Mr. T Birthday Video

Mr. T is the inspiration for my Shut Up Fool! Awards, and I couldn't let today pass without giving my favorite tough guy a birthday shout out.

So in honor of it I'm cutting out the jibber jabber and putting some YouTube video of Mr. T on this post.







I pity the fool who isn't singing Happy Birthday in his honor.

Coccinelle

Since I mentioned Coccinelle in a previous post, I thought it was only fair that you get to know who Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy was.

She was born in Paris on August 23, 1931. Her petite 5'3" frame and slight build led to many people questioning her gender identity. She was also aware of her gender issues at age 4 and began taking hormones in 1952.

A year later she made her debut as a transgender showgirl at Chez Madame Arthur where her mother worked selling flowers. She took the stage name Coccinelle (French for ladybug) as the show at Chez Madame Arthur became popular among Parisians and fascination about her metamorphosis grew.

She dyed her brunette hair blonde and later joined transgender showgirls April Ashley of Great Britain and Amanda Lear as a regular at the famed Le Carrousel de Paris nightclub as her popularity continued to increase.

Coccinelle usually arrived on stage wearing scarlet lipstick and wearing one of a number of outrageous mink coats dyed in different colors.

She'd already had rhinoplasty to further feminize her features, and in 1958 she traveled to Morocco and became the first European transwoman to undergo vaginoplasty by pioneering Casablanca based SRS surgeon Dr. Georges Burou.

When she returned to France, she became a media sensation like Christine Jorgenson several years before. She then remixed her look and her stage act to match the prominent sex symbols of that time period, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.

In addition to her new sexy image, she became appearing in various movies such as 1959's Europa di notte by director Alessandro Blasetti. More films followed, and she became the first French transwoman to become a major star in 1963 when she starred in a revue entitled 'Cherchez la femme' at the famed Paris Olympic Theater.

Coccinelle was a trailblazer and an iconic figure to transpeople who grew up in the 50's and 60's. After her operation France modified its laws to allow details on birth certificates to be amended following SRS, and she duly changed her name to Jacqueline-Charlotte from Jacques-Charles.

She also worked extensively as an activist on behalf of French transgender people, founding the organization Devenir Femme (To Become Woman). Devenir Femme was designed to provide emotional and practical support for persons seeking sex reassignment surgery. She also helped establish the Center for Aid, Research, and Information for Transsexuality and Gender Identity as well.



She was married three times, and her first marriage to sports journalist Francis Bonnet in 1960 not only was the first transsexual union to be officially acknowledged by the nation of France, she booked Notre Dame Cathedral for the ceremony. It also established a transgender person's legal right to marry in France.

Coccinelle toured the world for 25 years, and was a big hit in South America. Bob Hope was impressed by her show and offered her a tempting financial package to perform with his troupe, but she declined it. She even performed in front of the Shah of Iran and for 10 years appeared in a German cabaret run by transwoman Romy Haag. Her autobiography, Coccinelle by Coccinelle, was published in 1987 with her last public performance being done in 1990.

She later moved to Marseilles and ran her own cabaret there from 2002-2005 before being hospitalized in July 2006 following a stroke. She died on October 9, 2006 at age 75.

At her funeral, held at the Eglise Saint-Roch de Paris, Father Philippe Desgens reminded mourners: "All the children of God have a place in the Church", and noted that "by her marriage in church after her operation, and during her whole life, Coccinelle showed her faith."

Coccinelle is another of our iconic transwomen who will never be forgotten, and blazed a path that future French transwomen would follow.

Transkid In Omaha, NE Begins Living Her Life

As much as I loved growing up in the 60's and 70's, I would have loved even more to have been given an opportunity to grow up as a female during my school years.

I think about that every time I see the stories of the brave parents of transgender kids who allow them to transition early in life so that when they get to adulthood won't have as much baggage to carry into it.

I've been following the story about the Omaha, NE parents who are allowing their 8 year old child Kate to begin living full time as a girl in the fall.



“It was not a decision that was made rashly at all. It was a decision to protect her psyche and her self-esteem,” the mother said. “She’s been a girl since the beginning, everything about her, the way she dances and skips around and the things she’s attracted to. It’s more than toys and clothes.”

The mother said Kate has consistently asked to be called a girl since she was 4 years old and even said something that's all to familiar to many of us in the transgender community, what we call the 'Transgender Child's Prayer'.

“One night, she said ‘Every night when I go to bed, I pray my inside will match my outside. But it never happens,'" the mother said, recalling the words of her middle child.

