2013 UH Cougar Watch-Going Bowling

So I hope UH got the sloppy play out of their system because they better be ready to play against the Knights. This upcoming game and the one next week at Louisville will probably determine whether the Cougars stay on track for that BCS bowl berth and the inaugural AAC title. 
--TransGriot November 1, 2013

Damn, did I call it or not UH Cougar fans?  

My fave college football team was riding high at one point of this 2013 NCAA college football season   The freshman and sophomore dominated Cougar squad was 7-1, unbeaten in AAC conference play at 4-0 and hitting the most critical two weeks of their season with road games against UCF and Louisville.

If they win them both, they would be in the driver's seat for the inaugural AAC title and have the inside track for UH's first ever BCS bowl game.  

We're going bowling, but it won't be a BCS one.

In their November 9 nationally televised AAC showdown with Number 21 ranked UCF, UH came 30 seconds, two dropped end zone passes and seven agonizing yards short of walking out of Orlando with a win after coming back from a 19-7 deficit with 4:04 left in the game.

But the 19-14 defeat gave them their second loss of the season, their first in AAC play and dropped them into a second place tie with Louisville.

The Cougars took their 7-2 (4-1 AAC) record on November 16 to 'The Pizzeria' for their first trip to Louisville since 2003 and both were members of C-USA.   Sadly once again 13th ranked Louisville is bouncing for another conference (the ACC this time) just as we join them in the Conference Formerly Known As The Big East.

With a BCS bid still in reach for either team if they won, this first UH-Louisville tilt since 2004 was a far more competitive game than the one I had to hear about for several weeks as a Texan in Exile up there after they lost big in 2003 and 2004.  

But I did talk much trash after the 2002 upset win over the Cards in Houston.

At halftime it was looking good for my UH boys.  Despite losing all world wideout Deontay Greenberry to a head injury in the first quarter, the Cougars were up 13-10 at halftime and had Teddy Bridgewater under control.   The Cards made their halftime adjustments and shifted to a runcentric attack behind junior Dominique Brown.  He rushed for a career high 137 yards on 27 carries as the Cards ate up 12:24 of the third quarter, got the go ahead TD and added a John Wallace field goal late in the third quarter to eventually send the Cougars to another frustrating 20-13 loss in the last game we'll play against the Cards until 2015.  

With the Cougars at 7-3 for the season (4-2 in AAC play) and their slim hopes for a BCS bowl gone, they focused their attention on trying to end their losing skid against Cincinnati on November 23 in a soggy and cold BBVA Compass Stadium.

The temp was 40 degrees at kickoff with intermittent rain and the UH offense was as sloppy as the playing surface. 

The offense once again sputtered, scoring only one touchdown and O'Korn coughing the ball up deep in Bearcat territory on UH's opening drive.  The Cougars fell behind 24-7 before starting their second half comeback.  It was jumpstarted by safety Trevon Stewart's 15 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown to narrow the UH deficit to 21-14.

The Bearcats also gave John O'Korn and the Cougars one last chance to snatch victory from the jaws of  defeat after they missed a short field goal with 1:24 left and no timeouts. But the Coogs ran out of time at the Cincinnati 32 yard line to lose 24-17 and drop their third straight game in AAC play by a TD or less and go 7-4 (4-3 AAC) on the season.

On November 29, the day after Thanksgiving the Cougars and the 'Third Ward D' feasted on our AAC instate rivals SMU and rolled them 34-0 at Reliant Stadium. 

While the offense was breaking out of its malaise with a 67 yard bomb to Daniel Spencer from O'Korn on the opening play of the game, the defense was making life miserable for SMU redshirt freshman QB Neal Burcham. 

They sacked Burcham five times, forced four turnovers and allowed only one Mustang trip inside the 20 yard line to post the first UH shutout since they were members of the SWC.

On December 2, 1989 the Cougars beat Rice 64-0 in their last game of the season to cap a 9-2 SWC campaign in which they finished second in the league, were ranked #14 during a probation marred season and saw Andre Ware run-and-shoot his way to the Heisman Trophy.   

Speaking of quarterbacks, John O'Korn did finish the regular season setting a UH freshman QB record with 26 touchdowns

The Cougars finished their first season in the AAC with an 8-4 record and 5-3 in conference play to finish fourth.  Not bad considering they were picked to finish sixth and did this with a freshman and sophomore dominated line up. 

While it's not the BCS bowl they had designs on when they started the year, on January 4 the Coogs will travel to Birmingham, AL to play in the BBVA Compass Bowl against their SEC opponent, the 8-4 Vanderbilt Commodores at Legion Field in what should be a fun game. 
   
While this inaugural AAC season turned out to be much better for the Coogs and their fans than we anticipated, the future looks so bright for the UH Cougars they need shades. 

In addition to those freshman and sophomores getting valuable playing time in their maiden AAC campaign, they will be playing in the new on campus football stadium scheduled to open on August 30, 2014.

And hopfully you'll be able to ride the METRORail Purple line to the stadium when the new Cougar football home opens with a game against the UTSA Roadrunners.  

Now all we need is a few four and five star recruits to sign and come play in it. 

Houston Public Library Hosts “SpeakOUT!”, A Free Spoken Word Poetry Event Tomorrow

Houston Public Library (HPL) invites the community to its 'SpeakOUT' event, focusing on the unique experiences within the LGBT community that can be expressed through spoken word poetry.

