My MLK Day 2014 Musings

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the US federal holiday on the third Monday of the month in which we have since 1986 remembered Dr. King's January 15 birthday and contemplated his legacy cut short by an assassin's bullet.

As Rep. John Lewis tweeted this morning, "Today is a day not just to remember the legacy and sacrifice of Dr. King, but a day to reaffirm our own commitment to continuing the struggle to create the beloved community."

Yes, the trans community is not only part of that beloved community, but we have a role to play to make it a reality because the struggle to create the beloved community is our struggle, too.   We transpeople would rather be standing shoulder to shoulder with you cis peeps helping to create that beloved community instead of being told that we aren't a part of 'your community' as you rudely brush us aside.  

Been there, ain't letting that happen ever again.

Yes, we have our own ongoing human rights war that is raging, and it is one we trans humans must be tough minded enough to win again a vast array of opponents who range from right wing conservatives, our disco-era TERF enemies to haters even inside our SGL community ranks.  

We are aware of the fact that right wing haters are shifting tactics in their Culture War and increasingly using transpeople as the main focus of their hate rhetoric.  We cannot let that bull feces go unchallenged.       

As we fight for out human and constitutional rights, we also have to deal with the scourge of shame, guilt and fear in our own trans ranks.   We have to alert for trans sellouts who are willing to throw us all under the civil rights bus for their own safety, comfort and fiscal gain just to enjoy a measure of pseudo cis privilege that will evaporate the nanosecond their trans status is revealed.

We need trans people who are tough minded enough to push trans human rights forward, not peeps hiding in the shadows complaining it isn't happening fast enough as others sit by their computer terminals, twiddle their thumbs and criticize the people putting their butts on the line on social media.

As Dr. King reminded us, "Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?"

While we trans people have urgent work to do to advance trans human rights forward, we also have to be mindful of the fact that we must be diligently working to do things for others.

So what will you personally do to make the beloved community a reality?

Are you registered to vote in this important 2014 federal election cycle?   Are you going to forums when your city, state and federal reps conduct them to let them know they have a trans constituent  who is concerned not only about their own human rights but the rights of others?

Are you taking time out of your day when possible to speak in front of your city council or other governmental entity?  Are you getting involved in helping to organize community events and supporting them when they occur?  Are you passing down our community history to the younger generation?
Are you visibly living your life to the best of your ability?

For those of you who are our cis allies, are you calling out instances of anti-trans hate when they occur in your community?   Are you doing what you can to learn about our issues?   Are you forming lasting friendships and working partnerships with trans people?  Are you reinforcing the point that trans people are human beings to other cis people who haven't bought that vowel and a clue yet?

Trans people are part of the diverse mosaic of human life, and we intersect and interact with many communities on multiple levels. 

As you think about the humanity of transpeople being intertwined with that of other human beings on this planet we share, remember what human rights warrior Julian Bond said that is so apropos on this day. 

"The humanity of all Americans is diminished when any group is denied rights granted to others.”

So as this MLK Day recedes into the history books, a question we should all be pondering is how we transpeople can be intersectionally integrated into this ongoing struggle to create the beloved community that Dr King talked about, and get busy taking action to make it happen.  

Four African-American Women Make 2014 US Olympic Bobsled Team

The US men's and women's bobsled teams were named yesterday by the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation for the Sochi Games.  One of the interesting to note facts about the women's bobsled team is that it will have four African-American women on it. 

Lolo Jones did make it onto the women's team as one of the three push athletes along with fellow Olympic sprinter Lauryn Williams and Aja Evans. 

The US bobsled team drivers will be Jamie Greubel, Elana Meyers and sister Jazmine Fenlator.   

Jones and Williams by making the team also made a little sporting history by becoming the ninth and tenth Americans to make a Winter and Summer Olympics team.  Williams was a 100m silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Games and won gold in the 4x100m relay at the 2012 London Games.   

Jones will be in search of the Olympic medal that keeps eluding her.  She was on her way to victory in the 100m hurdles at the 2008 Beijing when she clipped the last one and fell.   In London she finished fourth and after being asked to try out for bobsled team made it and medaled in her first World Cup race.
  
So hopefully the Olympic medal will finally happen for her in Sochi.  She and the other US women want to keep the tradition going of a US women's sled collecting a medal in every Olympiad since the women's Olympic bobsled competition started in 2002.

