If you're watching Fox News, congratulations, you are part of the most uninformed people in the country.
Those of you who read this blog and other multiple news sources are doing your part to ensure that democracy works correctly by being informed citizens.
As a matter of fact, it's the only way that democracy can work. But unfortunately, the Founding Fathers didn't conceive of a network whose sole raison d'etre is to disseminate lies and propaganda setting up shop on US soil.
But don't take my word for it. Emmy award winning documentarian Alexandra Pelosi (the daughter of the Speaker of the House) recently filmed a documentary for HBO that documents just how off base, ignorant and detached from reality the Fox sheeple are called Right America: Feeling Wronged.
Fox News likes to portray itself as "fair and balanced". Excuse me for a moment while I double over in laughter.
They whine about not being taken seriously as a major network, but how can you when they've never won any serious journalism awards, relentlessly pimp the Republican agenda and make no bones about the fact they are doing it?
I can only stand them for about ten seconds until I hit the remote and go look for a real news source such as the BBC.
The Drive For Five starts September 23, 2010 in the Czech Republic.
The five I'm talking about is the quest for a fifth straight Olympic gold medal for the FIBA World Number One ranked Team USA women ballers.
While the final roster for the 2010 FIBA Worlds is yet to be determined, we already know who'll be coaching our lady hoopsters.
Earlier this month it was announced that UConn's Geno Auriemma will lead the USA Women's senior national team at the 2010 FIBA Women's World Basketball championships in the Czech Republic September 23-October 3 and the upcoming London Olympics in 2012.
"I don’t know if I can adequately describe my feelings and my emotions when I was asked to do this and how I felt ever since," said Auriemma. "It’s an opportunity that if you’re very fortunate comes once in your life and I never thought I would ever have this opportunity. It’s just overwhelming, the emotions that run through you. What an incredible honor it is to be selected."
"There is no better coach in America than Geno Auriemma and we are delighted to be able to have a coach of his caliber lead our women’s national team program through the 2012 Olympic Games," said USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo. "The USA Basketball women’s national team has achieved tremendous success over the years and as winners of the last four Olympic gold medals, the expectations remain very high. Geno’s success at UConn, both his win-loss record and the development of his players, speaks for itself and makes him a perfect choice to take hold of the reins."
The USA has already qualified for the 2010 FIBA Worlds due to their gold medal winning performance last summer in Beijing. The winner gets the automatic bid to the London Games which will take place July 27-August 12.
While Team USA has recently dominated international play posting a 63-1 record in the last 12 years, their success has been mixed at the FIBA world championship level. While Team USA is one of four nations to win the FIBA women's championship and is the most successful with 7 titles, the last one for the USA women came in 2002. The Australians took the 2006 gold and have every intention of keeping it away from their bitter rivals.
Should Team USA's women ballers not finish with the gold medal in 2010, it would have two additional chances to qualify for the Olympics at the 2011 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the dates and site TBD or the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the dates and site TBD.
But I think they would rather take care of business next year and have the luxury of time in choosing the twelve women who will attempt to continue the current US dominance of women's international basketball.
Another installment in my ongoing series of articles on transgender and non-transgender women who have qualities that I admire.
I loved me some Pam Grier back in the day and still do. I grew up in an era when Blaxploitation era films were flooding the movie theaters after a long melanin free absence of people of color from the silver screen.
I own Coffy and a few other Pam Grier films such as Jackie Brown, and loved her in the L Word.
Pamela Suzette Grier was born in Winston-Salem, NC and was a military brat who traveled around the world with her parents. She eventually ended up in Denver and graduated from East High during her teen years after living in England and Germany. The 5'8" Pam competed in a few beauty pageants to earn money for her college tuition.
She moved to Los Angeles and was discovered while working as a switchboard operator at American International Pictures.
She was called the 'Queen of American International Pictures' as Foxy Brown, Coffy, Sheba Baby, Scream Blacula, Scream and The Big Dollhouse racked up big box office numbers and made her a household name. She was one of the sistahs back in the day that boys and the men of the 70's drooled over (and probably still do).
She's a cousin of NFL Hall of Famer Rosey Grier and once dated Hall of Fame baller and historian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and comedian Richard Pryor.
The cool thing about many of Pam's films back in the day was that many of her characters were good girls who were wronged, and ended up kicking ass and taking names while fighting for justice.