A reception will be followed by presentations from local performers and activists Tye West, Scott Chalupa, and Ranma Kumayama. The program will include audience participation. 

The event will take place tomorrow, December 14, 2013 from 12 noon -5 PM at Clayton Library, part of the Houston Public Library system.

It will be held in the Guest House, located at 5300 Caroline, Houston, Texas, 77004. This event is free and open to the public. Further information can be obtained by visiting www.houstonlibrary.org or calling 832-393-1313.

This spoken word poetry event is part of an ongoing LGBT event series hosted by the Houston Public Library.

About the Performers

Ranma Kumayama

Ranma Kumayama, also known as Koomah, is an intersex-bodied multidisciplinary grassroots artist whose art covers an eclectic range from visual art, performance art, drag, burlesque & cabaret, genderbending sideshow acts, and film. Koomah’s work challenges audiences to ask questions, see from new perspectives, be vulnerable, and ponder social norms. Koomah has performed, showcased artwork, screened films, participated speaking on educational panels, and presented workshops on topics of intersex, transgender, gender, and sexuality nationwide.

Tye West

Tye West is a man of Trans experience. He is co-director for the non-profit Transcending Men Inc. and is a representative of Black Transman Inc., where he mentors and helps other transgender men in the community. He is Co-founder/Director of People Empowering People, as well as being a volunteer for HRC’s diversity and outreach committee and for MCC Resurrection. Tye has performed at MCCR’s Kwanza program and Gospel Ensemble, and the Transgender Unity Banquet. He will soon be appearing in the Vagina Monologues and the TRUTH Houston Project, an organization that seeks to give voice to the African American LGBT community. He’s participated in 3 panel discussions for Transgender 101, or the "T" in LGBTQ, and a presentation at MHMRA for Trans youth and family dynamics.

Scott Chalupa

Scott Chalupa is a queer poet working on his BA in creative writing at the University of Houston. His poetry has appeared in “Nexus,” “The Alitheia,” and “The Front Row” on 88.7 KUHF-FM. Scott is a featured writer in the 2013 Houston Public Poetry Series. He is a winner of the Howard Moss Prize for Poetry and an Honorable Mention for the Brian Lawrence Prize for Poetry. For the last year he has served as Co-Editor of “Glass Mountain,” the undergraduate literary journal at UH, which won the 2013 Program Director’s Prize for Content at AWP. So many years back it seems impossible, he helped establish the HATCH radio segment, now in its 15^th year, on KPFT-FM “After Hours. “

About the Houston Public Library

The Houston Public Library (HPL) operates 35 neighborhood libraries, three HPL Express Libraries, a Central Library, the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, The African American Library at the Gregory School, and the Parent Resource Library, located in the Children’s Museum of Houston. Serving more than 4 million customers per year, HPL is committed to excellent customer service and equitable access to information and programs by providing library customers with free use of a diverse collection of printed materials, and electronic resources, Internet, laptop and computer use, and a variety of database and reference resources with live assistance online 24/7. 

For further information, visit the Houston Public Library at www.houstonlibrary.org  or call 832-393-1313.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Last Friday The 13th Of The Year Edition

It's Friday The 13th, and no Jason Voorhees or his counterparts aren't going to make your day a living hell at your local multiplex or anywhere else.

But the Republicans will.

It's also Friday, and that means I get to do another edition of my eagerly anticipated Shut Up Fool posts in which I shine a bright spotlight on the fool, fools or groups of fools who express mind numbing ignorance, over the top arrogance, head scratching hypocrisy or just simply need to have a nice tall glass of STHU.

I know you've been waiting for me to wade through this week's bumper crop of fools, so here we go.

Honorable mention number one goes to CBS News, who during their coverage of the death of human rights icon Nelson Mandela didn't play the music of his South African homeland during the breaks, but Toto's 'Africa'?   Seriously? 

Honorable mention number two goes to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who mistook every male African presidential leader for 80 year old glasses wearing homophobic dictator Robert Mugabe. 

There are times you shut up Anderson, and let the international correspondent you pay good money to in Christiane Amanpour do her job.   This was one of those times. 

Honorable mention number three is Bryan Fischer, who is making a late run for 2013 SUF of the Year.  This week he said that all sex not between married couples should be outlawed.  

Just because you ain't getting none doesn't mean you get to spoil our fun.       

Honorable mention number four is Megyn Kelly, who had a fit about an Aisha Harris post at Slate and parted her lips to say it was a 'verifiable fact that Santa is white'.

“By the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white but this person is just arguing that maybe we should also have a black Santa,” Kelly said. “Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change.” .




Your jacked up comments are prima facie evidence why it needs to change.  I already knew it, but with this one you have revealed yourself to be no better than the rest of the Fox Noise fembots

Honorable mention number five is Jean Boyd, the Texas Republican judge who gave a suburban drunk white Texas kid who killed four people with his truck 10 year probation because of 'affluenza'.

Oh really?  Is that what you're calling white privilege now?   And we need to know the name of this judge who bought that ridiculous argument so we can vote his or her azz out of office in 2014.  

TransGriot Note: Thanks to Rafael McDonnell, I and you TransGriot readers now know the name of that judge.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner is.2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year contender Erik Rush, who parted his lips to say that South Africa would have been better off under apartheid.   I need a post to go into just how fracked up his thinking is on that one. 

