Monica's TRANScending Gender Keynote Speech-Part II

TransGriot Note: This is Part II of the original text of my keynote speech that I gave on November 7, 2008 to the TRANScending Gender conference at CU-Boulder. For Part I click this link.

So now that I've touched upon a little of the backstory, let's pull out the virtual crystal ball and try to forecast the future of the transgender rights movement.

As far as our legislative crown jewels of ENDA and hate crimes go, they will pass, but probably not until a second Obama term seeing that President Bush has so jacked up the economy that it will probably take most of this first term to clean up the economic mess.

President-elect Obama will need to focus this term predominately on straightening out economic issues before he can even attempt to spend his considerable political capital on social issues.

We transpeople will need to ensure that whatever form Obamacare takes. we are included from the outset and our health issues and concerns are covered. If we aren't, to paraphrase the late consumer reporter Marvin Zindler from my hometown, it'll be hell for us to get amended and added into it once the basic framework of the universal healthcare system is set in concrete. The other headache we'll face is battling virulent opposition from religious conservatives as we try to do so.

We are also going to have to ratchet up our participation in the political process. We can't depend on others to speak for us, no matter how well intentioned. We have to do it our damned selves.

If the ENDA betrayal last year taught us anything, we need to have our own people representing us in state legislatures and at the federal level with intimate knowledge of our issues and concerns just as gays and lesbians have Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and now Jared Polis.

We not only must start donating to political campaigns, similar to the community effort we had on the Act Blue page that raised $16,000 for the Obama campaign, we need to use the Obama campaign fundraising model for our purposes.

The average Obama campaign contribution was around $15. We spend that much or more going to a club or attending a gender convention. How about taking some of that money and pooling it for the purposes of electing transpeople to state and federal offices?

That's a nice segue into what needs to happen next, getting transpeople elected to state legislatures, Congress, and over time governorships and the White House.

While we've had some success getting transpeople elected to small city councils and mayor's offices, we have yet to translate that to electing people to large city councils. Monica Barros-Greene in Dallas has come closest to doing so, but so far the highest ranking US based transperson holding elective office is Hawaii state board of education member Kim Coco Iwamoto.

We must not only develop leaders out of the African-American, Latino/a, and Asian-Pacific Islander communities, they must be given the elbow room to develop cohesive communities that act as a complement to the transgender community at large.

The white transgender community must realize they can't be everywhere and do everything and it's past time to share the power. There are outreach and issues specific to minority communities that minority transpeople are better suited to solve.

We must also develop our future transgender leaders, then set them free to do the work. The young people now matriculating through this college and others are the most intelligent, most information savvy generation ever produced, and it's past time to let the younglings handle things. They not only provide fresh ideas and energy to the movement, they can probably teach us grizzled veterans a few things in the process as well that will make the movement infinitely better in the long run.

If we pass ENDA and hate crimes, then as our friends in Cali painfully found out, you better be prepared to defend your hard won rights from determined right wing attack. The Forces of Intolerance will not stop until they've killed all GLBT protective legislation, and we can expect the same frontal assault on any transgender rights measures passed as well.

For example, even though a transgender rights law passed in Montgomery County, MD on an 8-0 vote last year, they filed lawsuits and used underhanded tactics in order to get enough signatures for a petition drive to force a referendum on the issue that we barely defeated in court.

Finally, being transgender is a worldwide issue. We have brothers and sisters all over the planet with varying degree of civil protection. We need to do a better job of information sharing, tactics and strategy session information sharing and general support of each other.

Malcolm X once said in a February 1965 speech at the London School of Economics,

"If something is yours by right, then fight for it or shut up. If you don't fight for it, then forget it.

We transpeople have the right by dint of birth in this section of planet Earth we call the United States of America to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That right is too precious to forget and is worth fighting for. Neither will I and my fellow transpeople shut up talking about it until we too are included in the 'We The People' preamble to the Constitution.

I thank you once again for this opportunity to address you this evening, and may you have a wonderful, informative and successful conference weekend.

Monica's TRANScending Gender Keynote Speech

TransGriot Note: This is Part I of the original text of the speech I delivered at the TRANScending Gender Symposium at CU-Boulder on November 7, 2008. Link to Part II

To the organizers, conference attendees, students, allies and friends, I bring you greetings from the Bluegrass State and my birth state of Texas.

And no, I'm not a Texas Longhorn fan. I'm a proud University of Houston alumnus who despises the color burnt orange.

