Stealth Doesn't Help The Trans Community

The topic of stealth vs. out blows up in our discussions in Trans World from time to time, and we're currently engaged in another round of debate about it across the Transosphere in the discussions surrounding the jacked up firing from OUTServe-SLDN of Allyson Robinson.
   
My attitude about stealth is well documented throughout the history of this blog.   Being stealth DOESN'T help the trans community. It only helps those who are stealth.  Stealth transpeople can tell themselves that to salve their egos all day long, but the reality is only being out and proud of being trans has led to the major gains we've made in the public policy realm the last few years

Stealth trans people like to claim they are helping the trans rights movement by hiding in plain sight and cite the 6 alleged stealth transgender employees at HRC and GLAAD as an example of that. (They claim there are 4 at HRC and 2 at GLAAD) 

Unfortunately, we have no way of positively verifying that because of the stealth conundrum. For us to positively know, those people would have to declare their trans status.  Stealth means that they aren't revealing that trans status under any circumstances because their desire to maintain the pseudo cis privilege they currently have trumps being open and honest to the world about being trans.

How are they helping the trans community by NOT being out at these two large Gay, Inc orgs?  When push comes to shove, I submit they will be more concerned about hiding their trans status at all costs than being fierce advocates for our community inside those organizations.

If you're not out at your job, and you're not out to friends and others, how is the world going to associate the positive things you do with the trans community as well, who could use more goodwill ambassadors and positive role models?

Some stealth transpeople don't help give back to the community much less want to even associate with other trans people, so it's not a stereotype. Telling that inconvenient truth is not 'demonizing stealth transpeople' as I was accused of doing by one vanillacentric privileged stealth trans woman in a FB comment thread, it's stating a harsh truth she didn't want to deal with.   

The trans narrative since Christine Jorgensen stepped off the plane 60 years ago has been overwhelmingly focused on white transwomen along with the media attention.  So it's no big deal for example, if a white transwoman chooses to go stealth.  Because as she disappears from Trans World you already have other white trans women who have been (and still are) role models, our trans stories are predominately told from your perspective all across the media spectrum and you are held up as the paragons of trans womanhood.

But that's not the case for trans women of color.   We are only beginning in this decade to get the recognition that we exist thanks to Laverne Cox, Isis King, Janet Mock, KOKUMO, Bamby Salcedo, Arianna Inurrtegui Lint being out and proud about who they are that built on my generation of trans women opening those doors in the 90's and us building on Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major, Gloria Allen's and others work. 

When I was growing up in the 70's I didn't realize until well into the early 2K's when she talked about it that the smiling sistah I saw in a Clairol ad campaign and on five ESSENCE magazine covers was girl like us Tracy Africa Norman.   JET Beauty of the Week from August 1981, actress Ajita Wilson was a girl like us.  I didn't know that the first person to go through the Johns Hopkins Gender Program was a Black trans woman named Avon Wilson.

If Janet Mock hadn't come out two years ago, we would have never known the former editor of People.com was a girl like us and our community wouldn't have the benefits of her story, her talents or her eloquent voice on our issues. You cannot fight for your human rights from a self imposed closet. It's why the call to come out as trans people has been ongoing since the 90's, and it's no accident that when we stopped hiding, started calling out the anti-trans bigotry and started agitating for our rights the legislative victories and greater understanding of our community followed.

Stealth has been detrimental to our community in general because it has seriously inhibited building community amongst girls and guys like us. It plays into that 'deception' meme we constantly fight, and has robbed us of our history, potential role models and mentors.

Stealth has had a particularly negative effect on transpeople of color because we haven't had until recently positive trans role models who look like us.  African-American transwomen have also labored under the burden of being considered the trans 'unwoman' vis a vis our white counterparts due to the lack of positive out role models.

Stealth unless it is done for security and safety reasons is an inherently selfish act.  It not only doesn't help the trans community, it doesn't help the stealth trans person either, especially when it is only done to hide from your trans history and chase pseudo cis privilege. It reinforces the messaging from our opponents there's something 'wrong' about being trans.

And it's spitting on the blood of all those transpeople who have died to be themselves.  It's also disrespectful to the work of all the people like Christine Jorgensen, Sylvia Rivera, Phyllis Frye and countless others who took the early slings and arrows of publicity, hardship and discrimination to help advance the cause of trans human rights and knowledge of our community handicapped by the stealth issue.
And who said being out and proud about being trans and being considered a man or woman in cis society are irreconcilable?  I hear that excuse far too often to justify being in stealth status and that's exactly what it is, an excuse.

We're not saying you have to be an activist, wear a t-shirt announcing your trans status or introduce yourself as such to every person you meet, but you have an obligation to help advance the human rights of the trans community you belong to.

And for those who try to bring up the 'gays and lesbians' don't out themselves excuse to justify their stealth status, Harvey Milk was advising gay and lesbian people to come out back in the 1970's

Harvey Milk was right about the value of coming out then.  Phyllis Frye echoed the same message to the trans community in the early 90's and we in the trans community should heed that message now. especially when the benefits of coming out will eventually break down the reasons we need to consider going stealth in the first place. 

As Jessica Wicks said on my page, "My rationale is much simpler. I've nothing to hide. Why would I want to be keeping a secret a part of my life that was so important to me. Not only is being out helpful for the community, but it's more honest I think. It's all part of being true to self."

The history of my African-American people has proven that when you are out and proud about who you are, you openly fight for your humanity and self determination, and you eliminate the negative societal conditions that cause you to want to hide from your heritage, then the perceived need for stealth will wither away.

