Moni's Greatest Song Rewrite Hits-Volume 2

One of the things I like to do on this blog that people tell me they enjoy are my song rewrites.   I have a Volume 1 compilation post for many of them, but the rewrites just kept on coming until I had enough for a Volume 2 post.

And now, for you to peruse at your leisure is Moni's Greatest Song Rewrites-Volume 2.  

And at the rate I'm going there probably will be a Volume 3 in the near future.


Texas Bathrooms Have Transsexual In 'Em

Texas Has Transpeeps Marrying In It

Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Conservative

Parents Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

You Are A Jerk

T-E-R-F's Hate

All The Sabre Ladies

Show Up & Sell Us Out

The Candidates Of The GOP

Please Leave The Abuser

My Name Is Not Steven

The Greed Of Texas

Stop Hating Us On Christmas Day

Show Us The T-Bills, Too!

Janet Mock and Kortney Ryan Ziegler have written posts that have questioned why indiegogo and other crowdsourcing campaigns haven't worked as well for trans people of color or are met with cricket chirping silence.  

"I see numerous indiegogo campaigns from folks - operating in the world with varying levels of privileges - who raise money quickly and even have extra to throw a party.

The irony of the fact that those most in need in our community are least likely to ask for help and when they do they are met with silence is appalling.  We must all do better."

In Kortney's HuffPo post he not only makes this comment, but introduces you to four campaigns helmed by Black trans activists including his own that are asking for and deserve your support.

Black trans activists are doing the necessary work to make our community stronger, wiser, and healthier. Let's support them so they can continue to support us.

Sure is, especially when people keep insisting we are all one big trans community and snipe at me about consistently bringing up the race and class issues.  But it's things like this that keep confirming what I have to say in the first place.

Kortney and Janet are correct in that we need to do better as a community.   I'd like to see these four Black trans led campaigns get the same kind of support that the one raising funds for Kate Bornstein did. 

So show us the T-bills, too!

Illinois Is Looking More Like Prop 8 2.0

Well, well, well  John Aravosis.   Looks like there's increasing evidence piling up to show that you were loud and wrong as usual.

You were also wrong for peddling that bigoted 'The Blacks cost us marriage equality in Illinois' meme  in the immediate aftermath of the non-call for a House marriage equality vote that has been repeated like a mantra in various spots in the Gayosphere and progressive blog comment threads that Black bloggers are now going to have to spend time debunking. 

I presume the 'I'm sorry' Americablog post will be swiftly forthcoming to the Black community and the legislators you slimed, but I suspect it'll be a snowy June day in Houston before we see it.
  .
It's also eerily looking more and more like Prop 8 2.0 in terms of the deja vu all too eager white gay propensity to quickly point the finger at my community for this stunning Illinois marriage equality legislative failure and engage in rainbow bigot eruptions. .   

Before the weekend was out I was starting to get confirmation about what I suspected was the real reason the marriage bill failed Saturday morning:

A Gay, Inc organizational frackup. 

It turns out that your vanillacentric staffed umbrella marriage org on the scene there didn't even bother to hire more lobbyists to talk to the Illinois Black legislative caucus, when they knew for months it was one of their lobbying weaknesses.   The problem wasn't addressed until a day and a half before the vote was supposed to happen and former Illinois Chitown Democratic legislators Paul Williams and Coy Pugh were put on the payroll 

Williams and Pugh had they been given ample time may have been able to flip some votes in the Caucus, but they damned sure needed more than a day and half for that task. 

The umbrella org also repeated California's failure of not consistently engaging the Black and Latino communities and mobilizing progressive ministers and priests tn the state to neutralize and drown out the bigots in the African American Clergy Coalition and the Roman Catholic Church.

Thanks to TransGriot reader Chitown Kev for pointing me to an NBC5 article entitled 'Don't Thank (Or Blame) Black Legislators For Killing Gay Marriage' and giving me more ammunition to point out why fanning the hell-fire flames of gay bigotry against Blacks is not only wrong but not helpful to your marriage cause. 

