to live, to have shelter, to earn money and have an education, she added.

“Even if only one person changes after the documentary, I think I’ve completed my objective,” she said.

Battlestar Galactica With Soul

TransGriot Note: Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorite shows. As a writing exercise, one day I took this scene from the miniseries, imagined that Gaius Baltar and Number Six were Black and started writing.


We're at the phat crib of Dr. Darius Baltar, scientific genius and playa-playa. He's got a honey dip in his bedroom and Number 36-24-36 is quietly watching him.

"Trick, get up," said 36-24-36.
"Who the frack are you?"
"Get the frack up out of his bed before you find out who I am."
"Darius, you gonna let her talk to me like that?"
"Sorry babe, she’s got it going on," said Darius. “I did tell you before we got busy I was seeing somebody.”
"So it’s like that, huh?”
“Yep Terri, it is.”
“My girlfriend Aisha warned me to leave your tired ass alone,” Terri said as she put her clothes on.
"Whatever tramp, get out." said 36-24-36 as Darius puts on his robe.
After Terri finished putting on her clothes, she rolled her eyes at Darius before storming out of the bedroom and slamming the door on her way out.

“Baby, I'm sorry...," he said with a contrite expression on his face.
"Spare me, Darius. I came here because I need to tell your dog ass something."
"And what's that?"
"I'm a Cylon."
"You're fracking kidding me, right?"
"No, I'm not. Didn't you notice anything unusual about me?"
"Naw baby, you’re fine as hell. But now that I think about it, there was that night I thought I saw red lights when we were doing the wild thang at the Caprica City Hilton."

He stepped back to take another good look at 36-24-36's shapely honey brown figure and hazel eyes.
“Dayum! Y'all sure have come a long way, baby. Last time I peeped Cylons y'all looked like walking chrome toasters."
"That's not all I have to tell you.”
“What? You have a sister?”
“I have many sisters. But that’s not important right now. Remember when I asked you for that little favor to look around the Colonial Fleet’s defense mainframe computers?"
"Yeah. Your point?"
"The point is that I played your pussy whipped punk azz. I needed you to help me complete my mission.”
"What mission?"
"We needed to find out what was up with the Colonial Fleet. Thanks to you I got the information I needed and sent it to the brothers and sistahs back on Cylon."
"YOU DID WHAT?" said Darius.
"I said I sent that information on the mainframe back to Cylon. Every fracking file."
"Girl, you know what they'll do to a brotha if they find out?"
"No, what?"

"They'll fry my black azz for treason."
“That’s your problem, not mine,” said 36-24-36. “What are you doing?"
"I need to call my lawyer," Darius said as he picked up his phone.
"That won't be necessary."
"What do you mean, that won't be necessary?"
"You heard me, that won’t be necessary,” said 36-24-36. “In a few hours there won't be anybody left on this planet to charge you with anything."
"What are you talking about?"
"The children humanity kicked to the curb are coming home,” said 36-24-36. “Today."

Can't Y'all Read Your Own Stylebooks?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see the recent explosion in positive coverage of transpeople by the media. I've done a few interviews and been quoted in a few articles myself.

What I have a problem with when I read or watch stories on transgender people is the continual butchering of pronouns. It has the effect when I'm reading or watching the story video of fingernails squeakily dragging across a chalkboard.

The Associated Press puts out what's called the AP Stylebook. It is considered the journalistic Bible and is updated on a regular basis. I own a copy of it that sits in a prominent place next to my computer. In addition to grammar rules, how to write properly formatted AP stories and other tidbits we writers need to know, it contains the guidelines for language and terminology use when reporting on various groups. Guidelines for reporting on GLBT peeps were adopted and added to the AP Style book for the first time in 2001. It was expanded in the 2006 edition.