Conservakneegrow please!    He not only deserves this award, but a Negro Iz You Sirius?! to go with it plus a cadre of people doing the South African boot dance on his azz..
.

Erik Rush, shut the hell up fool.
 

Houston Has A New Women's Pro Soccer Team!

Another team joins our lineup of professional sports franchises in the Houston area and will start play in April.   Even cooler is the fact they are a women's professional spots team. 

They are the Houston Dash, our new expansion team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) that started play earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to have our very own NWSL franchise here in Houston,” said Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti in a statement. “It is an important addition to our sports landscape and will bring added value to our community.”

The NWSL has been set up as the top echelon women's pro soccer league in North America and is supported by the national soccer federations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico with the goal of building a elite level league for their top national players to play in when they are not competing in the Olympics or the FIFA Women's World Cup.

it also has the goal of building the women's game in these nations and developing talented players for future national teams in Canada, Mexico and the US. 

The NWSL's originating eight teams are the Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Seattle Reign FC, Sky Blue FC (New Jersey), Washington Spirit and the Western New York Flash (Rochester, NY). 

The NWSL features 23 members of the US women's national team, including stars of the team that won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, including: Heather O'Reilly (Boston Breakers); Amy LePeilbet and Shannon Boxx (Chicago Red Stars); Nicole Barnhart, Amy Rodriguez, Becky Sauerbrunn and Lauren Holiday (FC Kansas City); Rachel Buehler, Alex Morgan and Tobin Heath (Portland Thorns FC); Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo and Sydney Leroux (Seattle Reign FC); Kelley O'Hara and Christie Rampone (Sky Blue FC); Ali Krieger (Washington Spirit); and Carli Lloyd and Abby Wambach (Western New York Flash).

The NWSL's Canadian national team stars include Diana Matheson (Washington Spirit); Desiree Scott and Lauren Sesselmann (FC Kansas City); and Christine Sinclair (Portland Thorns FC).

The NWSL players from Mexico's national women's team includes Maribel Dominguez (Chicago Red Stars); Renae Cuellar (Washington Spirit); Teresa Noyola (FC Kansas City); and Monica Ocampo (Sky Blue FC).

In the inaugural NWSL Championship game the Portland Thorns defeated the top seeded Western New York Flash 2-0 in Rochester.

But back to talking about the Houston Dash.    

The Dash are the NWSL's first ever expansion club and are the second in the league after the Thorns supported by an MLS club.   The Dash are owned by the same group that owns the Houston Dynamo

The Dash will train at the Dynamo's complex and play their 12 home games at BBVA Compass Stadium.

They are currently looking to hire their head coach and unveil their uniforms for the upcoming 2014 season later.

As for the inaugural season roster of the Houston Dash, the 18-20 woman roster for the inaugural team will be filled by allocation of players from the U.S., Canada and Mexico national teams, the expansion draft, the January 17 NWSL collegiate draft, and other discovery signings.

The only thing I wish they'd done is given the fans an opportunity to choose the nickname, but I can understand the Dynamo brass reluctance to do so after the Houston 1836 drama. 

Should be fun to watch a women's pro sports team here in H-town for the first time since the Houston Comets (sniff sniff) departed the scene and looking forward to checking out some of their games when I can.

 

Looks Like SNL Was Paying Attention To The Criticism

One of the major reasons I stopped watching NBC's Saturday Night Live long ago (except for the recent show in which Kerry Washington was the host of course) is not only because it ceased being humorous to me, but I don't see people who represent my ethnic heritage significantly represented as members of the cast.

And yeah, I go way back to the SNL original cast in the 70's. 
.   
Rumors are flying there was a recent double secret audition held in Los Angeles for Black women only to address that problem   11-25 Black comediennes were auditioned for spots in either next season's SNL or one will be added in January, depending on what you hear or read, and yeah it's sorely needed.

Black women have a long, distinguished history in standup comedy starting with Jackie 'Moms' Mabley and continuing through to the present day with people like Marsha Warfield, Whoopi Goldberg, Kim Coles, Kim Wayans and one of the few who actually made it onto SNL in Maya Rudolph. 

It mystifies me when In Living Color proved that Black comedians not only are funny, but can get ratings from mainstream audiences, that SNL didn't do so a long time ago.  It's a travesty that you can count the number of Black women on one hand that SNL has had on their show in its nearly 40 year history, and hope they are on the road to expeditiously correcting that. 

By the way, may also help immensely if you diversify your team of SNL writers while you're at it.

2013 TransGriot NFL Predictions Week 15

As far as my fave NFL squad goes, the only thing they are in the running for is the number one draft pick and after this Jacksonville loss, Gary Kubiak probably better be updating his resume
--TransGriot November 27, 2013

Told y'all Gary Kubiak better update his resume in the wake of the first loss to Jacksonville.  The 20-13 one, which was the Texans 11th consecutive one, got Kubes canned from his dream job.

The pleyers getting canned will be determined later

Texans owner Bob McNair said as much in the Monday press conference when he admitted he made the decision on the team plane ride home.  As pissed off as many Texans fans are about this season, railed about his too conservative play calling or the predictability of his offense, there's no debate that Gary Kubiak is a class guy and represented our team and the city with class. .