Stealth doesn't help the trans community, and we need all trans hands on deck so that we can do the societal work necessary to make it as obsolete as passing is in my African-American community.  

ENDA Passes Out Of Senate Committee 15-7

The Employment and non Discrimination Act navigated a major hurdle yesterday by being successfully passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on a 15-7 vote.

In case you're keeping score for the 2014, 2016 and 2018 election cycles, all of the Democratic senators on the committee and three Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK) , Mark Kirk (IL) and Orrin Hatch (UT) voted YEA. 

Voting NAY (big surprise) were Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Mike Enzi (WY), Richard Burr (NC), Johnny Isakson (GA), Rand Paul (KY), Pat Roberts (KS) and Tim Scott (SC)

The ENDA bill moves now to the Senate floor, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is expected to push for its passage in the fall.  

It's Renee's Birthday Again!

It's July 11, and longtime readers of this blog know what that means.  

It's time for my annual birthday post celebrating the day the founding editor of Womanist Musings and my homegirl Renee Martin arrived on this planet north of the 49th parallel.

But this birthday post has a little different tone to it this year because of the frightening news I received from the Unhusband last month that she'd had a serious health setback.

She's recovering and working her butt off now along with the folks at the rehab hospital who are just as determined as she is to help her get better.  She's also armed with her tablet, so please continue to say your prayers and send your well wishes to her and her family.

But a world without Renee's blog commentary or one in which I don't get to pick up the phone and talk to her on a regular basis on a wide range of subjects is too painful to even comprehend. 

So this birthday for my Timmy's Ice Capp drinking Coach purse loving homegirl is a special one. 

Renee's made it through another 365 days (366 in a leap year) and a challenging month to celebrate it.  Those of us who love her are ecstatic that she's still in this plane of existence with us to enjoy it, say 'Happy Birthday' to her and let her know how much she is loved by us.

And yes, she is another year closer to a milestone birthday of her own (snicker, snicker).

Naw Renee, don't think I forgot about what you wrote last year.  I have 365 days to contemplate what to write when you hit your own milestone birthday next year. 

I have every confidence in the world you and by extension all of us who love you will be blessed enough to have you here next July to read it. 

Love you sis, and Happy Birthday, Renee!

We Didn't Start The Rad Fem War On Trans Women-We're Reacting To It

Denise Brogan-Kator sent me a note entitled Rad Fems and Trans* women that she compiled.  

And as you probably guessed, I had an opinion about the laughable radfem charge that trans women are 'violently attacking them' in a Julian Vigo post and another one at that cesspool of transphobia Gender Trender that I refuse to link to.

What I said in this June 1 post is apropos here:
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You TERF's don't get to play that game in which you gleefully oppress and attack trans women's humanity and then climb on your white femininity pedestal and claim you're being 'bullied' or 'attacked'. You're getting called on your transphobic crap and if you don't like it, tough.

 But here's Denise's Facebook note with my comments  

 ***
A few weeks ago I got an email from my friend and former law professor, Catharine MacKinnon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharine_MacKinnon). She was reaching out to me for my reactions because others had reached out to her about one or more incidents of violence and/or hate speech between the communities of transgender people and radical feminists.

This “problem” has been nagging at me as I’ve continued to read each side’s “position” and its complaints about the other side. This writing will attempt to describe my personal conclusions and thoughts on these issues, which I suspect will, forever, be a work in process.

I would like to state unequivocally that I am opposed to ALL forms of violence, for whatever reason. The incident in question occurred at a recent “Law & Disorder Conference” held in Portland. [1] I am told that there have been other incidents of violence, but I’ve not seen any specific references.

Caveats: I do not hold myself out as, nor believe myself to be, a leading thinker or researcher with respect to sex and gender. I do not have an advanced degree in queer theory or feminism and I do not have an advanced degree in neurobiology. What I do have are core beliefs, through which I shape my actions and which are subject to change with new information and evidence.

I believe:

That gender and the entire system of gender is a social construct that has worked to keep women in a subordinate role and, as aconsequence, has retarded humanity’s positive growth toward an ideal society where men AND women can accurately be said to be created equal.

That violence, short of defense, has no place in our world and that it not only fails to advance the cause of feminism and social development, but also actually reverses it. I believe that violence of any kind reinforces the patriarchy and diminishes us all.

That patriarchy is real and pernicious. It is the common enemy of all fair-minded feminists of any sex and gender.

That sex and gender are not the same. I believe that sex has its basis in biology and that gender and its attendant roles is the exclusive domain of socialization.

I do not know, but I doubt, that sex is anything more than the size of the gamete produced by the body. In other words, I do not know but I doubt that our brains are different in any way that matters.

That said, I do believe there IS a biological difference between men and women – and that biology, especially the effects of sex hormones, do influence behavior (to a greater or lesser degree that is unknown in individuals). HOWEVER, the suggestion that such a difference leads to an inherent male dominance is absurd and destructive. We need not deny the physical differences between men and women to condemn the destructive effects of patriarchy. Difference should never be used as an excuse to dominate.

I believe:

That trans-women such as myself, despite an outward appearance which arguably reinforces the system of gender actually help, in every real sense, toward the deconstruction of gender.

That gender is made not born and, because gender is performative, I also believe, as Catharine put it to me, that there are many ways of becoming a woman including, sadly, sexual assault.

