TransGriot Nuke A Troll 31- Troll Nuking A Lone Star Teabagger

Another day. another cruise of the USS Monica out of port.  Our ongoing mission is to cruise the cyberseas and drop 50 megatons of knowledge on poor deluded souls who step to me and show their anus and monumental stupidity in TransGriot comment threads.

When they don't get caught in my spam filter.

Today it's Lynn Barton who is about to get blasted for her idiocy. 

She commented yesterday on a post I wrote in October 2010 about my state Rep Garnet Coleman and Texas state Rep Jessica Farrar refiling the Dignity For All Students Act back before the 2011 Texas Legislative session.

This is Endoctrine of students against their Parents! Also there was a New Class of students that came to visit a school program, girls separated from boys. One of the girls was told to kiss another girl and to hold her hand! ((((ARE YOU KIDDING ME?))) *****PARENTS BETTER KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON****

I would NEVER --EVER CONDONE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5...4...3...2...1  Launch.

Lynn, Lynn, Lynn.    This is what happens when you combine ignrance with an overreliance on right wing talk radio and reading Teapublican websites for your information.   The end result is you look ill informed and stupid, and that's not a quality any woman wants to walk around this planet with. 

But then again, that make you a prime catch in Teabagger circles.

First up, I believe the word you were trying to use in your opening sentence was indoctrination.

in-doc-tri-nate

1: to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments : teach

2: to imbue with a usually partisan or sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle

Sorta like what you just demonstrated in your comment.  You have been indoctrinated with a right wing point of view that you're now trying to project in my comment section. 

Playtime is over.  Now it's time to 'ejumacate' you since that didn't happen for you during your formative years.  As the post you obviously didn't read stated, the Dignity For All Students Act has been filed by Rep Coleman in every Texas legislative session since 2003, and this is what it would do.

The Dignity for All Students Act would prohibit discrimination and harassment in public schools on the basis of ethnicity, color, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion or national origin.  It would also prohibit discrimination based on association with a person, and protects both the parents of students and whistleblowers who may report incidents of discrimination or harassment.

And as Rep Farrar said about the bill:

'There are too many painful stories and tragic endings," said Rep. Farrar. "When schools turn a blind eye towards discrimination and harassment, we have failed.  The Dignity For All Students Act will help set a tone in Texas that no type of discrimination will be tolerated in this state.  

So how is creating a tone in Texas public schools in which discrimination against anyone is not tolerated become 'indoctrination against their parents'? 

I guess when the parents are raving bigots, transphobes and homophobes, you would consider that indoctrination, huh?

Are you kidding me about your allegation that a female student was told to kiss another student and hold her hand?  

Prove this anecdotal story that I find as the child of a retired award winning Texas educator hard to believe. 

Links to a credible news source not named Fox News, the Drudge Report, WingNutDaily WorldNewsDaily or some other KKKhristian anti-GLBT hate site will be required to prove the veracity of your story which I doubt ever happened. 

Your last statement tells me all I need to know about you in terms of being a too easily swayed, spelling challenged indoctrinated GOP voting homobigot.

Duck and cover fool, and don't look at the troll nuke when it explodes. 

Is Marvel FINALLY Going To Greenlight The Black Panther Movie?

Rumors have been hot and heavy over the last year amongst Marvel comics fans about whether the film about their first African descended superhero, T'Challa, the Black Panther will finally be greenlighted and shown at a multiplex near you.

He's the Oxford PhD holding king of the mythical and technologically superior African nation of Wakanda, the only source of the world's vibranium.  He's also the husband of Storm, who is also of continental African heritage.

Black Panther does the superhero thang as a hobby because he's got enough haters trying to separate him from the Wakandan throne in addition to Western powers plotting to destabilize his never conquered nation to grab its vibranium supply, disease cures, and superior technology. 

So if the Black Panther movie does happen in the next two years, there will have to be a movie or a scene in it which Halle Berry, who plays Storm, hooks up with her hubby T'Challa or does a cameo.  

Damned skippy I'll be in line for it if it happens and especially if the rumor that Morris Chestnut is playing him turns out to be true.  I've always liked Morris Chestnut as an actor, and this tweet from him is being interpreted by peeps to indicate he got the part.

"It's time to get familiar with the Black Panther character!"

Chestnut does have the action movie chops to pull this off, and there were some folks suggesting that a continental African actor such as Djimon Hounsou, Brits Idris Elba or Chiwetel Ejiofor also be considered for the part.   

Bottom line is it's past time for an African descended Marvel superhero to hit the silver screen, and hope that the increasing chatter about a Black Panther movie is more than just jibber-jabber.

I hope to be seeing trailers for it and get a date I can cirle on the calendar to see it.

TERF"s RadFem Hatefest Booted From Another Venue

Ever wondered what would happen if you tried to hold an international trans hate conference and nobody wanted to host it?  

Ask the Trans Exterminationalist Radical Feminazis Feminists how that feels after they got rebuffed for the second consecutive year   

Our least favorite trans oppressors had planned on using the London Irish Centre to host their RadFem 2013 hate event.   The 2012 edition got cancelled from Conway Hall last year (snicker, snicker).

The 2013 event is on track to suffer the same ignominious fate because they got derailed by their own hate scribblings and the potential venue, The London Irish Centre did their due diligence and researched the movement on their own after complaints from our transpeeps. 

And what the Center saw of the TERF"s they didn't like.

