So, How's That 'Year Of The Black Republican' Thingy Working Out For Y'all?

The Republicans and their Black auxiliaries made a big deal about the 32 sellouts running for Congress this year in primaries across the nation.

They crowed about the fact that it was the most Black Republicans running since Reconstruction and that it was 'their year'.

Yeah, right. So far the Houston Astros have a higher winning percentage than y'all do.

The Mississippi primary last night was the latest one in which a high profile Negro Republican went down in flames. Oreo Barbie, oops, Faux News spokesmodel and Tea Klux Klan fave Angela McGlowan was running in the GOP primary in Mississippi's 1st Congressional District currently held by Travis Childers.

She was even endorsed by Caribou Barbie.

So where did Miss Right Wing Thing finish?

Third with 15% of the vote, behind the winner, MS state senator Alan Nunnelee. He captured 50% of the vote and Henry Ross garnered 33% of it.

So where was that groundswell of non racist Tea Party support, Angela? Probably voting for Nunnelee and Ross.

Princella Smith was walloped by a 73%-27% margin in the Arkansas GOP primary, and more butt kickings are coming.

Guess all you 'freethinking' Blacks are too uppity for the GOP plantation, huh?

2010 French Open Williams Watch-Little Sis Ousted In Quarters

The Williams haters are jumping for joy now that Number one seeded Little Sis was beaten in the quarterfinals by Australia's Samantha Stosur 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-8.

She had a match point in the third set that sailed an inch wide, and Stosur capitalized on it to break serve for a 7-6 lead. She then closed out the match with three service winners to hand Serena her first Grand Slam tournament loss since last year's US Open semifinal.

Serena was trying to reach her first French Open singles final since 2003 and was trying for a calendar year Grand Slam.

Oh well, Williams-don starts June 21. Serena is not only defending champion, she and Big Sis are the defending doubles champs.

Serena dusted herself off after her loss and joined Big Sis an hour later for a hard fought 2 hour three set win over American Liezel Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the French Open doubles final for the first time since 1999.

Number one seeded Team Williams will face the team of the Czech Republic's Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia, who upset the Number 2 seeds Maria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain in three sets to get to this French Open doubles finals.

With their semifinals win, the Williams sisters are now the Number one ranked doubles team in the world irregardless of the results of the doubles final.

Serena is also the first player since Kim Clijsters accomplished the feat in 2003 to hold Number one world rankings simultaneously in singles and doubles.

Should Team Williams be successful in capturing the French Open doubles title, they would be halfway to completing a doubles Grand Slam.

Dear Gay Inc., Gayosphere and MSM - Tiwonge Identifies As A Woman, So She's In A HETERO Relationship

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.

From The AP Stylebook

Gay Incorporated, Gayosphere and MSM. It's really a simple concept, but it's one that you consistently fail to grasp. If a person identifies as a certain gender, lives in that role, and presents themselves in a way that doesn't correspond with their birth gender, then that's what they are.

Y'all either can't, don't or willfully won't get that, and it's really pissing the trans community off.

You've demonstrated that willful ignorance in the Malawi case and once again with the the Pakistani couple.

As for you peeps in Gay Incorporated, the GL community and the gayosphere, y'all don't have any excuses since we've been part of the community for decades.

But then again, we are well aware of the fact that you will and have repeatedly 'gayjacked' a situation involving a transperson to promote your GL agenda at our expense.

How many fracking times do we have to point out what the AP Stylebook has to say about trans issues before y'all FINALLY and consistently get it right?

Tyra Video-Trantasia Show

TransGriot Note: This from from Tyra's show about the movie Trantasia. While I hate Tyra's penchant for asking the 'what was your old male name' question, which frankly is nobody's business, it was still an interesting look into the lives of the participants in the movie, which was about the first (and only) World Most Beautiful Transsexual contest that took place in Las Vegas in 2004.

Tiara Russell has an interesting (and minority opinion) about how he self identifies.

Black Transpeople Are Tired Of The Erasure, Too

I think there is a reason there is a separate growing Trans movement that exists outside of the LGBT and that's because it has to just to get anywhere. Transgender people (especially trans women) are highly under represented in LGBT orgs. This means their opinions are often not heard nor are they involved in decisions that directly affect them.

Jayna L-Pavlin May 30, 2010

I found this comment interesting in Jayna's post, because it mirrors exactly what we trans people of color have been saying for decades about the white dominated trans movement.

The frustration of African descended transpeople is growing. We are beautiful, intelligent people who demand and deserve an opportunity to use our talents to get paid fairly, control our destiny and contribute to our society.

