Pope Benedict XVI Resigning

In a announcement that was a shock to the 1.2 billion people who are Roman Catholics around the world and will set off celebrations for those of us who aren't, Papa Nazi Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would resign the papacy on February 28.   He cited his advancing age (85) as a reason to become the first pontiff in 600 years to step down while in office.

Never been a fan of this pontiff because of his open hostility to trans people and the increasing Paul McHugh introduced trans hate injected into Catholic doctrine during his term that has filtered down to the rest of the cardinals and the flock.

That Vatican trans hate has led to a major spike in anti-trans bigotry and anti-trans violence in many predominately Roman Catholic nations in Latin America and eastern Europe .

So I will be deliriously happy along with many of us in the trans community and our LGB allies to see him go.

The question will become as we get closer to his February 28 resignation date is who takes his place as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church?

We'll also be asking ourselves in the international trans and SGL communities will the next pope be better or worse than the person who preceded him? .

Isis Fall 2013 Collection Presentation

Y'all know I'm so bursting at the seams proud of my fashion designing little sis.

Nice segue into what this post is about.   For you peeps in the New York metro area it's Fall Fashion Week 2013.

Isis' main job when she's not lecturing or taking part in discussions on trans issues is as a fashion designer.  Many of the clothes you see her wearing when she's on the runways or taking photos at community events are of her own design.  

With the international fashion world descending on New York for Fashion Week, Isis will be doing a premiere and presentation of her Fashion Collection.

She's entitled it 'The Goldest Winter Ever" and it will be taking place at the Wix Lounge from 6-7:30 PM EST.

Location of the presentation event is the Wix Lounge at  10 West 18th Street in New York, NY between 5th and 6th Streets.  It will be on the second floor level of the club.

Best of luck sis and hope it's one overwhelmingly successful event.

TAVA Wants You For A New Mission

TransGriot Note:  There were people in the community alarmed when I posted the comment on the TAVA 10th anniversary post from founding TAVA president Monica Helms that consideration was being made to shut down the organization.

Here's a guest post by TAVA founding Vice President Angela Brightfeather.

At present, TAVA is tacking to the right and looking for new help and resetting it's course. The more we talk about all this, the better of and faster we can get on course.

The one thing that has really irked TAVA from the start has been the big elephant in the room every time that anyone puts the words, Transgender, military, serving, together in one sentence. That is the uneasy and unspoken fear and feeling that Trans people will join the military so that they can get their GRS for free. This strawman argument has historically been easy to prove wrong and only a fear that has it's basic foundation sunk deeply in the transphobic beliefs of the unkowing, dating back to the 1960's and that still hangs in the air like a bad smelling and outdated saucer of sour milk, is keeping us from obtaining equality on every front.

The truth is best viewed in the light of day. The new mission and primary cause for TAVA should be to acquire full and equal rights for our Trangender Veterans and that includes GRS. It is wholly unfair and totally judgemental to think that GRS should be the only thing that is specifially pointed out in the White House Directive issued about fair treatment for Trans Vets, that GRS is something that will not be contemplated. No reason was given for the exception to our equal treatment, but the suspicion is that it is bred in the same illogical thoughts about Transgender people specified in the DSM, which also by the way, specifically states that no Transgender person should be discriminated against due to their "condition".

The case FOR Transgender Vets being able to obtain GRS in the VA system, needs to be noted as the bellweather case and proof of discrimination against Transgender people in general created by the DSM and shoved right down their throat as the "real life" test of their definitions and their affect on people and how hypocritical and hurtful their judgment really is.

The VA's and DOD's use of the DSM as a reason to discriminate is a convenient yet unjust example of cowardice in the face of reality, by those who are supposed to be our most supportive and brave people in a system dominated by the directive for protecting all of us.

If TAVA is to grow and be led by our best and bravest people in this fight, the battle starts with the recognition that GRS is not cosmetic surgery, but that it can be a cure. As a priority, this fight is equal to or more important even than being able to serve in the military because those of us who already have served know and understand that when we devoted that part or time of our lives to defending our country, we did so based on the need, love and pride we had as Americans and that because we are Transgender Americans, the commitments and promises we proudly made and kept, must be met fairly by the VA and DOD.

