Shut Up Fool Awards-First Fool For 2014 Edition

Happy New Year TransGriot readers!   We made it to the other side of another New Year's day, but so did the fools!

And you know I'll be right here to chronicle every fauxgressive misstep, evidence of mind blowing stupidity, jaw dropping hypocrisy, prevarication,  and straight up ignorance in 2014 as we approach the fifth anniversary this Shut Up Fool feature on January 30. 

In case you're wondering who was the first ever Shut Up Fool weekly award winner that begat the family of  TransGriot SUF awards such as the Shut Up Fool of the Year, the Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Awards I pass out during Oscar Weekend, and fresh for the 2K14 the Shut Up Fool of the Month, it was FOX Noise sellout Juan Williams.

So let's get busy calling out our first set of 2014 fools shall we?

Honorable Mention number one is Tommy Christopher, whose whitesplaining Mediate piece defending Ani DiFranco if it was satire, was horribly done and read like vanillacentric privileged racist claptrap.

Y'all know I had to throw somebody from the home state in this mix, and Honorable Mention number two goes to christohater Pastor John Hagee.  He's trying to get his lost christohate cred back in the wake of San Antonio passing their comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance last September that included gender identity and sexual orientation language.  He parted his lips to say that atheists need to get on a plane and leave the country. 

Why don't you lead by example Pastor Hater, er Hagee?

Honorable Mention number three I have to go north of the border for in Toronto's crackhead Conservative mayor Rob Ford.   Homeboy has filed to run for reelection despite his disastrous and controversial year in office that saw him make a late bid for 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year.. 

Just say no on October 27, Toronto.

Honorable Mention number four goes to Mandi Harrington, who in her zeal to defend Ani DiFranco for her plantation screwup, told Black women essentially to get over slavery, then donned virtual blackface in a failed and easily detected train wreck of an effort to masquerade as a black woman supporting DiFranco.   

Pro Tip: Next time you try to fake writing like a Black woman Mandi, try not to choose the name Laqueeta for starters and leave the Ebonics out of it.  Like fingerprints, writing styles are unique   It's a dead giveaway every time you vanillacentric privileged peeps try that crap online because you don't have a grasp of our cultural nuances and the way we internally think about issues. 

And yeah, IP addresses can easily be traced.   

FYI, we Black peeps are not going to get over talking about slavery anytime soon no matter how much you vanillacentric privileged peeps who wish to forget and ignore that reprehensible crime against humanity wish for it to happen.  The world and the USA we African-Americans live in circa 2014 is still shaped and affected by what happened during that time, and you're being intellectually dishonest if you think otherwise.   

2014's first weekly Shut up Fool award winner goes to Ani DiFranco, for cluelessly coming up with the idea of having a feminist music retreat on a plantation, getting a 'tude when she got righteously called out about it by Black feminists and this blogger, cancelling it and writing a fauxpology that pissed people off even more before finally saying the words 'I'm Sorry' in the one she wrote yesterday.

In the middle of all this unnecessary drama, the predictable white women's tears from her supporters flowed to heap more insults and injury to Black women and point out once again why many of us (myself included) have less than favorable opinions about feminism.        

Take it away Mr. T.

Moni's 2013 Year In Review

Well, 2013 was nothing like 2012 where I had two groundbreaking panel discussions at Netroots Nation and OUT on the Hill, but I did manage to do a few things that made this year memorable as well.

After celebrating the seventh anniversary of TransGriot on New Years Day, I moved right into blasting TERF's mode, but this time it was ones across The Pond.

I had my say about the POTUS not specifically mentioning trans peeps during his second inaugural speech.   That erasure caused a transkid to write a letter that I posted on TransGriot because I felt it needed wider exposure.   Boy did it ever get that exposure and then some.  Sadie's 'Letter To The World' became the most read post ever in TransGriot history.     

I celebrated Black History Month with another Black Trans History Quiz, wrote my State of the Black Trans Union post, recognized the 60th anniversary of Christine Jorgensen's return to New York after her transition, and took an enjoyable February trip to Philadelphia to attend the LGBT Media Journalist Convening. 

A month later I headed up I-45 to Dallas to deliver my first ever Texas keynote speech at the Black Trans Advocacy Conference with my dad's condition weighing heavily on my mind.  I was also surprised during that conference to receive an award named after me by BTMI/BTWI, the Monica Roberts Advocacy Award.   My father passed away a few days after I returned to Houston.  

I was named to the inaugural Trans 100 list and put my foot all up in the Cleveland Plain Dealer's behind over their over the top misgendering of Cemia Dove Acoff to the point that the 'journalistic hate crime' comment I used was picked up by Andy Humm and Ann Northrup on Gay USA.

I was also honored to spend a few hours on the beautiful campus of Rice University with Cristell Perez being interviewed as part of an oral history project featuring TBLG Houstonians. 

Every now and then I have to put my trolls and haters on blast to let them know upfront I'm not playing with them, and that happened a few times this year.   I also had fun blasting the transphobia in Bossip's jacked up comment threads

One of the ongoing projects I was part of this year was being part of the team putting together the rapidly approaching 2014 edition of Creating Change. 

I'm helping put together the Racial Diversity Suite and I have been documenting our Road To Creating Change as a series of diary posts and I was interviewed as part of that promotional effort for the conference as a past attendee.  

And for those of you headed to Creating Change, I'm now part of as of this writing two panel discussions.

I taught my first ever seminar at the 2013 Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit on the UH campus after being there for the last three TTNS events in reporter mode.

Took another trip to Oakland in September at Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler's invitation to be a judge for Trans* H4CK, a creative melding by him of a hackathon with trans social justice issues to create apps to solve real world trans problems. 

It was fascinating to watch the process of developing an app occur.  My judging team had some tough calls to make in terms of which team won.  It was also apropos that this was taking place at the Betti Ono Gallery, mere blocks from where our transsister Brandy Martell was killed.

After I wrote a September 2012 post calling out the transphobic writings of feminist icon Gloria Steinem, was surprised to hear her statement in October recanting those comments.   

Moni practices what she preaches when she talks about intersectionality.  I spoke at a March HISD board meeting as part of a successful effort to delay the merger of my old high school.  I vented about the BS Ani DiFranco plantation feminist retreat in solidarity with my Black cis feminine sisters and called out the senseless violence aimed at them.. I spoke at a local City Hall rally in the wake of the jacked up Zimmerman verdict.


Despite not being able to vote because of it taking over 8 months for me to get my TDL swapped for my Kentucky one, I covered a northside mayoral campaign forum.  I was happy to see Mayor Parker earn her third and final term a few days later         

November saw me as part of my busy TDOR schedule not only be part of the first ever African American organized TDOR event here in Houston, 24 hours later I found myself in San Antonio speaking at their TDOR. 

