I'm The ENDA Bill

sung to the tune of 'I'm Just A Bill' from ABC's Schoolhouse Rock
Music & Original Lyrics by Dave Frishberg
Performed by Jack Sheldon, 1975



You sure gotta climb a lotta steps to get to this Capitol Building here in Washington. But I wonder who that sad little scrap of paper is?


I'm the ENDA bill
Yes I'm the ENDA Bill
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill



It's been a long hard road
To the capital city
HRC and some gays have been acting real shitty
But I know I'll be a law someday
Oh how and hope and pray that I will
But today I'm still the ENDA bill

Gee, bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage.

Well, I got this far. When I started, I wasn't even a bill - I was just an idea. Some folks back home decided they wanted a law passed, so they called their local congressman and he "You're right, there ought to be a law." Then he sat down and wrote me out and introduced me to Congress, and I became a bill. And I'll remain a bill until they decide to make me a law.


I'm the ENDA bill
Yes I'm the ENDA bill
And I got as far as Capitol Hill
I'm waiting for Congress and Barney Frank
To determine my fate
While gays and trannies
Fight, cuss and debate
Is gender identity in the bill today?
Oh how I hope and pray that it is
But today I'm still the ENDA bill


Listen to those congressmen arguing! Is all that discussion and debate about you?

Yes. I'm one of the lucky ones. Most bills never even get this far. I hope they decide to report on me favorably, otherwise I may die.
Die?
Yeah, die in committee.

Oooh! But it looks like I'm gonna live. Now I go to the House of Representatives and they vote on me.
If they vote "yes", what happens?
Then I go to the Senate and the whole thing starts all over again.
Oh no!
Oh yes!

I'm the ENDA bill
Yes I'm the ENDA bill
And if they vote for me on Capitol Hill
Well then it's off to the White House
Where I'll wait for some time
The fundies will tell Bush
"This ENDA one you don't sign"
No override I won't become a law
Oh how I hope and pray that I will
But today I'm still the ENDA bill

You mean even if the whole Congress says you should be a law, the President can still say no?

Yes, that's called a "veto". If the President vetoes me, I have to go back to Congress, and they vote on me again, and by that time it's...

By that time, it's very unlikely that you'll become a law. It's not easy to become a law, is it?

No, But how I hope and pray that I will
But today I'm still the ENDA bill

T’was the Night Before ENDA

Guest Post by Monica F. Helms
Based on the poem by Clement Clarke Moore

T’was the night before ENDA and all through the House
Not a Congress Critter was stirring, especially The Mouse.
Our prayers all hung on the votes that would appear,
In hopes that the Baldwin Amendment would soon be here.

The trans people were anxious, all snug in there beds,
While visions of employment danced in their heads.
And Air Monica in her ‘kerchief and I in my Navy cap.
None of us were ready for the upcoming slap.

When out of the House there arose such a clatter,
I sprang to my computer to see what was the matter.
Away to the MS Windows I flew like the Flash,
Tore open my Outlook and pulled up my stash.

The light from my screen looked like new-fallen snow
Gave a falsehood of hope from my E-mails below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
The death of ENDA from the Congress’ big queer.

This little old Rep was so vile that it stank,
I knew in a moment it must be Barney Frank.
More rapid than eagles his hate it came,
And he blustered, and shouted, and called us nasty names!

“Now Drag Queens! now, She-males! now, transvestites and such!
It was easy to tell he hated us so much.
The words he used showed contempt and disgust.
That removing us from ENDA to him was a must.

As dry leaves that before the California fires fly,
Frank burned down our hopes of jobs with a lie.
So up to the House his hate of us flew
With a folder of false facts, and Speaker Pelosi too.

And then, in a twinkle, I heard from the House
That Frank was skulking, just like a mouse.
The Baldwin Amendment he said they should pass
But, behind our backs, he was kicking our ass.

Dressed in Armani from his head to his toe,
He was the darling of rich gay men wherever he’d go.
A bundle of promises he had packed in his case,
With a sinister grin splashed across his face.


His eyes how evil! his voice how scary!
And when he was angry, he would explode like Carrie.
He would proclaim his superiority wherever he’d go,
And the hair on his head was as white as the snow.

His face would fume when he would grit his teeth,
And everyone he saw, he would give them grief.
He had a broad face and an overstuffed belly,
That shook when he screamed, like a bowlful of KY Jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right evil old elf,
And I had to laugh, because he’s so full of himself!
A squint of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had everything to dread.

He spoke a bunch of words, and went “straight” to work,
And took trans people out of ENDA, just like a jerk.
And sticking his middle finger up into the air,
He told 300 groups that he really didn’t care.

He sprang to his office, to HRC he gave a whistle,
And the way they all flew like a nuclear missile.
But I heard him scream, “ENDA is all mine!”
“And you ain’t even getting it in Two-Thousand and Nine!”




Monica F. Helms is the founding president of the Transgender American Veterans Association and the creator of the Transgender Pride flag. She was honored with an IFGE Trinity Award in 2003

I Got My Rights-Forget Y'all

One of the things that will make me go straight the hell off is when people utter the statement "I got my rights. I don't need to lobby nationally". I hear this far too often from many GLBT people who live in areas that have local or state protective laws. When you ask them to help us lobby on a national level, they'll look at you disdainfully and say, "Why?"

Why? Let me break it down to you why you peeps who are fortunate enough to live in areas where your rights are covered need to get off your asses and help the folks that don't.

While I reside in Louisville, which has a local GLBT protective law along with Lexington and Covington, other parts of the state don't. Henderson, KY passed one in 1999 but had it rescinded a year later when one of the members of the narrow 3-2 pro-GLBT rights majority on the Henderson city council retired. He was replaced by a member of the Forces of Intolerance which flipped the 3-2 majority to the anti-GLBT crowd.

In 2004 we had to pick ourselves up one month after a devastating defeat in the anti-marriage equality amendment battle and fight tooth and nail in Louisville just to keep our Fairness law on the books.

Every year in Frankfort we have to fight a bill a right-wing Republican state legislator is proposing that would take away a city's ability to enact civil rights law, reserve that power for the state level and ivalidate the inclusive laws we painstakingly passed at the city level.

And please don't send me any comments that say,"Why don't you move to (insert your inclusive city/state here), then you'll have rights?" Been there, done that.

As much as I like Louisville, it isn't home. Texas is my birth state, Houston is my hometown and my family's roots on my father's side in the Lone Star State predate the Civil War. But because my hometown only protects transgender employment for city employees, I made the reluctant decision to relocate.

But why should people have to move to get their rights? Transpeople live in other areas besides northern and southern California, the Northeast Corridor, the Pacific Northwest and Chicagoland. We have people that live in the reddest of red states, like it and no offense to you peeps that live there, have a variety of personal reasons why they would rather not live in Massachusetts or California.