TAVA is looking for a few good people to fight this new fight and if they don't show up, the odds are that we will not win the war.

When Will POC Transpeople Be Invited To MHP?

Bottom line is I along with POC transpeople are beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of being erased from another cable media discussion on trans issues once again. 

TransGriot, April 17, 2012   'Tired Of Me Complaining About Trans POC Erasure?  Sop Enabling It'.  

As much as I love watching MSNBC's Melissa Harris Perry show every weekend, I am getting a little frustrated with their lack of diversity in one demographic of its show viewers.

The trans community. 

When I tune in to MHP I can regularly see a diverse palette of people sitting behind the #nerdland desks chatting about the issues of the day.  That diverse palette of people also includes members of the GL community who are well represented and not there to simply talk about SGL and trans community issues. But it seems as though the only time transpeople get a call to appear on MHP is to discuss trans or GLBT related issues, and only white trans people get the opportunity to do so

FYI Nerdland staff, Mara Keisling or Kate Bornstein are not the only trans persons inside the borders of the United States that can talk about trans issues.  There are transpeople who are happen to be persons of color who are quite capable of discussing trans issues and other topics du jour as well. .  

For starters, there's Kylar Broadus, the ED of the Trans Persons of Color Coalition.. Cecilia Chung of the Transgender Law Center.  Andy Marra of GLSEN.  Diego Sanchez worked on Capitol Hill for former Rep Barney Frank.  Washington DC Human Rights commissioner Earline Budd.   Former Hawaii state board of education member Kim Coco Iwamoto.

There are our trans elders such as Gloria Allen in Chicago, Miss Major, Tracie Jada O'Brien, Sharyn Grayson, and Cheryl Courtney-Evans.  There's Janet Mock whose has made appearances on Thomas Roberts' show.  Tiq Milan, Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Kokumo Kinetic, Isis King, Leiomy Maldonado, Danielle King, Valerie Spencer, Laverne Cox, Antonia D'Orsay, Rev. Carmarion Anderson, Minster Louis Mitchell and oh yeah, some GLAAD media trained Houston based transwoman who has an award winning blog and been an activist since the late 90's. 

And that's just the short list   I'm sure there are more than a few others around the country who are more than capable of broadening the conversations on this GLAAD Media Award nominated show on a wide variety of issues.  

For 60 years, the narrative about trans issues has overwhelmingly been all about white transpeople and drivedn by them and their worldview.  It's past time that other trans stories get told.  If we can't get Nerdland to invite us on to do that, who will? 

We also need to see transpeople of color on these shows to blow up the myth in our community and elsewhere that successful trans persons or the only transpeople capable of speaking for this community and about other subjects of the day are white ones.

Melissa once made an eloquent speech on the show about the importance of diversity and how important it is that marginalized groups not be shut out of discussions and conversations. 
 
That's exactly what is happening right now to trans people of color, and after watching Oprah ignore us when she finally started doing trans themed shows, it's frustrating as hell for us to watch this pattern repeat itself once again..  

So when will trans persons of color be invited to participate in a Melissa Harris Perry show discussion?  Will that happen sometime before this decade is over? 

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending February 8

Equality Texas' Daniel Williams gives us this week's report of the latest happenings in the 2013 session of our GOP controlled Texas Legislature for the week ending February 8.

Is it May yet?

Chucky Gets Pwned Again

Nephew sent me word about the latest Chucky sighting when it was announced at a gay bar in the Portland neighborhood in Louisville that thankfully got protested and shut down once again to the usual howls of protest from his vanillacentric privileged gay enablers of racism fans.  

I've been slamming his plump rump since 2002 along with his enabler RuPaul.  I decided to focus my attention elsewhere and let other people call his racist blackface drag 'show' out. 

Well, in addition to the gang in Louisville doing precisely that, the editrix at The Perverted Negress wrote a post entitled 'NEWSFLASH! Blackface Still Racist Y'all stating the obvious.  The post also has this commentary video that definitely needs a signal boost.    

Police Women Of Dallas Is Back!

Normally I run far away from any reality TV show, but one which caught my attention and became a much anticipated guilty TV pleasure for me was Police Women of Dallas.  It was on TLC back in 2010, but now has moved to the Oprah Winfrey Network.

