Alrashim Chambers Trial-Foster Testifies

The murder trial of Alrashim Chambers, the accused killer of Victoria Carmen White continued in dramatic fashion on Thursday in the Essex County courthouse in Newark, NJ.

The prosecution brought their star witness to the stand in Marquise Foster, who testified in graphic detail that after both had sexual encounters with Carmen White, Chambers came to believe she was trans, pulled out a pearl handled gun and pointed it at White as she raised her hands and backed away.

Foster's testimony came a day after Carmen's cousin Sharon White and Natasha Wray gave their testimony about the events that unfolded on that fateful September 2010 night.

After Chambers asked 'You a dude?' according to Foster, Chambers fired three shots at Ms. White who was later pronounced dead at the scene.     


“He said he couldn’t live with nobody saying he slept with a man,” Foster told Essex County Assistant Prosecutor Eileen O’Connor on direct examination.  

As the two men drove off after the shooting, Foster recalled, Chambers kept saying, “ ‘My bad.’ … He was apologetic.”

'My bad' doesn't bring Victoria Carmen White back, you pathetic waste of DNA.  All you and Foster had to do was get the hell up and leave the apartment.  If you'd done so your transphobic azz wouldn't be facing life in prison now where you'll be sleeping with hardcore dudes for real if you're convicted. 

Neither will they be saying please and thank you when they toss your salad.
  
Ahem, back to the post. 

Foster's testimony was given in front of a large Essex County courtroom crowd comprised of family members and supporters from both sides of the case and fortified by beefed up security.

Defense attorney Bukie Adetula is trying to paint Foster as the shooter and for some reason was fixated on the amorous events of the evening. 

Under cross examination Foster admitted he had a sexual encounter that evening with Carmen White in the living room moments after Chambers did despite White initially rebuffing his advances.  "I thought the person was attractive. I thought she was nice-looking,” Foster said of White, adding he never questioned whether she was a woman like Chambers did.

Is Adetula trying to lay the groundwork for a 'trans panic' defense?  


The trial resumes tomorrow with the defense presenting their case after police investigators and forensics experts take the witness stand.

Will keep you posted. 

NBJC Commends the NAACP’s Support of Marriage Equality

TransGriot Note: The press release from the National Black Justice Coalition concerning the NAACP resolution supporting marriage equality.

Yesterday the NAACP released a resolution supporting marriage equality. The organization’s board of directors voted to support the freedom to marry as a continuation of its commitment to equal protection under the law. The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading Black lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, commends the NAACP for this historic step.

“As a Life Member of the NAACP, I am happy to see the organization join the President of the United States in ‘evolving’ and follow the powerful example of civil rights icons and Black voices like Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, Julian Bond, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and others who have said committed LGBT couples and families deserve the same protections as everyone else,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. “Family is the epicenter of Black life, community and culture. For Black LGBT people, its importance is just as great.”

The NAACP has addressed civil rights with regard to marriage since Loving v. Virginia declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967. In recent years the organization has taken public positions against state and federal efforts to ban the rights and privileges for LGBT citizens, including strong opposition to Proposition 8 in California, the Defense of Marriage Act, and most recently, North Carolina’s Amendment 1, which instituted a constitutional ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

Studies show that Black lesbian partners parent at almost the same rate as Black heterosexual couples. In comparison to their white counterparts, both Black gay and lesbian couples are more likely to be raising children. Robbed of the 1,138 federal protections and benefits available to married couples, including Social Security survivors benefits, Medicaid spend-down protections, and workers' compensation, Black same-sex families are disproportionately put in harm’s way. Despite these challenges, Black gay men and lesbians continue to care for children in need of a loving and supportive home.


According to the LGBT Families of Color: Facts at a Glance Report, same-sex partners who become foster parents are more likely to be families of color than among heterosexual married couples. Yet 40 states plus the District of Columbia are silent on fostering by LGBT parents, while 2 states restrict it. Same-sex couples also face uncertainty about joint adoption in 28 states and are prohibited entirely in 5 other states.

“Outdated anti-gay laws and mindsets disproportionately undermine Black families,” adds Lettman-Hicks. “When you deny loving and committed same-sex couples equal protection under the law, you’re inflicting an even greater blow on LGBT families of color whose challenges are compounded by both race and orientation.

As a voice of Black leadership, the NAACP can help the country understand that the fight for equality isn’t about ‘Black vs. gay,’ but that there are loving couples and families at the intersection who are a part of the Black/African American narrative.”