When the Blaxploitation film genre wound down, Pam's career went on hiatus for a while until the late 80s. She started getting supporting film roles and making guest television role appearances on shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
One memorable one for me was when she played a transwoman in the 1996 movie Escape From LA before getting the Jackie Brown role the next year that put her back on the Hollywood 'A' list. She was also a cast member in the highly acclaimed cable series Linc's and of course, you L Word fans recognize her as Kit Porter and from her recurring role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Pam has had her share of hard knocks as well. While filming one picture in the Philippines she contracted a rare tropical disease that left her bald and temporarily blind for a month.
She had a more serious health crisis in 1988 when she was diagnosed with cancer and was given 18 months to live, but she beat it.
As you can see this tough sister is still surviving and thriving today. Although this talented actress has yet to win any of the numerous awards she's been nominated for, she's number one in many of her fans hearts. .
While the rest of the community was celebrating the news of Allen Andrade's conviction for the murder of Angie Zapata, there was good news coming out of Olympia for the Washington transgender community as Governor Chris Gregoire (D) signed Senate Bill 5952 into law on April 22.
The new law opens the door for attacks against transgender people in her state to be prosecuted as a hate crime. It goes into effect 3 months after the Sunday, April 26 adjournment of the 2009 legislative session.
Under current Washington law, it’s a felony to threaten, damage the property of, or physically injure a person because of ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation.
The sexual orientation definition in the law just covered gay, straight or bisexual people. The bill signed by Gov. Gregoire Wednesday adds “gender expression or identity” to the definition, making the law apply to attacks on transgender people.
Congratulations to all the peeps in Washington state who made that happen.
Why do cisgender people feel they have the right to disrespect transgender people by refusing to use or acknowledge the names we have chosen for ourselves?
Would you disrespect Cherilyn Sarkisian that way despite the fact she's gone by the name of Cher for several decades now? Cassius Clay changed his to Muhammad Ali, and only a right winger who hates on him will do so today.
Prince for a few years changed his to an unpronounceable symbol, and yet people didn't refer to him as Prince Rogers Nelson, they called him The Artist.
You don't call Sting by his given name of Gordon Sumner or bring up Ice Cube's birth name of O'Shea Jackson. If you want an interview with Tina Turner better not call her by her birth name of Anna Mae Bullock, much less write "Tina Turner" in quotation marks as some media peeps have done with the names of transgender people.
A new name carries a lot of weight for a transgender person. It not only signifies to the world our desired gender identity, in many cases much thought went into the process of us selecting our new names.
Yes, we realize that sometimes it's a major adjustment when you've known someone as Alexander, for example and now have to get used to Alexis standing in front of you in feminine attire and living her everyday life as the woman she was born to be.
We're not going to get mad at you for the occasional stumble in that situation. But when you know the deal, and insist on calling a transwoman by her old name just to be mean, catty, or flex your cisgender privilege then it's on like Donkey Kong.
It's not only perceived as a major insult by that transperson, it says to us you don't care about or respect us as people. It could also put us in serious danger of being the victim of a hate attack. If one of our haters is in earshot who didn't know our business before you did that hears you, you've just outed us to the world as a transperson.
If he's transphobic, you have just set the wheels in motion for a possible hate crime if that person decides to take some of his life frustrations out on the transperson you just outed.
So show some respect and use the new name. You'll not only be showing us support by doing so, it's greatly appreciated by the transperson in question as well.
One of the things I was pissed off about during the TruTV coverage of the just concluded Andrade trial besides watching the defense try to execute the tired 'trans panic' defense and hearing her old name called every few seconds occurred last Friday.
I was watching Banfield and Ford as legal analyst Gwendolyn Lindsay-Jackson was being asked some questions by Ashleigh Banfield as to how she'd defend Allen Andrade. She got into pronoun trouble speaking about Angie and slipped up and called Angie 'it.'
You know some of my people have issues with transgender people as I have posted about numerous times on this blog. But sistah, it's time for you to get your Trans 101 on.
Gwen, while your body and feminine gender mapped brain matched, you are comfortable in your skin and don't have to think about being female, for some of us it didn't. Angie was one of those people. She isn't a 'man' and was living her life trying to make her body match the way she felt inside.
It is not appropriate at any time to refer to a transgender person as 'it'. It infuriates me even more that she's the one who did it because she's one of the few legal commentators who share my ethnic heritage on TV.