From the 2006 AP Stylebook:

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

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

The New York Times and Washington Post also have stylebooks as well that contain guidelines on covering GLBT peeps. The Washington Post one as of the 2006 edition doesn't have a paragraph in it covering transgender people. In the New York Times one, last published in 2005, it has this to say about transgender people:

transgender; is an overall term for people whose current identity differs from their sex at birth, whether or not they have changed their biological characteristics. Cite a person's transgender status only when it is pertinent and its pertinence is clear to the reader. Unless a former name is newsworthy or pertinent, use the name and pronouns (he, his, she, her, hers) preferred by the transgender person. If no preference is known, use the pronouns consistent with the way the subject lives publicly.

GLAAD even has a downloadable Media Reference Guide, now in its 7th edition that has a transgender glossary of terms and how to cover us.

But it seems like it's pulling teeth just to get peeps to implement these stylebook rules. The gay media at one point were the worst offenders about using incorrect pronouns to report on our lives with one egregious example of it being the notorious article Boston's Bay Windows ran in the wake of the November 1998 death of Rita Hester.

The anger over Rita's mischaracterization in the Bay Windows and Boston Globe articles eventually became the spark that started the Transgender Day of Remembrance vigils that now happen around the world.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen reports in which the person is obviously living their life as a female and they are referred to throughout the story with an old male name, called a 'transsexual male', or the male pronoun is used to describe them.

One of the things that irritated me about the coverage of transgender prom queen Crystal Vera a few months ago was the constant use of her old name when it was blatantly obvious there was a girl standing in front of those cameras.

In this recent story detailing the problems high school freshman and transwoman Vladimir Moran Miller has had with the Springfield. MO Public Schools over dress code, the incorrect pronouns just jumped out at me. And oh, did anyone think to ask the question whether this person has a femme name? It's obvious she's living as female, so that would be one of the first questions I'd ask.

But then again I'm a transperson. When it comes to some peeps in this country they are still in education mode when it comes to us, so we need to ensure that the story is as accurate as possible.

Is it gonna kill media peeps to ask just a few more questions in order to get a more accurate story when it comes to transpeople?

Miss Continental 2008

For some people, Labor Day means a last chance to relax, chill out, chow down on some barbecue and enjoy the last days of summer. It means seeing the Jerry Lewis telethon on TV. But for peeps involved in the pageant community, Labor Day means it's time to roll into Chicago for the Miss Continental Pageant. It's one I've always wanted to attend for years, and this year's pageant was held September 2 and 3 in Chicago's Park West Theatre.

The winner was Necole Luv Dupree. The 2007-2008 first alternate was Armani, with Alexis Gabrielle Sherrington as second alternate. Necole has a long list of pageant titles to her credit and was first alternate in last year's Miss Continental Pageant.

The Miss Continental Pageant is considered the creme de la creme of the transgender pageant world. It got its start in 1980, when Jim Flint, the owner of Chicago's Baton Show Lounge organized a pageant for female illusionists who couldn't compete in the Miss Gay USofA or Miss Gay America systems because they banned the use of female hormones, silicone injections below the neck or breast implants. Ironically, its first winner, Chilli Pepper was a classic drag artist, but over time transwomen came to dominate this system.

Unlike the mainstream Miss Universe or Miss America systems, it didn't take sistahs long to make their marks in this pageant world. In 1982 Tiffany Arieagus became the first African-American winner of the Miss Continental title. In fact, Necole is the ninth sistah to win the Miss Continental pageant and the third in a row since 2005-06. Other African-American winners have been Lakeisha Lucky, Cezanne, Paris Frantz, Tasha Long, Tommie Ross, Domanique Shappelle, and last year's winner Victoria LePaige, the first Chicago native to win the title.

Twenty-seven years later, the pageant has grown into a system that conducts preliminary contests across the United States, in Canada (Toronto) and Puerto Rico (San Juan). The Miss Continental title is considered a crowning achievement for anyone who's in the pageant world. Some legendary names have won this title that include my fellow Texan Erica Andrews, fellow Houstonian Tommie Ross and Domanique Shappelle.

So all hail the new queen of the Miss Continental world for 2007-08, Necole Love Dupree.

New Century, Same Old Bull***t

The more things chamge, the old saying goes, the more things remain the same.

It seems like every year, especially in ones when Republicans are in power, we African-Americans get a wake up call as to just how entrenched racism is in American society, how far we STILL have to go to overcome it, and just how racist and jacked-up our legal system is, especially in the Deep South.