The four African-American bobsled women in Jones, Evans, Williams and Fenlator will be trying to join Vonetta Flowers as African-American winter Olympic bobsled medalists.

If she does so, Fenlator would be the first to do so as a bobsled driver.

So I'll definitely be tuned in when the women's bobsled competition starts February 18-19 to see how the Team USA women do in Sochi.  
 

Today's MHP Show With CeCe And Laverne

For those of you who missed today's MHP show, you missed the first televised interview with CeCe since her release last week.  Here's the video.

2014 Williams Watch-Serena Upset

Serena's attempt to win her first Australian Open title since 2010 came to a screeching halt as she was upset by Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 3-6, 3-6 to end her business trip down under and her 25 match win streak.

Cue the racist hatred of her in the Internet comment threads in 5...4...3...2...1...

Serena was down a bit from her usual high quality tennis level while Ivanovic was playing an A+ game. 

It was just Ivanovic's day as she kept kept attacking Serena's serve and hitting forehand winners just out of Serena's reach.   She even got the net court bounces to fall her way.  

The Serena haters are crawling out of their holes now in gleeful and racist celebration, so hate on.   All I have to say is see you in Paris at Roland Garros. 

CeCe McDonald On MHP

CeCe McDonald is going to make her first post release national media appearance on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show today with Laverne Cox.

It stands to reason that it would be on MHP because in addition to being a advocate for the trans community, she was one of the few Sunday morning talk show hosts who discussed and covered the story.

This definitely will be interesting to watch.  I'll be parked in front of the TV wanting to hear what our sister has to say about what happened and the other issues they discuss. 

The Jamaican Bobsledders Are Back

There another reason I'll be watching the Sochi Olympic Games in a few weeks. besides women's hockey and hoping Shani Davis threepeats in the 1000m speed skating .

For the first time since 2002, the Jamaican bobsled team will be in the house and attempting to win a medal.

Their two man squad of Winston Watts and Marvin Dixon qualified to compete in Sochi which was the easy part. 

The hard part is getting the $80,000 they need to get to Sochi.   They wanted to enter a four man sled but funding cutbacks caused them to drop that and focus on the two man competition.

Hopefully the Jamaican Olympic Committee combined with some corporate sponsors will help them get the funding they need and be in Sochi in time to compete on February 16-17.

Because the world definitely wants to see Cool Runnings The Sequel, and Watts and Dixon deserve a chance to not only be there for the opening ceremonies in Sochi, but have the opportunity to at least compete for their country at the Winter Games.

2013 TransGriot NFL Predictions- Championship Sunday

Well TransGriot sports fans, this was the weekend myself and other Texans fans hoped that we'd be getting to for the first time in franchise history, but didn't happen for us.  Instead of playing for an AFC title they are rebuilding their coaching staff with Mike Munchak and Romeo Crennel the next rumored hires. 

Enough Texans talk, let's get to discussing the teams that did make it to Championship Sunday in the 2013-14 NFL Playoffs.  Mike and Eli's picks will be here.   

Unlike the Wildcard round in which three of the four road teams won, the script was flipped in last week's Divisional round with three of the four home teams winning.   I also got three of those four games correct, with me missing on the Carolina-San Francisco one.   

So I'm now 5-3 in the 2013-14 playoffs and have the Championship Sunday games to go.   What two teams will punch their tickets to Met Life Stadium tomorrow?    Well, let's get to the picks.

AFC Championship Game

New England (13-4) at Denver (14-3)

This one is a rematch of a November 24 regular season game that was played at Gillette Stadium in which the Patriots won it 34-31 in overtime after trailing 24-0 at halftime.   The Patriots roared back to score 31  unanswered points on its first five second half possessions to take a second half 31-24 lead. 

Manning hooked up with Demaryuis Thomas for an 11 yard TD to tie the game and send it into overtime.  After the teams traded possessions, on the subsequent New England punt by Ryan Allen it hit Denver's Tony Carter after it landed and was recovered by Nate Ebner on the Denver 13 yard line to set up the winning Stephen Gostkowski field goal for the 34-31 comeback win.
 
The Broncos can thank the Miami Dolphins and their 24-20 win over the Pats as to the major reason why this game is being played in Denver.  