But she lost a lot of cool points with me in terms of the way she handled her commentary on this issue. I hope that Ms. Lindsay-Jackson isn't one of the transphobes in my community, but just simply needs some 'ejumacation' on our issues.
TransGriot Note: This will come in handy for the next transgender murder trial in New York state when Lateisha Green's accused killer Dwight DeLee is prosecuted.
A Note To Journalists From NCAVP:
NCAVP applauds the attention that some of these incidents are receiving in the local and national press and encourages continued coverage. Many news outlets have made a sincere effort to portray victims fairly, but we are saddened by some of the mis-characterization of transgender people by some news sources. NCAVP member organizations work with victims everyday who are struggling to heal from trauma in the face being blamed for the violence they experience at the hands of someone else. We encourage journalists to use language that is both un-biased, accurate, and based on the individual's self-described identity, in covering incidents related to anti-LGBT violence.
NCAVP recommends the following when reporting about transgender people-
Avoid referring to transgender people as "really a (man or woman)." The term "transgender woman" is an appropriate term to use for someone who identifies as a woman but was assigned the male gender at birth and the term "transgender man" is appropriate to use for someone who identifies as a man but was assigned the female gender at birth.
Avoid sensationalizing the very difficult and personal decision that many transgender people are faced with about how or when to disclose personal information about their genitals to a potential sexual partner. Examples of sensationalizing language include: "sexual secret," "shocking secret," "duped," "fooled," "shocking discovery," to name a few.
Avoid justifying "the trans panic defense" in news articles (i.e. avoid statements such as "his uncontrollable rage stemming from the discovery that she was really a man"). Much like "gay panic," which many defendants of anti-gay violence have used (violence resulting from a man being hit on by another man, for example), such statements sound very victim-blaming and imply that the violence was excusable or understandable.
Avoid victim-blaming phrasing, such as: "Police believe that the man may have been attacked because he is gay." Instead, pair the action with the actor: "Police believe the suspect may have attacked the victim out of anti-gay bias."
And lastly, it is considered best practice to refer to someone as the gender they identify (or identified with when alive) rather than their legal gender or the gender they were assigned at birth.
For questions relating to these tips, contact info@ncavp.org or 212.714.1184.
The 2009 NFL Draft is tomorrow, and we'll finally find out who not only becomes the Number One overall pick, but where the rest of the college football studs will (or won't) end up.
Just a heads up, Renee and I have another edition of our blogtalkradio show coming up tomorrow with Crystal Ann Gray and Ethan St. Pierre. We'll be talking about the just concluded Andrade trial. So please join us at 8 PM EDT for what should be an interesting show.
We'll also be making an announcement about two exciting upcoming guests for our radio podcast.
Now, let's find out who earned our Number One pick as the fool of the week.
This week's fool is Perez Hilton. Perez bit off more than he could chew during this year's Miss USA pageant when he asks Miss California Carrie Prejean a question on same-gender marriage and got the smackdown by her on national TV.
Hello, she's from San Diego. A CONSERVATIVE part of Ca-lee-forn-ia.
So what does he do? Insults her, then arrogantly asserts that he's Perez Hilton, he's not a rep of the gay or Latino communities and speaks for himself, and he can be offensive.
Yeah right, you are still gay and Latino, race still matters in America and you insulting a white female is not going to be tolerated. I already had major problems with him for his ad nauseum penchant for insulting cisgender women with the 'trannies' or 'drag queen' epithet.
Hell, I'm surprised that hasn't come out of his mouth to diss Carrie Prejean with.
But what he has done is made her a right wing star and created another PR disaster for the GL community.
Colorado Anti-Violence Program & National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs Responds to Verdict
Allen Ray Andrade Found Guilty of First Degree Murder and Bias Motivated Crime
Greeley, CO - April 22, 2009
The verdict today brings us mixed emotions. We are reminded that we have lost yet another young member of our community to hate. The fact that Angie's killer was found guilty of first degree murder and a bias motivated crime shows that this murder was taken seriously. This verdict sends the message that violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people is unacceptable. We applaud the Weld County District Attorney for making Colorado a leader in showing that violence against the LGBTQ community will not be tolerated.
