The President's Assessment Of His 100 Days

Here's President Obama's assessment of the first 100 days of his presidency. He spoke at a town hall meeting this morning.



Isn't it cool to have the 'A' students running the country again?

Obama Administration-Day 100

One of the truisms of presidential politics is that if you want to project how someone will govern once they are elected to the presidency, you watch closely how they run their campaigns.

President Obama ran a disciplined, historic campaign for the ages in becoming the first African-American president, and today marks the 100th day of the Obama Administration.

"I feel surprisingly comfortable in the job," he said two weeks after his inauguration.

Kinda obvious isn't it? He's zipping along with a robust 64% approval rating and an even higher one in various countries around the world. For the first time in five years more Americans think our country is moving on the right track than the wrong one.

He's busting stereotypes, has a wife as the FLOTUS who is doing the same as a fashion forward icon.

The president is also rapidly implementing the things he promised to do during his campaign while being opposed by the GOP at every turn.

*Restore our international good name? Check
*Eliminate the stem cell research ban? Check
*Americans and the world deliriously happy we have a president who knows how to spell and pronounce correctly 'nuclear'? Check

"The challenges are big, but one thing that I'm absolutely convinced about is that you want to be president when you've got big problems. If things are going too smoothly, then this is just another nice home office."

He's had some challenges in this first 100 days and has tackled an ambitious domestic and international agenda with gusto. He's had some stumbles, but he's also positioning himself to be the transformational president that we desperately needed at the critical juncture in our nation's history.

A Ladylike Guide To Dressing For The Derby

TransGriot Note: It's Derby Week here in Da Ville. That means parties, galas, parades and the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby horse races on Friday and Saturday.

My fashion diva roommate and longtime Kentuckian Dawn Wilson explains this bit of Kentucky tradition for those of us not from these parts.

Guest post by Dawn Wilson

Is image everything? To many African American transgender women it means everything. Image defines you and your character. Going out is never just about going out and having a good time, it’s about going out and impressing people.

As the celebrities who come here will tell you, the Kentucky Derby and the activities that surround it is the place that one can do that, and it seems as though the list of those who come gets longer every year.

I've had the pleasure of attending more than 15 different parties and assorted Derby gatherings over the last few years, and have been graciously extended invitations for a few this year.

Recently my girlfriends at the LFC fencing club invited me to go Derby dress shopping with them last weekend in preparation for the Derby Week activities. No we didn't have any mint juleps, but a good time was had by all.

If you're one of the lucky people going to the Kentucky Derby this year or even if you just want to dress properly for the occasion when you watch this year's 135th running of the race at home, tradition states that certain rules must be followed.

What are those rules? Fear not, I'm about to tell you. Just follow them and you'll put your best fashion foot forward for Derby Day and fit in like a native.

Choose your hat (ladies only, of course). Hats go with the Derby like the frosting on a birthday cake. It should be large-brimmed, feminine and frilly (think 18th-century France), and worn low on the brow tilted slightly to one side.

The rest of your outfit is designed to complement your hat.

Now the dress. This will support the crowning glory of the outfit – the hat.

Now there is an art to picking and wearing a dress. Maybe that is why many WBT women often prefer wrapping themselves in shapeless jeans and blouses. It’s easy, it’s simple and comfortable, and doesn't require much effort.

But how about being womanly, attractive, and appealing? Why is everybody forgetting about being romantic, gentle, bright and inspiring, or outstanding and memorable?

Beauty and attractiveness are always in fashion. That is the fashion law, especially doing Derby. If you follow those rules to the letter, you won't be ticketed by the Derby fashion police.

60!

Say hello to Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

"Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans."

Specter was greeted by a loud, sustained round of applause by dozens of constituents outside his Washington office shortly after the news broke.

"I don't have to say anything to them," a smiling Specter said. "They've said it to me."

The five term senator announced today that he is switching parties, thus guaranteeing that once sore loser Norm Coleman get the legal smackdown again and Sen Al Franken finally gets to take the senate seat he earned almost 100 days ago on behalf of the people of Minnesota, the Democrats will have the ability to shut down filibusters in the Senate.

First elected in 1980, he was once of the few GOP moderates left in the northeast United States. It's now a conservative, increasing ideological party that has shrunk to basically being strong only in the Deep South. Specter joins the 200,000 Pennsylvania Republican moderates fleeing the increasingly batturd crazy GOP.

