Sally Trans Pageant Show

One of the talk shows that had respectful presentations of trans issues and trans people throughout its 18 year run was Sally Jessy Raphael

Here's one from the 90's that has some trans sisters participating in it who are no longer with us such as Tandi Andrews and Catiria Reyes.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Easter Weekend Edition

It's Friday and the Holy Week observance is coming to a conclusion with Good Friday celebrations followed by Easter Sunday services. There's also a packed weekend of non religious oriented activity this weekend with the Men's and Women's Final Fours taking place in Indianapolis and San Antonio.

The April 4 Easter date also coincides with the somber anniversary of the 1968 assassination of the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

So Let's move on to what you've all been waiting for as you take a break from assembling the Easter baskets and hiding stuff for the Easter Egg hunts.

Time to find out what fool, fools or group of fools won our coveted award this week.

This week's peeps considered for it were Sarah Palin, and group awards for the GOP and Fox News.

But this week's award goes to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). She's facing a serious primary challenge from Lt. Governor Bill Halter, who's from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. Now all her shilling for the insurance companies and kowtowing to the Teabaggers in the wake of the health care reform battle is coming home to roost.

She ran commercials kowtowing to the Teabagger crowd boasting about how she opposed the health care reform bill.



Somebody must have whispered in her ear that President Obama still has widespread support in the African American community, and Arkansas has a sizable population of chocolate flavored residents who will have a major say in determining who wins the US Senate Democratic primary.

This is the commercial that is running on Arkansas based African-American radio stations.

Yep, Blanche Lincoln is trying to simultaneously claim that she supported and opposed President Obama at the same time.

Please take her out in the primary, Bill Halter.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, shut up Fool!

Michelle 'Nazi' McGee Slings Transphobic Insult At Chelsea Handler

Michelle McGee, the alleged mistress of Jesse James got a little perturbed over the zingers that Chelsea Handler aimed at her.

On her blog Handler aimed a zinger directed at the 32 year old McGee in which she's quoted as stating, "I guess she doesn’t read magazines, which makes sense since she basically has one on her face.”

McGee sent retaliatory fire back at Handler courtesy of her Facebook page..

“Chelsea, heres some free advice..use some of that botox from your forehead and put it in your flabby underarm skin. Ive seen better wings in a bucket of KFC chicken,” she wrote.

Then Miss White Power 2010 went a step further and added: “In all seriousness, Im a big fan of Chelsea Lately…feel so honoured to have a transexual poke fun of me…”

No, you haven't had a transwoman poke fun at you until now. What I'm about to say isn't intended to be humorous like the pwning you've been getting from Chelsea.

But if people find it to be funny, then that's all good.

Look, Eva Braun for the new millennium, whatever beef you have with Chelsea, leave the trans community out of it.

The trans community is more than a little sick and tired of cognitively challenged cispeople struggling to come up with zingers in dissfests in which they are hopelessly outclassed using transwomen as an insult.

As a matter of fact, I know more than a few transwomen who are better looking than you and don't have swastikas tattooed on their bodies.

I've got a salute for you, and it isn't a stiff arm one. It starts with my extended middle finger.

Laverne Is Part of TRANSform Me Team

My sis Laverne Cox is part of a team of transwomen (Nina Poon and Jamie Clayton are the others) who are the stars of VH1's latest reality show called TRANSform Me.

The show airs on Mondays at 10:30 PM with the ladies traveling the country in their glambulance and helping women discover their inner diva.

If you get hooked on the show and miss an episode, you can catch up with what you missed on the TRRANSform me website.


Jamie is the makeup guru of the team, Nina is the fashionista, while Laverne handles the self-esteem part.

It's interesting to watch as the TRANSform me team goes to work on their various

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Best of luck on the show. Here's hoping it stays on the air for a while and leads to some positive things for all of ladies in the long run and the people you help.

US Federal Court Declares Denial Of Trans Medical Care Unconstitutional

"After careful consideration, the court concludes that the defendants’ application of Wis. Stat. § 302.386(5m) to these plaintiffs constitutes deliberate indifference to the plaintiff’s serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment inasmuch as enforcement of the statute results in the denial of hormone therapy without regard for the individual medical needs of inmates and the medical judgment of their health care providers."

