ENDA Set For July 10 Senate Committee Vote

The long delayed Employment and Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) will finally get a Senate committee vote.

The bill if passed would prevent discrimination by civilian non religious employers of 15 or more people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in hiring and employment.

I'd personally like to see religious employers added to this bill as well because as far as I'm concerned, you don't have a special right to discriminate. 

It was reintroduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers back in April and has been scheduled for a July 10 vote before the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

President Obama supports ENDA, wants to sign it and is urging action on the bill as a coalition of legislators and LG groups press him to sign an executive order that won't have the coverage that passed Congressional legislation will.   An executive order is also vulnerable to being overturned which is why the POTUS wants to go the legislative route.   
 

Arrest Made In Racially Charged Denardo Pizzeria Attack Case

On June 23 there was a 3:15 AM EDT incident in a Washington DC pizzeria in the 1800 block of 14th St. NW that went viral due to it being filmed and posted on three websites and briefly on YouTube.

It started when 28 year old Raymone Harding and 22 year old Rachel Manna Sahle of Gaithersburg, MD started making fun of drag queen Miles Denardo's makeup as he entered the Manny & Olga's location to pick up food after performing at the Black Cat nightclub in the same block under his Heidi Glum performance name.

It escalated into a heated argument in which epithets were exchanged, one of the women is alleged to have slapped Denardo, Denardo is alleged to have spit in the face of one of the women and egged on by an unidentified patron, resulted in a fight in which Denardo was punched by Harding and Sahle while being dragged across the floor of the take out pizzeria by his hair as bystanders laughed and cheered.   

Elements of the Washington DC and national LGBT community decried the attack in which the 'faggot' and 'tranny' slurs were deployed by the women against Denardo.  The African American end of the trans and SGL community were not too happy (myself included) about Denardo tweeting the n-word in the aftermath of it and the LGBT social media bigot eruptions that ensued aiming racial animus at Harding and Sahle.

There's also the problematic point of the HIV positive Denardo admitting to spitting in the face of one of the women and claiming they now had HIV.

If a person is HIV positive and deliberately spits in the direction of another person or bites them, in some states that is considered assault with a deadly weapon.  

On Tuesday police arrested Harding and charged her with misdemeanor simple assault in the ugly incident which is still under investigation by DC Metro Police. 

The misdemeanor simple assault charge carries a maximum six month jail sentence and/or a $1000 fine.

Sahle filed a police report the night of the June 23 incident accusing Denardo of biting her on the thigh and telling her 'now you have AIDS'.  

Denardo is claiming self defense for the felony aggravated assault charge that carries a maximum 10 year jail sentence,

He asserts in a Washington Blade interview that he had no choice but to bite her in order to get her to release the grip she had on his hair.   He also denies saying that she now has AIDS when the tape of the incident does capture him saying precisely that.

There's enough wrong to go around on both sides.  And as the conventional wisdom goes when you have two conflicting sides of a story, the truth is somewhere in the middle.  

It will be up to federal prosecutors in the District to sort out where the facts are and who is telling the truth in this convoluted and racially charged case.   


TransGriot Update: Rachel Manna Sahle was also arrested. charged with misdemeanor simple assault and released along with Harding after both women plead not guilty in DC Superior Court.
Both are scheduled for misdemeanor initial status hearings on September 5, ordered to take drug tests and stay away from Denardo.  

One Of The Killers Of Evon Young Convicted

Billy Griffin's trial may have ended in a hung jury on June 17, but that wasn't the case for Ashanti Mcalister

The 18 year old Mcalister was one of the five men arrested and charged with the brutal murder of 22 year old transmasculine rapper Evon Young who went missing on New Year's Day.

Mcalister's trial started June 24 and he was found guilty of first degree intentional homicide on June 27.

With the conviction, Mcalister is facing a maximum life in prison sentence for the murder of Evon Young with the sentencing soon to come.  37 year old Ron Allen's trial in this case is now set to start on October 7.

23 year old Devin Seaberry plead guilty to a lesser charge of second degree reckless homicide on July 2 in return for their testimony against Griffin, Mcalister and Allen.   Seaberry will be sentenced on October 17.

Victor Stewart also plead guilty June 5 to second degree reckless homicide in exchange for his testimony against the other three defendants and will be sentenced on July 23.     

After having his first one declared a mistrial Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner, Billy Griffin is facing a new trial that is scheduled to start September 16.

So if you're keeping score at home on how justice is being served in this Young case here's how its broken down so far.

Two defendants (Stewart and Seaberry) have plead guilty to second degree reckless homicide and have yet to be sentenced.  Mcallister has been convicted of first degree intentional homicide and yet to be sentenced.  Ron Allen is still awaiting trial for first degree intentional homicide, and Billy Griffin was tried, a mistrial was declared and he will have to face the judicial music again.

I will be keeping track of this Evon Young case until all the defendant have been sentenced to do the time for this heinous crime.  

