Diamond Stylz-His Mom Thinks I'm A Witch

Time for some humor TransGriot readers.   My Houston homegirl Diamond Stylz (and no sis, haven't forgotten about us getting together to meet sometime before this year is out) has a wonderful site  in which she does YouTube videos discussing her takes on politics, trans issues and even the humorous at times side of trans life..

This one is entitled 'His Mom Thinks I'm A Witch'.   Enjoy.   

Mass AG Martha Coakley's Letter Supporting Trans Rights Bill

She may have famously flamed out in her campaign to keep the late Teddy Kennedy's US Senate seat in Democratic hands, but Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is a supporter of trans rights.

According to a Hannah Clay Wareham article in Bay Windows, AG Coakley authored a July 20 letter to Massachusetts Legislature House Chairman Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Sen. Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), seeking a favorable recommendation from the Judiciary Committee for H. 502/5. 764, "An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights," AKA the  "Transgender Equal Rights Bill." 

It's a bill the Massachusetts trans community has long sought after being cut ages ago out of the one the GL community passed for itself in the state.  The proposed legislation would add gender identity and expression to existing Massachusetts civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, sex, and marital status in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and credit.

On June 8 the Transgender Equal Rights Bill had a hearing before the Judiciary Committee.  Governor Deval Patrick (D) is on record as saying he would sign the bill if it it is passed by the legislature and hit his desk.

Here's Attorney General Coakley's letter in favor of the bill.

The legislation currently before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary addresses the inequalities, mistreatment and abuse that transgender individuals regularly face by making it clear that they are protected against discrimination and violence under state law. This legislation will add gender identity or expression to our existing antidiscrimination laws concerning employment, housing, public accommodations, education, lending and credit. In practice, this change will prohibit landlords, employers, educational institutions, businesses, banks and places of public accommodation from discriminating against persons based on their gender identity or expression. And it will prohibit transgender individuals from being singled out and denied the same, basic rights and privileges that non-transgender people have long enjoyed and take for granted. Finally, this legislation will add gender identity or expression to our existing hate crime laws so that those who criminally victimize transgender individuals because of who they are will be properly charged and punished.

Over the past several years, opponents of this legislation have attempted to stoke fears about the public safety implications of this bill. Just last week, opponents began running radio ads that mischaracterize the bill to foster fear and bigotry, specifically by terming it the "bathroom bill" and threatening that its passage will permit men to dress as women for the purpose of entering restrooms to engage in unlawful conduct and claim protection under this law. Given the incorrect and unfortunate misconceptions generated by such statements, I wish to address this issue directly.

First, this bill does nothing to change existing laws in place to prosecute and punish individuals who engage in criminal conduct. As a prosecutor for more than 25 years, I can emphatically state that this bill only increases our ability to prosecute criminal conduct and protect the civil rights of all, and does nothing to restrict our ability to protect victims of any crimes. All people should be able to use restrooms and locker rooms in safety and with privacy, and that would remain the case under this new law. Allowing transgender people to use facilities that comport with their gender identity and how they live their lives is the safest and most workable approach and one that reduces further stigmatization. It is also the policy of the federal government as set forth by the Office of Personal Management which now requires federal employers to allow their employees to use the restroom or locker room consistent with their gender identity.

         

Second, inherent in this harmful commentary is the implication that transgender individuals are sex offenders or sexually deviant persons. Not only is this characterization inaccurate, it is deeply offensive and insulting. I note for the Committee that our office is unaware of a single instance where an individual has attempted to use this type of gender identity or expression protection as a defense to claims of criminal conduct or violation of privacy in any of the jurisdictions that have passed similar laws. Contrary to some of the commentary, it does not extend any new protections to sex offenders.


In short, I believe this legislation is the next step in our forward path of extending equal protections to all citizens and eradicating discrimination in our Commonwealth. I strongly urge you to give 11.502/S.764 a favorable recommendation.

 Thanks AG Coakley.  Now lets see if the peeps at Beacon Hill follow through on your recommendation.


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We're Not Supposed To Be Upset?

Eddie Wilder

WOW PLEASE PLEASE SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE HERE.
THIS IS STILL WRONG.
HATING A HATER IS STILL HATE.
END THE CYCLE!!!!
NOW THE PEOPLE ONE THIS PAGE HATING HIM ARE THE DOING THE SAME THING AS THE PEOPLE THAT WERE HATING THE TRANSGENDER YOUNG LADIES.
IT HAS TO STOP SOMEWHERE.
SMDH BECAUSE SOMEONE MISSED THE POINT.

***

This was a comment from Eddie Wilder posted on a FB page that appears to be a retaliatory one  claiming to expose the person who allegedly created the now defunct Exposing Trannies FB page

Time will tell if this is the person.    But back to this post about Eddie's comment.   

Eddie, you missed the point of why we were upset about this jacked up FB page.   The cycle of hate that needs to stop aimed at transwomen starts with you cis people.   

We do see the bigger picture here, one that you failed to comprehend since you aren't part of the group being repeatedly attacked, denigrated and disrespected on a regular basis and having their humanity questioned.

We're not supposed to be fracking upset when some fool starts a FB page or website that exposes transwomen and opens them up to potential danger, sexual assault and murder less than a week after a Black transwoman gets murdered in DC?    And if a ciswoman gets misidentified as a transwoman courtesy of this site, she could be subjected to a hate attack as well.

I said it Sunday night on TransFM and I'll say it again.  African American transwomen are tired of this crap and we aren't going to take it any more.  You need to realize that this fool put people's lives in danger when he pulled this juvenile stunt. and that he doesn't (nor anyone else) have the right to do that.