Interestingly enough that NBC5 story breaks down how the so-called 'homophobic' Black Legislative caucus votes would have probably gone down if a marriage vote had been called

Eleven of the 20 Black Caucus members would have voted YES,  four NO and five were undecided.

YES
Ken Dunkin, Chicago
Esther Golar, Chicago
Chris Welch, Hillside
La Shawn Ford, Chicago
Christian Mitchell, Chicago
Rita Mayfield, Waukegan
Al Riley, Olympia Field
Camille Lilly, Chicago
Arthur Turner, Chicago
Marcus Evans, Chicago
Elgie Sims, Jr., Chicago

NO
Monique Davis, Chicago
Mary Flowers, Chicago
Eddie Jackson, East St. Louis
Charles Jefferson, Rockford

UNDECIDED
Thaddeus Jones, Calumet City
Jehan Gordon-Booth, Peoria
Will Davis, East Hazel Crest
Derrick Smith, Chicago
Andre Thapedi, Chicago

As an FYI moment, the six Latino Illinois legislators were considered supporters.

Now compare and contrast that with the 92 white legislators in the Illinois House.  I pointed out the fact in my initial Saturday post the bulk of the people and legislators opposed to marriage equality don't look like me and it was borne out in this report.

45 of the 47 Republicans (who are survey says, all white peeps) were opposed to the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act with only two supporting it..  

The 45 remaining white legislators in the Illinois House are Democrats. Of those white Democrats 26 were considered solid YES votes, but there were 19 white Democratic legislators identified by the Windy City Times who are either committed to vote NO on the bill, or have not publicly supported it. 

Those legislators are Brandon Phelps, John Bradley, Jerry Costello II, Jay Hoffman, Daniel Beiser, Sue Scherer, Stephanie Kifowit, Anthony DeLuca, Katherine Cloonen, Patrick Verschoore, Jack Franks, Michelle Mussman, John D’Amico, Natalie Manley, Emily McAsey, Kathleen Willis, Fred Crespo, Keith Farnham, and Kelly Burke.

So how in the hell does the Black Caucus get the blame or the failure of this bill when all along you had a white Democratic legislator problem?  

Easy, when you want to deflect from your own organizational failures.

"Don’t blame the Black Caucus. The Black Caucus has always been with us and so have the Latinos,” said Rick Garcia, the policy director of the Civil Rights Agenda. “They are just using the black people as an excuse.”

And once again for you white gay peeps still pouring gasoline on the hell fire flames of gay bigotry against African-Americans, 60% of Black Illinois residents supported marriage equality with many of them being high profile ones like Desiree Rogers, the CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, Linda Johnson Rice, the chair of Johnson Publishing Company, the Rev Dr. Otis Moss III, the pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, retired shortstop Ernie Banks, Andrea Zopp, the president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League just to name a few      

So for those of you in the Illinois gay community still squawking about who not to support in the next election cycle, primary challenge or you're petulantly not going to support issues of importance to the African-American community in retaliation for this setback, my suggestion is you don't let the white privilege you're swimming in be the catalyst for writing a political check your azzes will regret cashing.  

Seems y'all need to be focusing your attention moreso on the problem you have with white people supporting marriage equality.  You need to do a better job building support for marriage equality amongst your fellow white people, get busy building that coalition of progressive ministers you'll need to fight the bigoted ones and quit scapegoating Black people for your failure to come up with an argument that resonates with your fellow white folks.

Because frankly, Black people, and especially Black TBLG folks are sick and tired of being blamed for your failure to do precisely that.  

Georgina Beyer Seriously Ill

Georgina Beyer, who rose from a challenging situation to become the world's first trans MP in 1999 is reportedly seriously ill with a chronic kidney infection that will force her to do four day a week dialysis unless she gets a kidney transplant.

