BTAC 2014 Call For Workshop Proposals

"If you want to learn or impact our Black Trans Community, you need to be at events where we gather and talk about our issues" (Monica Roberts).

The Black Trans Advocacy Conference 2014 (BTAC) is one of those rapidly growing and becoming eagerly anticipated events that is extending an invitation for trans and gender non-conforming individuals and our family, friends and community allies to gather, educate, learn, build and grow together in unity.
The BTAC conference theme this year is 'One Earth. One People. One Love.' and will take place from April 29-May 4 in Dallas at the Doubletree Campbell Center. 

The call is now going out for workshop proposals for this 3rd Annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference.
The conference mission is to provide thought-provoking and stimulating forum opportunities for educators of all disciplines and experience levels.  BTAC also seeks to share practical ideas and best practices that advance the Black Trans Advocacy Mission of equality, advocacy, empowerment and love that are particularly focused on ending discrimination in education, employment, housing, health care, religion and legal justice faced by trans people in African American communities.

If you'd like to be in Dallas for BTAC 2014 and think you have a workshop proposal that will fit this conference and the audiences it is targeting, submit it as soon as possible.  

Hope to see you in the Lone Star State in April.  

Georgina Beyer Being Honored At Upcoming NZ Fundraiser

Georgina Beyer will go down in history as the world's first trans mayor and first trans MP, but has been battling chronic kidney failure that requires her to do dialysis four times a day as she awaits a kidney transplant.  

With her 56th birthday approaching on November 14, people from across the New Zealand political spectrum and the TBLG community will gather at The James Cabaret in Wellington from 6:30-11:30 PM local time to celebrate the life of Ms. Beyer, her birthday and raise funds to help support her while continues her quest to recover from her health challenge.

Event organizer Jo Paku said in a GayNZ.com report the event is also about formally recognizing the work Beyer has done in shaping New Zealand’s political and social landscape, and the positive impacts that she has had on the global stage.


“She has been an inspiration to many lives through her work with community organizations, local and central Government and her commitment to art, culture and heritage,” Paku says.


“It is her unique story that we are paying homage to, as well as commemorating her 56th birthday.

Yes, she has not only been an inspiration to people ion New Zealand, she's been an inspiration to transpeople around the world.  Beyer's historic November 1999 win has spurred transpeople in several nations to run for public office with mixed levels of success.

Get well soon Ms Beyer and hope that fundraiser is megasuccessful.

Rasheen Everett Convicted In Amanda Gonzalez Andujar Murder

We've been on a roll lately in terms of justice being served for our fallen transsisters around the country.

You can add 32 year old Rasheen Everett's name to the list of wastes of DNA who killed trans women and are going to do serious time (we hope) for it.

Everett was arrested in Las Vegas back on April 9, 2010 for the March 27 killing of 29 year old Amanda Gonzalez Andujar in her Queens apartment and had been held without bail since his arrest. 

He was caught on video entering Gonzalez Andujar's apartment building at 8:50 AM ET and after strangling her to death, poured bleach over her body and left 18 hours later carrying two bags that contained her keys, suitcase, laptop, cellphone, camera and coat. 

He then departed New York on a three day bus ride to Las Vegas where he was later arrested by NYPD homicide detectives.

Everett was charged with second degree murder, second degree burglary and tampering with physical evidence.   The trial lasted four weeks in Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L Buchter's court with the jury finding him guilty of all three charges on November 8.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a press release, "The defendant stands convicted of violently taking the life of another human being in her own home and then tampering with the body in an attempt to escape justice. Such a vicious act of violence demonstrates that this defendant is a threat to society and deserving of a lengthy prison sentence." 

So how much time is Everett facing for this heinous crime?  He's looking at 40 years to life in prison and will be sentenced by Judge Buchter on December 5, 2013.

So New York trans community, if you can make it on that day, you may wish to do so to support the family of our fallen Latina trans sister and witness justice being served. 

Wendy's OFFICIALLY Running For Texas Governor!

