Maria Roman Interview

The first time that many people outside of Southern California heard her name was in conjunction with the 2007 Transtasia documentary. But this telegenic trans Latina has been involved in fighting HIV/AIDS in the Los Angeles area for over 15 years as well as being a eloquent voice for transpeople on Spanish language and other media.

Here's a link to a recent interview done with Maria on the Raant blog.

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-Serena Repeats!

6-3, 6-2. Take that Williams haters.

Serena Williams started the 2k10's the same way she and Big Sis started the last decade. She took only 67 minutes to beat down Russia's Vera Zvonareva for her third straight Wimbledon Ladies' singles title, fourth overall, and 13th for her career.

She now ranks 6th overall for Grand Slam singles title wins, passing Billie Jean King on the all time list.

Next target is Chris Evert with 18.

Little Sis won another Venus (and Serena) Rosewater Dish without dropping a set and by serving a Wimbledon record 88 aces. She had only eight in her demolition of Zvonareva, who was in her first Grand Slam final.

Rhode Island Governor Vetoes Addition of 'Gender Identity and Expression' To State Hate Crime Law

Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri (R) vetoed a bill June 23 that would have expanded the state’s definition of a hate crime and protected Rhode island's trans citizens.

House Bill 7044/Senate Bill 2055 proposed that gender identity or expression be added to Rhode Island’s hate crimes statute. Carcieri vetoed the measure because he said the law already addresses actions "motivated by racial, religious, sexual orientation, gender or disability prejudice."

"The governor has once again shown his disdain for LGBT Rhode Islanders, especially his utter lack of caring about transgender people who face immense harassment and violence based on how they present their gender," said Susan Heroux of Queer Action. "One wonders what the governor would do if one of his grandchildren turns out to be gay or transgender. Would he continue to not care about us?"

The Rhode Island General Assembly could override his veto, but adjourned early this year so that members could begin their fall election campaigns.

Carcieri's is term limited and his term expires in January 2011, so you Rhode Island residents get the opportunity this fall to choose his replacement.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-Fourth of July Weekend Edition

It's Independence Day Weekend, and we celebrate the 234th anniversary of our Declaration of independence from Great Britain.

Thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Alex it's going to be a soggy one. It's rained for the last two days, and while that's a bummer, the good news is the temperatures here in H-town have been in the 70's for the last few days.

Speaking of celebrations, lets move on to determine who gets this week's Shut Up Fool Award.

The usual suspects were in the running, Beck, O'Reilly and Palin. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Fox News, Matt Drudge, and Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ)

But this week's award is a group one, and it goes to the Republican Party.

They trashed Justice Thurgood Marshall, apologized to a foreign corporation (BP) whose Exxon Valdez sized oil spill has jacked up the Gulf and the livelihoods of thousands of people along the Gulf coast, cut off unemployment benefits in the middle of a recession. and fought Wall Street reform.

Yep, profits over people. It's the GOP way.

And they think the reality based American public is going to give them another chance to frack up the country in the November midterm elections?

Republican Party, shut up fools!

Happy Birthday Sylvia!

Today is the birthday of the mother of the trans rights movement as we call her, Sylvia Rae Rivera.

She was born in New York City on this date in 1951 to parents of Puerto Rican and Venezuelan extraction, and was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance.

She also founded with her friend Marsha P. Johnson STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), a group focused on helping homeless young street transwomen.

She was a Stonewall Veteran in addition to being a loud and persistent voice railing against the attempts by the gay community to erase and exclude transpeople, people of color and low income people from the nascent TBLG movement and civil rights legislation.

I had the pleasure of meeting her in May 2000 and having a long conversation with her about some of those events.

We also agreed to disagree about Lyndon B. Johnson.

Sylvia lost her battle with cancer in February 2002, but her memory will live on through the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and the MCC's Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry named in her honor.

In 2005, the corner of Christopher and Hudson streets in New York's Greenwich Village neighborhood where she organized much of her activism was renamed "Rivera Way" in her honor.

MAGNET also had some commentary about the Mother of the Trans Rights Movement as well.

