Hatin' On Houston-Christofool Style

The rest of Texas, especially the conservative sections of it have always had their hate on for my beloved hometown as the largest city in the state.

But one of the questions I asked myself in the wake of Annise becoming mayor is how long would it take before the haters started tripping about her personal life?

About two weeks after her inauguration.

A 'christian' conservafool in Amarillo is taking his hatred of my hometown to another level in the wake of the historic election that elevated Annise Parker to our mayor's chair.

Reverend David Grisham has set up Boycott Houston.com which seeks to bring economic sanctions from other like minded christohaters to the Bayou City.

***

Do you want a Texas version of San Francisco? Neither do we!
Do you want Texas to be the abortion capital of America? Neither do we!
Houston has elected an openly homosexual mayor and built the largest abortion clinic in the United States and you can do something about it!

While you may or may not be a resident of Houston and eligible to vote for mayor, you can vote with your dollar.

This is why we are calling on Christians everywhere to boycott the city of Houston.
We want to impose “economic sanctions” on Houston, Texas!
Please make your voice heard and join our cause. By signing the online petition you send Houston a message; That you are tired of babies being murdered and the radical homosexual agenda being shoved down the throat of normal society.

Texas is a Christian state! Help keep it that way!
Don’t mess with Texas or Texas children.

Pastor,
David H. Grisham
Director, RepentAmarillo.com, RavenAmarillo.com

***

Now that I've had the opportunity to stop rolling on the floor laughing at this fool, time for the smackdown.

Methinks the good reverend needs to tend to his own flock in Amarillo and stop wasting time hatin' on Houston. I also find it amusing that the server that hosts his Hate On Houston website is based in San Francisco, a city he hates so much.

What's wrong Reverend, no 'Christian' high tech companies to host your website? That's what happens when you send your kids to private 'christian' schools and teach them Flintstones science.

When I crossed the Texas-Louisiana border on my long bus ride from Kentucky back home during the holidays, the sign posted at the state line welcoming tourists and highway travelers read 'Drive Friendly-The Texas Way'.

We're also known worldwide as The Lone Star State', not the 'Christian' State.

Your brand of 'Christianity', Reverend Grisham, runs counter to our state motto of 'Friendship' and is the reason our state and our country is so jacked up right now.

Frankly reverend, your wingers staying away from my hometown will actually improve the quality of life for those of us who love living there.

FYI, Planned Parenthood does mammograms, pap smears and other general health related care. If you right wing conservafools would quit fighting universal health care, low income peeps wouldn't need to go to them for basic medical needs.

I'm proud to be from and have grown up in the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. The population of my hometown in the 2K's grew 13.6% to 2,242,173 because it is a diverse, international city.

And the population of Amarillo is what, 175,000?

I'm proud to be from a city that produced outstanding congressmembers such as Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland.

I'm proud to be from the city that is the hometown of Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad, Beyonce Knowles, Jobeth Williams, Jennifer Holliday and Yolanda Adams.

I'm proud to be from a city that recognizes the talents of all its citizens and values their contributions to its civic life and growth no matter what their race, gender, sexual orientation and hopefully soon gender identity.

I'm proud to be from a city that has world class museums, orchestras, ballet, theater, nightlife, professional sports, colleges and universities, and eclectic gayborhoods.

You know, culture.

I'm proud to have our homegirl Annise Parker as our mayor. She has served this city for over a decade, knows it inside out, wants to be in that chair, and hope she gets rewarded by the voters with two more two year terms.

Oh yeah, Revered Grisham one more thing: You need Jesus.

Stop Trying To Erase Tenika Watson-And Trans African Americans In General

In the wake of Teddy Pendergrass' death it was interesting to note that the eulogies of him written by MSM papers and elsewhere mentioned the 1982 traffic accident but didn't mention the other passenger involved.

Tenika Watson's name was ignored by many except the people who Googled it and ended up at this humble blog. As a matter of fact I had an all time record traffic day of 8561 page views thanks to that August post I put up telling Tenika's side of the story circa 1982 and I thank y'all for visiting the blog.

But with those 8500 plus view came the trans haters trying to erase Tenika's existence and transpeople in general

I received this comment from someone calling themselves Elizabeth. My comment filter thankfully caught it before it could contaminate my comment thread on the post.

