Happy 80th Birthday Dr. King

Today would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's 80th birthday had he not been taken away from us on April 4, 1968.

If he were alive today I think he'd be happy with some of the progress we've made in integrating ourselves into American society. We're about to inaugurate an African-American president. ,We have made major progress in getting Black people elected to positions of political power and even have a few breaking ground in corporate America and other fields.

But Dr. King would also note that we have a long way to go before we can even say that a color-blind society is a reality. We still have problems with racism, inequality and poverty in this nation. He would probably decry our involvement in Iraq just as he would condemn the violence happening in our neighborhoods and terrorism around the world.



And, based on what his late wife Coretta has stated, Dr. King would not be a fan of people like his own daughter Bernice and other ministers who seem to think it's okay to hide behind scripture and hate on GLBT people.

This world and America itself would have been a much better place had Dr. King been around to share his wisdom with us for the last 40 years.

What we can do is study his writings that he did leave us, thank God for the time that he did walk amongst us as an inspiration to African descended people and others around the world, and strive to in our own way to make this world a better place for all its inhabitants.

Damn Gay People, Can A Brother Get Inaugurated Before You Write Him Off?

One of the things that's not sitting well with me right now is seeing some elements of the liberal-progressive side and especially the GLBT blogosphere criticizing President-elect Obama before he's even had a chance to take the oath of office.

Several GLBT bloggers have already declared in their wisdom that he's the worst president on GLBT issues since Clinton, he doesn't care about us, and other bullshit du jour they can come up with.

I note that most of the criticism is coming from those same mostly white GLBT peeps who supported Hillary in the Dem primary.

Note to the GLBT Obama haters: Hillary lost and y'all need to get over it. She got over it enough to become his Secretary of State.

Like a lot of African-Americans I'm still more than a little peeved about the disgusting display of racism that erupted in the white GL community after the Prop 8 lass and the continued harping on the now thoroughly discredited 'Blacks Voted 70% for Prop 8 line' that some peeps used as justification for letting their race based animus flow.

Once again, I'm not saying that President Obama should be immune to criticism. What I and the African-American community are talking about here is simple fairness. We see it as shady that you're blasting the man before he's even taken the oath of office and had time to prove what type of president he'll be for the GLBT community. Hell, y'all gave George W. Bush's idiot savant behind more slack than you're giving the presidential brother.

Oops, need to apologize to all idiot savants for comparing them to Bush. You're far more intelligent than he is.

The bottom line is that Barack Obama by this time next week will be our president. All I and those of us who supported him from Day One ask for is that you give this man the same opportunity to prove what he can do for the GLBT community that you gave the previous non-Black occupants of the Oval Office from both parties.

Sophisticated Lady

Genny and I briefly touched on this in the comment thread on my 'Becoming a Quality Black Woman' post, but one major consideration for a Black transwoman is how well she measures up not only o other Black transwomen, but ultimately to the sophistication level of the biowomen around her.

Just as Black men have that certain cool swagger that they go through life with, Black women carry themselves with a sophistication and level of class that has multiple elements.

What are those elements? Moni's gonna break it down for you.

The first element for a sophisticated lady is pride. Pride in herself, pride in her history and pride in who she is and where she wants to go as a woman and as a person.

Another key ingredient in the sophisticated way that Black women go through life with is confidence. Some of my sisters walk around as if they are the finest thing walking on the planet, and let's face it, in some cases they are.

You'll see her standing tall, head up, shoulders straight, impeccably groomed, perfect makeup and outfit coordinated with nary a wrinkle or a run in her hose if she's wearing them.

If she's going to church, you'll see a slamming hat added to the ensemble for good measure. Don't let it be Easter or Woman's Day at the church, because the 'Hat Wars' will be fierce.

Another element making up the sophisticated lady is spirituality. She has an unshakable belief in a higher power, is tuned in to her spiritual side and takes 'me time' out of her day to recharge her spiritual batteries for a moment of quiet contemplation and reflection time.

The sophisticated lady also recognizes that beauty and a curvaceous body is fleeting. While she appreciates being blessed with it because Black women do have curves, she also knows that beauty is also internal as well and radiates out, not the other way around.

