Every Month Is Black History Month

We're close to celebrating another Black History Month. Unlike most people, thanks to my parents and my late godmother, I have a deep love of history in general and Black history in particular.

It drives a thirst for knowledge of my people that happens 365 days a year and 366 days in a leap year.

I'm one of those people who firmly believes that every month is Black History Month. Every month contains either the birthday of a historic figure in our history besides the January 15, 1929 one of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the anniversary of a groundbreaking event, the founding of an iconic organization such as the NAACP or the date a historic achievement occurred for our people.

For example, on this January 7 date inventor W.B. Purvis patented the fountain pen.

In 1891 writer Zora Neale Hurston was born in Eatonville, FL.

In 1955 Marian Anderson, the first African American singer in the company's history, made her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera House as Alrica in Verdi's Masked Ball.

In 2002 Shirley Franklin was sworn in as the first African American female mayor of Atlanta.

We also can't sleep about the Black history that's being made right now in the White House, across the Diaspora, and the people that are making that history happen.

It's not just limited to the borders of the United States. Black history month is increasingly becoming an international event to reflect the fact that there's Black history being made in Canada, the Caribbean, in Europe, the African continent and wherever African descended people reside on this planet.

History is more than just remembering dates, places and larger than life personalities. It is the story of a people as well and endless What Ifs that had they occurred, could have changed the world we are living in at this particular moment in time.

And as I must remind people, just because we are GLBT people, it doesn't mean we became less Black. African descended same gender loving people and trans people have and will continue to play major roles in driving events shaping our people's history such as Bayard Rustin's involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and Marsha P. Johnson being involved in the 1969 Stonewall Riots and the events after it that resulted in the early trans rights movement.

Kelly Miller wrote in The Voice of the Negro in 1906, 'All great people glorify their history and look back upon their early achievements with a spiritual vision.'

Well, we African descended Americans come from a great people who reside on the second largest continent on our planet.

Those of us who ended up in the Western Hemisphere either voluntarily or on that involuntary boat trip have done remarkable things and contributed mightily to building this country.

And we need more than 28 calendar days to properly pay homage to that history.

GLAAD Ain't Happy About Letterman's Amanda Simpson Skit...And Neither Am I

Damn, can a transwoman, or transpeople in general get through the first full week of the New Year and new decade without being disrespected?

Sadly, the answer is no.

We have a moment in which the entire trans community is bursting with pride at one of our own getting an historic federal appointment by the president, only to have tabloid newspapers and comedians turn it into a fracking joke.

GLAAD has already highlighted some problematic coverage of the news by the reliably transphobic New York Post, and now David Letterman piles on with this skit from last night's show.



The 'cis man gets physically ill at presence of transwoman' is unfortunately a lame and depressingly far too common meme in the entertainment world.

It has manifested itself in films such as Bachelor Party, The Crying Game and Ace Ventura Pet Detective.



Guess I should be counting my blessings that Late Night bandleader Paul Shaffer didn't fire up the band and play 'The Crying Game' song to go with it.

And before y'all start typing the 'damn it's just a joke, lighten up' BS in the comments, I have a sense of humor as people who know me will tell you. I know the difference between a good joke and one that goes a bit too far and is hurtful to the persons and the community that was the punchline of said joke.

The Letterman Amanda Simpson skit crossed that line last night. It mined a tired meme for the sake of a laugh.

And the 'cis man gets ill at sight of transwoman' sight gag needs to die

PETA's Feathers Ruffled Over Chicken Statue Permit Delay

Yum Brands, Inc. is the parent company for Kentucky Fried Chicken and is headquartered here in Louisville Metro.

That means that we've been getting visits on the regular by the boys and girls from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

In addition to picketing various KFC locations and Yum Brand, Inc. headquarters, they even showed up to picket Sunday services at the massive Southeast Christian Church, where some of the Yum Brands execs worship.

PETA asserts that KFC's chicken processing methods are cruel and harmful to our future Original Recipe pieces. Even if that's true, PETA as usual has done their usual stellar job in alienating supporters and pissing people off to the point in which many of us who are sympathetic to the cause stopped caring what PETA had to say a long time ago.

PETA's in Da Ville threatening to sue the city over their stalled request to erect for three months a five and a half foot tall statue of a bloodied chicken on crutches.

