NBJC Applauds President Obama’s Endorsement of Marriage Equality

TransGriot Note: The May 9 press release from the National Black Justice Coalition concerning the POTUS' marriage endorsement

Washington, D.C. – May 9, 2012 – Today, President Obama affirmed his support of marriage for loving and committed same-sex couples. The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading Black LGBT civil rights organization, applauds the President for this historic endorsement of the freedom to marry.

“It is an honor to witness our President take such a strong stand in support of gay and lesbian couples across the country,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Executive Director and CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition. “This affirmation reinforces the Administration’s ongoing commitment to LGBT Americans and our families.”

The President has had an exemplary record advancing protections for the LGBT community. However, he explained that his position on marriage equality had been changing and had not explicitly proclaimed his support of extending marriage to gay and lesbian couples until now. Despite the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” ending the legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), endorsing the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) and more, President Obama had been under increased pressure for his self-described “evolving” position on marriage equality when Vice President Biden said he was “absolutely comfortable” with marriage for loving and committed same-sex couples.

“As my (s)hero, Barbara Jordan, once said, ‘one thing is clear to me: we, as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves,’” Lettman-Hicks adds. “Here is President Obama, the nation’s first Black president, taking a position that no sitting president in history has had the fortitude to ever take. If anyone in America has ever wondered what courageous leadership looks like, here it is.”

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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.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Mother's Day Weekend Edition

Mother's Day is this Sunday, and I must take a moment to not only wish all you moms who read TransGriot a happy one, but all you peeps who act as mother figures in someone's life.

Thanks for all you do to keep your families together

It's Friday, so y'all know what that means. 

It's Shut Up Fool! award time.  It's time to shine a bright spotlight on the fool, fool or group of fools who need to be called out this week.

This weeks nominees are in the group category the Republican Party, the Log Cabin Republicans Sellouts and Fox Noise.

The individual nominees are Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA), Franklin Graham, Billy Graham, Tony Perkins, Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI), Gov Scott Walker (R-WI), Gretchen Carlson, Michelle Malkin, Jamie Dimon (CEO of JP Morgan), Mitt (Da Bully) Romney, Rick Santorum, Hennepin County, MN DA Michael Freeman, and the Rev Dr. Robert Jeffress.      

Honorable mention goes to Bristol Palin, who has the nerve to slam same gender marriage, the POTUS and Malia and Sasha Obama while she can't even stay in a relationship with her baby daddy.

Another honorable mention goes to that knee-grow cookie chomping sellout Jesse Lee Peterson for his steaming pile of fail in which he opines that women should have never been given the right to vote among other things.

Dayum, thought Uncle Ruckus only existed in the Boondocks cartoons 


But this week's winner is a group award to the 61% percent of the North Carolina electorate who allowed themselves to be hoodwinked, bamboozled and motivated by their hatred of LGBT people into stripping the human rights of their fellow Tarheels by voting for the unjust Amendment One. 

I'm surprised they didn't create a hologram of Jesse Helms to use in the pro-Amendment One campaign. 

It also means that since 1998, same gender marriage when put to a vote has a 0-32 record.


What can I say about that BS that hasn't been said already?   Well, here we go..  

This is the last gasp of the Dixiecrats.  Unfortunately this loss is causing pain for people I know in the state, the team of people who fought mightily to keep this jacked up amendment out of the North Carolina constitution and LGBT residents of it like blogger Pam Spaulding and her spouse, and the straight couples who are now just finding out they are getting screwed by it too.

This is only a temporary setback.  The trend lines and polling are favoring same gender marriage.  So is the moral arc of history and the actuarial tables. 

North Carolina Amendment One 61% Voters, shut up fools.

Naw, I Ain't Moving From My Red State And Neither Should You

I get sick of hearing from rainbow community people living along I-5, I-95, inside I-495 (the Capitol Beltway) or an interstate traversing a blue state the tired mantra that we red state rainbow community peeps need to move to the blue ones and abandon the red ones we live in.

That mantra increases in volume in the wake of an anti-gay referendum loss or some odious anti-TBLG law sponsored by the homobigots that overwhelmingly passed.

