Drag Bingo? No Wonder EQ Maryland Lost To The Anti-Marriage Folks

Here they are in the middle of trying to pimp a flawed trans right bill and they are promoting a Drag Bingo night?

Seriously?   Did you people even take Political Science 101 or 102 in school?   The timing of this event is mind numingly idiotic. 

Cue Kat Rose for her take on this jaw dropping stupidity .

....but most people with any political sense understand that waving drag queens under the noses of legislators and easily-excitable scared citizens who either don’t know or who are being goaded by christianists into not caring that not all trans people are drag queens might not be a good idea – depending, of course, on what the actual goals actually are. 


No wonder you people lost to Robert 'Android Marriage' Broadus and his anti same gender marriage B-team.



Why is it that we transpeople get the GL Civil Rights Gang That Can't Shoot Straight  (pun intended) when we have legislation critical to our lives that should have easily passed and been airtight to begin with?

 

To borrow the line from the State Farm 'magic jingle' commercial , 'Y'all make my head numb' from the unprofessional piss poor way this has been handled.

Why HB 235 Is An Unjust Law

To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.'

Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr 'Letter From Birmingham City Jail, 1963

I've called HB 235 an unjust law.   You may be asking yourself what's the difference between a just law, an unjust law and why is HB 235, the Maryland GINDA bill an unjust law? 

The opening quote I started the post with by Dr. King neatly summarizes what an unjust law is.  The following quote by the Drum Major For Justice is what a just law is: 

A just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself."

HB 235 is an unjust law because the majority cis population in Maryland would not only NOT follow it themselves, but would rebel if a similar law they knew with absolute certainty didn't protect their civil rights were imposed on them in the manner that GINDA is being forced on the trans community. 

Based on the 2001 law they passed for themselves that has public accommodations language in it that they cut transpeople out of back in the day, I would submit that the GL community of Maryland would not be satisfied to willingly follow GINDA either.

HB 235's fatal flaw is that because of the missing P/A language, it will not protect us from discrimination as  Equality Maryland (who wrote it) and Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk (the legislator who sponsored it) claim it will do.   Despite the protestations of EQ MD, Del. Melnyk and its supporters, HB 235 will not protect the rights of the trans people of the state, much less give us the legal tools to fight any discrimination that occurs against us if it passes at the same level of civil rights coverage that cis residents of Maryland get.

They need to stop pretending that this unjust trans rights bill will meet those parameters.   If it does, are you gay and lesbian EQ Maryland people willing to remove public accommodations language for the bill you passed for yourselves in 2001?  

Didn't think so.   But you want transpeople in the Free State to settle for civil rights 'crumbs' in the name of 'incremental progress'..

The Maryland trans community that will be negatively affected by HB 235 has repeatedly asked for public accommodations language to be amended into it.   EQ MD and Del. Pena-Melnyk have obstinately balked at doing so.  They continue to refuse to comply with that reasonable request in light of increasing legal evidence bolstering the trans community's position on the bill.    

Their refusal to do so raises questions in the minds of the trans community of Maryland, the nation and our social justice minded allies as to why a legislator and an organization that purports to be an ally to trans people continue to push a flawed bill.   

Their insistence on doing so means that Equality Maryland has forfeited the moral high ground they had going into this legislative session. In addition, the EQ Maryland forces are using immoral tactics, obfuscation, silencing of trans people's voices sounding the alarm about their reprehensible behavior and outright deception in order to gain support for this unjust law

Can Equality Maryland, Morgan Menenses-Sheets and Del Pena-Melnyk look themselves in the mirror and say with a straight face that HB 235 uplifts the human personalities of Maryland's long suffering trans people?

Based on the contentious debate occurring over this bill, I would submit the answer to that question would be no.  The sad part is that it won't take much to turn this unjust law into a just one.   All they have to do is amend the bill.    

The question at this point is will they do so? 

 

Pam's Ponderings-The T-Girl On Harry's Law

TransGriot Note: The musings of author Pamela Hayes on various issues that affect trans people.

I watched Harry's Law for the first time last night. I only tuned in because I read here at Facebook that they were going to do a trans story. I didn’t think much of the storyline. I found it to be nothing out of the ordinary and quite stereotypical. Hell, in my opinion it was a flop.

