Miss USA 2008

The Miss USA 2008 pageant will be held in Las Vegas this weekend, and that means that sistah Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith will be crowning her successor.

I'll still be glued to the set watching this year's pageant because for the first time, the Lone Star State will be represented by a sistah.

Crystle Stewart became the first African-American winner of the Miss Texas USA pageant on July 1, 2007. Some people consider 1995 winner Chelsi Smith as the first African-American winner, but in a press conference not long after her crowning she pointed out she was biracial. She later went on to become Miss USA and Miss Universe.



Winning the Miss Texas USA pageant is tougher than winning Miss USA or Miss Universe. The Miss Texas pageant sometimes has more than 100 women competing, and many of those winners had to battle their way through local pageants in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and other locales around the state just to get to the state pageant. Thanks to us pageant-happy peeps in Texas it's also one of the few state pageants in the Miss USA system that is televised live.

Miss Texas USA winners have a prolific history of capturing the Miss USA title. The Lone Star State representative has won Miss USA eight times, with a notable streak during the 80's in which a Miss Texas delegate captured the title five straight years. 1986 Miss Texas USA winner Christy Fitchner beat future Oscar winning actress Halle Berry for that year's Miss USA title and was first runner up for Miss Universe. However, with all that success, a Miss Texas has only won Miss Universe once.

The last Miss Texas to win the title was in 2001, and my fellow Cougar Crystle will be trying to end that title drought. I'll be rooting for her to do just that this Friday night and hopefully go on to capture Miss Universe.

Whatever Happened To My Old Friend....

When I had my monthly newspaper column in THE LETTER, I wrote one commentary that was published in April 2006 about my philosophy on friendships and how I treat them like marriages. As far as I'm concerned they are till death do you part, they are valuable, and they take just as much work, effort and open communication to sustain them and have them continue to flourish.

Most of the time I do a good job of staying in contact with old friends, but for others its been a challenge.

Mes Deux Cents has a recent post on her blog which talked about an old friend of hers from first grade that moved away and from time to time she thinks about her and wonders how her life turned out.

That got me thinking about some the peeps I was friends with BT (before transition) and AT (after transition) that were close at one point, and they either moved away, I did or we drifted apart.

While I was living in H-town I did find myself running into my classmates that stayed in Houston to either attend college or still lived there. Some, like my fifth grade classmate Clyde Drexler (yes, that Clyde Drexler) it was impossible not to know what they were up to and how their life turned out. Others it hasn't been as easy to get that information.

Some of the people I knew in earlier grades I got reunited with in high school or college. Others I would see in a news story, like my old junior high school classmate Vonda Higgins who became a HPD undercover officer and was shot and left paralyzed after a 1998 drug bust went horribly wrong for her and her partner. Other I heard about when they ran for public office, or were featured in news articles good and bad.

Mes Deux's post had me reminisicing about a girl named Stephanie King who was in my fifth grade class as well. I frequently found myself during my airline days being reunited with my classmates from grade school, junior high, high school and college. There was one time I was reunited with a girl I had a crush on in elementary school during my uncle's wedding in 1990. She was the wedding coordinator, and I discovered she worked at the airport for US Customs when I went to work a few days later. There were others I ran into at various clubs during the 80's and early 90's. My junior high classmate Kimberli I used to run into when I was accompanying my mother on one of her shoe shopping forays at Wholesale Shoe Warehouse. Some of those reunions became even more interesting after I transitioned.

When Stephanie's father's job transferred him to San Antonio, she ended up moving there just before our Christmas break. One day in 1989 between flights we'd been having one of those 'I wonder what my old classmate is doing' conversations in the breakroom and I excused myself to start working a San Antonio flight.

During a little down time in the flight I found myself wondering what happened to her when this beautiful tall, sister walked up to check in. She mentioned she was visiting relatives and old school friends in Houston. When I asked her what school, thinking she'd moved in high school, she mentioned she moved in fifth grade.

I remarked to her as I checked her in for the flight that I had a classmate who'd moved to San Antonio in fifth grade when I was at Frost Elementary. She raised an eyebrow for a moment, then called me by name. I glanced at the name of the passenger record on the computer screen in front of me. It was Stephanie. I didn't recognize her at first because she used to wear glasses in elementary school and the stylishly dressed sistah standing in front of me wasn't.

She and I exchanged phone numbers and we talked off and on for about two years before I lost track of her because I lost her phone number when I moved to my new apartment.

There are others I haven't seen since high school and in some cases junior high school. There are others I met during the early stages of my transition that I find myself thinking about as well. I find myself wondering how their lives turned out, and hope they are happy and healthy. I even find myself wondering about some of my old teachers as well at times. It's a major reason I don't miss a high school reunion and the big 30 year one for my class is coming up in 2010.

Well, if any of my old classmates, co-workers or friends happen to be surfing the Net and stumble across this post, hollar at me. As you can see by this blog and the number of posts I have on it, I have much to tell you.

It's Houston's Turn To Protest An HRC Dinner

The Houston HRC dinner will be held on Saturday, April 12 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, and like other HRC dinners elsewhere in the country they will have company.

The transgender community continues its series of protests of HRC dinners that night. According to some sources attendance has taken major hits at the HRC dinners previously held in other locales. The protests are estimated to have cost HRC $1 million in donation income.

The Houston protest is being coordinated by Phyllis Frye, Josephine Tittsworth and Vanessa Edwards-Foster and they plan to be there for several hours.

If you wish to participate meet these ladies at the corner of Polk Street and Avenue de las Americas sometime around 4:30 CDT. They'll put you in the best position to stand up for your rights.

Give 'em hell, H-town!

Donna Rose

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


I have much love, respect and admiration for Donna Rose. But she probably didn't feel the love when our paths first crossed back at the 2004 Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta.

