The Difference Between the Two Campaigns

TransGriot Note: Received this in an e-mail and had to share it with y'all. This comes from Tamatha Clay and is a dead-on assessment of the two presidential campaigns.


I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....


* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now

Transgender Transpass Problem

TransGriot Note: Just as being an African-American subjects you to almost daily slings and arrows and assaults on your dignity and personhood, so does being a transgender person. Don't even get me started on how much drama it is sometimes being a transperson of color.

One of our transsistahs in the City of Brotherly Love is experiencing a maddening problem with her bus pass that's preventing her from using it. In an effort to crack down on fraudulent uses of the passes, SEPTA, the transit authority for the area puts 'M' or 'F' gender marker stickers on the pass.

Well, that has caused problems for Charlene Moore-Arcila as this link to the video and the news story will elaborate on.

6abc.com, PA, USA

Transgender's Transpass Problem

Friday, September 19, 2008 | 8:18 PM
By Denise James

PHILADELPHIA - September 19, 2008 - (WPVI) -- A sticker SEPTA uses to cut down on fraud with its Transpasses has caused an unusual problem.

Now, that problem is at the center of a lawsuit.

Charlene Moore-Arcila says she used to use a Transpass to ride SEPTA, and now she uses tokens.

This, after an incident in 2006 in which a driver did not let the 42-year-old male to female transgendered rider using her Transpass when boarding the bus.

The Transpass cards have stickers, with "M" for male and "F" for female.

Living as a woman, Charlene was using a female sticker. She says the driver told her she couldn't use the transpass, because she's not female.

But, she says, she's also been stopped when her transpass had a male ID sticker.

"There has been incidents where I have gone to get on a bus with a male transpass, presenting myself as a female, and a driver said I can't use it," Moore-Arcila said. "I'm like, can you make up your mind which I need to purchase?"

Charlene has filed a complaint with SEPTA, which maintains the stickers prevent fraud.

Richard Maloney of SEPTA said, "It's a matter of security, and in our case, of making sure the pass isn't passed on to someone else."

Moore-Arcila maintains the stickers are discriminatory, and her attorneys say the stickers do not prevent family members of the same sex from sharing a transpass. They argue it singles out people like their client.

The Philadelphia Human Relations Commission agreed Friday to investigate, and determine if the gender stickers violate the city's fair practices act.

SEPTA has challenged the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission's authority to hear a case about SEPTA, because SEPTA answers to the state.

The commission says they do have that authority, and SEPTA plans to appeal.


Copyright (c)2008 WPVI-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
Copyright (c)2008 ABC Inc., WPVI-TV/DT Philadelphia, PA. All Rights Reserved.

Poll-Racism Is A Major Factor Keeping Obama From Winning Big

TransGriot Note: One of my commenters disagreed with my observation in a recent post that some racist whites could possibly deny Obama the shot at the White House he deserved as the more qualified person to run this country.

Well here's the evidence to back up what I stated and already know - 10-15% of the white electorate will not vote for an African-American no matter how qualified they are because of racist assumptions about African-Americans they still hold.

And that 10-15% figure is the folks who admitted it.

One of the reasons many African-American Democrats are still pissed at Hillary is that she and her campaign team introduced the race baiting themes and lines of attack on Obama in the primary that John McCain is using right now.

We African-Americans will do our part to help get Obama elected. It's on you progressive whites to convert the holdouts in YOUR neighborhoods to vote for the most qualified man we've had in a generation for this office.

One of the things you can tell those holdouts who fear revenge from an Obama administration for all the negative things done to us over the last 200 plus years by white politicians, is that unlike the Sarah Palins and Republicans of the world, Black politicians, especially first African-Americans to hold a position previously dominated by whites are far more concerned with doing the job correctly and competently.

African-Americans don't have the luxury of using a political position to gain personal revenge on peeps they don't like. We're more concerned with creating a positive leadership impression and tearing down stereotypes. We know that if we don't do a bang up job the first time, there won't be a second or third Black elected to that office.



Poll: Racial Views Steer Some White Dems Away From Obama

By RON FOURNIER and TREVOR THOMPSON,
Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," "violent," responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

"There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey.

The pollsters set out to determine why Obama is locked in a close race with McCain even as the political landscape seems to favor Democrats. President Bush's unpopularity, the Iraq war and a national sense of economic hard times cut against GOP candidates, as does that fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

The findings suggest that Obama's problem is close to home — among his fellow Democrats, particularly non-Hispanic white voters. Just seven in 10 people who call themselves Democrats support Obama, compared to the 85 percent of self-identified Republicans who back McCain.

The survey also focused on the racial attitudes of independent voters because they are likely to decide the election.

Lots of Republicans harbor prejudices, too, but the survey found they weren't voting against Obama because of his race. Most Republicans wouldn't vote for any Democrat for president — white, black or brown.

Not all whites are prejudiced. Indeed, more whites say good things about blacks than say bad things, the poll shows. And many whites who see blacks in a negative light are still willing or even eager to vote for Obama.

On the other side of the racial question, the Illinois Democrat is drawing almost unanimous support from blacks, the poll shows, though that probably wouldn't be enough to counter the negative effect of some whites' views.

Race is not the biggest factor driving Democrats and independents away from Obama. Doubts about his competency loom even larger, the poll indicates. More than a quarter of all Democrats expressed doubt that Obama can bring about the change they want, and they are likely to vote against him because of that.

