Happy Birthday President Obama!

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday Mr. President
Happy birthday to you!

Today is the 48th birthday of President Barack Hussein Obama, who those of us in the reality based world know was born in Honolulu, Hawaii USA on this date in 1961.

So it wasn't a surprise when over the weekend a so-called 'Kenyan Birth Certificate' dated March 1964 was produced by the wacko 'birthers' that claimed the president was born in Mombasa, Kenya.

Only one problem. Mombasa was part of Zanzibar in 1961.

The other glaring errors apparent to anyone who passed a history class is that Kenya didn't become an independent nation until December 1963 and didn't call itself the Republic of Kenya until late 1964.

E.L Lavender, the alleged name of the registrar is from the name of a laundry detergent, and it gets wrong the ages of President Obama's parents.

And oh yeah, wasn't the prez's mother a student at the University of Hawaii at the time?

Yeah, this birth certificate is about as authentic as a Fox News broadcast and the rapidly declining credibility of Lou Dobbs.

To you racist birthers, you have an intelligent Black president who is doing more in six months on the job than your boy George Walker Bush did in eight disastrous years.

And oh yeah, y'all hate the fact President 44 garnered more votes than any president in US history and won a decisive victory in doing so.

You sheet-wearing Google illiterate paranoid delusional clowns lost big on November 4. The country resoundingly rejected your failed political philosophy at the ballot box and is saying no to mean-spirited racist conservatism.

Deal with it.

Happy birthday Mr. President. May you have many more.

Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie, Lie!

Back in the 90's there was a comedian by the name of TP Hearn who used to make people laugh with his rapid fire repetition of the word 'lie' when he talked about many jacked up life situations in his hilarious routines.

That lie,lie,lie,lie,lie,lie routine comes to mind every time I see a GOP politician these days flapping his or her gums.

It seems like the GOP know nothings have just made the decision that since they have nothing constructive to offer or their own plans, combined with a\severe case of Fear of a Black President, they'll just destroy the onea the Democrats have come up with by any means necessary.

It also seems that they've made up their minds they'll just say anything to accomplish that goal.

Even if it isn't the truth.

Sarah Luiz Interview Video

The 50's had Christine Jorgenson as a transgender newsmaking icon. In the 60's it was April Ashley and Coccinelle. In the 70's it was Renee Richards and Caroline 'Tula' Cossey.

In the 80's Sarah Luiz was one of the newsmaking transwomen of that decade. Sarah first burst onto the scene with her very public fight to have her SRS covered by her Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, a battle she eventually won.

Sarah was also hitting the talk show and interview circuit during the 80's and early 90's. In addition to being an inspiration for the transkids and others like myself grappling with the issue at that time, she spread the word that all we transwomen wanted was to live our lives out like everyone else with a minimum of drama.

Here's one of those talk show interviews from the Jane Whitney Show.



Thanks Sarah for standing up and fighting for us then so we could stand tall now.

Contestant No. 2

You know I love pageants and have documented on TransGriot the various transgender ones around the world that happen.

We've had some fierce debates about the relevance of them and will have them again. I still line up on the side of people who see pageants as a stepping stone to a better life or for who winning them is their dream.

So with that being said, I was intrigued by an episode of PBS Wide Angle documentary series called 'Contestant No 2' which began running on PBS July 29.

It documents the story of Duah Feres, a young Arab-Israeli Druze woman who dreams of a life beyond her Galilee village. Her decision to enter the Miss Israel pageant triggers a chain of events that impact Duah, her family and her village.

It also leads us to ask the question how far can an idealistic youth trying to live her life and achieve her dreams go to challenge the conservative mores and attitudes of her people? How far will the older generation go to enforce their will and their values on her?

It was a fascinating documentary to watch. You feel for Duah, who literally put her life on the line to do it. It was filmed in 2006, so I'm wondering what Duah's life is like now.

But I don't want to spoil the Wide Angle episode for you, so I'll let y'all watch it for yourselves and comment below.

