I'm Finally Home

Well, after 23 hours, several bus transfers and 9 plus years, I'm finally standing inside the Houston city limits during the Christmas holidays.

My bus just pulled into the Greyhound station here in H-town, and I'm getting a first hand look at how much things have changed since my last trip here.

The METRORail light rail line that runs from UH Downtown through Hermann Park and the Med Center to Reliant Stadium runs right past it.

I'm going to probably take an up and down trip on the line just to give me something to do on one of my days here I'm waiting to hook up with Crys, Ness, the gang at IAH and my family.

Hoping my first time home for Christmas since 2000 will be drama free, but only time will tell.

A Transsistah's Secret-Being Comfortable In Your Own Skin

Being comfortable in your own skin is one of the often overlooked major keys to a happy and successful transition.

We catch so much flak as African descended transpeople from many directions that it can be a struggle at time just to summon the courage to be yourself, much less have the rock solid faith and confidence in yourself that being a Black transwoman requires.

Even the Phenomenal Transwoman at time has those days where I'm put in a situation or two that makes me feel insecure, or when I get out and about in the public eye a comment that may or may not be directed at me has me questioning what the mirror told me when I stepped out of the house that day.

The mirror doesn't lie, and neither are our heads, hearts and the people in our friendship circles who truly love us when they tell us we are the beautiful women we see reflected in the image staring back at us.

We have to take that, feed upon it, become confident and believe that we are.

One you do that, you're taking the first steps toward becoming confidently comfortable in your emerging femininity and by extension, comfortable in your own skin.

Rolling Towards Houston

At this moment my Greyhound bus is pulling out of the Louisville station and heading south on I-65 to start the first leg of my long journey back home to Houston.

It's nonstop to Nashville, TN from Louisville, then I change buses and depart Nashville at 4:25 PM EST to continue south on I-65 to Birmingham, AL.

I change buses again and depart Birmingham at 9:50 PM EST enroute to Shreveport, LA where I make my final bus change and arrive in beautiful downtown Houston at 12:30 PM on December 23.

The best part about it is I'm not doing the driving.

As you TransGriot readers probably guessed I'll be keeping a diary during my journey back to the Lone Star State. If I get access to a computer I'll post as often as I can.

But on Christmas Day, I will definitely be taking the day off ;)

First Trans Beauty Pageant Hosted In India

There have been some recent groundbreaking events taking place for the GLBT community in India that have broken down cultural barriers.

In July the Delhi High Court decriminalized gay sex between consenting adults by declaring a colonial-era ban on homosexuality unconstitutional.

In November eunuchs won the right in a long standing campaign to be listed as 'others', distinct from males and females, on electoral rolls and voter identity cards.

In the wake of the changes in Indian society, the Indian Community Welfare Organization (ICWO), organized and hosted the first annual pageant for Indian transwomen on December 19.

The ICWO is the local organizations that works for the rights of TBLG people in Chennai and drew 120 contestants across India aged 20 to 35 to the city

Besides tiaras for the winners of the 'Miss India' title, crowns were also handed out to victorious contestants in other categories such as "Miss Beautiful Hair," "Miss Beautiful Eyes" and "Miss Beautiful Skin".

So why a pageant? ICWO Founding Secretary A.J. Hariharan told AFP, "We had a meeting of the transgender community some months ago where we discussed various events to bring community members into society,"

After rejecting several proposals including sporting events, "everyone unanimously supported the idea of a national-level beauty pageant," he said.

"We thought it would create an opportunity for the transgender community to showcase their skills, create a platform to address the problems they face - discrimination, marginalization and misconception."

The winner was Karina Shaline, a 25-year-old model from Mumbai. Romi, a 23 year old beautician from the northeastern state of Manipur, was second with local favorite and dance instructor Padmini, 25, grabbing third place.

Nat King Cole-The Christmas Song

To me, it isn't Christmas unless I'm hearing this as part of my classic Christmas songs with soul. Enjoy the legendary Nat 'King' Cole

It Ain't 'Deception'- We're Living Our Lives

One of the memes I'm beyond sick and tired of that gets pimped and hurled at us by the Forces of Intolerance and others is this 'deception' one.

That's bull feces. How is a transwoman openly living her life and minding her own damned business 'deceiving' someone?

If me and my sisters are out and about doing thangs, shopping, talking to our cis or trans girlfriends, having a good time and you're checking us out, it's all good.