So shouldn't they be able to live in the areas that appeal to them and have their constitutional rights protected and respected?

To get those rights, since hell will freeze over before some 'flyover country' state legislatures pass GLBT inclusive laws, the only alternative in the rest of the country is to have those rights codified at the federal level.

We need help. For example, you Californians have the largest Congressional delegation with 52 members, but we rarely see you, much less anyone west of the Mississippi River besides Texans, Arizonans or the occasional person from Colorado at national lobby days on a consistent basis.

It would be extremely helpful to the transgender rights cause if you Westerners helped your fellow transpeople east of the Mississippi and not only showed up for a Washington lobby day in force, but hit your local offices, meet with your congressmembers at local events, develop a relationship with them and call them up when we need you to. It's one thing for those of us who are participating in these lobby days to show up in these offices, but there's nothing that impresses a congressmember more than a constituent who took the time and made the effort, especially from Western states to come to DC to chat with the member about issues that concern them.

As a minority, you have to think nationally and globally. You have to be vigilant on aything that may remotely affect your civil rights. We African-Americans know all too well how fragile civil rights are in the face of determined opposition to gaining those rights. Everything affects you on one level or another even if it's not happening in your backyard. That's why people from as far away as California were part of the 40,000 people who showed up in Jena, LA for that September 20 protest.

John F. Kennedy once said in a nationally televised speech on civil rights in June 1963, "When we give rights to others, we expand rights for ourselves."

Think of it this way. By getting more involved in helping an inclusive federal ENDA to pass for example, you'll expand rights for yourselves. You'll have an extra layer of protection for the inevitable day that the Forces of Intolerance try to take away your local civil rights laws. You'll also be helping your brothers and sisters in conservative-dominated states enjoy the same rights you have.

Monica's Recipe For A Phenomenal Transwoman

3 cups of faith
2 cups of fortitude
1 cup of courage
1/2 cup of fashion sense
1 cup of divatude
2 cups of estrogen
1 cup of progesterone
1 cup of pride
3 cups of broad-based knowledge
2 cups of healthy self-esteem
1 cup of self-love
1 cup of sisterhood
1 cup of patience
A pinch of flava
Add surgical enhancement to individual taste

Sprinkle a sense of humor into the mixture and stir well. Yields one Phenomenal Transwoman when done.

This recipe does not use any self-hatred, shame and guilt, or silicone

Call For Transsexual Narratives

From Julia Serrano

I am currently working on a paper (which I plan to submit to a peer-reviewed psychology journal) that challenges psychologist Ray Blanchard’s causal theory of “autogynephilia” (which has recently gained attention via J. Michael Bailey’s book The Man Who Would be Queen). This theory posits that all transsexual women who are not exclusively attracted to men transition to female because we are sexually aroused by the idea of being or becoming women. Many trans women (including myself) find this theory to be flawed because it mistakenly confuses/conflates sexual orientation, gender expression, subconscious sex and sex embodiment, and it unnecessarily sexualizes the motives of countless trans women who transition to female for reasons other than sexual arousal.

To refute the assumption that lesbian/bisexual/“asexual” trans women are the *only* transsexuals who experience pre-transition fantasies about being/becoming their identified sex, I am hoping to collect applicable narratives from the following groups:

1) FTM transsexuals: narratives that discuss/describe any pre-transition sexual fantasies you may have experienced that primarily centered on you physically being or becoming male rather than on the physique of another person.

2) MTF transsexuals who are exclusively attracted to men: narratives that discuss/describe any pre-transition sexual fantasies you may have experienced that primarily centered on you physically being or becoming female rather than on the physique of another person.

To refute the assumption that “autogynephilic” fantasies *cause* transsexuality, I am hoping to collect applicable narratives from MTF transsexuals who are lesbian, bisexual or “asexual” in orientation and who:

1) were stereotypically feminine and girl-identified as young children and transitioned during late teens/early adulthood

2) never experienced pre-transition sexual fantasies that primarily centered on physically being or becoming female

3) did experience such fantasies, but only after consciously recognizing/realizing that you wanted to be female

4) regularly engaged in such fantasies pre-transition, but then experienced a sharp decline or a complete absence in those fantasies over time. (Note: if you fall into category #4, please include any reasons/explanations as to why such fantasies no longer arouse or appeal to you).

Narratives should briefly describe the pertinent details in 1 to 4 short paragraphs. There is no need to be overly graphic or detailed - just the basic facts will suffice. Please be sure to include the age at which you first became aware of your cross-gender identity/desire to be the other sex, and the age at which you first experienced such fantasies (if applicable). Narratives that are germane to the points I wish to make will be compiled onto a single webpage that will be used as supplemental data for my article. I can assure you that YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFO WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED OR SHARED WITH ANYONE. Obviously, other people will be reading these narratives, so be sure to omit any unimportant info that you feel might place your anonymity in jeopardy (e.g., where you live or work, names of partners, etc.)

For those interested, please send your narrative to me at hi@juliaserano.com - be sure to paste the narrative into the body of the email (no attachments please). Along with the narrative, please include the following information:

1) whether you are an MTF or FTM transsexual
2) whether you are sexually oriented toward men, women, both or neither
3) a statement along the following lines: “I certify that all of the provided information is true to the best of my knowledge, and I give Julia Serano permission to permanently post this narrative on her website and to include and/or excerpt it in her forthcoming article.”

The purpose of my article is not to discount or discredit trans women who self-identify as autogynephilic, but rather to finally take into account the experiences of the many trans women for whom sexual arousal was not a primary motivation for transitioning. In other words, this study aims to clarify the psychological literature on this matter, not to distort it further. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that you be completely honest and open in the information you provide. If I have reason to suspect that any narrative I receive is fabricated, I will not include it.

Feel free to cross-post this call for narratives on any trans-focused websites/email lists at your discretion. It is also available on the web at this link: http://www.juliaserano.com/artifactualAG.html

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at hi@juliaserano.com

Thanks in advance!
-julia

The Calm Before The Storm

We're 24 hours away from D-Day. The US House will be taking a vote on a bill tomorrow that will either be inclusive or be the first civil rights bill in history in which a wide majority of the people it's intended to help not only don't want it, but will leave out entire sections of the community.

While I can't predict which way the votes will go on the Baldwin Amendment and HR 3685 itself, I can say with certainty that the aftermath will be ugly not only for the GLB community but the transgender one as well.

And the sad thing about this mess is that it didn't have to happen. If Bush isn't going to sign ANY ENDA bill, then why wouldn't Rep. Frank leave HR 2015 alone?

Pehaps he and his like minded Mattachine transphobes feared the same thing I fear now about a non-inclusive ENDA passing. That Bush just to be contrary, will sign it anyway assuming it gets through the Senate.

