Black Trans Woman Killed In Florida And Subsequently Misgendered By The Media

Here we fracking go again.   This time this all too familiar situation shifts to Orlando, FL  

30 year old Ashley Sinclair was found shot to death early this morning in a wooded area on Rio Grande Drive just off S. Orange Blossom Trail in Orange County.   Police responded to neighbors calling 911 at 6 AM EDT reporting shots fired in the 1600 block of Nimrod Lane. 

A neighbor said they saw a black sedan pull up and then heard four shots fired.

“I look out my window. I see black car here. Then I hear ‘boom, boom, boom.’ Four,” said neighbor Ramon.   Deputies searched the woods and knocked on doors to get any information.


“This is an obvious victim of a homicide. They have been out canvassing the area to see if they’ve seen anything. They do have the victim identified, but have not notified the next of kin yet,” said Jeff Williamson with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

Anyone with information regarding this homicide investigation that will lead to the capture and conviction of the wastes of DNA who did this is urged to call  CrimeLine at 800-423-TIPS (8477).
Now that we got that business out of the way regarding another fallen trans sister and hopefully gotten the process started toward bringing the people who killed her to justice, let me start calling out the misgendering of another African-American transwoman by the media.  But before I go off, let's review the AP Stylebook guidelines for reporting on trans people shall we?

    

Transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.   
If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

I can't tell you how many posts I've written on this blog about media outlets all over the country REPEATEDLY failing to grasp what is so simple a concept to follow that even this humble blogger gets something Amanda Evans and the award winning journalists at News13 in the Orlando, FL area didn't   

Take a look at the photo the family provided of Ashley.  She is not a 'transgender man' as you reported, Amanda.  A transgender man is someone who was born in a female body like yours and whose gender identity and gender presentation to the world is male.  

Ashley is a transgender female.   

And I'm pissed off not only because once again another one of my trans sisters is gone from this Earth too soon, I'm pissed off because she was misgendered in this report.    I'm also angry because I've seen this crap happen with African-American (and Latina) girls like us far too often in the media.

Now lets see how long it's going to take for your award winning website to correct this misgendering of Ashley Sinclair.

What Would 50 Days Of Nonviolence Look Like For A Trans Person?

Was happy to note that on the 45th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr a campaign is being launched to tackle youth violence in the ATL.  

The '50 Days Of Nonviolence' program being sponsored by the King Center is challenging the youth of Atlanta to abstain from violence for the remainder of the school year.  Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. King and CEO of the King Center echoed her father's words by stating  "As my father said, 'The choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence.'"  

She also said, "We believe young people have a leadership role to play in creating a nonviolent society." .

I would add to Ms. King's words it's not just young people who have a role to play in creating a nonviolent society.  Adults have a major role to play in it as well because they are the ones sitting on the school boards, the city councils, the county governments, the state legislatures and in Congress who have the power to enact legislation that will help shape society toward that lofty goal.

Noting there is a sizable cluster of transpeople in the Atlanta metro area, transpeople in the ATL and around our nation would definitely like to see that 50 days of nonviolence spread beyond the younglings.  We'd like to see adults in the ATL and beyond step up to the plate and role model it as well being that we have unacceptably high levels of violence aimed at us.

So what would 50 days of nonviolence look like for the trans community?   That's seven weeks plus one day.   It's 50 days of experiencing people not trying to kill, physically or sexually assault girls like us.  It's 50 days of not hearing or having provocative hate speech aimed at us.

It's 50 days of transpeople taking coordinated, peaceful action to push toward making trans human rights a reality in our country.  It's 50 days of  us using nonviolent methodology, tactics combined with Kingian love to fight back against unjust laws like Arizona's 'No Loo For You' SB 1045 Bill and other unjust laws aimed at trans people.   

It's 50 days of us in the trans community doing what we can to make it more unified and cohesive.  It's 50 days of us loving ourselves, our allies and here's the hard part, even our enemies.

And if we can consistently do that for 50 days, why not 50 weeks?  50 months?  50 years? 

