30th Anniversary of The 'Miracle On Ice'

Do you believe in miracles? Yes! Al Michaels, February 1980


It's fitting that we are in the midst of a Winter Olympic Games being held on the North American continent as the 30th anniversary of Team USA's improbable February 22, 1980 Olympic hockey victory 4-3 upset victory over the Soviet hockey team is being celebrated.

I was a few months from graduating from high school when I arrived home from tennis practice and was informed by my mother that the United States had beaten the Big Bad USSR in Olympic hockey.

To grasp the magnitude of that win, as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations in 2008, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) picked the Miracle on Ice as the number-one international hockey story of the century.

Bear in mind that this was a semifinal medal round game. Team USA still had to win the game against Finland to secure the gold medal.

This was also the same USSR team that embarrassed Team USA in a February 9 game at Madison Square Garden 10-3.

But what a difference two weeks makes.



It's 30 years later and I still get goosebumps watching that game.

5-3 USA! USA! USA!

The last time the United States beat Team Canada in Olympic hockey, my parents were a few months shy of graduating from high school.

Since that 2-1 February 25, 1960 win in Squaw Valley, CA Team USA has gone 0-5-1 in Olympic competition against Canada.

Until tonight.

Fittingly wearing replica 1960 uniforms and playing a day before the 30th anniversary of the 1980 'Miracle on Ice', Team USA followed the script of the 1960 and 1980 teams in riding the hot goaltending of Ryan Miller and some timely shots to a stunning 5-3 upset of Team Canada in front of a raucous crowd in Vancouver.

Ryan Miller did his best Jack McCartan and Jim Craig impression by stopping 45 shots in upsetting the heavily favored Canadians. It was the first time in 50 years that the United States men have beaten Canada in hockey and helped them close the preliminary phase of Olympic play with an unblemished record in Group A.

Team USA not only clinched the top spot on Group A, but also gained a bye into the quarterfinal round.

While Team Canada isn't out of the medals, their road to win gold became that much tougher. They not only have to play an extra game, they will have to win four consecutive games to do so.

The 1960 'Forgotten Miracle' team not only went unbeaten to gold at Squaw Valley, but went through Canada, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia in consecutive games to do it. The 1980 'Miracle on Ice' squad, well you know the story.

Can this 2010 United States men's team join those legendary Olympic hockey teams and come back with a gold medal?

They are only three tantalizing games away from doing just that.

Olympic Hockey Border War-Men's Division

We share a long border, the English language and a continent. But for the next two hours, they are The Maple Leaf Flag Waving Enemy.

It's the Olympic hockey showdown at the OK Corral, men's division. It's Team USA versus our Canadian neighbors,

It's Canada's game and national sporting passion. Team USA are no hockey slouches and are playing the day before the 30th anniversary of the 'Miracle on Ice'.

The Canadians won Olympic gold at the 1952 Oslo Games and to our chagrin the 2002 Salt Lake Games. Team USA won on home soil at Squaw Valley in 1960 and Lake Placid in 1980. We're also the only nation in Winter Olympic history to have won Olympic hockey gold as the host nation and we've done it twice.

Fittingly, there are high stakes in this final men's preliminary round game as well. Winner wins Group A and gets a bye into the quarterfinals. Loser plays an extra game to get to the medal round.

'Feel the Thunder' my azz. Time for some Olympic payback.

In 2002 they beat us in the gold medal game on US soil. Time to bring some pain to Canadian dreams of winning gold on their home soil.

USA! USA! USA!

The Lady Chablis

I've had the pleasure of meeting The Lady Chablis and have an autographed copy of her autobiography Hiding My Candy thanks to that May 2003 encounter at a GLBT community Derby party here in Louisville.

Thought it was time to post some videos of the 'Empress of the South.'



On Good Morning America

Party Time In Paris

As Cyndi Lauper once famously sang, girls just wanna have fun, and trans girls are no different. I like a good party, but as for hanging out in smoke filled nightclubs shaking what mama and hormones gave me, that's an arena for the younglings.

Been there, done that and I've moved on to venues that play live jazz.

Paris back in the 50's and 60's had cabarets that once featured trans performers such as trans pioneers Coccinelle, Caroline Cossey and April Ashley.

So with that history in mind, when I stumbled across these YouTube videos of a Paris nightclub which is billed as a trans hangout, I had Paris' previous trans history in mind.

