500 Posts!

When I started TransGriot on January 1, 2006 I just simply wanted to get the voice of an African-American transperson into the blogosphere. I noticed that we were absent from the conversation and in the spirit of my ancestors, decided to do it my damned self and provide that voice.

It took me a little less than three years, but I've now reached the 500 posts milestone. Hmm. I guess I've had a lot to say over the last two and a half years.

Now I'm headed to the next milestone post level. I still have a lot of thoughts to express about myriad issues. I'm glad that you surf your way to my blog and keep coming back, and I thank you for that.

I was reading Alexandra Billings' Stillettos and Sneakers blog the other day and ran across an interesting post. It takes you to a site that asks you to plug in the blog URL and spits back a blog readability level.

I decided to check it out and see what TransGriot would score and it spit back an undergraduate college level score. I'm going to have to play with it and see what ratings other blogs and websites got according to this site.

I found it interesting.

One of my goals when I started TransGriot was to create an informative blog that people would enjoy reading and come back to. My steadily climbing Technorati authority ranking and your comments are a testament to how well I'm doing in achieving that goal.

Speaking of comments, I enjoy receiving them from you TransGriot readers on my various posts, so please keep them coming. I deeply appreciate the feedback.

Even if the rating says it's undergraduate college level reading, whatever your educational level is, don't let that 'scurr' you from checking out what this Phenomenal Transwoman has to say about the world around her.

Rebuttal To A Negro Conservative

TransGriot Note: I was sent the link to this anti-transgender blog posting entitled Transgenders Are Not Like Blacks which comes courtesy of Bob Parks. I posted it to Transsistahs-Transbrothas to get their reactions, and it resulted in this comment to his blog from Alexis that is awaiting moderation on his site. I thought this needed to be seen by my TransGriot readers as well. I'll post my own thoughts on this later.
------------------

TransGriot Guest Column
by Alexis Whitman

I consider myself to be a moderate. I am Black, 27 years-old, and I am a transgender woman. I would like to point out that I do not, nor do any of my close friends, look like whores when we go to work. I am a manager with over 300 people under my umbrella and I do my job with class. I come from a strong heritage and I am very proud of my roots. I was educated at a prominent HBCU and I do not vote for candidates because they have a "D" beside their name.

I would like to say that the only reason protections have to be extended is because there are those that prey upon others. I believe integration is the worst thing to happen to Black people in America. We once had a strong sense of community and self-worth. The only problem with segregation was the fact that opportunities were not equal. Let's talk about equality.

It's not right to terminate the employment of someone based solely on race. So why then should it be allowed to terminated someone based solely on gender identity or presentation? Companies have dress codes and if an employee falls outside of those bounds, the employee should be disciplined accordingly. Someone who is a high-performer should be looked at as just that. Race should not be a determining factor, nor should gender or sexual orientation.

Please do not get gender and sexual orientation confused. I am a woman and I date men. I am straight. The only thing is that my body was incongruous with my mind. That has now been corrected and I function without issue in society. Hormones worked for me and they work for everyone. I would never wish for anyone to have to go through the internal anguish and self-loathing that we transgender people do.

I do not say that the struggle for gay people is the same as the struggle that Blacks endured. I do say the struggles have their similarities. Civil rights for all should not be a problem. I cannot understand why some Black people are very quick to disavow transgender people. I have done no harm to anyone; I only want to live my life and blend in.

I might add that I blend in very well. I stand five-feet-seven inches tall (model height). I have a beautiful dark complexion. I wear a size zero. And, I command the attention of men in a room when I enter. Oh, and I don't have to wear a micro-mini skirt to do so. My looks shouldn't be the major factor as to whether or not I have to worry about being terminated.

I only want to live my life and pursue happiness. It is the premise of the preamble to the Constitution--need I remind all the strict constructionists out there. It must be noted that our Founding Fathers wrote:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The only reason our laws have to protect people is because the citizens of our country cannot seem to do the moral and just thing of allowing people to have Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.


Update: Bob ended up inviting Alexis as a guest on his November 12 radio podcast show. Here's the link to it.

The Kentucky Fairness Alliance Dinner Protest

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Kentucky Fairness Alliance Out and About dinner here in Da Ville at the Frazier Arms Musuem. KFA is our statewide GLBT org who is just as pissed as we are about the non-inclusive ENDA.

It was shaping up to be a great event. Robbie Bartlett, one of our local favorite blues, R&B and jazz singers was the entertainment. I had a great time talking to her about a variety of subjects before she had to exit the table and join her band in preparation for her performance. We had some local and state politicians that came to show their support along with many members of the progressive civil rights community in Louisville. I had a great time kicking Transgender 101 knowledge to some of our straight allies who were sitting with me at the Fairness Campaign table.

Unfortunately, the keynote speaker was the first executive director of the Homosexual Rights Corporation, Vic Basile. So when he strode to the podium to make his speech, I stood up and turned my back to him.

Another transperson at the dinner joined me along with five other guests. Others picked that moment to head to the bathroom or take cigarette breaks. When Basile got to the point in his speech about the ENDA passing on Wednesday being a historic moment, there were scattered boos in the room.

The protest had the effect of making Basile angry and I noted he started stumbling over his speech. When he was done I sat down as he got some weak golf clap applause. He hightailed it out of the room before I could pin him down about some selective retelling of African-American civil rights history in support of the HRC 'incremental rights' spin they are trying to use to justify cutting transgender people out of ENDA.

My point is that your push for 'incremental rights' will result in exponential increases in bigotry, discrimination and violence against transpeople like myself. We've already seen the anti-transgender sentiment surface during the ENDA debate among some elements of the GLB communty. And as Terrance at the Republic of T blog so eloquently put it, the 'incremental rights' crowd is extolling the virtues of using spoonfuls of justice to counteract shovelfuls of injustice.

It's not cool when you're the one at the receiving end of the shovelfuls of injustice.

In Basile's speech he made the point about standing in the way of intolerance. For a few minutes last night I took his advice and did just that.

The Forgotten Veterans

Friends,
Today is Veteran's Day. After what happened in the House Wednesday, I don't feel much like wanting to be an American any longer. I'm not even going to march in the Atlanta Veteran's Day Parade with the other GLBT veterans as I planned.

But, before I was told that I am not worthy to have the same rights as everyone else, the rights I gave eight years of my life to protect, I wrote the following article. I sent it to well over 100 straight publications across this country, and not one of them published it today. I figured that it is Sunday, so they would have the room for it, but I was wrong. So, I'm sending it to you, my friends and family. Even though the House took away my pride to being an American veteran, I will never lose my pride in what transgender veterans have done for this uncaring country. You will always be number one in my heart. Thank you for your service. Thank you all for your service.

