TransGriot Ten Questions Interview-Tracie Jada O'Brien

Haven't done a TransGriot Ten Questions interview in a while.  In this one I have the honor and pleasure of interviewing another of our iconic transwomen in Tracie Jada O'Brien.  

It's time for her to answer the TransGriot's Ten Questions.. 

1. You're another person that has seen a lot of our community history in terms of watching the rise of the trans community.  What was it like 'back in the day' and being a part of that?

TJO-We were chased a lot by people in the neighborhood and sexually objectified at the same time. It was quite scary, yet exciting ( 14 years old until I left St. Louis in 1970)

San Francisco in the 70's was an excitingly dangerous place, so free and open.

As a teen I imagined myself in college as my female self (hair in a larger afro and wearing a maxi-skirt) but my reality showed me a different landscape.

I went to San Francisco and began my transition, began experimenting with drugs, and sex work (all the activities was what I saw my peers doing )

I also had the opportunity to go to school but I lacked the drive and confidence at that time .

San Francisco was pretty liberal when it came to living free and open but on the other hand if you were a " working girl or hung out at bars and discos , you ran the risk of being arrested for Female Impersonation.

I saw Trans women excelling in school and work as well as "party girls" . Drugs were definitely present and done freely .

2. When did you transition and what are the differences you've observed between how it was done then and now?

TJO-I began my mental transition early on in my life knowing something was amiss but not know sure what it was . I discovered the Christine Jorgenson autobiography at the library.  I stole it and kept it under my bed.

In my teen years I began experimenting with mascara and wearing very unisex clothes as it was the 60's and bright colors and bell bottoms were in style. It was also during this time that I discover the "gay scene" in St. Louis and drag queens. I had friends that expressed themselves in a very feminine manner . As we all began to express our feminine selves it became very clear (and at times violent) that if I were to continue this journey (whatever it was to be) that I would have to leave St. Louis.

I went to San Francisco in 1970 and met others young folks like myself (mind you during this time there really wasn't a term or name for what I was about to do except for Transsexual or Queen ) and began taking hormones. I went to the "Center for Special Problem " ( YES , the real name of this clinic) on Van Ness Avenue, met with a doctor and was prescribed hormones and given a letter that I took to the DMV where I changed the name and gender on my California ID, to this day ,this is the only " name change" procedure that I have completed. (works for me)

That was the beginning of my transition as I can and only will speak from my own experience

I do know that in the late 60's Harry Benjamin wrote a "standard of care" for treatment of this "issue"

It seemed more simplistic then, however today it appears a more structured precise set of steps that may vary from person or group of person

3. I believe that it is important for transpeople, and especially transpeople of color to know our history and who our history makers are. Do you think we POC transpeople would be in better situations if we youngsters had gotten the opportunity to get to know the stories of you pioneering transwomen?

TJO-Well, the history as I saw it (when I came out in the 60's ) was invisible especially given the "standards of care" and the "stealth" nature of POC trans people

I do belove my generation gave birth to leaders that just had had enough. I did not know of a Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera or a Stonewall ( Stonewall 1969) even though that was the year I graduated from High School and formally began my personal journey with a suicide attempt.

Maybe had I known of others that were "fighting" for our existence, things would not have been so emotionally challenging for me ( I must say , I don't regret any of my past as those experiences give birth to the "fighter" in me .) and I would have made more healthier choices and reached my journey of confidence, self acceptance and self love sooner than I did

I definitely believe that if the experiences of Trans POC of the 60s, 70s, 80, and 90's had been documented correctly "youngsters" would have a platform and a base of reference to give credibility to their existence.

4. Who are the up and coming activists that you think will make a positive impact on our community?

TJO-Oh, My............ I am happy to say that there are few I could mention

Ashley Love, Laverne Cox, Valerie Spencer, Janet Mock

Wow, it give me chills to be able to mention these incredible up and coming activists!

5. You're queen of the universe with the power to grant one wish for the trans community. What would it be?

TJO-My dear, I AM the Queen of the Universe! (kidding)

If I were Queen, my wish for my community would be that Transgender would be defined n the following manner : Male , Female, Transgender (mtf), and Transgender (ftm)....instead of GLBT.....I still feel deep in my heart that WHOEVER made the decision to add us to the ladder made a GRAVE error that has and will continue to do a disservice to us.

6. You're based in California with two other iconic African American transwomen, Miss Major and Sharyn Grayson. Do you ladies ever get together to talk shop or about the state of our community?

TJO-I speak with Miss Major very often as she is my sista-friend, mentor, and confidant. She is responsible for me making decisions that changed my life in 1995.

She convinced me that I would be okay and safe if I went to City College.  I did, I excelled and now I pass it on the others that may have fear of the unknown. Facing fears and over coming obstacles and barriers and coming out unscathed "

She and I often speak of the forgotten TG women of color, the most visible and most underserved and unfairly targeted for sexual objectification and violence

7. What advice do you have for young transpeople who are just beginning their transitions?

TJO-You can look at others as role models and might want to pattern your  transition after them  But you can only be the BEST YOU that you can be.

