So, Vanilla Gay Community, Have You Figured Out Who Your Oppressors Are Yet?

This graphic says it all and can't make it any clearer as to who are the gay community's oppressors.

57 Democrats vote for repeal of DADT with 2 voting to keep it. ZERO Republicans vote for repeal of DADT and 43 vote to keep it.



So explain to me once again why y'all are hatin' on the Democrats and President Obama so much?

Now, let me ask the question once again. When are GL advocacy groups such as GetEqual going to confront their GOP oppressors?

It's a question your African-American TBLG/SGL cousins are very interested in hearing the answer to.

Team USA Women 2010 FIBA Worlds- We Have A Team

The twelve women that are going to represent FIBA number one ranked Team USA and attempt to bring an eighth championship back to US soil were named by USA Basketball today.

Your 2010 FIBA World team will consist of two-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi, 2008 Olympic gold medalist Sylvia Fowles, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Swin Cash, Jayne Appel, Tina Charles, Candice Dupree, Asjha Jones, Angel McCoughtry, Lindsay Whalen, and Maya Moore.

Moore is the only collegiate player on this FIBA World Championship squad predominately made up of WNBA and Olympic team ballers.

“The process has been unbelievably difficult. It’s taken a lot out of us, the committee, coaches, staff,” said USA head coach Geno Auriemma. “It was probably the most difficult time that I’ve had as a coach in 35 years. When you have to say goodbye to players as committed to USA Basketball as Kara (Lawson) and Seimone (Augustus) have been, it’s very, very, very difficult. But there’s so much uncertainty in our post players position that we had to make some very difficult decisions. I think the team that was picked is a terrific team. It’s a terrific group of kids and the next nine games will give us an opportunity to prove that.”

“This was an extremely difficult decision for the committee to make,” said USA Basketball Women’s National Team Director and USA Selection Committee member Carol Callan. “After four exhibition games and the scrimmage against the Czech Republic, we believe we have selected the 12 players who will make the best team to be competitive at the World Championship. These players fill various needs that this team has in terms of the international styles of play that we will face in the Czech Republic.

“Players not selected have been and remain a vital part of the USA National Team program and we appreciate the effort they gave throughout our training camps in helping the USA prepare for this important competition. Again, it was not an easy decision to make. Any combination of the 14 finalists would make a formidable team, which is why this was such a tough decision to make.”

They are 63-1 in recent international competition, and will also be attempting to get that automatic qualifying spot in the 2012 London Games women's basketball tournament that goes with winning the 2010 FIBA women's title.

Team USA opens FIBA World Championship play against Greece tomorrow at 12:00 noon EDT with all the games being telecast on NBA-TV. You can also watch all the FIBA games via live streaming at www.FIBATV.com.

Go Team USA!

Focus On What's Between My Ears, Not My Legs

One of the things that's an irritant to many of us in the trans community as we continue on our gender journeys is when people fixate on our genital status.

The only person that needs to know what's between our legs is that individual transperson, the person we may be dating at that time or the one we're about to get intimate with. Everybody else don't need to know our genital business.

What's more important to us is that you be more concerned about what's between the ears of the transman or transwoman standing in front of you.

A lot of blood, sweat, tears, cash, contemplation and drama went into the ongoing development of the transperson that's standing tall and living their lives. They want to be seen, thought of and respected as the man or woman they present to the world.

Trying to discover whether they are pre-op, post-op, or non operative or what genitalia configuration is covered by their panties or boxers, then having it spread as juicy gossip doesn't help that transperson in their societal gender assimilation process. It can also put them in danger of being singled out for a hate crime or worse as well.

We have enough problems with our enemies focusing on our genitalia simply to deny us civil rights legislation we sorely need and cause drama on basic stuff such as going to the damned bathroom.

Me and my transbrothers and transsisters would rather you focus on the intelligent, talented, hardworking people across our trans rainbow and in our community.

I know transpeople who are rocket scientists, accomplished classical musicians, college professors, world class athletes, models, writers, students and actors.

If you get to know me and my transpeeps you'll discover we are keenly interested in a wide variety of subjects and you'll find we enjoy intelligent discourse. We are capable of easily discussing anything from the complexities of running a collegiate football spread offense to politics to the latest episode of True Blood.

And from time to time we'll discuss transition issues and what it's like to be us.

Yes, we'd like society to focus more on what's between our ears and what we can and are willing to do to contribute to society, and not what's between our legs.

Why The Trans Community Hates Dr. Paul McHugh

"The post-surgical subjects struck me as caricatures of women. They wore high heels, copious makeup, and flamboyant clothing; they spoke about how they found themselves able to give vent to their natural inclinations for peace, domesticity, and gentleness—but their large hands, prominent Adam’s apples, and thick facial features were incongruous (and would become more so as they aged)...." Dr. Paul McHugh 2004 Surgical Sex.

If you've noticed the spike in anti-trans rhetoric coming from the Catholic Church that has resulted in an increase in transphobia and hate violence crimes directed at transpeople in Latin America and other heavily Catholic spots on the planet, you have this man to thank for it.

You also have this man to thank for the 'transsexuality is a choice' meme that we have had to constantly fight as well.

But there is one group that he zealously defends. Catholic priests facing sex abuse charges.

Dr. Paul McHugh is another one of our longtime enemies of the trans community who first got the attention of our community in 1979. As then chair of the Johns Hopkins Psychiatry Department from 1975-2001 he shut down the Gender Program based on that infamous 1977 John Meyer study he ordered that claimed there was no real benefit to these services.

As a longtime critic of trans issues, McHugh has ties to neoconservative Catholic groups, was a member of the GW Bush Administration's President's Council on Bioethics, and is frequently quoted by anti-transgender groups such as NARTH and the Concerned Women for America.

McHugh claims responsibility for helping get J. Michael Bailey's anti-trans character assassination waste of trees The Man Who Would Be Queen published through the National Academy of Sciences.

He was tapped as the Vatican Advisor on trans issues and set the table for the current 'hate on transpeople' attitudes now prevalent in the Vatican since 2003 and now spreading like a cancer through the Roman Catholic Church.