I've been keeping tabs on an unfolding story in Jena, Louisiana. It's a town of 2,971 residents northeast of Alexandria in the central part of the state. It's the parish seat of LaSalle Parish (parishes are what counties are called in Louisiana)and Jena's population breakdown is 85% white, 12% Black

Believe it or not, this travesty of justice started because of a shade tree. In the summer of 2006 an African-American student named Kenneth Purvis asked school administrators for permission to sit under the 'white tree' in the front of the Jena High School campus. It had been 'tradition' and the unspoken rule that this particular shade tree was reserved for only white students to sit under during breaks and at lunch. The school's vice principal told Purvis there was nothing stopping them from doing it, so the next day several Black students sat under the tree.

The day after the Black kids sat under the 'white tree',three ropes in school colors were hanging from the tree tied with hangman's nooses. The three white students responsible for the stunt were facing expulsion, but the school board overruled the principal. Most whites in Jena dismissed it as a 'youthful prank'.

That 'youthful prank' as they put it has long, bitter memories for African-Americans. It triggered a series of events that escalated racial tensions in the town to the boiling point.

Incensed about the three day in-school suspension given to the noose hangers, several African-American students, including a few star players on the Jena High football team staged a sit-in under the 'white tree'.

The principal reacted to the sit-in by bringing in 28th Judicial District DA Reed Walters and ten police officers to a school assembly which was a throwback to the bad old Jim Crow days-blacks on one side of the auditorium, whites on the other. Walters is described as turning to the Black students during this assembly and reportedly telling them to "keep their mouths shut about the boys hanging their nooses up. If he hears anything else about it, he can make their lives go away with the stroke of his pen."

Police officers patrolled the Jena High School campus for a week and kept the simmering racial tensions at bay for a while. But on November 30 the school's main building was burned to the ground in an arson fire.

That fire blew the lid off the racial tensions seething below the surface.

On December 1 African-American football player Robert Bailey was invited to a dance at a hall considered to be 'white'. When he arrived he was sucker punched in the face, knocked to the ground and attacked by several white youth. Only one of Bailey's attackers was arrested. That person was given probation and asked to apologize to Bailey.

The next day a 22 year old white man and two of his friends pulled a loaded shotgun on Bailey and his two friends while they were at a local gas station. The black youths wrestled the gun away from the white male to prevent him from using it and took off.

Incredibly, Bailey was arrested and charged with theft of a firearm and disturbing the peace. The whites who instigated the event were not prosecuted.

Then on December 4 the fateful fight jumped off. When white student Justin Barker began taunting Robert Bailey about getting beat up that weekend, it jumped off a fight that sent Barker to the hospital. Barker was later seen socalizing a few hours later. Barker was later arrested for carrying a gun to school.

Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Mychal Bell, and a still unidentified minor were arrested, charged with attempted second degree manslaughter (a felony) and conspiracy to commit murder. Those charges carry a potential sentence of up to 80 years in prison. The sixth faces undisclosed juvenile charges.

They were also expelled from school. The Jena 6 as they have come to be called, have been in jail for months awaiting trial because of the outrageously high bails that were set that ranged from $70,000-$138,000.

$70,000-$138,000 bail for a schoolyard fight.

Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena 6 to go to trial, was convicted by an all-white jury in a court run by a white judge on the testimony of 16 white people. His public defender called no witnesses to testify on his behalf. He's set to be sentenced on September 20 and is facing 22 years in prison.

“There’s been obvious racial discrimination in this case,” said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“It appears that the black students were singled out and targeted in this case for some unusually harsh treatment.”

The case is getting international attention and is just now being picked up by the US media, although Jet and Ebony magazines (as usual) were ahead of the US media curve.

I wonder if they're going to come down on DA Reed Walters and disbar him for abuse of power like they did to the North Carolina DA in the Duke Lacrosse case. Unlike the Duke kids, these kids lives and reputations are being ruined because they dared to stand up and defend themselves against bigotry and racist attacks.

