Two Pronged Teahadist Attacks On Texas Collegiate TBLG Centers Terminated

The Texas Teahadists have had their water on for the LGBT centers on the Texas A&M, University of Houston and University of Texas campuses for some time and launched efforts to kill them in this 2013 legislative session. .  

It was a two pronged effort on the Texas A&M campus.  The homobigots on campus there have been trying for years to kill the GLBT center.   They launched another effort to take away its funding by authoring the 'GLBT Funding Opt Out Bill'  that would have given Aggie students the option to opt out of funding for the center if they have 'religious objections' to it.

Less than 24 hours before the April 3 vote they attempted to put lipstick on this pig of this unjust bill by renaming it the 'Religious Funding Exemption Bill' and removing all references to the GLBT center in a feeble attempt to mask the blatant anti-GLBT bigotry and deflect attention from the fact it was an attack upon the center. 

After 3 hours of contentious debate it passed on a 35-28 vote and the unjust bill was sent to Texas A&M student body president John L. Claybrook for his signature.   

Claybrook vetoed the unjust measure on April 5

News this week that some student senators had targeted the center thrust the traditionally conservative university into the national spotlight, and Claybrook said it was time to “stop the bleeding.”

“The damage must stop today,” Claybrook wrote in a letter announcing his intention to veto. “Texas A&M students represent our core value of respect exceptionally and I’m very proud of the family at this university. Now, more than ever, is the time to show great resolve and come together, treating each other like the family that we are.”

The future Teahadist student senators pushing this unjust measure can try to override Claybrook's veto, but it will take a 2/3 vote to do so.  It didn't have a 2/3 majority when it passed so it's likely the veto will stand.  Even if they were successful and it became A&M policy, it would almost certainly be struck down in court and expose the deafeningly silent senior Texas A&M administration officials to legal liability.  

Ken Upton, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal’s Dallas office, said even if the bill were signed and adopted as university policy, it wouldn’t last long.

“The most likely result is that a court would step in and stop it before it even happened,” Upton said.   He said there was clear legal precedent on the issue as laid out in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth, where students sued their university because they opposed multicultural, environmental and GLBT groups.

“This issue is pretty well settled,” Upton said.

If somehow the measure did work its way through the courts, he said, top university officials could be held liable.

“… The people with decision making authority who allowed it to happen could be held liable full money damages,” Upton said. “But it would probably be struck down so quickly that money damages wouldn’t be an issue.”

Meanwhile, on the University of Houston campus their Student Government Association unanimously approved a resolution opposing the second prong of this attack on Texas collegiate LGBT centers  

Proud of my alma mater and their SGA!    


There was also victory on the Austin front as well.  State Rep Bill Zedler (R Teabagger-Arlington) proposed an unjust amendment to the state budget bill designed to eliminate LGBT resource centers on state university and college campuses. The amendment would also eliminate state funding for women's centers and all gender and sexuality centers at Texas universities.    Under pressure, he withdrew that amendment   

Hasta la vista, unjust bills.

So this two pronged attack on GLBT centers is terminated for now, but you know we Lone Star State progressives must be forever vigilant as long as the GOP has control of our state legislature and the governor's mansion because the homobigots will not stop until their mission is completed.

Joanne Cassar Wins! Maltese Government Drops Objections To Her Right To Marry

TransGriot Note: E-mail this one to HRC and Karin Quimby for me will you?

After a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France and even became an issue in the recent Maltese election, Joanne Cassar's long fight to have her marriage rights recognized is victorious.

The April 2 news that the Maltese government will amend the Marriage Act so that trans people can marry the partners of their choice according to their acquired gender was greeted with jubilation and relief.

But none were happier than Joanne Cassar, who has been battling the Maltese government in court for seven years to be able to marry her male partner.   Cassar won and lost cases in the Maltese court system and eventually took her marriage rights legal wrangle to the ECHR.

She gleefully expressed her satisfaction on social media upon hearing the news that her long battle is finally over. 

Cassar even became an issue in the March 9 Maltese election.   In a public rally March 2 before Maltese voters went to the polls then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced in response to an audience question that his ruling Nationalist Party would if re-elected introduce gender recognition legislation in the next parliament.   Gonzi also claimed that the reason why the Maltese parliament never discussed the transgender recognition private member's bill tabled by then Opposition MP Evarist Bartolo was lack of time.

Never mind the fact that the Gonzi government had been fighting Cassar tooth and nail in the courts and she called him on it.     

Cassar accused the Gonzi administration of exploiting her case for political advantage.  She pointed out the hypocrisy of the same government now promising to enact these trans marriage rights fighting to keep the legal obstacles that stood in the way of her ability to get married.