I was there to facilitate a Transsistahs-Transbrothers event we held during the 2004 SCC and Donna was conducting a seminar. It had just been recently announced that she was joining the HRC board and Monica Helms and Angela Brightfeather caught me after the TSTB event concluded. They asked me to tag along with them to check out the seminar she was conducting.

I remember one of the things I said to her that day was, "Donna, we are proud of you and the fact that one of our own is finally getting on that board. But what I and others who have been burned by HRC want to know is WHEN they screw us again, will you stand with them or with your people?"

Our paths crossed again at the 2006 IFGE Conference in Philadelphia, but that was the year I won my Trinity and after that speech I gave, I had half the convention either congratulating me or wanting to talk to me about various subjects. I also bounced away from the hotel not long after the awards luncheon concluded to hang out with my homegirls Dionne Stallworth and Jordana LeSesne to not only tour the city, but meet with local GLBT leaders in Philly. We didn't actually see each other again until Dawn, AC and I were checking out of the hotel on Sunday morning before we hit the road for the drive back to Louisville and I was engrossed in a conversation with Alison Laing.

Donna's answered the question I asked in 2004 and then some. She's been a sterling example of the ethically moral leadership that Dawn and I have talked about that our community needs. She's a Trinity Award winner like myself, blogger and eloquent spokesperson for our community. While she was on the HRC board she pushed transgender employment issues along with Jamison Green and tried to get them to see that adding transgender people to ENDA helped them as well to no avail. She even took time out of her busy schedule to compete in the 2006 Gay Games held in Chicago and win a gold medal in wrestling.

She's continuing to speak and be a postive role model for all of us and I'm looking forward to the New England Trans Pride March in Northampton, MA this June and having a chance to finally sit down with her, have a substinative chat and extend an invitation for her to hang out with us in the Bluegrass state.

Transgender Grognard

A grognard is a wargaming enthusiast, and one of the things post transition that I still like to do from time to time is play wargames.

What's a wargame? Well, the oldest one is chess. Wargaming is basically playing chess, but instead of moving knights, pawns, bishops and rooks around a square board, you're moving armored and ground units across a mapboard.

While the games I play these days are predominately computer ones, I originally got into playing wargames back in my teens as an outgrowth of my love of history.

I started playing World War II games, and since the Cold War was still raging then I gradually shifted my interests into playing more modern era games. I eventually bought Avalon Hill's The Arab-Israeli Wars and started gravitating to SPI games to accommodate my expanding desires in playing out the modern history and all its what-if's in those games.

Back in the 70's wargaming was a fast growing and booming hobby and business, and one of the popular publishers of the games besides Avalon Hill was the James Dunnigan founded Simulations Publications Inc. or SPI for short.

SPI's titles were mainly modern warfare games, and one of my SPI favorites I bought was a game called The Next War.

The Next War simulated the clash between the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact vs NATO. The game was released in 1977, which was a period in which the Warsaw Pact not only had the numbers, but a rough parity with NATO as well.

I bought my copy in the mid 80's, and since I would frequently get stuck playing as the Warsaw Pact, I bought a book called Russian Military Power.

I also started buying a US government publication being put out called Soviet Military Power in 1985 to better understand Soviet military doctrine, organize my units and think tactically like a Warsaw Pact general when playing with those units. I eventually purchased the 1983 and 1984 issues from the local US Government bookstore downtown and kept up with each subsequent release of it until 1990.

It paid off in spectacular fashion one day. I was playing a guy who I surprised by committing 2/3 of my air units and launching massive air attacks against the central German SAM belts and key SAM sites, various frontline NATO units and key air bases.

We were playing a Next War game scenario in which the attack was timed to coincide with the annual Warsaw Pact spring maneuvers, which meant I had double the forces available at the start. As a concession to him I agreed to play without using nukes and chemical weapons otherwise my initial assault would have been even more devastating.

In addition to taking minimal losses in the airstrikes, I got lucky and got the dice roll that kept him from getting REFORGER reinforcement units from the US, dropped Soviet paratroop divisions into Denmark, Austria and Holland and got the rolls that took those countries out of the fight.

Then after launching the ground assault across Northern and Central West Germany I piled eight Soviet and two East German divisions in the Fulda Gap area, moved the artillery units in place and blew a hole through his combined US-West German force that allowed me to take the Frankfurt-am-Main area and capture the REFORGER bases as well while my Soviet blitzkrieg was rolling into Holland, Denmark and Belgium. I was also rolling a Warsaw Pact force made up of Czech, Hungarian, and Russian units through Austria to link up with the paratroopers, move into southern Bavaria and prep for an attack on northern Italy.

Eight turns later I was the master of Western Europe and my opponent was pissed. It was the first time he'd played against an African-American opponent and I believe the reason for his pissivity was that he realized he'd made the fatal mistake of underestimating my intelligence and skill level in addition to the overwhelming nature of the victory I achieved.

The next time we played I wasn't so lucky. He corrected his deployment mistakes I'd taken advantage of the previous time we played, I got the adverse dice rolls that took some of my Warsaw Pact satellite nations out of the game and he ended up reunifying Germany and eastern Europe on his terms.

I got into some modern naval wargames that Victory Games put out as well entitled 2nd Fleet, 3rd Fleet, 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet, the titles of these game coincided with the names of the US Navy Fleets tasked for coverage in various areas of the globe and which the combat took place.

2nd Fleet covered the North Atlantic, Third Fleet the Aleutian Islands/North Pacific, Fifth Fleet the Middle East/Indian Ocean, and Seventh Fleet the Far East. They also put out one called Sixth Fleet, but I could never find it in the shop I bought my games from.