You may wish to wait until you get home to see it if you're at work.

Shani Looking For More Vancouver Gold

Shani Davis is looking to grab another medal tonight and make more speed skating history. He's competing in another event he's dominated during the World Cup season, the 1500m.

Davis is not only the defending world champion at this distance, in December he set the new world record in Utah at 1:41:04. He was the silver medalist at this distance in Torino.

Just like two nights ago when he defended his 1000m title, Davis will be skating in the last pair of the evening.

The best thing about that is that when he steps to the starting line, he'll know what time he has to beat to claim Olympic gold for the second time in these Games.

Shut Up Fool! Awards USA! USA! USA! Edition

It's been a great first week of competition for Team USA at the XXI Winter Olympic Games.

Our men's and women;s hockey teams are still unbeaten, Renee. The thunder I'm feeling has a red, white and blue tinge to it.

So far the USA is on track to matching its all time high for total medals won in a winter Olympiad with a week of competition to go.

Okay loyal TransGriot readers, y'all know what time it is. It's time to see what fool or fools are going for the gold in terms of Olympic level ignorance and foolishness.

Once again, for the duration of the Games, there will be gold, silver and bronze level winners.

So let's get to this week's Shut Up Fool! Awards.

The SUF bronze goes to Jason Mattera, who said at the ongoing CPAC convention in DC that a feminist new Black man is a cross between RuPaul and Barney Frank.

And Jason, a conservative is a cross between a Klansman and Rush Limbaugh

The SUF silver goes to Michelle Malkin who got busted by CNN's Roland Martin for printing a quote in her syndicated column falsely attributed to Martin.

Needless to say my Houston homeboy, who BTW in his day job is the editor of the Chicago Defender, wasn't happy about it.

I have demanded an apology for Malkin admitting she lifted this and actually didn’t research this herself to verify it’s veracity, and I want an apology from her editor on this as well. And I want a correction sent out to every paper that carries her column, and Malkin MUST write a correction on her own blog admitting to her error and apologizing to me.

I am absolutely offended with her inability to perform a basic task of a journalist of verifying something first before you repeat it!

The SUF gold medal goes to Glenn Beck, who compared teacher's unions to leeches.



Glenn Beck, shut the hell up, fool!

Yes, You Teabaggers ARE Racist

Aww, the poor white wing teabaggers are upset because they've been called by the 'liberal media' on their racism.

While I'm concerned and rightfully so about how hordes of motivated, intellectually challenged conservative leaning voters will affect the mid term elections if we liberals don't stop fighting each other and focus on who the real enemy to our country's recovery is, I'm rolling on the floor laughing at the fact their so-called grass roots movement is made up overwhelmingly of illiterate white people.

And yes, it IS about the fact that we have an African-American president in office, so you can stop telling that lie, too.

You've got white supremacists involved. Peep this from Stormfront that Jack and Jill Politics unearthed.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think every WN needs to not only attend the April 15th Tea Party nearest you (I’m going to the Alamo in San Antonio) but then stay involved and help provide leadership to this movement.

I believe that this is the white revolution we’ve been waiting for.

It doesn’t look what we expected but this is it.

I’ve seen probably 50 videos on TV showing previous marches and what strikes me is that the participants are all WHITE. It stands to reason . . . we’re the ones being taxed to support Affirmative Action, Welfare and other worthless social programs. It’s our tax dollars going to ACORN and supporting the 12 million illegals swarming into our neighborhoods.

Are 'we're not racist' and 'socialist' your new covert ways of saying the n-word?

And let's not forget all those 'Real Americans' who have the delusionally misguided belief that President Obama is not a United States citizen.

Read the birth certificate and the birth announcement y'all dug up.

Let's not forget that the people shouting 'kill him' and 'He's an Arab' during the McPalin hate rallies (oops, the 2008 GOP campaign) didn't just turn off their televisions and sulk while we giddily celebrated Victory over Conservatism Day on November 4, 2008 or sang 'Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye' to Dubya on January 20, 2009 during the president's inauguration.

They're mad, want to take their version of America back and are what's fueling the Teabagger movement. They are the huddled vanilla flavored masses yearning to breathe free and see the White House reoccupied by a white president and his family in 2013.