I sincerely thank the organizers for the opportunity to address you today in the wake of a historic presidential race. I'm also tickled to death to be as my shero Rep. Barbara Jordan stated over twenty years ago during the Democratic Convention in New York, your keynote speaker. (imitated Barbara Jordan at that point)

As I shared with Angela, Andee, Stephanie and others during our numerous e-mail exchanges prior to my appearance here today, this isn't my first trip to the Denver metro area. Twenty years ago when I was a Continental Airlines employee I hopped a flight for the day to attend a company picnic at the Adams County Fairgrounds.

Two months later I found myself spending the month of July 1988 living in a hotel on Denver's east side in a training class. And at that time I looked a lot different than the Phenomenal Transwoman you see standing before you today.

So yeah, a lot of things have changed since my last visit, including me.

Twenty years ago, DIA didn't exist, Federico Pena was Denver's mayor, Roy Romer was governor, Colorado was a red state gearing up for a legal battle over the odious Amendment 2, the Broncos played at Mile High Stadium, the Buffs played in the Big 8 Conference, the GLBTRC on campus was a few years from being born and transgender people were speeding south down I-25 to Trinidad to get SRS from Dr. Stanley Biber.

Today you have a wonderful governor in Bill Ritter, Colorado is unquestionably a blue state with statewide GLBT protections, the Buffs now play in the Big 12 Conference, the Broncos have a new mile High Stadium to play in and transpeople are still speeding south down I-25 to get SRS from Dr. Marci Bowers.

By the way, on behalf of your GLBT brothers and sisters nationwide, congratulations on not only electing Jared Polis to Congress, but we profusely thank you for getting Marilyn Musgrave out of Washington.

One other thing that's consistent over the last 20 years is that transpeople flip Rev. James Dobson and Unfocused on the Family the finger as they pass through Colorado Springs on their way to Trinidad.

This is an interesting time to have a conference. We are now roughly 72 hours past a historic election in which an African-American will be occupying the Oval Office on January 20.

The Democrats have expanded their House majority and picked up seats in the Senate with three races outstanding in Minnesota, Alaska and Georgia. The best part is that Barack Hussein Obama will be picking the Supreme Court justices when the next opening on the court happen.

And yes my friends, there will be openings- Antonin Scalia is 70, Clarence Thomas is 60, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is in her 60's, David Souter is hinting at retirement and John Paul Stevens is in his 80's.

So let's segue into the theme of our conference, 'The Future of Transgender Activism'. But before I can talk about the future of transgender activism, I'll have to take you back to the past so that you'll know where we came from and how we arrived at this point. I've personally been involved since the mid-90's, but transgender activism predates Stonewall and San Francisco's Compton Cafeteria riots of 1966.

Let me stop the way back machine in Philadelphia, PA in April 1965 outside a diner frequented by GLBT peeps of African descent called Dewey's Lunch Counter.

Many of the people who frequented this diner were transgender. One day the management got tired of all the GLBT people hanging around their establishment and decreed that they would no longer serve people wearing 'gender variant clothing'.

When the owners backed up their rhetoric by refusing to serve transgender people, this being the 60's and the Civil Rights Movement being in full effect at the time, it was on like Donkey Kong. They borrowed the tactics of the movement and organized a sit it and informational picket campaign that after a few arrests, eventually forced the owners of Dewey's to rescind their odious policy.

The best part about it for me was that this was an all African-American GLBT production. It's gratifying to know that the work that I and other people of color do is rooted in this event, and makes me feel connected to a part of my history.

A year later came the Compton's riot followed by the more famous Stonewall Riot in New York in 1969, of which we'll celebrate the 40th anniversary of its occurrence next year.

But as the 70's dawned transpeople found themselves being rudely shoved out of the movement they had major roles in kick starting to life. We also found ourselves under attack by radical feminists such as Janice Raymond and Germaine Greer.

By the time I got yanked out of the closet in 1993, our long isolation was beginning to end. Transpeople began to stand up for themselves, form organizations such as ICTLEP and GenderPac and demand our rights. We began to lobby Congress in 1994 and push for inclusion in hate crimes and ENDA. We began to get involved in politics and do what I'm doing right now, speak to college students, professional organizations and others about our issues.

Coloradans such as Dainna Ciccotello also had major national leadership roles during that formative period as well. One of the first self-help books on transsexuality I read was written by the late JoAnn Altman Stringer. Other Coloradans were working diligently to get GLBT inclusive rights passed in boulder, Denver and eventually the rest of the state as well.

