Laverne And Janet On HuffPo Discussing #Girls Like Us Relationships

Two of my little sisters got together to give America the blessings of their collective wisdom on relationships while being #girlslikeus in the wake of the Mr. Cee mess.

Janet wrote this September 12 commentary on her blog, Diamond Stylz has already commented on it via her video blog, and I'm still debating if I need to wade into this mess after these ladies basically broke it down.

But enough jibber-jabber.  Here's the video from their recent HuffPo Live appearance with Marc Lamont Hill moderating.

Upcoming Race Relations In The GLBTIQ-SGL Community Discussion

Was advised about an interesting upcoming event that will take place on Sunday, September 29 at the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church here in H-town.

It's a discussion on 'Race Relations in the Houston GLBTIQ-SGL Community' that is sponsored by Brother 2 Brother and will be facilitated by Dexter Williams.

We are calling ALL persons of the GLBTQ-SGL community! Let’s come together to discuss race. Let’s embrace our cultural differences and in the process gain a better understanding how we can move forward together as one community. We want to make sure everyone has a voice.

We in the Houston rainbow community are going to need to have a frank discussion about and deal with the issue of race in this community.  We need to ensure we're on the same page in preparation for the ugly and bruising knock down drag out fight we will have in the near future over adding gender identity and sexual orientation to our non-discrimination ordinance. 

When that ordinance passes, there will be an effort by the Forces of Intolerance to force a ballot referendum in an attempt to repeal it.  We will need to be working together in order to fight it and win..Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church is located at 2025 West 11th Street in Houston and the event is scheduled to run from 3-6 PM CDT.

I'm making plans to be there and check it out. 
 

Sistahs, Let's Stop Hatin' On Each Other

Guest post from Robin Bonner

Okay, so I walk in and you see me. You see that my hair is done, my outfit is fierce and I carry myself like a lady. I smile at you but you roll your eyes at me, then, turn your head and whisper something to your girl. Why you hatin'

Okay, so maybe I'm a new employee and this is my first day at work. I almost thought I would be the only sistah in the joint until someone introduced us to each other. I smile and extend my hand, happy to know I won't be here alone. You smile and shake my hand but there's insincerity in your eyes and your hand is limp. You seem guarded.

What's wrong Ma'?

Okay, so maybe my man and I have been having problems. And since you've been my best friend for years I confide in you that I think he's cheating on me. You offer your support. Until I find out that he's been cheating on cheating on me....with you! Why would you hurt me like that?

I found your knife, girl.....it's in my back!

As women we battle daily. We battle keeping our families together, keeping our men happy and maintaining our presence in the workforce. With all that battling going on why in the world should we have to battle each other?

Now I'm not saying every sistah has a knife but some of you do and you know who you are. Why is it that a woman can't get her glamour on without you having a problem? Why can't I get a blonde weave without you having something to say?  If I'm working myself to death in the office trying to climb the corporate ladder why am I suddenly a sellout?  If I leave the room for a minute why can't I trust you around my man? Smiling in my face, but gossiping all my personal business behind my back?

You now have permission to consider yourself trifling!

Inferiority Complex. It makes us feel that in order to be someone special we have to put everyone else beneath us. Are we so insecure in ourselves that we can't feel good until we pull someone else down?

There's something wrong here. We've come to envy those who've accomplished in their lives what we've only dreamed of having for ourselves. And when we fear we will never be able to get what we want - we steal it.

There is a serious self-worth issue going on here. We're in a day and age where we should be encouraging each other and holding each other up.

Sisterhood should not end when Oprah goes off. Truth be told, there will always be someone prettier, sexier, stronger, and smarter. I'm sorry Boo - that's just the way it is. But that's ok.....just do you!

I don't care how good Beyonce' looks - if she walks into the same room I'm in, it doesn't make me any less of the diva I already am! I love admiring hairstyles...but there's no need to be jealous. Honey, nowadays there's enough hair for 'err-body'.

I have goals in life. There are things I strive to attain. Yet I seek out successful sisters because they keep me motivated.

Life is so much more than who looks the best, who dresses the best and who makes more money. So when you see your sister going for hers let it inspire you .... To do you

40th Anniversary of 'The Battle Of The Sexes' Tennis Match

There was a huge tennis match that took place in my hometown on September 20, 1973 that had major implications for women's sports. 

40 years ago Billie Jean King in front of what is still the largest crowd to ever witness a tennis match in the United States, beat 55 year old Bobby Riggs at the Astrodome in front of 30, 472 people and a worldwide television audience of 90 million people. (50 million in the US who watched the ABC-TV broadcast with Howard Cosell as the lead announcer). 

Unfortunately the broadcast was blacked out here in Houston at the time and I had to see the tape delay later.   

What led up to this seriously hyped tennis match was Bobby Riggs flapping his gums and denigrating the game of women's tennis.   He claimed it was inferior to the men's game (oink, oink), his 55 year old self could beat the top ranked women's player in the world and challenged Billie Jean King to a match. 

When the then 29 year old King declined to take him on, then 30 year old Australian Margaret Court, the top ranked women's player at the time accepted the challenge.  They played the US televised match on May 13, 1973 (which happened to be Mother's Day) in Ramona, CA.  Riggs used lobs and drop shots to keep Court off balance and beat her in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

It's also alleged that Court considered the match an exhibition and didn't take it seriously, but the male dominated media sure did. .The win over Margaret Court got Riggs on the covers of Sports Illustrated and Time magazines and he resumed his male chauvinist taunting of all female tennis players.  

After founding the Women's Tennis Association in June, King accepted a lucrative offer to play a winner take all best three of five set nationally televised match at the Astrodome that was dubbed by promoters as 'The Battle of The Sexes'.