Paul McHugh is also a supporter and proponent of Ray Blanchard's dubious autogynephelia theory that he created in 1989.

The "transgender" activists (now often allied with gay liberation movements) still argue that their members are entitled to whatever surgery they want, and they still claim that their sexual dysphoria represents a true conception of their sexual identity. They have made some protests against the diagnosis of autogynephilia as a mechanism to generate demands for sex-change operations, but they have offered little evidence to refute the diagnosis. Psychiatrists are taking better sexual histories from those requesting sex-change surgery and are discovering more examples of this strange male exhibitionist proclivity

McHugh not only leads the attacks on transpeople with a fanatical zeal, he did so against the late Dr. George Tiller to the point that in 2007 he was ordered by Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison to cease and desist. The anti-Tiller public statements by him and others in the conservative movement led to Tiller's death.

McHugh has the blood of our brothers and sisters around the world on his hands as well, and is deserving of the antipathy heaped upon him in our community.

NBJC Statement On Failed DADT Repeal

Yesterday the Senate failed to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT),” a law that calls for all gay and lesbian people who serve in the armed forces to be discharged without benefits if their sexual orientation is revealed. Supporters voted 56-43 in favor of starting debate on the 2011 Defense authorization bill, short of the 60 needed. A Republican-led filibuster blocked efforts to reverse DADT, shelving an Obama administration priority until after the November election.

In response to the delayed repeal, National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director Sharon Lettman-Hicks stated,

“The battle to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been stalled temporarily, but the fight is not over. We thank our ally organizations and informed leadership for staying the course to reverse an unjust and outdated law that compromises the moral integrity of our armed services by forcing gay and lesbian servicemembers to lie about who they are and who they love. More than thirteen-thousand servicemembers have been discharged due to DADT, including a disproportionate number of Black women. Those women have been left without health benefits and pensions and with a stained professional record simply for being lesbians. We look forward to the day when, even in our short-term memory, this will seem absurd--the fact that people debated whether servicemembers who sacrifice their lives every day to keep our country safe also have the right to be honest about who they are without becoming victims of government-sanctioned identity suppression.”

###

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. NBJC's mission is to end racism and homophobia.

2010 Texans Watch-This Time It Counts In the Standings

After beating the Washington Redskins in 30-27 overtime after coming back from a 17 point third quarter deficit, my fave NFL team takes its unblemished record into Reliant Stadium on Sunday against that 0-2 NFL team north of here.

Next to the games with the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Traitors, this NFL Week 3 date has been circled on the calendar by Texans fans ever since the schedule was released.

The last time they ventured down I-45 south they tasted a bitter 23-7 defeat. The Cowchip fifth column did much long and loud whining in the wake of that butt kicking saying it would be a different story when the regular season arrived.

Umm hmm. The regular season is now in its third week. When are y'all gonna start playing NFL football?

On second thought, I want y'all to continue playing sorry piss poor football like y'all have been for the last two weeks against the Redskins and the Bears.

Free Speech Is Not 'I Get To Say Whatever I Want And You STFU'

As someone who keeps a copy of the United States Constitution next to her computer and unlike the Tea Klux Klan knows what it means, I am familiar with the text of the First Amendment and the 26 others that make it up as well.

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

Freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones for a democratic and free society, along with some of the other things the First Amendment mentions such as freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, petitioning our government for redress of grievances and freedom of religion.

But in this post I'm going to focus on freedom of speech.

One of the distressing trends I'm noting in 21st century discourse is the fact we have too many people that interpret free speech as 'I get to say whatever I want and you STFU.'

While many of the peeps who have that attitude are the unwashed Faux News watching masses, I'm seeing it manifest itself at times in the progressive community as well, probably as a frustrated reaction to all the corrosive negativity spewed at us by the conservative movement.

Problems arise when one side tries to articulate their views and at the same time tries to stifle the other side's ability to express a countervailing viewpoint.

What has also been happening is that we don't have a set of common facts or ground rules people who are liberal or conservative can agree on. You can have and argue your positions, but you are not entitled to have your own facts, and then get all huffy when I call you on it.

I have a major problem with hate speech. I have seen far too often in American and world history hate thoughts leading to hate speech which leads to hate actions by the majority group against a minority one. It's something we must be vigilant about because as much as I hate it, the Constitution for now still protects it.

But just as you have the First Amendment right to say it, I have the reciprocal First Amendment rights to call your butt out on your racist stupidity.

With free speech comes responsibility as well. Democracy requires the free flow and honest exchange of ideas. Both sides need to be heard so that both feel as though they had a fair chance to express their thoughts about the issues of the day.

And it has the added benefit of hopefully keeping the drama to a minimum.

What We Has Here Is A Fauxgressive Failure To Communicate

Because I talk about the issues of race, class and how they affect the TBLG community and perceptions of how we view the same events in American society, every now and then I get vitriolic stuff hurled at me by peeps inside and outside the community in online discourse.

When I break it down for them to the point they have no logical response their favorite tactic is either hurling insults or calling me a 'racist' for doing do.

People seem to have forgotten their Sociology 101. Every ethnic group has bigotry and prejudice prevalent in it. Racism is a dominant social group using its bigotry and prejudice infused with power (political, economic, social, sexual, military, or police) to act against a minority social group or an individual in that group in order to retard or roll back their societal progress.

Power is the key element in racism..

Thought I'd give you an example of what I deal with just so you know that Moni isn't sellin' you woof tickets about some of the Hateraid she gets from time to time.

It all started innocently enough when Ashley Love commented in a FB message about the lack of coverage in the trans and gayosphere about the Sunday reception to honor President Obama. It was held at the just concluded NBJC Out In DC event that coincided with the Annual Legislative Conference held by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Ashley September 21 at 12:47pm Reply
i hear u. but I'm so frustrated. personal attacks is not the same as pressure. why dont we put more pressure on McCain and the republicans

September 21 at 12:50pm
Because many of the peeps in Gay Inc want to be just like the GOP. They want their WP back and see the only thing keeping them from it is their sexuality.