We transwomen are under no obligation to walk around with a scarlet 'T' on our clothing or reveal our status to you or anybody else until you either ask us for a date or are suggesting intimate coupling with us while on that date.

Once you do, we're in a Catch 22 situation either way.

If we tell you and you start tripping, we are quite aware of the fact that the reaction to what we just told you about our background can range from a loud, disrespectful verbal rebuke to a physical beatdown or murder.

If for some reason we escape that, then we have to deal with the fact you will create a virtual scarlet 'T' for us by running and telling every dude we potentially want to hook up with our business. And if you're feeling especially spiteful, you'll flap your gums to a few jealous ciswomen who will do the rest of your 'scarlet trans' handiwork for you.

But as you run and tell this transwoman's business, bear in mind you and your cohorts may have initiated a chain of events that sets the transwoman in question up for a hate crime or worse if the wrong person gets wind of that information.

So no, transwomen aren't running around in the dating scene wanting to 'trick' cis men as the urban legends about us go. We're in the dating scene for the same reasons you are, looking for love and companionship.

Trust me, before we go out, we've contemplated long and hard about the potential dangerous consequences. There is no way we transwomen are going to play games that can result in us getting killed or severely injured.

As long as I am writing TransGriot, I can't stress this point enough. Transwomen are women who happened to be born in masculine bodies, not 'men in dresses'. That means me and my trans sisters being and becoming the phenomenal women we are is not in any way 'deceiving' society as our detractors disrespectfully and erroneously put it.

It took a lot of prayerful self examination, inner fortitude, counseling, and ongoing real life experience to put us on the path of getting our bodies to match our feminine spirits.

We are being honest with ourselves and living our lives. Not our fault the estrogen worked to make us look good as well while doing so and you want to get with us.

You call it 'deceptive' because you're having a problem processing the fact you were feeling the positive vibe and aura that particular transwoman was broadcasting to the world because she's finally happy with herself, and you were intrigued enough by it to step to her.

But this meme about transwomen 'deceiving' people is so 20th century and really needs to die.

25th Anniversary Of The First NCAA Women's Slam Dunk

I talked about my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner becoming the ninth woman to dunk in NCAA women's competition a month ago.

It's time for Moni to play Final Jeopardy with you.

On December 21, 1984, this 6 foot 7 West Virginia University player became the first woman to dunk in an NCAA game against Morris Harvey University (now the University of Charleston) Name the player who accomplished this feat.

If you said, who is Georgeann Wells-Blackwell, you are correct.

Today is the 25th anniversary of Wells-Blackwell's groundbreaking dunk. What was even more impressive about it is that back in the day, she did so while using the men's regulation ball. She is the only women's player to do so in NCAA competition while using the men's ball.



ESPN was only a fledgling network just beginning to break out of its northeast regional turf and wasn't the dominant sports force it is now.

Wells-Blackwell's dunk was such a big deal back in 1984 that she appeared on network television, in an issue of Sports Illustrated, was honored at a luncheon in New York, had a display put up in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, another one in the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame and was given the honor of being inducted in the University of Houston’s Phi Slamma Jamma dunking fraternity.

It took ten years before another woman b-baller joined her in the elite basketball dunking sorority Alpha Slama Dunka.

But Georgeann Wells-Blackwell will forever be known as the first one to do so.

Happy 50th Birthday Flo Jo

It's hard to believe she's been gone from us for eleven years, but today would have been Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner's 50th birthday. She was born in this date in south Los Angeles in 1959

Back in the day I loved me some Flo Jo.

She was known not only for her flashy form-fitting bodysuits and six-inch fingernails, but had world-record speed. The 100m record she set back in 1988 still hasn't been threatened by the current crop of female sprinters.

Florence Griffith Joyner was a triple gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics who captivated the world with her blistering speed, glamorous looks and flamboyant style.

She still holds the world records in the 100m and 200m dashes. She set the 100m mark of 10.49 seconds during the quarter finals of the 1988 US Olympic trials at Indianapolis.


At Seoul, she won the 100m gold medal in a wind-aided 10.54 seconds and won her 200m gold medal in a world record time of 21.34 seconds.

Because she had an unbelievable competitive year, as usual any sistah who excels in the international sports world is accused of cheating. In Flo Jo's case, because of her curvy and muscular build, she was dogged by accusations of steroid use even though she never failed a drug test.