And yes, I had my usual complement of radio and podcast interviews, including my debut one on Canadian radio.for CHRW 94.9 FM's Between The Margins show.  I participated in various community panel at different venues around town and quoted in a long list of articles..

So yeah, just another boring year for moi.    Wonder how 2014 is going to turn out?
  

Gay, Inc Needs A Trans Rooney Rule

With the close of the NFL season, five head coaches were fired for their teams 2013 performance or lack thereof.    Five teams, including my Houston Texans initiated searches for their new head coaches, with the Texans doing so before the season concluded. 

One of the very first interviews given for the vacant head coaching position of my fave NFL squad was to Lovie Smith, the former head coach of the Chicago Bears.  He has since been interviewed and hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The reason the interview for Smith happened, and you will see that repeated for other non-white NFL coaching and GM candidates was to fulfill the requirements of the now decade old 'Rooney Rule'. 

The rule is named for Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman of the NFL's diversity committee Dan Rooney, due to the Steelers' long positive history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership and coaching roles.  The Rooney's themselves before hiring Mike Tomlin as their head coach in 2007 interviewed current Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera for the job. 

Since 2003 the National Football League's Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for open head coaching and senior football operation jobs.  It started because of the sorry history that up until the hiring of Tom Flores by the Oakland Raiders in 1979, there had been in the entire history of the NFL only one non-white head coach, and that was African-American Fritz Pollard in 1920.


Tom Flores made history not only as the first Latino starting quarterback (for the 1960 AFL Raiders), but the first Latino NFL head coach.  He's also the first non-white head coach to make it to and win two Super Bowls (1980, 1983) and win one as an assistant (1976).   Why he's not in the NFL Hall of Fame is a travesty, but that's another post.

The institution of the Rooney Rule raised the percentage of African-Americans coaches by 2006 to 22% from 6% in the year prior to its implementation.  It was subsequently expanded in 2009 to all ethnic minority coaching and GM candidates and there are proposes to expand it to offensive and defensive coordinator jobs. 

The Rooney Rule is not a quota as its vanillacentric privileged detractors like to call it.  It simply says you must interview minority candidates for these positions.  Who you hire is still up to you as the owner.  But it is obvious that the Rooney Rule worked to promote diversity in the coaching and GM ranks until the 2012 season and it was tweaked again. 

This heavy dose of NFL history about the Rooney Rule has a point.  

What got me thinking about this in terms of TBLG community circles is a conversation ENDABlog 2.0 blogger Katrina Rose and I were having about the Rooney Rule and its implementation in the current NFL hiring cycle.

Katrina made a comment that Gay, Inc orgs need to have one and she has a point.   When it comes to their hiring record concerning the people they choose to lead their organizations, only white gay men need apply.  

When the leadership rannks of your Gay, Inc organizations resemble Republican party conventions, if you're transgender why even apply, especially if you're a trans woman of color? 

The only Gay, Inc organization that has bucked that trend so far is the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.   In its over three decades the Task Force has had multiple female executive directors in Jean O'Leary, Urvashi Vaid, Kerry Lobel just to name a few and since 2008 has been led by current Task Force executive director Rea Carey.


Even with the Task Force's remarkably consistent record when it comes to feminine leadership, they unfortunately have the same pattern as other Gay, Inc orgs in terms of the overall lack of hiring of trans people despite the September hiring of Kylar Broadus to helm their Transgender Civil Rights Project.   

The same project that was led for over a decade (2001-2013) by cis woman Lisa Mottet until moving on to NCTE..

Allyson Robinson is the only person who has ever headed a Gay, Inc org that doesn't have trans human rights as a primary focus, and OutServe-SLDN unfortunately imploded a few months later into her term.


Like Kylar and others prove, it's not like trams people, and especially trans people of color don't have the education, talent or innovative ideas that would serve this community and movement well at an organizational level.  

And yeah, would be nice to get a regular paycheck for fighting for the human rights of this community.   It would also make a small symbolic dent in the trans unemployment numbers, send the message you practice what you preach to Fortune 500 companies and to governmental bodies that you are trying to convince to pass non-discrimination legislation.

It would also send the message that as allies you do value the contributions of trans people to the movement.

But it is probably the all-marriage all the time agenda of these predominately gay white male run orgs that is a reason why a civil rights oriented non-white candidate to this point hasn't been allowed near the leadership ranks of these groups.

You can also add other possible reasons as to why the lack of trans leaders in these Gay, Inc orgs is the dearth of trans hiring at mid-management and senior management levels of these organizations like it routinely does for white gay and lesbian people, or inclusion on their boards of directors so they can get the experience to someday be considered to run the entire organization .  

And let's be real about this, racism and transphobia probably plays a role in this lack of Gay, Inc leadership diversity as well.

For that paradigm to change, we are going to have to see more trans people make it into the good old gay boy and girl networks so they are familiar to the people who can hire or make recommendations to hire.

And it may take Rooney Rule type efforts, or these Gay, Inc organizations realizing that diverse leadership leads to better policy development to do so.     
 

Mayor Annise Parker 2014 Inauguration Speech

Mayor Annise Parker did get elected to her third and final term as the head of our city, and earlier today at the Wortham Center the public inauguration ceremony for her and all the elected city council reps took place.

This was the text of her 2014 Inauguration speech.

***

I love this city!

Thank you for trusting me to continue in what I believe is the best job in America.  To serve you is my greatest honor.  I remain excited to go to work each and every day.

I congratulate our City Controller and our City Council Members. I know personally the duties they have assumed today, and I salute their service.  Each one of us worked diligently, passionately, (some over a period of years) to achieve these positions. We recognize the sacred trust we have assumed.  Whatever our differences in philosophy, in personality, in opinions, we will endeavor to reward your faith in us.

We are here today to affirm a contract with each other, one, in fact, that we on stage have formally sworn an oath to honor. Council will set policy for the city. They will gather the needs and wants, the problems and concerns of their constituents, and translate them into concrete goals.

As Mayor, I am the public face of our city. I celebrate the triumphs and articulate the pain. I calm protests and invite action.

I must have the big picture, knowing where our ship is sailing, the route we take, and the dangers we may face. I must be able to convey these to the dedicated men and women who make our city run, and to you, the Houstonians who depend upon our work, so that together we face the dangers as they come.

But the details matter as well, and here is where the nearly 21,000 women and men who are our city workforce perform the complex choreography that is a city in motion. All cities have challenges, and sometimes fail, but we wouldn’t be America’s 4th largest city unless, day in and day out, our city team gets the job done. Sometimes under great difficulties, and real danger. 

This last year we lost 4 of our own in a devastating fire that also left a 5th permanently impaired.  This was the worst loss of life in the history of the Houston Fire Department. We continue to ask you to keep these families in your prayers.