And we can't forget the country doctor doing state of the art SRS down in Trinidad.

Wake Up, White GLBT Community

Sometimes I feel like Laurence Fishburne's character Dap in Spike's movie School Daze when it comes to talking to some white GLBT peeps about racism, white privilege, how it impacts the community as a whole and the stubborn refusal to forcefully address it.



Well, to borrow a line from Malcolm X, the chickens have come home to roost thanks to the passage of Proposition 8 in Cali and a similar Florida anti marriage equality amendment.

The point is that your African-American GLBT allies and progressive African-Americans are beyond sick and tired of being castigated for the Prop 8 loss. If you want to vent on somebody, take it to the people who actually sponsored it, the Mormon Church, the Traditional Values Coalition, conservative Black preachers, the Catholic Church and all the peeps who share your ethnic heritage who signed the petitions and voted for the amendment in the first place.

Hell, African-Americans make up only 6% of the population in California. There were far more peeps that shared your ethnic heritage across the state that helped it to pass besides focusing broad brush racist vitriol on the clusters of Black folks in nine California counties. It was the failure to engage communities of color until late in the game that led to this devastating loss.

We also see this crap for what it is, a right-wing attempt to not only sow seeds of division within the African-American community, but also split it from the GLBT civil rights coalition.

The point is that the No on 8 forces didn't do a good job in reaching out to the African-American community. The Yes peeps were placing ads on African-American radio stations, other AA oriented media and deploying homobigot preachers to speak for them at predominately African-American community events.

Magic Johnson stated on the Larry King Show that he was a No on 8 supporter. There are several African-American Hollywood stars, California African-American politicians and native Californian icons such as Tyra Banks who are GLBT community supporters. Where were the ads in the AA community trumpeting that or featuring them?

Where were the ads featuring GLBT friendly African-American ministers such as San Francisco's Bishop Yvette Flunder? Did you even have any ads similar to the devastating No on 8 ad featuring Mormon missionaries barging into a white lesbian couple's home, snatching their wedding rings off their fingers and tearing their marriage license in half that targeted the Black and other communities of color as well?



While this ad and the clones of the Mac PC ads were brilliant, what was needed were ads specifically targeted to the African-American community.



But some of you stooped to the oldest trick in the book to explain the loss, blame Black people and hate on Jasmyne Cannick for keepin' it real about why the No on 8 campaign failed to garner support in Cali's African-American community.

How very Republican of you.

Now that the Prop 8 loss has gotten your attention, once again the African-American GLBT community will point out yet again that we are not only part of the overall GLBT community, we are part of the 13% of the population that claims our African heritage.

It should be crystal clear by now that you cannot win elections without engaging either the GLBT or non GLBT African-American community and asking for our support.

Yes, we African-American GLBT peeps and bloggers are painfully aware of the homohaters that share our ethnic heritage. We never denied that nor are we defending them as some of you have insultingly charged. We have pointed out ad nauseum for years the danger of letting the perception that 'this is a white gay movement' take root or the Black fundamentalist 'they're hijacking the 60's Civil Rights Movement' spin go unchallenged. The 'whitewashing' of gay history has denied us concrete examples of African-American gay peeps we can point to besides Bayard Rustin who have made major contributions to building not only the 60's Civil Rights movement, but the GLBT movement as well.

The failure of some white gay peeps to engage in issues of importance to African-Americans combined with the failure to forcefully denounce racism within your own ranks, loudly call for 'incremental progress' on transgender people's rights as you take a hypocritical 'damn the torpedoes' approach to marriage equality has led to a unflattering perception that the only peeps you care about are yourselves.

You are also not doing yourself any favors by attacking President-elect Obama when he has yet to even be given a chance to prove what type of president he'll be on GLBT issues.

Just so you don't think that this constructive criticism is a one way street, I've called out my own peeps just as forcefully about their homophobia for years along with other Black GLBT bloggers. But that's an in house conversation we're gonna have to have just like the internal ones y'all have that we ain't privy to.

But one thing that needs to happen post haste is that African-American GLBT people must become equal partners and have major leadership roles in this movement, not just when y'all want some melanin in the photo ops to show how inclusive you are.

Time to check the alarm clock and wake up. If you don't, you'll see more GLBT rights disappear into oblivion because of flawed political strategy.

2008 Louisville TDOR Events

The 10th Anniversary of the Transgender Day Of Remembrance is rapidly approaching, and once again our sponsor for the local TDOR events held at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary will be the Women's Center at LPTS and More Light.