##

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 end racism and homophobia.

2012 Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit Rapidly Approaching

Another one of our local activism events that is increasingly drawing a nice crowd from around the Houston area and the state is rapidly approaching.   It's the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit that is co-presented by the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit (TTNS) and the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA).

I haven't missed it since I returned home and enjoyed covering the 2010 TTNS event and the 2011 TTNS events in TransGriot blog posts. 

The 4th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will take place at UH-Clear Lake on July 20-21 and this year will be hosted by the UHCL International Intercultural Student Services (IISS)-Women’s and GLBT Resource Center at the University Of Houston-Clear Lake.

The TTNS will start at 9 AM CDT and the University of Houston-Clear Lake is located at 2700 Bay Area Blvd in Clear Lake, near NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

Who is invited to attend the TTNS and why?  If you're wishing to help gain transgender rights at Texas colleges and universities in their institutional policies, or seeking to learn more about the Texas transgender community, you are cordially invited to attend this strategy sharing summit.  

You'll learn what works and what does not work in changing policy on campuses to protect transgender faculty, staff, students, and allies.

You'll also make connections with those persons in the Houston area and around the state already doing this work. Learn from their successes and experiences. Gain insight and create a supportive network of interested like-minded individuals,.activists, academics and institutions and get some continuing education credits in the process for an additional $10.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be available for LBSW, LMSW, LCSW, LPC, and LMFT  

The keynote speakers for TTNS 2012 will be on July 20; Dr. Jean Latting, author of Reframing Change and on July 21 Dr. Genny Beemyn, Director Stonewall Center, University of Massachusetts.

Registration is $10 for students and $20 for all others.

If you need additional information concerning the TTNS, how to submit panel discussion proposals you simply Email txtgsummit@gmail.com for info and registration, call 832-409-3363 or address any snail mail correspondence to the following address.

TTNS
P. O. Box 1095
Baytown, Texas 77522

Hope to see some of you at UH-Clear Lake

You're Still A Winner In Our Eyes, Jenna

With the eyes of the world focused on Toronto for a historic finals night for the 2012 Miss Canada Universe pageant, 23 year old Jenna Talackova was not only competing for the right to represent her nation in the Miss Universe event in December, but an entire worldwide community of transwomen.

She did make it to the 12 semifinalist round, but unfortunately not to the five finalists one.

But as I've said for a few days now, even if she didn't walk out with the Miss Canada Universe crown last night and I presume she's probably disappointed she didn't, she's still a winner.  

Talackova fought for her place in this pageant after being unjustly disqualified by the bogus and transphobic 'natural born womna' rule.  Because she did so she eventually broke through a glass ceiling that allowed her to be on stage with 64 other Canadian women and will make it  easier (we hope) for the next transwoman who wishes to compete in her Miss Universe system national pageant.

In the process of tenaciously fighting for her dream to happen, she gave transwomen around the world an opportunity to jump start educational conversations about who we are, how transphobic and wrong that rule was and what we are capable of doing if we're just given the opportunity to try.

It's never easy to be a trailblazer, and Jenna did so with class and dignity.   Her sister contestants agree with me since she was one of three women who tied for the Miss Congeniality award for this 2012 pageant. 

It'll be interesting moving forward from this date to see what transpires next for Jenna in the future and see if she makes come true her stated goals of becoming a Victoria's Secret model and getting the swimsuit cover of Sports Illustrated.

I have the feeling that this determined young woman somehow will make it happen and expand the boundaries of what is possible for #girlslikeus.

You're still a winner in our eyes, Jenna.   

Happy Birthday Cher!

Yep people, today is Cher's birthday.  She was born in El Centro, CA on this date in 1946 and is looking good for a lady who is 66 years young and an icon to many.

No wonder I love you so much.  You're an outspoken Taurus like the TransGriot.    Love what you had to say on Twitter about Mitt version 2012

"If ROMNEY gets elected I don't know if I can breathe same air as Him & his Right Wing Racist Homophobic Women Hating Tea Bagger Masters."

Word!   And predictably all the right wing haters have come out to attack her including Donald Trump Chump.

Happy birthday Cher!  Keep speaking your truth and may you have many more.

NAACP BOD Resolution Affirming Support For Same Gender Marriage

The NAACP convention will be in my beloved hometown in July.  In advance of that event in which President Obama will speak to the assembled delegates at the George R, Brown Convention Center came this news out of Miami.