That is a sacrifice beyond measure or understanding,  but I ask you to also recognize the Solid Waste employee who cleans an illegal dumpsite by hand, the Public Works employee who repairs a plugged sewer line in the freezing rain, or the Houston Police officer who patrols our streets on Christmas Eve.

Why do people gravitate to cities? Cities have people and possibilities. A city is a place where ideas can rub against each other, and perhaps strike a spark.

People come to cities seeking;

• Education,
• Entertainment,
• Employment.
• Emancipation,
• Companionship

For all the reasons someone may have come here, I believe that there are shared values that make us Houstonians, wherever we were born, whatever our native language, however we came to be here.  

My family taught me to accept responsibility.  To live with integrity.  To work hard.  To finish a job begun. To contribute time, talent and treasure to my community.

Those are the same values on which Houston was founded, and the values that continue to shape our future. But those values are wrapped in optimism that this is a city in which anything is achievable, shaped by men and women from every corner of the world who come believing  it is possible for anyone to succeed here, and imbedded in the shared truth that all are welcome in this most diverse of cities.

But diversity by itself is chaos. Diversity where ideas meet and those seeds germinate can be a garden of plenty.  To ensure the full participation of every Houstonian in the business and civic life of this great city, It is time to pass a comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinance that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the protections most Houstonians take for granted.

Houston is a city in motion, an international city of energy and dreams, but dreams fueled by hard work and grounded in common sense.  A city where grand ideas take hold if they relate to the basic competencies of the city. We like to do big things… together.  We can always figure out a way to get it done. From creating America’s largest exporting port where once was only a muddy stream to putting a human being on the moon  to opening our arms to embrace the Katrina evacuees, it has always been about doing big things.  We can tackle any issue in this practical Houston fashion.

To protect the vast economic engine that sustains us, It is time for all of us in this region to come together and take concrete steps to create storm protections for our coastal communities, whether the Centennial Gate or the Ike Dike.

Houston is a city that works, blessed with a booming economy. Of the 100 largest world economies, the Houston metro area is #32.  We have a higher GDP that the state of Georgia. But not everyone benefits from that blessing of that strong economy,  Two years ago I announced that we would tackle homelessness in ways never done before.  Our success has been such that I say today that it is time for us to eliminate chronic homelessness within the next two years.

Houston is a city that invests in itself, so that business can flourish and families can build their lives.  We will continue to rebuild Houston.  It is time that you see real progress in the street and drainage system improvements.

Each time I have stood before you, I asked for your prayers.  I asked for your patience.  And I asked for your perseverance.  I ask this again, for all of us who serve you as your city workforce.

We rise or fall together.  We succeed or fail together.

The ordinary becomes extraordinary when you add something extra.

A great city imagines its own bright future—and sets about to make that happen.

Please join me as I continue to imagine all the possibilities of our great city.

Thank you.

Minister Bobbie Jean Baker 1962-2014

Many of us are still shocked and stunned about the news we received yesterday concerning our Left Coast sister Minister Bobbie Jean Baker.   She was killed in an auto accident by a hit and run driver after attending watch services. 

Word about the homegoing service, their location and date is still pending.   I will get that info to you TransGriot readers as soon as it is passed on to me.

In the interim, one of my readers, Oliver W. Martin III, sent me a link to a YouTube memorial montage revscott06 created about our dearly departed sister.

Hey Renee, USA 2014 Women's Olympic Hockey Team Is Set

The NHL's Winter Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings happened yesterday at Michigan Stadium.

It was played in front of a record New Year's Day crowd of 105,591 fans who endured 13 degree temps and blowing snow that fell through the entire game at The Big House. 

It was the largest crowd to ever witness a hockey game be it collegiate or professional, and the Maple Leaf fans making the five hour drive to Ann Arbor, MI went back across the border to Toronto happy after the 3-2 shootout win over Detroit.   

But of more importance to moi was what occurred during the Winter Classic second intermission, the  introduction of the 2014 USA Women's Olympic hockey team.   These are the 21 women who will attempt to earn our first gold medal in women's hockey since the 1998 squad did so at Nagano. 

Ahem, here's the Team USA women's hockey roster. for Sochi. 

Forwards: Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne, Julie Chu, Brianna Decker, Meghan Duggan, Lyndsey Fry, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Jocelyne Lamoureux, Monique Lamoureux, Kelli Stack

Defensemen: Kacey Bellamy, Megan Bozek, Gigi Marvin, Michelle Picard, Josephine Pucci, Anne Schleper, Lee Stecklein

Goaltenders: Brianne McLaughlin-Bittle, Molly Schaus, Jessie Vetter

Julie Chu made it to her fourth USA Olympic squad and is one of the 11 Olympic vets on the 2014 team.  Chu is also their oldest player at age 31.  The other ten vets who join her are goaltenders: Jesse Vetter, Molly Schaus and Brianne McLaughlin-Bittle, Kacey Bellamy, Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Jocelyne Lamoureux, Monique Lamoureux, Gigi Marvin and Kelli Stack. 

Amanda Kessel is the sister of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel (who made the men's squad) and is also on this Sochi Olympic team.  While this is her first USA Olympic team, she already knows the thrill of beating Canada in international hockey competition. 

The College Player of the Year, Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner (the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate hockey) for unbeaten NCAA national champs Minnesota scored the winning goal in the IIHF championship game against Canada last April.  

Amanda Kessel, as y'all found out on your home soil last year is all that and four bags of chips. 

Speaking of world championship winning gold medalists, 18 of the 21 members of this Sochi squad were members of the IIHL World Championship team  in Ottawa, and all 21 have played in the IIHL championships for Team USA. 

And this time a woman will be large and in charge of coaching our Olympic squad in Katey Stone.  She is the most successful coach in our NCAA women's hockey ranks as the head coach at Harvard.  She was also the head coach of the 2013 IIHF World Championship squad.

So now that our team is set, can't wait for the Olympic women's ice hockey tournament to start on February 8.  And yes Renee, February 12 is already circled on my new 2014 calendar.  

That's the day we play y'all in the final Group A match in Sochi before it heads to the medal round..   

Help Some Latina Trans Sisters Get To Creating Change 2014

As those of us on the Houston Host Committee already are keenly aware of, Creating Change 2014 will start January 29.  People will be coming from all over Texas, the country and the world to get to the Hilton Americas Hotel to enjoy our Houston hospitality and Creating Change Texas style. 

These ladies of the Trans Latin@ Coalition want to join the 4000 people we are anticipating will be there for Creating Change, but need a little help to get there.   Yours truly and my peeps on the Host Committee want to meet them.