PETA wants to put it downtown on the corner of Fourth and Market Streets. The statue was created by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss and reads at its base 'KFC Cripples Chickens'

Martina Bernstein, PETA’s litigation attorney, wrote a letter to James Mims December 17 stating metro government’s denial of a permit for the display is bogus and doesn’t “survive even the mildest scrutiny.”

“Accordingly, PETA respectfully requests that you exercise your authority to reverse the (Department of Codes and Regulations’) decision on the grounds that it is baseless and order the department to issue the requested permit forthwith.”

James Mims, the director of the Department of Codes and Regulations, wrote a December 28 letter saying PETA did not pay its $25 application fee and gave the city no “site map” of the proposed location of the statue.

“All I want to do is make sure that whatever we’re doing in the way of permitting this object recognizes required exits and entrances into buildings, doesn’t disrupt emergency services, allows for passable pedestrian areas in front of the buildings, and does not create a hazard that would impede pedestrian travel.”

He also stated in a Courier-Journal interview that PETA’s application was never denied and the application will be processed as soon as they receive the site map required by city ordinance.

PETA claims it has already done so, and the city is just stonewalling them.

PETA applied for a similar permit in July, but no decision was made because the city instituted a moratorium on temporary structures in public rights of way until new rules could be written.

Those new requirements say groups putting up a temporary structure must get adjacent property owners’ permission before the display can be approved by the city.

KFC spokeswoman Laurie Schalow told The Courier-Journal that that the request was a "despicable publicity stunt that we hope the city will have the good sense to disapprove."

At any rate, if and when it goes up, I'll be making a beeline once again for the closest KFC and have a picnic with a bucket of original recipe in front of the statue in question.

New Year's Message From Canada's Governor General

Y'all know how much I love Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean. Her term expires later this year unless it is extended either by the 'Sweater Vest' or his successor for two more years.

At any rate, here is her New Year's Day message to her fellow Canadians and the peeps across the Diaspora like moi who think she's just awesome.

Either Stand Up For Yourself Or Keep Getting Discriminated Against

Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

Frederick Douglass was dead on target when he uttered these words over a century ago.

What triggered this post was me recalling this Douglass quote while reading Leona Lo's blog.

In the post I was reading she discussed an incident which happened a few months ago in which a Singaporean transwoman was denied entry to a popular local club.

That transwoman asked Leona for help and she obliged. The Singaporean media was contacted, and was ready and willing to publicize the story by interviewing the transperson in question. But because she feared public exposure more than she wanted justice for what had been done to her, she backed out of the interview.

And as Leona pointed out, that's exactly what the oppressor was counting on.

Activists don't mind helping a trans brother or trans sister out when they ask for it. But when you do, bear in mind you can't just drop the problem in our laps, walk away and think you're gonna sit on the sidelines as we pick up the sword and shield and begin to do the fighting on your behalf. We expect you when we do so to be an active and engaged participant in your own liberation.

As Frederick Douglass stated in the last sentence of the quote that graces the beginning of this post, the limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.

Translation: you are a participant in your own oppression. How long and how far it goes is determined by how much injustice and discriminatory treatment you are willing to stomach.

If you're tired of being disrespected and denigrated, you have the choice of loving yourself enough to stand up and fight for your rights, or meekly submit and continue to get dissed and discriminated against.

We know from world history which strategy has worked best for marginalized people.

9-7!

On September 8, 2002 the expansion Texans shocked the NFL world and a national television audience by beating the hated Dallas Cowboys at Reliant Stadium 19-10 in their inaugural game. They joined the 1961 Minnesota Vikings as the second NFL expansion teams to win their opening game.

The Texans followed that piece of NFL history up by knocking off the Miami Dolphins to begin the 2003 season, thus becoming the only expansion team to win back to back season openers.

After consecutive 8-8 seasons, the Texans started the 2009 season with expectations of making the NFL playoffs for the first time ever. At midseason they looked like they were on track to do so with a 5-3 record.

But after another frustrating loss to their AFC South nemesis the Indianapolis Colts jumpstarted an ill timed four game losing streak, it put them in the position of needing to win their remaining four games and get help in order to make the playoffs.

They opened the 2010's with a critical must win home game against the NFL team of the 2K's, the New England Patriots. After falling behind 27-13, a 21 point fourth quarter comeback for the ages secured the 34-27 win for the Texans in front a a delirious sellout crowd and secured the first winning season in franchise history.

