Shut Up Fool Awards-Moni's Owing Her Power Edition

As you've probably noticed as you perused the posts I've been putting up over the last few days I'm back inside I-495 and in full effect at the National Black Justice Coalition's third annual OUT on the Hill. 

I'm up here with my Black LGBT peeps sending the message that LGBT people includes Black LGBT people as well.  And since this event also is being held during the same time as the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's-Annual Legislative Conference, the same event that gets C-SPAN coverage, we also get to send the message to them that Black LGBT issues are also Black community issues.

Speaking of issues, let's segue into my usual Friday 'bidness' in terms of determining what fool, fools or group of fools will emerge with the coveted TransGriot Shut Up Fool Award.this week

I'm just going to cut straight to the winner this week.   Mitt Romney

The not ready for prime time wannabee player who isn't fit to sit in the Oval Office.  After being busted this week for confirming what many of us knew about his azzz a long time ago, he continued to in his zeal to do damage control to inflict further damage on his foundering campaign.

Mittens is also a prime ontender for the 2012 Shut Up Fool iof the Year award and probably a Lifetime Achievement one when I pass those out during Oscar Week 2013.

But first things first.   Mitt Romney, Shut Up Fool!

2012 Out On The Hill-Day 3 Schedule

Day 3 of Out On The Hill will be dawning in a few hours, and it's showtime at Out on the Hill for me and my fellow panelists today.   The CBCF-ALC will have their workshops and sessions from 8-5 PM today but I won't be there for them.

I'm part of the OOTH national town hall meeting that will run from  9:00-11:30 AM entitled Honoring and Protecting the lives of Black Trans Women.    It will be moderated by Laverne Cox and in addition to yours truly being on the panel, it also includes Rev.Carmarion Anderson, Valerie Spencer, Bali White, and

I get to do lunch and then from 2:30-4:30 PM for the second straight year the CBCF-ALC will have an NBJC sponsored forum entitled How The LGBT Equality Movement Has Impacted Black America and the Media Landscape.

Day 3 of Out on the Hill will conclude with an NBJC Board of Directors Reception

2012 OUT on The Hill-Day 2 Recap

Missed most of the action today since I was saying goodbye to Jeri that morning, eating breakfast at her house and prepping to move to the conference hotel.   I hoped I could  get it done before it was time for the Issue Advocacy Day to start at the Church of the Redemption at 12 noon EDT and then from there head over to Capitol Hill to Own Our Power.

I also had the option of heading downtown to the Walter Williams Convention Center to witness the opening of NBJC's Exhibit Booth at the 42nd annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation-Annual Legislative Conference or CBCF-ALC in DC acronym speak.    That event was also starting at 12 noon EDT.

There was also the CBCF-ALC workshops schedule for that date of which the one I was interested in, a national Town Hall meeting moderated by Melissa Harris-Perry was scheduled for 9 AM, just as I was getting my behind up from the previous night's reception and chilling with Kimberley and Janet.

By the time I got packed, made the ride over with Jeri and checked into my room in the historic Marriott Wardman Tower it was 1:15 PM and I just decided to catch up on my blogging and take a nap before the 2012 Chairman's Reception.

You'll note I wrote the historic Wardman Tower.  In that part of the sprawling complex, by the elevators that led up to my third floor room was a black plaque hanging on the wall noting that one tine busboy Langston Hughes on November 27, 1925 nervously handed three of his poems to noted poet Vachel Lindsay while he was dining at the hotel's restaurant.  

Lindsay at a segregated event later that night in the hotel read those three poems Hughes left by his dinner plate and announced he'd discovered a talented Negro poet. 

The media picked up Lindsay's comments, remarked about the 'busboy poet' and the career of Hughes was born.  So yep, it was awesome as a writer to know that I was staying in the same hotel where Langston Hughes once worked.  

Speaking of work, back to this post.

