A proud unapologetic Black trans woman speaking truth to power and discussing the world around her since 2006
"A government-run health insurance option is needed "to discipline insurance companies, If they can't compete, it's probably their fault. Many private insurers spend too much time thinking about profits instead of helping people."
If I hear another Southern based (or non-Southern based) history revisionist claim that the American Civil War wasn't about slavery, I'm gonna scream.
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery -- subordination to the superior race -- is his natural and normal condition. [Applause.] This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.
* their ancestors fought a war to perpetuate the brutal oppression of my ancestors through slavery. 
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material interest of the world. 
She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery-- the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits-- a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. Her institutions and geographical position established the strongest ties between her and other slave-holding States of the confederacy. Those ties have been strengthened by association. But what has been the course of the government of the United States, and of the people and authorities of the non-slave-holding States, since our connection with them?
it's crystal clear that in perusing these declarations the issue that triggered the secession of Southern states from the Union and jumped off the Civil War was slavery. 
One of the Prime Directives of being trans is to live our lives just like any cisgender person does. But one complication that has cropped up is when transpeople get married. 
Some areas of the world and faiths are more enlightened about transgender people getting married than others. But in the United States, marriage has been a major Culture War issue. 
One early case which set a disastrous legal precedent for the British trans community until the 2004 passage of the Gender Recognition Act was Corbett v Corbett. It also had negative legal implications for transpeople in the rest of the world whose national legal systems are descended from English common law. 
Lord Justice Ormrod, the judge in the case who was himself a medical man created a medical 'test' and definition to determine the legal status of April Ashley. 
We witnessed the double whammy of Corbett being cited and DOMA being used retroactively to invalidate Christie Lee Littleton's seven year marriage. 
The clash between the divergent issues of the trans and gay communities on marriage issues was illustrated in the recent case of Kimah Nelson and Jason Stenson's May 26 marriage being invalidated at the hands of New York City Clerk office.
It's late June, and that means to a tennis fan it's time to break out the strawberries and cream. The 2009 Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club have started. 
Wimbledon has been their personal playground over the last decade. Venus has won five Wimbledon titles since 2000, including the 2007 and 2008 ones.
Centre Court will also be sporting a brand new retractable roof, so bye bye rain delays.
Ever since President Harry S. Truman proposed in 1945 setting up a universal health care system in the United States, the GOP and its constituent conservative groups have fought it tooth and nail. 
June marks the 30th anniversary observance of Black Music Month, and I haven't had much discussion about it thanks to various higher profile breaking news stories.
My first concert experience happened during the summer of 1976. The Summit (later Compaq Center) had only been open a year and was several decades from becoming Lakewood Church's new sanctuary. 
In addition to it being the first day of summer, Happy Father's Day to all my loyal TransGriot readers who are dads out there or a father figure in someone's life.
We are rapidly approaching the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that kicked off in New York June 28, 1969. 
Our perception is that we are not only a political pinata being bashed by both groups, but that sometimes we don't belong to either. 
Pouring gasoline on this simmering anger is what I and many Black GLBT peeps perceive as overly hostile criticism hurled at President Obama at the hands of white gay peeps who supported his Dem opponent. 
Happy Juneteenth everybody! 
This week's fool is another contender for the Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Award, Sarah Palin.
"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. 
Black Texans pooled their money to buy emancipation grounds to celebrate Juneteenth. 
As we rediscovered pride in our heritage in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, the dormant Juneteenth celebrations and traditions were revived across the state in the 1970's. 
"No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid."
One of the prominent effects of Title IX besides the increase in the percentages of women receiving postgraduate degrees is in the world of sports. 
Last year Seventeen magazine in conjunction with the WNBA partnered for a comprehensive survey that was published in the magazine's September 2008 issue.
The Seventeen/WNBA survey revealed that 83% of teen girls play sports with basketball ranked as the number one participatory sport. 
Despite these factors keeping some girls from playing sports, teens today are able to look to inspiring women professional athletes and Olympians such as Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm, Diana Taurasi, Serena and Venus Williams, Candace Parker and Florence Griffith-Joyner.
But despite the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of sports participation for girls and women, you still have mind-numbing fluff coming from women's magazines such as Cosmo that spout erroneous, outdated stereotypes. 
