Fred Is Dead

Yep, Our longtime TBLG community hater and founder of the Westboro Baptist Talabaptist Church Cult Fred Phelps passed away yesterday.   Phred is probably having a chat at this moment with, help me out Church Lady.

So to remember the man who caused so much pain, grief and anguish for people inside and outside the TBLG community and the families of our fallen veterans,  it's time for another of my song rewrites. 

So y'all know what to do.  Fire up your iPods, Spotify or your fave music program and sing along with Moni's remixed lyrics. 

Fred Is Dead
(sung to the tune of Freddie's Dead' by Curtis Mayfield)  

Hey, hey
Love, love
Yeah, yeah
Ah, ha
Fred Phelps is dead
That's what I said
Westboro Baptist Church
Was his heinous home
But gay hate was the fate
For what he became known

It's not hard to understand
There's no TBLG love for this man
I'm sure all would agree
That misery was WBC
Gaybaiting things
Now Freddie's dead
That's what I said

Hating soldiers amused him
Ripped up gays and abused them
Another WBC plan
Pushin' hate where he can
That's terrible, yo
But that's how it goes
When Fred was on your corner now
If you wanna be a hater, wow
Remember Fred is dead

We're all built up to progress
But Fred Phelps wanted to regress
Couldn't deal with human rights dreams
Fred was hateful and mean
Ain't nothing left said
'Cause Fred is dead
Hey, hey
Love, love
Hey, hey
Yeah, yeah
Ha, ha
Love, love
Yeah, yeah
Ha, ha
Yeah, yeah
Fred is dead

All want is peace of mind
With a little love I'm trying to find
This could be such a beautiful world
But hater like Fred make me hurl
Don't need to hear that bile
Don't wanna be like Freddie now
'Cause Fred is dead

Hey, hey
Yeah, yeah
If you don't try
You're gonna die
Why can't we brothers
Protect one another
No one's serious
And it makes me furious
Don't be misled
Just think of Fred
Hating soldiers amused him
Ripped up gays and abused them
Another WBC plan
Pushin' hate where he can
That's terrible, yo
But that's how it goes
When Fred was on your corner now

If you wanna be a hater, why?
Remember Fred is dead
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Fred is dead
Hey, hey
Ha, ha
Love, love
Ha, ha...

It Is Revolutionary To Be Trans

Laverne Cox was speaking tell it like it T-I-S is truth when she stated, "It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist."


And the world tries to send us that message in multiple ways.   We have the cisgender know-nothings who in spite of overwhelming visual, historical, cultural and medical evidence continue to deny there's no such thing as trans people.  Christofascists who are now trying to retool and peddle their failed ex-gay conversion therapies in our direction.   Media people who try to have disrespectful, insulting genitalia centered conversations about who they think we are without having us at the table.  

And sadly, there are the wastes of DNA who use extreme violence to kill us as we navigate the world.

Yes, it is a monumental task to try to navigate being trans in a world that can be at times brutally hostile to us. 

But one of the things that will get us through it is overcoming the shame, guilt and fear that the hostile world and others try to saddle us with by turning it into self-esteem and self love.

It is a self esteem and self love built upon a rock solid foundation of pride in being a trans person, faith in yourself and whatever you call the Higher Power and knowledge of our proud history.

I love this quote by Dr. Louise Hart in which she says, "Self-esteem is as important to our well being as legs to a table.  It is essential for mental and physical health and happiness."

While it can seem like we trans people in the borrowed words of Denny Upkins are ice skating uphill in our ongoing attempts to build that healthy self esteem in the face of a world that consistently pushes the message we don't exist, it doesn't mean that it will never happen for us either.   You can and must as a trans human being as a necessary survival strategy develop healthy self-esteem in order to navigate a world hostile to us.

We unfortunately have to work a lot harder at not only achieving it, but maintaining it.   

But when you do achieve that goal, it makes it so much easier to be out, proud of who you are and the wonderful evolutionary human being who just happens to be visibly trans you are.

When you love yourself, consistently work on building your self-esteem and live your life to the best of your abilities,  you can then begin the revolutionary process of being seen, visible and living your trans flavored life. 