It's interesting to note that the conservatives who were loudly defending the Duke players and railing about the miscarriage of justice in that case have been silent on this one. Where are the money-grubbing ministers of the Lo Impact Misleadership Coalition? Can't stop hatin' on gay peeps long enough to join Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse and the rest of Black America in fighting for the freedom of the Jena 6?

Last month Rev. Al Sharpton told a press conference in the town that the case of the Jena 6 “speaks to a South we thought we left in the last century”.

All this drama because some white folks in Jena are pissed because some 'uppity nigras' dared to sit under a damned tree.

Lynnell Stephani Long

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

Lynnell Stephani Long is a trailblazer in her own right. I first became aware of her during the summer of 1999 when I was part of the activist team putting together NTAC. She was 'ejumacating' us on intersex issues. I traded e-mail with her for a while before we lost contact with each other.

She's a voice for a community that many African-Americans aren't aware exists, the intersex one.

According to ISNA, the Intersex Society of North America, about one in every 1500 children is born with genitalia ambiguous enough to call in a sex differentiation specialist.

Lynnell was one of those kids. She was born in Chicago on June 11, 1963 with ambiguous genitalia. After being surgically altered by doctors she was raised male most of her life. She went through major drama in her life until she saw ISNA's Cheryl Chase on TV in 1997 and discovered she was intersex. She eventually met Cheryl Chase at a 1999 GenderPac Lobby Day (how did I miss meeting both of them?) and began working with the organization by telling her story about growing up Black and intersex.

As any transperson can tell you, being outside the norms in the Black community can be a pain in the ass, and being an intersex child wasn't easy for her. As she wrote in a 2003 BLACKlines article,

"Growing up in an all-Black community and going to an all-Black high school was rough as hell. While a lot of the other boys walked around nude, proud of the size of their penis, I tried my best to hide. Hiding didn’t stop the questions though. Questions like, “Why is your penis so small? Why do you have breasts? What are you, a boy or a girl?”

She also states that African-Americans need to educate themselves on intersex issues. "There isn’t any one thing an organization like ISNA can do to help the Black community, except make sure information is available. I strongly believe people of color need to educate themselves."

"We need to step outside myths and stereotypes. If a child is born with a small penis, that child may be Intersex. If a girl is born with an enlarged clitoris, chances are she is Intersex. There is nothing to be ashamed about. There is no reason to hide the child or try to get that child fixed unless the child needs medical treatment."

She does her part to educate us by writing columns for various magazines, her website, appearing twice on the Montel Williams Show, doing performance art, and telling her story. She's a member of ISNA's Speakers Bureau and has spoken in the Chicago area and across the United States and Canada on ending intersex genital mutilation.

Lynnell's doing her part to let us know that intersex issues aren't just a 'white thang'.

A Slice of African-American Transgender History

An exhibit entitled Carryin' On concluded yesterday at the Warhol Musuem in Pittsburgh, PA that I wish I'd known about sooner.

I was perusing Frank Leon Roberts' blog (don't know as of yet if we're related) and it mentioned a photo exhibit of GLBT themed work from Warhol, African photographer Samuel Fosso and Charles 'Teenie' Harris.

Andy Warhol in 1975 created a series of paintings, prints and collage studies titled Ladies and Gentlemen utilizing a number of New York City drag queens. Warhol sent assistants to the Gilded Grape, a bar on West 45th Street often frequented by Black and Hispanic transpeople to recruit models for the series.

Charles 'Teenie' Harris (1909-1998) was a photographer for the highly influential Pittsburgh Courier, one of the largest African-American newspapers at the time. This particular series of Harris’ work showcased in the just concluded exhibit celebrates Black GLBT life in Pittsburgh’s Hill District from the 1930’s through 1950’s.

During Harris' 40-year career with the Pittsburgh Courier he produced an estimated collection of 80,000 images. He earned the nickname 'One Shot Harris' based on his legendary reputation he gained for his ability to snap the picture and leave, requiring just one take to capture the essence of his subject. This archive represents the largest single collection of photographic images of any Black community in the US. This series along with the entire Harris collection is part of the Carnegie Museum of Arts collection

Scholar Frank Leon Roberts is carrying on the tradition with his photos of the ballroom community that he posts on his blog. If you saw Paris Is Burning and wondered if the community still exists, the answer after perusing his blog is an emphatic yes.

