Back To The Future II Day!

If you watched the Back To The Future trilogy of movies starring Michael J. Fox, remember the panel that was installed in the time traveling DeLorean that told you the departure time and the time you arrived?

Well, Back To The Future Part II was set in 2012 for most of it.  The time travel date that was selected was June 27, 2012 which is today.

While the imagined Back To The Future world of 2012 was on target in terms of the existence of the Miami Marlins and them being a championship caliber team, they have them placed in the wrong league.   And somebody was smoking some good Cali weed to think the Cubs would be World Series champions.

They also called it on multiple TV channels, video games you play without controllers, handled table computers, the plastic surgery explosion, wall mounted widescreen televisions, biofuels, security cameras everywhere, and video chats.

But it also missed on hoverboards, laser discs, fax machines being the preferred method of communication, or Pontiac dealerships still being around.

Another sad one was Queen Diana.  As we all painfully remember 'the People's Princess' died in a 1997 auto accident in Paris and as of yet we don't have a female US president but came close to making that one a reality.  

And yep, if we drive anywhere, we'll still need roads to do so since those cool flying cars we've seen in every sci-fi move since the 80's still have yet to be invented.

Upscoming Miss Ross Live June 30 Show With Isis

Another edition of the Miss Ross Live Show will be broadcast on June 30 at 11 AM Eastern Time/10 AM Central and will features actress, model and activist Isis King.  



She'll be talking about the movie Hello Forever she's in and the faux controversy about the American Apparel ad she appears in.  

I'm just sayin'..

You can  check it out on Saturday or catch the podcast later for your listening pleasure over at BlogTalkRadio. 

2012 Williams Watch-'Willliams'-don First Round Mixed Results

'The Championships' is what they call this tennis Grand Slam tournament on the other side of The Pond, and I call it 'Williams-don' for the way that my fave tennis playing siblings have dominated it.

Wimbledon started Monday with five time Wimbledon champion Big Sis playing a first round match against 79th ranked Russian Elena Vesnina.   Venus hadn't lost a match in the first round in any Grand Slam tournament in six and a half years or at the All-England Club since her debut season in 1997, but she fell to Vesnina 1-6, 2-6 as the 32 year old continues her recovery from Sjogren's Syndrome.

"I am a great player. Unfortunately, I had to deal with circumstances that people don't normally have to deal with in this sport. But I can't be discouraged by that. .. There's no way I'm just going to sit down and give up just because I have a hard time the first five or six freakin' tournaments back."

Venus did  make the Olympic team and plans to be back for the London Games tournament that will be played at the All England Club.  
Meanwhile sixth seeded Little Sis' first round got off to a better start after her shocking first round upset loss at the French Open last month. 

Serena kicked off her quest for her 4th 'Williams'don title and her first major title in two years by dispatching the Czech Republic's Barbora Zahlavova Strycova  6-2, 6-4 in a match that took her only 1 hour and 20 minutes to play with the first set taking only 29 minutes. 

Serena faces Hungary's Melinda Czink in the second round..

The Roberts Test For Trans POC In Media

I read an interesting post over at Womanist Musings in which she revised the Bechdel Test for disabled people .   It was built off of a post Tami Winfrey Harris wrote for Clutch magazine that created a Winfrey-Harris Test for POC's.

What's the Bechdel Test you ask?   It originated in 1985 from Allison Bechdel’s comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” and is based on three simple questions:.

1. Are there two or more women in it who have names?
2. Do they talk to each other?
3. Do they talk to each other about something other than a man? 

Tami expanded the Bechdel Test in her Clutch magazine post to include the following four questions to ask in terms of POC representation in media created by her and several bloggers of color that included a certain Timmy's Ice Capp loving Canadian. 

          1. One or more named people of color
          2.  Who talk to each other
          3.  Who don't act in a service capacity (No magical brown people!)
          4.  Who are reflective of their culture and history, but don't communicate that through stereotyped action, such as an affected accent.   

Since the representations of transpeople in media are just as fouled up and especially for transpeople of color, introducing the Roberts Test For Trans POC's In Media to set up minimum standards for positive portrayals of us in these films, plays and television shows.  

     1.  Are there one or more named trans people of color
     2.  Who talk to each other
     3.  Who aren't shown putting on makeup
     4.  Who aren't killed off in the first five minutes of the show
     5.  Aren't played by male actors in drag     
     6.  Aren't the butt of a demeaning joke
     7.  Who aren't sex workers or drag queens
     8.  Who are accurately portraying the complexity of trans lives and reflective of their culture and history
                                                               9.   Don't communicate that through stereotyped or exaggerated actions such as speaking in drag queen English.  

If there are other rules for trans POC's in media you think should be there, leave them in the comment section.

