NBJC Stands In Solidarity With CeCe McDonald and Community-Transgender Assault Victim Accepts Plea to Reduced Manslaughter Charge

TransGriot Note:  The May 3 NBJC press release concerning the McDonald trial

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Reports out of Minneapolis reveal that CeCe McDonald, a Black transgender woman who was allegedly attacked with racist and transphobic slurs, has accepted a plea deal to second-degree manslaughter due to negligence.

Supporters have rallied at the courthouse all week, saying that her case is a blatant example of institutional biases against Black and transgender people. The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading Black LGBT civil rights organization, stands in solidarity with CeCe McDonald and community members.

“CeCe’s case is a sad reminder of the injustices transgender women of color face,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. “Where do we get off blaming the victim in what was clearly a hate- and bias-motivated attack? It’s unthinkable and it’s un-American.”

Just yesterday, NBJC released a statement about the charges in the hazing death of Robert Champion Jr., a gay drum major at a Historically Black College and University that was pummeled to death:

The sad reality is that justice drags its feet when a Black life is at stake. There’s even less outcry when it is the life of someone Black and gay. That is why we must continue to proactively advocate on behalf of Black LGBT people who are victims of violent crimes.

That unfortunate reality rings true in McDonald’s trial and represents a larger system of violence towards Black transgender women. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs has found that violence against LGBT people is up 23 percent, with people of color and transgender women as the most likely targets. Of the victims murdered in 2010, 70 percent were people of color while 44 percent were transgender women.

“It is unfortunate that in this case, as in so many, the hate crime itself is overlooked entirely," explains Kylar Broadus, NBJC Board Member and Executive Director of the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC), a national organization that promotes the interests of trans people of color. “We must continue to rally for fair and equal treatment for our Black trans sisters who are disproportionally targeted and killed because of who they are.”

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The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is a civil rights organization dedicated to empowering Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. NBJC’s mission is to eradicate racism and homophobia.  

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Kimberley McLeod
Director of Communications
National Black Justice Coalition
P.O. Box 71395
Washington, DC 20024
(202) 319-1552 (office)
(202) 319-7365 (fax)

Imagining 'A Different World' 2K12

With the 25th anniversary of the first episode of the groundbreaking show A Different World happening this September (and yes peeps, you will be getting another one of my A Different World trivia quizzes to ponder) , one of the things that has mystified me is why Carsey-Werner won't release Seasons 2-6 of A Different World on DVD, much less do a reunion show.

Is it because that show not only was talking about some groundbreaking subjects back in the day such as date rape, HIV/AIDS, and South African divestment to force the end of apartheid and the 1992 LA Riots, it was also one of the few that showed Black college students in a positive and intelligent light doing mundane things like going to class, intelligently discussing issues and falling in love with each other?

Surely that can't be the reason A Different World hasn't been released much less had a reunion show?

With the 25th anniversary coming up, it is unlikely a positive Black oriented show like that will see air time again since Hollywood is too 'scurred' (and racist) to greenlight it.  So I did some hard solid thinking and tried to imagine what an A Different World 2k12 would look like.

My vision of it is centered around Whitley and Dwayne Wayne's first born child who I've named Courtney Marion-Adele Wayne.   She's got her mom's looks and intelligence along with her dad's brains, and has to struggle with the expectations of being the daughter of Dwayne and Whitley and her parents competing visions for their firstborn child who is following in their Hillman footsteps.

Complicating Courtney's life is her freshman brother Dwayne C.Wayne, Jr. who while not as intelligent as his genius sister, has off the charts basketball talent his athletically challenged dad and godfather Ron Johnson never had.  He turned down several scholarships to collegiate basketball powerhouse schools in order to make his parents happy and attend their alma mater.  He is once again in his sister's and parents considerable shadows, wondering if he made a mistake in attending Hillman and is considering a transfer to another school. . 

DJ also inherited his godfather Ron's way with the ladies, but has become interested in an attractive half Black, half Japanese sophomore world history major named Midori.  His growing attraction to her has him shelving his plans to transfer and successfully concentrating on his academics and raising his GPA with her help.  Her mother is the top female VP at Konichiwa Electronics and when Midori tells her during a homecoming weekend visit to Hillman that she likes DJ, her mother frowns at the mention of his name.

DJ's best friend is teammate Marcus Heywood, who also shares the same drama of being the child of noted Hillman alums in that his father is Bishop Dorian Heywood and playwright and poet Lena James-Heywood.