It's one more go around (the 15th time) in the battle between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and this time it's for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII. 

AFC West champ Denver was the best team in the AFC all year and AFC East champ New England despite all the drama surrounding the Aaron Rodriguez mess and injuries finished with the second best record in the conference and are in their third (boo hiss) straight AFC Championship game after sending the Colts parking with a 43-22 Divisional round win.   Denver won their rubber match with the San Diego Chargers 24-17 to punch their ticket into this AFC Championship matchup. 

This game will come down to which team doesn't make the crucial mistake they will ponder the whole offseason. 

Who will hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy at the end of the game?   Because they are playing at home, Denver

NFC Championship Game

San Francisco (14-4) at Seattle (14-3)

Call Seahawks All-Pro corner Richard Sherman Nostradamus.  He predicted back in march when the Seahawks traded for Percy Harvin and the Niners matched that move with the acquisition of Anquan Boldin that both these teams would meet for a thrid time with a Super Bowl berth on the line. 

He was correct, and now it's on and poppin'. 

This is the rubber match of the season series between the NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks and their hated NFC West rivals the San Francisco 49ers, who are the defending NFC Champions and playing in their second consecutive NFC Championship game. 

They split their regular season divisional games with the Seahawks blowing out the 49ers 24-3 at CenturyLink field during Week 2 of the season and San Francisco returning the favor with a 19-17 win during Week 14.

Now these two bitter rivals are playing each other in a battle that will decide who represents the NFC in the Super Bowl February 2 after knocking off their respective divisional round playoff opponents.  

While Seattle had to hold off a late charge from the New Orleans Saints to emerge as 24-15 winners at CenturyLink Field, San Francisco marched into Charlotte and handed the precocious NFC South champion Panthers a 24-10 setback to set up this winner take all NFC title game. .

Just as the AFC Title game is a showdown between two future Hall of fame quarterbacks, this NFC one features two of the young guns in the league with contrasting styles in Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick

Both have bruising defenses, can run the football down your throat with back Marshawn Lynch and Frank Gore, and excellent coaches in Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh. 

And the fanbases hate each other, too.  

The difference in this game is going to come down to turnovers and The 12th Man.   And yep, I see Seattle taking this game and hoisting the George Halas Trophy in front of their boisterous fans.

 

2014 Williams Watch- Out Of The Doubles

It's wait until next year for any shot at capturing another Australian Open doubles crown for my fave tennis playing siblings.   Due to a leg injury suffered by Venus, she and Little Sis were forced to withdraw from the 2014 Aussie Open doubles tournament.

But the news is still all good for Serena in her march to the Australian Open singles title.   She spent another scorching afternoon at Rod Laver Arena, taking 80 minutes to knock off Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.

It's sets up her fourth round match with Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, with the winner moving on to the quarterfinals to take on the winner of the Casey Dellacqua-Eugenie Bouchard match  . 

Belize Trans Teen Killed

Because the right wing haters are losing here in the States and in Canada, in order to prove their worth to the people funding them and get victories elsewhere, they are exporting their hate overseas to Russia, eastern Europe, Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and Central America with deadly results to our TBLG people in those parts of the world.

Belize has been one of the Ground Zeroes for that hate campaign.  It has been invaded by US based fundamentalist evangelical hatemongers pimping that special brand of hate speech and seeking to aid the indigenous haters in that Central American nation fighting a three year battle to keep the colonial-era Section 53 of Belize's criminal code alive. 

The case was heard by Belize's Supreme Court of Judicature in May 2013 with the backdrop of death threats and violence aimed at local LGBT activists..

Section 53, “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any person or animal.” is an existing criminal statute that can lead to 10 years of imprisonment for private sexual acts between consenting adults of the same sex which.the constitutionality of is currently being challenged.

Because this case is being watched closely in Anglophone Caribbean nations with similar laws, the US based religious right groups went all in on this fight.  They provided legal, financial and other assistance and advice to the Forces of Intolerance in Belize trying to keep this law on the books and in the process sowed the negative seeds to keep LGBT sex illegal in as many countries as possible.

A consequence of this is while US based LGBT rights group are fixated on marriage equality,  they are losing the overall LGBT human rights battle overseas as the right wing haters cut their losses in North America and Western Europe and shift to a strategy of denying BTLG rights passage in the rest of the world. 