Great news out of Wisconsin that may have an impact for the rest of Trans America!

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin yesterday in ruling on the Sundstrom v. Frank case struck down a law that barred transgender people from receiving medical care while they are incarcerated.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal brought a challenge in January 2006 to the law on behalf of transgender prisoners, some of whom had been receiving hormones in Wisconsin prisons for years prior to the passage of the law.

"The court understood that medical treatment is critical for transgender people and that medical decisions should be made by doctors—not legislators,” said Dru Levasseur, Lambda Legal’s Transgender Rights Attorney.

“The state cannot decide to withhold treatment from people because they disapprove of their gender identity or medical needs—it’s unconstitutional."

Overriding concerns raised by of the Department of Corrections medical personnel, the Wisconsin legislature passed a law, effective in January 2006, that prohibited prison doctors from deciding the best course of treatment for transgender people by barring them from prescribing any type of hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery for transgender people in state custody.

"This decision recognizes that many inmates have a serious medical condition that requires individualized medical treatment. The court's ruling doesn't require inmates to receive hormones or surgery for sex reassignment, it simply means that doctors are the ones who make the decisions about treatment," said John Knight of the ACLU. "The court's decision is just common sense."

The lawsuit charged that it is a violation of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection as well as the guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment to bar transgender inmates from access to individualized medical care. The legal groups base their challenge on federal case law that establishes that health care providers must determine proper treatment for all prison inmates.

The court ruled that the statute's ban on medical care “constitutes deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment inasmuch as enforcement of the statute results in the denial of hormone therapy without regard for the individual medical needs of inmates and the medical judgment of their health care providers."

Somali Pirates Fire On US Navy Ship-Lose

Note to Somali pirates: If you wish to have a long and lucrative career in the buccaneer business, better learn the difference between a merchant ship and a naval warship.

A group of pirates launched a midnight attack against what they thought was a merchant ship west of the Seychelles Islands Thursday.

Unfortunately for them the ship they picked on was one that had more than enough firepower and capability to hit them back hard, the guided missile frigate USS Nicholas.

The USS Nicholas saw combat in the first Gulf War, and quickly chased down and fired back at the pirate skiff, disabling it. A boarding team from the Nicholas then captured and detained its three man crew before sinking the skiff.

The Nicholas then captured the nearby mothership the sunken skiff was operating from and detained two more pirates.

While this was a success for the international naval force battling piracy off the Somali coast, it still faces the daunting task of monitoring 3000 miles of Somali coastline in addition to a million square miles of ocean.

The pirates have also shifted tactics in reaction to the increased international naval presence, and now attack ships hundreds of miles from their Somali home waters.

The reality is that if they want to eradicate piracy in Somalia, they'll have to eventually strike at the shore bases and ports that supply the motherships and skiffs.

Dan Savage To Transition

Dan Savage stunned a hastily called press conference today by announcing that he was planning to begin a gender transition.

"I can no longer fight the desire to live an authentic life and be the person I know I was born to be."

Savage has come under fire from trans people for his transphobic commentary, and most recently calling Washington state DA Rob McKenna a transman. But now that Mr. Savage is becoming Ms. Savage, he asked for forgiveness from his fellow transpeople.

'I'm sorry for all the comments that may have hurt my people. I know I have much to atone for, and I can promise you that I'll be an asset to our community and not a detriment to it."

Now if he'll just apologize his negative comments about African-Americans everything will be copacetic.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is the birthday of one of my fave political pundits and the bane of conservafools everywhere, Rachel Maddow. She was born in Castro Valley, CA on this date in 1973.

Happy birthday Rachel. May you continue to speak truth to power, and here's hoping that you do one day run for public office. The country could definitely use your PhD level intellect in passing common sense legislation that benefits all of us.

But it's also a lot of fun watching you take apart right wingers. too

What's the Student Non Discrimination Act of 2010?

It's HR 4530, and was introduced by Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado on January 27 in the wake of multiple instances of GLBT students being discriminated against.