You have a beautiful canvas that is YOU.  Refine and perfect YOU. Only when you are the BEST YOU you can be, you will be able to reach YOUR full potential.
8. What is the one thing that people don't know about you that you feel comfortable revealing to my TransGriot readers?

TJO- I am actually still that scared little child yearning for my mother's love.

9. What are some of the current projects, either personal or activism related that you are pursuing at this time?

TJO-Currently I am in talks with a professor to assist me with writing my autobiography

10. Where do you see the African American trans community ten years from now?

TJO-We're such a diverse and very often (forced) stealth community. As a  whole I just wish everyone could feel that they are whole humans beings wonderfully and powerfully made. With this perhaps we as community could aspire to greatness.

MJ's Been Gone Three Years

Been three years ago today since the news broke about Michael Jackson's shocking death in Los Angeles.  This celebrity death hit me pretty hard since I had a personal connection with it.  

I'd had the pleasure of meeting him and his brothers during a 1973 tour stop in Houston and like a lot of kids who grew up during the 70's I was a huge Jackson Five fan. 




You can also go back in the Womanist Musings radio show archives and check out what me and Renee had to say at the time about the King of Pop's death.

RIP King of Pop, you are still missed.

We Know Why You Conservafools Are Hatin' On AG Holder

Been watching the jacked up right wing shenanigans playing out this week in Hollywood for Ugly People (AKA Washington DC)  concerning the bogus Fox generated Fast and Furious kerfluffle that BTW, started under the previous occupant of the Attorney General's office Michael Mukasey

We know why y'all hate Attorney General Eric Holder.  

Besides the obvious facts that he was appointed to the job by President Obama and he's African-American,  Issa and his fellow conservafools hate Attorney General Holder because he's not defending DOMA, is vigorously enforcing the Voting Rights Act, taking down your ALEC sponsored voter suppression laws and going after your Juan Crow anti-immigration laws.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) basically said the same thing I'm saying in this post. "It is no accident, it is no coincidence, that the attorney general of the United States is the person responsible for making sure that voter suppression does not happen in our country," Pelosi said at her weekly briefing. "These very same people who are holding him in contempt are part of a nationwide scheme to suppress the vote. They're closely allied with those who are suffocating the system: unlimited special interest secret money."

Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) let the comment slip about Holder fighting Texas' voter suppression laws during the recent Senate hearing that was held on Fast and Furious and called for Attorney General Holder's resignation ."You still resist coming clean about what you knew and when you knew it with regard to Operation Fast and Furious," Cornyn charged. "You won’t cooperate with a legitimate congressional investigation, and you won’t hold anyone, including yourself, accountable. Your department blocks states from implementing attempts to combat voter fraud. In short, you’ve violated the public trust, in my view, by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office."

You Fox Noise watching conservasheeple may believe the bull feces that's being fed to you by the conservamedia but reality based America knows what's up here.  Y'all think that by stirring up a replay of the Shirley Sherrod episode and stirring up all this crap, you can get him to resign.

Well, to quote a Diddy rap song, Attorney General Holder ain't going nowhere or resigning.

So keep on hatin' him conservafools.   We know why you hate him.
  .

Leave Isis Out Of Your War With GLAAD, Ashley

TransGriot Note: In the interest of full disclosure, GLAAD was a major help to me when my A Look At African American Trans Trailblazers article was published by EBONY.com back in March.

Now let's get busy.

I was shaking my head as a certain loud and wrong TS separatist  launched attacks on the groundbreaking American Apparel ad Isis King appears in on behalf of that company and GLAAD

Ashley Love claims that Isis wearing the 'Legalize Gay' shirt misgenders her as a trans woman.

 “GLAAD fights the good fight for us many times, yet this time they’ve irresponsibly made a decision that appeared to not consider the confusing messaging that the ad could send to the public. They inadvertently went against their mission statement by validating the transphobic misconception that Isis and other women like her are “gay” males, instead of who they really are - women, period. The constant misgendering of women of transsexual experience by GLAAD and other ‘LGBT’ groups derails accurate education on transsexualism and must stop.”

However, Love in her zeal to stick it to GLAAD, an organization she's had personal issues with over the media guide, has missed a few important points here.

It may be news to Ms. Love and her colonized 'true transsexual' zealots, but there are transwomen who do identify as lesbian, so the 'Legalize Gay' and 'Gay OK' shirts that Isis is wearing in the ads would be apropos for them.

Isis is also known around the planet as a proud African descended transwoman and she is a hetero one at that.  No chance of anyone confusing her as a 'gay man' unless it is someone deliberately being disrespectful of her femininity or who has an agenda. 

It is also apropos for Isis as a trans human rights warrior and an ally to the rainbow community to wear the shirts depicted in the ads.  

I've also had numerous opportunities to talk to Isis, hear her thoughts concerning the American Apparel ads you seem to have a problem with, have done a Ten Questions interview with her and know she sees the big community building picture much clearer than you and the people you pal around with. 

Oh yeah, an African-American trans model being in this American Apparel campaign that is raising money for the organization is a Big Fracking Deal.  

Isis also said this in a tweet yesterday concerning the faux controversy:


F.Y.I. I did the American Apparel Campaign as a model and as a ally to the gay community. I by no means misrepresented being a Transwoman.