I enjoyed playing them, but as my airline career advanced, I started traveling and then dealt with my gender transition I began having less time available in my life to play those games. Wargames have hundreds of units to tediously set up even before you make your first combat moves on the board and take up space and time.

The home computer explosion eliminated that time and space problem. You could play and save the game until you had time in your schedule to pick up where you left off playing it.

One of my fave computer wargames I own is called People's General, which simulates a postulated future war between US and Chinese forces in which China has conquered Asia and the US/UN force has to take it back. You can also play as the Chinese and conquer Asia, or a third scenario in which Vietnam decides to conquer the Asian landmass as well.


My favorite computer wargame I own is Star Wars Rebellion. I'm a Star Wars fanatic and when the game came out in the late 90's I jumped at the chance to play it. It's set in the time period after the destruction of the first Death Star at the battle of Yavin and before the events of the Empire Strikes Back movie.

In it you play as either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire. You have to build infrastructure to support your war machine, recruit characters and initiate R&D efforts to get better weapons while simultaneously conquering the entire 100 planet Star Wars galaxy through a combination of diplomacy and military muscle. You also have to find the hidden Rebel headquarters and destroy it in addition to capturing Mon Mothma and Luke Skywalker to win the game if you're the Empire.

If you're the Rebels, your task in addition to conquering the galaxy is to seize the Imperial capital planet of Coruscant and capture Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

I frequently find myself playing as the Empire and name all my Imperial Star Destroyers after right-wing pundits, Republican presidents, vice presidents and Republican congressmembers. ;)

The interesting wrinkle in Star Wars Rebellion is that unlike most wargames, it's not a turn based one in which you move, then your opponent moves. The clock is ticking and things are happening as you're making all these grand strategic moves

One unexpected benefit I received from playing wargames was learning how to think in broad strategic terms, rapidly come up with solutions to problems when the initial strategy failed, quickly reacting to and successfully resolving problems and learning how and when to make decisive moves at the proper time.

It's also a lot of fun as well.

The ACLU-Fairness Dinner

One of the neat things about being an activist and getting in the trenches to fight the good fight is that one of the benefits is getting invites to various events and parties. So earlier tonight I pulled out the formal clothes and my heels, got into diva mode and rolled over to the Ali Center with Dawn for the ACLU Kentucky-Fairness Dinner.

It was a fundraiser for both organizations and many of the liberal-progressive community peeps in Louisville and some from Lexington were in attendance. We also had several state and local politicians, judges, several U of L professors and a US senate candidate in attendance as well. Various people in the room were wearing either Clinton or Obama buttons since the primary election in Kentucky is May 20.

I got a chance to chat with Dr. Story again and had people thanking me for my role in fighting for the JCPS employment protections battle a few months ago, which I didn't expect. I had a few people complimenting me on my blog as well ad had another pleasant conversation with U of L law professor Sam Marcossin. I met him two weeks ago when I took part in a panel discussion the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression sponsored on impeachment. I discovered during the conversation that he knew my mentor Phyllis Frye.

Small world moment, indeed. I had another one of those moments when during my conversation with Bob Cunningham I discovered he knew a friend of my uncle's back in Houston.

I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the stimulating, thought provoking conversations I had with the various people in the room and with my tablemates. I also enjoyed the view of the river and the city from the sixth floor dining room.

While the Muhammad Ali Center has been open almost two years, it was the first time I'd actually had a chance to visit the place, and from what I saw I'm going back on a future day off. I also had a great time tonight doing my small part in representing the transgender community as well.

I Didn't Stop Being Black When I Transitioned

One of the things that irritates the frack out of me is when I run into folks that seem to have the misguided belief that I'm not only no longer Black, but don't have any right to claim my heritage since I transitioned over ten years ago.

The only thing that changed about me is the outer shell. It now matches the way I always felt, wanted to project to the world and who I am, a strong, proud woman who happens to be unabashedly African-American. The people who are still in my life that knew 'The Twin' back in the day way back when can tell you that they felt like I was on the wrong team as well. I had one of my longtime friends who remarked to me after I pulled the trigger and finally transitioned, "What took you so long?"

I'm sick and tired of you folks who don't even read the Bible on a regular basis or who are C&E Christians spouting Bible verses out of context or quoting Paul to justify your ignorant and devoid of scientific knowledge views.

Since you peeps are so adept at kicking out Bible verses to denigrate transgender peeps like me, here's one for you to chew on: Matthew 19;12

'For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.'

BTW, Eunuchs are considered by Biblical scholars what would be in our time as transgender people.

Jesus called us to love without limits our fellow human being. That includes transgender people as well, who are also created in God's image.

Jesus also calls us to show love for others as well as for ourselves. So if some of y'all have a problem showing unconditional love to transgender peeps, it can only be because you have limited love for yourselves or have some gender issues of your own you haven't resolved.

But that's another post for another time. Moni's going to school you right now on being Black and transgender. I still have chocolate brown skin covering my now curvaceous body, except it now smoother and softer. Just because I transitioned, it doesn't shield me from being whacked with all the daily slings and arrows that being Black in America presents you with. I still get called 'nigger'. As a matter of fact I've had that epithet thrown at me more so by people in the GLBT community since I transitioned than folks outside it. I also get the displeasure of having the b-word spat at me as well.

Let me also hip you to the fact that Black transgender peeps history is intertwined with the African-American community in what Dr. King called an inescapable network of mutuality. The African-American transgender community didn't just morph out of thin air, we've always been here and a part of it.

We were part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 60's as the late Coretta Scott King pointed out, and the Dewey's Lunch Counter protest is evidence of. We helped start the GLBT rights movement at Stonewall in 1969. We have been doing our part to help uplift the race. We are your neighbors, doctors, teachers, lawyers, mothers and fathers raising kids, and someday may even be representing you at various governmental levels. One of my dear friends will be headed to Denver as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Some of my brothers and sisters are not as open about who they are because of the ignorance I'm calling some of you out on.