Suspect In Vivian Diego Beating Case Pleads Not Guilty

21 year old Nicol Shakhnazaryan, one of the alleged perps arrested June 20 in the vicious beating of Vivian Diego has plead not guilty to charges of battery with serious bodily injury and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury in the May 31 attack.

Shakhnazaryan's attorney is incredibly claiming self defense for his client.  He asserts that Diego was the aggressor that night and attacked his client and his friends.

Yeah, right. That surveillance videotape says otherwise.  But if that tactic of convincing a jury that the videotape is lying worked to get off LA cops shown beating the crap out of Rodney King with their batons back in 1992, I can see why you'd try to run that same legal defense playbook with a white defendant from the San Fernando Valley and a Los Angeles trans Latina victim.in court especially since the Gwen Araujo Justice For Victims Act bans the use of the trans panic defense in California..

Shakhnazaryan faces eight years in jail if he is convicted and is due back in court July 16 to get his preliminary hearing date. 

The other people involved in the beating of Diego have yet to be arrested and a $25,000 reward is still being offered in the case for any information that leads to their arrest. Anyone with information about the attackers should email hollywoodcrimetips@gmail.com or call LAPD detectives at (213) 972-2967.  

5 Million Hits!

(singing) 5...5 million..5 million blog hits!

Thank you TransGriot readers for helping me reach another blogging milestone as of 2:43 AM today.CDT.  

And how apropos it happened on July 4,  our nation's Independence Day?

Who knew when I started this blog seven years ago that it would be considered a must read one and I'd reach this milestone?

I remember the days I was happy when I'd look at the hit counter and see 500 people read what I posted that day.  All I was trying to do at the time was ensure the voice of African-American transpeople were heard on issues of importance to us inside and outside our community and from time to time comment on the world as I saw it.

Mission accomplished.   But it's still an ongoing mission.   Thank you for reading and telling me how much you appreciate me and what I write here.   Thanks to those of you who drop some change from time to time in my electronic tip jar in the upper left hand corner or send links to stories that you think need to be covered.

I deeply appreciate those of you who spend your day reading and telling your friends about TransGriot.  It's been a major part of my success.   Me being blessed with writing talent and not being 'scurred' to call crap out when necessary doesn't hurt either.

So now that TransGriot has passed this milestone with your help, on to the next one of 5.5 million hits.  

Once Again, How Do I Feel About My Country, And How Does My Country Feel About Me?

Today is July 4, 2013, the 237th birthday of the United States, and I'm not in a celebratory mood as this Independence Day arrives.

The Supreme Court, aided and abetted by a self-hating live version of The Boondocks Uncle Ruckus voted 5-4 to eviscerate Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. 

It was one of the potent legal tools we had to keep the conservafools in GOP dominated state dictatorships legislatures in check as they repeatedly attempted to roll back our human rights,  and now it's been fracked with. 

The conservative dominated Rasmussen poll publishes one yesterday which confirms what we already knew about the vanillacentric privileged conservafools.   They ignorantly think Blacks are more racist than whites. 

If you believe that BS I have waterfront property I'd like to sell you between Breaux Bridge and Baton Rouge, LA along I-10 in the Atchafalaya Swamp. 

FYI to you conservasheep.  Racism=prejudice plus systemic power, something the Rasmussen conservaidiots should have retained from Sociology 101. Black people in the United States have NEVER had the power and population numbers to oppress people and turn their prejudices into legislative oppression like whites have gleefully and repeatedly done throughout American history for over three centuries.

The African-American president, the First Lady and his family continue to get unprecedented levels of disrespect aimed at them and will until they leave the White House on January 20, 2017.

Sometimes I wonder just how many of you white Americans not only say amen to what Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote about my people in the 1857 Dred Scott v Sandford decision but think on this date in the second decade of the 21st century we're still 3/5ths of a human being compared to you?

And just to refresh your memory banks concerning what Chief Justice Taney wrote on March 6, 1857:

"...beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.".

There are days I'm feeling Frederick Douglass' July 5, 1852 speech, but none more keenly than today. 

My transsisters in Washington DC are once again under attack as Deoni Jones' family awaits justice that has now been delayed until April 2014 for her February 2012 murder.. 

A Black woman in Georgia is told that she needs to submit to an invasive medical procedure to prove her femininity just to correct a birth certificate error and a smirking white male who killed an unarmed black teenager is on trial at this moment in Sanford, FL in front of a six person jury with no African-Americans on it.

But just when I feel like I want to leave the United States and never come back, I remember the words of my shero Barbara Jordan who eloquently stated that all we want is an America as good as its promise.

No, check that.  I want an America BETTER than its promise. 

I listen to Marvin Gaye's soulful version of the national anthem he sang at the 1983 NBA all star game or Jimi Hendrix's 1969 guitar solo version at Woodstock and get chills.   I think about the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rep. John Lewis, The Tuskegee Airmen, the Freedom Riders, Four Little Girls and all the people who fought marched, bled and died for me to be in the position to move the freedom torch forward.  It makes me realize I can't turn my back on that history.  I have to fight like they did in their time to make this country better for the next generation and generations yet unborn.