No, you didn't Isis.  You haven't in any of the media opportunities you've done for the trans and rainbow communities from print and television interviews to ANTM.  But since when did facts matter to TS separatists?.


Ashley, since you want to call out misgendering issues for women, why don't you get busy calling out the Black gossip blogosphere and blogs such as Bossip and Sandra Rose who have a long negative history of misgendering cis women by using transphobic slurs to do so?  .  

Umm hmm, that's what I thought.

Virginia Trans Hate Attack Update-Charges Dropped

Back on May 21, 2011 transwoman Ahnesia Jett was attacked and beaten by three and possibly four people outside a 7-Eleven at approximately 3:30 PM near Fredericksburg, VA led by then 18 year old Laqueta Webb and her boyfriend Farkeem French.

Jett claimed the attackers uttered transphobic slurs in the attack in which she was kicked, punched and beaten with a metal broom handle that happened a month after Chrissy Polis was attacked in neighboring Maryland.  Webb and French were arrested and charged with two felony counts of malicious wounding and malicious wounding by mob.

Allen Frye, Jr, the third person charged in the trans hate attack on Jett plead guilty last year to a misdemeanor assault charge and was sentenced to a year in jail with all but 15 days suspended.  

Back in February according to Fredericksburg.com the prosecutor was unable to proceed because Sharon Forsyth, the only witness to come forward was a no show.

Webb and French faced the judicial music at the Fredericksburg Circuit Court June 21 and walked out of the front doors of it after the charges were dropped due to Jett and Sharon Forsyth failing to show in court for the trial.   

A defense motion that the charges be permanently dropped was denied, leading to speculation that the felony charges Webb and French are facing in this case could be reinstated, but it is highly unlikely according to the Examiner's Tammy Reed 

Keelin's Olympic Quest Is A Big Fracking Deal

I was disappointed about hearing the news that Keelin didn't qualify for the Olympic team in hammer throw despite his lifetime best throw of 231 feet 11 inches and finished fifth in the US Olympic Trials. 

So unless a trans athlete somewhere else on the planet makes their nation's Olympic team, we will not see a trans athlete marching into London's Olympic Stadium in a few weeks.

When I started writing about Keelin Godsey's quest to make the US Olympic team in the hammer throw, I got conflicting comments from elements of the trans community people about it.  Some were bothered by the fact he was a transman competing in a women's hammer throw event.  Others I don't know what their problem was but I suspect was jealousy.

"I've still done more than many people who are trans have," Godsey said in an interview. "I've competed at the highest level. I couldn't be prouder."

And I'm proud of you as well Keelin along with other trans people who see the big picture.

Bottom line is that Olympians are considered elite athletes and the dedication and hard work required just to make an Olympic team is nothing to be dismissed.  Keelin came 11 agonizing inches from making his Olympic dream come true and making trans and sporting history in the process.   

So yes haters, Keelin's attempt to compete in the Olympics is a big fracking deal.

When my people were fighting for their human rights coverage in the last century, it was Jesse Owens quadruple gold medal 1936 Berlin Olympic performance and continued success of black athletes in Olympic competition that was a building block in the eventual breaking down of Jim Crow segregation in the United States and garnering support for African Americans from people fence sitting on the issue.

You also have to take note of the fact that when Keelin began his transition, the NCAA had no policies in place concerning trans athletes.   Thanks to Godsey coming out at the Division III level in 2005 and later Kye Allums at the Division I athletic level, the NCAA now has implemented policies covering transitioning athletes.  

In addition, various international athletic governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee and countless others are adapting their policies so that they open the doors for transpeople who wish to compete in their sports.

That's important for our trans younglings who are now entering middle and high school and would like to play sports like their peers or have Olympic dreams of their own.   Because the various state high school athletic governing bodies are in sync with or mirror NCAA rules, these trans younglings who have sporting dreams now have the ability to pursue them.

They also have role models in Keelin, Kye and others to look up to as well.   I also see participation in sports by transpeople as a way to help us get over those shame and guilt issues we struggle with.

Transpeople are on the verge of a tremendous wave of human rights success as the decades old smear and fear tactics and lies of our opponents are debunked and discredited.   The more we are seen doing ordinary things, as part of the culture, and doing what we can to uplift ourselves, our communities and the countries we inhabit as we strive to participate in the greater society, the better. 

Athletic participation has been the road other marginalized groups have used as a pathway to greater visibility and human rights coverage, and it's past time we transfolks did so as well.  

Caribbean Nations Urged To Adopt OAS TBLG Human Rights Resolutions

TransGriot Note: Rainbow community human rights issues in the Caribbean are still a mixed bag and require much work and improvement.  Press release from The Coalition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTTTI) Latin American and Caribbean organizations concerning a recent TBLG human rights resolution adopted by the OAS   

The Coalition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTTTI) Latin American and Caribbean organizations (The Coalition) is calling on all Caribbean states to implement the Organization of American States (OAS) Resolutions on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity. 

During the 42nd General Assembly of the OAS which took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia June 3-5, 2012 a fifth resolution “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” was adopted. A result of long term advocacy of the Coalition, the resolution includes all the issues contained in the previous resolutions which call on Member States to introduce measures against discrimination and human rights violations and to implement public policies.