Kate said about her situation, “It’s kind of like you’re trapped somewhere and you can’t get out.”

Here's where the anti-transgender chickens that Dr. Paul McHugh spread at the Vatican have roosted in someone's life. The mother is a lifelong Catholic and wanted to continue her child's education at a local Catholic school, but the archdiocese of Omaha, following the transhating policies of the Roman Catholic Church, refused to allow Kate to begin third grade as a female.

So Kate will begin third grade not in the school she's been at since kindergarten, but in a public school this fall.

When her mother announced that Kate would be allowed to pierce her ears next week, the girl screeched and had a huge smile on her face.

“You’ve waited long enough to live as a girl,” the mother said.

Kate's mother is on a mission to educate the community and encourage churches to open a dialog about diversity and acceptance of all people.

“Just take the time to listen. It is different. It’s something most people have never heard of, but it doesn’t make it scary or pathological,” she said.

Hello Catholic Church, Religious Reich, and transhaters, are you listening?

Octavia St Laurent Clips

Octavia may be gone from us, but she'll never be forgotten. It's also a given that the ballroom competition in Heaven just got a little more fierce.

Rest in peace, sis.

RIP Octavia St. Laurent

The Paris Is Burning movie came out as I was early into my own transition. One of the people I was captivated by and resolved to meet one day was Octavia St. Laurent.

The closest I've come to making that happen was when the funeral for Amanda Milan happened in 2000 and at the last minute I couldn't get the time off to go.

I wish I had. She gave a moving and fiery eulogy for Amanda that day on which she said, "Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. "How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?"

Sadly, that's not going to happen.

I just received the word that Octavia St. Laurent passed away May 17. Still trying to get the who, what, when, where, why and how details, and will pass them on to you as I find out.

In the interim, check out this video from Paris Is Burning.



Rest In Peace sis.

A Different World Theme Songs-Video

Since I'm still impatiently waiting for Carsey-Werner, Ventura, Viacom or whoever owns the rights to A Different World to stop stalling and release Seasons 2-6 of the show on DVD, thought I'd get the video of the three versions of the theme songs played during the six season run of the series and post them.

Season 1, composed by Dawnn Lewis sung by Phoebe Snow.



The Queen of Soul Version of the song.



The Boys 2 Men version




The excuse for not releasing the DVDs is the false assumption that A Different World doesn't have a fanbase. They came to that conclusion based on the sales of the Season 1 DVD. Hello, Season 1 sucked, seasons 2-6 didn't after it began to reflect the reality of HBCU student life.

As a bonus for you ADW lovers, I'm posting the video from the 'Homie Don't You Know Me' episode with the late Tupac Shakur in it. (damn I miss Tupac)

Transsexuality Declassified As Mental Illness In France

Conservatives may sneer at and hate on France, but the rest of us and especially the transgender community around the world have much love for the nation.

One of the world's famous early transwomen in Coccinelle was born and lived there until her death in October 2006.

As an actress and activist who pushed for changes in French law favoring transgender people, Coccinelle would have been thrilled to see French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot announce through a spokesperson on Saturday that France would no longer classify transsexuality as a mental illness.

The announcement came on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

Until now, transsexuals benefited from a state subsidy reserved for chronic illness - “recurring or persistent problems.”

The classification was linked to the fact that a leading medical journal, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, referred to both homosexuality and transsexuality as disorders.

The French organization Homosexuals and Socialism (HES) has applauded the move, calling it “a long-overdue vindication.”

Now if we could only get the committee now meeting to come up with a new DSM-V in 2012 to follow France's lead.

It's Hell To Be Transgender-Especially In Honduras

Houston's late crusading consumer affairs reporter Marvin Zindler used to say during his news segments when he chewed on the behinds of local organizations, agencies, politicians and people that failed to do their jobs in helping less fortunate citizens, "It's hell to be poor."

I'm going to paraphrase Marvin and say, in some parts of the world, it's hell to be transgender.

I stumbled across some photos of a recent protest by transgender people in Honduras that took place May 15 in advance of the May 17 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Anyone who has checked out the Remembering Our Dead list lately can tell you there are more than a few Honduran transwomen memorialized on that list.

But since October 2008 violent attacks directed against Honduran transwomen has escalated. No doubt one of the factors feeding into these attacks are the anti-transgender rhetoric emanating from the Catholic Church and a burgeoning evangelical Christian movement in Honduras.

