2012 Williams Watch-Serena To Third Round

Sixth seeded Serena got the first week of The Championships off to a good start when she knocked off Barbora Zahlvalova Strycova off in straight sets 6-2, 6-4.

She earned a second round Centre Court match with Hungary's Melinda Czink and wasted little time or energy in expeditiously getting herself to the third round with a 6-1, 6-4.straight set victory.

Little Sis breezed through the first set with Czink in 20 minutes but took 41 minutes in the second set to close out this match and move on to another Centre Court date against China's Jie Zheng

Serena seems as though she's been on a mission and is determined to get that fifth Wimbledon singles title after that inexplicable stumble in Paris last month, but it's only the first week.

The Putrid 2012 Texas GOP Platform

Leave it to the Texas Republican Party, those paragons of 'proven conservative leadership' to author a 2012 platform that makes its previous odious ones look 'librul' in comparison.

The planks in the 2012 document contain calls to repeal the 1965 Voting Rights Act, oppose the Employment and Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the usual hate on the gays language while noting that every Lone Star State Republifool is obligated to carry out this platform.


On the Voting Rights Act:

We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965 codified and updated in 1973 be repealed and not reauthorized.

On their opposition to ENDA:

We oppose this act through which the federal government would coerce religious business owners and employees to violate their own beliefs and principles by affirming what they consider to be sinful and sexually immoral behavior.

The Hate the Gays plank:

We affirm that the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths that have been ordained by God, recognized by our country’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable “alternative” lifestyle, in public policy, nor should “family” be redefined to include homosexual “couples.” We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction or belief in traditional values.

But the one that caught my attention as the child and godchild of teachers is this eye popping one opposing the teaching of critical thinking skills. 

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Oops, can't have those kids learning how to think for themselves and becoming Democrats or (gasp) 'libruls'.  That would stymie our conservaefforts to modify their behavior and turn them into good little gun-toting faith-based creationism believing gay baiting conservafools.     

And some of you peeps on the left ignorantly believe there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans.   Really?  Wake the frack up.

Shut Up Fool Awards-End of The SCOTUS Term Edition

Yesterday was the end of the Supreme Court's 2011-12 term that started back in October and I'm still shocked, surprised, relieved and happy about the 5-4 decision that upheld the Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare.

That 5-4 ruling upholding it has pissed off the wingers since they thought the 5-4 was going their way along with much of liberal progressive world.  

Well, Chief Justice John Roberts had a trick for y'all and said otherwise (snicker, snicker).   Y'all won't have him and the SCOTUS to kick around until the first Monday in October. 

It's Friday people, and you longtime TransGriot readers know what that means!   It's time to do our weekly public service of exposing the fool fool or group of fools hat deserve to have their ignorance, stupidity and all around award winning foolishness called out and given our illustrious award.

We have a long list of contenders this week for the last Shut of Fool award of the month.  Fox Noise, the radfems, the House Republicans, GOProud, the Democrats who sold out and voted yes on the Holder Contempt of Congress vote, Mitt Romney, last week's winner Eric Hovde, Fox Noise, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA), Sen John Cornyn (R-TX), Rep. John Mica (R-FL), Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Rep.Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Gov Rick Perry (R-TX) , Rep Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI), and Rep Allen West (R-FL).   .

Honorable mention goes to Rep Mike Pence (R-IN)  for comparing yesterday's SCOTUS ruling upholding the ACA to 9-11.

Honorable mention number two goes to Matt Davis, the former spokesperson from the Michigan Republican Fascist party that has called for an armed rebellion against the federal government.   Um dude, you know that's sedition, right? .

Honorable mention number three goes to drag queen Sharon Needles AKA Aaron Coady,  for making transphobic comments and signing an autograph of his photo to a woman of color with the n-word, and then getting huffy and using the RuPaul 'bash the activists' playbook when he gets called out and protested in the ATL on his bull feces.

Honorable mention number four goes to Mike Turzai, who admitted why Pennsylvania and all those other Republifool controlled states have been merrily passing voter ID suppression laws before November 6

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

This week's Shut up Fool award goes to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)  His bigoted azz is even worse than his daddy Ron. (yeah, I said it) and wins this week's award for his breathtaking hypocrisy and lack of knowledge about the Constitution in the wake of yesterday's ruling. .