They are not only finding a receptive ear to their message, but the anti-TBLG hate they are stirring up in these nations they conduct these campaigns in.in the process is resulting in increased levels of anti-trans and anti-gay violence for our rainbow brothers a sisters in these nations..

That confluence of evil had fatal consequences for 18 year old trans teen  J. Sanchez, who was stabbed to death January 12 in Belize City by two assailants who approached her from behind on bicycles a few weeks short of her 19th birthday. 

The attack was captured on video and while the police are claiming it was a robbery, the family and Belizean TBLG advocates insist it was a hate crime and point to the fact nothing was stolen from Sanchez to buttress a robbery claim.

The US State Department and UNIBAM have  weighed in with statement on this hate crime in Belize. 

“The Department of State condemns the brutal killing of transgender teenager Joseph Sanchez in Belize on January 12,” US Department of State spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

“We send our condolences to Joseph’s friends and family and the entire LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community in Belize,” she said, urging Belizean authorities to swiftly investigate the killing.

“And we echo the government’s commitment to ensure that all citizens, without exception, enjoy the full protection of the law. No one should be subjected to violence because of who they are or who they love.”

Nope, but there are so-called Christians people hellbent on fomenting trouble so that is the end result. 

Shut Up Fool Awards-The Greatest's Birthday Edition

Today as I noted in an earlier post is the 50th birthday of First Lady Michelle Obama. 

January 17 also happens to have a long list of celebrities and notable persons born on this date as well. 

The late Eartha Kitt was born on this date in 1927.  Betty White turns 92.  James Earl Jones is 83. along with former Virgina Governor L. Douglas Wilder.  Maury Povich is 75, and soul singer Sheila Hutchinson of the Emotions is 61.  Comedian Steve Harvey is 57, actor Josh Malina of Scandal fame and Shabba Ranks both turn 48, actress Zooey Deschanel  is 33, the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade is 31.   Kimmy K's sex tape partner and Brandy's little brother Ray J is 32.  They are just a few of the long list of people along with the FLOTUS who were born on January 17.

Today is also the birthday of 'The Greatest', Muhammad Ali who turns 72 today.  The 1960 Olympic gold medalist and three time world heavyweight champion and humanitarian is still one of the most revered sporting figures around the world long after he hung up his boxing gloves  

And yes, I'm aware TransGriot readers that it's Friday, and y'all want me to get to our usual 'bidness' of knocking out stupidity with this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.

So in honor of Muhammad Ali's birthday, let's do this boxing style.

TKO Number One is a joint one that goes to Tennessee Teapublican state legislators Mae Beavers and Mark Pody, who introduced legislation that would prevent any state agency from cooperating in any way with the Affordable Care Act.   But laws as written have unintended consequences, and one of them might be barring people from getting the vital healthcare they need.

Sheesh, you Teapublicans hate the Black President and the ACA that much huh?  I suggest an amendment to your unjust bill that would force GOP lawmakers to undergo mandatory mental health checks, since that kind of unchecked hatred is not healthy for you.  

TKO Number Two goes to Rep. Louie Gohmert (Teabagger-TX) who jusmps off his campaign for the 2014 Shut Up Fool of the Year Award with this comment in the wake of federal judges overturning Oklahoma and Utah same sex marriage ban by  saying they need 'basic plumbing lessons'.

Gohmert Pyle needs lessons on all the things he missed while attending school such as civics, government, history, the US Constitution.... 

TKO Number Three in another GOP Texan, Denton County Republican Party chair Dianne Edmonson, who warned that Greg Abbott wasn't a lock for Texas governor this fall by unleashing the 'Abortion Barbie' epithet at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sen. Wendy Davis and bigoted shade at Lt Governor candidate Leticia Van de Putte

“So we can’t take for granted that just because Greg Abbott will have an ‘R’ after his name he will be our next governor,” Edmonson remarked. “Can y’all imagine what it would be like if ‘abortion barbie’ is the next governor? I don’t even want to think about that, so please help us elect whoever our slate Republican is starting at Greg Abbott.”
As Mr. Watts said, stay classy Dianne.   Yeah, I can imagine a Texas under a Governor Wendy Davis.  It'll be remarkably similar to the one we had under Gov. Ann Richards from 1991-1995 .   

