Countdown to Watching Countdown With Keith Olbermann

I have been waiting impatiently for this day ever since Keith Olbermann announced to his stunned audience he was leaving MSNBC and joining Current TV. 

For you lucky people like moi whose cable systems carry Current TV, later tonight Keith will return to the airwaves for the first broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann.   

A lot has happened since he left MSNBC.  I have missed him speaking truth to power and ripping into the conservafools and propagandists at Faux News on a regular basis.


Wonder who is getting the 'Worst Persons' award tonight?

Anti-Trans and Intersex Words That Hurt

Peep this PSA concerning the unacceptable anti trans and intersex slur words.

What About GENDA?

For the last three years in the New York state legislature GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act. has been stuck in an infuriating pattern for trans New Yorkers. 

It passes by overwhelming margins in the New York Assembly, but dies in the New York Senate.

GENDA if passed would amend the state non-discrimination laws to add gender identity and expression to the list of characteristics protected from discrimination in employment, education, public accommodations, housing and credit. It would also add gender identity and expression to the state hate crimes law.


Last year it died in committee by one vote with 11 Republicans and TBLG hater Sen Ruben Diaz, Sr crossing party lines to vote with the GOP to kill it..

But like Charlie Brown, the New York trans community as they have since 2003, keeps getting up and trying to successfully kick that civil rights football through the goalposts while hoping Lucy doesn't yank the football away once again.

For the fourth straight year GENDA (AB 5039/S 2873) passed the NY Assembly on a lopsided 78-53 vote.  However the obstacles to finally getting this bill passed and on Governor Andrew Cuomo's desk is the NY Senate and clock ticking on the 2011 session which ends later today at midnight.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has said he would sign the legislation if it passes..

Once again the 'all marriage all the time' GL movement has the noise machine cranked up for same sex marriage passage, but not a amplified peep out of the noise machine for GENDA, which will benefit far more people than the ability for a few to get married.

As I've said repeatedly, it does you no good to be able to marry someone if you can't hold a job to pay for the wedding ring, the wedding and the wedding reception and the haters can keep you from renting the reception hall.

The clock is ticking on GENDA for this legislative session  and it's looking like once again, the NY senate Lucy will succeed in taking away the civil rights football just as we're about to kick it.

But we have until midnight to see if that happens..

Tell Peeps You Love And Appreciate Them While They Are Still Here

In the last week and a half we've had two iconic African American trans activists pass away in the trans community in the persons of Dana Turner and now sadly Tracy Bumpus.

One of the things that is bugging me right now in addition to losing them is that I was planning to do TransGriot Ten Questions Interviews with both persons because of the history they represent that is now lost to us because they have left this plane of existence. 

In addition, both were cool people.   I knew Dana personally and was in the process of getting to know Tracy.
   

Time continues moving forward at warp speed and none of us are getting any younger, including the TransGriot who is staring at a milestone birthday next year.   Once upon a time I was one of those newbie trans activists leaning on my then trans elders for guidance, trying to soak up wisdom at every opportunity and learn the history of this community.  Now I'm the one in the position of being the griot as y'all sit around in the shade of my virtual pecan tree and soak up the wisdom I attempt to impart to you.

One of the reasons I'm not as upset about Dana and Tracy's passings is that fortunately I told both of them how much I love and respected them and the work they have done for this community and they have told me the same.  

We get a lot of flack and Hateraid hurled at us as activists from foes and friends, but not enough people telling us thank you for your service to this community.

Dana and Tracy's deaths have jolted me toward a renewed emphasis on the Ten Questions interviews and I definitely want to focus the next few on our iconic trans people such as Tracie Jada O'Brien, Miss Major and Lady Java just to name a few off the top of my head.

It's important not only for me and other transpeople of color to see and hear our history makers tell their stories, but to tell them how much we love and appreciate them while they are still here on Planet Earth.  .   

It does us no good to write a message saying how much we love and appreciate someone when they are no longer around to read them.   Tell them while you are still able to do so because it's a win-win proposition for both parties.  You get to express your love and appreciation to that person, and they get to hear you say it.

Once they are all made up and lying in a coffin or having their ashes scattered at some location of significance to them during their lives after a memorial service it's too late.

We Who Are Sexy:The Images of Transgender People In Cinema

If you're looking for something to do in the San Francisco Bay Area today,  historians Jenni Olson and Susan Stryker will be presenting on a subject that is near and dear to my heart, the images of transpeople in film.

The location is the stately Victoria Theatre in San Francisco CA and you can join Jenni and Susan starting at 2 PM PDT for an interesting take on the history of transgender images in film.   

It will be a program that combines on stage conversation with film clips showcasing an array of rarely seen tidbits ranging from the bad old stereotypical days of guys in dresses and pathological transsexuals all the way up to the empowered self-representations of the early 90's and the hot transgender best of the early 21st century.

And you get two people who I respect and admire in this community breaking it down for you as well.

You still have two hours to get there, grab some tickets for it and get your learn on..