If cis people inside and outside the TBLG community don't like it, tough.  They can #bemad and #staymad about the fact you are a revolutionary, and it is revolutionary to be the wonderful person of trans experience you are.  
  

Happy Birthday Minister BobbieJean!

Today would have been the birthday of Minister Bobbie Jean Baker if she hadn't been taken away from us far too soon on New Year's Day. 

Yes Minister Bobbie Jean Baker is still missed by all the people who loved and came in contact with her.   Still hard to believe she's with the ancestors now and that memorial service for her happened.   It's taken me time to realize that I won't be getting those phone calls on a regular basis from her letting me know how she's doing and asking me if I'm all right.  

The world is a sadder place without you around to brighten mine and everybody else's day.  

Happy birthday Minister Bobbie Jean!   Continue to rest in power and peace until we meet again.   

Poetic Posts II

From time to time I flex my creative writing side and write short stories or poetry. 

Most of the time I usually write poems when I'm highly pissed off and motivated to write about an issue.  

As I told the DiverseWorks crowd befroe I started reading a few of them last night, there are times when you don't need a 500-800 word essay to let the world know you're pissed off about an issue. 

That poetry I write sometimes finds its way to TransGriot.   This is the initial compilation post for some of my earlier works, and I've written a few more of them since the Poetic Post compilation was added to the blog. 

Here's the link to my next round of recent poems including the one that's gaining legendary status here called 'That Cursed Pipe' that I wrote in less than 20 minutes and performed at a local poetry slam. 

Don't Hate

Bathroom Trans Hate

Shouldn't Need To Show ID To Pee

Koomah And Stephanie Saint Sanchez Present An Evening Of Queer Voices

Later tonight I'm headed to Diverse Works to take part in an event presented by Koomah and Stephanie Saint Sanchez entitled 'An Evening Of Queer Voices'.

It's free and running from 6-8 pm at Diverse Works, which is located in Midtown at 4102 Fannin St, Suite 200 close to the METRORail Red Line's Wheeler Station.

The entrance to Diverse Works is on Cleburne St between Fannin and Main Streets near Sears. 

I'll be part of the program to talk about my writing, blogging and read a couple of my poems.  I'm also looking forward to seeing Koomah and some of the other artists on the program do what they do.

So what's DiverseWorks?   It was founded by artists in 1982 and serves as a forum for issues and works that have no other public outlet in Houston, and plays a similar role nationally.

DiverseWorks provides first-time commissioning opportunities for emerging artists, continued support for innovative mid-career artists, and acts as a launching pad for young artists and arts organizations.

DiverseWorks supports artists and projects that inspire dialogue about contemporary culture among artists, audiences, and the greater community. DiverseWorks is a local and national source for high quality experiential and progressive works of art that compel viewers to broaden their perceptions of what art is and how art can be a critical tool for addressing social, cultural, and aesthetic concerns,

They moved to their current Midtown location in 2012, and while I've passed by it on more than a few occasions while riding up and down the Red Line, this is the first opportunity I'll have to actually see the space. 

It should be a fascinating evening that i'm looking forward to.  Hope to see some of you peeps in the community there.

RuPaul (As Usual) Gives Me Another Reason To Despise Him

I've written more than a few posts about my dislike of RuPaul Andre Charles bordering on contempt for his over a decade long transphobic BS and other assorted fails. .   

I've been in Boycott RuPaul's Drag Race mode since the show started, so I wasn't surprised when word of the latest RuPaul trans fail hit my inbox. 

For this call out of Mr. Charles I need to go into Maya Wilkes mode. 

FYI Advocate, the 'shemale' term dates back to 1973 and gained widespread exposure no thanks to transphobic TERF Janice Raymond in 1979.   It was subsequently appropriated by the porn industry.

But back to riffing on RuPaul.    Last night in a ripoff of the old Maury Povich "Man or Woman' trans shows they used to run during sweeps months, in last night's Drag Race episode they ran a mini-game competition similar to it entitled 'Female or Shemale'.

As reported by the Advocate, Drag Race competitors were shown a series of photos and asked to discern as RuPaul described it between a 'biological woman' or a 'psychological woman'.