Three in 10 of those Democrats who don't trust Obama's change-making credentials say they plan to vote for McCain.

Still, the effects of whites' racial views are apparent in the polling.

Statistical models derived from the poll suggest that Obama's support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice.

But in an election without precedent, it's hard to know if such models take into account all the possible factors at play.

The AP-Yahoo News poll used the unique methodology of Knowledge Networks, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that interviews people online after randomly selecting and screening them over telephone. Numerous studies have shown that people are more likely to report embarrassing behavior and unpopular opinions when answering questions on a computer rather than talking to a stranger.

Other techniques used in the poll included recording people's responses to black or white faces flashed on a computer screen, asking participants to rate how well certain adjectives apply to blacks, measuring whether people believe blacks' troubles are their own fault, and simply asking people how much they like or dislike blacks.

"We still don't like black people," said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word "violent" strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with "boastful," 29 percent "complaining," 13 percent "lazy" and 11 percent "irresponsible." When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.

Among white Democrats, one third cited a negative adjective and, of those, 58 percent said they planned to back Obama.

The poll sought to measure latent prejudices among whites by asking about factors contributing to the state of black America. One finding: More than a quarter of white Democrats agree that "if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites."

Those who agreed with that statement were much less likely to back Obama than those who didn't.

Among white independents, racial stereotyping is not uncommon. For example, while about 20 percent of independent voters called blacks "intelligent" or "smart," more than one third latched on the adjective "complaining" and 24 percent said blacks were "violent."

Nearly four in 10 white independents agreed that blacks would be better off if they "try harder."

The survey broke ground by incorporating images of black and white faces to measure implicit racial attitudes, or prejudices that are so deeply rooted that people may not realize they have them. That test suggested the incidence of racial prejudice is even higher, with more than half of whites revealing more negative feelings toward blacks than whites.

Researchers used mathematical modeling to sort out the relative impact of a huge swath of variables that might have an impact on people's votes — including race, ideology, party identification, the hunger for change and the sentiments of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's backers.

Just 59 percent of her white Democratic supporters said they wanted Obama to be president. Nearly 17 percent of Clinton's white backers plan to vote for McCain.

Among white Democrats, Clinton supporters were nearly twice as likely as Obama backers to say at least one negative adjective described blacks well, a finding that suggests many of her supporters in the primaries — particularly whites with high school education or less — were motivated in part by racial attitudes.

The survey of 2,227 adults was conducted Aug. 27 to Sept. 5. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

_____

Associated Press writers Nancy Benac, Julie Carr Smyth, Philip Elliot, Julie Pace and Sonya Ross contributed to this story.

Diane Schroer Wins Discrimination Lawsuit

TransGriot Note; More good news to report on. Diane Schroer won her potentially groundbreaking federal lawsuit against the Library of Congress. Say thank you to the ACLU by dropping a little donation in their laps.

Federal Court Sides With ACLU, Ruling That Refusing To Hire Transgender People Is Discriminatory

WASHINGTON - Today a federal judge ruled that the Library of Congress illegally discriminated against a Special Forces veteran when she was denied a job after announcing her intention to transition from male to female. In a groundbreaking decision, the court ruled that discriminating against someone for changing genders is sex discrimination under federal law.

"It is especially gratifying that the court has ruled that discriminating against someone for transitioning is illegal," said Diane Schroer, the plaintiff in the case. "I knew all along that the 25 years of experience I gained defending our country didn't disappear when I transitioned, so it was hard to understand why I was being turned down for a job doing what I do best just because I'm transgender. It is tremendously gratifying to have your faith in this country, and what is fundamentally right and fair, be reaffirmed."

In reaching its decision, the court ruled: "The evidence established that the Library was enthusiastic about hiring David Schroer – until she disclosed her transsexuality. The Library revoked the offer when it learned that a man named David intended to become, legally, culturally, and physically, a woman named Diane. This was discrimination 'because of . . . sex.'"

The court compares the discrimination faced by Schroer to religious-based discrimination, saying, "Imagine that an employee is fired because she converts from Christianity to Judaism. Imagine too that her employer testified that he harbors no bias toward either Christians or Jews but only 'converts.' That would be a clear case of discrimination 'because of religion.' No court would take seriously the notion that 'converts' are not covered by the statute."

"The court got it exactly right, sending a loud and clear message to employers everywhere: if you fire or refused to hire someone for transitioning, you are guilty of sex discrimination and may well find yourself liable," said Sharon McGowan, one of the ACLU LGBT Project staff attorneys who tried the case.

The court also ruled that the Library was guilty of sex stereotyping against Schroer because she failed to live up to traditional notions of what is male or female.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit against the Library of Congress on June 2, 2005. After retiring from the military, Schroer, who had been hand-picked to head up a classified national security operation while serving as a Special Forces officer, applied for a position with the Library of Congress as the senior terrorism research analyst. Soon thereafter she was offered the job, which she accepted immediately. Prior to starting work, Schroer took her future boss to lunch to explain that she was in the process of transitioning and thought it would be easier for everyone if she simply started work presenting as female. The following day, Schroer received a call from her future boss rescinding the offer, telling her that she wasn't a "good fit" for the Library of Congress.