At 7:00 PM the 2012 OUT on the Hill Chairman's Reception cranked up in Maryland Suites A, B and C.   Nice spread with a set up dance floor and DJ so we got to get our grub on, meet and greet each other and dance to tune courtesy of our DJ that covered a wide variety of music including soca from the Islands.
Since we were in DC, I requested EU's Da Butt.   Hey when in DC you gotta hear some Go-Go, so when the DJ honored my request and played it moments later, I hit the dance floor along with half the room  

Hopefully there aren't any incriminating pictures of me on the Net allegedly dancing way close to the floor..

Oh well, Day 2 over, two more to go.   

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Week 3

Well TransGriot sports fans, even though I'm in RG3 country and handling my OUT on The Hill activist business, it's Thursday and the prognostication contest between myself and Michael Watts of the Michael's Rant blog continues.

Got off to a great Week 1 start for the season but precipitously fell off due to all the Week 2 games that didn't go quite the way I expected. 

But the good news is that even with an 8-8 record I still erased a two game deficit and Mike and I are tied again   Season is still early, but after two weeks I have a little better idea of which teams are headed in the direction of being playoff contenders and which ones will be competing for the number one pick.in the 2013 NFL Draft.   Week 3 will be another piece of that playoff and 2012 season narrative that is unfolding.

And yeah NFL, y'all need to settle the lockout with the NFL officials.

Enough jibber-jabber, on to my picks.  Mike's are here, mine will be in underlined bold print.

Last Week's records
TransGriot    8-8
Mike Watts  7-9
 
2012 Season Records
TransGriot    18-14
Mike Watts   18-14

Thursday, September 20
Giants at Panthers

Sunday, September 23
Buccaneers at Cowboys
Rams at Bears
49ers at Vikings
Lions at Titans
Bengals at Redskins
Chiefs at Saints
Jets at Dolphins
Bills at Browns
Jaguars at Colts

Afternoon Games
Eagles at Cardinals
Falcons at Chargers
Texans at Broncos
Steelers at Raiders

Sunday Night
Patriots at Ravens

Monday, September  24
Packers at Seahawks

2012 OUT on the Hill-Day 1 Recap

Hey TransGriot readers, I've moved from my double secret location in NE DC at Jeri's house to the host hotel for tonight's, Friday's and Saturday's Out on the Hill 2012 activities, but needed to write up while it's still fresh on my mind what transpired during Day 1.   

As i write this there is a lobbying event going on along with the unveiling of the NBJC booth in the vendor area at the CBCF-ALC, but I needed to give y'all the 411 on what happened during Day One of OUT On The Hill

After getting my beauty sleep at Jeri's and getting my diva look on, I headed to the Georgia Ave-Petworth station, jumped on the METRO train and headed over to HUD headquarters to start my OUT on the Hill 2012 experience.   I was more than eager to get registered.for the informative action packed day that was going to unfold and feeling like a kid attending their first day of school.

I was more than ready to see everyone after my interesting travel day up there.

After I cleared security (this is Washington DC people)  I picked up my packet to the warm greetings and hugs from two of the volunteers who remembered me from last year's event.

While in the lobby area outside the Auditorium waiting for the OUT on ther Hill Opening General Session to start introduced myself to some of the first timers attending the conference.  As I talked to them, I was spotted by some of the vets, NBJC staff and other friends in the Black SGL and trans community

The General Session started with remarks from our OUT on the Hill national chair LZ Granderson, NBJC Founder Donna Payne, Darlene Nipper and eventually NBJC ED/CEO Sharom-Lettman Hicks after some thought provoking words about why OUT on the Hill was so important to this community via LZ and Donna.

After Sharon's welcoming speech and reminder to all of us we were here to Own Our Power, after some housekeeping anoouncements it was time for our first session.

It was the Legislative Issues briefing moderated by Aisha Moodie-Mills.    It had in addition to her moderating it my GLAAD media training classmate Maya Rupert, and Michael Brewer from NBJC.  There were points made about pending legislation such as the Student Non Discrimination Act, DOMA repeal,  ENDA, discussion about voter suppression and other issues pertinent to our chocolate LGBT community.

That panel ended, and we picked up our box lunches and prepared to head over on the METRO once again to the White House for our 1:00 PM briefing.    I chuckled when on my way into the White House I ran into someone I'd met during Netroots Nation who had just left as I discovred after I cleared security that had attended an LGBT Policy Roundtable that started at 9:30 AM.