For the second time since the local events began to be hosted by the LPTS in 2002, there will be a heightened level of sadness for us in Da Ville this year. One of the names we'll read will be one of our own, Nakhia Williams.

The week of events leading up to the November 20 service will kick off tomorrow with a Transgender 101 Workshop from 12:30-1;30 PM in the Winn Center's McAtee Dining Room.

On November 19 there will be a 6:30 PM screening of the film Soldier's Girl followed by a discussion at the Caldwell Chapel's Fellowship Hall. Doors open at 6 PM for that event.

On November 20 there will be another panel discussion from 12:30-1:30 PM on Transgender Experience of Faith Communities in the Winn Center's McAtee Dining Rooms with the Memorial Service happening at 7:00 PM in the Caldwell Chapel.

As part of the service we have someone from the local transgender community as the featured speaker, and this year it will be Beth Harrison-Prado. (Just as an FYI, I was given that honor in 2002-2003)

Following the service will be a reception and the presentation of the 2008 Butterfly Award, which honors a person whose done outstanding service for the transgender community.

As of yet haven't heard if the GLBT group on the University of Louisville campus is planning anything for the TDOR, but if they are I'll post it to the blog.

For further info on the 2008 TDOR events at the LPTS, click on this link to the Wimminwise Blog. Hope to see you peeps there.

The World Loves The President-Elect

Must be hard to be a Republican these days. You've spent millions of dollars denigrating liberals, blaming Black people for our country's ills, sneering at science and intellectuals, and the country overwhelmingly elects a president who embodies all those qualities as the entire planet breaks out in celebration.

Poor babies.

Overnight President-elect Obama's victory has not only reenergized this country in a way not seen since the JFK or Clinton eras, but the world is excited for us as well.





As Americans we should and need to hold ourselves up to higher standards of international behavior than we've exhibited under Republican rule in the last eight years. That ruining of our international good name is one of the factors that paved the way for Obama's election.



It's going to be nice for Americans traveling around the world or living abroad to not have to be ashamed of our country or our president for the next four years.



It's also cool to have an intelligent president in the White House once again who can speak eloquently and that world leaders respect. The fact he shares my African heritage is a bonus.



But it has also been gratifying to note how Obama's election has motivated African descended people across the Diaspora to aim higher and eventually elect their own Obamas.


And it's a blessing that I'm still around to see it.

Nelson Mandela's Letter To Our President-Elect

TransGriot Note: I've been comparing this historic election of our first African-American president to the 1994 one in which South Africans stood in long lines to elect Nelson Mandela as South Africa's first Black president. Here's Nelson Mandela's congratulatory letter to our president-elect.


5 November 2008

Senator Barack Obama,
Chicago

Dear Senator Obama,

We join people in your country and around the world in congratulating you on becoming the President-Elect of the United States. Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.

We note and applaud your commitment to supporting the cause of peace and security around the world. We trust that you will also make it the mission of your Presidency to combat the scourge of poverty and disease everywhere.

We wish you strength and fortitude in the challenging days and years that lie ahead. We are sure you will ultimately achieve your dream making the United States of America a full partner in a community of nations committed to peace and prosperity for all.

Sincerely,

N R Mandela

Duanna Johnson Found Dead

TransGriot Note: Remember Duanna Johnson, whose beat down by Memphis cops was caught on tape a few months ago and led to a lawsuit against the Memphis Po-Po's?

She'd been having a rough time lately in Memphis. Unfortunately she was found dead November 9, and we'll be adding her name to the long list of people we honor when we have the Remembering Our Dead ceremonies in a few weeks.

Here's the commentary from the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition


TTPC Reacts to Murder of Duanna Johnson in Memphis


It is with great sadness today that we must report the murder of Duanna Johnson in Memphis. Miss Johnson is the transgendered woman whose beating by members of the Memphis Police Department on February 12, 2008, was captured by a surveillance camera.

Memphis Police are asking anyone with information about Duanna Johnson's death to call Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition wishes to extend our condolences to the family and friends of Duanna Johnson.


"We consider this latest crime to be a real tragedy," said Dr. Marisa Richmond, President of TTPC. "We urge any and all individuals with any information about this crime to step forward immediately so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice. It is also time for the State of Tennessee to add 'gender identity or expression' to the Hate Crimes Enhancement Factors in Tennessee Code Annotated 40-35-114 (23), and for the Federal Government to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act," continued Richmond.