"Like Title VI for minorities in the 60s and Title IX for women in the 70s," Congressman Polis said at the time of the bill's introduction, "my legislation puts LGBT students on an equal footing with their peers, so they can attend school and get a quality education, free from fear.”

HR 4530, Student Nondiscrimination Act of 2010 in summary:

Would prohibit public school students from being excluded from participating in, or subject to discrimination under, any federally-assisted educational program on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or that of their associates. Considers harassment to be a form of discrimination. Prohibits retaliation against anyone for opposing conduct they reasonably believe to be unlawful under this Act. Authorizes federal departments and agencies to enforce these prohibitions by cutting off the educational assistance of recipients found to be violating them. Allows an aggrieved individual to assert a violation of this Act in a judicial proceeding and recover reasonable attorney's fees should they prevail. Deems a state's receipt of federal educational assistance for a program to constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity for conduct prohibited under this Act regarding such program.

The bill so far has 82 co-sponsors so far and is in the following House committees:

House Education and Labor, chaired by Rep. George Miller (D-CA)
House Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education
House Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness

On Feb 23, 2010 it was referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.

It's still early in the process, but we can get busy supporting the passage of HR 4530 and making sure this bill expeditiously becomes the law of our land.

In the countless instances of discrimination directed at GLBT students I have documented on TransGriot's pages, I can say with certainty that Congressman Polis' bill is sorely needed.

Trans Siblings

I knew the late Pickett twins, Chanelle and Gabrielle, were transwomen, but I wasn't aware of this little tidbit of trans trivia.

Loren Cameron is one of our iconic transmen who I've heard about and possibly crossed paths with since my own transition back in mid 90's. But one thing I wasn't aware of is that Loren Cameron has a trans sister.

Check out the video.

No Joke-NY Media Fails To Read AP Stylebook

You know, how hard is it for media people to grasp this concept?

transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

Once again, the media fails in a story involving a transwoman, and this time it happens in our country's so-called media capital.

And it's not like you media peeps don't get enough practice in getting stories on trans people right. Every two days somewhere on the planet a transperson is murdered. Every now and then transpeople make the news for something other than being a murder victim, and you still frack the pronouns up.

Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar was a 29-year old trans woman who was found stabbed to death in her Queens, NY apartment. Her apartment had been ransacked and much of her possessions destroyed. A man she recently began dating is suspected of committing the crime.

And guess how the New York Times and other NY newspapers initially identified Ms. Gonzalez-Andujar? By using her old name and calling her a 'man'.

They've corrected the stories, but it's still infuriating to have to say the same crap over and over about a concept that elementary school kids get.

I'm Joining The NCTE Board

I have an announcement to make that is probably going to come as a shock to some people who have known me for a while.

It's also going to come as a surprise to the folks who are aware of the negative history I have had with the founder and executive director of this organization.

But for the sake of the transgender community, I'm putting that animosity aside to announce that I've been invited to join the board of the National Center For Transgender Equality and will be accepting the invitation to do so.

You know how I've been a big advocate of the 'we need to be in it to win it' school of activism, and frankly, it's time for me to join an organization that has those connections to the inside the Beltway power peeps.

It's all about doing what I can do to help advance the cause of transpeeps of color, and this is one way of doing so.

My term on the board will start immediately, and I'm looking forward to working with the NCTE team and getting our remaining transgender legislative crown jewels passed.

Oh yeah, one other thing before I end this announcement and you start sending me mail in the comments section.

Check today's date.

Tripping About The Bathroom-Transman Division

Peep this video about two transmen who were handling their business in Seattle's Pacific Place Mall restroom when some cis man had a problem with it and called security.

Predictably the security guard tripped and the transmen are justifiably pissed (pardon the pun) about it.

Happy International Transgender Day Of Visibility

Today is the first celebration of what founder Rachel Crandall hopes will be an annual event, the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

One of the problems I've long complained about that has had serious repercussion with trans people's levels of acceptance in the African-American community and beyond is our lack of visibility.

Well, the International Day of Visibility wants to to change that.