'Elizabeth' commented on Tenika Watson's Story - TransGriot:

It's wonderful that they both lived throught the accident. Tenika Watson is a man, which is why society will not accept him as a woman. However, he should not be attacked for his lifestyle. He, like the rest of us, just needs to be prayed for and told the truth.

The e-mail address of Elizabeth was removed to protect the ignorant.

Did you pay any attention to that picture? Tenika Watson is most definitely NOT a man, SHE is a woman. You are the one however, who needs glasses, Jesus and prayer for the ugly transphobia you had the nerve to attempt to bring to my blog.

And what you did was attack her life by denying its existence. I'm sick of you Reichers rolling out the word 'lifestyle'. You chose your 'christian' lifestyle, transpeople have a life.

The truth is that you need to pick up a science textbook before you comment here, Elizabeth. Since you're so concerned with the truth, time to school you on gender issues.

First lesson is that genitalia does not equal gender identity. That's something we scientifically literate peeps have known for some time and is becoming more clear with each passing year and decade of research on gender issues.

It's also becoming clear to all except those of you wallowing in arrogant cis privilege that there's a fine line between walking on this planet in a masculine or feminine body.

This was a comment from the ATL that was a reaction to my recent Bryn Mawr speech.

You speak of this stuff as if it's normal. It isn't normal! If you have a problem with my statement I think you really need to seek, not a pastor or counselor, but the holy spirit. Ask him to give you understanding of the Bible. I'm sorry that homosexuals/transgender people are abused and that is definetly NOT God's will. We are to love EVERYONE. However, I'm so sick of people trying to pass this lifestyle off as "o.k.".

The waste of DNA calling themselves Disagreeing didn't have the cojones to own their hate speech. You cannot profess that you love someone and express these kinds of hateful sentiments. As a Christian I have a problem with you using the Bible as justification for your BS.


Contrary to your erroneous assessment of my spirituality, I attend church regularly and know beyond a shadow of a doubt God loves me and other trans people as well.

I also have a better grasp of scripture than you assume I do. Check out Matthew 19:12 before you come over here to get pimp slapped again.

These are blatant examples of what has been going on in the African American community, online at various sites and beyond.

Too many of the insecure people who engage in erasing our identities such as Elizabeth and Disagreeing attend conservative prosperity gospel pimping churches. They hide their trans hatred, ignorance and transbigotry behind the Bible and parrot those sellout Christopimp preachers who spout this scientifically illiterate crap ad nauseum and it needs to stop.

What else needs to stop is ignoring the fact that transpeople have been a part of African American culture and living our lives for decades. There are an estimated 1.3 million proud chocolate flavored transpeeps.

And lets keep it real, there are some of you macho cis dudes out there who when you close your bedroom doors have trans sistahs in your beds.

No matter how much you try to erase us and our existence, the beauty of the Net is that we're finally getting the opportunity to tell our stories.

We chocolate flavored transpeeps also get the opportunity to swiftly smack down hateful transphobic comments, faith based disinformation and feeble attempts to erase our existence.

If you don't like the equalized playing field, tough. New decade, new rules.

And one of those new rules is we African descended transpeople aren't tolerating any attacks on our humanity.

Sitting Out An Election Is Not An Option

I read the post from Paula Brooks of Lez Get Real urging GLBT people in Massachusetts to sit out today's US Senate special election, between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown and I have a few things to say about that.

Are you fracking crazy? It is never a smart play for a minority group to sit out an election.

I don't care how mad or upset you get with the party hierarchy, or couch your displeasure with 'tough love' rhetoric, you're not 'punishing them' by sitting out the election, you're punishing yourselves.

I have to chuckle and shake my head in sadness at the fact that once again, white fauxgressive GLBT people wallowing in vanilla flavored privilege are falling for the okey-doke from Republifools like Brown and acting against their own economic and political interests because they're 'mad' at President Obama and the Democratic Party.

Yeah, right. You white gays are pissed off because the Prez hasn't done what you wanted him to do in one year on the job and supports civil unions but not marriage.

Hello..we were on the brink of a depression when he took office. Let's also not forget that Obama is still cleaning up the mess from Dubya's toxic waste of a presidency.

And let's get real, you're still hatin' on him because he beat Sen. Hillary Clinton, the HRC endorsed candidate in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

He's the president that SIGNED hate crimes legislation and made it the law of the land and will sign ENDA when it hits his desk.