If anyone should know the pain of faith-based ignorance and the damage it causes, it should be us. Why some people would want to hurl that same level of ignorance at fellow African-Americans for superficial reasons is stupid and divisive to our unity as a people.

Just because I and my transgender brothers and sisters transitioned doesn't exclude us from claiming our history. I'm Black and proud of it, and I refuse to let anyone try to assert, whether it's from a pulpit or a street corner in the 'hood that I'm not Black because I transitioned.

'Mom, I Need To Be A Girl' Rereleased

I had the pleasure of meeting 'Just Evelyn' during a 1999 Creating Change conference in Oakland. Evelyn is a determined, single mom of 3 and pioneer of the work that she now does as a TransYouth Family Allies board member and I had a blast talking to this fascinating woman.

She wrote about about her then teenage daughter Danielle in a book entitled, 'Mom, I Need To Be A Girl and how she facilitated Danielle's transition more than ten years ago.

I read her book and for parents and care providers dealing with these issues, or people who simply wish to better educate themselves on these issues, it's a must read tome. Evelyn's common-sense filled book is recommended by TYFA as a must read for parents and young transitioners alike age 9 and up. TYFA also recommends it for the libraries of every care provider who works with children and adolescents with gender identity issues.

I'm happy to note that 'Mom, I Need To Be A Girl' is not only being rereleased, Evelyn will be donating all proceeds for the sale of the book which is available on Amazon.com to TYFA.

If you want to preview it, the book is also on Lynn Conway's website as well in several languages.

'It's Me In A Different Way'

By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News
Photos by Matt McClain, Rocky Mountain News
kassj@RockyMountainNews.com
Originally published 12:30 a.m., March 1, 2008
Updated 03:13 a.m., March 1, 2008

On the first day of eighth grade, Melaina Marquez wore a polo shirt, wedge shoes and denim skirt with ruffles.

The year before, that outfit would have been out of the question. At that point, Melaina was a boy known as Manuel.

Melaina, now 15, is considered to be transgender: a person who does not identify with the sex based on his or her genitalia. She decided to tell her story after news reports last month about a 7-year-old Douglas County girl who attended school last year as a boy.

At age 2, Melaina recalls playing with Barbies and her favorite toy, a kitchenette. When she played house in pre-school, "I would always want to be the mom."

Melaina says she never struggled with her identity. But her mother, Michelle Benzor-Marquez, cannot say the same.

When Melaina was around 8 years old, she was allowed to wear light-colored lip gloss and a little blush, but only at home. Melaina's hair grew longer, little by little, but her mom had the stylist chop it off one day in sixth grade. Melaina cried the whole 20 miles to her grandmother's home.

Benzor-Marquez hoped Melaina was gay because she figured the world could better handle that than transgender.

"I know people think it's wrong to be transgender," said Melaina, who on a recent day was dressed in black jeans and a black and gold striped blouse with decorative bow. "But God made everyone different in his own way, and you can't change that. It's not a choice."

As many as 3 million

Statistics on transgender people are generally unreliable, according to advocates. Many people are scared or embarrassed to come forward and may not know about the term transgender, which came into common usage only about a decade ago.

The National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington, D.C., says it can only estimate from information that has been "cobbled together" that there may be from 1 million to 3 million people in the United States who take steps to live as the opposite sex.


Some advocates believe more transgender people are coming out. TransYouth Family Allies, which has counseled the Douglas County family, says it worked with roughly 15 families nationally last year. So far this year, the number is already more than 30, it reports.

It is not unusual for a youngster to deal with issues of sexual identity, according to experts. Trinidad (CO) sex change surgeon Marci Bowers said about 95 percent of those she has operated on told her they remember identifying with the opposite sex as young as 4 or 5 years old.

"They (the kids) are hard-wired that way," Bowers said. "Don't get caught up on the genitalia. It's the child's internal concept of their self-identity. They know who they are."

From Manuel to Melaina

In fall 2006, the Bill Reed Middle School psychologist had a meeting with Benzor-Marquez. Melaina, known then as Manuel, was being teased and harassed.

"I had to come out and say, 'My daughter is transgender,' " Benzor-Marquez recalled.

This was the first time she ever said the word - and the first step toward fully acknowledging her daughter's situation.

She then told the principal that Melaina would be living as a girl "in the future."

"His eyes got really big. He was scared. It was unknown to him," she recalled.

But he was supportive, and asked, "What can we do about this?"

Benzor-Marquez didn't know herself.

"I'll keep you posted," she said.

Melaina had about 10 sessions with a therapist, who is an expert in transgender issues. By the spring of 2007, the therapist agreed that Melaina was transgender - and psychologically balanced.

Melaina wanted to display her new identity immediately. But mom wanted to go slow. They had to check school policy and prepare answers for those who had questions.

That summer, Benzor-Marquez did her transgender homework, while Melaina grew her hair out, worked on her makeup, and prepared her wardrobe.

There was also the question of a name. Mom wanted to keep the first initial the same. She also wanted something ethnic to reflect their Mexican heritage. Benzor-Marquez's mom mentioned a Greek name, Melaina.

That worked for Benzor-Marquez.

"I named you the first time you were born," she said. "I'm picking it the second time."

Support at school

Before Melaina started eighth grade as a girl in 2007, her mom met with school employees, from secretaries on up, about Melaina's situation. During the first week of classes, someone on staff kept an eye out for her. "We wanted her to be safe and have fun and be a kid," Benzor- Marquez added.

The first day back went fine, Melaina said. Soon after, "the question" arose: "Did you have a sex change?"

If it is the most obvious question for transgender people, it is also the most bothersome.

"Nobody else has to answer that question," said Trans-Youth Family Allies executive director Kim Pearson.

