He's A Clown

TransGriot Note: Been a while since I've been motivated to pen one of my infamous song rewrites.

This one is dedicated to our favorite 'ex-gay' preacher, Donnie McClurkin.

Since his self hating Bush butt kissing behind is so fond of using Scripture to beat up repeatedly on GLBT people, thought it was time to turn the tables.

So fire up those iPods and sing along, cause we about to have some church up on this blog!

He's A Clown
sung to the tune of 'We Fall Down' by Donnie McClurkin

He's a clown
Needs to shut up
He's a clown
Needs to shut up
He's a clown
Needs to shut up

His ex gay butt puts GLBT peeps down
That's jacked up Donnie
So shut up

He's hatin' on us again (6x)
His ex gay butt puts GLBT peeps down
So shut up

Transgender Rights Forum On U of L Campus Tomorrow

TDOR Week tends to be a busy one for me with requests for my presence at various events escalating during that period. Word to the wise-for those of you who want me at your 2010 TDOR events, get to me early.

For those of you in the Louisville area, you'll get to see the TransGriot, Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign and other local GLBT leaders at a Transgender Rights forum tomorrow on the U of L campus.

It will take place in the Ekstrom Library's Chao Auditorium from 3:00-4:15 PM.

I'm honored to be taking part in this discussion and I'm looking forward to seeing some of you peeps tomorrow in what I expect will be an informative and interesting discussion.

And yes, I will be looking fly and in full diva mode for that discussion.

Why Do We Need Transgender Day Of Remembrance? Well…

TransGriot Note: My latest post for Global Comment

If you’ve been perusing my home blog and other transgender-themed blogs across the Internet recently, you may have noticed the TDOR acronym pop up, and wondered what it means.

TDOR stands for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. For the last eleven years, every November 20 we memorialize and call attention to the people we’ve lost due to anti-transgender hatred and prejudice.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance began in the wake of the November 28, 1998 murder of African-American transwoman Rita Hester of Boston, MA. Rita’s murder was the impetus for San Francisco based activist Gwen Smith to begin the Remembering Our Dead web project and organize a vigil in San Francisco on the one year anniversary of Rita’s murder.

The 1999 San Francisco vigil quickly morphed into an event that was observed on November 20 in various locations around the world. This year in addition to TDOR events taking place in numerous locales across the United States and Canada, TDOR events will take place in Australia, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, The Philippines, The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Sweden.

The Remembering Our Dead Web Project not only compiles the names of people from around the world who have lost their lives to anti-transgender violence, it keeps statistics as well.

There are non-transgender people on the list such as Nashville’s Willie Houston. He was murdered in 2002, because the shooter considered him gay after seeing him hold his fiancé’s purse. This resulted in a verbal parking lot altercation near the General Jackson steamboat that tragically ended in death.

Pfc. Barry Winchell is another non transgender person on the list. In the early morning hours of July 5, 1999 the Fort Campbell, KY was killed because he was dating a trans woman, Calpernia Addams. That story is told in the movie “Soldier’s Girl.”

At this year’s TDOR ceremony we’ll be adding Michael Hunt’s name. He was murdered along with his transgender girlfriend, Taysia Elzy

The core part of any TDOR service is reading the list of names of people we lost from the time after we held the previous year’s event to the current one. As that list of names is read, a candle is lit in remembrance of that person.

Sadly, according to Ethan St. Pierre – who compiles the statistics and in 1995 lost his aunt Debra Forte to anti transgender violence – we will be lighting candles for 117 people. One of the other glaring statistics that Ethan points out is that 70% of the Remembering Our Dead list is made up of trans people of color, and that pattern sadly continues with the people we are memorializing for 2009.

Read the rest here.

Isis Makes 2009 Out 100 List

Congrats to my sis Isis for making OUT magazine's Out 100 List. Been an interesting and groundbreaking year for little sis. She's represented us with class, dignity and style and is a sweetheart of a person as well.

You just love it when people like her get recognized for the positive things they do and Isis deserves all the accolades she gets.

Only wish that the outcome of America's Next Top Model Cycle 11 had turned out a little differently.