Monica Helms
President of the Transgender American Veterans Association

TransGriot Note: Thank you, Monica for what you and other transgender vets did for our country. Yes, I said OUR COUNTRY. Never let anyone take away your pride in being an American citizen. If you do that, the Forces of Intolerance win.

I also thank you for your and other transvets continued service to our community in providing the leadership that is sorely needed as we continue fighting for our rights.


*************************


The Forgotten Veterans
Guest column by Monica F. Helms

Veterans Day is one the three most important days in this country when it comes to patriotism and pride. At the eleventh minute, of the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, we start the day honoring all the veterans who have served this country, both in peace and in war. Today, we have 26 million military veterans in America, but sadly, we lose 1500 WWII each day and a similar number of Korean War veterans as well. Soon, the Vietnam War veterans will pass away in similar numbers.

The men and women who fought in those wars over the last 230-plus years came from every diverse background this country has ever known. People from every race, religion, ethnicity, economic status, social status and sexual orientation have fought, been wounded or died for this country. A current example of sexual orientation is the first person wounded in the current war in Iraq. Eric Alva lost a leg in the very early days of the war and then came out as being gay after his discharge.

Amongst the wide diversity of people who have served this country, Transgender Americans have been an important part of the military since the Revolutionary War. The word “transgender” has come to mean “Anyone who crosses the gender lines, regardless of whether it is temporary or permanent.” Dictionary.com has the definition as, “Noun: A person appearing or attempting to be a member of the opposite sex, as a transsexual or habitual cross-dresser,” and, “Adjective: Being, pertaining to, or characteristic of a transgender or transgenders: the transgender movement.”

We have found that in the early part of American history, women could easily fight as men because they didn’t have to go through a physical exam before enlisting. That changed during the Spanish American War. Some of the women who did fight in those early wars indeed returned to a life as a woman, but many did not.

In the early and middle parts of the 20th Century, we found that most of the transgender veterans who served at that time started life as boys, but became women in the years after the wars had ended. Others crossdressed throughout their lives and even did so while serving in the military. In the middle 20th Century and early 21st Century, women began serving more frequently and even in combat roles where they could not previously serve. We started seeing more women who later became men after those wars were over.

One of the notable examples of a woman who fought as a man was Deborah Sampson, a tall woman for her day, served in the Revolutionary War as Robert Shurtliff and even became wounded. Another person was Lucy Brewer, who started her early adult life as a prostitute, but served as a Marine on board of the USS Constitution in the War of 1812. After the War, she appeared as a man several times. Around 400 women served as men in the Civil War, for both sides. Some continued their lives as men after the war.

One of the most interesting stories is that of Cathy Williams, a slave who changed her name to William Cathey and served two years as a Buffalo Solider before she told a doctor she was a woman. She did as well as her male counterparts, surviving the harsh conditions of the desert Southwest.

As the understanding of transgenderism improved, stories of thousands of transgender people who served this country in the military surfaced. The famous writer, B-movie producer and crossdresser, Ed Wood, fought in the Battle of Guadalcanal. The first known transsexual, Christine Jorgensen, spent eleven months in the Army and when she came back from Denmark after her surgery in 1952, the headlines in the paper read, “GI becomes Blonde Bombshell.” The headlines knocked the explosion of the first hydrogen bomb off the front page. Later, Eisenhower even invited her to the White House.

We know of many transgender people who have fought in every late 20th Century and 21st Century wars we have been in. I have a friend, Jane Fee, who served during WWII. I served during the Vietnam War, in the Navy, on two submarines. We know of another transgender person who headed a special anti-terrorist unit for the Army and even reported to the Vice President.

Transgender people have been in every war, served in every branch of the service, have achieved every rank and have been awarded every medal this country has, including the Congressional Medal of Honor. We have done every job the military has, served in every base, port, ship, drove every vehicle, operated every weapon, flown every aircraft and served in every hospital the American military has. We have done our part to preserve the freedom of everyone in this country. If you ask us, we will tell you that we are veterans first, who just happen to be transgender people. And, we are proud to have served this great country.

My New KY Governor

With all the bull feces emanating from Washington in the wake of the Transgender-free ENDA passing, I forgot to post the picture of my new governor celebrating his landslide victory over Ernie Fletcher.


Mitch McConnell, (KY's GOP senator) you're next in 2008.

Khadijah Farmer Lawsuit

TransGriot Note: Here's an example of what I and Lambda Legal have been talking about in terms of the transgender-free ENDA the House just passed NOT covering everyone in the GLB_t community.

Check out this New York Times article about Khadijah Farmer and her lawsuit against a New York City restaurant for throwing her out of the women's restroom hours after the NY Gay pride parade because of the bouncer's PERCEPTION that she was a man.

****

Sexual Stererotypes, Civl Rights, and A Suit About Both

By JENNIFER 8. LEE
Published: October 10, 2007
Women have been thrown out of men’s bathrooms, men who identify as women have been thrown out of women’s bathrooms and, of course, men have been known to get into trouble in men’s rooms. But women minding their own business inside women’s rooms have rarely been an issue, until now.

Yesterday, a New York woman filed suit against a West Village restaurant for being thrown out of a women’s room there by a bouncer who, she said, did not care she was really female.

The woman, Khadijah Farmer, 28, who lives in Hell’s Kitchen, said in an interview that she was at the Caliente Cab Company restaurant on Seventh Avenue with her companion and a friend after the gay pride parade on June 24 when she left the table to go to the women’s room. While she was there, a male bouncer burst in.

“He began pounding on the stall door saying someone had complained that there was a man inside the women’s bathroom, that I had to leave the bathroom and the restaurant,” Ms. Farmer said. “Inside the stall door, I could see him. That horrified me, and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I said to him, ‘I’m a female, and I’m supposed to be in here.’

“After I came out of the bathroom stall, I attempted to show him my ID to show him that I was in the right place, and he just refused to look at my identification. His exact words were, ‘Your ID is neither here nor there.’”

Ms. Farmer said she often is mistaken for a man, but her New York State nondriver photo identification card clearly lists her as female.

She said the bouncer followed her up the stairs and back to the table, asked her party to pay for the appetizers they had eaten and made them leave the restaurant.

Telephone calls to the management at Caliente Cab Company were not returned yesterday. The bouncer was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Farmer in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. It accuses the restaurant of discriminating against Ms. Farmer because her appearance did not comply with society’s norms concerning gender identity.