I was also pleasantly pleased and surprised to discover that the White House intern who was working our event was part of our trans family. 

As we settled in to receive policy briefings from Obama administration officials and ask questions about it if we had time, my attention got diverted for a few moments from the speaker on the stage to a very familiar person walking into the briefing room carrying her purse and her travel bags  .

It was Janet Mock.   She'd told me she was coming to DC while I was in New York for the GLAAD media training, but I'd forgotten she had an invite to attend an event at Vice President Joe Biden's house that was scheduled for yesterday. 

She was attending it with Sharon Lettman-Hicks and Kimberley McLeod, so she killed some time with us until it was time for her to head over there.

After Senior Presidential Advisor Valerie Jarrett's remarks at 5:00 PM closed the event came the interesting part of the day for me.  

 There was a Networking reception starting at 6:00 PM.  No problem.  Y'all know I love hanging with my Black LGBT peeps and interacting with them during this event.  

The interesting part was the location for it, the headquarters of a certain Equal Sign organizations on Rhode Island Avenue.

As y'all know from reading this blog, as a long time activist I started during at time in the late 90's when there was a no love lost Cold War type hostility between the trans community and HRC, and the 2007 ENDA shenanigans didn't help that. 

I still have a verify then trust attitude toward HRC as a result of that formative activist drama, but as I entered the HQ after walking over there from the White House with my trans and SGL family I decided to focus on the fact I was there on NBJC business and on the activism announcement I was going to make a little later.

Got to meet more people, see more old friends, more of my TransGriot readers, and have some interesting and substantive conversations.  Finally got to see Kylar, Charles Pugh, Jeffrey Richardson from the DC city government and renew acquaintances with Shannon Minter.  I also didn't realize until after I left for the evening that I'd been sitting less than 50 feet from Kye Allums, who I have been eager to meet. 

I also had a serious conversation with members of a student group from Florida A&M.  I told them a little bit about some of the stuff I was exposed to in terms of passing sexual orientation and gender identity languge in collegiate noddisrimination policies idoing with the Texas Transgender Nnondiscrimimation Summit.  It's a battle they are currently engaged in at FAMU.

We had a moment during the reception in which we were invited to tell the gathered people in the room why OUT on the Hill was important to us, and yes I was the first up to the mic to say so. 

I also took that opportunity to announce that I was joining the Trans Person Of Color Coalition team effective immediately.

Not long after that Janet, Sharon, and Kimberley arrived from VP Biden's house and Janet took a moment along with Sharon to address the crowd.

9 PM came far too soon and Kimberley and I discovered that I was staying less than three blocks from her place, so I joined her and  Janet for a drink and converation at Chez Billy's.

After almost two hours, it was time for all of us to crash for the night since Kimberley's day started way earlier than mine and I safely made my way back to Jeri's house to prepeare for Day 2 of OUT on the Hill
 

Trans And Deployed-Keith's Story

While LGB people will be celebrating the first anniversary of the end of DADT, we trans people are not only barred from enlisting in our military, those of us who are currently enlisted have to hide who they are.

To give you folks an idea what that is like, OutServe will be publishing a column from Keith Thompson, a transman who is currently deployed in Afghanistan.  

The command climate in my unit during pre-deployment was harsh for me. The Soldiers in my unit think that I am a lesbian, serving openly and proudly. They do not know I am trans. I have never had an issue with any of my immediate colleagues about my sexual orientation. Just before we deployed, however, we received a new “butter bar” in our ranks. I started to feel that I was treated differently from the rest of the crew, chosen for the jobs nobody really wanted. Most of all, I could tell that this officer had a huge issue with me. Whenever I attempted conversation with her, she would ignore me.

Here's the rest of Keith's column.

 

DADT Still Hasn't Died For Trans People

Couldn't let today pass while I'm up here inside I-495 'Owning My Power' to remind you readers as I will our legislators while I'm chitchatting with them on Capitol Hill today marks the one year anniversary of the day that Don't Ask Don't Tell died.  