The lawsuit charged that the Library of Congress unlawfully refused to hire Schroer in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects against sex discrimination in the workplace. The Library of Congress moved to dismiss the case several times, claiming that transgender people are not covered under Title VII of 1964. After a trial last month, the court rejected those arguments and ruled that the Library illegally discriminated against Schroer in violation of Title VII. The court's decision indicated that the next step in the case will be further proceedings to determine the appropriate remedies for this discrimination. Those remedies may include ordering the Library of Congress to hire Schroer, award back pay for the wages she lost or provide monetary compensation for the injury caused by discrimination.

"I very much hope that this ruling will help to eliminate the all-too-pervasive discrimination against gender non-conforming people in all areas. I hope too, that employers, family members, friends and co-workers will begin to understand variations in gender identity from a basis of knowledge and not fear," added Schroer.

In addition to McGowan, the legal team consisted of Ken Choe, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU LGBT Project, James Esseks, Litigation Director for the ACLU LGBT Project and Art Spitzer, Legal Director of the ACLU of the National Capital Area.

A copy of the decision, the complaint, a video, a bio and photographs of Diane Schroer are available at: www.aclu.org/caseprofiles

Kim Petras Update

Remember Kim Petras, the German teen who is believed to be the youngest person in the world to ever undergo GRS?

Boy, how time flies. Three years ago the controversy was raging all over the world whether Kim, much less any transkid was too young to transition at age 12. We had a rather spirited debate about it on TSTB, and it led me to compose a post about the issue of teen transition and my thoughts on it.

Just an FYI, I'm in favor of doing it in your teens.

Kim is now a stunning looking 16 year old. After enduring years of taunts from fellow classmates she shook it off and focused on her music, which became cult hits on MySpace and You Tube.

The cult hit status has paid dividends for Kim and led to her recently being signed by a German company to a recording contract. She's now focused on her budding music career and achieving pop star status, not her unique path to womanhood.



"My music is most important to me at the moment. It's the way I can best express myself."

"I know that because of my past people will always bring up the subject, I can't get away from it. But I hope that one day I might be better known for my music than for my past."



As Kim prepares to release her first CD, it's what her sisters and brothers all over the world wish for her as well.

A. Dionne Stallworth Interview

TransGriot Note: When I started the Transsistahs-Transbrothas Yahoo discussion list on January 1, 2004, all I was trying to do was provide a place for transpeople of African descent to have thoughtful discussions on the various issues that affected us.

Little did I know that I'd not only meet some wonderful people, but learn about some of my history makers as well in the process. One of the joys of founding this list has been getting to know and call history maker A. Dionne Stallworth my friend.

This was a recent interview conducted on September 14, 2008 by Genaro Urso with Dionne at www.stoppingthehate.com.

****


Dionne Stallworth has been a longtime advocate and activist concerning issues of mental health, homelessness, people of color, and equality for all LGBTIQ people.

Among her many accomplishments, Dionne was one of the original founding members of GenderPAC, a former officer and board member of the Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association, founded and ran the first organization in Philadelphia dealing with the issues of transgender youth of color, and one of the founding members and original co-chair of the Philadelphia–based Transgender Health Action Coalition.

Dionne is currently the Resident Activities Coordinator for In Community, a housing program run by the internationally known and respected non-profit organization, Project H. O. M. E. Part of her responsibilities include aiding in the development of educational and entertaining activities for program residents, including direct oversight of an interactive film series program called “Community Night at the Movies” – which recently celebrated its 1st anniversary. She is a public grant reviewer for the National Institute of Mental Health and is working on the development of a pilot transgender-specific shelter project.

What do you think the most perplexing issue facing transgendered people is?

I think the biggest issue we face is how we see ourselves and how we define ourselves. Unlike most other movements, we have never defined ourselves and as such, we become defined by others who are not us. It separates us from would be allies and each other. Without that definition, we can't even begin to have a conversation about what we need, what we want, or what we want the future to look like for ourselves.

Over the last year there has been a deep seeded division between the trans community and the GLB community. Do you think it is better served to redefine the trans role with the HRC or should Trans people seek their own organization to lobby Washington?

Someone so much wiser than me said: "Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." That being said, historically, LGB organizations have failed miserably to recognize the fact more often than not - issues of gender-variant people are more theirs, than the other way around. At the peak of the dot com boom, I chose the online name of "A. Dionne Stallworth" as a political statement and as an active form of protest against that type of bigotry and lack of vision. LGB people for a long time have been called "children of the rainbow;" Gender-variant people are "children of the prism."

We are crystal by which all of them have become visible. As for the 2nd part of the question, about forming our organizations, our organizations need to meet and agree on a definition of who we are without clinging to other people's definition of who we are. Until that happens, we are like Jews who were lost in the wilderness for 40 years. Another wise person said: "The only way to have freedom of the press is to own the press." We will only come to our destiny if we define who we are and not before.

What is the biggest misconception you feel faces transgendered women?

I think some of us think because of our experience we experience everything a genetic or biological woman does. This is not possible. It is a fact. We will never know what is to experience menses or giving birth. Most of us will never know what it means to grow up female in a patriarchal society. This has left its scar upon us and why so many of us have a hard time during transition. Male privilege is hard to shake, especially for white men. This does not negate our femaleness, but it makes our experience different and we should recognize it. We should embrace it.

Another big problem is feminism. Not so many years ago, women were saying that we are not defined by our vaginas and our ovaries. In the last 15 years, I'd say that is how women are redefining themselves - which make that harder for us as women of a trans or intersexed experience as women of ...etc.