Quite a few of the complaints were from the transgender community and then a men’s group cam along the other day a hand out leaflets about why the event shouldn’t be held here.
We did some research into RadFem and discovered certain language was used and some statements were made about transgender people that would go against our equalities and diversity policy.
- David Barlow, Director of The Irish Centre

FYI TERF's, in Britain there's a law on the books called the 2010 Equality Act of which transpeeps are a protected class.  

Translation: You can't discriminate or hate on us across The Pond like you can get away with over in parts of the United States without repercussions.  Good luck finding a venue that's willing to violate the Equality Act..

Of course, the TERF's are crying White Women's Tears about being 'oppressed', but naw, you're just mad because you can't show your azzes, parade Sheila Jeffreys transphobic behind on stage, are still searching for a conference venue across The Pond and won't be able to express your trans hate to a disco beat.for the second straight year.   

Job 4:8 - Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

And you TERF's have been plowing iniquity and sowing wickedness for over four decades, and it's past time you reaped a bumper crop harvest of what you planted back in the 70's and 80's.

KOKUMO Performing This Weekend

TransGriot Note:  Photo of KOKUMO by Andy Karol

For you peeps in the Chicago area looking for something to do, y'all get the opportunity to check out a KOKUMO performance this weekend. 

Hot on the stiletto heels of the release of her debut EP, the 'artivist' KOKUMO will have her debut performance at Parlour On Clark.  KOKUMO LIVE is a benefit for T.G.I.F., the second annual Trans Intersex Gender Non-Conforming Freedom Rally and Picnic. 

The $3 donation at the door will go towards defraying the costs associated with putting together the T.G.I.F. event.   The address of the venue is 6341 N. Clark St, Chicago IL, 60660

Also performing will be Mister Junior, Kiam Marcelo Junio and the Northern Lights Go-Go Gothic Dancers.
Your host for this night of entertainment for a good cause will be Andy Siharath with DJ Erik Roldan on the wheels of steel

The performance starts at 11:00 PM CDT at Parlour on Clark, so here's an opportunity for you to see my fellow Trans 100 list sis, get a night of entertainment at a reasonable cost and support a good cause at the same time. 
 

The K-11 Issues Are Still The Same...

That still doesn't change the fact that once again you had ciswomen playing what is ostensibly a trans role. 

Even with different casting.   

When I first wrote about the movie in 2009,  Nikki Reed and Kristen Stewart were set to play the lead roles in the movie K-11.   But as can happen with movies in development, scheduling conflicts can arise or other issues occur that force announced actors to pull out of a project.  

Kristen Stewart was forced due to a scheduling conflict to pull out of this film her mother Jules Stewart was producing.   She still has a small voice cameo in it and the role of Butterfly she was supposed to play was given to Portia Doubleday.   The Mousey role, the queen bee of the K-11 dorm went to veteran Latina actress Kate del Castillo after Nikki Reed dropped out of it.

Granted Calpernia Addams and Andrea James served as coaches for del Castillo, she embraced the challenge of it, and I'm not saying ciswomen can't or shouldn't play transwomen if they are offered the part.  Felicity Huffman, Kerry Washington, Rebecca Romijn, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Chloe Sevigny come to mind as ciswomen who have pulled it off successfully and to rave reviews in various movie and television projects.

But ciswomen are offered those roles far too often, especially when you have transwomen who are acting in Hollywood such as Laverne Cox, Jamie Clayton, Calpernia Addams, Candis Cayne, Alexandra Billings, Aleshia Brevard, and others who are striving to get the level of recognition these ladies have.

It would be nice for them to get paid and get a shot at a role they have some intimate familiarity with like transwomen in other countries get a chance to do more frequently than their American counterparts..

And I also have to agree with Gina Morvay of the Skip The Makeup blog and this comment she left on the original K-11 post that is still valid.

As you've pointed out, in many other countries trans people have played trans people... and, surprise, it comes out a lot more moving and full blooded than having someone like Nicole Kidman or Nikki Reed do their actor schtick and pretending it's accurate. And the biggest joke is, people would be more interested to see a film with real trans actresses or actors than seeing yet another Nicole Kidman bomb or Nikki Reed vehicle (anyone remember '13'?).

I know just like you, I'd be quite interested in seeing a movie or television series in which trans women play realistic trans characters.   I'm not holding my breath on that happening any time soon.

Rest In Peace, Shakira

Received the shocking news that one of my trans sisters, writer Shakira Daneshia Gordon Garr passed away today due to complications from childhood heart issues that started asserting themselves on April 7. 

I met her in 2011 through an online Facebook group I'm a part of and we'd gotten to know each other over the last year and a half.  The Jackson, MS native lived in the Los Angeles area and was the author of two books, 'The Downfall Of An Arrogant DL Brother' and "Roderick-The Emancipation of a Young Black Serial Killer' and was working on more.  

During one of our conversations she confided in me tht it was her fondest wish to have one of them turned into a screenplay.   We also had another long conversation in which we talked about trans human rights and the media images of trans people of color needing to change. 

She was spiritual, thoughtful, positive, had a big heart, was supportive and had kind words for everyone that got to know her.  She was one of the first people in the community who called me when my father passed away last month. 

It's just a huge shock for me and everyone else who loved her to hear that she's singing with the angels now.  It is a reminder to all of us still here on this space rock to tell the people who are important to you in your lives how much you love and appreciate them.   Once they are gone from this plane of existence it's too late. 

Rest in peace, Shakira.   Will definitely be rereading the novel you sent me in your memory.

     

Good Luck Kris!