Kubiak had a full page ad placed in the Sunday Houston Chronicle thanking Texans fans in the wake of his termination by owner Bob McNair.   While Wade Phillips again takes the reins as the interim coach, who will be named the thrid coach of this franchise and who is in the running for the job is only known to bob McNair. 

Rumors are here that former Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith (one of my faves because he is a native Texan), Stanford coach David Shaw and San Diego offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt are on the top of the list. 

There's also the rumor that current Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin is also being looked at by the Texans.   If they hired him, would be sweet karmic payback to the Aggies for stealing Sumlin from UH when we were undefeated before the C-USA title game vs. Southern Mississippi when we had chance to be a BCS buster.

Speaking of busted, Week 14 was not a good one for me with another sub.500 7-9 mark, but was very good to Mr. Blake, who took top honors with a 12-4 mark.   Mr.Watts was 10-6.

Okay, that one's over...let's get to Week 15.   My picks as usual in underlined bold print, here are Eli's and Mike's.

Week 14 Results

TransGriot       7-9
Eli Blake        12-4
Mike Watts    10-6

2013 Season Record
TransGriot      114-93-1
Eli                  133-74-1
Mike              128-79-1

NFL Week 15
Bye Teams-None

Thursday Night Game
San Diego at Denver

Sunday Noon Games
Washington at Atlanta
San Francisco at Tampa Bay
Seattle at NY Giants
Philadelphia at Minnesota
New England at Miami
Buffalo at Jacksonville
Houston at Indianapolis
Chicago at Cleveland

Sunday Afternoon Games
Kansas City at Oakland
NY Jets at Carolina
Green Bay at Dallas
Arizona at Tennessee
New Orleans at St. Louis

Sunday Night Game
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh

Monday Night Game
Baltimore at Detroit

65th Anniversary Of UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
--UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights preamble, December 10, 1948

In the wake of the horrific human rights violations committed during World War II, the newly organized UN General Assembly, led by a committee chaired by former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt spent 18 months drafting this landmark UN document which was adopted on December 10, 1948. 

The original drafters of the document in addition to Commission chair Eleanor Roosevelt (US) were Dr. Charles Malik (Lebanon), Alexandre Bogomolov (USSR), Dr. Peng-chun Chang (China), René Cassin (France), Charles Dukes (United Kingdom), William Hodgson (Australia), Hernan Santa Cruz (Chile), and John P. Humphrey (Canada).

The task was even more remarkable considering this was occurring during the outbreak of the East-West  Cold War tensions between the US and USSR that would dominate international world affairs for the next four and a half decades.

December 10 was the 65th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   It is one of the most translated documents in human history and serves as an aspirational goal for all those who strive for full human rights coverage. 

In fact, Nelson Mandela used the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a model for the 1996 South African Constitution.  During the year the document celebrated its 50th anniversary, Mandela addressed the UN General Assembly on September 21, 1998 and challenged them to work harder to enforce the words of the declaration for years to come. 

He said at the time, “The new constitution obliges us to strive to improve the quality of life of the people. In this sense, our national consensus recognizes that there is nothing else that can justify the existence of government but to redress the centuries of unspeakable privations, by striving to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, homelessness and disease. It obliges us, too, to promote the development of independent civil society structures.”document


I've pointed out since 2007 that the trans rights struggle is an international human rights struggle grounded in not only our various national constitutions, but the International Bill of Gender Rights drafted 20 years ago at the 1993 ICTLEP Conference in Houston, the Yogyakarta Principles, and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

When I say that we have the moral high ground in our trans human rights struggle, these are the documents I point to along with the US Constitution when I talk about trans human rights in a national and international context. 

It's also heartening to note on the anniversary date of the adoption of the UN Declaration of Human Rights that the UN is increasingly getting the message that trans rights are an international human rights issue.  

Back in 2011 the same UN Human Rights Council that penned the Declaration passed a resolution sponsored by South Africa, Brazil and 38 other nations that not only affirmed the universality of human rights, but noted concern about acts of violence and discrimination aimed at people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On September 26 there was a first ever ministerial meeting on LGBT rights convened at the UN Headquarters in New York to discuss advancements for protecting the human rights of LGBT persons and to secure commitments from UN member states toward making the protection of TBLG citizens in those member states and elsewhere in the world a reality.

Squash Trans Hate For The 2013 Holidays!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas People!

Remember last month when I posted about the Change.org petition to get the TERF flavored Gender Identity Watch declared by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate site?    It hit its modest inital goal of 1000 signatures within hours.

The petition is now up to 6,024 signatures at the time I created this post, so let's have some fun this holiday season squashing trans hate for the holidays and seeing if we can get that to 10,000 signatures before Christmas Day.    And yes, international trans peeps, you too can join in on the fun!

Here's the link to the Change.org petition. 

Taiwan To Allow Legal Gender Change Without Medical Or Surgical Intervention

After three hours of heated debate on December 9, Gay Star News is reporting that the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare has decided to allow trans and intersex people intending to change their legal gender to do so without transitioning or surgical intervention.

Taiwan back in 2008 took steps to make it easier to change gender identity, but it required compulsory genital surgery, removal of all relevant sexual organs and evaluations by two psychologists before they would approve any document changes. 

Even if you did go through with all of that, you had to be unmarried and your efforts could be undone by your parents having veto power over the process.   

Taiwan's Ministry of Interior will come up with the new regulations and policy necessary to implement the of the Ministry of Health and Welfare after further discussions. 