Many of the stereotypes facing Trans people from what they see on TV and the movies how do those stereotypes play out in corporate America?

I think western women are beginning to embrace the power of the imagery of sexuality and sensuality. The problem is how does that power translate itself into economic and social power. As I said previously, the mark of male privilege is upon us. As intersexed or transwoman, we are versed in corporate warfare on an instinctual level because these are the social cues that were imposed on us. I still find it surprising that women who are in business have no knowledge of Sun Tzu (The Art of War) or The Prince and still have no idea what is being perpetrated upon them.

As for the stereotypes of us, we see.... my agreement for self-definition is never more applicable.

What do you feel the biggest advancement has been in the GLBT community over the last 40 years?

The same thing that caused LGBs to make gender-variant people the flavor of the millennium and killing us at the same time - HIV/AIDS. As the 1st three waves of the disease hit them and destroyed most of our part in their history, they discovered that we were the means to keep their attempts at dealing with the epidemic funded. This epidemic is forcing down a lot of the old barriers to working together, but racism is still a big part of who we are as a country and as a culture. When we can get past it, maybe there might be hope for all of us as a species.

Even within the trans community there is some separation between non op, pre op and post op . Do you think the ties that bind you are more important to the physical difference?

I think the explanation of how women see themselves exacerbates this divide. That being said, we exist in a gender binary and despite the people who transcend gender as a political statement or the scientific truth that we are all a combination of both genders - this is the way our world sees gender and sex.

Where do you see the GLBTIQ community in the next 10 years?

Unfortunately, I think we will probably be about where we are right now. There is nothing in current events to suggest to me otherwise. Wish I could be more optimistic, but that's how I see it.

What areas do you think would best serve in bringing unity to the GLBT community?

I think the answer to this is relatively simple;however, the actualization is a
lot more complicated. I think the 1st thing that needs to happen is the
acknowledgment on the part of LGBTIQ leadership that gender-variant people are equal partners in our collective history and our impending future.

I also think that the spectres of classism and racism will have to be fought on all levels. Presently, I don't think the status quo has the courage and vision to make these adjustments. So, we will continue to fight each other and watch as our political foes threaten our very existence while the bigots and hate mongers continue killing us in even larger numbers. While this not true of all the leadership, it is far too prevalent - which is my answer and outlook is rather grim.

Charges In Angie Zapata Case Stand

Haven't talked about Angie Zapata in a while, but there was some promising news on that front.

Yesterday Weld County District Judge Marcelo Kopcow refused to lower the first-degree murder charge against 31 year old Allen Andrade, the man accused of beating Angie to death.

Here's the story courtesy of the Denver Post.

Miss Me?

Hallelujah! I've got four days off from work, I've got power, and my cable and Internet service are back on and functioning.

So did you miss me loyal TransGriot readers?

Seriously, thanks for all the love, well wishes and prayers you have and continue to send mine, my roomies, and my family's way as we cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Just finished talking to my sister in Houston who gave me the latest updates on what's happening in the hometown. I'm also planning to catch up with various peeps back home and see how they're faring like my homegirls Vanessa and Crys.

As I stated in the Whacked By Ike post, I was blessed, but some people are dealing with serious situations up to and including burying loved ones. There are many people who still don't have power. Others who are on government assistance bought their frozen foods for the month only to lose it when the power went down.

You unfortunately have some criminals taking advantage of the situation in blacked out areas of town to rob peeps while others are doing it in broad daylight.

They're called gas station owners.

But while it's a pain in the butt, I have to admit that having everything off for two days allowed me to do as Dr. King would call it, some uninterrupted 'hard, solid thinking' about various issues. It allowed me time to brainstorm and work out the backstory and character sketches for a couple of novel manuscripts and short stories I'm working on. I did some reading during the daylight hours and on my breaks at work, and got to know our neighbors on either side of the house a little better.

Once I sort through my e-mail backlog I'll start getting back to people about the various issues I was juggling prior to the power outage. I still haven't forgotten about Nikki being dissed by our local media.

Latoya, haven't forgotten about the posts I was working on for Racialicious either.


While I was at the library Tuesday enduring a 45 minute wait to get on the computer I'd reserved, I spied the James Carville and Paul Begala book Take It Back on the shelf. I started flipping through it while I was waiting for the kid who was on the computer perusing right-wing websites to get off of it. You know that book went home with me when I was done.

I also sprayed and disinfected the computer to eliminate the right-wing stench before I started compiling my post.

Life is slowly returning back to normal, such as that is. While browsing Borders the other day on my lunch break (I work downtown) perused a few titles that I'll pick up when I get paid.

I also checked out some of the Ryder Cup hoopla that was going on at Fourth Street Live and bumped into a few members of the European Ryder Cup team enjoying a beer on the patio of the Hard Rock Cafe. The Ryder Cup is gearing up to start at Valhalla tomorrow. U of L played and beat K-State last night at The Pizza Palace (aka Papa John's Cardinal Stadium).

Best of all for you peeps who love this blog so much (and I thank you for stopping by TransGriot on the regular and all the link love you lavish on me) you'll start seeing my commentary soon on the various issues of the day.

Whacked By Ike

This post is coming to you live from the Louisville Public Library. As you may have heard by now many of us in Da Ville, including the TransGriot haven't had power in our homes since Sunday.

The branch library here in my Crescent Hill hood just got its power back yesterday afternoon while I was at work.

Anyway, outside of waiting for the power to be hooked up at the crib, doing okay.