Olivia Kendall is on the Hillman campus as well fulfilling a several generation family tradition on her mom's side of attending Hillman.  She's a prelaw student who has admired the legal career of Winifred Brooks, who is now teaching law on the Hillman campus.   She's a roommate of Kendra Boyle, the daughter of Dr. Kimberly Reese-Boyle who has her own career plans that do not involve following in her parent's medical footsteps, but her grandfather Clinton's law enforcement ones to her mom's displeasure.

The Pit is still around, but now run by a more mature and wiser Darnell Gaines or a totally new character.  .  

My imagining the show calls for it to focus like it did in the 80's and 90's on issues of importance to HBCU college students in the 2K10's.   Since the fictional Hillman campus is also in Virginia, it has a platform to comment on current Virginia state politics as well.

And yep, you know you'd have to have on A Different World 2k12 cameo appearances from Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Karen Malina White, Dawnn Lewis, Darryl Bell and some of the other folks we know and love from the show..

I can also see grandmothers Patti LaBelle and Diahann Carroll (AKA Adele Wayne and Marion Gilbert) hilariously popping in on their grandbabies at Hillman when they least expected it, or Alisa Gyse Dickens reprising her Kinu role and visiting her daughter Midori on the same weekend Whitley is visiting her kids.
 
So will we see A Different World 2K12?    Probably only in our dreams.

There The 1% White Gay Peepul Go Again

I've been keeping up with the ENDA executive order kerfluffle being stirred up by some quarters of Gay, Inc. It reminded me of something that Kat Rose said on her FB page last year.

Why is it that when a politician changes his mind to the detriment of trans rights its 'political reality,' but when a politician changes his mind to the detriment of same-sex marriage, he becomes the embodiment of betrayal - Benedict Arnold multiplied by Julius and Ethel Rosenberg with a Quisling chaser?. 

I would also add to that statement by Kat, anytime a politician doesn't immediately jump to the will of what white gay peeps demand at that moment in time. 

And I have to wonder did anyone in Gay, Inc leadership ranks or the Gayosphere take political science, think strategically about issues that affect this community or have any fracking common sense?  

What's going on in rainbow political world is that elements of the white GL community started going apoplectic because President Obama hasn't signed an executive order that is alleged by the GL 1% to be the elixir for stopping anti-GLBT discrimination. 

The ENDA executive order elements of the Gayosphere are loudly complaining about would only protect a small slice of the GL population.  It would if signed only prohibit discrimination for those rainbow community people employed by federal contractors, not the entire community..  

As they like to say when any issues surface that affects them short of full legislative equality, it's crumbs.   

It was also interesting that within days after the screaming started in the Gayosphere, the unanimous trans friendly EEOC ruling in the Mia Macy case came down.

But back to discussing the executive order drama.  

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is a trans community political Holy Grail, is more comprehensive than the proposed executive order the Gay 1% is pimping.  ENDA would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in both public and private employment..

So why are they tripping, especially since the trans community has repeatedly urged them since 2004 to focus on passing an inclusive ENDA, local and state level GLBT employment protection and human rights laws like New York's GENDA instead of this 'all gay marriage all the time' push?  

I submit to you that the reason the Gay 1% boys and girls went on that 2010 full court DADT repeal press was desperation for a policy win in the wake of another devastating marriage equality referendum loss in Maine that dropped the marriage referendum record to 0-31. 

And don't think we trans peeps forgot about Rep. Barney Frank cutting trans people out of ENDA in 2007 or the fact that people like Americablog's John Aravosis (who cheerleaded that decision) is one of the gay bloggers chewing on the POTUS' behind about that executive order. 

Um John, I trust a constitutional scholar and former law professor over you any day.  In addition I don't buy for a moment you have 'evolved already' on the issue of trans inclusion in ENDA.


There's a Houston connection to this GLBT political theater because the questionnaire that the POTUS signed to get the Houston GLBT Political caucus endorsement over Hillary back in 2008 mysteriously found its way into the gay media via MetroWeekly.   The Caucus denied they leaked the questionnaire, but my suspicions are it came from some Hillary supporters that are still pissed that then Senator Obama won that Caucus endorsement by a razor thin margin.

GetEqual is making noises about protesting Obama campaign headquarters over the executive order, which if they do go there is not going to sit well with African-American TBLG people and exacerbate our already testy post Prop 8 relationship with our white GLBT counterparts. 