Didn't see any rush to leave California when Prop 8 passed in 2008 or New York transpeople hitting the interstates after GENDA failed to pass the New York Senate for the fourth consecutive session and may be going on five in a row..

Umm no.  I'm a fourth generation Texan and have been there done that.  As I said in this post last year and I'm reiterating in this one for your reading pleasure about being a TBLG person living in a red state: 

Unless your life is in imminent danger, you fight with every fiber of your being to make it a more progressive place to live.   If you can't flip it totally blue, at least work to make it purple and get the blue part later.   

I noted those comments coming fast and furiously in the wake of the devastating loss that North Carolina activists suffered in fighting their valiant battle against Amendment One.  I felt their pain as I recalled what happened to the Kentucky rainbow community in 2004 when we went through the same drama when I lived there.  For those of us who lived in Louisville our pain was short lived because we had to immediately go back and fight another human rights battle.  

The faith-based homobigots flush with the afterglow of victory tried to go after our Fairness Ordinance mere weeks after the demoralizing defeat we suffered in our anti-gay marriage amendment battle.

You know what they say about a wounded animal being the most dangerous one.  We regrouped and crushed the Forces of Faith Based Intolerance in that civil rights skirmish by getting an 18-6 Louisville Metro council vote to reauthorize the Fairness Ordinance.

It get better North Carolina peeps. The Kentucky TBLG activists regrouped to the point that a statewide Fairness Law has been steadily gaining sponsors and other cities in the state are considering passing local fairness laws similar to the ones in Louisville, Lexington and Covington.

But it's still not cool that you LBGT blue staters, who achieved many of your rainbow legislative goals already in more politically friendly times are smugly sitting on your behinds, are throwing shade at us peeps in red states and saying we need to move to what you consider a blue oasis.

Hey, there are times you peeps in blue areas catch just as much hell as we red staters do   I've had times in which I've had derogatory racist and transphobic comments aimed at me in blue states.  Conversely while living in my red state I've been fortunate to run into people who not only get it in terms of our issues, but are busting their behinds harder than you blue state peeps who are supposed to be our rainbow family to help us achieve TBLG human rights rights progress in our red states.   

Yes we have to fight tooth and nail to get whatever scraps of rainbow human rights progress we do achieve and fight even harder to defend it.  But we do it because the red states are home to us. 

Why?  It's a red state thang, you wouldn't understand.   We love them more than the average conservafool and have just as much right to live there as the smug faith based information challenged idiots who hate on us and are trying to force us out..  Because we rainbow peeps are part of the diverse mosaic of human life we have the incentive and drive to make our red states the types of places we deserve to live in

Because we red staters have the faith-based enemy in our face 24./7/365 and 366 days in a leap year, we don't have time for the internecine semantics wars that always seem to break out at regular intervals on the Net predominately driven by people who live along I-5 and I-95.  We have more important crap to deal with like Tea Klux Klan dominated state legislatures trying to use every trick in the book to erase our human rights.

But the bottom line is our red state rainbow communities are better for it because we have learned by necessity how to spell a word some of y'all haven't yet. intersectionality.   We red state activists have to work together not only inside the TBLG community but also with our non-GLBT counterparts in keeping the conservafools at bay on a wide range of issues that affect the liberal -progressive coalition.

And one of the things you blue staters don't realize is that while our states may appear rabidly red to you and especially the rural areas of them, some of our red states are actually purple and the cities are our turf..  

May I gleefully remind you blue state peeps that the largest city run by an openly gay mayor just happens to be my 2 million person hometown of Houston, the largest city in Texas.

Annise Parker is a perfect example of a red state rainbow kid making a difference.  If they live in a rural area of a red state and don't want to leave, they can move to an urban area in said red state, get an education, find a rainbow hood if they wish and still live in their native red state.

If we are going to eventually expand our issues across the nation, we are going to have to do the education work in red states to make that happen as well and that can't be done from New York or San Francisco.   You are going to need natives of the red states in question talking to their peeps and tailoring the message and tactics for local conditions.