This latest tragedy is just one more in a growing number of anti-LGBT hate crimes across Tennessee. It is also the third murder of an African American transwoman in Memphis in less than three years.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition insists that the February 16, 2006, murder of Tiffany Berry in Memphis be prosecuted aggressively and that the courts reject the anticipated 'trans panic' defense.

We also urge the Memphis Police Department to step up its investigation of the July 1, 2008, murder of Ebony Whitaker.

In other parts of Tennessee, we insist that local authorities aggressively investigate and prosecute additional hate crimes including the murder of Nakia Baker in Nashville on January 7, 2007, the ongoing harassment of a gay man at his home in McMinnville, and the tragic shooting in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, and other crimes motivated by hate based on a person's sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. All of these events show that there needs to be increased education across Tennessee about the LGBT community, and a more serious look at hate crimes covering both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) is an organization designed to educate and advocate on behalf of transgender related legislation at the Federal, State and local levels. TTPC is dedicated to raising public awareness and building alliances with other organizations concerned with equal rights legislation.

For more information, or to make a donation, contact:

Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition
P.O. Box 92335
Nashville, TN 37209
http://ttgpac.com
TTGPAC@aol.com
(615)293-6199
(615)353-1834 fax

Bye CU, Hello Louisville

I'm back in Da Ville after a wonderful weekend in Boulder taking part in this weekend's Transforming Gender Symposium. Thanks to Stephanie, Andee and Angela for the invitation and all the volunteers and panelists who helped make this weekend a well run and informative one.

It was also an honor to finally meet and talk to Katastrophe, Ryka, Krista, and Michelle and to continue the conversations we started during this weekend. It was also neat to have a Canadian perspective on some of these issues courtesy of Krista and Michelle.

I was also surprised and pleased to receive a visit from Liz, one of my TSTB sisters. We spent a few hours laughing and talking about a few issues until we both started dozing on each other around 11 PM MST.

But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and I had to reluctantly hug and say goodbye to Liz since I had to get some sleep and get up at 3 AM for my shuttle which was picking me up at 3:30 AM. I had a 6 AM MST flight out of Denver International to Chicago-O'Hare and my connecting flight to Louisville.

After two uneventful flights, I ended up at home about 2:30 PM EST. Dawn caught me up with local events before I trudged up to my room and opened my bag to see if my CU coffee mug survived the trip.

It did, and I drifted off to some well deserved rest after a long but satisfying weekend in Boulder.

Thanks for the invite CU GLBT Resource Center. I hope it doesn't take me twenty more years to return to the Denver area next time.

Still In Colorado

Hey people. Still in Boulder checking out the conference and will be heading back to the Bluegrass State tomorrow. I almost don't want to leave, it's so beautiful out here and on the CU campus.

Got a chance to walk around it yesterday. It is so close to the mountains. Was a little windy yesterday, but has calmed down today.

My keynote speech was last night and I'll post the full text of it later. I ended up having to cut a few pages. I always worry about not having enough speech to cover my allotted time, but it turns out I tend to have far more speech than time to deliver it.

Still getting compliments for it, so as long as the people attending it and the wonderful people who brought me out here liked it, then it's a success. I've also had fun meeting some of the CU students who read TransGriot and getting to know some of my fellow panelists.

Still tripping about how fast the fallout over the Prop 8 loss turned racist and ugly, spurred on and stirred up by Rush and his conservafriends. I wrote a post about it on Bilerico called 'Fallin' For The Okey-Doke' that I haven't checked for nasty grams yet.

While I'm saddened and disgusted about the Prop 8 loss, instead of getting pissed off at African-Americans in general, the GLB community needs to remember who the real culprits are: the folks who put this up to a vote in the first place.

Hope the GLB community remembers this and how they felt the next time they hear one of their own suggest that transpeople need to be cut out of ENDA.

On my lunch break before my 4 PM MST panel discussion, so I'm gonna rustle up some food. The hosts were feeding me, but its vegan fare and y'all know I like my beef.

Live From Boulder, It's Moni!

Finally made it to Boulder, CO after flying since 12:45 PM EST from Da Ville. Weather was beautiful for most of the trip down to DFW and up to DEN with very little chop. I was also pleased to discover that this hotel, the Boulder Outlook not only is within rock throwing distance of the CU campus, it has complementary Internet access.

As I mentioned in some earlier posts this is my first trip back to the area in 20 years. This town has definitely changed and Boulder is more beautiful than I remember it.