Saturday afternoon I did get in contact with my mom and sis in H-town and got the 411 on how they and my family members were doing. Outside of some minor damage to their various houses and dealing with no electricity, they were all doing okay. I advised Mom that we were going to get hit by the remnants of Ike during our phone conversation.

Boy did we ever.

Sunday morning I was jarred out of bed by the rattling of the storm windows a little after 11 AM EDT. I found out later those winds were gusting at up to 80-90 MPH, and a few minutes later the power was out in the house.

When the storm died down two hours later, Dawn and I took a quick look around the hood to discover that several neighbors had trees toppled either onto their homes or onto power lines. Truckers having the misfortune of driving through the area on I-64 or I-65 had their trucks blown over, and fallen tree and broken power lines played havoc with travel throughout the city.

I was also fortunate I listened to my instincts and filled up the car Saturday, since finding a gas station around here with power and without long lines attached to it has been a Sarah Palin. We've also been fortunate that the last two nights not only have been cool, we've had a full moon to provide nocturnal illumination as well.

The prognosis for us getting power back has been a week to two weeks. Ironically LG&E sent some crews to Houston to help with power restoration efforts there, and those units had to be recalled due to the situation we have here in the Ohio Valley. The areas surrounding Louisville also got whacked pretty hard by a disintegrating Ike's winds as well, and the help we normally would have gotten from nearby power companies isn't forthcoming because they're dealing with their own drama.

Even though I'm mildly pissed I lost my half gallon of Blue Bell I just bought, I'm counting my abundant blessings. Besides, it's on sale this week anyway.

My childhood home once again survived a Category 3 hurricane with minimal damage. My family members are well and doing fine. The house up here had a piece of a shingle loosened and has no other damage. We're doing okay outside of waiting for power to be hooked back up.

So yeah, it could have been a lot worse, but I'm surviving and thriving.

Clocks ticking on my time for this computer, so gotta wrap it up and check my e-mail. Got a long line of peeps behind me waiting for this computer to pop open as well.

Nikki Williams Update

Received an e-mail from GLAAD about their efforts to get WLKY and WDRB to clean up their disrespectful and defamatory reporting of Nikki's story.

I'm being advised that they are getting the serious runaround from our local news stations here, so help us out by sending letters, e-mails, faxes and phone calls to these recalcitrant outlets.

My GLAAD contacts for this issue have both expressed their determination and commitment to see that the story gets corrected.

The Courier-Journal, our local paper has already dropped their link to the disrespectful WLKY one. My GLAAD contacts have assured me, and I've passed that on to Nikki's family members that they're not giving up and will do their part to get WDRB and WLKY to see the error of their ways.
'
The local GLBT community is also considering other options if the station continues its obstinate refusal to correct the story.

It's time for them (and all media outlets that consider themselves above tabloid journalism level) to stop the obfuscation, doublespeak and transphobic dissing of people and consistently follow the AP Stylebook rules when it comes to reporting on transgender persons and issues.

Fight The Obama Smears

If you have neighbors (or co-workers) repeating right wing smears about Sen. Obama and wish to have the information to fight them, check out this link debunking them courtesy of the Obama campaign.

He's gonna need help from now until November 4. The battlegrounds are in your breakrooms and any other situation where you come in contact with people who spout this disinformational crap.

Bury their GOP lies with the truth.

The Best Defense Is a Good Offense

TransGriot Note: This is one of my latest posts from the Bilerico Project.

The Montgomery County trans law finally being implemented is wonderful news to all of us working toward and looking forward to the day that all transgender people, no matter where we reside have civil rights coverage. Congratulations to all of you in Maryland who worked your butts off to make it happen.

Now that this battle is won, our friends in Hamtramck, MI, and Gainesville, FL, need our help to fight off the Forces of Intolerance. But before we gird our loins for the next fight, we need to analyze what went right, what went wrong, make the necessary corrections and pass that hard won intelligence to our friends now on the front lines of this next civil rights battlefront.

What we also need to do in the GLBT community is come up with a coordinated strategy for beating back these right-wing attempts to roll back our civil rights, and I'm about to tell you how we do that.

So as we say in football country, the best defense is a good offense.

While I'm not gonna give all my ideas away in this post, since our enemies do read The Project, I will offer some general thoughts on what we proactively have to do to send these referendums to crushing defeat.

1- Get the public to focus on the fact that our opponents want them to take away people's civil rights.

The Forces of Intolerance know that there's irrefutable evidence that transgender people need civil rights protection and public sentiment turning in our direction. They can't throw that "special rights" shade as often as they used to because it's as played out as an 8 track tape. They only have fear to use, and thanks to Barney, their fear-mongering weapon du jour is the "showers and bathroom" argument.

Reasonable people do not want to be put in a position where they are taking away someone's rights. We have to constantly remind them that's precisely what our opponents are asking them to do. The Californians did that brilliantly by changing the title of Proposition 8 to make it clear voting for it would take away people rights.

2-Rewrite their referenda

One of the things the Reichers do well is when they put together these recall referendums, they use deceptive Orwellian language to do so. Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action ones are prime examples of it. They claim to be protecting affirmative action programs and are confusingly worded or titled. They're designed to deceive you into thinking a yes vote means you're protecting the programs when in fact you are actually voting to eliminate them.

The way we beat Connerly in Houston was force changes in his ballot initiative language to a straightforward yes or no question. It was what I was suggesting the Maryland peeps do as a fallback position if they'd lost the court battle.