We are trying to support 9 women from the national TransLatin@ Coalition to get to the Latino Institute at Creating Change. We have lodging for 9 women and 4 flights donated. Please make a donation to support these amazing women from local communities across the country who advocate for transgender Latin@ immigrants in the US. Donations will be matched by a donor up to $1,000 -

http://www.unionfuerza.org/home

We appreciate your support for our sisters attend this important national LGBT Latin@ day-long training.

Hope to see you in a few weeks, ladies. 

TransGriot Ten Question Interview-Kokumo Kinetic

Let's get 2014 started properly with another one of my  TransGriot Ten Questions Interviews.

Many of you have been asking me as I've been out and about in the community or e-mailed me requesting I do more of them.  Consider it a New Year's resolution to you dear readers I'm determined to make happen.

Here's the first one of many in 2014 featuring the beautiful and multitalented KOKUMO, the 'revolutionary artivist', CEO and Founder of KOKUMOMEDIA, Inc.  

She is the founding organizer of the T.G.I.F.(Trans, GNC, Intersex Freedom) Festival, the Midwest's first trans and intersex themed pride event, was one of the people named to the inaugural Trans100 List and part of the Chicago event revealing the initial names.  She's garnering well deserved attention and name recognition inside and outside our community as one of our dynamic young trans personalities. 

It's time for KOKUMO to answer the TransGriot's Ten Questions.

1. You're one of nine Chicagoans that was named to the inaugural 2013 Trans 100 List.  What is it about the Windy City that produces all these great trans activists?

KK- With all due respect, Chicago doesn't have the glamour of L.A., or pretense of New York City. We don't have Hollywood and the MTV Awards. We don't have these ostentatious industries that characterize our city or the Midwest. We just have each other. We just have our collective unmet needs and denied rights. We just have our work. Thus and such, we get busy! P.S. East and West coasters yawl know I fucks wit yawl!


2  You described yourself in one interview as an 'artivist'.  Can you elaborate on that for my readers what an 'artivist' does?

KK-There was a time in my development when I identified as an activist. That time was when I foolishly thought I could destroy the government by using government funds. That time was when I worked in the non-profit industrial complex. And that time has passed. If I have to identify as anything as of now, it will be a revolutionary. In regards to my pedagogy, an activist is concerned about a specific cause, whilst a revolutionary is concerned about all causes. Since I no longer identify as an activist, subsequently I don't identify as an "artivist". However, I do operate as a revolutionary artist. And as a revolutionary artist, my mission is to indict and dismantle racist capitalism via the mediums of music, film, and literature. Ultimately, I plan to leave a template for how to use art and entrepreneurship as tools for revolution for future generations via my production company, KOKUMOMEDIA INC.

3. When did you transition?
KK-At the age of 17 I began my mental transition. While it wasn't until I reached 21 did my physical transition begin.

4.  How did you choose you name and what's the symbolism behind it?

KK-Under the tyranny of racist capitalism, Black trans/cis women are not entitled to happiness. Still to this very day, whenever I am happy I feel an urge to see if someone is maneuvering to steal my joy. So when I finally was to rename myself, I had to give myself a name that didn't describe the person I was, but the person I wanted to become. And I want to become immortal. Not in a vainglorious way, but in a revolutionary way. After my flesh has rotted, I want the truth I believed and lived to be understood by the world. What is that you ask? I believe that as long as racist capitalism exist there will always be oppression. Why do I say that you ask? Because racist capitalism is so omnipotent that it broke the nose off the Sphinx, made Cleopatra white, Columbus a hero, Malcolm X a villain, and made Castro, satan. And racist capitalism even went so far as to make transwomen of color invisible and disposable. KOKUMO is Yoruba for, "This one will not die". I embrace and respect death, but I don't embrace or respect racist capitalism and it's history of erasure. Therefore, I named myself KOKUMO because I am determined to make sure my truth lives beyond the idiocracy that is racist capitalism. Our truths, must live beyond the idiocracies that are all oppressive governments.

5. Who were some of your transfeminine role models growing up and who are some of the people (both transmasculine and transfeminine) you look up to in our community?
KK-Sylvester! I was born the year Sylvester transitioned. I believe the universe sent me to further what Sylvester did, as it sent Sylvester to further the liberation work her fore bearers did, so forth and so on. Therefore, I believe when I transition the universe will send someone to continue the work it sent me to do. Aside from Sylvester, Angelica Ross was the first Black transwoman I saw who was a musician, and she was fly! I found out about her via Transgriot.com and couldn't comprehend her existence. She literally, was everything I was taught couldn't be. She was a transwoman musician, she's an entrepreneur, and she wasn't a show girl. And with the opportunities for transwomen in life being so limited all I had ever known were show girls. I respect and revere show girls but I had never seen an alternative. And I longed for an alternative. Drag is so widespread I thought that that was what I had to become because society wouldn't except a transwoman singing her own songs. White supremacy is interesting like that. I feel that the world will accept Madonna co-opting Black transwoman culture before it accepts an actual Black transwoman. And that's where Sylvester and Angelica Ross came into play for me. Sylvester and Angelica Ross taught me that being mainstream is relative and actually not needed in order to be successful or impactful. As a fat, Black, dark-skinned transwoman, the only way I could ever be palatable to mainstream (White America) would be if I completely nixed my pedagogy and existed for their entertainment and not my liberation. Sylvester and Angelica Ross were my biggest Black/transfeminine influences because they taught me that it's not about being mainstream to White America, but the people who look, live, and are oppressed just like you. But the most important thing that Sylvester taught me was that, "Nobody can conceptualize me, because I am the concept".

6.  As a beautiful and full figured dark skinned woman, do you believe we focus too much on how we look in the African American trans feminine community versus what's between our ears?

KK-Thank you so much. And the feeling is mutual Mama Roberts! In nature, there is duality and equilibrium. In civilization and unfortunately, most movements, there is ultimatum and dichotomy. I posit that racist capitalism has taken enough of Black people's agency as it is. Therefore, Black people don't need any more ultimatums and dichotomies. Black people shoving ultimatums and dichotomies on other Black people can't possibly help revolution, because having said tools of oppression imposed on us is what necessitates revolution in the first place. Furthermore, I rebuke any notion that trivializes or attempts to dictate to femmes/women. Femininity may be an antiquated tradition to some but it's an act of resistance and a form of spirituality for others. And the sanctity of Black/POC customs should be respected. As a proud Black, dark-skindid, fat, femme transwoman I understand the urgency of having to carve out a niche for yourself, to develop traditions and culture for yourself. Especially when your original traditions/cultures were stolen and replaced. I understand the urgency of carving out a niche for your body and your identity in a world that holds your very antithesis as the axum of beauty and subsequent worth. I don't believe the work is for Black trans/cis/POC femmes to stop prioritizing the work of defining, comprehending, and harnessing their beauty. POC femmes reconstructing, and revering our own beauty constructs is an act of revolution. I believe the work is for the government to stop imposing its beauty pathos on the bodies of people of color. I would much rather see Black trans femmes engaging in radical acts of self-love than acquiescing acts of self-abandonment such as facilitating toxic relationships where we are abused due to our sequestered proximity to the beauty construct. I think the government efficiently tricks us into always blaming each other for the reason we're oppressed, when in reality it's the government's fault. I see this argument no different than the whole pull-up-yo-pants-and-racism-will-end disposition. Oppression isn't somewhere smoking a cigarette saying, "Why don't they realize dat I'll leave em alone as soon as they stop getting $200.00 sew-ins"? Black trans femmes/women, don't need to choose between being beautiful or revolutionary. We must realize that being revolutionary is beautiful.