The sophisticated lady also takes time to develop her mind as well. Beautiful body means nothing if you can't coherently articulate your thoughts, do so using faulty or nonexistent logic, or the first thing out of your mouth about a complex issue is "I don't know". Let's be real for a minute, when a guy is looking for a woman to be the mother of his kids, intelligence is definitely high on his list.

But it ain't about the fellas, it's about us. Being intelligent is also important when one of the first things uttered by our many detractors is that we are less intelligent than they are. We know that's a fallacy, so let's enjoy blowing that one away at every opportunity.

Then there is the class factor. The sophisticated lady seems to combine all of these elements into one impressive package and can glide into a room making an entrance without being loud and brassy. She's the person whose feminine charms and demeanor can get someone's romantic attention without dressing like the next hoochier-than-thou centerfold in a men's magazine.

To me, it's all part of being the total package when it comes to projecting the type of woman you wish to be.

I and my transsisters not only want to be quality Black women, we wish to do so in a way that honors this heritage of class and sophistication that we observed from the outside looking in and marvelled at.

So many times as Black women our beauty, grace and intelligence was ignored or downgraded by the dominant society, and now we get the chance to show our flava in in all its glory in all segments of society.

And its going to be cool watching a sistah First Lady demonstrate for the world what being a sophisticated lady is all about.

Motown's 50th Anniversary

If you are a music lover like I am, take a moment today to bow in the direction of Detroit before it's over.

Today was the day 50 years ago that Berry Gordy received an $800 loan that he used to found Motown Records.

The 'Sound of Young America' eventually became a music juggernaut that swept the country. Music fans of all races danced to its infectious beat and Motown was the label that signed and launched the musical careers of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mary Wells, and later Rick James, Johnny Gill and Teena Marie.

The 'Hitsville USA' moniker that was on the outside of Motown headquarters was prophetic. An astounding 75% of the songs released under its label made the Billboard and other national Top 40 lists.

Shoot, is it any wonder with the talent assembled there? Don't even get me started talking about the producing team of Holland, Dozier, Holland or the 'Funk Brothers' or the marvelous musicians that backed up the vocal talents of that Motown stable of talent.

Motown has long since left Detroit and after spending time headquartered in LA, moved to New York. It eventually became the largest Black owned entertainment company in the US before it was eventually sold to MCA.

But during that time it built a proud, pioneering legacy. It has even left its mark on Detroit politics with Martha Reeves currently serving as a Detroit city councilmember.

Motown is not only credited with paving the way for integration to happen in some cases, it radically altered the perceptions of African-American artists, how they are marketed and left an indelible mark not only on our culture, but American music forever.

African-American Transgender History-50's Style

One of the beauties of surfing the Net is that from time to time, you'll stumble across a nugget of history or some photo that you weren't even aware existed.

I've mentioned that JET, EBONY and the now defunct HUE magazines when they first started back in the day served as historical chroniclers of the Black experience in America. Google just negotiated a deal in which they will be digitizing pre-1960's EBONY and JET magazines so that you can access their content on the Net.

One of the things I discovered to my delight is that in order to fulfill their mission of documenting the Black experience, EBONY and JET also covered events and discussed Black GLBT issues.

In addition to asking pointed questions about the Black GLBT experience, they also covered the New York and Chicago drag balls as well.

The other night while searching through Flickr and other places for photos of African-American transwomen for future posts, I stumbled across some African-American transgender history.

Most of it is the coverage of Chicago's Finnies Ball and the New York ones. I chuckled when I saw the HUE article that asks if you can tell the difference between female illusionists and genetic women.

I also noted the incorrect pronouns and the 'her' in quotation marks used in some of the articles.

While it was atrocious in the 50's, I noted that by the 70's, JET was doing a better job of discussing transgender issues with accuracy and sensitivity two decades before the AP Stylebook guidelines even were published.

But unfortunately some of the attitudes reflected in those articles are still expressed by some of my people.

Some of my peeps think that me and my fellow transpeople aren't serious about this path we're taking, or think it's a joke.

It's serious business. Why would anyone subject themselves to the amount of ridicule, physical violence and abuse if they weren't serious about this?