3-Make them look like the mean spirited, intolerant jerks they are.

While you're debunking and utterly destroying their arguments, you also want to use humor as a weapon to make them look like the buffoonish, bigoted, mean spirited jerks they are. Think the "Righteous Flock" from the Porky's 2 movie.

Fundies hate to be made fun of, and if you tweak them enough, you can knock them off their game to where they'll make a mistake you can pounce on. Fortunately that isn't hard, because most of the time they'll shoot themselves in the foot. But if they don't, you'll have to do the smart legwork and bury their arguments in an avalanche of facts that will make them overreact.

4- Propose our own ballot initiatives.

Nothing's stopping us from proposing our own ballot initiatives. The initiative process works both ways, people. Let's force them to react and burn up money trying to kill one of our initiatives for a change and bring our progressive voters to the polls at the same time.

These are just four suggestions that I hope will get us to start thinking offensively on these issues instead of defensively. We have the moral high ground on this issue of transgender civil rights, they don't. The public is on our side. 110 plus jurisdictions have transgender rights protections.

So lets go out there and win a few for the civil rights team!

Stayin' Alive

Isis' quest to become this cycle's Next Top Model almost came to a shocking end this week as she came dangerously close to elimination from ANTM.

So if anybody thought that Tyra (or the judges) were gonna cut her some slack because she requested and made the executive decision making Isis part of this show, this episode blew up that budding misconception.



In addition to Hanna's latent prejudices toward Isis starting to bubble up to the surface, it was also neat that people got to see a little glimpse into Isis' world as she gave herself her hormone shot.



She had a tough time on this hot air balloon photo shoot challenge.



If the judges and Tyra hadn't lost patience with Niykesha's tendency to interrupt them when they were trying to give her constructive criticism, Isis probably would be gone.



Exhale sis and go get 'em next week.

Deja Vu For Caribou Barbie?

The GOP Borg and their drones are drooling over the fact that Sarah Palin was a beauty queen back in the day who competed in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant.

While surfing The Net I pondered an interesting thought. Being the pageant junkie I am, I was struck by the notion that the Rethuglicans and the Right Wing Noise Machine would have been crowing nonstop about the fact if she'd won. Why aren't they?

Turns out Sarah Get Your Gun didn't win back in 1984, she was the runner up. Wanna guess who she lost to?

A sistah.

In a state that has a 3.7% African-American population, she lost to an African-American woman. No wonder Idaho-born Caribou Barbie's hatin' on us.

Yes peeps, there are Black people who live in Alaska. Some came there to work on the Alaska pipeline back in the 70's and stayed. Others were assigned there during the course of their military service and grew to love the state. Others moved there from the Lower 48 to get a fresh start in life. There is a large enough community of African-Americans there to hold their own Juneteenth celebration and elect Bettye Davis to the Alaska Senate.

In some delicious irony Palin lost that pageant to Maryline Blackburn, an Army brat who was born in Europe, grew up in Fairbanks and became the first African-American to win Miss Alaska and represent the state in the Miss America pageant.

Ms. Blackburn is an accomplished singer now based in the ATL and Obama supporter. She also had some interesting things to say about her one time competitor.

Here's hoping that history repeats itself in two months and Ms. Palin finds herself on the losing end of another major contest to an African-American.

Ike's Targeting Houston

It's been 25 years since the last Category 3 or above storm blasted the Houston area. With memories of Hurricane Alicia fresh in my mind I've been concerned ever since Ike finished beating up on Cuba and reemerged in the Gulf of Mexico.

I checked in with my family and so far, they are okay, but I am a little worried. They were caught in the massive traffic jam on I-45 north trying to get to our relatives in Dallas during the botched 2005 Hurricane Rita evacuation, which brewed up as a Cat 5 storm only three weeks after Katrina waylaid New Orleans.

It took them 17 hours to drive the 100 miles north to Huntsville, a normally 2 hour trip on I-45 and rode the storm out there until it slid further east, weakened and made landfall along the Texas-Louisiana border. This time they're taking a wait and see attitude and staying put.

Most of my relatives live on the south and west sides of Houston, and they'll be first up to feel the effects of Ike's rain and wind bands as it draws inexorably closer to the area.

I knew it was a matter of time before Houston's luck ran out and with this storm, it looks like it's about to replicate the conditions of Alicia's San Luis Pass landfall. It's still over 300 miles away from Galveston as I write this, but its predicted 15-22 foot storm surge is already being felt along most of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.

As a long time Gulf Coast resident until 2001, I and anyone who lives there takes hurricanes seriously. I've ridden out two Cat 3 storms, Betsy and Alicia. After Alicia's August 18, 1983 landfall, I noted the devastation it caused to many downtown skyscrapers thanks to loose roofing gravel and the varying levels of wind damage some neighborhoods took. I made it clear to friends and relatives that if a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane were approaching the area, I was boarding up the apartment windows and heading up I-45 north.

Those of us who grew up in the Houston area know all too well the story of the 1900 storm that almost obliterated Galveston when it made landfall on September 8.

It killed 6000 people in Galveston alone and still ranks as the worst natural disaster to ever strike the United States. It also altered the course of Texas history by putting Houston on the path to becoming the dominant city not only in the region but the state as well.

