Spring Forward 2014

Wow, Daylight Savings time came early this year.

So y'all in the States know what's up.  At 2 AM Sunday morning you need to move those clocks up one hour.   You get to move them back to standard time November 2 

If you're a Republican, attending CPAC this weekend, you need to move them forward 100 years.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Send In The CPAC Clowns Edition

Looks like the #LGBTMedia14 team picked the correct weekend to NOT be inside I-495.   This week Washington DC has to contend with hordes of conservafools roaming their beloved city and the GOP Noise Machine and media coverage that goes with it. 

Yep, it's CPAC Weekend, and the 11,000 conservafools estimated to be coming to town will hear from a long list of raw meat to the conservamasses throwing speakers that includes Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI) and the junior senator from Alberta in Ted Cruz. 

And they should be providing me plenty of fodder, jaw dropping ignorance, racist, sexist and misogynistic  comments and overall stupidity to call out for next week's edition of the Shut Up Fool Awards.  . 

But let's get this week's Shut Up Fool bidness out of the way.

Honorable Mention number one goes to 2011 SUF Lifetime Achievement Award winner and soon to be retiring (thank God) Rep Michele Bachmann. (Teabagger-MN)    She parted her lips while standing at a podium flanked by Rep Steve King (Teabagger-IA) and Rep, Louie Gohmert (Teabagger-TX)  to say that Jewish Americans 'sold out' Israel.   

Gee, I'm sure the Jewish American community appreciates a Gentile telling them what their thoughts and opinions on Israel should be, especially if they don't line up with conservafool policy and talking points.  .

Honorable Mention number two is a group one for the conservafool magazine The American Spectator.

They published a piece slamming the Oscar winning movie 12 Years A Slave for not having happy slaves in it.   Seriously?   Y'all still mad y'all lost the Civil War, you didn't get to own Black people like your great-great grandparents did.or you can't hang 'uppity' Black people like me from a tree with no consequences.    Deal with it. 

Honorable mention number three goes to one of our old school Houston fools in Dr. Steven Hotze. 

The president of the Conservative Republicans of Texas in a press release supporting embattled Harris County Republocan Party chair Jared Woodfill referred to gays and lesbians as 'sodomites' when he stated in a fundraising letter “Our Founding Fathers would be furious to find out that the Constitution was being interpreted to allow sodomites to marry.”

This long time gaybaiter and brains behind the 1985 anti-gay Straight Slate unsurprisingly doubled down on the bigotry when he ranted about 'activist judges' striking down the unjust Texas same sex marriage ban desecrating our constitution. 

I have two words for Steven Hotze.  Picnic Lane.  Long time Houstonians will recognize it as the name of the street Dr Hotze was arrested for DWI on by HPD vice officers back in December 2000 that was during a sting operation on a Memorial Park cruising strip back in the day.   

Honorable mention number four goes to McNally's Pub in Beverly, IL for cutting short the performance of a blues band perfrming there because there were 'too many Blacks' in the audience.



Honorable mention number five goes to Trail Life USA, the anti-gay alternative to the Boy Scouts that got caught at one of their meetings doing a salute that looked eerily like the one that dates back to a 1930's young men's organization.

The Hitler Youth.  

Guess they'll be singing 'The Horst Wessel Song' or Das Panzerleid at their next Trail Life gathering in the original German

This week's SUF winner I'm going north of the border for, and nope, he's not Rob Ford.   It's Roy Eappen, a gay member of the (surprise surprise) Conservative Party who is a self described nine time attendee of CPAC and donates his hard earned loonies to GOProud. 

He's in DC for CPAC, and said in an interview he thinks it should be okay for people to discriminate against others they don't like.

"You see, I personally believe that you should be able to refuse people service if you don’t want to give them service. In the same way I don’t think gay people should be building cakes for the Westboro Baptist Church, I don’t think I should be forced – people should be forced – I think it’s economically stupid, but you know – I haven’t read the entire bill…

But you know, it’s – how do you tell? “If you’re gay, you can’t sit here?” How will they tell?"

Spoken like a true, white privilege addled gay conservafool. It's people like you who lend credence to what's said in non-white SGL, bi and trans circles and has us looking side-eyed at y'all that the gay rights movement is all about white LGBT people getting their lost white privilege back.

As someone whose parents, grandparents and great grandparents were on the receiving end of that Jim Crow era discrimination, who was born in a segregated hospital in 1962, and started her elementary school years in segregated schools, not no but OH HELL NO is it EVER a good thing for people to be able to discriminate against people they don't like. 

And I'm tired of hearing that bull feces come out of the mouths of white conservafools, no matter what side of the 49th parallel they live on.  .

Roy Eappen, shut up fool.

Chief Lanier, Looks Like You DO Have An MPD Transphobia Problem

While I was in DC for the LGBT Media Journalists Convening last week,  I was having such a good time with the ladies of Casa Ruby Friday night I almost blew off the reception and stayed for the group meeting they were having there.  

Had I done so, I would have had a ringside seat for the latest incident of transphobia breaking out in the Washington Metropolitan Police Department

Seems like one of those officers racistly thought that Casa Ruby shouldn't have a blue BMW Z3 to take their clients home in, much less that vehicle was too good for transpeople in a service organization to be in.

For those of you not inside the Beltway, last Friday night after I got dropped off near the Capital Hilton by her executive assistant Caprice Williams, around 10 PM EST she was driving Ruby Corado and some of the attendees of their group meeting home that night.   They were followed for ten blocks after leaving Casa Ruby's Georgia Avenue location  by an MPD unit and pulled over by the Washington po-po's. ostensibly because the vehicle was overcrowded.  