But it is a decision that is being hailed in the trans and intersex communities there as a major step forward and more progressive than their Asia-Pacific Rim counterparts. 

‘The Interior Ministry’s household registration system is linked with all our legal documents, so the sex registered at birth will have to change for other legal papers to change,’ said intersex rights activist Hiker Chiu to Gay Star News. 

‘The Interior Ministry’s household registration system is linked with all our legal documents, so the sex registered at birth will have to change for other legal papers to change,’ said intersex rights activist Hiker Chiu - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/taiwan-allows-legal-gender-changes-without-transitioning091213#sthash.sLmOm975.dpuf

Here's hoping the new regulations are compiled swiftly and their implementation for our trans an gender variant cousins in Taiwan goes as smoothly as possible.

TransGriot Note: photo is of Taiwanese trans model Alicia Liu. 

Shreveport Passes TBLG Rights Ordinance!

For the longest time the city of New Orleans was the lone municipality in the state of Louisiana that protected their TBLG citizens from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

They were joined last night by Shreveport, the  second largest city in the state of Louisiana. 

Mayor Cedric Glover had in 2009 signed an executive order in that protected GLBT city employees from discrimination.

On a 6-1 vote last night, the Shreveport City Council passed the Fairness Ordinance, that adds gender identity and sexual orientation to the classes of people protected by is non-discrimination laws.

The lone NO vote was Councilmember Ron Webb, who let his homophobic flag fly before the vote and tried to postpone to vote so the haters would have time to mobilize and stir up hatred in an attempt to derail the vote.  For those of you TBLG folks in Shreveport who live in Webb's District E, y'all know what to do to him in the next elecion cycle. Punish him at the polls.  .

The Fainess Ordinance also protects BTLG Shreveport citizens from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public spaces.  It was pushed by PACE, People Acting For Change and Equality, a local group pushing for human rights advances in Northwest Louisiana.   They spearheaded the successful Be Fair Shreveport effort.  

“Discrimination is not only wrong, it’s bad for business,” said PACE political director Adrienne Critcher, who cited both ethical and economic reasons for the ordinance.

Yes it is.  It's past time another Louisiana city joined New Orleans in protecting all its residents from discrimination.  

Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe, where y'all at on this human rights issue? 
    

Ashley Sinclair's Alleged Killer Arrested

The New Year will hopefully see justice for Ashley Sinclair. 

News out of Orlando, FL is that after an eight month investigation, someone has finally been arrested and charged for her April 4 murder.

22 year old Kentz V. Louis has been arrested by Orange County deputies and charged with first degree murder in this case.

Louis and Sinclair were acquaintances according to deputies, but they haven't released at this time a motive for the shooting that happened in a wooded area of Orange County off Nimrod Lane in the early morning hours of April 4.

Let's hope and pray the Orange County detectives got their man.   Let's also hope and pray that for the sake of Ashley, her family and all who loved her that Louis is expeditiously tried, found guilty and be spending a long time locked up in Florida's penal system for this heinous crime.

Will definitely be keeping an eye on this case until justice is served for our departed trans sister. 

British Transwoman Barred From Playing Women's Soccer By FA

Jazz spent two years fighting the US Soccer Federation for a policy that would allow her and other trans kids to play soccer in this country. 

Now come word from across The Pond of a British transwoman who is not being allowed to play on a women's team there despite having documentation confirming her gender identity, hormone levels in feminine range and her teammates and opposing players having no objections to her being in the league.

32 year old Aeris Houlihan is facing a two year wait to play competitive soccer because the FA policy is pegged to the FIFA rules and the IOC Stockholm Consensus, which mandates surgical intervention and two years of being on HRT before being allowed to play in the gender you present.   She's not due to have SRS until March.

'It's not like I want to play for Barcelona, I just want to play for my local club.' - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-woman-told-fa-she-can-only-play-mens-football101213#sthash.xzmMW90U.dpuf

The story starts in June, when Houlihan applied to the FA (The English Football Association) so she could play for her local team in Leeds, the Middleton Park Ladies FC.   She was asked to provide a doctor's letter verifying her feminine hormone levels which she complied with.

After providing that letter, she heard nothing from FA until October, and it was at that time she was informed that she couldn't play for her local team and would be unable to appeal the decision. 

'It's not like I want to play for Barcelona.   All I want to do is play for my local club," Houlihan said in an interview with the Daily Mail. "The FA didn't even bother to look at my hormones levels or my blood test results, which are the same as any other woman's.  They are blind and need to look at the results in front of them."

Houlihan's club is supporting her in her fight to play her favorite sport.

"We support the fact she would like to play on a Ladies team as she is now legally a woman, she has a British passport, and she should be allowed to compete as a woman just as she is allowed to live as a woman in her everyday life," the Middleton Park FC said in a statement.

The resistance that Houlihan is running into is in stark contrast to what the FA website states.

"An individual's sexual orientation or gender identity should never be a barrier to participating in, and enjoying, our national sport."

Looks like that is exactly what is happening in this case.  Her gender identity has become a barrier to her being able to participate in their national sport.

METRO's Early Christmas Present To H-Town Opening December 21

Since late October, METRO has been doing final testing runs on the METRORail North Line extension in preparation for opening the 5.3 mile line to revenue service.