One of the new folks I met on the UH-Downtown campus when I participated in their panel discussion last week was Kris Sharp, the UHD student body vice presidential candidate and junior social work student who was targeted by homobigots.

Somebody who has a future in Republican politics in this state or nationally (assuming they don't get arrested for the theft and misuse of Kris' medical information) created flyers with Sharp's medical information and HIV status

Of course, Sharp was flabbergasted this happened but doesn't want to prosecute this fool.

Sharp told the Houston Press, "There's a culture at UHD that is somewhat less accepting of LGBT youth, but something of this magnitude is completely mind-blowing. I knew, going into the election, that I could possibly be targeted because of my sexuality -- but I had no idea that it would go to this level."

The person then followed up their initial criminally shady behavior by impersonating Sharp online and claiming in an e-mail they sent to the Houston Press there would be a campus rally on April 3 to protest what happened.  Since 2009 impersonation of someone on the Net in Texas is a third class felony, so if it's the same fool, he's in even deeper trouble. 

But more on this developing situation later.   It's election week on the UHD campus which started yesterday and runs through the 26th.   Time to cast votes for the Valdez-Sharp ticket if you are a UHD student.  This is one in which I hope the karmic wheel moves swiftly on two fronts and the perpetrator is caught.

Good luck Kris and hope you and Isaac Valdez overcome the haters and you emerge victorious.

Indonesian Sisters Standing Up For Their Rights

It's old video from last year, but it makes the point I've been trying to drive home that trans rights are a world wide struggle.   This video comes from Indonesia and is a story about Yuli Rettoblaus trying to become a member of the Indonesian National Commission of Human Rights.

TransGriot Nuke A Troll 30-TERF Irradiation Time

Time to cruise the cyberseas again in fulfillment of our ongoing mission to drop 50 megatons of knowledge on another poor soul who stepped to me armed with stupidity in my comment threads.

Seems like my trolls runneth over this month, and this time I had Cathy Brennan Luc responding to a guest post from Annie Danger that almost three years old from July 2010 entitled Open letter To MichFest Attendees   Annie, if you want a piece of this troll, you have an open invitation to respond to this detractor.

Men who are surgically changed into a female is not a woman. No matter how you paint it, it is not the same.

For hundreds of years  Doctors have mutilated womens bodies to play God and you have been an equal participant. WBW have a natural rights of passage through womanhood that you will never have all accept for the oppression you will get to experience in our society so welcome aboard.

As for Mich Fest, we ought to be allowed to have one week out of the year where we can join with our Sisters to celebrate our lives without being harassed..its a reunion. I would never impose myself on your family reunions, so be respectful and go create your own gatherings.

You are not a woman..you are by artificial means made to appear as one.
Being born by natural birth is a true and authentic woman and never forget that. A rights of passage is our God given right. If you are choosing to change your sex then you will go through all the same oppression the rest of us have had to endure.  We have created a space for one week out of the year to celebrate our lives as WBW and its our reunion to bond with our Sisters...

Go create your own space and I promise i wont impose my life onto yours.

5...4...3...2...1...Launch...


You're not in Radfem cyberspace anymore and you already imposed your life upon mine by taking the time to write this bull feces I'm going to have fun eviscerating.    And I'm going to go through this jibber-jabber in sections.

Men who are surgically changed into a female is not a woman. No matter how you paint it, it is not the same.

Oh really?  And no matter how much you try to deny it, all human life at conception is female or were you asleep in science class when they were teaching about the human reproductive system?  Mounting medical evidence, CAT scans of the BSTc region of the brain and dissections of deceased trans women are increasingly proving what we already know,  we are females who got a little too much testosterone to kickstart masculine body development but not our minds.   You TERF's can continue to deny the fact all you want that  transwomen's brains.are exactly like cis women's brains, but you can't fight science.

For hundreds of years  Doctors have mutilated womens bodies to play God and you have been an equal participant. WBW have a natural rights of passage through womanhood that you will never have all accept for the oppression you will get to experience in our society so welcome aboard.

Ho hum, more TERF drivel.... An equal participant in mutilating women's bodies?   What the hell are you babbling about?  Using your convoluted logic I can say that you were an equal participant in the hate murders of transwomen.

And what in Hades is a 'natural right of passage through womanhood?   Trans kids who are transitioning as early as age 5 and 6 already drive a Mack truck sized hole into this TERF jibber- jabber, so try again especially since people are trying to deny them the right to live their lives as who they are.  We transwomen are already experiencing added layers of oppression from you fools in addition to the ones we get from walking on this planet in a feminine body.

As for Mich Fest, we ought to be allowed to have one week out of the year where we can join with our Sisters to celebrate our lives without being harassed..its a reunion.

And who is harassing you and keeping you from enjoying your week where you get excessively drunk, high, walk around naked, swat mosquitoes and do God knows what else on The Land?   MichFest is a concert that sell tickets publically to anyone who wishes to attend it, unless you specifically state publically and in advance of the event that transwomen (or other groups) aren't allowed on The Land.     

But Lisa Vogel and company know that bigotry and transphobia is bad for 'bidness', so y'all are trying to do what you always do.  Keep your transphobia on the down low and cry white women's tears that you're being oppressed' when we all know you are the oppressors. 


I would never impose myself on your family reunions, so be respectful and go create your own gatherings.


Like you imposed your bigotry on my blog, so you lied there.   And oh yeah, guess you haven't heard about Southern Comfort, Be All, Colorado Gold Rush, The Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, ICTLEP, Texas 'T' Party, the Trans Faith In Color Conference, Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit...(shall I continue?) all open to anyone who wishes to attend them unlike your events.