But to make the playoffs, thanks to their midseason swoon, they needed to have two out of three teams, the NY Jets, the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens lose.

The Broncos obliged, but the Ravens and Jets won their games, thus eliminating the Texans from playoff contention.

Despite being disappointed the Texans fell just short of making the playoffs this year, I'm still happy for my hometown team.

They posted a winning record and have some positive momentum going into the 2010 season. Maybe next year I'll finally get the chance to see my boys beat the Indianapolis Colts and play in the NFL playoffs.

Mayor Parker's Inaugural Speech

The public swearing in ceremony for new Houston Mayor Annise Parker took place today at the Wortham Theater Center with five of our previous mayors, Fred Hofheinz, Kathy Whitmire, Lee Brown, Bob Lanier and Bill White (the one she's succeeding) on the stage with her.

Due to regulations in the city charter, she was sworn in Saturday in a private ceremony to become our 61st mayor and only the second woman to hold the office.

Here's the link to Mayor Parker's inaugural speech

It figures that Phred Phelps and 4 members of his Westboro Baptist Hate Church KKKlan would show up to picket today. They were countered by an even larger group picketing them. I hope the city disinfected and scrubbed down the sidewalk where the Phelps family was standing.

Congrats Madame Mayor. May you have much success and two more terms in the mayor's chair.

It's Officially Mayor Annise Parker!

The arrival of the New Year meant that the day Houston's new mayor would take office was fast approaching.

In a Saturday private ceremony witnessed by her partner Kathy and a small group of her family and friends, Annise D. Parker was officially sworn in as my hometown's 61st mayor.

Longtime friend and former campaign manager State District Judge Steven Kirkland had the honor of administering the oath of office.

Mayor Parker used her grandparents’ Bible for that ceremony, and plans to do so again when she takes part in the public ceremony on Monday at the Wortham Theater Center.

According to a statement issued by the city, Parker kept Saturday’s swearing-in private to avoid overtime costs that would have incurred if police and other city employees were needed for a weekend inauguration.

“At a time when the city is facing budget shortfalls, we will be continually looking for ways to cut expenses,” Parker said in a statement.

During the Monday inaugural festivities, she will take the oath again at 9:30 AM CST along with City Controller-elect Ronald Green and members of the Houston City Council.

As the Houston Chronicle noted and many of us who have watched her rise to the mayor's chair already know, the incoming mayor knows her way around City Hall.

She spent six years as an at-large council member and six more as city controller, years in which she was immersed in city finances and department audits,

“We have someone with institutional knowledge in charge, someone who can recite 12 years of city policy-making off the top of her head,” said local political observer Nancy Sims. “This is truly unique since we adopted term limits.”

And it's that unique aspect which will serve her and the citizens of Houston well.

She also is a straight shooter, and plans to remind Houstonians during her inaugural speech that our city faces difficult choices.

“I'm not going to paint a rosy picture when that's not the truth,” she said. “I am by nature an optimist, but I believe that optimism has to go with hard work and commitment — you have to do the preparation — but Houstonians know how to do that. We'll get by, and things will be fine, but it's not going to be easy.”

But judging by your past work, Houston will be in good hands as you make the tough decisions that will help us get by.

Renee...The Olympic Hockey Beatdown Is Coming!

The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games will be starting February 12, and Renee's finally starting to get Olympic fever since the torch run passed within two blocks of her house.

One of the many things we have in common is that we are big women's hockey fans. Of course, she's Canadian and it's their national sport.

We've had some good natured trash talking going on about which one of our squads will take home the women's hockey gold from Vancouver. Canada and the United States have been the two best teams on the international women's hockey competition scene and the rivalry is an intense one.

When the Vancouver Games kick off the women's hockey tournament will feature the anticipated battle between the current two time women's world champion Team USA versus the two time defending Olympic champs Team Canada.

Both teams are in separate pools, so barring upsets, they will meet in the gold medal match. And as you can see, the trash talking is only beginning.

May I remind you Renee and all proud Canadians, when women's hockey was first contested as a medal sport at Nagano in 1998, we beat Team Canada twice to skate away with the first gold ever awarded in Olympic competition.

The 2010 USA women's Olympic team has been selected. There are six Olympians on that squad including Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter, who were on the 1998 Nagano gold medal squad.

My girls will be training hard to make sure that gold medal comes back to the States with them. Yeah, we definitely haven't forgotten Salt Lake 2002 and owe y'all an Olympic butt kicking y'all so richly deserve.