A 2002 amendment to the city’s human rights law protects the rights of city residents whose gender expression is different from their sex at birth. The state’s civil rights law does not include a similar protection. But the defense fund argues that it should be interpreted as protecting New Yorkers against sexual stereotyping, in which people are expected to conform to gender-appropriate behavior.


Although Ms. Farmer is not transgender, the legal defense group considered the suit to be a strategically important case with the potential to set a precedent, said Michael D. Silverman, the organization’s executive director and general counsel. The lawsuit’s claims are being made under both city and state law.

The fact that the bouncer refused to look at Ms. Farmer’s identification card before ejecting her showed that he was judging her simply by how she looked, Mr. Silverman said.

Sexual stereotyping, he said, was expanded as a legal concept under a 1989 decision by the United States Supreme Court. In that case, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, the court found, 6 to 3, that a woman had failed to make partner at the accounting firm Price Waterhouse in part because she was considered too “macho.” The court ruled that male supervisors discriminated against her on the basis of stereotyped notions of appropriate female appearance and behavior.

“We’re asking the court to say that sex stereotyping by public accommodation is just as harmful when practiced by a public accommodation like a restaurant as it is when it is practiced by an employer,” Mr. Silverman said. “If Khadijah were wearing pearls and white gloves, would the bouncer have treated her like that?”

Kenji Yoshino, a Yale Law School professor who studies gender and sexuality under the law, said Ms. Farmer’s claims were much stronger under the city law. “The New York City statute is so much more directly on point.”

Ms. Farmer said she is mistaken for a man on a daily basis — especially in bathrooms and locker rooms, where she often gets funny looks. “I have a script that is almost routine,” she said. “I say, ‘I am a woman, and I’m supposed to be here.’”

“Usually,” she added, “they are embarrassed.”

Sign Of The Apocalypse-Me and Rush Agree

TransGriot note: I never thought I see the day when Rush Limbaugh and I actually see eye to eye on something. Here's a transcript from OxyContinin Man's November 8 show about the ENDA mess.


Democrats Shaft Transgenders

RUSH: By the way, this next stuff is great. Let me preface it by giving you a little story here of what's going on out in San Francisco. "National civil rights organizations are celebrating the passage by the House of legislation that would add 'sexual orientation' to a list of federally protected classes, but some San Francisco groups refuse to take part in the party." They're not happy about it.

They are the transgender and transsexuals, and they're at the back of the bus on this civil rights issue. "The vote Wednesday on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, also known as ENDA...was ultimately revised to remove protection for transgender workers, which upset gay rights groups here and across the country.

'People are livid,' said John Newsome, co-founder of And Castro for All, a bias awareness group. 'If the first step out of the gate leaves people behind, it is an ill-conceived first step.'" Barney Frank was getting tarred and feathered over this, and he told the transgenders and the transsexuals (paraphrased), "Just take your time. You're going to screw up this whole thing. We'll get this done in steps," but they're not listening. They're not happy. Here's John Lewis, who marched with Dr. King and got beat upside the head several times in the Selma march and so forth, late yesterday on the floor of the House of Representatives.


LEWIS: I, for one, fought too long and too hard to end discrimination based on race and color, not to stand up against discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. During the 1960s, we broke down those signs that said "white" and "colored." Call it what you mean, to discriminate against someone because they are gay, is wrong, it is wrong! It is not right. Today we have an opportunity to bring down those signs! Now is the time to do what is right, what is fair, what is just! The time is always right to do right. Let us pass this bill.

RUSH: And next up, Barney Frank, a portion of his remarks.


FRANK: I feel an obligation to 15-year-olds dreading to go to school because of the torments, to people afraid they'll lose their job in a gas station if someone finds out who they are. I feel an obligation to use the status I have been lucky enough to get to help them, and I want to ask my colleagues here, Mr. Speaker, on a personal basis, "Please, don't fall for this sham. Don't send me out of here having failed to help those people." Yeah, this is personal. There are people who are your fellow citizens being discriminated against. We have a simple bill that says, "You can go to work and be judged on how you work, and not be penalized." Please don't turn your back on them. (applause)

RUSH: Yup. San Francisco values have to be brought to the House of Representatives here, and guess who the speaker is? Speaker is Nancy Pelosi.


PELOSI: It's not that we're tolerant in my district in California and San Francisco. It's that we have so much respect for the role that each person plays in our society. So tolerance, maybe. Respect, definitely. But let me also add, that it is the pride that we take in that diversity, and it is the pride that I take in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community that brings me to the floor today to urge a "yes" vote on this important legislation.

RUSH: But it left out the transgenders! It left out the transsexuals, and they're casting this as a civil rights issue. The transgenders and transsexuals were told by the House of Representatives to go to the back of the bus. That's what your House of Representatives was doing yesterday, ladies and gentlemen.

The Shady HRC Commissioned Poll

One thing that my father always hammered home to me as me and my siblings were growing up (and he would know since he ran radio stations for a living) was never accept what a media outlet is telling you until you ask the how, who, what, when, where and why questions and what their motivation is for saying it.

My father's wisdom has come roaring back to me ever since I heard about the poll published in Advocate.com that stated that 70% of the GLB community favored moving ahead on a transgender-free ENDA.

Just to catch you TransGriot readers up with this, the Advocate reported on the eve of the ENDA vote the results of a poll comissioned by HRC. It seems to indicate a strong majority of gays and lesbians supported passing the Employment Nondiscrimination Act even though it did not include protections for transgender people.

The stench from this poll started jumping out at me immediately. HRC commissioned it. The Mattachine gays have been getting beat up over the fact that 300 organizations are united in NOT having an ENDA proceed without transgender peeps and HRC is the lone holdout. They have had people openly question the incrementalist strategy that they wish to pursue.

Now this poll comes out less than 24 hours before debate starts on the Hill, it's immediately published and seized on by the incrementalist crowd as 'evidence' that the community wants to move forward even if it doesn't protect transgender people.

Okay, so lets take a look at the poll questions.

The poll was a random survey of 514 LGBT Americans conducted by Knowledge Networks, Inc. of Menlo Park, CA. It asked participants two questions concerning ENDA. The first asked which of the following three statements was closest to reflecting their views:

A. National gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organizations should oppose this proposal because it excludes transgender people.

B. National gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organizations should support this proposal because it helps gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers and is a step toward transgender employment rights.

C. National gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organizations should adopt a neutral stance for this proposal because while it helps gay, lesbians, and bisexual workers, it also excludes transgender people.

67.7 percent of the respondents chose answer B, 15.8% agreed with statement A, 12.8% agreed with statement C, and 3.6% did not answer.

But check out how this is worded. One of the things that you have to watch for and think about when you read poll results and analyze them is how the question is worded.