Why am I so adamant about it? Sports teaches important life lessons that non athletes often miss out on. You learn that even if you practice hard and execute your game plan flawlessly, sometimes you come up short. You learn how to work well with others as part of a team. You learn how to lose with grace and win with class. 
I was a proud Houston Comets season ticket holder back home for several years during their championship run and it was the best money I've ever spent. 
TransGriot Note: You know the conservaliars, the HMO's, the pharmaceutical companies, the AMA and their lobbyists are gearing up to kill President Obama's health care reform.
First, as noted, they don’t have to charge higher fees to cover the salary of a full-time staffer to deal with over a hundred different insurers, all of whom are bent on denying care whenever possible. 
One unsurprising side effect of all this is that the doctors I see here are, to a person, more focused, more relaxed, more generous with their time, more up-to-date in their specialties, and overall much less distracted from the real work of doctoring. You don’t realize how much stress the American doctor-insurer fights put on the day-to-day quality of care until you see doctors who don’t operate under that stress, because they never have to fight those battles at all. Amazingly: they seem to enjoy their jobs.
You can hear the bitching about it no matter where you live, though. The percentage of Canadians who’d consider giving up their beloved system consistently languishes in the single digits. A few years ago, a TV show asked Canadians to name the Greatest Canadian in history; and in a broad national consensus, they gave the honor to Tommy Douglas, the Saskatchewan premier who is considered the father of the country’s health care system. (And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that he was also Kiefer Sutherland’s grandfather.). In spite of that, though, grousing about health care is still unofficially Canada’s third national sport after curling and hockey.
False for the vast majority of Canadians, but True for a few. Again, it all depends on where you live. I live in suburban Vancouver, and there are any number of first-rate GPs in my neighborhood who are taking new patients. If you don’t have a working relationship with one, but need to see a doctor now, there are 24-hour urgent care clinics in most neighborhoods that will usually get you in and out on the minor stuff in under an hour.
“The basics” covered by this plan include 100% of all doctor’s fees, ambulance fares, tests, and everything that happens in a hospital — in other words, the really big-ticket items that routinely drive American families into bankruptcy. In BC, it doesn’t include “extras” like medical equipment, prescriptions, physical therapy or chiropractic care, dental, vision, and so on; and if you want a private or semi-private room with TV and phone, that costs extra (about what you’d pay for a room in a middling hotel). That other stuff does add up; but it’s far easier to afford if you’re not having to cover the big expenses, too. Furthermore: you can deduct any out-of-pocket health expenses you do have to pay off your income taxes. And, as every American knows by now, drugs aren’t nearly as expensive here, either.
More preposterous bogosity. They are exactly the same drugs, made by the same pharmaceutical companies, often in the same factories. 
They’ll insist that health, like salvation, is entirely in our own hands. If you just have the character and self-discipline to stick to an abstemious regime of careful diet, clean living, and frequent sweat offerings to the Great Treadmill God, you’ll never get sick. (Like all good theologies, there’s even an unspoken promise of immortality: f you do it really really right, they imply, you might even live forever.) The virtuous Elect can be discerned by their svelte figures and low cholesterol numbers. From here, it’s a short leap to the conviction that those who suffer from chronic conditions are victims of their own weaknesses, and simply getting what they deserve. Part of their punishment is being forced to pay for the expensive, heavily marketed pharmaceuticals needed to alleviate these avoidable illnesses. They can’t complain. It was their own damned fault; and it’s not our responsibility to pay for their sins. In fact, it’s recently been suggested that they be shunned, lest they lead the virtuous into sin.
This difference is expressed in a few different ways. First: Canadians tend to think of tending to one’s health as one of your duties as a citizen. You do what’s right because you don’t want to take up space in the system, or put that burden on your fellow taxpayers. Second, “taking care of yourself” has a slightly expanded definition here, which includes a greater emphasis on public health. Canadians are serious about not coming to work if you’re contagious, and seeing a doctor ASAP if you need to. Staying healthy includes not only diet and exercise; but also taking care to keep your germs to yourself, avoiding stress, and getting things treated while they’re still small and cheap to fix.
False. On one hand, our annual Canadian tax bite runs about 10% higher than our U.S. taxes did. On the other, we’re not paying out the equivalent of two new car payments every month to keep the family insured here. 
