Dr Sylvia Rhue: It Gets Better

Am 'It Gets Better video from Dr. Sylvia Rhue from the National Black Justice Coalition
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Shut Up Fool! Awards- Scary Weekend Edition

Halloween falls on Sunday and we have a critical midterm election happening on Tuesday.   So yeah, there's going to be a lot of anxiety for many of us on the liberal-progressive side.

We are genuinely worried that some of our base is going to sit at home while large numbers of stupid right wing people are going to bumrush the polls to vote for even stupider and dangerously radical folks and put them in office .



The words Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Sharron Angle scare me more than any horror movie Hollywood could come up with.

So let's segue right into our business du jour, choosing our Shut Up Fool of the week.   It's the last week of a campagn, so there was plenty of stupidity to go around.    Honorable mention goes to Clint McCance, the now resigned ex- vice president of the Midland, AR  school boar who let lose with so vile homophobia on his FB page.

Of course there was Glenn Beck, Sharron Angle,  Karl 'Turd Blossom' Rove,  Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and a group award for Fox Right Wing Noise, Louie Gohmert,  

This week's SUF winner was brought to my attention by Renee of Womanist Musings.   It's Tea Klux Klan member Al Reynolds, who is running for the Illinois Senate 52nd district. 


   
The more y'all flap your gums, the more racist y'all sound.    "The minority men find it more lucrative to be able to do drugs or other avenues rather than do education. It’s easier.” .

Ah, this BS combined with the old 'more Black men in jail than college' meme. that rears it's ugly head once again.   .   

Okay, time for Moni to blow this lie up.   According to a report issued in 2001 by the American Council on Education, 635,198 Black men attended higher education institutions in 2001 (the vast majority of which were 18-24). Of the 803,400 Black men in the nation’s state and federal prisons and local jails in 2001, just 189,200 were 18 to 24 years old, the prime age of collegiate men.    Nearly 76 percent of these Black male inmates were 25 and older, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported.

That means there are more than three times as many black men aged 18-24 in college than there are in jail.

Let me say it again for Al Reynolds benefit.   There are more than three  times as many African-American men in the 18-24 age group in college than incarcerated 18-24 African-American men.       

Al Reynolds, shut up, fool!

Phyllabuster: Why Even Bother To Vote This Tuesday

TransGriot Note: The latest Phyllabuster from the godmother of the trans rights movement and one of my mentors, Phyllis R. Frye


I feel certain that this may make some folks angry and that I will get some REMOVES to my list.   Well, I feel this needs to be said.  And if you are one of my Republican friends (and I have many Republican friends), please consider the entirety of this message.    

I have watched with interest as a kid or as a volunteered for and as a voter in elections since IKE ran in 1956.  I have never seen anything as ugly and violent as this election.  I remember the anti-catholic fervor during the Kennedy election.  And, I apologize for voting for Nixon in 1972.  I remember locally in the mid-1980's in Houston when a so-called "Straight Slate" ran a field of anti-gay candidates for City Council.  As you might suspect,  almost every house within a hundred yards of our front yard had a "Straight Slate" sign in their front yard.  I remember the flak we got with our "Jesse Jackson for President" signs both times that he ran.  I remember when a leading candidate for mayor said "Kill the Queers" into an open microphone.  And I have represented in the criminal courts various citizens who were arrested and charged for no reason other that the bigotry and hatred from a particular rouge cop or two.   

My parents were kids in the 1920's and grew up in the Great Depression in the 1930's and were young adults after World War II and watched with fear the entire Joe McCarthy witch-hunts.  They are both dead now, so I have a tad bit of forgiveness in my heart for their rejecting me.  I know that they were afraid of what other people might say or do to them as a result of being related to the "super-out-tranny," ME.  

And I have always wondered at how the Brown-shirted thugs took power as a minority in 1930's Germany. So many historians and documentaries have commented that the majority parties thought that they could keep the minority extremists in check.  People were angry with the economic situation.  The corporate barons felt that the order brought by this minority was good for business.  And so slowing things began to change for the worst.   

The thuggery that is coming out in this election cycle is frightening to me.  Candidates are having their private security "arrest and cuff?" the media.  (and not being arrested themselves for false imprisonment!)  Candidate supporters are stomping on women's heads.  (and not being arrested themselves for assault?)  We had a violent incident just yesterday in Houston.      The Tea-Party candidates who have co-opted the once moderation in the Republican Party will not talk to the media (Fox News is not media).  And their ideas are extreme.  Give social security to the stock market.  End Medicare.  End separation of church and state.  No abortion for kids raped by fathers.  And on.    

So, as I ponder to why even bother to vote this Tuesday, I hear from my friends on the left and in the center that they feel let down.  So do I.  I wanted a lot more out of this President and out of this Congress.  But consider this:  
  

•  in all but a few cases, the House and Senate Republicans refused to do anything but block legislation and nominations.      
• they did all they could to block everything.     
• they are embracing candidates who are EXTREME!    

they are tryng to buy this election with untraceable corporate money._____ YOU MUST VOTE ON TUESDAY.   

Okay, be angry or be disappointed, but don't give the keys to power back to the folks who screwed up the economy so badly it is still on life support and who will block everything for another two years.  If the Tea Party co-opted Republicans take over, they do NOT have your interests in mind   

The end of our Democracy could begin on November 2 unless you vote to say NO to filibusters and blockage, NO to the extremists who do not have your interests at heart, and NO to the big money buying this election.   

Even if you have to hold-your-nose, please get up off your seat and vote on Tuesday.  

And insist that someone goes with you.   