While our SGL and bi brothers and sisters will be celebrating this first anniversary of DADT repeal, it'll be another painful reminder that DADT is still not dead for trans people,.but it's still an ugly reality that we can't serve openly. 

Discrimination by the US military of transpeople still exists for us as documented in this Kristen Schilt report for the Palm Center.  Unlike the trans citizens of six nations, the big bad US military still will not allow patriotic trans people to enlist who are willing to fight for and defend our country.  

If you're in the military and it's discovered you're trans, you get discharged or worse.

We love our country and want to have the option to serve in its military as well.   To make an economic argument for it, trans people being able to openly serve our nation not only helps the ones already enlisted and helps you retain those personnel you spent time and tax dollars training, it would also make a dent in that 26% trans unemployment number if trans people who desire to do so have the option of military service as a career option.

So let's see if you 'come back for us' on this issue, LGB community.  .As you raise your appletini glasses and toast the demise of DADT, I'm reminding you about the trans people you threw under the Humvee when you pushed for passage of DADT repeal in the 2010 congressional lame duck session and trans activists told you repeatedly it didn't cover us. 

While DADT died for you, it still hasn't died for the trans community.


     
 

2012 Out On The Hill-Day 2 Schedule

In case you readers weren't aware of it, Out on the Hill also takes place during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference which is held at the sprawling Walter Williams Convention Center. 

We OOTH attendees have the opportunity to attend the CBCF-ALC at a discounted rate, so for those of you who would like to attend that event, it's another reason you need to come to OOTH 2013 because it's always the same week as the CBCF-ALC  

What's on the schedule for Day 2 of Out on the Hill is the Grand Opening of the NBJC CBCF-ALC exhibit booth, a town hall moderated by Melissa Harris-Perry entitled Voting Rights and New Age Discrimination with the assorted CBCF-ALC workshops and session if you chose the option to attend them.   

It's also Issue Advocacy Day, so from 1-5 PM we'll be jumping on the Red Line and heading to Capitol Hill to talk to members of congress and their staffs about various issues before heading back to the hotel and getting ready for the OOTH Chairman's Reception starting at 7:00 PM

2012 Out On The Hill-Day 1 Schedule

Thanks to the magic of the auto-post feature, while I'm sleeping I get to tell y'all about Day 1 of this conference and why I eagerly flew 1500 miles to get here. 

It's the day I have been eagerly awaiting since the Save the Date announcement went out. 

It's the first day of Out on the Hill 2012 and on the agenda from 9:00 AM-12:30 PM EDT will be the Opening General Session and welcome to Washington DC.  I'm looking forward to it because I not only get to see my NBJC fam,  I get to see who's here for OOTH 2012..

Anyway, focus Moni.   We then head to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Black LGBT Leaders Day at the White House from 1-5 PM   Last year we got a surprise visit from Valerie Jarrett.. Who will it be from the POTUS's staff this year?   

We move on from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to a legislative issues briefing and networking reception from 6-9 PM entitled Building Black LGBT Political Power In Our Nation's Capitol.

Check with y'all in a few hours..

TransGriot's Finally In DC!

Well TransGriot readers, (and Mom) made it to Washington DC after enduring a two hour delay getting to Baltimore due to  weather in the Washington-Baltimore area. 

I did have some ATC delays navigating out of Jacksonville before I finally arrived in Baltimore two hours later

And I love the fact the Metro Red Line's Woodley Park station is right across the street from the host hotel grounds.  

Yeah right, like I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the room, much less at my friend's house.  Being that I'm considered one of the activist cool kids, I have business to take care of while I'm inside I-495.  I have Friday and Saturday night panel discussions and other things to do in Washington DC that coincide with the 2012 edition of OUT On The Hill.

And yes, a few of my Facebook friends in the area made it clear they want to see me while I'm in town.

I would have loved to have been here for the pre-conference Congressional Tri-Caucus event that was held earlier today from 10-11:30 AM EDT entitled Closets Are For Clothes: Being LGBT and POC in America but to accomplish that I would have needed to leave Houston yesterday and had too many last minute loose ends to deal with Monday

I'm going to crash since it's been a long travel day and Moni needs her beauty sleep.

