NY State Assembly Passes GENDA

We're at the halfway point for transgender rights in New York State with the passage April 21 of GENDA by a wide margin in the Democratic controlled State Assembly.

Governor David Paterson (D) has indicated he will sign the bill if it passes the state legislature, which ends its current session on Monday, June 22.

GENDA would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing, public accommodations, access to credit, and other key areas. The Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act also would add gender identity and expression as protected categories in the state's human rights law.

The bill has broad public support according to a March 2008 poll by Global Strategy. 78 percent of registered New York voters favor passage of a bill to protect transgender rights.

GENDA debate according to the Gay City News only took 15 minutes before the Assembly passed it for the second year in a row. The bill now moves to the Senate where Democrats for the first time since 1965 have achieved a slim 32-30 majority. While under GOP control last year the bill died without being taken up.

Ignatieff Officially Becomes Liberal Party Leader

Renee and some of the other Canadians I converse with on a regular basis tell me about their disenchantment with their 'pit bull in a sweater vest', AKA Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.

Their yearning for their own victory over conservatism north of the border may be coming soon. Last weekend the Liberal Party held their convention in Vancouver and formally voted to take the 'interim' tag off Michael Ignatieff.

Say hello to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who received support from 97 per cent of the 3000 delegates attending the convention. He has been the party leader on a interim basis since Stephane Dion resigned in the wake of their October federal election loss.

“You can feel a longing for change sweeping across the land,” Ignatieff said in his acceptance speech. “If we offer our citizens a message of hope I believe Canadians will ask us to form their next government.”

And during the part of his speech that slammed PM Harper, Ignatieff stated, “You have failed to understand that a prime minister has one job and only one job, which is to unite the people of this country. Mr. Harper, you have failed us. If you can't unite Canadians, if you can't appeal to the best in all of us, we can.”

The 'we can' echoed the 'Yes, we can' slogan of President Obama's presidential campaign, who is more popular in Canada than he is here in the States. President Obama during his whirlwind visit to Canada did meet with Ignatieff last February, and they share ties to Harvard University.

Ignatieff gave no sign that he planned to force an early election, despite a Nanos Research poll showing the Liberals with a narrow 36 to 33 per cent lead over the Conservatives.

But that poll, conducted in the wake of recent statements by Ignatieff that tax increases might be needed to pay for deficits being accumulated by the Canadian federal government to pull Canada out of recession, reveals that only 27 per cent of Canadians thought that Ignatieff would make the best prime minister, compared with 32 per cent for Harper.

Stay tuned as the political intrigue in the 'Great White North' continues.

Happy Birthday To Moni

My favorite day on the calendar next to Christmas has finally arrived.

It's Cuatro De Mayo, AKA my birthday.

On this day at 10:45 PM CDT in the Lone Star State yours truly arrived on the planet. I look much different now that I did when I arrived in the world, and it's all good.

Thanks to everybody who has wished me a happy birthday so far and will do so before the end of the day. You don't know how much I appreciate it.

For the most part today is shaping up to be a good news-bad news kind of day. While I'm celebrating the fact I made it to another birthday, have my health, a roof over my head, and was blessed to see an African-American president inaugurated and doing spectacularly well in the job.

On the other hand I'm feeling homesick again, frustrated because it's been a while since I've traveled anywhere, moody because I took my last 'mones a few days ago and have to reload in addition to having to work until midnight later today.

But unlike most years in the weeks leading up to my birthday, this year I didn't spend a lot of time lamenting stuff. Maybe it was probably because I was busy with this blog and other writing assignments, the podcast and just simply living my life. I didn't have time to whine about stuff I can't change, the goals I haven't reached yet, or my dreams that as of yet remain unfulfilled. I didn't have time to mope about or ponder the various moments in time in which I made decisions back in the day that turned out to be life altering ones. I have to suck it up, put on the big girl panties and deal with it.