Surprised the TERF's haven't made Ru an honorary member of their little klavern yet.

I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the rampant transphobia and ignorance that oozes from RuPaul and his show including the regular usage of terms the trans community has repeatedly told the world and especially your clueless azz, are offensive to us.    

As usual, when you predictably frak up and the trans community calls your ass out on it, elements of the white gay male community come rushing to your defense. 

They either try to gaysplain how offended we in the trans community should be about this, try to justify his use of the words, start venting in the comment threads of gay themed blogs their own vanilla scented privileged transphobic commentary.or part their lips to utter the history deficient lie that trans people don't belong in 'their movement'.

And yeah, megatired of that, too.

Bottom line gay peeps, is that RuPaul has a long history of transphobia.   Just as you have told the universe that using the f-word that rhymes with maggot is a slur to your community and you rise up in unison to call people out who do, we trans folks have told y'all the terms that are offensive to our community.

We have every right to call out friend, foe and frenemy who offend us as Katie Couric, Piers Morgan, and Wendy Williams have found out over the last three months.   Right now, we have a serial transphobe in RuPaul that is justifiably getting a well deserved trans community cuss out over using a term we have repeatedly told him is offensive to our community. 


We don't want or need to hear right now ANY gaysplaining trying to justify those offensive terms usage in TBLG circles.  Neither are we in the mood right now to hear or read  comments coming from you hypocritically stating we should 'lighten up' about what RuPaul did when we have seen your community repeatedly tear people new anuses and demand their termination for saying the terms that offend you.  

We trans people determine what is and isn't offensive to our community.  You don't get to make that call.  All you get to do as our allies in this situation is respect what we trans peeps have to say about it, burn it into your brains and follow our lead.     

But once again, RuPaul (as usual) gives me and the trans community another reason to despise him.


H/T Advocate

Since When Did Transfeminine Athletes Have An Advantage Over Cisfeminine Ones?

'The Women’s Sports Foundation supports the right of all athletes, including transgender athletes, to participate in athletic competition that is fair, equitable and respectful to all--Women's Sports Foundation, 2011 'Participation of Transgender Athletes In Women's Sports '
I'm really getting beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of hearing, along with with my transfeminine athletic sisters around the world this ignorant and repeated far too often bull feces by cis people that transfeminine athletes have an advantage over their cis feminine counterparts. 

Been hearing that tired argument since Renée Richards sued the USTA in 1977 for the right to play in the US Open.  

That argument defies logic and is an insult to the competitive abilities of cis feminine athletes to suggest that a trans feminine athlete would instantly dominate whatever cisfeminine sporting ranks they compete in. 

I played varsity tennis in high school and still play from time to time.  But there is no way in Hades I can beat a Serena Williams or any professional women's tennis player even on their worst day and I simultaneously crank my game up at that moment to an A++  level.  To suggest I can simply because I showed up on the planet in a masculine body half a century ago and just show up on the court to play them is delusional.   

And speaking of Renée Richards, know how many Grand Slam tournaments she during her pro career? Same as Anna Kournikova. ZERO  Renee Richards had more tennis success as a coach for Martina Navratilova

The 'transfeminine athletes have an advantage over cisfeminine competitors' meme is one that needs to die a swift and painful death.   It is used far too often to exclude trans women from competition and has its roots in the same racist rhetoric that was used to enable discriminating against African-American athletes and justify segregated sports in the Jim Crow era. 

Dr.Eric Vilain, director of the Center for Gender-based Biology, and chief of medical genetics in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California Los Angeles, has long ago debunked the idea that transgender women who have been on hormone replacement therapy for a significant amount of time retain some sort of advantage over their cisgender counterparts:

"Research suggests that androgen deprivation and cross-sex hormone treatment in male-to-female transsexuals reduces muscle mass; accordingly, one year of hormone therapy is an appropriate transitional time before a male-to-female student athlete competes on a women's team."

But yet the ignorance, as evidenced by the recent Wendy Williams show panel and CrossFit's transphobic response to Chloie Jonsson still persists.