And yes, the young TransGriot took the opportunity to put her allowance where her mouth in terms of my belief that King would win.  I made a few bets with my skeptical male classmates who believed Riggs' hype. 
 
On that September night before the match started King entered the Dome Cleopatra-style carried by four bodybuilders and Riggs followed in a rickshaw pulled by scantily clad models. The exchanged gifts, with Riggs giving her a large Sugar Daddy sucker and King presenting him with a piglet before they began playing the  match.

King had also prepared herself to counter the drop shot tactics Riggs used to great effect against Court.

Instead of her usual aggressive style of play, she stayed at the baseline and gave Riggs a taste of his own tennis medicine. She made him run all over the court and forced him to change tactics to a serve and volley style of game. 

King beat him in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to claim the $100,000 prize for winning the match and defended the honor of professional women's tennis players everywhere.  

And the next day at school I collected the money I won with Billie Jean King's victory


King's win in addition to being profitable for teenage me also gave women's tennis the critical early credibility it needed and has used to grow the sport.   Women's tennis grew from that point to eventually garner its own television contracts and see women players like King, Chris Evert and countless others earning six and seven figure amounts in prize money.  They later won the battle to secure equal prize money for female tennis players.

And that happened in the wake of a tennis match played at the Astrodome. 

Another California Transwoman Murdered

Sad to report about another trans woman being murdered on the Left Coast.

26 year old Melony Smith was found dead in her Baldwin Park, CA motel room back on September 9.   The reason it took so long to find out is because once again, the trans person was misgendered by the po-po's.

Note to police: Pronouns are not necessarily pegged to the genitalia between the person's legs.  If you have a female bodied person with a penis, that's a hint an a half that you are dealing with a trans person and you need to ID her as a female or announce in your press releases the murder of a transgender female'.   It makes it much easier for the trans community or someone who knows her as that female bodied person to identify her. 

You also slow down your own investigations and lengthen your odds of arresting the perpetrators who committed the crimes by not doing so.

The alleged perp in this case, 28 year old Stephen Gonzales was already in jail on another charge, and was charged with murder and robbery in the Smith case, according to a felony complaint filed in Pomona Superior Court and a report in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.  Gonzales was also accused of the special, sentence-enhancing allegation of committing murder during the course of a robbery.

Rest in peace, Melony.  Let's hope that justice is served in this case.  
   

The Emmy Blackout Continues

For the first time in several years I actually sat down to watch the Emmy Awards because of Kerry Washington's potential to make history tonight.

No African-American actress has ever won the Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series category, and with her nomination for Scandal, Washington was the first African-American actress to be nominated in this category in the 21st century and the first since 1995.

Debbie Allen (“Fame”; 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985), Alfre Woodard (“St. Elsewhere”; 1986), Regina Taylor (“I’ll Fly Away”; 1992, 1993) and Cicely Tyson (“Sweet Justice”; 1995) were the four previous African-American women nominated in this category who didn't get the win.

So hopes were high that she'd finally end that drought but alas the blackout continues. 

She didn't win the Emmy tonight, Claire Danes won her third.   Don Cheadle and Alfre Woodard didn't win in their categories either.

And they wonder why African-Americans don't tune into the Emmys and Oscars and we have our own awards shows.  It's because we're tired of watching our people bust their ass, do the work to get nominated and get screwed.

That's okay Kerry, we love you and know you should have been standing up there making history tonight.
   
Another season of Scandal starts October 3, so let's hope the Academy rectifies their error, nominates her again in 2014 and this time she wins it.

The San Antonio Non-Discrimination Ordinance Is Becoming A Houston City Election Issue

When San Antonio passed their trans inclusive human rights ordinance by a lopsided 8-3 margin on September 6, I and many TBLG people here on our end of I-10 were paying attention including Mayor Annise Parker.

"It is absolutely something we should do, and the majority of council members have publicly stated they are in support of a nondiscrimination ordinance," said Parker in a Houston Chronicle interview. "But this is an issue that requires all of council to be engaged and agree it is time to move it forward. When it happens, we will do that."

Houston has a 1998 executive order issued by former Mayor Lee Brown that protects gay city employees from discrimination that Mayor Parker updated in 2010 to include trans city employees. 

Of course our resident conservabigots like Dave Wilson opposed it and want it repealed.  Wilson also ran for mayor in the 2011 cycle and got his butt kicked.   There was also a 2012 effort to place a nondiscrimination item before H-town voters which unfortunately did not reach the ballot.

As I mentioned in my post about how I and the Houston person of color trans community want full trans equality and made the case for it, we are in the middle of a mayoral and city election cycle that ends November 5.  The question about a Houston non-discrimination ordinance similar to San Antonio's has come up in not only the mayor's race but has also been asked by the Houston League of Women Voters in their City Council candidate forums.

Wanda Adams, my city council member is term limited and is running for the HISD school board.  That has sparked a 12 person race in District D for her soon to be vacated seat.

Assata Richards, who has the Caucus endorsement in the District D race, answered this question affirmatively during the recently televised LWV-Houston forum.  I did not like Dwight Boykins dodgy answer during the District D candidate forum, and I look forward to the next time I talk to Larry McKinzie so I can ask him what his stance on that issue is along with the other District D City Council candidates. 

I'm also interested in hearing what Ben Hall and the other mayoral candidates stance is concerning this issue of protecting the human rights of trans Houstonians like moi as we get closer to November 5 along with the people running for at large city council seats.

I also have other issues of importance like mass transit that I will also base my decision on when I step into the voting booth to select the people I think are best qualified to lead this city, but where they stand on my human rights as a proud trans Houstonian will be one of the criteria I use to sort out who gets my support and my precious vote.    