Sitting this one out because you are disappointed is NOT IN YOUR BEST INTEREST. Phyllis Randolph Frye a.k.a.  THE PHYLLABUSTER prfrye@aol.com

Warning: Frighten Black Peeps During Halloween At Your Own Rsk

Since we African descended folks always have to be in combat mode and aware of our surroundings as we navigate through life, these peeps who tried to pull Halloween pranks on these brothers got more than they bargained for.

Check out the video:

Uganda's 'Kill The Gays' Bill Is Still Alive

If y'all thought that fundie Ugandan legislator David Bahati's 'Kill The Gays' bill was dead and everything was copasetic for Ugandan TBLG people, time to wake up and restart the protesting.

Despite massive international pressure placed on Uganda to drop the odious legislation that Bahati introduced as a Private Member's Bill in October 2009, he is quoted as saying, "Every single day of my life now I am still pushing that it passes."

His comments also came after the Rolling Stone paper in Uganda published a list of known gay people in the country that triggered attacks on them.and forcing some into hiding.

The only thing keeping the Anti-Homosexuality bill from passing according to Bahati is Ugandan president Yoweri Musaveni's fear of international sanctions if they do pas the draconian bill, which calls for jailing and execution of gay people. 

The Anti-Homosexuality bill is probably the wet dream of our Reichers in the States.   It would criminalize homosexuality in Uganda and subject people to the death penalty who have previous convictions, are HIV-positive or engage in same gender sexual relations with persons under 18 years of age. 

The bill also includes provisions for punishing Ugandans who engage in same gender sexual relations outside of Uganda and asserting that they may be extradited back to the country for punishment.  

It even includes penalties for individuals, companies, media organizations, or non governmental organizations that support GLBT rights..

The world needs to speak up and speak loudly with one voice right fracking now before another murderous orgy of genocidal killing gets unleashed aimed at Uganda's GLBT population.

Texas Is A Lost Cause? Don't Think So

One of the things that irritates us Lone Star TBLG people is when we see online comments from people that arrogantly presume that Texas has always been a red state and will never change.  

We hear from the 'experts' living inside the Capital Beltway, along I-5 and I-95 that Texas is a lost cause GLBT rights wise and the money and time to organize it for progressive action could be better spent elsewhere.

Oh really?

News flash for you folks.  Texas is a majority-minority state with progressive roots.  The current GOP dominance of it is a fairly recent phenomenon that was built on a foundation of deception, party switchers, corporate cash and Southern Strategy inspired anti-Black and anti-Latino bashing to 'scurr' low income white voters.   .   

Bet you didn't know that the only southern Democratic senator to vote for the 1964 Civil Rights Act was Texan Ralph Yarborough?   As a matter of fact, Sen. Yarborough voted YES for every civil rights bill during his term in the US Senate from 1957-1971   

Can't forget other progressive leaders such as President Lyndon B. Johnson,  Congressmembers Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Sam Rayburn, Governor Ann Richards, and Billie Carr, the godmother of Texas Democrats who mentored a certain William Jefferson Clinton back in the early 70's. 

As for the LBITG aspect of it, one of the things GLBT peeps elsewhere forget is that it was Houston, not New York, LA or even San Francisco that elected an openly gay large city mayor in 2009 in Annise Parker   Dallas came agonizingly close to doing so the year before.  


Texans have also shaped much BTLG history.   The Lawrence v Texas case that wiped out US sodomy laws got its start in Houston.   The Texas 'T' Party, one of the first popular trans conventions was organized by the Boulton and Park Society group and held in San Antonio in the early 90's.   Phyllis Frye sponsored transgender law conferences in Houston in the mid 90's under the auspices of  ICTLEP.  Sarah DePalma once ran It's Time America!    Texans were part of the team that organized NTAC in 1999.    Other TBLG Texans continue to be cutting edge thinkers, opinion shapers and continue to provide innovative community leadership ..

We have four IFGE Trinity Award winners from Texas alone, Phyllis Frye, Vanessa Edwards Foster, the late Brenda Thomas, and some loudmouthed opinionated African-American trans blogger from Houston. 

Yes, we have homophobic and transphobic yahoos here along with wonderfully supportive allies  just as you peeps residing in so called blue state GLBT 'paradise' areas.         

The point is that just as you love the quality of life in your neck of the woods, we love Texas and our quality of life and its culture just as much and think it's worth fighting for.    The fact that we have majority-minority population status compels us along with our progressive tradition to fight even harder to establish the type of Texas we want to live in and pass on to our children and grandchildren, and not this unequal conservafool red state version.    

The other three states that have majority minority population status, Hawaii, California, and New Mexico are Democratic or are swing states, and it's past time for Texas to join the swing state political party.

So is Texas a lost cause?   Don't think so.    

A 'Crumb' Turns One: Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Act Anniversary

President Obama's GL haters slime any legislation or policy that isn't related to same gender marraige, DADT or DOMA repeal as 'crumbs'.

Today is the one year anniversary of one of those 'crumbs', the signing into law of one of the trans community's legislative Holy Grails, the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Act.

Just to recap what it is, the Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Act is an expansion of the 1969 US federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victims actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.   The law also directs the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track hate crime statistics.

The Byrd-Shepard Hate Crimes Act

• removes the prerequisite that the victim be engaging in a federally-protected activity, like voting or going to school.
• gives federal authorities greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue.
• provides $5 million per year in funding for fiscal years 2010 through 2012 to help state and local agencies pay for investigating and prosecuting hate crimes;
• requires the FBI to track statistics on hate crimes against trans people as it does with other affected groups. 

This is what the president had to say about it one year ago.

But our legislative work is not finished.   We still need to pass an inclusive ENDA and an inclusive SNDA.
Here's hoping that finally happens and gets signed into law as soon as possible.