In making sure everything is working properly like the signals and the boarding platform security cameras as one young tagger found out to his dismay recently, the trains have been simulating passenger runs, stopping, opening and closing doors at the various stations between UH Downtown and the soon to be new termination point of the Red Line at the Northline Transit Center/HCC Station.

To remind everyone in H-town that revenue service is starting on the new light rail line soon, a train was wrapped in a holiday motif to remind everyone that the opening date for revenue passenger service on the North/Red line will be December 21.

There are plans to have a dedication ceremony and concert in Moody Park from 11-5 PM on that date with area vendors and food trucks.   Best of all, rides on METRORail are free that day.

Hmm, probably need to take advantage of it on that date so I can get a feel for where the stations are in relation to each other, get the general lay of the land and what's in the area at each one.

And as a rail transit lover, just want to ride it from one end of the line to the other just so I can say I did it.

Cleveland TBLG Community Rally On Sunday

Been advised by Zoe Lapin that a community rally to discuss the trans murders of Brittany Kidd-Stergis and Betty Skinner, the latest outbreak of racist Cleveland media transphobia and other issues of importance in the local trans community will take place at Trinity Cathedral on Sunday,  December 15. 

Trinity Cathedral is located at 2230 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland and the event will start at 1:00 PM EST.  

What I am hoping for is that this event will be as diverse as the city of Cleveland is, and will feature someone from the local African American trans community to represent the people who are taking the brunt of the anti-trans hate crimes.  

I hope this does not turn into another event where white faces are the predominant ones we see all over the news, the media and the Net speaking, and irritatingly once again the Black trans community people who are the ones doing the dying, their representatives, leaders and local community leadership voices are shut out, ignored and the bodies of our dead are used once again to push somebody else's rainbow agenda.

In the runup to organizing this event, I hope and pray the organizers keep the I-words inclusion and intersectionality in their vocabularies and don't ignore the Black trans community as they put together this community rally.  

The Cleveland trans community has people besides white trans men who can eloquently speak for it.. Call them and invite them to the podium to speak for their fallen transsister who can no longer do so and their community. 


That being said, hoping for a large, diverse turnout and speakers at that rally reflecting the diversity of the Cleveland TBLG community.  I also hope for a frank discussion that takes place in that space which begins to address the frustration that I hear privately from many Black transpeople in the area about the state of the LGBT community in Cleveland, Ohio.   Their anger is mounting about their marginalization in it combined with the anti-trans violence being aimed at them and needs to be heard and dealt with. 

Tracey Fighting To Be Herself

Where are the trans teen kids who share my ethnic background?  It's a question I've been asking and frankly so have my readers for a while.

One of my readers recently sent me a story about 10 year old Tracey Wilson, who lives in British Columbia with her parents.

While I was happy to read about her transition and her loving parents supporting it, the part of the story I'm not happy about is that the seeds of the transphobia that Dr. Paul McHugh sowed in the Vatican back in 2003 continue to bear poisonous transphobic fruit at the flock level. 

Tracey is now living as a girl full time.  When she wanted to do so at her semi-private Catholic school as well and her parents Michelle and Garfield informed Sacred  Heart of Tracey's wish, the school said no.   They offered to let her use the disabled bathroom, but not the girl's one and refused to authorize a name change or allow Tracey to wear the girls school uniform claiming they didn't have a policy for it.

The great thing about living in Canada besides universal health care and Timmy's is that they have strong human rights protection enshrined in their Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Tracey's parents have filed a human rights complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal against the Independent Catholic Schools of Vancouver.

And yes BC, it's past time for you to join the other four provinces and the Northwest Territories in your home and native land that protect the human rights of trans citizens of your province.

Tracey's human rights complaint will be heard in the spring, and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it along with everyone else in Trans World and the African Diaspora

HISD Considering Policy Banning Offensive School Mascot Names

Mirabeau B. Lamar High School opened in 1937 and is  named for the second president of the Republic of Texas.

It has a long distinguished list of alumni that includes actress Jaclyn Smith, A.J. Foyt, Lisa Hartman-Black, Grammy Award winner Kelly Rowland,  Rep John Culberson (R-TX), former Houston mayor Fred Hofheinz,  Tony Award winner Tommy Tune, former NBC News anchor Linda Ellerbee, Mike Godwin (the creator of Godwin's Law), current Texas Lt Governor David Dewhurst (R), former Texas Governor Mark White (D),  and NFL players Brandon LaFell, Brian Orakpo and Josh Gordon.

But its the Redskins nickname that is drawing attention these days.   Since the 1970's Native Americans have been campaigning to get schools, colleges and professional sports teams to drop mascot names they consider derogatory and demeaning to them as a people.   They have had some success, with Stanford, Dartmouth, Miami of Ohio and St. John's universities doing so along with other colleges and high schools across the country.

The Redskins one has gotten not only local attention with state Sen Rodney Ellis (D) urging HISD to change Lamar's mascot,  there is an intensifying campaign to get the NFL Washington franchise to do the same.

Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier is considering introducing a proposed policy to the HISD board that would ban mascot names at all its schools that play on racial, ethnic or cultural stereotypes. 

If that policy passes, and it underwent discussion yesterday at the school board review meeting, it promises to be a contentious topic at the upcoming Thursday HISD board meeting.

In addition to Lamar having to give up the Redskin mascot nickname if it passes and replace it with something else, so would the Westbury High School Rebels, the Hamilton Middle School Indians and the Welch Middle School Warriors starting in the 2014-15 school year.