At that point the fun began.

Nataliya September 21 at 1:11pm Reply
the president has done very little of what he promised.
and how dare you Monica. stop being racist. black lgbt are ashamed because no one helps them, it's not the "white peoples" fault. by saying that you will do nothing but make racism in the lgbt sector, we don't need that.

After a long post from Dennis Repealdadt Veite about his take over what President Obama hasn't done, another comment pops up which attempts to microanalyze or derail what I said in the initial response to Ashley.

Wendy September 21 at 1:25pm Reply
I know what Monica is trying to say, but perhaps has too wide of net cast. I don't speak for HRC who is grossly underrepresented. There are many, many white and non-white LGBT's right now fighting hard for EQUAL privilege not WP, and the do not 'criticize the President' campaign runs the risk of alienating allies right now, of which I am one of, who reserve my right and duty to criticize ANY President regardless of nationality. I also defend Ashleys right to criticize the Tea Party freaks, but we are not them.

Monica Roberts September 21 at 1:37pm
Nobody in the AA TBLG community, myself included, has said you can't criticize the president, Wendy. The problem as POC's see and perceive it is the criticism of President Obama has gone TOO far in one direction, is coming primarily from one ethnic group, and the loudest critics are those who were Hillary supporters..

When we compare and contrast the virulent criticism of President Obama it to GLBT silence and lack of direct protest action toward your GOP oppressors, it pisses us and our allies in the AA community off.

That comment, as you see, was totally ignored

Wendy September 21 at 1:48pm Reply
So YOU are making the racist connections, not those accused. I personally been told I cannot criticize the black president because I am white by the above mentioned so you cannot really claim that. Obama is being criticized by progressives and GLBT progressives because he campaigned for their votes and cash and has since with the appointment of Rahm Emmanuel thrown their issues under the bus. To which they have valid criticisms. I'd recommend taking your racist assertions to the Tea Party where they belong, not gin up a race war in the community.

Wendy September 21 at 1:49pm Reply
And on that note, I'm done. I'm too busy taking the fight to my GOP and Dem oppressors to engage in a false and unproductive war with my own.

Dennis September 21 at 1:50pm Reply
Monica: What silence? We have and are protesting against the GOP officials. GetEQUAL just staged a protest to McCain's DADT stand just this past week. I'm not sure what you're seeing as silence and lack of direct action.

And I'm not sure if this has been noticed or not but some of Obama's loudest critics, aren't white.

I don't care if Hilary Clinton was in office; if she were doing the same crappy job, I'd be speaking just as loudly as I am right now. It doesn't have anything to do with race. Why does that keep getting brought up?

Monica Roberts September 21 at 1:54pm
Racism equals prejudice plus power, Wendy. It's interesting that when I point out a fact of life in America that race permeates everything in American society, people like you who are wallowing in 'whiteness' and unacknowledged privilege are quick to inaccurately call me 'racist' to deflect that reality..

The GLBT community as a subset of the greater society, is not immune to American's problems with race and dealing with the insidious nature of the doctrine of 'whiteness'

Dennis September 21 at 1:56pm Reply
This is not about race. It's truly sad that you can't see past that. And now I'm done to. This conversation is counterproductive. Good day everyone.

***

She'll be back in a few minutes. But a note to Dennis.

Bull feces Dennis, it most certainly is and does have an element of race in it. Even President Jimmy Carter acknowledged that the criticism of President Obama have racist elements in it.

Okay we now return you to you regularly scheduled post.

***

Then Wendy loses it...

Wendy September 21 at 1:58pm Reply
f**k you and your wallowing bulls**t. You have no knowledge of me or who and what I fight for. Tell that to my Ugandan LGBT's and they will laugh you off the planet, you fool.

Again with the fallback to Uganda. What's up with that? Uganda is not germane to this discussion

Then Nataliya piles on..

Nataliya September 21 at 2:01pm Reply
i second that, i help people in uganda write letters to embassies. i translate letters into many languages so they can seek asylum in the west. don't dare pull the race card.
i'm russian and tatar, people hate tatar because of OUR race, so don't act like only black people get the blunt of racism.
people like you make our country divided. when will you be satisfied? only a few years ago we would not even have a black president.

Ashley tried to play peacemaker here, but it was already on like Donkey Kong.

Ashley September 21 at 2:05pm Reply
Ladies let's be cordial. I doubt anyone on this thread is racist. You all are friends. I just wanted to hear your thoughts, and I appreciate them, and I have a lot to think about it. Let's just try to see where the MANY black (and non black) lgbt activists and leaders are saying about the personal attacks. MLK didn't attack Kennedy when things were going just as slow

Monica Roberts September 21 at 2:08pm
Dennis, many of us in the AA TBLG community sincerely doubt that 'If Hillary were in the WH we'd be protesting just as loudly' sentiment.

If Hillary were in the WH, I'd be willing to bet that the peeps in the GLBT community who supported her would be pointing out the facts that President Hillary Rodham Clinton inherited two wars, a crappy economy in free fall toward depression, and was being opposed by a GOP determined to make sure her presidency failed just for starters.

I find that interesting GetEqual is only doing so now in the face of criticism from the AA GLBT community of the imbalance.

but I'll be interested in seeing GetEqual or similar GLBT orgs disrupting speeches of GOP officials or their fundraising events like they did with President Obama's speech at a Cali fundraiser recently? When am I going to see on gayosphere blogs the same virulent rhetoric aimed at the GOP that you aim at President Obama in your posts and comments?

And is GOPProud and the Log Cabin Republicans closing the GayTM for GOP politicians and a party that has used you as a political punching bag for the last 20 years?

Nataliya September 21 at 2:10pm Reply
F**K ALL OF THE GROUPS!
we are queer, not black not white not republican not democrat, just get over it. lets just all agree we are queer and fight together and get common victory!.

Nataliya, if you were paying attention and it's obvious tat this point you aren't, Black GLBT peeps hate being described by the word 'queer'

Monica Roberts September 21 at 2:13pm
@Wendy...To quote the poet laureate Gwendolyn Brooks, 'Truth tellers are not always palatable..there's a preference for candy bars.'

