No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent

As transpeople we get buffered and whacked on a daily basis with so much negativity from people inside and outside our community. Some of that negativity hurled our way by our detractors is so insidious in nature we're not aware of it.

During the recent panel discussion I took part in at U of L during TDOR week, I had a ciswoman I was talking to after it was over about various subjects.

At one point in our conversation she switched subjects to ask me why wasn't I looking her directly in her eyes. The question caught me off guard for a moment, then she explained that she had the same problem and had to work on it as well, which is why she noticed it.

She went on to compliment me for being on point in the discussion, looking fly while doing so, and tell me about her struggle to get comfortable with her body and loving the sistah she's become after 41 years.

On the bus ride home the conversation triggered some hard solid thinking about some of the stuff I'd internalized and resolving to do a even better job of practicing what I preach.

The conversation reminded me of a quote from former First Lady and civil rights warrior Eleanor Roosevelt.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent

Fighting those negative feelings is a 24-7-365 job (366 in a leap year). While all transpeople fight to stay grounded in spiritual positivity, for a transperson of color that can be a struggle at times.

Our self-esteem also gets additional daily assaults from the racism we have to deal with just maneuvering through life as a person of color and the internal transphobia within our communities of color.

We all knew when we began transition that our road to femininity was going to be a rough, pothole filled one at times. Ciswomen, as my friends have pointed out have to deal with crap as well on their feminine journeys, too.

We have nothing to be ashamed of because we are part of the wonderful mosaic of life and are wonderfully made in the Creator's image.

I take great pride in being a role model for this community and being the Phenomenal Transwoman I am. But even I fight on an almost daily basis to not let the negativity overwhelm me and get rid of the internalized baggage I'm aware of.

Yes, you have the power within yourselves to go through life and live it abundantly. Being trans is not an impediment to that.

And neither should we allow anyone to make us feel inferior without our consent.

Shut Up Fool! Of The Year-You Nominate 'Em

I've decided I'm going to let you loyal TransGriot readers nominate your favorites for the Shut Up Fool! of The Year Award.

You'll have until December 25 to choose your favorite fool, and I will post the winner on New Year's Eve.

Should it be Rush Limbaugh? Ann Coulter? Michael Steele? Michelle Malkin? Joe Lieberman? Or should it go to a group like Fox News? PETA? The Republican Party?

You get to nominate your favorites until December 25. Then if you don't have a New Year's Eve party or event to attend, we'll discuss them.

DC Set To Vote For Marriage Equality Bill

Despite the best efforts of Bigot Harry Jackson, Jr., the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the District of Columbia City Council is set to give the city's gay residents an early Christmas present and become the first jurisdiction south of the Mason-Dixon line to approve marriage equality.

The bill cleared its final hurdle on November 10 when it passed out of committee on a 4-1 vote. The committee also stripped language out of the bill that would have eliminated domestic partnerships and broadened the religious exemption.

While there are few roadblocks left for opponents to prevent its passage, it's not like they haven't been busy trying. The Washington DC Ethics Board quashed two attempts by Bigot Harry Jackson's Stand4MarrageDC group to stop it citing the city's 1977 Human Rights Act and its prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The Ethics Board also cited the same sexual orientation discrimination prohibition when it denied a request by Jackson's group to place a referendum on gay marriage on the ballot.

Meanwhile, at the NOM ranch, they were trying to work the Capitol Hill angle in terms of suppressing the soon to be passed law. Congress has 60 days to review laws passed by the District Council, but even NOM Executive Director Brian Brown, commented in the Washington Post, "It's a difficult thing for Congress to actually overturn a law in the District."

And of course, in the public commentary on the bill, the haters were in full effect.



While Councilmember David Catania's bill would not require religious organizations to perform gay weddings, the Catholic Church has reacted in a thuggish manner.

The Catholic Church has threatened to shut off programs serving Washington's poor and homeless if the city does not include an exclusion that would allow individuals, including private business owners, to refuse to provide goods and services related to the nuptials of gay couples.

That threat was decried by the Democratic governors of Maryland and Virginia, who both happen to be Catholic. It also had the opposite effect of hardening the DC Council's resolve to pass the measure.

The bill is supported by ten of DC's thirteen council members, so its chances for passage look excellent barring some Twilight Zone level shenanigans. Mayor Fenty has already stated he would sign it, and the Democratically controlled Congress is not inclined to interfere with it either.