So let's do that.

National gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organizations should support this proposal because it helps gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers and is a step toward transgender employment rights.

Note the part I have in bold print. The question worded so that you think that passing a non-inclusive ENDA is a step toward transgeder emplyoment rights.

Excuse me? The step toward transgender employment rights was leaving HR 2015, the inclusive ENDA alone and not stripping transgder people out of it in the first place.


The second question asked people the following: "This proposal would make it illegal to fire gay, lesbian, or bisexual workers because of their sexual orientation. This proposal does NOT include people who are transgender. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?"

In response, 59.1% said they favored the proposal and felt strongly about it, 15.4% said they favored it but did not feel strongly about it, 15.1% opposed it and felt strongly about it, 8.8% opposed it but did not feel strongly about it, and 1.6% did not answer.

Of the 514 people the poll surveyed, 246 respondents identified as male, 262 identified as female, five identified as female-to-male transgender, and one person identified as male-to-female transgender. The poll was conducted between October 2-5. The margin of error was +/- 4.3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

I have a lot of questions about these so-called random GLBT people they surveyed.


How would a polling company know someone was GLBT unless they had that information in advance, especially if they're doing a RANDOM sample? Where did they get a list of GLBT peeps to question? What part of the country did these 514 people reside in? Did they target the calls to areas that have strong anti-transgender sentiment? Did they call their HRC Federal Club members?

My suspicion is that they surveyed HRC Federal Club members, who are viruently anti-transgender and by doing so, would guarantee the results they wanted. HRC has already been burned on a previous poll they tried to do in North Carolina a few years ago.

In 2001 Equality NC conducted a survey partially funded by HRC that was conducted by an independent polling company. They asked over 2000 North Carolinians of all persuasions if they would prefer working with gays and lesbians, compared to Transgender people. To HRC's shock and surprise, there was an overwhelming majority voting in favor of working with Transgender people.

So since HRC has a proven history of deceptive and morally bankrupt behavior, and of burying poll results that don't come out the way they want them to, count me among the skeptics as to just how accurate this poll was.

Congratulations*

The Kentucky Psychological Association is meeting at The Galt House in Louisville and yesterday Dawn and I were taking part in a panel discussion on transgender issues.

While I was getting dressed for the 3 PM start of this panel I'd flipped it to C-SPAN to watch the beginning of the ENDA debate before I exited the house. I arrived back at home just in time to see ENDA get voted on.

It's probably a good thing I wasn't home to watch the entire travesty unfold. I probably wouldn't have a television right now.

I have a good idea now how Dred Scott felt 150 years ago when Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote in dismissing his case, "that not only was he not a citizen of any state as a slave, he had no rights a white man is bound to respect."

That's the message that is resonating with me right now. 150 years later another group of white males, Barney Frank, John Aravosis, Chris Crain, Joe Solmonese and others in the GLB community are now telling me and other transgender people that not only do we not have any rights they are bound to respect, they don't care.

That is the symbolic message you sent to me, America and the entire world when you passed a non-inclusive ENDA yesterday in the House. Some of you are hailing that as a historic victory.

Yeah, right. Yippee. I raise a champagne toast to the fact that once again I've been screwed by the GLB community and I'm supposed to be rejoicing over it.

I'm supposed to be happy about the fact that you replaced an inclusive ENDA with 175 cosponsors for a flawed non-inclusive bill, got savagely attacked by Frank on the House floor as 'selfish' when we called you on it, watched the hidden transphobic hatred come bubbling to the surface from some GLB peeps, and watched as HRC came to our signature convention, collected a bunch of T-bills while LYING to the peeps assembled at SCC in Atlanta that they would oppose a non inclusive bill.

What crack pipe are y'all smoking?

From now on I don't EVER want to hear for the rest of my life the lie that your selfish GLB movement is similar to the 60's civil rights movement. You're not even close to having the moral fiber and spirit of inclusiveness my people exhibited in our fight against injustice.

As of 6:23 PM EST on November 7, 2007 you ceded any moral high ground you may have had when you threw transpeople under the bus to get a bill passed that doesn't even cover 'errbody' in your community.

So yeah, party hearty. have a good time. But mark my words, if Dummya even signs this bill into law (assuming it passes the Senate) I'll be sitting there with a smirk on my face, ready to tell you 'I told you so' when your unfriendly neighborhood homobigots start using the missing 'gender identity' or 'perceived gender identity' language to start terminating the 90% of gays and lesbians who aren't covered in Frank's Folly.

If you don't think that language is needed, ask Ann Hopkins or Khadijah Farmer.

My attitude this morning mirrors Miles Thirst, the ten-inch spokesperson for the Sprite ads featuring LeBron James.

"Congratulations on your no-prize winning hollow victory."

2007 Transgender Day of Remembrance

Later this month the 9th annual commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance will take place.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) memorializes those people who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held every November to honor transsistah Rita Hester, whose November 28th, 1998 murder kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

From those beginnings, the TDOR has become an event observed by transgender people all over the world.

Since 2002 the TDOR ceremonies in Louisville have been coordinated through the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I have been honored to have been chosen to gove the keynote speech for the inaugural Louisville observance in 2002 and was given an oppotunity to repeat that role in 2003.

This post will be regularly updated up until the November 20 date of the ceremony, but as of this posting these are the people we are memorializing for 2007.


Nakia Ladelle Baker
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma to the head
Date of Death: January 7, 2007

Keittirat Longnawa
Location: Rassada, Thailand
Cause of Death: Beaten by 9 Youths who then slit her throat
Date of Death: January 31, 2007

Moira Donaire
Location: Viña del Mar, Chile
Cause of Death: Stabbed 5 times by a street vendor
Date of Death: March 5, 2007

Michelle Carrasco “Chela”
Location: Santiago, Chile
Cause of Death: She was found in a pit with her face completely disfigured.
Date of Death: March 16, 2007

Ruby Rodriguez
Location: San Francisco, California
Cause of Death: She had been strangled and was found naked in the street.
Date of Death: March 16, 2007

Erica Keel
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cause of Death: A car repeatedly struck her
Date of Death: March 23, 2007

Bret T. Turner
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Cause of Death: Multiple stab wounds
Date of Death: April 2, 2007

Unidentified Male Clad in Female Attire
Location: Kingston, Jamaica
Cause of Death: Gunshot wounds to the chest and lower back
Date of Death: July 7, 2007

Victoria Arellano
Location: San Pedro, California
Cause of Death: Denied necessary medications to treat HIV-related side effects.
Date of Death: July 20, 2007

Oscar Mosqueda
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Cause of Death: Shot to death
Date of Death: July 29, 2007

Maribelle Reyes
Location: Houston, Texas
Cause of Death: AIDS; Reyes was turned away from several treatment centers due to her transgender status.
Date of Death: August 30, 2007

The Day I Permanently Became A Democrat

Today is Election Day, and I've already gone to my friendly neighborhood precinct to cast my ballots. Thank God we are less than a year away from November 4, 2008. The state house and senate seats come up for election, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has to face the voters, the US House election with John Yarmuth (D-KY) versus a yet to be named Republican and of course the presidential one.