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-Serena In Finals

The haters aren't happy, but for the tenth time in eleven years, there will be a Williams sister in the Wimbledon Ladies' singles final on Saturday.

The Number One seed took out Petra Kvitova in straight sets 7-6(7-5), 6-2 to return to the final for the third straight year. She is seeking her fourth Wimbledon title and her 13th overall. All three of her previous Wimbledon titles were won against Venus in 2002, 2003 and 2009.

Serena will get a chance to exact revenge against Russia's Vera Zvonareva, who with Elena Vesnina upset her and Big Sis in the Ladies' doubles quarterfinals.

I hope she does. I was less than thrilled with the haters posting on the Wimbledon website following their quarterfinal doubles loss and posted my own comment.

I guess they'll be wearing their pointed hoods Saturday as they root for the latest Great Eastern European Tennis Glamazon Hope to attempt to derail a Williams sister from picking up another Venus and Serena Rosewater Dish.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all my north of the border readers.

It celebrates the July 1, 1867 day the Dominion of Canada was created by the British Parliament passage of the British North America Act. Sir John A. Macdonald became the first Prime Minister of the Dominion that included at the time Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

By 1873 Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island joined the Dominion, followed in 1904 and 1905 by Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland in 1949.

Canada is the second largest country in terms of land mass, the United States' largest trading partner, and shares an interesting history with our northern neighbor in addition to a 5,525 mile border, the longest in the world between two nations. 1,538 miles of the border that Sarah Palin crosses to get quality health care is between Canada and Alaska.

The Maple Leaf flag is its internationally known symbol today, but was only adopted as the official flag by the Canadian Parliament on February 15, 1965.

O Canada, the national anthem, was first performed in Quebec City in 1880, adopted as the unofficial national anthem by the Canadian Parliament in 1967, and officially became its national anthem thirty years ago today on July 1, 1980

And as my Canadian homegirl will remind me, basketball was invented by a Canadian, but we Americans perfected it.

Anyway, Renee and all my TransGriot Canadian readers, Happy Canada Day!

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-Upset In Doubles-Out KKKome The Haters

The World Number One and Number one tournament seeded doubles team were upset by Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. It was the first doubles loss for the Williams' sisters at Wimbledon since 2003 and Venus is totally out of the tournament.

It also killed their chance to complete a calendar year doubles Grand Slam by taking this tournament.

And the haters are celebrating.

From the Wimbledon website.

Great day of tennis... Would be nice, if serena loses her semi....Tired of seeing physical overpowering on others.. Thangs, United States, 30 June 15:50

Comments like 'Williams sisters make womens tennis interesting' are actually funny. I suppose if you call two wanna-be fashion designers, arrogance and verbally abusing linesman interesting - Well OK. Nothing more boring in tennis than a Williams final. Looking forward to Saturday ! Steve, Great Britain, 30 June 13:07

Hurray for Zvonerera and Vesinina's win. Much needed. Now we need someone to knock Serena out of the singles. Its time for new names on the trophies. Williams, Williams and Williams all the time is SO BORING. Well done girls you deserved your win Janice K, Great Britain, 30 June 9:11

Terribly happy that they are out from the womens double & for venus defeat. Waiting for the next william... __I don't enjoy their game at all & they don't bring anything good to the sport. S.W needs anger management and V.W needs to accept that when someone beats them - it means they were better then them! Hard work! Hanna S, Great Britain, 30 June 13:16

If the Williamses were blond haired blue eyed white girls from the 'burbs or Eastern European glamazons, none of these haters would be bitching about their dominance of the world tennis rankings, or the way they have owned 'Williams'don during the last decade.

But since they're from Compton...

Now you know why I want the Williams sisters to win every damn major tournament they enter, because of bigoted and borderline racist sentiments expressed like this.

If you haters are tired of seeing the Williams sisters scoop up every Grand Slam title in sight, then their competitors need to step up the level of their play to compete with and beat them. Right now the only players in the women's tennis world capable of beating a Williams sister are themselves.