That is why you're probably going to see in this decade more activity initiated by African descended trans people. We are not listened to by the white dominated trans movement and are not represented in the senior leadership of trans organizations.

Our issues and concerns are not reflected in or brought up neither in the policy initiatives drafted by these organizations or discussed in the general GL community discourse.

The racism within the trans community has not been acknowledged nor has sustained work been done to eradicate it.

Since we have attempted for two decades to work in partnership with the white trans community and gotten nowhere, it's time to heed the words of the late Kwame Toure.

'In order to participate in the greater society, we must first close ranks.'

Closing ranks means following the example of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents and following the principles of Black leadership to do things for ourselves.

If it calls for us to form our own independent organizations, and having our own dedicated conventions, we need to get busy doing so.

Compiling our history to counteract the whitewashing of trans people of color our of the general trans narrative of the last half century? Check.

Determining our own political destiny? Right on!

Encouraging more African descended trans people of color to come out, tell their stories, and work with our African-American cis brothers and sisters? Past time for that to happen.

If it scares white transpeople to hear that, well, you've had two decades to correct the problem. How much longer should we wait for y'all to do the right thing when it's our people and our Latina sisters who are taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence casualties, but are not even close to being represented in the leadership ranks of this community in significant numbers?

Much discussion needs to happen internally in the African American trans community about a unified program and strategy for doing so. We also need to be putting together a long term strategic vision of where we wish to see the African descended trans community ten, twenty, and fifty years from now.

One thing I'm certain all African descended trans people can say at this point is that the current situation isn't good enough.

We're not letting our own community off the hook either. The same thing needs to be forcefully said to mainstream and SGL African-American orgs.

The current status quo is not acceptable and we're beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the erasure on one level and the faith based Hateraid leveled at us on the other.

I am happy to see African descended transmen and transwomen of all ages stepping up, increasingly saying they're tired of the bull feces, and articulating with an increasingly loud voice that we want a meaningful role and voice in trans community affairs that goes beyond tokenism and denigration of our human rights.

The Mission Of Black Trans Leadership

So, what is the mission of Black Trans Leadership? I see it this way:

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

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

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

*It is getting African descended trans people to shake off the shame and guilt of being trans, and say it loud, we're Black, trans and proud.

*It is getting African descended trans people to work collectively to build community amongst ourselves and forge allies inside and outside the community to work as committed partners to help us achieve our goals.

*It is to use our talents and gifts to uplift our community, our people, our culture and our country

*It is to get African descended trans people to use our ballot box power strategically and become full fledged participants in our political system in order to affect change that benefits us.

*It is being able to participate in all facets of society without fear of intimidation, ridicule, and violence.

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

'Worst President Ever' On GLBT Rights? I Don't Think So

"We must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits — not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. "No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability." President Obama during the Byrd-Shepherd Hate Crimes signing ceremony.

The griping has been loud and long even before Sen. Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009 from predominately white GLBT people that he would be 'the worst president ever' on GLBT rights.

And Black GLBT people haven't and won't forget y'all were selling those woof tickets before Obama even sat down for his first day in the Oval Office.

White GL pundits, gayosphere bloggers and people in the community two years later are still screaming that bull feces even as the evidence mounts to the contrary.

But then again, Black politicians have always been held to impossibly high standards by white people they hypocritically don't hold white politicians to.

That 'worst president on GLBT rights' assertion not only is irritating to African descended GLBT people, it's proving to be ludicrous as far as my section of the LGBT rainbow is concerned. From our vantage point, Obama has been the been president ever when it comes to highlighting the 'T' part of LGBT.

Whether it's passing and signing a hate crimes law that covers gender identity and sexual orientation, one of the legislative Holy Grails for trans people, drafting guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, or appointing qualified people such as Amanda Simpson for federal positions, President Obama has stepped up for the trans community.

But since y'all been too busy screaming about an 0-34 same gender marriage push and DADT, y'all may have missed the lifting of the decades old HIV travel ban that has kept the United States from hosing international HIV/AIDS conferences, much less kept people with a non American HIV infected partner from being able to emigrate here to live with the person they love.

***

Here's the list, compiled by openly gay DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias.