Dear Demi Sexual, Trans Ethnic,Trans Abled, Trans Fat and Other Fakers

Guest Post From Renee of Womanist Musings that I'm definitely going to have to piggyback on.  But first I need to get over my pissivity for these fools appropriation of the language of the trans community and trans human rights movement to fight our very real societal oppression.

Over the weekend, Sparky introduced me to a few new faux social justice terms that had me absolutely screaming mad.  I have not been able to get them out of my mind and so I warn you, this is going to be a rant.  It all started when he sent me a link to ONTD_Political.

What started as a movement by people who are suffering to try to help those of us who are privileged to understand their struggle has now become a mockery, hijacked by people whose only tangible shared problem could be described — and recognized by anyone with common sense — as social ineptitude.

They sit, watching equal rights discussions, hearing the terminology and logic, and take it for their own purposes. They quote famous activists far out of context to add that elusive air of legitimacy where it just doesn’t exist. By carefully and secretly treating their “fight” as equal to racism, transphobia, homophobia and classism, they worm their way into the real issues and cleverly tilt words designed to protect to disregard those who are at actual risk for losing their jobs and their lives.

Ever hear of otherkin, or otakukin? They refer to people who “identify” as animals or anime characters. I’m pretty open, do whatever you want as long as you’re not bugging me. According to some, though, lack of widespread acceptance of otherkin is contributing to mass otherkin oppression. Oh? Otherkin are being rounded up from their homes and killed? No? Are they being fired from jobs for being otherkin? Not that either, huh? Are they at least being disproportionately arrested and thrown in jail with sentences 60% longer than non-otherkin? Well then what IS going on? They’re… being ostracized on the internet. Oh.

But otherkin and their ilk have been around for ever. Try googling “Final Fantasy VII House.” Pick a time to read when you have a few free hours and a lot of booze. Now, there are newer, even more mockable “oppressions” coming out. You’ve heard of transgender and transsexual, let me introduce you to the new trans people: transabled and transethnic. Transabled people are disabled people hiding out in perfectly working bodies. They “identify” as blind, deaf, paraplegic and quadriplegic despite having never been so a day in their entire lives, and are well-known for talking about how hard it is to want to be disabled but unable to be. Transethnic people are white people who “identify” as a non-white race or ethnicity. They’re weeaboos multiplied by a million, with bonus “I learned about your culture in a book I read once so I know more than you.” [source]

I thought that this was a sick joke, until Sparky sent me a link about a White man who identifies as trans ethnic. He has decided that he is a black woman on the inside. Seriously, you have to read this shit. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he claims to be oppressed by Black women who have the nerve to question his identity.

First, I want to address the idea that they use the word trans in front of their fake identity.  I am a cisgender woman; however, I find this appropriation of the trans experience, so that these people can claim to be marginalized disgusting.  Trans* communities struggle for acceptance and the right to live their lives in the gender that best suits them. From what I understand, the process of both self acceptance and community acceptance is a difficult process and what these people claim to go through is nothing like the daily struggle of being trans* in a cissexist world.  They are not going to be denied jobs, housing and subjected to violence because they are trans ethnic, tran fat, transabled etc,. These people aren't actually transitioning, they are appropriating. 


These fake trans people have even come up with a term for the rest of us who don't have their so-called problems - singlets. Apparently, all of us walking around without a desire to appropriate from marginalized people have singlet privilege. As a Black woman, I also have cisethnic privilege because I identify to the racial group into which I was born.  Isn't that just fucking special. This is nothing more than White people wanting to claim that they are oppressed, while showing their damn arse to the world. If you are White, you are not now, or ever have been racially oppressed.  You can't just learn a few words in a language other than English, and read a few books, then declare yourself an expert on someone else's race.  This is beyond the height of arrogance and is the absolute definition of appropriation. The concept of race in a biological sense is most certainly a social construction; however, being a person of colour in a White supremacist world is not an identity that one can just choose. We are all born raced, but races that fall outside of the definition of Whiteness are stigmatized.

They will twist, turn and say anything to justify their fake identities.  In this link, there is actually a comparison between being transabled and being trans*, suggesting of course that they are very similar. These people need to just stop.  No seriously, STOP.  I know that some of these people have Body Integrity Identity Disorder, but sure as shit, there are people who aren't neurologically atypical who believe that they are disabled on the inside.  If they had any sense of what it is to live in pain, or to be denied accommodations, employment, housing, erased from the media, determined to be automatically asexual, infantalized etc., would they really feel like this??  Being disabled is hard and it is not something that should be reduced, so that someone can pretend to be oppressed.