The other fallacy that keeps popping up is that Black transgender people are a new phenomenon. These articles dating back to the early 50's and the history of the Harlem Renaissance say otherwise.

CAF Initiatng Gender Testing Before 2010 Africa Women's Cup

Equatorial Guinea is probably still celebrating the championship they won in the Africa Women's Cup soccer tournament two months ago and the Nigerians are still hatin'.

Instead of admitting that the five time defending champion Super Falcons played piss poor soccer in that tournament and were lucky to finish third in it, they found every excuse to try to explain away their loss, including filing protests accusing the Equatorial Guinea team of playing 'men', especially before their 1-0 tournament semifinal loss.

The protests were eventually dismissed by the CAF, the governing body of African soccer, but probably because the 2010 tournament will be a qualifier for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, they will institute gender testing for that tournament.

However, there are problems with that approach. There's the 'where do you classify intersex people quandary? FIFA considers you female if you're menstruating, even if you have ambiguous genitalia. The IOC dropped gender testing in 1999 because it was embarrassingly inconsistent but Olympic and IAAF rules allow for gender tests if an athlete's gender is challenged by another athlete or team, or event officials.

The most famous case was Polish sprinter Ewa Klobukowska, who failed one during the 1964 Tokyo Games but gave birth to a healthy baby four years later.

Then there's the humiliation and potential psychological damage that a positive test could cause. After India's Santhi Soundararajan was stripped of a silver medal after a failed test in the 2006 Asian Games, she attempted suicide.

During the whole tournament the whining from Nigerian and Cameroon that Equatorial Guinea was playing with 'men' was insulting and deafening. Y'all just mad that they stepped up their game for this tournament and y'all didn't. Equatorial Guinea's captain Anona Genevova scored more goals in the entire tournament than the Super Falcons did as a team.

Nigeria and Cameroon, you lost, get over it. It would be deliciously ironic if the gender testing that you demanded be initiated by the CAF catches a few Cameroonian players and some Super Falcons instead.

Thank You

Thank you to all the people who are showing me, and continue to do so love in the voting for Best GLBT Blog in the 2008 edition of the Weblog Awards.

Yeah, Towleroad is running away with this, but to be a finalist in this competition is a major achievement. It will not change my focus in continuing to create a quality blog for people to peruse and talk about issues in the transgender and GLB community from an Afrocentric viewpoint.

Lord knows it's needed now more than ever.

It's also needed for our sakes. To let transwomen of color know that you can aim your dreams much higher. That you have a history and people to be proud of and that there are biosisters that don't hate you, but wish to embrace you.

Showing My Transsistahs Some Love

Hey ladies, I know it's really hard some days in the face of the avalanche of negative news, daily slights, slings and arrows we get from all quarters and losing more of our sisters to anti transgender violence all over the planet to feel positive about being a Black transwoman.

Well, I'm here to tell you, dry your tears, wipe your face, go to the full length mirror in your bedroom or bathroom, look at your reflection in it and give yourself a good hug.

If that makes you feel better, good. Sit down and read this if it didn't.

Ladies, we are descended from women who survived the Middle Passage, slavery and the horrors of Jim Crow. While the current assault on us ain't pretty, in the grand scheme of things this current attack on Black transwomen by our haters will soon pass as well.

Remember that we had some wonderful firsts this year in terms of Dr. Marisa Richmond representing us at the Democratic National Convention as the first African-American transgender delegate to a major national convention. 'Number Two' is also on the case as she and the TTPC continue to fight for justice for our fallen sisters in Memphis and elsewhere in Tennessee.

We not only had one of our transsistahs witnessing history, we helped make it as well. Our votes helped us elect a president who not only shares our ethnic heritage, he understands that we transgender Americans deserve to not have to live our lives in fear. Hopefully we'll see the passage of ENDA and hate crimes laws that will send the message that it's no longer open season on transgender people.

Isis King and Laverne Cox turned heads and made history making turns as they appeared on the reality TV shows America's Next Top Model and I Want To Work For Diddy. They not only showed the entire world how beautiful and intelligent we Black transwomen are, they struck some blows toward eradicating the ignorant fallacy that we can't be beautiful and intelligent women.