Sierra Broussard Reaches Settlement In Wisconsin Trans Discrimination Suit

I mentioned Sierra Broussard's case in two posts a few months ago. Since the trial was scheduled to start tomorrow, I was curious to see what had transpired in the suit she filed since I last wrote about it.

This story from the Post-Crescent notes there has been a settlement reached in this case.

The 28 year old biracial transwoman appeared in Outagamie County Court on October 23 in her civil lawsuit against Concepts Unlimited Inc., which does business as the Park Central nightclub.

Broussard said she was twice denied entrance to the nightclub complex and said an employee told her if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and that she should go to a club that caters to "her kind."

Broussard's attorney, Eric Pitsch of Appleton, said the agreement includes a judgment against Concepts Unlimited, but he is not allowed under the deal to discuss its specifics. He did state that the agreement was reached before an upcoming hearing about evidence. "I was preparing the case for trial," Pitsch said.

The judgment dismissed claims against Concepts Unlimited owners Charles A. and Lynn McCarrell, who were named in the original civil complaint.

"I feel more relief than anything," Broussard said. "I plan to take this one more step and use it as an educational tool, educate people on bias and let people know they can't discriminate."

I find it interesting that all this BS started because of the faux hysteria and concern whipped up by haters about what bathroom I or any transperson should use.

It's very simple.

If you're a transwoman, you use the women's restroom. If you're a transman, you use the men's one.

Now Wisconsin GL peeps, here's a question for you?

When are y'all gonna get around to coming back for the trans community and adding transpeople to the non-discrimination law you passed for yourselves and cut us out of back in 1982?

Hopefully, the civil suit settlement sends the message that discrimination against transpeople isn't cool.

But what will emphatically send that message is for the Wisconsin legislature to add transpeople to the existing anti-discrimination law.

STS-129 Mission Includes Two African-American Astronauts

The TransGriot will be tuned in later today to watch the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis at 2:28 PM EST assuming there are no delays or problems.

STS-129's all male crew for this 11 day mission includes two African-American astronauts, Mission Specialists Leland Melvin and Robert Satcher, Jr. It is also Melvin and Satcher's first trips into space.

STS-129 also has experiments on board created by the minds at Texas Southern University, the HBCU in my hometown.

STS-129 is slated to be the 31st and final space shuttle crew rotation flight to or from the space station. In addition to transporting parts and a spare gyroscope to the International Space Station, it will include three spacewalks.

Atlantis will be returning station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth.

You space junkies like me will only have five more opportunities after today to watch a shuttle launch before they retire the shuttle fleet in 2010.

Bishop Yvette Flunder Speaks At 2009 Creating Change

Thanks to my good friend Louis Mitchell, I became aware of Bishop Yvette Flunder and her 'radically inclusive' City of Refuge Church in San Francisco.

Here's the video for your viewing pleasure of her speech at the 2009 Creating Change conference in Oakland.

UH Still Ranked-Barely

All these close last second victories for the Cardiac Cougars finally caught up with them this week against the University of Central Florida Knights. Case Keenum couldn't work his last minute magic and the Cougars fell 37-32 to an unranked UCF Knights squad.

This second loss of the season could be potentially fatal to their C-USA title hopes as the Coogs fell to 8-2 on the year and out of a tie for the C-USA West Division lead with SMU. The Mustangs now lead the C-USA West Division with a 5-1 record with two games to play against Marshall and Tulane.

The 4-2 Coogs have the tiebreaker over SMU, but must win their final two games at the Rob with Memphis and our crosstown rivals Rice and hope for an SMU loss in order to make it to and host the C-USA Championship game.

It was also painful to their national rankings. The Cougars fell to Number 24 from their previous ranking of Number 13 in the AP poll and probably killed any outside chance they had of making a BCS bowl.

My fave college football team has an outside chance at winning the C-USA title and allowing me the chance to see my boys in Memphis for the Liberty Bowl

But they're going to need help now to get there.