President Obama's reaction was the same as many Dems. According to Politico.com the president reached Specter, one of only three Republicans to support his stimulus package, on the phone at 10:32 AM EDT and told him "you have my full support." He added that we are "thrilled to have you."

Specter however sounded a cautionary note that just because he's now a Democrat doesn't mean that he won't be as independent as he was on the GOP side.

“I will not be an automatic 60th vote,” Specter said. “I would illustrate that with my position on employee choice, also known as card check. I think it’s a bad deal and I’m opposed to it. I will not vote to impose cloture. If the Democratic Party asks too much, I will not vote with them."

Welcome to the party Sen. Specter. As long as you're with me 80-90% of the time, I'll forgive the times you vote your conscience and aren't.

Call CBC Congressmembers On Hate Crimes!

I received an e-mail from the National Black Justice Coalition this morning and it's a classic good news-bad news situation concerning hate crimes legislation.

As many of you may already know, Representative John Conyers (D-MI) introduced H.R. 1913, the comprehensive hate crimes legislation in the House.

According to the NBJC, the following Congressional Black Caucus members have co-sponsored it.

Sanford Bishop (GA)
Corrine Brown (FL)
William Lacy Clay (MO)
James Clyburn (SC)
Elijah Cummings (MD)
Alcee Hastings (FL)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX)
Barbara Lee (CA)
John Lewis (GA)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Diane Watson (CA)

These are the Congressional Black Caucus members according to the NBJC who SUPPORT the bill, but have not committed to co-sponsoring H.R. 1913 yet.

Gwen Moore (WI)
Mel Watt (NC)
Yvette Clarke (NY)
Maxine Waters (CA)
Kendrick Meek (FL)
Andre Carson (IN)
Marcia Fudge (OH)
Keith Ellison (MN)
GK Butterfield (NC)
Gregory Meek (NY)
Charlie Rangel (NY)
Edolphus Towns (NY)
Artur Davis (AL)
Senator Roland Burris (IL)

The bad news is that the right-wing Forces Of Intolerance and their Uncle Tom lackey ministers in the Hi Impact Leadership Coalition are already hard at work in their opposition to the bill. They are flooding their representatives with letters and calls opposing hate crimes legislation and outright lies about the bill's effects.

If you are represented by a CBC congressmembers, if they are sponsoring it, call them to thank them for their support. If they're on the missing list please take a few moments to call your congressmembers to help drown out the voices of intolerance and ask that they consider co-sponsoring H.R. 1913.

This is our chance to secure federal protections for the LGBT community from vicious attacks and hate. But we've got to flood our legislators' inboxes and phone lines to make sure they hear our message loud and clear. There are some who are using this as litmus test to gauge how much political capital they can spend on ENDA, which will have much more determined right-wing opposition when it's introduced later this year.

Please take action now, then urge everyone you know to get in touch with their representatives.

No civil rights legislation passes without the CBC being on board. The Congressional Black Caucus isn't called the 'Conscience of the Congress' for nothing. Remind the members of that proud legacy when you ask them for their support.

TransGriot Note; Received an e-mail communication from NBJC's H. Alexander Robinson about the e-mail that went out. The folks that are listed under the co-sponsors actually SUPPORT the bill, but aren't co-sponsors of it yet. Post has been corrected to reflect the new information.

1-20-13

If you happen to see this bumper sticker on a car, you know it belongs to a Republican.

We are rapidly approaching 100 days since the January inauguration of President Obama. His term is a hit so far with the 69 million of us who voted for him and people around the world who celebrated his election.

As far as I'm concerned November 4 will forever be for me VC Day. (Victory over Conservatism day)

It's a hit with everybody except the 59 million peeps who voted for McPalin.

Baa, I'm mean waah. But then again both terms are apropos.

People, you lost, here's the proof and we didn't have to steal the election to beat you. It was a 365 to 173 electoral college blowout. So you peeps keep on hatin' while we keep cleaning up the toxic waste left over from the Bush misadministration.

Keep letting the batturd wing of your party speak for you. You're turning off moderates left, right and center with your racist and devoid of logic rhetoric. All we have to do is something you peeps never could get a handle on, govern the country.

Your white sheets are showing because the intelligent brother with the cute kids and the smart, beautiful wife is slaying stereotypes at every turn.

The prez is repairing our standing in the world as he promised during last year's campaign and cleaning up the economic mess Junior left him. He's making the majority of Americans who voted for him very happy after living in your wannabee theocratic dictatorship for the last eight years.

So keep on hatin' President Obama. He's done far more in the last 99 days than your boy did in eight years.