Open Letter To Queen Cassidy

Dear Cassidy,
I understand and I'm concerned as your trans elder that you're upset about the Hateraid that has come your way from the transphobically ignorant since your history making homecoming queen win Friday night.

I'm also concerned that you're feeling you can't live up to the pressure of being a role model for our community. 

You don't have to. All that you are responsible for right now is focusing on getting your education, enjoying your senior year of high school and being the best Cassidy you can be because that puts you in the best possible position to live up to the amazing potential we trans elders see for your life.

And to quote Eleanor Roosevelt, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. 

So bump the haters.  They're mad because you not only won, but you had the courage to do something that far too many of them are too petrified to do in terms of look in the mirror, realize things weren't working, and make the corrections necessary to take control of your life.   

You aren't alone Cassidy.  You have a worldwide family of trans brothers and sisters who love you and want nothing but the best for you along with the allies of the trans community.   There are trans folks in the Los Angeles metro area and elsewhere around the world ready, willing and eagerly waiting to reach out to you, envelop you in an oasis of love and help give you advice about your transition.   All you have to do to receive that love, wisdom and hard won knowledge from us is say the word.    

Cassidy, you're not only a beautiful young woman inside and out, your win inspired transkids of your generation.  It also put a smile on my face and the faces of the trans people of my generation and inspired us to work even harder to ensure the laws are in place to expand trans human rights coverage for all of us. 

Your trans elders know going through puberty is hard.  We also know that going through puberty in a body that doesn't match who you are inside ain't easy either.  Going through puberty as a trans female is an even more daunting task and you will have good and bad days as you do so. 

The point is to not to let the haters get you down as you evolve and learn who Cassidy is and what type of woman you wish to project to the world.  You must also remember that for every nasty and hateful comment you get, there are ten people who wish nothing but success for you

If you really want to get back at the haters, them seeing you standing tall, looking good and proudly walking the halls of Marina High and everywhere you go as if you own the place is the best way you can flip the script on them and own your feminine power. 

Success in everything you do from this day forward is also your best revenge.  You have already demonstrated the capacity to do that by making your desire to become your school's homecoming queen a reality that was trumpeted by news media around the world.  

So take your own advice.   Be true to yourself.  Dry those tears, stand tall, hold your head up high like the queen you are even before you won the sash and crown to prove it, and confidently tackle the challenges that come your way as the young woman of trans experience you are one day at a time.

I know you can do it, and I have every confidence that you will   

Sincerely yours with love,

Monica Roberts
The TransGriot

MAJOR! Documentary Kickstarter Campaign

Two of the many people I met during last weekend's Trans*H4CK were longtime TransGriot reader StormMiguel Florez and Annalise Ophelian.

In addition to the long, thoughtful conversations I had with both of them Friday night we talked about the documentary project they are filming and raising funds in a Kickstarter Campaign in order to complete it.

The documentary they are filming is called MAJOR!  It's about one of our trans icons in Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, who is an internationally recognized human rights activist who transitioned back in the 50's, the Executive Director of the Oakland based Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) and a Stonewall veteran.

At age 70, she's still traveling the nation and the world lecturing, speaking and fighting for the human rights of the trans community. 

Miss Major testified at the United Nations about the abuses that trans women of color are dealing with and is a beloved elder stateswoman in the community. 

I met Miss Major when I was invited to speak at the TransPride March and Rally in 2008 and she was the Grand Marshal for the event.  Every now and then we end up in the same space like we were last year at the TransFaith In Color conference in Charlotte and when that happens, I don't hesitate in stopping what I'm doing and taking a few moments to bask in her wisdom and knowledge,

She'll also call and check in on me to see what's happening in my world in addition to her being one of the people I talk to when I want to know something about the back in the day history of the trans community.



This is a documentary film that needs to be completed because Miss Major's story is one that needs to be told and preserved for the benefit of ourselves and future generations. It would be nice if MAJOR! can be finished and shown in theaters while she's still here with us in this plane of existence to enjoy it. 

If Annalise's name sounds familiar, it's because of the last award winning documentary she directed and produced entitled Diagnosing Difference, which looks at how medicalizing certain gender identities as "disorders" affects trans people.  StormMiguel in addition to being a media worked at TGIJP for five years with her.  

They have raised $11,611 toward their goal of $25,000 by the 9 PM EDT October 8 deadline as of this writing, so if you can contribute a little something to help StormMiguel and Annalise reach their fundraising goal, please do so. You can also check out the Major! Facebook page for up to date information about it.

Even $1, $5, $10, $20 or whatever amount you can afford will get them that much closer to making this film a reality.  

All Hail Queen Cassidy!

Trans history was made last night in Huntington Beach, CA as Cassidy Lynn Campbell was elected by the student body of Marina High School as their homecoming queen.

Earlier in the school day Cassidy was announced as one of the five finalists for the title to the cheers of her fellow students with the final announcement made at last night's homecoming football game. 

"I'm so proud to win this not just for me but for everyone out there and for every kid -- transgender, gay, straight, black or Mexican. It doesn't matter, you can be yourself," she said after her win.

She becomes the first out trans feminine student ever in the United States to hold that distinction and I couldn't be happier for her.   But if it weren't for a transphobic principal at North Dallas High School that historic distinction could have happened in Texas three years ago.  



All hail Queen Cassidy and congratulations!

Ask A Trans Attracted Man-Part 6

It figures that while Computer Prime was down that Troy's latest video in his Ask A Trans Attracted Man series was released entitled 'Embracing Yourself'

Posting Troy's videos on the blog is part of my effort to jump start a much needed conversation in Black trans world about us trans feminine women taking a hard look at our romantic relationships, fixing what isn't working, and doing what we need to do to give us the best possible chances of being in a stable long term relationship 

And now, here's Troy and his latest video.