Between November and December 2008 five attacks targeting transwomen occurred, with two of them being fatal. On November 20 a transwoman named Yasmin was killed by an attacker. The next day (November 21) Bibi was shot, and on December 17 another named Noelia was stabbed 14 times.

On December 20 two transgender activists doing HIV/AIDS outreach work in Honduras' capital of Tegucigalpa were savagely attacked. That same day (December 20) another transwoman was assaulted by Honduran police and threatened with death if she reported the crime. She bravely reported the assault to Amnesty International.

But the New Year did not stop the vicious assault on the Honduran transgender community.

The January 9 early morning hours drive-by shooting of prominent Honduran transgender activist Cynthia Nicole Moreno stunned and galvanized the community into action. Moreno was fatally shot three times in the chest and once in the head in the town of Comayaguela.

The 32 year old Moreno was a widely known Honduran transgender rights leader who worked as a spokesperson for the transgender rights organization Colectivo Violeta. She provided information about HIV/AIDS and human rights, and often represented the community in the media.

"The transgender community is terrified," said Indyra Mendoza, director of the Honduran lesbian and feminist organization Cattrachas. "But these attacks will not silence the community in Honduras, and we will continue to work to ensure that the rights of transgender people are recognized and protected."

Cynthia Nicole would have been proud to see the transgender community stand up on May 15 and protest near the Presidential Palace for their human rights.

But as I've said multiple times, transgender rights are a worldwide issue. What happens in my part of the world affects yours as well. What's happening in Honduras is OUR problem, too.

The international community needs to do as much as it can to get the story out there, put pressure on the Honduran government to solve the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice and give the local organizations the help they need.

It will take a concerted effort by all of us to help put an end to the suffering our transsisters are going through in Honduras.

Kim Fields

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

Kim Fields just celebrated her Big 4-0 birthday May 12, and I've loved watching her in whatever acting project ever since her Facts of Life days. The NAACP Image Award winning actress and director is a talented singer, writer and spoken word poet as well.



When that show ended I wondered what happened to her. Kim earned a communications and film degree from Malibu's Pepperdine University in 1990, and not long after that popped up on our TV screens as the divalicious Regine Hunter on Living Single.

Kim's been in the spotlight since she appeared on Sesame Street when she was five. She filmed commercials, most notably one for Mrs. Butterworth's syrup back in the day combined with 1978 guest appearances on Good Times. She also recently became a mother on my birthday in 2007 and sorry fellas, is happily married again.

There's a lot to admire about this talented and politically active lady, and may she continue to have much success in her career.

Next Year Mr. President, Do A Commencement Speech At An HBCU

TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment

If I could give any piece of advice to President Obama besides the obvious ones for any transperson lucky enough to get some face time with him would, it would be this:

Next year, give a commencement speech at an HBCU, which stands for Historically Black College and University.

Arizona State University invited him to speak at their May 14 commencement ceremony. It was the first commencement speech he has delivered since becoming president January 20. How does ASU thank him for that historical footnote and the increased media attention their commencement ceremony garnered from the media? By declining to give him an honorary degree.


ASU spokeswoman Sharon Keeler stated, "His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency."

Um, you gave former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell one and she only served 143 days before she was ousted from office by Canadian voters.

Don't you think the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, the fourth elected African-American US senator, author of two best selling books and the first African-American president of the US rates one?

I, along with many other people see this as disrespect. Much of the Arizona State alumni base agrees with me as well, and they ain't happy about the presidential dissing either.

To President Obama's credit, he joked about the controversy, then flipped the script and used it as a talking point in his commencement speech.



Conservatives and conservative Catholics have their panties in knots because of the commencement speech President Obama is delivering at Notre Dame University. The invitation and the upcoming May 17 speech has also stirred controversy with right wing Catholics and some Notre Dame students who protested the invitation because his stances on abortion rights and stem-cell research don't jibe with the Roman Catholic Church's stance.

Read the rest at Global Comment

It's On On Guam

Jeremy, the transgender high school student who was barred from attending his George Washington High School prom because he wore a dress, submitted a letter of complaint to the Office of the Superintendent and the legal counsel of the Guam Public School System.

Superintendent Dr. Nerissa Bretania-Shafer says she will be conducting her own investigation on the matter. She states that she wants to ensure "Jeremy's" rights were not violated, telling KUAM-TV News, "At this point, we want to respect the right of any student to issue a complaint and register a complaint. Once that's done, we need to let the investigation take its place."