7. What projects are you currently involved in?
KK- As the CEO/Founder of KOKUMOMEDIA INC a Black transwoman run and operated production company. I am overjoyed to announce the projects KOKUMOMEDIA INC. has coming in 2014. We will once again do the TGI State Of The Union Address, T.G.I.F (Trans, GNC, Intersex Freedom) in July. And in 2014 the theme for T.G.I.F. will be, "Unshackling My Body". We want to have a gathering where TGI people of color talk about what our freedom will look like since we already know how oppression does. Also, KOKUMOMEDIA INC. will release my sophomore EP, "After The End". After The Ends explores what would happen if God came back not as a cis white man, but fat, Black trans woman. After The End will be a multimedia project that'll culminate via an album, play, and short film. I'm elated to announce that I'll be doing a North American tour in support of After The End. The film will be released for free via Youtube but the album will be $10.00 via iTunes. The release and tour dates haven't been solidified but if you frequent KOKUMOMEDIA.COM you'll know everything. KOKUMOMEDIA INC will also finally release my 30 minute docuplay/visual memoir, "The Faggot Who Could Fly" exclusively for purchase and screening via KOKUMOMEDIA.COM in 2014. The Faggot Who Could Fly is my story of confronting sexual abuse and racist capitalism in order to actualize my Black transwomahood. And last but certainly not least, Summer 2014 is the launch of KOKUMOMEDIA INC.'s seasonal digital publication KOKUMO. KOKUMO magazine will be dedicated to all things black, trans, and revolutionary. KOKUMO magazine will offer original content from black, trans visionaries such as Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Laverne Cox, Louis Mitchell, and Janet Mock just to name a few. We even have gotten confirmation from the revolutionary Monica Roberts. I don't know if you've heard of her or not, but she's kind of a big deal. Stay tuned for updates for all KOKUMOMEDIA INC. is doing via KOKUMOMEDIA.COM. And thank you to everyone who supports what we do now!

8.  Since Chicago is producing all these great trans activists, who are some of the people you believe are up and coming trans activists we should be paying attention to?

KK- There are so many QPTOC doing great work across the country: Sasha Alexander, Sasha Kaye, Kylar Broadus, Laverne Cox, Dr. Kortney Ziegler, Trisha Lee Holloway, Shayden Gonzalez, Janet Mock and that's just to name a few. We are on the precipice of a QTPOC Trans Renaissance! And I'm happy to be alive to witness it!9. Now you get to flip the script on me and ask me a question you been dying to find out the answer to.

KK-What's next for you Goddess?

TransGriot-That's always an interesting question for me.  Besides continuing to expose the world to the news, views and history of the trans community from an Afrocentric perspective via TransGriot, do have Creating Change 2014 coming up and the first of what I hope are many panel discussions and speaking opportunities.  

Janet Mock and a few other t-community people have been gently nudging me to write my own book, and I may explore the possibility of doing that. 

Will probably be involved in helping my hometown finally pass a trans inclusive NDO then fight like hell to keep it on the legal books.  I'm slated to make an appearance at the BTMI conference in Dallas this April, at Houston Splash (our Black Pride event in H-town) have a keynote or two here internationally and make 2014 a better year for me fiscally.   

10  Where do you see the Black trans community 10 years from now? 


KK- In ten years black trans people will become the new Hollywood film stock character. And our lives will become generally interpreted by everybody accept us. The only way we can prevent this artistic genocide is by creating our own work, branding ourselves, launching businesses, and developing industries run, operated, and most importantly regulated by us. We must set the standard for what's acceptable in regards to our media depiction just as much as we are adamant our lot in the government. The mass media industrial complex is nothing more than a by-product of the government so we must understand this approach them in tandem since they work in tandem. We can no longer have everyone profit off of us, except us. Black trans revolutionary entrepreneurship is what I'd love to see.

Happy New Year!  Thank you KOKUMO for your time and answering the TransGriot's Ten Questions!

Minister Bobbie Jean Baker Passes Away

I was stunned to hear moments ago from Louis Mitchell of the sudden passing of Minister Bobbie Jean Baker.

She was born in Memphis, TN, and overcame some challenging circumstances in her life before moving to the Bay Area in 1992.   She became an ordained minister at the City of Refuge UCC in San Francisco and served as the West Coast Regional TransSaints Minister of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, and Lay Minister at Transcending Transgender Ministries of CORUCC. 

She was the lead singer of the world renowned all transgender member Transcendence Gospel Choir for a decade

I had the pleasure of meeting Min. Baker during the TransFaith in Color conference in Charlotte in July 2012, and we touched base with each other from time to time via Miss Major.  . 

Min. Baker in addition to being a seminary student at the Pacific Religion School, was a sought after speaker and workshop leader.  She worked for several Bay Area non profits as a peer advocate, case manager, supportive housing manager, with certification as an HIV Risk Assessment Counselor and Domiestic Violence Specialist. 

Minster Bobbie Jean Baker will be missed by her ministerial colleagues in the trans faith ranks and all who loved and admired her in the Bay Area and beyond.

Rest in power and peace, sis.

As soon as I find out the details of what happened and the date, time and location of her homegoing service, I will pass them on to you.

TransGriot Update:  According to Bishop Yvette Flunder's FB page, she and Deacon Bobby Wiseman were struck by a hit and run driver after Watch Night service. Deacon Bobby is in the hospital at present and reasonably stable. Min. BobbieJean passed away at the scene of the accident.

New CDC Trans Feminine Breast Screening Policy Takes Effect

When I went to my Galveston, TX based gender clinic for my first transition medical checkup 20 years ago this April, my endocrinologist at the time Dr. Lee Emery said as I sat down in the chair at her desk, "I have good news and bad news for you. Which one do you want first?"

"Let's start with the good news," I said.
"The good news is that your chances for prostate cancer because of HRT have dropped to near zero.". 
"That's great!  What's the bad news?'
"Your chances for breast cancer just doubled," Dr. Emery said in a matter of fact tone.