Being A Transwoman IS Being A Woman

TransGriot Note: Guest post by Rebecca Desvignes Aeon.   

Being a transwoman is being a woman from the soul, spirit, mind and heart born in the wrong body.

Being a transwoman is not a choice you make, it's who you were born as from your first breath into this world.  Some recognize it early, some late, but you can't run from your truth.

Being a transwoman is not about dressing up as female one day and next day as a regular man, that's a crossdresser. A true from the soul transwoman is a woman that lives 24/7 as a woman.

Being a transwoman is wanting to live a simple life as any other woman.  She desires a Boyfriend / husband, a career, a home, a family, and a stable financial situation. We are not a shemale looking for sex 24/7. 

A shemale is not a transsexual woman, a.shemale is a porn performer surgically altered to look like a woman, for the sole purpose of making porn movies for money.  The words shemale, ladyboy, transvestite, he-she, crossdresser, et cetera is in no association whatsoever with a transsexual woman.  A transwoman is a woman period regardless of her private parts. 

A true woman is defined by her spiritual femininity, her ladylike characteristics, and feminine thoughts, not her private parts.

A true trans attracted man would never approach a transwoman verbally when attracted to her and label her as a shemale, ladyboy, dude, man, crossdresser, transvestite or he-she.  To do so means he does not view you as a woman.  A true trans attracted man would view you as a woman, potential girlfriend or wife and will proudly walk the streets in public hand in hand with you.

If a man is only willing to be with you if you had a vagina, or will if you have the SRS surgery, forget about him.  He does not recognize or appreciate your femininity, your mind and heart, and still subconsciously looks at you as a man.

If a man is only interested in you only if you are pre-operative and has an obsession with penises on a female figure and not your mind, heart and soul, get rid of him because you deserve better.

A true trans attracted man will see you as all woman regardless of being pre-operative or post-operative, will treat you as a woman, will see you as a potential girlfriend or wife, will proudly go everywhere with you and live with you openly regardless of their family or friends opinions.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Hatin' On Miss America Edition

When I was channel surfing a few nights ago I briefly flipped it onto the Miss America pageant that was being broadcast on ABC before moving on to watch something else.   What I missed was a little pageant history because Miss New York, Nina Davaluri was crowned later as the first ever Miss America of Indian descent.

The irony was that the 24 year old Davaluri was crowned 30 years after another Miss New York contestant named Vanessa Lynn Williams became the first African-American Miss America. 

Yep, the same Vanessa L. Williams who became a chart topping singing superstar of the Broadway stage and the big and small screens.  She took the same route as Davaluri and won the Miss Syracuse pageant before taking the Miss New York and Miss America crowns.  . 

Just as the haters couldn't stand the thought of Vanessa Williams wearing that crown, the reaction from the bigots to Davaluri's groundbreaking win was also swift and foaming at the mouth racist..

Frack all those nekulturny knuckle draggers.  They can stay mad that Miss America no longer is the sole province of white women. 

So with that out of the way, now let's get to our normal Friday business in which I sort through all the clutter and decide with your help who will earn this week's Shut Up Fool Award.   Since Computer Prime is back I can do SUF honorable mentions again.

Let's get started, shall we?

Honorable mention number one is every fool who posted racist crap on Twitter (and elsewhere) about Miss America 2014 Nina Davaluri 

Honorable mention number two is a group award for the Republican Party who continue their march toward a crushing 2014 election defeat by voting for the 42nd time to kill Obamacare, cut $40 million from the SNAP program and keep pushing toward a government shutdown if they don't get their way on cutting social program spending.  

Honorable mention number three is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claimed that Russia doesn't discriminate against gay people.   Yeah, right.  

Honorable mention number four is Texas Lt Gov David Dewhurst, who parted his lips to say in a Houston GOP candidate debate that Democrats only control five insignificant committees in the Texas Lege. One of those 'insignificant' committees deals with veterans issues, a constituency the GOP claims they love at election time but their actions say otherwise. 

You're doing a fine job on that GOP outreach Deputy Tex Fuhrer, keep it up.

Honorable mention number five is Jaden Smith, for tweeting that dumb azz comment to his over 4.5 million Twitter followers that America’s education system brainwashes students and tweeted that “If Everybody In The World Dropped Out Of School We Would Have A Much More Intelligent Society.”

If your ass were in public school and not homeschooled you would have had the intelligence to not say something as monumentally stupid as that..  Maybe Will and Jada should send your 15 year old behind to public school for a few years to straighten your behind out. 

Honorable mention number six is to the unknown Smith student who is trying to form a hetero only sorority on campus because she feels marginalized.   Really?   Welcome to my world Miss Thang. 

And BTW, did you actually visit Smith College and TBLG friendly Northampton, MA before you committed to attend school there?  Smith is w women's college with queer women on campus.  If you had a problem with being around lesbians and want to date men, then you probably needed to go to a co-ed school.   


This week's winner is Rep Phil Gingrey (R-GA), who complained that he's facing the 'hardship' of being trapped in Congress and having to live on $172,000 a year.  He also voted to cut the SNAP program. 

Actually, your salary is $174,000 a year, and you're a millionaire.  I'd be happy to take your place and do a much better job representing the people of the USA for that amount of cash flow than you ever will. 

Rep Phil Gingrey, Shut up Fool!
  

A Statement Of Trans Inclusive Feminism And Womanism

TransGriot Note:  As a womanist and a long-time trans human rights activist, I was asked by several people to be one of the original signatories to this statement.  I did so with a caveat. 

The title of this statement gives the false impression that womanism has the same four decade old problem of off the chain foaming at the mouth trans haters that feminism has when in reality it doesn't and womanists have worked diligently to keep it that way.  