Sally Jessy Pageant Show

Transsexuality was and still is a popular talk show topic, especially during sweeps months. While Jerry Springer went to the Dark Side of the ratings force on these issues, other talk shows such as Jenny Jones, Cristina and Sally Jessy Raphael tried to keep the stories they did on the subject respectful and informative.

Here's an early 90's one in which they held a pageant on the Sally Jessy Raphael show. Brought back some memories because my late Texas homegirl Tandi Andrews is part of it.

Ah Kua Show

I was surprised when I received an e-mail from Leona Lo, my sis in Singapore a few months ago with a request. She asked me to compose a comment for the program of her Ah Kua Show she was putting together.

In case you haven't been following the progress of it on her blog, the Ah Kua Show is a play she wrote based on her life which will run from August 6-8 at the Substation Theater.

I was deeply honored to be asked to write the commentary by one of the people in the worldwide trans community I admire. I felt it was my small way of being a part of the show even though as much as I would love to, I couldn't be there in person to support it.

For those of you in the Singapore area, better hurry if you want tickets to the show. Two nights are already sold out and not many tickets remain.

The comment I wrote is underneath the Ah Kua Show poster. Leona, thanks once again for giving me the opportunity and honor of composing it.


Hello Patrons of the Ah Kua Show and greetings from the Bluegrass State of Kentucky!

I am Monica Roberts, a 15 year transitioned African-American transperson originally from Houston, Texas. I am a longtime activist, the editor of the TransGriot blog, and a 2006 winner of the IFGE Trinity Award. I’m only the third African-American transperson to receive the second highest honor given by the United States transgender community for outstanding service.

I’m deeply honored to have been given the opportunity by Leona to share a few words with you as you peruse the Ah Kua Show program. I wish I could be in Singapore watching the play with you.

Contrary to the negative message being pushed by the Forces of Intolerance around the globe, being transgender is nothing to be ashamed of. We are part of the mosaic of humanity and it is something to be embraced with pride.

It is past time that our fellow transpersons and citizens around the world realize that we are beautiful, talented and intelligent people with much to offer the societies of the various countries we inhabit if just given a chance to do so.

I’ve often said that a transperson’s family expands, not contracts after we transition to become the beautiful people we were made by our Creator to be.

I’m proud to have Leona Lo as part of my worldwide extended family, and I wish her and the Ah Kua show much success.

An Early 90's Springer Show On Trans Issues

Believe it or not, once upon a time Jerry Springer wasn't a name reviled by transpeople. He used to do trans shows that were informative and respectful to the persons involved.

I'm bringing it up because I stumbled across this early Springer shows which illustrate just how far he's slipped in terms of respectful coverage of trans people.

When Jerry Springer first started his talk show in the early 90's modeled it on Phil Donahue's award winning show. Up until 1994 he actually had guests that didn't fight or audiences that didn't spend the entire show shouting derogatory comments at the people on stage.

Springer audiences listened respectfully as the issue was debated and he'd close with his Final Thought.

Unfortunately he turned to the Dark Side of the television ratings force in his bid to become Number One and get paid.

Angie Fenton

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

I first encountered Angie not long after I moved here to Da Ville. I was in love with her feature writing for C-J's Velocity minipaper and began reading it religiously. I was happy for her when the Courier-Journal wisely moved her up to edit their celebrity news column called The Buzz. She also ended up getting some TV time at WAVE 3 in that role as well.

As part of her Velocity duties she was covering the 2003 Derby Bash I attended. Her petite figure was hard to miss in a sexy pink skirted suit and pumps while sporting a stylish pink Derby hat.

Three years later I finally got to meet her in person. Dawn and I were featured in a Louisville Courier-Journal article on trans people she authored. In putting that article together we got to know Angie the person and liked what we saw.

She is a classy, funny, determined and intelligent lady that is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Dawn and I both were enthusiastically happy to call our friend after the C-J article was done and later published.