But sure as making money betting Dan Savage is going to say something insulting to another group, the White Gay Peepul are going to go there anyway. 

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have called out GetEqual and Gay, Inc orgs at times for their penchant of knee-jerk protesting of President Obama anytime in their vanillacentric viewpoint they perceive he's on the 'wrong' side of GL issues.  But GetEqual won't lift a finger or expend the same levels of energy to protest their real Republican gay oppressors to the Black rainbow community's disgust .

So GetEqual.  I eagerly await the posts describing your upcoming protests of Romney campaign headquarters around the nation and the upcoming GOP convention in Tampa.

Umm hmm,  That's what I thought.

Never mind the fact President Obama has been the most gay friendly one that have ever occupied the Oval Office and the best ever on trans issues.    Mitt version 2012 damned sure won't be signing any GLBT friendly legislation if we are unfortunate enough to have him win on November 6, much less nor will any progressive GLBT friendly legislation be coming out of a House or Senate controlled by bat guano crazy conservative politicians.


The smart political play would be to ensure that the POTUS gets reelected to a second term, bust your rainbow asses to ensure the Democrats hold the Senate and if possible increase senate representation (think Senator Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin) , and get the House back in Democratic (and Nancy Pelosi's hands) while gearing up for a full court press to pass an inclusive ENDA in 2013.


But what we're getting right now is a replay of what happened in 2010 in terms of elements of the white gay community demanding the POTUS sign an executive order in the middle of a tight political campaign year on an issue that demands and needs a legislative solution to distract from another anticipated marriage equality loss, this time in North Carolina.

If You Don't Have Family In Your Life, Create Your Own

One of the things I was thinking about as I was enjoying the company of my family and my cousin's friends at her birthday party two weeks ago is how blessed I was to be in this situation.

I'm fortunate to have educated people embedded in my family who not only are aware of the issues, but are people of faith who live and practice their values. 

I know I'm indeed blessed to have blood family members who actually think it's cool I have a blog and are proud of the fact I am an internationally recognized trans activist.  

But I am quite painfully aware of the fact there are others who aren't quite so fortunate.   They've been kicked to the blood family curb for daring to be their true selves, and that stinks.

But there is a solution to that problem.    If your blood family won't embrace you and give you the unconditional love you need to thrive, create your own family by surrounding yourself with people who do love and care about you unconditionally.

When I was having issues with that at the beginning of my transition in 1994, I surrounded myself with chosen family and friends who enveloped me with unconditional love until my blood family came around to the fact this wasn't a phase in my life but a permanent reality .  

So yeah, when I say create your own family to get through this time period, I'm not selllin' you woof tickets on it.  I've put into practice what I'm advising you in this post to do because it works.

And yes, that created family is still around and part of my life today. 

Organized Religion Isn't The Problem

One of the things that pisses me off as a liberal progressive Christian is hearing atheists and agnostic people on the left gleefully bashing religion.  It occurs every time some negativity makes the news concerning one of the world's religious faith traditions not living up to the lofty goals and ideals of it.  

Yes, they deserve to be called out on it when the fail to live up to the tenets of those faith traditions and it bugs me what so called Christians do in the name of my faith. 

But organized religion isn't the problem. It's the fundamentalist 'my way or your going to hell in the express lane' extremist strains of it that is the problem.

I'm more than a little sick of atheists, especially those on the liberal-progressive political side knee jerk bashing religion. You're failing to take into account that it's because of people like Dr King fortified by their religious faiths they have the human rights coverage they do today.
To give a knee jerk blanket condemnation of religion is disrespecting the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and countless other men and women of good will and various religious traditions who were motivated by the positive tenets and commandments of their respective faiths to do good for humanity and advance human rights.

And remember, some of these people not only gave their lives, but withstood beating, jail time and and hardships to do so based on their unshakeable beliefs that all humans are created equal.

It's not a smart political play to cede religion to our right wing opponents and make it easier for them to cast liberal progressive values as 'anti-religious', 'evil', and claim in their propaganda outlets that we have 'declared war on their faiths'.   All we are doing is pointing out their hypocrisy and demanding they live up to the values they claim to represent instead of using religion as a means to political power and justify greed is good Ayn Rand style laissez fair capitalism. 

Your over the top remarks bashing faith because of you personal issues with it makes their propaganda plausibly true to the unwashed Fox Noise watching masses and the persuadable folks in the middle.  