The traffic stop quickly devolved into an ugly incident in which Williams was yanked from the car, the other traumatized passengers were ordered out of the car and made to stand outside in below freezing temperatures, transphobic and homophobic slurs were uttered by the gaggle of officers gathered there, and Williams was arrested and taken to jail and held there until 4:30 AM 

The incident comes on the heels of a recently released 41 page report in which an independent task force created by the Anti-Defamation League of Washington found shortcomings in the way that Metro PD interacts with the DC transgender community. 

It also fits into a pattern of previous incidents involving transpeople of color and MPD on and off duty officers.

From Chloe Moore to Patti Shaw to the carload of transwomen fired upon by drunken off duty MPD officer Kenneth Furr, trans women, and especially transwomen of color in the District find themselves not feeling protected and served by the police officers in the city they live in.

In fact, the incident Shaw endured made it into the Amnesty International 'Stonewalled' report that details abuses of TBLG people aimed at them by the police. 

It also led Shaw in July 2012 to file a lawsuit against MPD and the US Marshal's Service. 


According to the Hate Crimes Assessment Report, it stated there is a belief in the Washington DC LGBT community that “homophobia and transphobia are widespread within MPD, with several describing it as rampant.”   That community mistrust was also reflected in MPD oversight hearings testimony  on February 27, 2013.

Interviews with members of the DC community for the Hate Crimes Assessment Report revealed that the hostility toward transgender people, especially transgender women of color, is common among many MPD officers.

“Virtually every transgender person who spoke to us at the four community meetings reported that they had been harassed or mistreated because of their gender identity or expression, ranging from acts of ignorance and insensitivity to outright hostility and overt expressions of bigotry and harassment,” the HCA report says.

And you'd be hard pressed to believe with all the transphobic incidents currently plaguing MPD that I've talked about on this blog since 2010, that once upon a time, Officer Bonnie N.Davenport was the MPD's first trans cop in 1979.

I repeat what I said in the post discussing the Kenneth Furr incident in August 2011. 

Something transphobic has been brewing in the MPD police culture for some time and Chief Cathy Lanier needs to get to the bottom of it. 

If she can't or she's getting resistance, then maybe the Department of Justice needs to get busy taking a look at what's going on in MPD and start cleaning out the transphobic rotten apples.

Transphobia is bad enough in the general population.   It's even worse and can have potentially fatal consequences when it's hiding behind a badge.


So yes Chief Lanier, you not only have a transphobia problem in MPD, it's past time to acknowledge you do and root it out.  I think the best way to start besides admitting you have a problem is to actually have some trans police officers on the MPD force again for the first time since Bonnie Davenport retired in 1991. 

Hey People, LVP's Running, Too

While the state and national attention has been focused on State Sen.Wendy Davis in her run for the Texas governor's chair, I do need to (and will continue to do so until November 4) point out there's a wise Latina running for the more powerful in Texas chair of Lieutenant Governor..

State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte is the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, and awaits the winner of what is going to be a bruising Republican primary between current Lt Governor David Dewhurst and State Sen. Dan (I'm not on ESPN) Patrick.

So yeah, it's important that LVP win this race, because the Lt. Governor has major sway over the Texas legislature as President of the Texas Senate.  The Lt. Governor picks the committee chairs, sets the legislative agenda, establishes all special and standing committees, appoints all chairpersons and members, and assigns all Senate legislation to the committee of his or her choice. The Lieutenant Governor as you witnessed during Sen Davis' filibuster, decides all questions of parliamentary procedure in the Senate. He or she also has broad discretion in following Senate procedural rules.


The Lieutenant Governor is an ex officio member of several Texas statutory bodies. These include the Legislative Budget Board, the Legislative Council, the Legislative Audit Committee, the Legislative Board and Legislative Council, which have considerable sway over state programs, the budget and policy.

The Lieutenant Governor is also a member of the Legislative Redistricting Board (together with the Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Comptroller, and Land Commissioner), which is charged with adopting a redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives, Texas Senate, or U.S. House of Representatives after the decennial census if the Legislature fails to do so.

So yeah, that office packs a lot of power with it, and it's important that Sen. Van de Putte get elected to it if Sen Davis is going to be able to move her agenda should she become the governor of the Lone Star State. 

LVP was interviewed recently on MSNBC about the upcoming campaign and asked whether this is the year that Texas finally after 20 years of GOP control turns blue.

March 6, 1857-A Date That Will Live In SCOTUS Infamy

"beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."
--Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

It would give to persons of the negro race, ...the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, ...to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased ...the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.
--Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

There are days I read those words and feel that elements of the white community in 21st century America still believe that.

Moving on to talking about this sad anniversary.  

Today is the day that Dred Scott v Sandford, one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever, was handed down on March 6, 1857.   Slavery supporting Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the majority opinion for the Court..  

It not only ruled 7-2 the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional, but held that African-Americans whether slave or free, were not citizens of the United States and had no standing to sue in court. 

Interesting to note the birthers tried to use Dred Scott v Sandford in their attacks of President Obama that has long since been overturned by the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. 

But far from settling the question of slavery as Taney hoped, the Dred Scott Decision poured gasoline on a simmering fire, exacerbated tensions between the slaveholding South and the abolitionist North, caused the Panic of 1857, split the Democratic Party, helped solidify a nascent Republican Party, encouraged the secessionist politicians in the South to make even bolder demands in support of slavery, helped grease the skids for the American Civil War that broke out three years later and laid the ground .

While Dred Scott didn't receive justice from the SCOTUS that day, his and his wife's freedom that he sued for was purchased by the sons of Peter Blow, his first owner in May 1857.   But Scott unfortunately didn't get to enjoy that freedom for long.   He contracted tuberculosis and died 18 months later on November 7, 1858.   His wife Harriet passed away June 17, 1876.