It's also time to smell the legislative coffee and deal with the reality that permanently repealing DOMA requires CONGRESSIONAL action, not an executive order. If Congress doesn't pass that DOMA repeal legislation, it can't appear on his desk to sign it.

Frankly, while I'm in favor of marriage equality, I still believe that making it the lead GLBT issue was a colossal mistake. It has slowed the positive forward momentum the GLBT community built up with the previous strategy of passing comprehensive rights laws. It has wasted precious time, resources and treasure on a issue that isn't going to benefit the vast majority of GLBT people, and only serves as a intersectional organizing and fundraising mechanism for the Sacreligious Reich.

You peeps like Paula Brooks who are advocating sitting out today's election got it wrong. If you vote in today's election, you INCREASE your leverage. If your votes are the ones that allow Martha Coakley to finish out the late Ted Kennedy's senate term, it's a little difficult for Senator Coakley to ignore GLBT issues if its shown that GLBT voters were the ones that put her over the top.

My observation that it's never a smart play to sit out an election comes from bitter experience.

Back in 1994 we African descended Texans were pissed about minor disagreements we were having with Gov. Ann Richards administration and the same 'sit out the election to teach them a lesson' call went out.

The problem was that call went out in the same year of the 'Angry White Male midterms'. Our sitting out that 1994 election cycle in the face of an energized GOP leaning electorate paved the way for George W. Bush to be elected governor of Texas, and halted the progressive cleanup of the mess the previous Republican governor left behind.

The only reason we kept anti GLBT and anti civil rights legislation at bay in the 90's was Democratic control of the Texas House, where we killed bad legislation in committee. Us sitting out the 1994 cycle narrowed the Dem advantage in the Texas House to a scant six seats and put the GOP in a position to illegally buy their way into a majority in 2002.

We also lost the $2.5 billion budget surplus that Gov. Richards had painstakingly built up over her term after inheriting a $6 billion budget deficit. In my home county it cost us the seats of every sitting African-American judge as well.

How many times will white gay peeps continue to fail to get the message that voting for anti-GLBT rights Republicans because you're 'mad at Democrats' or sitting out elections is a politically delusional act?

If that wording is harsh, then what would you call letting someone into political office who hates the GLBT community as Scott Brown does and giving them the power to negatively impact it?

Damned sure wouldn't call it 'smart politics'.

If African American and other GLBT peeps of color know that Republicans are not our friends, will fight tooth and nail to see they DON'T get elected, and under any circumstances will not vote for them, why haven't y'all gotten that message?

And that's keeping it real for you vanilla flavored GLBT peeps who agree with Lez Get Real.

Sitting out an election is not an option.

California LGBT Prisoner Safety Bill Passes Crucial Assembly Committee

I talked about a bill last year designed to help protect GLBT prisoners that passed in the California Assembly and the California Senate, but was vetoed by the Governator.

I was advised by Jay Davis of Equality California that the bill, AB 633 was recently reintroduced for this session and on January 12 passed by a unanimous 6-0 vote in the California State Assembly Committee on Public Safety.

AB 633 is sponsored by Equality California (EQCA) and was introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). The bill is designed to prevent violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the state prison system. The bill was vetoed by the Governor last year but was recently reintroduced.

“We must put an end to the brutal assaults LGBT prisoners so often face,” EQCA Executive Director Geoff Kors said. “Passing this bill would be an important step toward preventing violence against LGBT prisoners and ensuring they have access to the same safeguards under the law as other inmates. We have already started discussions with the Governor's office about why this bill is needed and why the current procedures are not working. We are hopeful he will reconsider his position and sign the bill if it passes this year.”

According to a study by UC Irvine commissioned by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 69 percent of transgender inmates report sexual victimization while incarcerated.

It's not just a California problem. Abuse of transgender prisoners happens across the country and around the world to the point where trans prisoners have to be segregated for their own protection. In Italy a transgender only prison was just opened in the town of Pozzale.

By amending the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act (SADEA) of 2005 to include self-reported safety concerns related to sexual orientation and gender identity on the list of factors for consideration when classifying and housing prisoners, the legislation promotes safety for and prevents assaults against LGBT people in the prison system. The list of factors currently includes age, type of offense and prior time served.

"All people deserve basic protections — including those serving time in our state prisons," Assemblymember Ammiano said. "No prisoner should fear for his or her life or be the target of abuse because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity."