I fell in love with Sgt Tracy Jones on the original show to the point I follow her Twitter feed. 

Well, she's back in the 2013 edition, but there are three new officers they are following in this edition which premiered on January 25. 

The new DPD officers whose exploits they are chronicling in addition to Sgt Jones are Senior Corporal Cheryl Matthews, Detective Angela Nordyke, and Officer Yvette Gonzales.

The series follows the officers as they do their jobs fighting crime in Dallas and also gives you a peek at them balancing it with their personal lives.  

The peek at Officer Gonzales' life was very interesting, especially when I watched the episode in which they introduced us to her partner of eight years who she had just proposed to.  .

They are engaged, but haven't set a date yet.

It's now moved to Friday nights on OWN, and I'll definitely be checking it out until it's over. . 




.     

Valentina Verbal Running For Office In Chile

If Diane Rodriguez fails in her bid to get elected in Ecuador, then the opportunity to become the first open trans legislator on the South American continent would fall to Valentina Verbal.

Verbal is a trans activist and coordinator of the trans commission at the Chilean LGBT rights organization Fundación Iguales, and has surprised people in that nation by attempting to make this historic bid for office with the National Renewal center-right party.   It's a party she's been a member of since her youth and she defended her choice a post on her blog.
Verbal if elected in the November congressional election said in a Santiago Times interview that she intends to work for changes in the laws that affect trans people in her nation.


'We have to change the law that recognizes the sexual identity of transgender people without the state obligating them to have an actual sex change,' Verbal said

Chliean trans activists have observed what happened in their next door neighboring nation of Argentina, and have been pushing for a similar Gender Intetitly law in their nation.  .There's also positive momentum on TBLG rights issues with the recent passage and signature into law of hate crimes legislation that covers gender identity and sexual orientation.

We'll find out in November if Valentina makes history in her nation and internationally.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Countdown To Sochi Edition

One year from today will be the initial day of competition in the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia which will run from February 7-23.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will be on hand to greet the estimated 10,000 athletes coming to the Black Sea resort city of 343,333 residents for the two weeks of competition.

The Sochi games Olympic venues will have two clusters.  The Sochi Olympic Park by the Black Sea will contain the two hockey arenas of 7,000 and 12,000 seat capacity, the 8,000 seat speed skating oval, the 3,000 seat curling center, a 12,000 seat arena for the short track speed skating and figure skating competitions, the Olympic Village, the Olympic Broadcast Center and the 40,000 seat Olympic Stadium. 

The town of Krasnaya Polyana that is 60 km (37 miles) from Sochi will have the Mountain Cluster of venues.  In addition to an Olympic Village for the athletes participating in the Mountain Cluster of events, theres the Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort, Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard Park, the Biathlon and Ski Complex,  the Sliding Center Sanki, and the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center.

We will get to find out in 365 days who wins the medals in the 98 events in the 15 sports contested during those games   But today we will segue to our usual TransGriot Friday business of determining what fool, fools or group of fools exhibited Olympian levels of stupidity, ignorance or jaw dropping hypocrisy.

Our Bronze medal winner is an early 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year contender in the person of the NRA's Wayne LaPierre.  All is not good in Wayne's World these days as he got called out by FOX News Chris Wallace on Sunday and the NRA's rep as the most powerful lobbying org on Capitol Hill looks more and more specious by the day.  Wayne's also sounding desperate and more unhinged as momentum builds in the US for comprehensive common sense gun regulation his gun manufacturing paymasters don't want. 

Our Silver medal winner is one of our regular Shut Up Fool of the Year contenders fools in Rep Virginia Foxx (R-NC).  She parted her lips to paraphrase pastor Martin Niemoller and compare the proposed regulation of for profit colleges that lined her purse with $48,668 of campaign contributions last year to the Holocaust.   but hates on people that take out student loans to complete their education.  Many of them incurred that debt by taking classes at those more expensive for profit online schools.

Our Gold medal winner this week is Aaron Klein, the bigoted owner of Sweet Cakes By Melissa in Gresham, OR.  He and his wife forgot the state has a non discrimination law and refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple's upcoming wedding.  