Saturday was the first official day that candidates could file their paperwork in Austin to get on the March party primary ballots in the Lone Star State. 

Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis filed her paperwork in the first step to becoming Texas' 48th governor and attempt to become the third woman and first Democrat to do so since Ann Richards in 1990.

After filing, she came out swinging against the person widely expected to get the Teapublican nomination for governor in Greg Abbott.

Without mentioning him by name, she said, “It’s time for a governor who believes that you don’t have to buy a place in Texas’ future – inside deals, special interest tax breaks, favors for political cronies. That’s not how we ought to be doing business in Texas. Instead, it’s time to give all Texans a voice in their futureand a place in Texas’ future.”

At a recent UT-Brownsville event she redefined the GOP pet talking point that they are 'pro-life' and said she was as well

"I am pro-life," Sen. Davis said. "I care about the life of every child: every child that goes to bed hungry, every child that goes to bed without a proper education, every child that goes to bed without being able to be a part of the Texas dream, every woman and man who worry about their children's future and their ability to provide for that future." 


That redefinition sent the Teapublicans into a foaming at the mouth conservafrenzy, but she has a point.  The GOP is not pro-life, they are pro-birth.   They don't give a rat's anus about any life that doesn't look like them or isn't in their tax bracket.

And to make the GOP even more nervous that their stranglehold on the Governor's Mansion may be coming to an end, Davis is not only proving to be a formidable fundraiser, she's now trailing Abbott by 6 points in a recent poll.   That means they are already cranking up the smear machine full volume, and this governor's race will be the nastiest one since the Ann Richards-GW Bush one in 1994. 

But we still have a long way to go until November 2014.

Laverne Cox On MSNBC's 'Disrupt'

Little sis Laverne Cox was back on MSNBC Saturday, but this time it was on Karen Finney's MSNBC's show 'Disrupt' to talk about the passage of ENDA trans issues and Transgender Awareness Week.

If you didn't catch it live on Saturday, you know I have the video for you.

Happy Veterans Day 2013 Trans Vets

Today is Veterans Day in the US, and once again I get to express my love, gratitude and appreciation to the over 140,000 trans vets according to a Williams Institute survey who served our nation, are still serving in silence, or who paid the ultimate price in our nations' armed forces. 

As I constantly remind people and will not allow the LGB community to forget until that is rectified,  the 2011 repeal of DADT did nothing for trans people.

Unlike transpeople in nine nations, transpeople in the United States who wish to do so are banned from sering in our armed forces.  

As many of you know I support open military service for trans people, and support the efforts of the new organization SPART*A  that formed July 22 to make that a reality. 

Trans veterans not only served our nation, they have and continue to provide principled and solid leadership for not only their fellow veterans, but our trans community and all the communities they intersect and interact with.  And yes, many of the trans community's leaders and icons such as the late Christine Jorgensen have the common thread of having served in our nation's armed forces.

Trans veterans have not only helped to fight for expanded human rights laws for all Americans, but policies that help make the lives of people in the trans community and veterans like themselves better. 

Happy Veterans Day trans vets!   Thank you for your service to our nation and to our community.

Houston LGBT Hater Dave Wilson Masquerades As Black Person To Get Elected

I know the Republicans are shady enough to pull some crap like this because back in the 80's here in Texas and elsewhere in the South they used to run in Democratic primaries and if they survived them, wait until they got elected in the general election, then switch parties. 

But they may have hit a new low in this recent election cycle. 

With the opportunity they were presented by the Texas Voter ID Voter Suppression law, they went after 24 year Houston Community College board member Bruce Austin.

Dave Wilson is a longtime Republican, Tea Klux Klan member who ran in the 2011 mayor's an an anti-gay platform.   He knew he had no shot in Hades of getting elected in a predominately African-American district with that record if he showed his face.  But because Houston civic elections are non-partisan and party labels aren't placed on the ballot behind the person's name, that aided and abetted this chicanery of misrepresenting himself as a Black person.  