Who is the person resorting to insults because she heard stuff that didn't fit neatly into her vanilla flavored viewpoint?

Wendy then posts this link from Robert F. Kennedy before sending this next message

Wendy September 21 at 2:17pm Reply
as apposed to your what, chocolate one? how utterly offensive. Don't take it as an insult, take it as a conviction.

Dennis September 21 at 2:19pm Reply
Monica: You are seriously misinformed. You make assumptions without facts and you pretend to know things that you do not (you have no idea who I am or what I fight for; you simply see a white person criticizing a black person regardless of the facts involved). If you want to make any real change, you should seriously rethink your approach. I'm dismissing you now as irrelevant because your statements have proven that you lack information and the desire to actually obtain that information and have a civilized conversation on the subject. I sincerely hope that someday you're able to overcome your barriers and join this fight. The LGBT community needs you.


Monica Roberts September 21 at 2:19pm
@Natalia,
People like me who tell the truth about race and race relations in this country aren't the ones who are 'keeping it divided' as you claim, it's the people wallowing in 'whiteness' and those of you who enable white privilege that do when you refuse or dismiss out of hand someone who is giving you an insight into a community and that they are thinking, and is freely sharing their thoughts on how they see things based on their lived experience.

Genia September 21 at 2:22pm Reply
This thread has gotten beyond ridiculous. When people learn how to debate without swearing at each other and acting like children perhaps THEN the LGBTQQIA (hope I didn't forget any letters!) community will get its shit together and start accomplishing something.

I have always been a very vocal critic of both parties - and I don't really care who's in charge at the White House.

I noticed that SOME people in the LGBT community will allow white folks to get away with a whole lot more than they would EVER allow Obama to get away with. Your precious Hillary Clinton gave us DOMA. Go yell at her! And Bill Clinton gave us DADT. Go yell at him! Bush tried writing discrimination AGAINST homosexuals into the Constitution with his stupid Federal Marriage Amendment Act. A whole lot of our white brothers and sisters have forgotten that. All they care about is the fact that a Black man is in the White House and he's taking his sweet time giving the white folks full equality. WHERE was GetEqual during the Clinton years? WHERE was GetEqual when Bush was trying to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment Act? I'll tell ya where: Sitting on their asses letting a white man screw 'em over - and doing absolutely nothing about it. But let a Black man do the same thing and all hell breaks loose.

You're an uneducated, whiney, childish brat if you DARE claim that the anti-Obama rhetoric isn't race-based. It most certainly is.


So after Genia called her out, Wendy resumed the Monica is a 'racist' attack

Wendy September 21 at 2:23pm Reply
people like you are todays racists Monica.

Monica Roberts September 21 at 2:25pm
Dennis, your opinion. And it is the height of arrogance for you to assume or presume what I am thinking when you don't know me either.

Answer this question for me Dennis, why is the lived experience of Whites considered 'more authoritative' that the lived experiences of POC? Why is it that we are are told repeatedly by whites that we're not supposed to be 'angry' over things that happen to us, but 'angry white people' are celebrated in this culture are exalted and praised?

Monica Roberts September 21 at 2:28pm
Wendy, racism equals prejudice plus power Wendy.. Racism is a majority group taking your prejudices, infusing them with power (social, political, economic, sexual, military, or police power) and using them to retard or hold back the progress of a minority group,

That's something you should have learned in Sociology 101

Nataliya September 21 at 2:34pm Reply
Monica, you are a racist.
and "white folks"? REALLY. wow. never have i met two racist people at once, bud damn, today i sure have.

Nataliya September 21 at 2:35pm Reply
i'm anti obama and i'm not racist! how dare you! how fucking dare you!
you sound like a gop tea party memeber.
if you don't like us, you're a communist.
but with you, if you don't like someone who happens to be black, you're a racists. hmmmm such ignorance.

Monica Roberts September 21 at 2:46pm
Didn't say you were Nataliya, you only presumed it.

You presumed that I was 'racist', without knowing anything about me other than my skin color, because I dare to point out the hypocrisy in the GLBT community's criticism of president Obama when they haven't exerted an equal or heightened amount of vitriol at their GOP oppressors in the same time frame that they've been loudly criticizing the Obama administration.

Genia September 21 at 2:49pm Reply
I'm definitely a racist. My half-white kids know it. My white ex-husband knows it, my white best friend knows it and my white fiancee knows it, too.

Have a great day, everyone!
- Genia

Wendy September 21 at 3:00pm Reply
not "presume", accuse. That seems to work for you Monica. You accuse all of us of doing nothing against Bush and his war criminal crew of neo-cons, without ANY facts or knowledge otherwise!!! Just accusation alone and the color of skin. How confederate is that. And Genia, duh!

Nataliya September 21 at 3:04pm Reply
hahah,
my african american boyfriend, he knows i'm racist too!
goodness Genia, we have so much in common.

Monica Roberts September 21 at 3:17pm
@Natalya And having an alleged AA boyfriend wont stop you from exercising that WP you're wallowing in either.

Nataliya September 21 at 3:22pm Reply
oh just go f***k yourself.
i don't need your support or believe of anything i say. i've made it this far, i will continue to move on, unlike you.

Once again Ashley tried to play peacemaker:

Ashley September 21 at 3:29pm Reply
Please refrain from swear words

Monica Roberts September 21 at 3:34pm
Seems like the only one having a problem with what I said and can't get past it is you, Nataliya. have a nice day....

Wendy September 21 at 3:45pm Reply
seems fair considering the diatribe and baseless accusations Ashley. You are picking a fight based on race with the wrong people you seem intent on having because you are not taking your fight to the correct people. I will no longer subject myself to it Ashley. Another ally bites the dust.

***

To Wendy and Nataliya, you promise?

And even after I started compiling this post, they STILL kept coming back to post on this thread.

As you can see here the smell of vanilla flavored privilege was overwhelming in this discourse. We weren't even two posts into this before I was getting slammed with the 'racist' epithet.