Continental Airlines Turns 75

As many of you longtime TransGriot readers know, I worked for CAL for 14 years during Frank Lorenzo's, Hollis Harris' and Gordon Bethune's tenures with the airline.

My grandfather spent 35 years working for CAL until he passed away in 1984. I started working there three years later and was working there when I transitioned. It wasn't unusual for me to be sporting stuff from the 'Proud Bird with the Golden Tail' as a kid and I still have a lot of stuff with the CAL logo on it.

During my recent trip to Bryn Mawr I flew the Philadelphia bound legs on Continental. I was reminded when I perused my drink napkin that this was the airline's 75th anniversary year.

I changed planes in Cleveland (sorry IAH). During my Cleveland layover and on the flight to Philadelphia I thought about all the wonderful people I worked with at IAH and elsewhere in the CAL system. Some of them I'm still blessed to call my friends and some I've only recently reconnected with.

And yeah, I miss the airline industry. My former co-workers over the last few weeks have let me know how much they miss me as well.

Back in the 80's and 90's it was a fun job at times to have. But there were the moments when I had the dreaded ATC delays that had me staying at Intercontinental until 1 AM in the morning or later cleaning up the backlogged flights or handling passenger problems.

I was also proud of being part of the rebirth of Continental's proud legacy. The Proud Bird slipped badly during the contentious Lorenzo era and had become one of the worst airlines in the industry. I was happy to part of the effort in the 90's to make it one of the best

I still pay attention to developments at CAL and in the airline industry. I've noticed since I left it has been a challenging time for all airlines and I've had my moments in which I'd wondered about where my life would be now if I were still there.

That musing led me to write a novel manuscript I titled 'On The Wings Of Love' which is loosely based on my CAL days. One of these days I'll get around to writing about some of my airline adventures and getting that novel published.

But just wanted to take a moment to say congrats to all the CAL folks I know, have known and who are no longer here who kept the 'Proud Bird' flying for 75 years.

Donnie McClurkin's Hatin' Again

One of the things that I hate as a Christian is people who have used my faith as a shield to try to mask their bigotry and hatred of GLBT people.

I've also been distressed about this negative trend that started in the mid 90's. We have had increasing numbers of conservative Black megachurch pastors cooning for white fundamentalist pastors. They have not only acted as a conduit for injecting these misguided beliefs into our community, they have pimped their own hatred of GLBT people for media attention and faith based bucks.

I've also been angry about the appalling silence from progressive Black pastors and their failure to call out the conservafools for sullying the activist legacy of the Black church.

I don't like the conservative megachurch ministers or the 'prosperity gospel' they pimp from their pulpits. I believe it has been harmful to our community and the civil rights cause. It has caused a schism in the Black community and diverted the attention of the Black church away from its historic ongoing mission of speaking truth to power and standing up for the powerless.

In too many cases, these megachurch ministers have spent more time doing photo ops, kissing up to a party that has no love for us. and opposing the advance of civil rights rather than being on the front lines fighting for their passage.

They've spent so much time mouthing the words 'Thus sayeth the Apostle Paul' than saying 'Thus sayeth Jesus'

One of the people I really can't stand is so-called ex-gay Donnie McClurkin. He's a real life Amityville horror (was born in Amityville NY) who has a long history of anti-gay statements and Republican ass kissing.

But at the recent COGIC convention in Memphis he outdid himself by calling gay people 'vampires'.

Donnie, you need Jesus. As a matter of fact you need to be praying to God and asking to take the anti-gay hate away.

I as a proud African descended transperson have enough to deal with from white and Catholic fundies. Now here you go drinking the Hateraid Fierce from 55 gallon drums and stirring up the Black ones.

Some of my TransGriot readers over the last two days hit me up on Twitter and Facebook. They stated I should have made Donnie the Shut Up Fool! award winner for the week and I'm beginning to concur with you. His self hatred and jealousy of Tonex is so obvious at this point that even Stevie Wonder can see it.

But he's definitely in the running for the Shut Up Fool! Of The Year Award.

The sad thing is that McClurkin and ministers like him are turning gay and straight people away from Christianity in droves with this repeated anti gay rants.