We'll see in a few hours if the District of Columbia City council says 'I do' to same gender marriage.

2009 World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, in which we draw attention to the AIDS pandemic and also remember the people lost to the disease.

I count some of my friends and extended family members among the 25 million people who have died of AIDS between 1981 and 2007. There are another 33.2 million people around the world who live with HIV/AIDS as of 2007.

I'm also concerned about the high infection rates for my transsisters as well, who acquired it either through risky sexual practices or sharing needles with infected people while injecting hormones.

So take a moment to say a prayer for the people we've lost, who live with the disease every day, and pray that a cure is found for it as well.

Bad PR For Macs

Been a couple of PR nightmares pop up for Apple lately.

First there's the unwanted photo of Bigot Harry Jackson using one of their computers to read his speech hating on the DC marriage issue during the pubic commentary phase.

But at the same time, Apple can't help the fact the bigots like their computing products, too

Then this old Mac ad touting their iMovie software resurfaced on YouTube in late September and caused some drama as well.



Model Gisele Bundchen in this ad is supposed to be the embodiment of a home movie made using iMovie. After the Mac presents Gisele, the PC presents a person wearing a dress identical to Gisele’s, in a wig, with no breasts, five o’clock shadow and an abundance of exposed chest hair.

The ad ends with the line: “Work in progress?”

Apple is a company that prides itself on its progressive politics, and many of the people that own Macs are GLBT community members. The last thing they want is ruffled feathers with an important segment of the marketing base.

According to GLAAD, they contacted Apple about the trans stereotype filled ad, and they stated they haven't run this since 2006.

But it did add up to a couple of PR headaches for Apple amongst its GLBT clients.

UH Coogs Climb to Number 18 in Football Rankings

The Coogs climbed up the college football ranking ladders this week in the wake of their 73-14 demolition of the Rice Owls.

They moved up to Number 18 in both the AP and USA Today College Football polls. They jumped two spots on the AP one and seven spots on the USA Today poll.

They also gained ground in the BCS poll, moving up two spots from Number 23 to Number 21.

And best of all, the Bayou Bucket is back where it belongs.

The Coogs play for the C-USA Championship Saturday against the C-USA East Division Champion East Carolina Pirates. Should be a fun game with Case Keenum only needing 50 yards to pass the 5000 yard barrier for the season.

Eat 'em up!

The 2009 Weblog Awards

How in Hades this got past me I don't know, especially since I've been waiting for the e-mail notification that it was about to take place and looking for the website since late October.

The 2009 Weblog Awards competition is about to begin and I'm a little pissed about it.

Unfortunately I'm finding out too late to nominate some blogs for various categories since nominations closed on November 22.

In scanning the list of nominees for Best LGBT blog, while Pam's House Blend, The Bilerico Project and Towleroad got nominated, TransGriot didn't.

There were a few blogs authored by Afrosphere bloggers whose work I felt deserved to be recognized in various categories but probably won't get that chance now.

Here's the master category list for 2009.

Even though I'm disappointed I probably won't get a repeat nomination for Best GLBT Blog, I'm still putting a link up to it anyway so you can vote for the finalists.

I'm also making damned sure when the 2010 Weblog competition rolls around that I and other Afrospear members are there on the first day nominating some deserving blogs.


TransGriot Note: The 2009 Weblog Awards were canceled due to technical issues. Ready to pounce the minute that the nomination period opens for the 2010 edition.

Sometimes We Transwomen Can Be Our Own Harshest Critics

During the podcast interview Renee, Allison and I had with Isis a few weeks ago, we talked about the fact that some days, even though people are complimenting us left, right and center because we are working it, we still feel unpretty.

Frankly, we transwomen can be our own harshest critics when it comes to our appearance and how we interact with society.

For those of us who take our transitions seriously, being our authentic selves is important to us. We not only want to look the part, we want our actions and interactions with others to flow seamlessly in the key of life.

The desire to be as flawless as possible sometimes drives us to be hypercritical about how we present ourselves as the women we are or wonder if people are reading us as trans as we go out and about in the world.

It can lead us sometimes to feel as though we are in a perpetual femme realness ballroom competition, but with much higher stakes than just getting a series of tens from a panel of judges.

Failure in the real world to get that perfect score of passability can lead to anything from minor verbal abuse to extreme violence ending in your death. It is that backdrop of knowledge that sets up in a transwoman's mind the drive and the desire to get it right and blend in 100 percent of the time.