I have already composed a special version of the Canadian National Anthem I will post to TransGriot when the Olympic tournament is over and the Stars And Stripes is being raised above the Canadian flag to the rafters of GM Place.

(singing to tune of the Canadian national anthem)
Oh Canada,
Your fans will get to see
Your women lose
The gold in women's hockey

You'll see the rest of it on February 25. FYI, that's the date the women's Olympic hockey gold medal game will be contested.

USA! USA! USA!

2010 Battle Of The Bluegrass

The sports rivalries between the University of Louisville Cardinals and the University of Kentucky Wildcats are always intense, bitterly contested affairs.

But it is basketball which fans the passionate flames of the Kentucky and Louisville faithful, and this date has been circled on the calendar ever since the basketball schedules for both schools were released.

It's a rivalry that is so big that it divides friends and families. The Louisville Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader not only print special sections in the paper but devotes space on their webpages just to cover it.

I'm no stranger to big rivalry games. I grew up watching the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies Thanksgiving Day football hatefest. But this is a rivalry that makes the UT-Texas A&M one look wimpy in comparison.

I even get a taste of the rivalry here in the house. Wildcat fan Dawn and Cardinal fan Polar will be driving the 70 miles down I-64 east to take in the action at Rupp while wearing their respective school colors.

I like both teams and I'm neutral about which team I support as a Texan in exile. But this week the recruiting pitches from fans on both sides trying to get me to join Cats Nation or Cards Nation have been more intense than usual.

Televisions all across the state and a capacity Rupp Arena crowd will be on hand for the latest renewal of the Battle of the Bluegrass. The Number 3 ranked and 14-0 Wildcats will host the 10-3 Cards in Lexington. Kentucky has a 26-14 all time series lead but Louisville has won the last two games.

The Cats are flying high under new coach John Calipari and super freshman John Wall. Of course the UK fans are supremely confident they will win today's matchup that tips off at 3:30 PM EST. They are also popping their collars after becoming the first NCAA school to win 2000 games last month.

But Rick Pitino's Cards and their fans aren't backing down or caring that UK is a 7 point favorite going into this heavyweight basketball tilt. Anything can and does happen in rivalry games, and this one has had its share of fantastic finishes, great players, unsung heroes, and close games regardless of who was ranked at the time.

As former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Herman Edwards said, "That's why you play the games."

At any rate, it'll be fun to watch.

Moni's 2010 New Year's Resolutions

Every year I make resolutions at the beginning of the year that I do try to keep.

That's just me and the way I am. I like having concrete goals that I work to try to achieve. Making resolutions and writing them down gives me a way of not only checking my progress towards that goal I set at the beginning of the year but gives me a sense of accomplishment and a sense of pride when I do make it happen.

So with that being said, what are Moni's Resolutions for 2010?

*I want to get down to 210 pounds from the 228 I'm at as of January 1, 2010. Have to work off the extra weight I picked up when I went back to Houston and got spoiled rotten for Christmas.

*I want to publish one of my fiction writing manuscripts by January 2011.

*I will set aside time to do fiction writing and complete the trans themed manuscript I've been working on.

*In doing my part for the African American Transsisterhood Initiative, I am going to get to know 10 transwomen I don't currently talk to on a regular basis.

*I will continue to work on evolving into the quality Black woman I want to be and strive to take and make more quality time for myself.

*I will make five new friends before the end of the year.

*I will get to know and have regular conversations with ten international trans people

*I will do a better job of staying in contact with family members and the friends I already have in my life.

Those are nice to start with. You can check back dear readers on January 1, 2011 and see how well I did in achieving them.

Amanda Simpson Makes History

Amanda Simpson is no stranger to making transgender history. In 2004 she won the Democratic nomination for an Arizona House of Representatives seat but narrowly lost that bid to become the first transperson elected to a state legislative body since 1992.

She made history in another way by becoming the first transgender presidential appointee.

Simpson has been appointed by the Obama Administration as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce. She'll be working in the Bureau of Industry and Security.

Simpson brings considerable professional credentials to her new job. For 30 years, she has worked in the aerospace and defense industry, most recently serving as Deputy Director in Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz. She holds degrees in physics, engineering and business administration, along with an extensive flight background. She is a certified flight instructor and test pilot with 20 years of experience.

In other words, Amanda's all that and three bags of chips!