And that's just the ones we transwomen have in the States.   I haven't even started naming the international ones or ones the transmen have created. 

Personally I could care less about MichFest.  I prefer my concerts indoors and with a better musical lineup.  But there are trans women who would like to attend it and I do have a major problem with them being discriminated against especially in light of the hypocritical fact you let trans men on The Land.


You are not a woman..you are by artificial means made to appear as one.
         
You don't get to make that call. You aren't walking around in mine or any transwoman's body nor have you walked amile in min or any transwoman's pumps.   And what, you jealous because some of us look better, perform femininity better (because no thanks to y'all we have to for our own survival) and have more class in our pinky fingers than you unkempt Birkenstock wearing Janice Raymond-Mary Daly acolytes?

Being born by natural birth is a true and authentic woman and never forget that

Uh what?  You're babbling here.  And question for you.  Are you saying to me that the only way you define your femininity is by what genitalia is ensconced between your legs?  

If that's the case or that's what you're insinuating here, you are one sad individual.   Genitalia does not equal gender identity.    Join the rest of us in the 21st century and get your mind out of the disco era and out of my panties.  

A rights of passage is our God given right. If you are choosing to change your sex then you will go through all the same oppression the rest of us have had to endure.

Ho hum...didn't you try to peddle this bull feces in an earlier paragraph, or did your handlers not give you more TERF talking points to cut and paste here?

We have created a space for one week out of the year to celebrate our lives as WBW and its our reunion to bond with our Sisters...

And also engage in Two Minute Hates on the transwomen across the road at Camp Trans and everywhere else in the country..


Go create your own space and I promise i wont impose my life onto yours.

You said that already.  Time to check and see if you have Borg implants.    Naah, I've wasted enough bandwith playing with you.  Next time tell your handlers to send you over here armed with better material or better yet, send their 'A' team of haters so i can eviscerate them properly.

Duck and cover fool, and don't look at the flash when the troll nuke explodes.

In The House At The 21st Annual Houston Unity Banquet

The 21st annual Houston Unity Banquet was held at the Sheraton Brookhollow Hotel April 20 to another diverse capacity crowd.

The program for the event featured Tye West doing a spoken word poem and Dr. Susan Stryker as the keynote speaker.

Had a nice mix of trans community members from here and around the state, our allies and politicians in the room this weekend breaking bread with the Houston trans community along with a nice goodie bag with the Houston trans community logo on it to take home. 

It was emceed this year by LA's and the Task Force's Trystan Reese, and Texas state rep Garnet Coleman was in the house to break down legislative developments in Austin.  We had HISD board member Juliet Stipeche, Houston City Councilmember Mike Laster and several judges in the room as well along with Equality Texas' Daniel Williams and Houston City Council candidate Jenifer Rene Pool.   

Some of the other notable faces in the banquet crowd were Precinct 1 constable Alan Rosen,  Ann Harris Bennett, Project GRAD's Ramiro Fonseca, and District 7 congressional candidate Lissa Squires.   

There were some nice door prizes donated such as tickets to the Houston symphony and ballet, men's and women's watches from I.W. Marks Jewelers and a dinner certificate at Niko Niko's just to name a few of the items that the winning ticket holders had a chance to choose from. 

And darn it, I was an agonizing three numbers away during one ticket drawing of claiming one of those prizes.

We also had the interesting occurrence of all four Texas members of the Trans 100 List in the same space since the list was unveiled back on March 31 and subsequently published..

In addition to dinner the Houston transgender community awards were handed out prior to Dr. Stryker's inspiring speech.

The Champion Award went to Becca Keo

Champions Award went to Lesbian Health Initiative

The Dee McKellar Award went to Katy Stewart

Horizon Award to Dana Hinton

The Brenda Thomas Award to Dallas' Carter Brown 

And this year's Lifetime Achievement Award (and a much deserved one) went to Judge Phyllis Frye.

An HTUC President's Award was given out this year to Monyque Starr.  

Congratulations to all the award winners.  I had a wonderful time meeting some of the new faces in the community, seeing old friends, talking to many of the local and statewide LGBT community leaders and allies, seeing Dr Stryker who made an exciting announcement during her speech that you peeps will hear about soon (and I'm sworn to secrecy on)  and having the honor and pleasure of sitting with the people of TENT (Transgender Education Network of Texas) during this event.

It was also nice seeing Kristopher Sharp, the UH-Downtown student government presidential candidate I met Wednesday during my panel discussion visit to the UHD campus.who was subjected to a vicious smear campaign.   I also enjoyed spending some quality time on this end of I-45 with Carter again.  

Photos will be going up on the Houston Transgender Unity Committee website at htuc.org as soon as they are available.  Congrats to the Unity Committee for putting on another successful Unity Banquet and hope it's even bigger and better next year.

Black Trans History-Philecia Barnes

Black transpeople aren't strangers in having to fight tooth and nail for our human rights.   We know from our history as African descendants in America we've had to rely on the courts at times to secure those human rights.   Some cases we've trans African-Americans have engaged in we've won, some we've lost.  But they have done their part to keep the momentum of trans human rights moving forward.

Here's another one of those cases from our history book, and this one takes place in Cincinnati, OH.   Philecia Barnes was a Cincinnati police officer for over two decades before beginning her gender transition and taking the sergeant's exam and passing it on July 13, 1998.    She placed 18th out of 105 candidates who took that examination.