The 55 year old Beyer was about to announce her candidacy for mayor of Wellington, New Zealand's capital city and has not confirmed as of yet if she will drop those plans to run

She stood for election as a Labour MP in the November 1999 general election and energized the trans community in New Zealand and around the world by winning a usually right-leaning electorate in Wairarapa to become the world's first openly transgender MP.  She held that seat until she resigned from New Zealand's parliament in February 2007.

"I'm sure as hell not going to sit back and think, "woe is me",' said Beyer in an interview with Woman's Day magazine. "I refuse to be defeatist. This health issue has cast a huge shadow, but I'm going to be positive and proactive.'

And we'll follow your lead on that in addition to saying our prayers for you.

2013 Williams Watch-Serena's Headed To The Semis!

"She's the best in the world. She has been playing unbelievable tennis. But I believe that I have game and my good days as well. Let's cross fingers I will have a good day."
--Svetlana Kuznetsova

For much of the match Svetlana Kuznetsova was having a good day on Court Suzanne Lenglen against Serena J. Williams.

After getting blitzed in 28 minutes in the first set by Little Sis, Kuznetsova took an injury time out, regrouped and rallied to take the second set as Serena's play came down a level from her fast start.  

Kuznetsova had Serena down 0-2 in the third set and for a moment visions of another quarterfinal round loss (2004, 2007, 2009 to Kuznetsova and 2010) at Roland Garros were on the horizon for Serena Williams.   

But Little Sis simply refused to go out like that again and stepped up her game.  In that critical third game of the set she fought off three Kuznetsova break point chances, held serve and then kicked her game to another level to win 6-1, 3-6,6-3 punch her ticket to the semifinals for the first time since 2003.

She'll face number 5 seed and last year's French Open runner up Sara Errani of Italy for a chance to play in her first French Open final since 2002. 

What Is An Unjust Law?

You've probably read a few posts ion TransGriot in which when I've commented on anti-TBLG laws or bad legislation that is purported to help us I've called them 'unjust laws'.

So what is an unjust law?   St. Augustine has said "an unjust law is no law at all." 

To clarify what he said, an unjust law would be one that takes away an individual's or a group's freedom, causes harm or basically just causes chaos.  It's the opposite effect of what a law is put in place to do.

The Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. broke it down more eloquently in his 1963 'Letter From Birmingham City Jail' the concept of just and unjust laws.  

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an "I it" relationship for an "I thou" relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man's tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. Let me give another explanation. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state's segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured?

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

So the next time you see me in this space call a law just or unjust, you'll now have a better understanding of what I'm talking about

As A White LGBT Person, You STILL Have More Privilege Than A POC TBLG Person Ever Will

Your White Privilege Rewards card just comes with a rainbow sticker on it.  But it still functions the same way.

As Kenyon Farrow (who I had the pleasure of meeting at OUT on the Hill 2012)  wrote back in 2005 in an essay entitled “Is the Gay Marriage Movement Anti-Black?”

While homophobia in the black community is certainly an issue we need to address, blacks of all sexualities experience the reality that many white gays and lesbians think that because they’re gay, they “understand” oppression, and therefore could not be racist like their heterosexual counterparts. Bull____. America is first built on the privilege of whiteness, and as long as you have white skin, you have a level of agency and access above and beyond people of color, period. White women and white non-heteros included.

You most certainly do.  Being part of the TBLG community doesn't change that basic fact you still benefit from white privilege even if it is not quite at the same level it would have been if you were straight.   And deep down you know it too and act like it in TBLG community circles. 

Kenyon Farrow and I aren't the only Black LGBT writers who have noted the phenomenon. So did James Baldwin back in the day.  

Baldwin explains in a 1984 Village Voice interview that white LGBTQ men and women feel slighted precisely because they know that had they been straight, they would have been heirs to incomparable privilege. In that interview with Richard Goldstein, then the editor of the Village Voice, Baldwin said, "I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, in a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality puts them in danger, unexpectedly."