Plus, U.S. standards of medical care generally have called for sex change operations only for people at least 18 years old, according to some advocates.

Now in ninth grade at Mountain View High School in Loveland, Melaina knows a lot of people and has a small circle of close friends. She is also on the girls track team.

Like the Douglas County girl, Melaina uses unisex bathrooms on campus, although she would prefer the girls' restroom. Melaina's counselor is there for her five days a week.

Benzor-Marquez said Melaina's friends have been supportive, encouraging her to ask boys out.

But Melaina also has been harassed and hurt, sometimes accidentally, sometimes not.

One classmate - she says he didn't mean for her to hear - said, "She's an it." Then there was another guy at the bus stop. He was a bit more vocal.

"She's still a guy!" he declared.

She recently had a date with boy to see the movie Beowulf. Her stepfather chaperoned. The date was teased when classmates found out he went with her, Melaina said.

Yet she counts her transition as "100 percent successful."

Mom doesn't go that far. Benzor-Marquez feels that Melaina may have become accustomed to the small but steady stream of comments and questions directed at her, and view them as normal.

But Benzor-Marquez said that parental support, working closely with school officials and being honest with classmates are among the keys to a smooth transition.

That honesty is apparent in how Melaina approaches a guy she likes.

"Have you ever heard the term transgender?" she will say. "I used to be a boy before, but now I'm female."

The response, typically, is hardly what she wants to hear.

"They'll be freaked out for a week or so, then say, 'Can we just be friends?' " Melaina said.

She has not given up. But she also reflects that she may not have a boyfriend throughout high school.

"It hurts to a point," she added. "But you either like me, or you don't."

At one point, Melaina's mother pulls a passport-sized picture out of her wallet. It could be any dark-haired boy at 21/2-years- old, dressed in khakis and a striped dress shirt.

"It's still me," Melaina said. "I don't find it gross or wrong. It's me in a different way."

Battlestar Galactica-Season 4

Like all Battlestar Galactica fans I was glued to the television starting at 10 PM EDT for an hour last night watching the season premiere.

Technically, Razor was the season premier back in November, but it was cool to see the cast for what is going to be 'sniff-sniff' the last season of BSG.

And to think I was once one of the OBSG (original Battlestar Galactica) fans who ranted about how I wasn't gonna in my words, "watch this travesty."

It's been a fun filled roller coaster ride and the writing in this long awaited season premiere didn't disappoint. I died laughing during one scene in which Admiral Adama said upon Kara's seemingly miraculous return from the dead, "Do you believe in miracles?' and Tigh answered "No" alluding to Al Michaels famous call of the final moments of the US-Soviet Union Olympic hockey game in 1980.

I have to get the Season 3 DVDs and catch up since I didn't see much of that season due to them moving it to Sunday nights ands I was working Sundays at the time.

If last nights show is indicative of what were going to see form the last season of Battlestar, then its gonna go out with all guns blazing.

Obama's Remarks On The King Assassination Anniversary

Today represents a tragic anniversary for our country. Through his faith, courage, and wisdom, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. moved an entire nation. He preached the gospel of brotherhood; of equality and justice. That's the cause for which he lived – and for which he died forty years ago today. And so before we begin, I ask you to join me in a moment of silence in memory of this extraordinary American.

There's been a lot of discussion this week about how Dr. King's life and legacy speak to us today. It's taking place in our schools and churches, on television and around the dinner table. And I suspect that much of what folks are talking about centers on issues of racial justice – on the Montgomery bus boycott and the March on Washington, on the freedom rides and the stand at Selma.

And that's as it should be – because those were times when ordinary men and women, straight-backed and clear-eyed, challenged what they knew was wrong and helped perfect our union. And they did so in large part because Dr. King pointed the way.

But I also think it's worth reflecting on what Dr. King was doing in Memphis, when he stepped onto that motel balcony on his way out for dinner.

And what he was doing was standing up for struggling sanitation workers. For years, these workers had served their city without complaint, picking up other people's trash for little pay and even less respect. Passers-by would call them "walking buzzards," and in the segregated South, most were forced to use separate drinking fountains and bathrooms.

But in 1968, these workers decided they'd had enough, and over 1,000 went on strike. Their demands were modest – better wages, better benefits, and recognition of their union. But the opposition was fierce. Their vigils were met with handcuffs. Their protests turned back with mace. And at the end of one march, a 16-year old boy lay dead.

This is the struggle that brought Dr. King to Memphis. It was a struggle for economic justice, for the opportunity that should be available to people of all races and all walks of life. Because Dr. King understood that the struggle for economic justice and the struggle for racial justice were really one – that each was part of a larger struggle "for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity." So long as Americans were trapped in poverty, so long as they were being denied the wages, benefits, and fair treatment they deserved – so long as opportunity was being opened to some but not all – the dream that he spoke of would remain out of reach.

And on the eve of his death, Dr. King gave a sermon in Memphis about what the movement there meant to him and to America. And in tones that would prove eerily prophetic, Dr. King said that despite the threats he'd received, he didn't fear any man, because he had been there when Birmingham aroused the conscience of this nation. And he'd been there to see the students stand up for freedom by sitting in at lunch counters. And he'd been there in Memphis when it was dark enough to see the stars, to see the community coming together around a common purpose. So Dr. King had been to the mountaintop. He had seen the Promised Land. And while he knew somewhere deep in his bones that he would not get there with us, he knew that we would get there.

He knew it because he had seen that Americans have "the capacity," as he said that night, "to project the 'I' into the 'thou.'" To recognize that no matter what the color of our skin, no matter what faith we practice, no matter how much money we have – no matter whether we are sanitation workers or United States Senators – we all have a stake in one another, we are our brother's keeper, we are our sister's keeper, and "either we go up together, or we go down together."