And Taney's reputation was forever tarnished by that unjust decision.  

Taney was correct on one aspect of that horrid decision.   Today I and other African Americans are not only recognized as citizens of this country (the level is still debatable) we are born in, we run for and hold public office, have those political meetings, speak truth to power, travel and live wherever we please inside the borders of this nation, vote (when the Repugs aren't trying to suppress it) and some of us even carry arms.  

But for those of us who have those freedoms, its anniversary days like this in which we need to take a step back and realize that a little over 150 years ago we didn't.    We owe our freedoms to people like Dred Scoot and countless others as Africans in America, and we have to fight tooth and nail to ensure that they are never rolled back.   

Upcoming 'Whose Beloved Community?' Conference At Emory

Definitely wish I could b in the ATL for this one, but I'm already committed to an event on the HCC-Southeast campus on one of the dates for this conference..

Emory University is hosting an international conference entitled 'Whose Beloved Community?  Black Civil and LGBT Rights Movements that is right up my activist alley. 

It is taking place on the Emory U.campus from March 27-29 which support from the Arcus Foundation  and I posted the Call For Proposals on TransGriot last March.

The role of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in both race-based and sexuality-based civil rights movements is frequently rendered invisible as a result of prevailing national narratives that present (presumed white) LGBT communities and (presumed straight) Black communities as opposing forces. 

In recent years, however, an increasing number of scholars and activists have produced work seeking to make visible the vital points of intersection and contention among the U.S. Civil Rights movement, the LGBT equality movement, and Black LGBT communities.  This work is shaped by questions related to identity formation, intersectionality, tokenism, marriage equality, the role of religion and “respectability” in African American communities, the emergence of the South as a center of Black LGBT life in the U.S., HIV/AIDS and its continuing effect on African American communities, the proliferation of a prison-industrial complex unprepared for its LGBT population, and the appropriation of the civil rights movement by the right. 

This conference seeks to make visible and critically engage the points of convergence and divergence between these two historic, overlapping, yet distinct social movements that continue to transform civil society, law, and the academy.

Should be an informative and lively discussion, and I hope it doesn't turn out to be a monoethnic event.   

Inaugural BlaqOut Conference Coming Next Month

The inaugural BlaqOUT Conference will be held April 18-19 on the UC Riverside campus!

The University of California, Riverside cordially invites all folks who self identify as Black/African American or of African descent and as Same Gender Loving, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning or somewhere on the LGBT spectrum to apply to attend. 

So what does it cost to attend BlaqOUT? 

• The Regular Registration Fee is $20 per person selected to attend and a t-shirt is included.
• The Reduced Registration Fee is $10 per person selected to attend, NO t-shirt.
• Some scholarships will be available for those unable to afford reduced registration.
• Information on paying registration fees will be sent via email to those people selected to attend BlaqOUT.
• For those receiving support from their campus (student government or departments), an invoice and W-9 form will be provided upon request.
  

The deadline to submit proposals for this inaugural conference was extended until March 9, so for those of you on the Left Coast or interested in attending this event or presenting at it, you have a little more time to do so.  Notifications of accepted proposals will occur by March 14.

The deadline to submit the online application to attend the event is April 1 with registration payment due by April 4. 

Will keep you posted as the date draws closer for this inagural event.

Maryland Trans Rights Bill Passes Senate

If you peruse my posts from the early part of 2011, you'll note a series of them in which I was part of a coalition of trans Marylanders and trans activists from different parts of the country working to get the word out and kill an unjust, unpopular and bad trans rights bill that didn't have public accommodations language in it.

HB 235 died a contentious, painful public death, and I gleefully celebrated it.     I hated being put in the position where I had to work to kill a needed trans rights bill, but killing a bad bill is better than letting it pass just so you and a organization can trumpet it as a legislative win.

Isn't that right, Massachusetts?  I also pointed out in the wake of that convoluted Maryland legislative mess the whole jacked up situation didn't have to happen .

It's now three years later.  Since then the states of Nevada, Connecticut, Massachusetts* and neighboring Delaware have passed statewide laws banning discrimination against trans people.  Baltimore and Howard counties have now joined Baltimore City (2002) and Montgomery County (2007) in barring discrimination based on gender identity.   Several other Maryland cities are also contemplating passing similar laws but unlike the gay and lesbian statewide we were cut out of in 2002, there is still no statewide anti-discrimination law in Maryland.

That might be about to change. 

Maryland is halfway down the legislative road to becoming the 18th state plus the District of Columbia to having a statewide law banning discrimination against trans* people.. 

On Tuesday the Maryland Senate voted 32-15 to pass the long overdue Fairness For All Marylanders Act, which would expand Maryland's anti-discrimination laws to protect transgender people in employment, housing, access to credit and public accommodations.

The bill now goes to the Maryland House of Delegates and if it is approved there, will go to Gov. Martin O'Malley's (D) desk for his signature. 

There's still a lot of work to do before we can definitively add Maryland to that distinguished list of states that protect the human rights of their trans citizens, and it's past time for it to happen there.

Aisha And Danielle Talk About Haters

In their latest Politini on The Grio segment, my fave DC power couple Aisha and Danielle Moodie-Mills talk about online haters and the vindictive and nasty comments they leave in comment threads across the Web. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It's Officially Wendy vs Greg

The Texas primary elections were held yesterday and it's now official.   Wendy Davis is the Democratic Party nominee for governor.  

She cruised to victory over Ray Madrigal of Corpus Christi to become the first Democratic female gubernatorial nominee since Ann Richards did so in 1990 and 1994.