The bill originally developed following a Senate Public Safety Committee meeting held in San Francisco in December 2008 and is chaired by Senator and former Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). The meeting, which was sponsored by EQCA along with Just Detention International, the Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, exposed the dire issues facing LGBT people in California prisons in order to produce concrete solutions. The LGBT Prisoner Safety Act is an important step toward ensuring the safety of this highly vulnerable population.

Let's hope the bill fares better in this California legislative session than it did last year and actually becomes law.

Statewide Fairness Coalition Awarded $30,000 From State Equality Fund

The Tides Foundation’s State Equality Fund, a philanthropic partnership that includes the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, the Gill Foundation, and anonymous donors, has awarded the Kentucky Statewide Fairness Coalition $30,000 to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality. The Fund is programmatically staffed on behalf of the donors by the Gill Foundation’s Movement Building Center.

During the summer of 2009, the Kentucky Statewide Fairness Coalition submitted a letter of intent seeking to submit a complete grant proposal for support. Shortly after submission, the Coalition was invited to apply.

“The State Equality Fund promotes equality through the work of state and local organizations,” said Toni Broaddus, Executive Director of the Equality Federation, national alliance working to further equality in a state-based movement. “Support from the State Equality Fund will assist the Coalition in advancing their work around nondiscrimination and parenting rights of LGBT Kentuckians.”

The Coalition releases the following joint statement: “We are fortunate to receive this grant through the State Equality Fund to support our work advancing the rights and dignity of LGBT Kentuckians. We will continue to bring fair-minded people together for real and substantive change that betters our Commonwealth.”

The Coalition began its 2010 work this past weekend with the 2nd Statewide Fairness Summit held in Frankfort Saturday, January 16. Over 100 Fairness supporters from across the state convened in the Commonwealth's Capitol to develop strategy towards passage of the statewide anti-discrimination Fairness law, pre-filed in the House this session by Louisville Representative Mary Lou Marzian.

The Coalition has scheduled its 2010 Statewide Fairness Lobby Day and Rally in Frankfort for Wednesday, February 24.

Members of the Kentucky Statewide Fairness Coalition are: Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, Fairness Campaign, Lexington Fairness, Kentucky Fairness Alliance Foundation, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Foundation.

Kelis' Letter To PETA

TransGriot Note: Y'all know how much I loathe PETA and their racist, sexist, classist, abelist (pick an ism) behinds. In their anti-fur campaigns they've been getting pimp slapped lately by African-American celebs who don't quite see the issue the way they do.

Mary J. Blige has already warned their anti-fur paint throwing hooligans what will happen if they try to throw paint on any fur she owns.

Well, PETA wrote the singer Kelis a letter, which she responded to on January 14 and posted on her Myspace page. Moni's going to save you the trouble and post it here.

Kelis' Letter to PETA

Good morning all!
Ok, so you’re gonna love this. The other day I got a personalized letter from PETA! Lol so after some thought I've decided to write one back. Goes a little something like this:

****

There is no humane way to kill anything, let me start there. It’s unfortunate but it’s part of life. With that being said, I would eat pterodactyl if you found some and you told me it was meaty and delicious. And after doing a very minimal amount of research....... I found out that the founder Ingrid Newkirk is completely batty. I had a feeling but she far exceeded my expectations. I mean certifiably insane! Lol this chicks will is nuts, google it – it’s a riot! Beyond the fact that I think she's a diabetic, which means she needs insulin, which is taken from lab pigs (I know this because my sister happens to be in veterinary school), which would be completely hypocritical. It’s like don't abuse animals unless it can help me.

I feel very strongly about a lot of things such as the sweatshops that spin cotton and the blood on their hands. Btw it’s not just the look of fur. It’s warm as hell and feels glorious, ever rubbed faux fur on your body? Nothing luxurious about that. Then the letter proceeded to name artist and designers who don't wear real fur. Great! More for me! I don't judge them, don't judge me.

If I started wearing endangered animals like polar bear or orangutan then talk to me. (Which btw for the record I would not - I do believe in the preservation of endangered species) But the minks and chinchilla that quite honestly are rodents and if weren't in the form of a coat I would demand they be put to death anyway are not an issue to me.

The death of high fashion. Ugh.