Baldwin went on to say:

"Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to their sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society. There's an element, it has always seemed to me, of bewilderment and complaint. Now that may sound very harsh, but the gay world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society."

Nor are they prepared to accept finite disappointment when things don't go their way legislatively.  They are quick in the initial stages to blame things that go wrong toward the achievement of their legislative and policy goals on everybody but themselves as last weekend's events in Illinois are quickly demonstrating.

There were rainbow flavored bigoted to blatantly racist anti-Black comments, calls to frack the Democrats, withdraw their support  from (fill in the blank) to comments about petulantly sitting out the 2014 midterms and irrationally letting the GOP take over.

You don't make those kinds of statements unless you believe you have the power and privilege to carry them out and make them a reality. 

So the next time you claim as a white GLBT person that you don't have vanillacentric privilege, don't be surprised when I and other non-white members of the community give you the side eye or burst out laughing in your face concerning how ridiculous that statement is.
  
Because by dint of your rainbow flag waving self being born with white skin, you'll always carry more privilege than non-white members of the TBLG community. 

Combating Bossip Comment Thread Transphobia

Stumbled across this story of 22 year old trans barista Vivian Diego that works at Eva Longoria's LA restaurant being jumped and beaten by several men that the LA police are investigating as a hate crime. 

Bossip's comment threads when these trans themed stories are posted usually explode into a cesspool of transphobia

Normally, I just ignore it and go my merry way to surf somewhere else on the Net where I can engage in an intelligent conversation on whatever piques my curiosity.   Nine times out of ten I won't find intelligent commentary at Bossip, especially when it comes to trans issues. 

But today, I was in Maya Wilkes mode as I read the blatant ignorance in this thread that basically followed these spin lines:

*The victim deserved what they got because they were 'deceiving' the poor horny menz.

*The transwoman is 'rebelling against God' and needs to 'live as God made them'.

*Conflation of chromosomes vs DNA

*The genitalia = gender ID meme

*Several cis women stating an arrogant cis privilege filled belief that unless you can menstruate or give birth, you're not a 'real woman'.
 
*Straight up transphobic ignorance

*The transperson is possessed by demons and needs to be saved

So I decided after reading that toro poo poo I wasn't having it today and waded into the comment threads to drop 50 megatons of knowledge on the transphobic idiots in that thread.

There are just times when you have to go to war in these transphobic comment threads because it needs to happen.  Far from being a futile exercise, it is another form of trans advocacy for the folks that won't see a panel discussion at a conference or a college campus and we need to do battle in these transphobic threads so they phobes don't get comfortable spouting their ish and have to think twice about doing so.. 

For every ignorant comment in that Bossip thread, people that read the conversation later will also see the facts based ones I and others left behind and if they're curious, will investigate what we had to say on their own.   It also changes the direction of the conversation of that thread from one in which their are piling on a transperson to being forced to come to terms with their own transphobic attitudes.

TransGriot Update:  LAPD has clarified that the person's name in this case is Vivian and she does ID as female.  I used the feminine version of her old name in the compilation of the post because I can't stand it when old names that no longer apply to the gender presentation of the person in the article are disrespectfully used.

Nona Hendryx Ain't Playing MichFest

Well well, the Michigan Transphobic Womyn's Music Festival has one more artist not coming to The Land this year, and it's one of my favorite singers.

I have loved Nona Hendryx since her days with LaBelle and when she became a solo artist in the late 70's.   In 1983 she wrote a song called 'Transformation' which got me through some rough times during the mid-80's when I was wrestling with the 'should I or should I not transition?' dilemma and the early part of my transition in 1994.     

Today I have an even bigger reason to love her. She became the third artist to announce she wasn't playing MichFest this year due to their anti-trans policy.