They tried to attack my intelligence, derail the thread, and do everything possible sidetrack the focus of the conversation from dealing with why my blog was the only one in the transosphere besides the IFGE website that posted about the Sunday NBJC Obama reception.

Then they got their noses out of joint about a comment I made about Gay, Inc. It's a sentiment hat is regularly expressed and said in internal chocolate GLBT community discourse. So if you don't like it, do something constructive to change our perceptions about it.

But this entire conversation reminded me of an Albert B. Cleage, Jr. quote:

Truth is that which serves the interests of a people. Two groups of people locked in combat cannot be expected to have the same truth.

The truth is the GLBT community has an unaddressed problem with race. Another truth is that even if we all see the same event, a white GLBT person is going to see it one way, I and my fellow TBLG/SGL people are going to see it another way, and a Latino/a or Asian GLBT person is going to have another take on it based on all our lived experiences, class, and other factors. Sometimes those of us in the same ethnic groups will have different takes on it.

But one piece of advice to get that long needed conversation on race in the GLBT community started. Do not under any circumstances use the conservafool definition of 'racism'.

Racism is prejudice plus power, and the power element is part and parcel to it.

More Like Satan's Flag

For those of you who wonder why I persist in calling the Teabaggers the Tea Klux Klan, check out this link from TeaParty.org with the 'God's Flag' caption.

More like it's Satan's flag.

It's the flag of traitors who wanted to overthrow the United States so they could continue to enslave my ancestors. It's the flag of pointed hood wearing terrorists who couldn't accept the fact they lost the 'War To Perpetuate Slavery' they started.

It's the flag of violent terroristic resistance to my people's attempts to pull themselves up by their bootstraps in the wake of emancipation and Reconstruction.

It's the flag of people who opposed the Civil Rights movement and of nullification.

It's the flag of white folks who hate and resent the fact that we have an African-American president who won a landslide election and his family living in the White House my people built with their unpaid labor.

Heritage not hate, my azz. It's a flag that represents a heritage of hate.

It's also the flag of those who wallow in a toxic stew of prejudice, ignorance, anger and fear that their version of America is going the way of the dinosaur.

God's flag? Please. The Civil War is over and you Southern-fried conservafools thankfully lost. Get over it.

The Upcoming Coppin State African American Transgender Forum

TransGriot Note: Thanks to Sandy Rawls for sending me the info concerning this upcoming forum. A I mentioned at the beginning of this year, transpeople of African descent are tired of the vanilla flavored status quo and the 2K10s will be a decade in which a might people will awaken and begin to take control of their own destiny, just as our cis ancestors did.

And now, the press release about the upcoming Coppin State event.

The purpose of this event is to foster dialog and productive conversation on ways to improve lives in the African American Transgender Community. The Transgender community, regardless of race or orientation, faces a multitude of obstacles and challenges.

More than often, we see and hear about African American trans people finding it exceptionally difficult to live healthy, productive, and successful lives.

During this forum, we will explore our challenges and our victories, as well as facilitate a solution-based dialog to further build a healthier, dynamic and unified community.

The African American Transgender Forum At Coppin State University-Working Together to Build a Stronger Community

Admission: FREE
Contact: Sandy Rawls 443-447-3238

Location: Coppin State University
2500 West North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21216-3698

Date: September 25, 2010
Time: 8:30am – 3:00pm
Lead Sponsors: Trans-United and Maryland Black Family Alliance

Co-sponsors: The Portal, ACLU of Maryland, Equality Maryland, (W.A.R) Women Accepting Responsibility, Baltimore Black Pride

Proposed Schedule:

8:30am - 9:10am – Registration and light breakfast
9:15am– 9:30am – WELCOME: Elbridge James and Sandy Rawls
9:35am – 9:45am – Building a stronger community-Sandy Rawls
9:45-9:55- Our Hopes, Our Dreams, Our Victories-Tona Brown

First Panel:
10:00– 11:45am –OUR ISSUES – Housing, Education, Sex Work, Hate Crimes

MODERATOR Sandy Rawls-Executive Director of Trans-United/Baltimore City HIV/AIDS Commissioner

Lindsey Harrington-Youth Group Facilitator at Trans-United/ TransS.P.I.R.E
Lisa Garnett- HIV/AIDS Prevention, and Treatment Director at Trans-United
Lauren Stokeling-W.A.R Women Accepting Responsibility
Aeon Farr- Morgan State University student/ Community Outreach coordinator at Trans-United

12:00pm – 12:45pm – LUNCH

Second Panel:
1:00pm – 2::30pm - OUR STORIES- How they contribute to solve issues in the Transgender community

Brian Watson -Program Director/Transgender Health Empowerment-Washington DC
Nevett Steele-Attorney, LGBT Community Activist
Mark McClaurin- HIV/AIDS specialist and Activist
Tonia Poteit- PA, MPA (Medical Public Health) at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health)
Dr. Luke Johnsen HIV/STD Specialist /Baltimore City Health Department

2:45pm – 3:00pm – Closing Remarks, Working Together to Build a Stronger Community
Sandy Rawls, Elbridge James, Lea Gilmore

Sex, Lies, Politics, Transpeeps and Polygraphs

As I constantly remind people, trans folks are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.

That means we'll find ourselves intertwined with and across a wide variety of human activity. We sometimes end up as actors playing a role in the great stage play we call life.

During this election cycle we have transpeople who are running for public office and have excellent chances to win. But in 1983 three African descended transwomen found themselves inserted as an issue in the middle of a heated Mississippi gubernatorial race between the state's attorney general Bill Allain and Republican candidate Leon Bramlett.

The 'Southern Strategy' was now over a decade old, but at the time in state and local level races denizens of the Deep South were still voting for Democratic candidates. In 1983 Mississippi's divorced popular attorney general Bill Allain was running to become the state's governor. Republicans were eager to break the century old Democratic hold on the Mississippi governor's mansion and show they were the new 'moral' political kids on the block with momentum in the state. They wanted Leon Bramlett to win and would do so by any mens necessary to help him.