She retired after the Seoul Games to pursue other interests, and died unexpectedly of heart failure at age thirty-eight on September 21, 1998.

Athletes like her only come along once in a generation. She is definitely missed by those of us who loved to watch her run and look good blowing away her competition at the same time.

Rest in peace, sis.

Christmas Podcast Tonight

Renee, Allison and I will be doing a short podcast of our Womanist Musings show at 8 PM EST.

We just wanted to take the time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and also introduce you to some of the peeps that make it happen for us.

We also wanted to give you a chance to talk to us as well.

Call in number is 347-326-9452

Am I A Black Transleader?

Friday night I received an e-mail from a young African descended transwomen based on the East Coast who I have high regard for and admire as a trans activist. Her closest friend is another young and musically talented African descended transperson I admire as well.

Her e-mail floored me by expressing hers and the other transwoman's admiration for me. She continued to say in it she saw me as an inspirational role model and expressed her desire to have a long sit down chat with me that will result in us getting to know each other a lot better in 2010 and beyond.

I was shedding a tear or two after I finished it because I was having a bit of a crummy day before I received that e-mail.

Even though I've heard for a decade how much of a leader I am and a positive influence on the African American transgender community and the trans community in general, I kind of take it in stride because I have a cadre of close friends that ensure I never get 'big head syndrome'.

I also have my detractors and haters who at regular intervals let loose their negativity at me as well.

I just do what all people do that are thrust into leadership roles and ignore the haters. As an additional layer of defense against 'big head syndrome' I still filter whatever positive commentary that flows my way through the definition of Black leadership attributed to University of Maryland political scientist Dr. Ronald Walters.

The task of Black leadership is to provide the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.

These objectives have been variously described as freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires disturbing the peace. And we constantly carry on a dialogue about the fitness of various leaders and the qualities they bring to the table to fulfill this mission.

It is this definition of leadership I use as a measuring stick in terms of my own leadership qualities. I try to follow in addition to the Walters definition of Black leadership the sterling examples of leadership from Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the late Rep. Barbara Jordan from the home state, the late Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the late Coretta Scott King and a host of other leaders past and present.

I'm cognizant of the fact that people do look up to me and I never want to be a disappointment to them.

But yes, I'm also human as well. I wonder at times if I have the qualities necessary to carry out such a critical and important mission.

That mission, ladies and gents is getting our African descended cis brothers and cis sisters to recognize that their trans brothers and trans sisters have the same African heritage, history and cultural ties. Our issues as African descended trans people are the same as Black America's issues.

It is getting our cis brothers and cis sisters to accept that we aren't going away and for them to do their part in ensuring that our humanity and our human rights are respected and protected.

It is calling out and speaking truth to power to those people inside and outside the community who align themselves with the same white fundamentalist-GOP Dixiecrat Forces of Intolerance who opposed our 50s and 60's era march toward full equality and our constitutionally guaranteed civil rights.

It is also praising our allies when they do something right on our community's behalf and chastising them with Kingian love when they don't.

So do I have the right stuff to carry that mission out?

Well, the IFGE Trinity Award on the mantel is a big clue that I know a little something-something and have some skills to execute this mission.

But my fellow African American transpeople will let me know one way or the other soon enough.

There's A Special Place In Hell For The Wastes Of DNA Who Stole The 'Arbeit Macht Frei' Sign

Ever since World War II ended in 1945, the infamous Auschwitz death camp in which 2 million people were sent to die has been a museum to our seemingly limitless ability as humans to be cruel to each other.

The world was stunned to hear that the 5 meter (16 foot) 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign that curved over the entrance gates to the camp was stolen in a brazen pre dawn theft Friday.

Auschwitz has also been a favorite target of Holocaust deniers who try to claim the 'Final Solution' never happened.

Um, check the Nazi photographic evidence of the Einsatzgruppen doing their grisly work in newly conquered Soviet territory and later executing the decisions made at the January 20, 1942 Wannsee Conference that formulated the murderous solutions to the 'Judenfrage'.

As outrage over the theft poured in from all over the world, Polish authorities have begun an extensive manhunt to capture the wastes of DNA who executed this crime.

"The fact is that the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' sign has become the defining symbol of the Holocaust, because everyone knew that this was not a place where work makes you free, but it was the place where millions of men, women, and children were brought for one purpose only — to be murdered," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's founder and dean.

The Center is a leading Jewish human rights group, and has urged Poland to intensify its investigation and bring the thieves to justice.