I can hardly wait.

In Kentucky we are heading to the polls to elect a new governor, secretary of state (very important office. Just ask Katharine Harris, Ken Blackwell and the Bush administration), state auditor, state agriculture commissioner, state treasurer and state attorney general (another important office). In Jefferson County we have a judicial race on the ballot as well.

It's just a single page ballot for us in this election. In Jefferson County we use a Scantron-like form in which you bubble in the candidate you wish to vote for with a pencil, then once you're done you take it over to the collection machine, insert it and it counts your vote. In case of a recount, the entire sheet is available for the recount.

You TransGriot readers may have noticed that I am an unabashed Democrat and can't stand the ground the Republicans walk on.

I don't believe in 'vote the person, not the party.' The way I look at it, the party you choose to support tells me a lot about you and your character. As for independents, nobody is exactly 50/50 politically. Even as a Democrat I like balanced budgets, a strong defense and believe in the death penalty.

Let's be real, there are some sick and twisted Manson wannabees out there that deserve lethal injection. My point is that if you sentence someone to the death penalty, the trial needs to be scrupulously fair, there needs to be no doubt in the jury's minds that the accused committed the crime and there must be overwhelming evidence that the person being accused of the crime committed it.

But back to the post. I can tell you the exact date I became a committed Democrat. It was exactly 23 years ago today on November 6, 1984.

I've always been as a history buff a politically aware person. One of my dreams is to eventually run for public office. The first election I got to participate in after I turned 18 was the 1980 presidential one between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Some of the things I said in my idealistic youth phase were "My vote wasn't going to belong to any party." "I'm going to be an independent and choose the best candidate regardless of party."

The problem was that one party was about to become more radical. In 1984 in what is called in Texas political lore 'The Dallas Massacre', at their party convention held in Dallas, the far right took over the Texas Republican Party by kicking all the liberal to moderate Republicans out of party leadership positions. One of the people involved in that exercise was a then little known state legislator named Tom DeLay. The GOP then began using Texas as a laboratory to field test their new tactics that they would use to seize power elsewhere.

One of those tactics was suppression of African-American voters. African-Americans are SOCIALLY conservative but POLITICALLY liberal. Thanks to the 'Southern Strategy' initiated by Nixon in which the Dixiecrats began switching to the GOP after the 1964 election, they were becoming more anti-civil rights and more racist. That caused more African-Americans to vote and join the Democratic party.

The Reagan administration taking power made me reassess my "I'm gonna be an independent" stance. I was not happy with Reagan administration policies. I was still pissed off about the 1980 campaign that Reagan kicked off in Philadelphia, MS. I was even more angered over the 'I believe in state's rights' speech that he made to kick off that campaign. In 1982 I stood in a long line outside the community center in a driving rainstorm in order to cast my vote in my first Texas governor's race. When Jesse Jackson made his first run for president in 1984 I became a Jackson delegate.

Two weeks before the 1984 election the Harris County GOP announced they were 'concerned' about reports of 'voting irregularities' occurring in precincts that voted more than 90% Democratic. They announced plans to put poll watchers in these precincts to monitor them. The precincts they chose were predominately African-American and Latino. My home precinct at Crestmont Park was on the GOP target list for a poll watcher since we'd voted 94% in favor of Carter in 1980 and 94% for Mark White in the 1982 governor's race.

One of the popular shirts in the anti-Reagan crowd was a takeoff of the Ghostbusters movie logo that had Reagan's face crossed out with the words 'No Bonzos' on it, a reference to the movie Bedtime For Bonzo Reagan had starred in. I had one and was planning to cast my ballot on election day while wearing that shirt. I knew it was legal because it didn't have Reagan's name on it nor was it advocating for Walter Mondale.

So I bounced up to Crestmont Park and the community center, showed my precinct judge my voter registration card and picked up my punch card ballot in preparation to vote. There was a white male standing there, who was the GOP poll watcher. My then state rep Ron Wilson (this was before he turned to the Dark Side of the political force and started cozying up to the GOP) was there observing him.

Then it happened. I had to wait a few minutes for a punch card station to open up and while I was doing so the poll watcher made his move to deny me my right to vote on the grounds I was wearing 'campaign material in a polling place'.

When the precinct judge said I couldn't vote, I went nuclear. I pointed out that neither Mondale's name or Reagan's was on this shirt, I bought it at a local t-shirt shop and the money went to the t-shirt shop owner, not the Mondale campaign, which invalidated his BS claim it was campaign material. When she said I either had to take it off or I couldn't vote I stormed out of the community center.

Rep. Wilson caught me just as I was about to climb into my car. He reminded me of what it cost our people so that I would have the right to cast that ballot. He also pointed out that if I went home, then the GOP was accomplishing their mission of suppressing our votes.

After I calmed down, I walked back into the rec center with Rep. Wilson, and he and the precinct judge came up with a solution acceptable to me and the poll watcher. He lent me his Member's Only jacket to cover up the shirt, I again picked up my ballot, marked a straight Democratic ticket, dropped the folded ballot in the collection can and flipped the GOP poll watcher the finger after I deposited it. I also told him before I left, "Tell your bosses that your actions today just turned an independent voter into a Democratic voter for life."

So I felt the pain of Floridians in 2000 and the peeps in Ohio in 2004 because I have firsthand experience with GOP vote suppression tactics.

It's a major reason among others why I'm a Democrat to this day.

Dirty Tricks In KY Governor's Election

Fairness Campaign Urges Kentuckians To VOTE November 6 and To Report Illegal Phone Calls

LOUISVILLE, KY
Desperate opponents of Steve Beshear have stooped to a new low by using deceptive automated telephone calls falsely representing themselves as the Fairness Campaign. Fairness has received dozens of calls from concerned Kentuckians who have reported receiving these misleading and inaccurate phone calls.

The Fairness Campaign has issued the following statement: “We believe Kentuckians are looking for a governor who will work to bring Kentuckians together to improve the lives of all people in the Commonwealth. That’s why CFAIR, the Committee for Fairness and Individual Rights, has endorsed Steve Beshear for Governor. These last minute dirty-tricks should remove any doubt about who fair-minded Kentuckians should elect as their next Governor on November 6.”