So enter into this Southern fried political drama Devia Ross Holliday, 24 year old Nicole Toy Arrington, and 22 year old Donna Johnson.

Devia was an illusionist at an local Jackson GLBT club who when she wasn't at her primary job at the Walthall hotel. Nicole Toy Arrington had a dishwashing job at a local motel.

Devia and her housemates paid their bills by sometimes doing sex work on the local trans stroll, and one of their clients was alleged to be the Democratic candidate for governor. A Jackson cop named Randy Clark claimed he witnessed Allain talking to Donna Johnson in August 1983 on that Farish Street trans stroll.

GOP operatives supporting Bramlett got wind of the stories and hired detectives to investigate the rumors. It was the perfect volatile scandal mix of race and sex with a trans twist to it, and a detective with GOP ties soon got in touch with all three ladies and put them on his payroll.

Ross, Arrington, and Johnson were trotted in front of the media to make allegations that they had paid sexual relations with Allain more than 20 times. A polygraph test commissioned by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger appeared to buttress those claims. They then spent the next several weeks before Election Day 1983 being shunted between motels in Mississippi and Louisiana as their handlers sought to limit their media access.

"I'm no sexual deviate, and Leon Bramlett knows it!" Allain said as her denied the allegations. As he traveled to New Orleans to take a polygraph test to back up his denial (which he passed), his operatives went on the offensive to destroy the credibility of Holliday, Arrington and Johnson.

They went as far as to get an affidavit from the parents of Donna Johnson trashing their child by calling her a liar and thief.

On November 8 Bill Allain won the governor's race in a 55%-39% landslide anyway despite all the drama. Weary of being bounced from motel to motel, the trio returned to Jackson and recanted their stories shortly after Allain was inaugurated in January 1984.

The story receded from the headlines, and eventually got retold in two books, Mississippi Politics and Men Like That: A Southern Queer History.

Sadly, exactly ten years later on November 8, 1993 Devia Holliday was found dead in Jackson from a gunshot wound to the head in her Farish Street neighborhood.

Donna Johnson ended up in jail facing a murder charge due to an argument that unfortunately morphed into a stabbing death on January 7, 1984.

As for Nicole Toy Arrington neither book mentions what happened to her.

As for Bill Allain, he decided not to seek a second term as Mississippi governor and returned to his Jackson law practice.

But no one will forget the story of how three transwomen ended up memorably affecting a Mississippi governor's race.

Miss Major's Yale Speech

Miss Major is one of my trans elders and one of the few African-American Stonewall veterans still around as a living witness to that history. She is also an activist in her own right and advocate for trans prison rights in California and beyond that should have received an IFGE Trinity Award by now.

In 2008, Miss Major testified at the United Nations about the abuses of transgender women of color in the United States.

She began her transition in the 50's and ever since I met her at the 2005 Transsisters-Transbrothers conference in Louisville, I've been eager to hear and seek out that chocolate flavored trans history and wisdom from her perspective.

Stumbled across this story about a November 2009 chat she had at Yale University during Yale's Trans Awareness Week.

Team USA Women 2010 FIBA Worlds- Countdown To Cut Day

USA Basketball announced the 14 players who still have the opportunity to make the Team USA women's squad for the FIBA World Championships for Women taking place later this week in the Czech Republic.

The USA squad finalists are: Jayne Appel (San Antonio Silver Stars), Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Swin Cash (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Tina Charles (Connecticut Sun), Candice Dupree (Phoenix Mercury), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Asjha Jones (Connecticut Sun), Kara Lawson (Connecticut Sun), Angel McCoughtry (Atlanta Dream), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury), Lindsay Whalen (Minnesota Lynx) and the only collegiate player on this team, UConn's Maya Moore.

Team USA closed out the exhibition schedule with a 3-1 record and have a scrimmage in Brno in moments with FIBA women's tournament hosts the Czech Republic.

Group B pool play for the seven time FIBA women's champs starts in Ostrava on September 23 against Greece, followed the next day with games against Senegal and closing on September 25 with France.

Top three finishers in each group move on to the crossover rounds which will be conducted in Ostrava from September 27-29. Canada's in Group A along with defending FIBA world champ Australia, Belarus, and China.

The medal round will be played in Karlovy Vary, with the quarterfinals scheduled for October 1, the semifinals on October 2 and the medal games played on October 3.

But before we get to that point, the 12 woman FIBA tournament team rosters have to be finalized on September 22.

Coach Auriemma and the USA Basketball staff have some tough decisions to make in terms of who will be the last twelve women standing for the FIBA number one ranked USA women's team.

Whoever makes Team USA, the goals remain the same. Take their eighth FIBA world championship crown and the automatic bid in the London Games back to US shores.

Why The Trans Community Hates Dr. Janice G. Raymond

“I contend that the problem with transsexualism would best be served by morally mandating it out of existence”

Before there was an HRC and its various leaders pissing us off, the Religious Right, Jim Fouratt, The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Rep. Barney Frank, Dr. Paul McHugh, the Catholic Church, the Tea Klux Klan, The WWBT's, or Julie Bindel and a long list of radical feminists hating on transpeople, there was the trans community's original Public Enemy Number One.

She is radical feminist UMass professor Dr. Janice G. Raymond. While she focuses her time on her award winning work combating prostitution and the sexual exploitation of women, back in her disco era collegiate days her rhetorical sights were trained on transwomen.

The animus between the trans community and her starts in 1977 while she was being supervised in her Boston College Ethics and Society doctoral studies by Mary Daly, the same transphobe who called us 'Frankensteinian.'

That doctoral thesis was turned into the infamous 1979 book entitled The Transsexual Empire-The Making of the She-Male.

In that transphobic waste of trees she stated among other things:

All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves .... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive

"Transsexually constructed lesbian-feminists show yet another face of patriarchy. As the male-to-constructed-female transsexual exhibits the attempt to possess women in a bodily sense while acting out the images into which men have molded women, the male-to-constructed-female who claims to be a lesbian-feminist attempts to possess women at a deeper level, this time under the guise of challenging rather than conforming to the role and behavior of stereotyped femininity”.