If he keeps it up, 1-20-13 will dawn with his November 2012 reelection to the office and President Obama prepping for his second inauguration.

Fighting Back Against Media Smears Of Transgender People

We have work to do in terms of getting respectful media coverage for Lateisha Green. The sooner she starts getting it the better chance Teish has of receiving justice.

Remember, potential jurors are being influenced by this drumbeat of disrespectful negative coverage.

First order of business is for you peeps in the Syracuse, NY area to call the local stations and RESPECTFULLY request that the stations follow the AP Stylebook Guidelines for reporting on transgender people. If you're not in the Syracuse area, you can do so as well, but local peeps do have more weight in this instance.

Remind them this is what the AP Stylebook states about covering transgender people:

transgender

Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

You can also e-mail GLAAD to report media smears as well.

The e-mail address to do so is incident@glaad.org and when you do so, make sure you include the following:

*Your name and email address
*The city and state you reside in
*Your phone number (optional)
*Date of the incident
*Detailed description of the incident (please include weblinks if possible)

The GLAAD Media Reference Guide is online as well and can be downloaded as a PDF.

Cosmo's Tripping About Sports Loving Women

I began chuckling when I read a commentary about a recent Cosmo article that echoed one I wrote in 2004 about the transgender community.

In that column I skewered members of the transgender community who would echo that same tired meme of 'feminine women aren't sports fans'.

It mirrored a December issue of Cosmo in which the so called male guru tried to say that a woman who likes watching sports would be single the rest of her life.

Yo Cosmo, join the rest of us in the 21st Century. There are women who like watching sports and not just because their boyfriends or husbands are playing on the team. One of my exes before I transitioned used to win drinks in clubs from guys because they foolishly underestimated the depth of her sports trivia knowledge.

I used to have a CAL coworker named Lucy Schroeder who was a rabid sports fan. We spent break times and dead time on flights we worked together talking about various sports, the Comets and her beloved Dallas Cowboys.

In the interest of full journalistic disclosure, for the record, I can't stand the Irving, oops Arlington Cowchips.

When I read this BS I also thought about UK superfan Ashley Judd. She's got floor seats at Rupp Arena to watch her beloved Wildcats.

She's such a devoted University of Kentucky sports fan that when the hockey team made a promotional poster to raise money for the program, it included a picture of her in a UK hockey jersey. When Ashley isn't making a movie and it's college basketball season, you can bet she's watching her beloved Wildcats playing ball and screaming at the SEC refs at the top of her lungs whenever they make a boneheaded call.


And like many Texas women, Eva Longoria Parker not only loves football, she was a basketball fan before she met and married some point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.

Holly Robinson Peete not only is a huge NFL football fan, she wrote a book about it to help women understand and enjoy the game. Peeps who teach the courses to supposedly help women understand the game quickly discover that women football fans are far more savvy about it than they are given credit for being and ask some sophisticated questions far in excess of their male counterparts.

Don't even get me started about the legions of women who watch NASCAR events, collegiate sports on both the men's and women's sides, NBA and WNBA basketball, are baseball fans, et cetera.

Some of them not only are fashionably attired sometimes when they do attend these games, some even happen to be married.

But don't hate if some of these women know more about sports trivia or in game strategy than some of you red blooded males do.

Dwight DeLee Trial To Start June 11

Now that Allen Andrade is rotting in jail for the rest of his life, it's now time for the transgender community's attention to focus on the other alleged murderer facing hate crimes charges for killing a transwoman.

"The decision to prosecute Lateisha's murder as a hate crime sends a clear message that targeting transgender people for violence will not be tolerated," TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman said. "Lateisha’s senseless death demonstrates the increased risk of violence transgender people face, but we are hopeful that justice will be done, and that the outcome will help prevent future violence against transgender people."

20 year old Dwight DeLee of Syracuse pleaded not guilty in Onondaga County Court to charges of second-degree murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the November 14, 2008 shooting death of Lateisha Green at a house party.

Her untimely death occurred just as the worldwide transgender community was beginning to gather together for our annual Remembering Our Dead commemorations.

22 year old Lateisha was transitioning at the time of her death.

Note to Syracuse, NY media peeps: y'all really need to read the AP Stylebook, GLAAD Media Reference Guide and the NCAVP guidelines for reporting on transgender people.

So far the local Syracuse media is failing miserably in terms of respectful coverage of Lateisha. They are consistently using her old name and there's rampant usage of incorrect pronouns.