Like the TransGriot, she moved to Da Ville. She's had her challenges in life but to paraphrase Maya Angelou, and still she rises to overcome them and thrive.

You can't help but admire someone like her. Every time Angie's terminally cute self tells me she wishes she had my height, I reply I'd like to be her for a minute.

This busy lady is a competitive bodybuilder in addition to teaching at a local college and writing The Dish column for a local paper called the Voice-Tribune.

Angie Fenton is definitely one of the women I'd love to be when I grow up.

Frenchy's Is 40!!

In the process of doing some research on my fave Houston eateries, I discovered that one of my favorite places to partake of the yardbird celebrated its 40th Anniversary on July 3.

Percy 'Frenchy' Creuzot and his wife Sallie opened the Scott Street Frenchy's location in 1969 as a humble po-boy sandwich stand. He's served up his Creole style chicken, Creole seasoned Frenchy fries, po-boy sandwiches and other Louisiana Creole treats and sides to millions of hungry Houstonians.

It goes without saying that Frenchy's founders, Percy and Sallie Creuzot, are extremely humbled by how Houston has embraced Frenchy's over the past 40 years.

"We are thankful to the Houston community," said Mrs. Creuzot on the Frenchy's website. "We have been able to maintain our family business and make good friends along the way."

It was and still is by far one of my fave places to eat. Dad would sometimes stop by on the way home from work and pick up a huge box of Frenchy's chicken for us to eat on Friday nights.

Since the Scott Street location is located halfway between the Texas Southern University and University of Houston campuses, throughout the years myself and other hungry college students along with kids from nearby Burger King High (oops, Jack Yates High) would buy our Campus Specials and get our grub on.

As I keep reminding you peeps, I'm a proud Jesse Jones Falcon. We don't like anything that wears red and gold.

And since the Scott Street location is next door to Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, be prepared to wait if you hit it immediately after Sunday services conclude.

Frenchy's even went Hollywood for a moment. If you remember the movie Jason's Lyric that starred Allen Payne and Jada Pinkett Smith that was set in my beloved hometown, you can see a glimpse of the Frenchy's Scott Street location because Allen Payne's character's mother worked there.

Frenchy's has become an iconic part of Houston, and has spread its Creole seasoned wings to include seven locations around town. The last time I was back in H-town in 2005 it was one of my first stops before heading to my mom's house.

Yo, can somebody from H-town please FedEx me some?

Congratulations to Frenchy's for 40 years of great eating. May you continue to live up to your ad slogan of 'The Taste That Lasts Forever' and be around for the next generation of Houstonians to partake of your delectable Creole seasoned food.

Whataburger

Every now and then I get a little homesick and start missing all things Houston. While I can always head to the local Walgreen's to get my fix of Blue Bell Homemade vanilla ice cream, there are other guilty pleasures of mine that can only be picked up in the proximity of the Houston area.

One of the pleasures of living in Texas that I most definitely miss is Whataburger. I had one three blocks up the street from my old apartment that I frequently visited.

If I was fiending for a double Whataburger with bacon and cheese at 3 AM I had no problem taking a little walk up Bissonnet or hitting the drive thru lane to indulge myself.

I love their milkshakes, but had to back off of them and the nocturnal Whataburgers for a while when my weight climbed to 275 pounds in the early stages of my transition.



So what's Whataburger? It's a Corpus Christi based slice of Texas that has been around for over 50 years and is open 24 hours to the delight of us party animals, third shifters and night owls.



Damn, I'm getting homesick just thinking about it. Time for some Blue Bell.

Where's The Villager's July 2009 Black Blog Rankings?

I know that like many of you, I eagerly await the revelation of the Black Blog Rankings every month.

The BBR's have become an important tool that helps me gauge the growth of TransGriot and set goals that help nurture and sustain that growth.

I'm probably not the only one who feels that way, people across the Afrosphere do as well. So when July 8 came and went without updated BBR's, that triggered concern for the Villager and made many of us in the Afrosphere wonder what was up.