Meanwhile, as expected, Greg Abbott did the same on the Teapublican side.

So now the hard part begins of getting her elected.  Now that the Repugs have stopped slinging mud at each other, they are going to turn up the GOP Noise Machine to full blast and break out the lies in their attempt to hold onto the governor's mansion.

We have eight months to go.  

Why I STILL Have A Problem With 'Dallas Buyers Club'

I was not happy about Jared Leto's Golden Globe win for playing Rayon in the Dallas Buyers Club and the tone deaf acceptance speech.while accepting his award.  

Now that he's won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for it, I'm STILL not happy, and the comments by Jean-Marc Vallée the director of Dallas Buyer Club only added to my simmering pissivity about it.

Vallée made these comments when interviewed by the CBC's Jian Ghomeshi, who asked whether he ever considered casting a transgender actor.

"Never. [Are] there any transgender actors?" he said. "I'm not aiming for the real thing. I'm aiming for an experienced actor who wants to portray the thing."

Yeah, you ignorant transphobic fool, there are transgender actors.  And pro tip: Transpeople are not a 'thing'.  We are living, breathing human beings.       

Much of the problem I have with Jared Leto is not only his transphobic director, it's also the fact that trans people like Candis Cayne, Alexandra Billings, Aleshia Brevard, Calpernia Addams, Jamie Clayton, Harmony Santana, Jazzmun, Laverne Cox and the cast of Bella Maddo have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt we can play trans and cis people on the small and silver screens, and yet these trans roles when Hollywood bothers to create them STILL go to cis men and cis women.

I have a problem with some white peeps inside and outside the TBLG community reflexively rushing to Leto's defense because we trans peeps are calling out the problematic elements of his performance.  I also have a problem with them saying how great his portrayal was and dismissing our concerns about it as usual.

And yeah, I'm in agreement with my trans brother Kortney Ziegler when he takes to task elements of the white trans community who tried to compare the Rayon role to blackface.   Not no, but oh hell no on that. 

Dear everyone who is comparing Jared Leto's performance of a trans woman to blackface, here is a tip: nothing is like blackface but blackface. And likening the drag performance of a white cis man to the humiliation of ALL black people is lazy, racist, oh, and erases black transgender people. We exist.

Amen, Kortney.   So word to the wise, cease and desist with that.  Back to riffing on Rayon   I'm not the only transwoman who has a problem with that portrayal of what even Leto himself admits is a fictional character.   And don't even go there with the line, "But Calpernia Addams was his acting coach."    It was and still is a problematic, stereotype filled performance. 

So if the character in Dallas Buyers Club is fictional, why not give a transfeminine actor who knows intimately what it is like to be a trans woman a shot at it? 

I'm also tired of hearing the BS excuse that 'Leto was a known, proven actor and the transwomen weren't."  Once upon a time Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg, Kerry Washington, Angela Bassett, Nia Long, et al were also 'no-name', unproven actors until they were given the role that showcased their talent.
We also have to have trans script writers behind the scenes writing the roles, too. Would Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope character on Scandal be the same without Shonda Rhimes writing and producing it?  We transpeople have the talent to rock any role. All we trans peeps need is the opportunity and for casting people and directors to free their minds so it can happen


Because you didn't do that, that's why it's getting panned by much of the trans community.

Miss Kentucky 2010 Comes Out

Back in 2010 Djuan Trent became the second African American woman after Lyda Lewis in 1973 to be crowned as Miss Kentucky.   She went on to place in the Top 15 during the 2011 Miss America pageant. |

Having lived in Louisville when that marriage ban stain on the Kentucky Constitution was enacted and approved by a misguided majority of voters in 2004, I was happy when federal Judge John G. Heyburn dropped the legal hammer February 12 and ordered the Bluegrass State to recognize legal out of state same gender marriages.

With the haters homophobic rhetoric running hot and heavy, Ms.Trent came out in a February 20 post at her 'Life in 27' blog.   She noted in that post:

Ideally, I would love to one day live in a society where coming out is no longer necessary because we don't make assumptions about one another's sexuality and homophobia is laid to rest. For now, that is more of an ideal than it is a reality. But if you want see that ideal become a reality and you have the courage to change history...if you want to earn some gold stars, then yes, come on out and make your presence known. People can't know that their best friend, brother, sister, co-worker, neighbor, news anchor, favorite singer, or local coffee shop barista is being oppressed and denied the rights in which their heterosexual counterparts are so happily welcomed partake, unless you open your mouth and say it.

Or the former Miss Kentucky 2010 titleholder

I wrote this comment on her coming out post 

Thank you, Djuan!

As one of your trans sisters who once lived in Kentucky (Louisville) from 2001-2010, I definitely applaud you for taking this one small step for you, but a giant leap for the Kentucky LGBT community.

You help emphatically drive home the point that LGBT people are just living their lives, following their dreams and wanting to do so without interference. 

As you pointed out, the more people we have coming out, speaking their truth and living their lives, the better. 

Since this post is about Ms Trent coming out, her words need to be the ones closing it out.  But I echo what my SGL sistah said.

I applaud those who take that step in speaking up and speaking out, because in your doing so, you create a sense of awareness amongst your friends, family, and peers, letting them know that this hits a lot closer to home than they may have realized.  You create a sense of community, letting others know that they are not alone, and giving them the courage to also speak up and speak out.

 

Go The F#&K And Vote!

It's primary election day in the Lone Star State and I'm channeling Samuel L. Jackson this morning to urge you to get your behinds up in a few hours and go vote.

"But it's a primary election." I hear you saying.  Yes, it is.  But it's important because it determines the candidates who you will be voting for on November 4. 

