Nikki Araguz Update 13 -August 16 Press Conference

As many of you following the case know, another hearing was held yesterday in the ongoing Araguz case. It was basically housekeeping stuff, so Nikki wasn't required to be here. One piece of good news out of it was that the 60K she was due to get as the beneficiary of Thomas Araguz' life insurance policy has been released to her.

Here's the press conference that took place after the hearing.



And here's Cristan's take on today's events.

Helena Bushong-Interview

HIV-AIDS affects almost 50% of the African-American population. Out of that portion of the African-American population living with HIV-AIDS, about a quarter of it is older than age 50.

And there's the African-American trans community.

28% of the African-American trans community is affected by HIV-AIDS.

Here's a link to a video interview of a woman who hits all three categories, Helena Bushong.

Helena in addition to being the head of the Illinois Gender Advocates also has the distinction of being the first African American transwoman ever to visit the White House.


TransGriot Update:  Helena recently e-mailed me to advise me she's no longer the head of Illinois Gender Advocates

IFGE Virginia Prince Award Winners

Since I discussed the IFGE Trinity Award in a previous post, might as well talk about IFGE's Virgina Prince Award For Lifetime Achievement

The Virginia Prince's criteria were that the person be a living member of the transgender community, be a leader or pioneer who has been instrumental in the development of the community and has actively served the transgender community
for a minimum of ten years.

IFGE started giving out these awards in 1987.

1987 Virginia Prince
1988 Merissa Sherrill Lynn
1989 Ariadne Kane
1990 Sister Mary Elizabeth
1991 Betty Ann Lind
1992 Naomi Owen
1993 Carol Beecroft
1994 Ellen Summers
1995 Yvonne Cook-Riley
1996 Sheila Kirk, M.D.
1997 Eve Burchert
1998 Jamison Green
1999 Phyllis Frye
2000 Jane Ellen & Mary Frances Fairfax
2001 Jane Fee
2002 Holly Boswell
2003 Alison & Dorothy Laing
2004 Marsha C Botzer
2005 Nancy Nangeroni
2006 Dr. Stephen Whittle
2007 Dallas Denny

You'll note that 2007 is the last year listed for a Virginia Prince awardee. IFGE decided to focus their attention on building the Trinity Awards into a signature community event and stop giving out the Virginia Prince.

That decision is a bittersweet one because while I support IFGE doing what's necessary to increase the spotlight on the Trinity, I hate the fact the Virgina Prince was a casualty of that decision before a trans POC had an opportunity to join that distinguished list of honorees.

Women Of Color Bloggers

How did I miss this one? This Nordette Adams BlogHer article was posted February 27, 2010 and talks about a decade of Women of Color bloggers.

Guess who gets mentioned as a blogger that people consider influential or they simply like. My blogging homegirl Renee and Womanist Musings is mentioned, along with Latoya Peterson's Racialicious (where I've had some guest posts pop up from time to time), Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, Tami of What Tami Said, Twanna Hines of Funky Brown Chick, and Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters

Wow.

It's a blessing and an honor that I was mentioned with some pretty lofty blogging company. It lets me know that the long hours and hard work I put into making this blog informative and entertaining for you to read has gotten your attention even if I question that at times.

But what is more gratifying and important to me is that it has the respect of my readers and my blogging peers.

'Religious Freedom' Cuts Both Ways

"It is my hope that the mosque will help to bring our city even closer together, and help repudiate the false and repugnant idea that the attacks of 9/11 were in any way consistent with Islam. "Muslims are as much a part of our city and our country as the people of any faith - and they are as welcome to worship in lower Manhattan as any other group." NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

For all the screaming the conservafools are doing about the so called Ground Zero Mosque which is actually two blocks away from the WTC site, what isn't being said or mentioned by all the haters is there are strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses in the same two block zone near the World Trade Center site.

Interestingly enough, right across the street from the WTC on Warren Street sits the Masjid Muhammad, a mosque that has been at that spot since 1970 and gets 1000 worshipers for Friday prayers?

The bottom line is that the Constitution's First Amendment is clear on this point.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

'Religious freedom' is not a free pass or shield for conservafools to hate on people or groups they don't like. It means exactly what it says as a constitutional value that you can't prevent the free exercise of religion.

So when the haters show the same zeal in eradicating sexually oriented businesses like the New York Dolls strip club from the area, then and only then will I consider their arguments against the mosque and cultural center as anything other than political posturing and Islamophobia.

TransGriot Update: Keith Olbermann had a special comment on his show about this issue as well.