In my last episode of my monthly tracking posts pertaining to TransGriot's progress up the BBR ladder, I was celebrating the fact that Renee got her early birthday present and finally cracked the BBR Top Ten. I climbed to number 34 in those same June 2009 BBR rankings despite taking a massive hit in my Technorati rankings.

I am still only nine tantalizing spots away from reaching my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25, but lost ground toward reaching a Technorati ranking of 200 by Labor Day.

So TransGriot readers, lets see how well I do next month, since the Villager has let us know he'll do his best to have a BBR post up for August.

And when he does, I'll be right behind him letting y'all know if I finally cracked the BBR Top 25 Blogs.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-GOP Lying About Health Care Edition

The GOP Noise Machine is in full throat in its all out attempt to kill the Obama health care plan. The greedy HMO's and insurance companies like the current setup and want to keep making obscene profits.

It's disgusting that the United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn't have universal single payer health care for its citizens.

The rest of the world looks at this circus and wonders aloud how the American people allows this travesty to continue. Well, that what happens when 20% of the country is tuned in to a propaganda network and the Republican Party and their cronies are willing to lie to keep it from happening.

All we can do is keep fighting to ensure that one day we join the rest of the world in providing low cost health care for all its citizens.

Speaking of health care, there were fools that were worthy of being carted off to psychiatric care or made you wonder if they're still hitting the hallucinogenic drugs too hard.

While there were many fools who could have garnered our award such as Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), the Birthers, PETA, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and the Republican Party, our Fool of the Week is sellout spokesnegro Larry Elder.

Elder distinguished himself in the ongoing conversation around the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates by not only blaming the professor for what happened to him in his own home, but blamed the controversy on in his words 'irresponsible Blacks'.

The only 'irresponsible Blacks' here are you and your Oreo cookie chomping buddies.

In you conservanegroes zeal to defend the po-po's, you neglected or didn't care to to acknowledge that the African-American community's drama with the police didn't arise in a vacuum.

It is rooted in decades of violent confrontations that have resulted in our untimely deaths. There is also systemic racism in many police departments and the historic fact they were used as the stormtroopers enforcing Jim Crow segregation and white privilege.

Larry Elder, shut up fool!

Still Missing Marvin Zindler

Has it actually been two years since our iconic crusading consumer reporter and bane of Houston area slimy characters and dirty restaurants left us?

Was thinking about home when it dawned on me that it's been two years since Marvin Zindler passed away. If you are a native Houstonian, transplant or spent any time in the Bayou City tuned in to Channel 13 news, you know who this man is.

Marvin was the inspiration for the Best Little Whorehouse In Texas Broadway play and subsequent movie.







Obviously I'm not the only Houstonian who misses hearing him say 'Sliiiiiime In the Ice Machine' or his signature 'Marrrrvin Zindler, Eyyyyyyyewitness news' signoff.



You are still missed Marvin, especially by the little people you fought so hard to cut red tape and get justice for.

A Transwoman Trying To 'Make His Band'

As a writer I love shows that have well written scripts, compelling storylines and great acting. I like dramas, I love soaps but I'm not a fan of reality TV shows as many of you longtime TransGriot readers know.

I must have a compelling reason to watch ANY reality TV show because I consider them that much of a waste of my time and the television airwaves.

However, thanks to Zoe Renee at Not Your Typical Girl making me aware of it, I now have a reason to check out Diddy's latest reality offering, Making His Band.

Her name is Jaila Simms, and she's a transsistah from Chicago appearing on the show trying to 'make the band' for Diddy's upcoming 2010 tour.

It is so cool that another transsistah is trying to make her dreams come true. It's also neat that once again a Black transwoman gets some air time, even if the pronoun usage is problematic at best.

Best of luck to Jaila, and I'll be tuned in to see if it happens for her.

Why Am I Not Surprised?