After he got called on his homophobia in the local media and on the Net, he let loose some comments on the shop's Facebook page that also showed he hates more than just gay peeps.

Dude, you can delete your Facebook page, but the Net is forever.  Your bigotry is still preserved despite your failed attempt to sanitize it.   You're also about to find out bigotry is bad for your business and expensive to your wallet.  

And oh yeah, one other thing. Aaron Klein, shut up fool! 

 

Ecuador's Diane Rodriguez Poised To Make History

February 17 could see international trans history being made if all goes well for 30 year old psychology student Diane Rodriguez on election night.

The student and trans activist from Guayaquil heads a trans rights organization called Silhouette X and is running for a seat in Ecuador's 100 member  unicameral Congress as a member of the leftist Ruptura 25 party.  

"My focus will be on all minorities, vulnerable ethnic groups and feminist causes,: she said in an AFP interview.   One of the legislative agenda items she'd like to see happen is same gender marriage in her nation that is 85% Catholic. 

But then again, Argentina is heavily Catholic and not only has marriage equality but a groundbreaking gender identity law on the books as well.

She came out as trans as a teen. In a scenario far too familiar to many of us around the world, she was kicked out of her parent's home for a while before being allowed to return home and pursue her dreams.

Rodriguez also won a precedent setting legal battle in 2009 that allowed her to change her name on her ID card but not the gender marker. 

She subsequently with the help of other NGO's launched a campaign that calls for individuals to be allowed to choose which gender they want to register as

If she is successful, she would become not only the first open trans lawmaker in her nation, but the first on the South American continent and the only the fourth ever in the entire world.  If she goes into a runoff election for this open seat she is competing for, that would take place on April 7.   

Today Is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2013

Today is the 13th annual National HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.  As someone who has lost two extended family members and many dear friends to the disease, I'm keenly aware of the toll HIV/AIDS had taken on this community.

It was started by the Centers for Disease Control and other grassroots  organizations in 2000 and launched as part of a widespread effort to curb the rate of HIV infection amongst black men and women through “education, testing, involvement, and treatment.”

There are more than one million new cases of HIV infections in the U.S. every year, and nearly half of them are African American men, women, and children. Black men are nearly eight times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white males, while black females are 20 times more likely to be diagnosed than white females.

And sadly, embedded in those statistics are Black trans people.  The Injustice At Every Turn report revealed that 20% of the 381 African American trans respondents to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey  reported being HIV+ and an additional 10% reporting they did not know their status.   There are some major advances that have been made in the fight to defeat HIV/AIDS, and health officials around the world are optimsitic that it can be defeated.

HIV+ infected people are living longer due to netter treatment regimens, more testing despite political interference that catches the disease earlier, and just last month a Spanish research team announced a major medical breakthrough that could lead one day to an effective vaccine against the HIV virus.

But until that glorious day happens and there's a cure for AIDS,  we need to do a much better job of getting our people informed about HIV, getting them tested and making sure people know their status.  It's the only way at the present time we are going to reduce infection rates and eventually eradicate it.

The 3rd Annual African-American Trans History Quiz-The Answers

Well, did y'all have fun trying to answer the 3rd annual incarnation of the TransGriot African-American Trans History Quiz?    It was an open Internet test and I gave you the hint that some of the answer to these 25 questions were buried in previous TransGriot posts.

As promised the quiz answers, but gave y'all etra time and posted them at noon Central time Thursday..

***


1.  Kylar Broadus and Dr Marisa Richmond were two of the 13 delegates to this event that took place in Charlotte last summer.   Name the event.

The Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC

2. This Chicago activist wrote a one act play, organized a trans pride event and considers herself an 'artivist'  Who is she?

Kokumo Kinetic

3. This IFGE Trinity Award winner was appointed to this position in Washington DC.  Name the position.
Earline Budd,  human rights commissioner

4. True or False.  Janet Mock was invited to attend an LGBT reception at the Vice President's residence.

True

5.  The TransGriot was one of the participants in a historic event at last year's Netroots Nation.  What was it?

The first ever panel on trans issues 

6.  At  last year's NBJC OUT on the Hill their first ever trans town hall was conducted.  Who were the four participants in the town hall and who was the moderator of it?