And as my little sis Jordana LeSesne wisely stated, 'no fight is more just than the battle for self-determination of ones own identity.'
 
The battle for trans human rights continues here in the United States as well.  The increased attacks and negativity we're getting aimed at us because we're winning that war right now but still have a long way to go until we see trans human rights become a reality across our nation.
 
 I have a pretty good idea how my country feels about me and all the communities I intersect and interact with as of July 4, 2013.   But how do I feel about my country today?

I'm ambivalent and a little pissed off at the USA because of the regressive human rights path we've been on lately no thanks to a batturd crazy Republican Party that professes to love freedom and democracy, but only when it benefits wealthy conservative white males and the profits over people corporations they run.   

Even though you clueless conservafools and Tea Klux Klan members piss me and my people off at times, I still love this country.   I've just been along with my fellow Americans who are persons of color more thoughtful about how.and why I do.  .

Check with me on July 5 as to how I'll feel about my country tomorrow.  

Colorado Civil Rights Division Lets Coy Pee In Peace

The Colorado Civil Rights Division has ruled in favor of 6 year old trans kid Coy Mathis, who was barred from using the girls' restroom at her elementary school despite a statewide law banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public accommodations.


The Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 told Coy's parents in December that the first grader would not be able to continue to use the girls' restroom after the holiday break
.
The family then filed a civil rights complaint in February.   The Civil Rights Division eventually ruled that the district's solution of letting Mathis use staff bathrooms was a violation of the young girl’s rights and was similar to discriminatory “separate but equal” laws.

"Schools should not discriminate against their students, and we are thrilled that Coy can return to school and put this behind her," Kathryn Mathis, Coy's mother, said in a statement published in the Denver Post. "All we ever wanted was for Coy's school to treat her the same as other little girls. We are extremely happy that she now will be treated equally.

And all any transperson wants, no matter what their age is to be treated as a first class citizen and be able to pee in peace.

2013 Shut Up Fool Of The Year Midyear Review

On January 30, 2009 I began what has turned out to be one of the more popular features on TransGriot in my weekly Shut Up Fool Awards.  

Every Friday I shine a bright spotlight on the fool, fool or group of fools who have exhibited mindbending stupidity and ignorance, naked hypocrisy, or say or do something so WTF worthy I just have to call them out on it.

Juan Williams of Fox Noise was our inaugural winner of that first award back in 2009.

Mr T is our smiling inspiration and mascot for the Shut Up Fool Awards, and because they were so wildly popular with my readers it grew into a Shut Up Fool of the Year award that I also started in 2009 and pass out every New Year's Eve.

On December 31 I honor the person, persons or group who had a year's worth of those WTF moments like 2012 winner Mitt Romney.    The previous winners were then RNC chair Michael Steele in 2009,  Sarah Palin in 2010 and in 2011 Herman Cain snagged the honor over some stiff competition.   

That led to starting during Oscar Week 2010 the Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Awards in which I initially honored one person (Rush Limbaugh) and took them out of consideration for the weekly Shut Up Fool award unless they say something so breathtakingly stupid I have to call them out on it like I did with Uncle Ruckus Thomas last week or when Michele Bachmann ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.

I expanded that to five people the very next year and these were the 2013 winners.  

I'm mulling a suggestion from several readers that I do a Shut Up Fool of the Month that I would start January 2014, the fifth anniversary of my first SUF weekly award winner.

Since July 2 was Day 183 of this year, it means we're past the halfway point of 2013.  It's time to start doing some hard solid thinking about who is in the running for this year's 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year Award. 

So far we have three people who have distinguished themselves as worthy of this award, and sadly two of them are from my home state.

The runaway leader so far is  Rep. Louie Gohmert (Teabagger-TX) who represents the unfortunate reality based people in the Tyler and Longview, TX area.

Gov Rick Perry (Teabagger-TX) AKA Governor Goodhair is coming on strong along with Virginia Lt Governor candidate and cookie chomping sellout Rev. EW Jackson.

Who will eventually win the 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year?  Check back with me on December 31.  

B. Scott Ain't Accepting BET's 'Apology'

BET thought they had quelled the growing blacklash (pun intended) over their homophobic dissing of B Scott at Sunday's BET Awards with their apology to the multimedia maven.

But in an interview he conducted yesterday, B. Scott made it clear what he thought about BET's apology and asserted he made it crystal clear to the network how he planned to look on air. 

“I want a real apology from BET. This was a not a mutual misunderstanding or miscommunication. I pride myself on being very professional,” he said.

Scott has made past appearances on the network wearing feminine attire and was supposed to appear during the pre-show BET Awards red carpet activities as the sole host commenting on fashion.  

But when he showed up, he was physically yanked off the carpet and told that he had to dress more conservatively, and was later paired with singer-actress Adrienne Bailon.

“This was my day to come out in one of the biggest days of my career and I was publically humiliated,” Scott said. “I’m just hurt by it. I just want people to know that it’s ok to be who you are.”

