Upcoming Justice For Paige Rally

The effort to find and bring to justice Paige Clay's killer has yet to generate any solid leads for the Chicago Police Department detectives that will help it crack this case.  

The local rainbow community is thanks to the Taskforce is coalescing behind an effort to get that vitally needed information that may be the key to solving Clay’s murder.

A  “Justice for Paige” rally  is being planned and set for May 1 that will take place from 6:30-9 PM CDT at the Taskforce headquarters, 9 N. Cicero Ave.    Any interested parties friends and allies are welcomed to attend this event and discover what you can do to bring this killer to justice.  .  .

In addition to the rally, a  Justice For Paige Facebook page has also be set up with the same goals in mind.

A promised, if I discover any more details about Paige's murder or memorial service, I will pass them on for you TransGriot readers.

The POTUS Has Still Got This...But

The election is November 6, it's going to be a close one.   The only shot Willard the Robot has of getting in the White House is lying through his teeth and stirring up hatred of the POTUS with the Tea Klux Klan and Dixiecrat wings of the RepubliKKKan party

And yeah gay community, y'all need to back up off a POTUS that is not only the best ever when it comes to trans issues but is the best gay-friendly one as well.   I'm a little concerned about the hell raising and drama that's being ginned up in White GL World over an executive order that is not going to cover everyone and would be subject to be erased by the next GOP president.

I seem to recall the same screaming from predominately white GL peeps (many who have been either squishy about the POTUS or outright hostile to him even before he got elected) badgering  him about doing an executive order to end discrimination against GL people in the military when he (the constitutional scholar) said it was going to take congressional legislative action to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Turns out he was right then and y'all weren't.  Executive orders aren't magic wands that end discrimination instantaneously 'at the stroke of a pen'.  

I and many Black LGBT people in general have been just as tired of white GL peeps who are quick to unfairly jump on this president and hold him to standards on GLBT issues you didn't hold Clinton to while refusing to give him any credit for the stuff he has quietly done to help this community already.

Why?  Because some of y'all 'all marriage all the time' peeps are upset about his position on same gender marriage.  

It's time for a reality check.  Same gender marriage is not the end all be all issue for rainbow community organizing and activism.  

I and a lot of POC peeps cis, trans and gay are more nervous about this looming presidential election despite the favorable poll numbers so far. 

We see on one hand squishy white liberals we barely trust on one side and outright attempts by the GOP to enact voter suppression laws (that I have yet to see many GL persons, much less GetEqual complain or protest about) that could have have deleterious effects on the rainbow community's abilities to even cast ballots on November 6.

In addition, the GOP is playing the only KKKard they can in whipping up racist hatred of the POTUS to help Willard the Robot get elected.

So with a liberal Supreme Court majority in the balance, and to me that is THE issue period in this election cycle, and the GOP going Tea Klux Fascist you damned skippy I'm looking at the big political picture.

Te POTUS has still got this, but I won't relax about this election until November 7.

Houston Trans Community Unity Banquet This Saturday

Saturday April 28 will see the renewal of one of the signature events for the Houston trans community in our  annual Unity Banquet sponsored by the Houston Transgender Unity Committee.

The 20th annual edition of the Unity Banquet will take place at the Sheraton Brookhollow Hotel on Saturday and it has been one of the key reasons why we work as a unified front when it comes to trans human rights issues.   It also serves as a way for us to interface with Houston area allies as well.

The Unity Banquet also serves as a fundraising event for the Peggy Rudd Transgender Scholarship Fund.

I haven't been to one since 2001, and as of this writing still not sure if I'll be in the house for my first one since I returned home, but for those of you who can, you may wish to check it out and have a nice meal with some of the wonderful people in the Houston trans community and our allies for a great cause.

Chilling With My H-Town Chicago Cousins

Yesterday was my cousin Karen's birthday (Happy birthday cuz!), and my uncle, grandmother and I made the crosstown trek to Alief to hang out with them and attend her surprise birthday party.

One of the cool things about my cousin in my not so humble opinion is that in addition to being one smart lady time has been very good to her.  

Many of her friends, her husband and a few more of my Chitown relatives also moved down here in the early 80's.  They either settled in the Alief area,.other parts of H-town or the nearby Fort Bend County exurbs.   