Could things be better? Yep. Do I need to make some improvements in my life in a few areas? Yes. Do I need to realize it's still not too late to make my dreams come true and stop being so hard on myself because it didn't happen sooner? Yep. Could I stand to lose ten pounds? Umm hmm. Do I need to do a better job of staying in touch with friends and family back home, around the country and the world? You betcha.

Do I need to lay off the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream? Um....no.

This year I took the advice I give to others and applied it to myself in terms of counting my blessings.

I love the peace of mind and happiness I live my life with since transition. I have picked up a wonderful new friend to complement the ones that are already in my life. The blog is in another positive growth phase. I still look divalicious, even if I'm not feeling it some days. I have my health, a job and money in my purse.

I also get another chance to hit the road with Polar in 24 hours, and y'all know how much I love road trips.

And best of all I love the person I see in the mirror when I wake up in the morning.

Podcast Show With Jessica Valenti Postponed

Renee and I were set to do a special edition of our Womanist Musings podcast radio show tonight at 8 PM EDT with Feministing.com Executive Editor and author Jessica Valenti, but Jessica advised us on Friday she was going to have to reschedule the interview due to illness.

We know many of you were anxious to hear our discussion about her book The Purity Myth and are just as disappointed as we were to hear that news.

She has offered to reschedule it, and when we confirm the new podcast show date with her, we'll pass that info along to you.

In the meantime, if you absolutely, positively wanted to hear me and Renee's meodious voices on your computer speakers or through your iPod's, you can head over to the show website at BlogTalkRadio and download our archived ones.

Our regularly scheduled shows happen every two weeks on Saturdays from 8-9 PM EDT, and the next scheduled show is on May 9

Ambassadors For The Transgender Community

When I was back home in Houston, there was a sign posted in every GLBT bar that was a not so subtle reminder of what I'm about to talk about in this post that stated:

What I do reflects on you
What you do reflects on me
What WE do reflects on the ENTIRE gay community.

When you are a marginalized community which habitually gets saddled with mostly negative press, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that you aren't doing anything in your daily interactions with the cisgender world to reinforce those stereotypes.

People of color have no problem understanding this concept, but it seems as though some of my white brothers and sisters have difficulty grasping the fact that the so called 'rugged individualist' mentality you operated under before your transitions no longer applies.

Civil rights are won not just with sweeping legislation, lobbying, protest marches, Trans 101 panel discussions or with precedent setting court decisions, but also by one on one personal contact in addition to all of the above.

It's hard to hate on or justify denying civil rights to someone when you have to look them in the eye, have some in your circle of friends or come to the realization that your stance impacts other human beings.

So it's incumbent upon us as a community to approach every interaction with the persuadable general public as a chance to create an ally.

In other words, we need to be ambassadors for the transgender community.

All it takes is simply just living your life, treating people with the same respect and dignity that you wish for yourself, be proud of being a transperson, and being the charmingly gracious person you are every day.

I'm not saying you have to wear an 'I'm trans' t-shirt in terms of expressing your pride in yourself. Expressing pride in yourself is multi-layered. It's standing up straight, looking people in the eye, giving firm handshakes, having intelligent conversations about a wide range of subjects in a manner that will go a long way toward creating positive impressions about you.

By the time the cisperson figures out or you tell them you are trans, once you honestly and forthrightly answer the questions they have about the issue you fell comfortable with, hopefully the groundwork you previously laid will just have them take the news with a grain of salt and you can move on to other subjects.

And hopefully you've not only made a lifelong friend for yourself, but created an you made an ally in the process for the trans community as well.

'Stealth' Update

I posted back in March about the movie Stealth, which stars Alexandra Billings and Jennifer Fontaine and is directed by Marlo Bernier.

Got a recent update from Marlo in terms of how the film is progressing. She's at the 'picture-lock' phase, and then the film moves on to the sound editing phase.

I thank her and the Stealth team for keeping me updated so I can share it with you loyal TransGriot readers.

I'm looking forward to seeing this film when it finally hits my local theater.