We transwomen discover at some point during our feminine journey even ciswomen don't approach that degree of accuracy in terms of their feminine presentation.

So why should we nitpickingly criticize ourselves for not meeting the 100 percent accuracy standard either?

Yes, we are gonna have our days where we feel that we don't nail our femme presentation. Just shrug it off, fight through it, and to borrow the line from an old commercial, never let 'em see you sweat because blending in is 90 percent confidence.

Stand up taller, look people in the eye, believe that you are the finest thing walking on Planet Earth and merrily strut through your day.

And when you get home, try not to beat yourself up over not reaching an impossible standard.

Mike Huckabee's Potential 'Willie Horton'

If former Arkansas governor and Faux News show host Mike Huckabee runs for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, get ready to see the picture of this gentleman in a lot of political attack ads directed at him.

This is Maurice Clemmons, who has a long criminal record. At age 17 he was convicted of aggravated robbery in 1989 and sentenced in Little Rock, AR to 95 years in prison.

During his term as governor of Arkansas Huckabee commuted his sentence, which resulted in Clemmons 2000 parole. Clemmons subsequently violated his parole, was sent back to prison and released in 2004.

Huck caught a lot of flak during the 2008 GOP nomination race because in GOP eyes he issued too many clemencies and commutations. He cited Clemmons' age at the time as a reason for doing so.

Why this is blowing up is because of the ambush deaths of four police officers in a suburban Seattle coffee shop Saturday.

If it turns out Clemmons is the person responsible for the deaths of Lakewood police Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39, and Officers Ronald Owens, 37, Tina Griswold, 40, and Greg Richards, 42, Huckabee's gonna have some problems with the 'law and order lock 'em up and throw away the key' side of the GOP base.

Huck's already trying to do damage control on the developing story now by playing the blame game.

"Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington state."

Yep, and one of those failures is one you are responsible for.

Stay tuned to this developing story that many of us will be watching, especially Mike Huckabee.

Number 20 Coogs Win The West-Barbecue Rice

The C-USA West Division that is.

My number 20 ranked fave college football team walked into the game with our crosstown rivals at the Rob with a lot at stake.

Win and they not only gained revenge for last year's 52-45 loss to Rice and reclaim the Bayou Bucket, they clinch a share of the C-USA West title with a 6-2 record and play in next week's C-USA title game.

Tyron Carrier got the game off to a rousing start by taking the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown as the Cougars raced to a 59-0 halftime lead enroute to a 73-14 victory over the Owls.

Case Keenum was 25 of 31 for 323 yards and two touchdowns. He added a first half rushing touchdown as the dark horse Heisman candidate led the 10-2 Cougars to their first 10 win season since 2006.

The Coogs will travel to Greenville, NC to play for their first C-USA championship since 2006 when they take on the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

'Precious'

Earlier tonight I rolled over to my local multiplex to check out Precious.'

All I have to say about it is 'wow'.

It was worth every penny of the $8.50 I shelled out on it since I missed the matinee.

The movie is based on the novel Push by Sapphire, and it stars Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe as Precious, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz.

It has been piling up the awards. It earned three awards at the Sundance Film Festival and a 15 minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival.

Mo'Nique deserves an Oscar nomination for her role as the abusive mother in this film. It was also interesting seeing Mariah Carey as the social worker Ms. Weiss.

It took me a few moments to recognize her since she had no makeup on and was in frumpy clothes to play this character, and yes, she actually did a bang up job in her role.



I'm not going to spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but I'd advise you to not wait until Precious hits DVD.

It will definitely be worth the trip.

Do I Ever Get Tired Of Being A Role Model?

One of the questions I get asked often by many people I come in contact with is whether or not I get tired of being a role model.

Nope.

It comes with the territory of being a trans activist for over a decade. Many times the first contact a person may have had with an out African descended transperson is me.

I'm cognizant of the fact that as one of three African-American winners of the IFGE Trinity Award, I represent not only myself but an entire community.

One of the things I complain about from time to time was the lack of African descended trans role models when I was growing up back in the 70s.

I also remember the indifference, being dissed or ignored by the trans girls who had transitioned at the time before me. They guarded the knowledge of what to do, where to go, who to see and how to do it like it was the secret recipe for KFC.

One of the things I promised myself when I began transition was that if I were in the position to mentor or give advice on trans issues to younglings I wouldn't be as shady as some of my trans elders were.