So let's do this.

Janet Mock's Trans 100 Closing Speech

I saw the Trans 100 event live feed on Sunday and like the rest of you am anxiously waiting for the curators to finish their work getting the video ready to post along with the final touches for the Trans100 List itself.

Once that's done and it's available, I'll be posting it here.  

But in the interim, thanks to Meggan Sommerville and her Trans Girl At the Cross blog, there's video of Janet Mock's eloquent closing speech from Sunday night's Trans 100 event.  

45th Anniversary of Dr. MLK, Jr's Assassination

It's now 45 years since that awful April 4, 1968 day that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated in Memphis, TN at 6:01 PM CDT.  

I was four weeks from celebrating my sixth birthday at the time and because of that assassin's bullet Dr King unfortunately would not live to celebrate his 40th.

2013 finds us in the interesting and ironic convergence of this year that we mark the somber 45th anniversary of his assassination also being the 50th anniversaries of Dr King writing the famous Letter From Birmingham City Jail, the Birmingham Campaign, the March on Washington and the 'I Have A Dream' Speech, and the bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

And yes, we still have an African-American president and his family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

There are times I wonder where this country would be if the Drum Major For Justice had been able to live through the 70's and 80's.  We know his stance on the Vietnam War and he was increasingly focused on economic issues..  What would he have commented on in terms of the issues of the 1970's and 1980's?

Renee of Womanist Musings and I discussed that during his birthday weekend.

He definitely would have praised the Nixon Administration for ending the American involvement in the Vietnam War but called them out over Watergate.  He would have decried the Yom Kippur War, the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and probably criticized Ronald Reagan for his Evil Empire rhetoric that dangerously increased Cold War tensions between the US and USSR to the point that as we now know World War III almost got jumped off.   

And what would Dr. King have said about Stonewall and the LGBT rights movement?  The ERA and the rise of a conservative movement that disingenuously hid behind the Bible to roll back human rights?.

There's not too many things I agree with Tavis Smiley about these days, but there is one statement I'm in lock step agreement with him on in terms of him stating that Dr. King was the greatest American our people have ever produced.

And the memorial to him in Washington DC is an exclamation point to that..

NY Ballroom Community Calling For 2013 Latex Ball Boycott

Interesting things happening in the New York Ballroom Community and they center on the 2013 Latex Ball.

It's considered the largest ball competition for the ballroom community in the world.  The 22nd annual edition of it at the historic Roseland Ballroom in New York back in August 2012 drew over 2000 people from the New York area and around the world competing in 26 categories in dance, vogueing, fashion, appearance and attitude.

It was an event that counted among the people attending it fashion models from Wilhelmina Models, members of the Imperial Court of New York, and countless others. The event incorporated HIV testing and sexual health messaging provided by GMHC, other community-based organizations, and the New York City and NY State health departments.   Over 2,000 people from the NYC area, across the nation and around the world attended the ball which raised nearly $28,000.

But it is that $28,000 from last year's event that has the ballroom community ready to chop their participation in this mega event.  There have been calls from various quarters of the community to boycott the 2013 edition of the Latex Ball because of unanswered questions about where the money went. 



The Historic and Cultural House Ball Institute and its council that represents 20 houses and 12 ballroom hall of famers on it are reflective of the simmering anger in the ballroom community about this issue.   They argue (and they have a major point here) since there wouldn't be a Latex Ball without the cooperation and involvement of the community, there should have been some effort by GMHC to give a portion of the proceeds raised to the ballroom community so that it would directly benefit the ballroom kids. 

Gay Men's Health Crisis is claiming they used the money raised at the 2012 Latex Ball for expenses related to putting on the ball and other projects but won't say exactly what projects, programming and how much of the $28,000 raised at the ball was allocated to that GHMC programming. 

GMHC is resisting calls from Wolfgang Busch, the director of the How Do I Look documentary and a longtime supporter of the NY ballroom community and the Historic and Cultural House Ball Institute to produce the documentation backing up their version of the story. 