Only drama I had was when I was trying to make my connection out of DFW to my Denver flight and the gate info I was given turned out to be incorrect. I ended up in Terminal B instead of next door in Terminal C where my bird was departing from, but fortunately I got there early, and thanks to the efficient Skylink trains I got there in enough time to grab a barbecue sandwich before boarding my flight.

I'm revising the speech as I write this. A lot of what I'll be talking about hinged on Tuesday's election results, so although I usually like having these speeches done with plenty of time to revise and polish them, I'll have until 6:30 PM MST tomorrow to get it as close to perfect as I'd like it.

Speaking of working on speeches, guess I better get back to the room and handle my business. I've been operating on three hours of sleep and if the Phenomenal Transwoman is going to look her best, she needs to crash.

Headed To Boulder, CO!

Hey peeps!
Headed to Boulder CO to be the keynote speaker for the TRANScending Gender Conference kicking off tomorrow on the CU Boulder campus.

Will tell y'all about it either when I get back or if I manage to get computer access sometime during my stay there.

President Elect Obama's Victory Speech

The victory speech.

Yes We Did!

It's one time I will happily say (and will write the post on November 5 if it plays out) I was wrong about an issue. I've always told friends that I believed the United States was too obstinately racist to ever put in my lifetime an African-American man in the Oval Office. I've always believed for that reason the first African-American president would be a woman rather than an African-American man.

Monica Roberts, October 1, 2008

Okay, I'll say it. I was wrong. And I'm saying it with a wide as Texas smile on my face.

What my people have been hoping, dreaming and praying for to happen for almost 150 years has finally come true. We have an African-American president.

President Elect Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

Come January 20 the White House will have occupants who share the same heritage as the people who built it.

He didn't just squeak by. It was an electoral college blowout. He garnered 61 million votes, the most in US history. The victory was especially sweet because he also exorcised the ghosts of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004.

In one fell swoop the election of President-elect Obama (God, I love the sound of that) has begun the repair the damage to our country's international good name severely damaged by the Bush misadministration.

It's a history making election on a lot of levels, and one which I and a lot of people around the world will be celebrating for a while. I cried when he hit the magic 270 mark at 11 PM EDT and thought about how my late grandmother would have loved to have seen this.

We African-Americans were dancing in the streets last night. We were joined by our fellow Americans and people around the world. We're standing a little taller and smiling a lot wider this morning.

It's a new morning on America. For the first time many of us have a reason to be proud of our country. I'm loving the fact that for the first time in a while I have a president I can be proud of and look up to.

I'm happy that on my niece's ninth birthday she'll get to witness the inauguration of our nation's first African-American president.

And so will I.

I've Voted-Now It's Your Turn

I've done my civic duty, now it's time for you to do yours. If you haven't voted, please do so.

If you need to know where your precinct is, click on this link

"There's no question that in the next thirty or forty years a Negro can also achieve the same position that my brother has as president of the United States, certainly within that period of time."

Robert F. Kennedy, May 1961

Depending on where you live, you'll have until 6 or 7 PM to cast your ballot. So let's do this. Get your vote on. There's history to be made today.

It's E-Day

It's E-Day. Election Day 2008. After two years of primaries, debates and a hard fought stretch run it comes down to peeps casting their ballots. The denizens of Dixville Notch NH, have already done so. At midnight they cast their ballots with the results being 15-6 for Obama.

I'm about to head out the door right now to my precinct to cast a history making presidential vote for Barack Obama. While I'm nervous about the outcome, I'm cautiously optimistic as well. The trends are breaking his way right now, but we'll know in a few hours whether he'll be our next president as this historic day wears on.

I was happy to hear the Redskins lost to the Steelers 23-6. So if the Redskins Election Predictor holds true to form there will be a very festive crowd in Grant Park tonight.

I also get a chance to weigh in on the McConnell-Lunsford US senate race as well along with other state and local races.

I've waited long enough. Time to get rolling to the precinct.

There Is No Oppression Olympics

I’m a little sick of this nouveau trendy slogan of ‘oppression Olympics'.

Stating facts about a minority group’s issues, struggles and being oppressed is simply that, stating facts about those problems and issues. It is not as some people derisively put it, engaging in a competition to pit one ethnic group's issues against another ethnic group's issues.

The 'oppression Olympics' moniker is as disrespectful and disingenuous as the 'race card' one.

Explain how in Hades you can solve the issues that divide us along racial lines if you don't know what they are, tiptoe around identifying them and refuse to discuss solutions to those problems?