DeLee is being held at the County Justice Center jail with no bail, and the DeLee family is already trying to sow the seeds for the 'trans panic' defense and garner sympathy for him.

Never mind the fact that Green's family not only lost a child to this senseless murder, her brother Mark Cannon was shot in the same incident as well.

Roxanne Green, stated at the time the decision was made to prosecute this case as a hate crime. "I am grateful that Teish's death will not be in vain, and that it will be prosecuted as a hate crime, which it was."

"It took a long time for Teish to live her life openly and proudly. When she finally stood up and began living as who she was, she was taken away from me. I can't understand how anyone can hate someone so much because of who they are, and I hope that no other mother has to mourn a child killed because of who she was. I hope that justice will be done."

If DeLee is convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison, and like Allen Andrade, has a prior criminal history as well.

The New York City based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund is assisting Green's family, and hopefully these reprehensible tactics will massively fail in a much larger college town like Syracuse, NY just as it did in Greeley, CO.

We're Not The Only Peeps Holding Transgender Conferences

One of the things I talk about here on TransGriot are the various transgender conferences we have here in the States such as Southern Comfort,, the IFGE Conference and Colorado Gold Rush and what transpired at them for the folks that couldn't attend.

They have been invaluable in helping transpeople in the United States get organized as a national level community over the last 20 years. We get to spend a few days gathered in a locale sharing information, getting connected, forming friendships and networking with other activists.

The experiences I had at SCC and IFGE conferences in 1999 and 2000 were so critical to my development as a national activist I saw the need to have the same type of event available for people of color. I helped organize a group of African American transpeople to form our own conference called Transsistahs-Transbrothas in 2005-2006.

I'm happy to see that our transbrothers and transsisters in other parts of the world are doing the same thing in order to coordinate their efforts, and get organized on a national, regional and sometimes international scale.

Whether it's events like the 2007 Pan African one in Johannesburg, SA or the growth of Gender DynamiX as a strong voice for transpeople in South Africa and the African continent, gatherings such as the European Transgender Council event in Berlin last year, the education efforts by STRAP in the Philippines or the upcoming national conference sponsored by Agender that will be held Queen's Birthday weekend May 29-31 in New Zealand's capital of Wellington, these events are valuable for building community, networking, strategic planning, and educating allies and supporters about our lives.

With report after report by various international organizations detailing just how marginalized we are and how much work we have to do to change that, these conferences are vital pieces of the organizational puzzle.

They are so important to transgender community organizing efforts that serious thought needs to go into making these events affordable. There are people who would love to be there for them, but finances won't allow them to participate. It's something I've griped about that's a problem for the large transgender conferences here in the States and I hope that mistake isn't being replicated elsewhere.

Our enemies who make up the Forces of Intolerance are networking, plotting, planning and coordinating their efforts as we do the same. We must ensure the message gets out no matter what part of the planet we inhabit that transpeople are human beings, too.

One day I hope I'll get the opportunity to deliver that message in person at your various local conferences around the world.

Renee Won!

Congratulations to my podcast partner Renee at Womanist Musings! She was a double winner in the 2009 Canadian F-word Blog Awards.

See, Renee. Told ya your hard work would be recognized. ;)

She won in the Best Political Blog and Best Feminist Blog: Oh Canada! Categories. To me it's even cooler because it's recognition from her countrypeeps.

If I had a Timmy's nearby I'd grab a few doughnuts, some coffee and toast you with it.

But alas, the closest one to me is three hours drive time in Columbus, OH so I'll have to hit my local Krispy Kreme instead.

Congrats, sis. It's just the first batch of many awards headed your way for your quality writing on Womanist Musings and it only took you a year to start getting them.

Transgeneration

Transgeneration is a 2005 documentary by filmmaker Jeremy Simmons that spent a year following the lives of transgender students Gabbi, Raci, Lucas and TJ. It was interesting to watch them define who they are and take control of their gender identity and their lives, and was a little bittersweet for me personally.

It was so popular they were reunited at in April 2006 for the GLAAD Media Awards in which thi film was nominated for Best Documentary
















I need to add this documentary to my own personal DVD collection.

If You Watch Fox News, You're Uninformed

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.

Geno Auriemma To Coach USA Women's B-Ball Team

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.

Pam Grier

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.
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Washington Governor Gregoire Signs TG Hate Crime Protection

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.

You Respect A Cisperson's Right To Choose Their Name, Why Not A Transperson?

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.

Gwendolyn Lindsay-Jackson, Angie Is Not An 'It'

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.