Although I have survived multiple sexual assaults, I believe that I will never fully know the fear that many, if not most, girls and women are all too familiar with. I was 17 before I experienced my first sexual assault. Until that point, I never had a concern about being alone with a man, walking after dark, or in a parking garage. I grew up with many forms of privilege, but this privilege is often overlooked.

That radical feminists’ attempts to deny transgender people our expression of gender – no matter how based in stereotype such expressions may appear to be – operates from a form of essentialism that contradicts their analysis and diminishes our joint efforts.

That in order to change the system of male dominance we must both allow and honor individual expressions of gender (even when, as with myself, that expression of gender is borne of male privilege) and engage in collective social activism.

That the increasing animosity and hostility between the radical feminist movement and the transgender movement is destructive to our mutual goal of the liberation of women from male dominance.

That Julian Vigo is right to observe that “[i]f gender is inherently detrimental as the radical feminists maintain and if trans identification occurs in part because gender is rigidly interpreted and represented through normative modalities of behaving, then there will be unceasing dissonance between these two groups.” [2]

Nevertheless, I do not think that the two groups have to be at war with one another. We need not trade verbal barbs and comments that denigrate the other. And, most of all, we need not inflict violence upon each other.

I wish we could find a way to lift up one another. I think that the system of gender has hurt us all for so long. I do not want the voices of radical feminists silenced. I just wish they would focus on the very real threats to women (and, in this, I agree that a physical assault is of course a real threat!) and not turn their anger at this hateful system against trans persons. On the flip side of that coin, I wish my brothers and sisters in the transgender community could either find a way to lift up the voices of radical feminists in areas where we so obviously agree, or at a minimum, ignore the arguments and words with which we may disagree.

Let us commit to working, together, for common values like the true liberation of women, the advancement of women in this society and around the world. The real problem here isn’t whether or not trans-women get to claim womanhood. It’s about the number of women on the bench, in Congress, on boards of directors, in the CEO chair of Fortune 500 companies, and being paid less than men. It’s about the ongoing problem of a rape culture and the struggle it took to pass the Violence Against Women Act and the subsequent striking down of its key civil remedy provision. It’s about the mass murder and mutilation of women around the world. Please, let’s put our priorities in the right place.

  ****
And my response to it.

I'm tired of people trying to ignore the fact that transwomen didn't start the war between radfems and trans women. Radfems did in the 1970s. It is radfems who went after trans women, viciously outed them in GL and feminist circles, wrote papers to the federal government in the early 80's that led to medical exclusions on trans medical care in insurance polices and Medicare and Medicaid and keep instigating and pushing the poisonous rhetoric that has led to far too many non-white transwomen dying.. And now you're trying to expand that poisonous anti-trans radfem BS internationally

You're not victims and it's laughable to me as a trans person of color a bunch of predominately white women are trying to claim they are being 'attacked, silenced and oppressed'; when this a natural reaction to what has been done to transpeople by predominately white radfems gleefully exercising their white female cis privilege since the 70's.

And yes radfems, you are the oppressors. Passive-aggressive oppressors with four decades of blood on your hands. I don't see radfems getting shot at, stabbed, involved in videotaped beatdowns or brutally killed year after depressing year or facing crushing unemployment or underemployment because of radfems embedded in GL organizations fighting the inclusion of gender identity in human rights legislation.

Oppressed people get tired of being fracked with and eventually will strike back against their oppressors. That's a historical fact. If you don't like being called 'oppressors', 'radphlegms', 'white radfem womym gone wild', et cetera, then stop the nekulturny four decade old oppressive behavior that pisses trans women off or do you part to call out and stop the people in your ranks who are gleefully engaged in it.

And when I see radfems doing 40 years of good to HELP the trans community in its just human rights struggle, maybe I'll change my opinion about radical feminism and feminism in general.   

'Girl Meets World' Is A Go!

For those of you who grew up in the 90's, one of the iconic shows for you was Boy Meets World.  And yes, it was one of my guilty pleasure shows I enjoyed watching.

During its seven year run on ABC from 1993-2000 you got to follow Cory Matthews and his friends coming of age stories from their middle school years to their time at John Adams High and into college.  

You watched Cory's friendship with Topanga Lawrence blossom into a romance in which she eventually became his wife, but not without some bumps along the way including a breakup and her family's move to Pittsburgh.   You also got to watch Topanga as she morphed from being an eccentric hippie child to a mature, calm and collected young woman.

Rumors began flying in late 2012 about a possible spinoff to the show focusing on Cory and Topanga's 12 year old daughter Riley and her best friend Maya.  

The rumors and buzz got even more intense when Danielle Fishel and Ben Savage confirmed in November 2012 they would be reprising their Cory and Topanga roles for the pilot episode and Rowan Blanchard and Sabrina Carpenter were cast for the roles of Riley and Maya.  

William Daniels, AKA Mr. Feeny also made an appearance in the pilot episode.

As for as the other Boy Meets World cast, they are in various stages of talks with the producers to eventually make appearances on this show.   The producers have give the old cast members open invitations to participate in the new show if they wish and wanted to save some surprises for that first season. 

But the producers, Disney and the old cast are united in their determination to have Girl Meets World be the same type of quality show for this generation of kids that they enjoyed doing for the kids of the 90's.

Unlike Boy Meets World, which was set in Philadelphia, Girl Meets World is set in New York. Cory is now a history teacher with two of the students he is teaching being his daughter and Maya.

As for Topanga, she transitioned from a law career for life as an entrepreneur running a popular pudding shop that serves as a hangout for Riley and her friends. 

Riley will also have an older brother named Elliot and a potential love interest of her own in Tristan Friar, a transfer student from Texas.