If they didn't get that memo from the wins we rack up at various transgender beauty pageants, somebody ain't paying attention.

Then again, maybe the haters are, and the 'Fear Of The Black Transwoman' is why we're facing some of this negativity.

I have to pop my own collar as part of this post. Damn right I'm doing it. If not me, then who?

I was advised that in the short history of the Weblog Awards, I'm the first transgender blogger to become a finalist in the Best LGBT Blog category. Not bad for a blog that just turned 3 years old on New Year's Day.

We have young transsistahs like Amanda Morgan and Cydne Kimbrough doing their part to make things a little better for all transwomen in the future while pursuing their own dreams of higher education. If you're in college, get that knowledge and get that paper.

Our enemies can never take that away from you, and don't ever stop acquiring knowledge either.

Tona Brown is a musically gifted and talented sister who is making her way in the classical music world, and is proud to be a transwoman of African descent while doing so.

Remember that we along with our Latina sisters used our creativity to take a Harlem Renaissance era tradition of drag balls and turn it into an event and a community that the world marvels at through two documentary films (Paris Is Burning and How Do I Look) and numerous print articles about it.

That's just a small example of the talent we have in the African-American transgender community that's waiting to be harnessed for the greater good of our society.

It's also interesting to note that some of our biosisters of color have realized that we are potentially their greatest allies as well. It's going to be interesting to see as the year develops how these conversations take shape.

But to my transsistahs, take a leap of faith and befriend one of those biosisters you've been dying to get to know. She may feel the same way about you and not all biowomen are 'The Enemy'. You may also gain a lifelong friend in the process.

To my younglings like Rochelle Evans, stay in school and dream those big dreams. You are the reason I and others fight so hard so that your adult lives will be a little easier than ours. You inspire us with your courage to live your lives openly and proudly at such young ages or like KK Logan, are currently fighting for justice.

To those of you who are struggling with those issue or are in less than ideal family situations, deal with your transgender issues when the time is right and after prayerful consideration.

I know we have major work ahead of us. We continue to lose our sisters at a alarming rate. We're pretty much alone when it comes to dealing with our myriad problems. Let's show ourselves some love and begin doing the work to confound our critics and build our community.

And to paraphrase Sister Maya, and still we rise.

It's Official-Barack Obama Won

A little after 1 PM Eastern Standard time today, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. officially became the president-elect of the United States.

There was a joint session of the Congress held today in which representatives from the House and Senate officially counted the votes from the December 15 convening of the Electoral College. On that date meetings were held in every state capital and the District of Columbia for the electors to cast their ballots per the election results in each state.

During that joint session of Congress today Vice President Dick Cheney crawled out of his undisclosed location in his role as President of the Senate to declare Sen. Obama as the winner, which was welcomed by a standing ovation of all lawmakers present.

Cheney presided over the quadrennial ceremony in which the sealed certificates from each of the states were opened, handed to clerks in alphabetical order and handed to one of four tellers for tabulation. Two tellers were members of the House and two tellers were members of the Senate.

Just as it broke down on Election Night, the 538 total electoral votes broke down to 365 for Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama and 173 for Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

When it was over, Cheney then proclaimed to the cheering chamber what the world has known since November 4, that Barack Obama and Joseph Biden had been elected the next president and vice president of the United States.

The new day is coming folks. Just hold on.

Becoming A Quality Black Woman

One is not born a woman, but becomes one.

That Simone de Beauvoir quote is one this Phenomenal Transwoman recites to herself on a regular basis, especially on her unpretty days. It reminds me that even though I was born with body and mind not matching, womanhood is an ongoing evolutionary process for a biowoman as well.

But the question I have pondered (and still do) on a regular basis even before I took my first hormones to begin transition is how do I become a quality Black woman?

How do you evolve into Black womanhood despite not having the body from birth, being socialized into the role or feeling like you have to play catch up with the biosisters of yours or any generation?

I know one of the things I was adamant about when I began transition was that I was not going to do anything that would be seen in my mind as bringing dishonor to my biosisters or the women of my own family.

I wanted to carry myself with the utmost class, pride and dignity, and be seen as an asset to the sisterhood, not a caricature to it.