So I repeat, organized religion ain't the problem.   Focus your anger on the folks misrepresenting religion to pimp conservative policies and not your liberal progressive allies who are motivated by the tenets of their respective faiths to also work for the successful enactment of liberal progressive policies that benefit us all.

What Would You Do?-Transteen Trying To Come Out

The ABC Show What Would You Do? isn't shy about tackling trans issues, and another one they took on recently was a trans teen trying to explain at a restaurant to his disapproving mother that he needed to be a girl.

The mother and transteen were actors in this case and the hidden cameras ganged the reactions of eh people who witnessed the situation.

2012 Esteem Awards Winners And Finalists

I was surprised and pleased to find out last year I was one of the 2011 winners for the Chicago-based Esteem Awards.   While I was unable to accept it in person, I did send my acceptance speech for it.

Yesterday the 2012 Esteem Awards winners were announced.by PrideIndex.com.

  “PrideIndex.com is pleased to announce Towleroad.com, writers Stanley Bennett Clay and Kimberley McLeod, Bella English of The Boston Globe, and Cathy J. Cohen has been named to receive this year’s Esteem Award, said Philip Esteem of PrideIndex.com. “These organizations and individuals serve as fine role models for the entire community,” he continued.

The Esteem Awards honors local and national organizations and individuals for their continued efforts in supporting the African-American and LGBT community in the areas of entertainment, media, civil rights, business and art.

The 2012 Esteem Award honorees will be recognized at a special cocktail reception on Saturday, June 30, at Sidetrack, 3349 North Halsted, from 2:00PM – 4:00PM in Chicago. The event is free.

Following is a list of the Esteem Awards finalists:

Chicago

Outstanding Service, Male: Charles Nelson, MSM Project Director, South Side Help Center

Outstanding Service, Female: Cathy J. Cohen

Outstanding Service, Transgender: June LaTrobe, Trans* Community Liaison, Center on Halsted and Vice Chair & Public Policy Director, Illinois Gender Advocates

Outstanding Service, Youth: KOKUMO KINETIC, CEO/Founder KOKUMOMEDIA

Outstanding Social Services/CBO: Affinity Community Services

Outstanding Newspaper Reporter/Columnist or Feature Article: “Queer Bronzeville: African American LGBT’s on Chicago’s South Side, 1900-1985” Windy City Times by Tristan Cabello

Outstanding Magazine Reporter/Columnist or Feature Article: “The Day Cole & Parker Came Into Our Lives,”Grab Magazine by Erik Sosa-Kibby

Institutional Award: The Transformative Justice Law Project

Artistic Expression: Black Ensemble Theater for Black Playwright’s Initiative (BPI)

Special Recognition Award: Bill Greaves, long time advocate for Chicago's LGBT community

National

Outstanding Service, Male: Patrick Kelly, Activist & Clinical Research Interviewer, Emory Hope Clinic Vaccine Center (Atlanta)

Outstanding Service, Female: Michelle E. Brown, longtime Civil & LGBT Rights Advocate (Detroit)

Outstanding Service, Transgender: Janet Mock, Writer & Trans Advocate

Outstanding Service, Youth: Amir Dixon, Board Member, Hispanic Black Gay Coalition & Co-Host BrotherHood TV (Boston)

Outstanding Social Services/CBO: The Ruth Ellis Center for LGBT Runaways (Detroit)

Outstanding Newspaper Reporter/Columnist or Feature Article: "Led By The Child Who Simply Knew," By Bella English, The Boston Globe, Dec 11, 2011

Outstanding Magazine Reporter/Columnist or Feature Article: "Taking A Lead On Faith: Four Black Pastors At The Forefront of LGBT Equality," Ebony.com By Kimberley McLeod

Institutional Award: Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery, AL)

Outstanding Website: theGrio.com

Outstanding Blog: Towleroad.com

Outstanding Podcaster or Web series: Clay Cane Live WWRL 1600 AM Equality Pride Radio

Artistic Expression: Stanley Bennett Clay, Actor, Author and Playwright

Special Recognition: The State Of Black Gay America (SBGA) Summit (Atlanta)

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Since 2007 PrideIndex.com Esteem Awards has honored local and national organizations and individuals for their continued efforts in supporting the African-American and LGBT communities in the areas of entertainment, media, civil rights, business and art.

More information about the Esteem Awards can be found at www.TheEsteemawards.com. PrideIndex.com is an online entertainment guide to events, bars and parties for the African-American and LGBT communities. It features profiles of activist, authors, club promoters, filmmakers, performance artist, conferences, support groups, and health & wellness resources.