        




In the meantime the things that make you go hmm questions keep coming from people in the ballroom community.   Sean Coleman asks of GMHC,  Why charge an entrance fee? You are charging $50/$100 for VIP tickets. Where does that money go?  

And the interesting one from Sean:  Why are you as a health service agency allowed to and why would you serve alcoholic beverages at a function in which you are doing HIV/AIDS testing?

Of course, GMHC is doing what most organizations in the middle of a controversy do.  They are circling the wagons, deny, demonize the people criticizing you and engage in radio silence hoping to not draw the considerable attention of the New York media corps to it.  GMHC hopes they can outlast the controversy and make it go away.  But Busch and the ballroom community are just as determined to get the story out there and have countered with protests and YouTube videos designed to get people to ask the hard questions about it..   

But GMHC is in a no win position.  The only way the controversy will die is if GMHC not only starts talking, but opens their books and prove they spent the 2012 Latex Ball money on programming.

It's either you do so to Wolfgang Busch and the ballroom community or find yourself in addition to facing a boycott that would put a crimp in a highly anticipated ballroom community event, you'll be facing a federal indictment and having to prove to the feds where the money went.

Fallon's Florida Boxing License Is Valid!

 

Fallon 1-Haters 0  

Glad to hear the the Florida Boxing Commission didn't wait until Friday to resole the matter either.  

Still goes back to what I said in the earlier post.   If Fallon Fox were 0-5, these cis women wouldn't be tripping.  But since Fallon is a girl like us is undefeated, rkicking azz and taking names, everybody wants to hate on her.  

Good luck in your next bout, Fallon.



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Dr. King's I've Been To The Mountaintop Speech

45 years ago today Dr. King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers.  He gave this "I've Been To The Mountaintop' speech which sadly turned out to be the last of his brilliant but oh so brief life.





The next day April 4, an assassin's bullet took his life as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

This is the full speech


H/T Michael's Rant     

Brittney Griner To The NBA?

While I'm disappointed my Houston homegirl won't be playing for another NCAA women's title this weekend in New Orleans, I'm keenly aware of the fact that Ms. Griner will be the number one draft pick in the WNBA draft and the Phoenix Mercury can't wait until April 15 to call her name.

Interesting news out of Dallas is that Mark Cuban is considering drafting her in the second round for his Dallas Mavericks and if he doesn't,. giving her a tryout for the Mavericks summer league team to see if she can play ball at the professional level with the NBA fellas

"If she is the best on the board, I will take her," Cuban said before the Mavs Tuesday night game against the Los Angeles Lakers. "I've thought about it. I've thought about it already. Would I do it? Right now, I'd lean toward yes, just to see if she can do it. You never know unless you give somebody a chance, and it's not like the likelihood of any late-50s draft pick has a good chance of making it."





Brittney's intrigued by the idea. "I would hold my own! Lets do it." she wrote on Twitter Tuesday night in response to the Cuban NBA chatter.

You all know of Brittney's awesomeness in the NCAA women's ranks.  She finished as the second all time scorer in the women's collegiate ranks with 3,283 points, blocked 748 shots and threw down 18 dunks with 11 of them happening during her senior year.   She would be the second woman after Ann Meyers to get an NBA tryout.  Meyers was a women's hoops star at UCLA and got a tryout with the Indiana Pacers in 1979.

Can Brittney play with the NBA boys?   And will she hear her name called in the WNBA and NBA drafts?

Trans 100 List And Video Coming Soon

TransGriot Note: If you're wondering when the video of the Trans 100 Chicago kickoff event and the Trans 100 List itself will be posted, here's curator Jen Richards to explain the delay.   It'll go up on TransGriot as soon as it becomes available.


First and foremost, thank you all for your support and feedback. It will likely take me several weeks to properly express the gratitude I feel for each and every of the many whose passion, skill, and presence made this effort possible.

I’d like to address the two most common questions I’m being asked: when will the list be ready, and when will the video be released?