“I'm truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me,” said Simpson. “And at the same time, as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others.”

I was hoping that the 2010's would be a decade that results in an avalanche of groundbreaking 'firsts' and universal recognition of our human rights for the transgender community in the States and around the world.

Well, on the first day of it, we get this wonderful news.

Congratulations Amanda. You deserve it and what a great way to start off the new year and the new decade on a positive note.

New Years Video Message From The POTUS

Fresh for the 2K10, the New Years Day Message from President Barack Obama

Shut Up Fool! Awards-New Year's Day Edition

Happy New Year to you TransGriot readers! Not only is today the first day of 2010 and a new decade, it's also my blogiversary. TransGriot published its first post at 12:28 AM on January 1, 2006.

But y'all know what we do on Fridays. We pause to shine a bright spotlight on the fools in our midst, and it's time to get busy doing so again.

So who will get the honor of being the first fool we honor for 2010 and get a leg up on the competition for being our 2010 Shut Up Fool! of the Year Award winner?

This week's fool is Ann Coulter.

Unfortunately her jaw wasn't wired shut this holiday season like it was last year, so we had to hear Coulter and her conservacronies engage in race baiting, religious bigotry, and lie on their conservative propaganda dissemination network.

Back in 2007 the hosts of Fox & Friends spent a substantial portion of a broadcast repeating an obviously false online claim that then-Sen. Obama had attended a radical Islamic madrassa as a child in Indonesia.

Annie just dredged up the 'President studied at a madrassa' lie that has been thoroughly debunked by CNN.



I liked it better when her jaw was wired shut.

Ann Coulter, shut up fool!

Canadian Trans Rights Bill C-389 Moving Towards Debate

I talked a few months ago about Canadian MP Bill Siksay filing a private member's bill May 15 that would add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of protected classes in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada.

Well, thanks to the action alert from Mercedes Allen, it looks like the legislative process is finally beginning to percolate around MP Siksay's Bill C-389 and it is about to come up for debate.

NDP Party critic on Canadian Heritage, housing and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Transsexual issues Bill Siksay is one of the few openly gay members of the Canadian Parliament and has represented the diverse Burnaby-Douglas riding in the Vancouver, BC area since 2004.

This is also the third attempt he's made to get Bill C-389 passed.

If C-389 passes, this would be a groundbreaking legislative win for our north of the border trans cousins.

As MP Siksay stated during the first reading of Bill C-389:

The bill will add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act and to the Criminal Code sections regarding hate crimes and sentencing provisions, providing explicit protection for transgender and transsexual Canadians from discrimination in all areas of federal jurisdiction.

Transsexual and transgender Canadians face significant prejudice in their daily lives. Whether it is job discrimination, access to housing and public services, especially health care, problems with identity documents, difficulties with law enforcement officials, a high suicide rate, or the increased likelihood that they will be victims of violence, the situation of transsexual and transgender people demands our attention.

The bill would give transsexual and transgender Canadians direct access to the protections provided for in the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code of Canada that they so urgently need.

I look forward to seeing the bill debated this fall in the next round of private members' business. Given that transgender and transsexual folks are members of our families, our friends, our co-workers, and our neighbours, I hope this measure will find support in all corners of the House.

If you live in the 'Great White North', time to get busy writing, e-mailing or calling your MP and respectfully asking them to support C-389. This is an 'all hands on deck' project that the entire Canadian TBLG community and their allies can and should enthusiastically get behind as well.

And don't stop with just the MP's. Write the party leaders as well such as the Liberals Michael Ignatieff, the NDP's Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois and Elizabeth May of the Green Party.

And if you happen to be a Conservative with progressive leanings, write the 'Sweater Vest' as well. After all, he is the Prime Minister.

Mercedes also noted that since Prime Minister Stephen Harper and much of the leadership ranks hail from conservative Alberta, it will be critically important for GLBT Albertans to make sure they make their voices heard with their MP's about their support for the passage of C-389.

Here's a link to the NDP Party website to get you started. If you don't know who your MP is, here's the link to the Canadian Parliament website in which all you'll have to do is type in your postal code to discover who your MP is.

As I continue to point out, the fight for transgender rights is a worldwide struggle. Any positive success anywhere on the planet helps me and my peeps in the States and other locales. It's why I'm very interested in what transpires in Canada with Bill C-389.