Production on the series has already started in Los Angeles with the first episodes scheduled to air on Disney Channel in 2014.  

Here's hoping Girl Meets World does justice to the original show and lasts just as long as the original did.

Kenneth Furr Appealing Conviction

While the DC and national trans community were justifiably pissed off at the light sentence former Washington DC Metro cop Kenneth Furr got for shooting at three Black trans women with his service revolver in that ugly August 2011 incident, Furr was quietly filing papers to appeal what legal punishment he did get. 

Furr filed papers in DC Superior Court back on February 11 to appeal his sentence of three years and 30 days in prison, 100 hours of community service and a $150 fine with the prison time suspended.

He has already paid he fine and is now serving three years of supervised probation.  As part of his sentence, Furr was ordered to register as a gun offender, undergo substance-abuse treatment for alcohol and anger-management therapy, and stay away from the five victims of the car shooting and the area the incident occurred, bounded by New York Avenue NW, 7th Street NW, Massachusetts Avenue NW and North Capitol Street NW.

Jason Terry of the DC Trans Coalition said in a February 20 interview with Metro Weekly ''I think this reaffirms the suspicion that Kenneth Furr remains a threat to our communities, and lacks both the remorse and self-awareness necessary for people in our communities to be able to feel they can safely go about their lives,'' Terry wrote. ''Somehow Furr and his legal team keep making him out to be the victim here, and that's just not a narrative that we can allow to stand.''

Terry also said in the February interview he hopes that if Furr's sentence somehow ends up being revisited, the appellate court will mandate ''some sort of transformational justice process, so that Officer Furr, his victims and the impacted communities can find a path forward, free from continued fear.''

Will be keeping my eye on this case, too.  But based upon how this Furr case played out and the one involving Darryl Willard, it's easy to see why the District's trans people are pessimistic that justice will be served when it comes to gun incidents with trans women as the targets. 

Morris Denied Plea Deal In Florida Silicone Pumping Case

Serial Miami, FL based pumper Oneal R. Morris faced the legal music in Miami-Dade County for practicing medicine without a license and pumping her clients with a cocktail comprised of Fix-a-Flat, mineral oil and super glue that left several recipients ill and disfigured and at least one person dead.

On June 25 Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Sue Venzera rejected a plea deal that would have sent her to jail for 180 days, required Morris to pay restitution to her victims and placed her on five years probation.

Judge Venzera felt the plea deal sentence was too light for the seriousness of the crime, saying, ”I don’t think it’s appropriate, not for the charges, not for second-degree felonies. These charges carry 30 years.”

Prosecutors explained to the judge the plea deal would have spared victims who were sensitive and embarrassed about the notoriety of the case from having to testify in open court.

Morris is also facing manslaughter charges in Broward County for the March 2012 death of Shatarka Nuby of 'massive systemic silicone migration' from cosmetic silicone pumping buttocks injections she received in 2007 and 2008.  
  

Shaq, You And 'Errbody' Else In LA Need To Stop Hatin' On Houston

Shaquille O'Neal opened his mouth and inserted his size 22 foot in it by joining in the chorus of Los Angeles sour graping after Dwight Howard let the world know he's taking his basketball talents to our end of I-10 next NBA season.

The peeps in LA are hatin' because it's the first time in their franchise history a superstar player in his prime left Los Angeles to play ball elsewhere. 

The fact he's leaving LA for Houston and about to sign a contract with the Rockets was a blow to their massive civic basketball egos in addition to the fact they were in the position of having to beg Howard to stay there in the first place. 

The Rockets at times have been an NBA thorn in the side of the Lakers.  In the four appearances the Rockets have made in the NBA finals (1981, 1986, 1994 and 1995) the 1981 and 1986 NBA Finals ones were at the Lakers expense.  

The 1981 one was embarrassingly so as a 40-42 Rockets team that barely qualified for the NBA playoffs knocked them out in the first round powered by Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy.  The 1986 one was a 4-1 Western Conference Finals domination courtesy of Hakeem and Ralph Sampson that was deliciously satisfying to all of us who packed The Summit and sports bars around the city to yell "Beat LA!" at the top of our lungs. 

And what was even more satisfying for Houston Rocket fans was that the 1981 and 1986 Rocket playoff knockouts of the Lakers kept them from repeating as NBA champions.  

Now Dwight Howard has left La La land for H-town.

Shaq knows about the '95 Rocket NBA title run since he watched us get the trophy in H-town at his and the Orlando Magic's expense and repeat as NBA champions. 

Shaq got his Two Minute Hate on for Howard's departure from the LA Fakers Lakers by not only saying he couldn't handle the bright lights of LA, but dissed Houston by calling us a 'little town.'

Dude, you once owned a house in the Houston 'burb of Sugar Land.  And isn't the mother of one of your kids a Houstonian?

Yeah, we're a 'little town' of 2.2 million people you probably still have your hate on for because your Orlando Magic got swept by the Rockets in 1995 and Hakeem Olajuwon pwned your behind in that series.

And I never will forget Yao Ming's 2003 rookie year and that first game y'all played against each other at Toyota Center.  Yao stuffed your first three shots attempts in a game the Rockets eventually won 108-104 despite the 31 points you scored. 


But let me school you on a few more things about my hometown that you should already know since you played two years of high school ball in San Antonio and won the 1989 state title at 3A Cole High. 

