NoMoreDownLow.TV Upcoming Show On Unsolved Black LGBT Murders

NoMoreDownLow.TV is in its third season of broadcasting shows about the African American SGL, trans and bi community from our perspective.

It is executive produced by Earnest Winborne and broadcast its first episode three years ago on October 11, 2010 (Happy Anniversary!). 

On the next episode of NoMoreDownLow.TV it will broadcast a special report entitled: Unsolved Black LGBT Murders, Attacks, and Hate Crimes with its hosts Janora McDuffie, Kendell Hogan, Mark Noble and Lawrencia Dandridge.

Show will be posted this Sunday, October 13th, so you may wish to check it out.

Happy Birthday Dawn!

Today happens to be the birthday of my former Louisville roomie Dawn Wilson.

She's probably celebrating it by going to the LFC to train for her annual trip up I-65 to administer saber fencing beatings at the Remenyik Open in Chicago

I used to enjoy that road trip to Chicago with her and especially the post-tournament celebration at Giordano's.

Hee hee. Lord Vader is also another year closer to leaving the Vet 40's 'Baby Vets' and having to.....

*Cough*, *Cough*, *Wheeze*

...fence in the Vet 50's with the 'Senior Mamas'.

Anyway, happy birthday Dawn!   May this one be filled with abundant blessings, lots of laughs, love, smiles and you standing on the victory podium at the Remenyik Open  . 

 

Fallon Fox Fights For A CFA Title Tonight!

It's been a long hard and at times bumpy road for her to get to this point, but later tonight at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, FL unbeaten Fallon Fox (3-0) will take on Ashlee Evans-Smith (1-0)  for the CFA featherweight title.

This championship match will be broadcast on AXS-TV and the winner will not only claim the championship of the CFA tourney but take home $20,000.

If AXS-TV posts the video of it to YouTube, I'll get it up on the blog as quickly as possible.

Y'all know I'm rooting for the 'Queen of Swords' in this one and I hope she emerges from this WMMA battle victorious.  

best of luck tonight, Fallon!

Moni's Coming Out Story

Been reading a lot of people's coming out stories today, so thought I would have you TransGriot readers jump into the DeLorean Time machine and take a trip back in time to my own coming out story.  

I not only came out as trans in April 1994, but the initial stages of it happened in the middle of Houston Intercontinental Airport's Terminals C and D.

It was like transitioning in the middle of a fishbowl.  At the time we had 30,000 people per day transiting that IAH hub airport, I worked the gates and I was the topic du jour on CNN (Continental News Network, Monispeak for the company gossip mill)

I handled it the only way I could by basically busting my butt at work getting my flights out on time, delivering outstanding customer service and treating people with the same dignity and respect I expected to be reciprocally treated with.. 

In between those flights, for the next three months I had Trans 101 conversations with my coworkers in my department, Maintenance, Inflight, Flight Ops, the Houston Airport Police officers I was in contact with, the support personnel who worked there and anyone else who wanted to know stuff about trans issues except the 'who am I sleeping with' question.

Some of the conversations I had with my co-workers led to some interesting revelations and insights. I had two emotional meetings during that early coming out period with Jessica Starnes, our trans pilot who was based in EWR at the time.  The other emotional one was with Gloria Villar, one of my fellow employees I worked on the gates with.  She later transferred to IAH Inflight and came out as part of the lesbian community.  I let her know at the time she came out I had her back, and now she let me know she had mine.

I  had the support of some caring coworkers and friends in the Houston community. I was challenged by Maxine Farrington, Deborah Murray-Hill, Karen Miles, several other female co-workers and my mentors to become the best person I could be. They role modeled in their own lives what they expected of me and I hope I more than exceeded their expectations. I also had many people that I looked to at IAH and elsewhere in my life for inspiration, wisdom and guidance as I embarked on this new chapter in my life.

There were also some bumps along the way and some humorous moments as I got adjusted to living life in a Black female body and all the other stuff good and bad that goes with it.

I made it through the initial nerve wracking day and eventually the week. Then I made it through the month. Then the next month.   Before I knew it an amazing year had passed and I haven't looked back.

So if I can come out as trans and transition in the middle of an international airline terminal, what's holding you back?

Many of you know the rest of the story.  I eventually became an activist in 1998, helped start a trans rights organization in 1999 called NTAC and was its first political director. 