The trans girl worked as an entertainer in a nightclub that had transsexuals as regular habitués. She was fired because she was having an affair with the manager or owner of the club. His wife wanted her gone.

I watched quite a bit of it, but I got bored with the whole thing, turned it off and drifted off to dreamland.

But no questions were raised about this man’s sexuality. He was involved with a transsexual, whom I assumed was pre-op. He was married with children and having an affair with a t-girl. It seems that some of those straight characters would have commented on that and raised an eyebrow while doing so.

There was nothing enlightening about the story. Instead of being a showgirl, I would have liked it had the trans woman been a teacher and the school fired her because of who she was. And maybe in court, her lawyer brought forth some of the children’s parents who spoke highly of her. Maybe one of the kids was doing poorly scholastically and via the trans educator’s tutelage, the kid’s grades ascended.

A colleague could have testified that she was astonished to learn that what’s-her-face was trans. But she was a superb teacher, totally devoted to her students and to the profession of teaching. “I don’t pretend to understand why anyone would change their sex. And it’s not important that I understand. It isn’t about me. Such and such is a first-rate teacher and that is all that should matter.”

And I hated that the trans girl was a showgirl in a trans bar and that she was doing the nasty with a married man.

Consider the implications. It suggests that a trans woman is incapable of acquiring a mainstream job and being accepted/respected by her colleagues, that she can only find employment around her own.

Which is bull you-know-what. I’m a trans woman. I have worked in mainstream and paid handsomely. Over the years, I have had a number of people to offer me employment. And the world is rife with trans women who have had similar experiences.

The married man situation suggests that she couldn’t find a single man and have an honest, aboveboard relationship. That a trans woman could only get involved in a sleazy, backstreet liaison. That a trans woman could only be a concubine.

Sigh. Sigh. Trans people need to tell trans stories. Or at least be invited to consult when non trans folks tell our experiences.

Lastly, the gay actor did a great job playing a woman. His voice was believable.

Alert- Transbashing Bill In Texas Senate

The GOP haters tried to sneak this one in on us.   Cristan Williams is in Austin to testify against this bill

Please take the time to call the Texas State Senators listed at the bottom and encourage everyone you know who cares about the trans community to do the same.

SB 723, by Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) will be heard in the Senate Jurisprudence Committee at 1:30 Pm CDT TODAY. The bill would remove documentation of a court ordered "sex change" from the list of documents that can be used to prove identity when applying for a marriage license.

The family code's list of potential identifying documents is extremely long; everything from school records to prison ID cards. When the list was created last session the inclusion of court ordered "sex changes" was non-controversial, not even meriting debate. Attempting to remove it now is a simple act of spite and Williams' bill analysis makes it clear that his intention in passing this legislation is to outlaw marriage involving trans identified people in the State of Texas.

Please contact the members of the Senate Jurisprudence Committee and tell them to leave the law the way it is, vote NO on SB 723.

Chair Chris Harris 512-463-0109
Vice-Chair Jose Rodriguez 512-463-0129
John Carona 512-463-0116
Robert Duncan 512-463-0128
Mario Gallegos 512-463-0106
Joan Huffman 512-463-0117
Carlos Uresti 512-463-0119

Hollywood Is As Important To Trans People As Washington DC

One of the recurring things I gripe about on TransGriot is the fact that United States based trans people do not get to portray ourselves in film and television roles similarly to what has happened for over a decade in cinematic productions in other parts of the world.

While we've had the occasional film such as Stealth and Bella Maddo pop up for discussion on these electronic pages that has either a trans lead actor or actress or in Bella Maddo's case its all trans cast flipped the script and were playing cis people, the fact remains that many of the films I have talked about in the five years I've compiled TransGriot with trans leads actors are foreign films.

I've discussed films such as the Brazilian one Paulista and the Indian Tamil language film Paal that had transwomen playing transwomen.    In the States, it seems as though the pattern has been anyone except a transwoman should play a transwoman. 