This from the general counsel for CrossFit:

"Chloie was born genetically- as a matter of fact- with an X and a Y chromosome and all of the anatomy of a male of the human race... [A] male competitor who has a sex reassignment procedure still has a genetic makeup that confers a physical and physiological advantage over women. We owe it to the competition and the whole pool of female athletes to exclude Chloie from the participating in the female division."

How the hell do you know what Chloie Jonsson's chromosomal makeup is?   Unless you have some special mutant powers we aren't aware of, the only way you can tell someone chromosomal makeup is by genetic testing. 

Note to the transphobic and scientifically ignorant.   XX and XY aren't the only sex chromosomal combinations that humans have.  There's XXY,  XXX, XYY, XXXY, XO...

Because of that ignorance, the California based fitness trainer was denied the opportunity to compete in the International CrossFit Games, which seeks to find the fittest men and women on the planet.

Note it didn't say fittest cis men or cis women on the planet.

Jonsson is now suing CrossFit for $2.5 million for violating the state anti-discrimination law that covers trans people.  The case is scheduled to go to court in Santa Cruz, CA in July and it would be wise for CrossFit to settle because other major international sporting organizations, including the International Olympic Committee and the NCAA have clearly defined policies and guidelines concerning trans athletes. 

Bottom line is that trans athletes not only want to, but deserve the chance to compete in sports without drama just like anyone else on this planet.   Denying transpeople that opportunity because of your transphobic bigotry and prejudice is not only wrong, but in CrossFit's case may cost them a lot of cash. 

Let my trans people play.   Let my trans people compete.  Let my trans people participate in sports without drama.

Moni's 2014 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

Since it's Women's History Month and I do have a lot of women's sports fans who peruse this blog, ever since 2008 I have been posting on TransGriot an NCAA Women's basketball tournament bracket in honor of it. 

And frankly, the other reason I do so is to show the women NCAA ballers some love, too.  

The road to Nashville begins for 64 teams this Saturday with the Final Four being played April 6-8.  I'm only 3-3 in picking the women's NCAA champs, and you can see my results for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

But bear in mind TransGriot readers I have picked the women's Final Four teams correctly in 2008, 2009 and 2012.   

Prairie View A&M has to be wondering who they pissed off on the NCAA selection committee.  For the third consecutive year, winning the SWAC women's tournament championship gets them an opening round game against the number one overall seed.   In 2012 and 2013 they opened tournament play against Baylor and now they face an unbeaten UConn. In 2011 they opened tournament play against number one regional seeded Baylor. 

Last year I picked Baylor to repeat in what was Brittney Griner's senior season but Shoni Schimmel and Louisville had other ideas.

My fellow Taurus (we share the same May 4 birthday) her little sis Jude and her Cardinal teammates merrily bombed away from the three point line and fearlessly drove the lane with attitude against my imposing Houston homegirl Griner as the Cards shocked the basketball world and escaped with an 82-81 upset victory that trashed my bracket and ended Baylor's repeat bid. 

The Cardinals rode the wave of that ginormous Sweet 16 upset and the subsequent takedown of number 2 seeded Tennessee all the way to the NCAA title game that UConn won 93-60 to capture their 8th NCAA women's title.

Well, Shoni's back for her senior season along with her little sis and Da Ville.  The Cardinals are not only motivated by that title game thumping, but like the menz are pissed off about their seeding.  They are also playing to get to their home arena the KFC Yum Center.  

Defending champs UConn enter this tournament undefeated  (34-0) and the number one overall seed.  UConn is not only determined to repeat and win their 9th NCAA title, this Huskies team wants to join the others in UConn women's b-ball history as the fifth to do so with a zero in the loss column.  

Stanford has been an NCAA elite women's basketball powerhouse.  They have made it to eleven Final Fours, were runners up in 2008 and 2010 but unlike UConn and Tennessee only have titles won in 1990 and 1992 to show for it.   My Houston homegirl Chiney Ogwumike wants to change that in her senior season and win a title for the Cardinal in the 21st Century. 

The Cardinal also feel along with some women's basketball media pundits they deserved a number one seed in this tournament.

Notre Dame is minus the graduated Skylar Diggins but are still dangerous as their undefeated 32-0 record proved.  The Irish lady ballers romped through their inaugural season in the ACC and also enter this tournament as a number one seed. 