The NAACP's Board of Directors are meeting there and a resolution was passed on a 62-2 vote that affirms their support for same gender marriage.

The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the “political, educational, social and economic equality” of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.  Further, we strongly affirm the religious freedoms of all people as protected by the First Amendment.

“The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure the political, social and economic equality of all people,” said Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NAACP. “We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law.”

“Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and equal protection of all people” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the NAACP.

Pay attention people.  This is one of the African-American community's iconic organizations.

So you know what's going to happen the next time I hear that bull feces laden 'the African-American community is uniquely homophobic' meme come out of someone's vanillacentric privilege laden mouth don't you?  

Alright, NAACP!. 

Happy Birthday, Malcolm X

"I've had enough of someone else's propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole."

He was called by Ossie Davis ' our shining Black prince' and was a tireless advocate and spokesperson in our struggle against oppression and for human rights who was violently taken away from us and his family far too soon in 1965.

Today is the birthday of El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz, better known to the world as Malcolm X, and yes he's a Taurus born in North Omaha, NE on this date in 1925.   

James Cone said something about Malcolm X in the 1991 book Malcolm and Martin and America that resonates loudly with me as I ponder the man, his words and their relevance in our 21st century human rights struggles.

"Blacks today who are proud to affirm their African heritage should thank Malcolm.  More than anyone else he created a space for them to affirm their blackness.  More than anyone else he taught Blacks that there can be no freedom in the United States without self-esteem, a high regard for themselves as Black people."

That is true of African-American trans people as well.  Until we have love, self-esteem and high regard for ourselves as trans people of African descent, we will continue to fall short of our desire to have human rights coverage for ourselves and the love and respect of our community that we demand and deserve.

"You don't have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to be is an intelligent human being" Malcolm X,  December 20, 1964

Happy birthday, Malcolm.   Your thought provoking words still continue to inspire our people and all who seek human rights and social justice.

Don't Go There Conservafools

Because the return fire will be ugly for y'all

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

Shut Up Fool Awards-Rooting For Jenna Edition

The Miss Canada Universe pageant crowning is tomorrow night, and here's hoping Jenna Talackova makes some history for #girlslikeus in Toronto.  The prelims were last night and the personal interview phase is today to determine the 20 women that will compete in tomorrow's final. 

If we had gotten busy and voted for Jenna in the People's Choice Award that I and others posted links to and she'd won it, Jenna would have automatically moved on to the 20 semifinalists. 

But in hindsight, if she makes it to the semifinals, it will be due to her own efforts and temporarily shut up the critics that she didn't deserve to be in this competition. 

But as I wrote earlier this week, even if she doesn't walk out of Toronto tomorrow night, she's already won  by breaking that glass ceiling for young transwomen who dream of competing in a major pageant.

Well, it's Friday, and it's time to discover who won the crown this week for exhibiting world class stupidity and ignorance. 

Our nominees for this week's Shut Up Fool are group awards for the radfems, Fox Noise, and the Republican Party.  The individuals nominated by moi and TransGriot readers are Roger Schafly, Bishop Bigot Harry Jackson, Mitt Romney, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA),  Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA), Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), Manny Pacquiao, joe Ricketts, Chelsea Handler and Bristol Palin.

Honorable Mention goes to Ben Stein for his racist comment slamming the POTUS intelligence

“I would say (Obama’s) a smart man. I mean, he’s not in the same league of presidential genius as Nixon, for example, but he’s smarter than the average bear, as they say.”

That's mighty white of you Ben Stein.   The POTUS graduated from Columbia and magna cum laude from Harvard Law.   He's smarter than your conservafool behind..

Another Honorable Mention goes to John Derbyshire, who ever since he's was kicked to the curb by the National Review has let his white sheet show.

This week's winner goes to noted Houston defense attorney Dick DeGuerin, who helped former HPD officer Andrew Blomberg get off from a videotaped beating an African-American suspect in front of an all white jury. 

He claimed "it is not and was not a racial thing." but said about the predominately non-white peeps pointing out the melanin free jury  "It's been made into that by others for their own reasons."

When he was asked according to the Chronicle article why there weren't any blacks or other ethnic minorities on the jury, DeGuerin said most of the African-Americans in the jury pool had already made up their minds that Blomberg was guilty.  

Oh really?  And the whites in that jury pool didn't have their minds made up that Blomberg was innocent?