In 2001 I became a Texan in Exile in Louisville for almost nine years, sat on the Fairness Campaign and C-FAIR boards while I was there, was the keynote speaker for the inaugural 2202 TDOR in Louisville and the 2003 edition of Louisville TDOR among other things.  I won the IFGE Trinity Award in 2006 and started some little award winning blog called TransGriot.  I was a member of the first ever all trans panels in 2012 at Netroots Nation and OUT on the Hill and was honored by BTMI in March with an advocacy award named after me. . 

I am one very happy for the most part camper who is comfortable in her skin and is enjoying her evolutionary feminine journey.  And yes, I'm still a huge sports fan. 

Now if I could just stop wandering the dating Sinai, everything would be gravy.

National Coming Out Day 2013-It's STILL Different For A Trans Person

'I don't want to underestimate how liberating it is for a trans person to come out to family, friends and allies.  It does wonders to lift the burden of carrying that tremendous secret off our psyches so we can begin to openly and honestly live our lives.' --TransGriot October 11, 2012 

Today is National Coming Out Day.  Congratulations if you did so on taking that first giant and scary step towards evolving to become the person you needed to be.  

And yes, if you don't feel strong enough today to do so, don't worry about it.   You don't have to do it amidst all the hoopla of this week and this day.  Only you know when you are ready and emotionally strong enough to handle it and the challenges that will come your way after you come out.
 
If you're trans*, it's even scarier and a much different dynamic from our LGB brothers and sisters because a gender transition is not easy.  After the initial coming out date, unlike our cis LGB brothers and sisters, we have to pay cash out of pocket, get trans specific medical care and counseling, and morph our bodies to be our kind of person we wish to project to the world.  

We get to be hated on and resisted by a depressingly long list of societal haters.   

And what I said about coming out as trans last year still applies.

That's your mission once you realize you are trans and decide to accept the fundamental truth that it's absolutely essential for your quality of life, health, sanity and future happiness to transition. 

For the vast majority of us it's a decision that once made and executed, we wonder why we didn't do so sooner as our bodies and minds align and everything else falls into place once we get the gender issue resolved. 

You become part of a brotherhood and sisterhood that expands across the globe.   You begin to realize that we transfolks are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.  You discover that we have a proud history.  We have had and do have some amazing leaders at the local, state, national and international levels.   We are accomplishing some groundbreaking things and doing our part to uplift the communities we interact and intersect with including our own.

We trans people can do and accomplish anything we wish to do if we're just given the opportunity to do so.


With trans kids coming out as early as five and six, trans teens breaking new ground every day, and in many cases being agents of their own trans liberation, we trans elders are motivated to keep busting our behinds to create a world in which your human rights are respected and protected.  

The world we want for you is one in which all you'll have to do in addition to ensuring those rights stay in place for the generation of trans kids behind you is to dream your big dreams and make them happen.

But it all starts with that first scary and exhilarating step out of the closet after you come to the epiphany that you are trans*.
  
Everything else we can handle together one day at a time.


TransGriot Note: photos are of Dr Kortney Ryan Ziegler accepting the inaugural Authentic Life award from the Transgender Law Center and Cheryl Courtney-Evans in front of the Stonewall Inn where the TBLG movement began in 1969.

Transphobic Conversation In The Nail Salon-What Would You Do?

'If you're worried about people calling you 'angry' for speaking your mind, you'll be angry at yourself later for not doing so' -TransGriot October 9, 2013

This is a situation worthy of the ABC-TV show hosted by John Quinones entitled What Would You Do?  except there wasn't a hidden camera around to catch for posterity the transphobic bigotry being uttered. 

The inspiration for this post came from a member of one of the Facebook trans person of color groups I'm a member of.  It speaks to the everyday macroaggressive and microaggressive crap that we transpeople have to deal with sometimes when we're out and about navigating the world.  Sometimes we get hit with it when we least expect it. 

This trans feminine Facebook friend relayed the story to the group about being in her friendly neighborhood nail shop yesterday to get her nails done.  She found herself sitting next to two cis women who were shadily discussing a trans woman that was allegedly a friend of one of the cis women.

The conversation started off with the cis woman repeatedly misgendering her trans feminine 'friend' and transphobically discussing her business.  She went on to tell the other cis woman about the trans woman's boyfriend paying for her SRS while making disparaging and ignorant cis privilege filled remarks that angered the trans woman getting her nails done, even though she wasn't acquainted with the trans women they were gossiping about.. 