Dr. Bretania-Shafer says this is the first time she's heard of the issue and she anticipates the investigation into what happened will be completed in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, some of Jeremy's classmates are weighing in on the incident.

According to Michele Catahay's KUAM-TV report several freshmen stated it shouldn't matter what an individual wears to the prom, as long as it's tasteful. One female student said, "They should be what they want - it's their decision, it's their choice. They can be who they want to be." And a fellow male classmate said such should be allowed, "as long as it's not vulgar."

And as I pointed out in the guidelines drawn up by the prom committee, it does not have a prohibition against cross gender clothing.




Speaker of the Guam Youth Congress Derick Hills says what happened to Jeremy is absolutely intolerable and shouldn't have happened.

"I feel more saddened about the student. This was a once in a lifetime event for him and when he went to prom, he went there expressing his views and his passion of what he felt. And I think the school should've acted more accordingly and let the student into the prom event."

Yes, they should have. That denial of entry into the prom may be a costly one for the Guam Public School System as well.

TransGriot Note: Jeremy hasn't clarified as of yet whether he is transitioning or gay, so I left the male pronouns intact until advised otherwise.

New Star Trek-Wow!

Just arrived back home from my local multiplex from watching the rebooted JJ Abrams directed Star Trek movie, and all I have to say is-wow!

I'm a Trekkie that watched the original series, Next Generation, DS9, Voyager and even Enterprise. I loved how this movie reintroduced us to all the characters we know and love and how the new actors stayed true to the original portrayals but put their own spin on them in some cases.

It even managed to surprise me with a well known producer-director playing a Starfleet admiral, but I won't spoil the surprise if you haven't seen the movie yet.

Here's the trailer for it, enjoy.



The best news is that the entire cast of the rebooted movie have been signed up to do two more pictures, and after watching this one can't wait to see what they come up with next.

Girl Power! Rachel Alexandra Wins Preakness

Rachel Alexandra blew out her feminine competition by 20 lengths in the May 1 Kentucky Oaks. She was obviously the class of the 3 year old fillies, and her new owner plunked down $100,000 to enter her in the Preakness Stakes to see if she could run with the big boys.

No sweat. Rachel Alexandra not only raced with the boys, she beat them.

Rachel Alexandra became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes in 85 years as she won her sixth straight race and held off late charging Derby winner Mine That Bird to win by a length.

She comes back to Da Ville to rest and train for the June 6 Belmont Stakes and another rematch with Mine That Bird. She's bidding to become the first filly since 2007 to win the Belmont, the third leg of the Triple Crown.

President Obama Giving Commencement Speech At Notre Dame

Later today President Obama is giving a commencement speech at Notre Dame University in which unlike the May 14 one at Arizona State University, he'll at least be getting an honorary degree for his trouble.

Here's the video of the Arizona State University commencement speech.

The 2009 Miss Tiffany Universe Winner Is...

Sorawee Nattee

She takes home the grand prizes and cash from what has become the most prestigious transgender beauty pageant on the planet. The Thais take their beauty pageants seriously, and the 12th annual Miss Tiffany Universe was broadcast live on Thai television.

She also won another 20,000 baht for winning the Best Costume category.

She will now along with last year's winner take on the world's best beauties (or at least the ones who will show up) in the Miss International Queen pageant later this year at the Tiffany's Cabaret Theater in Pattaya.


H/T Sunny at Happi Like A Hippo

Transphobia At The Hippodrome

I was shaking my head as I read this story from Yarmouth, England about a threatened walkout by female Hippodrome employees.

What's got them ticked off enough to walk out from their jobs?

Is it better wages? A protest against rampant sexism? Their working conditions?

Nope, they demanded to be allowed to wear “I am not a lady boy” T-shirts to prove to showgoers that they are all woman or else they were walking because of the upcoming performance of the Lady Boys of Bangkok traveling cabaret May 27-28.

Excuse me?

Hippodrome staffer Ruth Patterson (left in first picture) organized the protest after she heard about the show opening in Brighton. Allegedly a number of women staffers were asked if they were real women. “The Lady Boys may be very, very attractive but I don't want people to confuse me for one of them.

“I certainly don't want people in Yarmouth asking me if I'm a Lady Boy - although I am jealous of their fabulous figures.”

“Because it is a cabaret being performed in a real party atmosphere, some people just get carried away with the whole thing.”