Yeah, this was a tough week for the peeps in North Carolina.  But as a famous Southerner who was a Nobel Peace Prize winner once said, "We must accept finite disappointment, but must never lose infinite hope."  

And yes, from time to time we win those battles against the faith based phobes.  It keeps hope alive and it's sweet when we do. 

We are on the correct side of the moral arc of the universe and will win more battles than we lose.  But in order to turn those red states to purple and then blue, we'll have to have the people who love social justice, rainbow human rights and the state live there to and be tough minded enough do so.

Senate To Hold ENDA Hearings Soon

While we know  that ENDA is not getting through the Tea Klux Klan controlled House this year, at least they can do the groundwork and build the legislative record so that when the opportunity presents itself things will proceed quickly.

Wonderful news coming out of Hollywood for Ugly People (AKA our nation's capitol) is that the Democratically controlled Senate will be holding hearings soon on the Employment and Non-Discrimination Act

According to a Washington Blade story Sen Tom Harkin (D-IA), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will call those hearings on June 12..

“This upcoming HELP Committee hearing will provide an excellent opportunity to build on the Committee’s previous work and help advance our shared goal of equal rights for all Americans. I am hopeful that working together, we will reach a point where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons enjoy the same rights and protections, and full equality, as all our fellow Americans.” said Sen. Harkin.

Here's hoping that unlike in 2009, they will at least have trans witnesses, and especially some trans witnesses of color giving testimony to this committee.

Mayor Parker's Response To POTUS Declaration

The president's big announcement also had major ripple effects in my beloved hometown since we not only have one of the oldest GLBT political orgs in the South, but Houston has one Annise D. Parker as its current mayor.

Ahem.  May I remind you peeps that reside along I-5, I-95 and inside I-495 that Houston is the largest city to have elected an openly gay mayor and Annise and First Lady Kathy Hubbard happen to be one of the couples the POTUS talked about   

Mayor Parker also has raised the ire of our local faith based bigots for being the now two term mayor of Houston, which may I remind you peeps is the fourth largest city in the nation and the largest in Texas.   

She was also one of the peeps who was criticizing the pace of his same gender marriage evolution and was surprised to receive a call by senior Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett in the wake of the evolution announcement..

Of  course she got asked about her reaction to the POTUS' interview by one of our local TV stations because she's part of the Mayor's Marriage Equality Initiative..
. 

Mixed Emotions About POTUS Marriage Announcement

Well, President Obama finally said yesterday in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts (not sure if we're related) the words that elements of the rainbow community have wanted him to say since 2008 about same sex marriage.



I had no doubts he felt that way based on statements he'd made back when he was an Illinois state senator in 1996 and his record on rainbow community issues since taking office.

As I've said more than a few times, I support same gender marriage and I'm exceedingly proud that it was an African-American president who announced he supports this issue.  Where I part company is not sharing the feeling prevalent in some quarters of the rainbow community that marriage is THE most important issue in the TBLG community human rights push.

And just to remind you what issue I think is most important for the rainbow community, having and keeping a J-O-B is.   But back to this post.

I'm also looking at the big picture here and wondering if in the feeding frenzy to hound President Obama into stating six months before the election that he supports same gender marriage, did the vanillacentric GL community just repeat the political mistake they made in 2004 by pushing same gender marriage when we had the chance to defeat George W Bush that year.

To me and many African Americans trans, gay, straight and cisgender, it is vitally important that President Obama be standing on the steps of the Capitol on January 20 taking the oath of office for his second term.   It puts him in the same historic territory with other two term presidents, gives him a chance to continue building on his legacy and forever removes the possibility that the conservafools can stamp his presidency as a failure despite their best attempts to do so.

It is also important to the African-American community that he be there along with his family in that nice white mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue my ancestors built with their unpaid labor through January 20, 2017.  

The next president will have the opportunity to possibly select three Supreme Court justices.  

Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy were selected by Ronald Reagan, and Clinton appointee Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hinting at retirement from the SCOTUS. 

We have 50 federal judiciary seats open because the GOP is playing the massive resistance game and hoping y'all fall for the okey doke and elect Willard  to the presidency so he can start filling them with federal judges selected by Robert Bork

So yes, GLBT community, it IS about the federal judiciary.   When you can't get legislation through a logjammed Congress, the court system is the next place to redress those grievances we have. 