It is at 600 square miles larger than Los Angeles which is only a measly 469 square miles in size, not including Lake Houston which adds another 28 square miles.  It is the fourth largest city in the United States, the county seat of Harris County and the largest in Texas.  It is as your ESPN and TBS employers will tell you the tenth largest TV market in the country.

Houston is also like LA considered a global city with a diverse population.  Only New York City has more Fortune 500 companies headquartered here than Houston does.  There are 92 foreign consulates here in metro Houston, of which only two other cities have more.

And I'll also point out my 'little town' is home to the Texas Medical Center, the world largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions along with NASA's Johnson Space Center, which ensure the first words spoken by a human being from the moon in 1969 wasn't LA.

I could point of the long list of people like Beyonce, Dan Rather, Tony winning actress Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green, Michael Strahan, Michael Dell of Dell computers, Isaiah Washington, Loretta Devine, Jaclyn Smith, Yolanda Adams, Randy and Dennis Quaid, AJ Foyt, NBA Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler and Rep. Barbara Jordan who were born or raised here including our current mayor Annise Parker. 

I could go on but I'd need another post to detail all the notable peeps who were born and raised in my little town' of Houston.

And by the way DL Hughley, these are just some of the centers who have donned a Rocket uniform, Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon for starters and Yao Ming, Ralph Sampson and Otis Thorpe who was on the 1994 championship squad.   

So Shaq, you and 'errbody' else in LA need to stop hatin on Houston.   Even Stevie Wonder could see that Dwight Howard was a bad fit offensively and chemistry wise for the Lakers like you were when you got traded to Phoenix by the Miami Heat.

I have far more ammo to use to slam LA with than you ever could come up with to diss Houston.  

Cemia Dove Acoff Case Update

The last news I had in the Cemia Dove Acoff case was that her alleged killer Andrey Bridges had been arrested on May 6 and charged with her murder on May 10. 

Unfortunately the stenographers at the Cleveland Plain Dealer are still thumbing their noses at the local trans community and still disrespecting Cemia by not only using old name in the story but that old mugshot and unflattering pics every chance they get.

And naw, I wasn't the only person who thought the jacked up Plain Dealer coverage of Cemia was problematic.

My fear is that the Cleveland Plain Dealer's ongoing journalistic hate crime and disrespectful coverage is poisoning any potential jury pool for the Bridges trial and will make it harder for Cemia and her family and friends to get justice in this case. 

But back to the update. 

Bridges was charged with aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and crime against a human corpse in the death of Cemia Dove Acoff. 

Many Cleveland area advocates and Cleveland City Council member Jim Cimperman believe there should have been a hate crime charge added to the indictment and I concur with that assessment.   

Judge Hollie L. Gallagher was assigned to the case and Bridges' bond was set at $5 million and there was a scheduled May 21 pretrial hearing that as of yet I haven't found any additional information on..

I will be keeping an eye on this case until justice is served in it.

Still Aiming Higher

'As we own our power, that positive attitude and desire to aim higher as African descended transwomen is taking hold in our ranks.  It demands that we not only represent ourselves to the best of our abilities, but step up to the challenge of being compliments to Black womanhood and not considered detriments to it.'   TransGriot 'Aiming Higher'  October 19, 2011.

Those sentiments I expressed in that October 2011 post are still getting rousing AMENs from many of my Black trans sisters who read those words and have thanked me for writing them.   You have brought it to my attention that I'm not alone in wanting a transition path for girls like us that taps into Black womanhood at its finest and encourages us to be the best women we can be and how we achieve it. 

Our cis sisters want that for us as well as we conceive in our collective minds what that transition path looks like when it's applied to our own lives.   We also have to consider how that fits in with the new  Black trans paradigm  that's developing in this decade.  

There are hard, solid thinking and ongoing conversations going on in our ranks concerning the subject of Black trans womanhood and where we fit in the overall scheme of things.   While some of us get this point, some of our trans sisters have been slow to realize this and it needs to be stressed in Black trans world. 

One of the things we must burn into our brains before we swallow those first estrogen pills or take our first shots is that Black womanhood comes with a legacy of struggle, history and pride we must do our utmost to live up to.  

It's not about a silicone enhanced body, being estrogen based lifeforms, over the top hypersexualized people, legendary ballroom divas, elegant pageant queens or getting SRS, it's living our lives and interacting with the world as African-American women standing tall and having pride in that legacy. 

I want our cis African-American sisters to know that as proud New Black Transwomen, we have our own ongoing history of struggle and a renewed interest in discovering, telling and sharing our own sense of who we are.  We recognize that legacy of struggle that cis Black women have endured and are working hard to be worthy of Black womanhood.

And as a Black trans community leader, I'm doing my part to role model what I'm preaching for mine and the next generation of trans women.

Each girl like us, just like her cis counterparts, has the option of choosing what type of woman she wishes to project to the world.   The problem is that many of us have only been exposed to the hypersexualized girls like us and not ones who have chosen a different path of projecting Black trans womanhood to the world. 

We Black girls like us as we attempt to project the type of woman we wish to be to the world have to grapple with and conquer shame, guilt and fear issues.   We have to overcome a predominately negative media image, a lack of visible positive Black trans roles models and four centuries of negativity aimed at cis African descended women that affects how our femininity is judged.

We also have to be cognizant of the fact Black girls like us have our choices in terms of the type of woman we wish to project to the world and they will get harshly scrutinized and judged by the worst that we produce, not the best among us.   

That choice of the type of women we project to the world comes with the pressure of knowing it can possibly can affect for good or ill whether our marginalized trans community gets human rights coverage. It's why I stress and repeatedly say like a mantra that Black trans women need to be compliments to Black womanhood and not considered detriments to it.