Even if the intelligent Black president cut their taxes, gives them affordable health insurance and saved them from a depression caused by the jacked up policies of the previous knowledge- challenged white president and a failed political philosophy they enthusiastically supported, to them, if their president ain't white, it ain't all right.

But hey, just as they've done throughout their history in this country, there are white peeps who will consistently vote and act against their own economic interests, and there are peeps who will eagerly manipulate that for their own purposes.

Exhibit A: The War To Perpetuate Slavery. Southern white males fighting and dying to keep slavery alive. Never mind it was a system that depressed their wages and was keeping them poor while the planter class got rich.

Please stop trying to produce the mythical Black person you claim was at your overwhelmingly white rallies or is part of your movement.

Because unlike y'all, we've learned a long time ago that all our skinfolks AIN'T our kinfolks. So y'all can parade Angela McGlowan, Paul Scott and whatever other Negro sellout or Photoshopped picture you come up with to pimp your message. We Black folks who don't watch Faux News and vote Democratic see y'all for what you are and ain't falling for the okey doke.

On November 2, those of us who truly love this country and don't want the United States to fail need to be at the ballot box voting to insure that ignorance does not rule the day.

Yes, your teabagger movement is racist, and no amount of spin will change that.

The 2010 Election Cycle Wedge Issue-Transpeople

Every election cycle the GOP comes up with some wedge issue that they will pimp to fire up their sheeple and hope will carry them to electoral victory in November.

Whether it's their old reliable 'Southern Strategy' tactics of hating on Black people, the Three G's (Guns, God and hatin' on Gays) to hating on immigrants, they've had a mixed bag of results in terms of 'scurring' those vanilla flavored 'Real Americans' to the polls to vote for them.

Now for the 2K10, seems as though hatin' on gays is out for this cycle. They have come up with an even scarier threat than 'Islamic 'terriss'' guaranteed to make those GOP leaning voters run to the polls quaking in fear.

What's the scary wedge issue that will cause those Faux News watching peeps to cast those straight ticket GOP ballots?

Transpeople in their bathrooms.

From a transphobic flyer being used against a gay mayoral candidate in Gainesville, FL to conservanegro state Rep. Paul Scott's Michigan secretary of state campaign promising to deny transpeople the right to change gender codes on their licenses, the conservative movement seems hell bent on making transpeople the wedge issue of this election cycle.

”Cross-dressing rights: that’s what we’re talking about at this meeting…. This would put men who wear dresses in county bathrooms without public notice! … This is freaky. This is bizarre. This is fruity!”

Eugene A. Delgaudio (R), Loundon County, VA Supervisor,

'It's a social values issue. If you are born a male, you should be known as a male. Same as with a female, she should be known as a female." ...it was about "preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms."

Paul Scott, (R) Michigan state rep.

'And I know there will be those who will wonder why I am even writing about this considering there may be more important topics to discuss but here's a newsflash for you: The transgender thing doesn't play well with millions of conservative Evangelicals.'

David Brody, writing about Amanda Simpson's federal appointment.

But the GOP and conservatives aren't the only group trafficking in anti-trans fear of the bathroom. Even our so-called 'friends' do it.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who pioneered its use in the 90's with his infamous 'penis in showers' transphobic argument against our inclusion in ENDA, rolled it out of storage as an excuse for why there hasn't been movement passing ENDA despite massive Democratic majorities in the US House and Senate.

"There continues to be concerns on the part of many members about the transgender issue, particularly about the question of places where people are without their clothes — showers, bathrooms, locker rooms, etc.” “We still have this issue about what happens when people who present themselves as one sex but have the physical characteristics of the other sex, what rules govern what happens in locker rooms, showers, etc."

With 'friends' like that, who needs right-wing enemies?

These false ads used in various trans rights referendums have already been playing. Don't be surprised if you see a variation of this meme in a GOP campaign near you.



Brace for impact trans community. From now until November 2 we'll have a long, ugly political season of transphobia from all sides.

Happy 70th Birthday Smokey Robinson!

Today is the 70th birthday of legendary singer and Motown executive William 'Smokey' Robinson, Jr. who was born in Detroit on this date in 1940.

He was an original member of Motown Records' first vocal group The Miracles and a solo artist who delivered thirty-seven Top 40 hits for Motown between 1960 and 1987.

He was also the second most influential person involved in the formation of Motown Records behind founder Berry Gordy, and served as the company's vice president from 1961 to 1988.