The camp was liberated by Soviet army troops on January 27, 1945. Polish officials plan to mark the 65th anniversary of that liberation next month with somber ceremonies at the site.

I hope when Polish authorities find and convict the thieves for doing so, their punishment will be to not only clean every square millimeter of the death camp, but be put to work helping to restore it.

The African-American Transsisterhood Initiative

Transpeople make up about 3% of the 36 million people that identify as African-American.

The 2Ks will be over in about two weeks and yet we still have problems in the African American transgender community with not knowing our history, not having working relationships with each other and not knowing other African American transpeople.

Well, the 2K10's will be starting soon. One of the things I have constantly complained about is the lack of national community and infrastructure we African descended transpeople have vis a vis our white transsisters. We need our own, and we needed it like yesterday.

To quote Kwame Toure, 'In order to participate in the greater society, we must first close ranks.' When I say African descended transpeople must close ranks, I'm talking about following the historic examples of our cis ancestors, parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

Just as they gathered together to form the organizations, fraternities, sororities and other self help groups that are household names in our communities today, that same spirit of collective organization needs to happen in the African American trans community as well.

I'm blessed to know and have the acquaintances of many African American transpeople in various locales around the country. Some are activists, some aren't. What I would like to do is step it up another level and build lasting, lifelong friendships with many of these wonderful folks as well.

So here's how I envision and propose we do that.

We are hooked up on one level or another on Facebook or other social networking media. We can start by resolving in 2010 and beyond to get to know 5 African descended transpeople you didn't have a lot of communication with or face time this year. We should also include in this effort African descended transwomen that aren't on the Net as well.

Your job as part of the African American Transsisterhood Initiative will be to select five people you've wanted to get to know as friends, and for one year do exactly that. Where they live doesn't matter. They can live in your city or outside of it, but one member of your sisterhood circle must be younger than you, another must be older than you. You can even do more than five people if you wish.

That way as you're getting to know your five peeps, you are getting to partake of the wisdom of your trans elders and your trans younglings.

That education will also be a two way street because we senior trans mamas can kick knowledge about our lives, our history and mentor our trans younglings.

At the same time we get the benefit of finding our more about the lives of our trans younglings, and they can enlighten us with fresh perspectives of looking at issues that will benefit both us and the entire AA transgender community.

One of the things that has immensely helped my growth on my feminine journey is to have been included in the sisterhood networks of some of my cis women friends. They have had my back on many issues, been a font of wisdom and knowledge when it comes to getting my gender act together, have helped me grow spiritually and get better attuned to living life as a Black woman.

At the same time me being the transwoman of the crew has opened their eyes to some of the issues I and other transwomen deal with as well and helped them realize there's not much besides superficial differences between a ciswoman or a transwoman.

I believe we African descended transwomen can benefit from forming sisterhood networks with each other, and what better time to do so than at the start of a new decade, the 2010's.

Let's resolve to finally do the work to make this decade one in which Black transwomen take control of their destinies, not be passive spectators in what happens and begin to make serious moves to take our rightful place at the African American family table.

The first and I believe the easiest step in the long journey to do that is getting to know and becoming friends with the Phenomenal Transwomen that are in our midst.

Black Transwoman Thinking, Composing Posts

Been out and about today running a few errands and prepping for my upcoming trip back home to the 713 for Christmas.

In the process of doing so, getting ready to go home and the general hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I haven't had enough quiet time to solidly think about some issues and write about them.

When I compile posts about various issues, a lot of hard solid thinking, research and fact checking goes into the creative process for me. I have a few in various stages of construction, but they're not quite at the quality level I demand from myself for a TransGriot post.

When I've refined them to my satisfaction, up they will go on the blog as expeditiously as possible.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Madame Mayor Elect Edition

This edition of our illustrious awards is dedicated to Houston mayor-elect Annise Parker. On January 1 she'll take the oath of office to become only the second woman elected and first Rice University alum to run my hometown.

Congrats madame Mayor-elect, it's been a pleasure to watch your rise to the highest elected office in Houston. You are definitely the best candidate for the job, I have the utmost confidence along with your fellow Houstonians in your ability to do so and may you get the full six years to prove it to your detractors.

Moving from the best to the worst, it's now time to shift gears and see what fool or fools won our award for this week.

Thanks to Renee at Womanist Musings, I've found him.