And one I damned sure don't want to see on my ballot in November is that LaRouchite President Obama hatin' electoral troll Kesha Rogers. 

If you're tired of GOP bull feces and want to fire everything with an (R) behind their names, the first steps to doing that is ensuring there are qualified candidates on the ballot to replace the Teapublicans with. 

The first steps to a Blue Texas and ending the unjust Texas GOP dictatorship start today, so get up, go the f#&K and vote.  Handle your electoral business before 7 PM.   For those of you who took advantage of early voting, I thank you for doing so. 

For those of you who waited until today for whatever reason, make sure you do so.  The TransGriot, the community, the state, and the nation thank you for caring enough about your community, your county and our great state of Texas and its future to do your civic duty. 

2014 LGBT Media Journalists Convening-Moni's Busy DC Weekend

Another year, another trip to Hobby Airport to board a jet plane for the 2014 edition of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.  

Once again I was pleased to receive an invitation to participate, represent my community and hang out with many of my fellow journalists and bloggers from around the country.

As the days rapidly ticked off the calendar toward my February 28 departure I found myself getting excited because this year's convening was in Washington DC.

But what I wasn't excited about was that I was leaving the 70 degree (21 C) warmth of H-town to head to a nation's capital still in the grip of winter weather and which on the day of my arrival would have a high temp of 25 degrees (-4 C)

But as usual, it wouldn't be a Moni trip without some drama in the mix.

Decided to take the bus to Hobby, and planned to leave myself time to get to the airport, check my bag and play with my new Asus laptop (thanks Samantha Master) at my gate after clearing TSA security. 

But as my bus left the UH campus and approached Spur 5 from UH University Drive, to my horror I saw standing between me and my connecting 88 Hobby Airport bus due at the Eastwood Transit Center  a trail ride plodding its way up the feeder.   

I'd forgotten that Friday was Go Texan Day, the date that all of us Houston denizens are encouraged to wear Western style clothing for the day.  It was also the date the various trail rides taking part in Saturday's parade to kick off Rodeo Houston would hit town and converge at Memorial.Park for their big campout before the last ride up Memorial Drive to downtown for the rodeo parade on Saturday.  

That little factoid was now impacting my trip out of town for the convening.  As we excruciatingly plodded along on my METRO bus headed north toward the Elgin-Lockwood intersection behind the horses, wagons and the HPD car guarding their rear, I with increasing stress looking at my watch hands tick inexorably closer to that 10:07 arrival time of the 88 Hobby bus into the transit center knowing that if I missed it, next one was not scheduled until 10:52 AM.  

That means instead of getting to Hobby at 10:30 AM and having time to check my bag and clear TSA security, I wouldn't be getting there until 11:17 AM, a few minutes after boarding started for my 11:45 AM nonstop on Southwest to DCA.  

I got to the Eastwood Transit Center at 10:06 AM and did my FloJo impression to the 88 Hobby southbound bus bay on the opposite side of where I got off of my initial bus as the 88 Hobby entered the transit center exactly 60 seconds later. 

Good thing I did make it because as it turned out my Southwest flight left early and arrived at the gate in DC at 3:15 PM EST.

I arrive at Washington National's (I refuse to call it Reagan National) Terminal A and after scooping up
my checked bag, called Ruby Corado to let her know I'd arrived.   She sent her executive assistant Caprice Williams to get me and take me to Casa Ruby after detouring by the Capital Hilton to allow me to check in, dump my bags in my room and head over there.

When I arrived at the Capital Hilton which is on 16th and K Streets two blocks from the White House, I noted as we pulled into the driveway police officers positioned on the roofs of adjacent buildings.  When I got out with my bags I noted a larger than normal doorman presence, multiple police cars parked on both sides of 16th Street, K-9 and other units in the lobby.  Didn't know until later that the DNC Winter Meeting was also being held at that location.



After depositing my bags in my 7th floor room, spending an enjoyable two hours with Ruby catching up with her life post Creating Change 14, getting a tour of the facility, hanging out with many of the people there, and saying hello to my Latina trans sisters who were arriving for a Friday support meeting, 6:30 PM comes way too soon and it's time for Caprice to take me back to the Capital Hilton.    

The game plan before I arrived in DC was for me spend some time at Casa Ruby, then head back to the hotel and change from my travel clothes into something nicer so I could attend the opening event of the Convening, the reception at the AFL-CIO building two blocks up the street. 

The reception would give us a chance to connect with and catch up with each other before the keynote speech by MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell and we dove into the full day of seminars Saturday.
  
However, while I was at the Georgia Avenue location of Casa Ruby, the security plan for President Obama's speech to the assembled DNC Winter Meeting masses was being executed.   Two blocks from the hotel we ran into it and Caprice had to drop me off.

I also found out the next day Caprice just three hours after she dropped me off would be involved in another ugly incident of Washington Metro Po-po's fracking with non-white transpeople that I'll discuss in a separate post.   

While I was gone the POTUS arrived at our hotel to speak at the DNC meeting and it was on lockdown.  I ended up across the street from the Capital Hilton  at 16th and L St but wasn't allowed to cross the street at that point by the officer stationed there.   The peeps inside weren't being allowed to leave either.  

After twenty chilly minutes in that corner I finally got the idea along with a Hilton hotel employee standing there with me trying to get to work to just simply walk in the opposite direction to 17th Street, go to K St, and them come back up to the hotel that way where the police officer was letting people through a security checkpoint set up there.     

So as I executed my Plan B to get to my room while making a new friend, we arrive at the hotel doors just as they release it from lockdown and I end up running into Will Kohl, Viktor Kerney and several other people in the #LGBTMedia14 crew trying to get down the street to the AFL-CIO building for the reception..