1. Reversed an inexcusable US position by signing the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

2. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees

3. Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide full partnership benefits to federal employees

4. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act

5. Lifted the HIV Entry Ban effective January 2010

6. Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamation since 2000

7. Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history

8. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King

9. Appointed the first transgender DNC member (Diego Sanchez) in history

10. Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign service employees

11. Committed to ensuring that HUD’s core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity

12. Conceived a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders — the nation’s first ever — funded by a three-year HHS grant to SAGE

13. Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA

14. Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — the first positive federal LGBT legislation in the nation’s history

15. Supported lower taxes for same-sex couples who receive health benefits from employers

16. Hired and appointed a record number of qualified LGBT Americans, including more than 10 Senate-confirmed appointments

17. Sworn in Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa David Huebner

18. Changed the culture of government everywhere from – among others – HUD and HHS to the Export-Import Bank, the State Department, and the Department of Education

19. Appointed Sonia Sotomayor, instead of a conservative who would have tilted the Court even further to the right and virtually doomed our rights for a generation.

To wit (quoting McCain): “I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible]”

***

The more liberal progressive (and younger) Supreme Court judges we get on the Court now, the better position we'll be in when cases critical to the advacement of GLBT rights percolate up to the SCOTUS.

Do you want a 5-4 conservative majority deciding those cases? Thought not.
Continue, Andrew.

***

20. Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)

21. Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer)

22. Emphasized LGBT inclusion in everything from the President’s historic NAACP address

(“The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.”) . . . to the first paragraph of his Family Day proclamation (“Whether children are raised by two parents, a single parent, grandparents, a same-sex couple, or a guardian, families encourage us to do our best and enable us to accomplish great things”) and his Mothers Day proclamation (“Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by two parents, a single mother, two mothers, a step-mom, a grandmother, or a guardian. Mother’s Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate these extraordinary caretakers”) . . . to creating the chance for an adorable 10-year-old at the White House Easter Egg roll to tell ABC World News how cool it is to have two mommies . . . to including the chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of Goldman Sachs in the small audience for the President’s economic address at the New York Stock Exchange . . . to welcoming four gay couples to its first State Dinner

23. Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act

24. Spoken out against discrimination at the National Prayer Breakfast

(“We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”)

25. Dispatched the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call on the Senate to repeal Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell, in the meantime dialing back on discharges.

26. Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study.

27. Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

28. Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept our relationships from being counted, encouraging couples who consider themselves married to file that way, even if their state of residence does not yet permit legal marriage

29. Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons

30. Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.

***

Crumbs, you say? Can you Obama detractors pull up a comparable list of positive for the TBLG community GW Bush misadministration accomplishments early in the first term of a presidential administration?

I'm betting you predominately white, Hillary-loving GLBT Obama haters can't.

And hello, bear in mind Obama still has to get past the 2010 and 2012 election cycles in addition to cleaning up the toxic waste the Bush administration left behind.

You may want full civil rights and equality now, but my peeps have been fighting that battle for over 200 years. We've had spectacular successes and dark periods of fighting tooth and nail just to avoid any slippage when conservative governments and Supreme Court majorities get ensconced with the task of rolling them back.

From where I sit an an African descended trans person, I'm always in favor of any expansion of civil rights because it benefits me as well.

To you white gay peeps, you don't care what party is is power because as beneficiaries of vanilla flavored privilege, Republican policies are aimed to benefit your ethnic group even as your civil rights are stagnated or rolled back.

As a person of color I'm painfully aware that Republican governments are detrimental not only to my civil rights, but my wallet and community as well.

So no, voting for Republicans, a disorganized third party or sitting at home on Election Day is NOT an option.

A question for you peeps to ponder. If you were in his shoes facing the same political landscape and a looming 2012 reelection campaign, would you be inclined to risk your entire presidency for a group of people that for the most part, weren't in your corner or reluctant supporters to begin with, and have a history of throwing allies and people of color under the bus?

I'm more than tired along with many African-American GLBT people of hearing that played out 'Obama isn't doing enough for GLBT rights' line. What you mean is that he isn't moving fast enough for you lukewarm supporters satisfaction to advance the cause of GLBT rights.

I also want to see as a proud African-American the first African-American president get two full terms in office, if for no other reason than to flip the Supreme Court script to liberal-progressive control. Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas aren't getting any younger, and neither is Ruth Nader Ginsburg.

So chill with the lie that he's the 'worst president ever' on GLBT rights.

Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit

The second annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will be taking place on the Rice University campus July 20-21, 2010 in the Kyle Morrow Room of the Fondren Library. The Houston GLBT Community Center is a sponsor/partner for this summit.

Depending on how her schedule plays out, the TransGriot is about 90% certain she may make that her first local trans event she attends since moving back to the Lone Star State.