I eat meat, and in fact my mouth salivates as I type the word meat! And the paint throwing that's just ridiculous! What if I was hurling Loubitons and Pierre Hardy's at every sad poorly dressed person on the street? As right as I may be it’s just fanatical and crazy. And people have the right to feel as they please. What about art? Survival of the fittest. Natural selection? No let's just let all the rodents run free and over take our cities. Oh wait they have, NY and LA in particular are infested! Why don't u save them all from scavenging on the streets and ruining my evening strolls, take them home. Make them pets! Get off my back! Pun intended!

Underpaid minorities picking your vegetables, now that's fine for you right? Please, fight for their rights. How about the poverty in the communities of brown people around the world. She had the nerve to say (and I quote) "get over it" talking of the issue of black people and slavery in this country verses cows being slaughtered. Is she kidding me? Lol yes she must be. Actually, she's lucky most black people have real issues to worry about in the U.S and don't give a crap what her delusional privileged opinions are. But she should try saying that again just for kicks n giggles on the corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd in Harlem n see how well people "get over it" lol.

If u want to preach do it about something worthwhile don't waste my time trying to save the dang chipmunk.

Find a worthwhile cause like the women being maimed in these Middle Eastern countries. Or female circumcision. Or women's rights here in America, we still get paid less for doing the same jobs as men. Quite honestly if you hate the world so much go live in the forest where no one else has to hear you complain about the perfectly good food chain the good Lord created. Everyone has the right to an opinion, and that's mine on that! xoxo

****

Amen, Kelis

Happy King Day!

Today is Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King Day, the holiday in the States in which we remember our 'Drum Major For Justice' and the remarkable but all too brief life of as Tavis Smiley called him, one of the greatest Americans we have ever produced as a people.

I usually spend a portion of my King Day doing what he called it 'hard solid thinking' about various social justice and other issues. I also engage in doing a little introspection on how and what I need to do personally to continue evolving toward being a better human being.

Sometimes that introspective process has me rereading some of Dr. King's essays. Many people are aware of his oratorical skills, but sometimes forget that Dr. King was one dynamite writer as well.

I am also tired of the focus of the celebrations on Dr. King's life being before 1963. Dr. King did live until April 4, 1968.

After 1963 Dr. King started focusing on economic justice issues in addition to opposing the Vietnam War, which didn't sit well with a lot of people. His essays and speeches post-1963 are just as timely and on point for our times as they were back then, and just as insightful as his pre-1963 ones.

So Happy King Day TransGriot readers. May it be a peaceful and stress free day for you.

Because tomorrow we resume the ongoing work of making 'The Dream' become a reality.

Happy Birthday To 'The Greatest'

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, time to say 'Happy Birthday' to Muhammad Ali.

Today is the birthday of 'The Greatest', who was born in Louisville, KY on this date in 1942. 1960 Olympic gold medalist, three time heavyweight boxing champ, humanitarian, just all around awesome human being.

Enjoy the video from the Ernie Terrell fight, in which Terrell dissed Ali by referring to his old name in a pre fight interview with Howard Cosell, then got his butt kicked in their Astrodome fight.

Ali chanted 'What's my name?' as he pounded Terrell.



Enjoy, and happy birthday to 'The Greatest'.

Who Dat Going To The NFC Title Game?

The Superdome has hosted many historic events since it opened in 1975. It has hosted six Super Bowls, three NCAA Mens Final Fours, the 1988 Republican Convention, a mass by Pope John Paul II, is the host stadium for the Sugar Bowl, several BCS Title games, and the annual Bayou Classic tilt between Grambling and Southern.

But next week it will host its first ever NFC Championship game as the New Orleans Saints blasted the Arizona Cardinals 45-14 to earn their second trip ever as a franchise to the NFC title game. The Saints will play the winner of the Dallas Cowchips-Minnesota Vikings game later today.

The Saints are the number one seed in the NFC playoff bracket, which means the NFC road to the Super Bowl goes through them if they keep winning. But Who Dat Nation was a little nervous about the fact that the Saints came into this playoff game after the bye week with three straight losses in their final NFL regular season games.

Twenty seconds into it they found themselves trailing 7-0 after a 70 yard touchdown run by Tim Hightower stunned the raucous Who Dat Nation Superdome crowd into nervous silence.

The Saints struck back with three consecutive touchdowns in 6:36 to forge a 21-7 lead. Arizona scored another touchdown early in the second quarter to narrow the Saints lead to 21-14, but a 44 yard bomb to Devery Henderson followed up by a two yard pass to Marques Colston broke the game open.