If I get some time, will tell y'all all about Day One of OUT On the Hill

Girlie-men Who Oppress People

TransGriot Note: Another TransGriot The Newspaper Column Classic post from my electronic archives I'm sharing with y'all and give you something to peruse while I'm traveling..   This one is from September 2004.

   
Before I get into this month's column, let me remind you peeps that if you aren't registered, you have
until October 2 to do so.  The GLBT community needs you to participate in the most important election in the last fifty years.  It will determine the course of American history for the NEXT fifty years and have a major impact on the GLBT community.

Ah-nold Schwarzenegger recently grabbed headlines when he called his Democratic opponents in the
California General Assembly 'girlie-men'.

What's a girlie-man, anyway?  To me, it's a person who's a bully or who won't stand up and do what's right instead of what's popular. The world's full of them, so let's start ferreting them out.   

We'll start with the 'Kentucky Democrats' in the General Assembly who caved in to the Rethuglicans two
days before the 2004 session ended to pass that odious anti same-sex marriage amendment that Dr. Daniel
Mongiardo authored.  That showed real courage to sell out ten percent of Kentucky's population for your own political gain.  If you did it so that you could hold on to your seats in the Kentucky House, or in
Mongiardo's case beat Jim Bunning, I've got news for you. If a voter has a choice between an ersatz
Republican and a generic one, they'll go with the generic one every time. Chew on that thought at the
next party meeting. It's past time for 'Kentucky Democrats' to go back to being 'Progressive Democrats'
and start standing up for the little guy again.

Now in the local 'girlie-men' category, Jefferson County GOP chair Jack Richardson IV comes to mind. 

The Republicans are so nervous about Junior getting his butt kicked that he dusted off his plans to use
poll watchers in West End and Newburg precincts.  It's a clumsy attempt to suppress African-American turnout that harkens back to the days of Jim Crow racism.  That has incensed the African-American community to the point where even Anne Northup had to denounce it.

Maybe we should send poll watchers wearing black berets or the Nation of Islam brothers to his home
precinct and other GOP leaning ones and see how he and his friends like it.

This pattern is happening nationally. The girlie-men in Florida repeated the 'let's strike African-American 'felons' off the voter rolls' trick and got caught.  A GOP legislator in Michigan stated during an
interview that the only way to carry the state is 'suppress the Detroit vote.' Detroit has huge concentrations of motivated African-American and Arab voters, and they will be at the polls in force on November 2. If I had an (R) beside my name on the ballot I'd be nervous, too.

Metro Council member James Peden is another one.   He's the lead dog in the efforts to kill the Fairness
law by trying to force a vote on it.  What's with this conservative fetish to overturn civil rights laws for
people they don't like? He needs to heed the wisdom of Nelson Mandela, who so eloquently stated that
'majority rule is not intended to suppress the views, the hopes, and the aspirations of the minority.'
Peden's attempting to create a wedge issue to use against Democrats in conservative-leaning districts in
their bid to gain a GOP Metro Council majority. If that happens, you can count on much right-wing
mischief coming out of Metro Council chambers after that.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my least favorite pseudo-Texan, girlie-man George Walker Bush.
 I'll save my comments about him for next month's column.

If My Vote Doesn't Matter...

One of the things I get sick of hearing from people who want a third party or others who are looking for any excuse not to vote in every election is that tired 'you vote doesn't count' mantra.

Okay, let's ponder that for a few moments.

If my vote doesn't matter, why are ALEC, the Tea Klux Klan, the Republican Party and 30 GOP controlled legislatures trying to pass laws to suppress it for non-white American citizens, seniors and young voters?

And why are conservafool attorneys, GOP attorney generals like Greg Abbott in my home state, and GOP secretaries of state trying to defend that unconstitutional and racist law?

I'll let y'all marinate on that one while I'm traveling to Washington DC to Own My Power and we'll chit chat about that later.

Mitt Hates 47% Of This Country-And The Feeling's Mutual

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what... Our message of low taxes doesn't connect...so my job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the five to 10 percent in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful...." Mitt Romney at fundraiser.