She also vowed back on January 7 to defeat the “‘super women’ ticket of Abortion Barbie with Hispanic Sen Leticia Van De Putte.”

Texas deserves better leadership than what we've been getting from you Teapublicans.  And I vow to do everything possible Dianne.to ensure that Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte are elected on November 4 and inaugurated next January as our Governor and Lt. Governor.    As a matter of fact, it's time for me to send donations to both the Davis and Van De Putte campaigns now.
 
TKO Number Four is North Carolina Teapublican and self described 'wacko bird' Greg Brannon who is running for the US Senate against embattled Sen. Kay Hagan (D). He not only claimed he moved to the state because he was and admirer of segregationist Jesse Helms, but compared food stamps to slavery. 

Yep, you are a 'wacko bird' if you're parting your lips to make that comparison and think you deserve to be elected to the US Senate.  Take it away, Maya Wilkes.

TKO Number Five is Virginia congressional hopeful Richard Black, who wasn't paying attention in the recent GOP 'How to Talk to Wimmin' classes and probably just became the Todd Akin of the 2014 election cycle as a result. 

The current VA GOP state senator parted his lips to say that spousal rape shouldn't be a crime.  I'll bet your wife has a dissenting opinion about that. 

Virginia voters, y'all know what to do to this fool on November 4.

TKO Number Six is FOX Noise fembot Andrea Tantaros, who went on a rant about Americans not knowing their history, and milliseconds later clearly demonstrated for the world to see she was one of the history challenged people she was slamming. 

TKO Number seven is Keith Ablow, who unleashed more televised transphobic hate at the trans community in a FOX Noise column he penned in which he claimed he was 'not convinced' that trans persons were real.  Six decades of accumulated evidence both medical and visual say otherwise, fool.

I'm 'not convinced' you're a medical professional qualified to part your lips to have an opinion about mine or any other trans person's life.   So have several seats and a Long Island ice tea flavored glass of STHU.      

This week's Shut Up fool award goes to Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (Teabagger-OK), who predictably became unhinged when a federal judge (who was a Clinton appointee BTW) eviscerated their same sex marriage ban and said in a TV interview that “Homosexuality is not a civil right, it’s a human wrong,”

I also found it deliciously ironic that the judge who issued the ruling striking down the unjust law was named Terence Kern

No Sally, what's a 'human wrong' is your continued over the top homophobic hatred backed up by the legislative power you wield aimed at TBLG people in your state and beyond the borders of Oklahoma.

Don't get mad at us because one of your sons is rumored to be part of the rainbow family and allegedly came out at an Oklahoma bible college.  

And oh yeah, shut up fool!

My Mayor Got Married!

Congratulations to Houston Mayor Annise Parker and First Lady Kathy Hubbard, who made it official and put a ring on the first lady's finger.

Both of them wanted to wait until marriage equality became the law of the land in Texas, but after being in their relationship for 23 years and noting Greg Abbott and his Teapublican friends gearing up to fight the Texas flavored federal marriage cases set to take place in a few weeks to overturn the ban, they decided not to wait any longer and get married in Palm Springs, CA.

"This is a very happy day for us," Mayor Parker said in a statement. "We have had to wait a very long time to formalize our commitment to each other. Kathy has been by my side for more than two decades, helping to raise a family, nurture my political career and all of the other ups and down and life events that come with a committed relationship."

Of course Harris County GOP chair Jared Woodfill and his merry band of local homophobic haters threw shade at the happy couple, but frak 'em.  

Congratulations to the Mayor and H-town's First Lady.  May you union continue to be a long, happy and healthy one.

 

Happy Milestone Birthday, Madame First Lady

Today is the Big 5-0 birthday of First Lady Michelle Obama, who was born on this date in Chicago in 1964. 

Yeah, the folks that hate on her husband are also not happy that she, the POTUS and their beautiful daughters will be living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until January 20, 2017.

Hate on haters.  The 65,899,660 Americans who did vote for the POTUS in 2012 are very happy he and the FLOTUS are there.   .

It has been a joy to see her make history in her own right as the first African-American First Lady and basically do it her way.

It has also been inspiring to see an intelligent, beautiful sistah gracefully handle that role and represent us and our nation on the national and international stage. 

So happy birthday Madame First Lady!  May you have many more of them to come.
 