"The time has come for the Houston Independent School District - the most vibrantly diverse school district in the nation - to acknowledge that some decisions made generations ago need to be reconsidered," Grier wrote. "Traditions are important. But respect for cultural difference and sensitivities matters more."

Gee, what a shock.  Something I actually agree with Superintendent Greer about.

Of course some longtime vanillacentric privileged alums of the school are not happy about that, citing the tired 'tradition'  excuse to justify keeping a mascot nickname that offends Native Americans in the area. 

Those alums will probably will be at the Hattie Mae White Education Center in force Thursday as I pop the popcorn and watching the fireworks on the public access broadcast of the meeting.


TransGriot Update:  The proposal passed unanimously..

President Obama's Remarks At Mandela Memorial

To Graça Machel and the Mandela family; to President Zuma and members of the government; to heads of state and government, past and present; distinguished guests - it is a singular honor to be with you today, to celebrate a life unlike any other.  To the people of South Africa - people of every race and walk of life - the world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us.  His struggle was your struggle.  His triumph was your triumph.  Your dignity and hope found expression in his life, and your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy.

It is hard to eulogize any man - to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person - their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul.  How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.

Born during World War I, far from the corridors of power, a boy raised herding cattle and tutored by elders of his Thembu tribe - Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century.  Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement - a movement that at its start held little prospect of success.  Like King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed, and the moral necessity of racial justice.  He would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of Kennedy and Khrushchev, and reached the final days of the Cold War.  Emerging from prison, without force of arms, he would - like Lincoln - hold his country together when it threatened to break apart.  Like America’s founding fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations - a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power.

Given the sweep of his life, and the adoration that he so rightly earned, it is tempting then to remember Nelson Mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men.  But Madiba himself strongly resisted such a lifeless portrait. Instead, he insisted on sharing with us his doubts and fears; his miscalculations along with his victories.  “I’m not a saint,” he said, “unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

It was precisely because he could admit to imperfection - because he could be so full of good humor, even mischief, despite the heavy burdens he carried - that we loved him so.  He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood - a son and husband, a father and a friend.  That is why we learned so much from him; that is why we can learn from him still.  For nothing he achieved was inevitable.  In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness; persistence and faith.  He tells us what’s possible not just in the pages of dusty history books, but in our own lives as well.
Mandela showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our ideals.  Perhaps Madiba was right that he inherited, “a proud rebelliousness, a stubborn sense of fairness” from his father. Certainly he shared with millions of black and colored South Africans the anger born of, “a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments…a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people.”

But like other early giants of the ANC - the Sisulus and Tambos - Madiba disciplined his anger; and channeled his desire to fight into organization, and platforms, and strategies for action, so men and women could stand-up for their dignity.  Moreover, he accepted the consequences of his actions, knowing that standing up to powerful interests and injustice carries a price.  “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination,” he said at his 1964 trial.  “I’ve cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.  It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.  But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Mandela taught us the power of action, but also ideas; the importance of reason and arguments; the need to study not only those you agree with, but those who you don’t.  He understood that ideas cannot be contained by prison walls, or extinguished by a sniper’s bullet.  He turned his trial into an indictment of apartheid because of his eloquence and passion, but also his training as an advocate. He used decades in prison to sharpen his arguments, but also to spread his thirst for knowledge to others in the movement.  And he learned the language and customs of his oppressor so that one day he might better convey to them how their own freedom depended upon his.

Mandela demonstrated that action and ideas are not enough; no matter how right, they must be chiseled into laws and institutions.  He was practical, testing his beliefs against the hard surface of circumstance and history.  On core principles he was unyielding, which is why he could rebuff offers of conditional release, reminding the Apartheid regime that, “prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”  But as he showed in painstaking negotiations to transfer power and draft new laws, he was not afraid to compromise for the sake of a larger goal.  And because he was not only a leader of a movement, but a skillful politician, the Constitution that emerged was worthy of this multiracial democracy; true to his vision of laws that protect minority as well as majority rights, and the precious freedoms of every South African.

Finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit.  There is a word in South Africa- Ubuntu - that describes his greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that can be invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.  We can never know how much of this was innate in him, or how much of was shaped and burnished in a dark, solitary cell.  But we remember the gestures, large and small - introducing his jailors as honored guests at his inauguration; taking the pitch in a Springbok uniform; turning his family’s heartbreak into a call to confront HIV/AIDS - that revealed the depth of his empathy and understanding.  He not only embodied Ubuntu; he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.  It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailor as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion, generosity and truth. He changed laws, but also hearts.

For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe - Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate his heroic life.  But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or circumstance, we must ask:  how well have I applied his lessons in my own life?

It is a question I ask myself - as a man and as a President.  We know that like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation.  As was true here, it took the sacrifice of countless people - known and unknown - to see the dawn of a new day.  Michelle and I are the beneficiaries of that struggle.  But in America and South Africa, and countries around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not done.  The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality and universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important.  For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger, and disease; run-down schools, and few prospects for the future.  Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who they love.
We, too, must act on behalf of justice.  We, too, must act on behalf of peace.  There are too many of us who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality.  There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people.  And there are too many of us who stand on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.

