2013 Williams Watch-Sweet Sixteen!

Serena Williams completed her relentless redemption march through the 2013 French Open women's field by subduing Maria Sharapova (again) 6-4, 6-4.  

She got off to a slow start trailing 2-0 in the first set until she broke Sharapova's erratic serve to take control of the set and eventually the match. 

Little Sis whacked 10 aces, including three in the final game that clocked out at 118 miles per hour, 121 mph and on double championship point at 128 mph to capture her first French Open title since she beat Big Sis for the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in 2002. 

Since that shocking first round loss in last year's French Open, Little Sis is 74-3, won 31 straight matches, 22-0 on clay, has captured the Wimbledon singles and doubles crowns, the Olympics singles and doubles title, the US Open singles title, the WTA Championship and has regained the world number one ranking.

And the way she's playing I wouldn't bet against her adding another title at 'Williams'-don in a few weeks. (June 24-July 7)

It is the 16th career Grand Slam title she's captured, putting her only two away from tying Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all time list.   Serena is also the fourth woman to win all four Grand Slam titles at least twice (Navratilova, Evert and Graf are the other three) and out of those women is the only one to repeat as an Olympic champion in singles and doubles.  

At 31 she's the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam since Navratilova captured the 1990 Wimbledon crown at age 33..

Serena was magnifique during this two week run at Roland Garros, and I wouldn't bet against her catching Evert and Navratilova before the year is out on the all time title list the way she's playing. 
 

Trans Class Of 2014, Start Planning Now To Beat Your Trans Oppressors

I get approximately 4000 hits per day on this blog, and I don't doubt that some of my traffic is probably coming from people who are under the legal drinking age.

Now that Damian, Isaak, Toni, Chris, Seth, Leah, Cody, Calliope and other trans teens in the Class of 2013 that didn't make the news are headed to their post high school lives, time for me to aim a post at the trans members of the class of 2014.

Congratulations in advance Class of 2014!    When school starts this fall you will be at the top of the high school societal food chain.  I know you've been impatiently waiting for the last two or three years to say the words 'I'm a senior" and couldn't wait for the Class of 2013 to leave so y'all can begin your long awaited time of running thangs in your various high schools and look down your noses at the incoming freshmen and sophomores.   

The start of the fall semester of your senior year is what you, your parents, grandparents and other extended family members have waited for since that first day they tearfully dropped you off for your first day in kindergarten.    

You high school juniors (and high school freshmen and sophomores) probably noted as much as your trans elders did some of the drama the persons I mentioned went through to be their authentic selves on one of the signature days of your young lives.

What this post is ultimately getting at is the TransGriot and your trans elders want you to not only savor every delicious moment of your final year of high school in 2013-14, but being you as you do get that education and prepare for the next phase of your lives.

Seeing that makes us realize that all the struggles we undergo to ensure that the laws and policies are in place for you to thrive wasn't in vain and you're benefiting from it.   

Some of you transteens are increasingly getting to attend school in districts that have adopted anti-discrimination policies that cover trans kids, while other districts aren't thinking about it.  

But don't let it stop you trans teens if you're thinking about running for homecoming king or queen, prom king or queen, class president, or play your favorite sport.  There are federal laws and positive court cases already on the books that allow you to live your trans lives no matter what part of the country you live in.    

There will be those haters uncomfortable in their own skin or with their gender identity who will oppose you.   Some of them will be your fellow students, some will be their parents, and some will be people in the school  administration.  

But go for it!   Be you.  Live your trans lives.  Some of you are fortunate enough to live in states where trans human rights are covered.  Even if you aren't in one of those 16 states (and hopefully 17 if Delaware joins the trans human rights party) the federal law is on your side.       

So is an entire trans community in your various states and in some cases around the world ready and willing to help you and get the word out even in deepest darkest red state America.   You may even make a little history in the process since as of yet we have never had to my knowledge an out transperson become a homecoming queen, prom king or high school class president.
 
I have no doubts that it will happen in my lifetime because of the transkids and transteens now winding their way through their school years at the elementary and middle school level or who are increasingly transitioning in high school.

Your trans elders are fighting to help make this a better world for you when you leave high school so that all you have to do is dream those big dreams and go out and fight to achieve them.

Trans Class of 2014, I hope and pray you have a wonderful and less drama filled senior year than the Trans Class of 2013 just had. 
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So word to the wise trans younglings, get your game plan together now so you have a relatively stress free senior year. GLSEN, the ACLU, PFLAG and your local TBLG orgs can play major roles in helping ensure that happens if you run into any transphobic resistance.

But based on what happened in 2013 and previous school years over the life of this blog, I'm betting I'll be writing a few posts during the 2013-14 school year chronicling your attempts to fight the power, express your trans selves and live your lives. 