While we transgender Americans and our allies will pretty much be on the sidelines in cheerleader mode for this one, in light of the fact that ENDA is still awaiting action on this side of the border, we'll be extremely interested observers as the potentially historic C-389 bill makes its way through Parliament.

We'll also be praying that the third time is indeed the charm in terms of this bill becoming law in the Great White North.

Let's Build Community in The 2K1's, Black Transwomen!

“It’s time for us to organize, gather together the clusters of African-American transwomen around the country who are doing positive things in their various communities and talk to each other. We need to befriend and bond with each other. We also need to immediately band together locally while thinking and acting nationally and globally with our transsisters around the world“.

Monica Roberts August 13, 2008

It's time.

I'm envious of the fact that our Asian and Pacific Rim transsisters just formed an organization to do the advocacy and informational dissemination for transpeople across that region.

I would love to see the same thing happen for African descended transpeople, and I'm wondering out loud what's holding us back from doing so?

Yeah, I know we have a lot of issues in the African descended community to deal with. We are taking the brunt of the anti transgender violence plaguing the transgender community as a whole. We have employment issues to deal with. We have faith based haters in our midst that refuse to understand that just because we transitioned does not mean we stopped being Black people concerned about the issues that affect it.

We have medical-health care issues. We have people that feel isolated, powerless and alone. We have self esteem and pride issues that must be addressed.

But addressing those issues and getting to the point where we can solve them will take concentrated teamwork and effort from all of us across the country.

Yes, it will be difficult. There will be disagreements on just how we go about doing it. But do it we must.

The status quo we've been muddling along with for decades is no longer acceptable. We must take charge of our destinies in this decade and not let others speak (or not speak) for the African descended trans community.

For that to happen, it's going to require hard solid thinking, short and long term strategic planning and sustained work it's going to take to make that happen,

If we're not quite ready yet to tackle that project, then my suggestion would be to use the African American Transsisterhood Initiative as a starting point to build a cohesive community.

I would not only love to see better networking capability between African descended transpeople in our various communities come out of that, but also see some genuine friendship from from that as well.

A girl can dream can't she?

But what I would really like to see become a reality is the Black trans community having the same or better community infrastructure that our white sisters have, and do so by the end of the 2K1's.

And I know some of you would like to see that happen as well.

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade! Happy Anniversary TransGriot Blog!

Today marks not only the start of a new year and a new decade as we wave goodbye to the 2K's and usher in the 2K1's, it's also the anniversary of the start of my TransGriot blog.

On January 1, 2006 at 12:28 AM EST the first of over 2000 posts went up on TransGriot.

I remember how shocked and happy I was when I installed the hit counter and realized that 400 people a day at the time actually read what I wrote.

Well, I'm still going and having fun writing posts on this blog on various subjects, and I thank you long time an new readers fir being there along the way.

The last day of the opening decade of the 21st century has faded into history. May the first day of 2010 and the rest of the 2K1's decade be a lot better for all of us and this blog as well.

Our Asian-Pacific Rim Transsisters Form APTN

TransGriot Note: Our transsisters in Asia and the Pacific Rim made a little history this month to close out the 2k's. They formed an organization designed to advocate for the rights and the health issues of transpeople across the region.

This is wonderful news not only for transpeople in Asia and the Pacific Rim, but their transsisters on the rest of the planet.

Here's the press release for the Asia Pacific Transgender Network courtesy of Leona's blog.

***

World’s First Asia Pacific Transgender Network Launched to Champion Health and Rights of Transgender Women in the Region

Diverse groups from warias, kathoeys and hijras to be represented

22 December 09, Singapore. Transgender women from 10 Asia Pacific countries and areas are coming together to say “No!” to discrimination and marginalisation by forming the world’s first Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN). After three days of intense meetings, it was decided that the APTN, composed entirely of transgender women across the region, will champion transgender women’s health, legal and social rights.

Ms. Khartini Slamah, Founding Working Group member and Core-Group Chair of the Transgender Programme in Pink Triangle (PT) Foundation, Malaysia, says this represents a milestone in the history of transgender women in the region. She says, “For a long time transgender women have been represented among the MSM (men who have sex with men) sub-population group, but there is now a recognition that we are a distinct demographic with our own unique needs. We wish to be separated from the MSM umbrella and inform The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to stop clustering us under the MSM umbrella. Transgender women are not men – we have different issues and needs. Thus we have formed a network addressing the needs of transgender women only.”