The questions we face today - how to promote equality and justice; to uphold freedom and human rights; to end conflict and sectarian war - do not have easy answers.  But there were no easy answers in front of that child in Qunu.  Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done.  South Africa shows us that is true.  South Africa shows us we can change.  We can choose to live in a world defined not by our differences, but by our common hopes.  We can choose a world defined not by conflict, but by peace and justice and opportunity.

We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again.  But let me say to the young people of Africa, and young people around the world - you can make his life’s work your own.  Over thirty years ago, while still a student, I learned of Mandela and the struggles in this land.  It stirred something in me.  It woke me up to my responsibilities - to others, and to myself - and set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today.  And while I will always fall short of Madiba’s example, he makes me want to be better.  He speaks to what is best inside us.  After this great liberator is laid to rest; when we have returned to our cities and villages, and rejoined our daily routines, let us search then for his strength - for his largeness of spirit - somewhere inside ourselves.  And when the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, or our best laid plans seem beyond our reach - think of Madiba, and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of a cell:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

What a great soul it was.  We will miss him deeply.  May God bless the memory of Nelson Mandela.  May God bless the people of South Africa.

What The Hell You Mean Trans Women Are 'Less Valuable'?

When I heard about New York attorney John Scarpa actually parting his lips to say that harsh sentences for killing transwomen should be reserved for certain classes of individuals, it pissed me off.

It pissed me off not because Scarpa had the cojones to say it in a last ditch attempt to deploy a variation of the trans panic defense  (which was fracked up, too) to reduce his client' sentence, but because he was trying to touch upon a sentiment that I believe far too many cis people have when it concerns transpeople.

It is one that is subliminally expressed far too often when it comes to transwomen of color.  'Less Valuable'

Less valuable because we're not white.  Less valuable because we're not cisgender people.  Less valuable because we're not in 'their' social class.  Less valuable because we're not considered human beings in their eyes.

Less valuable because we have no rights that he as a white male, and by extension others in cisgender society are bound to respect.  

Attitudes like Scarpa's are probably the root cause of why GENDA hasn't passed the GOP controlled New York Senate despite passing the New York state assembly six straight times.

All trans lives are valuable.   We have people and families who love us.  We have hopes and dreams we want to fulfill.  We want to find the person we are destined to spend the rest of our lives with. 

We want to simply live our lives to the best of our ability without some transphobic jerk who has a problem with us having the misguided opinion that he has the right to take it and thinking he'll get a legal slap on the wrist for it. 

All human lives are valuable, including the lives of trans people. I thank God along with the New York trans community that we had a judge like Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter on the bench who recognized that salient point and sentenced Rasheen Everett to 29 years to life for killing Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar.
 

We're Still Watching You, Smith College

Smith's dean of admissions, Debra Shaver, announced a committee would form to address the needs of prospective trans students at Smith. The committee will begin meeting in September, and in the interim, Smith will stop denying admissions to trans girls and women listed as male on their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, which is what happened to Wong.

TransGriot  September 1, 'Smith College, Don't Assume The Trans Community Forgot About What Happened To Calliope "


The Fall 2013 semester is rapidly drawing to a close on the Smith College campus and this article that popped up in the University of Connecticut student newspaper concerning Calliope Wong reminded me about the controversy that erupted last May when her application for admission was denied twice.

That firestorm led to the announcement at the time by Smith Dean of Admissions Debra Shaver that a committee would be formed that would start work in the fall to address the needs of prospective trans students at Smith.

Calliope is now a freshman English major at UConn and was named to the OUT100 List as a trans teen advocate along with Jazz and Zachary Kerr.  

And Smith could have been reaping the benefits of Calliope's presence on their campus.

But this is the question we all want to know the answer to Trans World because there has been cricket chirping silence coming out of Northampton since the semester started.

What's going on with the committee that was supposed to start work on this trans admission issue?

I asked that question on my Facebook page, and JoJo Thomas, a Smith alum who is one of my longtime TransGriot readers was kind enough to send an e-mail asking that same question on the alumni listserv. 

JoJo did get a quick response to her query.  According to her, a fellow alum advised her that according to the student group working on this issue Audrey Smith (the VP of Enrollment--head of Office of Admissions and Student Financial Services) would be making announcements "soon" about changes in the policies.

How soon is "soon" in terms of a definitive date that a policy change announcement will happen, we don't know yet.  But if there more feet dragging until the end of the 2014 spring semester, Mama Moni ain't gonna be happy and the volume is going to be cranked up on this issue by moi.

Rice Wins 2013 C-USA Football Title!

Some of my local TransGriot readers are Rice University students, and despite the fact as a Cougar alum they are one of our big rivals and we UH fans enjoy (and vice versa) beating the crap out of them in whatever sport we play them in, (baseball is a different story because Rice dominates us) us), have to give them a major TransGriot shoutout  for winning the C-USA title game that was played in Houston yesterday. 

The Owls knocked off C-USA East Champ Marshall 41-24 at Rice Stadium to go 10-3 on the season, earn a invite to the Liberty Bowl against a soon to be named SEC opponent and win their first outright conference championship since they were members of the dearly departed (sniff sniff) Southwest Conference in 1957.

So there was probably some celebrating happening on their South Main campus.   Even this die hard UH Cougar fan has to show them some love after winning their first outright conference football title in 56 years and their first since they joined C-USA in 2005.

Congrats to Rice and good luck in the Liberty Bowl!