Why am I not surprised that the usual conservative angry white males are screaming 'racism' in light of the recent controversy involving Professor Gates BS arrest and the Cambridge, MA Po-Po's?

The same wallowing in white male privilege people who refuse to acknowledge their ignorance of the concept that racism=prejudice plus power.

It's laughable that Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are quick to holler that President Obama is an 'angry Black man' or has 'problems with white people'.



You know it's bad when Faux News distances themselves from your comments.

The bottom line is that African Americans and white Americans will never see eye to eye about the police. You believe in that 'Officer Friendly' po-po's can do no wrong myth.

We have a negative perception and suspicious hostility to the police rooted in our 400 years of life in America. They were used as the stormtroopers enforcing white supremacy. It never fails that we hear accounts of institutional racism within the police forces of this nation. Far too many innocent Black men, women and children across all ages have died and continue to die as the result of confrontations with white cops.

Oscar Grant ring a bell? Sean Bell? LaTanya Haggerty?

There's a bitter joke that transcends generations in the Black community.

What do you call a Black man with a PhD?

N****r

That bitter joke took new life with Professor Gates arrest. It also brought all those painful memories of negative interactions of African-Americans and white dominated police departments back to the surface.

Combine that that with the racially different perceptions of this incident based on what side of the racial divide you live on and we have a recipe for drama.

13-6

Sonia Sotomayor is one step closer to joining the Supreme Court on the first Monday in October after yesterday's 13-6 affirmative vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to send it to a full Senate vote next week.

Surprisingly, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the only Republican vote in favor of the nominee. The rest of the Republicans cast NO votes, including Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) who have previously never failed to vote for a Supreme Court nominee.

Despite the GOP Hateraid for Sotomayor, the nomination now goes to the full Senate next week for the up or down vote she's expected to handily win for her historic confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Justice Sotomayor will sure look good in that group photo this October.

Burr Oak Hits Home

When the news about the horrific happenings at Chicago's historic Burr Oak Cemetery broke a few weeks ago I had this unsettling deja vu moment.

As some of you long time TransGriot readers may know, my roomie Dawn and I both have relatives in the Chicago area. I used to early in my airline days frequently visit them during the early 90's, sometimes with my then best friend and co-worker Eric Shepherd along for the ride to hit some of the house music venues.

I knew that Burr Oak was one of the cemeteries where many prominent Black Chicagoans have been laid to rest. It is also the resting place of Emmitt Till, whose 1954 lynching was the emotional spark that jump started the African American civil rights movement.

When I watched the news coverage of the unfolding events I had a 'where have I heard that name before' alert going off in my head. The reason I was having the bad moment became clear when I called home last Friday and talked to my mother.

My first trip to Chicago was back in August 1986. It was my first airplane ride as we took an Eastern Airlines Moonlight Special flight from Houston Intercontinental to Chicago O'Hare to attend the funeral of my Uncle Leon.

My uncle had passed away on August 2, and the date sticks in my mind because it was the same day as the fatal Delta air crash at DFW.

My mom has a summa cum laude degree in history and is basically our family historian.

She keeps the records of all family events such as our reunions, weddings and funerals and was having the same unsettling feeling I had upon hearing the name Burr Oak earlier this month. Mom decided to pull out and reread my Uncle Leon's program.

When I talked to her, Mom dropped the bomb for me that Uncle Leon was buried in Burr Oak.

I was already concerned, pissed and mortified about the horrific crap that had happened there and greed being the motivating factor for it. It was initially reported that First Lady Michelle Obama's father Fraser Robinson III was buried there as well, but the White House later released a statement that he wasn't.

Unfortunately, there are families like mine all over the country and the Chicago area who do have loved ones buried there. I'm still awaiting word from my Chicago relatives to find out if my Uncle Leon's grave or headstone was disturbed.

Emmitt Till's grave was one of the 300 graves disturbed. After all the pain that the Till family has suffered, to have those painful wounds reopened again in such a disgusting way makes me sick to my stomach.