It's up to Serena to uphold Williams family honor in her semifinal against Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. Frankly, after seeing that BS on the Wimbledon website, I hope Serena wins her next two matches and I see her on Saturday holding the Venus and Serena Rosewater Dish aloft for the third year in a row.

NBJC Comments On Shepherd-Hughley 'The View' Ignorance Of HIV/AIDS Prevalence In Black Community

TransGriot Note: Message from NBJC Executive Director Sharon J. Lettman

Last week, we heard once again that Black gay and bisexual men are responsible for the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Black community, a dangerous stereotype repeated on ABC's "The View" by host Sherri Shepherd and guest host D. L. Hughley.

While discussing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ban that prevents gay and bisexual men from donating blood, Shepherd and Hughley communicated oft-repeated misinformation about the causes of increased HIV rates among Black women.

Here is an excerpt from the exchange on the June 22 broadcast:

Hughley: When you look at the prevalence of HIV in the African American Community, it's primarily young women who are getting it from men who are on the down low. That's the thing.

Shepherd: The down low is black men who've been going out. They are having sex with men and they're not telling their girlfriends or their wives that they're gay and they're husbands, as well. And it's very prevalent with African American women because they come home and have sex with their wives or their girlfriends. And they're not telling them that they're gay.

Shepherd: It's so big in the Black community with women because they're having unprotected sex with men who have been having sex with... with men.


Following this exchange, D.L. Hughley went on to express his support for gay marriage. While we applaud his support, we cannot ignore the need for responsible reporting of the facts, by Hughley, Shepherd, and others who have irresponsibly repeated this stereotype.

Last week, ABC refused to issue an on-air correction.

Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention told the National Newspaper Publisher's Association in October of 2009, the CDC "has looked to see what proportion of [HIV] infections is coming from male partners who are bisexual and found that there are actually relatively few." According to Dr. Fenton and the CDC's research, most HIV infections can be attributed to other factors including injecting drugs and drug use.

It is time that we have an informed dialogue around the truths about HIV/AIDS in the Black community, void of the stereotypes about Black LGBT people--engaging Shepherd, Hughley, and other celebrity voices.

NBJC joins the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in calling for immediate action to correct these falsehoods that put our community in harm's way.

We refuse to stay silent, and we hope you will join us. Take action by:

1: Clicking here to read a transcript of the offending broadcast and sign the petition.

2: Posting a link of GLAAD's Action Alert to your Twitter feed, Facebook page, and any other social media you use to spread the word to your network.

It is all of our responsibility to correct the spreading of myths that contribute to hostility towards African-American LGBT people.

In solidarity,

Sharon J. Lettman
Executive Director
National Black Justice Coalition

Remembering A Sophisticated Lady

It's hard to believe that 15 years has passed since singer Phyllis Hyman committed suicide on this date a few days short of her 46th birthday.

She was one of my favorite singers in addition to me loving the fact that this strikingly beautiful sister was six feet tall without her heels.

And she could rock some hats in addition to being my fictional guardian angel in two short stories I wrote for the blog.

The Pittsburgh native had a career that spanned Broadway, did a cameo in the Spike Lee movie School Daze in addition to having hit records such as 'Betcha By Golly Wow', 'Living All Alone', 'Somewhere In My Lifetime', 'I Don't Want To Lose You' and The Answer Is You' in addition to my favorite songs by her 'Don't Wanna Change The World', 'Can't We Fall In Love Again', 'I Refuse to be Lonely', 'Meet Me On The Moon' and 'You Know How To Love Me'.








Even 15 years later, you are still loved and missed by your fans.

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-Big Sis Out

While Little Sis was busy beating China's Li Na in straight sets, Big Sis handed a straight set Christmas gift 2-6,3-6 loss to Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova.

"I just didn't get enough balls in today," she admitted. "I had a lot of opportunities and a lot of short balls but I just seemed to hit each one out. Obviously she played well but I don't think I did anything right today."

Yeah, 29 unforced errors will pave the way for a loss big time. It also means for the first time in three years there will be no all-Williams Ladies' singles final.