Just because a couple people on the Supreme Court declare something to be ‘constitutional’ does not make it so. The whole thing remains unconstitutional. While the court may have erroneously come to the conclusion that the law is allowable, it certainly does nothing to make this mandate or government takeover of our health care right.

Guess you forgot your Political Science 101. When the SCOTUS rules on a case, it's constitutional and it's over.

You would have felt differently had Justice Roberts went the other way, huh? 

Sen. Rand Paul, shut up fool!
.

POTUS Comments On Health Care Reform SCOTUS Win

The first president to push and get passed health care reform in US history.   It's spike the political football time and work like hell to get this man reelected on November 6 along with a Congress that can help a presidential brother out.

And I'll bet Teddy is smiling today. 

2012 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tourney In Quarterfinals

The 2012 FIBA Women's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament tipped off in Ankara, Turkey June 25 with our FIBA number 11 ranked Canadian neighbors being amongst the femme roundball teams trying to dribble their way into the London Olympic basketball tournament that starts a few weeks from now

Out of the 12 nations that started their quest for the five remaining spots to go to London only eight remain after they survived group play.  The host nation Turkey won Group A and will play Group B runner up and FIBA number 12 ranked Argentina. Group B winner and FIBA number 4 ranked Czech Republic will play Group A runner up and FIBA number 15 ranked Japan.  

Canada was in Group D with FIBA number 8 ranked France and Mali and got their tournament off to a rousing start June 25 by crushing Mali 89-23.  

The next day against France they brought their bricklayers union cards and got off to a slow start that resulted in a 57-46 loss and a 1-1 record in Group D play.  

Despite the loss they were still in great shape to qualify for the quarterfinals because of the blowout win over FIBA number 19 ranked Mali.   The only way they would be knocked out of the tournament is if Mali upset France and beat them by a 65 point margin in doing so. 

Umm no. France routed Mali 88-37 on June 27 to win the group with Canada finishing as the runner up.  France will play Group C runner up and FIBA number 9 ranked Korea for one of the Olympic spots.

The Canadians will play Croatia, the group C winner that has jumped 23 spots in the FIBA rankings to number 31 with a spot in the Olympics going to the winner and the loser moving on to play June 30 the loser of the Turkey-Argentina game.   The losers in the Czech Republic-Japan and France-Korea games would also battle it out on June 30 in the semis.

The winners of the June 30 semifinals would play July 1 for the final Olympic berth.  

I would think the Canadian women's b-ballers would rather handle their business today and be celebrating on Canada Day a trip to London rather than playing a nerve racking two additional must win games tomorrow and on Canada Day to get the final Olympic berth.

Sharon Needles' Clueless Bigotry

Why am I not surprised that a RuPaul's Drag Race winner doesn't have a clue why it is not fracking cool to sign a photo with 'Black is the new Black ♥ you Ni***r."? 

Especially since the creator of the show supports a drag queen who thinks (and the white gays who support the tired 'act') it's humorous to watch a obese gay white male dress up in blackface and portray 'a welfare mother with 19 'chirren' all named after venereal diseases and discount stores.

This time I'm not talking about Shirley Q. Liquor, but 30 year old Sharon Needles, AKA Aaron Coady.

There's been an increasing firestorm of criticism being aimed at Needles from the rainbow POC court of public opinion  who considers that autograph in the photo problematic.

The vanillacentric circling the rainbow wagons around Needles is only pouring gasoline on the smoldering anger of African American rainbow peeps and especially when we hear the tired 'lighten up' comment come of the mouths of Sharon Needles fans.

The anger of the African American SGL community went up a few more notches after this YouTube video surfaced with Needles trying to gaysplain it.

The other night me and a couple of my friends went out to have a good time, and there's this young thing. I call her a "thing" because, you know, I don't know how to tip-toe around gender rules or queer politics. I'm 30 years old, rich, and famous; I don't have to deal with that shit anymore, you know what I mean? So we'll just call them "him"/"her"/"thing," whatever. And you know she really finds my shows offensive. ... So anyway she got upset that I paint myself brown, that I would use language that she found offensive. ... She made me an unnecessary poster child for post-racial change."

  
Sniff sniff, I smell industrial strength vanillacentric privilege in the rainbow air from Coady.   And yes Aaron, whether you and your vanillacentric fan base think otherwise, you exist with white privilege.  If a POC is telling you that your show is offensive and why, maybe you need to stop and think about that for a moment and then correct you behavior instead of trying to defensively justify it.