Another concern of mine was falling into the trap some transwomen do of being so overly focused on the body morphing part of transition that you forget womanhood is moreso a spiritual and emotional journey.

I was also keenly aware of the fact that I wasn't just stepping into a gender role. I was cognizant of the history impacting Black womanhood and the awesome legacy attached to it. I felt that I had to be mentally ready to accept that history as well and be worthy of it before I swallowed a single estrogen pill to begin that transformation.

So as I began my journey, I adopted the mindset that if I was going to be a woman, be the best damn woman I could be. I wanted to be a quality Black woman,

When I say 'quality Black woman', I wanted to be the type of woman that even if you knew or discovered after meting me I was a transwoman, you wouldn't care, you'd see me as an asset and not a liability on the balance sheet of femininity and you'd want me in your life as a friend.

In order to get to that point, I thought about the various women inside and outside my family I admired who I felt fit that bill. I paid close attention to how they lived their lives, carried themselves and how they interacted with people around them while incorporating my own evolving sense of the type of woman I wanted to project to the world.

Through trial and error, I eventually found my way, began to over time confidently assert myself as the person I always knew deep down I needed to be and reveled in every glorious moment of it. I made mistakes, wasn't afraid to laugh at myself about it, and then sought out advice and help from my biosisters to correct those mistakes.

As for how I'm doing fifteen years into transition, like all of you, I'm a work in progress. I'm not perfect, nor do I want or claim to be. While being a Black transwoman is always going to be part of me until the day I die, all I want to be in the end is a quality Black woman.

A quality Black woman who is doing her part to uplift the race, be a concerned citizen, an intelligent, spiritually tuned and morally upright person, a good friend to the people fortunate enough to be in my life and be the best person she can be.

Oh yeah, and be the sistah turning heads when she walks in the room as well.

Bust A Cap In 'Em?

On one of my days off a few months ago, a friend and I were having a long discussion about the alarming rise in murders of Black transwomen. After I relayed the particulars of a few cases, the person looked at me and said, "Looks like one of y'all needs to bust a cap in one of them to send a message to leave y'all alone".

I recalled and pondered this conversation in the wake of Leeneshia Edwards lying in a Memphis hospital bed suffering from three gunshot wounds.

I've never been a big fan of guns even though I co-owned and shot with my brother under supervision a BB gun. My dad owned a handgun, and both of my late grandfathers possessed shotguns. I'm not a fan of the NRA or their fetishistic defense of the Second Amendment because I believe in reasonable gun control laws and being a big city kid, I've seen the result too many times of what unfettered handgun ownership has done to our neighborhoods.

But after 31 murders last year including one of my friends, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't be echoing the Pink Pistols slogan of 'armed gays don't get bashed'

I wonder what would happen and how it would affect the current 'hunt the Black trannies' mood if one of our would be assailants found themselves on the wrong end of a gun with caps busted in them.

Let's suppose for example that Leeneshia had been packing a pistol in her purse, was in a position when she exited the coffee shop to see her assailant draw his gun first but was not only quicker on the draw but fatally shot his ass.

What would be the reaction of the 'shoot the Black queers' crowd then?

They'd probably back the frack off if they knew going in that their potential bashing targets were possibly packing heat. But that temporary drop from the surprise of one of their ranks getting killed would probably spur a new orgy of killing, and we'd be right back to square one.

We all know how having one handgun for every American has failed to deter crime, drop our murder rates, or prevent sexual assaults and other crimes, so to me, the solution to our problem isn't a knee jerk rush to gun ownership, but has to be a multilayered one.

We need the ENDA and hate crimes laws in place to send the message tranny hunting season is permanently closed. Law enforcement must not only arrest and prosecute those who wish to harm us, but purge their ranks of rogue officers whose idea of protect and serve the citizens doesn't include transgender people.

Now, if some transwomen wish to arm themselves or take self-defense courses, feel free to do that as well. Just make certain that you take gun safety training classes and undergo regular firearms training.

But I'd much rather see a resolution to the problem of anti-transgender violence that doesn't involve busting caps in people.

Are Black Transwomen's Lives Less Valuable Than Others?

Let's start this off with a hypothetical question.