I agree with my trans elder Cheryl Courtney-Evans and what she had to additionally say about this crap at her Abitchforjustice blog.

HOW does one "miscommunicate" the words, "GET OFF THAT MAKEUP, HIGH HEELS, PUT ON A SUIT AND COMB BACK THAT HAIR!!" ??? Get the fuck out of here with that shit...that "miscommunicate" is what con artists use when they get caught out in a lie and they want to try and explain it away ("Oh, there was a 'miscommunication', dear."... yeah, riiight)..."BET embraces diversity..."??? Okay, prove how much you do; show how you eschew mistreating folks of diverse lives...FIRE THE HOMOPHOBIC PRODUCERS!

Still, Scott said he had some supporters at the network and believes the mandate to change came from a single executive. He also said he could see working with the network again “if I knew for sure that they wanted me to be there and I could express myself how I normally express myself and my brand.”

And with the PR beating BET is taking on this issue, y'all better give B. Smith that real apology he's seeking  ASAFP

Deoni Jones Trial Delayed Again In DC

Gary Niles Montgomery was arrested and charged with the murder of 22 year old Deoni Jones back on February 12, 2012, but the wheels of justice in this case are moving at tortoise like speed.

He is charged with first degree murder while armed for Jones' February 2 slaying, but the trial has been delayed as his current attorney Colle Latin contests the two mental competency evaluation that found him fit to stand trial.

That forced Judge Robert Morin to postpone the June 10 trial and set a third mental competency evaluation for Montgomery that won't take place until January 6, 2014.   That pushed the tentative trial date back to April 14, 2014.

Montgomery was initially found competent to stand trial in March 2012, but the case was not allowed to proceed due to the failure of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia to obtain an indictment until November 2012. Montgomery also switched defense lawyers, further delaying court proceedings.

His defense attorneys have also been fiercely contesting the two mental competency evaluation results finding the 56 year old Montgomery fit to stand trial as the frustrations of Jones' family, friends and supporters mount.

Meanwhile Montgomery sits in the DC Jail without bond as he awaits their third mental competency evaluation.


"The delay prolongs the pain and suffering of Deoni Jones's family," Hassan Naveed of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) said. "It is critical for the court to act fast and show its commitment to ending these vicious hate crimes. Our city has faced a decade-long trend of targeted and often lethal violence against the transgender community, it is time for the courts to take it seriously."

It's not only time to take that decade long trend of anti-trans violence in Washington DC seriously, but do what it takes to eradicate it.

Expeditious trials of perpetrators accused of killing transpeople would be a great place to start.

BET Apologizes To B. Scott For Awards Show Drama

Diamond has commented on it in her latest video blog along with other people in the blogosphere and outraged fans of multimedia personality B. Scott

The openly gay Scott sports an androgynous look and was hired by BET to be the host of the red carpet pre-show broadcast before Sunday's 2013 edition of the BET Awards.  

But just before Scott went on camera, drama ensued as BET producers demanded he tone down his makeup, pull his hair back, wear masculine clothing and not wear heels.

The producers also attempted to replace him with Adrienne Bailon before pressure from show sponsor Procter & Gamble forced them to drop that idea and got him back on the telecast.

Scott was not a happy camper about the behind the scenes homophobic drama, and it was noticeable during his first on camera interview.  He later took to Twitter to discuss his feelings about it and dished about what happened to a fellow blogger and BET took a public relations beating over it.

“It’s not just about the fact that BET forced me to pull my hair back, asked me to take off my makeup, made me changed my clothes and prevented me from wearing a heel,” Scott wrote. “It’s more so that from the mentality and environment created by BET made me feel less than and that something was wrong with who I am as a person.”

BET tried to ride out the controversy with silence as outraged fans of B. Scott vented on Black Twitter and elsewhere but as the firestorm of criticism continued and BET continued to take a public relations black eye over this they finally issued an apology to the multimedia maven.  

“BET Networks embraces global diversity in all its forms and seeks to maintain an inclusive workforce and a culture that values all perspectives and backgrounds,” the statement read. “The incident with B. Scott was a singular one with a series of unfortunate miscommunications from both parties. We regret any unintentional offense to B. Scott and anyone within the LGBT community and we seek to continue embracing all gender expressions.”

Yeah, right. You sure didn't demonstrate that 'embracing of global diversity' and 'valuing all perspectives and backgrounds culture' Sunday night with B. Scott and you are deservedly getting excoriated for it.

Georgia Cis Woman Asked To Prove Femininity To Correct Birth Certificate Error

For those of you who are skeptical of the point I repeatedly make that Black trans issues are Black community issues as well, I submit that after her recent drama, 37 year old Nakia Grimes of Clayton County, GA would be the latest cis person saying amen to that.

Her birth certificate contained a typo on it listing her in the gender code as male that she'd never noticed, but an unidentified female employee in the Georgia Department of Public Records did.

As part of the restrictive Voter ID laws that many Republican controlled dictatorships states have enacted to make it harder to get a driver's license so you can then vote, they require you to produce a birth certificate in order to get it.   