So when they have events like this party, it feels like the South Side made its way down to the Lone Star State.   Since I didn't have to play designated driver, I was going to not only socialize but take the opportunity to within reason get my grub and drink on.

It was wonderful finding out that my cousin Ivory flew down from Chicago to surprise her mom. I got to see her and spend some time chatting with her before she heads back to college later today. 

We also had a bunch of Tauruses in my aunt's house yesterday, too
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The other cool thing about having a bunch of Chicago folks in a room is once they sort out who is from the North Side, West Side or South Side and finish extolling the virtues of (or ragging on) that person's side of town and the party gets going, somebody is going to either pull out a deck of cards and the obligatory bid whist game will break out or some song will get played that triggers an outbreak of Chicago Stepping..

So as you probably guessed I had a wonderful time, got to spend some quality time with my cousins, and looking forward to the next time I can do so.

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Elections Matter, GL People

Had one of my Facebook friends shoot me a link to a discussion in which once again, predominately white GL activists were ranting about the executive order issue and getting their left wing hate on for President Obama

One person in the thread who is a proud GetEqual supporter, implied that whichever party held a political office didn't matter and expressed more faith in direct action than the ballot box..

It has little to do with who is in office and everything to do with our community's willingness to fight

Oh really? Spoken like someone chock full of vanillacentric privilege  and that's where you and your organization are tragically wrong.  Elections matter and if you were a person of color you wouldn't part your lips to say something so categorically obtuse.

It calls me to question whether you GetEqual people really have a vowel and a clue about how to get rainbow community human rights coverage done right in the first place, much less have a coherent long range plan for doing so besides hating on President Obama.  

Political Reality Check 101 for you since it seems as though some of you slept through your high school civics or your collegiate political science classes.   What party controls the state houses, Congress, city hall, the judicial benches, the governor's mansion, the White House is a big fracking deal, especially if you are part of a mariginalized minority group.  Control of the White House is also important because the president appoints justices for the federal court system and the Supreme Court.  

And news flash for you white GLBT peeps, in case you haven't realized it yet, Moni's going to break it down for you.  You are part of a marginalized minority group now and as such have been knocked down a few pegs from your former perch at the top of the societal privilege food chain.

That means that you have a new political reality to absorb, and it's one that non-white TBLG people are intimately familiar with.

Rule Number One of the new political reality is that it is never a smart political play to even think about sitting out an election.   Why in the hell do you think the Republifools have spent so much time and money trying to suppress non white people's votes in advance of this election?

Rule Number Two you need to burn into your brains is that you can't get progressive legislation from conservative politicians.   

I'm also going to tear into another misguided comment I saw in this thread from another person.   This person who shall remain nameless suggested the GL community should stay at home in 2012 to 'punish' the Democrats and President Obama for not moving as fast as you vanillacentric privileged peeps deem necessary on rainbow community human rights issues.

Um, didn't y'all try that 'punish the Dems by staying home' strategy in 2010?   How's that working out for you and the GL rights movement?

The only people you 'punished' because of your lack of strategic vision were yourselves, all women, middle class workers, the poor, and our children.   The only people that worked out for was the Tea Klux Klan and the Republicans.  They said.thank you very much clueless left wing Obama haters for staying at home and handing us power in a election cycle that was going to determine how federal, state and local legislative bodies were going to be reapportioned for the entire 2k10 decade.

Since one of them was a Texan, thank y'all very much for irrationally sitting at home and giving the Republicans a Texas House supermajority in the Lone Star State.  They promptly attempted to use it to disenfranchise Blacks and Latinos but thanks to the 1965 Voting Rights Act were stymied for the moment..  That supermajority also gave GOP legislators the political power to cut public school funding for starters and attack this community with more anti-gay legislation .  

Thank you clueless GL folks who hate Obama so much you allowed the Republicans to draw political legislative maps that will reduce our political power and make it harder for us to regain progressive majorities in the Texas legislature until 2020

And at the federal level, thank you for giving the POTUS half a congress that makes it impossible for him to get anything done GLBT rights wise or pass the liberal-progressive legislation we wish to have happen until 2013.

Elections matter, and the sooner you GL folks learn that simple lesson the conservafool moment has known since 1964, the faster we can make GLBT rights progress a reality. 