Team USA Administers Le Beatdown 86-55

The Team USA men continued tuning up for the FIBA World Basketball Championships in Turkey by playing an exhibition matchup in Madison Square Garden versus France.

Granted, the French team was missing Tony Parker, Joakim Noah and Knick signee Ronny Turiaf, but the Team USA squad that opposed them in front of the sellout New York crowd is missing all 12 members of the 2008 'Redeem Team' that won Beijing B-ball gold.

Chauncey Billups is one of the few players on this young squad with international experience. He played on the 2007 FIBA Americas championship squad that secured the 2008 Olympic berth. It's a young, athletic squad Coach K has to work with that has five 21 year olds on the roster, and that roster got pared down to 13 players after Jeff Green and JaVale McGee were cut yesterday.

But back to Le Beatdown. The game didn't start out that way. This was the first international game for many of Team USA's players and the nervousness showed with the lackluster 6 for 16 shooting and five first quarter turnovers.

France actually held a 15-11 lead late in the first quarter until the USA turned up the defensive pressure and got a Rudy Gay dunk after a Stephen Curry steal. After France went 1 for 2 from the free throw line, Rudy Gay nailed a three pointer to end the quarter tied at 16 all.

The second quarter saw Team USA sprint off with an 11-3 run to grab the lead for good. France fought back with a 7-2 run of their own to close that deficit to 29-26with four minutes left, but Team USA responded by closing out the quarter with a 10-4 run to take a 39-30 lead into halftime.

The old man of the USA squad, 33 year old Chauncey Billups blew the game open by triggering a run with a pair of three pointers to expand that halftime cushion to 49-34. They kept piling on the defensive pressure and built the lead by the end of the third quarter to a comfortable 61-46 margin. They outscored France 22-9 in the fourth quarter to close out the win.

Team USA's FIBA competition gets tougher as they depart today for Spain. They'll take on Lithuania August 21 and the FIBA defending men's champion Spain on August 22 in Madrid before traveling to Athens to take on Greece, the team that eliminated them in the 2006 FIBA semis.

The final cut will be taking place sometime during or after during the European tuneup tour and we'll see starting August 28 whether this team has the right stuff to win our first FIBA men's title since 1994.

Nikki Araguz Update 12 -Another Court Hearing Day

The eyes of Trans Texas and the world will be focused on the Wharton County Courthouse again for the next phase of hearings in the Nikki Araguz trial.

To get you up to speed on what's happening, our political hack of an AG Greg Abbott (Republican) has already refused to do his job and rule on an El Paso County marriage case involving a transperson, citing the ongoing Araguz one as his excuse not to do so.

Methinks it's moreso the fact that he's r running for reelection against Democratic candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsky that's probably playing a major role in his reluctance to do his job as well.

We trans Texans will deal with that issue November 2. But back to what's going to transpire in a few hours.

The issue on the agenda for today is ruling on Nikki's attorney Darrell Steidley's motion on whether Simona Rodriguez Longoria, the mother of Thomas Araguz, has standing to be named executor of his estate in this case.

They have also filed a Motion to Dismiss the case as well.

I believe Cristan and some of the TG Center folks will be in the courthouse to lend support to Nikki as well and bear witness to the historic happening in the case.

Know that as soon as I find out what's going on, I'll post it to TransGriot ASAP..

Voting For 2010 Black Weblog Awards

Just a gentle reminder people that I'm a finalist in the 'Best LGBT Blog' category for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards. There's also a certain Timmy's Icecap drinking Canadian bacon loving blogger who is a finalist in the 'Best International Blog' category as well.

The voting is going on there until August 31, and winners will be announced in September.

While it's an honor to be a finalist, I would like to be the bride for once and not the bridesmaid.

So if you haven't done so already, surf on over there and cast those electronic ballots.

You Gotta Have Faith

One point that is repeatedly missed in the broader trans community is the faith of transpeople of color is an integral part of their lives.

Out of the long list of reasons why many POC trans people shy away from participating in the trans movement, the knee jerk bashing of religion by some people in it is probably in the Top Ten as to why.

To be honest, to transition takes a leap of faith to begin with.

You have to leave behind a life you aren't happy with in order to become the person you always were. You will endure scorn, ridicule, sometimes violence, loss of things, friends and sometimes family members that are near and dear to your heart.

And yet, through that process, we become the men and women we were born to be,

Contrary to the lies that our opponents tell about us, many of us were spiritual people before we embarked upon this gender journey, and it has only enhanced our faith.

There are times when that faith is severely tested, and times we have had to seriously lean on it to get us through some troubling situations.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, once said about this subject in his 1963 essay Strength To Love, 'Faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future.'

