DC Unanimously Approves Same Sex Divorce Bill

The DC City Council without drama on March 6 unanimously approved the Civil Marriage Dissolution Equality Amendment Act of 2011.   The measure permits same sex couples who got married in DC but reside elsewhere to dissolve those marriages without having to establish six months of residency in the District.

Yep, even Marion Barry voted for it.

Because marriage equality is not recognized in all states, couples who got married in states to do allow it find that when the relationship goes sour to the point they seek a divorce, their states of residence for fear they will undermine their anti-gay marriage amendments will not grant a same sex divorce.. 

The Act was introduced by Councilmember Phil Mendelson (D) to 'introduce dignity to the process of dissolving a marriage' according to a Metro Weekly article  Eight of the 12 DC councilmembers cosponsored it and the measure unanimously passed a February 7 preliminary vote . 


The measure goes to Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray (D) for his signature.

'Wildness' To Premiere At SXSW

Wildness is a feature length film by Wu Tsang that celebrates a four decade old Latino trans bar  in Los Angeles' MacArthur Park neighborhood called the Silver Platter.

It debuts at SXSW and Wu Tsang was interviewed by Colorlines

  

Spring Forward 2012

Was not feeling well yesterday, so was a little disoriented when my alarm clock kicked on with Rev Al's Hour of Power radio coming on at 7 AM.   I figured it out that we had a time change, but that usually happens in the tail end of March, not this early in the month.

Well, have my clocks and watch set to the correct time now and won't have to worry about it again until this fall

Happy Birthday, Janet!

March 10 happens to be Jasmine Guy's birthday, but found out that one of my favorite people in the trans community also was born on this date

Today is Janet Mock's birthday, and y'all know I have much love for my trailblazing sis who is the editor of People.com.   I wasn't letting today pass without giving her a TransGriot birthday shoutout.

Happy birthday, Janet!   May this one be full of blessings and you have many more!

Shut Up Fool Awards- Championship Week 2012 Edition

March Madness is about to kick off for both the men's and women's collegiate basketball teams.  But right now the conference championship tournaments are transpiring through this weekend that will determine the automatic bids for the 2012 NCAA tournament.   

For the rest of the month of March college basketball junkies around the nation will be wrapped up in watching which teams end up in Denver for the Women's Final Four or the Superdome in New Orleans the Men's  Final Four playing for NCAA titles.


As per TransGriot tradition, once the Selection Sunday and Monday shows happen setting up the regions and teams in the tournament and who is playing where, I'll put my men's and women's NCAA brackets up for all you TransGriot readers to see (and pick apart)

Speaking of picking things apart, that's my cue to segue into our usual Friday business of seeing what fool, fool or group o fools exhibited championship level stupidity and ignorance this week worthy of receiving a Shut Up Fool Award.

As usual I had many worthy contenders for this week's SUF Awards and some honorable mentions this week I'll get to later.   Group award nominations go to the Republican Party, Clear Channel Communications, and NOM.   The individual ones go to Gov Bob McDonnell (R-VA), Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA), Gretchen Carlson, Eric Boehlert,  the late Andrew Breitbart, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum

Honorable mention to Rush Limbaugh for digging an even deeper hole of dlusion in his attacks on Sandra Fluke.

This week Shut Up Fool Award is a group one for Fox Noise.   Whether they are caught flip flopping on their own positions about high gas prices, backing Rush up in his attacks on Sandra Fluke, pimping the right wing agenda 24 -7, or trying to push a racist meme that he's a 'dangerous left wing radical' based on a few minutes of old video of the future POTUS speaking at a Harvard University rally on behalf of the late Professor Derrick Bell, they were in rare form this week and richly deserve this award

Fox News Noise, shut up fools!.
 
      .

How To Debate A Conservafool In 2012

Take notes Democratic candidates.  This is what you need to do to your Republifool opponents in the fall.

Note how Gov Martin O'Malley (D-MD) eviscerates Gov Bob McDonnell (R-VA) on the conservafools pursuit of social issues at the expense of people's human rights in the states they control. 

International Women's Day 2012-A Trans Woman's Perspective

Happy International Womens Day 2012!

To mark the 100th anniversary observance of International Women's Day last year I wrote a post about it from a trans perspective.  Now that 366 days have passed since the last observance, what is the state of international trans women since then?

I'm writing this post as an unprecedented assault on the human rights of American women is taking place.  Republican legislators are trying to roll back the entire 20th century in terms of the gains that women have made in reproductive choice and attacking anyone who calls them out on their bull feces.

Hope y'all remember that on November 6.   But back to where I was going with this post, talking about this day from a transwoman's perspective.

I do need to remind y'all that some of the women that we celebrate on International Womens Day are trans.

Since IWD 2011, we have had Poland's Anna Grodzka  elected to her national parliament with a Canadian transwoman contemplating a run as a candidate.   We have had people willing to speak up about how we live our lives and do the education to hearts and minds receptive to doing so.

We transwomen aren't taking any crap anymore from cis people who seem to think we exist to be a punchline for a joke or to bully to make themselves feel more secure in their own gender identities and sexual orientation.

Transwomen in Hong Kong, Malta and the USA are fighting pitched legal battles for their marriage rights.  Others are taking steps in various nations around the globe to have their human rights respected and protected in the laws of their nations.

Some have been successful iwhile other have had legal setbacks, but battle on they have. 

We transwomen also aren't just fighting to secure our own human rights, but are also battling for the human rights of others as well.

Transwomen around the world send the message to friend, frenemy and foe alike that the days of transpeople sitting in silent resignation as our human rights are repeatedly violated and our dignity disrespected are over.   To paraphrase Helen Reddy, we are transwomen, hear us roar.

While there are some positive things happening globally for transwomen, we are still fighting the same struggles to overcome transphobia, anti-trans bigotry, discrimination and violence aimed at our community.

While we are fighting to overcome the transphobic hatred and disinformation aimed at us, we also seek to continue discussions with our cis sisters as to where transwomen fit in the grand scheme of womanhood.  We're more than willing to do our part to help uplift all women cis and trans around the globe if we're respectfully given an opportunity to do so. 
 

So as we celebrate International Womens Day 2012 with our cis sisters, we deeply appreciate the increased willingness of our cis sisters to stand up for our human rights and in some cases work to make it happen.   We realize that we still have a long way to go on many issues before transwomen attain first class citizenship in our various nations and are regarded as nothing less as the women we are and strive to be. 

But we won't stop until it happens.