Since you just accused 47% of this country of being moochers, show us your tax returns for the last ten years, Mitt.

I already had a deep mistrust of Mitt Romney's out of touch behind and the smirking arrogance of him and his wannabee First Lady wife Ann.   But the comment that broke during last night's news cycle left no doubt as to who and what party's candidates I will be voting for on October 22, the first day that we can early vote in Texas.

I was already quite determined to cast a ballot in this election cycle after the GOP controlled Texas Legislature's attempt to suppress  my ability to vote got legally pimp slapped in federal court.. 

Now this most recent attempt to suppress non-white votes in Texas  combined with this insult has just poured gasoline on the fire.



And note to you knee-grows considering sitting out the election because you're 'upset' about President Obama expressing support for same gender marriage.    Are you crazy?

We got bigger issues to deal with in the African-American community than you allegedly being pissed off about same gender marriage.  Mitt Romney damned sure doesn't care about us enough to even come to our communities and respectfully ask for our vote.   And you fools are going to turn your back on the sitting African-American president who has asked for your votes because of some sellout conservapimp preacher flapping his gums?     

If you knee-grows want to be stupid enough to fall for that okey-doke and let the vanillacentric privileged conservafools at NOM who don't have yours or our community's best interest at heart play y'all like that, be my guest. 

But you have my utter contempt for spitting on the blood that was spilled at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Rep. John Lewis and others for you stupid cookie chomping knee-grows to even have the opportunity to cast a ballot.

And were you not paying attention to Mitt's party tying to suppress your ability to even cast a ballot and his smug behind not saying a word about it?    

I'm going to take my frustration out on Mittbot at the ballot box on October 22 and I suggest that many of you peeps join me in doing so.  To get the electoral party started, get busy clicking this GottaVote.org link so you too can express your displeasure and disgust with Mitt and his party at the ballot box.

"It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation," said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.  

Mitt's making it clear he not only doesn't like 47% of the country, he doesn't care about us.  The feeling is increasingly mutual, especially for those of us who aren't in his quiet rooms and living his 1% lifestyle.
 

Leaving On a Jet Plane-DC Bound Again

Been piling up the frequent flyer miles this summer and loving every minute of it as you TransGriot readers have noticed. 

My trips have basically been for one community event or another.

Whether it was the first ever trans themed panel discussion at Netroots Nation, the double secret trip I took to DC for business I still can't talk about,  the one to Charlotte to do the keynote address for the TransFaith In Color conference or the GLAAD National POC Media Institute in New York I not only felt blessed to be at all these events this summer representing our community, I not only enjoyed them, but loved seeing my trans and SGL peeps. 

Getting out of Houston's blast furnace heat for a few days is a bonus, although July was the coolest summer month on record for us and it's been in the high 80's-low 90's temperature wise for the last few days..

This time I'm bouncing from H-town to go back to Washington DC and inside I-495 for the third annual edition of Out On The Hill.  I'm looking forward to it, hanging with my National Black Justice Coalition family, my Black trans and SGL peeps my freinds in the area and participating in the two panel discussions I'm slated for.  

Oh yeah, will be making a major activism announcement while I'm up here. 

If I get the time or opportunity to hit a computer will talk about what happening at Out On The Hill 2012.  And DC area Facebook friends, I'll be here until Sunday.

Time to get the beauty sleep.    See y'all in a few hours Chocolate City.

Femanda Milan Scheduled To Be Deported From Denmark Today

In October 2011 the European Union Parliament adopted asylum standards that stated that EU member nations must now include gender identity as a ground of persecution and take it into account when they make decisions to grant or deny asylum status to people seeking it.

There were three EU nations that opted out of the process, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. 

Unfortunately that opting out of the trans asylum rules has had a negative effect on Fernanda Milan, a Guatemalan trans activist who was forced to flee her homeland and ended up in Denmark due to horrific anti-trans violence in her central American nation and she being considered a major trans human rights leader in Guatemala.