Wilson's flier he passed out in the community were decorated with photographs of smiling African-American faces -- which he readily admits he just lifted off websites -- and captioned with the words "Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson."

The fliers also implied he had support from longtime Democratic State Rep Ron Wilson, who long ago lost credibility in the African-American community and his seat in 2004 to current state Rep Alma Allen for being too cozy with GOP legislators and supporting the 2003 Delaymandering.

And Wilson's reprehensible strategy allowed him to win a six year term on the HCC board by only 26 votes

The HCC board has come under justified and intense criticism for some questionable insider business deals and spending choices.  They are legitimate questions to ask and run on during a campaign.
  

But if you're pissed off about what's been happening on the HCC board and want to run to get on that body to change it, don't deceive people.

The fact that Dave Wilson cynically did so is not something to be cheered, it's something that goes against the very spirit of democracy that Republicans and Tea Klux Klan types claim they love so much.   It also speaks volumes about Wilson's own lack of character and how confident he is that his conservative political philosophies can win in the marketplace of ideas with my people.  

And it gives African-American voters in my hometown, my home state and beyond its borders another reason to despise Republicans and conservatism.

What We Has Here Is A Fauxgressive Failure to Communicate 4

Been a while since I posted one of these, but had another FB run in with someone in a trans group no less named Jocelynne Valeta who failed to understand that 'anti-racism' doesn't mean you don't talk about racism and doing so is 'being a victim.'

This is the comment that started the thread that I wrote the post about transpeople of color not having the luxury of separating race and ethnicity from our trans status that far too many white people don't (or refuse to) understand.     

im offended when ppl add race, ethnicity, or gender restrictions to anything, Trans in itself is enough of a minority i personally don't feel we need to break up anymore... hey maybe its just me; im not trying to be rude.

My immediate response to her was- Transpeople of color do not have the luxury of separating our race from our trans status. They are inextricably part of us.

She made some comments that she subsequently deleted before I had a chance to copy the thread for posterity before she jumped back in it later.    Here's the thread  

• Black Transmen Resources No Restrictions:) Hope you can benefit from the core of our intent:
• 

  Black Transmen Resources Our conference theme this year is "One Earth. One People. One Love." inviting trans and gender non-conforming individuals and our family, friends and community allies to gather, educate, learn, build and grow together in unity.

  
  
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  Monica Roberts Transpeople of color do not have the luxury of separating our race from our trans status. They are inextricably part of us.
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  Monica Roberts Jocelynn...you may not like the fact that we have Black, Latina and Asian trans groups, organizations and conventions, but they didn't come out of a vacuum.
  
  As Kwame Ture said, 'in order to become a part of the greater society, you must first close ranks.
  
  People of color face anti POC hatred whether we are trans or not and being trans only magnifies that. And some of the worst manifestations of that anti-POC hatred are in our own TBLG ranks.
  
  What we do have, if the trans community will seize that opportunity, is to lead by example in eradicating racism in its subset of society

  
  
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  Monica Roberts Sadly, yes, it is is and has been for over 4 centuries...

  
  
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  Monica Roberts You're not even paying attention to what I'm trying to point out. Your lived experience doesn't trump the lived experience of someone who has taken the brunt of the white supremacist attitudes since birth,, much less her people's 400 year history of living in the Americas..

  
  
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  Monica Roberts FYI some of the worst race riots during the civil rights movements happened in NORTHERN cities
  
  After this comment, here's where she jumps back into the thread after hastily running from the conversation in the first place and decides to start flinging insults that I ignored 
• 

  Jocelynn Veleta the bottom line is this is a support group your so caught up in playing the role of the victim you cant see here and now... you cant see that racism and hate no longer is a problem for just a minority; we all face this problem as a whole society and all are victims. we can all stop being victims and stand up TOGETHER or we can stay divided and poke at other minorities.
  
  Now the group admin jumps in: 

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett ADMIN: Being trans AND a person of colour brings it's own special brands of problems, and only the oppressed can define oppression - would you like a Cis person deciding what's transphobic? If I see one more HINT of racism here I shall be very angry!