No womanist at this time has ever openly worked to oppress me as a trans woman, called for my extermination, or opposed trans human rights legislation on a local, national or international level as predominately white feminists gleefully have done for over 40 years, so I have a problem with the potential false equivalency perception here. 

But I found this collective trans inclusion statement too important to NOT sign especially since I have been a target of racist TERF hate from time to time.

And now for your TransGriot reading pleasure, courtesy of the feministsfightingtransphobia blog, the Statement of Trans Inclusive Feminism and Womanism.

***

We are proud to present a collective statement that is, to our knowledge (and we would love to be wrong about this) the first of its kind.  In this post you’ll find a statement of feminist solidarity with trans* rights, signed by nearly 100  feminists/womanists from at least eleven different countries [it's now 383 individuals and 17 organizations -- exactly 400! -- from at least 15 countries] who wish to affirm that feminism/womanism can and should be a home for trans* people as well as cis. 

It has been signed by activists, bloggers, academics, and artists.  What we all have in common is the conviction that feminism should welcome trans* people, and that trans* people are essential to feminism’s mission to advocate for women and other people oppressed, exploited, and otherwise marginalized by patriarchal and misogynistic systems and people.

If you are a blogger/writer/academic/educator/artist/activist/otherwise in a position to affect feminist or womanist discourse or action and you would like to sign on to this statement, let us know!  You can use the form on the contact page or you can email us at feministsfightingtransphobia1@gmail.com.  We’d love to hear from you.

[NEW: You can also just sign right on in the comments, particularly if you're wanting to sign in a personal, rather than professional capacity--this will be much quicker and also easier on our moderators!]
Note: this blog in general and this post in particular are places where trans* people can come and find welcome and support from feminists.  For this reason, all comments are moderated for now, and hateful or abusive or bigoted discourse directed against marginalized groups or their members will not be approved.  It will either be deleted or it will be replaced with mockery of that discourse, depending on what the moderators feel like doing.  To be clear, transphobia, misgendering, racism, misogyny, slut-shaming, etc. are unwelcome.

We particularly welcome comments regarding ways in which feminists and womanists, both cis and trans*, can organize to demonstrate solidarity with and support and acceptance of trans people.  Reading the names of prominent feminists on statements of transphobia is heartbreaking to many of us, but as Joe Hill said, “Don’t mourn; organize!”
– Moderators

A Statement of Trans-Inclusive Feminism and Womanism
We, the undersigned trans* and cis scholars, writers, artists, and educators, want to publicly and openly affirm our commitment to a trans*-inclusive feminism and womanism.

There has been a noticeable increase in transphobic feminist activity this summer: the forthcoming book by Sheila Jeffreys from Routledge; the hostile and threatening anonymous letter sent to Dallas Denny after she and Dr. Jamison Green wrote to Routledge regarding their concerns about that book; and the recent widely circulated statement entitled “Forbidden Discourse: The Silencing of Feminist Critique of ‘Gender,’” signed by a number of prominent, and we regret to say, misguided, feminists have been particularly noticeable.  And all this is taking place in the climate of virulent mainstream transphobia that has emerged following the coverage of Chelsea Manning’s trial and subsequent statement regarding her gender identity, and the recent murders of young trans women of color, including Islan Nettles and Domonique Newburn, the latest targets in a long history of violence against trans women of color.  Given these events, it is important that we speak out in support of feminism and womanism that support trans* people.

We are committed to recognizing and respecting the complex construction of sexual/gender identity; to recognizing trans* women as women and including them in all women’s spaces; to recognizing trans* men as men and rejecting accounts of manhood that exclude them; to recognizing the existence of genderqueer, non-binary identifying people and accepting their humanity; to rigorous, thoughtful, nuanced research and analysis of gender, sex, and sexuality that accept trans* people as authorities on their own experiences and understands that the legitimacy of their lives is not up for debate; and to fighting the twin ideologies of transphobia and patriarchy in all their guises.

Transphobic feminism ignores the identification of many trans* and genderqueer people as feminists or womanists and many cis feminists/womanists with their trans* sisters, brothers, friends, and lovers; it is feminism that has too often rejected them, and not the reverse. It ignores the historical pressures placed by the medical profession on trans* people to conform to rigid gender stereotypes in order to be “gifted” the medical aid to which they as human beings are entitled.  By positing “woman” as a coherent, stable identity whose boundaries they are authorized to police, transphobic feminists reject the insights of intersectional analysis, subordinating all other identities to womanhood and all other oppressions to patriarchy.  They are refusing to acknowledge their own power and privilege.

We recognize that transphobic feminists have used violence and threats of violence against trans* people and their partners and we condemn such behavior.  We recognize that transphobic rhetoric has deeply harmful effects on trans* people’s real lives; witness CeCe McDonald’s imprisonment in a facility for men.  We further recognize the particular harm transphobia causes to trans* people of color when it combines with racism, and the violence it encourages.

When feminists exclude trans* women from women’s shelters, trans* women are left vulnerable to the worst kinds of violent, abusive misogyny, whether in men’s shelters, on the streets, or in abusive homes.  When feminists demand that trans* women be excluded from women’s bathrooms and that genderqueer people choose a binary-marked bathroom, they make participation in the public sphere near-impossible, collaborate with a rigidity of gender identities that feminism has historically fought against, and erect yet another barrier to employment.  When feminists teach transphobia, they drive trans* students away from education and the opportunities it provides.