Transgender On TV: Laverne Cox & Isis King Brings On New Reality

TransGriot Note: I didn't like the paragraph in which the writer confuses the androgeny on ANTM with Isis' appearance on the show as an open transgender contestant. Those are two different issues. However, the article is overall a good one.

By Bridget Bland
From BlackVoices.com

While androgynous images of entertainers have long appeared in movies and depictions of homosexuals on television are more present than ever, this season the new trend on reality TV may have been transgender contestants.

Until just a few months ago, transgender characters have been relegated to scripted television series like 'Boston Legal,' 'Ugly Betty,' 'Dirty Sexy Money' and 'All My Children.' Recently, two contestants have showcased the ups and downs of being transgender while vying for the top prize on two of TV's most popular shows.

For the new season of 'America's Next Top Model,' supermodel Tyra Banks decided to cast 22-year-old Isis King, the very first transgender contestant to be featured on the popular, fashion forward "dramality" series, which is in its eleventh cycle.

Although she was recently booted from the show, King, who was noticed by Banks when she first appeared as an extra in the background during a photo shoot in a previous season of the hit CW series, says she did not believe that Tyra chose her simply for ratings and controversy sake.

'Tyra picked me because of my performance and she picked me because I stood out in the background of a photo," King told BlackVoices.com last week. "I don't think that it's a trend...she picked me for that reason."

"I think the one message we always try to get out there, that Tyra always expresses, is you want to widen the spectrum of what is considered beautiful," 'Top Model' executive producer Ken Mok said in a recent interview with the 'Associated Press.'

Androgyny is nothing new to the show either.

J. Alexander (also known as Miss J) is one of the show's most popular judges and has garnered a cult-like following with his over-the-top wardrobe, colorful accessories and sharp-witted quips. Other cross-dressers, drag-queens and gay culture icons (Kevin Aviance, Benny Ninja, etc.) have graced the screen during some notable challenges.

Banks, who once praised the pre-operative transsexual saying, 'I tell my staff, 'This girl is absolutely amazing,'' made a point to express that the reason for King's dismissal was because of a difficulty to stand out in photos and not because of her sexual orientation.

In a swimsuit challenge, wearing boy shorts still proved uncomfortable for the Maryland native. "I would say that it was difficult for me," she confided. "I tried not to think about it because I did not want it to consume what I was doing. I think it was more mentally difficult but I went through and did what I had to do."

The leggy beauty is hoping that within three years she'll be able to afford to pay for the surgical operation that will make her a woman and continue to follow her dream of becoming a supermodel. "The finances are what are keeping me from doing it. If I could have had it already I would have," she said. "My goal is my 25th birthday [to] have it by then but hopefully I will get a job that will put me in a situation where I can."

Right now, King resides in New York City and continues to pursue her modeling career in addition to dabbling in fashion design.

Shortly after she caused a media splash on 'Top Model,' Laverne Cox gained attention for being another transgender person on reality television -- as a contestant on VH1's 'I Want to Work for Diddy' competition.

On the hip-hop savvy series, Cox's fellow contestants asked her to "tranny it up" in one of the challenges. And although she told us she didn't really know what that meant, she counts her time vying for the opportunity to work with Sean "Diddy" Combs as an "overwhelmingly positive experience [and] a really good time."

The camera ready cross-dresser, who referred to herself as a "strong black woman" on the show, particularly loved watching herself on television. "I think its huge and its so exciting for me to be a professional transgender person. To see a transgender person on TV, hopefully people will continue to see us as human beings,' she said.

Causing a stir and shaking things up on a popular TV show is nothing new (see: Omarosa Manigult-Stalworth, Tiffany "Miss New York" Pollard). But many wonder if mainstream TV viewers are really ready to embrace a transgender person –and not just use them as window dressing for shock value.

"I know that it was very important that we represented who we were openly from the very beginning," 'I Want to Work for Diddy' cast-off Rob Smith, who identifies as gay, wrote on his blog. "But let's not get too serious. We're all aware of how absurd reality television is."

"I honestly don't know whether they are ready or not but at this point it doesn't matter," Cox attested, before adding, "I am so passionate about it. There will be people that will go against it but I said, 'you know what I'm really passionate about breaking into the art so whether or not people are ready or not I am going to do this.'"

In addition to auditioning for more acting roles in the future -- already having appeared on 'Law & Order SVU' and MTV – she has also produced her very-own documentary series on transgender people called 'T,' which can be seen at www.BeingT.com.