Oneal Morris Goes To Jail

Oneal Morris, who was convicted in Miami-Dade County for practicing medicine without a license in pursuit of her lucrative silicone pumping efforts, turned herself in on January 7 to begin serving the 336 day jail term she was sentenced to back in October via a plea deal.

The initial plea deal was denied because Judge Ellen Sue Venzera thought it was too light considering what Morris was being charged with 

She'll be incarcerated with the cisgender boys because Miami-Dade Corrections doesn't place you in their facilities based on your gender presentation.  With time off for good behavior Morris is scheduled to be released in October.

But the 32 year old Morris is not out of the legal woods yet.   She is facing more serious manslaughter charges in Broward County because of the March 2012 death of Shatarka Nuby, one of her longtime cisfeminine clients from what coroners labeled as "massive systemic silicone migration.".

So stay tuned to this TransGriot channel for further updates on the Morris case and what transpires in the upcoming one in Broward County.   

Told Y'all Some UT Fans Hated The Charlie Strong Hire

If you thought I was kidding about the less than warm welcome that greeted the news of Longhorn Elementary The University of Texas hiring Charlie Strong from some elements of their vanillacentric privileged, entitled and spoiled burnt orange wearing fanbase, well, you shouldn't be surprised.

UT megabooster Red McCombs, who has donated $100 million to UT, did his best Al Campanis impression when commenting of the hiring of the first African-American head coach for ANY UT men's sport.   

“I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,” McCombs said during a  interview on ESPN 1250 in San Antonio. “I don’t have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator.  

“But I don’t believe (he belongs at) what should be one of three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don’t think it adds up.”

McCombs was lobbying for former NFL coach and ESPN football analyst Jon Gruden to get the UT job. 

So tell me, how is the hiring of a coach who never had a losing record in his four years at Louisville, won a BCS bowl game, currently has a 37-15 record, won two Big East/AAC conference titles and has recruited and coached the possible number one overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft in Teddy Bridgewater a 'kick in the teeth' hire? 

Says more about Red McCombs.   And naw white peeps, don't even attempt to defend what McCombs said by using Dennis Green as a shield.   Dennis Green was hired in 1992 and was already in his sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings when McCombs bought the team in 1998, and as soon as Green had his first losing season in a decade as the Vikings coach in 2001 a year after narrowly missing a trip to the Super Bowl fired him. 

McCombs did apologize and walk back his comments, but McCombs is symptomatic of the arrogance I talk about in the UT fan base.  It's why I get gleeful enjoyment when their burnt orange wearing football team of four and five star recruits gets their butt kicked in Big 12 play or in bowl games..  

As I said in the earlier post, Charlie, good luck brother, you're going to need it.  Going to be interesting to see if they Ty Willingham you if you have one bad season there in Austin. 

About Time SNL You Addressed The Lack Of Diversity

This weekend I'm going to get a chance to see for the first time since Maya Rudolph left the show in 2007 something I've only seen four other times in SNL's 39 year history, and my watching the show goes back to its inaugural season in 1975.  

A Black woman as a cast member.

Sasheer Zamata will be joining the NBC Saturday Night Live cast this weekend in a long overdue move and congratulations to her for getting the nod after that secret audition they held last month to address their lack of diversity problem in the onscreen cast. 

What is even more important were the other hires made immediately after Zamata's. 

They addressed a problem that I made mention of at the end of my December 12 post.

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

Guess somebody was paying attention to the end of my post discussing the December audition.  Two African-American women, LeKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones were hired as part of the SNL writing team and started on Monday.

Tookes and Jones were also part of the December audition and caught the eye of SNL's producers.

They are starting as writers, but don't be surprised if you don't see them in front of the camera one day.   Tina Fey got her start as an SNL writer.  

And yeah, the white menz are hatin' already and flinging the affirmative action hire shade.   Hey, if comedy writing wasn't an exclusively white male dominated province, wouldn't be necessary for us to point that inconvenient for you fact out.  As far as I'm concerned, the more diverse the writing team, the better and anything that changes that vanillacentric dynamic is a good thing.  

One of the major reasons I stopped watching the show was the lack of cast diversity and it ceased being funny to me.  The November SNL show that Kerry Washington hosted was the first time since Maya Rudolph left I've even bothered to flip the TV to NBC to watch it. 