Keeping with the Texas theme for this one, it's conservaactor Chuck Norris. He has a ranch just north of Houston in the town of New Waverly, TX and is (ugh) thinking about running for public office as a Repugnican.

The conservafool went there in terms of his opposition to the health care legislation now percolating in the senate by mixing the image of the Virgin Mary and doing a little slut shaming at the same time.

Lastly, as we near the eve of another Christmas, I wonder: What would have happened if Mother Mary had been covered by Obamacare? What if that young, poor and uninsured teenage woman had been provided the federal funds (via Obamacare) and facilities (via Planned Parenthood, etc.) to avoid the ridicule, ostracizing, persecution and possible stoning because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Imagine all the great souls who could have been erased from history and the influence of mankind if their parents had been as progressive as Washington's wise men and women! Will Obamacare morph into Herodcare for the unborn?

Bottom line Chuckie, you and your Republican friends not only can afford to go to the doctor, you don't have to be concerned about the costs.

Many of your fellow Americans don't have that security.

But then again, since when did Republicans care about anyone living inside this country's borders except wealthy white males?

Chuck Norris, shut up fool!

Revealing The Houston 'Gay Agenda'

Was this the mysterious 'gay agenda' the sellout negro ministers were babbling about in the closing weeks of the campaign?

Yeah, I called them negroes. They don't deserve to be called Black or African American until they come to their senses and stop palling around with white fundamentalists who do not have the African American community's best interests at heart.

Anyhoo, I'm going to get off the electronic soapbox and let you enjoy the cartoon from the editorial pages of the Houston Chronicle.

Oh yeah, congratulations Madame Mayor-elect

Jeff Johnson Calls Out Black Community Homophobia on TJMS

You TransGriot readers know how much I love the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

The 'Fly Jock' and crew have a listening audience of 11 million predominately African American people that I'm a part of and wake up to during the workweek.

While I sometimes get annoyed with their tendency to be a little too heavy on the comedy at times, TJMS is unabashedly pro-Black. There's also no better friend and supporter to HBCU's than Tom Joyner, being that he grew up in Tuskegee, AL and graduated from Tuskegee University.

TJMS interviews a host of prominent African-Americans across a wide spectrum of our community and other peeps of interest as well.

But I tune in for their chocolate flavored political and social commentary segments from people such as CNN's Roland S. Martin, 'The Revs', Jeff Johnson, Stephanie Robinson and others.

My ears perked up when Jeff's Tuesday commentary touched on the homophobia in the Black community that reared its ugly head once again courtesy of some sellout negro ministers during the final days of Annise Parker's historic mayoral election in H-town.

You can listen to Jeff's commentary here.

NY Governor David Paterson To Sign Executive Order Extending Anti Discrimination Protection To Trans State Employees

New York Governor David Paterson is at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City today to announce and sign an executive order extending anti discrimination protections to transgender state employees.

The order applies only to state employees who work under the authority of the executive branch and it does not apply to anyone in the private sector.

A number of cities in New York State, including Buffalo, Albany, Rochester and New York City, already prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression.

There have been several attempts to pass comprehensive legislation to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity called the Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act or GENDA, but so far they have been unsuccessful.

GENDA has already passed the New York State Assembly but awaits action in the New York State Senate.

It's a nice first step, but the New York State Senate needs to do the right thing and pass GENDA. Thank you Governor Paterson for doing so.

Sen. Al Franken Calls Out Sen. Thune

I love Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). This is what the GOP and the conservative movement was afraid of when they fought his election by the citizens of Minnesota.

Check out this video of Sen. Franken smacking down Repugnican Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and rebutting the lies he just told about the health care bill.

If You WWBT's Hate Trans People So Much....

Why do you slither around our blogs and our blogosphere?

Aren't you better than the rest of us mere transwomen because you possess bought and paid for by any means necessary neocoochies?

So why hang around people you consider less than equal since you are 'True Transsexuals' or whatever bullshit du jour you're peddling this month to make yourselves feel superior?

I could care less about the fact y'all consider me, Autumn Sandeen, Monica Helms and anybody else that calls out your BS on a regular basis your 'enemy' and rag us consistently on your negative ten ranked Technorati blogs.

As a matter of fact I consider it an honor y'all spend so much time doing so and continue to make asses of yourselves posting your negativity everywhere I guest post just like you did last summer on Feministe.

By the way WWBT's, pick up a sociology textbook before you try to tangle with me next time.