Minister Carmarion Anderson, Danielle King, Valerie Spencer, the TransGriot and Laverne Cox was Moderator.

7. Rapper Katey Red made a cameo appearance on this HBO television show.  Name it.
Treme

8. According to a 1966 Sepia magazine article, who is considered the 'First Negro Sex Change"?

A. Avon Wilson                                C. Delisa Newton
B. Carlett Brown                              D. Carole Small

9. True or False.  Valerie Spencer was part of the first all trans production of The Vagina Monologues in 2004. 
True

10. Dee Dee Chamblee runs an organization called LaGender in this southern US city.   Name it.
It's in Atlanta

11. True or False.  Pioneering transman Alexander John Goodrum is from San Francisco.
False    He was from Chicago.   Moved to San Francisco and then Tuscon.  

12. Which one of these companies did Tracy Africa Norman NOT have a modeling campaign contract with during her heyday?

A. Clairol                                           C.  Ultra Sheen
B. Avon Cosmetics                             D.  Newport cigarettes

13.  True or False  Kortney Ryan Ziegler produced a 2008 film called 'Still Black: A Portrait Of Black Transmen'

True

14. Trans woman Georgia Black, whose story was chronicled in a 1951 EBONY article, lived in which Florida town?

A Sanford                                            C. Quincy
B Kissimmee                                        D. Tallahassee

15. Who said this in a 1954 EBONY magazine article?.  "I ain't done nothing wrong and I ain't beaking no laws"

Jim McHarris

16. In what year did Althea Garrison win her race for the Massachusetts state legislature?
1992

17. KK Logan took what Indiana city's school board to court for barring her from attending her 2006 high school prom in femme attire?

A. Ft Wayne                                         C. Indianapolis
B. Gary                                                 D. Evansville

18. True or False. The police investigation into the death of Stonewall veteran Marsha P. Johnson was reopened.
True

19. This trans woman is the author of the novels The Other Women: A Story Of Three Transsexuals, The Lie, Sex And the Single Transsexual, and Shattered Dreams: An African American Family Story.   Name her. 

Pamela Hayes

20.  T Desiree Hines is someone we just lost to cancer.  What instrument did this talented musician play?
the organ

21. Titica is a girl like us who is a rising music star in her nation's fusion of techno and rap called kuduro.   What nation is she from?
Angola

22. What transperson said this line?  'We transwomen aren't taking any crap anymore from cis people who seem to think we exist to be a punchline for a joke or to bully to make themselves feel more secure in their own gender identities and sexual orientation.'
The TransGriot

23   True or False: FTM International has had an African-American trans man run it.
True.  His name is Zion Johnson

24.  Trans actress Ajita Wilson accomplished this feat in August 1981?  What was it? 
Appeared in the August 24, 1981 issue as a JET Beauty of the Week

25.  An African-American trans woman and transman were two of the people photographed for a groundbreaking anti-trans discrimination poster campaign in this city.   Name the city.
Washington DC.


To those of you who actually tried to answer the questions, thanks.  For those of you who waited until Thursday to get the answers, shame on you...

But hope you enjoyed it and learned a little something about Black trans history.   The point I wanted to make that trans history is not just our past or the exploits of our heroes and sheroes, but is also being made in the present time as well.


We will be doing this again in 2014


 

We Have a History, Too

Another one from the TransGriot The Newspaper Column archives that i peened in February 2005 for Black History Month.

We Have a History, Too
Copyright 2005, The Letter


Ever since I was a child I've loved history. I enjoy looking at past events to get an understanding of how the reality of the present took shape. It is then that you can formulate plans to make a better future.

The transgender community is starting to come to grips with this truth and a website called Transhistory.org has tried to do that. However, it misses the boat in terms of the stories of the African-American trans community.

I'll start with Cathay Williams. She was born into slavery in Independence, MO and worked for a wealthy planter until his death, which occurred about the time the Civil War broke out. After Union soldiers freed her she began working as a paid servant. She traveled with Union Army until the war was over. She liked military life and wanting to be financially independent, in November 1866 enlisted as William Cathay. Because a medical exam wasn't required at the time, she was able to join Company A of the 38th United States Infantry. The 38th Infantry later became known as the Buffalo Soldiers, the all-Black cavalry and infantry units that saw action in the Indian wars, the Spanish-American War, and World War I.