  
  
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  Monica Roberts You're the one that posted this Jocelynn
  
  im offended when ppl add race, ethnicity, or gender restrictions to anything, Trans in itself is enough of a minority i personally don't feel we need to break up anymore... hey maybe its just me; im not trying...See More

  
  
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  Jocelynn Veleta thank you for saving that i am offended when u break up a support group to argue race

  
  
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  Jocelynn Veleta this time im really done replying ill leave it for moderators and if ya want to boot me for being all anti-racist go ahead

  45 minutes ago · Like
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  Monica Roberts And I'm offended Jocelynn when you make such a knee jerk reactive clueless statement on the comment of a Black trans group promoting their upcoming Dallas trans conference open to all, you failing to see how problematic that was, and then running when you get called on it.

  
  
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  Aleka McAdams Intersectionality, yo. We aren't trans in a vacuum. It's not about dividing the community. It's about recognizing that different people within the community have different challenges. Just look at the statistics of violence against trans women of color versus white trans women.

  
  
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  Monica Roberts Race and class and how it affects trans people of color is an issue worthy of discussion in a trans group too. Who told you that lie it wasn't?

  
  
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  Jocelynn Veleta never said it wasnt, what you were trying to do was break apart the trans community by race while i said if we all stuck together we would work more things out

  
  
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  Jocelynn Veleta also you dont need to be attacking me you also took a comment on a black trans group and used it to further YOUR argument with me about race

  
  
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  Monica Roberts anti-racist? Jocelynn, you aren't even close to being that if you can't openly acknowledge the point that racist attitudes permeates American society, still affects POC's in the second decade of the 21st century, can't see past your own unacknowledged white privilege and how it has shaped your thinking (as the playing the victim conservacomment demonstrates) and that racism= prejudice plus systemic power.

  
  
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  Jocelynn Veleta i never once argued about race, i argued that adding a race label to a Trans group does not make it a safe atmosphere for all trans, it does the opposite of uniting us

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett bloody hell, look luvs it is really really simple - only people who experience something are able to explain it to those who do not experience it - these groups serve that function because from them the rest of the community learns! That is not racist, nor is it trying to break the community.

  
  
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  Monica Roberts and as I said simply earlier in the thread and will expand on.
  
  Transpeople of color do not have the luxury of separating our race and ethnicity from our trans status. They are inextricably part of us and affect how we experience a gender transition.

  
  
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  Jocelynn Veleta you can quote half my text but not the other then leave out the other and use your context to say i didn't acknowledge what i actually did so your insulting yourself by sounding stupid not me. i never minimized oppression i did the opposite and pointed out that everyone has struggles instead of them seperating us they should unite us

  
  
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  Monica Roberts Girlfriend, better hit Google before you step to me. I lecture colleges on these issues.

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett THIS STOPS NOW

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett 5. This is a no-hate zone. Personal attacks will not tolerated.

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett 3. Content intended to evoke hate against others will be removed and the person that posted it will be banned.

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett These rules are in the Pinned Post at the head of the page

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett I do not _want_ to ban anyone, I'd much rather everyone took a deep breath and let it go; and try to see it from the other side - you might even grow

  
  
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  Black Transmen Resources No worries friends. The topic of racism and appreciating difference is a long term task. It is a plus for us to have dialogue around these issues so that we may overcome them and to fully love all of who we are. This is also great headway in topics being discussed at our conference. "One Earth. One People. One Love." I see no need to ban. If we do that then we miss the opportunity of growth.

  
  
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  Barbara Barrett I'd like to be kept apprised of these efforts because I believe they're important to the whole community so I've sent you a friend request Black Transmen Resources which I hope you'll accept
  
  ***

And that's when I jumped out of it because had I said anything else I probably would have set off another round and probably been banned from the group 

But it's just another day of a Black person saying something white person doesn't like or that doesn't fit their vanillacentric privileged worldview and getting insulted for it.

Sigh.