The HLN 'Transgender In America' Interview

Well, the reviews from the Transosphere are coming in concerning the Don Lemon conducted interview on HLN's The Joy Behar Show with Isis King, Harmony Santana, Laverne Cox and Chaz Bono.

And it ain't pretty.  

Chaz Bono complained on air and later on Twitter about the Trans 101 line of questioning. 

The only thing I can give them a thumbs up concerning this panel was that it was a multiethnic one. Chaz got frustrated with the Trans 101 line of questioning and complained about it on air and on Twitter. 

You know, maybe Don needs to read the post I wrote in the wake of the trans free NAACP panel discussion at their recently concluded convention in LA..

I'll have to ponder it for another day since I wasn't happy when that interview was over either. 

Janet Mock has shared her thoughts about Monday's show in her Fish Food For Thought blog post entitled Trans in the Media: A Call to Elevate the Conversation.

And that’s the bigger issue here: Lemon symbolizes many of our gay brothers and lesbian sisters, who just don’t get us trans people. We inherently shake their own notions of what it means to be a man and a woman in our society to their core. Until we are able to actually be open to the gender-variancy that is in nature, naturally, we’ll never be able to move forward and not only demand gay and lesbian rights, but transgender rights; civil human rights.

The sad thing about it was that it was a wonderful opportunity to advance the conversation about trans issues, but it was mishandled and fumbled once again.

Aaliyah's Been Gone Ten Years

Today was the shocking day we got the word that Aaliyah and 8 other people in her entourage were killed in a 2001 plane crash in the Bahamas hours after filming the Rock The Boat video.

Hard to believe that was ten years ago.  

Aaliyah's name means in Arabic 'the highest, most exalted one, the best', and did she live up to it and then some. 

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was 22 years old and things were blowing up for her.   The Grammy nominated music career was putting her on the edge of superstardom.  She filmed Romeo Must Die in 2000, had a part in Queen of the Damned and was signed to do two others.   With her striking beauty she was beginning to get modeling work. She had already filmed part of her role in The Matrix Reloaded and was also tapped to do a role in The Matrix Revolutions.   As busy as she was with her various careers she still graduated at the top of her high school class.

And then she was gone.

I make the argument that had it not been for her untimely death, Beyonce and Rihanna wouldn't have had the giant void that they were filled because they would have spent the 2K's in Aaliyah's considerably growing shadow.   The role in the movie Honey that went to Jessica Alba was originally Aaliyah's and the Sparkle remake that she was to star in was canceled.

But sadly, we'll never know just how big a star she would have become..  You marvel at the fact that she accomplished in 22 years what some people take several lifetimes to do.  She was a remarkable young woman and our lives here on this planet are poorer with her not being a part of them.  



  
Rest in peace, Aaliyah.   You are still missed by your fans.

Transwomen Being Mistreated In Prisons Isn't Cool, It's Cruel

One thing that pissed me off in the wake of the post I wrote concerning Jovanie Saldana's situation was Mariel Cobb going on an insensitive and bigoted right wing rant mere seconds after I posted the story to my Facebook page. This was the money quote in that thread:

Mariel Cobb i dont care waht ahppens to felons

And I wonder if Mariel Cobb's attitude would change if she was in Jovanie's pumps and it was her human rights being violated?

You may not care, but the Constitution does, and so do I.   The Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution is there for a reason.  

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Besides, Jovanie was only charged, and she is innocent until proven guilty by a jury of her peers. 

As the Good Doctor said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and that includes behind prison walls.  It was discussed in the 2006 award winning documentary Cruel And Unusual.  



We have had far too many instances of transwomen being mistreated in jails when they interact with the penal systems around this country for sanctimonious people to be engaging in conservaspeak and cavalierly dismissing someone's human rights rights because they are accused of or incarcerated for committing a crime. 

It's not just prisoners engaging in that behavior, as Duanna Johnson's case pointed out, it's the people who guard them as well. . The macho attitudes and transphobia embedded in many police departments around the country doesn't help either.



It's at epidemic proportions, and policies need to be enacted that house prisoners based on the gender presentation and not their genitalia. 

Locking transwomen in a male prison and exposing them to sexual assault is cruel and unusual punishment.  If you think it's okay for a transwoman to be thrown into a male prison and sexually assaulted while in lockup, then something is seriously wrong with you.

Transwomen being mistreated in prisons isn't cool, it's cruel.

Paris Dupree RIP

Paris Dupree, whose ball provided the name for the iconic 1990 Jennie Livingston documentary about the Harlem ballroom scene and was one of the memorable people in Paris Is Burning has reportedly passed away.    Dupree was founder of the House of Dupree in the 1970's and was one of the last Big Five founding house mothers who appeared in the documentary still alive.  Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Avis Pendavis and Pepper LaBeijia preceded Dupree in death.

A memorial service for the ballroom icon according to Next Magazine was held August 20 at Pearl Studios.
 


I'll keep looking for the obituary to see if I can find out the cause of death, and will update when I do so.


H/T Next Magazine

RIP Jack Layton

As many of you readers are aware of I do like to talk about things that occur in Canada from time to time.  Since I do have dear friends in the Great White North and TransGriot readers who live above the 49th parallel, it's only fair that I delve into subjects that affect them.

If you were keeping up with my coverage of the Canadian elections earlier this year, you heard me mention NDP leader Jack Layton's name more than a few times

Layton has helmed the New Democratic Party since 2003, and under his leadership the NDP steadily built support to 37 seats in Parliament. 

In this recent 2011 election they rode a wave of historic support, especially in his native Quebec to garner 103 seats and become the Official Opposition party in the next parliament for the first time in their 50 year party and Canadian history when it cranks up for business later this fall.

In the 2011 election campaign he did so while recovering from a broken hip and battling prostrate cancer.  But unfortunately since that election Layton's condition worsened and he passed away on Monday at age 61.  

New Democratic Party interim leader Nycole Turmel echoed the feelings of many shocked and stunned New Democrats when she wrote this message that was posted on the party website.:  

New Democrats today are mourning the loss of a great Canadian.

Jack was a courageous man. It was his leadership that inspired me, and so many others, to run for office. We – Members of Parliament, New Democrats and Canadians – need to pull together now and carry on his fight to make this country a better place.

On behalf of New Democrats from coast to coast to coast, our thoughts and prayers are with our colleague Olivia Chow, Jack’s children Sarah and Mike and the rest of Jack’s family.

And we remember the Tommy Douglas quote Jack included in every email he sent: “Courage my friends, ‘tis never too late to build a better world.”

Like Nycole, Renee and many Canadians I liked Jack Layton the more I saw, read about and heard him speak.  I would have loved to see him get the opportunity to lead Canada as its prime minister.

He won't be around to shepherd his party as the Official Opposition, but before he passed away he wrote this letter to his fellow Canadians.   

Layton closed his letter to Canadians with these words.

My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

I'll try my best to remember that.  

Rest in peace, Jack.   Your family, your party, your  country and all who treasure human rights and a fair and just society in Canada and around the world are going to miss you.