Neither CFAIR nor the Fairness Campaign are making any automated calls in this election. Voters who receive an inappropriate call should report it to the Secretary of State’s Office (502) 564-3490, the Attorney General’s Office (502) 696-5300, and their local Board of Elections (Jefferson County: (502) 574-6100).

Why Is The Catholic Church Hatin' On Transpeople?

In October 1953 a Cuban newspaper conducted an interview with Father Hilario Chaurrondo. At the time he was a blunt, outspoken, down to earth and very popular priest known throughout the island for his prison advocacy and other work that kept him close to the grittier aspects of life in pre-Castro Cuba.

I read this eye-opening snippet of the article in the book Christine Jorgenson-A Personal Autobiography. This particular chapter in the book covers Christine's visit to Havana to perform at the Tropicana. Here's what Father Chaurrondo had to say about Christine.

"I am familiar with the Cristina Jorgenson case right from its very beginnings. I have followed it in the press and have read her memoirs. Very interesting-very. These are the things which leave us bewildered by the progress of the days we live in.

A doubt came into our mind. Should we ask him or not? Well, when all is considered, Father Chaurrondo is considered a "man of the world".

"Father, you are aware that Cristina is legally a woman with all the rights and attributes inherent in such a social condition. Would you be disposed to give your blessing to Cristina marry a man in church?"

Father Chaurrondo doesn't flinch and he replies as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"If her application for a Catholic ceremony carries with it all the presiquites and prior dispensations of the Archbishop, I would say yes."

"Would Cristina's case involve special dispensations?"

"No. Only the normal procedure. Just as for any other woman. As far as we are concerned, Cristina is a woman since she has been so designated by the United States, where they know what they are doing."

"And the Archbishop's dispensation?"

"Cristina is an alien resident, and in such cases certain requirements have to be met for reasons of diocese and parish. I repeat, Cristina's case calls for no special treatment. I can marry Cristina Jorgenson in the church once the usual and current regulations have been complied with. The procedure will be no different with her than with any other woman."

Father Chaurrondo is clear, frank, simple and definite. Cristina Jorgenson can be married by the Church.

"Look my son, we priests nowadays have seriously to study the realities of life. We're not like the priests of sixty years ago, or as I was when I first began."

Chaurrondo's voice softened at memory of those first years of his priesthood.

"The secret of confession is inviolable, otherwise I would tell you stories of Cristinas and Cristinos of every color under the sun. At the beginning my soul grieved and sorrowed at the horror and shame. Now it's different. I read Maranon (Gregorio Maranon, a famous Spanish endocrinologist) and even dig football. Times change, but the eternal truths are immutable."

...we take our leave of Father Hilario Chaurrondo who remains behind in the yard before his Church of Mercy, smiling in his own kindly, jolly way which somehow makes him seem Don Camillo himself.

We carry the news with us like a bomb. A Catholic prelate in Cuba is the first representative of any church, religion or sect ever to make such a clear pronouncement on the Cristina Jorgenson case. It remains to be seen what the reactions to his statements will be amongst the Catholic congregations, not only in Cuba but throughout the world.

****

How prophetic the closing paragraph in that 1953 artcle was.

Fast forward to January 2003.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After years of study, the Vatican's doctrinal congregation has sent church leaders a confidential document concluding that "sex-change" procedures do not change a person's gender in the eyes of the church.

Consequently, the document instructs bishops never to alter the sex listed in parish baptismal records and says Catholics who have undergone "sex-change" procedures are not eligible to marry, be ordained to the priesthood or enter religious life, according to a source familiar with the text.

That document mentioned was completed in 2000 and was credited to Jesuit Father Urbano Navarrete of Spain (far left in this photo with Pope John Paul II) who is a retired canon law professor at Rome's Gregorian University.

Father Navarrete wrote a 1997 article on transsexualism in an authoritative canon law journal and has been consulted by the doctrinal congregation on specific cases involving transsexualism and hermaphroditism. He was just elevated to cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

But one of the things not mentioned is that the Vatican was being advised by a 30 year enemy of the transgender community: Dr. Paul McHugh.

A man with a personal axe to grind against transgender people got himself named as an advisor to the Vatican. He has used that position to turn the Catholic Church into an intolerant bastion of transphobia, at least at the leadership level.

Yes, the same Dr. Paul McHugh who has much Hateraid for transgender people and takes credit for killing the Johns Hopkins Gender Clinic.

McHugh has ties to neoconservative Catholic groups, not surprisingly is a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, and is frequently quoted by anti-transgender groups such as NARTH and the Concerned Women for America. McHugh claims responsibility for helping get J. Michael Bailey's anti-transgender character assassination screed The Man Who Would Be Queen published through the National Academy of Sciences.

McHugh's still chomping Hater Tots after all these years. He had this to say in a 2004 article for the conservative Catholic publication First Things entitled Surgical Sex

"...The post-surgical subjects struck me as caricatures of women. They wore high heels, copious makeup, and flamboyant clothing; they spoke about how they found themselves able to give vent to their natural inclinations for peace, domesticity, and gentleness—but their large hands, prominent Adam’s apples, and thick facial features were incongruous (and would become more so as they aged)...."

During his time at Johns Hopkins from 1975-2001, after he assumed the chairmanship of the Psychiatry department from Dr. Joel Elkes, he assigned Dr. John Meyer to do a long-term follow-up study of 50 transsexuals who underwent SRS at Johns Hopkins. The 1977 Meyer Report claimed that SRS confers no objective advantage in terms of social rehabilitation for transsexuals. The paper was widely criticized at the time as flawed, but was used as the pretext by McHugh to close the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic in October 1979.

Interestingly enough while he hates on transgender people, McHugh doesn't show the same level of vitriol toward child molesters. Check out this August 21, 2002 Washington Times report by Judith Reisman and Dennis Jarrard entitled Strange Bedfellows.

If you found the clergy sex abuse scandal shocking, prepare for another jolt: the Catholic bishops are getting their "expert" advice on pedophilia from people who have covered up or even defended sex between men and children.

The bishops recently chose Dr. Paul McHugh, former chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, as chief behavioral scientist for their new clergy sex crimes review board.

Yet Dr. McHugh once said Johns Hopkins' Sexual Disorders Clinic, which treats molesters, was justified in concealing multiple incidents of child rape and fondling to police, despite a state law requiring staffers to report them.