If 70% of the Remembering Our Dead List was made up of people sharing your ethnic heritage, out of the 31 killed in the previous year 3/4 shared your ethnic heritage, your transwomen were called 'ugly', automatically associated with prostitution and criminal behavior despite positive accomplishments to the contrary, and your attempts to call attention to this ongoing genocide were questioned, dismissed, or called 'alarmist', you were greeted with silence by the organizations inside and outside your community that are supposed to help and represent you, and you just watched two more of your sisters get shot (one fatally) to close out the holidays, how would you feel?

Well peeps, you just got to try on the pumps Black transwomen have been struggling to walk in lately.

Don't feel too good now do they?

This assault on Black transwomen reminds me of an old comment that I often heard growing up within the African-American family, but is surely apropos here to paraphrase.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

That comment would play out like a mantra when I witnessed from a distance the lousy sentence that was given our in Boston to the killer of Chanelle Pickett. When I heard about an EMT in our nation's capital denying lifesaving medical treatment to Tyra Hunter, or when I heard about Tiffany Berry's killer in Memphis being set free on a ridiculously low bail.

One of the reasons I went nuclear over transpeople being cut out of ENDA in September 2007 was because I feared that it would result in what we're seeing now, a spike in hate violence and killings of transgender people. I also feared that many of those transwomen who died would share my ethnic heritage.

Fourteen months later my fears have come agonizingly true. We have seen a major spike in hate crimes directed at transpeople, and unfortunately Black transwomen are taking the brunt of those fatal hits.

And what's the reaction of the organizations that are alleged to represent me either as an African-American or a African-American transperson?

Deafening silence.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

And to add insult to our injuries comes elements of the Black church joining with white fundamentalists and the Roman Catholic Church attacking us as well.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

The media disrespecting our dead with incorrect pronouns and names that didn't reflect the people they are now.

Black transwomen's lives are less valuable than others.

Even though society is sending us this overwhelmingly negative message and it would be easy to sigh in frustration and say, "We can't fight this overwhelming negativity', I look back at our history and realize that our ancestors dealt with far worse circumstances than we mere African descended transwomen are a mere eight years and a few days into the twenty first century.

We African descended transwomen know deep down that we are worthy, beautiful human beings. Instead of being turned away from the American family table we are demanding our place setting at it by having our constitutional rights respected and protected. And we will not be turned around from this by faith based haters, the ignorant, or politicians looking to do the expedient thing and not the morally correct thing.

We are struggling to maintain our humanity under this tsunami of negativity. Even though the wave threatens to crush us, we hold on to something solid, wait for it to crest, subside and head back out to the ocean, then we'll go from there.

That something solid is our faith. Just like our ancestors, despite the brutality that was occurring around them, what drove them was the hope that one day things would be different for their children.

While I and others are trying to work on a shorter timetable than the ancestors had to deal with, my faith that what I have visualized and written about on this blog will one day happen is just as strong as the faith my ancestors had in their hopes and dreams coming true for my generation.

Even though this situation as of January 2009 can be depressing as hell sometimes, I take comfort from perusing our history in knowing that through concerted action with allies and ourselves, we can turn this around by doing the hard work to make the necessary legislative victory happen.

In the meantime, we African descended transwomen do our part by continuing to excel individually and as a group. We bond with our biosisters so that we'll stop hearing the noisy negative mantra in the background and replace it with one that says, 'Black transwomen's lives are just as valuable as any other'.

I hope and pray that as the 110th Congress begins its session today, they, our allies and others who need to hear that message will hear that positive mantra as well.

I also pray that the people who hear that mantra the loudest are Black transwomen.

You Really Wanna Know Why We Call You Black GOP Peeps Sellouts?

Two weeks ago I was channel surfing and stumbled across an interview that Michael Steele was having about the 2008 election and why the Republicans can't attract African-Americans to their party.

Usually anytime I see his mug on a TV screen or any of his fellow conservative Stepford Negroes I'm clicking past the channel, but for some reason this time I stayed tuned in. After hearing him complain about why Blacks in the GOP are considered 'sellouts' and ones in the Democratic Party aren't, I'd had all I could stand and flipped it to CNN.