Here's what she had to say about the nail shop incident in our FB group.

All along they had no clue that I was a trans woman in the next chair overhearing this conversation.  I can't begin to tell you how upsetting it is to hear the degree of ignorance that utters out of the mouths of some people, and it's one of the reasons why (no shade) I do not hang out with many genetic women.  

Because no matter how feminine or whatever SRS or other surgeries we do to complete the physical transformation to match the mind, many of these genetic women still don't get with the program and continue to have the audacity to describe a transwoman whether they are friends or not as a he.  I am just over it!!!!!
I asked her the question in the group if this conversation was so upsetting to you, why didn't you call the cis women out about not only their transphobic behavior, but the other cis woman for betraying the trust and friendship of the trans woman who has no idea that her cis woman 'friend' stabbed her in the back? 


So what would you have done if confronted with that microaggressive nail shop situation?

I can tell you what the TransGriot would have done.  I would have not only called out the cis woman for hatin' on, betraying and stabbing her trans friend in the back, I would have called her out on her transphobic bigotry.  And yes, if you're concerned about maintaining your stealth status, there are easy ways for you to call the person out without revealing you're trans.

I would have done so (and have in a similar situation in my past) because that Trans 101 conversation was now necessary in order to debunk the bull feces and ignorant transphobic bigotry coming out of these cis women's mouths that cannot be (and shouldn't have been) left unchecked. 

It was an opportunity to not only 'ejumacate' these fools about our lives but everyone in that nail shop within earshot of that jacked up conversation.

After I was done thoroughly debunking their anti-trans bullshyt, they would have thought twice before they ever flapped their gums to ever negatively bash a trans woman in public again.

And yeah, I would have done so because in the interests of preserving my own mental and physical health in the face of this unexpected and unprovoked microaggressive assault, I've got to call your transphobic azz out.  

Because to paraphrase what I said at the beginning of this post, I'd rather you call me 'angry' for speaking my mind instead of being angry at myself later for not speaking out.


TransGriot Update:  Got an answer to my question after I completed the post.   She was so pissed off about what she'd just witnessed all she wanted to do was just get her nails done and get out of the shop.   Understandable.  Sometimes you have to pick your battles.  I just felt as though this was one that was worth fighting.. 

Stacey Blahnik Lee 3rd Anniversary Candlelight Vigil Tonight

Today marks the third anniversary of the death of Stacey Blahnik Lee.  Her boyfriend Malik Moorer found her strangled to death when he returned to the apartment they shared..

The case is still open, the Philadelphia Police Department is still trying to solve it and the perpetrator of this heinous deed has unfortunately yet to be brought to justice.

For people who may know something about this case, please call the Philadelphia PD and tell them whatever information you are aware of so the person who did this can rot in jail and all the people who loved Stacey inside and outside the trans community can have some closure.  .


Later tonight a memorial candlelight vigil being organized by Moorer will be held at the William Way LGBT Community Center from 7-8:30 PM EDT.

He's asked for people to come early, and for those who wish to speak at tonight's vigil to get in contact with him.

Moorer also put together this YouTube video expressing his thoughts during this difficult time.




The William Way Center is located at 1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19107.   Hope you peeps who are in the Philadelphia metro area and have the ability to attend this event will do so and envelop Malik and Stacey's family and friends in the love they'll need to get through this day.  . 

Titica Named UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador

I've talked about award winning girl like us Titica, who is a rising music star in her native Angola.   She has performed for Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and garnered quite a following in the world of kuduro, the indigenous music that mixes techno and rap.

Her 2012 Kora nomination in the best female artist in southern Africa category is a testament to her fame spreading beyond the borders of her heavily Catholic nation and its reach into other parts of southern Africa.

It's why UNAIDS recently tapped her to become its official Goodwill Ambassador for Angola.  

Titica follows former Miss Universe Leila Lopes and Angolan national women's basketball team star Nacissela Mauricio in being the faces for the UNAIDS sponsored HIV-AIDS prevention campaigns urging people to get tested and wear condoms.  

Because Angola was embroiled in conflict form 1975 until 2002 with a few interludes, its borders were relatively closed to its Southern African neighbors.  One of the interesting side effects of that war induced isolation is one of lowest prevalence rates of HIV-AIDS infections on the African continent at 2.1-3.4% in contrast to its neighbors Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that have some of the highest rates.