It's also sad that people like Donnie McClurkin who claim to be 'Christian' are anything but that

Hong Kong Transwoman Fights For Her Marriage Rights

Here's another example of the how the GL push for same gender marriage has had a deleterious effect on the ability of transpeople to get married.

Thanks to my sis Leona Lo, I heard about this Hong Kong case.

Trans people in South Korea, Singapore, Japan, parts of Europe and even parts of mainland China have the right to get married and do. You would think that Hong Kong would also follow suit because it was ruled by Britain for 156 years until it reverted back to Chinese control in 1997.

Nope.

Despite its worldwide image as a modern, cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong is a largely traditional and conservative society where GLBT groups inside and outside of it often complain of intolerance, harassment and discrimination.

Thanks to growing 'Christian' fundamentalism in Hong Kong, it's getting worse for transpeople. Like everywhere else on the planet, the Hong Kong fundies have targeted transpeople as their 'Great Satan' to organize and rally against.

A twentysomething post operative transwoman is gearing up for a Hong Kong High Court battle to marry her boyfriend. She was told the reason she cannot do so is because Hong Kong law only recognizes marriages between a couple born as male and female.

Hong Kong transpeople can change their identity cards and school certificates to reflect their gender identity and be recognized as such, but do not have the right to marry someone of their birth gender.

And there's the rub. Someone in the Registry of Marriages has failed to note the simple fact that a transwoman, be she pre, post or non operative is a woman, period.

That means she does have the right to get married to any man, cis or transgender and this is NOT a same gender marriage.

In a landmark care in Hong Kong, a judicial review of the adverse ruling by the Registrar of Marriages is being conducted.

The transwoman in question has requested anonymity as she fights this ruling. and her attorney, Michael Vidler, said his client had undergone SRS within the past five years after years of gender therapy.

He told Wednesday's South China Morning Post that she was now "pleased to be a woman" and was in a stable relationship with her boyfriend.

The registrar's decision had "disregarded the gender therapy, ignored the reassignment surgery and deprived transsexuals of their human rights," Vidler told the newspaper.

A hearing was expected to take place in the next two weeks to set a date for a full hearing into the case.

But it's a travesty she's having to fight so hard just to marry the person she loves.

It's Texas High School Football Playoff Time! Go Falcons!

I'm not bragging when I say that best high school football in the nation is played in Texas. If you think I'm kidding, peruse the lineup of your local college or professional football teams and note the number of players born in Texas that populate the rosters.

I'm engaged in this latest bout of Lone Star bragging because my high school alma mater is fresh off their second consecutive undefeated district season and has won their third consecutive District 22-4A football championship.

My Falcons start their Class 4A-Division 2 playoff quest by taking on the Sharpstown Apollos tonight.

Best of luck to my Falcons as they seek to go where no Jesse H. Jones team has gone before, the state title game.

NASA Finds Water On The Moon!

There's water on the moon!

More precisely, there's frozen water in the permanently shadowed Cabeus Crater at the lunar South pole.

Project lead investigative scientist Anthony Colaprete announced at a midday NASA news conference at the Ames Research Center about the LCROSS Centaur project, I'm here today to tell you that indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit; we found a significant amount" -- about a dozen, two-gallon bucketfuls, he said, holding up several white plastic containers.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, back on October 9 intentionally crashed into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole.

So what's the significance of this discovery that has the scientific world buzzing?

Finding significant frozen water amounts means that a permanent manned lunar base just made a giant leap forward toward becoming a reality by 2020.

That's assuming NASA's effort to establish a US base gets properly funded by the federal government

The Chinese space program has set a goal of placing taikonauts on the moon by 2020 as well.

Water on the moon means we humans don't have to transport it up there from Earth. It is also one of the ingredients for making rocket fuel.

Previous spacecraft have detected the presence of hydrogen in lunar craters near the poles, which could be evidence of ice. In September, scientists reported finding tiny amounts of water mixed into the lunar soil all over the lunar surface.

"We've had hints that there is water. This was almost like tasting it," said Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission.