We must not leave today thinking that this is an isolated incident or that our work is done. In 2008 alone, there were at least 19 reported anti-LGBTQ murders in the United States. We remember Lawrence King, Duanna Johnson, Latiesha Green, Sanesha Stewart and Simmie Williams Jr.
Since the time of Angie's murder, we at the Colorado Anti-Violence Program and many others have witnessed the mourning of the Zapata family, the Greeley community, the transgender community and the greater lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and ally communities. We have also witnessed incredible perseverance, strength and love unite people as they began to organize to raise awareness and educate others to prevent this from happening again.
Fear, misunderstanding or hatred of LGBTQ people does not justify violence. It takes incredible courage to be who we are in a world that makes us invisible, forces us to hide, and condones violence against us. Angie was not only a loving daughter, sister, aunt and friend but a beautiful young woman courageous enough to be herself.
Throughout this trial we've heard many myths about transgender people including attempts to blame Angie for her own murder. We witnessed the defense continually focus on the behavior of the murder victim, rather than on the violent actions of her killer. The fact is that transgender people are faced with a Catch 22. Being out about one's transgender status often means experiencing a tremendous amount of violence, the blame for which is often placed on the individual for being out. However, not speaking about ones transgender identity often means being stereotyped as deceptive and yet again, blamed for the violence that one experiences.
Implicit throughout this trial was the dangerous assumption that outing oneself as transgender guarantees safety. On the contrary, in some instances, outing can increase the risk of violence. Many transgender people struggle to know when and how to talk about their bodies and gender. This can be extremely difficult and scary to decide when and with whom to have this conversation. CAVP and NCAVP stand by the truth that the right to live free from violence is not conditional. It is a right granted to all of us regardless of whether or not we identify with the gender we were assigned at birth.
Ultimately, this is a human rights issue. Transgender people, like all people, have a right to self-determination, safety and respect. We call on our lawmakers to pass legislation that funds restorative and transformative justice, victim's rights and accountability programs for offenders as well as community-based prevention initiatives and public education that works to counter the stereotypes and misinformation at the root of hate violence. We call on the people of Colorado and the rest of the country to stand up, speak out, and organize to create safer communities where we are all free to live our lives without the fear of violence.
“She was a member of our family. We loved her very much, and we will miss her every day. Every day and every night our mom has to deal with great pain of ... one of her babies being buried. Every day our siblings and I reach for the phone and realize we’ll never hear her voice. There’s no answer anymore.
“A part of our family is missing, stolen from us. Angie was 18, her life was just beginning. She was brave, she had guts, she had courage, and she was beautiful, fun and loving. She was our little sister.
“Through the last week, we’ve watched as our sister Angie was lied about in court, angrily as the defense presented an image of my sister that wasn’t true. Their strategy of tearing down my sister to make a monster look better will not work.
“It is clear: Angie was our sister, an aunt and a daughter. Life was sometimes difficult for her, and we learned along with her to understand she was born a girl with a body that was wrong for her.
“Above all else, she was honest. It took such courage to be who she was. She was strong, there was no reason to believe my sister was anything but strong and honest with everyone.
“This week, we are deeply saddened as we witnessed graphic details about the last few minutes of my sister’s life. A big brother is supposed to protect his little sister. It breaks my heart to think there was nothing I could do.
“My sisters, Monica and Ashley, when they saw what this monster had done, they wanted to hold her, to comfort her and make her feel better. It was hard to realize nothing could have been done.
“He stole something so precious from us.
“Only a monster can look at a beautiful 18-year-old and beat her to death. This monster not only hit my sister, but continued to beat her head in over and over and over until her head was crushed in. He left her there to die.
“He’ll (never) understand how angry we are at him and how much he has hurt us. This past week and half, we’ve seen attorneys working their hardest to seek justice for my sister. ...
“We are grateful Colorado has tough laws that make it clear that attacking people because of anti-gender bias will be taken seriously. It will be prosecuted aggressively ... in Weld County.
“In memory of Angie, we call on Colorado’s leaders to pass a federal hate crime law to protect everyone.
“Justice was achieved. A message was sent loud and clear that crimes targeting LGBT will not be tolerated in Colorado ...
“Remember her as we do, as a beautiful, wonderful, precious teenager. She would want us to remember the happy times in her life. And make the world a better place.
“We will always love you Angie and we will always miss you, mija.
“Thank you!”