So it was with that two decade old conversation in mind I hailed the December 20 CDC reversal of an old trans exclusionary policy in the wake of the October controversy stirred up after Colorado trans woman Jennifer Blair was denied a screening.

The federal early detection program offers preventive breast cancer screenings to low-income women, but had Raymondesque language in it limiting it to people who are genetically female. 

The 62 year old Blair had sought the screening after detecting an unusual growth in one of her her breasts that was found to be benign.   She subsequently filed a complaint under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act in October after being forced to leave the facility without having the mammogram that would have otherwise been covered under federal law.   

The medical studies concerning transwomen, HRT and breast cancer are ongoing, but we still need to be as estrogen based lifeforms doing regular breast self exams. 

Once you hit age 40, mammograms need to be done on a regular basis to save the boobies.  It's even more important for us African-American transwomen because we are susceptible to acquiring a type of breast cancer that is aggressive and fast growing, so it's even more important that we do so, especially if the cis women in our family have a history of breast cancer.

Cancer prevention expert Dr. Jacqueline Miller issued a memo stating "federal funds may be used to screen these transgender women."  

The memo specifies patients must be "transgender women (male-to-female) who have taken or are taking hormones and meet all program eligibility requirements."

The new CDC policy takes effect today, and will probably lead to one day saving someone's life.

Trans Community Things To Look Forward To In 2014

Many of you TransGriot readers either got dressed up to go party last night or brought in the New Year like I did.   I chilled quietly at home while nervously looking up at the ceiling hoping and praying the fools who were shooting their guns in the distance didn't prove to my detriment the Newtonian gravitational laws of physics.

What goes up (bullets) must come down.

Now that we are past the midnight hour, the ball dropped in Times Square or however you celebrated it around the world to signify that we are indeed in the early morning hours of 2014 east of the International Date Line, what do we have to look forward to as an international trans community this year as we build on 2013?

We are less than 30 days from the 2014 edition of Creating Change happening in H-town January 9-February 2.   I and my Creating Change Host Committee members are ready to roll our the pink, blue and white carpet for you estimated record breaking 4000 attendees and are looking forward to seeing those of you who can be at the Hilton Americas Hotel for the event.

The Trans 100 List is still taking nominations for the 2014 edition of the list.  Deadline to get them in is January 15, and this year nominations of international trans people are encouraged. 

While I'm on the subject of lists, the Latino LGBT oriented Honor 41 List will also be taking nominations soon, and it will be interesting to see if more than five trans Latin@s make the 2014 edition of it.

We finished 2013 with the early good news of our unjustly incarcerated sister CeCe McDonald's scheduled release from that Minnesota jail on January 13.   So we'll be anxiously watching to see if that happens along with the documentary that Laverne and Jac Gares are filming on her.

Speaking of anticipated documentaries, our community will be anxiously awaiting the release of MAJOR! that StormMiguel Florez and Annalise Ophelian are putting together.
   
We'll see the launch of Janet Mock's book Redefining Realness at bookstores near you on February 2 along with Laverne Cox's anticipated return in season two of the hit Netflix show Orange Is The New Black 

The third annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference will happen in Dallas on April 29-May 4.  The Cal for Proposals has already gone out along with asking the community for nominations for the awards that will be given out at BTAC 2014's dinner are being accepted.

On the international front, will my Kenyan sister Audrey Mbugua get the positive result she's seeking in her history making court case?  Will trans human rights on the African continent build forward momentum and wins despite meddling from US based fundie groups?

Will the Canadian Senate when they come off their extended holiday break January 28 finally do the right thing, pass Bill C-279 and finally join the list of nations that protect the human rights of its trans citizens?

And what Canadian province will be the next one that steps up to do so? 

What nation not on our radar will step up to the legislative plate and be the next one to make groundbreaking positive legislative progress on behalf of its trans citizens?  Will we see another trans MP or legislator join Poland's Anna Grodzka on that very short list of trans national legislators in 2014? 

Will we see a trans contestant in the Miss Universe pageant system in the US or elsewhere in the world during the 2014 cycle?   Another trans model rock the runway?  Another high profile trans coming out? Another trans societal breakthrough? 

We'll be watching to see if New York becomes the 18th US state plus the District of Columbia to pass a statewide law protecting the human rights of its trans citizens.  It has passed the NY State Assembly in lopsided numbers six consecutive times only to be stalled by the GOP controlled New York State Senate.  Will that finally change or will other states not on our trans human rights radar at the moment step up to the plate and do whats right for their trans citizens like Delaware did in 2013? 

We will be nervously watching to see if the California Forces of Intolerance haters were successful in forcing a statewide referendum vote on AB 1266.  If they did get enough signatures to force a November repeal vote, did the liberal progressive groups in Cali learn their lessons from the Prop 8 failure?  Do they actually have a plan and are they prepared to fight as hard as the trans community will to decisively win it?

Will my hometown chuck the embarrassing distinction of being the largest city in Texas and the US that doesn't protect the human rights of its trans citizens this year? 

It goes without saying that I'll be watching to ensure that any such ordinance should it happen will be trans inclusive.  

What cities will add their names to the lists of municipalities that value the rights of their trans citizens?

Texas trans peeps are waiting to hear the results of Nikki Araguz Loyd's appeal to the Texas 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Araguz v. Delgado case.  Speaking of legal cases we're watching in Texas, the nation and the world, will the trans people we lost in 2013 like Islan Nettles receive justice? 

Will the Black cis community, the Black Church and our legacy orgs step up and accept the challenge Carter Brown laid down?  Will they not only loudly proclaim this year that Black trans lives are just as valuable as their own but back it up with fierce urgency of now action?

Will the African-American and Latino trans communities continue to build on the progress they made in 2013?   Will our African American and Latino trans brothers finally get the media attention they deserve?

In the wake of Fallon Fox, Aeris Houlihan, and Miranda Itzayana running into loud, ignorant and transphobic resistance to them playing and participating in the sports they enjoy, will cis world finally get a grip in 2014 along with the international sporting governmental bodies and simply let us play? 

It also points out that trans human rights advances are and need to happen in the sports world, and why I unapologetically cover them.   

Finally, who will be the breakout trans personalities this year?   The surprises we didn't see coming?   The heartwarming stories we talk about and cover?

And yeah, what will the TransGriot do in 2014?

Those are the interesting things we'll get to see as we spend the next 364 days on this space rock watching the year 2014 unfold before our eyes.  

It's Another TransGriot Blogiversary-8 Years And Counting

One thing I can promise you dear reader is that you won't be disappointed. There will be times I'll make you laugh. Other times I'll touch your heart. Then there will be the occasional time or two when I piss you off. But my goal is to make you think and expose you to some of the drama that African-American transpeeps (and transpeople in general) deal with.
--TransGriot, January 1, 2006    'Happy New Year!'