The Irish, like Louisville are trying to make it back to their home arena for the Elite Eight round   They not only want to make it to their third NCAA final in the last four years, but this time take the championship trophy home, especially if it's at UConn's expense.

The Irish have beaten UConn seven out of the last nine times they played them, but one of those two losses was to the Huskies in last year's national semifinal game. 

Dawn Staley has been quietly building South Carolina into a national power, and was rewarded with the regular season SEC women's title. They were upset in the SEC women's tournament but still earned a number one seed for their 27-4 season long body of work.   

Will UConn, the current queens of the NCAA women's hardwoods continue to reign and execute the repeat as an unbeaten squad?  Can the Irish make that trip down I-65 south to cap a perfect season by cutting down the nets in Music City?   Can Louisville also make that short trip down I-65, make it to the final again but this time send Shoni Schimmel out as an NCAA champion? 

Or will another women's team on the rise like South Carolina or on a roll like USC crash the Music City party?    

We'll see who will be cutting down the nets at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville April 8.

Lincoln Regional

1st Round
Connecticut, Georgia, NC State, Nebraska, Gonzaga, Texas A&M, De Paul, Duke

Sweet 16
Connecticut, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Duke

Elite 8
Connecticut, Texas A&M

Lincoln Regional Champion
Connecticut

Notre Dame Regional

1st round
Notre Dame, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Syracuse, Kentucky, California, Baylor

Sweet 16
Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Baylor

Elite 8
Notre Dame, Baylor

Notre Dame Regional Champion
Notre Dame

Louisville Regional

1st Round
Tennessee, USC, Texas, Maryland, Iowa, Louisville, LSU, West Virginia

Sweet 16
Tennessee, Maryland, Louisville, West Virginia

Elite 8
Tennessee, Louisville

Louisville Regional Champion
Tennessee

Stanford Regional

1st Round
South Carolina, Oregon State, Michigan State, Florida, Penn State, Florida State, Stanford

Sweet 16
South Carolina, North Carolina, Penn State, Stanford

Elite 8
South Carolina, Stanford

Stanford Regional Champion
South Carolina Final Four Teams
Connecticut, Tennessee, Notre Dame, South Carolina

Championship Game
Connecticut, Notre Dame

2014 NCAA Champ
Connecticut

Why I Hate The 'All Politicians Are The Same' Meme

I posted a comment to my Facebook page yesterday that stated 'the bigots I was most concerned about are ones who have the power to write legislation.' 

One of the peeps who responded to that comment said something that irritates the hell out of me when I hear it along the lines of the 'All politicians are the same' meme.

It has other derivatives, such as 'all politicians are corrupt', 'there's no difference between the two parties', 'they work for the same corporate masters', et cetera.  

And all of those memes are incorrect.

I hear that meme far too frequently from predominately white people, because as any non-white American can tell you, there's a Grand Canyon sized chasm of difference between Democrats and Republicans, and anyone parroting the above memes will get the side eye from me and any other non-white person.  . 

I hate those memes for multiple reasons.   Not only are they inaccurate, they are one of the things wrong with American politics that feeds into the cynicism that breeds low voter turnout and people not participating.

And that makes the corporate interests and the conservative movement very happy, because they can only win elections when the turnout is under 50% of the electorate.

And far from being beholden to corporate interests as the lie goes, as I have seen with my own eyes on lobby trips to Washington DC, Austin, Frankfort, et cetera, politicians at all levels pay far more attention to their constituents than corporate interests. 

Can't tell you how many times I've observed in my 16 years of activism and lobbying the various lvels of government that a city councilmember, representative, congressmember or senator has kept a corporate lobbyist waiting outside his office as I and other constituents are given extra time to discuss our concerns and problems. 

I have been admitted into an office without an appointment or allowed in before our scheduled appointment started and the only thing I've done is voted for them.   I have had situations in which I have talked with legislators as they were hustling to get to the chambers to vote, or had a one on one chat with me after their council meeting or school board meeting concluded. 
  
Broad brush disparaging all politicians instead of the handful of people guilty of the criminal and nekulturny behavior that tarnishes their offices can have the effect of discouraging quality candidates who have a genuine desire to serve their fellow citizens from running.  