As we trans people have discovered when we've gone to federal court lately, the president who appoints the people who sit in these judicial seats in an era of hyper partisanship matters. 

As for the assertion that it will cost the off the charts popular President Obama votes in the African-American community, I will defer to the wisdom of Aisha Moodie-Mills and what she had to say about that. 

“It’s really quite ridiculous to believe that black folks would stay home and not vote for the first black president over gay marriage. It’s just ludicrous! No megachurch pastor, as bigoted as he may be, has the power to persuade a whole congregation of black folks to turn against this president.”

So yeah, I'm not fazed about the 4% cookie chomping segment of sellout GOP knee-grows that were already planning to vote for Mitt version 2012.   The last Republican presidential candidate to get more than 15% of the African-American vote was Junior in 2004, and he had the help of 18 anti-gay marriage referenda on the ballot and a legion of sellout knee-grow megachurch pastors such as TD Jakes, Bishop Eddie Long and Donnie McClurkin acting as surrogates to do that.

But I'd be lying if I wrote in this post I wasn't concerned about how this announcement will affect a presidential election that has six months to go.  The facts are many non-white peeps are nervous about this election.  

We already know there's a certain percentage of this electorate who will not vote for an African-American period.   Combined with the fact that ALEC and their GOP legislative partners have been merrily passing voter ID suppression legislation targeted at reducing the number of Black, Latino, senior and student voters going to the polls on November 6 that were the major reasons he took Virginia, North Carolina, New Mexico and Indiana, and you can understand why I'm spending a lot of time in prayer hoping that the justice loving part of the American electorate shows up on November 6 to overcome the bigots who will be even more frothing at the mouth motivated to defeat the POTUS.   


I will be watching to see if the Internet chatter and other rhetoric I heard from vanillacentric GL peeps hollering for him to 'evolve already' comes to pass.

May I remind y'all that non-white BTLG people never left him along with those of us liberal progressives who remember our Political Science 101 and 102 that see the big political picture beyond the 'all marriage all the time' agenda. 

I had more than a few testy conversations with the 'evolve already' peeps and GetEqual folks who asserted that the POTUS announcing support of same gender marriage will 'energize the base' and increase support amongst 'the gay community'.

Yeah, I noted the news blurb that stated the POTUS raised $1 million within 90 minutes of making that announcement at 2 PM CDT, but how much of it was from the gay community and are the GayTM's that y'all declared closed to him reopened?


Now that the President Obama has said those five words you wanted to hear, time for y'all to stand and deliver.  Time to circle November 6 on your calendar, get registered to vote and take a bunch of friends to the polls with you because the Tea Klux Klan and friends are damned sure organizing to do the same. 
  .
Now where's my Maalox?
   

Argentine Senate Passes Gender Identity Law

The United States rainbow community wasn't the only one getting some wonderful news today.

My trans cousins in Argentina according to Blabbeando and Rod 2.0 tweets witnessed their national legislature passing a bill affirming their human rights.  

Been talking on these electronic pages about their Gender Identity Law that has been winding its way through the Argentine legislature.

It would make it easier for transgender peeps in that country to change their national identity documents to reflect who they are now in addition to groundbreaking benefits that ensures access to trans specific medical care in their national health plan..

It passed the Argentine Chamber of Deputies by a lopsided 167-17 margin and has been percolating in the Argentine Senate pending today's vote

It passed the Argentine Senate today on a 55-0 vote with one abstention and is now headed to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's desk for her signature.

Nice to see at least one country doing some groundbreaking things for its trans population and hope other nations emulate this.

NBJC Statement On Passage Of North Carolina's Amendment One.

TransGriot Note: Press Release from the National Black Justice Coalition concerning the regrettable passage of the unjust Amendment One

Yesterday, North Carolinians voted to pass Amendment One, which will change the state’s constitution to recognize only marriage between one man and one woman; ban civil unions; and eliminate health care, prescription drug coverage and other benefits for public employees and children receiving domestic partner benefits.