I hope and pray that some of those posts I get to write will also be ones in which you make trans history and I'm chronicling you doing things that your trans elders only wished we'd had the opportunity to do during our high school days.

Unjust Arizona Bathroom Bill Dead For This Session

For my trans brothers and sisters who live in or are traveling through or into the state of Arizona for business or pleasure, you'll be happy to know that the act of pooping our pissing in the gender correct bathroom will not make you a criminal in the state. 

The unjust bathroom bill that GOP oppressor Rep. Jon Kavanagh filed that originally called for making it a Class 1 misdemeanor offense punishable by six months in jail and a $2,500 fine to use a public toilet, bathroom, shower, bath, dressing room or changing room associated with a gender other than what is on one's birth certificate has died for this session.

After a wave of international outrage, negative publicity and pushback from Arizona trans residents and the national trans community, Kavanagh modified his original draconian bill to shield businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don’t match their birth gender.

According to Kavanagh there's concern in the GOP caucus about the unjust bill's definitions, so it will have to be shelved until next year.

Here's a suggestion Jon.  How about you drop the idea period and save you, your party and the state of Arizona further embarrassment and get thee to a psychologist to deal with that deep seated hatred you have for trans people?

Isaak Still Standing, Still Getting Dissed On His Way To Graduation Day

Needed to give you TransGriot readers an update as to how transman Isaak Wolfe is faring in his senior year Pennsylvania battle against transphobia with the Red Lion Area School District.

Isaak's graduation ceremony from Red Lion HS was today, and as you know his story hit the news back in April when he wasn't allowed to run for prom king  

Without his knowledge he was entered into the candidates for prom queen under his old name because his transphobic principal was 'uncomfortable' with the idea of him running for prom king.   When his girlfriend Taylor Thomas expressed her displeasure with the transphobic shade that Red Lion HS was aiming at Isaak she was barred from attending the prom with him.

That's when the ACLU legal guns got involved.   The prom situation got resolved, Taylor was allowed to attend with him, but his chance to run for prom king was thwarted (which was probably the intent in the first place).   

Then it was the issue of Red Lion High having separate cap and gown colors for male and females students. Frankly, I don't understand the reasoning for it because at my high school and many in this area male and female students wear the same cap and gown in the school colors.

Isaak of course like Damian Garcia in Albuquerque wanted to wear the gender appropriate black gown other male students at the school wore, but the administration was demanding he wear the female one which was gold.

That issue got resolved as well, but one that didn't was having his male name read as he graduated with the other 380 members of his class.  He wouldn't be able at this time to have it placed on his diploma, but had asked to be announced as he crossed the stage as Isaak.   It's a reasonable request and something that could easily be done. 

Of course, the transphobic Red Lion HS administration took the shady road, refused to do so and spitefully read his old name.

Despite that, on his graduation day Isaak received flowers and a binder from the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition.containing the news stories about his trans human rights fight and a graduation card signed by over 1,300 people

He was also upbeat and optimistic about his special day despite the trying last few weeks.
 
Wolfe said in an interview it would have been "fantastic" to have his preferred name read at graduation, but "they're going to go down in history as doing the wrong thing, and I think that hits them harder than they even know."

"I think we're going to go on to have bright and amazing futures that no one could ever imagine for us," he said.

And that's the one thing your trans family wants for you and all our graduates the most.  Have the type of future that even we can't see right now because we're busy fighting the haters and planting trans human rights trees for you and the next generation of trans kids. 

Congratulations and best of luck in your future endeavors, Isaak!

Shut Up Fool Awards-National Doughnut Day Edition

It's the first Friday in June, and today is National Doughnut Day in which doughnut lovers like moi got a free one in addition to whatever amount we bought to scarf up on the way to work or home.

The Shipley's down the street from the house was passing out a free glazed doughnut until noon today.  Since I'd been good and resisted temptation to eat them by the half dozen (or dozen) for the last three  months, I decided this was a good day to break the doughnut fast.


Let me move on to what y'all really surfed over here for, to find out out what fool, fools or group of fools earned this week's TransGriot Shut Up Fool Award.

So let's get right to it. 

Honorable mention number one is the peeps of MassResistance, who demanded that the Boston Red Sox cancel an upcoming Pride Night game that occurred last night against the Texas Rangers

Honorable mention number two goes to my governor I didn't vote for, Rick 'Governor Goodhair' Perry, (R-TX) who vetoed a bipartisan 'Buy American' bill that passed the GOP dominated Texas House 23-7 and the GOP Dominated Texas Senate 145-0.  The bill mandates that when the state is making purchases and it comes down to a good which is US made and one foreign made and the price and quality are similar, the American made good be purchased.