Shut Up Fool Awards- Fenway Park 100 Anniversary Edition

Today is the 100th anniversary of the opening of the holy shrine for Red Sox Nation, Fenway Park in Boston.

It was on this date in 1912 the Red Sox played their first game against the New York Highlanders (now the Yankees).   In honor of this auspicious occasion the team Red Sox Nation calls 'The Evil Empire' will return to play in the Fenway Park Anniversary game as both squads wear 1912 throwback uniforms to mark the occasion.

But y'all don't wanna hear me talk about baseball.   I know what day and what time it is.   It's Friday, and that means it's time to unveil this week's TransGriot Shut Up Fool award winner for this week.

So let's get right to who hit home runs when it comes to hypocrisy and championship level stupidity.

Oyr nominees this week were Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA) Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) Gov Scott Walker (R-WI), Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, Dick Cheney, Gretchen Carlson, Eric Bohlert, Reince Priebus, and group nods to the Republican Party, ALEC  and Fox Noise.     


Honorable mention this week goes to Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky who dissed the POTUS by comparing him to a 1930's European dictator.

The runaway winner is Ted Nugent, who put his foot in his mouth at the just concluded NRA convention in St Louis by uttering anti Obama statements that earned him a well deserved visit by the Secret Service, then doubled down on it..

Teddy boy's comments were so off the charts inflammatory that even the NRA deleted them from their website and the Romney campaign after proudly trumpeting they had his endorsement now wants to pretend he doesn't exist.



And this wasn't the first time he went off about the POTUS and Secretary Clinton.  He also had a jacked up rant in 2007. 

Ted  Nugent, shut the HELL up fool!

Love ABC's 'Scandal'

Y'all know how much I love actress Kerry Washington, and when I found out she was going to be starring in ABC's show Scandal, I made sure I was parked in front of the television at 9 PM for its Thursday night debut show.

I wasn't disappointed.  Washington plays Olivia C. Pope, the most powerful woman in Washington DC you'd never heard of.  The show also has as part of its cast Columbus Short of Stomp The Yard fame, who plays Harrison, one of the 'gladiators' working at Pope and Associates.

Washington's character is a former White House staffer who is now working for herself.  Her specialty is fixing problems before they blow up into damaging scandals that threaten political careers or result in serious negative consequences for her clients

But she also has a big secret of her own and a client she is representing with another secret that combined could take down a presidential administration.

Scandal has become Must See TV for me, especially since the show is also produced by Shonda Rhimes, who also produces Grey's Anatomy.    It's also unique to see a powerful, smart and sexy African-American female character in a drama and I definitely want to see this show hang around for more than just one season.

Upcoming Archie Gender Swap Issue

One of my guilty pleasures is Archie comic books, and I was pleased to find out some interesting details about the upcoming Issue 636 that will hit newsstands around August 22.

It will contain a story called 'The Great Switcheroo' that involves Sabrina the Teenage Witch and her cat Salem.  It will focus on gender and the perceptions of gender roles by having gender swapped versions of Archie, Betty and Veronica as they become Archina, Billy and Ronnie.

It happens after Salem hears the denizens of Riverdale articulating the age old grumbling about how the other gender has it easier, then casts a magic spell that flips the gender script.

Hmm.  Looking forward to reading this one if I can get my hands on it when it hits the newsstand of my fave local comic book store.   

This also isn't the first time Archie has been reimagined in the other gender.    In Issue 516 there was a story called 'The Other Side Of The Fence' in which Archie's mother, frustrated about being the lone estrogen based lifeform in the house and raising a teenage son imagines what life would be like if Archie had been born a girl.   

She changes her mind after having lunch with Mrs. Lodge and Mrs. Cooper and they talk about the drama their daughters Veronica and Betty put them through..

At any rate, really looking forward to adding this one to my collection.

Condoleezza For VP?

About two months ago Renee of Womanist Musings and I were having a conversation about the 2012 presidential race, in which we are as of today 200 days from Election Day.

We were discussing the jacked up Republican primary, agreed that Mitt Romney would probably be their nominee and then started musing about who would be his vice presidential pick. 