The will be available sometime in the next few days. I wish I could be more specific, but securing the permission and attaining the approved hothead, bio and links for each of the 100 selections has turned out to be more of a logistical challenge than we expected. One of the many, many lessons we’re learning in our first attempt here. Please bear in mind that since the sharable list can’t be edited once released, we feel it’s important to do this right than do it quickly.

Likewise, release the video, either an archive of the livestream or the edited footage from My Zen Studios requires time and the input of many parties. As with the list, we feel the same urgency you do, and will do our absolute best to expedite the materials so you can bear witness, enjoy and share.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you.
Jen

GOP Homobigot Attacking Texas Collegiate LGBT Centers Again With Unjust Amendment

Back in the 2011 session former State Rep Wayne Christian (R-Center) wasn't living up to his name and tried to pass an amendment in the state education funding bill that attempted to kill the GLBT centers on the Texas A&M, University of Houston, and University of Texas campuses by defunding them and banning them from being housed on campus. 

That amendment was dropped after Democrats threatened to scuttle the bill the hate amendment was attached to. 

Fast forward to this session of the Lege.   While Wayne Christian is (thank God) no longer in Austin, his idea unfortunately remains alive.  State Rep Bill Zedler (R-Arlington) has picked up the GLBT hating torch left by Christian and filed an amendment to SB1, the Texas general appropriations bill that would cut state funding from universities that have 'Gender and Sexuality Centers and Related Student Centers' on the grounds that they 'support, promote, or encourage any behavior that would lead to high risk behavior for AIDS, HIV, Hepatitis B, or any sexually transmitted disease.'

The conservacowards in Zedler's office wouldn't return phone calls to the Dallas Voice for comment    Why am I not surprised?

And in related news in College Station, the future homohaters in the Texas A&M student Senate continued their years long attack on the GLBT Center.  A vote may be taken later this week on a measure that would allow Aggie students to opt out of funding the GLBT Resource Center with their activity fees if they have 'religious objections'.

While Zedler's unjust amendment is aimed at the GLBT centers at UH, A&M and UT, in their zeal to legislatively bash the Texas TBLG community the women's centers on various Texas university campus may also be negatively affected by this unjust amendment along with the LGBT program at the University of Texas at Arlington in Zedler's district.    

So for you peeps living in the Lone Star State and our allies, you may wish to get busy calling your state rep and letting them know you want that amendment to die..
 

The Pageant and Ballroom Community Girls Are #GirlsLikeUs, Too

One of the subjects that I talked with Jahaira at length about yesterday was the need to recognize that #girlslikeus also includes the crossdressers who have the gender epiphany, start making the move toward the transitioned full time end of the spectrum but the girls in the pageant and ballroom community.

We're not all middle class, college educated peeps that get to congregate at the increasing palette of wonderful conferences like OUT on the Hill and BTMI/BWMI.   For some of our sisters who fit that middle class collegiate description their ultimate goal is to spend a Labor Day weekend in Chicago competing for the Miss Continental title or striving for legendary status in their various categories in the ballroom community.

What some people (I'm looking side-eyed at you TS Separatists) fail to realize is that for many non-white transkids, the pageant and ballroom communities ARE their transition pathway and support system if their families reject them.   They use the prize money they win from the pageants and balls to pay for their transitions and the work they need to do to feminize their bodies.

As they gain prestige, affirmation and legendary status in the pageant and ballroom communities our sisters begin to overcome the shame, fear and guilt issues that plague all girls like us at times and have a support system in place for those moments when they need to talk to someone about the issues we all deal with.

For example, if you are a young person competing n the Fem Queen Realness category in which you must be as close to feminine perfection as possible in the judges minds, you get 10's across the board from them, and get affirmation and love from the ballroom patrons and the competitors from other houses, you begin to build up the confidence that you can actually become the woman of your dreams and successfully interact with the world outside the ballroom community.