Can't wait until next year's elections.

Honorable mention number three goes to Texas Tea Klux Klan leader Ken Emanuelson, who said in a May 20 meeting in response to a question about African-American outreach that "The Republican Party doesn't want Black people to vote if they are going to vote 9-1 for Democrats."

Well, Ken, you haven't given us a reason to vote for y'all since 1970 and you have an almost effortless ability to piss us off with your jacked up statements and racist policies that ensure that trend will continue for another decade. 

Honorable mention number four goes to Faux Bidness host Stuart Varney, who admitted that he is being mean to poor people in his loud and wrong lies aimed at the Earned Income Tax Credit




And this week's winner is Uncle Ruckus Rev EW Jackson, the Virginia GOP lieutenant governor nominee who said the reason he doesn't believe in evolution is because "monkeys can't talk" 

That comment is so stunningly stupid I don't even have a response for that one except this.

Rev EW Jackson, shut the hell up, fool!

Damian's Graduation Ceremony At UNM

Despite the efforts of thousands of people around the world who attempted to get transphobic Archbishop Michael Sheehan to defer to common sense and allow Damian Garcia to walk with his Albuquerque St Pius X HS classmates in a black gown, it unfortunately didn't happen and Damian skipped the ceremony.

On May 30 the University of New Mexico welcomed their newest Lobo to the fold by hosting a special graduation event for him at the UNM LGBT Resource Center attended by several dozen people in which Damian was the keynote speaker and got to wear his black graduation robe.

One of the people in attendance was Hawaii Human Rights Commissioner and recent Harvey Milk Champion of Change honoree Kim Coco Iwamoto, who received her law degree from the University of New Mexico's law school

“For me it’s amazing for young people like Damien take a stand for him being his authentic self,” she said.

Damien was emotional as he spoke about seeing a community come together on his behalf. "“I’ve seen a community, the LGBT community come to the rescue, so to speak, of a fellow member,” Garcia said. “Because of this and all the support, I’ve grown as a person as well as the community growing as a whole.”

He starts school at UNM in the fall and plans to become an attorney.

Trans People Make Beautiful Brides And Handsome Grooms

June is considered the start of wedding season, and we transfolks have much to celebrate in that regard in 2013 with two huge international trans marriage rights wins in Malta and Hong Kong.

After an up and down emotional seven year legal struggle that eventually saw her case go to the European Court of Human Rights, it took a change of ruling parties in the Maltese government before Joanne Cassar finally won.

Ms. W in Hong Kong's struggle wasn't as protracted, but was just as stressful.  She was down to her last legal strike after losing twice in lower court hearings before she prevailed at the most critical Hong Kong judicial level, the Court of Final Appeals.

As part of the diverse mosaic of humanity, transpeople also fall in love, form relationships and desire to get married to their partners.  What their genitalia configuration is underneath those bridal gowns and tuxes is none of you transphobic cis people's business as long as the two people saying 'I do' are happy.

And if it's a cis person marrying a transperson, that isn't your faith based concern either. If you wish to strengthen the institution of marriage, focus on your own damn marriage and make it the best one it can be instead of sticking your judgmental nose in somebody else's romantic business.

It's also my hope and prayer that some of my POC transwomen who are unecessairly dying due to anti-trans violence will one day get to experience the joy and happiness of not only being bridesmaids in a friend's wedding like I did in 2004, but eventually get married. 

And if I do say so myself, we are some beautiful brides and handsome grooms, too. 

TransGriot Note: The top photo is of South Koren transwoman Harisu during her 2007 marriage to her longtime boyfriend Micky Jung and the second is of Mexican trans couple Diana and Mario. 

Oh Hell No Sirius XM!

If you want to know why we have unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence disproportionately affecting POC trans people, one of the root causes is the unchecked hate speech aimed against trans folks.

Whether the anti-trans commentary is regurgitated on the Net, in the news media or the blogosphere, as I've said before and I'm paraphrasing here, trans hate thoughts lead to trans hate speech which equals to trans hate violence and the deaths of trans people . 

And the watchdog organization that's supposed to call it out is cricket chirping silent about it.

Another example of hate speech running amok in the media ironically occurred on an outlet founded by a transwoman.   SiriusXM was founded by Martine Rothblatt back in the 90's and hosts on its many channels various talk shows from across the nation. 

On one of them, during the June 3 broadcast of the Lex and Terry show they discussed the April Tampa incident in which transwoman Coco McDonald was lured to an abandoned house, robbed and shot twice by a perpetrator who was later arrested.

Lex and Terry not only condoned the crime, but one of them said they would have done the same thing themselves. 

Gee, nice to know you wastes of DNA condone the murder of other human beings.