He is one of iconic singers and a music legend. Happy 70th Birthday, Smokey!

Smokey interview



The Tears Of A Clown



Tracks of My Tears



Ooh Baby Baby

Ann Coulter Gets Pwned By Keith Olbermann

Normally I'm the first one railing about liberal progressive people throwing trans flavored shade at Ann Coulter or people using trans to insult cis women.

But surprise, surprise. In this instance I approve of the message.

Annie started it by not only throwing a crossdressing reference dig at Keith in a recent column she wrote on Iran, she dragged his deceased mother into the mix while simultaneously hurling gender bending insults in the same column at Rachel Maddow and Richard Wolffe.

So Keith, have at Miss Right Wing Thang.



The lesson here? Don't talk about somebody's deceased mother.

I'm also getting sick of the recent conservative movement penchant for throwing transphobic shade at their opponents.

Six Is The Magic Number For Team USA Olympic Hockey

Both the Team USA men and women stayed perfect in Olympic today by scoring six goals in their respective pool play hockey games.

The Team USA women scored four first period goals enroute to a 6-0 shutout win Thursday over Finland at the UBC Thunderbird Arena. It helped Team USA clinch the top spot in Group B and put them in the medal round.

They will face Sweden on Monday at Canada Hockey Place with a chance to gain redemption. The Swedish team shocked the women's hockey world in 2006 by derailing the expected gold medal hockey showdown between the USA and Canada by upsetting Team USA 3-2 in a shootout.

It's obvious from the 13-1 shellacking Team Canada put on them Wednesday that this is a far different Swedish team than the Torino bronze medalists.

But anything can happen when you play the games, and it's still too early to count gold medals before they're awarded.

Over at Canada Hockey Place, the Team USA men also scored six goals in their 6-1 Group A victory over Norway.

Their next game promises to be much tougher since it will be a Sunday showdown against Team Canada that will decide who wins Group A. The Canadians warmed up for the showdown by taking a hard-fought 3-2 shootout win against Switzerland.

We'll see if both the men's and women's teams will have golden results.

Transwoman and ACLU-NJ File Lawsuit Against Newark Po-Po's

As I have stated repeatedly over the years that this blog has been around, we African descended transpeople face some of the same issues our cis brothers and sisters do.

One of those issues is harassment by the po-po's. African-American transpeople are no different from our cisgender counterparts in that regard as Duanna Johnson getting assaulted in a Memphis police station made quite clear.

The news coming out of Newark that adds an exclamation point to what I'm stating here is transwoman Diana Taylor and the ACLU New Jersey chapter filing a lawsuit against the Newark Police Department.

The six count lawsuit alleges two officers stopped Diana Taylor on March 23, 2009 for no reason, mocked her gender identity and threatened her with retaliation if she filed a complaint.

“I kept asking, ‘What did I do? What did I do?’” Taylor said at a news conference today. “I’m coming forward now because this shouldn’t have happened to me.”

The incident unfolded while Taylor she was walking near Broad and Elliott streets. Two officers stopped her, making derogatory comments about her wig and alluding to a bet they had made about her gender, she said.

Taylor said one cop told her he didn't want to touch her "because I might have AIDS."

She said when she was initially stopped and asked to hand over her identification, one of the officer's yelled to the other "it's a man. You were right. I owe you $10!"

He said the officers began calling her a string of discriminatory names including "chick with a d---k," and "f----t."

Taylor was taken to a police station and frisked in a sexually intrusive manner, she said.

Finding no reason to detain her, two officers drove Taylor to her home and said they knew gang members in the neighborhood who would harm her if she filed a complaint against them, according to the lawsuit.

About a month later, Taylor was charged with littering and disorderly conduct, she said. The charges were eventually dismissed in court.

The lawsuit is the third the ACLU has filed against the police force in as many years, said Deborah Jacobs, the executive director of the ACLU’s New Jersey chapter. She called for a slew of department changes, including a way to submit civilian complaints online and an independent monitor to review the internal affairs division.

“(The administration) came in saying internal affairs was important, but we expect it to be run better than it is,” Jacobs said.

According to nj.com The Newark Police Department did not respond to requests for comments.

Taylor also filed an internal affairs complaint with the police, but it was not thoroughly investigated, said her lawyer, Neil Mullin, who added two eyewitnesses to the incident were never contacted.

Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy has previously said reforms have been put in place to improve the process of gathering and responding to complaints.

It seems as though this is a recurring problem in the Newark Police Department. Albert Cunningham, a member of the Newark Pride Alliance, said members of the local gay community routinely complain to him about police abuse. “We hear only the tip of the iceberg with filed cases,” he said.

It's also a issue that Amnesty International highlighted in a report entitled Stonewalled: Police Abuse and Misconduct Against Lesbian, Gay and Transgender People in the U.S. that was compiled about police harassment of transwomen. And as you probably guessed, transpeople of color have taken the brunt of the police harassment.

Will be keeping an eye on this case to see if Ms. Taylor receives justice for what was done to her.

It's incidents like this that negate the hard work of LGBT police liaison officers across the country and continue to reinforce the perception that when it comes to African-Americans and other people of color, Officer Friendly ain't so friendly after all.

Miyia's Interview

This is a interview featuring my little sis Miyia that appeared on Fox41 News in Da Ville yesterday.
It was nice learning a little bit more about one classy young lady.



Being trans is not as easy or effortless as some of us make it. There's a lot of gut wrenching pain, drama and that we go through to become the happy, well adjusted people you see on the other side of the trans crucible.

And sometimes it tests your faith in many ways, but if you hang on, the tough times don't last as the saying goes, tough people do.

Shani Repeats!

Shani Davis had to wait a while before he took the ice at the Richmond Olympic Oval in the last pair of the 1000m event.

But once he did Davis sped through his race in 1:08:94 to make history none again as the first skater to repeat as the 1000m gold medalist.

And he was ecstatic about it.

"I would say it's probably No. 1," he said. "Once you become world champion or Olympic champion, you get this nice little thing on your back -- it's called a target. People usually shoot for you. Just to be able to go out there today and defend my 1,000-meter title is truly amazing. I'm very satisfied that I was able to stay true to myself and defend my title."

This win makes him the second most decorated male long track speedskater behind Dr. Eric Heiden, who is the USA speedskating team physician for these Games.

Davis has another shot of adding to his medal collection with the 1500m event coming on Saturday

Dear Oprah II

TransGriot Note: I wrote an open letter to Oprah back in 2007 asking when she was going to interview an African American trans person on her show. Time for another one.

Dear Oprah,
When you began to cover transgender issues on your show back in 2007, I along with the African descended trans community were excited that you were beginning to train your attention on the issues of transgender people.

The trans community in general deeply appreciates any opportunity we have been granted to educate the public. The sizable viewing audience exposed to your shows highlighting trans issues has been invaluable as well.

But once again, I have to ask on behalf of the African American trans community, when are you going to show us the same love you have shown the white trans community when we need the media exposure far more than they do?

We in the African descended trans community have been disappointed to see that our media blackout continues, even on Oprah.

The problem has and continues to be in the 57 years since Christine Jorgenson stepped off her flight from Denmark into the glare of media publicity in New York that the narrative of transgender exposure and experience has been predominately driven by white trans lives.

I wrote an open letter respectfully asking for equal time for transpeople who share your ethnic heritage. In the almost three years that have passed since then, I and the African American trans community have watched shows featuring Thomas Beattie and other white transpeople up to and including your recent show focusing on trans filmmaker Kimberly Reed.

But what still stands out for us is the glaring lack of African descended transpeople on your show.

The fact that your Emmy award winning talk show will be ending September 9, 2011 has added to the increased sense of disappointment myself and other African descended people feel as we fail to see ourselves and our lives represented in these shows.

That disappointment is heightened by the fact that we disproportionately continue to bear the brunt of anti-transgender hate violence.

Since your first 2007 trans themed show we have witnessed the late Duanna Johnson's beating by a Memphis police officer caught on videotape. We have had dozens of African descended transpeople such as Taysia Elzy, Ebony Whitaker, and Lateisha Green murdered, and far too often, the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against African descended transpeople share our ethnic heritage.

And frankly, our transitions are different from our white trans counterparts.

Your audience as you are keenly aware of consists of cis and trans African-Americans. It is inside and outside our African American community that we African American trans people struggle against violence, invisibility, faith based ignorance and rejection of our lives. The predominately Caucasian lens that transgender experiences have been framed in has led to a misguided perception in our community that being transgender 'is a white thang.'