So yes, one of the prerequisites for any transition is faith.

Faith that you have prayerfully considered that transition is what you really want to do with all your heart, mind and soul. Faith that you will have the endurance to journey down this road to completion once you start down this path.

And finally, you have the faith to boldly look in the mirror, love the person that stared back at you in the mirror's reflection and be a better human being than when you started.

Ready For Some Texans Preseason Football

Had a wonderful afternoon getting reacquainted with a few people and meeting more in the community earlier today, but rushed home as soon as it was over to watch my first televised Texans preseason game since I moved back.

The 2010 edition of the Texans are playing the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale in a game that starts at 7 PM CDT.

There's a lot of excitement in H-town surrounding this Texans team because many people and pundits think this one has the goods to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

The Texans not only confidently believe they can make the NFL playoffs, they believe that if things break right for them and they handle their business, they have the ability to travel 262 miles up I-45 to the Jerrydome and play in the Super Bowl.

We'll see. They'll not only have the toughest schedule in the NFL to contend with this fall, but if they are going to make the playoffs they need to start by doing a better job of winning games within the AFC South.

That winning AFC South games mandate includes the team that's had their number since their inaugural 2002 season, the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts also happen to be the Texans season opening game at Reliant Stadium.

We Texans fans will get a good idea after this game with the Cardinals how close they are to being NFL battle ready.

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Conservative

Time for a another song rewrite!

The GOP, the Tea Klux Klan and everything in the 'white' wing world of conservalunacy has been going off the deep end with their pathological hatred of the POTUS. So thought I'd give y'all a song rewrite with a country twang this time.

Yeeee Haaa! So put on those boots, jeans, ten gallon hat, and fire up those iPods as you sing to Moni's chicken fried remixed lyrics to this song dedicated to my favorite target, the conservafools.

Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up Conservative
Sung to the tune of 'Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys' by Waylon Jennings.



Conservatives ain't nice and they're hearts are stone cold.
Their racism and sexism is really getting old
Turn on Fox News
To begin a new day
Don't understand science, and claim they're Christian
Their hypocrisy will blow you away

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be conservative.
Don't let 'em watch Fox News cause Glenn Beck sucks.
Let 'em be liberal progressives not schmucks
Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be conservative
Off the deep end they've gone quoting facts that are wrong
While cursing the POTUS they loathe

Conservatives do things that make you deplore them
Claim their protecting the children and people who are white
POC's they don't wanna know them and others they screw,
Sometimes you just wanna shake some sense into them.
They're wrong, they're ignorant and their base won't let them,
Do things for the country that are right

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be conservative.
Don't let 'em watch Fox News cause Glenn Beck sucks
Let 'em be liberal progressives not schmucks
Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be conservative.
Off the deep end they've gone quoting facts that are wrong
While cursing at the POTUS they loathe

The Houston Trans History Lesson Event

In order for you to understand your present and set your course for the future, you have to know your past.

That's why I'm at the TG Center in Montrose along with other interested parties listening to a trans history lesson from our 'godmother', Phyllis Frye.

This event is going to last until 5 PM, so I'll tell y'all about how it transpired when I get back home.

49th Anniversary Of The Building Of The Berlin Wall

Our right wing friends probably got the idea for the 'Tortilla Curtain' from what happened 49 years ago today, the start of construction for the Berlin Wall and the subsequent Inner German Border fence.



For you peeps who were toddlers or weren't even thought of, while I was a year from being born myself when the Berlin Wall went up, it was a reality for people of my generation who grew up during the Cold War and remember 'duck and cover' drills and Checkpoint Charlie.

Here's an excellent documentary from the German national network Deutsche Welle called 'Walled In'. It gives you an idea what The Wall looked like through the magic of computer animation circa the 1980s in the Bernauer Strasse area and a glimpse of the IGB.



Much of it has been dismantled since its fall in 1989, but sections of it are still preserved in Germany as memorials to the people who died trying to cross it to freedom.

Shut Up Fool! Awards-The Write Stuff Edition

Another Friday is upon us and your favorite blogger is going to take some time to do some writing this weekend. I have a second draft of a speech for the upcoming Trans pride march I'll be the Grand Marshal for September 12 and want to knock out a chapter or two in one of my novel manuscripts.

Been talking to Christa Hilfers and the wonderful peeps up there and I'm looking forward to seeing my good friend and soon to be birthday boy (Sunday) Rev. Louis Mitchell and everyone up there in western Massachusetts soon.

Oh yeah, my male characters of those manuscripts are demanding an equal time interview on the TransGriot pages like the sistahs had.