The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will primarily be focused on the struggle to gain transgender coverage in collegiate policies. One of the goals of the TTNS is to create a statewide supportive network of like minded individuals working to make Lone Star State campuses inclusive for all.

Only a small handful of colleges and universities have made this important acknowledgement of the fact that transgender students matriculating at Texas colleges exist. The University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, South Texas College of Law, Houston Community College System, and the University of Houston System.

Josephine Tittsworth, one of the TTNS organizers points out, "The need for change is very great in order to allow people the freedom of experiencing educational advancement to its fullest extent."

"Transgender faculty, staff, and students experience systemic discrimination in such simply tasks as an expedient and respectful name change on records, housing, facility access, and fair competition among colleagues and students. There is also a serious lack of education on transgender lives and issues on college campuses."

And the need for transgender education is needed at HBCU campuses as well.

TTNS participants will learn what works and what doesn't work in changing policy on college campuses to protect transgender faculty, staff, and students. You'll get the opportunity to make connections with people already doing this important work and learn from their successes and failures.

All Texas Colleges and Universities wishing to gain transgender rights in institution policies should attend this strategy sharing summit in Houston.

I'd like to see some representation from Texas based HBCU's such as Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M as well.

If you're considering coming down from other parts of the state and do so by bus, METRORail's Red Line runs in front of the Greyhound Station and past the Rice University campus, located at 6100 Main St.

Registration is free to all participants, and the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit has a Facebook page that you can direct further questions you have to the event organizers. I'll also update this post with further contact info once I receive it.

Hope to see you at the upcoming TTNS Summit.

It's Hurricane Season

June 1 is not only the start of a new month, but for those of us living on the Atlantic and Gulf Coast it's hurricane season.

It reminds us that from now until November 30 we'll have to cast a wary eye on satellite images of clouds building up off the west African coast, the Caribbean or the western Atlantic for signs they are developing into tropical waves, tropical storms or hurricanes.

The 2010 NOAA predictions are for 14-23 named tropical storms to develop, 8-14 to become hurricanes with 74 mph winds, with 3-7 turning into major hurricanes of Category 3,4 or 5 level (winds of 114 MPH or higher).

We get refresher courses and news coverage on the differences between a Category 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 storm. We update our family evacuation plans in case we have to leave the area. We check generators, our emergency hurricane supplies and make sure those generators and flashlights have fresh batteries in them.

Hurricane Ike whacked Houston while I was gone, but ironically still came up to Louisville to affect me anyway.

At the same time, hurricane prediction numbers, while they are a concern, also depend on where they form as well. In 1983 we had only 4 named storms that made US landfall. One of them was Hurricane Alicia, the last Major hurricane to hit the Houston-Galveston area until Ike.

So yes, hurricanes just aren't a concern for those of us in the coastal zones. After they make landfall and begin breaking up they can dump massive amounts of rain in a very short time or create conditions for large tornado outbreaks depending on the type of storm.

So here's hoping that my first hurricane season since returning to the Gulf coast, despite the initial predictions from NOAA, is a relatively quiet one.

2010 French Open Williams Watch-Little Sis In Quarters

World Number 1 ranked Serena Williams not surprisingly is the lone American woman standing in the singles competition at the 2010 French Open.

She began her second week in Paris as the French Open's Number one seed by stepping onto Court Philippe Chatrier and taking out Israel's Shahar Peer in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to move on to the quarterfinals.

She will face Aussie Samantha Stosur, a 2009 French Open semifinalist who upset four time French Open champ Justine Henin 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 over on Court Suzanne Lenglen to end Henin's French Open win streak.

Meanwhile, the Williams express hasn't dropped a set as they roll through the 2010 Roland Garros doubles competition. They moved on to the doubles semifinal with a 6-2, 6-3 straight set demolition over the duo of Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

Team Williams faces fellow American Liezel Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. Garrigues along with Virginia Ruano won last year's French Open doubles title.

Here's hoping that the Williams sisters make it to their first French Open doubles final since 1999.

Memorial Day 2010

Today is Memorial Day in the States, and outside of the fact the Indy 500 took place yesterday, we take this day to remember all the service men and women who have died in service for our country. It's also considered the unofficial start to the summer season here in the States as well.

This Memorial Day sees what might be Congress finally going down the road of taking out an unjust law and repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'

Contrary to what most conservafools think, TBLG peeps served with honor and distinction in our nation's military. Some of them paid the ultimate price as well.