Only her cousin and a friend knew Cathay's true gender. On October 1, 1867 she arrived at Fort Cummings, NM with Company A and spent the next few months protecting miners and wagon trains from Apache attacks. Eventually Cathay became ill, and once the post doctor discovered that she was a woman she was discharged on October 14, 1868.

That's just one of the interesting stories involving an African-American transgendered person. If you saw the 1990 documentary `Paris Is Burning' you were introduced to the Harlem drag balls. Those balls date back to the Harlem Renaissance.

It was the period from the end of World War I to the middle of the Great Depression in which a talented group of Harlem based writers produced sizable volumes of poetry, fiction, drama, and essays. Several of those writers were gay, such as Countee Cullen, Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes and Richard Nugent.

The drag balls were eagerly anticipated by both White and Black New Yorkers. The largest ball was held in the Rockland Palace, a venue that held up to 6000 people. Smaller balls were held in the Savoy Ballroom and at other locations around Harlem.

Chicago also has a ball tradition. In 1935 a gay man by the name of Alfred Finnie held his first ball in the basement of a bar on the corner of Michigan Avenue and 38th Street. Finnie was killed during a gambling brawl in 1943, but the ball continued for several decades. It grew to be a highly anticipated glamour event attended by thousands of people on Chicago's South Side.

Annie Lee Grant's story is an intriguing one. According to the book 'Black Love Black Resistance', in order to get higher paying men's jobs he passed for 20 years as Jim McHarris. After working as a short order cook, cab driver, gas station attendant, preacher and shipyard worker, his secret was discovered when he was stopped for a traffic violation in 1954.

I can't end this column without briefly discussing Lexingtonian James `Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon, who I'll talk about in next month's column. Miss Sweets was born in Scott County in 1899. She spent 40 years working as an orderly at Lexington's Good Samaritan Hospital and was regarded so highly she trained the new ones. . Miss Sweets blazed a colorful trail through the Depression, World War II and beyond until her death on December 16, 1983.

Since it's Black History Month I thought this would be an excellent time to share some of my history with you. Hope you enjoyed it.

PETA's Hatin' On Beyoncé

Now rushing to jump on the 'hate on Bey Bey' bandwagon, the racist fools at PETA.

Seems like the PETAoids had a problem with my Houston homegirl's outfit she wore (and wore quite well) during her Super Bowl concert.    They're also mad at her along with the Friends of Animals group because she wore a mink coat during President Obama's second inauguration.

People Eating Tasty Animals PETA had this to say about the outfit created by New York designer Rubin Singer that consisted of a cropped leather motorcycle, matched with a leather bodysuit made with strips of python and iguana.

"We would take a bet that if Beyoncé watched our video exposés ... she'd probably not want to be seen again in anything made of snakes, lizards, rabbits, or other animals who died painfully," PETA said in a statement. "Today's fashions are trending toward humane vegan options, and Beyoncé's Super Bowl outfit missed the mark on that score."

As if anyone besides Bill O'Reilly cares what y'all have to say about anything.  The African-American community stopped listening to your racist behinds a long time ago because it seems like every time we turn around, you're either making some foul racist comment, disrespectfully appropriating our history or attacking our iconic celebs from Janet Jackson to the Queen of Soul

And frankly, I don't think Beyoncé cares what y'all think either.

Monica Beverly Hillz Comes Out As Trans

I thought I had it tough when I came out as trans nearly 19 years ago and transitioned in the middle of an international airline terminal.   But to do so in front of a national television audience is infinitely tougher.

My homegirl Isis King can talk about the experience of competing on a reality show while trans along with Laverne Cox and Jaila Simms.

That small sorority is about to get a new member in Monica Beverly Hillz..

The RuPaul's Drag Race contestant came out as a trans woman during the February 4 episode of the show I refuse to support.

While there have been two other contestants in the history of that show, Sonique and Carmen Carrera who have come out as trans, they did so after they completed their competitive runs  Monica is the first to do it while competing.on the show..

It also adds an exclamation point to something I've been saying on this blog for years and the pseudo cisprivilege chasing TS seps claim is a lie or impossible.  There is movement in the trans umbrella amongst the gender variant categories.  I also pointed out in a post that some peeps use the drag and pageant world as a way to facilitate their transitions.