She noted the Gonzi government had even filed written submissions against her right to marry in her ECHR case in Strasbourg.

Former Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio then called upon the Gonzi government to stop officially opposing Joanne Cassar in her bid to marry her partner.

"Not only did the government fail to progress the legislation that was tabled through a private member's bill; but it actually fought Joanne Cassar tooth and nail all the way to the Constitutional Court to deny her the fundamental right to marry her male partner," Briguglio said. "This in spite of clear European Court of Human Rights case-law dating back to 2002 which Malta is obliged to respect."

You know how voters in any country hate hypocritical politicians who also get caught misspeaking lying, and Gonzi's party paid dearly at the polls.  The oppostion Labour Party rolled to a 39-26 landslide victory on Election Night making their leader Joseph Muscat the new Prime Minister.   The Nationalists picked up four at large seats later, but the net loss of five seats ended their 15 years in power.

The Malta Gay Rights Movement's coordinator Gabi Calleja was also happy to hear that the Maltese government finally joined the 21st century and conformed to European law. 

"I think it's about time that Joanne Cassar's ordeal was brought to an end, and that we finally conform to European law at least in so far as marriage is concerned."

The right of transgender persons to marry in Europe was firmly established in the 2002 precedent setting case Christine Goodwin vs the United Kingdom in which the ECHR held that it found no justification for barring transsexuals from enjoying the right to marry under any circumstances.
 
Details on the legal amendment will reflect the principle that, by officially recognizing a person's reassigned gender identity through documentation (ID card or driver's license), the State also de facto commits itself to acknowledging and protecting all the rights and privileges associated with that particular gender identity including the right to marry a person of the opposite gender.

Once the legal amendments are in place, the ECHR case filed against Malta by Cassar will be withdrawn, and her legal expenses will be refunded by the State.

Congrats Joanne on winning your long marriage fight that you never should have had to go through in the first place and striking a blow for girls like us around the world.   

What Took Y'all So Long? UH Coach Guy V. Lewis Elected To Basketball Hall of Fame

On the 30th anniversary of a certain NCAA title game that makes me sick to my stomach to watch, the news that the voters pulled their heads out of their kiesters and finally elected legendary UH coach Guy V. Lewis to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was welcome news for every Cougar fan and alum to hear on this day. 

It's past damned time it happened. 

During his 30 year career he led the UH men's b-ball squad to 592 wins and 27 consecutive winning seasons.   The Cougars went to 14 NCAA tournaments and advanced to the Final Four five times (1967, 1968, 1982, 1983, 1984) and played in back to back NCAA championship games in 1983 and 1984.

Guy V. Lewis (along with Don Haskins at UTEP) were responsible for integrating collegiate basketball in the South when he signed Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney as the first of many African-American players in UH history.

Lewis was the architect of the "Game of the Century" between Number 1 ranked UCLA and Number 2 UH at the Astrodome in 1968. The game was played in front of 52,693 fans and was the first-ever nationally televised college basketball game.  UH won it 71-69 to snap the Bruins' 47-game winning streak. 



And oh yeah, there was Phi Slama Jama.  I was at UH at the time and got to spend more than a few nights at Hofheinz Pavilion watching that high-flying fast breaking slam dunking basketball juggernaut and the game that epitomized that era was the 1983 NCAA semifinal between UH and Louisville.      

Three of Lewis' players, Elvin Hayes, Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon would go on to be selected among the 50 greatest players in NBA history.   Hayes (1990), Drexler (2004) and Olajuwon (2008) would go on to be elected to the Hall of Fame themselves.

Guy Lewis is responsible for the games you see every week, them being played in domed stadiums, integrating basketball in the South and coaching three Hall of Fame players over his career.   That alone should have gotten him elected to the Hall a long time ago.  He was a great coach on top of it even though he never won an NCAA title and one was cruelly snatched away from him by fate. .  

The official announcement will be made tomorrow before the NCAA title game and the induction ceremony will happen in Springfield, MA on September 8.

Now where's my Phi Slama Jama button?    Congrats Guy V. 

Deja Vu Trans EMS Death In New York?

In 1995 I was horrified to hear the story of 24 year old Washington DC trans woman Tyra Hunter, who died at the hands of a transphobic EMT and a doctor who let their transphobia override their obligation and duty to provide medical care in her hour of need.

Once again I'm stunned to hear about another case happening in which a New York EMS technician is alleged to have not done his duty and allowed a trans woman to die after going into diabetic shock.

This case happened back on June 15, 2012 in New York, but we're just now hearing about what happened to 30 year old Shaun Smith because her mother Jenette Cox has filed a lawsuit alleging that EMS responders let her child die because she was trans. .