One of the names Renee mentioned was Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State in the GW Bush misadminiistration.  While it was an intriguing idea as she laid out the case for why he'd do it, I dismissed it at the time.  I told her that if Condi were going to run for office, it might be for one of the US senate seats in California because the Republicans in that state want to defeat Sen. Barbara Boxer (and Sen Dianne Feinstein if she doesn't retire) in the worst way.  If current Cali Attorney General Kamala Harris decided to run for the US Senate or the governor's chair they would want her as a counterbalance to that..   

I also opined during our political conversation that if Mitt was going to take a chance on a non-white VP pick, it would probably be a Latino like Sen. Marco Rubio who the Tea Klux Klan likes since he is trailing badly with Latino voters and has to close that gap ASAP to have any chance of winning.

Well, my favorite Canuck may be on to something.   While I was perusing Lawrence O'Donnell's The Last Word show on MSNBC they talked about the Veepstakes and who peeps would like to see as the VP nominee.  Interestingly enough,  the person topping a CNN poll was survey says, Condoleezza Rice. 
 
So my Timmy's Icecap loving homegirl was ahead of the political curve (as usual).  But before you tell me I told you so Renee, Condi says she isn't interested in the job.   

But if she does take it, your next icecap is on me.

Dick Clark Passes Away

As my milestone birthday rapidly approaches, another one of the iconic personalities I grew up with has passed away.

I was saddened to hear that Dick Clark, who hosted American Bandstand for over 30 years, the $10,000, $25,000  and $100,000 Pyramid game shows, founded the American Music Awards and since 1972 rocked New Year's Eve for us, died of a massive heart attack in Santa Monica, CA yesterday morning. 

Dick Clark was not only an iconic presence on our television screens, but also helped integrate the music industry.  One of the first major predominately white shows that Motown artists got exposure on was his  American Bandstand, and the Bandstand dance floors were integrated.

But what I and everyone else will fondly remember is spending our New Year's Eves since 1972 courtesy of  the Dick Clark's New Year's Rocking Eve show in which we got to see our fave music artists perform just before the ball dropped to usher in the New Year from New York's Times Square with him.



When New Year's Eve comes around in a few months and we move from this year to 2013, for a moment it will be a little sadder than normal because the 'World's Oldest Teenager' won't be around to do the final countdown.

Rest in peace Dick Clark, you will be missed..

STRAP Leads The Way In The Philippines Trans Pageant Debate

As I've pointed out a few times in blog posts and am quite aware of, the Philippines is a serious pageant loving nation. 

It is also the home of the Amazing Philippine Beauties pageant, one of the world's premiere beauty pageants for trans women.

STRAP chair Naomi Fontanos and I have had conversations in the wake of the latest Miss Universe contests when we were done catching up on each other's lives and talking shop in which we discussed those pageants with ESPN sports analyst like precision. 

So it didn't surprise me that the Talackova flap would make its way across the Pacific to the Philippines where there is discussion and heated debate building in that nation about the opening up of the Miss Universe system pageants around the world next year to trans women.    

The STRAP women and their allies are leading the way to insure that the debate in their nation is a reasoned, informed and educated one and not one that devolves into being founded on ignorant stereotypes and faith-based disinformation about trans women.

Check out the videos to see what I'm talking about.   The report is in English, Naomi pops in to speak a few minutes into the first one.




Part 2


Naomi also had an appearance on a local television news show Wednesday night Philippines time (Tuesday on our side of the International Date Line)  in which she was paired with former Miss Philippines and 1999 Miss Universe 1st runner up Miriam Quiambao who is opposed to transwomen competing in the pageant.

According to a comment posted on Fontanos' FB page:. 

1999 Bb. Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) & Miss Universe 1st Runner-up Miriam Quiambao. Miriam does not believe that transgender women are women and should join the Miss Universe.

In a tweet, she asked, "What ever happened to the essence of a woman?" Well, for me the essence of a woman goes beyond her reproductive capacity. Women are multidimensional beings and should not be reduced to a singular aspect of themselves. The essence of being a woman is her existence, the truth and reality of her life that she herself has shaped.

And to piggyback on your eloquent comment sis, gender is between your ears, not your legs.

STRAP is considered one of the premiere trans rights organizations on the planet, and in their 10th anniversary year they are proving once again why they are held in such high esteem by international trans activists around the world.