As for you demi-sexuals, stop posting shit about coming out as demi-sexual to your parents.  Do you really believe in a heteronormative world that your folks are going to have a fucking conniption because you prescribe to the most vanilla version of sexuality ever?  Really?  You are not oppressed because you claim to only be sexually attracted to people you have a romantic relationship with.  What you are is vanilla and I don't recall ever seeing an article about a demi-sexual being bashed for being demi, or asked to vacate a public space, criminalized etc,.

And finally to the trans fat people.  I don't care if you think you weigh 1000lbs on the inside,  you can still walk into any clothing store and buy whatever the fuck you want within your class bracket.  You can eat in public without people staring at you.  When you go to the grocery store, people aren't commenting about what's in your cart.  You can wear a swimsuit without someone commenting about how the size or shape of your body disgusts them.  When you go to the doctor, you don't have to hear about how the death fatz is killing you, even as everything else about you is healthy and normal.  In short, shut up!

I wish this was some sort of sick internet joke, but the more I read about these faux trans people, the more I have learned that this has become a serious thing.  It disgusts me on so many levels that it is hard for me to be coherent.  Being marginalized means being oppressed in real and systemic ways.  It's an identity that people don't put on for shits and giggles and something we have to struggle with from the moment we open our eyes in the morning, until we go to bed at night. It means in many cases that we die earlier from the stress of dealing with the oppression we face.  For these faux trans people, this is just some sort of cute game, so that they can pretend to oppressed, engage in fake outrage and further attack us, even as they walk around with all of the privilege in the world. These identities don't belong to you and they never will.  It seems to me that all they want is the good that comes with our identities without experiencing any of the bad -  too bad life just isn't like that. 

Upcoming Trans POC Picnic In Maryland

For all you trans POC peeps in the Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia area or you just want an excuse to go there, it's time for what has become an annual event in that area in the Trans POC picnic.

It's scheduled to be held on July 21 from 1 PM- 5 PM EDT at Wheaton Regional Park in Wheaton, MD. 

So this serves as your save the date post and please consider attending that event.  It's a wonderful way for you to get some fresh air, get to know your fellow transpeeps, make some new friends and get reacquainted with some old ones while y'all get your grub on, play cards and dominoes and have fun..

If I get any additional details I will definitely pass them on to you.

TransGriot Nuke A Troll 27-Nuking Another Transphobe

Another day, another troll nuking mission for the crew of the USS Monica cruising the cyberseas in search of people trying to post bull feces in my TransGriot comment threads. 

The latest target is Stephen, who tried to post this comment on a 2007 Julia Serano guest post commenting about the There's Something About Miriam show. 

Well Those who hold certian religous beliefs are the one who will never see transwomen as Women. Transwomen will save themselves allot of trouble if they come out in the open about it. It should be assumed that both genders where born male or female. both physically and mentally. WIth increasingly good results of sex change operations Men have reason to be concerned now we have to ask real women if they where born women. and thats rude. You t-----s have done society a real disservice.

5...4...3...2...1...Launch.

Going to break your comment up in bite size chunks so I can conduct a proper troll nuking. .

Well Those who hold certian religous beliefs are the one who will never see transwomen as Women.

Stephen, frankly we transwomen don't give a rat's anus what you peeps with 'certain religious beliefs' hold or whether you see transwomen as women.  Just 40 years ago people with 'certain religious beliefs' thought it was okay to discriminate against African Americans.   Enough cis women do recognize us as their sisters, cis and trans men and our allies recognize us as women, increasingly the scientific community and a majority of society recognizes transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.  

The God I worship and who created transpeople like me doesn't judge people like you sacrilegious types do on a regular basis.  

Transwomen will save themselves allot of trouble if they come out in the open about it

I presume by this sentence you're talking about dating issues.  You're stating something that we've stated in internal group conversations for decades and I've written more than a few posts about.  

It should be assumed that both genders where born male or female. both physically and mentally.

Huh? What?  You know what Benny Hill said about when you ASSUME...

The reality is that some people born in masculine bodies have feminine brains, personas and gender ID, and some people born in feminine bodies have masculine brains, personas and gender ID.  All we transfolks did was simply go through the procedures to make our bodies match our minds and personas

WIth increasingly good results of sex change operations Men have reason to be concerned now we have to ask real women if they where born women. and thats rude.

Women come in all shapes, sizes, body configurations and myriad ways of how they express their femininity and you need to deal with the reality that you have unaddressed misogyny issues.  If you're that nekulturny to ask a cis woman that question, you don't deserve to date her.

You t-----s have done society a real disservice.

Excuse you?  You've done society a disservice by masquerading as a human being instead of the transphobic waste of DNA you are.  Transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life, we aren't going anywhere and society and people like you need to deal with that fact. 

