Bishop Carlton Pearson Addressing Gays In The Black Church On CNN

Bishop Carlton Pearson on CNN discussing LGBT people in the Black church and some of the cultural issues leading to why there's a stained glass closet in it..

Race Matters-Even In The Trans Community

One of the issues I get pushback on by some people in the trans community is when I point out the numerous instances in which trans people of color are erased, ignored, or just flat out not talked about when it comes to trans community issues.

Some vanilla flavored or young POC transperson will read my stuff blasting the erasure and trot out various spin lines such as 'we're a small community', 'we're one people' accuse me of being 'too fixated on race' to deflect the reality that as a subset of the larger culture, the trans community is infected by the same ills and isms of the dominant culture.

And one of those isms that we don't grapple with enough is dealing with racism.

The other night I stumbled across an excellent article in my hometown newspaper that talked about transpeople.  The people interviewed in the Houston Chronicle article I consider friends. 

Give you a guess how many paragraphs of this article talked about transpeople of color much less interviewed any of us in the Houston area?     None. 

Note to transpeople:  I cannot say this enough.  Race matters in the trans community.   If you think it doesn't, here's a simple question.   Can you name five non-white national trans community leaders besides yours truly?

That's my point.

POC transpeople are beyond sick and tired of the erasure.   We're tired of taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence casualties and not being involved in making the policy decisions.  That frustration also includes media coverage that attempts to paint this community in a positive light..

As this theGrio.com LGBT leaders list shows, we sorely need to be acknowledged as part of the trans community.   We are erased to the point that even my own community can't name one African descended trans person who is a leader in this community, or aren't aware of our contributions to trans history, and that's pathetic.

To paraphrase the late Lena Horne, African American transpeople, our Latino/a colleagues and other POC trans people are not born to be second class citizens.   But that's the way we feel when we get erased.     

White transpeople get pissed when the GL community attempts to erase them from the GLBT community at large.  So why would you presume we're going to accept or sit quietly in the corner when you white transpeople treat us in a way that you yourselves would rebel against?  

So yes, race matters in the trans community, and I'm not going to let you forget that or attempt to forget that transpeople of color exist.

Team USA Women 2010 FIBA Worlds-No, Canada!

 The second round of the FIBA World Championships began in Ostrava and Brno today with Team USA, France and Greece joining Canada, Belarus and defending FIBA Women's champ Australia in Group E to play three more game in three days.    Group F in Brno is comprised of the host Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, Korea, Japan, and Brazil.

Top four teams in Groups E and F move on to the knockout rounds starting October 1 in Karlovy Vary.

Our first game in Group E play today was against our northern neighbors.  The last time they beat us in FIBA play was a 74-68 win in 1975.

They didn't bring their attack beavers with them to the Czech Republic as they got trounced by the FIBA number one ranked USA women 87-46.

The Canadians hung with us, built a six point lead and were only trailing 19-14 at the end of the first quarter thanks to another one of those patented slow starts that have been plaguing this team during this 2010 FIBA worlds.  Team USA tightened up the defense and unleashed a monster 28-11 second quarter on Canada to take control of the game.   A 40-21 second half allowed Team USA to cruise to victory.

Team USA forced 32 turnovers and collected 20 steals that they converted into 38 second chance points and 31 points off of fast break opportunities.

Lindsay Whalen led all USA scorers with 16 points, with Angel McCoughtry adding 11 points and five steals.  Swin Cash scored 10 points, followed by three USA players Sue Bird, Tina Charles and Candice Dupree with nine points each.    Maya Moore dished out a team high four assists to go with her  four rebounds.

"I thought tonight was a great defensive effort," Maya Moore said. "It was really obvious that it was our defense that sparked our offense. I think we had at least five and-ones; that just shows you that we are making improvements, and we are more focused. So, I think it was a step forward tonight."

Next up for the 4-0 American ballers is Belarus before our first showdown with defending  FIBA world champion Australia on Wednesday.

There is one thing we Team USA fans would love to see from our FIBA Number one ranked team.

No more slow starts, please.