Pushing the 'all politicians are the same meme' can also poison the dreams of our liberal-progressive youth who are contemplating running for office someday.

The facts are that all politicians are not the same.   Just as in society, they come in all shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds and political beliefs.   Would be nice if we could add some trans politicians to the mix at all levels of government, but that's coming sooner rather than later. 

We also are quite aware of the fact we have far too many conservafools chomping at the bit to run for offices they clearly aren't qualified for so they can unleash their 'proven conservative leadership' on the rest of us who don't want it.

  
That pushing of the 'all politicians are the same' lie has opened the door to the Louie Gohmerts and others of his ilk who seem to think saying the most stupid, bigoted and outrageous stuff to their base voters combined with passing racist and punitive legislation aimed at the most marginalized people in our society is the way to go. 

So check yourself the next time you get ready to part your lips and say 'all politicians are the same'.  Put your lips in neutral and think about it before spouting that comment. 

The overwhelming evidence is that they aren't.       

Trans*cending At Black Girl Dangerous

TransGriot readers, there's another spot you'll get to read my writing besides the home blog. 

As of yesterday, my monthly Trans*cend with Monica Roberts column debuted over at the Black Girl Dangerous.blog.    

I thank BGD founding Editor-in-Chief Mia McKenzie for the invitation and the opportunity to share my writing talents with her readers and I'm looking forward to a long, satisfying and mutually beneficial partnership.

So what will I be writing about at Trans*cend?    Everything, just like I do here.  You'll get the usual tell it like it T-I-S is commentary in the column that you get here on a daily basis at the home blog

And my debut column, 'Springing Forward With Black Girl Dangerous' is up now.   Here's a taste of it. 

This election is critical because your human rights and whether liberal progressive legislation will flow from this currently gridlocked Congress in the next two years depend on you voting. Getting control of your state legislatures from the Teapublicans is a must as well.

You can read the rest of my debut column at Black Girl Dangerous. 

Moni's 2014 NCAA Men's B-Ball Bracket

I love March Madness like 'errbody' else, except when they keep showing replays of the last painful seconds of a certain 1983 NCAA tournament final game in Albuquerque.

One of the things that I've done on TransGriot is to put my men's NCAA tournament bracket up for the whole world to see, and I've done so every year since 2007.    You can also see my brackets for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 here.

Since it's Women's History Month, I also do a bracket for the NCAA women's tournament,  and that goes up tomorrow.

As for last year's NCAA men's tournament, for the second straight year I picked the eventual NCAA champion correctly (Louisville), but not without some of my regional brackets being totally trashed.

And yeah, it irritated Cat Nation to no end that the Cards won the title in a year they didn't even make the tournament and that NCAA championship trophy moved to the Louisville end of I-64.   Speaking of irritated, the defending champs are pissed off about their seeding.

Will the NCAA title stay in the state of Kentucky?   I'm saying yes.  

Later today the Journey to the Jerrydome begins for 68 teams with the First Four games tonight and tomorrow night.   For the first time since 2003 the Texas Southern University Tigers are in the Big Dance after winning the SWAC tournament championship at Toyota Center in H-town last weekend .   You'll also recognize TSU Tiger coach.Mike Davis.   If that name sounds familiar, he's the same Mike Davis that took Indiana to the national championship game in 2002.  

Wichita State became the first team since the 1991 UNLV squad to enter the tournament unbeaten but fell to Duke in the title game.    Can the Shockers shock the NCAA b-ball world and become the first champion with a perfect record since Indiana ran the table in 1976? 

Nope, they won't..

But as to who I think will be cutting down the nets at AT&T Stadium, as you can see, I'm picking a repeat champ.  I'm 4-3 so far in picking men's NCAA champs, and we'll see if I'm correct for the third year in a row on April 7.    

So enough jibber-jabber and let's get busy with this year's edition of my NCAA Men's tournament bracket.