SNL shouldn't stop with just Black talent and writers.  There is a need to have more diversity reflected onscreen and behind the cameras.  Latinos are the largest minority group in this country, but there has never been a Latina cast member on Saturday Night Live in the nearly 40 year history of the program.  We could also use Asian cast members as well, because they are also woefully underrepresented in the show's cast.

So yes, time to get busy making that happen.  

Diversity will make SNL better, and hopefully return this iconic show to the glory days as America's preeminent comedic satire show and improve its ratings at the same time.

2014 Williams Watch-Serena's Hot!

Literally and figuratively. 



Serena took to the court at Rod Laver Arena for her second round match in the Australian Open women's singles tournament at a time when Melbourne is going through a summer heat wave. 

Yes peeps, it's summer south of the Equator.. It's a major reason why the Australian Open is the first Grand Slam tournament of the year and held in January.     

Temps hit 40 C (104 degrees) during her match and peaked at 42 C (108 degrees).   But Serena had second round business with Serbia's Vesna Dolonc, and handled it with the efficiency of Scandal's Olivia Pope.  She took just 63 minutes to blast 10 aces past her, hit 24 winners and send Dolonc to a 6-1 6-2 straight set defeat,

The win against Dolonc was her 60th match win in Aussie Open tourney play.  It ties Little Sis with Margaret Court for the most matches won at the Australian Open and helped punch her ticket to a third round match with Daniela Hantuchova.

As for the doubles, she and Big Sis have yet to play their first round match against the duo of Kristina Mladenovic of France and Flavia Pennetta of Italy but when they do, will post that result for you. 
    

Road To Creating Change Houston 2014 Diary -Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Back in May I started writing a series of posts on the blog that sought to capture my thoughts as I watched the process of putting together the Task Force's Creating Change conference unfold.

It seems like it was eons ago that we had our first Host Committee meeting at the Montrose Center on May7 and began that process by filling out the subcommittees that would do the bulk of the organizing work

Now we are an anxious two weeks away from having the conference happen and having to execute all the plans we have spent months putting together and laying out..

Speaking of having things happen, I missed the December 3 meeting because I wasn't feeling well, and that killed my chances of attending every one of the meetings from start to finish.   But I didn't need to be sharing my cold with my fellow Host Committee members either.    

But I made sure I was there for our last Host Committee meeting on January 7.   As the meeting started at the Montrose Center and we gave our respective reports, there were mixed emotions in the room.   We are excited that January 29 is rapidly approaching and we're about to host our first ever Creating Change, but sad that this was the last Host Committee meeting.   .

While I was sad that it was the last time we'd be gathering together for Host Committee meeting purposes, the work still isn't over. .  

We are still on our various committee fine tuning our programming in the hospitality suites, still promoting our conference to the people in the Houston metro area, and doing our best to get the word out that Creating Change is coming to town January 29-February 2. 

Christina had a article published earlier this month in OutSmart magazine as part of those efforts, and I don't doubt that our media team has reached out to our local media to cover CC14 when it happens


Lou was delayed getting to that final Host Committee meeting due to travel issues related to the polar vortex deep freeze gripping the nation, (and Houston was in the low 40s for a high that day) but our other co-chairs Christina, Bryan and Augie were there in full effect ticking off the reasons why this conference was poised to be the most successful ever.

Speaking of weather, we're wanting Chamber of Commerce weather for it, (sunny, 45-60 degrees) so you CC14 attendees can get the opportunity to enjoy the ice rink at Discovery Green across the street.

The temps have been all over the map this month.  It was cold earlier that Host Committee meeting week but was up to 70 degrees by the weekend. 

Just an FYI, January is our coldest month in Houston with the average temp at 53.1 degrees.  I'm not going to mention what our average rainfall is for January.   Don't want to jinx us. 

I'm getting increasing e-mail and chat messages from people who are headed here asking if I'm going to be in the house for it and other general information related questions about my hometown. 

As for the conference programming, I'm part of two panel discussions on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning during Creating Change along with handling my Racial Diversity Suite supervisory shifts on Wednesday and Thursday.   