Well Mike, since you asked the question, let Moni school you on why we call y'all sellouts.

It's because you and your friends repeatedly show more loyalty to the conservative movement and your bank accounts than you do for your people.

Exhibit A- Chip Saltzman sending out a CD that included the Rush Limbaugh fave song Barack The Magic Negro. Newt Gingrich sharply criticized it, but not you sellout Negroes. All I've heard from all thirty six of you Black Republicans about this issue was silence.

Oops, my bad. Ken Blackwell spoke about the controversy and what was his response? He dismissed it as "hypersensitivity."

Your reluctance to say anything about it wouldn't happen to be because you and Mikey Steele are running for the RNC chair?

But then again Kenny Boy, I lost whatever modicum of respect I had for you in 2004 when you helped steal Ohio for Bush. You not only as Ohio Secretary of State did everything possible to make it difficult for African-Americans to vote in that election, you suppressed 166,000 provisional ballots to do it.

Don't even get me started on Uncle Thomas, that's another post.

The Black female Republicans aren't much better. Condoleezza Rice has been their poster child since this century began and that's a whole 'nother post as well. Others such as Tara Wall and Amy Holmes are basically young, pretty Black faces regurgitating the same tired conservative talking points that white male conservatives have echoed ad nauseum for years.

Ann Coulter's skinny scarecrow looking behind has attacked Michelle Obama in her latest waste of trees masquerading as a book, and I have yet to hear any Negro female conservative call her azz out for it, much less rise to the First Lady to be's defense.

Ann's jealous because deep down, she ain't even 1/1000th of the woman that Michelle Obama is, with or without her jaw wired shut.

One thing I will say for some Republican sistahs. They will call crap out or do what's best for the community when they get fed up. I remember when the late Colorado Secretary of State Vikki Buckley, who won a historic election in 1995 as a Republican and was asked to chair the party's African-American recruitment efforts, blasted the party in 1999 for not taking it seriously.

Sheryl Underwood openly supported Barack Obama in this election cycle and even Condoleezza Rice makes statements at times that make me wonder if she stopped practicing the piano long enough to actually watch some of the protest activity that was going on in Birmingham.

But to answer the original question, when you start doing what's right by our people and not what's right wing, then we'll stop calling y'all sellouts.

Voting Starts For Weblog Awards Today

Sometime today the voting for the Weblog Awards will kick off and run until January 12.

Once the polling does start, you are allowed to vote once every 24 hours until the polling closes.

The Weblog peeps are testing everything out to make sure it runs smoothly and if it gets started late, then the polling will be extended until January 13.

You Can Call Him Senator Franken

If anyone ever regurgitates that tired 'my vote doesn't count' line as their excuse for not voting, point to this race.

After counting 933 absentee ballots excluded in error over the weekend, Al Franken's lead grew from 49 votes to 225.

Since there are no more outstanding ballots left to count, the Minnesota state canvassing board, which oversees the ballot process, is scheduled to meet today and formally declare Franken the winner today or tomorrow.

Of course, Norm Coleman is going to file suit asking for a fresh count, but since the new Congressional session starts this week, Franken could be seated as Minnesota's senator on an interim basis until the matter is resolved.

If it holds up, that increases the Dems Senate majority to 59 seats, one short of the magic 60 seat mark.

Why Some Black GLBT Peeps Hate the 'Q' Word

While there are some people who refer to the GLBT community as the 'queer' community, as you probably noticed as you peruse this blog I'm not one of them. It's also a sentiment shared by some of my fellow GLBT African-Americans.

When I used to do the 'After Hours' radio show with Jimmy Carper back home on KPFT-FM, he'd use the tag line 'Queer radio with attitude'. It made me uncomfortable, but since it was his show and I was only a rotating co-host, not much I could do about.

Some of my personal dislike with the 'Q' word not only has to do with it being used as a derogatory epithet, but the dictionary definition of it as well.

1. Deviating from the expected or normal; strange: a queer situation.
2. Odd or unconventional, as in behavior; eccentric. See Synonyms at strange.
3. Of a questionable nature or character; suspicious.
4. Slang Fake; counterfeit.
5. Feeling slightly ill; queasy.
6. Offensive Slang Homosexual.
7. Usage Problem Of or relating to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, or transgendered people.