So as you're celebrating the start of the summer holiday season, take a moment to remember all of our people who died so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy, but have the ability to petition our government for redress of grievances.

2010 French Open Williams Watch-Big Sis Out In Singles

We have one less Williams sister playing tennis in the Roland Garros women's singles draw.

Number Two seeded Big Sis was upset by Russia's Nadia Petrova 4-6, 3-6 to put Venus' attempt to win her first French Open singles title to a screeching halt.

She's still playing tennis in Paris, but it will only be doubles with Serena until hopefully June 3.

Venus did get a little redemption by teaming with Little Sis to beat the Czech Republic's duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.

Team Williams moves on to the quarterfinals in their bid to win their first French Open doubles title since 1999. They will take on the duo of Maria Kirilenko of Russia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

Speaking of Little Sis, Serena's quest to win her first French Open singles title since 2002 is still alive.

She plays her fourth round match against Israel's Shahar Peer. If she gets past Peer, she gets the winner of the Justine Henin-Samantha Stosur match.

Isis Update

Isis put a comment on her Facebook page recently that she would be appearing on the Tyra Show soon. haven't seen it yet, so I either missed it or it's been rescheduled. If it's been rescheduled, definitely will be on the lookout for it to see what my sis has been up to these days. You'll have to check your local TV listings to see what time the show comes on in your area.

Isis has been doing some wonderful things since her emergence on Cycle 11 of America's Next Top Model She's become a role model and eloquent voice for many transwomen of color regardless of our ages.

I had the pleasure of interviewing her on the Womanist Musings Blogtalkradio podcast, which is on hiatus until I get resettled here and Renee finishes a major project.

But I do want to take a moment to give a shoutout to my sis. Isis is evolving before our eyes into a beautiful, confident and sexy woman, and that's a wonderful thing to witness.

The Trans No Makeup Zone

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There's an interesting discussion going on at Womanist Musings about makeup in reaction to the No Makeup Zone Today show episode. I'm going to toss in another angle of this makeup debate, from a transwoman's point of view.

One o the things we are constantly dealing with in addition to the usual baggage women deal with in terms of the beauty standard is also our insecurities about whether were accepted as women, period.

Those concerns are elevated or depressed based on whether or not you've had GRS, race, class and how long you've been living in the feminine gender role.

And that's even before we start talking about makeup issues.

My sisters fall along the makeup continuum from being either militantly anti-makeup to embracing it.

While we know that makeup is only a tool we use to enhance our femininity and our overall feminine presentation, it takes on a heightened importance for a transwoman. The more feminine we look to the average person, the better because it draws less attention to us.

That's a major concern when it's in the back of your mind that a transwoman is killed somewhere on this planet every three to four days. .

We know how to expertly put on that other face to the point where ciswomen are asking us for makeup tips.

Personally, I'm in the 'I like wearing it' camp. I own makeup books by Emmy Award winning makeup artist Reggie Wells and Sam Fine. I'm always experimenting with new ways of perfecting and polishing my look and use a mix of budget and Fashion Fair products that I discovered through trial and error work for me.

I'm also aware of the fact that I'm considered a role model for the African descended trans community. My appearance has to be on point when I do presentations and speeches. I never know when I step into a room whether this might be a person's first encounter with a professional African-American transperson and I want that interaction to be a positive one. So looking my gender best includes putting my other face on.

So do I feel different in my bareface than I do when I'm 'in face'? Yep.

I'm fortunate that in addition to having a tall and thin body build, I have a relatively androgynous face with high cheekbones and naturally long eyelashes.

Makeup enhances what I have. But some of my transsisters aren't so lucky.

I like the way I look when it's done, I feel more confident when I walk out the door and that translates into me being more confident in my ability to blend in with other ciswomen and society.

As to being more comfortable with going without it? That's an ongoing process.

2010 French Open Williams Watch-Little Sis Survives To Fourth Round

Serena had to put on the hard hat for her Court Philippe Chatrier match against Russian teen Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

It didn't look that way at first as she only took 28 minutes to win the first set 6-1. But after Serena had to call the trainer out for some medical issues, Pavlyuchenkova took advantage of Serena's troubles. She flipped the script in the second set to win it by an identical 6-1 count in 34 minutes to even the match.

Serena regrouped, took a deep breath and subdued Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 in the decisive third set to punch her ticket to the fourth round and her match with Israel's Shahar Peer. The win ensured that Little Sis will keep the world No.1 ranking after Roland Garros.

“I just ran out of a little energy out there,” Williams said. “Just fighting a cold and fighting sickness. But, you know, I’m just feeling better and getting ready for doubles.”