You would think that having placed inside the Top 20 of people who took the exam she'd have a great chance at the promotion combined with her two decades of experience as a patrol officer.   But it was well known in the CPD that Barnes was transitioning and had notified CPD of her intention to do so well before taking that exam.   She was then subjected to a stressful three-month probationary period as a sergeant, during which time she was monitored on a daily basis, forced to wear a mike, and rated on a six-page form designed specifically for her. At the end, she failed because of what was termed a lack of 'command presence' and was demoted in June 1999 on the orders of then Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher.   

But Barnes also had warning signs that something shady was going on.   Col. Twitty told Barnes she did not appear to be “masculine,” and that she needed to stop wearing makeup and act more masculine prior to Barnes's promotion.  Col. Twitty stated the objective of such statements was to correct Barnes's “grooming deficiencies.”  Col. Twitty also claimed that the decision to fail Barnes from probation had nothing to do with Barnes's transsexual characteristics.  

However, Sergeant Ford warned Barnes that he heard rumors that Barnes was going to fail probation because Barnes had not been acting masculine enough.   It was also interesting to note that Barnes was the only officer to fail probation during the seven years from 1993 to 2000, according to court papers or be placed in a training program similar to what Barnes endured.   

So what happens when you feel you've been treated unjustly?   You sue, which Barnes did in October 2000.
     
At the heart of the Barnes case was the question of whether this country's main federal law against workplace discrimination, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protects transgender workers (and tangentially, gay workers) against sex discrimination.  Neither "transgender" nor "sexual orientation" appears in the text of Title VII, which bars job bias because of religion, race, sex and other factors.

But in 1989, the Supreme Court in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins ruled that an employer who punishes a worker because he or she does not match gender stereotypes is guilty of sex discrimination under Title VII.   This case was being cited by more courts deferring to the Hopkins precedent in favor of gay and transgender plaintiffs.  It was cited in the 2012 Mia Macy v Holder EEOC case that ruled transgender discrimination is sex discrimination.

Barnes challenged her demotion from sergeant under Title VII and the Equal Protection Clause in a case she filed with the US District Court for Southern District of Ohio in addition to taking legal aim at the odious Article XII of the Cincinnati City Charter.  

Article XII was passed by voters in 1993 as a homobigoted reaction to the city’s human rights ordinance including sexual orientation as a protected class against discrimination in 1992.   Barnes and her attorney Al Gerhartstein asserted that Article XII was a factor in this case because its existence encouraged supervisors to discriminate against his client and others based on sexual orientation.

Barnes also told the judge during the district court trial that as long as Article XII existed, she and others would continue to face discrimination.

The City of Cincinnati filed a motion to dismiss and a motion for summary judgment, which were both denied by the district court.   The City argued that a legitimate reason, poor performance, justified the demotion in this case.   The claims were submitted to a district court jury, which returned a verdict in Barnes's favor.   The jury on February 23, 2003 awarded Barnes $150,000 in compensatory damages, $140,000 in front pay and $30,511 in back pay.   The City moved for judgment as a matter of law, which was also rejected by the district court.  The district court then awarded Barnes $527,888 in attorneys fees and $25,837 in costs on February 27, 2004.  

The city of Cincinnati promptly appealed the adverse district court rulings to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.  It has the reputation of being the most conservative leaning federal judicial circuit in the nation, but Barnes' case was upheld on March 22, 2005.    The Sixth Circuit agreed that Barnes had a legitimate claim of sex discrimination under Title VII. It was the second such ruling out of the Sixth Circuit, where a transgender fire fighter won the right to sue under Title VII in the July 2004 Smith v. City of Salem case.

The City of Cincinnati then appealed the Barnes case to the US Supreme Court, but on November 7, 2005  they declined to review it, which meant the ruling in Barnes favor at the Sixth Circuit level stands.   

In March 2006, the City of Cincinnati repealed the discriminatory Article XII, then passed on an 8-1 vote an anti-discrimination ordinace that added sexual orientation and gender identity to it.

So you can thank Sgt Barnes on two levels.   You can thank her for standing up for her rights and as a result of her win establishing another trans employment friendly legal precedent that happened in a conservative federal circuit.   You can also thank her for striking the legal blow that took down Cincinnati's discriminatory Article XII.

Memorial Candlelight Vigil For Brandy Martell Next Week

For those of you in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area there will be a candlelight vigil next Monday April 29 to commemorate the one year anniversary of Brandy Martell's April 29 death.   It will take place at the Franklin and 13th St. corner in Downtown Oakland where she was fatally shot

The waste of DNA who committed this crime as of yet still hasn't been brought to justice.  If you have information concerning this crime please contact the Oakland Police Department at 510-777-3333.    

The vigil is being organized by Tiffany Woods of the Tri-City Health Center and co sponsored by them and TransVision.   It will run from 7-8:30 PM PDT so if you can, take a moment to attend and remember one of our lost sisters.   If you need further information about it you can e-mail her at twoods@tri-city health.org or call her at 510-456-3521.

Brandy, know that Bay Area trans community won't rest until the person who took you away from us far too soon has been caught and is serving time for it.

Rest In Peace, Marcelle Cook-Daniels

I've been thinking about him recently, and when I Googled his name I stumbled across the obituary that reminded me on this date in 2000 the African-American and national trans community lost one of its major pioneering leaders in the person of Marcelle Y. Cook-Daniels. Cook-Daniels was born in Washington DC on March 1, 1960 where he resided until he moved to Vallejo, CA in 1996.  Marcelle worked for the Internal Revenue Service and a computer programmer/analyst and for Norcal Mutual Insurance.