Racism=prejudice plus power is something that every freshman sociology student knows, but y'all WWBT's don't.

Y'all sound like a broken record calling me a 'racist' every chance y'all get and you need to stop the conservative projection tactics because they are failing miserably. Give it up trying to tar and feather me with the brush that y'all so richly earned.

I'm proud of the fact that my friends and associates cover a wide spectrum of humanity and everyone who has the pleasure of getting to know me is well aware of that.

And nope, I'd have to care about you WWBT's to hate you. I pity the fools you are and just laugh at you nattering nabobs of WWBT negativity.

I'm just living my life while you spew your self hatred and BS venom about how transpeople are 'oppressing' you.

One of the things I've noticed is that the self proclaimed 'passable' and 'assimilated' WWBT's don't have photos of themselves or their claimed interactions with the world on their blogs while there are thousands of trans ones that do.

I know WWBT's that are too scared to even step out their front doors and interact with the world, but have the nerve to part their lips and hate on me and 'errbody' else that has no problem doing so.

Can't help the fact you're chomping Hater Tots because I and other transwomen are doing thangs, making history, forming lasting friendships with women cis and trans, having substantive conversations, educating people, building coalitions, forging working partnerships with a wide variety of people while you're sitting in your WWBT amen corner sipping lattes and ranting about how you hate the latest award winning posts or exploits of Roberts, Sandeen, Helms and others you WWBT's despise.

If y'all hate on me, I'm dong something right, so keep chomping those Hater Tots and drinking the vanilla creme flavored Hateraid Fierce from those 55 gallon drums.

You hate me 'cause you wanna emulate me.

The ciswomen that you claim to have the respect of don't like you either. They see you as the clueless privilege clutching anuses some of you are.

The problem with many of you WWBT's and why you're reviled in trans circles is that you self haters are still using the same disco-era rad fem dogma to attack transpeople, you never miss a chance like you did during the recent Ronald Gold dustup on Bilerico to stab us in the back and you have assimilated the same bogus genitalia=gender ID argument our right wing oppressors use to attack ALL of us.

Hmm...makes me wonder who y'all voted for in the last presidential election cycle.

News flash for y'all: Reasonable people and science increasingly points out that gender ID is between your ears, not your legs.

I proudly identify as an African descended transwoman and I'm far more comfortable in fashion forward clothing and heels, not t-shirts and Birkenstocks.

You WWBT's obsessive-compulsive need to attack transpeople or pile on in comment threads with your reprehensible dogma tells me that you still have issues beyond the gender ones you didn't work out in therapy.

You need Jesus as well.

If you are the women you constantly claim you are, as we say in the African-American community, 'bring it, don't sing it'.

Because the notes you WWBT's have sung for the last decade have been repetitively sour, racist, exclusionary ones that peeps are sick of hearing, be they cis or trans.

Network of Transgender Women of Thailand Calls For End To Transphobic Education Uniform Regulations

TransGriot Note: Yep, even in the ostensibly transgender friendly 'Land Of Smiles' we have to fight tooth and nail for our basic human rights. An interesting December 11 story from The Nation.

The Network of Transgender Women of Thailand has urged the Education Ministry and universities to cancel regulations forcing transgender persons to wear male uniforms to classrooms, exams and graduation ceremonies.

Network chairperson Yollada Suanyot said yesterday they had received complaints from transgender students, alumni and lecturers about the regulations, which she believes stem from society's misunderstanding of transgender, identified medically as transsexuฌalism.

She claimed people with transgender inclination needed therapy before undergoing a gender change and to dress and live according to their sexual inclinations.

She said the universities' dress code violated their rights and obstructed the treatment of transsexualism. As a result, she said, many transgender youths did not want to study further.

Yollada said the network had submitted an appeal to Education Minister Jurin Laksanawisit on Wednesday. However, Jurin said he hadn't yet received it and would look into the issue today.

She added that the network had asked the Royal Household Bureau if transgender people could wear female uniforms in a graduation ceremony. They were told the bureau did not limit people's rights and that they should contact the Education Ministry and universities about the matter, she said.

Thammasat University (TU) vice president Parinya Thewanaruemitkul said his institution didn't object to transgender students wearing female uniforms - but those who hadn't undergone a gender change could not stay in girls' dorms or use women's toilets.

Parinya said universities would be willing to comply with a request by the Royal Household Bureau or Education Ministry.