Some of the reservations of cis Black women concerning trans women aren't predominately faith based or harboring on jealousy, but hinge on in their minds their fear we transwomen aren't taking Black womanhood seriously enough.  I submit that the faster we African descended girls like us slay those concerns and we are considered compliments to Black womanhood, the sooner that the cis Black feminine community will embrace their trans sisters. 

Then again there will be always be a cadre of cis Black women that no matter what we do or become those finer specimens of womanhood that Sharon Davis asked us to become back in the late 80's, they're still gonna hate for whatever reason, so bump them.  

We Black girls like us need to aim higher not only for ourselves, but for the cis women who are and do consider us their sisters, friends and allies.

And by doing so, it will result in us being better Black women of trans experience better able to navigate all the communities we intersect and interact with.

Possible Trans Woman Killed In My Houston Backyard

The latest possible anti-trans violence case may be in my H-town backyard.

Sunday morning according to a Houston Chronicle story a call was received by HPD homicide detectives at 8:45 AM about a body in Brickhouse Gully, near the 4100 block of Antoine just east of the Northwest Freeway, underneath a bridge.

The deceased person was found wearing what appears to be a black dress and panty hose in shallow water appearing to be about 3 inches deep.

But since the media did their usual job of muddying the waters (pun not intended) by claiming the body was a 'man dressed in women's clothes', won't know for certain for a few days if the deceased is actually a trans woman or not.

Two juveniles who found the body told someone else, who called the police.  An autopsy has been scheduled, and the case is still under investigation. 

According to a KHOU-TV story the person appears to have been assaulted either Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Anyone with information on the person's identity or what happened is urged to call HPD Homicide at 713-308-3600.

Transition Is An Ongoing Journey

There is a mistaken belief in the trans community that transition is a finite journey with a fixed beginning, middle and endpoint.  

Some people think it begins when you swallow your first estrogen tablets or take your first testosterone shot and ends when you have some kind of surgical intervention or the morphing into the body that matches your brain gender map is complete. 

But I submit that's not the case.  Transition may start when you take that first estrogen or testosterone shot, but the endpoint is when they close the coffin lid on you.

The middle between those two points is the life you live and how you define it.

Like life itself, transition is a constantly evolving series of events that are part of the totality of your life until it's done.  It is a just battle for the self determination of your own identity to paraphrase what my little sis Jordana has eloquently said about it.  It is a long journey of self discovery that at times can be a pain in the ass.   There are periods of introspection and analysis you'll have to go through in terms of whether you're living up to the goals you set for yourself when you began your transition.   Sometime you do that hard solid thinking that comes with that honest assessment of where you are in terms of your transition goals on your own, sometimes it's a group exercise in concert with others. 

My personal guiding transition principle and has been since 1994 was wanting to be a compliment to Black womanhood, not a detriment to it.  

When I sit down and do hard solid thinking on where I am in terms of reaching this goal, it is with this guiding principle in mind among many others. 

But as you're on this journey, you want to strive to live a quality life an which you are happy in your own skin.  How you define that happiness and what a quality life means is up to you.

Run Jenifer Run!

Mel Wymore isn't the only trans person running for a city council seat on a large American metropolis in this 2013 election cycle. 

Jenifer Rene Pool is making her second attempt at winning a Houston City Council seat this fall by running for the City Council Position 3 At Large seat. 

Translation: She's running citywide

On Thursday Jenifer's making her official campaign kickoff announcement in front of the building where the Houston trans community hopes she'll be heading to for the next two years starting on January 1, Houston City Hall.  

Friends! Please join us this Thursday, July 11th at 3:00 PM in front of City Hall as Jenifer Rene Pool announces her campaign for Houston City Council At Large Position 3. Come out and support Jenifer and our community all while taking part in a truly historic moment in our City's history.

You can help us spread the word by "liking" and "sharing" this photo. Also, in case you have not already done so, please take a second to endorse Jenifer by clicking here -->http://goo.gl/12oHw.

If  Jenifer wins she not only would become the first open trans person elected to political office in the state of Texas and the city of Houston, she would also become the first transperson elected to a city council in a municipality with a population larger than 250,000 people.

So Jenifer's not only trying to win this race, she would get to make a little history in the process, too. 

Best of luck Jenifer and hope this run for office ends with a more successful conclusion for you.

It's Pam's Milestone Birthday Today!

Pam Spaulding that is!

Today is a milestone birthday for her, and it's kind of a bittersweet one for fans of Pam's House Blend.

After nine years of writing, she compiled her last post on it July 1.  While we miss her daily commentary on the issues of the day and understand the reason why she shut down the Blend, her voice and insightful commentary on many issues is still missed in the Blogosphere.

She still pops up from time to time on social media and I couldn't let today pass without wishing my blogging idol and shero a very happy birthday.

Happy birthday Pam!  May it be full of blessings and you continue to have more of them. 

Dallas Observer LBGT Movers And Shakers List Has No Trans, Bi Or Lesbian People On It

Received a link from one of my DFW area TransGriot readers to an interesting Dallas Observer article by Alicia Auping that discusses seven LGBT movers and shakers in the Dallas area.

When you peruse the list of seven people named, can you guess what the common thread is?

Yep, the people featured in it were all white gay males.  

The list the Observer put together is not only devoid of ethnic diversity, it is also devoid of people from the trans, bi and lesbian community of Dallas as well.  