Cristan Williams and Cheryl Courtney-Evans are some of the bloggers who have spoken out against this hate speech being broadcast on the air.  Cheryl had this to say about it in her Abitchforjustice post:

Surely this type of behavior and goading the public is just as inflammatory as Don Imus' "nappy-headed hoes", and deserves repercussion, apologies and/or firing(s)! Are not WE as human as the Rutgers University's female basketball team? Are not our persons as at risk when made to be viewed a certain way to the general public (that may hold individuals of low intelligence who might take this type of talk to heart and act on it)? I believe this type of speech borders on the criminal, in that it can incite violence on transgender individuals...

To me it's even more insulting that this happened on a network that was founded by a transwoman and I cosign what my trans sister Cheryl said.  It's also galling to note that this broadcast happened days after a Los Angeles transwoman was brutally beaten and left for dead as the transphobia runs amok in Bossip's comment threads.

But back to focusing on Sirius XM and this Oh Hell No moment.   Lex and Terry need to be suspended or fired for advocating violence against transwomen that as the lengthening TDOR name lists tell us, far too many people are willing to carry out.

TransGriot Update:  A Change.org petition has already gotten started with the goal of getting 500 signatures to demand that Clear Channel apologize for Lex and Terry's transphobic antics. 


SiriusXM has already apologized for it.  They issued the following statement regarding this issue and Clear Channels responsibility for programming the Lex and Terry show.

We apologize for this programming and don’t in any way condone it. The Extreme Talk channel and the Lex and Terry show are programming providing to us by Clear Channel. The channel and all the shows on it are under the control of Clear Channel. We are required to carry the channel based on pre-existing agreement with Clear Channel. We have made Clear Channel aware of this issue and the complaints from listeners.

Patrick Reilly
Senior Vice President, Communications

TransGriot Update: The Lex and Terry show has been dropped by Clear Channel from the SiriusXM Extreme Talk channel..  Lex and Terry according to GLAAD are apologizing for the jacked up comment.

2013 Williams Watch-Serena's In The French Open Finals!

After getting her stiffest challenge of her 2013 Paris business trip to Roland Garros in a three set quarterfinal scare from Svetlana Kuznetsova, Serena Williams moved on to her first French Open semifinal in a decade against the fifth seed, Italy's Sara Errani.

Errani was last year's French Open women's tourney runner up, but it was no contest for Little Sis as she took only 46 dominating minutes to punch her ticket to her first French Open final since she won it all in 2002.

Serena was on her A++ game today as she took only 21 minutes to win the first set and won the first 9 games before Errani finally broke through on her serve to win her lone game in this 6-0, 6-1 rout on Court Phillipe Chatrier.  

Williams bumps her current match win streak to a career best 30 straight matches and a 22-0 record this season on clay and faces in the final defending 2012 French Open champ Maria Sharapova, who survived a three set grunt fest against Victoria Azarenka.  

Sharapova has a 2-13 record against Serena, but one of the wins came in the 2004 Wimbledon final and she lost to Serena in straight sets recently on clay at the 2013 Madrid Open final 6-1, 6-4.

So will Serena be holding the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen Saturday for the first time since 2002?   I wouldn't bet against her the way she's playing right now.   

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If Our African Trans Cousins Can Do It...

What's stopping us from being more forceful about stepping up to the plate and fighting for trans human rights in our communities on this side of the Atlantic?

Over the last few years I've noted that despite faith-based anti-trans and gay hatred injected into the continent by white American Southern Baptist missionaries, our African trans cousins in their various nations on the continent gave been over the last several years increasingly stepping up,organizing and fighting for their human rights in their various nations and across the Mother Continent. 

They are also doing the education on trans issues.  Forming trans organizations not only in their own respective nations but banding together to hold conferences and form regional and trans African coalitions to do the work.  You have people such as Liesl Theron in South Africa, Audrey Mbugua in Kenya, Victor Mukasa in Uganda becoming the spokespersons for the trans communities in their nations.

In Victor's case, he was forced to leave Uganda because of government harassment to the point he sued them and won in 2009.   Others like Nigeria's Mia Nikasimo are part of the Diaspora and eloquently writing and speaking abut the issues related to being trans on the African continent and debunking the lie that transsexuality is 'un-African' , they don't exist there and being trans is 'a Western concept'.

We in the Western end of the African Diaspors definitely need to be following their lead.  We need to be doing what we can to not only build our communities here on our side of the Atlantic, but prepare ourselves for the day when we can reach our hands out to our African trans cousins and our African descended Caribbean ones as well if they ask for our help.

So I ask again.  If our African trans cousins can do it in terms of being agents of their own liberation, why can't we African descended people in the United States do a better job of emulating them?

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.
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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.