Maine LD 1046 Update- 'Ought Not To Pass'

While I was rightfully concerned with political developments in my own backyard, trans Mainers were concerned about LD 1046, an unjust bill proposed by Republican Ken Fredette.   The bill would repeal part of the Maine Human Rights Act to take away existing protections for trans people when accessing appropriate public restrooms.and allow discrimination against them.

Fredette was on the Maine Human Rights Commission when the successful trans rights cases were voted on.

On May 13 a bipartisan group of five Democrats, 2 Republicans and one independent voted 8-5 to recommend that LD 1046 'Ought not to pass'. 


It was strongly opposed by Mainers such as NAACP board member Bob Talbot of Bangor; Elizabeth Ward-Saxl, executive director of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault; Jennifer Finney Boylan, an openly trans professor at Colby College and acclaimed author; Westbrook High School student Marissa Exchange, a member of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network’s Jump-Start Student Leadership Team; and many other trans Mainers and their family members.

In most states a negative committee vote is enough to kill a bill, but in Maine the process is different.    Only a unanimous 'Ought Not To Pass' vote kills it at that stage.  

Our trans brothers and sisters in Maine will still be keeping an eye on LD 1046 along with our allies.

My Cis Sisters, Respectful Input Is Always Welcome

I had a FB comment thread get cranked up Saturday when I vented a bit about the ongoing vanilla scented intramural semantic word feud between the WWBT's and 'errbody' they hate on.  I focused on part of their problem besides their unmatched ability to break mirrors and foam at the mouth without messing up their lipstick.

You know...some transwomen really need to get over their issues with internalized homophobia, transphobia and hatred of crossdressers

The thread that resulted from it has 70 plus comment (and counting) and has been a pretty much thoughtful and respectful discussion on the issues.  I have over 1200 people as FB friends and like a variety of INTELLIGENT people chiming in on various issues.   

Note the highlighted word 'intelligent'.       

One of my cis sisters Shannon chimed in during the conversation, and I pointed out a simple truth in my response to her:  

Me and my transsisters need to hear what's on your mind.

As I've stated in this blog and will continue to do so, my guiding transition principle since I started in 1994 is that I strive to be a compliment to my African descended cis sisters and womanhood in general. I believe the best way to do that is get regular input from and talk to someone who is and has dealt with the issues and challenges inherent in evolving into womanhood with a female body from birth.

Since I'm a Black trans female, the best way to become a quality Black woman and deal with the issues inherent in navigating society with a Black female body is to have conversations and dialogue with Black cis women on a regular basis. 


So in my sistahcircle I have cis women breaking it down to me on a regular basis what it means to be a 21st century Black woman.   They have had the body from birth, been socialized in the role, experienced the good, bad and indifferent parts of femininity and done so for decades.

I've also been fortunate to have in my life women who aren't scurred to put their size 8's up my behind  (or whatever shoe size they wear) up my behind when I started tripping or trying too hard.   It made me a better, more authentic person by dealing with the constructive criticism and helpful hints they provided and handling what I needed to deal with.  

And yes, even though I transitioned in 1994, I'm still evolving as a person.   While I realize I'm going to make mistakes, I still strive to be a compliment to Black womanhood, not a detriment to it.   

Got enough negative examples on both sides reflecting poorly on Black womanhood out there already.


The result of doing it that way is a mutually beneficial situation for the transwoman and the cis woman.  The transwoman benefits from the cis woman experience navigating femininity from birth and sharing of experiences that the transwoman will never know.  The transwoman gets the point reinforced that not all ciswomen are her enemy.  

The ciswoman gets an 'ejumacation' and their horizons expanded in terms of what transwomen deal with, is a   better equipped ally to be our swords and shields when she is out and about in the world with her cis female friends and bouts of transphobia happen, and gets a loyal friend with inside information gained from their time on the other side of the gender line on how the male ego works and how they think..    


And both women hopefully get a loyal, long term friendship out of the deal as well. 

I Owe You A Hug, Janet!

I was happy to see the May Marie Claire article and It Gets Better video from people.com editor and blogger Janet Mock for another reason besides the one a certain loud and usually wrong sector of separatists trumpet.

For far too long Black trans people haven't had the role models to point to that our white colleagues have had since the 1950's.

Yes we have and have had transpeople who are Black, proud, professional people who do not see being born trans as a curse and just live our daily lives being the best people we can be..

We have Black transpeople who helped shape the history of this community, have fought (and continue to fight) the ongoing civil rights battles as well.

The problem has been that we haven't had enough African descended transpeople for various reasons telling our stories.  The erasure and marginalization doesn't help either.  Until we have more transpeeps of African descent telling their stories to the point this becomes a ho hum event, then the misguided attitudes and ignorance about transsexuality in the African American community isn't going away any time soon.     

Ignorance that's on display on a regular basis in elements of the Black blogosphere and already getting cranked up to aim what's left of their transphobic commentary they haven't aimed at Wendy Williams or Ciara at Ms. Mock..

I've commented on a few of my posts that there are many women that I respect and admire to the point that if they held a press conference tomorrow and declared they were trans, I would welcome them with open arms.    

Janet Mock is one of those women.  

So Janet, I owe you a big hug when we finally do get the opportunity to meet, whenever or wherever that happens.

Until then, this electronic one will have to do

(((BIG HUG)))

Your coming out and telling your story I hope and pray will have a positive effect on young African descended transkids who are struggling with this issue, open the hearts and minds of their parents, and jumpstart a serious discussion in the African American community about trans issues.

This is an interesting and a pivotal decade for African American transpeople in which we are at a critical crossroads.  It's been past time for us to strike back at the negative 'unwoman' imagery aimed at us and push back the negativity that prevents us from taking our rightful place at the African American family table.    

Janet, you thanked me for posting your 'It Gets Better' video to TransGriot.    I thank you for helping me prove my point there are positive, intelligent professional transwomen of African descent.

Looking forward to if I'm blessed to do so, finally giving you the hug I owe you.

Problematic WAPO Wanda Alston House Story

Had a friend point me to a link to a Washington Post story about the Wanda Alston House, a transitional Northeast DC residence for homeless TBLG youth.

While the story about the home was mostly well done, there was a problematic photo posted of one of residents of the center, Sarah Feliciano. 

While reviewing the commentary for it I discovered another problematic point.   If she tells you Sarah is her legal name, it wasn't necessary to reveal what her old male name while doing this piece in the first place. .

Then it's followed up by showing a picture of Sarah shaving?

Okay, we already know Sarah's in the early stages of her transition and until the hormones start morphing her body and she gets electrolysis done, she'll be dealing with that until it's gone.      

But there were other pictures that could have been chosen for that instead of the shaving photo.

ABC's Work It=FAIL

ABC dumped several shows at the end of the last television season and this Bosom Buddies 2K11 retread is what they replaced them with.  

Note to ABC programming execs:  You need to bring one of the shows you dumped back as soon as fracking possible.

If you were intent on getting a show with a trans theme on the air, I can think of more than a few ideas which would have been much better than this steaming pile of fail.  

This is called Work It.   Note the song from a certain self hating drag queen in the music track of this video. 




ABC, Bella Maddo would have been light years better than this video bull feces.   Any bets TransGriot readers on how long it will last?