Now that I've gotten the housekeeping issues and announcements out of the way, time to tell y'all who earned this week's Shut Up Fool Award.

As always, had too many candidates to choose from. The usual triumvirate of Beck, Palin and O'Reilly. Various conservaidiots in the GOP such as Newt Gingrich and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Honorable mention goes to Kanye West's azz for trying to compare himself to Emmitt Till.

I know you miss your mother Kanye, but damn.

But this week I asked my Canadian homegirl and readers on my Facebook page (yes, the TransGriot is on Facebook and Twitter) who should be my Shut Up Fool winner.

The people have spoken. May I have the envelope, please.

This week's winner is...Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

So what earned her the nod over all these other nominees? This racist rant after a Black woman called her show about her white husband's indifference to the racism she experienced.





Renee already lit up Dr. Laura on her blog, now it's my turn.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. once said he was more concerned with the racists that wore Brooks Brothers suits and Gucci pumps than ones who wore white sheets.

Laura Schlessinger is a prime example of that.

One of the things that exasperates and pisses off African-Americans is when our everyday experiences dealing with a still racist and hostile world to us are belittled, dismissed, or denigrated.

We are not as Dr. Laura mischaracterized it 'oversensitive' to racism. It is a survival tactic for us to be hypersensitive to ANY racist remarks no matter how slight they seem to white ears. A long negative history in this country has taught us that racist words lead to racist thoughts which lead to the slippery and bloody slope of racist violence directed at us.

As to her point of Black comedians say the n-word, so she can say it, tired of that weak conservaexcuse as well. I don't (and won't) get to call you derogatory epithets aimed at Jewish people. You don't get to use that word, period.

Dr. Laura has been a right wing tool for decades, so I'm not surprised by hearing this level of ignorant stupidity come out of her mouth.

And people she's not even a psychologist. Her doctorate is in physiology.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger, shut the hell up, fool!

Team USA 2010 FIBA B-Ball Finalists In New York

The 2008 Olympic champion Team USA men ballers start FIBA World Basketball Championships Group B play on August 28 against Croatia.

This weekend in New York Team USA Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff will have to determine which three guys will not be going to Turkey out of the 15 finalists for the squad. The 12 man rosters for the two week FIBA tournament must be finalized by August 24.

For you LeBron haters, he, D-Wade and Chris Bosh aren't on the list. Neither is Kobe Bryant for you folks who love hatin' on him.

Before y'all get too happy, they are STILL on the 27 man USA 2010-2012 national squad.

Note to the rest of the FIBA basketball planet, don't get too happy because our 'A' team isn't going to be in Turkey. Some of the finalists on this squad are Rajon Rondo, Chauncey Billups, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Tyson Chandler, Lamar Odom and Andre Igoudala just to name a few.

They'll be just as determined to not only win gold in this FIBA world championship for the first time since 1994, but get that automatic qualifying spot for the 2012 Olympic B-ball tournament that goes with it.

As part of a World Basketball Festival that started yesterday at Radio City Music Hall with an intersquad scrimmage on the Radio City stage, Team USA will be taking on a French National Team at Madison Square Garden August 15 that doesn't include Tony Parker or Joakim Noah.

Noah is on the 24 man French roster and has made it clear while he won't be playing in the FIBA Championships, he will play for France in the future. The Puerto Rica squad will be taking on China in the other game.

But back to Team USA and Coach K and his coaching staff's dilemma. It will be interesting to see who makes this team, then watch them take on the world in Turkey in two weeks.

Treat Me With The Same Dignity And Respect You Demand For Yourself

Why is it so hard for some people to treat others with the same dignity and respect they demand for themselves? If you want me to give you the respect and dignity you deserve, then you must do the same.

It's a breathtakingly simple concept, but one far too many people don't put into practice.

Our Religious Reich and 'white' wing opponents scream long and loudly about how you're trampling on their 'religious freedoms', but are the first ones in line to exercise their faith based hatred and try to legislate yours out of existence.

There are our 'frenemies' in the gay and lesbian community who have spent more time since Stonewall bitterly fighting trans people tooth and nail and cutting us out of desperately needed civil rights legislation than they have being fierce advocates for our rights.

But the GL community are the first ones to bitch and complain when they feel that someone is impeding their civil rights progress or isn't working fast enough to overturn odious legislation aimed at them.

In the trans community we have a small segment of people who loudly scream they are being 'oppressed', but in the same breath are willfully misgendering anyone who disagrees with their misguided twisting of radfem doctrine.

Time out on all that BS.