The 'Conscience Of The Congress' Helps HR 1913 Pass

One of the things I get tired of hearing ad nauseum from elements of the white gay community is that tired 'Blacks are more homophobic' meme.

Compare and contrast Republican Virginia Foxx's remarks on HR 1913 vis a vis the remarks of CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) speaking on behalf of the just passed bill.



The Congressional Black Caucus is 43 members strong, with 42 congressmembers, one senator, and a former member living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Two members, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Donna Christian-Christensen (D-VI) are non voting delegates. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Al Green of Texas missed the roll call vote on HR 1913 but previously voted for Hate Crimes and ENDA

So out of the 37 members who cast votes on HR 1913 and 36 voted yes.

Artur Davis (D-AL) voted against the bill.

There's always gotta be one.

So explain to me white gay community, if we Black people are 'so homophobic', why did 36 out of 37 available CBC members vote for this legislation?

Time to bury that tired meme once and for all.

H/T Rod 2.0 Beta

Don't Want EBONY Or JET To Die

Tami had a post in March that discussed her take on whether we should do more as a community to keep our iconic magazines alive.

While some folks are hollering 'let them die', I have a problem with that knee jerk shortsighted view of the situation, even though I have mixed emotions about it.

As a historian, I don't like the idea of losing EBONY and JET, much less contemplating a world without its needed voice. As many of you did, I perused the older issues of EBONY and JET at my grandparents house growing up and I spent hours perusing those issues and reading the history that unfolded before my eyes. I also chuckled at some of the back in the day ads that served as a time capsule for the period.

It seems that everybody had a subscription to those two magazines when I was growing up, and whether you were at your cousin's house in Mississippi, your uncle's place in Los Angeles, EBONY or JET would be sitting in a prominent place in their living rooms. One of the first things I did after moving out of my parents house was get my own EBONY subscription.

Thanks to the late visionary John H. Johnson, these magazines since 1945 have been covering our stories, our people and our history when white owned magazines would barely touch our communities, much less tell our stories in a balanced way.

Without EBONY and JET, much of the Civil Rights history probably wouldn't have seen the light of day. Many of Dr. King's essays were published in the pages of EBONY. Our iconic stars on stage, screen, television and the sporting worlds wouldn't have gotten the coverage they deserved.

Our history would have less documentation, especially in the 70's when it seemed that every time you turned around there was another African-American breaking new ground or we had another 'First Black' making history.

And tell the truth, many of you already have copies of the issues of EBONY and JET relating to the historic 2008 election of President Obama, the inauguration and the historic Obama administration.

One of the reasons that African descended supermodels grace the catwalks now is because of Eunice Johnson and the Ebony Fashion Fair. Not only did it clue designers in on the fact that Black women had dollars to spend on high fashion clothes, the traveling fashion show has raised tens of thousands of dollars over the years for various charitable organizations in the African-American community.

Fashion Fair Cosmetics and its success clued white owned makeup companies into the fact there was a large customer base they weren't meeting the needs of.

But on the other hand both those magazines have been behind the curve for a while in terms of developments inside the AA GLBT/SGL community, something I've long complained about on TransGriot.

It's sad for example, when Isis got more love in white owned magazines than she did in our iconic Black ones (and ESSENCE falls in that category as well).

I'm for giving Linda Johnson Rice the help she needs because the Johnson family deserves that much from us. I'm seriously thinking about renewing my subscription especially since I'm buying them off the racks so much these days I may as well save myself some cash and get it delivered to the crib.

But my support comes with a condition and an ultimatum. I want EBONY and JET to do a better job of covering the entire African-American community. News of our community just doesn't begin and end in middle class African-American communities. There needs to be a serious effort toward inclusive coverage of the entire spectrum of the AA community.

Because as someone who grew up around Black radio and knows the power of Black owned media, it's easier to tell your story when you own the printing press, the television show and the radio station as opposed to depending upon someone else with built in biases to honestly tell the story of your people for you.

Supreme Court Sistahs?