This book sowed the seeds for the anti-trans attitudes prevalent in radical feminism today, the 1980's anti-trans attitudes in the feminist movement, and the sometimes bitter acrimony that transpeople of my generation and the one that preceded me feel toward feminism.

It also inspired transwoman Sandy Stone, who was attacked in Raymond's book, to write an essay entitled The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto.

It's sad because both transwomen and cis feminists should have been playing on the same team. Thanks to the book affirming the transphobia that existed in some feminist quarters, they didn't.

While The Transsexual Empire was bad enough to the trans community, another anti-trans screed she penned had more devastating effects for us in American society.

In 1980 Dr. Raymond wrote a paper entitled Technology on the Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery, for the US Government. This not well publicized tome discussed the topic of federal aid for trans people seeking rehabilitation and health services.

This paper effectively eliminated federal and state aid for indigent and imprisoned transsexuals. It has forced incarcerated trans people to file federal court cases to get back trans related medical treatment they lost as a result of Raymond's transphobic pen.

When the federal and state governments dropped funding for indigent transpeople, it was used as a pretext by private health insurance companies to follow the federal government’s lead and deny or disallow services to trans patients for any medical treatment remotely related to being trans, including breast cancer or genital cancer. The cancer denials were extrapolated to be a consequence of treatment for transsexuality.

The resulting decade long negativity toward Janice Raymond was so strong it took the 1995 rise of Elizabeth Birch and some publicized anti-trans remarks by her as head of HRC to supplant Raymond as Trans Public Enemy Number One.

For you folks who are wondering why you can't use the insurance policies you pay for to cover much of the medical work you need done or wonder why the Medicaid and Medicare taxes you pay doesn't cover SRS or any trans related care, you have Dr. Janice G. Raymond and her unleashed disco era transphobia to thank for that.

U of L Pride Week 2010

Won't be there, seeing the wonderful folks I got to know on campus or taking part in this one, (maybe next year) but the annual student-driven celebration of LGBT contributions to the University of Louisville campus and greater community kicks off later today.

The Pride keynote speech on Thursday will be given this year by Kate Clinton.

In addition the the keynote speech, it features a host of fun, educational events open to everyone! Whether you're LGBT or just interested in learning more about this community, join us for Pride 2010. Sponsored by the Vice Provost for Diversity and International Affairs, Information Technology, the Women's and Gender Studies Department, the Human Resources Department, and the School of Medicine.


Monday, September 20

11:00 am
Pride Flag Raising Ceremony with BlkOut
Clocktower, West Lawn

Noon
Pride Kickoff Cookout hosted by commonGround, LGBT Services, and BlkOut
Music, food, LGBT vendors, Pride shirts, dunking booth, and more!
West Lawn, Red Barn

7 pm
Film and Discussion, "Freeheld"
Presented by the Kentucky Fairness Alliance
Hosted by Faculty and Staff for Human Rights
Chao Auditorium

Tuesday, September 21

Noon
Brown Bag Lunch: Domestic Violence and LGBT Relationships
Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice

4 pm
Field Day/Gay Games with commonGround
West Lawn

7 pm
Louisville is Burning: Exploring Ball Culture
Sponsored by BlkOut
Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library

Wednesday, September 22

11:30 am
International Tea/Lunch
LGBT Issues Abroad
Cultural Center

7 pm
Parents Night with PFLAG
Hosted by commonGround
Cultural Center, Multipurpose Room

Thursday, September 23

Noon
Pride Interfaith Service
Interfaith Center

4-5:30 pm
Queer Women's Health Caucus
Hosted by Campus Heatlh Services
Light dinner included.
Multipurpose Room, Cultural Center

6 pm
LGBT Alumni Reception
The Intersection, Red Barn

Kate Clinton 7 pm
Pride Keynote Address by Kate Clinton
"Lady Ha Ha Does Louisville"
Comstock Hall, School of Music

Parking for Kate Clinton keynote: Choose the red parking lot next door to the School of Music, the blue lot at 3rd and Brandeis, or the Speed Museum's parking garage on 3rd Street. Directions are available here.

8 pm
After Party for Kate Clinton
The Monkey Wrench (21 and over)
1025 Barret Avenue



Friday, September 24

7 pm
Pride Rally to Honor LGBT and Ally Women
Red Barn, West Lawn

8:30 pm
Pride Rally After Party
Hosted by BlkOut
Wick's Pizza
975 Baxter Avenue
Saturday, September 25


9 am
Statewide Fairness Summit
Floyd Theatre, Student Activities Center

9 pm
Pride Dance
Hosted by CommonGround
Red Barn

Sunday, September 26

11 am
Pride Service
Community Empowerment Center
1036 Euclid Avenue

1 pm
Louisville AIDS Walk
The Belvedere, Downtown Louisville
Onnembo

On Display

Ekstrom Library will be displaying books and memorabilia from its LGBT collection all week. Stop by anytime to the display and learn more about the resources available on campus.

The Transwoman Behind Turkey's FIBA Tournament Success

Turkey had an 8-1 run to the September 12 title game in the recently concluded 2010 FIBA World Championships before they fell to Team USA.

But one story that emerged in the wake of the FIBA silver medalists 81-64 loss highlights something that I have said repeatedly in different ways on this blog.

No matter where we live on Planet Earth, if you give a transperson a shot at doing what they love and leave them alone to live their lives, it not only pays dividends for the transperson, but also the societies in which we live.

Meet Leyla Çalışkan, a talent scout for Turkish basketball. She discovered and trained Turkish NBA baller Hedo Turkoglu and several players on the Turkish national squad that made their nation proud and became known as the '12 Giant Men'.

Leyla was working at a local college pre-transition when she discovered Turkoglu and Kerem Tunçeri. Çalışkan’s “special situation” as she calls it was noticed at Çavuşoğlu College where she worked at the time and she was fired from her job.