GLAAD
New York, NY, April 22, 2009 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today responded to the verdict in the murder case of Angie Zapata. Angie was a transgender woman who was brutally murdered in 2008. Today the Colorado jury found Allen Andrade guilty on four counts including first-degree murder and hate crime charges.
"Today's verdict was about justice for Angie Zapata, although no verdict will ever be able to heal the tragic loss experienced by Angie's family," said Neil G. Giuliano, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
"The past few months have offered Greeley residents, as well as people throughout Colorado and across the nation, an opportunity to better understand transgender lives and the horrifying reality of anti-transgender violence. Media coverage of this case has played a vital role in broadening that understanding, and it has helped more people understand the importance of a fully inclusive hate crime law like Colorado's."
This weekend's latest episode of the Womanist Musings show will feature Crystal Ann Gray and Ethan St. Pierre. We'll be talking about the just concluded Andrade trial.
So tune in live at 8 PM EDT to have me and Renee 'tell you something good' and infotain you at the same time.
As always with our blogtalkradio podcast, if you can't listen live, you can always listen later at your leisure.
For those of you who can listen live, you can join in the conversation at (347)326-9452 or join our chat room. From time to time we will ask our guests a question that comes straight from you peeps in the chat room.
So join us this Saturday April 25, from 8-9 PM EDT.
I'm not a representative of the gay community, in the same way that being Cuban, I'm not representative of the Latino community.
I just speak for myself. And I'm Perez Hilton, Rick Sanchez. I can be offensive. I don't have to be politically correct. I can call her the B-word.
Perez Hilton, April 2009
One of the major errors of the GLBT community is they continue to forget that once you declare that you're gay or transition, you are a minority and the old 'rugged individualist' rules no longer apply to you.
As a matter of fact, in the Houston GLBT community we used to have signs posted in many GLBT clubs that stated:
What I do reflects on you What you do reflects on me What WE do reflects on the ENTIRE gay community.
It's something we already know in the African-American community, but it reminded people of the fact that whether you like it or not, the parent society will look at you as a representative of the marginalized community and your behavior better be on point lest you paint the entire community in a negative light.
One the continued problems of this movement and a reason it continues to have PR problems is the consistent failure to realize that you ARE a minority and the rules you USED to operate under are different.
You have to be cognizant of the fact that every GLBT person is a potential ambassador to the community. It's even more important to remember that point when the media spotlight is on you. When the unblinking eye of a camera is on or a tape recorder is running for a print interview, at that moment you are a representative of the GLBT community.
And as a former employee of GLAAD Hilton should know that better than anyone.
Yeah, what Carrie Prejean said was jacked up on many levels. I was even more pissed off about the 'in my country' comment that got lost in this dustup over her opinion on same gender marriage.
You had a perfect poster child for bigotry right here, but Perez Hilton fracked it up by arrogantly going too far with his criticism of Ms. Prejean.
Calling her a 'dumb bitch' was out of line. You do not have the right as testosterone based lifeform, be you gay, straight or trans to call any woman the b-word. Hilton then compounded the mistake by arrogantly stating on an international network the next day that you have the right to be offensive. I sincerely doubt you'd feel the same way if someone called you the derogatory terms for a Latino or the f-word.
That was Grade A stupid.
You also forgot the element of race that's always bubbling under the surface in American life. A Latino publicly calling a White woman the b-word ain't gonna fly.
Perez Hilton played right into the meme of the 'selfish gay male' because he grossly overreacted instead of blasting her for the comment without being offensive, then backing off and letting her get justifiably whacked in the court of public opinion.
But because he didn't, Prejean now has a plausible argument she can peddle to the Faux watching sheeple that the 'mean gay blogger' cost me the pageant, and Hilton's reprehensible antics have now turned Carrie Prejean into an aggrieved poster child for the Reichers to use as a baton to beat the community with instead of the inarticulate bigot she really is.
Gee thanks Perez, way to go.
The bottom line is that your actions, positively or negatively, DO have an effect on the entire gay community, even if you don't think so.
In case you have not heard Allen Andrade was found guilty of all counts including 1st degree murder and hate crime. He also was found guilty of auto theft, identity theft, and starting riots in the jail. The 1st degree murder has a mandatory life sentence with no parole and the others will give him another 60 years. Total is life +60. This case set president with the hate crime conviction on the murder of a transgender person. It was justice served, however we reached this point because of the taking of a precious life.