One of the reasons I definitely wanted President Obama in the Oval Office is because I recognized years ago the fact that we have several people old enough, especially on the liberal-progressive side who could retire and create Supreme Court vacancies.

If we got lucky one of those vacancies could open up on the conservative side and tip the balance back to the progressive side.

While I honestly believe that the Souter replacement nomination is going to go to a Latina and it's past time that a Latino/a get on the court, I think the nomination of an African-American woman to the Court is long overdue as well.

There are some well-qualified ones that should get that call, especially to counterbalance the self hatred of Uncle Thomas.

One who has been mentioned is current Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears. She became the first African-American woman to become a superior court judge in 1988. When she was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court by Governor Zell Miller in 1992, she was the youngest person to sit on the Georgia Supreme Court.

On June 28, 2005 she made history again when she became the first African-American female chief justice anywhere in the United States when she was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Interestingly enough she has decided to retire from the Georgia Supreme Court at the end of her term in June 2009.

There's also another trailblazing sistah that President Obama can consider in Vicki Miles-LaGrange, the chief US district justice for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma City native has the legislative experience he's looking for, having been the first African-American woman elected to the Oklahoma Senate and serving in that body from 1986-1993 while conducting a private law practice.

She's not only served in the Department of Justice as a criminal trial attorney in Washington DC, she also prosecuted sex crimes as an Assistant DA in Oklahoma County.

She was nominated in September 1994 by President Bill Clinton and became the first African-American federal judge in the 10th District.

Then there's my personal favorite in Constance L. Rice, the second cousin of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

As the Co-Director of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund Los Angeles Office, Rice has filed class action civil rights cases redressing police misconduct, race and sex discrimination and unfair public policy in transportation, probation and public housing. Rice has led multi-racial coalitions of lawyers and clients to win more than $4 billion of injunctive relief and damages.

Talk about someone who would be the antithesis of Clarence Thomas.

There are other Supreme court quality sisters at various levels of the federal and state judiciary that we'll probably get to hear about in the next few years.

When that historic moment finally does happen, Thurgood Marshall can rest easy in the fact that the next African-American to take the bench will be light-years more worthy of building on his giant legal legacy.

2009 MissTiffany's Universe Pageant Coming Soon

Well peeps, it's that time again in Pattaya, Thailand.

The 2009 edition of the Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant will be held May 10-15. The 12th annual competition will be fierce when transwomen all over Thailand head to the Tiffany's Theater for the first round eliminations that will whittle the field down to the thirty girls that will compete over the next several days for the tiara.

The May 15 finals will be televised live on Thai TV.

As I've noted before, the Thais are serious about their beauty pageants, and the Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant is taken just as seriously as any other pageant in the Land of Smiles.

The winner gets a 100,000 baht cash prize, a Honda Jazz car, and prizes. She is also give the same national love and respect as the other Thai pageant winners in the major cisgender pageant circuits such as Miss Universe and Miss World.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant also has in their mission statement some serious goals in terms of promoting human rights awareness and creating positive images for transwomen internationally. Some of the winners have gone on to bigger and better things in Thai society.

While people may debate whether a pageant is the right vehicle for that, one thing you can definitely count on is that neither pageant fails to get international news coverage.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe winner also represents Thailand in the Tiffany's Cabaret sponsored Miss International Queen pageant. The Miss Tiffany's Universe is for Thai transwomen only, while the Miss International Queen one is open to transwomen from around the world.

Last year politics intruded on the 2008 Miss International Queen pageant. It was canceled due to the Thai political drama that led to the international airport being shut down.

It not only put a severe crimp in the Thai tourist industry, it also kept 2008 winner Kangsadal Wongdusadeekul from competing against the rest of the world's transwomen. Because of last year's drama, Thailand will have two representatives in this year's Miss International Queen pageant.

With the new government in place, let's hope Thailand and its people get a long period of political stability.

It's also going to be interesting to see who emerges as the 2009 Miss Tiffany's Universe winner.

Alright Rockets! Beat LA!