'I will not play the Mich Fest this year.   My head and heart can't exclude fans or friends who are transgender & the policy of this festival hasn't changed.  "The only constant in life is...change"
XO, Nona

Nona, on behalf of myself and other #girlslikeus who share your ethnic heritage and out entire trans community, thank you. 

So we now have three artists that definitely aren't coming, two that said this is their last year performing on The Land if they don't change their transphobic policy, and four more who said they would make a statement from the stage

Naw China, We STILL Haven't Forgotten What Today Is

June 4, 1989, the 24th anniversary of the crushing of the Tiananmen Square student led protests with PLA tanks and troops. 

Since somebody thought it would be a cute stunt to remove the link to the original TransGriot June 4, 1989 post and reroute it to some game site, bad move.  All you did was piss me off and ensure I'd circle the date on the calendar to make sure I'd write another post reminding my readers here in the States and around the world about the day Chinese tanks and troops slaughtered their own citizens participating in a peaceful protest.  

Besides, I don't ever forget that June 4 date because it happens to be my late grandmother Tama's birthday. 

It was a five week protest by students and concerned citizens simply asking for government reform and an end to corruption in their government that captured the world's attention.




The Chinese government answer to those demands came in the late evening of June 3 and the early morning hours of June 4.  The plug was pulled on the television feed for the international foreign news networks broadcasting the event and PLA troops backed up by tanks began firing on and running over the people in the square to break up the demonstration.    Casualties were estimated between 200-1000 people dead. 


As I said in last year's post, those PLA tanks and troops may have crushed the demonstration, and the Chinese government may continue to try to erase and deny what happened, but the video, photographic and written evidence is still out there and it's always going to be a part of world history. 

Neither can you crush the root of freedom from which democracy will inevitably flower once it has taken root.

So on this day international community, remember the people who died in the name of freedom and democracy in their homeland's capitol city.


We also need to on this day in the United States, remember that freedom requires eternal vigilance from the enemies inside and outside our borders who seek to exterminate it.

Megyn Kelly Has Another Broken Clock Journalistic Moment

Megyn Kelly just renewed her FOX Noise anchor contract despite being seriously courted by other journalistic outlets.  but it seems like she was more than a little pissed off about last week's Shut Up Fool Award winner Erick Erickson's loud and wrong misogynistic comments he made on that all boys troglodytes panel on Lou Dobbs' show.

This FOX noise clip of Kelly eviscerating them is beautiful to watch..

C-279 Passes Senate Second Reading!

Transpeople around the world are watching along with our Canadian trans cousins as C-279, the Trans Rights Bill passed another step in its nerve wracking journey through the Canadian Senate to become law in the Great White North.  

After more spirited debate on May 23 in which the Conservative opponents of the bill did their best to flush it out of existence with 'bathroom bill' and trans predator rhetoric, C-279 passed Second Reading in the Canadian Senate on May 29 and was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights the same day.

The committee is scheduled to meet today at 4:00 PM EDT and on the committee's agenda is a hearing on C-279.   The bill if it becomes Canadian law would add gender identity to the list of protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act and under the hate crimes section of the Criminal Code.

The persons who are scheduled to testify in front of the Standing Committee On Human Rights this afternoon are:

• Greta Bauer, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (University of Western Ontario)
• Ryan Dyck, Director of Research and Policy (EGALE Canada)
• Ian Fine, Secretary General (Canadian Human Rights Commission)
• Randall Garrison, M.P., Sponsor of the Bill in the House of Commons (House of Commons)
• David Langtry, Acting Chief Commissioner (Canadian Human Rights Commission)

If the meeting happens and you wish to watch and listen to what is transpiring in this hearing, you can click on this link 

While this bill is a step closer to becoming Canadian law, it still has to get out of this committee, to the Senate floor for two more hours of debate and a final vote.   If C-279 passes Third Reading, it would then go to Governor General David Johnston for Royal Assent, which would make it Canadian law.