Dick DeGuerin, shut up fool

Thai Transwoman Running For Political Office

Some wonderful news coming out of the Land of Smiles is that an accomplished transwoman and local activist is running for political office.

That history making transwoman is 30 year old Yollada 'Nok' Suanyot and she is not only familiar to Thai citizens thanks to newspaper stories about her, she has been one busy and accomplished lady since since she underwent her surgery at age 16. 

She runs a satellite television station, gained her PhD, was once a member of an all-trans Thai pop group called Venus Flytrap, owns a jewelry business, is the current President of the TransFemale Association of Thailand and has been a strong advocate for TBLG rights in the Land of Smiles.

She is competing for a provincial office in Nan Province in the upcoming May 27 elections against two cis male candidates and is trying to become the highest ranking trans elected official to date in her homeland.   As of this moment no Thai transwoman has been elected to anything higher in Thai politics than small district-level positions.

So why is she running for office? "I'm confident that my experience and ability will be useful in the development of Nan," she said.  "I want to represent the trans women and all groups of homosexuals across the country in parliament and press the government to pay more interest to women and trans women,"

She has a political platform addressing the flooding issues in her province, wants to set up a 24 hour citizens complaint hotline to deal with issues that need governmental attention and wants to have an increased focus on youth services and issues. 

Good luck to her, hope Yollada makes some history and breaks another glass ceiling for transwomen in the Land of Smiles.  We hope it also becomes just the first step of her journey towards being elected to Thailand's parliament.

Rethinking How We Think About Voting

Now that we're in the early voting phase of our primary election in Texas until May 25 and we're less than six months away from a crucial presidential election, I'm finding myself pondering quite often what's up with the vanillacentric progressive left and why elements of them don't put the same value on voting and being front and center in line on every election day as many non-white progressive left people do.

It's a discussion we have quite often in Afrocentric beauty and barber shops and our chococentric family gatherings.   It's driven by far too often heard and read comments from vanillacentric liberal progressive circles and our own stupid knee-grows the refrain that 'I'm voting for the lesser of two evils' or 'I'm sitting out this election'.

Frankly, the folks that utter the second one get on my last damned nerve.  I look at, shake my head and call them clueless under my breath as visions of the beatdown now Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and others took at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Alabama state troopers on Bloody Sunday play back in my mind.

And once again, maybe it's a cultural thing.  You value most what was denied to you or your oppressors are hellbent (see ALEC sponsored voter ID suppression laws as a prime example of that). in trying to take away from you.  It's also never far from our minds that people shed blood and sacrificed their lives in order for us to get our precious right to vote.  .  

Those statements are uttered far too frequently from people who want a third party in the United States or who support third party candidates because they don't like the Democratic or Republican candidates for whatever reason.

But the bottom line is that the ballot is the most powerful weapon in your arsenal to change society.  Direct action protest only highlights the issues of the day.   It is legislators who have the power to enact law that will correct the issues you highlighted by doing your protest, and you have to show up on election day to put those folks who support your policy positions into office and keep them there.  

The sooner some of you peeps on the left get that through your heads the better.

To break it down for you, it should be painfully obvious by now that you can't get liberal-progressive legislation to come out of a conservative legislator.   You .much take your behinds to the polls and vote for the people at the civil, county, state, and federal level to enact the type of change you wish to see happen.

You aren't going to get progressive change if you continue to be stupid enough to sit out elections because you're not happy with how it's gridlocked at the moment.   You peeps sitting out and not voting is a contributing reason why it's fracked up.

I know from my people's history that voting is important.  It has been drilled into me since I was a toddler and when I turned 18 one of the things I received in addition to a birthday card with money stuck inside it was a voter registration one

So yes, I place a high importance on voting and will be exhorting people through this blog from now until the deadline day to get registered to vote and showing up on November 6 or whenever you state's early voting period occurs knowing that low turnout elections favor conservafools.  

They know it too since they have been busy since January 2011 trying to supprsss votes in advance of the 2012 presidential election.

I also don't look at it when I step into the voting booth as me voting for 'the lesser of two evils'.  I look at it as who is the best candidate that not only reflects my values but will fight for and enact through liberal-progressive legislation the policies I wish to see implemented in my city, county, my state and this nation?   

So it's not only time that vanillacentric liberal progressives understand how important voting is in achieving our goals, they begin to wake up and smell the coffee that while they're bitching about the political system, the Tea Klux Klan and the conservafool movement are mobilizing to ensure the system the vanillacentric 'libruls' hate so much stays in place.