But because Angola has increasingly opened its borders to those neighboring countries, that prevalence rate is starting to rise along with the new AIDS infection rates and deaths from the disease.  Angola is one of the few African nations in which HIV-AIDS infections and deaths have risen in the last ten years, which is why UNAIDS has been working with popular Angolan cultural figures to get their message out and change that.

UNAIDS is also concerned the Angolan government head in the sand denial they have SGL people in their country having sexual relations with each other and their numbers are rising is only exacerbating the problem. 

They are also trying to reach Angolan youth with their prevention message along with the trans and SGL community in Angola, and Titica is well positioned and eager to do her part to reach those groups.

She said when speaking about her new appointment as the UNAIDS goodwill ambassador, "I myself have suffered much humiliation. I have been beaten and picked on for who I am.  But I am ready to lead by example to fight against stigma and discrimination in my country and beyond." 

UNAIDS hopes that Titica is the person they need in Angola to break down barriers, erase stigma and help them slow down and reduce the numbers of HIV-AIDS cases there. 
  

Elisa Chan Resigns From San Antonio City Council

There's good news and bad news for our TBLG peeps on the western end of I-10.

The good news is that transphobic and homophobic councilmember Elisa Chan has resigned from the San Antonio City Council effective October 18.

“I have done my best to represent the conservative values of these fine people. The people of this district take an active role in deciding policy, giving their input, volunteering their time and listening to the views of their neighbors,” she wrote in her resignation letter to Mayor Julian Castro. .

She was one of the three NO votes against the San Antonio non discrimination ordinance that added gender identity and sexual orientation language on September 5 and incredibly voted against the veterans protections that passed on a 9-2 vote the same day. 

In addition to he anti-gay comments, Chan also attacked former San Antonio city councilmember Leticia Ozuna and disparaged her marriage to a trans woman.

So now that I've given you the good news, hope you're sitting down for the bad news trans and SGL Texans. 

The bad news is that Chan resigned in order to run for the Texas state senate   She announced she was challenging incumbent Teapublican freshman State Senator Donna Campbell for the District 25 seat   Texas law requires that she resign from her council seat in order to run for the state legislature with the filing period starting on November 9 and running through December.

Please tell me San Antonio BTLG family y'all have a strong Democratic candidate running for the District 25 senate seat in case Chan knocks off Campbell and gets through that GOP primary.

The last thing I want to see in the 2015 Texas Senate is Elisa Chan sitting in it. 
 

2013 TransGriot NFL Predictions-Week 6

The slump continues as I had a below .500 week prognosticating games to go with my pissivity over the pathetic Texan offensive performance in San Francisco.

Incredibly, Matt Schaub is probably going to start this weekend against the St Louis Rams.  If he throws another pick six at Reliant during that game they will hear the booing all the way on the other end of I-45 and Gary Kubiak may need to start considering updating his resume. 

I stunk up Week 5 with an unacceptable 6-8 record and gotta get out of this funk because we're almost at the halfway point of the season.  Fortunately I had company as Eli seems to have cooled of from his hot start but Mike is starting to get hot now and chopped Eli's lead down to three games over him. 

Anyway, before I get to this week's picks, October is the NFL's 'A Crucial Catch' breast cancer awareness campaign in which the NFL logo appears with the pink breast cancer ribbon, players wear gear with pink trim and the referees throw pink penalty flags at many of the games this month.

Week 6 has only two teams on their bye week, the 3-2 Dolphins and the 1-4 Falcons, so only 15 games to pick this week.  As per usual, my picks for this week's games are in underlined bold print.   Eli's and Mike's are here. 
.
Week 5 Results
TransGriot      6-8
Eli Blake        7-7
Mike Watts    9-5

2013 Season Record
TransGriot      42-35
Eli                  52-25
Mike              49-28

NFL Week 6Bye Week: Miami, Atlanta

Thursday Night Game
NY Giants at Chicago

Sunday Noon Games
Green Bay at Baltimore
Cincinnati at Buffalo
Detroit at Cleveland
St Louis at Houston
Oakland at Kansas City
Carolina at Minnesota
Pittsburgh at NY Jets
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay

Sunday Afternoon Games
Jacksonville at Denver
New Orleans at New England
Arizona at San Francisco
Tennessee at Seattle

Sunday Night Game
Washington at Dallas

Monday Night Game
Indianapolis at San Diego

 

Naw Lauryn, I Ain't Feelin' 'Neurotic Society'

I became a big fan of Lauryn Hill's music when she released in 1998 the multiplatinum smash CD The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.  It earned her ten Grammy nominations, of which she took home five of them.  Hill also garnered lots of critical acclaim and accolades off her monster debut solo album.

