Tiq and Laverne on Katie Today

Yesterday it was Laverne Cox making an appearance on the Wendy Williams Show. 

Today it's Tiq Milan and Laverne appearing on the Katie show to discuss  ‪#‎justiceforjane‬ and the criminal justice system, healthcare and healing in the trans community.

Check your local listings and the Katie website for time and station.

We remember what happened the last time Laverne was on Katie's show.   Let's hope the discussion goes a little better this time around. 

Being Trans Is A Choice...Yeah, Right

When the news broke that R. Kelly's child  Jay is part of Team Trans, I was happy for him 

But what I was NOT happy about was seeing once again the rampant transphobia that broke out in the hip hop and Black gossip blog world ranks.   Serial transphobe Sandra Rose once again unleashed her transphobic ignorance in this situation, and with bitter transphobic poison starting to spread to other gossip blog outlets, had to comment.

I've already called out Sandra Rose's azz on these electronic pages, and trying to talk sense to her or the other Black gossip blogs that traffic in transphobia is like trying to talk to a brick wall.   None of them want to get a clue or 'ejumacate' themselves on trans issues, so they get the same level of disrespect I gleefully heap upon conservafools.

Moving on because school is in session.   I'll riff on those kneegrow transphobes later

For the last month I've been hearing and seeing in comment threads this tired spin line that being trans is a choice.   Um, no.   Medical science increasingly says otherwise.  If you actually believe that BS because of your Christian lifestyle that being trans is a choice, I have a question to ask you  

Can you tell me the exact date you decided to live your cismasculine or cisfeminine lifestyles?  

Umm hmm, that's what I thought.   If you always knew you are and were a cismasculine or cisfeminine person, what makes you think we didn't know we were trans from an early age? 

I'm unapologetically Black and trans.  While it's been twenty years for me being publicly out about it, bottom line I as the research shows, the way I look at life love and everything else is shaped by a thought process that is undeniably female despite being born in a masculine body.  


But I got to the feminine body part as quickly as I could, and Jay Kelly is doing the same thing in the transmasculine direction 


As for the being trans is a choice part?  Yeah, right. 

'The New Black' Debuts On PBS Sunday

Ironically as we were fighting to pass the HERO, across the street from City Hall at the Houston Public Library downtown branch the Houston premiere of Yoruba Richen's film The New Black was being shown. 

The HERO fun didn't end until 8 PM, way after the film ended, and I was bummed about missing it

I'll finally get a chance to see it thanks to my local PBS station.    The New Black will make its debut on PBS's Independent Lens show this Sunday June 15 at 10 PM ET / 9 PM CDT.

It focuses on the marriage battle in Maryland the Black community conversation around it. and features a few people I know. 

I'm definitely going to be tuned in for it, and hope you'll watch as well.   

Laverne's On Wendy Williams Show Today

You may wish to check your local listings or the Wendy Williams Show website to find out when it comes on in your area, but a trans programming note for you.

Laverne Cox will be appearing on the show today to discuss the new season of Orange Is The New Black, her role as Sophia, and her thoughts about being the first trans person on the cover of TIME magazine.

And yep, after the last trans fail, I and the trans community will be watching to see how Wendy handles this interview.

Better Worry About The 2014 Midterm Elections First

One of the things that is irritating me in liberal-progressive world is people who are obsessing about the 2016 presidential elections and whether Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party nominee for POTUS. 

Frak the 2016 election right now.   Better focus on the 2014 congressional MIDTERM election first and treat them as if your life depended on them because they do.

What happens in 2014 will play a major role in setting up how the political landscape sets up for 2016.   And word to the wise, remember in 2006 there were people saying that Hillary was cruising to the nomination in 2008.  Gee, wasn't it some skinny guy with a funny name who ended up with the nomination and as POTUS a few months later?  

Frankly, I don't care about Hillary, November 8, 2016 or presidential politics right now.  That's two years into the future.  We have far more important electoral 'bidness' coming up on November 4.     

As a Texan, I'm more concerned about getting Wendy Davis in our governor's mansion, Leticia Van de Putte in the vitally important Lt. Governor's chair and getting my home state out of the clutches of the Tea Klux Klan.

I'm more concerned about electing Democrats to every office we can up and down the ballot in the Lone Star State, in Harris County and the other 253 counties in this state.    

I'm more concerned about defending our Democratic Senate majority and taking the House back from the Republicans.  All we need is a gain of 18 seats and John Boehner and the Teapublicans will really have something to cry about in January 2015. 

In the US senate, Alison Lundergan Grimes has an excellent chance to knock off Mitch McConnell in  Kentucky.  We have a chance to pick up senate seats in Mississippi and Georgia. We have Democratic senators in tough races like Mary Landrieu in Louisiana and Kay Hagan in North Carolina that will need help and votes to hold those seats since the GOP needs to flip only six seats to take control of the Senate.

And if the Republicans gain control of the Senate while maintaining control of the House, you can bet 2015 will be spent wasting time on bogus impeachment proceedings of President Obama instead of passing needed legislation.  
 