As James Cone stated in his 1969 book Black Theology and Black Power

There are no degrees of human freedom or human dignity. Either a man respects another as a person or he does not.

It's that simple, people. Either you respect someone as a person or you don't. No excuses, no quantifications, no obfuscations, no bull.

We are human beings who are as I like to say, are undeniably part of the diverse mosaic of human life. To those of you don't like or dispute that, tough. You can take that discussion up with the Creator.

But as long as we reside on this planet, I and my trans brothers and sisters are not here on this planet to be your societal punching bags for whatever frustrations you have going on with your own lives.

We ain't going anywhere, and we demand and expect the same dignity and respect concerning our lives that you demand for yourselves.

The sooner y'all get that through y'all obstinately thick heads, the better world we can create together.

Prayers For Arianna

Every time you get down on yourself and think your life stinks at the moment, you'll soon be reminded or run into someone who has life circumstances that are worse than yours by comparison.

I was reminded of that point after hearing the news about Arianna Kitti, the brains behind the Gen ID website and an upcoming Trans Strategy Conference happening in California in a few weeks.

Arianna sent us a message via her Facebook page that she has been told by doctors she has a serious health issue that if it doesn't get corrected soon, she has just a few months to live.

Here's hoping she gets a second and third opinion and that turns out to be inaccurate.

Arianna has been getting attention for Gen ID.

In the meantime, I and a lot of people will be saying our prayers for you.

Thanks And Help A Sistah Out

I'm getting close to hitting the 1.5 million hit milestone on this blog, and for that I thank you loyal TransGriot readers. I deeply appreciate it.

You say that TransGriot is important to you and that you get your news from it.

But I do have something to ask you.

On the left hand side of this blog I have a donate button. In order to keep this blog add free, I'm going need to have the donations increase.

I get a little more than 2000 hits a day. If I got just 10% of you to chip in as little as $5, I would have the money I need to make some improvements such as have a backup computer, do some repairs on the now TransGriot primary computer and pay for my Internet service in advance.

Of course, if you feel like chipping in more, that's all good as well. If you can only afford to chip in $1, then that works for me as well.

If I can't get folks to start doing a little bit more to help support the blog, you probably will be seeing ads in the near future. While its come out of my pocket for most of the life of this blog, the negative economy has affected me as well.

I got cut back so much on my hours I became a reluctant member of the 99ers. The move also cut into my reserve savings as well and I'm not getting as many freelance writing assignments.

So, that's the sitch I'm in right now. If you want TransGriot around as a viable community resource, I'm going to need some help to keep making that happen through this rough patch I'm in.

Hong Kong Trans Marriage Case Update

I posted about the start of a trans marriage case that could impact the Araguz one that will resume August 16.

Post operative transwoman Ms. W is suing for the right to marry her longtime boyfriend. Hong Kong Registrar of Marriages ruled last year that because her birth certificate still lists her as male, she can't despite the fact her identity card lists her as female.

The Hong Kong Marriage Ordinance says marriage can only be a union between a man and a woman. However, mainland China allows transpeople to marry.

On Tuesday Monica Carss-Frisk of Britain, the lawyer hired by the Hong Kong government to represent them in this case because they have no one locally that was familiar with how the law impacted trans people, argued that the existing law did not accommodate transgender marriage and it was up to the legislature to decide.

"If there is a desire to change attitude, then the legislature can seek to do that," she told the court.

Carss-Frisk warned that any judicial attempt to broaden or re-interpret the legal definition of "man" and "woman" would create uncertainties in the law.

Ms. W's lawyer Michael Vidler pointed out that other Asian nations such as mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan allow trans people to marry the opposite sex in their new gender.

Stay tuned, and keep praying that Ms. W wins.

30th Anniversary of Houston Crossdressing Ordinance Repeal

Today is the day 30 years ago that an ordinance was passed by Houston City Council that repealed Section 28-42.4 of the city’s Code of Ordinances, more popularly known back in the day as the anti-crossdressing ordinance.

It had been on the city's legal books since 1904 and was used by HPD during the oppressive leadership reign of hated police chief Herman Short to harass the Houston GLBT community.

Thanks to a 1972 lawsuit by transwoman Anne Mayes that got an injunction against the Houston Police to back up off her and quit using it to harass her and the 3.5 years of hard work of my activist mentor Phyllis Frye, the transpeople of my generation and beyond could walk the streets of Houston without being arrested or harassed by the Houston po-po's for wearing the apparel of the opposite gender.

And now, a link to a 2006 OutSmart magazine story by Ann Walton Sieber about the repeal