So I get to the building moments later and start running into all the peeps I know like Bi Net USA's president Faith Cheltenham, Dr. Kortney Ziegler, Kimberley McLeod of Elixher, TLC's Masen Davis, Daniel Villarreal, Rebecca Juro, media trainer extraordinaire Joel Silberman, Reina Gossett, Mike Rogers and Autumn Sandeen.  I also begin to get introduced to others who were there for the first time like Ebone Bell, Dyana Bagby of the GA Voice, Brynn Tannehill, Trish Bendix of AfterEllen and Dana Rudolph of Mombian.

After some animated conversation in the lobby with various people including my Lone Star homegirl Cristan Williams and some tasty finger food, it was time to head into the room to start the portion of the evening's events that would lead up to Andrea Mitchell's keynote.

After several speeches, the reading of a proclamation from Washington Mayor Vincent Gray, and opening remarks from Sarah Blazucki, Matt Foreman and Bil Browning, with Bil telling his humorous story about how he met Andrea, he yielded the podium to our keynote speaker for the evening.

Michell discussed several topics during her speech such as international issues, her journalism journey, and a shoutout to her MSNBC colleague Rachel Maddow.

But the major theme was human rights progress, the progress of the LGBT movement and our roles in making that happen.

When her speech concluded, she opened the floor to questions before yielding the podium back to Bil who made a few announcements concerning the White House tour that would happen tomorrow and what we could not bring with us before concluding the reception. 

Saturday dawned sunny and cold as a group of us bounced from the hotel at 7 AM to make the two block walk over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and take part in the tour that was set up for us. 

Let's just say I will never complain about the TSA security at the nation's airports ever again after undergoing the gauntlet you have to go through just to get into the White House for the tour.

But it was fascinating to see the White House and all those rooms that I have up to this point only seen in photos or on television. 
  
After the conclusion of the White House tour, we headed back to the Capital Hilton to begin the long day of #LGBTMedia14 seminars which ironically were across the hall from the DNC Winter Meeting.

After the announcements from Bil and Matt Berger about the media trainings and the scenario that they were setting up for it, the rest of us not signed up for one introduce ourselves to the rest of the room and were challenged by Bil to come up with not more than three words to describe ourselves.  

Mine: Texas Trans* Troublemaker

The first seminar that kicked off at 9:20 AM was Mythbusters: Understanding and Deconstructing The Lies of the Anti-LGBT Industry with Nathaniel Frank, Joel Silberman and Masen Davis as panelists and moderated by Matt Foreman 

Loved Masen Davis pointing out the lack of Rachel Maddow show coverage of trans issues by stating. "Rachel Maddow, it's time to say the words 'transgender'."  He also pointed out that only 11 percent of Americans know or are friends with a trans person, and that gives anti-trans messages more power.   Joel Silberman also made the point that responses to opposition should be according to our message, not their framing of the issue.

That discussion ran until our 11:00 AM break, and 20 minutes later we dove into the second seminar of the day moderated by Erin Rook entitled What We Don't Talk About: Radical Methods For Greater Diversity In Queer Journalism with panelists Reina Gossett, Robyn Ochs and Paul Kawata.

There was an interesting discussion dominated by HIV issues and bisexual erasure issues hat ran right up to lunch time. I asked Reina the question of if the LGBT media was doing a better job of covering trans issues and also reminded the people in the room that "'POC LGBT people do not have the luxury of separating our ethnicity from our LGBT status."

That took us to our lunch break at 12:50 PM, and while I was out fixing my plate ran into Earl Fowlkes, who I met during CC14 and was here for the DNC meeting.  He told me that he'd just left the DNC LGBT caucus one and everyone was in high spirits and enthused about the upcoming 2014 midterms.   We also got visited by Dana Beyer and DNC member Babs Casbar Siperstein

We came out of the lunch break with Rebecca Juro introducing our next speaker, DREAMer Lorella Praeli, who talked about immigration reform for a few moments before heading into our 2:10 PM Trish Bendix moderated panel entitled Geek Tech: The Future Of LGBT Media with Tyler Chance and Kortney Ziegler.  

Kortney got to talk about Trans* H4CK for a few moments before launching into along with Tyler developments in tech world that affect bloggers and the LGBT community.

After our snack break at 3:40 PM, we headed into the final panel discussion moderated by Sarah Blazucki entitled: Airing Our Dirty Laundry: Best Practices in Airing Touchy Subjects with panelists Mara Keisling, Darlene Nipper and Steven Thrasher.

And yeah, we did touch on race in that discussion, in which I made the point that the LGBT community does have a race problem that we need to solve.  I reiterated the point I made earlier that  POC LGBT people don't have the luxury as our white counterparts do of separating their race from the rainbow community status and don't want to.  Because of the LGBT Two Americas and white privilege, there are times non-white LGBT people are going to see things differently like the Piers Morgan interviews with Janet Mock
 
That brought us to the wrap up and feedback portion of #LGBTMedia14 that Daniel Villarreal moderated in which we threw out suggessions for topics to cover at the next convening.     

One I would like to see is a TBLG sports one which I believe is sorely needed as more trans and SGL athletes come out like Fallon Fox, Michael Sam, Brittney Griner and others.  In addition to trans, bi and SGL athletes we also have trans and SGL sportswriters like Christina Kahrl and LZ Granderson who would be perfect panelists for it 

We in the BTLG media ranks need to be able to bust the myths and lies of the haters and also explain to the community that our LGBT athletes are trailblazing heroes and sheroes, too.

That wrapped up at 6:00 PM and I dashed up to the room to get ready as I would get not one but two visitors wanting to hang out with me in Tona Brown and Candace Montague. 