When she showed up at the driver license place on the cusp of her 37th birthday the error was noted, and she now had to make a trip to the Georgia Department of Public Records to correct the birth certificate before she could get her license..  

Should be a simple process right?   Umm, no vanillacentric privileged conservafools, it isn't because the Voter ID Suppression laws you overwhelmingly support aren't specifically designed to frack with you.   

The still unidentified Georgia DPS clerk told Grimes she needed to have a PAP smear done, have a doctor write a notarized note verifying she was female before the error would be changed    

Never mind the fact that Grimes is the mother of a young son and of course she was highly pissed off after hearing that request.

She wasn't having it, much less undergoing an invasive medical procedure to verify for a bureaucrat what she knew in her mind, body and soul that she was a cis female. 

Grimes took her concerns to a local ATL television station and when FOX5 turned their unblinking TV camera eyes on this situation, the birth records for her son were pulled up by the GDPR and verified the fact Ms. Grimes was his mother.   Ms. Grimes' jacked up birth certificate was expeditiously corrected after that. 

No one cis or trans should have to go through that much drama, much less have to go to court to get a simple documentation change on your birth certificate so you can vote or get a drivers license.  It's one of the reasons why I was so pissed about the SCOTUS ruling invalidating Section 4 of the VRA and their BS reasoning for it.  

Trans people's fight to make it easier to change identity documents will also benefit cis people like Ms Grimes who have coding or other errors.

The moral of this story is once again it proves that we all exist in an interconnected web of mutuality.  What negativity you aim at a despised group has ripple effects that can blow back upon you cis people in unexpected ways. 

It also is more conclusive evidence that what ails Black trans America also ails Black America as well and vice versa.

2013 Williams Watch-WTF? Serena's Out at Wimbledon

For the first time since 2007, the list of Wimbledon women's champions will have someone other than a Williams sister on it.

After winning her 600th career match and tying her sister Venus' mark at 34 straight wins for the longest consecutive match win streak of her career with her 6-2, 6-0 second round straight set 61 minute demotion of Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan, number one seeded Little Sis faced hard serving German Sabine Lisicki in the third round in a Wimbledon tournament that has seen more than a few top seeds on the men's and women's side go down to defeat.

Lisicki was considered the toughest test left for Williams because her game is well suited for the grass courts of the All England Club and she's had success here.  If she got past Lisicki, Little Sis would be taking a major step forward toward getting her sixth 'Williams'-don title and career 17th major.

Shockingly, Serena joined the upset victims on the All England Club sidelines as she went down to a 2-6, 6-1, 4-6 defeat in which she was up 3-0 in the third set but couldn't close out a hard charging Lisicki as she stepped up her game while Serena's wasn't at its usual dominating best.   It's only the fourth time Lisicki has beaten her, but what a time to get that win.

It is Serena's first loss in a Grand Slam tournament since last year's first round upset last year at Roland Garros and y'all know what happened after that.  She went on a tear that included the 2012 Wimbledon singles and doubles crowns, the 2012 London Olympic singles and doubles crowns, the 2012 US Open singles title and the 2012 ATP championship one.

So be afraid women's tennis world, very afraid.  The US Open is coming up in September and there will be a pissed off and highly motivated Serena Williams waiting to start another winning streak.

So y'all Serena haters have fun, laugh it up, yell and write the racist slurs and enjoy your strawberries and cream with the extra dollop of bigotry on the sides.   Sloane Stephens is still alive and in the quarterfinals at 'Wimblegeddon' as she called it, so I'll be rooting for her to win it. 

Diamond Stylz Comments On The BET-B Scott Controversy

Catching up on all the news I missed while traveling, and I'm just hearing about BET hiring the androgynous B Scott and then demanding he not wear heels on the red carpet for the BET Awards.

WTF?  

Cheryl Courtney-Evans has her theory on why BET was hatin' on B Scott despite hiring him because his claim to fame is being that over the top androgynous personality.

Diamond comments on it in her latest video as well.

 

Mile High Chillin' With My Family

Moni's was in the middle of her just concluded family reunion in Colorado's state capitol over the weekend just relaxing.

The reason you TransGriot readers are just now seeing this post about it is because I decided before I left Houston to take the opportunity to unplug from the Net for a few days, recharge the creative batteries and treat this reunion like a vacation.  

I didn't want to think about anything activism or blog related because I was going to have plenty of time to deal with that when I returned to Houston starting July 2.    

In addition to seeing my blood family members from different parts of the country and meeting my Colorado based cousins I tried to carve out some time to hang out with the Denver based trans family before I headed back to Texas Sunday after arriving there a little after 5 PM MDT Thursday afternoon.

We bounced out of Houston at 10 PM CDT Wednesday night headed north on I-45 toward Dallas on the first leg of a 1100 mile trip that would take us up I-45, on I-30 west for a mile to connect with I-35E going north to Denton and its merger point with I-35W from Fort Worth, I-35 through Oklahoma City and Wichita, KS to I-135 north to Salina, KS and west on I-70 through the Sunflower State to Colorado.