Just on the trans end of it you have inaugural Trans 100 honoree and Black Transmen Incorporated (BTMI) founder Carter Brown living in the Dallas city limits.  So does Dr. Oliver Blumer, the board Chair of the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) and Rev. Carmarion Anderson, the South regional minister for the national group TransSaints of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries.

Brown, Dr. Blumer and Rev. Anderson are three highly respected Dallas area trans residents making a difference not only locally but in the Lone Star State and on the national level.  

There's Judge Tonya Parker, the first elected openly gay judge in Dallas County and the first openly gay African-American elected official in the state of Texas that you could have included on this list but didn't. 

There's Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez who was just featured in an HBO documentary.   Dallas based GetEqual activist CD Kirven.  Lambda Legal community educator Omar Narvaez.  Resource Center Dallas CEO Cece Cox.  Patti Fink, the president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and current co-host of the longest-running LGBT-exclusive radio program in America and Lividia Violette, who is a national board member of Bi Net.  

They are just some of the Dallas area BTL people who are movers and shakers too and should have garnered recognition for their efforts to make Dallas, Texas and the nation a better place.  

But instead, what the Observer did in this article is fall into that troubling pattern of ignoring or erasing the accomplishments of people in the TBLG community who are not white gay males.

If you claim that the LGBT community is a diverse one, it's vitally important that you showcase that diversity especially since not all the members of the rainbow community are white gay males. 

That visibility is also vitally important in a red state like Texas.  When GLBT people of color come out who are trailblazing leaders in the community, that needs to be highlighted.  

It's also important to consider when you put together these LGBT lists that you have not only ethnic diversity, but also representation from the bi, trans and lesbian part of the community in addition to the gay male one.

Casa Ruby Gets Donation From Cis Women Of Color Bike Group

TransGriot Note: More good news out of Washington D.C. courtesy of Ruby Corado.   I'll let her tell you readers the story in her own words.

***

My total gratitude to the D' RAILERS for the $650.00 donation to Casa Ruby.
One week ago, I attended a community rally to denounce hate crimes against LGB people, mostly Trans Women Of Color.
The same weekend a group of Women of color gets unified in solidarity and embrace their Trans sisters by doing a bike ride where a trans woman leads the ride with them and they hold a fundraiser for Casa Ruby.

If this is not the most clear statement of women speaking against violence for all women, I don't know what it is.

Thank you to all the women who worked hard to make this happen and to all the women and men who supported this noble cause.

This is how you combat and speak loudly against transphobia and hate against Trans women.

Love,
Ruby Corado

***

Thanks Ruby for sending me the photos and including me in the list of people you shared that story with.  It's nice to know that we aren't facing this anti-trans violence wave in the District alone and that some of our cis sisters allies have our backs.

Brazil's Transwomen Are Catching Hell

Because of models Roberta Close, Felipa Torres, Lea T. and Carol Marra, actress Maria Clara Spinelli, Carnival and a healthcare system that provides trans medical treatment including free SRS operations, Brazil has the international reputation of being a trans friendly place.

But Brazil is also a Roman Catholic nation, and it appears the anti-trans hate speech and preaching from the Vatican and evangelicals has filtered down to the flock and fueled anti-trans prejudice that has deadly consequences for the Brazilian trans community.  

Those of us in the trans community who attend TDOR ceremonies have painfully noted the spike in gruesome anti-trans murders happening in Brazil over the last few years. 

When we start gathering around the world for the 2013 edition of our TDOR memorial ceremonies in November, many of the names we will be reading and lighting candles for will once again predominately be those of our Brazilian trans sisters.

Portuguese based blogger Eduarda Santos of Transfofa em Blog has been keeping track of the sickening carnage happening to our sisters in Brazil and the rest of the world.

The graphic photos in the Brazilian media that accompany many of these murders of our trans sisters are mind boggling in terms of the level of viciousness that is visited upon our sisters unfortunate enough to be targeted in an anti-trans hate murder.   

But it was one I saw on her Facebook page yesterday afternoon that made me cry and triggered this post.   It's past time that the international trans community and we transpeople who are children of the African Diaspora raise our voices in collective outrage at the murderous carnage being aimed at our trans sisters in that nation.

The photo that made me cry (TRIGGER WARNING) was one of a 13 year old trans kid who was murdered by hanging last month.  

Thirteen.  It's ridiculous.  This trans feminine child hadn't even begun to live her life before it was cruelly snuffed out by someone who thought they had the right to end it because they didn't like the fact they were trans. 

Here's hoping the waste (or wastes) of DNA who did it are brought to justice either by the Brazilian legal system or the karmic wheel, whichever comes first. 

As to what we can do to help stem the bloody tide of these anti-trans murders in Brazil, we'll have to talk to our trans brothers and sisters and their allies doing the work in that nation and respectfully ask them what they want and need their trans cousins around the world to do. 

But it's crystal clear doing nothing is not one of those options because our Brazilian trans sisters are catching hell, and it needs to stop.

TransGriot Note: last photo is of Cecilia Marahouse, who was fatally shot multiple times in Fortaleza, Brazil on January 11.
   

I Repeat: White People Doing Blackface Drag Is Not Acceptable, Period!

And for once, it isn't the odious Chuck Knipp and his Shirley Q. Liquor 'act' I'm slamming for trying to do it. 

This latest episode of white person who didn't get the memo that white people doing blackface drag is never appropriate is Toronto drag queen Daytona Bitch.

He has his draws in a knot because he was fired from a gig during the recent Toronto Pride for performing in blackface.