We also reject the notion that trans* activists’ critiques of transphobic bigotry “silence” anybody.  Criticism is not the same as silencing. We recognize that the recent emphasis on the so-called violent rhetoric and threats that transphobic feminists claim are coming from trans* women online ignores the 40+ – year history of violent and eliminationist rhetoric directed by prominent feminists against trans* women, trans* men, and genderqueer people.  It ignores the deliberate strategy of certain well-known anti-trans* feminists of engaging in gleeful and persistent harassment, baiting, and provocation of trans* people, particularly trans* women, in the hope of inciting angry responses, which are then utilized to paint a false portrayal of trans* women as oppressors and cis feminist women as victims. It ignores the public outing of trans* women that certain transphobic feminists have engaged in regardless of the damage it does to women’s lives and the danger in which it puts them.  And it relies upon the pernicious rhetoric of collective guilt, using any example of such violent rhetoric, no matter the source — and, just as much, the justified anger of any one trans* woman — to condemn all trans* women, and to justify their continued exclusion and the continued denial of their civil rights.

Whether we are cis, trans*, binary-identified, or genderqueer, we will not let feminist or womanist discourse regress or stagnate; we will push forward in our understandings of gender, sex, and sexuality across disciplines. 

While we respect the great achievements and hard battles fought by activists in the 1960s and 1970s, we know that those activists are not infallible and that progress cannot stop with them if we hope to remain intellectually honest, moral, and politically effective.  Most importantly, we recognize that theories are not more important than real people’s real lives; we reject any theory of gender, sex, or sexuality that calls on us to sacrifice the needs of any subjugated or marginalized group.  People are more important than theory.
We are committed to making our classrooms, our writing, and our research inclusive of trans* people’s lives.

Signed by:

Individuals
Hailey K. Alves (blogger and transfeminist activist, Brazil)
Luma Andrade  (Federal University of Ceará, Brazil)
Leiliane Assunção (Federal University of the Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil)
Talia Bettcher (California State University, Los Angeles)
Lauren Beukes (novelist)
Lindsay Beyerstein (journalist)
Jamie “Skye” Bianco (New York University)
Hanne Blank (writer and historian)
Kate Bornstein (writer and activist)
danah boyd (Microsoft research and New York University)
Helen Boyd (author and activist)
Sarah Brown (LGBT+ Liberal Democrats)
Christine Burns (equalities consultant, blogger and campaigner)
Liliane Anderson Reis Caldeira (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)
Gloria Careaga (UNAM/National Autonomous University of Mexico)
Avedon Carol (activist and writer; Feminists Against Censorship)
Wendy Chapkis (University of Southern Maine) – “I don’t love the punch line ‘people are more important than theory.’  More to the point, it seems to me, is that feminist theories that fail to recognize the lived experiences and revolutionary potential of gender diversity are willfully inadequate.”
Jan Clausen (writer, MFAW faculty, Goddard College)
Darrah Cloud (playwright and screenwriter; Goddard College)
Alyson Cole (Queens College – CUNY)
Arrianna Marie Coleman (writer and activist)
Suzan Cooke (writer and photographer)
Sonia Onufer Correa  (feminist research associate at ABIA, co-chair of Sexuality Policy Watch)
Molly Crabapple (artist and writer)

Petra Davis (writer and activist)

Elizabeth Dearnley (University College London)
Jaqueline Gomes de Jesus (University of Brasilia, Brazil)
Sady Doyle (writer and blogger)
L. Timmel Duchamp (publisher, Aqueduct Press)
Flavia Dzodan (writer and media maker)
Reni Eddo-Lodge (writer and activist)
Finn Enke (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Hugh English (Queens College – CUNY)
Jane Fae (writer and activist)
Roderick Ferguson (University of Minnesota)
Jill Filipovic (writer and blogger)
Rose Fox (editor and activist)
Jaclyn Friedman (author, activist, and executive director of Women, Action, & the Media)
Sasha Garwood (University College, London)
Jen Jack Gieseking (Bowdoin College)
Dominique Grisard (CUNY Graduate Center/Columbia University/University of Basel)
Deborah Gussman (Richard Stockton College of New Jersey)
Dr Sally Hines (University of Leeds)
Claire House (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Brazil)
Astrid Idlewild (editor, urban historian)
Sarah Hoem Iversen (Bergen University College, Norway)
Sarah Jaffe (columnist)
Roz Kaveney (author and critic)
Zahira Kelly (artist and writer)
Mikki Kendall (writer and occasional feminist)
Natacha Kennedy (Goldsmiths College, University of London)
Alison Kilkenny (journalist and activist)
Matthew Knip (Hunter College – CUNY)
Letícia Lanz (writer and psychoanalyst, Brazil)
April Lidinsky (Indiana University South Bend)
Erika Lin (George Mason University)
Marilee Lindemann (University of Maryland)
Heather Love (University of Pennsylvania)
Jessica W. Luther (writer and activist)
Jen Manion (Connecticut College)
Ruth McClelland-Nugent (Georgia Regents University Augusta)
Melissa McEwan (Editor-in-Chief, Shakesville)
Farah Mendlesohn (Anglia Ruskin University)
Mireille Miller-Young (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Lyndsey Moon (University of Roehampton and University of Warwick)
Surya Monro (University of Huddersfield)
Cheryl Morgan (publisher and blogger)
Kenne Mwikya (writer and activist, Nairobi)
Zenita Nicholson (Secretary on the Board of Trustees, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination, Guyana)
Anne Ogborn (frightening sex change)
Sally Outen (performer and activist)
Ruth Pearce (University of Warwick)
Laurie Penny (journalist and activist)
Rosalind Petchesky (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, and Sexuality Policy Watch)
Rachel Pollack (writer, Goddard College)
Claire Bond Potter (The New School for Public Engagement)
Nina Power (University of Roehampton)
Marina Riedel (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
Mark Rifkin (University of North Carolina – Greensboro)
Monica Roberts (Transgriot)
Dr. Judy Rohrer (Western Kentucky University)
Diana Salles (independent scholar)
Veronica Schanoes (Queens College – CUNY)
Sarah Schulman, in principle (College of Staten Island – CUNY)
Donald M. Scott (Queens College – CUNY)
Lynne Segal (Birkbeck, University of London)
Julia Serano (author and activist)
Carrie D. Shanafelt (Grinnell College)
Rebekah Sheldon (Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis)
Barbara Simerka (Queens College – CUNY)
Gwendolyn Ann Smith (columnist and Transgender Day of Remembrance founder)
Kari Sperring (K L Maund) (writer and historian)
Zoe Stavri (writer and activist)
Tristan Taormino (Sex Out Loud Radio, New York, NY)
Jemma Tosh (University of Chester)
Viviane V. (Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)
Catherynne M. Valente (author)
Jessica Valenti (author and columnist)
Genevieve Valentine (writer)
Barbra Wangare (S.H.E and Transitioning Africa, Kenya)
Thijs Witty (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Groups:
Bishkek Feminist Collective SQ (Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia)
House of Najafgarh (Najafgarh, India)
House of Kola Bhagan (Kolkatta, India)
Transgender Nation San Francisco