If you think I'm kidding about that, just check out the examples of  Leiomy Maldonado and Isis King who have parlayed their time in the ballroom community in their respective categories to mainstream success. 

Just as in the ballroom community, the lessons you learn from competing in pageants also carry over into your life as well.  In addition to learning how to stand tall, speak clearly and concisely and make sure your feminine presentation is on point,  you also learn you can do all that and still not win. You learn to be a classy winner and a gracious loser.  You learn that it's going to take a lot of hard work through stiff competition to reach your goals.  You also learn that a beautiful face isn't everything.  You also have to have a beautiful heart and keen mind to go with it.        

There are some thoughtful, intelligent voices in the pageant and ballroom communities who are ready, willing and able to do what they can to advance trans human rights if we activists peeps humbly ask them for their help.  One example of that is my homegirl Amirage back in Louisville who is not only a major figure in the pageant world, but was part of the efforts to get the Fairness Ordinance passed in the late 90's. 

There are proud girls like us in the both the pageant and ballroom community who have donated their time, talents and efforts to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in not only their respective circles, but the African-American community as well. 

It's past time we started including our trans sisters in those sectors of our trans community into the discussions about owning our power.  We need to chat with our pageant and ballroom sisters about what they need, how they see the world and what policies they would like to see happen.  They need some love, respect and media light shined on their sectors of the community.

And if we're going to craft solid trans specific policies that will shape how Trans World will look in the rest of this decade and beyond, representatives from the pageant and ballroom communities need to be at the table when we have those ongoing policy discussions.

But one thing we should never forget is the pageant and ballroom community girls are also girls like us, we all have being trans women as a common thread, and we have people that irrationally hate on ALL of us simply for having the courage to honestly live our lives.

So let's get busy focusing on what unites us and doing what's best for the entire trans community human rights wise rather than what divides us.  
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Jahaira's Mission Video Blog

I like checking out some of the trans video bloggers and shining the TransGriot spotlight on either their blogs or various video posts that I believe have a message that needs to be signal boosted and shared with my readers.

Introducing Jahaira.  She sent me an e-mail concerning the post I wrote in which I discussed my desire to start forging links with people in the ballroom and pageant community and have consistent, substantive conversations with them.

Jahaira has reached legendary status in the Fem Queen Realness ranks of the ballroom community, and it was a long, interesting and wonderful conversation.

We discussed the intersection of trans issues with the pageant and ballroom communities along with other just shooting the breeze girl talk.  Her Jahaira's Mission video blog has been around since 2010 and has 256 videos and counting. 

Jahaira was recently featured on the WE Happy Trans blog, which has a feature similar to my TransGriot Ten Questions on that asks seven questions of the people they interview.  In order to introduce you to her, here's her video in which she answers the We Happy Trans 7 Questions.

 

HRC, You STILL Have A Problem

“It is not true to suggest that any person or organization was told their flag was less important than another – this did not occur and no HRC staff member would ever tolerate such behavior. To be clear, it is the position of the Human Rights Campaign that marriage is an issue that affects everyone in the LGBT community.   Michael Cole-Schwartz HRC Communications Director

After declaring to the world the incident at the SCOTUS rally didn't happen, circling the wagons and basically calling National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Jerame Davis and John Becker liars, The  Human Rights Campaign flip flopped faster than Mitt Romney in 2012 campaign mode and released a statement admitting what Trans and Bi World believes happened and a plurality of LG World suspects did by issuing an apology    

Human Rights Campaign Statement on March 27 Events
From Fred Sainz

In the midst of a tremendously historic week for our community, two unfortunate incidents at the United for Marriage event at the Supreme Court last week have caused pain in the community. In one case, a trans activist was asked to remove the trans pride flag from behind the podium, and in another, a queer undocumented speaker was asked to remove reference to his immigration status in his remarks.

HRC joined in a coalition statement on Friday apologizing for these incidents and the individuals involved have personally offered their apologies to those affected. But to be perfectly clear, HRC regrets the incidents and offers our apologies to those who were hurt by our actions. We failed to live up to the high standard to which we hold ourselves accountable and we will strive to do better in the future.