I Repeat-Diversity Is Sorely Needed In Our Houston Trans Community

I'm a native Houstonian proud of our Lone Star traditions, our trans community, its history and being one of the people who helped make some of that history.   I'm also exceedingly proud of the award winning leaders that we have produced locally that have in some cases achieved a statewide, national and international footprint and following.


I wrote a post last year discussing the hard, solid thinking I was engaged in about the state of the national Black trans community.  I pointed out more diversity was needed in our Houston and Texas trans community ranks and what I said back in March 2011 bears repeating once again.  

As I mentioned, I was blessed to get the opportunity of attending the 20th annual Houston Transgender Unity Banquet for the first time in over a decade last weekend. While I enjoyed seeing everyone who was at the Sheraton Brookhollow and meeting some new rainbow community folks and allies in the process, I was still concerned about the lack of diversity in the room. 

This is the Houston trans community's signature event and the Unity Banquet reminded me once again how monochromatic and vanillacentric in outlook my hometown trans community leadership ranks have become in terms of the folks who are out there representing its public face.  I also believe the 'pay to play' activism model has had the deleterious result of creating a fiscal participation barrier and shutting out low income GLBT people from shaping the Houston GLBT community and the policies it advocates.   

In non-white communities there is already the ossifying impression that the GLBT community is an overwhelmingly white one, and that perception plays into some of the pushback and resistance the entire  rainbow community gets in its human rights fights.  That perception problem is one our right wing opponents are increasingly trying to exploit and use as a wedge issue as they oppose our human rights push. 

In a multicultural city of over 2 million people such as Houston, when we are contemplating fighting for a rainbow community human rights city charter referendum that will require the votes of a multicultural coalition of progressive Houston voters in order to pass it, that's a problem that needs to be fixed now before that ballot initiative gets rolled out and taken to the voters if we wish to win that fight.   Failure to seriously address this problem will result in another electoral loss for this community and I don't want to see that happen to legislation we desperately need.   .

Frustration is brewing among Houston's non-white transpeople.   It's fueled by not only the ongoing killing of our transsisters and the feeling that no one cares about it, it's also the lack of visibility and seeing trans role models who look like them.  Visibility matters and is necessary, especially to the people who don't see themselves represented in the organizations that are purported to represent them and speak for them.

If you think this status quo situation is okay, or you think that identity politics shouldn't be part of this rainbow community rights movement, you're naive or being obtuse about the fact that race matters, even in our little trans subset of society.   We get microaggressive behavior aimed at us every day by the parent society and our rainbow community subset of it, and just because we transitioned doesn't mean it stopped. 


But back to what I was discussing.   Diversity is sorely needed in our Houston trans ranks and it's sad I have to repeatedly state what is so no-brainer obvious.  

It's on you peeps that make up the leadership of these groups to ensure there is representation in them that reflects the ethnic diversity of Houston, the state of Texas and its TBLG community and but your behinds working to make that a reality.   

And yeah, y'all ain't the only people I'm going to call out on this state of affairs.  I'm going to put the non-white Houston trans community on blast too in a separate post. 

Here's the first suggestion as to how to create that diverse community.  Ask us.   But you'd better do it fast because the clock is rapidly ticking on your opportunity to do so with a fed up non-white trans community.    
What I can tell you is that if the diversity problem isn't dealt with, you will find yourself staring at a situation in which non-white transpeople will say frack it and form their own trans organizations designed to represent their interests and won't look back.

Rest In Peace, Paige

While today is a happy day for me, it's tempered with the sadness that a young transwoman in Chicago will not get the chance to experience her 50th birthday, much less her 25th, 30th or 40th ones because some waste of DNA callously took her life..

Paige Clay is being buried today, so Chicago rainbow family, if you can, pay your respects to her later this evening.

As a gentle reminder, it will be held at the Acklin Funeral Home, 1325 W. 87th St. in Chicago.   The wake will run from 3-4 PM CDT with the funeral services commencing shortly after the wake from 4-5 PM CDT

One of the things I want to see happen along with my trans brothers and sisters is witnessing the person who committed this crime be brought to justice.

Happy Milestone Birthday, Moni!

Well TransGriot readers, today I was blessed to see another birthday, and it's a big one. 

Yeah, I know we women aren't supposed to tell our age, but it's a Big Fracking Deal and a blessing to hit this milestone birthday.