Smith started her transition and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in 2010.  She purchased estrogen, progesterone and spironolactone online and was taking them without consulting a physician.

It is alleged that after Smith complained of shortness of breath to her mother, Cox told Smith she would get her sneakers so they could go to the emergency room.  When Cox returned she found Smith unresponsive and called 911.  The ambulance arrived on the scene 10 minutes later, the EMS responders took Smith's pulse but said there was nothing they could do, according to Cox. 

Cox repeatedly asked why they were not trying to revive Smith. "They didn’t even open their equipment to try to work on him,” said Cox in the interview with the Sheepshead Bites blog. “They didn’t do nothing for my son.”

The EMS responders declared Smith dead at 4:42 AM EDT.  Court papers state Smith, who had no history of diabetes, died of diabetic ketoacidosis, which results from a shortage of insulin.

“This is somebody who needed urgent care and didn’t get it, and basically what stopped them were breasts on an originally male body,” said Ilya Novofastovsky, the attorney representing Cox in the malpractice and discrimination case against the NYPD and the FDNY, which operates the EMS.

Novofastovsky said discrimination against transgender people by emergency responders and medical workers is a nationwide problem that causes a delay or absence of care, and leads to additional suffering and even death for the patient.

Novofastovsky and Cox also named Harlem Hospital in their lawsuit, which Smith checked into on December 2011, complaining about a headache from having taken “too many diet pills,” according to the hospital report.  The medical report includes the hormones that Smith was taking at the time.

Novofastovsky alleges the hospital was also discriminatory in caring for Smith, having sent her to the mental health clinic rather than given medical care, where they might have discovered the onset of diabetes.

He points to the report from the visit, which diagnosis Smith with an “unspecified, drug induced mental disorder.”

I've written about medical transphobia and the stories of trans people who have had less than pleasant experiences not only accessing health care, but with first responders or medical personnel.  This isn't the first time less than respectful treatment of transpeople by first responders has happened in the Big Apple as this  ugly November 24,1998 incident involving transwoman Jolea Lamot bears witness to. 

It also points to the fact there is an ongoing need for Trans 101 education and training across all sectors for the medical community from medical and nursing schools to first responders and medical assistants in order to avoid another Tyra Hunter incident that could unnecessarily cost another transperson their life. 

Dear T-Girls: Stop Chasing Men Who Don't Want You

Another one of the video bloggers I love is Katherine, who has a video blog entitled Kitty Khaotique with 217 videos and counting.

She has this one with a message that needs to be signal boosted and seen by girls like us who keep insisting on chasing guys that don't want them.  Just stop doing that, love yourself, and focus on finding the guys who do.

I'm Not Kidding When I Say This Is An Internationally Read Blog

Was checking my stats and was curious to find out which countries my readers are coming from and what the Top Ten Countries are who surf by and read my TransGriot posts. 

From the tenth to the top one, here goes:

10. Malaysia
 9.  Brazil
 8.  Russia
 7.  Taiwan
 6.  Germany
 5.  Australia
 4.  France
 3.  United Kingdom
 2.  Canada
 1.  United States

So of the Top Ten countries that read TransGriot posts, noting I have a lot of European readers with the UK, France, Germany and Russia representing that continent.  The Asia-Pacific rim is represented in Malaysia and Taiwan, and South America's largest nation in Brazil.  It's no surprise that the United States and Canada would be numbers one and two.

But what it does tell me is I need to do a better job of including content that will pique the interest of my fellow African descended people across the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Africa. 

I'll probably need to do a monthly post to keep track of my international Top Ten countries as well. 

But no matter what nation you reside in whether it's on my Top Ten list or not, I thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to surf by TransGriot and read my posts.

Instigator Of CeCe McDonald Case Sentenced

'Flaherty deserves jail time and a fine for causing bodily injury to CeCe, and the trans community should not rest or let this crap slide until CeCe gets some justice out of this fracked up situation, too instead of the heaping helpings of injustice she's had to deal with.'   TransGriot  December 10, 2012 

This is the closing paragraph of the December 2012 post I wrote concerning CeCe McDonald's attacker Molly Shannon Flaherty in which I asked why were the authorities dragging their feet on the case and why was CeCe the only person doing serious jail time for standing her ground against a racist and transphobic attack aimed at her and her friend and involved a known white supremacist?.

Katrina Rose in her ENBAblog 2.0 post she wrote on December 10, 2012 as well gave us her theory into why the wheels of justice were possibly grinding so slowly in this Land of 10,000 Lakes case.