Meanwhile, Big Sis is rested and gets to play Russia's Nadia Petrova in her fourth round match.

The good news for Serena was that she didn't have to expend any extra energy in that doubles match against Hantuchova and Wozniacki. It was won in a walkover, so the Number one ranked Williams sisters will take on the Czech Republic's duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in their next doubles match.

2010 French Open Williams Watch-On To Third Round!

Little Sis had to wait an additional day to punch her ticket into the third round of the 2010 French Open singles tournament, but was all business when she stepped onto the court for her second round match with Germany's Julia Georges.

The tournament Number One seed dispatched Georges in a 6-1, 6-1 straight set demolition that only took 55 minutes. Serena takes on Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her third round singles match.

Meanwhile tournament Number Two seeded Big Sis took out Spain's Arantxa Perra Santonia 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday and beat Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4 in her third round match to advance to the fourth round of the French Open singles draw.

Their next doubles match has the number one doubles seeds taking on the Czech Republic's Daniela Hantchuova and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.

Houston Trans Community Preparing For Hurricane Season

The start of hurricane season is fast approaching, and with memories fresh in our minds about how several trans Katrina evacuees were mistreated in area shelters in 2005, the Houston TG Center is getting prepared to avoid a repeat of that scenario.

Because some of our community members are estranged or separated from our families, it impacts our abilities to expeditiously react to an oncoming storm or to recover from and rebuild our lives after it has made landfall.

The Houston TG Center is compiling a list of people willing to house trans evacuees in their homes in the vent of an evacuation.

If you need more info, follow this link to the TG Center blog.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-DADT's Going Down Edition

It's Memorial Day weekend, and fittingly the House voted late last night to begin the process to repeal DADT with the Senate on course to do the same.

I'm glad to see that unjust law being erased from our legal books, nut there are more than a few others Congress needs to work on.

It's Friday, and that means it's time to shine an unblinking spotlight on the fool, fools or group of fools who have distinguished themselves by exhibiting mind numbing levels of stupidity this week.

As usual we had many worthy candidates this week. The usual triumvirate of O'Reilly, Hannity and Palin. Megyn Kelly of Faux News. Michelle Malkin, Cliff Kincaid of the Orwellian-named Accuracy in Media for this falsehood filled May 25 column attacking gays in the military. Ann Coulter...

But this week's winner is Glenn Beck. Yeah, yeah I know. He says something stupid and disgusting on an almost hourly basis.

But I had to whack him for attacking and mocking Malia and Sasha Obama's intelligence.



Malia and Sasha collectively have more intelligence and common sense that all of Beck's viewers.

Glenn Beck, shut the HELL up fool.

House On Track To Repeal DADT

The House of Representatives voted 234-194 on an amendment that paves the way for a House vote to repeal the controversial 17 year old 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' military policy aimed at gays in the military.

It followed an 16-12 Senate Armed Services Committee vote that paves the way for the Senate to vote to repeal the policy as well.

The House amendment to repeal the controversial policy was offered by Iraq war veteran Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) in the House's version of the defense authorization bill.

"When I served in Baghdad, my team did not care whether a fellow soldier was straight or gay," Murphy said. "Could they do their job so that everybody in our unit could come home safely. With our military fighting two wars, why on earth would we tell over13,500 able-bodied Americans that their services are not needed."

President Obama said in a statement that he was "pleased" by the House vote.

"This legislation will help make our Armed Forces even stronger and more inclusive by allowing gay and lesbian soldiers to serve honestly and with integrity,"

And I'm happy to see an odious unjust law going down.

St. Louis Alderman Introduces Bill To Add Gender Identity To Existing Nondiscrimination Law

St. Louis may be on the verge of becoming the next metropolis to add 'gender identity and expression' to its nondiscrimination policy.

Alderman Shane Cohn introduced Board Bill 67 to precisely that on May 21.

St. Louis' City Ordinance 67119 was approved on June 13, 2006 and makes it illegal to discriminate in regard to housing, employment, education, services, public accommodations, and real property transactions regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, or legal source of income.

Alderman Cohn’s bill would add Gender Identity and Expression, which is defined as an inner sense of being a specific gender, or the expression, intended or unintended, of a gender identity by verbal statement, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth.

So those of you in the St. Louis area who support civil rights coverage for trans people, time to get busy. Call your alderperson and ask them to support Board Bill 67.

And yes, Moni's going to help you find out who that person is by clicking on this link.