I hope that some senator will see the wisdom of not leaving the transgender community out if the Baldwin Amendment fails and Frank's Folly passes the House without us in it.

Open Letter To The CBC

Dear Congressional Black Caucus,
When the 110th Congress was gaveled into session back in January it made history on many fronts. The members of the CBC for the first time would not only chair many subcommittees, but important committees such as Ways and Means and Judiciary.

An African-American would serve as the Majority Whip for the first time in a decade. It would even include not only its first representative from Minnesota, but that representative would be a Muslim as well. And the thing I am most proud of is that a CBC member of the Senate is not only running for president, but has a serious shot to win the Democratic party nomination for the job next year as well.

Yes, the CBC has come a long way since its founding in 1971 and it's not called the 'Conscience of the Congress' for nothing.

So as an African-American who happens to be transgender, I would like to appeal to that conscience and humbly ask why some members of the CBC aren't voting to expand civil rights to their fellow African-Americans who happen to be transgender.

I'm not naive to politics. I'm a student of history who is painfully aware of our tortured history in this country and how long it took civil rights for African-Americans to pass.

But I fail to understand why some CBC members are balking at expanding rights to people who desperately need them in the name of 'pragmatic politics'. There are over 300 organizations including the National Black Justice Coalition and the International Federation of Black Prides that support an inclusive ENDA.

I understand that the misguided ministers of the Hi Impact Leadership Coalition and others in Congress are placing tremendous pressure on some of you to vote NO not only on the Baldwin Amendment that would fix the problems in Rep. Barney Frank's HR 3685, but on HR 3685 as well.

But looking at our history, you can well understand why as an African-American transperson I'm imploring you to vote YES on the Baldwin Amendment and include people in this legislation that should have never been cut out of it in the first place.

Over 70% of the people listed on the Remembering our Dead List, which memorializes victims of anti-transgender violence are African-American or other people of color. Many of you were in Washington when Tyra Hunter was denied emergency medical treatment by an African-American EMT and subsequently at DC General that would have saved her life. The hate for transgender people is so palpable that several years ago Willie Houston, an African-American who was helping a man cross a Nashville street was shot and killed because he happened to be holding his wife's purse at the time.

I thank the CBC for standing tall on the hate crimes bill that passed the House May 3 and I and others expressed that sentiment to many of the CBC offices I was able to visit then. But what is more vitally important to transgender people like myself is having job protections.

It does me no good to have hate crimes protection if someone feels that they have a God given 'special right' to mess with my employment, fire me because I transitioned, or deny me or any person gay or straight a job we have the qualifications to do because we don't fit their impressions of how a man or woman is supposed to act, walk, talk or look.

I have already felt the sting of employment discrimination because I'm transgender. I need a roof over my head, food to eat, and clothes on my back. I have to earn money to pay for those necessities of life and that requires a job. Since medical care at the moment is tied up in gainful employment as well, an inclusive ENDA is a life or death issue to us.

The late Barbara Jordan, a fellow Texan, one of my heroes and a distinguished member of the Congressional Black Caucus once stated,

"One thing is clear to me: We, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves."

As a transgender American of African descent that's all I and any other transperson is asking for. All we want is an expansion of the 'We, the People' in the Constitution to include us. All we are asking for is an opportunity to be able to use our talents to work and live our lives free of harassment. All we want is an equitable opportunity to do our part to help build our country. Because the Forces of Intolerance are arrayed against us now, we can't wait decades for a separate transgender-only ENDA to pass.

In short, we're asking for nothing more than you would want for yourselves or your children: First-class citizenship.

Whether we get that will be determined in large part by the actions of the Democratic Party and the members of 'the Conscience of the Congress.'

Since the CBC's founding you have never failed to lead on civil rights issues before. Please don't let failing to expand civil rights protection for transgender Americans become the first stain on that impressive and morally principled record.

Sincerely yours,
Monica Roberts
2006 IFGE Trinity Award Winner

The Chicago Trip

Hey TransGriot readers,
Finally woke up after getting into Louisville at 2 AM EDT from our trip to Chicago for the Remenyck Open fencing tournament. To be precise, we were in Evanston, IL on the picturesque Northwestern University campus.

AC, Dawn amd I were in a familiar position. We're climbing into some kind of vehicle and about to roll on an interstate highway. With the tune of the Blues Brothers version of Sweet Home Chicago dancing in my head, we shoved off at 8:15 AM EDT and headed north on I-65 for the 5 hour trip to Chicago.

The picturesque section of I-65 between Louisville and Indy I've done numerous times since I've moved up here and I love the scenery. For you shoppers, there are outlet malls on this stretch as well. I've even been to the IU-Bloomington campus, but this was the first time I was going to be travelling the section between Indianapolis and Chicago and I was excited about it. I have relatives in Gary and Chicago as well, but since the purpose of this day trip was to be part of Dawn's cheering section, I wasn't going to have enough time to visit them.

I also contacted blogger Jackie to let her know I was going to be in town, but her mom's been ill and she's been spending long hours visiting her at the hospital. Give your mom a hug for me and let her know I'll be saying a prayer or two for her to get well soon. ;)

We were originally planning on driving through Circle City, but after getting within range of the Indy metro area and discovering there was going to be construction on the Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds Highway, (yes peeps, in 1999 the 25 miles of I-65 through Indy was named for the Indianapolis native) we decided to hit the I-465 loop around the west side of Indy past the airport and pick up I-65 on the northwest side of town.

By the way, Vivica A. Fox is from Indy as well. What freeway are y'all gonna name for her? There's also a push by David Letterman fans to get the entire 60 mile I-465 loop officially named for him as well. The freeway is unofficially called by people in Indy the DLX or the David Letterman Bypass.

After a stop in West Lafayette, IN for breakfast, we resumed rolling toward Chicagoland through the flat plains of northwest Indiana and the farms dotting the landscape for miles. We jetted through the Merrillville suburbs and past the industrial blue-collar grit of Gary and Hammond to eventually cross over into Illinois via the Chicago Skyway.

We were within a few minutes of our final destination when we ran into (what else) bumper-to-bumper downtown area traffic on the Dan Ryan Expressway. I call it from my numerous visits to Chicago the 'Damned Ryan'. We shifted gears and decided to get off the Dan Ryan and use Lake Shore Drive to get to the NU campus. This was also my first visit in the Chicago area since 1989, and as I stared out the window on a cloud-free and sunny 72 degree fall day I marveled at all the changes in Chicago since my last visit.

Eventually we arrived at the SPAC, as NU students refer to the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion around 1:15 PM Chicago time. AC and I had another solemn duty to perform before we could sit back and watch Dawn fence, so as she grabbed her equipment out of the hatch and hustled inside to check in for the tournament, we took off to perform that task.