And when he was killed the following day, it left a wound on the soul of our nation that has yet to fully heal. And in few places was the pain more pronounced than in Indianapolis, where Robert Kennedy happened to be campaigning. And it fell to him to inform a crowded park that Dr. King had been killed. And as the shock turned toward anger, Kennedy reminded them of Dr. King's compassion, and his love. And on a night when cities across the nation were alight with violence, all was quiet in Indianapolis.

In the dark days after Dr. King's death, Coretta Scott King pointed out the stars. She took up her husband's cause and led a march in Memphis. But while those sanitation workers eventually got their union contract, the struggle for economic justice remains an unfinished part of the King legacy. Because the dream is still out of reach for too many Americans. Just this morning, it was announced that more Americans are unemployed now than at any time in years. And all across this country, families are facing rising costs, stagnant wages, and the terrible burden of losing a home.

Part of the problem is that for a long time, we've had a politics that's been too small for the scale of the challenges we face. This is something I spoke about a few weeks ago in a speech I gave in Philadelphia. And what I said was that instead of having a politics that lives up to Dr. King's call for unity, we've had a politics that's used race to drive us apart, when all this does is feed the forces of division and distraction, and stop us from solving our problems.

That is why the great need of this hour is much the same as it was when Dr. King delivered his sermon in Memphis. We have to recognize that while we each have a different past, we all share the same hopes for the future – that we'll be able to find a job that pays a decent wage, that there will be affordable health care when we get sick, that we'll be able to send our kids to college, and that after a lifetime of hard work, we'll be able to retire with security. They're common hopes, modest dreams. And they're at the heart of the struggle for freedom, dignity, and humanity that Dr. King began, and that it is our task to complete.

You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. But what he also knew was that it doesn't bend on its own. It bends because each of us puts our hands on that arc and bends it in the direction of justice.

So on this day – of all days – let's each do our part to bend that arc.

Let's bend that arc toward justice.

Let's bend that arc toward opportunity.

Let's bend that arc toward prosperity for all.

And if we can do that and march together – as one nation, and one people – then we won't just be keeping faith with what Dr. King lived and died for, we'll be making real the words of Amos that he invoked so often, and "let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Reflections About A King

When I flipped the calendar page from March to April, I stared at the 4 that appeared in the first Friday of the month and realized we were approaching another sad anniversary of his assassination.

It's been 40 years since whoever fired that bullet, whether it was James Earl Ray or some person whose name will remain unknown to us cut short Dr. King's brilliant life at age 39. I was a first grader at the time one month away from celebrating my sixth birthday when he was killed in Memphis.

Usually in the run up to this anniversary date, like I do on his January 15 birthday and the federal holiday, I not only take time to reflect on the remarkable life of who Tavis Smiley calls 'the greatest American we ever produced', I take stock in my own personal life and ask myself some hard questions about what I'm doing to not only help my people make 'The Dream' a reality, but what I'm doing in service to others as well.

This 40th anniversary of his assassination is also arriving at another pivotal moment in our history. It's ironic that just like 40 years ago, we are embroiled in another controversial war, environmental issues are on the minds of votes, we have an unpopular president occupying the White House, race relations have become testy, the economy is stagnant, and Americans are pessimistic about the future.

But at the same time, Robert Kennedy's run for the presidency 40 years ago was generating the same kind of optimism and hope among a cross section of Americans as Sen. Barack Obama's historic presidential run is today.

But make no mistake about it, we are in another dust up over race because we have failed to aggressively pursue the remedies and policies that would make 'The Dream' a reality. It's interesting to note that no one has brought up the Kerner Commission report, which was released 40 years ago on February 29, 1968 and warned 'our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, One White—Separate and Unequal' in the context of these discussion.

Over the last few days, I've been rereading my copy of A Testament of Hope, which is a James Washington edited compilation of writings, interviews and speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Every time I read it I gain new insights about this remarkable man. The other striking thing is how applicable his words are to our time period, especially when he talks about his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Dr. King was a rare combination of intelligence, superior oratorical skill, political savviness, scientific curiosity, top notch writing skills, spirituality, and telegenic looks in one impressive package.

There are not many movement leaders in our time who have half of those qualities, much less the stature that Dr. King commanded during his lifetime. I remember a commentary I wrote in response to a post on a transgender list that said we needed a transgender Martin Luther King. It also created a leadership yardstick that few people can live up to but if they tried, we'd be much better off.

America and the world suffered a great loss when he was taken away from us and we are a poorer nation for it.


Crossposted to The Bilerico Project.

King and Kerner: An Unfinished Agenda

By Edward W. Brooke
Thursday, April 3, 2008
from the Washington Post

America has had much to reflect upon during the approach of the interrelated 40th anniversaries of the final report of the Kerner Commission, the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the round of riots that followed in Washington, Baltimore, Chicago and well over 100 other cities across the nation. We have heard Sen. Barack Obama's insightful speech on race and the reactions it provoked. Today, unfortunately, Dr. King's dream remains deferred.

Former senator Fred R. Harris and I are the two surviving members of President Lyndon Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the formal name of the commission chaired by then-Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner). Our commission concluded that black frustration grew out of underrepresentation in the political system, the police, the media and all other aspects of American life. We urged new investments in jobs, schools and housing. We declared that poverty, inequality and segregation in the racial ghetto had created a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. We avowed that white America had created and maintained the ghetto and that white society condoned it. These were strong words, but we believed that the truth needed telling.

I thought (and believe others did as well) that President Johnson would applaud our painstaking analysis and support our recommendations. But the president who had done so much for civil rights distanced himself from our findings. He did not invite us to the White House for the report's release, as was customary, nor did he embrace its recommendations.