Mission scientists said it would take more time to tease out what else was kicked up in the mile high moon dust plume the impact temporarily stirred up.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," the space agency said in a written statement shortly after the briefing began.

Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, said the latest discovery also could unlock the mysteries of the solar system.

Yeah, if we can get the funding to do so past the GOP Know-Nothings and Neo-Luddites in Congress.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Friday The 13th Edition

It's Friday The 13th!

The weather's beautiful up here and I'm planning on stepping away from the computer for awhile and enjoying it because the crappy weather days will be here soon enough.

So let's get right to it and see what fool, fools or group of fools earned our illustrious award today.

As usual, there were many worthy candidates to choose from this week. Michael Steele, Carrie Prejean, assorted Republican conservafools such as Rep. Michele Bachmann

But our winner this week is Rupert Murdoch. He's the owner of that abomination of a 'news' network Faux News and the News Corporation empire that keeps it afloat.

Rupert in a recent interview stated that Glenn Beck "was right" when he called President Obama "racist."




Okay, 80 companies have stopped advertising on your networks here and in the UK, and you're standing by your conservafool.

Well, here's the link peeps to add your name to the Color of Change petition to stop Glenn Beck's race baiting

Murdoch is as delusional as the reality challenged talent he hires to staff his propaganda network that Joseph Goebbels would be proud of. No wonder it's losing money.

Rupert Murdoch, shut the HELL up, fool!

TDOR Poem

We've reached another somber TDOR anniversary. It's the 11th annual observance of the day that we memorialize all of our peeps lost to anti-transgender violence. Last year's hit me a little harder than normal because one of the names read was someone I knew.

It's hard to believe that Nikki has been gone a year. She is dearly missed by all of us who knew and loved her.

But unfortunately, there are 117 other transwomen who have been brutally murdered this year, and once again, they are all disproportionately POC.

This YouTube video was actually shot at a previous memorial, but the poem is still apropos.



I have an upcoming trip to speak at a Long Island TDOR event on November 22. I'm looking forward to meeting and getting to see you New York/LI area peeps there.

See Ya, Lou!

Last night was Lou Dobbs' last broadcast on CNN.

All I have to say to that is hallelujah and what took y'all so long to remove the prevaricating bloviator off the air. Truth and balance have been in short supply on his show for several years now.

And it's sad since he has won major journalism awards.

His coverage of the 1987 stock market crash won him the George Foster Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting along with an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement that he received from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2005.



But pimping fact free conspiracy theories and hatred of immigrants is not what an Emmy award winning journalist should be doing on a network like CNN.

He's now free to slither on over to Faux News and pimp all the conspiracy theories he wishes to a more intellectually challenged audience

Getting My Imelda Marcos On

One of the things my friends know about me besides being a serious sports fan and having to drag me kicking and screaming out of a bookstore is that I love shoes.

If you wonder where I fit on the girly-girl spectrum, I'm firmly on that end that loves makeup, regular manicures and pedicures, heels and fashionable clothes.

It's another one of the things besides my mom's intelligence and age defying good looks I inherited from her.

I have talked about shoes at various times on TransGriot, but haven't talked about my own personal love of them.

I love shoe shopping, be it online at one of my favorite bookmarked sites, other shoe manufacturers websites, and local and national retailers.

My collection isn't even close to Imelda Marcos status, I don't have room for 3000 pairs of shoes even though Dawn has tagged me with that nickname.

So why the love affair with shoes? Some girls like having the latest fashion clothes in their closets. Some indulge in getting the latest Prada or other purse in various shades and colors.

Mine is shoes in various styles, textures, colors and heel heights. And yes, be fore you ask, I like the heel height between 2.5 to 4 inches.

So what if I'm 6 feet 2 inches? There are supermodels and WNBA basketball players taller than I am rocking heels, and many of them don't care what peeps think about tall women wear heels that make them even taller.

I like wearing them, I look good in them and I have no problems navigating the world with 3 inch heels on.

On that note, time to head out the door and head to the mall.

Transpeople Are Part Of The Diverse Mosaic Of Life 4

The overwhelming evidence is that transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of life on our 'Big Blue Marble'.