Before AC's parents died, they expressed their wishes to be cremated and have their ashes scattered over Lake Michigan in Chicago, the city where his parents met. After saying a prayer and fulfilling that last request we headed back to the SPAC to take in some fencing action.

Dawn was warming up with her old LFC fencing partner Victoria Harris, AKA 'The Shark' when we returned. Tori's called 'The Shark' by her former LFC teammates because of her sly, toothy smile and her aggressive attacking fencing style that belies her diminutive size and shy personality. Tori and her parents moved to Chicago a few months ago and she was thrilled to see Dawn and a few of her old LFC teammates at this tournament.

Dawn went 2-3 in her pool matches and advanced into the Direct Eliminations, but lost a close 15-13 decision to eliminate her from the tournament. After hanging around to watch the finals, we rolled into a Giordano's in Morton Grove to grab some deep dish pizza and buy one to take back to Da Ville.

On our way to the Tri-State Tollway, we rolled through a section of Hillary Clinton's hometown of Park Ridge. That triggered a lengthy political discussion amongst us as we entered the Tri-State and began the journey home.

Hey, that's what happens when two of your best friends have political science degrees. ;)

While AC and I were disappointed for her that she didn't advance further into this tournament, she told us on the way back that she had fun and was actually pleased with her performance. She pointed out this was an 'A' rated tournament, that she won two matches in pools and lost the other three by 5-4 scores. Her ultimate goal was being ready for her first veterans division fencing tournament coming up in Richmond, VA on December 7.

She's recovering nicely from the ankle injury she sustained at last year's Nationals in Memphis and is counting the days until she steps on the fencing strip again. I'm just looking forward to the next time I can ride the interstates with my road dawgs.

Goin' To Chicago

Hey TransGriot readers,
Goin' to Chicago for the day to watch Dawn fence in a major tournament up there. Will tell y'all about it when I return.

I'll save some deep dish pizza for ya. ;)

The 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit-In

photo's Raleigh, NC sit in, Dr. Susan Stryker

The faith-based homophobes in our community continue to utter as they oppose our inevitable inclusion at the African-American family table the lie that we African-American GLBT people didn't take part in the 60's Civil Rights Movement.

Au contraire, my misguided friends.

The logistics of the 1963 March on Washington were planned by a gay man you may have heard of named Bayard Rustin. According to the late Coretta Scott King, gays and lesbians took part in many civil rights campaigns across the Deep South.

Thanks to Dr. Susan Stryker and Marc Stein's 2000 book City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves: Lesbian and Gay Philadelphia 1945-1972 ,we now have knowledge of another instance in which GLBT African-Americans stood up for their rights.

In April-May 1965 sit-ins took place at a Philadelphia diner called Dewey's Lunch Counter. The interesting twist about this protest is that it involved African-American gay and transgender people. It's probably the first documented instance of people protesting over anti-transgender discrimination.

Dewey's Lunch Counter was a popular downtown hangout spot for GLBT peeps. Citing the claim that gay customers were driving away other business, they began refusing to serve young patrons dressed in what they called 'non-conformist clothing.'

On April 25 more than 150 kids in 'non-conformist clothing' showed up at Dewey's in protest and were turned away by Dewey's management. Three teenagers (two male, one female) refused to leave after being denied service. They were arrested along with a gay activist who advised them of their legal rights, were charged and later found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Over the next week members of the Philadelphia GLBT community and Dewey's patrons set up an informational picket line outside the establishment decrying the treatment of the transgender youth.

On May 2 another sit in was staged. Police were called, but this time there were no arrests. Dewey's management then backed down and promised 'an immediate cessation of all indiscriminate denials of service.'

The Janus Society, the main gay and lesbian advocacy organization at the time, said this in celebration of the Dewey's events in its newsletter.

'All too often there is a tendency to be concerned with the rights of homosexuals as long as they somehow appear to be heterosexual, whatever that is. The masculine woman and the feminine man are looked down upon...but the Janus Society is concerned with the worth of the individual and the manner in which she or he comports himself. What is offensive today we have seen become the style of tomorrow, and even if what is offensive today remains offensive to some persons tomorrow, there is no reason to penalize non-conformist behaviour unless their is direct anti-social behaviour connected with it.'

As a person who has been involved for a decade in the struggle for transgender rights, it is deeply gratifying to know that African-American transgender activism isn't a new phenomenon. I'm estatic to discover another nugget of my African-American transgender history. I'm gratified to know that I'm a link in a chain that will eventually expand the 'We The People' in the constitution to include transgender ones as well.

Trans-less ENDA Moves To House Vote

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: October 18, 2007 - 12:40 pm ET

(Washington) The revised Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace, but with references to gender identity removed, is headed to a vote on the House floor following approval Thursday in committee.

The House Education and Labor Committee voted 27 - 21 to mark up the legislation, sending it to a full vote in the House.

A number of Democrats on the committee attempted to reinsert gender identity without success. Several of them refused to vote in favor of marking up the bill as it stands - among them presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

GOP attempts to weaken the bill also failed.

Protections for transsexuals were removed by the bill's author, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), after it became apparent there were enough votes to pass ENDA only with gender identity.

The decision, however, has divided the LGBT community.

When the revised bill reaches the floor of the House, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will introduce an amendment that would add trans protections.

Baldwin said Wednesday that she has secured an agreement from the Democratic leadership to introduce the amendment.

Frank's decision to strip ENDA of gender identity was seen by some as a "necessary evil" in order to get any LGBT measure passed. But more than 300 community groups - including National Stonewall Democrats - opposed it.

As opposition mounted a number of organizations met last Friday with Speaker Nancy Pelosi who gave assurances that once ENDA becomes law and as soon as there is enough support for amendments adding back in the protections for transsexuals that version would also be presented.

HRC called the the process less than ideal but acceptable. It was rejected outright by the other major LGBT rights groups.

Baldwin's proposal appears to be acceptable, however, to those groups who formed an umbrella organization called United ENDA. Observers say the amendment is unlikely to pass.

Republicans and some Democrats say they will attempt to kill all of ENDA using a manuever to send it back to committee where it would most likely languish and die in the current session.

NBJC Response to ENDA Controversy

From the desk of H. Alexander Robinson, NBJC CEO
October 5, 2007

As an African American organization we are acutely aware of the compromises and incremental steps that were necessary to realize civil rights for African Americans and that the endeavor to assure racial justice for all Americans continues.

As defenders of the proposed two-bill strategy have noted, advocates for the rights of women, people of color and people with disabilities have had to accept incremental progress towards equality.

African Americans were forced to wait for voting rights, we waited for housing rights. But the rights that were extended were extended to everyone, not just African Americans, but all Americans.