My hometown NBA ballers did something in the playoffs they haven't done since 1997.

Won a first round NBA playoff series.

Yep, the TransGriot was living in her southwest Houston digs the last time my boys won a playoff series. Wednesday night they eliminated the Portland Trail Blazers by pasting a 92-76 beatdown on them in Game 6 to take the series 4 games to 2.

Ron Artest dropped 27 points in this game, with Yao Ming chipping in 17 points and snatching 10 rebounds while guard Aaron Brooks tossed in 13 to send the Rockets out of the first round winners for the first time in 12 years.

Their reward is to play the top seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the second round. But before y'all write off my Houston homeboys, better check your NBA playoff history. We have a nasty habit of knocking off Number One seeded Laker teams, especially if they're wearing NBA crowns.

Exhibit A- 1981 NBA Playoffs. The 40-42 Rockets knock off the defending champion LA Lakers in the first round.



Exhibit B-The 1986 NBA Playoffs-The Rockets, armed with the Twin Towers, stunned the defending champion LA Lakers in the Western Conference finals by taking three straight games to win the series 4-1.



It would be fun for me to see an I-45 NBA Western Conference Final series between my Rockets and the Mavericks for the NBA State Championship.

The 1981 and 1995 I-10 Western Conference Finals series with the San Antonio Spurs were fun to watch, especially since my boys won the State Championship and continued to the NBA Finals. One of those first round series losses was courtesy of the Mavericks so revenge would be sweet in this case. But we have to get past the Lakers first and Dallas has to knock off a Number Two seeded Denver Nuggets team in order for that series to happen.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she? It would be a nice birthday present if the Rockets beat the Lakers in Game 1. Go Rockets!

Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!

Happy 25th Anniversary SBH!

This month marks the 25th anniversary of what has become an iconic publication for Black women in the US, Sophisticate's Black Hair.

It has also been an invaluable part of my transition as well.

Sophisticate's Black Hair or SBH as we fondly call it has had my undivided attention ever since I spotted the debut issue of it on my local Walgreen's magazine rack back home in May 1984. That debut issue had a smiling Jayne Kennedy Overton on the cover and quickly become the go to magazine when you were looking for anything Black hair related.

SBH was the brainchild of publisher James B. Spurlock. It was his dream to meld positive imagery, great journalism and a powerful 'Black Is Beautiful' message inside the pages of a magazine. While EBONY, JET and ESSENCE did the Black community's heavy lifting in that regard, there was a need for an SBH as well to sing and celebrate the praises of Black hair.

And 'sang' they did. As I flip through some of my old copies it was not only a cultural mirror of the times, it also serves as a style time capsule as well.

There have been a wide range of people that have graced the covers of SBH from Oscar winner Halle Berry to Tyra Banks to current fave Rihanna. There have been SBH interviews done with various Black women about their hair styling secrets that range from our various sistah Miss USA's to various actresses to the First Lady of the United States.

SBH also covers the wide range of hairstyles from bone straight to natural to locs, how to replicate them and take care of it at home in between the salon visits. It even offers advice and tips on the business side of it and advice from beauty experts.

When I was looking for a shorter hairstyle I perused multiple issues of it until I discovered one that fit me perfectly.

I also loved its ongoing mission of focusing on the beauty of Black women, and they even focus on Da Fellas from time to time. They will interview well known African-American men who will wax poetic sometimes on why they love sistahs or other issues.

And in every anniversary issue they name the 10 Best Styled Women of the Year as chosen in a poll of SBH readers.

I know you're curious, so here are SBH's 2009 Best Styled Women:

Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, Beyonce, Tyra Banks, Queen Latifah, Halle Berry, Ciara (take that haters), Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson.

So congrats SBH for 25 wonderful years of singing the praises of the beauty of Black women and our hair, and may the next 25 years be just as spectacular.

Justice David Souter Plans To Retire

It's been a bad week for the Repugnican Party, and the news just got worse.