The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading Black LGBT civil rights organization, responds to North Carolina’s disappointing passage of Amendment One and how Black faith leaders rallied to condemn the amendment as well as educate voters.


Recent polls found that 60 percent of North Carolina voters were unaware of the full implications of the referendum. In fact, Public Policy Polling found that “if all voters were informed of [the amendment’s] consequences, the amendment would fail by a 38-46 margin…”

“It is a grave disappointment that North Carolinians voted to deny couples and children equal protections under the law,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. “Although this represents an unfortunate setback to progress and has devastating consequences to many families, we are encouraged by the number of Black clergy that spoke out against the amendment.”

Support for Amendment One had continued to slip, especially among African Americans. Public Policy Polling data revealed support for the amendment from Black voters dropped from 61/30 to 51/39. That was the lowest level of support PPP has found in monthly polling of the amendment since last October.

Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, spoke out in opposition of any proposal that would alter the federal or state constitution to exclude any groups from equal protection under the law. Rev. Barber joined several Black pastors that spoke out publicly about their stance against the amendment.

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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.

You Want to Blame Somebody For The NC Loss...

Don't blame the POTUS for it, as I have heard in some politically ignorant and obtuse quarters of the vanillacentric GL community today.   

North Carolina state Senator James Forrester (R) is the one who sponsored this unjust amendment..   But you won't be able to do much screaming at him because he's dead. 

But here's the list of people you can blame.

You can start with all the liberal progressives in North Carolina who sat out the November 2010 midterm election to 'punish the Democrats' and ended up giving the Tea Klux Klan and the Republicans control of the legislature for the first time in 140 years. 

Democratic control of the North Carolina legislature was what kept similar Amendment One style constitution bans from seeing the light of day to begin with because they were routinely killed in committee.   One they lost control, the Dems had no way to stop them and the GOP introduced, passed it and put it on the ballot.  

You can blame the faith based conservafools, Billy Graham, their knee-grow spokessellout Patrick Wooden and other like minded pastors who relentlessly pimped Amendment One and worked like mad spreading disinformation and lies in violation of several commandments in order to get it passed.


You can blame all the registered liberal progressive voters in the state who for whatever reason, didn't bother to show up at the polls.   By not exercising your right to vote, congratulations, you helped pass this unjust amendment and through your inaction are now complicit in the oppression of other people.

You can blame the 61% of North Carolina's voters who for whatever reason, voted for the unjust amendment despite the best efforts of the large coalition that tried to 'ejumacate'  people about what would happen if that happened.  It is now regrettably part of North Carolina's constitution until either North Carolina's or the United States Supreme Court overturn it.

Rest In Peace, Brandy

For those of you in the Bay Area, Brandy Martell's funeral will take place today.starting at 11 AM PDT in Oakland. 

It will take place at the C.P. Bannon Mortuary and once again the address for those of you in the Bay Area wishing to pay your respects to Brandy, it is located at 6800 International Blvd,. Oakland, CA. 94621.

As of yet, haven't heard any news as to whether the waste of DNA who shot and killed her has been apprehended yet, but hope that happens soon and he is brought to justice.

Please consider packing the room for Brandy if you can make it..  She was one of four transwomen that lost their lives last month and helped organize the local Transgender Day of remembrance services in the Oakland area.   She deserves as big a homegoing crowd as y'all can muster.

Those of us who aren't in the Bay Area may consider doing a silent prayer in remembrance of Brandy starting at 2 PM EDT, the exact moment her service starts on the West Coast.

Rest in peace, sis.   You were taken from us way too soon.  You life mattered to us, you fellow African descended travelers on th path of trans femininity and we will lift you up even if no one else does.

We'll resolve to make certain that no one forgets your name either.
 
 

Message To The Men Who Want To Love Us

It takes balls pardon the pun to be a transwoman. We go through a lot of crap just to be the women we are and any cisgender man who steps to us romantically needs to recognize that fact first and foremost.

No insecure men or playa-playas need apply when it comes to the job of being our mates because you are going to get a lot of bull feces from society for dating a transwoman, be she pre, post or non-op.