At every step in their march toward civil rights African Americans, women and people with disabilities were called upon to examine their goals and decide the risk and benefits of decisions to compromise or take the stand "this far and no further." The LGBT movement is facing that moment today.

A transgender-inclusive ENDA is already a compromise. It extends employment protections, but does not cover housing, or public accommodations, or credit. In 1996 this compromise was suppose to move us quickly to passage of employment protections for gay Americans. Instead a decade later the promise is unfulfilled and the compromise is the high water mark.

As an LGBT organization it is unconscionable to think that we would support cutting transgender protections out of ENDA. Our fate and the fate of transgendered Americans are inextricably entwined. The risk we take if we abandon our friends and families for the illusory promise of incremental progress is too great, the price too high.

Discrimination is wrong and if we hope to garner the respect and support of our allies and our opponents we must act to keep our family whole. United we can see victory—divided we lose our moral authority and take a step back from our principled stand against injustice and discrimination.

Now is not the time to retreat, compromise or capitulate. Now is the time to educate, advocate and make it known justice must be for everyone for without it there can be lasting justice for anyone.


-----------------------------



About the Coalition

The National Black Justice Coalition is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black same-gender-loving, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people. The Coalition works with our communities and our allies for social justice, equality, and an end to racism and homophobia.

The National Black Justice Coalition envisions a world where all people are fully empowered to participate safely, openly, and honestly in family, faith and community, regardless of race, gender-identity or sexual orientation.

Ebony Lane

crossposted from Jasmyne Cannick's blog
by Jasmyne Cannick

“Pride means being myself. I am proud and happy of who I am,” ----Ebony Lane.

For over 20 years, Ebony Lane has been a staple in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw District. Known for her impeccable fashion, Ebony has been sharing her sense style with women at the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza in the heart of the African-American community for over a decade.

Ebony Lane is one of the principals behind “Color Me Beautiful,” a kiosk in the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza located in front of Radio Shack on the first floor that features the Patti Labelle make-up and perfume line. On just about any day of the week, it’s here that you can find Ebony with a line of customers waiting to get their eyebrows arched or face made up. Ebony’s customers are faithful. They don’t want any of the other employees to work on them, they come specifically to see Ebony.

But Ebony wasn’t always the woman she is today. Ebony was born José Brown.

Originally from Panama, José came America with his family when he was just 8 years old and in his late 30s José decided that it was time that his inside feelings should match his exterior and became Ebony Lane.

Fluent in both English and Spanish, Ebony says that when she was José, she would always get teased for being gay but that when she made the switch to Ebony that all stopped.

“A lot of my friends had to leave the community they grew up in when they decided to live their life as a women, but I was a part of this community as José and I still am a part of the community, just as Ebony.”

Known in the community for doing flawless make-up, Ebony Lane is one of the most sought after drag performers in the country. In addition to working at the mall, Ebony takes the time to host balls, events where several times a month, predominantly Black and Latino gay social groups (called houses) get together and compete in a variety of categories. Today’s balls have been traced to the Harlem Renaissance in the 20's where in the midst of the flourishing Black nightlife and culture, the underground lesbian and gay experience was usually celebrated at lavish and grand costume balls, where men were often dressed as women, and vice-versa.

“I throw balls because at 55 years old, I have seen and been through a lot, some good, some bad,” commented Ebony. “If I can do anything to develop a sense of pride in young Black gay men so that they can lead healthy lives and realize that they can be and do anything they want, then I am going to do it.”

Besides working and performing, Ebony is married and is currently raising two adopted children with her husband. In addition, she attends Unity Fellowship Church, a Black church known for being accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

“I found a church where I am accepted for me and am not being watched and ridiculed and for me, that is priceless.”

Ebony will be celebrating her 56th birthday on October 12, 2007.

The 2002 NTAC CBC Initiative Meeting Notes

TransGriot Notes: Just in case anyone wants to question whether the meeting happened, as the 'okey-doke' crowd in the transgender community tends to do, here's Exhibit A

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These are the notes from a July 2002 meeting which took place in Atlanta with Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

Pay very close attention to the end of these meeting notes
Dawn
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Present at meeting: Congressman Cynthia McKinney, Sue and Bruce Nelson (PFLAG), Monica Helms, Dana Owings, Dawn Wilson, Monica Roberts, AC.

Meeting began 3PM 7-13-02

MH. Made intros. We are here to discuss T-inclusion in ENDA, or as part of a stand-alone bill

S&BN: We are members of PFLAG's Atlanta Chapter Board, and are representing PFLAG in support of this effort. PFLAG believes that T people deserve employment rights. We are not sure if ENDA is the mechanism that is needed, but we support the concept.

They questioned whether enough education on T matters had been done.

DO: I work for IBM, with a diversity program including GLB but not T as of yet. Protection for T people goes beyond TG people; it includes people who may not present in a traditionally feminine or masculine way. (HIT!)

DJW: People of color make the same stereotypes from pulpits with the
same prejudices

DO: We have a body of well-trained skilled people who have been let go from jobs for transitioning; people have also been let go for simply not presenting as "masculine enough" as men, and women for having short hair, mannish clothing, choosing to not wear makeup, etc. (the case of the New York hairdresser)

McKinney: Of late, the Capitol Hill police have been accused of discriminating against African-American employees for wearing their hair in a natural Afro style? This seems to be similar discrimination.

DO: We are asking for broad protections, mostly aimed at gender presentation, but yes, this should also be protected.

DJW: Discrimination is practiced disproportionately against African-Americans to begin with, and gender identity adds to and feeds the problem. I have faced prejudice since birth, but Caucasians who transition are suddenly slapped in the face with it, and don't know how to deal with it. (reference to www.rememberingourdead.com). On this website, people who are killed because of their gender identity are listed. A disproportionately large number on this list are
people of color and Hispanic.

MH: 235 names on this list, with 11 added in 2002.

McKinney: Were the assailants charged under hate crimes statutes, either state or Federal?

MR: In Texas, where I am from, T people were excluded from hate crimes legislation, and it creates a major loophole that the defense counsel for someone charged with a hate crime could use to win acquittal or a lighter sentence. In particular, that attorney could state that his client assaulted the victim not because of their
sexual orientation, but because of their gender presentation, and the hate crimes law would not apply, even if the victim were simply an effeminate male or mannish female.

DJW: You may be familiar with the case of Tyra Hunter, who died in DC because, following an auto accident, EMTs made fun of her gender status instead of rendering the emergency care they were paid to deliver. This is an example of the prejudice we transpeople of color face.

MH: On the ROD list, only 20% of those killed have had assailants convicted, and only 3 have received life imprisonment or capital punishment.

DJW: Many of the people on the ROD list were street workers; many of them ended up working the streets for money because of employment discrimination. We want to get to the cause of the problem first, not place band-aids on it. HRC does not wish to help us.