Since then she's been on the Sade CD release schedule.  While she's popped up at various events to perform since 1998 and is always rumored to be writing songs or planning to release new music, a new CD full of music hasn't happened yet.

She released a song May 4 (my birthday) entitled 'Neurotic Society' (Compulsory Mix) that put her back in the musical spotlight for the wrong reason.  I ain't feeling because it has some questionable lyrics that appear to be slamming the trans* and SGL community 

Commerce and girl men
Run the whole world men
Bold, drunken debauchery
Old world brutality
Cold world killed softly
Whole world run savagely
Greedy men and pride fiends
Program TV screens
Quick scam and drag queens
Real likely to blast fiends 

The TERF's probably have it on their iPod playlists now and will be singing it at their next hate confab if they can find a place to host it. 

The song and its lyrics have her longtime fans like me going WTF and has triggered mounting criticism from inside and outside the trans* and SGL community.   It also didn't help that Hill spent three months in Club Fed and didn't address the issue before she went in to serve that tax evasion sentence.

Now that she's out, she's claiming in a Tumblr post she wasn't attacking the TBLG community when she wrote this song. 

“Neurotic Society is a song about people not being, or not being able to be, who and what they truly are, due to the current social construct. I am not targeting any particular group of people, but rather targeting everyone in our society who hides behind neurotic behavior, rather than deal with it.

To which many of us are saying bull feces, especially when you rant about 'social transvestism', 'girl men', 'drag queens' and 'pride fiends', we know your azz has spent time in Jamaica around its sometimes LGBT phobic music scene and you have Rastafarian influences on your life and work. 

We also are quite aware of the fact there are elements of the Rastafarian religion that are virulently transphobic and homophobic  

Dr. Monica Miller wrote in a BET op-ed this about the song: 

Neurotic Society” proclaims again that Babylon is falling — thanks in part to tricksters like ”girl men,” ”drag queens,” and the lies of ”social transvestism.” Whether or not Hill is merely using these comments as examples of the smokescreens and sleight-of-hands that pervade this “Neurotic Society” is unclear. Beyond intention, these sorts of statements suggest that society is in a shambles because it’s been taking too many cues from the LGBTQ community, acting like “girl men,” “drag queens” and “transvestites.” Is her beef with oppressive society or is her issue with people who don’t abide by a traditional family structure?

For those who don’t feel me, would it be okay if her song criticized “neurotic society” for acting like “N-----s,” ”mammies” and ”jezebels?” No! Then why does she think it’s cool to critique society by using stereotypes about a community that suggest the community isn’t as valuable as another?

I believe the Neurotic Society lyrics are problematic despite Hill's protestations.  They concern me as a leader in a trans community that has unacceptable levels of of anti-trans hate violence aimed at it.  

I would like to believe that Lauryn Hill isn't a transphobe.  But until she clarifies where she stands concerning the trans community and the issues we confront just trying to live our lives, all we have to judge her by are these problematic words from a song that I and much of my trans family ain't feeling.  

'The New Black' Documentary Trailer

I've been aware that this Yoruba Richen documentary film was in the making, and was a little bummed when the initial opening film festival tour rotation for The New Black was Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco with DC getting a second chance to see it during the recently concluded 2013 edition of OUT on the Hill.

A trailer has finally been released for The New Black and when it hits your town I would recommend you see it.

It discusses how the African-American community is grappling with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in light of the marriage equality movement and the fight over civil rights.

It also asks the more pertinent question of why are African-Americans, and especially the Black church being made the faces of anti-gay hatred and who benefits from that? 

It was filmed during the 2012 marriage equality battle in Maryland and has a few familiar faces in it for me as I watched the trailer.  Maryland eventually became one of three states during the 2012  election cycle that approved marriage equality by a 52%-47% margin.   

2013 Houston Mayoral Debate-What I Learned From Watching It

Tuesday night the one and only televised mayoral debate between all the candidates was on KUHT-TV, our local PBS station and hosted by our local chapter of the League of Women Voters..