Meanwhile Little Sis was cruising to the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 straight set victory and a semifinal meeting with the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova.

She'll face the winner of the Vera Zvonareva-Tsvetana Pironkova match. Zvonareva ousted Kim Clijsters in three sets to punch her ticket to the Ladies' singles semis.

Venus isn't done at Wimbledon yet. She can still collect a check and trophy in the doubles competition. She and Serena are still cruising through the Wimbledon Ladies' doubles competition and face the Russian duo of Elena Vesina and Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals.

The Right Trans Candidate For Office is NOT A Right-Wing One

I am a huge advocate of qualified transpeople running for and getting elected to public office, and I want to see more run for office and win.

That doesn't extend to right-wing trans candidates for public office.

Karen Kerin ran for Congress in 2000 as a Republican in Vermont and is now making a fourth run for attorney general after failed runs in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Donna Milo is running in Florida's 20th Congressional District against two other Republicans for the GOP nomination to oppose incumbent Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The best way I can describe my thinking on this is by looking back to the time in my own people's history when you could count the number of African American House representatives on one hand. They also didn't wield the kind of power they do in the early 21st century.

The early 20th century African American congressmembers at that time like Arthur W. Mitchell, Oscar De Priest, William Dawson, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. were elected from districts in New York City and Chicago, but became by default the de facto representatives of ALL African Americans irregardless of our zipcodes. The legislation they sponsored and passed reflected that expansive worldview.

The same dynamic is true of any African American that happens to get elected to the US Senate. He or she has a constituency beyond just the state they represent.

It was the combination of the Great Migration, the work of those early African American congressmembers and the implementation of the Voting Rights Act that sowed the seeds for the muscular 43 member Congressional Black Caucus you see today.

And that dynamic is what the first open trans member of Congress is facing. He or she will not only have the weight of history on them, but media attention that belies their status as a freshman member of Congress. Whether they like it or not, they will also be seen as a representative of the trans community and be considered the de facto expert by their fellow congressmembers on trans issues.

The last person I want becoming the first trans person in Congress is one that is hostile to, clueless, or ashamed to embrace the label of trans American. I also don't want that first trans congressmember being someone who is clueless, in denial, indifferent, or openly hostile to how societal issues impact the lives of transpeople, especially transpeople of color.

Some of those issues may require governmental regulation or laws such as ENDA to fix, and you know how conservatives are all about letting 'bidness' run roughshod over people.

Right wingers also tend to be rigidly doctrinaire, selfish, more concerned with 'me' than 'we' and will spend more time kissing up to and siding with our oppressors than using that position and historic opportunity to speak truth to power and fight for the community.

Karen Kerin not only leans Libertarian in some instances in terms of her policy stances, but promises if elected as Vermont's attorney general, she would join in a lawsuit to kill the just passed health care bill. Never mind the fact that health care bill would help transpeople who don't have insurance coverage right now and like her GOP buddies, have no answer to what to do to fix the problem of 40 plus million Americans without health insurance other than 'Kill Obamacare'.

Donna Milo is a 'proud conservative'. If by some miracle she gets the GOP nomination on August 24, then upsets Wasserman Schultz, how hard would a Congresswoman Milo fight to pass ENDA since she 'doesn't believe in government handouts'? And how much of a drum major for trans justice would she be as a trans Latina who 'doesn't believe in labels', but didn't hesitate to claim the teabagger or conservative one?

Yes, I would love to see qualified trans candidates as soon as possible occupying as many statewide and national offices as we can get them elected to.

But the key quantifying point is that they have to be the right candidates for the job, not RIGHT wing.

If You Want A Trans Congressmember, Gotta Support The Transpeeps Running At The Local And State Levels

It has been almost twelve years since Georgina Beyer became the first open transperson elected to a national legislative body when she was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in November 1999.

In the United States the highest elective office a transperson has yet to successfully achieve is Kim Coca Iwamoto's election in 2006 to the Hawaii State Board of Education.

Others have attempted to get elected to state legislatures or large city councils but have not been successful in doing so.