Yeah, right.  I have some waterfront property along I-10 between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge I'd like to sell you if you believe that statement was sincere.   It's an apology that Kat Rose at ENDA Blog 2.0 noted comes on April Fool's Day.

You STILL have a problem HRC, and this time I'm just going to spell out what your problems are with the trans community that have led to the extremely low level of confidence in your organization from the trans community.  

Your shady past transphobic history plays a major part in this.   It is also the fact you have had only two trans people sit on your board, which is the exact number of out transpeople that you have hired to work for you in your entire existence.  Your penchant (when you deign to do so) to hire transpeople who have no grassroots organizing experience or background with the history of the trans rights movement is also troubling to us..

That plays into the already negative perception that elements of the trans community have of HRC that you don't care about us or our issues.  It is also a trans community perception that it's in your organizational DNA to treat transpeople as less than equal.

It was interesting to read the press release bragging about the support you mustered and the millions spent to get marriage equality passed in Maryland, but couldn't (or wouldn't) commit to the same level of support and effort to pass a statewide trans rights bill pending in the Maryland state legislature at the same time.

Actions speak louder than words.  The SCOTUS rally flag kerfluffle said to the trans community that you really don't think of trans people as equals and you don't consider our issues important despite the fact we transpeople are fighting tooth and nail for the same basic human rights that you gay and lesbian peeps already enjoy.

And too many times you gay and lesbian folks gained those rights by repeatedly throwing trans people under the human rights bus.  We saw our stories appropriated, us getting cut out of legislation in the name of 'incremental progress' that eventually passed and protects GL people.

And it infuriates us when you euphemistically call GL only rights laws 'equality'.

Yep HRC, that's the hole that you're trying to climb out of, and March 27 only restarted the ossification of those beliefs held by the trans community.   As I said in that March 29 post, you had zero room for errors, misspeaking, or mistakes, and this one is a doozy.

What we're going to need to see this time is a concrete plan to permanently fix the internal HRC issues with transpeople so that you DON'T have another incident like this again.   I would suggest hiring talented transpeople across the board in all ethnic and age demographics in our community and keep them there a minimum of five years as a first step.

It not only makes a dent in our unemployment numbers, but it's painfully obvious you need to have some transpeople at Rhode Island Ave.  You don't know, are unaware or clueless on how to talk to us.  You don't have intimate knowledge of the issues that affect our diverse trans community and it ain't going to get any easier as time passes and the country becomes more diverse.   

And the second thing that needs to happen now is you need to start treating the trans community as a respected partner because our power is only going to continue to grow.   That means you are going to need to get used to having honest communications with us and the people we designate as our leaders, not the ones you choose to talk to.

HRC, you STILL have a problem.  The onus is on you to decide whether you wish to solve it. 

MMA World Still Hatin' On Fallon Fox

Still keeping an eye on the drama surrounding trans MMA fighter Fallon Fox. 

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees the Florida Boxing Commission, is expected to conclude an investigation into Fox's license on April 5.  

In the meantime life goes on for Fox since her license is not frozen or suspended and she has an upcoming May 24 bout with Allana Jones that could possibly be televised..

In the wake of Miesha Tate going on the record as saying she would refuse to fight Fox, she made an appearance on the Inside MMA show and asserted that any fighter who refused to face her was doing so out of fear. 

Fox has a valid point.  They are refusing to fight her out of fear and stereotypes about trans feminine athletes, but the comment incensed Peggy Morgan and her trainer.  They released a transphobic video declaring that she wouldn't fight Fox as trainer John Fain disrespected her. 

Morgan appears to be backing away from some of the inflammatory transphobic statements her trainer John Fain made, but they still are ignorant and skating close to the edge of transphobia. 

I am not an expert in gender reassignment, but I have a hard time believing that there is no correlation between Fallon’s success in the cage and the fact that she lived as a man for thirty-one years."