Over the two hours of this forum style debate moderated by Linda Lorelle (which sadly is the only one for this campaign) I heard Mayor Annise Parker, who is vying for her third and final term, her top challenger in former city attorney Ben Hall, and four other candidates, Keryl Burgess Douglass, Eric Dick, Don Cook and Michael Fitzsimmons attack either Mayor Parker, Ben Hall or each other.  

I was looking to hear their views over the issues that I and many Houstonians deem important so I and my fellow Houstonians can have more information to cast our votes when we go to the polls starting October 21 for the early voting period that ends November 1 and Election Day itself on November 5..

Everything from crime to METRO was discussed in that two hour event, and I was looking at it from the prospect of which one of the people on that stage would be the best person to lead my hometown over the next two years.   

Mayor Parker also walked into the KUHT-TV studios with a sizable 34.1%-13.1% lead over Ben Hal in a poll conducted last month with Eric Dick getting 2%.  

But the poll also showed that as of the time they conducted it 48% of Houstonians haven't made up their mind as to which candidate they would support when the polls open.

If you wanted to put money on this race, odds are that Mayor Parker will be handling her electoral business and be taking the oath of office at the Wortham Theater come January.     


One thing that is perfectly clear to me after watching that debate is that my early anxiety about Ben Hall is being justified.  And no, it isn't the fact I have been an unabashed supporter of Mayor Parker at times on this blog either that has led me to this conclusion.  

I'm bothered by the fact that up until the day Ben Hall filed to run for mayor, he lived in the wealthy west side enclave of Piney Point Village. 

I'm not hatin' on the fact Hall has a compelling rags to riches story or earned that big house out there, but to me a major prerequisite that all potential mayors of Houston must meet is they actually live in my hometown's city limits, be it inside or outside Loop 610.

And by live inside the city limits, I don't mean rent an apartment or buy a house inside the city limits just before you choose to run for mayor and start writing checks for your self funded campaign after you've spent over a decade living outside and not paying property taxes in my hometown.   And no Hall supporters, having your law office inside the city doesn't count.
  
Hall's claim to support public education while not paying the school district taxes he owed to the Spring Branch ISD until pressed on the issue by the local media is a hypocritical red flag.  When you're self funding your campaign but refuse to release your tax returns, what's up with that?  

I'm interested in hearing Hall's views on the expansion of METRORail to the airports, building the needed east-west University Line before 2025 and adding a commuter rail component to it when he's not busy running attack ads or sliming Mayor Parker. 

The final straw issue for me was Hall dancing around the subject of whether he supports adding gender identity and sexual orientation language in the city of Houston's non discrimination ordinance, which is a tipping point issue for me. 

Mayor Parker supports that issue.

As for Keryl Douglas, she previously ran for Harris County Democratic Party chair and may have potential.   As for the rest of the minor candidates.  Don Hall?  WTF were you smoking?   Eric Dick?   Not ready for political prime time. Michael Fitzsimmons?  Making public transportation free?   METRO already has the lowest base fare of any major city at $1.25.   

So what did I learn from watching the 2013 Houston Mayoral Debate?  That we already have the best person for the job and representing my hometown to the world in our current mayor Annise D. Parker 

Garland TBLG Residents Address City Council

Garland DART board member Michael Cheney taking that futile walk that denied a quorum for passage of domestic partner benefits during the September 24 DART board meeting may have been the spark that finally motivated the TBLG peeps in Garland to push for their own non-discrimination ordinance.

Garland BTLG community residents accompanied by Rafael McDonnell and Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance President Patti Fink showed up at a recent meeting of their city council accroding to the Dallas Voice and expressed themselves not only about Cheney's walkout at the DADT meeting but the lack of a non-discrimination ordinance in Garland.

Lerone Landis told the council at the October 2 meeting he is a daily DART rider who lives in the city with his husband and their 4 year old daughter. He stated he was disappointed to learn that it was Garland’s representative who prevented the healthcare equalization plan from passing and urged the Garland City Council to pass a nondiscrimination policy for its own employees and city residents to show they are serious and committed to diversity in the city. 

Carmarion Anderson said she was embarrassed to be a Garland resident after Cheney’s stunt at the DART meeting.  “We live here and pay our taxes here,” she said and expressed her expectations to the council that she and DART's LGBT employees receive equal treatment. 