Additionally, the resolution requests that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) “prepare a study on legislation and provisions in force in the OAS Members States restricting the human rights of individuals by reason of their sexual orientation or gender identity and to prepare based on that study, guidelines aimed at promoting the decriminalization of homosexuality.”       

According to the Coalition “indifference, omission and complicity by many states in cases of discrimination and violence against the LGBTTTI community make those more severe and limit the enjoyment of the basic needs of our communities.” The Coalition noted that this situation is even more serious in the case of legislation in 11 Anglophone Caribbean nations.   The Coalition contends that in the Caribbean:

• 11 countries still criminalize consenting adult same-gender intimacy;

• two countries ban entry of gay people,

• one country imposes life sentences for consenting adult same-gender intimacy;

• homophobia contributes to the region having the second highest HIV and AIDS prevalence and incidence rates;

• there are no protections for domestic violence committed against LGBTTTI persons by their intimate partners or their families; and,

• Lesbian and bisexual women and invisible from any government data produced in the Caribbean.

With this in mind the Coalition states that Caribbean countries must adopt the fifth resolution of the 42nd General Assembly of the OAS and condemn all forms of human rights violations against the LGBTTTI community, as well as take immediate steps to end all forms of discrimination against this vulnerable group.

Black Gossip Blogs Spouting Transphobic BS Again

I've never liked the Black gossip blogosphere for more than a few reasons, but the overriding one is the rampant transphobia in their ranks and the comment sections of those blogs.

There have been more than a few times I've called them out about their transphobic attacks aimed at their fave punching bag Wendy Williams, and went after Sandra Rose when she posted her ignorant comments concerning Kye Allums.

Now they are aiming their transphobic animus at Joseline Hernandez of the VH1 series Love and Hip-Hop Atlanta.   While it's not one of the shows I watch since I'm not a 'reality' show fan, what has gotten my attention is the loud 'that's a man' chatter being aimed at Joseline.

Dayum, here we go again.   Why am I not surprised Sandra Rose's trifling behind and Bossip are front and center in trafficking the transphobia? 

Not cool Sandra with the misgendering of Joseline, but then again you never exceed the low expectations I have for you.  Bossip used the anti-trans slur word 'shim' in the title of another post slamming Joseline.  


Here's the comment I left at one of the blogs in which the comment threads are gleefully engaging in transphobia.

SMH at the rampant transphobia and ignorance running amok here. A little more or less testosterone in vitro and many of you would be in the same situation as transpeople are.

News flash for you scientifically illiterate folks aiming transphobic shade at Ms. Hernandez.  Women come in all shapes, sizes, body combinations and configurations.   Just because a woman is over 5'7", has broad shoulders and other physical traits considered part of the masculine spectrum doesn't mean she's automatically trans. 

I have trans girlfriends who are petite, ultrafeminine looking size 7 shoe wearing divas and cis girlfriends of varying heights and combinations of traits who wear size 12 pumps.You are a blend of genetic material from mommy and daddy, and started your in vitro developmental phase as female, so you are inevitably going to get a blend of gender characteristics from both parents

The other aspect of this transphobic shade being hurled at Joseline I don't appreciate is because it's playing into the 'unwoman' meme deployed far too often against women of color, and especially women of color with non-stereotypical feminine personas or body configurations.

I'm also convinced that the transphobic shade being hurled at her is what prompted Hernandez to tweet the frontal nude photo of herself showing her genitalia in an attempt to 'prove' she was female.


One of the rules I have for TransGriot is that if a person has not publicly declared they are trans, until they do so, I don't publicly speculate about their gender identity or how they express it unless they are causing demonstrable harm to the trans community.  

Until Joseline has a press conference, I'in presuming out of respect for her that she's a cis female.

Too bad some of you in the Black gossip blogosphere have gone in the opposite nekulturny direction.

The Most Interesting Man In The World: On Conservafools

In the States we have these Dos Equis beer commercials that have been airing since 2006 with actor Jonathan Goldsmith playing 'The Most Interesting Man In The World'.  

It's become an Internet meme here, and I pondered what the Most Interesting Man In The World would have to say when it came to discussing conservafools?

Let's play shall we? 

I don't always like being ruled by conservafools, but when I do I vote the bums out.

Vote in November my friends

Toby's Act Granted Royal Assent!

The final stage in making Toby's Act the law in the province of Ontario occurred earlier this week.

As a reminder for those of you who have been following my posts concerning this north of the border trans human rights issue, Toby’s Act enshrines gender identity and gender expression into Ontario’s Human Rights Code.

Bill 33 as it was known has been a multiyear effort spearheaded by New Democratic Party MPP Cheri DiNovo for several years.  

Bill 33 had tri party support in Queen's Park in this session of the Ontario Legislature was also sponsored by Liberal MPP Yasir Naqvi, and Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott.

It passed unanimously on Third Reading last week and I discovered that it was granted Royal Assent on Tuesday by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

So it's official.  Toby's Act is not only the law in Ontario, it now becomes the first province and the second jurisdiction in Canada to protect the human rights of trans people.

And just in time for pride, too.