As a proud transperson of African descent, why would I embrace a term that doesn't describe me? I've heard many of the arguments that raged in the mid 90's about taking back the 'Q' word to strip it of the negativity, but I also heard the same parallel arguments about reclaiming the n-word, and I hated that reclamation project as well.

So why do Black GLBT peeps hate the 'Q" word?

As the Task Force's 2002 Say It Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud report pointed out, the term 'queer' was selected by less than 1% of the respondents as an identifier in the 2000 Black Pride Survey that the report was based on.

Some of that dislike of the 'Q' word is fed by negativity to the racism that Black GLBT people found greeting them in 'queer' spaces. We also have our own created terms such as SGL (same gender loving) that became popular in the 1990's or the 'in the life' one that dates back to the Harlem Renaissance and some of us are more comfortable with because they reflect our cultural heritage.

'Queer' has also become in the Black GLBT community a synonym for white, wealthy, privileged gay male. You also have to look at the reality that many Black GLBT peeps live in the Deep South, which is not exactly the most welcoming area at times for a GLBT person.

Our discomfort with the term also has to do with the fact that Black people, whether we're GLBT or non-GLBT, are politically liberal but socially conservative due to our historic church ties. Those of us who grew up attending church, Sunday School and Vacation Bible School on the regular still struggle with reconciling our faith with who we are as GLBT people, and the 'Q' word doesn't fit.

So if you're wondering why most Black GLBT peeps use other terms to define themselves or get quiet when many of you start shouting at protest marches, 'we're here, we're queer, get used to it', now you know.

2008 Weblog Awards Voting Page

Y'all knew I was going to make it as seamless as possible for you to vote in the 2008 Weblog Awards Best LGBT Blog poll that runs from January 5-12.

In addition to clicking on the finalist badge to access the poll, here's the link to the Best LGBT Blog Voting Page

http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-lgbt-blog/

If you wish to cast ballots in the other polls, here's the link to the main page
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/

I wasn't the only transgender blogger nominated. Zoe, one of my frequent commenters is a finalist in the best Australian and New Zealand Blog.

Two of my AfroSpear colleagues blogs are also finalists
Rev. Lisa Vazquez's Black Women, Blow the Trumpet is a finalist in the Best Small Blog Category

The field negro is also a finalist in the Best Individual Blog Category.

Thanks to Kevin Aylward and his team for creating, moderating and doing yeoman's work in putting these awards together.

Tona Brown

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

I haven't had an opportunity to meet her in person yet, but Tona is someone I've known for a few years, chat with on a regular basis and marvel at her musical gifts.

The Norfolk, VA resident has been involved in the music world since she started learning how to play the violin at age 10. She attended the prestigious Governor's School For The Arts in Norfolk and has won numerous musical competitions and garnered awards since age 14.

She's continued her lifelong involvement with music since her transition several years ago, and was selected in April 2006 to take part in the Tranny Roadshow, a touring group of transgender performance artists and is studying with mezzo soprano Robynne Redmond among her other ongoing projects.

Tona feels that it's important to show that an African descended transwoman can achieve and succeed in any endeavor that we put our minds to, and she's been a wonderful role model in that regard.

She's making her mark in the classical music world, and best of all she's doing it as an out transwoman.

You can check out her website at http://www.tonabrown.net/home

Happy 60th Birthday Donna Summer

While I was perusing the celebrity birthdays on New Year's Eve, I discovered that one of my favorite singers was celebrating a milestone birthday.

Back in the day I was a huge disco fan, and one of my favorite singers was Donna Summer. She started off as a gospel singer, but what a lot of people don't realize about her is that she's an accomplished songwriter as well.

She has won five Grammys and is the only artist to have three consecutive number one double albums and three number one pop singles in the same year. While she's known for the disco hits, her musical repertoire encompasses rock, pop, R&B and gospel.

She has sold over 130 million records worldwide and I definitely have my share of Donna's music in my collection. She's one of the most successful female artists of the 1970s and 1980's and was inducted in 2004 to the Dance Music Hall of Fame.\

Happy birthday, Donna and may you have many more.