So keep crossing your fingers, rubbing your good luck charms and saying your prayers for our Canadian trans cousins and hoping that by the end of this month, they will have a federal law protecting their human rights in their home and native land.
.     

Maltese Parliament Debating Trans Marriage Civil Code Changes

As part of the deal they struck with Joanne Cassar in order to end the European Court of Human Rights case she brought against them in June 2011,  Malta's parliament began debate on amending that nation's Civil Code so that post operative trans people would be considered as individuals of the acquired gender identity with full rights including the right to marry.

Once the amendments to the Civil Code pass, and the Opposition party has no problem with that as of now, transpeople in Malta would not only be able to get their birth certificates changed, the Public Registry director will be able to issue marriage banns to post-op transgender individuals who express the wish to get married.


Helena Dalli, The Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties said she could not understand how a government complicates matters even more for a person who already faced great difficulties in life.

“The government cannot punish these people although they continue to suffer as a result of prejudice against them,” she said. “It is not just laws that need to change but attitudes and silence should not prevail”.

Amen to that.   We in the international trans community hope these Civil Code changes are expeditiously passed and Malta continues the process of ensuring all of its trans citizens are treated equally under their nation's laws.

Ohio High School Lets Trans Latina Student Graduate Wearing Correct Gown

This was the way Damian Garcia and Isaak Wolfe's cases should have gone.down and it's nice to see common sense prevail.

In a scenario that has become far too familiar in this 2013 graduation season,  17 year old Fostoria, OH high school senior Chris Calderon-Perez has been transitioning for the last two years, but was initially told by principal Tom Grine she would have to dress as a male and wear the black male graduation gown instead of the red female one that matches her current gender presentation.  

However, the dress code policy that Grine was trying to enforce runs counter to the Fostoria school board non-discrimination policy that had just been updated in March to include gay and transgender students as protected classes.   Forcing Calderon-Perez to dress as male for her graduation would have been in violation of that newly minted non-discrimination policy.

"All I want to see is my mom proud of me, to see me walking — because I deserve it," Calderon-Perez said. "My academic achievement has nothing to do with my appearance."

Exactly.  So when Calderon-Perez's graduation happened yesterday, she was wearing the red female gown and following the female dress code.

No fuss, no muss, everybody's happy and you peeps in Fostoria avoided the transphobe instigated drama that happened in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.

Congratulations Chris, and may you have much sucecess in your future endeavors.

Audrey's History Making Kenyan Case

I've had the pleasure of conversing with Audrey Mbugua online for several years now and I'm looking forward to the day I finally meet this trailblazing Kenyan trans activist.   .
 
I'm following with keen interest her Kenyan history making legal case in her homeland in which she sued the Kenyan National Examinations Council and the Kenyan Attorney General to change the name on her KNEC certificates and other identity documents including her national identity card and passport to reflect who she is now.

“The process of changing my name and gender in my identity, travel and academic documents was fraught with challenges such as lack of understanding among public officers in charge of these processes,” Audrey says in a recent interview.

The initial court hearing was on May 28 and the counsel representing KNEC and the attorney general asked  High Court Judge Weldon Korir for more time to prepare a response to Mbugua's petition because this case is in their words 'tricky'.   The counsel also indicated that the petition response will require extensive consultations between several Kenyan government departments, including the Registrar of Births and Deaths.

There's nothing 'tricky' about it.  29 year old Audrey lives her life as and presents as female, she has undergone a medical transition except the genital surgery she started in 2001, and her documentation needs to reflect that.

  


Audrey's interview on NTV Kenya



Good luck sis!  Hope common sense prevails on August 6 and your document changes are granted..

Hmm, Did I Pluck A Dallas Principled Nerve?