  
First Four Games
Albany, NC State, Texas Southern, Iowa

South Regional

Second Round
Florida, Pittsburgh, VCU, UCLA, Ohio State, Syracuse, New Mexico, Kansas

Third Round
Florida, VCU, Syracuse, Kansas

Elite Eight
Florida, Kansas

South Regional Champion
Florida


West Regional

Second Round
Arizona, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, San Diego State, Baylor, Creighton, Oregon, Wisconsin

Third Round
Arizona, San Diego State, Baylor, Oregon

Elite Eight
Arizona, Baylor

West Regional Champion
Arizona

Midwest Regional

Second Round
Wichita State, Kentucky, St. Louis, Louisville, Iowa, Duke, Texas, Michigan

Third Round
Wichita State, Louisville, Duke, Michigan

Elite Eight
Louisville, Duke

Midwest Regional Champ
Louisville

East Regional

Second Round
Virginia, Memphis, Cincinnati, Michigan State, North Carolina, Iowa State, Connecticut, Villanova


Third Round
Virginia, Michigan State, North Carolina, Connecticut

Elite Eight
Michigan State, North Carolina

East Regional Champion
Michigan State

Final Four Teams
Florida, Michigan State, Arizona, Louisville,

Championship Game
Florida, Louisville

2014 NCAA Champ
Louisville

 



 

DeSoto ISD Posts Problematic Prom Dress Code

Well Trans* Class of 2014, I did warn y'all last June to be ready to fight your trans oppressors.   And word to the wise Trans* Class of 2015, you may want to start prepping now so you have a stress free senior year.   

In the eight years I've been chronicling the events of the trans community on this blog, one of the things you'll note as you peruse my archives is the frequent fights between trans students and transphobic school administrations that sometimes have to get resolved in the court system.

In the fall it's trans students having to fight the school powers that be because they were barred from having the opportunity to run for homecoming king or homecoming queen. 

Sometimes it's battles just to be able to take and put in the yearbook a senior class photo that reflects the person you are now like Jeydon Loredo had to do back in November versus the LaFeria ISD board.  

And yeah, I'm willing to bet there will be in May and June more instances of  transphobic school boards and administrators fighting tooth and nail to not allow trans students to attend their high school graduations or receive their hard earned diplomas wearing the cap and gown and clothing appropriate to who they present as now.

Now with the 2014 calendar in mid-March, thoughts are turning to prom season and the next looming high school gender expression battleground before the commencements start.     

There has been drama with prom dress codes between trans students and school administrators going back over two decades now, but it's happening far more frequently now as trans students transition earlier, assert their human rights to be themselves and school administrators cling to the gender binary like winos holding their last bottle of MD 20/20 

The DeSoto ISD in the Dallas 'burbs is the latest one to go there.   They attempted set a policy to ban cis feminine students from wearing tuxedos and men's suits and cis masculine ones from wearing prom dresses to their May 17 event.  

DeSoto ISD has every right to set those policies and general standards like requiring formal wear or barring revealing clothing.   But as written, the DeSoto ISD prom dress codes are problematic for trans masculine and transfeminine students. 

Not allowing a cis female or transmasculine student to wear a tuxedo or barring a cis male or transfeminine student from wearing a dress may subject the school to legal liability, including a sex discrimination claim under state education laws, antidiscrimination laws, Title IX or the U.S. Constitution.  

With Lambda Legal's regional office being located n Dallas, they are already on the job reminding the DeSoto ISD about what happened in the K.K. Logan case. 

Back on May 19, 2006  Logan was physically barred by her transphobic principal from entering the venue hosting her Gary, IN high school prom in feminine attire despite the fact that Logan had been presenting as female since the start of her junior year of high school.

West Side HS principal Diane Rouse probably wasn't aware the battle she was fighting that night had already been lost.  Diamond Stylz sued and won a similar court case against her Indianapolis area HS back in 1999.
 
Logan sued with the help of Lambda Legal, arguing that the school violated K.K.’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech, symbolic action and expressive conduct.

The matter was resolved in 2010, including an undisclosed amount paid to K.K. as well as revisions to the school district's dress code and nondiscrimination policies.  The Gary school district's policies were revised to contain specific protections for TBLG students.  The Gary, IN  school district also agreed to conduct training for the administration and school board members on LGBT issues and respectful treatment of LGBT people.

DeSoto ISD, it would be wise for you to make the necessary adjustments in that problematic policy before you find yourself in court on the losing end of a lawsuit. 