Title IX 40th Anniversary

"While the impact of this amendment would be far-reaching, it is not a panacea. It is, however, an important first step in the effort to provide for the women of America something that is rightfully theirs—an equal chance to attend the schools of their choice, to develop the skills they want, and to apply those skills with the knowledge that they will have a fair chance to secure the jobs of their choice with equal pay for equal work."

Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN), February 28, 1972 Senate floor remarks during the introduction of Title IX


Today is the 40th anniversary of a groundbreaking piece of legislation that opened doors for American women in education and most visibly in sports.  It is the Patsy T. Mink Equality in Education Act, better known as Title XI and it passed Congress and became law 40 years ago today..

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity   

In the second decade of the 21st century we take it for granted women getting advanced degrees, but in 1972 women only received 9% of all medical degrees earned nationwide, 7% of all law degrees and 25% of all doctoral ones. Title IX was designed to change that.

And it did. By 1994 those numbers exponentially increased to the point that American women received 38% of medical degrees, 43% of law degrees and 44% of all doctoral degrees earned at US collges and universities.
 
But it also had a profound effect on womens sports as we know by the WNBA now being in its 16th year of operation, the women's NCAA tournament getting the love that the guys do (at least from President Obama and ESPN), some of the pre-Olympic sporting spotlight being focused on female athletes and young girls growing up to compete in whatever sport they desire just as their male counterparts do.

Before Title IX, fewer than 300,000 high school girls played sports and there were less than 32,000 female athletes at the collegiate level. By 1974, just two years after the passage of Title IX, the number of high-schoolers participating in sports had skyrocketed to 1.3 million.

By the time I entered high school in 1977, HISD high school sports programs for girls such as basketball, track and volleyball were not only established down to the junior high school level, but starting to get some of the media attention the guys got.

Now there are more than 3 million high school girls who play sports and more that 191,000 females played NCAA sports in 2010-11. And unlike their mothers or grandmothers who often were limited to basketball, track and softball if they did get a chance to play, women now are participating in everything from squash to tennis, skiing, rugby to wrestling.  

Young boys post Title IX have grown up watching their mothers, sisters, female cousins, aunts and in some cases grandmothers competing in or coaching sporting events.  They don't have that distinction in their minds like my parents generation and some in mine did of male and female athletes.   

And yes, even the president's daughters are competing in sports with the proud POTUS and FLOTUS watching them do so.

“Title IX was the second-most important piece of civil rights legislation passed in this country,” said Debbie Yow, athletics director at N.C. State. “Had it not passed, the options and opportunities for women in this country and the world would be vastly different.”


Title IX changed life for American women not only in collegiate and professional sports, but there was a dramatic rise in the numbers of women who received college degrees post Title IX.  

Title IX was also the building block that set the stage for American women to enter corporate boardrooms, the media, politics, science, engineering and technology careers, be college professors,  become entrepreneurs, and even blast off into space  

Happy anniversary to Title IX, a groundbreaking piece of legislation that changed the lives of American women in my lifetime and made our country a better place for 51% per cent of the population.

The Root's Trans Free Black LGBT List

Since June is Pride Month, in honor of the occasion The Root put together a list of 20 notable Black LGBT people    I was curious to see if things had progressed in the African-American blogosphere since I had to call the Grio out about a trans free LGBT leaders list in 2010. .

On the one The Root compiled many of the folks on this list I have had the pleasure of meeting and I admire such as Aisha Moodie-Mills, Phill Wilson, and Donna Payne are on it.   The others they included are familiar ones like poet Staceyann Chin, Jonathan Capehert, Don Lemon, Sapphire, Keith Boykin, Jasmyne Cannick and Wanda Sykes.

What I didn't see in this Black LGBT list was you guessed it, Black trans people.

No Janet Mock (who made the Grio's 100 list BTW).  No Laverne Cox.  No Kylar Broadus, Isis King, Valerie Spencer, Rev. Louis Mitchell, Miss Major, or even some award winning blogger who was part of the first ever trans panel at Netroots Nation 2012..

Just the same old crap, different day in terms of Blackosphere media outlets putting together these Black LGB(t) lists and not including any trans people in them.

Bottom line, if you're going to take the time to put together a list that purports to be representative of the LGBT community leadership, then I, the trans community and our allies expect that trans people be included in said list if you claim it is a TBLG one.

Far too fracking often these trans free lists are overwhelmingly LG dominated, B peeps as an afterthought with no T ones.

Black folks, y'all need to get with that include the trans community program as well because we Black trans peeps are beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of being erased from these Black TBLG leaders lists y'all put together.  

We aren't ashamed of being Black and trans but the constant erasure and the frequency with which it happens make us wonder if you're ashamed of us.  

That erasure of African descended trans persons leads to situations in which Black transpeople haven't even been invited to discuss trans issues that impact us like the CeCe McDonald case on the Melissa Harris Perry show or NAACP convention LBG(t) town hall meetings with no trans people on those panels

Will be eagerly watching the upcoming NAACP convention next month in my hometown to see if Julian Bond keeps the promise he made in LA last year to ensure the next NAACP convention town hall has trans representation on that panel. 

And the 'we can't find any trans activists' excuse doesn't wash now any more than it did two years ago.