Crystal Ann Gray Volunteer Transgender Advocate LGBT Center of Colorado
TransGriot Note: Thanks to Crystal Ann Gray for her hard work over the last few days putting together these trial recaps.
"It is a burden of Black people that we have to do more than talk." Rep. Barbara Jordan (D-TX) 1992
My fellow Houstonian uttered those words over a decade and a half ago, but they ring true for every person of African descent. For the last two centuries we've had the burden of having to do more than just pay lip service to the ideas of freedom and equality for all.
We've had to sometimes put our lives on the line for it in addition to march, shed blood, write about, orate, agitate and litigate as well.
As a transperson of African descent I don't have the luxury of disengaging from the battle for transgender civil rights because I'm 'stressed' over the tidal waves of bad news that come at regular intervals as some people do.
I'm helping to fight a two-front war not only for overall societal respect, but also to garner that same respect in my African-American family as well.
Since my skin color didn't change and as far as I'm concerned my Black Card is still in good standing, I also have to fight the same issues that my African descended cisgender sisters and brothers labor against in terms of police brutality, unequal justice, racism, sexism, and all of the other ills and isms that plague our community.
So no, I can't focus too long on the happy-happy joy-joy aspects of transition, not when Black transwomen are disproportionately targets along with our Latina transsisters for anti-transgender violence.
My transition along with those of my African descended transbrothers and transsisters is a reality based one. If talking about real life issues upsets some people's delicate sensibilities to the point they can't handle reading the truth on this blog about transgender life being harsh and unfair sometimes, then that's too bad.
I also look at many issues through an African flavored prism. That means my take isn't going to always line up neatly with the predominately WP flavored groupthink.
As the late poet Gwendolyn Brooks said, 'Truth tellers are not always palatable. There's a preference for candy bars."
We have people that hate us enough they want us to die. Ignoring that fact or drowning it in melted white chocolate won't make it go away.
As Black transpersons we are always in combat mode. When we step away from the civil rights battlefield for R and R, we have to keep our rifles loaded, boots shined, combat fatigues by our bedside ready to put on and be ready to step back into combat at a moment's notice.
That's just life as a minority for you folks new to that status, and it's the burden we Black transpeople share with our African descended cisgender brothers and sisters as well.
TransGriot Note: The press release from the Colorado Anti-Violence Project
Zapata Family and CAVP will make statements
Greeley, CO - April 22, 2009
The prosecution and defense teams have rested their cases in the trial of Allen Ray Andrade, who is accused of killing Angie Zapata in her Greeley apartment last July. Closing arguments are expected Wednesday morning and the case will likely go to the jury around noon.
The family of Angie Zapata will not comment about the verdict immediately after it is returned but will make a statement shortly thereafter. The Colorado Anti-Violence Program will respond to the verdict immediately following the family's statement approximately one-half hour after the verdict is announced in the lobby outside of Courtroom 11 where the trial has occurred.
"This is an emotionally difficult time for the family," said Kelly Costello, director of advocacy for the Colorado Anti-Violence Program. "For that reason, the family has requested their privacy be respected immediately after the verdict. They ask that the media please be present for their statement and recognize that that will be their only statement for the day." About Colorado Anti-Violence Program
The Colorado Anti-Violence Program has been dedicated to eliminating violence within and against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities in Colorado, and providing the highest quality services to survivors since 1986. CAVP provides direct services including crisis intervention, information, and referrals for LGBTQ victims of violence 24 hours a day.
The CAVP also provides technical assistance, training, and education for community organizations, law enforcement, and mainstream service providers on violence issues affecting the LGBTQ community. The most common types of violence they respond to are hate crimes and partner abuse, as well as cases that involve random violence, sexual assault, and HIV-motivated violence.
LGBTQ victims of crimes or those who have witnessed a crime are encouraged to call our 24 hour free and confidential hotline at 303-852-5094 or 1-888-557-4441 or visit our website at http://www.coavp.org/.
TransGriot Note: Crystal Ann Gray is doing trial updates for the LGBT Center of Colorado and I'm thrilled to post her commentary here on the blog. You'll get a chance to hear her and Ethan St Pierre's commentary this Saturday about the trial in Renee and I's next episode of our Womanist Musings podcast.
Tuesday, April 21
Not much has really happened of significance this morning. The rest of the jailhouse tapes were played. I almost fell asleep while they were playing.