You are going to need to be more man than you usually are in a relationship with a transwoman. She has to fight so many battles just to exist in this world and have her femininity respected and will need a little extra TLC to get past that.

Despite the shade thrown at us from our detractors we are not 'men' despite the time we spent on the other side of the gender fence. She doesn't need additional drama in her romantic life from the man that claims to love her.   She doesn't need to come home to a man who lies to her, cheats on her, or in the middle of an argument slips up and calls her a 'man' or some other misgendering epithet in the middle of said argument.

She also doesn't need you threatening to leave her for a 'real woman' because 'you can't have my child.'

Just like you expect us to accept you 'menz' being works in progress, so are we.  Transwomen are just like any other women on the planet in terms of our ongoing evolution and maturation into becoming the best persons we can be. 

So the first way to frack up with us is treat us like one of your homeboys.   Transwomen like flowers, candy, and being wined and dined just like any other estrogen based lifeform on the planet.  If you aren't fully committed to dealing with the fact that you are going to have to step up your romantic game to make a transwoman feel safe, secure, desired and wanted in this relationship so she feels comfortable enough to reciprocate, or you have a fetishistic attraction to transwomen, then don't step to her.

Bottom line, love us and step to us like you would a cis woman.   If you do that, you'll find you'll get major cool points from said transwomen for doing so.  

Let My Transpeople...

Let my transpeople pee in peace without being messed with by ignorant cis people.

Let my transpeople access trans specific and non trans specific health care without the Janice Raymond restrictions being used by insurance companies and transphobic doctors to deny them coverage.

Let my transpeople be able to work and keep a job they are qualified for.

Let my transpeople be able to have identity documents that accurately reflect the person they are now.

Let my transpeople be able to change those identity documents to reflect the persons they are now without  having to go through major drama to do so.

Let my transpeople have their human rights respected, protected, and codified into law.

Let my transpeople have first class citizenship in whatever country they reside in on this planet.

Let my transpeople be able to participate fully in setting the policy agenda of the rainbow community without being disrespected or ignored by gay and lesbian people

Let my transpeople be able to participate fully in setting the policy agendas of the other communities they interact with without being disrespected or ignored

Let my transpeople be able to live their lives without faith-based ignorance or interference from misguided lawmakers. 

Let my transpeople be able to date and marry the person they love.

Let my transpeople see themselves being accurately represented in media.

Let my transpeople see people who look like them discussing trans issues in the media, on college campuses, and other policy forums

Let my transpeople see their heroes and sheroes contributions to society included in the historical narratives and not excluded from them.

Let my transpeople be able to walk the streets without being murdered because of somebody else's fear, loathing and hatred of them.

Let my transpeople overcome their shame and guilt about being who they are realize they must own their power in order to make everything on this list become a reality.

0-32?

The polls open later today in the Tarheel State on the Amendment 1 ballot question to enshrine a same gender marriage ban (which by the way is already banned in the state) into North Carolina's constitution.

"Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized."  states the Amendment 1 language.

But it also goes one odious step further in addition to inserting the ban on same-sex marriage in the North Carolina Constitution.  

If Amendment 1 passes it would also frack with civil unions or any other form of "domestic legal union" for both gay and straight couples by banning those as well. .

North Carolina was the last of the old Confederate states that didn't have a constitutional gay marriage ban to the disgust of the faith-based homobigots because it kept getting killed in committee when the Democrats controlled the state legislature. But when the Tea Klux Klan got control of the North Carolina legislature in the wake of the 2010 midterm elections, it opened the door for this to happen.

Elections matter, people.    Same gender marriage when it comes to a vote has lost 31 times, and unfortunately the polling coming out of North Carolina on the eve of this election isn't looking good for the rainbow team.   But there's always hope and the chance for an upset.  

To tell you how much this issue matters, I leave you with the wise words of the Rev Dr. William J. Barber II, the North Carolina NAACP president.    Dr. Barber breaks it down with a historical, moral and well-reasoned argument against these anti-gay marriage amendments. 

Please heed those words and defeat this unjust amendment, because no one's civil rights should be put up for a vote by a misguided and hate filled majority.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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

***

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.  

--
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)

###

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.