And that's the key point Peggy. Neither you or the transphobes commenting on the Net are experts on trans issues or trans athletes, much less have experienced living your lives as a trans woman.

Fox, meanwhile, blasted Morgan and Fain's video in a posting on her official Facebook page, saying they were mostly worried about losing the $20,000 offered to the tourney's winner.

"I wonder if I should argue that her long bone structure is an unfair advantage to all the female competitors in the tournament? Nah, I won't do that," Fox said in response to the transphobic video. "Because I realize that her advantage is something that I must overcome. It is a challenge and I welcome it!"

Medical evidence is on Fallon Fox's side.  Whatever advantage Fox had experiencing muscle and body development growing up as male is gone after her first year on hormone replacement therapy. That muscle development becomes FEMININE in character and strength level under the continued influence of estrogen.

I know that firsthand because I discovered when I played tennis post transition I can't hit my serve as hard as I used to. 

To assume that Fox has a natural advantage because she was born male is sexist and a disrespectful commentary concerning the abilities and talents of cis female athletes. Frankly, if Fallon Fox were 0-5 not one of you cis women or you transphobes would have anything to say about the issue of her being in MMA.

But since she's kicking butt and excelling in the sport it's let's try to find whatever excuse we can use to kick her out of MMA or frustrate her to the point that maybe she'll quit and we won't have to deal with the t----y kicking our azzes anymore.

But did anyone in their rush to hate on Fallon Fox think about the possibility that hey, maybe Fallon Fox IS  that good and we have to step up our athletic game to compete with her?

No Joke- I've Been Named To The Inaugural Trans 100 List!

The kickoff event for the inaugural Trans 100 list took place at the Mayne Stage in Chicago last night.  The sold out event was streamed live online.  

So for those of you who had other business this Easter weekend and are wondering what's this Trans 100 List Moni is talking about,  it's an annual listing of 100 Trans individuals from all over the country who are currently alive and active in the work of making the lives of Trans people better. It is a curated listing, with nominations solicited from the general public.

The kickoff event was emceed by KOKUMO, and in addition to the stellar entertainment lineup that featured Namoli Brennet, Joe Stevens and the show's emcee KOKUMO singing a song from her EP, it also featured inspiring speeches from Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Laverne Cox and a closing event one from Janet Mock

But the highlight of the historic evening was the unveiling of the inaugural Trans 100 list of people doing the work to advance trans human rights in the United States.

Heard a lot of familiar names as the lists were read in alphabetical order by first name and some I had to go 'who's that?' on.   And as the sixth list of ten names was read, just after Miss Major came yours truly.

While there were some trans pioneers, trans elders and long time activists like Andy Marra, Dr. Kelley Winters, Dr Susan Stryker, Cecilia Chung, Dragosani Renteria,  Dr. Marisa Richmond,  Kylar Broadus, S. Bear Bergman, Diego Sanchez, Pauline Park, Paisley Currah, Bamby Salcedo, Ruby Corado, Earline Budd just to name a few on the list, we also had Kokumo, Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, Namoli Brennet, CeCe McDonald and many up and coming activists on this diverse national list.

It was not only ethnically diverse, it was also geographically diverse.  Not all of the peeps on the list reside on I-5, I-95 or inside the Capitol Beltway     

Speaking of geographic diversity, Lone Star bragging alert.  In addition to moi, there were three other Texans on this list.  The 'godmother of the trans rights movement' in Judge Phyllis Frye, BTMI (Black Trans Men Inc) founder Carter Brown and Katy Stewart of Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT).

Do I accept the honor of being on this inaugural Trans 100 List?   You damned skippy I do.  After all the times in this space I've griped about trans people being ignored when trans-free LGBT lists are put together and especially trans people of color, it was wonderful to see the community come together to create this event and the curators take time out of their busy schedules to make Antonia D'orsay's dream come to life that Jen Richards co-signed on.

Once it's finalized, the list will be posted at the Trans 100 website.   They are also working on getting the Trans 100 kickoff event video posted as well   Once both tasks are done I'll post it to TransGriot.