Anyone interested in wagering any money that the fine upstanding white, non-trans Molly McTransphobe (McRadphlegm, too?) Flaherty is probably a full-time lowlife who has some sort of informant/immunity deal with one or more prosecutorial authorities in the area?  Anyone interested in wagering any money on the possibility of it involving heavy-duty shit of great social and political import (read: victimless crime – probably taking notes on who sells a joint to whom in bars where people like the fine upstanding white, non-trans Molly McTransphobe (McRadphlegm, too?) Flaherty hang out?

Flaherty already had a criminal history and charges pending  from a previous March 2011 arrest before that fateful June 5, 2011 night at the Schooner Tavern.  She and her buddies decided to put the Black gay and transpeople in their place and it resulted in white supremacist Dean Schmitz's death.

The 41 year old Flaherty wasn't even arrested and charged until May 11 of last year, right about the time that loud cries were coming from around the country about the glaring fact the Black trans woman was the only one being charged and railroaded into jail for this incident.   

Flaherty pleaded guilty on January 24 to third-degree assault in Washington County Court and was sentenced Thursday.  That's a felony that carries a maximum five year prison sentence. 

Care to guess how much time she got for assaulting CeCe McDonald?    180 days in jail.  (Damn Kat, you called it.) 

Nope, that's not a typo. The justice Just-us system at work again.  Flaherty got 180 days in jail for a third degree assault she instigated and for smashing a glass in CeCe face that created a cut taking 11 stitches to close  while CeCe is spending 41 months in jail for being BTWW (Black Trans While Walking) and having the audacity to stand her ground and defend herself.

 

Will My Transsisters Have The Pleasure Of Growing Old?

I hit the Big 5-0 last year and I'm four weeks from hopefully reaching another Cuatro De Mayo celebration and turning 51.  

But that knowledge that I'm cruising toward another May 4 birthday has been jolted by two murders of African-American transwomen in the span of 48 hours in Baltimore and Orlando.

29 year old Kelly Young and 30 year old Ashley Sinclair will not only never celebrate another birthday, they will never get to know what I felt when I hit age 40, much less age 50. I'm also thinking about the fact that had I not made the correct decisions one night back in 1996, I may not have made it to my 40th or 50th birthdays either and this post much less this blog wouldn't be here for you to enjoy..

The details of the Young and Sinclair murders are still being sorted out by the police departments in the cities they resided in, but we can presume that both of them being girls like us is probably a contributing factor to them being killed.   Their deaths have ripple effects not only for their families and friends, but all the people whose lives they touched.

I recall a conversation Janet Mock, Kimberley McLeod and I had during OUT on the Hill last year in which we talked about me hitting that milestone.  I was ambivalent about it until Janet reminded me it was a blessing for me to be this age and as an African descended trans woman I'd beaten the odds stacked against me to celebrate my 40th and 50th birthdays. (And if I continue to be blessed with good health, I hope to be around for my 60th.)

That was a sobering though that shook me out of my ambivalence toward hitting 50.  All of a sudden realizing as I did before that OUT on the Hill trans woman town hall that I was now an elder stateswoman that the girls like us of Janet's generation and younger were counting on for leadership, to pass down their history to them, be a mentor and most of all be role models as to how a trans woman can age gracefully and still be a fierce warrior for trans human rights.

As I write this post I'm thinking about Miss Major, Sharyn Grayson, Cheryl Courtney-Evans, and Tracie Jada O'Brien,  They are the trans elders I look up to, admire and I have the benefit of calling them when I have questions, concerns or simply wish to bask in their wisdom.  I would be thrilled to have the opportunity to do the same with Gloria Allen in Chicago.  

Speaking of opportunities, I'm angry that I'm not going to get the opportunity to meet or talk to Kelly or Ashley someday.  I'm disappointed I won't be able to do for them what the trans elders in my sistahcircle have done for me.  It's why I take time out of my life to converse with my trans younglings when they hit me up on my Facebook page to chat about whatever they wish to talk about or call me on the phone to do so..  

The trans younglings get a big kick out of talking to the legendary award winning TransGriot, but I get just as much enjoyment and knowledge out of these conversations as they do.

I wish I'd had that ability when I was their age to have approachable trans feminine role models to just ask questions of and soak up the knowledge about how to navigate the world in a Black trans feminine body and avoid the pitfalls, traps and snares that can sidetrack you to achieving that quality life you deserve.

I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence that are taking away far too many under 30 transwomen of color before they've had a chance to live their lives.  We are not only losing them, but their potential contributions and talents toward building all the communities we intersect and interact with.  Our young transkids who are in elementary, middle and high schools now are also losing the people who could have one day potentially become their mentors.