''Were the Dallas Principles a sincere attempt to change the way the BTLG rights movement goes about its business or did they evolve into public relations woof tickets aimed at dissenting TBLG peeps expressing increasing discontent about the 'all marriage all the time' direction of the LGBT rights movement?'   
TransGriot,  May 28, 2013

Hmm, despite what some of my haters claim and I know for a fact by my hit counts, guess some of you peeps in Gay, Inc orgs (and elsewhere) read what I have to say at TransGriot on a regular basis.

Seems that Dana Beyer quickly put up a HuffPo post that attempts to spin what I wrote about the trans community being legislatively left behind.   All the stuff she quoted in her HuffPo piece while it has been wonderful news for the trans community that I was quite aware of, still has been done predominately via ADMINISTRATIVE or federal court rulings.

ENDABlog 2.0's Katrina Rose also has something to say about the post 

Dana's post is just another round of excuses and spin (remember Dallas Principle Number 1, Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now.  Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable) attempting to divert attention from the fact that trans justice and trans human rights are being delayed and denied in some cases by the actions (or inaction) of our so called allies while non-white transpeople pay in blood for their lack of human rights vision.   

But then again, as a longtime TransGriot reader pointed out in a discussion on my Facebook page, why should we expect organizations to adhere to standards they weren't in that DFW airport hotel room they didn't come up with or publically agree to follow?  

Perhaps because it's the right and morally correct thing to do?  

But then again elements of the GL community and GL organizations have a long ugly history since 1973 of not doing the morally correct thing by transpeople they aren't even close to making up for.  

The points I made in the Dallas Principles post are still valid about the trans community being legislatively left behind as a consequence of the GL 'all marriage all the time' push.  While anti-trans discrimination legislation was just introduced in Delaware, it is still just a bill until it passes both houses of the Delaware legislature and Gov Jack Markell (D) signs it.   

Until then gay people still have anti-discrimination coverage in Delaware, New York State and Beyer's home state of Maryland  with solid public accommodations language that they gained in all three cases by throwing trans people (who desperately needed that sake level of human rights coverage) under the civil rights bus.  With two weeks to go in the New York State legislative session GENDA still has not advanced to a vote in the GOP controlled senate nor have we heard Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) utter one syllable in favor of its passage or indicate he would sign it if it did pass the New York Senate and trans rights legislation died in Maryland..

Transpeople still cannot openly serve in the United States military while GLB people since 2010 can. 

And the question I asked about the Dallas Principles in the closing paragraph of that May 28 post and is in bold print at the start of this one is still open for debate.

Loving VH1's 'Hit The Floor'

While I'm impatiently waiting for the third season of VH1's Single Ladies to appear on my TV set did get to watch the opening show of a new VH1 series called Hit The Floor that broadcast its pilot episode on May 27.

Two of the names you'll recognize in the cast are Dean Cain and Kimberly Elise in this cast of new actors. 

Hit The Floor follows the story of Ahsha Hayes, a recent college grad played by Taylour Paige who has followed in the footsteps of her mother Sloane (Kimberly Elise) and become a member of the Devil Girls, the fictional Los Angeles Devils basketball team cheerleading squad after trying out against her mother's wishes. 

Sloane Hayes was a member of the original squad and knows all too well the tempting, cutthroat and treacherous world that awaits her naive daughter.

Dean Cain plays Pete Davenport, the former All-Star Devils player and recent divorcee who is in his first season as coach of the team.   He runs into Sloane when she shows up to support Ahsha at her final tryout, who drops the news on Davenport at the end of the pilot episode that he is Ahsha's father.

Then toss into this mix Jelena Howard (played by Logan Browning) who is a four year acknowledged star member of the team, the tyrannical captain of the Devil Girls and girlfriend of Devils star baller Terrence Wall. 

She's feeling very threatened by Ahsha joining the squad and her obvious star quality and is also battling Olivia Vincent, the OG Devil Girl who now serves as the manager of the squad for control of it.   

Olivia was once friends with Sloane during their time as Devil Girls before Olivia's machinations to turn the squad into a multimillion dollar enterprise caused a major rift in their friendship. 