I'm a Kennedy baby who was born at 10:45 PM CDT in the Lone Star State and has been on the planet long enough to witness desegregation occur 'with all deliberate speed', the African-American Civil Rights movement, women's rights, gay rights and trans rights movements.  

The space race happened with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs rapidly culminated to a July 20, 1969 moon landing and several more after that, the Skylab program, and the space shuttle and international Space Stations.  

I witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union, the Vietnam War, two Gulf Wars, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy,  Sen. Robert Kennedy and the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Watergate, gas lines in the 70's, Motown, the Philly Sound, disco, rap, hip-hop Neo-Soul, 8-track tapes, the CD, the iPod, color TV, cable, the Internet and the election of an African-American president.

And yeah, my body did a little morphing over the years as well to where I not only became a Phenomenal Transwoman, but a respected trailblazing award winning thought leader in the trans human rights movement.

I was also just six months old when the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out and the all too real specter of nuclear war threatened to end my life and the lives of millions of people around the world  

During my lifetime so far my beloved hometown has grown from 700,000 people to a world class international city with over 2 million residents.  I have seen an African-American and two female mayors be elected to lead it.   Annise Parker is the current one who is doing a damned good job of handling our city's business and she happens to have cut her activist teeth in our LGBT community as well. 

And to my disgust, I have seen my beloved Lone Star State move from progressive Democratic control and leaders we could be proud of such as Sen.Ralph Yarborough, Sen Lloyd Bentsen, Rep. Sam Rayburn,  President Lyndon B. Johnson, Rep. Barbara Jordan, Gov. Ann Richards and Rep. Mickey Leland to Republifool control and national embarrassments like Rep Louie Gohmert, George W Bush and Gov Rick Perry.

So while I haven't gotten that AARP card in the mail yet, or had some of my past and present birthday wishes for the trans community become a reality, what I have received and continue to receive is the blessing of you peeps showering me with love and birthday wishes from both sides of the International Date Line 

Thanks y'all.   Happy birthday to me and may I be blessed to live to see many more..

Shut Up Fool Awards- Moni's Milestone Birthday Edition

As you TransGriot readers are aware of, I'm in the midst of enthusiastically celebrating my milestone birthday today.

 I thank all of you peeps who have been sending me birthday greetings, whether its been on my Facebook page, e-mailed, or you took the time out of your busy schedules to call me.  

But today is also Friday, and you TransGriot readers know what that means.  It's time for me to take a break for a few moments from celebrating being on the planet for half a century and focus on shining a bright spotlight on the fool, fools or group of fools who so richly deserve to earn my birthday edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Award.

As usual, group nods go to the Republican Party, Fox Noise, the transphobic rad fems, the TS separatists, the GOP end of the Tennessee legislature, and the GOP end of the Missouri legislature,   

The individuals nominated this week are Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, Bryan Fischer, Karl Rove, Gretchen Carlson,  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA), Gov Rick Scott (R-FL), Rep Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Rev. Billy Graham, Newt Gingrich, Joel Osteen, Pastor Sean Harris and Alex Castellanos.     

Honorable mention goes to Jodie Brunstetter, the wife of North Carolina state Sen. Peter Brunstetter (R).  She stated the reason her hubby sponsored the homophobic anti same gender marriage Amendment One going to North Carolina voters on Tuesday is to 'preserve the Caucasian race'.

Hmm. no wonder y'all have major support from North Carolina white supremacists for this unjust amendment.  Did y'all create a Jesse Helms hologram to drum up support for it, too?

The winner this week is also from North Carolina in Pastor Patrick Wooden..  This knee-grow who runs the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, NC  (Rep.Virginia Foxx territory)  has been given the task of trying to pimp Amendment One to North Carolina's Black community and made some spurious charges in his attempts to do his Stepin Fechit routine for Amendment One.

So before some of you peeps start attacking religion or the African-American community again with that discredited 'uniquely homophobic' meme, need to point out that the Rev Dr. William Barber, the president of the North Carolina NAACP has been front and center doing a yeoman's job along with other Black North Carolinians as part of the diverse coalition fighting Amendment One..

But back to barbecuing Pastor Wooden over his homophobic ignorance. 

Wooden claimed that a gay male had a cell phone stuck in his anus a spurious charge that Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend fame quickly called his cookie chomping azz (pun intended) on.

And oh yeah Pastor Wooden.  Arent you in violation of two commandments?  Thou shalt not lie and thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor?

Pastor Patrick Wooden, shut up Fool!