Thursday was a gorgeous travel day with not a cloud in the sky and the best part about starting that late was we got through Dallas and OKC before the morning rush hour started and while most of the truckers were asleep. 

We did get to see a lot of interesting scenery during the drive and as I'm used to with Dawn and Polar thought provoking commentary on a lot of topics.

This time the commentary came from the smart people that are part of my family tree.

As we rolled north and west we spotted acres of farmland with soybeans and wheat growing on it.  Cattle grazing in Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.  Grain silos dotting the flat plains of Kansas to the horizons edge, clusters of wind turbines producing power west of Salina, KS and Limon, CO and farmers along I-135 and I-70 in Kansas busily harvesting their wheat in preparation to sending it to market.  

When I spotted that United plane on final approach to DIA, passed the hotel I stayed at on the corner of  I-70 and Quebec St. that was a Hilton back in 1988 during my Air Marshal days and the Havana Street exit that used to lead to Stapleton it reminded me for a moment about how much things had changed in Denver, my life and how much I missed the airline biz.

But I couldn't dwell on that thought long because we did get to Denver right at rush hour and I happened to be behind the wheel of our rented van. One thing that hasn't changed about the city is that traffic on I-25 and I-70 still sucks.

Before I'd left Houston I'd planned a Friday lunch outing with Eden Lane and hanging out with Kelley Winters as well on Saturday but you know what they say about best laid plans.  Complications killed both of those planned events (darn it) after I arrived here Thursday afternoon. 

It was unseasonably warm here in Denver the first two days with the temps clocking in at 95 and 97 degrees. (No Denver peeps, I didn't bring the heat from Texas with me)  But considering I ducked out of Houston as the temperature spiked up to 100 and 102 on Thursday and Friday for the first time this summer, this was heaven.  

Took a ride on the South Platte Trolley by the Aquarium on Friday with my uncle and aunt, my grandmother, mom and sister. 

When the female guide after asking how many of us riding the trolley were from out of town and we Texans and New Yorkers raised our hands, she began bragging about her beloved Broncos beating our local NFL squads at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium as we passed it. 

I got a return shot in to my family's and the New Yorkers snickering that wasn't the 31-25 case last season when they played the Texans last September.

Once a smartass, always a smartass.

Enjoyed the dinner at the Cheesecake Factory downtown with my family Friday night despite us having to fight our way past Coors Field traffic to get to it and spend a few minutes looking for reasonable parking.  We did find a garage in Tabor Center that was $6 right next to the place, so it was all good. 

Speaking of good, there was next door to our hotel a Mexican restaurant called Maya's that had great food, reasonable prices, sizable portions and excellent service that we went to on Thursday evening and just before we departed Denver on Sunday afternoon. 

Our LaQuinta hotel in addition to being next to I-25 and close to downtown also had free breakfast.  After I helped myself to the juice and waffles I walked out of the front door of the hotel and hiked up the viaduct toward Coors Field to burn off those calories.

I also had a nice conversation with several people from the San Francisco bay area checked into the hotel during my stay there who were in town to watch their beloved Giants take on and get spanked by the Rockies

So I could get away from the hotel once my Saturday event with Kelley also turned out to be a disappointing no-go, I tagged along on a trip up I-25 to Dacono, CO where there is a motocross and go-cart track complex.  I watched my Uncle Leo and my cousin William do some laps around the track in carts that can run up to 60 MPH and required them to suit up and wear a helmet for the ride.

The storm clouds started gathering over the Rockies and looking like they were about to drop another monsoon like rain on us, but didn't.  It actually cooled things down before they headed into the mountains to hit a casino and I took the opportunity to have some quiet time without my grandmother in the room and get some sleep I would sorely need when we hit the road the next day.

I enjoy doing road trips, and this one was not only a chance to drive interstates I don't normally get to travel on in the Midwest and see the Denver area again, I needed the change of scenery. 

And looking forward to the next one I do.    

HT to Mike and Joyce's Travel Pages and AARoads.com for the Kansas and Colorado highway photos I used in this post.  

We Must Do Our Part To End Anti-Trans Violence

When I left for my family reunion trip to Denver a few days ago I was discussing along with many people in the DC local and national trans community the attack aimed at Bree Wallace in which she was stabbed up to 40 times.  

Michael McBride, the perpetrator of the attack aimed at her was arrested on another unrelated charge and in DC Metro police custody.  He has been additionally charged with the attack on Ms Wallace. 

But unfortunately as Washington DC endures another sweltering summer, the trans women who live in The District have been subjected to another wave of violent attacks with the spillover effect affecting the G and L end of the community, too..

A trans woman was assaulted on the 500 block of Eastern Avenue, NE. at approximately 6:00 AM EDT on Friday by two men and was shot by one of the suspects as she attempted to run away.   According the DC metro police reports she was treated for her injury at a local hospital.