DJW: That is why we are asking if you could draft and distribute a `dear Colleague' letter, requesting a chance to educate the members of the CBC on the issues of trans people, particularly transgender people of color. We would also like a chance to do an educational session with the leaders of the NAACP and Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC). I am a professional lobbyist, former Senatorial aide for Senator McConnell, and an account executive by trade. Despite the fact that I hold responsible employment, I am deeply concerned about our young transpeople of color,and unwilling to wait longer for our inclusion.

MH: I also work with street youth, in the Atlanta area, and most of them are on the streets because of discrimination.

DJW: HIV and other STDs are rampant among the street workers. The streets are the only alternative, if someone cannot find work due to discrimination.

McKinney: Homophobia is rampant in the POC community. I am presently supporting Rev. Ken Samuels of the Victory Baptist Church in Atlanta, as he has been openly protested by members of fundamentalist white congregations and vilified by other fundamentalist clergy for his affirming stance on GLBT issues. They did not show up when I attended services at Victory, but I still support him.

DJW: I also belong to, and have been ordained by, an open and affirming denomination, the Disciples of Christ. Rev. Alvin Davis, in Atlanta, should know of Rev. Samuels, and I will contact him and obtain his support.

McKinney: I discovered Rev. Samuels' problem on the Queer Atlanta listserv, which I belong to. Lamont Evans posted to it….

DJW: Oh, he knows my friend Duncan Teague (everyone knew Duncan,including the Congressman). We will arrange some community support for Rev. Samuels.

DO: Some individual churches are open and affirming, and some are not.

McKinney: Has a dialogue been attempted with clergy?

MR: That is why we would like to become involved with SCLC

DJW: Religion is still vital to the African-American community, it is the center of it. Everyone needs something to believe in, and the racist and homophobic statements of Falwell and his friends have given Christianity a bad name in the T community.

DO: We know that our struggle for civil rights parallels that of African-Americans, and to a lesser extent Hispanics and Asians. It is our outward appearance that causes the discrimination.

MH: State Bill HB941 is pending in Georgia's legislature. It covers employment and housing rights, and includes gender in its language. It would not be a surprise if it passes before the Federal ENDA.

DO: 46 cities have protections in place for employment rights, and it is now 10% of the US population. Cities include New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Seattle, New Orleans, Louisville, Houston, Lexington, and San Francisco.

MR: One clarification: Houston's protection only covers city employees.

DJW: Barney Frank's problem with T inclusion remains the bathroom issue, yet these cities have solved that, proving that it can be done.

McKinney: So, why is gaining GLB support for T rights so difficult?

DO: They need more education on T issues, they have some common ground, but sexual orientation is not an appearance issue, like T is.

MH: Dana and I recently attended an HRC town hall here in Atlanta, and much of the discussion focused on T inclusion in ENDA. I was asked to join the panel. We have worked to educate HRC's members at dinners and town halls across the country.

DJW: We work to educate college faculty and students, and have been involved with conferences for young people, who in turn change the minds of the older folks in the movement.

McKinney: Did HRC's nonsupport of T inclusion in ENDA predate Elizabeth Birch?

DJW. No, it did not, it dated to 1995. Birch clearly is hired help,hired to deliver a message from HRC's board, although one she probably agrees with.

DO: There is talk that some HRC board members do support us, but we have no way to know which ones do not, and they are not willing to tell us who.

McKinney: Have you considered having a rich T person buy their way onto HRC's board?

DJW. Unemployment is the problem in our community, and few have the funds to do this. Why should we have to buy our civil rights?

MH: One weapon we have against HRC is a survey they funded in NC, that shows that a majority of the GLB community there sees a greater need for rights for T people than for rights for GLB people.

DO: Many Fortune 500 companies support rights for GLB people, and a growing number also add T to that.

McKinney: How much money would it take to get on HRC's board?

DJW: It takes about $50K in donations raised. Most T people are using their funds for the costs of transition, and don't have access to this type of money. That is why we wish to bypass HRC.

McKinney: Who are the main 501c3 orgs who are doing T advocacy in Georgia, Atlanta, and DeKalb County?

MH: There isn't one yet. Georgia Equality is T-inclusive. Trans-Action isn't incorporated.

McKinney: I want to find a 501c3 that we can help obtain funding to work with T youth.

DJW: It would be nice to be able to set up a training so that people in the T community could learn how to obtain grants. In particular, I would see a grant program set up for T students.

DO: Many T activists regularly do presentations before college groups.

McKinney: Gender Inc. doesn't have 501c3 status, do they?

MH: Would a national 501c3 be adequate for the purpose?

McKinney: Yes.

MH. NTAC has 501c4, rather than c3, status.

McKinney: We regularly help 501c3 organizations get started with grants by sponsoring workshops. Rhonda, in my office (intro's Rhonda), is my staff expert on nonprofit organizations, and she regularly helps groups apply for and obtain grants.

Here's what I will do for you: I will try to get a meeting set up for you with Marty King (Martin Luther King III) at the SCLC – I don't think that will be difficult. I will also try to set up a meeting with NAACP's staff – it is difficult to meet with Kweisi Mfume. I also am formally inviting you to Washington for CBC weekend September 11, and I will see that you get to address the CBC at once.

The NTAC 2002 CBC Initiative

You'll notice if you peruse my TransGriot blog that I don't post ANYTHING from NCTE. Contrary to what some people might think, it's not because I was a founding member of NTAC.

Let me take you back in time to July 2002. One of the keys in the political strategy I worked out with the rest of the NTACers during my term as Lobbying Chair is about to happen.

AC gets a call from Monica Helms informing him that she's secured a meeting with then Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and wants me and Dawn Wilson to be a part of it. She told us she needs the assist and wanted me and Dawn in that room to ask the questions that needed to be asked on behalf of our community.

Rep. McKinney at the time was fighting a major primary battle with Denise Majette to keep her seat. She'd been targeted by the GOP right wingers after she questioned in a televised committee hearing the faulty intelligence that would later be used as the pretext for jumping off the war in Iraq. Despite being in a tough campaign that she eventually lost due to massive Republican crossover voting in the district for Majette, she took time out of her busy schedule to meet with us.

So on July 13, the three of us, after driving six hours from Louisville, met with Monica Helms and Dana Owings outside of McKinney's office in Decatur, GA on a hot summer Georgia afternoon.

During a meeting that lasted several hours, we presented the transgender community's case. Rep. McKinney was very familiar with our struggles with HRC and the GLB community. As the meeting came to a close Dawn and I ended up with invitations to the approaching Congressional Black Caucus ALC (Annual Legislative Conference) in Washington DC. The major purpose of me and Dawn's trip was going to be teaching Transgender 101 to CBC congressmembers.