Isis King is just one example of trans African Americans of all ages who are blowing away that myth. We're talented, proudly living our lives and wish to make greater contributions to uplift our people.

Like any other persons, we want unconditional equality and acceptance in our society and a fair chance to make that happen.

An appearance on your show by an African descended transperson or transpersons would not only be deeply appreciated by us, it could go a long way towards breaking down those barriers of ignorance about trans issues on the African-American community and who we are to the world at large.

It would also give our friends, supportive family members and allies a positive thing about us to point to.

Whether that happens before September 8, 2011 is up to you, and I pray it does.

Sincerely,

Monica Roberts
The TransGriot
2006 IFGE Trinity Award Winner

Shani's Best Event Coming Tonight

So far Shani Davis' attempt to win four gold medals in Vancouver has come up empty with a 12th place finish in the 5000m and withdrawing from the 500m Monday due to bad ice conditions.

I'll be parked in front of the TV to watch Shani Davis compete in his best long track speedskating event, the 1000m. It along with the 1500m are the two speedskating distances he has dominated.

Davis is the world champion and world record holder in the 1000m meters and the favorite to take gold in this event.

Here's hoping that tonight turns out to be a golden one for Shani Davis at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Good Day For Team USA Hockey

Team USA men's and women's hockey players took to the ice today at their respective venues and won.

This is the youngest USA men's hockey team to take the ice since the 1998 Nagano squad. Unlike the women, they are also playing in the same group with Team Canada.

They got their Olympic tournament off to a promising start with a 3-1 victory over Switzerland at Canada Hockey Place.

Goaltender Ryan Miller faced on 14 Swiss shots as Team USA tallied goals by Bobby Ryan, David Backes and Ryan Malone. Switzerland avoided the shutout by scoring a power play goal at 9:45 of the third period.

Their toughest competition, the Russians and homestanding Canadians also won their opening round games with Russia beating Latvia 8-2 and the Canadians rolling to an 8-0 victory over Norway in front of a flag waving sellout crowd after being held to a scoreless first period.

The USA men's team will face a critical game on Thursday with Norway.

Meanwhile over at the UBC Thunderbird Arena, the Team USA women continued their domination of Group B with a US record setting victory over Russia.

Team USA tallied a record seven power play goals and Jenny Potter scored her second hat trick of this Olympic tournament enroute to the 13-0 win.

The Team USA women have scored 25 goals in their initial two games while surrendering only one. The win clinched their spot in the February 20-22 crossover round, and they will play Finland Thursday to decide the winner of Group B.

Albania Unanimously Bans TBLG Discrimination

One of the things tat has irritated me about the lack of action on ENDA is watching other countries pass laws banning TBLG discrimination while the so-called leading democracy on the planet can't do the right thing and pass employment discrimination bans.

On February 4 the Albanian parliament passed with a unanimous 71-0 vote banning discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The law's language guarantees every person "equality before the law and equal protection by law; equality of opportunities and possibilities to exercise rights, enjoy freedoms and take part in public life; and effective protection from discrimination and from every form of conduct that encourages discrimination."

The law also covers employment, housing, provision of goods and services, education and access to public places. It also specifically mentions health care, banking, transportation, entertainment and social protection.

What's The Transgender Day Of Visibility?

By now, most people are aware of the Transgender Day of Remembrance that happens every November 20 to memorialize the people we've lost.

Over the years, there have been calls by some trans people to make the TDOR a more happy-happy joy-joy event, to which the founders and others have resisted. TDOR does serve an important function in terms of focusing attention on anti-transgender violence.

Rachel Crandall, the head of Transgender Michigan is one of the people who asked why couldn't the trans community or someone start an event that celebrates who we are?

Then she asked the question that led to the formation of this event, 'Why isn't that someone me?'

Hence the first annual International Trans Day of Visibility was born.

Rachel's vision for the Trans Day of Visibility is to focus on all the good things in the trans community, instead of just remembering those who were lost.

"The day of remembrance is exactly what it is. It remembers people who died," she said. "This focuses on the living.

While the event she's organizing will be Michigan centric, thanks to her Facebook page the idea is quickly spreading around the world and other local observances are being organized.

When March 31 rolls around on the calendar, it will lead to an event that we hope will garner just as much or more attention than the TDOR has.