This storm is large, almost 700 miles across. It got weakened to a Cat 2 after traveling the length of Cuba, but could possibly be a low Category 3 storm by the time it makes landfall later tomorrow.

Even if Ike does make landfall further south along the Texas coast, Houston will get some of the effects before it moves further inland.

It's also going to affect you at the gas pump. Once again you have a hurricane traveling through an area where you have oil rigs drilling away. In addition to that problem, in the Houston-Galveston Southeast Texas area alone are 26 oil refineries. One fifth of the oil refining capacity in the United States is concentrated between Houston and New Orleans. If you do the drive along I-10 you will pass numerous refineries between Houston and Lake Charles.

You readers may not experience the winds or wrath of Ike, but you will feel it in your pocket at the gas pump.

Ironically after it makes landfall Ike's projected path takes it all the way up here to Kentucky. Even being 1000 miles away from the Gulf Coast doesn't keep me from experiencing tropical storms or their effects.

Montgomery Co. MD Trans Law FINALLY Takes Effect

TransGriot Note: Hallelujah! Some logic and reason got injected into this debate and the Montgomery County transgender rights law that passed unanimously finally takes effect almost a year after it was enacted. Now it's time to help our brothers and sisters defend their law in Gainesville, FL


Court upholds Montgomery Co. Trans Measure

Anti-discrimination law skips November ballot, goes into effect

By AMY CAVANAUGH, Washington Blade
Sep 9, 1:09 PM

The Maryland Court of Appeals has ruled that Montgomery County's transgender anti-discrimination measure will not appear on the ballot this fall and must go into effect.

The court reversed today the decision of Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg, who had ruled that Equality Maryland missed the deadline to challenge petition signatures that were obtained by the conservative Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government.

That group petitioned to have the anti-discrimination measure put to voters on the Nov. 4 ballot, but Equality Maryland countered in court that some of the petition signatures were improperly obtained.

"The bottom line is that the court said a petition sponsor shouldn't be allowed to cut corners and circumvent legal requirements to get a referendum attacking minority protections on the ballot," said Natalie Chin, a Lambda Legal staff attorney. "We are very happy that this duly enacted law can take effect and protect a vulnerable group of Montgomery County residents."

The measure that Montgomery County officials passed last year prohibits "discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, cable television service and taxicab service on the basis of gender identity." It was unclear in today's ruling when the law would go into effect.

"We're thrilled that the rhetoric perpetuated by the Citizens for a Responsible Government has come to an end and the law can go into effect," said Dan Furmansky, Equality Maryland's executive director.

Furmansky said Equality Maryland was ready to explain to voters why the anti-discrimination measure was needed, "but it's better that our transgender brothers and sisters have these long overdue and vital protections immediately."

State Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) also welcomed the court's decision.

"Today's ruling throws the question off the ballot and throws discrimination out of the county, blocking this mean-spirited end run around the democratic process," she said in a statement. "This is not just a victory for our GLBT community, but for fairness, justice and equality for all in Montgomery County."

Basic Rights Montgomery, a coalition of community leaders and organizations that were preparing to fight the anti-discrimination law, will now turn its attention to statewide protections.

"Basic Rights Montgomery was a campaign established to defend the law, so given that the law is no longer in peril, our energies and efforts will move into the realm of passing a statewide anti-discrimination law," Furmansky said.


(c) 2008 | A Window Media LLC Publication

Stealth Was A Mistake

One of the ongoing arguments in the transgender community that's guaranteed to generate heated debate one way or the other is the stealth vs out one.

Basically, stealth is the transgender equivalent of what we call in the African-American community 'passing'. Back during the bad old days African-Americans who had features and skin tones light enough to be mistaken for white would just cut ties with the African-American community and fade away into white society so they could access opportunities for a better life. It's how Anita Hemmings in 1897 became the first African-American graduate of Vassar College 40 years before they even began admitting African-Americans.

Even though they became part of white society, they always lived in fear that someone, someday and somehow would discover their Black heritage.

The late FBI head J. Edgar Hoover's legendary hatred of African-Americans was fueled by the fact that he was himself Black and hated his African roots.

Hmm, the self-hatred part of that sounds like Clarence Thomas and a certain group of Caucasian transwomen I've had run ins with.

Basically, that's a snapshot of what living as a stealth transperson is like. They cut ties to the transgender community. If they don't return home they'll sometimes move hundreds or thousands of miles from their hometown to start a new life where nobody knew them in their old gender role.

Up until the early 90's, as part of the Standards of Care, HBIGDA (the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association now called WPATH (the World Professional Association for Transgender Health) used to require that after surgery, a transgender person go stealth and fade into the background never to emerge.

Many did, but recent cases like Christie Lee Littleton's illustrate, like Anita Hemmings some of the unpleasant complications that can arise when your secret is discovered.

Contrary to the misguided opinions of some stealth peeps we out and proud folks would love nothing better than for transpeople of all stripes to simply be considered as men or women irregardless of the genitalia we arrived with on our birthday.

The reality is that we still have a long road to travel to get to that day. To get to that point requires us to educate the public on transgender issues. Some of that education comes from simply openly living our lives.

But you can't do that education effectively if you're hiding from the general public or won't step up and claim that you are.

I believe that the old WPATH, then HBIGDA requirement that transgender people fade away into society is a major factor in causing many of the acceptance problems that we are grappling with now.

Those acceptance problems are especially acute in the African-American transgender community. We have to overcome not only shame and guilt issues but intolerance and transphobia from inside and outside the African-American community while also grappling with the issues that African-Americans face just living our lives.