He was also diligently working toward obtaining his masters degree in computer science at Golden Gate University. 

Marcelle during that time period was one of our early national transmasculine African-American  activists and leaders.  He was a quiet, principled and dedicated man who labored tirelessly to raise awareness about trans and LGB issues. 

He role modeled his personal values of family love, commitment, honesty, openness, and public service through being a loving son to his mother Marcella Daniels, supporting his longtime life partner of seventeen years Loree Cook-Daniels, and being a devoted father to his son Kai Cook-Daniels.

Marcelle's education and advocacy work on behalf of our community included presentations at the 1999 Creating Change Conference in Oakland (where our paths crossed but I sadly never met him), the 1998 "Butch-FTM: Building Coalitions Through Dialogue" event, several True Spirit Conferences, and numerous educational and advocacy events.

Marcelle was interviewed and photographed for the 'Love Makes A Family" book; the Dawn Atkins' book "Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Communities," and "In The Family" magazine.

He was an active supporter of COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) and provided substantial material and volunteer support to the Transgender Aging Network, four True Spirit conferences, and the Maryland based transmasculine group The American Boyz that eventually folded.

He sadly lost his ongoing struggle with depression and took his own life.  His memorial service on April 26 was attended by family, friends, colleagues and all the people whose lives he'd touched during his 40 years with us. 

For you trans men who never had the opportunity to meet Marcelle, you definitely would have liked and admired him.  You are building upon the work he started and are walking in his footsteps, and I'm writing this post on the anniversary of his death to ensure that his contributions toward building the United States trans and transmasculine communities are never forgotten or disappear.    

Marcelle, you are still missed by all the people who had the pleasure of knowing you.  I'm saddened it didn't happen for us while I was in Oakland for Creating Change.  I hope as you look down upon us you are pleased to see the trans and SGL rights progress we have made since 2000, especially in your hometown of Washington DC and the state of California.

While we still have much work to do, your trans brothers and sisters are laboring mightily to live up to the high standards you set for us.  I still wonder at times how much farther down the path of trans human rights coverage we would be if you and Alexander John Goodrum were still here and had the opportunity to mentor mine and this current generation of transmasculine and transfeminine activists.

Rest in peace Marcelle, and say hello to Alexander for us.    

Pregnant Turkish Woman With Uterine Transplant Draws Interest In Trans Community

Jazz in a recent interview expressed the hope and desire to become a mother.   If medical events in Turkey continue to be positive, she and other girls like us might get the chance to have her own child with a transplanted womb.

Back in August 2011 doctors successfully transplanted a donor uterus from a deceased woman into now 22 year old Derya Cert, a Turkish woman born without one but who had functioning ovaries.   Being born without a uterus affects one in every 5000 women and until this procedure came along meant that the woman in question would be childless. 

A uterus transplant has been attempted once before by a medical team in Saudi Arabia back in 2000.  The womb came from a live donor but failed after 99 days due to heavy blood clotting and was removed from the patient receiving it.    Medical centers in Sweden and the United States are also working on perfecting uterine transplant medical technology and the medical procedures and drugs necessary to prevent the body from rejecting the transplanted organ.

Cert became the first woman in the world to have a successful transplant from a deceased woman, which raises the hopes of women that are in a similar situation to hers that they could one day undergo the procedure once the techniques are refined and give birth to their own biological children.

On April 1 Cert had an embryo implanted into her developed from one of her own eggs.  It has been confirmed that she is now pregnant    The embryo should it countinue to develop will be delevered by Ceasarean section.

Where the interest comes from in the trans feminine community is on multiple levels.  We know that Lili Elbe's death was caused by a uterine transplant done on her back in 1931 because she wanted to be able to have children. 

There are trans teens like Jazz who would love to someday become mothers, and if this technology is perfected by the time they reach adulthood, we'd have one of those situations we brainstormed about and we saw once upon a time as an impossible dream now becoming a possibility due to modern microsurgical techniques. 

We've long wistfully expressed the sentiment in transworld if only trans men and trans women could swap body parts.  It's becoming increasingly possible that a trans man when having the hysterectomy could designate it be donated to a trans woman for implantation.

But if they did so, this is a situation in which cis privilege would aggressively assert itself.  If that trans man donated their uterus, it would probably get prioritized toward being given to a cis woman without one.   Trans women would be extremely far down the transplant list despite the desires of some of us to be fruitful an multiply.    

That research is also geared at this time toward helping infertile couples, not giving trans women the ability to give birth to biological children of their own

But that shouldn't stop us from doing hard solid thinking about reproductive rights issues, procreation and the potentially game altering way that uterine transplant medical technology that hones its procedures and becomes as common as heart and other organ transplants could one day be applied to trans women. .

The trans community definitely needs to be having these conversations about where we fit in this equation and think about what happens if they perfect uterine transplants.  Could testicular ones be on the horizon next? 

In the interim, cis and trans world will definitely be watching developments in Turkey as Derya Cert's historic pregnancy comes to a hopefully successful conclusion.

My Family! Providing Children's Books For The LGBT Market

     

When married power couple and business partners Monica and Cheril Bey-Clarke were seeking to become licensed foster parents in New Jersey, they were frustrated by the lack of materials and books available for the children of GLBT parents.  

The couple featured in a recent "Most Powerful Lesbians" issue of Curve Magazine.decided to step in and fill the void of books and materials for kids of all ages and backgrounds.   They sought by doing so to give the children of same-sex parents a sense of normalcy.  Their goal was also to promote the celebration of our differences, the importance of family values and reinforce the morality being taught in the home. 