What's jumpstarted this discussion again is another situation in which a trans storyline pops up in an American TV show, and it left not only a lot to be desired in its execution,  the person portraying the trans character wasn't even one of us but a gay man.    It has started an interesting discussion on my Facebook page about this topic that got me thinking about the subject.

One of the things I know from my people's history is that image is everything.    In order for us to make progress on the trans civil rights front from a legislative and legal level, we also have to make progress in terms of how our images are portrayed in popular culture.

Hollywood is just as important to the trans rights struggle as Washington DC or your state capitol.

African Americans for a long time were shunted into a few stereotypical roles before our pioneering actors and actresses like Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll and countless others laid the groundwork in expanding the roles we can play.   In some cases the work that one ethnic group does to break down stereotypes for itself and resist stereotyping others can help open the door for other marginalized groups to tell their stories. 

Civil rights warrior Lena Horne had it written in her contract that she would never play a maid.   She also refused to play a Latina because she remembered the pain she felt when studio execs gave the role of Julie in Showboat, a mulatto character to Ava Gardner. 

But as this year's vanilla scented Oscar ceremony showed, we still have a long way to go before we have consistent representation in Hollywood with all ethnic and marginalized groups in this country.

I'm not saying that an actor of one ethnic group can't  play a character that is part of another ethnic group, a cis woman can't play a trans woman or a gay person can't play a straight one or vice versa.   What I am saying is that it is past time for trans actors and actresses to have the ability and get casted to play trans and cis characters on a more consistent basis.   Because we live those lives and have intimate knowledge of them, we'll play the hell out of those roles.  

Once we establish that we can act and do it well portraying our own lives, hopefully we'll get the opportunities for open trans actors to play roles not scripted specifically for us that we can give award winning performances in.

And don't stop there, Hollywood.   Hire some trans writers (hint, hint)  to write our stories and trans directors to help film those stores    They are toiling away in Tinseltown and would love to not only have the opportunity to hone their craft, but engage in a mutually beneficial partnership that helps everyone make a little money in the process
 

It's no accident that when the show Commander in Chief appeared on network television from 2005-2006 with Geena Davis playing President Mackenzie Allen and Dennis Haysbert playing President David Palmer during the second and third seasons of 24, we ended up having as finalists for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination an African American man and a woman.

Positive fictional roles can also have an unforseen impact on the youth of a minority group as well.    Nichelle Nichols Lt.Uhura character on Star Trek inspired a Chicago girl named Mae Jemison to become a trailblazing astronaut. A New York girl named Caryn Johnson was inspired to become an Oscar winning actress who would have a recurring role of her own on Star Trek The Next Generation.

Rebecca Romijn's Alexis Meade character on Ugly Betty was seen by trans and cis youth   Did Alexis' fictionalized life struggles open some minds to what trans people deal with and probably help us get some trans rights laws passed?    Maybe. 

Did it inspire a trans youth to buckle down in school, improve their grades or maintain them, and set the goal of going to college and become a businesswoman intent on helping our people?   Will it have the same cultural effects inside and outside our community?   Only time will tell.

But as long as the possibility exists and the reality is that art sometimes has a major impact on life, a Hollywood soundstage and the images it creates and broadcasts on our television and movie screens will be as important to the trans rights struggle as a city hall, a legislative capitol building or a courtroom is.

Deja's HB 6599 Testimony

TransGriot Note. Unlike the unjust law that Inequality Maryland is trying to foister on the trans community against its will, HB 6599 in Connecticut is a trans rights bill done the correct way, as a just law that includes public accommodations language.    The public hearing on HB 6599 was held yesterday.

Deja Nicole Greenlaw:
My testimony

Honorable Co-Chairs and Members of the Judiciary Committee:

Thank you for allowing me to testify in favor of HB 6599 An Act Concerning Discrimination, to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression. My testimony's point is to show how it is possible to successfully transition from one gender to another at the workplace with no problems.

My name is Deja Greenlaw and I am a transgender woman who lives and works in Enfield, Connecticut. I have worked for the same local Fortune 500 company since 1993. I transitioned from male to female in 2007. It's going on four years now and I never had any issues at my workplace. My company was very well versed in assimilating transgenders into the workplace as precedents and policies had been set before 2007. I was lucky. Most employers do not have any precedents and policies in place and far too many of my transgender brothers and sisters have lost their jobs because of this fact.