Let me say this once again for you peeps to understand.  Just as you hate being called the f-word that rhymes with maggot, we don't like the n-word.
It is not okay to perpetuate negative stereotypes and problematic language and flying the rainbow flag doesn't change that or give you a pass on that. 

And Aaron, you can best believe I will address the transphobic nature of what you said in that YouTube video in another post

It is NEVER okay for you white peeps inside or outside the rainbow community under ANY circumstances to say the n-word.  When it comes out of your mouth we're instantly thinking about all the four centuries of negative history behind that word and the cuss out (or beatdown) that results from you doing so will be swift and sure.

Once again it is highlighting an issue that needs to be addressed in the overall rainbow community in terms of racism in the rainbow community ranks. 

It doesn't help and pisses us off when white BTLG people not only knee-jerk circle the wagons around the people we POC's call out for the offensive bigoted behavior, but arrogantly try to tell us trans and SGL folks of color what we should and should not be offended by.

Non white LGBT people are aware that we can't eradicate racism in our rainbow ranks unless we can have a serious conversation about it and the will to do so.  

We also know much of the heavy lifting on this issue has to be done by white GLBT peeps since they still are reluctant to come to grips with the fact or play the 'if we ignore it it'll go away' game there is a rainbow community race problem.   

And Sharon Needles, you definitely need to check yourself before you end up walking in your idol RuPaul's and Chuck Knipp's pumps and find yourself becoming a community pariah and your shows being consistently protested

Big Political Day Inside I-495

In a few minutes, the Supreme (Conservafool leaning) Court will let the nation know what they have kept a secret for three months- how they ruled on the Affordable Care Act..

May wish to check SCOTUSblog.com for the breakdown on what is sure to be another 5-4 ruling.

Meanwhile, across the street from the Supreme Court building there will be more drama at the Capitol building in the Republifool controlled US House as they move to vote around 3:30 EDT to cite Attorney General Eric Holder for contempt of Congress over the faux Fast and Furious 'scandal'..

A pissed off Congressional Black Caucus is threatening to walk out of the chamber to protest the partisan vote that is coming up and word is that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific Caucus, and The Congressional Progressive Caucus are also going to walk prior to the partisan travesty of a vote.

Will keep y'all posted about the developments inside Hollywood for Ugly People when they happen.

Project Runway Season 8 Finalist Is A Girl Like Us!

2012 has been an interesting and groundbreaking year so far when it comes to the trans community and we're only halfway through it.   In addition to progress on the trans human rights front in several nations, we've had a celebrity trans coming out in rocker Laura Jane Grace. 

We can add another celebrity transition in the person of Hawaii native and fashion designer Nong Ariyaphon Southiphong. 

Back is Season 8 of Project Runway she looked a little different as fashion designer Andy South and made it to the finals of that season's competition.

The now 25 year old Nong acknowledged her transition in a February interview in the Hawaii's Expression magazine.   Pictures of her started appearing on her Facebook page back in March.

She recently made the gender code changes on her Facebook page in addition to leaving this June 3 message on it.

"Thank you to my fans and friends who have supported me all the way," she wrote. "Much has changed in a year. I am blessed to be accepted and welcomed just the way I am. May that love flow through me and onto many others. Live in love for the world needs it."

Welcome to the community and the #GirlsLikeUs ranks, Nong.   We're glad to have you.with us!

2012 TTNS To Include Trans Health Summit

TransGriot Note: The 4th annual edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit  will be happening on July 20-21 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake campus. 

I'm planning to be there to cover the summit events and there is exciting news I get to report concerning the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) conducting a pre-TTNS event on July 19.    

Here's the press release from the TTNS organizers.

HOUSTON, TEXAS—The Fourth Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit (TTNS) is scheduled for July 20-21, 2012 at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. As in years past, the Summit will concentrate on the needs and policy changes that support a transgender community. 

New this year is an exciting educational opportunity at the Texas Transgender Health Summit by Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) scheduled for Thursday, July 19 as a pre-summit event

“We are very excited by this new opportunity to expand our educational opportunities with the Health Summit the day before the Trans Nondiscrimination Summit,” said TTNS President Josephine Tittsworth.“We know policy about the trans community needs to include health policy and hope that the Health Summit will accomplish our goals of creating inclusive policies at Universities.”

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.
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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.