Then there's my personal desire to be the best person I can be. I want my appearance to be on point, my dealings with people inside and outside this community to be ethical, transparent and above board, and my word be my bond.

Call me old fashioned, but those are the values I live by.

There's a saying we had posted in several TBLG bars back in Houston that I agree with.

What I do reflects on you
What you do reflects on me
What WE do reflects on the ENTIRE GLBT community

By living those values, I not only help myself, I help an entire community as well.

Then there's simply me living for me. I have a certain image I want to project to the world. I was blessed with God given intelligence I'm not dumbing down for anyone. I was blessed with looks, height and a lean body build that hormones enhanced.

It also looks good in most clothes that I put on my fine brown frame.

I come from a long line of classy, smart, educated, spiritually tuned in and elegantly dressed women proud of who they are, cognizant of their history, proud of their sororities and proud to be Black women.

I grew up being surrounded by numerous examples of those types of Black women outside my family as well. Those women are the ones I seek to emulate as I continue to evolve and grow into the type of Black woman I want to become.

As I have said numerous times and will repeatedly say it until I'm six feet under, I wish to be perceived as a compliment to womanhood, not an embarrassment or a detriment to it.

I strive to be the friend who has my sister's back be they cis or trans, not sticking my claws in it. As a Phenomenal Transwoman, I'm proud of who I am and don't see being Black and trans as something to be ashamed of.

So do I ever get tired of being a role model?

Nope. Somebody has to for an AA trans community that hasn't had over its history a whole lot of them to point to.

Getting Close To 1 Million Visitors!

Another day, another TransGriot milestone.

I passed 1 million hits a long time ago since I started the blog on January 1, 2006 but I didn't install the hit counter on TransGriot until January 17, 2007.

It is rapidly approaching the day when I hit 1 million visitors since I installed the counter, and for that I'm exceedingly proud. I remember the days when I was just happy to get 100 visitors a day to TransGriot. Now I get over 1800-2000 hits a day.

I'm approaching the 2500 post milestone and have written almost 1000 this year alone. My blog accomplished the goal of being a BBR Top 25 one and I hope to get a repeat nomination for Best GLBT blog when the 2009 version of the Weblog awards kick off again.

But I couldn't do all of this without my loyal TransGriot readers. It does me no good to pontificate on various issues here and put together quality posts if people don't read them or tell friends where they read them.

Obviously there are some folks who like my posts so much they try to steal them and pass it off as their work. Know that Moni don't play that.

If you want to showcase my work on your blog, just ask me via e-mail, link back to this blog and give me credit as the creator of it.

I've also been blessed to get opportunities to come speak to you as well on various college campuses and hope to see more of you in 2010 and the future.

Thank you, and now it's on to the next milestone.

1.5 million visitors, here I come.

Can A Transsistah Get Some Love This Holiday Season?

It's the start of the Christmas holiday season. From now until January 1 there will be nonstop Christmas music played on the radio airwaves and our favorite Christmas cartoons playing for a new generation of younglings.

We'll have Christmas trees and holiday decorations put up, and we'll endure a tidal wave of holiday themed television commercials seeking to sell us stuff.

Carolers will be out in force singing to old Christmas classics, and the seasonal cry for Peace on Earth and goodwill to your fellow humans will reign supreme.

But if I could sit on Santa's lap and get one Christmas wish granted for the holidays besides new shoes and having a supermodel's body, it would be this:

Can a transsistah get some love this holiday season?

For one month. can me and my transsistahs not hear about another transsistah getting shot, stabbed, killed and added to the Remembering Our Dead List?

Can me and my transisstahs go through this holiday season without being verbally attacked by faith based haters, the Catholic Church, conservative media or conservative Black megachurch preachers?

Can me and my transsistahs go through the holiday season without seeing transphobic comments on the Net every time a positive story highlighting a transperson gets posted?

Can me and my transsistahs go through the holiday season without seeing transphobic commentary from our so called allies as well?

Can a transsistah go through the holiday season without hearing snide comments as we are out and about in public from the willfully ignorant, disapproving family members, or ciswomen wallowing in privilege and disrespectfully declaring that we'll never be 'real' women?

For the holiday season, can me and my transsistahs get our fellow African descended people to open their minds about transpeople, open their hearts and welcome us with open arms into the community instead of denigrating and disrespecting us?

For the holiday season, can you come to the realization that me and my transsistahs are part of the diverse mosaic of human life, and we have much to offer to our various communities?