Your vote is your voice.   Sounds simplistic, but if you don't use it, the other sides voices will be heard loud and clear as they were in 2010 and you'll get jacked up policies you didn't want becoming the law of the land as a result of that.

Last Dance: Donna Summer Passes Away

You peeps who have been longtime readers of my blog know that I long ago revealed my unabashed love for all things disco on the electronic pages of this blog.  

One of my favorite singers during that period was the Queen of Disco, LaDonna Adrian Gaines, better know to the world by her stage name of Donna Summer.  Of course, Donna could sing any style of music with her mezzo soprano vocal range as she repeatedly proved throughout the late 70's and 80's, but she made her name and rep during the 70's 

Summer was an NAACP Image Award winner, a five-time Grammy Award winner and the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart.   She also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a thirteen-month period from 1977-1979.

She was also nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 and 2011 but to mine and many of her fans disappointment wasn't chosen for enshrinement.   Hope they will rectify that oversight soon.

I was shocked and saddened to hear that Donna Summer passed away this morning at age 63 after a battle with lung cancer.

My music collection runneth over with many of her CD's, and there was more than a few times on my way to work I played or sang off key She Works Hard For The Money and countless others of my favorite songs of hers.

But unfortunately we won't get to hear her sing them live any more because another one of our iconic singers and part of my teen years has unfortunately made her Last Dance. 

Rest in peace, Donna Summer.   Your family, I and your devoted fans around the world are definitely going to miss you.  

Houston Po-Po's Behaving Badly And...

Getting away with it so far.

I wrote a post last February about an ugly incident in which Houston Police Department officers were caught on videotape beating teenage robbery suspect Chad Holley while taking him into custody in March 2010    

The four HPD officers involved, Andrew Blomberg, Phil Bryan, Raad Hassan and Drew Ryser were indicted on misdemeanor official suppression charges and terminated.   Bryan and Hassan also were terminated from HPD and charged with violation of the civil rights of a prisoner, also a misdemeanor.

Andrew Blomberg, the first of the officers to be tried went in front of an all white jury this week at the Harris County Courthouse on those misdemeanor oppression charges.   Care to guess what happened in his case when it went to the jury  for deliberation at noon CDT Tuesday and returned with the verdict shortly after 11 AM CDT yesterday?

If you said Blomberg was acquitted, go to the head of the post-racial society my azz class.

Mayor Annise Parker said, "I do not agree with the verdict. No way he will ever again be a Houston police officer."   It's also a sentiment to which HPD police chief Charles McClelland concurs with.

Of course Houston's African-American community and community activists are furious about another instance of Houston po-po's behaving badly and once again being let off the hook by an all-white jury .  

African-American community activists gathered in the hallway outside the courtroom according to th Houston Chronicle yelled "Racism!" and "Injustice!" after hearing the outcome.

"It is pathetic. It is unacceptable," the Rev. James Dixon of the Community of Faith Church said of the jury's decision. "This kind of expression says to me, to my children and to every black child in the city, 'Your life is not worth manure.'"  

They don't have any respect for African-American transwomen's lives either Rev Dixon, so join the club.

Quanell X, the Houston community activist who had released the video of the alleged beating to the media, called the verdict "wrong" and criticized the lack of blacks or other minorities on the six-person jury.

"They knew what they were doing with an all-white jury," he said to the Chronicle.

Yep Quanell, another sign of the Apocalypse.   For once I agree with you.

Of course, Blomberg's defense attorney Dick DeGuerin tried to tap dance around that inconvenient fact of the melanin-free jury by claiming  "it is not and was not a racial thing." but quickly asserting like pees who wallow in vanillacentric privilege that "It's been made into that by others for their own reasons."

When he was asked according to the Chronicle article why there weren't any blacks or other ethnic minorities on the jury, DeGuerin said most of the African-Americans in the jury pool had already made up their minds that Blomberg was guilty.  

Oh really Dick DeGuerin?  And most of the white jurors in the jury pool didn't have their minds made up that Blomberg was innocent?   That's vanilla scented bull feces.

And this kind of racist crap is why many African-Americans not only look side eyed at the po-po's, but in many cases consider our police departments to be the stormtroopers for whiteness and white supremacy.

Well, thanks to the just-us system, we can already guess how the other three trials are going to turn out.