The second occurred Saturday in the 300 block of 61st Street, NE at approximately 3:30 AM  when a trans woman accepted a ride from an unknown male and was sexually assaulted inside the perpetrator's vehicle.

Less than an hour later two suspects attempted to rob a trans woman in the area of 5th and K Street, NE at approximately 4:05 AM.  She was shot and taken to a local hospital with non life threatening injuries.

I said this in my post in the wake of Bree Wallace's stabbing and it needs to be repeated. 

While there is a culture of anti-trans violence aimed at trans women in the Washington DC area that needs to be addressed, getting the word out about these attacks is a great start but it's not enough..

The DC trans community (and by extension, trans communities across this nation) are going to have to deal with the reality that as Black and Latina trans women, we like our cis sisters are walking targets for anti-female violence and sexual assault. 

The failure to consistently pass that message home to our trans younglings has resulted in far too many of our sisters being killed, sexually assaulted or injured.  

We not only need to talk about that more often,  we transwomen must begin to consistently talk about the need for hyper vigilance about our surroundings and the situations we can potentially end up in.   That needs to begin being drilled into our heads the nanosecond we begin living our lives as estrogen based lifeforms.

We need to talk about that issue in our support groups, our sistah circles and in our video and written blogs.  If nobody else wants to talk about it because it's not a happy-happy joy-joy topic, then I'm more than willing for the sake of saving people's lives to have that discussion.

As my old endocrinologist Dr. Lee Emery used to tell me over a decade ago during my checkups, you get the good and the bad with a feminine gender transition   Having to deal with being a potential target for anti-female violence is part of that bad stuff. 

Any small lapse in security awareness of your person can result in serious injury, a sexual assault or you having your name read at the next Transgender Day of Remembrance memorial ceremony. 

I believe a step toward curbing and dismantling the anti-trans violence culture in Washington DC is calling a public meeting possibly at City Hall with trans community activists, the DC Metro Police and other interested parties to repeat this message until it burns into the consciousness of transpeople in DC and elsewhere. 

If one of our community's stated goals is to make Transgender Day of Remembrance events obsolete, a significant portion of the solution to combating anti-trans violence rests on the trans community to do internal things that don't require police or governmental involvement.  

Yes, the police will play a role.  Our trans brothers can help us in that regard.  So will local organizations that serve our community.  But anti-trans violence is not just a Washington DC, Chicago, or Los Angeles problem.   It can happen anywhere and at any time.  This is an opportunity for trans feminine communities to work intersectionally not only with our trans men but our cisgender male and female allies to help combat this problem.  The work must begin now to tackle the problem before we lose more people to anti-trans violence.

Some of it is common sense stuff.   Try to make sure you're not walking alone in the early morning hours.   Be aware of your surroundings.  Don't accept rides from people you don't know.   If you're in a club situation don't leave your drink uncovered and go with a friend or group of friends.  

Each individual member of our trans feminine community must do their part in getting that message out there that we do have a personal responsibility piece to helping curb the anti-trans violence aimed at us and curbing the spike in anti-trans violence

Back Home Again From Denver

I'm back home after a 2200 mile roadtrip across Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado to Denver for a family reunion. 

My share of the driving included segments on Wednesday from Fairfield, TX through Dallas and Oklahoma City to Perry, OK and Burlington, CO to Denver.  On the Sunday return trip I drove from Flagler, CO to Colby, KS, Guthrie, OK through OKC to the Texas state line and from Huntsville, TX back to H-town,

We left Denver after leaving the Mile High City at 2 PM MDT Sunday.

Thanks to all of you who left me well wishes and prayers for safe travels on my Facebook page before and during the trip.  We couldn't have asked for better weather for the drive to and from Denver. 

I did unfortunately miss making connections with some of the Denver area trans fam and was a little bummed about that.   Me and my family missed by ten minutes getting soaked in that monsoon that hit Denver Friday night.  

We had a family dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Tabor Center.  After it concluded we battled the traffic leaving Coors Field for the Rockies-Giants game back to our hotel on I-25 and Park Ave.West

No more than ten minutes after we exited the van and walked into our rooms to settle in for the night did the skies open up and let loose with a soaking rain that the Denver area needed and dropped the temps from the high 90's to the low 80's.

Will talk about the trip later.   Need to get some sleep, then catch up on all the news I missed because I treated this reunion like a vacation and decided to unplug from the Net. 


TransGriot Note:  Photos courtesy of AARoads.com

.

UH Offically Joins The American Athletic Conference

A lot of soap opera worthy things happened since I wrote that November 2011 post about the University of Houston joining the Big East Conference

TCU was supposed to join the Big East in 2012, but backed out after they received an invitation to join the Big 12. West Virginia also bolted on the Big East after it was invited to join the Big 12 along with the Horned Frogs for the 2012-13 academic year.  

The Big East Catholic basketball only schools (The Catholic 7) bailed to form their own conference. 

They subsequently negotiated a deal to keep the Big East name, the contract for the basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden and also depart today.