You can try to hide behind the First Amendment if you want to.  The First Amendment doesn't give you the right to do the equivalent of yelling 'Fire' in a crowded theater either and put people's lives in danger, something that this waste of DNA would find out very quickly when he was facing criminal charges and civil suits from the victims of the FB exposes if they suffered a hate attack as the result of them..

You cis people don't have to like trans people.   But you do have to (and will) respect our humanity, because if you don't there will be consequences for not doing so.

Whatever Happened To Marcus Major?

In my spare time whenever I'm not writing a TransGriot blog post, poetry or some fiction,  I take a moment to read novels for fun since I do so much serious reading in the process of compiling posts.

I first discovered Marcus Major when I was reading the 2000 Got To Be Real anthology of original love stories.  I love the late E. Lynn Harris (and was mad I missed him at my neighborhood bookstore in Da Ville because I had to work that day) and Eric Jerome Dickey, and bought it on the strength of their names.   But the unexpected bonus was discovering Colin Channer's work and Major's through that anthology, and I fell in love with the Kenya and Amir story that was part of it.

I loved the story, which focuses on barber and Lawndale, NJ resident Amir Moore meeting Kenya Wallace.  He has a rep as a serious playa playa, but Kenya moves his heart to the point that he's on the verge of giving up his playa card.   But a jealous girlfriend of Kenya's creates some drama in their relationship that I'll let y'all read to find out what happened.. 

There is a character in one of Major's later books that he foreshadows in this story, the ouitrageous playa playa character of Marcus' Philly-New Jersey-Washington DC metro area centric character universe from Newark via Guyana, Ibn Barrington.

So after reading the anthology I rushed to the bookstore and bought Major's 2001 debut novel Good Peoples.   It's set in the Philadelphia metro area a few years after Kenya And Amir takes place and focuses on Amir's schoolteacher brother Myles.  He's having a rough time with the ladies and getting a hard time from the fellas about it until Black Cubana lawyer and talk show host Marisa Marrero enters his life courtesy of a hookup from his best friend Carlos Roque's wife Jackie.

Marisa is everything Myles wants in a woman and he quickly falls in love with her.  She's beautiful, smart, sexy and successful but as he finds out in their rocky relationship she's oh so human as well.   I won't tell you how it ends in case you want to read it.    There's also resolution to what happened between Kenya and Amir in the anthology as well .

Major's 2001 novel entitled 4 Guys And Trouble is the one in which Ibn makes his debut along with his frat brothers Dexter Holmes, Colin Rogers, and Mike Lovett.  They have been tight since college and are still hanging close by in the Philly area.   They also have something else in common,  Erika 'Bunches' Truitt, the genius baby sister of their frat brother Trevor who they promised to take care of before he died prematurely.   

Ibn, Dexter, Colin and Mike all have different levels of trouble with the women in their lives as well.

Erika is now an attractive twentysomething medical student who has been spoiled rotten by them, but is carrying a torch for one of the fellas.  One of the guys is also falling for her and when he finally makes his move, it challenges everything they thought they knew about themselves and forces them to confront the double standards they have about the various women in their lives.   Amir makes a cameo appearance in this novel because of Ibn and Mike being regular customers in his barbershop.

That one was quickly followed up by 2002's A Man Most Worthy, which was set in Newark and focuses on 36 year old multi-millionaire businessman John Sebastian who has everything he ever wanted.  He has a thriving Charlotte, NC based business, luxury homes and cars, an elegant young Creole descended girlfriend and more money than he can count.   What he doesn't have is Josephine Flowers, the lady that walked out of his life seven years ago. He decides he wants her back and will do whatever it takes to win the heart of the woman he drove away from him including setting up a branch of his security systems business in Newark as a start.     

There's two complications:  She's married to school superintendent Darren Prescott and hates John's guts for what transpired in their relationship that broke them up.. There's also the subplot of Josephine's best friend Gloria Lawson and John's best friend and businessman Jules Anthony who once had a serious relationship with Gloria but something messed up their love connection as well.  .

And oh yeah, Ibn makes a hilarious cameo in this book.   There's another scene in which thugged out brothers Hakeem and Rashahn show up to help solve a problem Gloria and Jo were having.  Their motto?  "No problem too big or too small to be fixed, no azz too big or too small to be kicked."

Gotta love those two. You'll especially love who gets a beatdown from Hakeem and Rashahn and why.  .

Major's 2003 release was entitled A Family Affair, and brings us back to beautiful Lawndale, NJ to check in on the Moore and Roque clans a few years after the events of Good Peoples.   New mom Jackie and Kenya are now business partners running a group home.  Stacy from the 4 Guys And Trouble book causes some trouble in a Moore marriage, and speaking of trouble, you have Myles and Amir's mother Peggy trying to raise her sister Dee's rebellious teenage daughter Jasmine.

Marisa's back too in addition to Mike and Ibn making another hilarious stop in Amir's Camden, NJ barbershop.

As you can tell, I love Marcus Major's books and I'm rereading 4 Guys and Trouble right now as I compile this post.


But after getting rave reviews for his four novels and a 2002 Book of the Year award, all of a sudden Major just vanished from the literary world.  He was a New Jersey teacher prior to beginning his writing career in 1998 with the manuscript that would become Good Peoples, so his fans like me are wondering what happened to him?

Are more novels in the works?   Will we see a few of them turned into movies, or was A Family Affair the last book we'll ever see Marcus Major write?

I sure hope not, because Ibn's scandalous behind is worth one or two novels and a movie..