I was aware that the ball houses have spread up and down the East coast, into the Midwest and LA has chapters, but I was shocked to discover after I moved here that Louisville has ball houses. I was dismayed to find out after I moved from my beloved hometown that an active ballroom community has sprung up there and in Dallas.

Chicago had their own legendary Finnie's Ball that started in 1935. It was an eagerly anticipated event on Chicago's South Side that took place until the 80's. The balls were even covered by the Chicago Defender, Jet and Ebony (until 1953) magazines.

The just concluded exhibit helps drive home two points that I've been making for several years now. The African-American GLBT community just didn't spring up out of thin air. We've always been part of the African-American family and we have a history. The ballroom community that Frank documents sprang from the elaborate drag balls that were conducted during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's.

The other point is that we're here, we've always been part of the African-American family and aren't going away.

We're Going To Beijing!

Team USA won the FIBA Americas Tournament today by mauling Argentina in the gold medal game 118-81. As the champions of the FIBA Americas Zone they have qualified for the Olympics next year. The silver medallist Argentine team also qualified and for a team that was missing the San Antonio Spurs Manu Ginobili they exceeded expectations.

The only upset Team USA suffered was Argentina's (and future Houston Rocket) Luis Scola winning the Molten Tournament MVP trophy. The Puerto Ricans beat the Brazilians in a 111-107 thriller to take the bronze medal.

Team USA got off to a fast start and never looked back. They were up 35-14 after the first quarter and 59-37 at the half. Lebron James finshed with 31 points, Dwight Howard with 20, Carmelo Anthony with 16 and Tayshaun Prince contributed 13 off the bench.

Team USA went unbeaten in this tournament to take the gold medal. They served notice to the rest of the world that USA men's basketball is back. They looked like the number one ranked team in the FIBA world rankings.

The scary part for the rest of the world is that we didn't have ALL of our best players on the floor either. Dwyane Wade was watching from the stands. Kevin Garnett wasn't there. Shaq...you get the drift.

I hope the unselfish team ball, torrid shooting and suffocating defense Team USA displayed in Las Vegas doesn't stay there and we see a replay next summer in Beijing.

The Williams Sisters Are Dominating The US Open

The Williams sisters are still administering tennis beatdowns to the 2007 US Open women's field. They are on track to meet each other in the semifinals. (what genius set up this draw?)

Venus has been on a roll since the US Open started on August 27. She took out Kira Nagy 6-2, 6-1 in the first round, sent Ioana Raluca Olaru packing with a 6-4, 6-2 butt kicking, quickly eliminated Alona Bondarenko in the third round 6-1, 6-2 and polished off the No. 5 world ranked Ana Ivanovic in a Sunday afternoon matchup at Arthur Ashe Stadium 6-4, 6-2.

Baby sis has had to work a little harder, but she's been just as impressive. In her first round match Serena beat Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-5, took out Maria Elena Camerin 7-5, 6-2, had to work to beat Vera Zvonareva 6-4,7-6 (7-4) and defeated 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-4.

The sistas are looking dominant, kicking butt and taking names. Hopefully one of them will be taking home the US Open championship trophy later this week.

Kickin' Knowledge-Transsexualism 101

I've been writing this TransGriot blog for almost three years and it just occured to me that I haven't written a post breaking down the basics of what transsexuality is (or isn't).

So ring the bell, school is about to be in session.

There will be a pop quiz after I'm done ;)

In order to understand what a transperson goes through, I'll have to get four basic concepts across to you loyal TransGriot readers. Those concepts are: gender assignment, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.

To get this party started, I'm going to ask you TransGriot readers four questions.

1-What was the gender/sex you were assigned at birth?

2-Do you personally recognize yourself as a male or a female?

3-Do you express yourself in a predominately masculine or feminine gender role?

4-Do you find men or women sexually attractive?