TPOCC and NBJC Stand With CeCe

TransGriot Note: Here are the press release from TPOCC  and the National Black Justice Coalition concerning the upsetting news about a plea deal in the CeCe McDonald case.

"It is unfortunate that in this case, as in so many, the hate crime itself is overlooked entirely," explains Kylar Broadus, NBJC Board Member and Executive Director of the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC), a national organization that promotes the interests of trans people of color. "We must continue to rally for fair and equal treatment for our Black trans sisters who are disproportionally targeted and killed because of who they are."

"CeCe's case is a sad reminder of the injustices transgender women of color face," says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. "Where do we get off blaming the victim in what was clearly a hate- and bias-motivated attack? It's unthinkable and it's un-American."

It's Moni's Milestone Birthday*

It's May 4, 2012 on the western side of the International Date Line, that is.  

Five decades ago I was born on this date in an all Black hospital in Houston's Third Ward.   The city looks a lot different than when I arrived on the planet.  

Overt Jim Crow segregation is over and my hometown is an international city with three times as many people and the innovative skyscrapers to prove it.

And yep, I'm light years different from the body I arrived in on that day.


I thank you peeps on the western side of the International Date Line and you early birds on this side of it  for all the birthday love you've been showering me with so far and it's deeply appreciated.

I consider myself blessed to still be standing tall and six feet above ground to see this day, and I hope I'm blessed with many more.

Friday ABC 'What Would You Do' Episode' To Tackle Transphobia

The ABC show What Would You Do? uses actors and actresses to set up moral dilemma situations and as the hidden cameras roll, we viewers get to see what the people who witness those staged situation do (or don't do) in reaction to what is transpiring in front of them

There was an interesting one I posted on the blog a while back as my home state peeps in Farmers Branch, TX probably to the surprise of many of you who like to knee jerk hate on red states rose to the defense of gay families in a diner and passed with flying colors..

On Friday's latest edition of the show they are going to tackle transphobia by using trans actress Carmen Carrera to play a waitress in a New Jersey diner.

Carrera plays a longtime waiter at the diner who transitions and has her trans status revealed by a longtime male customer played by another actor  who has a major problem with her transition. 

As he subjects her to transphobic slurs, the hidden camera is on the scene to record what happens next with the diner patrons.

Frankly, I and much of the trans community will be interested observers watching to see what happens as well.

Pastor Sean Harris Advocates Beating The Gay Away

Guest Post From Renee of Womanist Musings

Next week there will be a vote on Amendment 1, which would add a ban on gay marriage to North Carolina's constitution.  Filled with false righteousness and determined to influence the decision, Pastor Sean Harris of Berean Baptist Church in Fayetteville, took to his pulpit to advocate strict adherence to the gender binary, and compulsory heterosexuality for all children.  For this bigot, conformity begins in the home and to ensure that children are properly abused, Harris even go as far as to suggest that fathers should punch their sons.

So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, "Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do." You get out the camera, and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female, and then you upload it to YouTube, and everybody laughs about it, and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid, is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed.

Shaming a four year old child for expression is disgusting.  It had me thinking about an incident I had about a month ago in which a parent decided to inform me that I was going to make my youngest son Mayhem gay, by allowing him to wear nail polish and encouraging his love of dancing. As you might well imagine, the conversation did not go well for the bigot.  What Pastor Harris is advocating is so incredibly emotionally harmful for children.  Kids should be free to explore who they are in a safe environment without constantly being policed, and if they do happen to be GLBT kids, no amount of forced conformity is going to change that.  All you are teaching your child is that hate is acceptable, and that you don't believe in unconditional love.

Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? "You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male."

 So, if ordering a change in behaviour does not work, it's okay to be violent with a child.  I hope to heaven that this man does not have any children. As a pastor, he is supposed to minister to his flock and tend to the weak and defenseless, and instead he is using his power to do the exact opposite.  What ever happened to love one another as I have loved you? No, it's only more violence in the name of God and parental rights.

Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? "You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male."

Once again, Harris is preaching the gender binary as though it is not a pure construction of society.  There is no specific way to be a man.  Gay men don't stop being male when they become aware of their sexuality. The very fact that he could advocate punching a child tells me that he has no conscience, and no respect for anyone who isn't exactly like him.  This kind of attitude, is what is behind the suicides of gay teens across North America.  Harris isn't preaching the gospel, he is using hate speech to promote genocide as far as I am concerned.