In retrospect, I can see that our report was too strong for him to take. It suggested that all of his great achievements -- his civil rights legislation, his anti-poverty program, Head Start, housing legislation and all the rest of the Great Society -- had been only a beginning. We asked him, in an election year, to endorse the idea that white America bore much of the responsibility for black rioting and rebellion. However true that might have been, the message was politically too hot to handle.

Members of our commission could scarcely have envisioned the strides African Americans have made since the report's release or conceived of the growing numbers, progress and influence of Hispanic Americans.

With the ascendancy of an African American contender for the presidency, dispassionate observers might gasp at how far we have come in two generations. The achievements in business, entertainment, sports and politics that black and Hispanic Americans have made are notable, but not for their exception.

Yet, despite the visibility of accomplished African Americans and Hispanics and the progress in race relations that has been made in this country, for America's poor -- those who do not know what health care is because for them it doesn't exist, those for whom prison is a more likely prospect than college, those who have been abandoned to the worst of decaying, crime-ridden urban centers because of the flight of middle-class blacks, whites and Hispanics -- the future may be as bleak as it was for their counterparts in the 1960s.

The core conditions that the Kerner Commission identified as key contributors to civil unrest are as prevalent, if not as virulent, today as they were 40 years ago. The lack of affordable, safe housing and the absence of jobs or hope for the future have confined even more of our citizens to an eerily familiar world that not so long ago gave rise to cities in flames.

Until we root out and eradicate the conditions that cultivate generations in deprivation and despair, we are bound to harvest a bitter crop.

Fulfilling Dr. King's dream will require economic and health security, worker empowerment, job training and retraining, job creation, and high-quality education for the minority poor as well as neglected blue-collar workers and the anxious middle class.

The Eisenhower Foundation -- of which I was a trustee for many years -- recently released a strategy to this end. A new movement for a Fair Economic Deal based on a coalition of these citizens could become the basis for creating what the Kerner Commission called "new will."

If political will can be changed over the long run, perhaps we can begin to address even more difficult issues -- such as how to return to racial integration, how to take on corporate and lobbyist control of the political process, how to enact real campaign finance reform, and how to reverse media consolidation.

We have come far, but we still have so far to go. Let us not wait until another anniversary, whether a decade or even another year, to get there.

Edward W. Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts, was the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.

Happy 80th Birthday Sister Maya!

In addition to the sad anniversary we'll be commemorating in terms of the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assasination, we do have a happy event to celebrate.

Today is Dr. Maya Angelou's 80th birthday.

She's one of my favorite poets, writers and motivational speakers. One of my early posts on TransGriot was taking one of her poems, Phenomenal Woman and rewriting it with a transgender spin.

It has become my mantra and one of the motivating tools I use to inspire me to reach higher and be the best person I can be. It's ironic and kind of neat that a poem I wrote to motivate myself is also becoming an inspiration to some of my transsistahs as well. I'm honored that my homegirl Tona Brown loves this poem and will be using her considerable musical talents to set that piece to music. I'm looking forward to hearing her perform it one day.

But back to Sister Maya. She's not only an inspiration to me, but also Oprah and many women across ethnic backgrounds. Happy 80th birthday to one phenomenal woman!

The Transgender Summit

A few months ago a group of transwomen and a transman got together to tell their stories. It was moderated by Alexis Arquette and televised on Entertainment Tonight.

here's the clip from that show.

Transgender Friendly Tucson Hosts IFGE 2008

Tucson, Arizona, has a reputation as one of the most transgender-friendly cities in the country, both in policy and mindset, and this week the city plays host to the International Foundation for Gender Education’s 22nd annual conference, March 31 to April 5. Workshops given throughout the conference will highlight the unique qualities and programs in southern Arizona make Tucson a friendly place those who do not conform to society’s gender norms. The focus on Tucson will conclude on Saturday, April 5, with a public open house featuring a distinguished panel of civic and community leaders.




Hosted by the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, the IFGE 2008 conference is the first national transgender conference in Tucson and attendance is expected to exceed 400 — from Arizona, the southwest, the rest of the United States, and beyond. The conference is held at the Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park, 445 S. Alvernon Way.

Social activities and excursions to Tucson tourist destinations kick off the week starting on Monday, March 31, and the conference programming begins on Thursday, April 3, with a welcome by Tucson mayor Bob Walkup and a plenary session by activist Jamison Green, author of the prize-winning book “Becoming a Visible Man.”

Wingspan, southern Arizona’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center, will offer an open house and facility tour on Thursday, April 3, starting at 2 p.m. Wingspan is one of the nation’s ten largest LGBT centers. The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance is a program of Wingspan and provides support, reference, and education on transgender issues in the Tucson area.

Tucson has had an ordinance in place since February 1977 that prevents discrimination on basis of sexual orientation; in 1999, gender identity was added to this ordinance, which is a model for other communities. Fifth-generation Tucsonan Liana Perez, director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs for the city of Tucson, will present a workshop on “Our Shared Diversity: Meeting the Challenge to Create Success” on Thursday, April 3.

Sarah Jones, Raquel Mrozowski, and Karen Orr will also present “Safe Shelter - Creating a Safe Domestic Violence Shelter” on Thursday, discussing the process that led to the Tucson Centers for Women and Children designating a transgender room in the shelter.

On Friday, April 4, Cathy Jacobus, consumer health librarian at Pima County Public Library, and Karyn Prechtel, managing librarian at PCPL, will co-present a workshop on “Transgender Health and the Public Library.”

Transgender youth between the ages of 13 and 23 in Tucson have the support of the Prism Project and the Eon Youth Center. On Friday, Carly Thomsen, T.C. Tolbert and Wendy Sampson will co-present “The Prism Project - Building a Dynamic Support Program for Transgender Youth.”