Alrashim Chambers Murder Trial Update

Alrashim Chambers is the alleged killer of transwoman Victoria Carmen White. His murder trial started in Newark ironically on April 30, the day that Victoria Carmen White would have been celebrating her 30th birthday.

It has been chugging along in the Essex County Courthouse while the eyes of the trans community were fixed on the CeCe McDonald trial happening in Minneapolis that started the same day and others were mourning the murders of Paige Clay in Chicago and Brandy Martell in Oakland.. 

To bring y'all up to speed on the story of Victoria Carmen White, the 28 year Maplewood, NJ model met Chambers at a nightclub in Irvington, NJ while on a girls night out with her cousin Sharon White and Natasha Wray in September 2010. 

They returned to Sharon White's Maplewood apartment and when Chambers discovered she was trans he shot her multiple times.  Carmen White was pronounced dead at the scene and Chambers was arrested a month later along with Marquise Foster.  

Chambers was arraigned back in July 2011 on murder and bias intimidation charges and is facing in prison if justice is served in this case.  Foster was also indicted for murder but plead guilty to a lesser sentence in exchange for his testimony against Chambers..


Carmen's cousin Sharon White and Natasha Wray were in the apartment's bathroom at the time of the murder and testified Tuesday on behalf of the prosecution     Ms. White and Ms. Wray both testified that Chambers was kissing Carmen White and went to the bathroom to give the couple some privacy.   Foster was on his phone at the time.

When the bathroom door briefly swung open at one point, the women saw Carmen White leaning against Chambers, with her shirt partially pulled up.

"I yelled to my cousin, was she good," Sharon White testified. "She said she was ok."

Minutes later, the party turned deadly when Sharon White and Wray both testified they heard a man yell: "You a dude?" followed by three gunshots.

The bathroom door was closed at that moment so neither Sharon White or Wray could tell who fired the shots. They also couldn’t ascertain who uttered the statement, the tone of which sounded like "a question, with anger," as Sharon White put it.

In his previous statement to police, Marquise Foster said he and Chambers both had sexual encounters with Carmen White during those few minutes when the women were in the bathroom, but that only the defendant suspected she was a trans woman.

The trial continues with Sharon White and Natasha Wray's testimony, and as I hear the updates from it, I'll pass them on to you TransGriot readers.

2012 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Today is IDAHOT Day, and the acronym stands for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

It happens every May 17 and is marked with events around the world that call attention to homophobia and transphobia, salute those who work tirelessly to fight for TBLG rights in our various nations  from our planet and give our allies an opportunity to express their support for the trans, bi, lesbian and gay brothers and sisters.. 

It's a lofty goal but is one that sadly the human race is a long way from achieving as evidenced in the United States.

In just the first five months of this year alone we've witnessed the passage of the unjust Amendment One in North Carolina, a Republican congressman openly stating it should be legal to discriminate against TBLG people, transwomen of color being murdered at alarming rates and no one really caring about it and a major newspaper in the New York Times ignoring the AP Stylebook guidelines on respectfully reporting about trans people and refusing to retract a transphobic story penned about Lorena Escalera's tragic death in a suspicious fire.

While my nation hasn't been living up to the words of the Constitution as it applies to trans and GL Americans, I and others will continue to insist that they do and will not rest until the words 'We the People' also include trans, bi, gay and lesbian people too. 

Well, what better time than today to get started than on IDAHOT doing the work necessary towards  achieving that goal?  Because it's glaringly evident in the United States and elsewhere around this planet we have a lot of work to do to eliminate the scourges of homophobia and transphobia from our planet.

Happy IDAHOT 2012 people.

Good Luck Jackie!

Jenna Talackova isn't the only transwoman competing to wear a pageant crown this month.   So is Britain's Jackie Green.

If her name sounds familiar to you, it's because two years ago Jackie was in the news as the youngest person ever in Britain to undergo sex reassignment surgery.  While it is covered under Britain's National Health Service, the minimum age is 18.  

Jackie flew to Thailand because at the time minors were allowed to have SRS until the Medical Council of Thailand enacted changes in 2009 that pushed the minimum age to 18, required HRT and living in the desired gender for a year.

Jackie underwent SRS on her 16th birthday and happily started living her life. 




The now 18 year old Jackie was spotted by talent scouts at Britain's Next Top Model  in London that  encouraged her to enter the Miss England pageant and were unaware of her trans history.