We now have an opportunity presented to us in this election cycle in which we have three well qualified candidates posed to break through an electoral glass ceiling.

It'll be to paraphrase astronaut Neil Armstrong, one small historic step for those individuals, but one giant leap for the transgender community's striving for attainment of the next phase of political power and legitimacy.

Brittany Novotny in Oklahoma, Dr. Dana Beyer in Maryland and California's Victoria Kolakowski are currently running campaigns to secure elective offices that no open trans persons have achieved before.

While Novotny and Beyer are seeking state legislative seats, Kolakowski is seeking one that is just as important in a county judgeship.

In order to achieve the dream of congressional representation, we will not only have to continue to participate in party politics at the precinct level, we will have to start donating to campaigns as well.

And contrary to public perceptions, it doesn't take megabucks to do so to amass a political war chest that will allow you to run a quality campaign.

Remember the 2008 presidential campaign when the trans community set up an ActBlue page that raised over $10K for the Obama campaign basically on $5, $10 and $20 donations?

I believe and have no doubts that ActBlue page is one of the reasons factoring into why we've had some fantastic gains for trans people come out of this White House.

So why don't we apply the same principle to helping trans candidates get into judicial, state legislative seats, and large city council ones?

The reason is because state political party orgs look for congressional candidates who are large city council members, state legislators, and judges.

Many of those candidates tend to be elected county wide or city wide. That establishes for the parties and the people who fund heir campaigns their electoral viability while giving them experience in crafting legislation and providing constituent services at a local level.

In order for us to speed up the day when one of our own stands on the House floor making a speech about our issues and many others on C-SPAN, we'll have to dig into our pockets and purses to help provide the financial support necessary to give them the opportunity to serve us in the first place.

And it goes without saying what else you'll need to do to make that happen as well. Register to vote and participate in every election.

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-On To The Quarterfinals

In their only meeting at Wimbledon until today, Maria Sharapova upset Serena Williams for the 2004 Wimbledon Ladies' singles title.

Things are much different now as they faced each other once again on Centre Court in the fourth round of this year's tournament.

It took Little Sis an hour and 35 minutes, three saved set points, 19 aces and 31 winners, but she eventually subdued the 16th seed Sharapova 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 and move on to a quarterfinal matchup with China's Li Na.

If Serena gets past Li Na, she would take on the winner of the Petra Kvitova-Kala Kanepi match. Kvitova upset third seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in straight sets while Estonia's Kanepi is a qualifier on a little bit of a giant killing roll herself.

Number 2 seeded Big Sis was busy on the other side of the bracket subduing Australia's Jarmila Groth in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) straight set victory to advance to a quarterfinal round match with Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova.

If Big Sis gets past her, she'd have a tougher semifinal match to get through. She would have to take on the winner of the Kim Clijsters-Vera Zvonareva match.

The Williams sisters are moving on to the quarterfinals in the Ladies' doubles competition as well after beating Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

The Number one doubles seeds and World number one's have yet to drop a set in this 2010 Ladies' doubles tournament.

Whatever Happened To 'Whosoever Will'?

I have never read the verse where it says, "Though shalt discriminate against those not like me." I have never read the verse where it says, "Let's base our public policy on hate and fear and discrimination." Christianity to me is love and hope and faith and forgiveness--not hate and discrimination.

Texas state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, 2005

It's been a little over a month since I moved back to Houston, and one of the things I miss about Da Ville is my open and affirming Edenside church family and Rev. Sally McClain.

It got me thinking about what in Hades has happened to the Black Church?

It used to be an institution that embodies the slogan 'whosoever will'. Now 'whosoever will' has an asterisk by it.

Whosoever Will* except if you're gay, trans, liberal, ain't willing to give us your tax refund check...Well, you get the drift.

The Black Church has allowed itself to be infected by a virus called 'Prosperity Gospel'. It's basically what the late Rev. Ike used to preach back in the day on steroids.

It's also allowed itself to be infiltrated by the same white fundamentalist preachers who opposed our civil rights in exchange of cash to build and maintain those arena sized churches they run.