The answer you gave to the first question is your gender assignment.

The answer you gave to the second question is your gender identity.

The answer you gave to the third question is your gender expression.

The answer you gave to the fourth question is your sexual orientation.

Gender assignment relates to the day you were born. The doctor took one look between your legs to see if you had the hole or the pole. You are declared male or female and checking M or F boxes on forms based on that cursory examination, your birthdate and other criteria to establish what becomes your legal identity.

Gender identity is simply your internal sense of which gender team you belong to, the boys or the girls. It starts developing as early as 2 to 3 years of age.

Gender expression is how we present ourselves to the world. It's how we use the culturally defined characteristics of male or female based on clothing, speech patterns, body decorations and body language. Sometimes male or female peeps will blend characteristics from the opposite gender androgynously.

Sexual orientation is simply whether you are gay, straight or bi.

One major point I want to get across is that your sexual orientation and your gender identity are two separate and distinct issues. I know some transwomen who are still attracted to women, some transmen who still like guys and vice versa. There are even some who like both or some who could give a rat's anus about sex period. (but that's a discussion I'll save for another post)

Gender identity is assumed to be consistent with our birth gender/sex assignment. In other words, if you're born with a penis, society expects you to develop a male gender identity. If you're born with a vagina, society expects you to develop a female gender identity.

However, there are some of us that don't fit that assumption. Some peeps born with male genitalia grow up developing a female gender identity. Conversely, there are peeps with female genitalia who grow up developing a male gender identity. There are also peeps with ambiguous genitalia called intersexed people. (and that deserves another separate stand alone post as well.)

That mismatch is what medical professionals calls "transsexualism". The peeps with this medically diagnosed issue are called transsexuals.

TRANSSEXUAL FEMALES
(male-to-female transsexuals, transsexual girls/women, transwomen)

born with a male body
assigned as male at birth
have a female gender identity

TRANSSEXUAL MALES
(female-to-male transsexuals, transsexual boys/men, transman)

born with a female body
assigned as female at birth
have a male gender identity

While no one knows the exact cause of transsexualism, current medical knowledge, the weight of scientific research and accumulated evidence leans towards a biological cause with many contributing factors.

One theory is that during a crucial stage of fetal development, the brain undergoes a hormone wash that masculinizes or feminizes the brain. If there's an abundance of testosterone you end up with a male brain. If there's minimal testosterone you develop a female brain.

Autopsies performed on deceased transwomen over the last decade have increasingly verified that their brains are equivalent in size to genetic female brains. The reverse is true for transmen.

Transsexuals have a deep and overwhelming desire to reject the gender to which they were assigned at birth. They wish to live their lives as members of their perceived gender identity, express it and be socially recognized as how they perceive themselves.

Gender transition is the journey we undertake to make that happen. The process can start at an early age or when people are older.

It includes taking on a name associated with the opposite gender, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to develop secondary sex characteristics, surgical procedures to further feminize or masculinize one's body and legally changing one's documents to reflect their gender identity on their identification papers, and dressing and presenting oneself in the manner associated with the opposite gender.


Some urban legends about transsexuality are:

*A transwoman is a male homosexual who wants to be a woman and a transman is a lesbian who wants to be a man.

A gay male has a masculine gender identity and a lesbian has a feminine gender identity. Gay males are attracted to other gay males and lesbians are attracted to other lesbians.

I repeat, gender identity and sexual orientation are two different issues. Don't get it twisted.

*A transwoman is a cross dresser.

While we both wear feminine clothing, we do it for different reasons. Crossdressers enjoy or maintain their masculinity and dress for fetishistic or other reasons. A transwoman rejects masculinity and is wearing feminine clothing to match her gender identity.

*A transsexual is just someone who has undergone sex reassgnment surgery.

Contrary to popular beliefs, transsexuals are not just people who have already had SRS. Some transsexuals for medical or financial reasons are unable to have surgery. A transmen's surgical options aren't as satisfying to them, are expensive and they often forgo them. SRS is just one option available to a transperson who wishes to have their physical body match their gender identity.

Class is dismissed. ;)