As Jesse Senior said, there's a special place in Hades for the people who perpetrated this evil. When these wastes of DNA are brought to justice for it, may the Cook County court system and the state Of Illinois throw the book at them so they can spend the rest of their miserable lives rotting in jail.

Being Trans Is A Worldwide Thang

One of the things that I love about the Net and compiling TransGriot is that it consistently reaffirms for me that I have brothers and sisters all over the planet.

It reminds me that no matter what corner of Planet Earth we call home, we transpeople deal with the same basic issues of fighting for our human rights, dignity and self respect. I'm reminded that we have wonderful cisgender allies who support us in our struggles as well.

One of the fringe benefits is that some of my international sisters like Pau Fontanos in the Philippines or Leona Lo in Singapore have become my friends. I'm looking forward to meeting many others if I'm blessed to one day resume my Air Marshal traveling days or they cross my path here in the States.

But whether the Forces of Intolerance want to admit it or not, transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.

We have also reached the tipping point that all oppressed peoples soon reach.

Transpeople are fed up with having our human rights trampled upon by cisgender people desperately trying to prop up their specious fundamentalist religious beliefs, their failed political agendas and personal prejudices.

We want the same things cisgender peeps want. To borrow from the United States' Declaration of Independence, we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

As we courageously stand up and fight for our rights, we also find that it's liberating and powerful as well. We move beyond the shame and guilt over being trans and proudly embrace that part of our identities.

We transpeople simply want the ability to live our lives peacefully in our various homelands, pursue our versions of happiness, want a fair shot at gainful employment, a roof over our heads, food to eat, and non-judgmental health care.

We want friends and family who love and care about us while maximizing the talents our Creator has given us for the benefits of ourselves and the various nations we reside in.

The Forces of Intolerance can delay, deny, resist and even kill us, but they will lose. The moral arc of the universe is bending toward worldwide justice for transpeople.

I hope I'm blessed to live long enough to see that day.

Bye Sarah!

Sarah Palin said goodbye to the Alaska governor's chair yesterday, but unfortunately we haven't seen the last of Tina Fey's walking comedy routine.

For some reason she and a delusional part of the American electorate seem to think that she's presidential material. And when these same voters think Junior did a 'heck of a job' for the last 8 dysfunctional years, I have every expectation of seeing her trolling for GOP votes in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2012.

There's only one part of her rambling disjointed speech I agreed with believe it or not.

And first, some straight talk for some, just some in the media because another right protected for all of us is freedom of the press, and you all have such important jobs reporting facts and informing the electorate, and exerting power to influence. You represent what could and should be a respected honest profession that could and should be the cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you, and that is why, that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how 'bout in honor of the American soldier, ya quite makin' things up.

Yo Sarah, sounds to me like you were talking about your friends at Faux News.

While we wish Sarah the Quitter would just head back to Wasilla, not likely.

'Purple Rain' 25th Anniversary

Damn, has it actually been 25 years since that hot Houston summer day my brother and I rolled up to the Almeda 8 and bought tickets to see Purple Rain?

The movie opened 25 years ago today, but was preceded by the release of the soundtrack album on June 25. The award winning album sold 11 million copies in the US.

When the movie was released on July 27 it grossed $70 million in US domestic ticket sales. It also catapulted Prince to a level of stardom in the 80's rivaled only by Michael Jackson and Madonna.

Purple Rain is still one of my fave movies especially since Morris Day and Jerome Benton's antics had me cracking up, except for the one scene in which Jerome slam dunked a sister in a dumpster who was berating Morris for standing her up.



This 'The Password Is What' routine is the classic Abbott and Costello 'Who's on First' baseball comedy routine hilariously remixed for the 80's.

The movie is still one of my fave all time ones. It was worth every penny I spent on it then at my local multiplex and all the subsequent cash I spent on the VHS and DVD tapes.

It's also amazing to note the fact it's been 25 years since it first debuted.