Candace I met briefly during OUT On the Hill 2012, but we were finally going to get to spend some quality time together.   She'd already gotten a commitment from me to go to dinner with her, which was the reason I didn't go to the meetup at the Green Lantern.  

I know a lot of peeps in DC who the nanosecond I mentioned I was coming inside I-495 were blowing up my Facebook page and phone wanting to know when, what day and time. Some I couldn't catch up with like Imam Daayiee Abdullah and Kristopher Sharp.

And pro tip: In Ruby's case, she made sure she got her quality time in by grabbing me at the airport.   

Speaking of the airport, I started hearing rumblings about flights being canceled because of the approaching winter storm Titan, and called Southwest reservations to make sure my flight was still alive for Sunday.  If it hadn't been, I was looking at the prospect of spending an extra day or two in a snowed in Washington D.C.

I got checked in for my return non-stop to Houston (hallelujah) and got back to the business of prepping for my dinner outing with Candace and Tona.

In Tona's case I've known and talked to her for almost ten years, but we'd never officially met until that night.  Candace was coming to get me at the hotel at 7 PM and Tona rolled up from northern Virginia at 6:50 PM just as I made it downstairs to the lobby.

Tona has an amazing announcement to make about an upcoming event she's planning that I'm sworn to secrecy on, but as soon as the details are finalized I will announce to you what our classically trained history making mezzo soprano vocalist is up to.    

Candace arrives and we head over to Georgia Brown's for a wonderful dinner and even better conversation as I got my crabcake grub on.

When I come to DC, next to Five Guys, destroying somebody's crab cakes in the area is a must.   And yeah I do need to knock off my DC Bucket List a trip to Ben's Chili Bowl.

Just as quickly as it started, the LGBTMedia14 weekend drew to a close with the monument bus tour in which I and the other peeps on the bus with moi passed by the Newseum (another place I want to go) and the future site on the National Mall of the under construction National Museum of African American History and Culture slated to open in 2015. 

We also passed by the Canadian Embassy which wasn't hard to miss with all the Canadian flags on it.  I'm shocked they didn't put monster sized posters of the men's and women's Olympic hockey teams on the Pennsylvania Avenue side, too.

We returned back to the hotel after stopping at the Jefferson and MLK memorials and passing the Lincoln, World War II, Korean and Vietnam Veterans memorials and rolling by the White House, the US Capitol building, the OAS headquarters, and other major federal agency buildings.   .

My busy weekend in DC came to a close with me catching up with Ruby again, having lunch with her at a local pupuseria and finding out what the hell happened Friday night before she took me to DCA.

After hearing her side of it and from Caprice, I pointed out that the po-po's probably (racistly) assumed that the BMW Z3 SUV owned by Casa Ruby and full of trans folks minding their own damned business was stolen, and that a couple of magnetic Casa Ruby logo signs would end that BS. 

I also found out the interesting point that Metro PD Chief Cathy Lanier talks a good game about eradicating transphobia in her MPD force, but Friday's incident, the Kenneth Furr and Patti Shaw cases and a recently released report compiled by  the  Anti-Defamation League says otherwise.

As I chatted with Ruby, I noted the skies above DC becoming increasingly cloudy and the temp starting to drop, which let me know the cold front was starting to arrive in the area.

Well another busy LGBT Media Journalists Convening has come to a close, and as of today we don't know where it's going to be held in 2015.   But wherever that place is, sure hope one of the peeps getting an invite.for it is me. 

Back In H-town From #LGBTMedia14

After another exciting weekend and destroying some Pappas barbecue to celebrate my safe airborne arrival at Hobby, I'm back from my trip inside the beltway for the 2014 edition of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.

So what were my takeaways from this trip?

*That elements of the community have a serious beef with GLAAD on multiple layers
*We DEFINITELY need to have deep, ongoing discussions concerning race and class issues in the TBLG community, and non-white LGBT people need to be leading it.
*There needs to be more discussion about bi issues
*Trans issues are at critical mass, but we also need to have those discussions about various issues in the SGL community. 
*The discussions around HIV need to happen again.
*We need to have the discussion about why senior leadership in GLBT non-profit complex leadership organizations look like the GOP ranks, and come up with a plan to fix it.
*I have a lot of people in LGBT Media World reading TransGriot (and I thank you for that).
*The #LGBTMedia14 hashtag must have been trending because out came the trolls, including the 2014 SUF Lifetime Achievement Award winner the Bug.
*I get as much love in Black SGL, bi and trans circles as I give to them.
*I'm getting increasing love from 'errbody' else because I fight for everybody's human rights.
*A TBLG sports conversation needs to happen.
*A BTLG religion panel needs to happen
*Dan Savage is still reviled by the other letters of the community. 

I arrived back home exhausted, but energized and excited to see how this year in LGBT media develops.   I know I'll have an important role to play in shaping how that happens. 

Now I need some sleep.
       

The 2014 Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Award Winners Are...

It's that time again, TransGriot readers!  

Welcome to the 2014 edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Awards

Since 2010, during Oscars Weekend I add another five people to the list of folks who just take it to the next level on SUF recognition.

These fools among us repeatedly exhibit their world class levels of stupidity, ignorance and rank hypocrisy so often that a Shut Up Fool Weekly Award or a Shut Up Fool of the Year just doesn't do them justice

By winning this award, they get retired from regular weekly SUF consideration, but if they say something off the charts stupid, they will be called out.

Thanks to those of you who sent in nominees for this year's award.

The envelope please.   Oooh..this is so exciting.   