Transgender health and social service needs were examined in a twelve-month period in 2006, and primary investigator Kendall Roark, doctoral candidate at Temple University, will present the results in Saturday’s workshop “Transgender and Gender Diverse Community Needs Assessment in Southern Arizona.”

The public is invited to a town hall meeting on Saturday, April 5, at 10 a.m. that will answer the question, “How did Tucson get to be such an accepting community?” Panelists will include Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson; former mayor George Miller; Peter Likens, former president of the University of Arizona; city council member Nina Trasoff; Amelia Craig Cramer, chief deputy Pima County Attorney; John-Peter Wilhite, Commission on GLBT issues; Stephen Russell of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona; Kevin Maxey, co-founder of the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance; and Amanda Simpson, 2004 candidate for Arizona House of Representatives, district 26. The town hall meeting will be held at Reid Park Doubletree Hotel and is sponsored by Raytheon, southern Arizona’s largest private employer.

~~
The International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) is a non-profit advocacy organization founded in 1987. IFGE’s purpose is overcoming the intolerance of transgenderism brought about by widespread ignorance and outreach through education for the emancipation of all people from restrictive gender norms.

The IFGE 2008 conference is open to all — transgender, crossdresser, transsexual, transvestite, female to male, male to female, significant other, friend, helping professional, student, educator, or others. For more information on the conference, see http://ifge.sagatucson.org/.

The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA) is a program of Wingspan, Tucson’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community center. SAGA provides educational, support, outreach, and other programs for transgender, transsexual, and gender-variant people, as well as families, allies, service providers, employers, and others. For more information on SAGA, see http://www.sagatucson.org/.

IFGE 2008

Yesterday IFGE Conference 2008 kicked off in Tucson. Normally it's one of the two transgender conferences I try to attend (the other is Southern Comfort) but my work schedule killed my ability to attend this one which will run until April 5.

As a Trinity winner I'm usually interested in finding out who received those awards and the Virginia Prince. They also have some great seminars on a wide range of community issues as well so if you're looking to attend a conference and get a great 'ejumacation' on transgender issues, this one and SCC are the must attend ones for you.

If you live in the Tucson area and would like to attend, they'd love to have you. They are doing on site registration as we speak.

Planning is already underway for IFGE 2009 and they have already issued a call for presenters.

See y'all in Alexandria, VA in 2009

Et Tu Lou?

Well, well, well. Seems like the conservatives don't like their favorite token anymore now that she remembered she was born in Birmingham, AL., made favorable comments about Sen. Obama's speech and added some insightful commentary of her own in the Washington Times no less. The Freepers have gone off the deep end as Pam has documented on her blog.

Lou Dobbs fake populist behind shows his true conservative colors. He's been a Bush apologist for years and now he's trying to reinvent himself as an 'independent'.
I ain't buying it.



Let's focus people. Some of you, especailly of the conservative persuasion are in deep denial about just how bad the race problem is and has gotten under Republican misrule. May I suggest reading some US history, John Hope Franklin, Andrew Hacker, Dr. Cornel West, Tim Wise and Randall Robinson and talking to Tavis Smiley or Roland Martin for starters before you try to to lecture me or any other African-American about how this country is the 'greatest' for African-descended Americans.

I'm Number #107!

The Villager's Top Ten Black Blog rankings for April just came out and TransGriot finally made the list. Out of the 1045 blogs ranked this month mine is #107.

If you're a blogger of African descent and want to see where yours ranked head on over to the Electronic Village and see your ranking.

The Villager started ranking Black blogs after this list of influential blogs was chosen which was devoid of melanin. That pissed off the Villager to the point where he started this FUBU production.

Speaking of FUBU productions, the Blogging While Brown conference for bloggers of color will be taking place in the ATL from July 25-27. I'm definitely leaning toward being there for it

I'm Sellin' Out

TransGriot readers, I have an announcement to make.

Today I'm changing my voter registration to Republican and joining the ever expanding ranks of freethinkng Black people rushing to get off the Democrat plantation.

We African-Americans have always been conservative, and I'm tired of fighting for people that won't take responsibility for their own lives, including you whiny butt transgender people, and not getting paid for it.

I've been in negotiations with News Corporation and I'm pleased to announce that I will become a contributor to various Fox News programs as their expert on the Homosexual Agenda. I will also be leaving Bilerico and starting my new syndicated conservative column on Monday. I'm on the verge of finalizing a book deal with Regnery Publishing to write an expose on the transgender rights movement.

So I'll have to give up my Black Like Me card. Big deal. Clarence Thomas, Ken Blackwell and Condoleezza Rice are doing wonderfully well for themselves. What did the black communty, much less the transgender community, ever do for me except give me grief?

That reminds me, I need to return those calls from Project 21 and the High Impact Leadership Coalition. They've been asking me for information about the transgender community and I'm being paid a nice consulting fee for it.

I'm ready to start rocking designer suits, have Prada purses filled with cash and wear Ferragamo pumps. Oh yeah, that reminds me, my mentor Condi and I are going shoe shopping in New York next week.

I'm leaving my open and affirming church to attend a real Bible believing one that won't tolerate your liberal America-hating family destroying agenda. With the advance check I just got from News Corporation, I have enough cash to not only get that Beemer I had my eye on last week and move back to Texas, I'm gonna do some surgical tune-ups on my body before I make my first television appearance on The O'Reilly Factor.

I've also had discussions with the Log Cabin Republicans about becoming the first African-American transgender Republican delegate. They're already clearing a spot for me in the Kentucky Republican Party delegation if i want it, and they've hinted that they may give me a prime time speaking slot at the convention in Minneapolis.

So farewell, TransGriot readers. This freethinking sistah is going back home to the Party of Lincoln.


And oh yeah, before you start sending me hate mail, check the date of the post.