My company, however, is not alone in employing transgender people. Besides my company, 3M, Aetna, AT&T and Bank of America also have the precedents and policies in place which smooth the transition process at work. There are many other companies that have precedents and policies but unfortunately most companies do not.

A little about my personal life -
I was very closeted for decades and I tried my best to live as a male. I was too afraid to do anything else. I got married, fathered 3 children and supported my family the best I could while pushing my feelings way down, deep into my soul. It wasn't until September 11, 2001 when the twin towers were destroyed and the Pentagon was attacked did I realize that I had to move on my inner self before it was too late. Do you recall those days when suddenly America was no longer a safe place to live because of possible random terrorist acts? At any time, in any place, the possibility that you could be killed was now something to consider.

I turned 50 years old in October, just weeks after "9/11" and I realized that time was already growing short for me. I did not want to go to my grave never having given myself even the chance to explore who I truly am. I found local support groups and a very closeted community who were very afraid of being who they truly are in public because they feared the loss of their jobs if they were ever found out.

It was great to be able to express myself as a female identity at these very closeted, very safe meetings but it was awful not being able to express myself and my female identity in all the other times outside of these meetings. As time passed I became more comfortable with expressing myself as a transgender woman and I began venturing out in public expressing and identifying as female. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to be reaching the inner core and the inner peace of who I am. By 2007 I decided to transition from living as a male identity to a female identity. This included going to work as female.

As I stated earlier, my company had precedents and policies in place for me to make this transition at work. The transition went very smoothly and as I also stated earlier there have been no problems, no disturbances or no incidents at my place of work. I truly thank my company from the bottom of my heart for giving me the respect and the dignity for me to be myself on the job. I would like to have the same respect and dignity available for my transgender brothers and sisters. It is sometimes very difficult being transgender because of how society views us. We have been labeled as crazy, disturbed, delusional and I've been personally referred to as an abomination. These are some of the words that some folks have called us. We are none of those words. We are just who we are. We are just us. One day I hope that they will understand.

In conclusion I am asking the Committee to vote in favor of HB 6599. I am asking you to extend the same rights every other American has in the workplace to my transgender brothers and sisters. As living proof that it can work without incident I, Deja Nicole Greenlaw, ask you to support this anti-discrimination bill.

Thank you for your time.

Problematic Casting Of Trans Character

IFGE posted on its FB page a note about tonight's upcoming Harry's Law episode on NBC entitled 'Send In The Clowns'.   One of the storylines in it is about one of the attorneys defending a trans woman in a wrongful termination suit.

Well, what's mine, IFGE's and more and a few trans people's  problem with that?   They have a gay male actor in Queer Eye For The Straight Guy's Jai Rodriguez playing the role of the transwoman.

Well, at least we have a little diversity in this one assuming the character is a trans Latina (and yes, the sarcasm meter is on maximum) . The characters that have been on the small screen have predominately been white ones, and we can't even get a Black transperson real or fictional on the small screen

But back to the post.


What's up with that?    And what's up with Hollywood reinforcing the stereotypes that transwomen are gay men or drag queens? 

No we aren't., and that's another tired meme that needs to die.

If you couldn't get a transwoman to play the role, and news flash, there are transwomen working on the Left Coast as actors in Hollywood such as Alexandra Billings and Calpernia Addams, at least get a cis woman to play the role.


I have to wonder if what Kerry Washington mentioned when she was doing interviews a few years ago about her role playing transwoman Marybeth in the movie Life Is Hot In Cracktown is the prevailing attitude of writers, directors and people doing the casting when their productions have trans characters.

She noted that she almost didn't get the Marybeth role because she was considered by the director as being 'too beautiful' to play a transwoman'.

Really?   How many times do I have to point out there are many of my sisters that are all that and three bags of chips in the beauty department?
.

I may have to take a look at this episode of Harry's Law to see how the subject was treated.

But even if it's written with sensitivity and accuracy in the role, it's still problematic that this episode has a gay male playing the role of a transwoman.