Stay tuned, because the 2014 prom season is coming up.  I'll be willing to bet I'll have one school district somewhere in the United States that shows its anuses before the 2013-14 school year concludes. 

H/T Lone Star Q
 

Tona Brown As Principessa

Time for a little culture, TransGriot readers!. 

I mentioned Tona Brown was performing in the DC metro area last weekend in the Puccini one act opera Suor Angelica as Principessa and lamented the fact I couldn't be there to see the performance and support her. 

Well, through the magic of YouTube, now I can, thanks to one of Tona's students who shot the short video from the audience from her cell phone.   Megathanks to her for doing so. 

In this concert version of Suor Angelica, Tona is playing La Principessa, the mean aunt who is asking Angelica on the left to give away her family inheritance so her sister can have a dowry for marriage.  Her character is reminding her how much she has shamed the family name by getting pregnant without marriage. 

Opera, the soaps before TV and the movies.

And now, here's Tona in the role of Principessa.

 

If The Trans Rights Movement Wants To Win...

Trans people of color will and must be able to lead it. 

I've been complaining for years along with other trans people of color about the senior leadership ranks of the LGBT movement looking like a Republican Party convention.  We have the same problem in the Trans Division as well. 

One of the reasons I keep saying the obvious is because it hasn't sunk in yet (or maybe it has and you continue to ignore it) is that trans people of color have since birth been at the receiving end of discrimination and oppression.   We come from people who have historically had to fight, claw and scratch just to get what modicum of human rights they do possess in his nation and have to fight even harder just to keep those hard won human rights from being rolled back. 

So we trans people of color come from a history of human rights warriors who have a tried and true playbook for winning them that we would love to execute on behalf of the trans community.   

We would like to do that in concert with our white trans brothers and sisters and our allies, but sadly some of you are more concerned with getting your lost white privilege back (which won't happen)  than working in a diverse, intersectional movement that advocates for the human rights of all of us.  

Faye Wattleton once said, 'the only safe ship is a storm is leadership'.   Trans people of color have been hit with a Category Four level hurricane of anti-trans discrimination and violence.  Because the brunt of the anti-trans discrimination and violence is being directed at our communities, we can no longer wait for you to come to your damned senses and help create that movement because we need to have things happen to eradicate and eliminate that oppression aimed at us now, not 5, 10, or 20 years from now.

That's why the status quo situation is no longer acceptable to us as trans communities of color.  If you will not willingly share power and create that movement, then we will have no option except to own our power and do it our damned selves.  

People who don't understand oppression, have been insulated from it, deny race, white supremacy and class are a component of it or believe they don't need to educate themselves about that system arrayed against us  are ill prepared to lead a human rights movement that has the herculean task of liberating oppressed trans people.   Trans people of color intimately understand those intersections, because they are negatively affected by them and have been long before they took their first testosterone shot or swallowed their first hormone to begin their.body transitions.

So it's past time that the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of those civil rights warriors be integrated into the leadership ranks of not only professional TBLG orgs, but at the regional, state and local levels if the trans rights movement wants to win.

Happy 50th Birthday Octavia St Laurent!

Today would have been the milestone birthday of one of our ballroom legends in Octavia St. Laurent.had she not gone to be with the ancestors on May 17, 2009.

Many people were introduced to her through the documentary films Paris Is Burning and How Do I Look, and if you peruse YouTube you can still see her lovely visage in some of the uploaded video from ballroom competitions of the 90's and 2k's

I also liked this salon talk one from 2005 in which she discussed the changes in her life as she was getting her hair done for the Legends Ball.

I also love this quote of hers from the June 2000 funeral of the slain Amanda Milan in which she stated during her fiery eulogy for Amanda, "Gays have rights, lesbians have rights, men have rights, women have rights, even animals have rights. "How many of us have to die before the community recognizes that we are not expendable?"



Happy milestone birthday sis!.  It's hard to believe that we are rapidly approaching five years since you exited this plane of existence.  You are still loved and missed by all the people inside and outside the ballroom community who had the pleasure of knowing you and for whom you graced with your presence. 

Continue to rest in power.