TransGriot Update: These are additional individuals and groups who have signed on to this statement.

[See http://feministsfightingtransphobia.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/welcome-to-our-most-recent-signatories/ for our newest signatories, as of the end of the day on September 16, 2013]
[See http://feministsfightingtransphobia.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/six-hours-later-we-have-a-new-signatory-list/ for our newest signatories, as of the end of the day on September 17, 2013]

[See http://feministsfightingtransphobia.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/welcome-to-our-our-newest-signatories-update-3/ for our newest signatories, as of the end of the day on September 18, 2013]

[See http://feministsfightingtransphobia.wordpress.com/2013/09/21/better-late-than-never-update-4/ for our newest signatories, as of the end of the day on September 20, 2013]

OUT on the Hill 2013 Transmasculine Panel

It's Trans Men's Day at OUT on the Hill!  

Just as I and three of my trans feminine counterparts got the opportunity last year to talk about the issues facing Black trans women last year during a town hall meeting moderated by Laverne Cox,  the trans men get their opportunity to speak in a town hall that starts right now and runs through 11:30 AM EDT entitled 'Shades of Masculinity-Part 1' 

It's taking place at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel Downtown in the Renaissance East room and features Kylar Broadus.

They are probably videotaping it like the trans feminine one last year, so I'll hopefully get to see the highlights of what the trans brothers had to say.

But still wish I was there to report on it in person.

California Transteen A Homecoming Queen Candidate

While ground has been broken in terms of an open trans masculine teen being elected homecoming king of his school (Niko Walker in 2010), that hasn't happened yet for an open trans feminine student.  A 19 year old trans student named Devon became homecoming queen at her high school while stealth and revealed it on Katie Couric's talk show back in February.  

I chronicled the attempt of Andy Moreno to break the trans homecoming queen glass ceiling a few years ago at North Dallas High School that was thwarted by her transphobic principal.

Now word is coming from the Left Coast that 16 year old senior Cassidy Lynn Campbell has been named one of the ten homecoming queen candidates at Marina High School in Huntington Beach, CA. 

"I'm a girl and if my school could recognize me as what I've always wanted the world to recognize me as my entire life, then it would be such an accomplishment," Campbell says. "It's okay to be transgender and it doesn't matter what kind of girl you are -- you can still be a queen."

Cassidy has been transitioning for three years and is also a popular YouTube video blogger. Her nomination comes at a time in California in which Gov Jerry Brown (D) signed AB 1266, a law that that many trans youth in the state advocated for.  It allows K-12 trans students in public schools like Cassidy to participate in sex segregated school activities apropos to their gender presentation.   The conservafools are gearing up to fight this law by collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to repeal it.  

We'll have to see later today if Cassidy makes trans history.  At Marina High's homecoming pep rally, the field of ten homecoming queen candidates will be trimmed down to the five finalists with the queen being crowned at the school's football game tonight.

Good luck, Cassidy and hope you walk away with the crown tonight.   

I Repeat: DADT Still Hasn't Died For Trans People

Today is the second anniversary of the day the DADT repeal became official and gay, lesbian and bi soldiers in the US armed forces could openly serve our country.  But that's still not the case for trans people.  We not only still can't openly serve, we aren't even allowed to sign up. 

Trans military service should have happened for us in 2010, but we unfortunately got thrown under the Humvee by GL peeps desperate for a policy win. 

But thanks to the new group SPARTA and the work of many dedicated people and allies over the last year to shed light on this unjust issue, the prohibition on trans people serving in the US military may finally be heading to the dustbin of history.

While there are some critics like Professor Dean Spade who believe the trans military service issue is not a fight we should engage in at this time, I disagree.  It's no accident that after World War II and the heroic myth-busting service of African-Americans in the 761st 'Black Panthers' Tank Battalion and the Tuskegee Airmen the first cracks in Jim Crow segregation began to appear with the 1947 desegregation of the military by President Truman.

Allowing trans people to serve in our nation's military will not only remove the stigma of second class citizenship that taints transpeople, it will make a dent in our unemployment numbers as well. 

And some of our leaders in the modern trans rights movement were military veterans. It's why I support SPARTA and our allies in this efforts to end the unjust ban on trans military service.         

As Brynn Tannehill of SPARTA pointed out in a HuffPo article, military service is also seen as an honorable profession, the door to respectability for marginalized people in this country and will have the complementary effect of accelerating our trans human rights march.  

And if trans people can openly serve in Canada, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Spain, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand and Israel, why not here?