She wowed the judges and got enough public support to make the semifinals of the Miss England pageant that will take place on May 30.   If she wins it, she would represent England at the 63rd Miss World pageant in China and be poised to make some trans history in the process.   

However, at this point and time the Miss World pageant officials have yet to announce whether they would follow the example of the Miss Universe system and allow transwomen to compete.

But good luck to Jackie and hope she does end up with the crown.

Barack Obama is NOT The First Gay President

Guest Post from Renee of Womanist Musings

Check out this week's cover of Newsweek.

Last week, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to state unequivocal belief of same sex marriage.  This is an absolutely historic thing for Barack Obama to do however, it simply places him on the right side of history.  I don't believe in giving people accolades for doing what is morally right.  There has been the suggestion that because he did this during an election year that he has risked the possibility of a second term in office.  Despite the loud screaming from republican troll Mitt Romney and the like, the truth is that majority of Americans are in favor of same sex marriage, and this number continues to increase. Being in favor of something when it is politically expedient to do so, should not be cast as a great risk.

I normally don't comment on U.S. politics, though I stay up to date on all the issues, but the above image really irritated me.  What Barack Obama did does not make him the gay president, anymore than Bill Clinton was the first Black president.  You don't take on the identity of a marginalized person simply be attempting to be an ally.  Now, to be clear, I'm not pulling a no homo here, I am talking about the appropriation of a marginalized identity in order to give the appearance of being liberal, inclusive and tolerant. A straight man, cannot by definition be the gay president.  He can advocate for GLBT rights and in fact should do so, but I reject this appropriation.

I have never seen Obama as a true leftist, despite the way that the American right tries to paint him as the second coming of Karl Marx.  He only appears to be left, because the right is so far out of touch with reality.  The left right continuum in the U.S. is well and truly fucked, and I believe as an outsider, it's really easy to see. 

What are your thoughts on the Newsweek Cover?

Good Luck Jenna!

Jenna Talackova has arrived in Toronto for the Miss Canada Universe pageant and what she hopes will be a successful history making conclusion to the end of her week of competition.

As you loyal TransGriot readers are aware of she fought a pitched battle to remain a contestant in the 2012 Miss Canada Universe pageant after she was disqualified under the bogus 'natural born woman' rule.

That rule was instituted by pageant owner Donald Trump after the 2001 Miss Universe pageant competition in Puerto Rico included rumors that Miss France Elodie Gossuin was a transwoman.


Talackova was reinstated after her dismissal sparked worldwide outrage, an online petition that garnered over 30,000 signatures and saw Los Angeles based attorney Gloria Allred taking up her case. 

The natural born woman' rule has been dropped and all national pageants in the Miss Universe system starting in 2013 will be open to transwomen in those nations who meet the Miss Universe pageant contestant eligibility requirements.


But many pageant fans eyes around the world this week will turn toward the Great White North and be focused on the 23 year old Talackova's history making turn as the first open transwomen to compete in a predominately cis female pageant. 

You still have time to vote for Jenna in the Miss Canada Universe's People's Choice Award that will be announced on May 17

The people checking out the happenings in Toronto will include my pageant happy transsisters from the Philippines and Thailand and probably China's Chen Lili.   She was the 2004 Miss China delegate but was denied the opportunity to compete because of that now defunct 'natural born woman' rule.  

She's got 65 people she's competing against for the honor of representing Canada in the upcoming Miss Universe pageant that is scheduled.to be held in December 2012 in a venue to be determined.  

If she does win the Miss Universe Canada one, she would make history again as the first open trans contestant to compete and win her national pageant in addition to becoming the first transwoman to openly compete in the Miss Universe pageant.

Wouldn't that cause a major spike in the television ratings for the 2012 Miss Universe pageant?

Best of luck Jenna.  Your trans sisters in your home and native land and around the globe are rooting for you to win. 

Even if you don't leave Toronto on May 19 with the crown, you did something far more important by fighting an injustice aimed at you, jump starting a worldwide conversation about our humanity, femininity and getting people to recognize how transphobic and stupid that 'natural born woman' rule was.

You also smashed a glass ceiling by getting this iconic pageant system to open its doors to young transwomen around the world who may have dreamed of winning this title and can now make it happen.

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Janet Mock Launches #GirlsLikeUs Twitter Campaign

“I will never depart from my core belief that CeCe and Paige and thousands of other girls like us matter.”   Janet Mock

You TransGriot readers know I have much love admiration and respect for People.com editor Janet Mock who ever since she revealed her trans status and her personal journey in the May 2011 Marie Claire article has been an eloquent advocate for transwomen who share our African descended roots.