“I had not had the [sex-change] surgery yet [when they fired me], but I guess people were understanding [my situation],” she said in an interview published in the Turkish English language newspaper Hurriyet.

Çalışkan said she went through a very difficult and lonely period after she was fired and then decided to have the SRS she'd been postponing in order to keep her job. “However, I have never regretted having the surgery; I found my identity,” she said.

Her story does have a positive end despite the fact her prized pupils don't communicate with her. She is still doing the work she loves in terms of discovering new Turkish basketball talents and working as a coach.

Dr. Ronald W. Walters Passes Away

One of the people I eagerly read who has influenced much of the way I see things politically is political scholar and expert on African-American politics Dr. Ronald W. Walters.

I've posted and quoted Dr. Walters Principles of Black Leadership on numerous TransGriot posts over the years but really hadn't gone into depth about just how farsighted he was and how much his ideas have become part of mainstream progressive policy.

Just to satisfy your curiosity about what those principles are, let me kick 'em to you one more time:

"The task of Black leadership is to provide the vision, resources, tactics, and strategies that facilitate the achievement of the objectives of Black people.

These objectives have been variously described as freedom, integration, equality, liberation, or defined in the terms of specific public policies. It is a role that often requires disturbing the peace. And we constantly carry on a dialogue about the fitness of various leaders and the qualities they bring to the table to fulfill this mission."

Two of his ideas which were considered radical back in the day such as comprehensive health care and a proposed two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem, are now mainstream progressive political thought.

He predicted in his 1987 book 'Black Presidential Politics in America: A Strategic Approach' how and what a Black presidential would have to do to get elected. He was the intellectual guru behind the formation of and early coalescence of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1970 and was on the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. 1984 presidential campaign team.

In 1958 as an NAACP youth member in his hometown of Wichita, KS he pioneered and took part in a demonstration tactic that would later become famous in Greensboro, NC two years later, the sit-in.

In 2003 he predicted a resurgent white conservative movement in his book "White Nationalism, Black Interests: Conservative Public Policy and the Black Community."

In a January essay, Dr. Walters had this to say about President Obama's record in the face of criticism from the left and the right.

"I think that the pundits and the public should face up to one fact," he wrote. "The mess that President Barack Obama inherited will not be fixed in one year, or two or possibly even during his entire term.

"The media works on a timeframe of instant results. . . . If George Bush had been as criticized and interrogated as much as Obama, perhaps the edifice of problems that now challenge the very viability of America might have been stopped."

Dr. Walters died Friday in Bethesda from cancer.

"As an academic, journalist and crusader, he was in the tradition of W.E.B. DuBois," writer and civil rights leader Roger Wilkins said Saturday. "He was a man who used his intellect and wisdom to make this a fairer and culturally richer country than the one we were born into."

Dr. Walters was one of my intellectual role models. He will be missed by those of us in the African-American community and the progressive political side.

Rest in peace Dr. Walters.

Team USA Women 2010 FIBA Worlds- Another Exhibition Blowout

The Team USA women were more than a little upset about the way they played last night in their 83-77 loss against the defending FIBA world women's champion Australia.

They took out their frustrations on Senegal, who they will see again in Group B pool play on September 24 when the FIBA Women's World Championships start on September 23.

Unlike last night, Team USA was a blistering 65% from the field on 39 of 60 shooting and were 6 of 9 from 3 point range (66.6%). Thirteen USA players scored in this 93-51 win with six Team USA players in double figures.

Team USA outrebounded Senegal 48-23, forced 23 turnovers, and dished out 22 assists and was in command of this game from the opening tipoff.

Hey, save some of this butt kicking intensity and focus for the tournament!

Senegal's only lead of the game was at the 8:36 mark of the first quarter after nailing a three pointer to give them a 3-2 lead. Team USA responded with a 23-2 run to take command of the game and end the quarter with a 31-8 lead which ballooned thanks to the second unit to 50-25 by halftime.

The three point barrage started after halftime and allowed Team USA to expand the lead to 79-37 by the end of the third quarter.

And yes, women's b-ball fans, Maya Moore was back in the Team USA lineup. She had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Diana Taurasi led all scorers with 14 points and five assists on 6 for 7 shooting in just 15 minutes of play. Kara Lawson tallied 13 points on 5 for 5 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from 3-point land. Lindsay Whalen chipped in 11 points on 5 for 5 shooting as well. Tina Charles contributed 10 points and six rebounds and Seimone Augustus added 10 points and four assists.

Coach Auriemma was pleased with Team USA's performance. "I thought that defensively we were much better than we were last night. Obviously the level of competition was much different. We are much more talented than Senegal. I don't want us to be dependent on that. Hopefully what we brought to the defensive end today is going to be more indicative of how we're going to play. It's evident that unless we're committed, especially on the defensive end, it's going to be very difficult to reach our goal of winning the World Championship."

Team USA closed out the exhibition schedule with a 3-1 record, but they do have a September 20 scrimmage in Brno with FIBA women's tournament hosts the Czech Republic.

The 12 member FIBA women's tournament team rosters have to be finalized the next day, and bear in mind Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Angel McCoughtry will join the team in the Czech Republic. Sylvia Fowles is day to day after having arthroscopic knee surgery. Coach Auriemma and staff have some tough decisions to make in terms of who will be the last twelve women standing.

Group B pool play starts in Ostrava on September 23 against Greece, followed the next day with the game against Senegal and closing on September 25 with France.

Will Team USA be ready to play and take the championship and the automatic bid for the London Games back home? If they play like they did today, the answer is probably yes.

2010 UH Cougar Watch-Coogs Take On UCLA

My Number 23 ranked Cougars in a few hours will be on the Left Coast in the Rose Bowl taking on the UCLA Bruins.

As of yet our all everything quarterback Case Keenum is a game time decision as to whether he'll play after suffering a mild concussion during the third quarter of the Coogs season opening 68-28 win versus Texas State.

This Pac-10 squad should be a sterner test for our NCAA number one ranked offense and rapidly improving defense, but we'll see after this 9:30 PM CDT kickoff.

Eat 'em Up!