Sadly what I said in the post calling out the erasure and non- inclusion of Black transpeople on Black LGB(t) lists is applicable in this one as well.

My point is that if our own people don't or won't show us some love when you compile these leadership lists, and you write for one of our leading blogosphere sites directed at the African-American community gay and straight, how in the hell can we Black trans leaders who are doing the work expect the predominately white TBLG community to respect us as well?

It's bad enough that Black transpeople get shut out of the predominately vanillacentric upper middle class narrative and get very little to no media attention except when we get killed in a hate crime.   It's disappointing and hurts even more when we get ignored by our own media outlets.

Shut Up Fool Awards- Heat Beats Thunder Edition

Well, after five games, it's over.  The Miami Heat taught the younglings from Oklahoma City how to play championship basketball and closed out the NBA Finals with a resounding 121-106 thumping of the Thunder to close out the series 4-1 and claim their second NBA championship in franchise history.

The other person who is happy this series is over besides the cities of Miami and Seattle is USA Men's Olympic basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski

And yes, it's Friday, so you know what that means.  It's time for Moni to dish out this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.   Time for everyone to discover who exhibited championship level stupidity and ignorance this week and shine a bright spotlight on it.

Group nominations went to GOProud, the Republican Party, the NRA, and Fox Noise.   individual nods went to Rep. Allen West (R-FL) Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) , Sen John Cornyn (R-TX)  Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)  Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)  Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA) 
Tucker Carlson, Eric Boehlert, Rep Dan Burton (R-IN)  Rep John Mica (R-FL), Jerry Sandusky. Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, Monica Crowley and Ted Nugent

Honorable Mention goes to congressional car thief Darrell Issa (R-CA) for pimping a partisan witch hunt and bogus contempt of congress citation aimed at Atty General Eric Holder whose only crimes are successfully doing his job enforcing the 1965 Voting Rights Act against the Republican's racist Voter ID suppression laws and being a Black man in that position.   And you wonder why African-Americans have contempt not only for the Republicans in Congress, but your party as well.   

Honorable Mention number two goes to Michigan state Speaker James Bolger (R) and Michigan state majority leader James Stamas (R) for banning state Rep Lisa Brown (D) for saying 'vagina' on the House floor during a debate on a bill pimping reproductive rights restrictions and Rep Barb Bynum (D) for referring to vasectomies during the same floor debate..   The conservafools were too cowardly to tell Reps Brown and Bynum to their face they'd banned them but that par for the neofascist course for them.   That triggered a performance of The Vagina Monologues on the steps of the Michigan state capitol building overseen by play creator Eve Ensler in Lansing Monday night featuring Brown, Bynum and other female Michigan state legislators.. 


The Shut Up Fool award for this week goes to Wisconsin GOP US senate candidate Eric Hovde, who is sick and tired of media writing sob stories about the poor.   Please, Tammy Baldwin, kick his azz November 6 so I can gleefully read a sob story about his conservacruel behind losing.

Eric Hovde, shut up fool!

Who Is Woman Enough to Participate in the Olympics?

Guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings

We have all become accustomed to the drug testing athletes must undergo to ensure that their performance has not been enhanced. Female athletes however are subjected to a new form of gender based policing based in the idea that someone have a natural biological advantage because of things like hormonal imbalances. 

There are some who believe that this amounts to an unfair advantage ever as it encourages gender policing that is harmful emotionally to girls and women.

Caster Semenya, the South African runner who was so fast and muscular that many suspected she was a man, exploded onto the front pages three years ago. She was considered an outlier, a one-time anomaly.

But similar cases are emerging all over the world, and Semenya, who was banned from competition for 11 months while authorities investigated her sex, is back, vying for gold.

Semenya and other women like her face a complex question: Does a female athlete whose body naturally produces unusually high levels of male hormones, allowing them to put on more muscle mass and recover faster, have an “unfair” advantage?

In a move critics call “policing femininity,” recent rule changes by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the governing body of track and field, state that for a woman to compete, her testosterone must not exceed the male threshold.

If it does, she must have surgery or receive hormone therapy prescribed by an expert IAAF medical panel and submit to regular monitoring. So far, at least a handful of athletes — the figure is confidential — have been prescribed treatment, but their numbers could increase. Last month, the International Olympic Committee began the approval process to adopt similar rules for the Games. [source]

Essentially, these tests and probes are meant to define what constitutes woman.  Even if a woman has always identified as female and lived her life as a woman,  simply a complaint to the IAAF is enough to force her to endure a battery of tests and treatment that she may not want or need, to be deemed suitably female enough to be able to compete.  This is beyond intrusive and amounts to cissexist gender policing.


The moment we begin to define gender strictly through biology, we limit the definition of what it is to be 'woman'.  It has also not escaped my notice that this is something that is only happening to female athletes.  No one is looking at men for supposed feminine characteristics largely because anything considered female is not socially understood to benefit men.  We know for instance that women have a lower center of gravity and this could come in handy in sports like gymnastics or even diving, but no one is on a mission to ensure that men are suitably masculine enough to perform.