And it looks like this is exactly what it happening in Monica's case.

Hmm.  I may have to reconsider watching this show to support my trans sister.

Fernanda Milan Granted Danish Asylum!

Thought I would pass along to you TransGriot readers the wonderful news that Fernanda Milan has been granted asylum in Denmark on November 26.

She did not publicize the news according to ILGA Europe at the time because she is angry that she was forced to go through lengthy and grueling proceedings.  

Asylum was even denied to her in the beginning with the reversal happening only days before she was scheduled to be deported from Denmark.

She got a right to be angry considering the  European Union Parliament adopted asylum standards  in October 2011 stating 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
Stine Larsen, of the T-Refugee Project says:

“We are very relieved that our struggle, together with Fernanda, ended in her being granted asylum. But it has been a soul-destroying asylum process with an initial refusal which was then reversed just three days before her scheduled departure on September 17, 2012. Fernanda has needed time and space to recover from this ordeal. That’s why we are only publicizing the good news now.”

“I am very grateful to all the people who have helped me to fight, because in the end I could not have done it on my own.”  said Fernanda.

“I have been a transgender person all my life. And I have been fighting against prejudice as long as I remember. I had to flee from Guatemala because I was fighting for human rights. Now I have the chance to live my life as a woman and an activist. Now I want to keep on the fight for a better world, where everybody can educate, work, create families and live a dignifying life regardless of their gender identity,”

Amen Fernanda, and congratulations.   Denmark should be proud to have someone like you residing inside its borders.

It's Trayvon Martin's 18th Birthday

If it weren't for a February 26 encounter with an armed bigot named George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin would be spending today enveloped in the love of his family, girlfriend, and closest friends celebrating his 18th birthday.

But instead he's six feet underground and the idiot responsible for it is trying to hide behind Florida's ALEC and NRA sponsored Kill A Black Kid With Impunity Stand Your Ground law.

I didn't appreciate seeing this racist tweet from South Carolina Republican (who else?) Todd Kincannon conflating Trayvon and his opinion of Sunday's Super Bowl.   Thanks Wonkette for your commentary on it and thanks TransGriot reader Jason Byrd for bringing it to my attention.

A Southern conservative saying he needed to be put down like a rabid dog?  And you wonder why your party and conservatism in general has only 6% support amongst African-American voters if that much.   .

Racism has spread and metastasized inside the GOP body politic and the festering infected boils on the body surface of it need to be lanced in the 2014 election cycle.

Political rant over.  Time to get back to talking about Trayvon.

Yeah, you conservafools can continue to try to deny it until the end of time, but this Martin case has been about race ever since Trayvon had the misfortune of running into Zmmerman as he returned from his fatal late night run to the store to get Skittles and iced tea.

People may wish to say a few words of prayer for Trayvon's parents Sybrina and Tracy, his family, his girlfriend and everyone else who loved him.  Their family will definitely be feeling his loss and need every ounce of strength they can muster to get through this day.

It's Rosa's 100th Birthday

Today would have been the 100th birthday of iconic civil rights leader Rosa Parks, who was born on this date in Tuskegee, AL in 1913.

She is known for being the catalyst of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but she'd been active in the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP since December 1943 and was a member of the Voter's League among her other civil rights work.






The 'Mother of the Civil Rights Movement' when she passed away in October 2005 becaue the first woman and only the second non-politican to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda

She also has a statue in the Capitol building's National Statuary Hall in addition to being a recipient of the NAACP's Spingarn medal in 1979,  the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.  
And because she was tired of enduring injustice, she sat down and allowed herself and our people to stand up and fight for our human rights.

Happy birthday, Rosa.  

'Ask A Trans-Attracted Man' YouTube Channel

One of the things I've talked about is how hard love is to find for a straight trans woman.  

I've written a post directed at the cis brothers who wish to step to us romantically detailing what it will take on their end to successfully handle their romantic business.

I've also discussed the fact that girls like us need to do a better job of appreciating the men who do genuinely love us (and not in a fetishistic way).