For the holiday season, can me and my transsistahs just be allowed to live our lives without additional drama?

And if you can manage to do all that and more for the holiday season, can you extend that to 2010 and beyond?

Georgina Beyer Election To NZ Parliament Tenth Anniversary

Today is the tenth anniversary of Georgina Beyer's grundbreaking achievement.

On this date in 1999 she became the first open transperson in the world to be elected to a national legislative body when she defeated Paul Henry to win the Wairarapa seat for the NZ Labour party and become the world's first transsexual MP.

Traditionally, a new legislator is given 10 minute to make a Maiden Speech as a way to introduce themselves to their new colleagues.

On this 10th anniversary of Georgina's historic achievement, I leave you with an excerpt from tht speech.

Mr. Speaker, I can't help but mention the number of firsts that are in this Parliament. Our first Rastafarian… our first Polynesia n woman… and yes, I have to say it, I guess, I am the first transsexual in New Zealand to be standing in this House of Parliament. This is a first not only in New Zealand, ladies and gentlemen, but also in the world. This is an historic moment. We need to acknowledge that this country of ours leads the way in so many aspects. We have led the way for women getting the vote. We have led the way in the past, and I hope we will do so again in the future in social policy and certainly in human rights.

And hopefully there will be many others following in your footsteps over time.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Thanksgiving Weekend Edition

Hope you loyal TransGriot readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and had plentiful food, great company, stress free travel and minimum drama with family as you got your grub on.

I'm parked in the house not planning on going anywhere near a mall today. I'm not risking life and limb to partake in the post holiday shopping madness.

It's also Friday and time to do what we do every week at TransGriot, carve up the turkeys who made fools of themselves this week.

As usual, our holiday fools runneth over, but alas, I can only choose one.

This week's fool is People For the Ethical Treatment Of Animals, or PETA for short.

The University of Georgia mascot, a purebred English bulldog named Uga VII died unexpectedly last week at age 4.

Peep the e-mail that University of Georgia AD Damon Evans received from PETA:

In the wake of the untimely death of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) bulldog mascot, Uga VII, PETA has asked the school’s athletic director, Damon M. Evans, to replace the mascot with an animatronic dog–or to rely solely on a costumed mascot–instead of using another real bulldog.

Bulldogs are prone to breathing difficulties, hip dysplasia, heart disorders, and other congenital ailments, and acquiring a dog from a breeder perpetuates the animal overpopulation crisis while causing another dog waiting in an animal shelter to be condemned to death.

Cue Twilight Zone theme music.

Okay, since when did a dog being on the sidelines of a football game wearing a sweater constitute 'cruel and inhumane' treatment?

Putting them in a ring to fight another dog to the death is.

Whether it's dress up like Klansmen, violate every ism in the book, or throw paint on people's fur coats, PETA never ceases to offend, say something breathtakingly stupid or make themselves look like the fools they are.

Besides, if any nation comes up with robotic dogs, probably won't be ours. My money's on Japan, since they invest 10 billion yen a year in robotics research and development. As a matter of fact, the Japanese are working on humanoid robots that walk, talk and interact with humans.

But back to PETA. Every time they open their mouths and make ridiculous statements such as this, they set the cause of ending animal cruelty back.

PETA, shut the HELL up, fools!

President Obama's Thanksgiving Greeting

For centuries, in peace and in war, in prosperity and in adversity, Americans have paused at this time of year to gather with loved ones and give thanks for life’s blessings. This week, we carry on this distinctly American tradition. All across our country, folks are coming together to spend time with family, to catch up with old friends, to cook and enjoy a big dinner – and maybe to watch a little football in between.

As always, we give thanks for the kindness of loved ones, for the joys of the previous year, and for the pride we feel in our communities and country. We keep in our thoughts and prayers the many families marking this Thanksgiving with an empty seat – saved for a son or daughter, or husband or wife, stationed in harm’s way. And we say a special thanks for the sacrifices those men and women in uniform are making for our safety and freedom, and for all those Americans who enrich the lives of our communities through acts of kindness, generosity and service.

But as much as we all have to be thankful for, we also know that this year millions of Americans are facing very difficult economic times. Many have lost jobs in this recession – the worst in generations. Many more are struggling to afford health care premiums and house payments, let alone to save for an education or retirement. Too many are wondering if the dream of a middle class life – that American Dream – is slipping away. It’s the worry I hear from folks across the country; good, hard-working people doing the best they can for their families – but fearing that their best just isn’t good enough. These are not strangers. They are our family, our friends, and our neighbors. Their struggles must be our concern.