Being that we were only a few months from the 2002 midterm elections, and the ALC was happening in late September, one of the provisos for our invite was that we keep it secret until after the event concluded.

The meeting concludes on a high note, we go back to Marietta to do the post mortem debriefing, cross check our notes, and we go back to Louisville to begin working on the most important Transgender 101 presentation in U.S. history.

But that Power Point presentation Dawn and I created for that Transgender 101 session is still on my computer because a Caucasian transgender leader leaked the details to her paymasters at HRC.

Once those details got leaked, HRC lobbyists barged into CBC offices demanding to know why the trannies got an opportunity to make that type of presentation and the CBC had shied away from allowing them to do the same thing. The CBC offices were pissed at the HRC lobbyist's arrogance, and told them in no uncertain terms that THEY would decide who they talked to as the elected representatives for African-Americans.

Dawn and I got a shocking phone call a few hours later that our CBC presentation had been cancelled. I spent the next hour after hanging up the phone crying about it because I knew what the cancellation meant.

More of my people would die and our push for transgender civil rights would be delayed once again.

Once my tears dried, I began to get angry as I began to piece together the details of what happened and who leaked the info that killed the transgender community's best chance to wean itself from dependence on the gay community and HRC's control.

A few weeks later I got my answer. The Caucasian transleader who leaked the details of that meeting to HRC announces the formation of NCTE.

She also bragged at a transgender community event about being responsible for torpedoing the NTAC CBC Initiative. She's quoted as saying to another person at that transgender community event, "I'm glad we stopped those uppity n-----s".

At that point that's when I decided to concentrate on building up the African-American transgender community and get out of the backstabbing, amoral, double-dealing, selfish infighting that permeates the white-dominated culture of transgender politics.

It's a self-imposed exile that I didn't end until I picked up my Trinity award in April 2006.

So why am I pissed at this person? It's not the fact that a lot of work went into putting together the presentation that would never be seen. It's the fact that the ALC is a must-attend event for any African-American activist. Everyone from African-American politicians at the state, federal and local level attend this event and its seminars are led by CBC members. African-American activists, athletes, African-American Hollywood stars and recording artists are also in attendance at the ALC.

And Dawn and I would have been in position to interface with all of these people.

We also had meetings set up to talk to other power brokers within the African-American community during that ALC event that not only would have opened the door to the transgender community having more powerful friends to keep HRC in check, but would have possibly opened the door to funding sources outside the control of the gay community.

This would have made the Hi Impact Leadership Coalition's job driving a wedge in the CBC much harder because we would have already done the educating THREE years before the founding of this organization and possibly had working relationships set up and in place to ward off the strong-arm twisting that Barney's been doing.

But that died because of a certain transperson's racism, jealousy, ambition and greed. She sold out my people to get her organization up and running.

So if you wonder why I can't stand being in the same room with this person, now you know.

And I'm left wondering as I stare from time to time at the Power Point presentation that Dawn and I compiled a few years ago what would have happened if we'd actually had a chance to deliver it.

2007 Miss Amazing Philippine Beauty Pageant

Competition is now underway at a hotel just outside Manila for the fifth annual Miss Amazing Philippine Beauty pageant.





The transwomen-only pageant kicked off with a press conference on October 2. The weeklong competition commenced October 12 at a hotel in Pasay City with 24 contestants vying to be selected as the most beautiful transwoman in the Philippines. The 2007 Miss Amazing Philippines pageant winner will be crowned on October 19.

The Phillipines, like most of Asia has always been wild about beauty pageants and this all-transgender one has steadily been growing in popularity. Last year's pageant drew 28 contestants and the winner, Patricia Montecarlo, went on to compete in the Miss International Queen pageant in Pattaya, Thailand. She finished first runner up to my fellow Texan Erica Andrews, who was representing Mexico.







This year's Miss International Queen Pageant will take place November 9-10 once again at the Tiffany's Show Lounge in Pattaya, Thailand. If you happen to be travelling in that part of the world at that time you may want to check it out. If you can't get to Pattaya, the pageant will be televised live on Thai television.





Which one of the 24 ladies competing will be this year's winner? We'll know for sure on the 19th.

TAVA Press Release on ENDA

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
From: Monica F. Helms, President and Co-Founder
president@tavausa.org
Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA)
www.tavausa.org
October 13, 2007

There has never been a moment in the five-year history of this organization where we had to step forward and put our very existence on the line. The events of the last three weeks have changed all of that.

As a 501 (c)3 organization that specifically focuses on veterans’ issues, we are not allowed to be “political.” Some people may say that supporting a fully-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act and opposing any bill that excludes transgender people maybe consider “political.” The Board of TAVA disagrees. We see this as a matter of survival for the transgender community and TAVA will do what we can to fight for that survival.

History has shown us that since this country has begun, transgender people have fought in every war this country had. Some crossed gender lines so they could fight for this country, and others cross gender lines after they fought in various wars. No matter what, they were proud of their service our nation.

“Honor, duty and country.” Everyone who has served America proudly understands these words all too well. However, we are now witnessing people who have no honor, show only the duty to serve themselves and envision a country where their needs are met over everyone else’s. As veterans, this saddens us greatly.

There are estimated to be three million Americans who happen to be transgender people, with 300,000 of them being veterans. Many of them are without jobs and are living on welfare. Some, who retired from the military are surviving on their retirement check that comes once a month, but that hardly pays for much in this day and age.

The Transgender American Veterans Association implores all who read this that on Monday, October 15 to start calling the Democratic Party members of the House Education and Labor Committee. You can find them at: http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members.shtml. Ask them to send only a fully-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (HR-2015) to the House floor for a vote in Thursday instead of the flawed version, HR-3685 (Frank's Folly). That version will not only leave out Transgender Americans, but many others who do not confirm to society’s gender norms, regardless of their sexual orientation.

We especially would like to see all veterans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, contact the House Education and Labor Committee to help save those veterans who may have saved your life in the heat of combat. We put our lives on the line to give time to this country. Now, we ask you to put time on the line to save our lives. TAVA thanks you.


***

Founded in 2003, the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) is a 501 (c) 3 organization that acts proactively with other concerned civil rights and human rights organizations to ensure that transgender veterans will receive appropriate care for their medical conditions in accordance with the Veterans Health Administration’s Customer Service Standards promise to “treat you with courtesy and dignity . . . as the first class citizen that you are.”

Further, TAVA will help in educating the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) on issues regarding fair and equal treatment of transgender individuals. Also, TAVA will help the general transgender community when deemed appropriate and within the IRS guidelines.

Your GLB Movement Is NOT Like Mine

As much as I despise Bishop Harry Jackson and his like minded band of homobigots in the Hi Impact Leadership Coalition, it pains me to say it, but I now agree with them on one argument that they've been making over the last few years.