To illustrate my belief that stealth was a hindrance to the African-American community, time to drop some more knowledge on you.

The first patient of the now closed Johns Hopkins gender program back in 1966 was an African-American transwoman from New York named Avon Wilson.

Now, instead of her fading into the woodwork and being accidentally discovered by a New York Daily News gossip columnist in October 1966, what if she had become our Christine Jorgenson instead?

Avon Wilson would have probably been covered in JET and EBONY. It's not as far fetched as you think. EBONY until 1953 covered Chicago's Finnie's ball and similar events in New York. JET respectfully covered Justina Williams' story 20 years before the AP Stylebook rules on covering transgender people were written.

We'd have a record of her existence beyond a small mention in a gossip column and she could have become the role model and icon for the next generation of African-American transpeople.

Most importantly, it would have also begun the education and discussion about transgender issues in the African-American community in the more politically friendly climate of the late 60's-70s instead of us having to do the education in the more conservative 90's and 2000's.

Also, the urban legend that African-American transpeople didn't exist would have never gained credibility because we'd have irrefutable proof we do decades earlier.

An Avon Wilson or someone else to point to as an African-American transkid would have helped me sort through some of the issues I had as a 70's era teen and given me the courage to transition early, with the corresponding improvement in my life.

Instead, I didn't find out that African-American transpeople existed and wasn't a white only thang until this JET story on Justina Williams appeared in 1979.

I believe that earlier out role models would have resulted in and facilitated the earlier building of an African-American transgender community and more people would have had the incentive and courage to come out. You would have not only had the core group of transgender elders kicking knowledge to us younglings, we'd also have a better grasp of our history as well with more out transgender people of African descent telling their stories.

We also would have had a community that could have survived the initial onslaught of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80's instead of nearly being eviscerated by it.

Now, just because I believe that being stealth in an Internet age is a futile stress inducing endeavor doesn't mean that I have personal animosity or contempt for people who attempt it.

While I personally believe we need more equivalents to actress Fredi Washington in the African-American transgender community or people exhibiting the courage that Isis has shown while competing on this current cycle of America's Next Top Model, I understand and have no problem accepting the fact that some people do it for security or various reasons.

Just as I ask that you respect myself and others for being out and proud, I respect the decision that you've made for your life.

I have classy girlfriends who are stealth transwomen of African descent who are beautiful inside and out, are proud of being transgender and unlike some of the WWBT's, want all transgender people to have civil rights coverage.

But at the same time I get a little sick of the shade that comes from some stealth transpeople (predominately WWBT's) who are quick to holler that their exclusionary, racist, surgery-only mantra is the only true path to manhood or womanhood if your body doesn't match your gender identity. They also erroneously assert that anyone who proudly embraces their transgender status isn't in their eyes a man or woman, or their bullshit lie reminiscent of the nasty crap radical feminists say about transwomen, that we're 'oppressing' them.

Yes, you can claim both. You can have degrees of disclosure up to and including keeping your T-business and surgical status to yourself. You can be proud of being a transperson. Being transgender doesn't make you any less a man or woman.

But looking at my people's history in terms of passing, I still think pushing stealth was a mistake.

Why Obama Isn't Running Away With This Election

For you TransGriot international readers wondering to yourselves why a cum laude Harvard law educated constitutional law professor isn't soundly beating like a drum a guy who graduated 894th out of 898 students in his Naval Academy class, here's the major reason why.

Racism.

This was recorded during the West Virginia Democratic primary back in May, but it speaks volumes as to why many African-Americans were pissed that Hillary's campaign team injected race into her attempt to win the nomination and a major reason why we African-Americans were adamant about her NOT getting the Dem nomination for VP.



There are enough white people would rather let this country go down the toilet than see a Black man run it and see his family move into the White House.

Little Sis Wins The US Open

For the first time since 2002 Serena Williams has claimed the US Open singles title, but it wasn't easy.

To earn her third US Open singles title she had to go through her Big Sis in the quarterfinals, beating her 7-6, 7-6 and Russian Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia awaited her at Arthur Ashe Stadium. She was playing in her first Grand Slam final and served notice early on that she wanted it just as badly. Williams won her first game but after Jankovic held serve she broke Serena to lead 2-1. Little Sis then stepped up her tennis to another level and won four straight games to lead 5-2. After Jankovic held serve and then broke Serena's to close within 5-4, Little Sis returned the favor to win the set 6-4.

The second set was just as hard fought. Serena held serve and had two break points in the second game, but Jankovic saved both points to stay even at 1-1. They stayed on serve with Jankovic once again having to stave off multiple break points to stay even at 3-3.

In the seventh game with Little Sis up 40-30 she was rattled by a late non-call on a ball that barely kissed the edge of the line and stayed in. Jankovic took advantage and broke Williams' serve for a 4-3 lead. She held serve and had three set points on Little Sis, but Serena saved them all to win the game and narrow the gap to 5-4.

In the tenth game Serena forced five break points, but Jankovic battled back to save them all before double faulting to tie the set and give Little Sis an opportunity to take the lead at 6-5. After holding serve, she kept the pressure on Jankovic and force championship point. Jankovic saved the first one but Little Sis forced another one and won her title on a blistering backhand winner.

In addition to getting paid for the win, she also regained the international Number One ranking in women's tennis for the first time since August 2003.