The members of the Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Award Class of 2014 are:

Cathy Brennan
Group award for the TERF's
Bryan Fischer
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
Ted Nugent

The LGBT Media Journalists Convening-The Big Day

I'm in the Capital Hilton house for the big (and long day) ahead of me for this 2014 edition of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.  

Last night we had the reception in which MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell was our keynote speaker.

And while you're reading this, I should be getting my beauty sleep  

I'll be up early so I can bounce from the hotel at 7 AM ET to do the White House tour, then head back here to start the first of several sessions of this business trip.

You can keep up with our impressions concerning what's happening by checking our Facebook page for the convening or checking #LGBTMedia14 on Twitter.

Besides the White House tour, we have media training covering topics such as countering the lies of our anti-LGBT opponents, technology, immigration reform, diversity in TBLG media, and best practices for writing about touchy subjects.

Told y'all this was a business trip.

100 LGBTQ Black Women You Should Know

Thanks to Autostraddle for this post of 100 LGBTQ Black Women You Should Know just in time for the last day of Black History Month and segues nicely into the start of Women's History Month in March.

Check it out and get your learn on.    There are some trans women included in this post as well.

Shut Up Fool Awards-2014 LGBT Media Convening Edition

As you TransGriot fans are reading this I'm winging my way to Washington National Airport (I refuse to call it Reagan National) and the East Coast to participate in the 2014 edition of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.

It's my second one, and I'm pleased and honored to be heading inside I-495 to represent myself and my community at this fifth annual event.  

If you wish you keep up with moi and what happening, you can check out the media convening's Facebook page or our Tweets at the hashtag #LGBTMedia14.

I'm excited to be catching up with all my journalistic and blogging colleagues and as many of my friends in the Washington DC area I can possibly squeeze quality time in with.

Since this is Friday, I know y'all didn't surf over here at this 12 noon CST time to hear me jibber-jabber about the convening.   Y'all came here to find out who gets smacked with this week's Shut Up Fool Award.  

And remember, at 7 PM Sunday night I reveal who the five new fools are in the 2K14 who received TransGriot SUF Lifetime Achievement Awards.

So let's get to it..

Honorable Mention number one is a group award to the Arizona Legislature's GOP majority who tried to pass a Religious Right To Discriminate bill.   When the righteous condemnation came down upon their heads, three members who voted for it claimed they made a mistake and then urged Gov. Jan Brewer to veto it, which she did mainly because it would have cost Arizona millions plus the Super Bowl had she done so. 

Honorable Mention number two is Paula Deen, who put her Southern fried foot in her mouth once again and stated that her attempt come back from all her self inflicted drama was 'just like that black football player coming out.'

Umm Paula, flag on the play.   First up hon, if you're going to compare your situation to someone else, learn their name.   Second is Michael Sam being gay and trying to make the NFL is in no way analogous to your  n-word uttering Confederate flag waving drama that destroyed your media empire and resulted in BlackTwitter calling your azz out.   

Michael Sam inspires people.  You inspired revulsion and derision. 

That's a nice segue into Honorable Mention number three, who is Washington DC lobbyist Jack Burkman, who tried to pimp a bill that would ban gay players from the NFL.  

”We are losing our decency as a nation,” Burkman said in a statement. "Imagine your son being forced to shower with a gay man. That’s a horrifying prospect for every mom in the country. What in the world has this nation come to?”

NFL players who rob, shoot, kill, drive drunk and sexually assault people are okay, but an openly gay one in the locker room isn't? 

You're right.  What is this nation coming to?    

Honorable Mention number four is one I have to go to the Lone Star State for in Tom DeLay.   He parted his lips on national television to say that 'God created this nation, wrote the constitution and it is based on Biblical principles. 

Tom, guess you been sniffing those pest control fumes again.   It was the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that wrote the Constitution that created this nation that was is, hopefully if we fight to keep it that way, a secular government that as Article 11 of the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli states and was unanimously ratified by Congress:


“the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion…”

The Treaty of Tripoli, 1797 – Signed Unanimously by Congress

   
Honorable Mention number five is a group award for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Ugandan MP David Bahati and hate minister Scott Lively.    Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill crafted by Lively and introduced in the Ugandan Parliament by Bahati that is a huge setback for Ugandan democracy, and is sadly going to result in LGBT people or people falsely accused of being LGBT being killed, injured or jailed. 

And it's even more reprehensible that Museveni and Bahati claim that Uganda is a Christian nation while trying to justify this law that will unleash untold terror on their fellow citizens as Scott Lively cackles and dreams of the day they can do the same thing on US shores.   .  .  

May y'all rot in hell for the unjust law that you are unleashing on Uganda.
 
This week's Shut up fool winner is Rep Louie Gohmert (Teabagger-TX)..  I guess since Texas Independence Day is coming up March 2, he had to unleash his Lone Star conservaignorance upon the world since he has competition with the junior senator from Alberta.     . 

This week Gohmert Pyle unleashed the howler during a Wednesday radio interview that "African-Americans had fought in the Civil Rights Movement for the right to support an Arizona bill (SB 1062) that would protect businesses which discriminate against LGBT people on the basis of “religious freedom.”

He also endorsed SB 1062 BTW for challenging the 'Religion of Secularism'

But back to slamming Louie for his radio interview. 

WTF?   Naw Louie, we went through the Civil Rights movement to throw off the yoke of oppression aimed at us by people who looked like you.  Many of those East Texas oppressors are your constituents who are still mad that they can't do what they used to do to 'nigras' back in the day and get away with it. 

So after going throw 246 years of chattel slavery hell, and another 100 years of oppressive Jim Crow segregation, there is no way in hell those of us who remember that history would willing sign up to oppress someone else. 

But I guess that's in the GOP nature. 

Louie Gohmert, shut up fool!