Too many of us transition, then go into hiding because of the intolerance of society. We grapple with shame and guilt issues instead of being proud of who we are and having the courage to stand up and say 'I am a human being who happens to be transgender, and you will not disrespect me'

Maybe if for one day, we can get transpeople to stand up in large numbers where they don't feel alone, that will subsequently happen.

The International Transgender Day of Visibility seeks to make transpeople less of a mystery to cis folks, point out that transpeople are all around you in your daily lives and have played roles in shaping our culture and history.

This event is also an opportunity for the people who complain about the Transgender Day of Remembrance being 'too somber' to participate in an event that celebrates who we are. It's also another opportunity for our allies to stand in solidarity with us.

As the awareness of this March 31 day increases, it becomes better organized, gets more media attention and people have a year to plan events for TDOV 2011 there will probably be other things attached to the general framework of this day.

I can see future TDOV events with components such as panel discussions on our issues at various venues, trans specific coming out day ceremonies, trans themed pageants or teach ins about our history.

The possibilities and directions this day could take, especially when people put their unique cultural and international stamps on it are endless.

But I hope the overwhelming message that gets out on this day is that we exist, we're proud to be trans people, we are your sisters, brothers and family members.

I also pray that the other message resonating from this day is that as fellow human beings, we deserve to live our lives to the fullest and will not be deterred from doing so.

Dan Savage's Transphobic Azz Strikes Again

TransGriot Note: A wonderful post from my brilliant sis Renee at Womanist Musings. And no sis, you aren't alone in your observation that Savage is a (you name the phobic) jerk.

Well, Dan Savage is a winner isn’t he? Is there a group of people that he is unwilling to verbally assault and “other,” in order to assert his undeserved privilege? It seems that for Savage, the best way to attack someone, is to suggest that they are trans, even when the opposite is true.

To the right is a photo of Washington state Attorney General Rob McKenna, who Savage declared was FTM

It's staggering that Rob McKenna, a female-to-male transsexual, is making it harder for other FTMs (and MTFs) to access the life saving sex-reassignment surgery that allowed Rob to become the man he is today. Rob had the resources to finance his own sex-reassignment surgery—presumably—but that doesn't excuse Rob's cruel disregard for his low-income transgendered brothers and sisters or his making common cause with anti-trans bigots in states like Virginia and Mississippi.

For shame, Rob.

Really Savage? You’re going to take something that is so incredibly serious and then make tongue in cheek statements. If he did not have a history of making transphobic commentary, perhaps I could believe that he simply failed to do the proper research, but his own history convicts him.

When dealing with a conservative, there are plenty of ways that you can be critical, only someone drunk on privilege decides that the best course of events is to attack a marginalized group. When we consider that the gay community has a history of throwing the trans community under the bus, his commentary is truly problematic. Dan Savage does not speak for all gay men; however, his extremely high profile suggests that many continue to consider his views to be of great importance, though he has a history of making racist, abelist and transphobic comments.

I really think that Dan Savage needs a huge cup of STFU. Until he begins to recognize his various privileges (and yes, gay men can still be privileged), he is doing far more harm to his community than good. When you throw your allies under the bus, and taunt them cruelly, it makes people that much more reluctant to stand up and fight when you are being abused, because we wonder if we are next in the line of fire.

I don’t care if Dan Savage is your gay super hero with a capitol G; if the man is being abelist, racist and transphobic, perhaps your definition of hero needs to be examined. How many times have marginalized groups suggested, that when you fail to take an intersectional approach to organizing, we all suffer? Only a man like Savage who is White, male, class privileged and cisgender could fail to see that his, I’m just like you approach to advocacy is damaging. No movement for civil rights has ever been successful without allies, and yet people like Savage continue to believe that they can just throw people under the bus, while minimizing their humanity and then demand that they come to bat for you as needed.

So, I am just going to say it: The man is not amusing or enlightening; he is cruel. As long as he continues to sit in judgment of others and to perpetuate a harmful hierarchy of bodies, he has no business sitting in judgment of anyone. Glass houses Savage, perhaps it’s time you discover that you live in one.