This policy comes down to policing gender and more importantly, policing womanhood. This standard that has been created will effect all women.  We already live in an extremely cissexist world and trans women are subjected to all manner of abuse daily.  Subjecting female athletes to this test suggests that there is only one true standard for womanhood and failing to meet that marks one as "other."  It encourages people to question someone's gender even when they are clearly identified as female and will give rise to more cissexism.

Woman is a broad category and any attempt to narrow it is an assault on all women.  No one should have to be subjected to invasive testing and medication that they don't need for their bodies to function naturally to run in a race, dive or participate in any sport.  This testing is divisive and any athlete who agrees with this testing to me is only worried about taking home a medal at any cost.

Good Luck Keelin!

The US Olympic Track and Field Trials (called Athletics to the rest of the world) will kick off today and run through July 1 in Eugene, OR to determine who gets those coveted all expense paid spots on the US Olympic team we're sending to London.

I've talked about transman Keelin Godsey, who has been pursuing his dream of competing in the Olympics since 2008.

Starting at 2:15 PM EDT 28 year old Godsey will take the first steps toward sporting history when he competes in the hammer throw prelims competition with 23 other athletes at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, OR.  If everything goes well for Godsey he'll be in the finals that start at 4:15 PM EDT.  

Keelin was a 16 time All-American athlete at Bates College and the Division III national champion in 2005 in the hammer throw before transitioning during his senior year.

Godsey has continued post college to excel in the event and has already passed the Olympic qualifying standard of 68 meters.   He long ago socially transitioned to male, but will compete in the women's hammer throw and is considered by IOC and IAAF rules as a female competitor.  He is forgoing taking testosterone until either after the trials or the London Olympics so that he could make his Olympic competition dream come true.    

If Keelin places in the top three finishers, he not only will make the team, he will become the first open trans athlete ever to quality for their national Olympic team and the US Olympic team.   Keelin already has the distinction of being the first open trans athlete to make a US Pan Am Games squad and competed in the 2011 Pan Am Games, finishing fifth in the hammer throw competition in Guadalajara. 

Keelin, good luck and hope you make your Olympic dream come true.

TransGriot Update:  Sadly, Keelin failed to qualify.   Finished fifth despite a personal best throw of 231 feet 3 inches. Missed a trip to London by 11 inches.

Transfaith In Color 2012 Conference Coming Soon

Charlotte, NC in addition to hosting the 2012 Democratic National Convention this September will be hosting another edition of  another conference I would love to attend. 

It's the 2012 edition of the TransFairh In Color conference at the Hilton Hotel University Place in the Queen City and it's another event that has been gaining a dedicated following and attention within the POC trans community

It's presented by the Freedom Center For Social Justice in Charlotte, and one of the reasons that the event was founded was because of the disconnect they noticed in the community in the organizing around ENDA.

The initial 2010 TFIC conference was held in Los Angeles and I was bummed that a scheduling conflict kept me from speaking at it.  It was held in Charlotte last year and will be once again from August 17-19.

Here's hoping they not only get increasing attendace for this event, but the TransGriot can finally be in the house for it.

2012 TTNS At UH-Clear Lake Approaching

Just another reminder that we are exactly four weeks from the start of the 2012 edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit that will take place on the picturesque UH-Clear Lake campus July 20-21

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

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 other attendees.

As you TransGriot readers know, I covered the 2010 TTNS event and the 2011 TTNS event and plan to do the same for this one.  

I enjoy reporting on the proceedings and being with folks from the activist, professional and academic worlds around the Houston area and the state to talk about the best practices for making trans human rights and equality happen in the educational setting in Texas.

And yes, I do actually get my learn on at the same time.

This is the 4th annual edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit.   It is a joint effort of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit (TTNS) and the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA) that will have as its gracious hosts the UHCL International Intercultural Student Services (IISS)-Women’s and GLBT Resource Center at the University Of Houston-Clear Lake.

If you wish to attend, time is passing quickly.  The deadlines to lock in you meal choices (yes, they feed you) and get you info in are approaching.  You can E-mail txtgsummit@gmail.com or call 832-409-3363 for info and registration information.  .  

Their snail mail correspondence address is.

TTNS
P. O. Box 1095
Baytown, Texas 77522

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible there at UH-Clear Lake July 20-21

TransGriot Nuke A Troll 26-Why Did You Even Bother Stepping To Me?

Been a while since I took the USS Monica out of port to sail the cyberseas for her last troll nuking mission.  

But now it time to do so since someone calling themselves Machteld van Eeden tried to post this comment on the Um I'm not Evangelist Denise K Matthews one.

I'm amazed that race and religion are still such issues in the US.
Why using statements as being a proud African American transwoman. What does that accomplish at all? Why can't you just be a woman I will respect you anyway as a another human being. It's the obligatory political correctness that's making me sick. How would you interpret if I introduced myself as a proud Caucasian old school female?
Grow up!

5...4...3...2..1..launch..

Another day, another conservafool wallowing in white privilege to troll nuke.    Let's get started shall we?

Race and religion are and have been intertwined issues in North America before the United States was founded as a nation.   The Transatlantic Slave Trade had a lot to do with that.  Remember when people who looked like you were kidnapping my ancestors and committing a monstrous human rights crime by forcibly importing them into the Western Hemisphere for unpaid labor to build European colonies and claiming you were doing 'the Lord's work' in the process?