Political Football

If both campaigns are showing a little more interest than usual in tonight's Monday night football tilt between the Washington Redskins and the Pittsburgh Steelers, there's a good reason for it.

Since 1940, the Redskins last home game before a presidential election has presaged the eventual winner in 16 out of 17 elections. If the Redskins win that game, the incumbent party goes on to win that election. If the Redskins lose, the party out of power wins the election.

The only time the Redskins Game Predictor has been inaccurate was in 2004. The Green Bay Packers marched into FedEx Field and beat the Redskins but Junior won(?) anyway. The other interesting twist in this game is that the Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin is African-American, mirroring the presidential race.

So McCain will probably be rooting for the Redskins, while Obama will be probably be doing the same for the Steelers. So will I and every other Obama supporter tonight.

Anybody from Pittsburgh have a Terrible Towel they can lend me?

Congratulations Again 'Number Two'!

TransGriot Note: Y'all know how much I love and admire Dr. Marisa Richmond of Nashville, who is one of my role models as to the type of Phenomenal Transwoman I wish to project to the world.

Well, 'Number Two', as Dawn and I call her (our inside joke about being the only African-American IFGE Trinity Award winners and the order in which the three of us received them) was recently honored with the 2008 Baltimore Black Pride Chairwoman's ICON Award for her years of work toward advancing GLBT-issues.

Congrats, sis. The story from Nashville's Out and About follows.


Marisa Richmond, president of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC), has received the 2008 Baltimore Black Pride Chairwoman's ICON Award for her years of work toward advancing GLBT-issues. She accepted the award in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 11.

The Chairwoman's ICON Award is a special honor personally selected by the Chair of the Board of Directors. Cydne Kimbrough, this year's chairwoman, said she chose Richmond for the award because of her tireless dedication to the GLBT community.

The Chairwoman's ICON Award is a special honor personally selected by the Chair of the Board of Directors. Cydne Kimbrough, this year's chairwoman, said she chose Richmond for the award because of her tireless dedication to the GLBT community.

"It has been my personal goal to select individuals who are stellar examples of what we all can be, no matter our race, gender identity/expression , or sexual orientation, " Kimbrough said. "Dr. Richmond was a clear choice as she is educated, powerful, humble, kind and not only one of the best in the GLBT community of color - she is one of the best in the country and possibly the world."

The ICON awards are given to community members and allies who work to improve the lives of GLBT people of color in Baltimore and throughout the U.S. Icons are nominated by community members.

Richmond said the award reassured her of the importance of her work.

"I've started to realize that, especially for African American transgender people, I've become an important role model because they don't see a lot of positive role models out there," Richmond said.

Aside from her work with TTPC, Richmond also serves on the board of directors of the National Center for Transgender Equality and is on the Sexual Violence Prevention Planning Committee of the Tennessee Department of Health.

"The transgender community doesn't need to look far to find a leader that is always putting us first," said TTPC member Carla Lewis. "Many times Marisa Richmond stands for us when we won't stand for ourselves."

Richmond is a former Board Member of the Tennessee Vals in Nashville, and has also served on the Boards of American Educational Gender Information Service (Board Chair from 1996 to 1999), the International Foundation for Gender Education, National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, Tennessee Equality Project and Nashville's Rainbow
Community Center.

Since April 2006, she has been a regular panelist on Out & About Today on News Channel 5+ in Nashville and has been a columnist for Triangle Journal News in Memphis since February 2008.

Richmond said she has had a commitment to hard work since her childhood.

"I was raised to stand up for what I believe in and never to accept second class status," Richmond said. "My parents were politically active and they encouraged me to be so, too, because everyone can make difference."

Earlier this year, on Super Tuesday, Richmond became the first openly transgender person to win an election in Tennessee when she was elected to the Davidson County Democratic Party Executive Committee. One month later, she became the first African American transgender person to be elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from any state, and is currently one of two Tennesseans on the National LGBT Steering and Policy Committee of the Obama for America Campaign.

"She put a face on the transgender part of LGBT and has continued to drag the transgender community kicking and screaming into the open where the rest of the world can see that we deserve to be respected for our humanity just like everyone else," Lewis said.

Barack's Presidential Resume

TransGriot Note: Stumbled across this courtesy of the TheLadders.net website. it wrote sample resumes for John McCain and Barack Obama for president.

So the next time someone spots that 'he's not qualified' shade, send them to this link.