"We did what we thought was appropriate," said Dr. McHugh, then director of Hopkins' Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, which oversaw the sex clinic. He agreed with his subordinate, clinic head Fred Berlin, who broke the then-new child sexual abuse law on the grounds that it might keep child molesters from seeking treatment.

****


Fortunately, the Catholic rank and file members take issue with the idiocy and increasing anti-transgender intolerance at the top, which has only intensified since Benedict XVI became pope in April 2005.

Dignity USA, an organization of GLBT Catholics is fighting to stop the madness. Dignity chapters are located around the country and around the world where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Catholics are welcomed for mass. It is not sanctioned by Rome or local Catholic bishops and masses are held in Episcopal churches and in other houses of worship.

When the anti-transgender statement was made public in 2003, Dignity issued a statement in which it took the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation to task for “trivializing the life-long struggles of our transgender and inter-sexed sisters and brothers in Christ.”

Marianne Duddy, who was president of Dignity USA from 1993-1997, wrote that "transgendered individuals have been a part of the Catholic Church faith communities for decades and that their spiritual, emotional and physical challenges are enormous — and humbling."

“There are profound truths about humanity and about God to be learned from their experience,” she wrote. “Transgender people need pastoral attention that is respectful and open, not judgmental and dismissive. The Vatican statement fails to take into account current medical, physiological, psychological and sociological findings.”

Despite the official negative church position on trans issues, there are individual church parishes around the United States and abroad that are more accepting, if not openly embracing of those who are transgender, gay, lesbian and bisexual. Some parishes fly below the radar of local church authority, meeting as house churches or small faith communities.

When asked in a 2006 Washington Blade interview about why GLBT peeps stay in the church, then Dignity Executive Diretor Debra Weill said, "For me as well as others in the LGBT community, we stay because our faith is rooted in the Catholic liturgy and faith traditions. It is not rooted in the ignorance of statements that come from the Vatican. It’s in what the Catholic Church teaches about loving one another and serving others.”

Dignity is in this battle for the long haul. At their Austin, TX convention they issued their response to a November 2006 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops document entitled Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care.

In the DignityUSA Letter on the Pastoral Care of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People 2007 they sought to address some of the critical pastoral needs of the LGBT community. It gives voice to the concerns of Catholic LGBT persons regarding their role in the church; calls on the bishops of the United States to put an end to prejudice and discrimination against LGBT people in the church; and expresses the hope, expectation and just demand of LGBT Catholics to be full participants in their church, as is their right by baptism.

McHugh has ruined not only the lives of many transpeople in the United States, but is now setting up the conditions to spread his hatred through an institution that impacts people around the world. These negative policies will impact transgender people not only who are members of the Catholic Church but non-Catholics around the world as well. They are already being cited by governmental agencies to deny transgender people basic human rights.

McHugh and the conservacatholics who share his views would be wise to remember I Corinthians 15:10.

“By the grace of God I am what I am, and God's grace to me has not been without effect.”

Dignity USA and groups like it around the world are fighting to ensure that the Church lives up to its humanitarian principles. We can only hope and pray that the results of this battle will be a more positive religious climate.

We pray the misguided people in the Vatican will see the error of their ways and not only Catholics, but all faiths will open their doors and hearts to let us fully practice our spirituality in an open and accepting atmosphere that reflects our humanity.

But then again, if past history is any indicator, I may be waiting a while for that to happen. It took the Catholic Church 500 years to acknowledge the error of persecuting Galileo and Copernicus for daring to suggest the Earth revolves around the sun.

Cleaning Up The Mess In Frankfort

If the poll numbers are true, in about 48 hours I'm going to wake up on Wednesday morning to the wonderful feeling of having a Democratic governor again. Steve Beshear and his running mate, state senator Dr. Daniel Mongiardo have a 23 point lead going into the election tomorrow over our current governor Ernie Fletcher.

Beshear, who was lieutenant governor 20 years ago, is making honesty and competence the centerpieces of his campaign. “Kentucky for the last four years has been paralyzed by the shenanigans of Ernie Fletcher and his administration,” he said in a telephone interview. “Kentuckians are embarrassed by their governor.”

You got that right.

Fletcher was the first Republican in more than 30 years to sit in the Kentucky governor's chair, but has spent the last four years executing the George W. Bush good government handbook. He came into office in 2003 promising to 'clean up the mess in Frankfort' and running an ethical government.

I guess he meant ethical as defined by Republican standards. He didn't even have the chair warm when people in his administration started violating state civil service laws to pack protected state jobs in the Transportation Cabinet with less qualified Republican contributors by firing, demoting, involuntarily transferring or passing people over for earned promotions because they were registered Democrats. A grand jury investigating the merit hiring scandal ended up indicting the governor and 14 other people in his administration on a total of 85 criminal charges.

When called to testify, the former US representative and ordained Baptist minister pleaded the 5th, and pardoned all the people involved.

He also used an April 2006 'Diversity Day' celebration to remove GLBT people from an executive order that the previous Gov. Paul Patton (D) issued in 2003 to protect people from discrimination in state government employment.


But while I'll definitely be happy to see Fletcher moving out of the Governor's mansion, I also have mixed emotions about it.

Back in 1999 we were doing a GenderPac Lobby Day and several Kentucky citizen-lobbyists stopped in then-US Rep. Ernie Fletcher's office to chat with him about transgender inclusion in Hate Crimes and ENDA. Fletcher is well aware we exist because as a doctor he worked at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington where the late transperson James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon once worked.

While Fletcher admitted he wouldn't be voting for either bill since he was tied to the Religious Right, he did spend the next 45 minutes telling our stunned transgender lobbyists all about the duplicitous backlobbying that HRC's Winnie Stachelberg, Nancy Buermeyer and GenderPac's Riki Wilchins were doing on the Hill prior to our arrival. An aide then produced the business cards they'd left behind.

So while I'll be happily voting at my precinct tomorrow to boot him out of the governor's mansion, I do have to thank Fletcher for being honest enough to let us know the truth about what was going on behind our backs.

Gold and Bronze

Gold and Bronze.

Those were the medals Dawn ended up wearing around her neck as the champion of the Women's Sabre division in the 2007 Cumberland Open.

This tourney is sponsored by the Vanderbilt University Fencing Club, one of many NCAA colleges who offer fencing either as a full fledged scholarship sport or a club sport. Since 1990 the NCAA has conducted a championship tournament for the schools that have fencing programs with Penn State winning their tenth team title last spring.

This was an open tournament, which means that women and men compete with each other under USFC regulations from ages 13 and up in the various disciplines (foil, epee and sabre). You also have people ranging from unranked novices to veteran's division fencers. Since the men tend to dominate these open events, the top three women's finshers get medals as well. That's how Dawn ended up with two medals.