After arriving in Denmark, her treatment didn't get much better in the nation that once was the place in the early 1950's where Christine Jorgenson transitioned before returning to the United States in 1953.   She was housed in the male wing of the Sandholm Asylum detention camp run by the Danish Red Cross, and several men broke into her room and subsequently raped her.  She was denied the hormones she's been on since age 14. After escaping the detention camp she ended up in a brothel in Jutland for two years until it was raided by the police. 




She was scheduled to be deported today from Denmark back to Guatemala
“What I’m most afraid of when I go back isn’t being killed. What really petrifies me is being attacked and tortured,” Fernanda says, adding that she knows “no transgender people in Guatemala over 35.”

The anti-trans violence in Guatemala is a consequence of the anti-trans attitudes injected into Catholic Church doctrines at the senior levels of the Vatican by Dr. Paul McHugh, who was named a few years ago as their advisor on trans issues.   The Catholic Church has major influence in that nation, and the anti-trans attitudes implanted in Rome in 2003 are now infecting the flock.

Despite the efforts of people in Denmark and around the world, Fernanda's application for asylum was denied and she is being deported.

So if something unfortunate does happens to Fernanda Milan, there will be a lot of people who will have to answer for that.  But the folks with the most soul searching to do will be the people in Denmark who had the chance to act humanely toward her and for whatever reason failed to do so. 

Those people not only failed Fernanda on multiple occasions, but made the decision to deport her back to Guatemala and possible death in the first place.   

TransGriot Update:  Fernanda Milan's case was reopened, so she's still in Denmark for now.  But keep the pressure on the Danish government to either let her stay there or allow her to go to a nation that will accept her.

Vietnamese Trans Woman Comes Out On National Telecast.

People tell me they thought it was brave for me to come out in the middle of an international airport terminal back in 1993.   But what I was doing wasn't brave.  It was a necessary step in the evolution towards becoming the phenomenal person I am now.  

It's never easy to out yourself to the world as a transwoman, much less do so in front of a national television audience.  So I have much love, respect and admiration for what 25 year old Vietnamese transwoman Huong Giang did recently as a finalist in the Vietnam Idol competition that was broadcast on September 6.

After being praised by the judges When asked if she'd ever auditioned for Vietnam Idol before she hesitated for a moment before she revealed she'd previously attempted to do so under her old name.

.

After some discussion, she did move on in the Vietnam Idol competition.   Best of luck to her and hope she wins it..

Time To Run Up The Political Score

It's football season as you can tell by the jump in football related posts on my blog.  I've made it no secret that love of football is part of my Texan DNA and being a proud daughter of the Lone Star State.

When the University Interscholastic League, the governing body for Texas high school scholastic activities and its 'separate-but-equal' counterpart the Prairie View Interscholastic League were being integrated back in the late 60's-early 70's, you still had the stench of prejudice tainting many athletic and academic competitions persisting till the mid 80's between predominately Black and predominately white schools.

For those of us at predominately Black schools during that period, we not only wanted to win, but had a heightened incentive to prove we could successfully compete with the white kids and vanquish them.

In many cases we were the first groups of kids to get that historic opportunity, so we not only wanted to do well, but represent our community with class, pride, dignity and honor despite the sometimes shady officiating and jacked up rulings we'd get.  We'd also observed overt or covert cheating from the predominately white schools and referees that would be ignored.  We noted through previous examples of talented African-American high school squads (or integrated ones) that made deep playoff runs that if the game were close, the questionable calls or rulings would come down in favor of the predominately white school.     

So if we were in that situation, our mantra was to 'take the refs out of the game'.  In other words, if it was an officiated sport like football or basketball, the mission was to play well enough to not only avoid crucial penalties or fouls, but to run the score up to the point that a jacked up call or bigoted officials trying to shape the game in the white school's favor didn't determine the outcome because we were beating that predominately white school by a lopsided margin.

For a perfect example of what I'm talking about, see the movie Remember the Titans.    

It was why I had that mentality in 8th grade when I was captain of my History Prep Bowl team in junior high school it was 1st and 2nd place or bust.   Anything else was a wasted trip.  We also as the only Black school there wanted to prove we could compete and win the academic contest that conventional bigoted wisdom said we didn't have the 'necessities' to win.   We not only won that year, but won our matched in lopsided margins and earned a nice pizza party for our efforts.     