But frankly, the one thing I want most for my trans younglings besides having trans human rights laws on the books and being able to live their lives relatively free of anti-trans hatred and bias is deceptively simple. 

I want to see them be able to grow up to reach my age and beyond.

Will my trans sisters be able to have the pleasure of growing old?  I sincerely hope so.

Shut Up Fool Awards-2013 Final Four Weekend Edition

March Madness has on the men's and women's side whittled down the 132 teams that started on the roads to Atlanta and New Orleans to the eight men's and women's schools who survived and advanced to play in the Georgia Dome and the New Orleans Arena for their respective championship tournaments.  But only two teams will depart those cities with the NCAA Championship trophy in hand. 

My 2013 NCAA men's and women's b-ball brackets are trashed just like everyone else's.  I still have Louisville, my lone remaining Final Four team and men's championship pick alive, but that's not the case on the women's side since Baylor was upset by number 5 seed Louisville.   If you thought that Cardinal win was a fluke, two nights later they knocked off the Tennessee Lady Vols to get to the Final Four.

I did get Notre Dame and UConn right and they'll be battling each other again to see who gets to the title game.

Speaking of battle, let's segue into what y'all really came to find out.  Who is going to win this week's Shut Up Fool award?  Let's do this Final Four Style .

From the Hollywood Region comes Tyler Perry.   His latest flick Temptation debuted to reviews so brutal that even Roger Ebert whacked his from his deathbed as to how jacked up it was. 

From the Black Sellout Conservafool Region comes Dr. Ben Carson.  Every time this cookie chomping knee-grow opens his mouth I lose more respect for him.   He's revealed himself to be nothing more than a homophobic bigot cooning it up for the GOP.

From the Lone Star Tea Klux Klan Region is Rep. Louie Gohmert (R)   He continued to widen his front runner status for 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year by flapping his gums to utter the jaw dropping statement (even for him) that he opposes gun control because it will lead to marriage equality which will lead to bestiality.   Hey peeps I'm not making this up.   And this fool got 71% of the vote in his Tyler are congressional district.

And from the TERF region is Linda Hudson, who let loose with their special brand of batturd crazy anti-trans hatred in the SistersTalkRadio comment threads.  I can think of far better places to watch a concert with far better entertainment lineups than Hart, MI.   I damned sure wouldn't want to be around hate filled bigots like you and your ilk.  Disco acts would be more apropos for MichFest..

Honorable mention is from the Lone Star Tea Klux Klan Region.   It's goes to Ste Rep Bill Zedler (R-Arlington) and the future Tea Klux Klanners in the Texas A&M Student Senate who have been executing a two pronged attack on the GLBT center on the A&M campus an the others in the state .   Zedler's doing it from Austin, and they've been doing their dirt in College Station.   They passed their student fee opt out on 'religious grounds' bill by a 35-28 margin. 

This week Shut Up Fool Winner is Rep Louie Gohmert. over Linda Hudson in a slam dunk.
.   

Kelly Young Killed In Baltimore

Another day, another report of a dead Black girl like us.   This time it is 29 year old Kelly Young of Baltimore, MD who was shot and killed.

Police responded to a report of a shooting early Wednesday morning in the 2200 block of Barclay Street.  Thy found Kelly inside the home and rushed her to a nearby hospital where she died.

Last night family and friends got together to remember her life and call for the killer to be brought to justice.



 
“It’s too early in the investigation to call this a hate crime,” said Sergeant Eric Kowalczyk, LGBT Liaison for the Baltimore City Police Department.

This one is in the early investigative stages too, so if you live in the area and heard or saw something, please call the Baltimore City Police Department Homicide Division with that information at (410) 396-2100.

Rest in peace Kelly.  Here's hoping that the waste of DNA who committed this crime will be swiftly captured and brought to justice. 

2013 TG Social Series Kicks Off Today

Later this evening for those of you in the Houston area, the first Houston TG Center social of 2013 will happen starting around 7 PM.  

The TG Center socials happen on the first Friday of every month through the fall and usually have barbecue chicken, burgers, chips, dips and covered dishes for people to eat.   They even have stuff  for you vegan peeps to eat for a $10 donation to the cause.

I usually try to make a few of them during every TG social cycle and especially the first one of the year since it's a sure sign that spring is definitely here.  We're getting close the the next major event on our local calendar in terms of the Houston Transgender Unity Dinner. 

The TG Center is located in the Montrose gayborhood, and I love checking out the TG socials and getting to meet, greet and talk to some of the local peeps in the community and surrounding Houston metro area.    

So hope to see you there.

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