Justice David Souter, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, after 19 years on the Supreme Court plans to retire at the end of this session in June or when his successor is confirmed.

This gives President Obama his first chance to select a younger Supreme Court justice for the liberal-progressive wing of the court. They can definitely use it since Justice Stephen Breyer is 70, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 76 and Justice John Paul Stevens is 89. Souter at age 69 was the baby of the group.

So who will President Obama choose?

I think it will be either a Latino/a or an Asian, since neither group has never had a person from their particular ethnic groups on the Court. Latino/a's were critical to the president's election, and he needs to show them some love. There is also sentiment to have a woman appointed to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There will be pressure to add another African-American to the court to not only cancel out Clarence Thomas. There has also never been an African-American woman selected as a Supreme Court justice either.

The conservative wing isn't exactly a bunch of spring chickens either. Antonin Scalia is 73, Anthony Kennedy is 70, Clarence Thomas is 60, Samuel Alito is 59 and Chief Justice John Roberts is 54.

Judging by the age of the members of the court, it looks like he'll have some additional opportunities to make Court appointments as his first presidential term moves along.

Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill Passes House!

"I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance." President Barack Obama

As we've stated for a decade, a hate crimes bill would pass with transpeople in it and did!

On Wednesday the Democratic-controlled United States House passed on a 249-175 vote and sent to the Senate the Federal Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, also known as the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill.

"Hate crimes motivated by race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, and identity or disability not only injure individual victims, but also terrorize entire segments of our population and tear at our nation's social fabric," House Democratic Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said while urging the bills passage.

The current law which was enacted forty years ago limits federal jurisdiction over hate crimes to assaults based on race, color, religion or national origin.

The bill broadens the original law by classifying as hate crimes those attacks based on a victim's sexual orientation, gender identity or mental or physical disability.

The Senate version of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, was introduced Tuesday by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who stated the legislation is "long overdue" and "hate crimes are especially poisonous."

"They are acts of domestic terrorism that target whole communities, not just individuals," he said. "This bill will bring greater protection to our citizens and much-needed resources for state and local law enforcement to fight these vicious crimes."

Other sponsors of the Senate bill include Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Arlen Specter (D-PA). A Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson said she didn't know when the committee would take up the legislation.

Let's savor this historic event, ensure it passed the Senate and let's get cracking on ENDA.

Shut Up Fool! Award-Kentucky Derby Edition

The 135th running of the Kentucky Derby happens in Da Ville tomorrow. We'll find out which horse wins the first leg of the Triple Crown and ends up in the Winner's Circle crowned with roses.

Today is Ladies Day at Churchill Downs with the running of the 135th Kentucky Oaks. All the races run today involve fillies including the Oaks. Just as the winner in the Derby gets a garland of roses, the winning horse in the Oaks gets crowned with a garland of lilies.

So sticking with the horse racing theme for this week's awards, I know y'all are ready for me to get to it, so lets see what horse's rear end wins the race for fool of the week.

There were many worthy contenders, but there is only one that was so breathtakingly stupid she's now in the running for a Shut Up Fool! lifetime Achievement Award.

And no, it wasn't Rep. Michele Bachmann.

That would be Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina. I'll give you one guess what party she reps, but the folks in Winston-Salem might consider replacing her next year with somebody that has some brain cells and a 'D' behind their name.

While arguing against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime bill she said on the House floor the Shepard murder was a hoax. Foxx said Shepard wasn't killed in 1998 because he was gay but because he was involved in a robbery.

She said this as Matthew Shepard's mother Judy was sitting in the gallery watching the debate on this legislation.



She also asked during the House Rules Committee meeting for the bill why prostitutes weren't included, because people who hate prostitutes as a class sometimes murder them for this reason.

"Should there be an amendment to this to say that prostitutes are a protected class? "Why is it worse to go after someone who's gay than going after someone who's a prostitute?"

Rep. Virginia Foxx, shut up Fool!