Your GLB movement is NOT like mine.



I know the late Coretta Scott King said otherwise a few years before her death, but the reprehensible actions of Rep. Barney Frank and HRC have stripped whatever tenuous claims to the moral high ground the GLB movement once had.

So from now on I don't wanna hear or see ANY GLB leader try to claim that 'they' are the heirs of the 60's Civil Rights movement.

The GLB movement has taken off its cloak and revealed its true nature. It is a movement for straight-acting white gay men and women only and screw 'errbody' else.

Yeah, they want rights. They want rights for themselves only. And just like some of their misguided straight white male and female brethren some GLB people want the 'special right' to discriminate against someone to make themselves feel superior.

If you really were an inclusive, morally upright movement, you would have never thrown transgender people out of it or treated us like unwanted stepchildren.

The 60's civil rights movement wasn't an 'incremental movement', so you can drop that spin line right now. Even if they had to take 'half a loaf' as they did with the 1957 Civil Rights Act (which by the way was just as controversial back in the day as the current furor over Frank's Folly), they made sure that no one was left out and that whatever compromises were made put them in a better position to get what we African-Americans needed the next time.

This is the first civil rights movement in history that has not only cut people out, but doesn't even want to pass legislation that will help all of the people in their OWN group.

So a memo to you GLB peeps who agree with Barney. Until you've waited 246 years to get your rights, start working to craft and pass legislation that considers other people worse off than you and make them an equal partner in writing that legislation, please refrain from comparing your selfish civil rights push to mine.

Dear Oprah

Dear Oprah,
While many of us in the transgender community are estatic that you have finally turned your formidable media spotlight on the transgender community and given some of our issues some attention, there's one thing that bothers me and many of your African-American transgender fans and our supporters.

Many African-American transpeople over the years have e-mailed and written letters humbly asking for a chance to tell our stories on your stage. We've been told by your staffers in reply that your show wasn't interested in doing transgender topics.

So now that you are doing these shows, the folks that need the airtime most desperately, your African-American transgender brothers and sisters feel hurt and left out.

White transpeople have had the attention of the United States media ever since Christine Jorgenson stepped off the plane from Denmark in 1953. The media face of transgender people over the last fifty years has overwhelmingly been a white one.

Even African-American publications such as Jet, Ebony, or ESSENCE rarely cover our issues. That has led to a knowledge vacuum that combined with negative preaching from the pulpits has opened many of us up to anti-transgender violence, discrimination and hatred in our own community. About 70 percent of the people on the Remembering our Dead list that memorializes victims of anti-transgender violence are disproportionately African-American and other people of color.

There are too many times that African-American transpeople's images have been tied to the adult entertainment industry, female illusionists and shows like Jerry Springer. There are far more African-American transpeople that like myself have college educations, good jobs, are proud of our heritage, have families who love them, and want to do our part to uplift our society.

But you'd never know that based on the media coverage that African-American transpeople get.

I was approached by Jerry Springer's people back in 1998 to appear on their show and turned them down. As someone who is considered an award winning leader in this community, as you can tell I'm greatly concerned about our image. I personally will not be a party to appearing on a show who's only interest in transgender topics is reinforcing stereotypes and exploiting them for sweeps month ratings points.

Your show is one of the three that should I be blessed to get that call, along with Tyra and Montel that I would drop whatever I'm doing to talk to this nation about transgender issues from an African-American perspective.

I know that your show, along with the other two I mentioned are not only high quality productions, but will take what I have to say seriously, it will be received in the spirit of imparting information to a vast audience and I (or any other transperson who appears on the show) will be treated with the utmost respect and dignity by you and your audience.

While any positive coverage of transgender issues is greatly appreciated, it does make your African-American transgender brothers and sisters wonder when we are finally going to get some face time?


Respectfully yours,
Monica Roberts
The TransGriot
2006 IFGE Trinity Award Winner

Stealth Transpeople, C'mon Out!

C'mon Out! C'mon Out!

Let your words do the talkin'
Let your actions do the walkin'

C'mon out! C'mon Out!

Break down the door; you can't hide no more
If your friends disrespect, you need to reject

...kids committing suicide
Parents kick 'em out-- ain't no place to hode

In this fucked up society
Gotta be real with your sexuality
Don't let their shitty asses call you a fag
You're the greatest asset God ever had

C'mon out! C'mon Out!
lyrics by Foxxjazell
courtesy of the book Transparent by Cris Beam

-----------------------------------

Over the next few years, we are going to need the silent transgender majority to step up to the plate and become more active in this fight to gain our rughts.

I'm talking about the what we call in the community the stealth transpeople. These are the folks who for various reasons transition and never let anyone know that they are transgender.

Well, folks, if you want your rights, you are gonna have to do something you may not want to do but may become necessary in the near future.

Out yourselves.

How and when you do that is up to you, but the time has come in which we activists who have put our necks and careers on the line and suffered the slings and arrows of the Religious Right, Mattachine gay people, bigoted black preachers and idiot savants who regurgitate their hate speech, have to ask you to make a sacrifice as well for the greater good.

We need you to sacrifice your anonimity in the name of not only showing the world that the transgender community is far larger than people have been told that it is, but forever blow up the fiction that peeps say when they oppose transgeder rights, "I don't know anyone who's transgender."

Sure you do. We're all around you. We may be the accountant who did your taxes. The sales clerk who waited on you at the department store. Your supervisor at your job. The pilot who flew you to your vacation destination or on your recent business trip. The nice lady that lives next door to you in the 'burbs. The model that's featured in your catalog. Your college professor.

The problem is that because many of those people are stealth, it has hampered transpeople who are growing up now from not only knowing their transgender history, but deprived them of role models as well.


Did you know for example, that the personal computer that you are reading this blog posting on got a major evolutionary design boost in chip design courtesy of a transwoman? Well, until Dr. Lynn Conway came out, I didn't know that either.

Dis you know that the first transwoman to win an Olympic medal won't be at next summer's Olympic Games in Beijing but was Stella Walsh in 1932? After she was tragically killed by a stray bullet in 1980, the autopsy revealed she had male genitalia. So it's probable that she's more intersex than transgender.

It's a win-win situation for both parties. In addition to the out transpeople getting to know, love and embrace another member of the transfamily, the stealth peeps get to interact with people who have been interfacing on a regular basis with other transgender people and the community's history. We can get you up to speed on getting better connected with it and you now have a firend who not only understands your drama, but has walked in your pumps as well.

The point is that this battle to gain our rights isn't about us. It's fighting for inclusion NOW so that transkids that are growing up now don't have to go through this crap 10, 25 or 50 years from now.

As for the Mattachine gay folks who are quick to holler 'wait your turn', when you've waited 246 years for your rights, talk to me then, okay?