There was testimony by several witnesses on the content of the cell phone material as far as phone calls and number of text messages. There were no actual text messages that they could retrieve. Since about 1055am there has been a witness from the Greeley PD (detective) who has been testifying about his involvement in the case. Also, they played the police interview with Andrade at the Thornton, Colorado PD. After that DVD it was time for lunch. The prosecution is to finish up today.
Afternoon Session
This afternoon testimony continued with the detective on the stand. The detective just testified about what was already known. The prosecution rested their case and the defense started theirs. Before the defense started they tried to get the first degree charge and hate crime charge thrown out. The prosecution defended themselves and told the judge that there was enough reasonable doubt for the charge to stand. THE JUDGE AGREED!!
The defense motion to get rid of the 1st degree murder charge and hate crime charge was denied. The defense then started with their witnesses which amounted to nothing. At one point there was a witness on the stand and she testified that her and Angie went to a club (trying to show she would pick up straight men). On cross examine by the prosecution they asked if the nights that her and Angie went there was LGBT night. She said yes and the prosecution asked no more questions. I heard a big sigh coming from the defense table after that.
Anyway, the jury comes back tomorrow for closing arguments which are to be done by noon. Then the jury will get food delivered for lunch and will start deliberation.
Meanwhile, the judge and the 2 sides are working on a 30 page instruction sheet for the jury. I will be back there at 8am and will keep you updated throughout the day as much as possible.
Crystal Ann Gray Volunteer Transgender Advocate LGBT Center of Colorado
One of the issues that goes hand in hand with how well we are blending in with society is the concept similar to our gay and lesbian cousins of 'gaydar'.
We call it T-dar, and it's our alleged ability to pick out a transperson as they're out and about in the world based on our insider knowledge to transgender issues and other myriad characteristics.
There was one day several years ago I was visiting a transgender friend in New York and she challenged me to a test of my T-dar abilities by screening one of the Maury Povich 'Can You Tell' shows he does during sweeps month.
I got nine out of ten. I also didn't tell my friend I was 90% percent because many of those transwomen on that particular show I'd seen in various places on the Net, or were transgender porn world celebs like Allanah Starr.
Just like 'gaydar', it's an inexact science. Sometimes you're dead on target in terms of picking out transpeeps, and other times you are so far off base it can lead to some very embarrassing moments.
It can also lead to moments that can put you in danger, whether you are a cisgender or transgender woman.
A few years ago in Louisville we had an incident in which a six foot tall broad shouldered white woman with a short haircut was accosted by several inebriated white males, peppered with accusatory derogatory insults of either being a transwoman or a lesbian and nearly attacked before a bystander came to her rescue.
The ironic thing was that she was attending the Southern Baptist Theological seminary at the time, a place and a religious denomination which has pimped anti-GLBT hatred for right wing political reasons.
T-dar basically speaks to the point that I've noted over and over again that we are a blend of characteristics from mommy and daddy. I know 5'4" girls that wear double digit shoe sizes and men who have faces and hand sizes in what would be considered the feminine range.
We all have something about us that is assumed to be part of the other gender, and cultural obsessing over it needs to cease and desist.
Dear Haters, You have many names, but you nattering nabobs of negativity gorging yourself on Hateraid and Hater Tots know who you are.
I occasionally monitor your blogs to see what you're up to and get a good laugh out of it. When I read your lame attacks I consider myself in good company.
I remind myself that throughout world history there were people blessed with visionary foresight and thinking who were similarly denigrated for simply wishing to do the right thing and expand civil rights coverage for their people while educating others about the mutual intersectionality of the issues involved.
While I'm not claiming to be in the class of a W.E.B. DuBois, a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr or an Audre Lorde, I'm on this Earth at this particular time and blessed with specific talents. I believe I need to give it my best efforts to help accomplish the task of integrating transgender people in society's mainstream while you peeps on the wrong side of the moral arc of history keep wandering in the swamp of privilege fueled ignorance.
I'm not going to be sidetracked by your snide comments, your faith-based ignorance, racism, and mind boggling stupidity just because it makes you feel more like a man or a woman to do so.
I don't have time, nor will I waste precious positive energy jousting with you. I have a blog to build, people to educate on transgender issues, a community to uplift and positive people to interface with who do wish to learn and grow as human beings.