It didn't hurt that Cheril has been an award winning author, novelist and playwright in the LGBT community for over ten years and Monica has over a decade of experience formulating, creating strategies for and implementing business concepts. 

In 2010 they founded My Family! a retail arm of Dodi Press LLC to provide those books and materials and positive experiences for LGBT parents for generations to come.   The company went international in 2011 and has a website you can purchase their diverse multicultural line of books and products  

As I perused the site and the gender identity section I noted that Cheryl Kilodavis' 'My Princess Boy' is one of the books for sale on their website in addition to others from a wide array of authors that cover the various aspects of the LGBT community and the issues that would impact the children of same-sex, bi and trans parents.

One of them was a trans themed book by writer Monique Costa entitled 'When Leonard Lost His Spots'.  

So for you parents in the LGBT community looking for some quality books and items for your kids and wanting to circulate your TBLG dollars in the community, may wish to surf by the My Family! website and see what they have to offer..

The Gender Puzzle

This is an Australian documentary that focuses on the lives of several Australians that have gender issues..  One is a model with AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome, while the others are trans.

There are also interviews in with with researchers and lawyers discussing the medical and legal issues and their impact on Australian law, society and these individuals.

The Gender Puzzle is a fascinating documentary and hope you enjoy it.   

Hey CNN, The Boston Bombers Weren't 'Dark Skinned Males'

Funny, they were light-skinned males who looked remarkably like you, John King.

Countdown to how fast the media, Fox Noise, the conservative movement and right wing talk radio try to other and paint the now captured naturalized American citizen Dzhokar Tsarnaev and his deceased green card holding brother Tamerlan as lone wolves in this Boston Marathon bombing attack that killed three people and wounded hundreds on Monday.

But you're 'scurred' of allowing Haitians, Mexicans, continental Africans, citizens of other Caribbean nations besides Cuba, citizens of other Latin American nations, and Asians into this country and giving them the opportunity they would appreciate to earn US citizenship and legal status.  

Yeah, I'm happy to see that the Tsarnaev brothers were speedily identified, little brother was captured quickly, big brother was shot to death before anyone else could be harmed last night  and Dzhokar will be brought to justice for their  heinous crime. 

But one thing that pissed me off was how quickly the wingers and elements of the news media tried to pin this on 'Islamic terrorists' or 'dark skinned males' in order to politically flagellate President Obama with as being 'soft on terror'. 

We know from our recent history that terror attacks in the United States have an overwhelmingly white male slant to it.  

Think I'm kidding?  Let's scroll back through recent American history if you think I'm being harsh shall we?

The Klan since their 1866 founding. 'Dynamite Bob' Chambers during the civil rights era.  The September 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Church in Bombingham Birmingham.  The 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.  The 1996 Atlanta Olympic Park attack.  The abortion clinic bombings and assassination of Dr. George Tiller.  The 2010 Austin IRS building suicide airplane crash.  The various mass shooting attacks at the University of Texas in 1966, Columbine HS, Aurora, Newtown...
      
 But once again we have a domestic terrorism incident conducted by a white male (or in this case as the conservative media will strenuously point out) a pair of European immigrant white males.  

We also have the white male dominated media (and conservative movement) trying to deflect attention from the fact that it is predominately white right wing conservafool voting males who comprise the bulk of United States domestic terror groups.   Those groups have only grown in number since President Obama took office and have gotten even angrier since his re-election in 2012. 

These right wing 'terriss' have the long reprehensible track record and the will to act as domestic enemies to the United States government, so why aren't we dedicating the same federal resources to crack down on these groups as was done in smashing al Qaeda?

Is it because these groups are part of the Republican base now?

Going to interesting to see how this story plays out over the next few weeks and months now that we know that the Boston Marathon bombers weren't dark-skinned men.
       

Shut Up Fool Awards-2013 Unity Banquet Weekend Edition

Boy does time seem to move at warp speed as you get older and get closer to another birthday.   It seems like it was just months ago I was writing about last year's Unity Banquet, and now this year's event is happening tomorrow.

The 21st annual Unity Banquet is taking place at the Sheraton Brookhollow Hotel in Houston with the keynote speaker this year being Dr Susan Stryker   

It'll be the first time I've seen Susan since I spoke in Tucson last year and looking forward to seeing her.   I hear Carter Brown of BTMI may be headed down to my end of I-45 from Dallas as well.   If that's the case and if Phyllis Frye shows up and Katy Stewart pops in from Austin, you will have all four Texas Trans 100 List honorees in the same space. 

Better make sure I'm in diva mode for all those photos.  Anyway, still not too late for y'all to join us.  It starts at 6:30 PM CDT 

Speaking of starting things, let's segue to what y'all really surfed over to this post for, to find out who earned my Shut Up Fool Awards.  My fools runneth over this week, and it made it tough to decide which fool, fools or group of fools deserved to get called out for their stupidity and ignorance more.

But I live for Friday, too     So let's get started.

Honorable mention number one goes to the Senate Republicans for voting against universal background  check legislation that 90% of the country wants to happen including gun owners.

And you wonder why the GOP's approval ratings are in the toilet and a Quinnipiac poll is showing if the 2014 midterms were held tomorrow the Democrats would get control of the House back.  

Honorable mention number two is a joint award going to Justin Bieber and 50 Cent who wrote a self serving comment in the Anne Frank House guestbook while in the Netherlands that stated if Anne were alive today she'd be one of his fans.  


“Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber,”

Dude, were you paying attention on this tour?  Anne Frank was in that house along with her family, the van Pels and Fritz Pfeffer for two years to hide from Nazi persecution.  She died in a concentration camp and you turn that story into a personal promotional opportunity?    And you 50 Cent trying to defend that shows how clueless your behind is.  

And frankly, Justin, you ain't all that music wise.  

Honorable mention number three goes to Rep Steve King (Teabagger-IA)  who less than 24 hours after the Boston Marathon bombing tried to seize on it as an excuse to justify his opposition to immigration reform.

And this comes from the man who might be Iowa's GOP nominee for the US Senate next year.

Honorable mention number four stays in the Lone Star State with Atty Gen Greg Abbott (R) who parted his lips to say that Democrats pose a greater threat to Texas than North Korea.

Sure Greg, I'll remember that in the next election cycle in 2014 and beyond when I'm casting my straight Democratic ticket because you Texas Republicans tried to pass unjust laws keep me from voting that you tried to defend in court. 

Honorable mention number five goes to my worthless US senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (Teabagger-TX) who voted against federal disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy victims but were quick in the wake the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas along with Gov. Goodhair Rick Perry to have their hand out for federal disaster relief .

This week's winner and so far early leader for the 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year Award is Rep Louie Gohmert (Teabagger-TX)  who once again opened his mouth during a C-SPAN interview and let something stupid and bigoted fly out of it..

“We know that al Qaeda has camps with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border,” Gohmert agreed. “We know that people are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanics when they’re radical Islamists. We know these things are happening, and it’s just insane to not protect ourselves and make sure that people come in — as most people do, they want the freedoms we have.”

If you think I'm kidding, roll the C-SPAN tape. .    



Rep. Louie Gohmert, shut the HELL up fool!

Will GENDA Finally Pass In New York This Year?

Or will it be the same old same old frustrating pattern of the bill overwhelmingly passing in the Democratic controlled New York State Assembly and dying in the GOP controlled New York State Senate?

So what's GENDA?  The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (A.4226/Gottfried)(S.195/Squadron) is a bill that would outlaw discrimination in New York State based on gender identity or expression. Currently it is legal in most parts of New York to be fired from your job, kicked out of your home, denied credit or public accommodations (like service in a restaurant) simply for being transgender.

GENDA is not a controversial bill in New York state.   It has broad based support.   A Global Strategy Group poll of 600 New York voters found 78 percent supported its passage (margin of error +/- 4 percent). Support was strong across the state - upstate was 74 percent, New York City was 79 percent, downstate suburbs were at 82 percent - and even Republicans and independents supported the bill at 67 percent and 78 percent, respectively.

GENDA would also expands the state’s hate crimes law to explicitly include crimes against transgender people.   When Dwight DeLee, the convicted killer of Lateisha Green was charged with a hate crime in 2009, it wasn't based on the fact Green was a girl like us, it was because DeLee perceived her as gay. 

That needs to change.   What also needs to change is the jacked up situation that gays and lesbians have had civil rights protection in New York state for over a decade because they threw transpeople under the bus in 2002 to get it.

GENDA has passed the New York state assembly five straight times only to die in the state senate.  It also hasn't gotten the support, attention and same level of effort the marriage push got before it passed in 2011.

The Empire State Pride Agenda says that passing GENDA is their top legislative priority.  While I've met people in the organizations who are sincere about that statement, I'd like to see the deeds back up the words.   
 
I'll also be less skeptical about it when I see former president Bill Clinton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,  Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the same long list of politicians, organizations and people in the gay and straight communities putting together the same type of political full court press on the NY Senate to pass this bill like they did for marriage. 

Speaking of MIA people, where's Lady Gaga?  Aren't her trans little monsters human rights important too? 

And note to HRC.  If you're looking for ways to show that you're serious about making amends to the trans community over Trans Flag Gate, put your money where your mouth is.  Spend the big Equal Sign bucks and throw your political weight around to pass this bill.  

And no, claiming that you're working 'behind the scenes' to help it pass isn't going to cut it.  We need visible, easily verifiable proof you are acting in the best interests if trans New Yorkers and getting GENDA passed.  


I would love to write a post this year with the headline 'GENDA Passes!' instead of the one I've had to write for the last five years.  But for me to be able to do that, you trans New Yorkers will have to act as agents in your own liberation.  

You may wish to start that process by making plans to head to Albany on April 30 for Equality and Justice Day. 

You'll get your opportunity on that day to head to that beautiful; state capitol building of yours that your taxes pay to maintain to advocate for GENDA's passage.   If you can't, you can always call, visit or e-mail your New York state assemblyperson or senator and tell your story.

The trans human rights train has already left the station and made stops in 16 states, the District of Columbia and over 180 local jurisdictions.  Time to add New York State to that list.   

Black Transmen, Inc. Spring Newsletter

Mekhi Johnson was kind enough to send me a link to the BTMI Spring newsletter.  It talks about the just concluded edition of their 2013 conference I was honored to be a part of (and I discussed my impressions in this post) along with other subjects of interest. . 

Hope people are making their plans to attend the 2014 BTMI event in Dallas because it's only going to get bigger, better and become a must attend event for the trans masculine community.  

If you have some spare change like $5's, $10's, $20's (or more if you're feeling generous)  burning a hole in your pocket, you can make a tax deductible donation to BTMI since it is a 501c3 organization.

And now, please click on this link to take you to the BTMI Spring 2013 newsletter.