We set a goal of 4000 attendees for it, and have already sold out not only the host hotel, but two overflow hotels.  A third overflow hotel is rapidly approaching that status.  We're still getting volunteers and know the mandatory training session is happening January 26.   So for those of you coming to Houston, you are going to be part of a record breaking all time attendance for a Creating Change Conference  
 
We smashed the all time fundraising record by raising $33,000 for this event . We have Laverne Cox coming to Houston to give the plenary speech and Nona Hendryx performing at our closing concert and I'm looking forward to seeing both of them. 

You may even see a former Creating Change attendee who happens to work at City Hall in Mayor Annise Parker.

And speaking of City Hall, it will be floodlit in rainbow colors during the conference.    

But the best thing that has come out of this experience for me in addition to the new friendships and the opportunity to see the peeps in the national and international LGBT community again, is being able to work with people who I might not have gotten a chance to meet otherwise or it may have taken a while to do so. 

That's also true of the people who I've been chatting with online for years and will finally get the opportunity to meet during Creating Change.  

Those of us who have embarked on the project of putting together Creating Change Houston style have established working partnerships that will last long after we pass the Creating Change torch to Denver and their Host Committee has the task of trying to top in 2015 what we accomplished in H-town.

Those partnerships will serve us in the local and statewide TBLG human rights battles to come..

But can't wait for January 29-February 2 to finally get here so we can roll out the rainbow carpet for you.

106 Years- Happy Anniversary AKA!

January 15 is not only the birthday of the greatest American our people have ever produced, it is also the date in 1908 on the Howard University campus the world's first sorority organized by African-American women was founded and later incorporated. 

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has grown from the original group of women led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle to an international organization headquartered in Chicago of 250,000 women of diverse backgrounds that include my mom and my sister in over 900 graduate and undergraduate chapters..   

It has now entered its second century of service to all mankind under the leadership of International President Carolyn House Stewart, who is making AKA history by not only being the first attorney to head the organization, but the first to serve a full term in the sorority's second century.

To all my TransGriot readers who are AKA's, Happy Founder's Day and happy anniversary!    

Rev. Dr. MLK Jr's 85th Birthday

Today would have been the 85th birthday of the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  

An assassin's bullet took him away from us far too soon, and I wrote about it last year in terms of what our nation probably would have seen and heard from him if he had gotten to live to be the age of many of his civil rights movement comrades.

Dr. King's 85th birthday and the upcoming national holiday brings us to another interesting set of historical anniversaries as it relates to the African-American civil rights movement.   

We just passed the 50th anniversary of LBJ's 'War On Poverty'  State of the Union Address on January 8.    June 21 will see the 50th anniversary of the murders of Chaney Goodman and Schwerner in Philadelphia, MS.   July 2, will see the 50th anniversary of LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and December 10 will mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. King receiving his Nobel Peace Prize. 

Our nation is definitely poorer for not having his voice speaking out about the issues of the day, and you know Dr. King and his Nobel laureate self would be loudly speaking about the unjust policies of the Republican Party from their attack on voting rights to their attacks on women and the poor.

And it's a day I tend to reflect on his legacy and do what I can to live up to Kingian principles in my own life.  

Happy birthday Dr. King.   You are definitely missed.   
 

Trans Woman Pumped By Armani Nicole Davenport Dies

Accused silicone pumper Armani Nicole Davenport's case in Louisiana which a trans woman she pumped ended up in a coma with a less than 50/50 chance of survival just took another serious turn.

On New Year's Day 25 year old Brenisha Hall, who has been in a coma since being pumped October 24 by Davenport with a still unknown substance, died after her body shut down.

The Dallas based Davenport surrendered to NOPD and Orleans Parish authorities November 6 and was charged at the time with negligent injuring. 

An autopsy was performed by Interim LSU Public Hospital officials on Hall with her death being ruled by doctors as a result of natural causes.  The results of that hospital autopsy were relayed to the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office via phone conversation since Hall was a Jefferson Parish resident.  The Jefferson Parish coroners office released the body and Hall was buried on January 11.

But an investigation has been launched by NOPD police and prosecutors to ascertain whether sufficient evidence exists to bring a charge of negligent homicide.   It would require a new autopsy by the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office and getting permission of the family to exhume Hall's body in order to conduct it.

"In light of the victim's death, we are re-evaluating the case at this time to see if additional charges are warranted under the law," said Christopher Bowman, a spokesman for Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.

Will keep you posted as more details emerge about this ongoing case.