If we trans women want to have stable, long lasting relationships that will result in them putting a ring on our fingers we've got to do our part to deal with our shame, guilt and fear issues and love ourselves so we can properly love somebody else.

And naw cis men, loving a girl like us doesn't make you gay.

Just in time for another rapidly approaching Valentine's Day is a YouTube channel addressing those issues.

It's run by Troy, who is a brother who has and enjoys dating trans women.  He also wants to do his part to erase the stigma that surrounds cis brothers who date trans women and 'ejumacate' people at the same time.   He also wants to help the men who love us get over their fear and reticence about openly doing so. 

To accomplish that mission, he's started a YouTube video channel entitled 'Ask A Trans-Attracted Man' with two videos so far.







You can ask him questions on that YouTube channel

The 3rd Annual TransGriot African-American Trans History Quiz

Here it is, the 3rd Annual incarnation of the TransGriot African-American Trans History Quiz.   It's an open Internet test and some of the answer to these 25 questions will be buried in previous TransGriot posts.

I'll give y'all a few days to ponder them before the quiz answers are posted at midnight Central time Thursday..

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1.  Kylar Broadus and Dr Marisa Richmond were two of the 13 delegates to this event that took place in Charlotte last summer.   Name the event.

2. This Chicago activist wrote a one act play, organized a trans pride event and considers herself an 'artivist'  Who is she?

3. This IFGE Trinity Award winner was appointed to this position in Washington DC.  Name the position.

4. True or False.  Janet Mock was invited to attend an LGBT reception at the Vice President's residence.

5.  The TransGriot was one of the participants in a historic event at last year's Netroots Nation.  What was it?

6.  At  last year's NBJC OUT on the Hill their first ever trans town hall was conducted.  Who were the four participants in the town hall and who was the moderator of it?

7. Rapper Katey Red made a cameo appearance on this HBO television show.  Name it.

8. According to a 1966 Sepia magazine article, who is considered the 'First Negro Sex Change"?

A. Avon Wilson                                C. Delisa Newton
B. Carlett Brown                              D. Carole Small

9. True or False.  Valerie Spencer was part of the first all trans production of The Vagina Monologues in 2004. 

10. Dee Dee Chamblee runs an organization called LaGender in this southern US city.   Name it.

11. True or False.  Pioneering transman Alexander John Goodrum is from San Francisco.

12. Which one of these companies did Tracy Africa Norman NOT have a modeling campaign contract with during her heyday?

A. Clairol                                           C.  Ultra Sheen
B. Avon Cosmetics                             D.  Newport cigarettes

13.  True or False  Kortney Ryan Ziegler produced a 2008 film called 'Still Black: A Portrait Of Black Transmen

14. Trans woman Georgia Black, whose story was chronicled in a 1951 EBONY article, lived in which Florida town?

A Sanford                                            C. Quincy
B Kissimmee                                        D. Tallahassee

15. Who said this in a 1954 EBONY magazine article?.  "I ain't done nothing wrong and I ain't beaking no laws"

16. In what year did Althea Garrison win her race for the Massachusetts state legislature?

17. KK Logan took what Indiana city's school board to court for barring her from attending her 2006 high school prom in femme attire?

A. Ft Wayne                                         C. Indianapolis
B. Gary                                                 D. Evansville

18. True or False. The police investigation into the death of Stonewall veteran Marsha P. Johnson was reopened.

19. This trans woman is the author of the novels The Other Women: A Story Of Three Transsexuals, The Lie, Sex And the Single Transsexual, and Shattered Dreams: An African American Family Story.   Name her.   

20.  T Desiree Hines is someone we just lost to cancer.  What instrument did this talented musician play?

21. Titica is a girl like us who is a rising music star in her nation's fusion of techno and rap called kuduro.   What nation is she from?

22. What transperson said this line?  'We transwomen aren't taking any crap anymore from cis people who seem to think we exist to be a punchline for a joke or to bully to make themselves feel more secure in their own gender identities and sexual orientation.'

23   True or False: FTM International has had an African-American trans man run it.

24.  Trans actress Ajita Wilson accomplished this feat in August 1981?  What was it? 

25.  An African-American trans woman and transman were two of the people photographed for a groundbreaking anti-trans discrimination poster campaign in this city.   Name the city.