Some of them have willingly sold out our community to get faith-based initiative bribe money or suck up to GOP politicians who do not have our community's best interests in mind.

That has made many of these ministers who should have been front and center speaking out about the oppression of other human beings either reluctant to speak truth to power or depressingly hostile chocolate dipped tools laboring for the Forces of Intolerance.

It's not prudent in their minds to do so when they are paying notes on those palatial churches, getting handed large speaking fees to speak at conservafool political and religious conferences or trying to support a jet setting lifestyle and far flung teleministry complete with $1000 suits and flashy cars.

But back to discussing what happened to 'whosoever will'. For the four centuries that African descended people have been on the American continent, the church was the one institution that we had control over. It was the spiritual rock that we anchored our chaotic lives to. It produced some of our greatest leaders and served as a one stop social service and community center. It also was our sword and shield fighting against injustice.

Now it's becoming, as Dr. King once talked about, a 'dry as dust' religion.

But for too long it has been on the wrong side of the civil rights battle that TBLG people are waging against the same oppressive forces that tried to retard our civil rights advances and who would love to roll all African Americans civil rights back like they successfully did at the tail end of the 19th century.

The Black Church really needs to get back to the tradition of 'whosoever will' as soon as possible because all our people's civil rights may depend on it.

'The Prodigal' Premieres Tonight

One of the things that was a casualty of my move back to Houston was an opportunity to be the narrator for this Sheila O'Bannon produced play which premiers at 8 PM EDT tonight at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.

'The Prodigal' is a fictionalized account of one family's journey to understand and eventually come to accept the transition journey of one of its family members.

The central theme of the play deals with gender identity, and its more often hidden and concealed impacts on our individual family lives as well as the lives of others in the broader community. The purpose of the play, is to draw genuine focus and discussion about the various issues that face those within the GLBTQ community, with a sole purpose to promote civility and acceptance of our individual differences and our common humanity.

When a child searches for answers, his quest unravels a family, a town and his entire world. Could the “Great Almighty” be the only one who can answer his question…

Who am I?

Our goal is not to convey right versus wrong, nor impute a position of morality, but to simply and boldly say, that the table of grace is opened and availed to all by the Heavenly Father, and He alone. This will be an evening of song, drama, comedy, reflection and introspection, challenging the very core of our acquired beliefs.

This musical production is based on a true story by playwright Sheila O’Bannon, along with arrangements by two time Grammy Award winner J.D. Miller and other contributing composers.

A compelling saga, that is a must see; it will change your life forever.

We promise… You’ll Never Be the Same…

And I wish I'd been able to be part of it.

The Prodigal after its June 26 and 27th debut performances at the Whitney Theater will have some performances in Atlanta, with the possibility of ending up on Broadway.

Break a leg, folks. May 'The Prodigal' be a smashing success.

2010 Wimbledon Williams Watch-On To The Fourth Round

My favorite tennis playing sisters are still alive and on track to meet in the Wimbledon Ladies' singles Finals for the third straight year.

Defending champ and number one seed Serena beat Slovakia's Dominika Cibulková in straight sets 6-0, 7-5 to move on to a fourth round meeting with 2004 Wimbledon Champ Maria Sharapova.

On the other side of the bracket, Venus beat Russia's Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-2 to move on to her fourth round match with Australia's Jarmila Groth.

The number one world ranked Williams sisters are kicking butt and taking names in doubles as well. They moved on to the third round of the 2010 Ladies' doubles competition by dispatching Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland and Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) to move on to the third round with Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.

Family Reunion

Well, so much for any plans to take in the sights and sounds of my first Houston Pride event since 2001.

Got more important business. My family reunion.

My mom's side of the family since 1998 has a now yearly reunion that rotates between the Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, NW Indiana-Chicago, and Dallas and Houston, Texas branches of the family.

Through a happy circumstance I got back here just in time for the Houston branch of our family to play hosts for the event and get the pleasure of attending one for the first time in a long time.

It's going to be an interesting situation for me as well. Some of my extended relative know about my transition, especially if they are on Facebook or have perused this blog, while others don't.