Boise State and San Diego State after initially agreeing in November 2011 to join the league, backed out after all the turmoil and mass defections started and decided to stay in the Mountain West Conference. 

Boise State filed a lawsuit in April to avoid paying the $5 million exit fee to the Big East/AAC.  The Bi East/AAC is also embroiled in litigation with West Virginia, Pitt, and Rutgers.   They recently settled out of court with TCU for $5 million.

Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Rutgers also said see ya to the Big East to head to other conferences.  Pittsburgh and Syracuse are headed to the ACC starting today, Louisville will join in 2014 and Rutgers is headed to the Big Ten in 2014.   Notre Dame, which was a Big East member for all its other conference sports except football also joined the exodus for the ACC and that affiliation starts today.

Since the Big East name departed with The Catholic 7, the conference in now named the American Athletic Conference.  The good news is that the automatic BCS football berth remains, which is why UH left C-USA to join the AAC in the first place, is still available to play for this year until the new plus 4 playoff structure starts in 2014.

There was just as much drama and activity on Cullen Blvd.in the runup to this day.  

During the middle of a 2011 season in which UH was on the brink of being a BCS buster in football Kevin Sumlin shadily was negotiating on the eve of the C-USA title game against Southern Mississippi to scurry off to Texas A&M.   The Cougars were upset 49-28 in that game and went from playing in the Sugar Bowl to the Ticket City Bowl where they flattened a scandal plagued Penn State team to finish 13-1 .  . . 

Tony Levine became the UH head coach after Sumlin's departure and had a disappointing injury plagued 5-7 season that included a scary November 2012 incident in which cornerback DJ Hayden nearly died on the practice field.   Robertson Stadium was torn down after the Cougars played their final game in it, a 40-17 victory against Tulane on December 3.

Construction started in February on the new $105 million football stadium after Robertson was demolished and the site cleared.  In the interim the Cougars will play their inaugural AAC season home football games at Reliant Stadium until the new 40,000 seat on campus football stadium opens in August 2014.

UH's new collegiate conference home will have 10 teams in 2013-14, which is two short of what you need to host a football conference title game.   AAC members in this inaugural season are Cincinnati, Connecticut, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Rutgers, SMU, Temple, UCF and USF.  

After Louisville and Rutgers leave the AAC, East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa will join the American for all sports in July 2014 and Navy will join as a football only member in July 2015.

A new chapter in the Cougars collegiate sporting history starts today and we UH fans and alums can only hope it will be a successful and less drama filled one.

Happy 146th Birthday Canada!

Happy Canada Day TransGriot readers!

Today is Canada's 146th birthday, and it would have been an exceptional and more joyous one for my Canadian trans cousins had the Senate not succumbed to its Conservative leanings.

It should have brought the Trans Rights Bill up for a vote before they went on summer recess.  

But despite that, your home and native land has made some fantastic progress trans human rights wise that your south of the border trans cousins are envious of.

And on the day your nation was born, I want to thank all you readers north of the 49th parallel who surf to my blog on a regular basis and read what I have to say about various issues and let me know how much you appreciate an American taking an interest in what happens in Canada.

As a child of the African Diaspora, what happens in Canada is also a major concern to me because of my African descended brothers and sisters up there.  As a member of the international trans community, what happens in Canada also affects me so it is important for me to keep up with developments that affect the trans community in the Great White North.

I'm also continuing to think about and pray for the rapid recovery of my Timmy's IceCapp loving homegirl as she continues to recover from her health challenge 

Going to miss the post in which she does her usual Canada Day bragging that I have to rebut three days later. 

And no Renee, no proposed trades accepted for Alberta.  I have enough problems with the conservafools here in Baja Alberta (AKA Texas to the rest of y'all) and the rest of the Confederate flag waving South.  

I don't need any more, so y'all deal with the Sweater Vest, Little Alberta and all those Conservatives in the prairie provinces.

Happy Canada Day!

Being A #GirlLikeUs Is Nothing To Be Ashamed Of

One of the things I learned early from my trans mentors and I (and we as a community) have to constantly focus on is dealing with the shame and guilt issues that plague us.  

Since we have much Hateraid aimed at us, it can be a challenge at times to practice that self love that needs to happen from time to time and feel pride not only in yourself, but being a girl like us.

It can be a challenge when those 'unpretty' days descend upon you, but you can't let it get you down.  You have to fight through those moments with every fiber of your being and believe you are the finest thing walking Planet Earth.

Well, there is not only nothing wrong with being a girl like us, there is nothing for us to be ashamed about either.   You are part of the beautiful mosaic of human life and God loves you too.

You come from a distinguished lineage of doctors, lawyers, politicians, models, MMA fighters, human rights warriors, sportswriters, television personalities, writers, beauty queens and wives and mothers raising kids.   Your predecessors started a movement in 1969. 

So stand tall and be proud of who you are because being a girl like us is nothing to be ashamed of..


TransGriot Note: photo is of Kylan Wenzel, the first American trans person to compete in a Miss Universe system pageant.