With its tag line of “You'll never look at the opposite sex the same way again”, The Lady Boys of Bangkok cabaret show blends fun and music. The 16 member troupe of performers covers a wide range of styles from the disco floor to the Broadway musical stage. It also features tributes to musical artists such as Katy Perry, Whitney Houston, Girls Aloud and Kylie Minogue.

Hippodrome Owner Peter Jay agreed to let the ciswomen employees wear buttons stating they were 100% woman.

Can you say the words 'transphobia' and 'cisgender privilege' boys and girls? Thought you could.

Peter Jay wasn't much better than Ruth Patterson when he made these comments to the British media in relation to this story. While noting there had never been an incident like this in the Hippodrome's 108 year history, he stated, "You could say it has been a storm in a D cup but it has all blown over now. Maybe my girls can share make-up tips with the Lady Boys before or after the shows.

Yeah right, I think it would be the other way around, Mr. Jay.

Ms. Patterson, you need to take remedial science classes. You're only 50% woman, to put it bluntly since half of your genetic material comes from daddy.

And stop slurping the hateraid from the three liter bottles because your transphobia is showing.

It's Janet's Birthday

Janet Jackson that is. Happy birthday to the Grammy winning baby sister of the Jackson clan. She was born on this date in Gary, IN.









Here's hoping that Janet's next album is produced by Jam and Lewis.

Under Construction

I get in deep thought mode when I'm not at the wheel on these long road trips me and my cohorts frequently embark upon.

When me and Polar were south of Morgantown, WV we passed through a construction zone on I-79 as we zipped south toward Charleston. When my turn at the wheel was done, I thought about the orange signs announcing the presence of the construction zone and thought about it in another context.

A highway is always a work in progress. It takes maintenance to keep it in travel worthy shape. Over time they get improved, get rebuilt, repaved or reconstructed.

Like our highways, trans people also are never finished products, but are works in progress. We are always looking to perfect our gender presentations, improve things about ourselves either through surgical or other means, or striving to be better specimens of human beings to paraphrase the title of transwoman Sharon Davis' book.

In a sense, we are always under construction as well. You work toward and hope for continued positive evolution as you enter two, five, ten, twenty or however many years its been since the easy part of the body morphing started. What you hope for is that when it's all said and done, you end up being a better person today than when you first started down the transition highway.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Beat LA Edition

My H-town ballers are headed to LA to play Game 7 in their series versus the Lakers thanks to 26 points from Aaron Brooks and 24 from Luis Scola.

It's Clutch City 2k9 version. The question is which Los Angeles b-ball team wearing the purple and gold uniforms will show up Sunday? I'm hoping it's the LA Fakers that lost 95-80 last night and not the LA Laker one that administered the 40 point beatdown on my Rockets.

Speaking of beatdowns, let's start sorting out who deserves a verbal beatdown for being our Fool of The Week.

As usual, there were so many worthy contenders for this week's award, I chuckle to myself because I was worried when I started this feature I wouldn't have enough fools to do a weekly award.

But as our patron saint for the awards always admonishes us, fools are everywhere.

I'm also considering a Shut Up Fool! of the Month which I'll let you TransGriot readers determine it by popular vote. Let me know what you think about it in this thread.

But back to the 'bidness' at hand.

The most outstanding fool this week is another contender for the Shut up Fool! Lifetime Achievement Award in Rev. Pat Robertson.

He suggested that the '"ultimate conclusion" of legal same-sex marriage is legal polygamy, bestiality, child molestation, pedophilia.



Yeah right. The only thing he ever got right in the whole time he's been broadcasting the 666 Club (oops the 700 Club) was this gem of a comment about transgender peeps from the October 5, 1999 show.

God does not care what your external organs are. The question is whether you are living for God or not. Yes, He loves you. Yes, He forgives you and He understands what is going on in your body.

Pat Robertson, shut up fool!

Beat LA! Beat LA!

Told you my Rockets weren't going to be a pushover for the LA Fakers.

I got my birthday win in Game 1 from my Houston homeboys. When every NBA pundit was predicting the Rockets were done after Yao Ming went down with a foot injury in the Game 3 108-94 loss and took a 40 point La La land beatdown in Game 5, Clutch City 2K9 version came up big in Game 6.

Aaron Brooks and Luis Scola combined for 50 points as my Rockets beat the Lakers 95-80 in Toyota Center to force a decisive Game 7 on Sunday in Los Angeles.

The Rockets have lost Tracy McGrady during the season, Dikembe Mutombo in the Portland series and Yao Ming in this one and still they rise. Winner gets the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Beat LA! Beat LA! Beat LA!