Fundamentalists, the haters, and the scientifically illiterate may choose to continue to wallow in ignorance and denial, but the evidence continues to mount that transpeople are here, we're everywhere, we're on almost every habitable continent and we aren't going away any time soon.



Singer-model Angelica Love Ross striking a pose



Faiza teaching her English class in Brazil



Turkish transwomen performing a play



Jessica Janiuk lecturing a class at the University of Wisconsin



Brazil's Aleika Barros getting her face touched up during the 2007 Miss International Queen Pageant



Actress Alexandra Billings

LITDOR Event November 22

In addition to participating in my local TDOR event, I'll be flying to Long Island at the gracious invitation of the local group there to speak on November 22.

It will take place at the Congregational Church of Huntington in Centerpoint, NY.

The address is 30 Washington Drive, and here ate the directions to the church.

So for you folks in the area who want to attend the event or just say hi, come on down to Centerpoint, NY. It's your chance to pay your respects to our fallen transpeople, meet and greet allies and friends and see the TransGriot live and in living color.

Will 'Be Fruitful And Multiply' Become a Reality For Trans People?

The one thing about medical technology is that it is constantly advancing, evolving and making things a reality that were impossible only a few short years before.

I stumbled across two articles that reminded me of an old joke that transwomen and transmen other used to say to each other.

We used to remark to each other it would be nice if we could just swap the gender specific body parts.

While the medical technology as of yet hasn't perfected a realistic looking and functional penis for transguys, the news is a little different for transwomen.

We've always had since the 60's SRS surgeons skilled in creating realistic looking feminine genitalia. Now if the news coming from research scientists pans out, a result of gynecological research being done to help infertile cismothers bear children, may also give transwomen the ability to give birth.

Lili Elbe, one of our pioneering transwomen, died 78 years ago from complications stemming from the rejection of her uterine transplant. She did so because she wanted to bear children

Lili's dream may soon become a reality for 21st century transwomen.

A New York surgical team is now interviewing candidates who will attempt to do the first human womb transplant in the United States. The technique was tried by a Saudi Arabian surgical team in 2000, but the womb was rejected after three months.

The procedure would potentially allow women who have had their wombs damaged or removed to develop a pregnancy and give birth. It may also give transwomen who desire to do so the ability to give birth to children as well.

Transman Thomas Beattie caught a lot of flack inside and outside the trans community in 2008 for stopping his testosterone shots so that he could bear children.

Never mind the fact he did so because he and his wife wished to become parents and his wife was infertile. In addition to their now one year old daughter, Thomas recently gave birth to a son on June 9, 2009.

But that Beattie drama got me thinking about our reproductive rights as transpeople and how they've taken a back seat to just living our lives.

Many of us back in the day didn't consider banking our sperm before we had our orchiectomies or SRS. Thanks to the restrictive HBIGDA/WPATH transition rules in place at the time, we never considered the possibility that one day you'd might wish to have children with some of your family DNA in them.

And who would have even contemplated the thought that transwomen would not only stay married to their cis spouses, but keep their neoclits and get busy being fruitful and multiplying? What are the odds of a transwoman meeting a ciswoman who loved you enough to marry you, simply wanted to bear your child or a transman doing so?

Somehow I doubt much has changed in the 2k's. I don't believe it's high on the priority lists of many 21st century transpeople either, much less is a discussion topic in our gender meeting groups.

Some will argue life's hard enough for us now. Why bring a child into this situation? Ask any parent raising them and they can give you infinite reasons why you should.

As these interesting medical developments unfold, maybe it's time for us to be proactive in this debate instead of reactive. You can bet your last hormone shot that the fundies and their haters are already looking for a way to demonize a process that will help millions of people.

It's time to get our arguments ready to counter whatever lies and out of context Scripture they come up with.

It's time to do some hard solid thinking about where we are in terms of reproductive rights issues as they relate to us personally and as a community.

It's time for us to ask the question, will 'being fruitful and multiply' not only become a reality for those of u who wish to do so, but what are the ramifications for the child we bring into the world as well?