That was the closing paragraph from my initial post when I started this blog on New Year's Day 2006.  Can't believe I'm still doing so almost 7500 posts later.  

New Year's Day 2014 marks the 8th year since I had the challenge issued to me by my little sis from another mother Jordana LeSesne to pick a hard date to start a blog.   Mission statement came five years later.

Jordana patiently listened to me as I griped during one of our phone conversations in November 2005 about the lack of Afrocentric trans blog in the starting to blow up blogosphere.  After listening to me complain about the situation, she asked, "So when are you going to start one?"  

She pressed me to pick a starting date for it because she knew me all too well. If I started getting bogged down in multiple projects, the blog ran the risk of getting put on the back burner.  Jordana stayed on my behind until that first post went up. 

I chose January 1, 2006 and a few moments after midnight on that date my first post went up. 

So you TransGriot readers have Jordana to thank for giving me the nudge I needed to get it started, and several awards and over 5 million hits later her faith in me and my writing skills was rewarded.

And she was right in saying our Afrocentric trans community needed a voice in the emerging blogosphere, so why not let it be mine?   You TransGriot readers have not only liked what I've had to say on these electronic pages, the 5 million plus hits tell me you take time out of your busy days on a regular basis to read what I post. 

I thank you for doing so.  

As we move into Year 8, I'm rapidly approaching the 5.5 million hit milestone along with the 7500 post one.  It's the fifth anniversary of me doing my Weekly Shut Up Fool posts y'all eagerly await every Friday.  I plan to do more of the TransGriot Ten Questions Interview posts and start doing a TransGriot Shut up Fool of the Month. 

You know if I'm invited to do so, I'll cover the conferences and events I'm able to attend, starting with Creating Change 2014, which is in H-town this year.  

And yes, to the consternation of my haters, I'll continue to tell it like it T-I-S is about the issues of the day and the things that impact Trans World and our community.  

God willing, the game plan is to do so for the foreseeable future.

Happy Blogiversary TransGriot.

Happy New Year 2014!

Happy New Year TransGriot readers! 

2013 is done, finished, exited stage left and is going to be consigned to our receding memories and discussion for future historians.

For the international trans community and my African-American trans brothers and sisters in the United States, it was a good news bad news kind of year.   

For those of us living in this moment, January 1, 2014 is not just some nebulous date, it's our today and our reality.  The question we have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves is what are we going to do to make the year 2014 a better one for us than 2013 turned out to be?   That's a question we need to ask ourselves not just on January 1, but for the other 364 days that will comprise this year as well. 

So as we take the opportunity to revel in the optimism that permeates this day, and in some cases get over last night's New Year's Eve party hangovers, let's take a moment to thank God or whatever you call the higher power that you are alive to witness another New Year's Day.

And let's make one new year's resolution that will be fairly easy for you to keep   Let's resolve that we will be better human beings tomorrow than we were when this day started, and strive to be a better human being on January 3 than you were on January 2.

To my trans brothers and trans sisters, one thing we should resolve to do in 2014 is continue to keep striving to not only build community with each other, but expand human rights for ourselves and others. 

Let's ensure that our beloved trans community leaves this year in 364 days in better shape human rights wise than when we entered it.

2013 Shut Up Fool Of The Year

In what has become an eagerly awaited by my readers New Year's Eve tradition, on December 31 I take the time to honor the person, persons or group who had a year's worth of WTF moments with the TransGriot Shut Up Fool of the Year Award.

It grew out of my weekly Shut Up Fool Awards that I started in 2009 to honor the people or groups of people who have exhibited mind blowing ignorance, stupidity, hypocrisy and cluelessness over that week

The Shut Up Fool Of The Year covers the entire calendar year from January 1 until today

To remind you of the people who have previously snagged this Shut Up Fool of the Year honor, one was 2012 winner Mitt Romney.    The previous winners were then RNC chair Michael Steele in 2009 who captured the inaugural one,  Sarah Palin in 2010 and in 2011 Herman Cain snagged the honor over some stiff competition.   

During the midyear review for the Shut Up Fool of The Year which I just inaugurated this year and will continue into the future, it was Rep Louie Gohmert (R-TX) who had the runaway lead at that point.

But what a difference six months makes.

Enough jibber-jabber, I'm going to get right to naming the 2013 Shut Up Fool Of The Year so you can go into your New Year's Eve partying secure in the knowledge you know who won it.

But first, before I announce the winner, the runners-up for this year's honor.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (Teapublican-TX),  failed (thank God) Virginia Lt Governor candidate EW Jackson, Erik Rush, Rep Steve Stockman (Teapublican-TX), The GOP (group nomination), TX Attorney General Greg Abbott (R), FOX Noise (group nomination) , Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, The Tea Klux Klan (group nomination), Rafael Cruz, Sr., Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and making a late charge for it, Bryan Fischer, Scott Lively, Megyn Kelly and Sarah Palin. 

The envelope please...

This year's 2013 Shut Up Fool of the Year is Sen. Ted Cruz  (Teabagger-TX) 

Whether it was him making an ass out of himself with his ridiculous statements, reading Green Eggs and Ham during his faux filibuster, loudly proclaiming he was going to renounce his Canadian citizenship and shill having it as of today, insulting Sybrina Fulton and the African-American community during a Senate hearing by claiming 'Stand Your Ground' laws are good for us, cheerleading the government shut down and now subsequently trying to two step away from it later, the junior senator from Alberta not only was an embarrassment to himself, but for the state of Texas.

And unfortunately we're stuck with his behind until 2018.   

On behalf of all liberal progressive Texans, Mr T says it best for all of us and what we as his unfortunate constituents would like to say to our 2013 SUF of the Year honoree to his face. 

Take it away Mr. T.


Now you can go party later tonight secure in the knowledge that you are aware of who joined our illustrious list of winners of the Shut Up Fool of The Year award.   Check back here on New Year's Eve 2014 to discover who will receive our honor next year.   Because I can promise you with 2014 being a midterm election year, I'll have plenty of candidates for it.

Happy New Year 2014*!

It's New Year's Eve on my side of the International Date Line, but for all of you west of it you are already into the first day of 2014.

I appreciate the valuable time you spent in the year that just moved on to our history books surfing the Net and landing at my cyberhome.   Thanks for you love, support and even news tips as I sought to cover trans issues not only in my own nation and the African Diaspora, but include relevant content about your corner of the globe as well.  

2013 was an interesting year for us internationally, and I hope that as 2014 unfolds it is a wonderful and fantastic year not only for the international trans community as a whole, but for all of you in your respective nations and personally.

Happy New Year, TransGriot readers!    I'll be able to join y'all in about 24 hours.

Brandon Teena Murder 20th Anniversary

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of  transman Brandon Teena along with Lisa Lambert and Phillip DeVine in Humboldt, NE in the early morning hours of December 31, 1993.