So how does this apply to the 2012 presidential race?   Pull up a chair and I'll break it down for you.

The narrative the corporate conservative controlled media has been trying to spin this entire election season is that the 2012 presidential election is close when even Stevie Wonder can see that Mitt Romney isn't qualified to be president of the United States, much less its commander in chief. 

The poll numbers since the conventions are starting to reflect that, and the conservanatives are starting to get restless.  President Obama has multiple ways to garner 270 electoral votes and get reelected, but the reality has always been the GOP has a narrower electoral vote path. If they don't get Ohio, and lose any of their Solid South states (think old Confederacy) like they are on track to do in Virginia, Florida and possibly North Carolina without grabbing from the Obama column Pennsylvania (which they tried to do with that shady voter suppression law) one of the upper Midwest states such as Wisconsin, Iowa or Michigan or some of the Southwestern swing states like Nevada, Colorado, or New Mexico, they're screwed.  

Now is not the time for our liberal progressive side to relax.  Since I'm bathing this political post in football analogies, we're just in the third quarter, we took the lead and the GOP side just made the equivalent of fumbling the ball Jacoby Jones style deep in their territory with that boneheaded cheap Romney political attack of the POTUS in the wake of four American diplomats losing their lives in Libya.

Now is the time to not only get the killer instinct and go for the touchdown that puts this game away, but run up the political score.  It's time not only ensure the POTUS gets reelected, but build on our Senate majority and give Senate majority Leader Harry Reid a better one to work with now that Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Ben Nelson (DINO-NE) are gone.  

We only need to flip 25 House seats to take it back.  The  GOP has 77 freshman legislators, many of them notorious Teabaggers like Joe Walsh in Illinois and Allen West in Florida. . Let's do this and give John Boehner something to really cry about on January 3, 2013 when he has to hand the House leadership gavel back to a smiling Rep. Nancy Pelosi when the Democrats retake the House.    

Let's start the process of not only taking our state legislatures back, but ensuring we kick Republicans out of judicial seats, Attorney General posts and replace them with Democrats who will be more in line with fighting for the middle class interests than Republicans who lead toward corporate interests. 

In Texas we need to get control of our State Board of Indoctrination Education from the right wing nuts that have made us a national laughingstock in their brazen attempt to inject conservafool doctrines in our school curriculum. 

I haven't forgotten about that disgusting to me as a TK (teacher's kid) the plank in the 2012 Texas GOP platform that seeks to prohibit teaching critical thinking skills to Texas school children.  

We especially need to focus special attention on Secretary of State positions since they are the people that make the calls on voting rights issues.  As John Husted in Ohio proved once again, his knee-grow predecessor Kenneth Blackwell did in 2004 and Katherine Harris did in Florida in 2000 , we cannot trust Republicans to do the right thing on voting issues when they have that power.

We got work to to, so lets keep the starters on the field and keep scoring political TD's until November 7.

  

Rio Fashion Week 2011 Documentary

Interesting documentary that focused on Rio's 2011 edition of International Fashion Week.   It's one of the few that has no problem using trans models, and that tradition goes back to Roberta Close in the 1980's  

This one mentioned trans model Carol Marra, who parlayed this Fashion Week 2011 appearance into a Brazilian TV reporting job..

 

Rep. Cleaver Takes DNC To Church

I was going to compile a post (and probably still need to) that put together the best speeches from the recently concluded DNC, but this one needed its own stand alone post.

It's from Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO), the current chair of the Congressional Black Caucus who when he's not batting the Teapublicans is an ordained minister in Kansas City.

And he ditched his prepared remarks and took the DNC to church.


 

Janet Jackson's Truth Documentary-Initial Video

As some of you may have heard, Janet Jackson is producing a documentary on trans issues along with director Robert Jason called 'Truth' that started production earlier this summer . 

Here's some initial video from that project and I see one familiar face in it so far in Laverne Cox.



As a bonus, here's some video that that one of our trans elders, Cheryl Courtney-Evans submitted for it.