That’s why we passed the Recovery Act that cut taxes for 95 percent of working people and for small businesses – and that extended unemployment benefits and health coverage for millions of Americans who lost their jobs in this turmoil. That’s why we are reforming the health care system so that middle-class families have affordable insurance that cannot be denied because of a pre-existing condition or taken away because you happen to get sick. We’ve worked to stem the tide of foreclosures and to stop the decline in home values. We’re making it easier to save for retirement and more affordable to send a son or daughter to college.

The investments we have made and tough steps we have taken have helped break the back of the recession, and now our economy is finally growing again. But as I said when I took office, job recovery from this crisis would not come easily or quickly. Though the job losses we were experiencing earlier this year have slowed dramatically, we’re still not creating enough new jobs each month to make up for the ones we’re losing. And no matter what the economists say, for families and communities across the country, this recession will not end until we completely turn that tide.

So we’ve made progress. But we cannot rest – and my administration will not rest – until we have revived this economy and rebuilt it stronger than before; until we are creating jobs and opportunities for middle class families; until we have moved beyond the cycles of boom and bust – of reckless risk and speculation – that led us to so much crisis and pain these past few years.

Next week, I’ll be meeting with owners of large and small businesses, labor leaders, and non-for-profits from across the country, to talk about the additional steps we can take to help spur job creation. I will work with the Congress to enact them quickly. And it is my fervent hope – and my heartfelt expectation – that next Thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate the fact that many of those who have lost their jobs are back at work, and that as a nation we will have come through these difficult storms stronger and wiser and grateful to have reached a brighter day.

Thank you, God bless you, and from my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.

Brittney Gets Her Official NCAA Dunk

It was only a matter of time before Baylor's 6 foot 8 freshman phenom b-baller Brittney Griner threw down a dunk in NCAA competition, especially in light of the fact she dunked 52 times at Aldine Nimitz.

She's already thrown one down in an NCAA exhibition game, and had missed connections on one handed dunk attempts in two previous games.

Five minutes into the first half of the Number 8 ranked Lady Bears 104-45 victory Tuesday night over Jacksonville State, Griner officially became the seventh woman to do so in an NCAA game.



Oh yeah, she had 20 points, six rebounds and eight blocked shots as well in 21 minutes of playing time.

In case you're wondering who the other six women are in the NCAA collegiate hoops dunking sorority, its West Virginia's Georgeann Wells (the first to do so), Tennessee's Candace Parker (seven times, first to so in the NCAA tournament, and first to do so twice in one game) LSU's Sylvia Fowles, North Carolina's Charlotte Smith, Tennessee's Michelle Snow, and ahem, Houston's Sancho Lyttle.

Happy Thanksgiving, Peeps!

I know you Canadians got your Thanksgiving grub on last month. Now it's your south of the border cousins turn to partake of the turkey and dressing or whatever graces your dining table.

It's been an up and down year for me so far, but overall I have much to be thankful for. The trans community has seen the passage of one of our legislative crown jewels in the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Bill and may get ENDA passed as well.

While violence against transpeople around the world spiked up, I'm still prayerfully hopeful that with the increased education and acceptance that will end.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my TransGriot readers. May your food be plentiful and delicious, your travels to and from wherever you're dining be stress free, your interactions with family and friends be filled with positivity and may your blessings for the rest of this year and 2010 be abundant.

Happy Thanksgiving, peeps!

Go Annise Go!

You TransGriot readers are aware that I'm closely watching a potentially historic mayoral race in my beloved hometown. There will be a December 12 runoff between city controller and former at large councilmember Annise Parker and city attorney Gene Locke.

Annise is bidding to become the second woman elected mayor of Houston, and Gene Locke is trying to become the second African-American elected as mayor of my hometown.

Who am I rooting for? Annise Parker.



Parker led wire to wire during the election on November 3 but didn't get the 50% she needed to win outright and has received the endorsement of the Houston Chronicle.

That's got Dave Wilson, Hotze's Nazis and the rest of the 'white' wing christobigots coming out of the closet with their hatred of Annise and backing Locke.

Locke also has some issues that are dogging his campaign as well in addition to the Christohaters..

If Parker wins, she would also become the first open lesbian to become mayor of a top tier city and the first open GLBT person in Texas to do so.