And oh yeah, most of the haters and conservafools in this country hide behind selective interpretation of scriptures to perpetuate and try to camouflage their death grip on whiteness, white supremacy and their racism.

I AM a proud African-American transwoman and won't apologize for saying so. .Why does stating that fact bother you so much?  If you have a problem with that, too damned bad.   

And that's mighty white of you for respecting me as just another woman and a human being.   But other women who share your ethnicity and your vanillacentric privilege have disrespectfully made it clear that in their eyes I'm not and gleefully express themselves on their hate websites and their waste of trees books.

What does it accomplish?  Since you disrespectfully asked, plenty.   When I'm part of a community that battles shame, guilt and self-esteem issues because they are trans, and when non-white transpeople are seen as 'unwomen' and tragic transsexuals' vis a vis the ongoing vanillacentric trans narrative, it's a big fracking deal for me and the trans constituency I represent on the local, state, national and international trans human rights stage to say I'm proud to be an African-American transwoman 

And yeah, I'm sick of the conservaterm 'politically correct'. 

The last part of your comment I'm not going to even dignify with an answer, but the only person that needs to grow up is you.  

You need to wake up and smell the vanilla scented coffee that race matters in the US and has for over 400 years.  The election of our African American president and the uniquely racist and unprecedented levels of disrespect he has received since 2009 make that crystal clear that the United States ain't even close to being post-racial.

Duck and cover fool, and don't look at the flash when the troll nuke explodes.
 

Goodbye, Lowell

After five years as the coordinator for the LGBT Center at Texas A&M, Lowell Kane is leaving Aggieland and headed to Purdue University.  I along with my Aggie rainbow family and the Houston area rainbow community are sad to see him go.  

I met him and some of the LGBT Aggies back in 2010 when I attended my first Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit at Rice University mere weeks after I'd moved back home. 

It led to Texas A&M being one of the first schools inside the Lone Star State I had the honor of speaking at post return home in November 2010 and me getting to spend some quality time on its campus with him and some of the wonderful students there.

While at Texas A&M, Kane received several awards, including the Diversity Service Award and the Phyllis R. Frye Advocacy Award. During his time as program coordinator, the Aggieland campus climate toward the GLBT community improved, according to the LGBT Friendly  Campus Climate Index.

He was also one of the founding members of the now thriving LGBT Center on the Texas A&M campus, a first of its kind program for a Texas college campus and he was named its Program Coordinator in 2007.

It was so successful conservafool state Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center) tried to kill it during the 2011 legislative session  by starving LGBT centers of funding and banning their housing in state owned buildings.  The Texas House Democrats made him back off by threatening to scuttle the entire school financing bill if he persisted in his phobic lunacy. 

When he gets to Purdue he'll have a similar situation to the one he encountered when he arrived in College Station in 2007 in terms of no GLBT center or full time staff devoted to advocacy work on behalf of that student population but Kane is relishing the challenge.

“I did it here, and I know that I can do it there,” Kane said in an interview in the Batallion. “In fact, I’m going to be more informed because I’ve had five years of wonderful experience here at Texas A&M that I’m going bring with me to Purdue.” 

There will be a farewell event for Kane on the A&M campus starting at 3:30 PM today at the LGBT Center in Cain Hall's POD (B111) that I sadly can't attend, but best of luck to you Lowell in your new position. 

For you folks at Purdue who read this blog, you're about to get one fantastic person headed your way and one we're sorry our community is losing and are definitely going to miss.

Jenifer Rene Pool To Be Houston Pride Parade Female Grand Marshal

When the 2012 edition of our nighttime Houston Pride Parade kicks off on June 23 after the ongoing series of events that started here June 16, one of our own trans women will be front and center as the Female Grand Marshal.

Jenifer Rene Pool, who is one of the hosts for the KPFT-FM Queer Voices radio program and ran for Houston City Council in the 2011 cycle was voted in as the Female Grand Marshal for 2012 .

The 2012 Male Grand Marshal will be Nicholas Brines, a Houston business owner and former president of Pride Houston

Our Ally Grand Marshal for 2012 is City Council Member Ellen Cohen, a former State Representative and longtime advocate for the LGBT community 

Houston Pride, the umbrella organization that helps coordinate our pride celebration here announced the Celebrity Grand Marshal.for 2012 will be Madison Hildebrand, star of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing.  

And if you're asking why do we have the only nighttime pride parade in the US?    Hello, do y'all know what levels the temperature and humidity can hit here at the height of a June summer day?   The temp and the humidity battle it out to see which one can go higher than the other.

But once the sun goes down and it cools off it was worth it to see friends, that giant lit up disco ball they have at the corner of Westheimer and Montrose, the two main streets that cross the Montrose gayborhood where the parade happens and all those various lit up floats.   The Houston trans community has one that they enter as well that is one of the projects of the TG Unity Committee.     .

Well, I was planning on going since the last pride parade I witnessed was in 2001.   I have more of a reason to go spend a few hours this Saturday checking it out. 

And I wonder if they are still doing the giant disco ball at Westheimer and Montrose?