Fink called Cheney’s action at the DART meeting “shameful.” and encouraged the council to pass an ordinance that would cover city employees.

“Be on the cutting edge and bring new business to the city,” Fink said.

Garland Mayor Douglas Athas and two councilmen spoke to the group in the council chambers when the council meeting concluded  and said the city would consider the idea of a nondiscrimination ordinance.

“We have a lot of lesbian and gay employees,” Mayor Athos said. “We would never allow that sort of discrimination.”  He said he had never heard a request from any of the city’s lesbian and gay community for a nondiscrimination ordinance. But he called the ordinance “nothing to rush into because no one’s come forward” with a complaint.

Mayor Athas, just because nobody's filed a complaint concerning anti-LGBT discrimination doesn't mean you can make the conclusion jump the discrimination isn't happening in a city the size of Garland.  And as far as your comment that no one from the Garland TBLG community has requested a nondiscrimination ordinance, I guess you weren't paying attention during that meeting when Carmarion Anderson and Lerone Landis were taking three minutes each of their valuable time to address the council.


Patti Fink told the mayor that most Fortune 500 companies have a nondiscrimination policy and look to relocate in cities that have similar policies. She said that the city may not have received any complaints, but many people looking for work may have skipped applying in suburban Garland because they have no protections.

Could Garland be the next community in the DFW Metroplex to protect its TBLG residents from discrimination?   Stay tuned to this TransGriot channel to find out.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Calls Out The GOP Over The Government Shutdown

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took to the Senate floor and told it like it T-I-S is about who voted for the government shutdown and who is behind it. 

And in the process gave som,e peeps a civics lesson about the varios agencies we depent on that are part of the federal government that have impacts on our daily lives large and small.

She also slammed the Republifool-Tea Klux Klan  'Anarchy Caucus' for pushing this unnecessary and embarrassing government shutdown.

And you knew I was going to post the video from her speech..

DART Board Votes To Extends Domestic Partner Benefits!

It's been in the works for over a year and was delayed another few weeks by a walkout during the September 25 DART board meeting by members Michael Cheney (representing Garland) and Randall Chrisman (representing Carrollton, Irving) just as the issue was about to come up for a final vote.

The Cheney and Chrisman walkout denied the 15 member board a quorum and forced a delay of the final vote  until the October DART board meeting.    

But at last night's DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) board meeting my TBLG peeps and allies in North Texas got to celebrate their delayed major victory when the DART board voted 10-3 to extend health care benefits to the domestic partners of unmarried DART employees. 

Translation: that also extends them to SGL couples. 

We unfortunately have had since 2005 one of those odious marriage bans contaminating the Texas Constitution, so the words "same-sex partners" are not used in this DART policy because Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) says the state does not recognize same-sex partnerships.  

DART's new policy was crafted with a major assist from Rafael McDonnell, the Communications and Advocacy Manager of Resource Center Dallas.and strikes a balance between Abbott's unjust rulings and the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.    

The new DART policy takes effect in January and is a “one-plus” plan that will allow a DART employee to cover one unrelated adult in his or her household.

The unrelated adult cannot be eligible for health benefits through the government or another employer, and the person added must prove that he or she has lived with the DART employee for at least one year.

"This is an issue of fairness and competition," McDonnell said in an interview. "It sends a signal to future DART employees that this is a place that values you regardless of who you are and who you love."

Omar Narvaez echoed the feelings of many people supporting the measure and said the passage was a long time coming.

"This has probably been the most overly examined, low cost issue in DART history," Narvaez said  North Texas area TransGriot readers, here's the list of DART board members and how they voted on this domestic partners benefits issue so you know who to properly thank and show some love to. 

For
Richard Carrizales (Dallas)
Jerry Christian (Dallas)
Amanda Moreno Cross (Dallas)
John Danish (Irving)
Pamela Dunlop Gates (Dallas)
Gary Slagel (Addison, Highland Park, Richardson, University Park)
Robert Strauss (Dallas)
William Tsao (Dallas)
William Velasco II (Dallas, Cockrell Hill)
Faye Moses Wilkins (Farmers Branch, Plano)

Against
Michael Cheney (Garland)
Randall Chrisman (Carrollton, Irving)
Mark Enoch (Garland, Glenn Heights, Rowlett)

Absent
Jim Adams (Dallas)
Paul Wageman (Plano)

Congratulations North Texas BTLG family.  This was another win worth celebrating that once again points out to the peeps on I-5 and I-95 that just because you live in a Red state, it doesn't mean that you can't get GLBT human rights stuff passed.