Since Dawn just passed her milestone birthday, she's now old enough to participate in the USFA Veterans Division. She's already run into various veteran fencers at different tournaments over the last four years and they are looking forward to having her at some of their events. She's already looking forward to competing in her first Veterans competition on December 7 in Richmond, VA.

But back to the trip. Since I'm the night owl, I was going to be doing the driving on this one. On some of the trips I've taken with AC and Dawn I've been the passenger because they love and either currently own or in the past have owned cars with stick shifts. I'm an automatic kind of girl and despise driving a stick. They've been trying to teach me with limited success how to drive a stick since I've driven or ridden as much of the US interstate highway system as they have.

I was loving the fact that they just jacked the speed limit in Kentucky to 70 MPH to match all of the surrounding states in July. The other thing they did that month was name I-65 in Jefferson County the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Expressway from the Indiana-Kentucky line to the Bullitt county line. From that point to the Tennessee state line, since I-65 passes near Lincoln's birthplace in LaRue County, it's designated the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Expressway in honor of the bicentennial of his birth next year. Signs designating it are posted at the county lines along I-65 in Bullitt, Hardin, LaRue, Hart, Barren, Edmonson, Warren and Simpson counties

We shoved off at 5 AM EDT and made a gas stop in Shepherdsville, KY near one of my fave places, the Zappos.com Shoe warehouse. I inherited my mom's shoe gene and love my heels. Once I topped off the tank, I was determined to not stop until we got to Bowling Green, KY which would put us about 30 miles from the Tennessee-Kentucky border.

Interestingly enough Louisville and most of Kentucky is in the Eastern time zone while western Kentucky is on Central Time. You end up in the Central time zone once you cross over into Hart County on the southern half of I-65 near the Mammoth Cave area.

It's a beautiful stretch of highway, but I wasn't going to see it because we were still traveling in darkness. My major concerns were getting Dawn to the Student Rec Center on Vandy's campus before the 8:45 AM CDT start time of the sabre portion of the tournament and not hitting any deer.

AC still has bitter memories of a 2002 deer strike on I-77 south near Weston, WV that totalled a Grand Am he'd spent several months restoring. When we go to Washington DC either me or Dawn drives that winding stretch of interstate between Charleston and Morgantown and he will not drive that stretch at night.

Speaking of AC, he wasn't along for the ride on this one. He and his wife are headed west on I-70 as I write this to Lawrence, KS to see Susan's (I kid you not) 80 year old Aunt Dorothy. And no, her Aunt Dorothy doesn't have a dog named Toto.

I was feeling good and still wide awake when we passed the Corvette Museum on the outskirts of Bowling Green and decided to in the words of Curtis Mayfield, to keep on pushing until we got to Nashville, which is only 30 miles from the Tennessee-Kentucky border in central Tennessee.

After running the 55 MPH construction gauntlet in Simpson County for a few miles I found myself clear of it and on a freshly opened reconstructed stretch of six lane highway at mile marker 4 that continued to the Tennessee side. The I-65 construction was also done on the Tennessee side to my relief as well.

A few minutes later the towers of downtown Nashville were looming in the distance. One of the confusing parts of travel for peeps who drive the interstate highways intersecting in Nashville (I-24, I-40 and I-65) is that there's a inner loop around the downtown area that is multiplexed. If you're coming from Louisville like we are, for two miles you're on I-24/65 and there's a split that will take you either to I-24/40 or I-65/40 west. To get to Vandy I had to take I-65/40 west. After you cross the Cumberland River on that section there's another split that takes you to the westbound portion of I-40 and Memphis and you find yourself immediately after that split on I-65/40 EAST. I've done it numerous times since I've moved here so I'm used to it, but it did trip up a few peeps on the way to the Vanderbilt campus.


We finally arrived at Vanderbilt after grabbing breakfast near the campus on West End Blvd. We were parked and waiting at 7:40 AM CDT along with several fencers for the student staff and the VUFC members to arrive to open the facility.

The sabre portion of the 2007 Cumberland Open started with 17 competitors at 9:15 AM. I knew this trip was going to be different from the Chicago one. She went up against the VUFC club champ Chris Cheney and gave him a battle before losing a tight match 5-4. She ended up 3-2 in her pool and when the DE rankings and direct elimination brackets were posted a few minutes later Dawn was in the top 5.

She blew through her first two DE matches 15-0 and 15-6 before her rematch in the semifinals with VUFC's Travis Reece. Reece was in her pool and she lost another tough 5-4 match with him. Reece was also the runner-up to Chris Cheney in the VUFC club championship.

Dawn was beating him until disaster struck. While contesting a point she had guard to guard contact hard enough to jam and temporarily dislocate her wrist. She popped it back in place and was eligible for a ten minute injury time out to get it iced and wrapped. But after six minutes she notified the official (called directors in fencing parlance) that she was ready to continue. She scored the next three points in rapid succession to take an 11-7 lead but ended up losing the semifinal match 15-12.

Because fencer Linda Dunn of Indianapolis was beaten by Chris Cheney in her second DE match, Dawn ended up with the women's gold medal. I jokingly call Linda an unofficial LFC member even though she fences for Indysabre. We see Linda at a lot of Great Lakes region and Kentucky Division events. Linda is also an accomplished professional writer.

Dawn took the bronze medal by finishing third overall in this tournament. There was other good news for her as well. Because of her deep run in this tournament, she is now an E ranked fencer. Had she beaten Travis Reece she would have walked out of this tournament with a D rating.

The injury also impacted my plans for the return trip home. I work third shift, so I was way past my bedtime and wanted to get a nap in. There was no way I was letting her drive with a bandaged hand so I had to drive us back home. Sleep was going to have to wait until we got back to Da Ville. After watching the championship sabre bout (congrats to Chris Cheney), the medal ceremony and refueling the ride, I drained two Vaults to give me enough of a caffeine buzz for the return trip north on this crystal clear 65 degree fall afternoon.

We started rolling about 1 PM CDT Nashville time. The way Dawn was feeling she could've floated back to Louisville. My homegirl was a happy camper with two medals around her neck. As I enjoyed the fall color and concentrated on the road Dawn picked up her cell phone and excitedly recounted her triumphant experience in Nashville to Maestro Stawicki and her LFC teammates. (head coaches of fencing programs are sometimes called maestros). We got back home a little after 4 PM EDT and I trudged straight up to my room for a long nap after offloading Dawn's gear and bringing it in the house.

My mission was accomplished as well. I got myself and the wounded sabre warrior home in one piece. Look out vets, she's coming to a sabre strip near you.