Raquel Saldana (Valery Ortiz) is a four year member of the Devil Girls who is cut from the squad after she speaks up in defense of Ahsha who she befriended at the tryouts and incurs the wrath of Jelena.  She also dealing with the bullying deadbeat dad of her 4 year old son Miguel, who is the manager for half of the Devils players.     

There also Kyle Hart, (Katherine Bailess) a stripper who auditions for the squad and is a bright observant woman who isn't scared to fight for what she wants.  She uses her formidable sex appeal with lecherous Devils owner Oscar Kincade in a bid to get a spot on the Devil Girls. 

The show even has Twitter and Facebook pages for you to follow your fave characters and all the action of Hit The Floor.

So yep, y'all know how much I enjoy watching a good scripted show and Hit The Floor has many of the elements I love in terms of plot twists and lots of drama.  I'll definitely be hitting the couch to watch it on Mondays at 8 PM Central time  

2013 Williams Watch-On To The Quarters!

Serena Williams is still in the hunt for her 16th Grand slam title after taking only 70 minutes to breeze past 15th seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-3.   It was her 28th consecutive match win and puts her in the quarterfinals of the French Open for the first time since 2010.

She's an unbeaten 20-0 on clay this year, but now faces the woman that knocked her out of the 2009 French Open and went on to win the title that year in Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova. 

The two time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova knocked off 8th seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets to punch her ticket to the quarters

Since losing in the French Open first round last year, Little Sis is 71-3 and has won the Wimbledon singles and doubles titles, the Olympics singles and doubles titles, the US Open singles title and the WTP Championship.

Should she get past Kuznetsova, she would make it to the semis at Roland Garros for the first time since 2003 and the way she's playing right now I wouldn't bet against her doing it.

MTV's 'Girl Code'

Was channel surfing one night and stumbled across an MTV show that caught my attention entitled Girl Code.

It's a spinoff show to MTV2's Guy Code and started broadcasting its 15 episode run April 23.  It features a multicultural cast of female actresses, musicians, stand-up comics and a few men discussing the sisterhood that women share

It's been interesting to hear the discussion on a wide range of topics such as breast envy, crushes, relationships, feeling unattractive, jealousy toward a male friends girlfriend, playing sports and menstruation just to name a few of the subject they've tackled.

It's on frequent rotation, but I'm going back to watch some of the episodes I missed

Where Were The 'Normal' Gays At Stonewall? Cowering In Their Closets

The next time that some conservagay tries to pinkwash the history of Stonewall and erase transpeople from it, send them to this link to read the letter that came from a closeted gay man complaining about the 'freaks' that were in the celebratory parade held one year after Stonewall took place. 

The response from Dick Griffo of New York was beautifully on point.

September, 1970

Remember, the ‘queens’ had the balls!

Editor:
This is addressed to the “Name Withheld” correspondent regarding the Christopher Street West parade. As I reside in Brooklyn Heights, I can only refer to our own demonstration in which I proudly participated. I do believe, however, that both parades were quite similar.

I would like to know if the anonymous correspondent participated in the march or if he remained on the sidewalk, afraid to commit himself. Also, he should remember that the homophile community ranges from flamboyant drag queens to conservative closet queers—but we are all human and should join together in this our common struggle. Please don’t forget that it was the DRAG QUEENS who fought back last year, not we closet queens.

I’ll tell you where the “normal looking homosexuals” were. They were at the beaches, the theatre, away for the weekend, ad nauseam, because they are not yet liberated from themselves.

The use of the word “fag” by the correspondent indicates a deep self-hatred which should he corrected.

When the correspondent is no longer afraid to use his name in your publication and learns to accept ALL his brothers and sisters, then and only then will we succeed in our peaceful revolution.

Dick Griffo
Brooklyn, N.Y.

So yeah,  we transfolks are going to continue to have major problems with gay peeps continued attempts to erase us from the movement we put our azzes on the line to start.