All I'm looking for is a nice and relatively quiet weekend with a minimum level of drama. But if static gets started, I will not hesitate to deal with it.

Erased Again-No Black Transwomen At The White House LGBT Reception

The guest list has yet to be released, but the transpeople who attended the reception are already posting their pictures on Facebook and commenting about how wonderful it was.

Too bad so far there have been no African descended transwomen commenting about Tuesday's Presidential GLBT reception.

Once again it seems as though just like last year, African American transwomen were not in the house our ancestors built with their unpaid labor for a TBLG community event, and the defensive spin is already starting to come out of the white trans community.

'Well, I wasn't invited'. 'There were eight trans people invited to the White House' 'We should focus on the big picture'. 'Diego Sanchez was there'.

Easy for you vanilla-flavored privilege wielding trans people to say. Your section of the trans community as white transmales and white transfemales was well represented. Once again my section of it wasn't.

News flash for you peeps, Diego Sanchez is a Latino transman.

I have much love and respect for him and his accomplishments, but he is Latino, not African American. Stop trying to hide behind Diego and make the ludicrous conclusion jump that because he was there, he represents ALL transpeople of color.

But let's get real for a moment. How pissed off would you'd be if now for the second year in a row, a TBLG reception was hosted by a president that shares your ethnicity, you donated to his campaign and busted your behind to help put into office, and for the second year in a row you see no one who looks like you represented in the trans contingent at a LGBT 'community' reception?

And don't even get me started about last year's melanin free trans House hearing on employment issues.

I and the African descended trans community and our allies are tired of the crap, tired of the erasure, and tired of the weak azz excuses coming from white transpeople trying to justify the erasure.

The late Lena Horne once said, 'You have to be taught to be second class; you're
not born that way'.

But that was the message you sent when the guest list for a White House reception in a so called diverse community for the second year in a row doesn't include any African descended transwomen.

We're good enough for four of us to win IFGE Trinity Awards, start and run organizations, lobby Congress, various state, local and civic legislative bodies, eloquently speak about trans issues to various groups, write about them and have the respect and admiration of our fellow trans activists from around the world, but not good enough to rate an invite to a congressional hearing to speak on behalf of the community or visit the White House?

How jacked up is that?

African American transpeople are not born to be second class citizens, nor are we going to accept or sit quietly in the corner when you white transpeople treat us that way.

One time being ignored is an accident. Two or more times is a deliberate pattern.

Y'all can get mad all you want about me calling the trans community out about the erasure. But if you don't like Moni pointing out the obvious, there's a simple solution to fix this recurring problem: Don't submit melanin free guest lists for these events in the first place.

You can spin it all you want, it doesn't change the ugly truth that once again, it appears that not one AA transwoman was there at an LGBT event hosted by an African descended president.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-USA 'Menz' Soccer Rocks Edition

Had to show some love for the USA 'Menz' soccer team who in this 2010 World Cup are breaking ground for USA football on the world's biggest stage.

They won their group in dramatic fashion for the first time in 80 years. They came back from a two goal deficit for the first time ever and had it not been for a disallowed goal would have staged the greatest World Cup comeback ever.

It is also the most diverse men's soccer team the USA has ever sent into World Cup competition, so that makes it even more cool that all these wonderful things are happening. Now they're in the knockout round and are only four wins away from the World Cup. Can they do it? It all starts with the match against Ghana tomorrow.

Speaking of just doing it, time to find out who engaged in championship level stupidity this week.

The usual cavalcade of fools were in the running such as O'Reilly, Beck, Palin and Hannity. Rand Paul, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Fox fembot Monica Crowley.

But the winner was Faux News fembot and former Miss America Gretchen Carlson.

Carlson compared the job of the President of the United States to her job as a morning talk show host.

Really Gretchen? I wasn't aware that you and you Fox news buds do your shows from the Oval Office or sign legislation.

But then again I shouldn't be surprised such stupidity comes out of your mouth especially when your nanny as a kid was future congresswoman Michele Bachmanm.

Gretchen Carlson, shut up fool!