He was allegedly imitating Miss Cleo from the Psychic Hotline commercials of the late 90's-early 2K's at the Crews & Tango  nightclub in Toronto.

The June 24 performance generated a lot of angrily contentious discussion on Twitter with the clueless Daytona Bitch trying to defend along with his fans the jacked up performance. 

"I asked a couple people if it was offensive because it’s not blackface in my eyes,” Daytona Bitch says. “I went to theater school. I know what blackface is. It was not a minstrel show. I was doing a character.

Whitesplaining segment over, time for Moni to school your azz right now on the subject.

Sure it's not offensive or blackface in your eyes because you're wallowing in vanillacentric privilege.  And if you claim to know what blackface is, why did you go ahead with that performance anyway?

Obviously none of those people you asked in that club were Black Canadians, because they would have told your vanillacentric privileged behind what I'm about to say in this post right now.

Blackface has been used to denigrate, demean and dehumanize Black people across the African Diaspora for over 180 years.  It's why African descended people in North America have highly negative views toward it that haven't and won't change even in the second decade of the 21st century.   

It's also why North American Black people have a zero tolerance policy toward any manifestation of white people in blackface, whether it is maliciously racist or not. 

We don't care if you are a drag performer, a model doing a high fashion photo shoot, somebody doing so as a badly thought out Halloween costume or drunken white college kids perpetuating negative stereotypes of African descended people in the name of fun and frivolity.   You need to get it through your vanillacentric privileged minds blackface is offensive to African descended people and there is no justification in our chococentic minds for doing so. 

And you knew it too, which is why you and your fans are trying to whitesplain this away. BTW Daytona, since you got paid for that performace, it does qualify as blackface since you made money off the dehumanization of my people.  

You don't get to tell my POC community as a member of the ethnic group that exercises power in this society (deleteriously at times to my community) what is or isn't offensive.  We have repeatedly told you Blackface is one of those things that IS offensive to us on both sides of the 49th parallel, so hear us loud and clear when we say that. 

And don't even try to bring up the Wayans Brothers White Chicks movie, Tyler Perry as Madea, Martin Lawrence as 'Big Momma', Eddie Murphy in Norbit, Whoopi Goldberg, or RuPaul's sellout azz into this conversation in order to defend blackface.

Don't bother parting your lips to say that tired, 'we need to lighten up about it' line or try to claim 'it's a costume' either. 

My people and my culture are not costumes you put on for your or your people's entertainment.

I repeat, white people doing blackface, whether it is malicious or not is NEVER acceptable so don't do it unless you like being called out about it.

Class dismissed.

Trans Women Must Love And Respect Ourselves

I had an interesting conversation with a trans attracted man yesterday afternoon that inspired me to think about and write this post. 

We were discussing some of the issues that put trans women in the position of being their own worst enemy when it comes to getting into and sustaining healthy romantic relationships, and I started talking about the shame and guilt issues we battle that continue to plague us at times.

I also talked about the fact that far too many of us are chasing pseudo cis privilege and trying to be what we aren't going to ever be, cis women. 

We weren't born with cis women's bodies, didn't grow up immersed in femininity from birth and will never know what it's like to menstruate or give birth to a child.  However, just because we don't have those physiological feminine body experiences doesn't mean we can't evolve to becoming and being the best women we can be.  

As Simone de Beauvoir said, women are made, not born.  We need to stop chasing pseudo cis privilege and focus on loving ourselves as trans feminine women.  When we being to have pride in being trans women, we will begin to take the first critical steps in loving and respect ourselves. 

In order for us to be receptive and open to loving someone else, we much first practice self love and being proud of who we are as trans women is an important component of that.

If you're constantly focused on trying to be a ciswoman when you aren't and chasing that pseudo cis privilege, there's little to zero room in your life to developing your own womanhood and focusing your precious time on being the best person you can be.

And yes ladies, the fellas notice when you lack confidence in yourself.  It's a turnoff to them.

The cis man I was in a conversation with is so secure in his masculinity he not only doesn't care what the genitalia configuration is between her legs, he is secure enough to take the trans women he dates to meet his mother.

He cosigned it when I commented nobody is going to have any clue what the genitalia configuration is between your legs when you're out and about on the street, how much you paid to have SRS or what SRS surgeon did it.  

So stop tripping about it.   The only time that is going to become an issues is when you are going to get intimate with that person, and that should be discussed up front when you meet said person what genitalia configuration they like or don't like.  If he's not down with trans women, move on until you find someone who is.  

He also pointed out to me he doesn't date a trans woman unless she is secure enough and loves herself enough to be able to love others.

You have to develop the self confidence and self love to know that you are not only the finest thing walking on Planet Earth, that no sane person would turn down a chance to spend quality time with you.

And no, it's not easy to do that.  Even I struggle with that at times.  But it's something I must do and constantly work on regularly in order to be the best Moni I can be.  I have to be able to look in the mirror and love Moni before I can reasonably expect someone to love me back.   
Speaking of loving others, we need to also consider expanding our dating horizons to include trans men in the equation.  There are some trans brothers out there that make me stop, turn my head and say DAMN! when they walk into a room. 

Trans men need to be a serious option in our dating mix and you never know, that trans man could be the soul mate you're looking for.   

We are part of the diverse mosaic of human life because God created transpeople, too. We exist. We need to love ourselves and each other. And somewhere out there is a soul mate that will love us for who we are and won't care what the configuration of the genitalia between our legs is.

But only if we open our minds and our hearts to loving and respecting ourselves first so that we are capable of opening our hearts to others.