If you don't want to date transwomen, that's your prerogative.  We don't like much less want to date azzholes so the feeling's mutual.  We aren't apologizing for living our lives, being proud of who we are, and finally getting to live our lives as the women we know we are.  Neither are transwomen  going to wear scarlet 'T''s as we go about our daily lives just to make you faith based transphobes comfortable.

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

Arsenio's Back In 2013!

Boring late night shows, your days are numbered.   I'm extremely happy to hear that Arsenio Hall is coming back to reclaim the late night throne he once occupied in the late 80's-early 90's    

Late night television hasn't been the same since Arsenio left the scene in 1994 and has regressed to the monoracial state of affairs that existed before he shook up late night with his highly rated syndicated show.

Hall's show debuted in 1989 and was a surprise hit that had crossover appeal, elected a president, won an Emmy Award and was a hip, cool venue that was the launching pad for many of the chart topping artists of the 90's

Now comes the welcome news that Arsenio Hall has inked a deal with CBS that would bring him back into the late night arena starting in September 2013

"In the end I'm a comic, and nothing fits the talk-show mode like a stand-up comic," Hall told the Los Angeles Times. Referring to the crowded field in late-night TV that includes "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" as well as traditional venues such as "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" he said : "I know there are a lot of shows, but I think there's a space for my show."

There most certainly is.   The other thing that CBS noted is that the 18-34 demo that watched Arsenio then is now in the coveted 35-54 demo that watches late night shows.  .  

The yet untitled show would be broadcast at 11 PM and reports are that 17 stations, including WGN-TV in Chicago and KTLA-TV in Los Angeles are already on board to carry it.  Those stations, plus six major-market CBS-owned outlets and seven from station group Local TV LLC, will give Hall instant access to more than half the country and a shot at replicating the success he had in the 90's.

So starting in September 2013, get ready to check out Arsenio Hall Show 2.0

Creating Change 2014 Houston Bound?

Attended a meeting last Thursday along with other leaders of the Houston rainbow community in which we heard some exciting news.  

The Houston LGBT community has long been more than a little peeved about Creating Change going to the third largest city in Texas twice and we were excited to hear that the Task Force's Sue Hyde and Russell Roybal were on our end of I-45 for a change last Thursday.

They were conducting a site tour and inspection of the Hilton Americas Hotel to consider it as a host hotel for the 2014 Creating Change Conference that is produced and sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The Hilton Americas is downtown right next door to the George R. Brown Convention Center with Discovery Green Park right across the street from the hotel and the Toyota Center on the opposite side of it.
  . 
The last Creating Change I attended was the 1999 one held in Oakland and I have some fond memories of it.  I also highly recommend attending a Creating Change to anyone who wishes to get better at the LGBT activism game or learn about the rainbow community in general because it strives to be a 'one stop shop' for activism.  It's also been since its start in 1988 one of the more diverse conferences in the TBLG community with programming covering everyone from ages 18-80.

I definitely wanted to be in the room for that meeting at the Hilton Americas Hotel and hear firsthand about our chances for landing one of the premier GLBT community events.  To let you know how much our city wants it, there were three representatives from the Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau in the meeting to plead my hometown's case for bringing Creating Change here.

The 2012 Creating Change in Baltimore brought over 3000 people there from around the country for its over 280 seminars and training sessions conducted during its five day run and the 2013 edition will be held in Atlanta January 23-27 at the Hilton Atlanta Hotel

Ms. Hyde shared with us that Houston has been on the Task Force radar as a potential host city for years, but lack of a big enough for their purposes convention hotel was one of the stumbling block issues keeping my hometown from hosting the event.  That has been rectified with the 2003 opening of the 1,200 room 24 story tall Hilton Americas-Houston hotel.  

It has 30 meeting rooms, two ballrooms with one being 40,000 sq feet in size. It is also connected to the George R. Brown Convention Center via two skybridges if additional exhibit space is needed. 

Houston is the largest city to be governed by an openly gay mayor, something that the Houston rainbow community is very proud of since she started as a community activist and was chair of the LGBT Caucus.   There was the desire to have Creating Change here while Mayor Annise Parker is still at City Hall. 

Mayor Parker as a back in the day 1994 Creating Change attendee also supports it coming here as well. 

For that to happen and for her to be doing a keynote speech welcoming the attendees of a potential Creating Change to Houston, she would have to survive another civic election cycle in November 2013 for her third and final term 

The final decision on the 2014 Creating Change host city will be announced sometime in July, and I and the attendees of the Thursday meeting were happy to hear there is a strong possibility that people might be coming to Houston in January 2014    

And if it does, you'll see a smiling TransGriot and many of our Houston rainbow community folks ready and willing to welcome you to our hometown and show you our legendary Texas hospitality. 

I'll also tell you where some of the best places are for barbecue in Houston if you do.

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.