From hijras in South Asia to warias in Indonesia

The group represents a broad spectrum of transgender women from sex workers to career women, from hijras (South Asia), warias (Indonesia), kathoeys (Thailand) and sao praphet songs (Thailand) to specialized interest groups such as youth, Muslims and elderly transgender women.

Ms Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, another Founding Working Group member and one of the most recognizable faces of hijras in India, says she is pleased the community is being represented by the network. She says, “For the first time in history, hijras from Nepal, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are joining hands with our transgender sisters from Asia Pacific to say ‘No!’ to being treated like second-class citizens. We know there is strength in numbers. Together, we can advance and improve the health, legal and social rights of transgender women.”

The network will also tackle issues in the region such as HIV prevalence among transgender sex workers, especially in countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia, where infection rates are extremely high and resources in place are inadequate to ensure access to quality healthcare, as well as to protect the rights of the sex workers.

Outreach activities

The network is developing a workplan for the next two to three years. The Working Group will identify and explore key populations/groups in immediate need of support and plan activities to reach out to these target groups. Transgender representatives have also been appointed from every sub-region and from key sub-populations to rally transgender organisations within their respective sub-regions or areas to become members of the network.

Ms Sitthiphan (Hua) Boonyapisomparn, APTN Coordinator who is based in Bangkok, says, “At this stage, it is important that we develop a comprehensive workplan that addresses the needs of APTN members. We are already in discussion with potential donors and sponsors to explore how they might support APTN programmes.”

For more information about the network or to support its programmes, please contact Ms Sitthiphan at huab2007@gmail.com.

APTN Sub Regions and Key Populations

The APTN is categorized according to seven sub-regions and seven key populations. Each group is represented as follows:

Danisha (Malaysia) for transgender drug users

Jetsada Taesombat (Thailand) for transgender youth

Jin Qiu (China) for China Sub-Region

Khartini Slamah (Malaysia) for senior transgender women

Laxmi Narayan Iripathi (India) for India Sub-region

Leona Lo (Singapore) for Developed Asia Sub-region

Luluk Surahman (Indonesia) for Insular Southeast Asia Sub-region

Manisha (Nepal) for South Asia Sub-region

Prempreeda Pramos Na Ayutthaya (Thailand) for the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Sam Sela (Cambodia) for transgender people living with HIV

Sulastri (Malaysia) for transgender sex workers

Zahida Hijra (Bangladesh) for hijras

Vacant – for transgender Muslims

Vacant – for Pacific Sub-region

About APTN

The mission of APTN is to enable transgender women in the Asia Pacific region to organise and advocate to improve their health, protect their human rights, and enhance their social well-being and the quality of their lives. The network startup is supported by the 7 Sisters Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS, Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM), and Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW)

Shut Up Fool! Of The Year

One of the more popular features on this blog has been the weekly 'Shut Up Fool! Award in which I shine a bright spotlight on the fools that are within our midst.

There are certain people that should get it every week, but that's another post.

So without further ado, I'm going to reveal the winner of the Shut up Fool! of the Year Award for 2009.

As always, there were a plethora of worthy candidates, some who are in the running for the Shut up Fool! Lifetime Achievement Award like a certain Oxycontin popping right wing talk show host.

But one person particularly stood out in terms of being a straight up fool with nauseating consistency.

The envelope please.

Our winner of the 2009 Shut Up Fool! Of The Year Award is:

Michael Steele.

Whether it was calling Rush Limbaugh out and then retracting the statement, giving 'slum love' to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, trying to entice African Americans to join the Republican Party with 'hip-hop outreach' or claiming the GOP was 'scared of him', GOP Chairman Michael Steele never ceased to come up with some stupid jibber jabber as our mascot would call it.

He also consistently embarrassed himself and his party. Glad he's on your team.

Congratulations, and Shut Up Fool!

Thank You For A Good 2009

Thank you TransGriot readers for helping this humble blog grow and hit some milestone achievements this year.

*1 million hits

*My 2000th post

*2000 hits per day

*2008 Weblog Awards Finalist




Thanks to you loyal readers, those were achieved and more. I'm looking forward as the anniversary of TransGriot's founding looms at midnight to continued growth, continuing to create quality posts, reaching the 2500 and 3000 post milestones, getting to 1.5 million hits and keeping TransGriot an enjoyable and informative place for you to visit.