Patriotic trans people shouldn't have to hide who they are to serve our country. It's past time we had to ability like the trans people in ten other nations to openly serve our country. 

And that needs to happen as soon as possible.

 

It Gets Better-Kat Blacque

Been a while since I've posted a trans themed It Gets Better video, but this one from video blogger Kat Blacque needed to be seen.

I Don't Want Trans Civil Rights Crumbs In Houston

I've been involved in the trans human rights activism fight for 15 years and long ago noted a certain disgusting pattern when it comes to codifying trans rights protections.

I've noted that the predominately white gay and lesbian peeps running these organizations and campaigns with some white trans sellout help either write a gay-only human rights bill while uttering the tranquilizing  'we'll come back for you' mantra, include but throw trans people under the civil rights bus to get gay-only protections or compile a trans human rights bill with no public accommodations language in it and expect the entire trans community to settle for it in order for their GL dominated organization to declare it a community 'win'.  


The parties involved then move on to bigger and better things and fat paychecks in other Gay, Inc orgs while the rest of us transfolks and especially transpeople of color are legislatively Left Behind to deal with the aftermath of an ineffective law that doesn't solve the problems the bill was supposed to address.  

I'm tired of 'bidness' as usual, and so is the POC trans community.  With the chatter increasing on my end of I-10 in the wake of San Antonio's lopsided 8-3 vote on September 6 passing their trans inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance and us in the middle of a city council and mayoral election trying to get Mayor Annise Parker her third and final term on November 5, just wanted to send the message now that I want full trans equality when we start making the effort to add gender identity and sexual orientation language here in H-town.

Anything less than full trans human rights IS NOT and WILL NOT be acceptable for me and the transpeople I represent in H-town.  I will not hesitate to call it out and go as far as help organize people to fight to kill that ordinance if it isn't the full trans equality we desperately need.  

An ordinance with gender identity language that doesn't cover public accommodations or protect our employment citywide is a worthless civil rights crumb, a waste of legislative time and not an option.   The Izza Lopez case and the 2010 arrest of Tyjanae Moore instigated by a transphobic security guard for using the damn bathroom at the downtown Houston Public Library location more than emphatically pointed out the need for the non-discrimination ordinance to protect trans Houstonians. 

Bump Dave Welch, his band of right wing haters and so called 'Christians' who have nothing but foaming at the mouth bigotry, ignorance, deception and the bathroom meme to deploy against the passage of that vitally needed human rights ordinance along with elements of the Houston LGBT community who have a problem with trans people.  Some of the 2.2 million people who live here are trans, so get over your internalized transphobia. 

We're here in H-town, always have been and aren't going away.  With a little luck and a lot of citywide votes in her race a trans woman may join Mayor Parker and Mike Laster on City Council in January.

We already tried the sexual orientation only non discrimination ordinance route in June 1984 and it was overwhelmingly repealed in that ugly January 1985 referendum.  We don't need to repeat that mistake, so let's make is as inclusive as possible so the whole Houston TBLG community can get behind it and pass it.  Once we do, we'll need that community unity to gear up for the referendum battle we know will swiftly come from the Forces of Intolerance.      

This is 2013, and it's past time for my hometown to prove it is the world class city it proclaims itself to be. World class cities protect the human rights of all their residents, and it's past time that we stop treating trans Houstonians like third class citizens.  It's past time for trans Houstonians who don't work for the city to have their human rights protected.  

It's also past time Houston joins Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and the other over 180 municipalities in the United States in doing so.

2013 TransGriot NFL Predictions-Week 3

Now that's more like it!

I rebounded from my sorry for me Week One 9-7 NFL prognostication performance to have a much better 12-4 week.   But so did Eli who continues his hot start to his rookie NFL prognostication campaign with a 13-3 week while Mike slipped a bit to 10-6. 

But it's still early in this 2013 NFL prognostication contest.  As I and Mike both know it's a marathon, not a sprint.  We're only in Week 3 of the young NFL season despite Eli opening up an early four game lead on both of us.

I had a seven game lead last year that Mike erased, and in 2011 I erased a four game deficit with two weeks to go to tie Mike for the title.   One bad week from Eli (and it's coming) or a hot streak from either me or Mike and we'll be right back in it.    


While I was in Oakland I got to see parts of the Raiders home opening win over the Jaguars before Trans* H4CK judging duties called. 

I missed my fave NFL ballers beating the Tennessee Traitors at Reliant Stadium 30-24 in overtime to go 2-0 on the season.  The Texans as a result of that win took over sole possession of first place in the AFC South and the Colts loss to Miami.

But the Texans begin a brutal three week stretch of their schedule by playing the Not So Angry Birds in Baltimore this weekend and following that up with games against the Seahawks at Reliant and the defending NFC champion 49ers in San Francisco.   

Enough jibber-jabber, let's get to the Week 3 NFL picks since that's what y'all surfed over here for.

Teams I'm picking to win are in underlined bold print on the weekly schedule while Eli and Mike's picks are here at these links.

Week 2 Results                                                    

TransGriot    12-4
Eli Blake       13-3
Mike Watts   10-6
 .
2013 Season Record

TransGriot      21-11
Eli                  25-7
Mike              21-11

NFL Week 3

Thursday Night Game
Kansas City at Philadelphia

Sunday Noon Games
Houston at Baltimore
NY Giants at Carolina
Detroit at Washington
San Diego at Tennessee
Arizona at New Orleans
Tampa Bay at New England
Green Bay at Cincinnati
St Louis at Dallas
Cleveland at Minnesota

Sunday Afternoon Games
Atlanta at Miami
Buffalo at NY Jets
Indianapolis at San Francisco
Jacksonville at Seattle


Sunday Night Game
Chicago at Pittsburgh

Monday Night Game
Oakland at Denver