I hope to see more deserving trans Texans on next year's list such as Minister Carmarion Anderson, Lou Weaver, Meghan Stabler, Cristan Williams, Diamond Stylz, Josephine Tittsworth, Nell Gaither, and Dr Oliver Blumer.  

If there is someone you think should be on next year's list, nominate them.

Classic TransGriot April Fools' Day Posts

I started a blog tradition in 2008 when I was at the Bilerico Project of writing joke and spoof posts on April Fool's Day that I carried over to TransGriot . Here are some of my classics that have appeared on these TransGriot electronic pages.

I'm Sellin' Out

I'm Joining HRC

I'm Joining The NCTE Board


Dan Savage To Transition

RuPaul Hospitalized After Being DROP Squaded


I'm Joining The New Black Panthers


I'm Joining The TS Separatist Ranks


Chuck Knipp DROP Squaded


Drop Squad Strikes Again-Jimi Izrael Targeted

TransGriot To Debate Cathy Brennan At Smith College

I received an e-mail Friday afternoon from Cathy Brennan challenging me to a debate on the topic of the jacked up trans exclusionary admissions policies that kept Calliope Wong out of the elite women's school

I have accepted that debate challenge and we are finalizing the details and debate rules.   We have agreed on a location and it will take place on the Smith College campus in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Our gracious hosts at Smith College will be flying me up to participate in this important conversation about this issue.  I'm looking forward to it and vanquishing her on the debate stage. 

Home girl bit off more than she can chew in this one and I'm going to prove it when I eviscerate her weak azzed transphobic arguments for the whole world to see as soon as we can settle on a date and time that works with both our schedules.

Speaking of dates, check the one at the top of this post.  

April Fool!  I had to come up with something to keep up my annual TransGriot tradition of spoof posts, and thought this would do the trick.

Oh I would love to get her at a debate podium one on one.  But y'all know our  least favorite trans oppressor would never publicly debate me or ANY trans woman because she knows her positions are untenable and we'd intellectually chew her up and spit her out for breakfast.   She'd rather hide behind her computer terminal and fling transphobic insults all day.

But, we can dream, eh? 

Chicago Trans 100 Kickoff Event Live Feed

If you're in the TransGriot's shoes and couldn't be in Chicago (or Phoenix darn it), or couldn't get tickets for the sold out Trans 100 Launch Event featuring the talents of KOKUMO, Janet Mock, Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Namoli Brennet and Joe Stevens, now you can be in the room.

When the Trans 100 event starts at 7 PM CDT it will have a live feed you can watch.  You knew Moni was going to make it easy on you TransGriot readers to find it, so just click on this link to watch the action LIVE from the Mayne Stage.

And yep, I'm wondering myself who will be the folks on the initial Trans 100 List.   Looking forward to the day when we get to see multiple national and international trans lists.

You can tune in tonight to find out the 100 trans people who were honored for the inaugural US list. 

Conversations With Tona Brown Video Series

The multi-talented Tona Brown has started posting interviews of various people in the trans community and others that pique her interest on her YouTube channel. 

She calls the segment 'Conversations With Tona Brown' and if you're wondering when your favorite blogger is scheduled to do one, it's going to happen the next time I'm in the Washington DC area.

These are wonderful interview which are not only shedding light on these two longtime Baltimore area activists, they are capturing a historical moment in time for future generations of trans people and frankly deserve a wider audience.    

Here are some of the interviews she's done already with Cydne Kimbrough. and Monica Stevens

Cydne Kimbrough Part 1

 


Cydne Kimbrough Part 2




Monica Stevens Part 1





Monica Stevens Part 2

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending March 29

With our GOP controlled legislature in session and capable of much mischief until May, we much be vigilant and keep an eye on what the heck they are doing.  

Thank goodness we have Equality Texas' Daniel Williams doing all that hard work, breaking down what's happening and making it easier for us to stay informed .

And now, here's Daniel!