SRS Is Not A Requirement To Be A 'Successful' Transsexual

One of the things we need to do more often in this community is to spotlight and hold up our role models. We need our kids struggling with gender issues to see the diverse rainbow of transpeeps out there who are surviving and thriving out there in the cold, cruel world while being proud of who they are as transpeople.

There are two lists put together by Karen Serenity and Dr. Lynn Conway's TS Successes that do this quite well, and I applaud them for that.

However, there are two major problems with those lists.

Problem number one is the severe lack of melanin in them, and the second problem is that they focus almost exclusively on post-op transwomen.

I've said this before and will continue to drive this point home until I'm put in a nice casket and buried six feet under my beloved Texas soil that the cold hard truth is our transitions are not like yours.

We don't as people of color start out making a lot of money to begin with, so it takes us much longer if we do decide to get surgery to do so even if we start the transitions at a younger age.

There are also some peeps who can't get SRS for medical reasons as well or simply don't want to.

So riddle me this Karen Serenity and Dr. Conway. What happens when you create a list of successful transwomen that excludes people that either haven't publicly declared they've had SRS, have declared they don't want it or feel it isn't anybody's business to know what genitalia is in their panties?

It ends up as overwhelmingly white, middle-upper middle class and devoid of melanin.

If you are only including declared post-op transpeople on your lists, and the people who do go on to get surgery are overwhelmingly white and middle-upper middle class, what does the resulting list look like to a person of color?

Well, this POC is about to tell you.

One of the issues I had to deal with as a teenage transkid in the 70's was not seeing positive role models that reflected my ethnic heritage. It was one of the issues we've repeatedly discussed on my TSTB list of African descended transwomen.

I've noted that African descended transwomen growing up in the 80's and 90's had that same question and concern as well.

I've also made the point as well, along with many gender specialists that gender is not whether you have a penis or vagina between your legs, it's between your ears.

Transwoman, and especially you two ladies should know that better than anybody.

But one of the things that I have consistently seen from the WWBT crowd and transwomen who transition before 1990 is that they are still stuck in that same genitalia=gender paradigm, then label anyone who hasn't spent 20K for a neocoochie as 'not female'.

Congrats, you're no better than the radfems and the Religious Reich in that regard.

But then again, in order to get SRS back in the day, since many of the pioneering SRS gender surgeons were stuck in that rigid gender binary, they did make pre-1990's transwomen jump through multiple hoops and do crap that we post-1990 transwomen don't have to do.

But we all still have to swallow estrogen and deal with the same issues of negotiating society in a feminine body, and whether you have a neoclit or neocoochie as you deal with those issues doesn't change that one millimeter.

In Dr. Conway's case, she has a double standard in place in terms of her Successful Transmen page. As many of us in the community know, the bottom surgery for transmen is not even close to what transwomen have in terms of aesthetics and functionality, but yet she doesn't apply the same gender=genitalia standard to them that she applies to transwomen.


May I remind you ladies that being a success in life isn't based on your genitalia. There are also transwomen who have achieved wonderful things for this community who haven't necessarily spent time on a surgery table either.

I guess if the first transwomen elected to Congress or the first transgender mayor elected in a major city wasn't a post-op, you would decline to put her on your page.

While you have every right as the creators of those lists to determine the parameters as to who does and doesn't get included on the lists you spend your precious time compiling, I also have the same right, especially since people use them as resources to point out you're also doing those transwomen like Spain's Carla Antonelli for example, a disservice by ignoring their accomplishments.

You're also doing a disservice to people that need to see a wide palette of trans role models a disservice as well.

Susan Stanton Is New Lake Worth, FL City Manager

If you've been wondering what's up with Susan A. Stanton, she's doing quite well thank you after being selected on a 4-1 vote back on April 7 to become the new city manager for Lake Worth, FL.

As most of you who followed her story know, she was dismissed after 17 years as the Largo, FL city manager when she announced her plans to transition.

She was a finalist for two other city manager jobs in Tempe, AZ and Sarasota, FL before successfully getting this one.