Can't wait to see what y'all pull off on your end of I-45 next. 

Malala's Triumphant Year

One year ago today a gun toting Taliban thug boarded a school bus and shot Malala Yousafzai in the head for daring to speak up and criticize their efforts to turn Pakistan's Swat Valley back to the Middle Ages. 

Girls' education was banned, women were beaten for leaving their homes without a male relative escorting them, and her hometown of Mingora featured floggings and executions in its central square

She was airlifted to Britain as the world prayed for her survival, and spent three months in a Birmingham hospital recovering from her grave injuries.

She not only survived, but the voice the Taliban thought they silenced forever on that October day has grown louder and has an even bigger international platform. 

Yousafzai celebrated her 16th birthday by speaking to a July 12 United Nations youth conference .   In that memorable speech in front of the nearly 1200 participants and assembled dignitaries, she declared  "Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world."

When Birmingham opened their massive new public librarly last month, she again proclaimed that education is "the only weapon that can defeat terrorism.”

And she says that the West needs to engage the Taliban in peace talks if the social and political conflict in South Asia is ever to be resolved.  "The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue," she said.

In the run up to this bittersweet anniversary the wise beyond her years teen has been interviewed by the BBC.  She was named Time Magazine's Most Influential Person for 2013, is already the youngest person ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and is considered the frontrunner to receive it when the winner is announced October 11 in Oslo, Norway.  If that happens Friday, she would become the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala's message is being heard globally as she works to complete her own education while traveling the world speaking about the equal rights for girls and education for all.issues that are near and dear to her heart.

The nonprofit Malala Fund advocates for girls' education and raises money for schools and tuition in her native Pakistan.
 
A lot has changed for her since that horrific day, but she still has dreams of going back home, getting into politics and changing Pakistan for the better.  "I will be a politician in my future," she said, vowing to make education compulsory.

"I hope that a day will come when the people of Pakistan will be free, they will have their rights, there will be peace, and every girl and every boy will be going to school."

People around the world hope that you get the opportunity to make that dream for your homeland a reality.  

Trials Of LGBT Out Vs.Not Out Panel Discussion Event At UH Tonight

It's National Coming Out Week, and I've been invited to take part in a panel discussion on the University of Houston campus later this evening. 

It's part of the on campus series of events conducted to enlighten the UH community on LGBT issues in the runup to National Coming Out Day on Friday.

The event I've been invited to take part in is hosted by Gamma Rho Lambda Sorority's Kappa Chapter and is a panel discussion entitled 'Trials of LGBT: Out Vs. Not Out'.    I'm excited to not only be back on the campus of my alma mater, but be part of a panel of people who have either had the experience of either coming out or are unable to do so due to extenuating circumstances.

It'll be at the Agnes Arnold Building on the UH main campus tonight, October 8 in Room 30 and starts at 6:30 PM   

Hope you folks in the Houston area and on or near the UH campus can make it for what should be an interesting discussion.

Wendy's First Campaign Web Ad

I'm definitely down with wanting to see Sen. Wendy Davis (D) become the Lone Star State's third female governor.

She's already started touring the state with campaign stops in Waxahachie and San Antonio, where she picked up the endorsement of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.

She also came out in favor of the recently passed San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance. 

“I hope that it becomes something that is commonplace,” Davis said. “I look forward to a Texas where we see that in every city in the state.” Later, speaking to reporters, Davis said it’s “important that people be treated equally in the workplace, plain and simple.”

She is not a 'one issue candidate' as the GOP idiots have tried to slime her as being.  In the 2011 legislative  session she filibustered to stop $5 billion in public education cuts the GOP wanted to happen.  It forced a special session in which they restored much of the money the GOP wanted to cut.

This is Sen. Davis' first web ad

Laverne Cox on FXX's 'Totally Biased'

Y'all know I have much love for Laverne Cox on these TransGriot electronic pages. 

Because it happened while Computer Prime was in the shop, I'm only just getting around because of the other breaking community news to finally posting the video from her September appearance on FXX's Totally Biased show with W. Kamau Bell in which she discussed her breakout role on Orange Is The New Black and other subjects.

Enjoy the video