If you wonder why the African-American and other minority communities have the negative attitudes about the po-po's we do, peep this video of an Erie, PA cop making jokey-jokes about a just-murdered man and mocking the man's grieving mother.
"We're looking at it like, 'One less drug dealer to deal with,'" the Erie, PA, police officer says. "Cool." The murder victim, described as a loving father, had no history of drug violations, according to news reports.
There are too many police offices who have attitudes like this toward the communities they are patrolling. Those attitudes can have deadly consequences for the people living in those neighborhoods and lead to outrages like the New Year's Day shooting of unarmed Oscar Grant by transit police in Oakland; the police shooting of Robert Tolan on his front lawn in Bellaire, Texas; and the questionable death of high school football player Billie Joe Johnson, killed in what was described as a "routine traffic stop" in Lucedale, Mississippi.
Bigots with badges exacerbate the problems of racial profiling, the high rate of unsolved murders in African American communities, police brutality and other forms of unequal justice for African Americans and Latinos.
There are two bills that have been filed to provide long-needed regulation of harsh and careless police actions throughout the United States called the End Racial Profiling Act and the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act. The NAACP is asking that you e-mail your congressperson and ask them to co-sponsor these acts.
The NAACP is also asking people to e-mail Erie, PA mayor Joe Sinnott and ask him to order an immediate independent investigation into the practices and policies of the Erie police department and to establish an independent civilian review board to investigate citizen complaints.
TransGriot Note: Much love and deep appreciation to Crystal Ann Gray for these updates. She's observing the trial for the LGBT Center of Colorado.
Monday, April 20
Hello everyone from Greeley, Colorado. The trial started this morning with testimony of a forensic investigator. The jury got to see more pics of Angie's battered body. He testified that the injuries were from blunt trauma and that it was a homicide.
He also testified that Angie had many fractured skull pieces on her right side along with bruising by the eyelid and eye. She also had bruising and bleeding just between the lid and the eyeball. The rest of the testimony concerned establishing the trail of receipts of the stolen debit card and also this morning was the court tape recording in which Angie was in court for her traffic citation and we heard the call JUSTIN ZAPATA on that recording. Just before lunch Angie (the former girlfriend of Andrade) was on the stand and is expected to go back on after lunch. THIS IS SOMETHING TO WATCH!!!
She is very nervous and I have already caught her in some lies. She still has feelings for Andrade and I believe that they will be playing the jail recordings between him and her. This will be an interesting afternoon. Also, the Judge on lunch break will be reviewing transcripts from the web page Mocospace that the prosecution has obtained from that site. These are from Angie. The defense is trying to say that they are hearsay and should not be admissible. We will soon find out. Court starts at 130pm. Inform you all later.
Afternoon Update
This afternoon did prove to be interesting. Before I get to that I did forget to mention that the alleged murder weapon (the missing fire extinguisher) was brought into evidence. It was found alongside the highway two months after the murder occurred. The Mocospace text from Angie's site was not allowed into evidence.
However, another ex-girlfriend of Andrade was on the stand. Her name is Felicia. She was also on recorded tapes from conversations with Andrade from jail. There are three interesting points to her testimony and tapes so far. First, she testified that Andrade when angry snaps. This would be bad except the way she said it sounded to me like it was rehearsed. After all, he spent two weeks with her after killing Angie and was the girlfriend he gave two of Angie's purses to.
Second, in the taped conversation she mentions that Andrade was on the Mocospace in the BI-SEXUAL area. Also, she asked Andrade if she had to be tested for anything (referring to STD's) and he replied that nothing ever got that far. He had claimed to have had oral sex with Angie.The agent with the Crime Lab who did DNA testing on some evidence came up with (what I believe) is a significant finding. The police sent to the lab a pink vibrator and it had a significant amount of DNA on it that belonged to Andrade. To give you some information the Agent testified that the only way to get that much DNA on the vibrator was by semen, vaginal secretions, or through anal penetration. The defense tried to say that maybe sweat on the hands could produce that much, but the Agent said very highly unlikely.
Trial starts tomorrow at 830 am with Felicia on the stand and more jailhouse tapes to listen to. The prosecution is supposed to rest their case tomorrow. Possibly in the morning.
Crystal Ann Gray Volunteer Transgender Advocate LGBT Center of Colorado
If you're watching Fox News, congratulations, you are part of the most uninformed people in the country.