Now Janet is taking it another step further by launching a Twitter campaign with the #GirlsLikeUs hashtag.   So for you folks who spend time at Twitter, when your subject is about trans women, use that hashtag

As Janet wrote in this post at her janetmock.com blog,

We are not disposable. No human life is. And until we all come around to this belief we’ll never achieve equality. When I say equality, it’s not only a phrase we attach to the right to get married, I attach it to the the fabric of our lives: the right to work, the right to have a home, the right to use the restroom without second guessing, the right to walk in your neighborhood and feel safe.

Just as we all rose up in collective anger and justifiable outrage over Trayvon Martin's killing, neither should it be acceptable what happened to Paige, Brandy and Cece.

When it comes to African descended #GirlsLikeUs, that message needs to be used as a clarion call inside and outside our community.  It's past time that our iconic legacy organizations such as the NAACP, the Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus and countless others stop ignoring what is happening to African descended transpeople like us.

It's time for them to step up to the plate and unequivocally state that we are part of the kente cloth fabric of the African-American community and anti-trans violence and transphobia will not be tolerated.

Thanks Janet for getting this Twitter party started.

Duh, We Non-White Peeps Already Knew That About KKKonservatism

Addictinginfo.com published a very interesting article that discusses Pat Buchanan wannabe John Derbyshire's latest waste of bandwith for a white supremacist site.

In that post he declares white supremacy as one of the "best arrangements in history.'

“The enemies of conservatism are eager to supply their own nomenclature. “White Supremacist” seems to be their current favorite. It is meant maliciously, of course, to bring up images of fire-hoses, attack dogs, pick handles, and segregated lunch counters—to imply that conservatives, especially non-mainstream conservatives, are cruel people with dark thoughts. Leaving aside the intended malice, I actually think “White Supremacist” is not bad semantically. White supremacy, in the sense of a society in which key decisions are made by white Europeans, is one of the better arrangements History has come up with. There have of course been some blots on the record, but I don’t see how it can be denied that net-net, white Europeans have made a better job of running fair and stable societies than has any other group.”

Some blots on the record, John?   Really?  I can think of more than a few such as the Atlantic Slave Trade, Jim Crow segregation, Nazism, the Holocaust, apartheid, wiping out the Central and South American Indian empires, the Caribbean native peoples, nearly wiping out the First Nations and Native Americans in the United States and Canada... gee y'all help me out here 

What, you still pissed because your racism got you bounced from the National Review?   Then again, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. was right in admonishing us African-descended peeps and our allies to be more concerned with the racists wearing Brooks Brothers suits and Gucci pumps than the ones wearing pointed hoods and white sheets.

But duh, every non-white person on Planet Earth and in the United States with the exception of brainwashed souls like Clarence Thomas, Jesse Lee Peterson, Allen West, Janice Rogers Brown, Angela McGlowan,  Herman Cain and whatever Oreo-cookie chomping knee-grow du jour the conservafools trot out as a 'we're not racist' human shield can tell you from painful experience and perusing our history that conservatism only benefits white people.

You white peeps who call yourselves 'proud conservatives' are when we start telling the truth about this fracked up situation nothing more than racism and oppression enablers, and you're either too obtuse to see it, don't care or like the status quo. 


Do you really think that African-Americans voting at 90-95% clips for Democratic Party candidates at every level of government occurs in a vacuum? 

If you do wake up and stop smelling the vanillacentric privilege and trying to justify the ALEC inspired voter suppression laws.

You damn skippy for mine and my people's survival I despise conservatism.  It is a political system I learned early in life to have no love for that is as Derbyshire let slip out and has been reinforced lately with the foaming at the mouth displays of Obama  Derangement Syndrome courtesy of the Tea Klux Klan and Republican Party is rooted in white supremacy. 

Why would I or any self-aware and conscious African-American cast votes that you're busy trying to suppress for conservative politicians that seek to oppress and repress my community?

To expand and remix a Lani Guinier quote, in a racially divided society, we have to always be on guard for our own survival that majority rule doesn't become majority tyranny.

But duh, we already knew that conservatism=racism and white supremacy.  We non-white folks in liberal progressive circles wonder how long it was going to take for you to see that and not have the conservafools mean spirited statements, writings and jacked up governing policies spell it out for you?