As many of you know this incident was the subject of a 1998 documentary and was covered a year later in the 1999 biopic Boys Don't Cry.

At the time of this heinous murder I was less than four months from starting my own transition.  It affected me and many other trans advocates of the time, and was another one of those seminal community moments.   The shock and anger of us over what happened to Teena galvanized the trans community into action.  We not only wanted to enure that John Lotter and Tom Nissen, the perpetrators of this crime were punished for it.

Lotter and Nissen were indeed convicted and sentenced in separate 1995 trials for the rape and murder of Teena.   Nissen, in exchange for a reduced sentence testified against Lotter, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the crime and is still on Nebraska's death row.   Lotter escaped the death penalty, but is still doing time for his part in the New Year's Eve triple slaying.  

In the wake of Teena's death, the trans community not only accelerated the process of raising our collective voices about the issues that affected us, we added the passage of trans inclusive hate crimes legislation to the human rights to-do list for our community.
 

The Latin@ Trans Year In Review

TransGriot Note: I was hoping that someone from the Latino/a trans community or an ally would step up to compile a Latin@ Trans Year In Review post.  But after one didn't materialize, I received a few requests from my Latin@ readers to do so. I'm flattered that you have expressed confidence in me to write it, and I'm doing so with input from members of the Latin@ trans community.

The Latin@ Trans community, like their African American counterparts, also experienced a year.in which they received increasing attention, faced daunting challenges and expressed optimistic hope for the future

When the inaugural Trans 100 List was released, there were ten Latin@ trans persons, Alexis Martinez, Andre Perez, Bamby Salcedo, Diego Sanchez, Drago Renteria, Harmony Santana, Ignacio Rivera, Monika MHz, Ruby Corado and Yosenio V. Lewis recognized for their contributions to the community at large.      

The Latin@ community oriented Honor 41 List created by Alberto Mendoza to bring visibility to and highlight the accomplishments of Latina and Latino LGBT people made its debut with 5 total trans persons on it.   Salcedo made that inaugural list, along with Arianna Inurritegui Lint, Maria Roman, Danielle Castro and transman Isaac Gomez.   The 2014 edition of the Honor 41 list will be accepting nominations soon

One of those persons emerging as a major community leader this year was Bamby Salcedo, the founding president of the Trans Latin@ Coalition.   In addition to leading this growing organization, she helped focus attention on immigration issues and how they affect the Latina immigrant community. 

Ruby Corado continued to build her Washington DC based Casa Ruby Multicultural Center into one that while founded to primarily serve the Latin@ trans community, serves the entire DC community and region.  That expansive vision became even more important when the THE Center that had been open since 2004 closed its doors in October due to fiscal trouble.  Casa Ruby was also recently awarded a $25,000 one year grant in November by the DC Council of Latino Affairs.

Casa Ruby also received a visit from Cuban trans activist Wendy Iriepa Diaz and her husband Ignacio Estrada Cepero on July 26 during the Washington part of their three month visit to the United States.  While in DC the Cuban couple also took a trip to Capitol Hill to visit Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) before flying back to Miami and eventually returning home to Cuba. 

Another trans Latina getting national attention besides Salcedo and Corado as a national leader was Arianna Inurritegui Lint.   She is becoming a frequent presence on Spanish language media as the Eastern co-chair of the Trans Latin@ Coalition when they discuss trans issues.

Like Bamby, she was also presenting at major conferences and conventions discussing the immigration issue and other relevant ones to trans Latinas.  Arianna just recently became a Managing Director at SunServe overseeing their Transgender Services Department.     

Trans Latin@s were making their voices heard in media outlets besides print and television.  Consuella Lopez, whose lovely face you see on the Washington DC anti-trans discrimination posters, was part of a team of trans people hosting InsighT, a trans talk radio show.    Longtime advocate, musician and actor  Mark Angelo Cummings' Transistion Radio show is getting increased attention as well.

Carmen Carrera signed a modeling contract with Elite models and in addition to sashaying down fashion runways made it clear she'd like to be a Victoria's Secret Angel.   Her fans created a Change.org petition that amassed over 36,000 signatures in an attempt to make that happen.     


El/La Para TransLatinas is San Francisco was the recipient of $200,000 in anti-violence funding to address that issue in the San Francisco Latina community.  

That issue of violence directed at Latina trans women is not one limited to the San Francisco area.  The crushing unemployment-unemployment and lack of opportunities that plague Latina trans women drives high percentages to resort to survival sex work.   Because of the perception or actual belief they are undocumented leads to high levels of abuse at the hands of customers and the police. 

Like their African-American sisters, trans Latinas are also suffering from unacceptable levels of anti-trans murders directed at them, with the worst spots for it being in Mexico, Brazil, the US, and various countries across Latin America.  

This year marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Angie Zapata at the hands of Allen Andrade, who was convicted of her murder and is rotting in a Colorado jail cell.  The waste of DNA who killed Lorena Escalera is unfortunately still at large.  But when these people are captured and prosecuted, as did happen in the Zapata case, the perpetrators of these murders are finding that they are getting convicted and going to jail for them.  

That was evidenced when Rasheen Everett was convicted and sentenced December 5 to 29 years to life for killing Amanda Gonzalez Andujar back in 2010.   That was in spite of his defense attorney John Scarpa despicably arguing that her life wasn't as valuable as others.   Fortunately the judge said otherwise.

One of the law enforcement issues affecting the Latina trans community was stop and frisk.  87% of the stops by NYPD targeted non-white people, and in that 87% stat of targeted people were trans Latinas.   They were part of the multiethnic coalition of groups in New York who protested and spoke out against the unjust policy  .        

A Latin@ Trans Year In Review wouldn't be complete without discussion of the cruel and unjust treatment of Latina trans immigrants in ICE detention centers across the country.   They are being held up to 6-9 months on average in solitary confinement, have hormone replacement therapy (HRT) withheld from them and in many cases if they haven't had genital surgery are being confined with cisgender men.with sometimes disastrous results.

Lack of access to appropriate healthcare or healthcare at all in most low cost federal accredited health Latino centers across this country drives thousands of Latino trans people to access dangerous black market treatments for transition related and primary healthcare

So yes, it has been a mixed bag year for the Latin@ trans community.  While they face some serious challenges, there are transmasculine and transfeminine leaders either already there or emerging from their ranks who are gaining a national platform to address them.

As part of our nation's fastest growing minority community, I hope their cisgender brothers and sisters recognize that my trans Latino brothers and sisters are integral parts of their community.  

While some issues are unique to the Latino trans community that need to be resolved as expeditiously as possible, there are others they share with the Latino community at large

We also hope that 2014 is also a much brighter year for the Latin@ trans community.