And when your daughter starts acting too butch you reign her in. And you say, "Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up."

I guess it's nice to see that he is an equal opportunity bigot. Girls can play sports everyone, they just have to remember to make themselves pretty on a regular basis.  Really?  All women are good for are their appearance and their ability to please men?   If it weren't so disgustingly sad, I would laugh.

You say, "Can I take charge like that as a parent?"
Yeah, you can. You are authorized. I just gave you a special dispensation this morning to do that.

Right, his hatred makes him so powerful that he can give a dispensation over ruling the law of the land. This is beyond arrogance.  Children aren't our possessions even though they are vulnerable and dependent on us to take care of them.  If anything, their vulnerability and innocence makes us responsible for caring for them and respecting them as little people.

From start to finish this man has advocated strict adherence to the gender binary, compulsory heterosexuality and child abuse. When I look at him, I don't see a man of God, but a hate filled angry bigot with too much power and less common sense then God gave cabbage.  Attitudes like this are exactly why I no longer belong to any form of organized religion.  I feel that it is a stain upon Christ's teachings to advocate hate instead of loving thy neighbor.  I don't believe any loving God would advocate harming another in this fashion.

Newt Suspending 2012 Campaign

Newt Gingrich is suspending his campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination today, but before he bounces into media obscurity for the next several months need to remind you peeps what he said about Willard during their heated battles for the nomination.

Happy 10th Anniversary STRAP!

The Society of Transsexual Women of The Philippines and I have in common wishing to see trans people in our nations and around the world gain human rights coverage and respect.  

I wanted to make sure I gave STRAP a well deserved shoutout on the occasion of its tenth anniversary year and didn't want to wait until December to write this post

STRAP is one of the premier trans rights organizations in the world and it has grown exponentially since its December 2002 founding by four transpinays, Sass Rogando Sasot, Dee Mendoza, J.A. and Veronica Deposoy in Manila.

It is now ably run by its current chairwoman Naomi Fontanos and her leadership team and has expanded its reach from being a Manila-centric organization to one which is gradually spreading across the Philippines educating and empowering people along the way on a variety of issues, making allies and working in partnership with other organizations in the Philippines and beyond.  

In addition to being well respected in international human rights circles and the Asia-Pacific Rim, it is also forging links with local transpinoy organizations to better coordinate their drive for trans human rights legislation that benefits all transpeople in their homeland.

Happy 10th birthday STRAP and may you have many more.
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Janet Mock's Message To CeCe, Paige and #girlslikeus You Matter

Y'all know I have much love and respect for Janet Mock and she recently was in Los Angeles speaking on the USC campus.     Here's the video of it from her blog.   

GENDA Passes NY Assembly For Fifth Time

The New York state trans community is justifiably happy that GENDA, the Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act got out of the New York State Assembly for the fifth consecutive session on an 81-59 vote.

Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City and Rochester have passed transgender-inclusive non-discrimination laws, along with Westchester, Suffolk and Tompkins Counties.

But now GENDA goes to the Republican controlled Senate, where it has died in the last four consecutive sessions, including most gallingly last year when there was a major push by the GL community to get same gender marriage passed.

Where are those four Republican senators who crossed the aisle to vote yes for same gender marriage and are regarded as heroes by the GL community on human rights coverage for trans New Yorkers?   Mayor Bloomberg?  Gov. Andrew Cuomo?

And oh yeah, where is Lady Gaga for her trans little monsters when you need her?    She was front and center in the 2011 same gender marriage battle, but is MIA in 2012 when it comes to exerting the same energy to pass rights coverge for trans people in New York state.

This GENDA passage for the fifth time also comes on the heels of a groundbreaking EEOC trans employment ruling as well, but will it be enough to get the votes we need in the NY Senate to finally get GENDA passed and to Gov Cuomo's desk for his signature? 

The national trans community is watching and hoping it happens for our New York state trans brothers and trans sisters, but it remains to be seen if it does.

Paige Clay Rally Tonight

For those of you in the Chicago area, there will be a 'Justice For Paige' rally tonight hosted by the Taskforce for Prevention and Community Services. 

The rally will be held from 6:30-9 PM CDT at their offices located at 9 N. Cicero Ave.

The wake and funeral for Paige Clay if you wish to attend it will be held at Acklin Funeral Home, 1325 W. 87th St. in Chicago on Friday, May 4.   The wake will run from 3-4 PM CDT with Funeral services commencing shortly after from 4-5 PM CDT