She started her new job on Monday and is getting paid $150,000 to manage the city of Lake Worth, FL. Here's hoping that Ms. Stanton has a long, successful and less drama filled tenure there.

Artist Ernie Barnes Dies

If you were a devoted fan of Good Times back in the day, you know that Jimmie Walker's James Evans, Jr. character was an artist. That character and the show introduced the rest of the world to the artwork of Ernie Barnes.

'The Sugar Shack' dance scene appeared on Marvin Gaye's 1976 I Want You album and the closing credits of Good Times. It also inspired a generation of artists. Collectors of his work range from Ethel Kennedy, various professional sport team owners to Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, the late Sammy Davis, Jr., Kanye West, and from Seton Hall University to the California African American Museum.

The 70 year old Barnes died Monday night at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles from complications from a rare blood disorder, said his longtime personal assistant Luz Rodriguez. Barnes is survived by his wife Bernie; brother James of Durham; sons Michael and Sean; and daughters Deidre, Erin and Paige.

His signature style uses elongation and distortion to convey a sense of power, fluidity, grace and intensity, addition to featuring people with closed eyes because as he put it, 'we are blind to people's humanity.'

Barnes was born in Durham, NC on July 15, 1938. His love of art began when he would accompany his mother to her job at a prominent local attorney's Frank Fuller, Jr's home in which she oversaw the staff. The attorney had a large collection of art books that young Ernie was allowed to peruse which fueled his passion for art.

In junior high Ernie was an overweight and introverted kid taunted by bullies, and spent that time sketching in a notebook. A sympathetic teacher who recognized his artistic talent put him on a weightlifting program. It allowed Ernie to excel in football and track in high school to the point in which Ernie was the state shotput champion in his senior year

He received over 25 scholarships, but no thanks to Jim Crow segregation couldn't attend Duke University or the University of North Carolina. He attended HBCU North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University) on a football scholarship and majored in art.

He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1959, but that was problematic once they discovered he was Black. The Redskins racist owner George Preston Marshall refused to integrate his team until 1962, and they traded Barnes to the then NFL world champion Baltimore Colts. After playing for the Colts for a season he moved to the rival American Football League in 1960 and played for the New York Titans, the San Diego Chargers in 1961-1962 and the Denver Broncos in 1963-1964.

He still pursued his love of art while playing and painted his first piece called 'The Bench' which sold for $25,000 at a Denver show. A painting of his caught the attention of Barron Hilton, who commissioned him for a piece and encouraged him to successfully apply to become the official artist for the AFL. His artwork began appearing on the game day magazine programs across the AFL.

That led in 1965 to New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin noticing his work, and after having three art critics appraise it Werblin commissioned him to do thirty paintings. It led to a critically acclaimed 1966 art show at Grand Central Art Galleries in Manhattan that jump started his art career and led to his retirement from pro football.

In 1984 Barnes was named the 'Official Artist of the Games' and commissioned by the Los Angeles Olympic Committee to create five paintings to commemorate the LA Games. He was also commissioned by the NBA to create 'A Dream Unfolds' for the league's 50th anniversary, 'Fastbreak' for LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss, and the owners of the New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders and Boston Patriots football teams.


Former Baltimore Colts teammate and Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson commissioned Barnes to create 'Victory In Overtime', which is now on permanent display at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

There are ongoing plans for a traveling exhibit of Ernie Barnes art entitled 'Liberating Humanity From Within' which will be coming soon to an art gallery near you.

"Ernie Barnes is one of the premier figurative artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries," said Paul Von Blum, a senior lecturer in African American studies, communication studies and art history at UCLA.

"His richly detailed paintings and drawings chronicling the lives of people have made a profound contribution to the contemporary history of American art."

Von Blum said the works that Barnes produced over 40 years "elevated him to the top rank of African American artists in the United States" and "solidified his stature in the grand tradition of visual art, a reputation that will serve as a model for younger artists for generations to come."

I agree. He will be missed.


H/T Black On Campus Blog