Reggie Bush added to an already stellar day with a third quarter 83 yard punt return for a touchdown to close out the scoring. Bush had 84 yards and a touchdown rushing, 24 yards receiving and 109 yards on three punt returns.

Ever since coach Sean Payton arrived in New Orleans, the Saints have cast aside their lovable losers image and have been building toward elite NFL team level status. The Saints are one of five NFL teams who have never played in the Super Bowl, and this win put them one step closer to earning a trip to Miami and scratching their names off that list.

Geaux Saints!

Happy Birthday Madame First Lady

Today is First Lady Michelle Obama's birthday, who was born on this date in Chicago in 1964.

The FLOTUS is looking good and handling her business a year into her husband's presidency.

So yes, I'm proud that this brilliant, statuesque and talented sister is representing my country. The fact she's an AKA is a bonus.

Happy birthday Madame First Lady. May you have many more and another seven years representing us well.

Gone To Frankfort

I'm in Kentucky's state capital and three hours into an all day summit meeting that commenced at 9 AM EST.



We're discussing legislative strategies for the 2010 Kentucky General Assembly session which has already started, defensive strategies against anti-GLBT laws the right wing yahoos will be trying to pass and other issues of interest to the progressive coalition in the state.


Should be an interesting day before it ends at 5 PM, and yeah, I made sure I got my beauty sleep.

Happy Birthday Sade!

I am a huge fan of her music, and today is the birthday of Helen Folasade Adu, who was born on this date in 1959 in Ibadan, Nigeria.

I love me some Sade, but wish she'd record and tour more often. I've had the pleasure of seeing her in concert, and even though that was back last century (1988) still haven't forgotten it.

A Sade CD release these days is an event almost as rare as sightings of Halley's Comet, but when she puts it out, you won't be disappointed.

I am definitely looking forward to the latest Sade CD when it gets released in April, and have been in love with its first single, Soldier of Love.



Happy Birthday Sade! May you have many more, and release a few more CD's this decade as well.

Would Moni Join A Sorority If They Sincerely Wanted This Transsistah As A Member?

When I was matriculating in college, every Wednesday and Friday for several weeks during the fall and spring semesters we UH Cougars would get to see the probates line up at noon in front of the UC.

There would be the usual testosterone fueled antics of the frats as they verbally dissed their brother orgs and get into the occasion pushing and shoving match. The ladies would be standing at perfectly coiffed attention in matching outfits in their various sorority colors as a gathered crowd of Greek and non Greek peeps watched the fun and festivities.

As I sat there as part of that gathered crowd focusing on the sisters, I felt a mix of emotions ranging from sadness to jealously because I was in the wrong body at the time for membership.

Well, now that the Phenomenal Transwoman has been honestly living her life for the past 16 years, the 102nd anniversary of the founding of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has me pondering what would happen if I were given the honor of being extended an invitation to join one of those sororities.

After falling over in shock because it happened, then the serious questions would kick in related to the historic gravity of the situation.

As of this writing I'm not aware of any open transwoman members of a BGL sorority. I'm not aware if there have been any discussions at the organizational or the National Pan-Hellenic Council level on the parameters for admitting transpeople to BGLO organizations.

But with transpeople transitioning as early as elementary and middle school, sooner or later what I'm talking about here will come to pass.

Because of the scrutiny that I (or any first transperson) would get inside and outside the organization I'd have to ask myself do I not only want it bad enough, do I have the intestinal fortitude and the will to make it happen?

If I can deal with a gender transition, pledging would seem anticlimactic compared to that. But then again, I'd have to go through it to know for certain how difficult it is to be able to honestly make that comparison.

I'd be doing so knowing that a microscope would be on me in the BGL sorority world, that particular organization, that particular chapter and inside the chapter of that org who extended me the invitation to join.

I'd come in knowing that I would have to be better than the average incoming pledge, be willing to accept that challenge, and know that how well I do will determine whether future transpeople would follow in my footsteps.

BGL sororities are moving into their second century of service to our community. They have grown to be international organizations with over a half million women as members encompassing a wide spectrum of fields and legions of trailblazing women. I would want to be a compliment to that tradition of excellence, not a detriment to it.

BGL sororities have welcomed women of different ethnic backgrounds into their ranks for over 50 years, and it's a matter of time before transwomen who are down with what these organizations stand for are permitted to join.

So would Moni join a sorority if one extended her an invitation to join?

Yep. In a heartbeat.