We have a chance to add good Democratic governors and kick bad ones out in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin

So I don't want to hear another syllable uttered about Hillary until November 5, especially since she hasn't even officially declared she's a candidate for the presidency.

First things first.   We have five months left, and we need to be getting people registered to vote so we can bumrush the polls this fall.  We need to be burying the conservalies under an avalanche of facts.  GOTV efforts need to be planned.  We need to be telling anyone who will listen they need to be participating in this critical election and why.   We need the same level of 2012 turnout or better to win, so let's get busy making that a reality. 

First things first.   Focus on the 2014 midterms, then when that is over we turn our attention to 2016 and holding the White House.

CBS Stories Of Transgender Children

This is the CBS News story on trans kids that was broadcast this morning.

Hypocritical Houston Christian

Team HERO and all of us who supported the passage of our newly minted human rights ordinance were surprised to hear that one of the kneegrow ministers used by Dave Welch as his spokessellouts has been revealed to be an accused sexual harasser.

You know what they say about when you dig a hole for others....

So it occurred to me this situation was just begging for a song rewrite, and I ran across the perfect song for it.  

So y'all know the drill.   Fire up your iPod's and favorite music programs as you sing along to Moni's remixed lyrics

Hypocritical Houston Christian
(sung to the tune of  'Happy Birthday Mr. Christian' by Apollonia 6)

Discrimination in H-town, needs to be dealt with fast
Mayor Parker proposed the HERO, and the ordinance needs to pass
Megachurches hated it, and played up transphobic fears
In their attempt to kill HERO, they trotted out bathroom smears

Hypocritical Houston Christian, that's what y'all like to do
We want human rights coverage, it's us you wanna screw
A man in your position, U oughta be ashamed
Hypocritical Houston Christian, why can't U live up 2 your name?

It was only late April, but the lie developed quick
The Pastor's Council and the sellout claimed all transpeople were sick
While the Christians lied on us always, transfolks were in pain
News dropped he was a sexual harasser, that's when the narrative changed

Hypocritical Houston Christian, that's what y'all like to do
We want human rights coverage, it's us you wanna screw
A man in your position, U oughta be ashamed
Hypocritical Houston Christian, why can't U live up 2 your name?

Hypocritical Christian, U're a bad boy
That's not in my job description ... shame
Hypocritical Christians, U're a bad boy
Why can't U live up 2 your name?

Your sins were in the report form
The OIG laid your case out this way 
You're an accused sexual harasser
And that crap is not okay
When Mayor Parker called your butt out
Was a riddle 2 everyone
Except your accuser
The mayor, OIG and you son 

Hypocritical Houston Christian, that's what y'all like to do
We want human rights coverage, it's us you wanna screw
A man in your position, U oughta be ashamed
Hypocritical Houston Christian, why can't U live up 2 your name?

Hypocritical Houston Christian
What are we gonna do?
We want human rights coverage
It's us you wanna screw

No tengo tiempo para jugar {I have no time 2 play games}
Necesito un hombre verdadero, no metido {I need a real man, not a liar}
Always a man
Tú sí que no te enteras, chaval, OK? {U don't understand, boy, OK?}
Qué hacemos? {What are we gonna do?}
Habla fuerte que no te oigo! {Speak louder cuz I can't hear U!}
Christian! Christian! Christian!

Oh Hypocritcal Christian, U're a bad boy

Christian
Give me some horns, oh
I like it

Christian! {x4}

Hypocritical are U, Hypocritical are U
Hypocritical Houston Christian, Hypocritical are U

Hypocritical Houston Christian

Southern Baptists Considering Officially Hating On Trans People

When I lived in Louisville, my house was across the street from the odious Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.   I woke every morning in my upstairs bedroom with a view of the married student quarters of the seminary and its administration building.

To the Louisville activist and TBLG community, they were the 'Bad Seminary' because of the Southern Baptist denomination's ultra conservative views, loud and wrong opposition to LGBT rights, support of slavery and Jim Crow segregation and their more than a century old penchant for being on the wrong side of human rights fights.

The 'Good Seminary', the nearby Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary by comparison has been the lead sponsor and host of Louisville TDOR events since the inaugural one was held there in 2002.

In an interview Dawn Wilson and I had the pleasure of doing with Angie Fenton in the Louisville Courier-Journal back in 2006, Albert Mohler. the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was quoted as saying  "Only God has the right to determine gender."  He then added "any attempt to alter that creation is an act of rebellion against God."

So yeah, they've been hatin' on transpeople for a long time, and now they are taking it to another level. 

A proposal by Denny Burk, an influential SBC member and an associate professor of Biblical studies at the Southern Baptist Seminary's Boyce College, would commit the SBC to openly lobby against all laws protecting trans people and commit them to fighting the trans human rights movement.  .

Guess the SBC didn't learn a thing about being loud and wrong in their support of slavery, segregation,  fighting the African-American civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's and the LGB one.

The Southern Baptist Church obviously isn't aware of intersex people, the increasing mountains of evidence that transsexuality is a medical issue, the fact there have been some interesting mutations pop up at times, there are more human chromosome combinations beyond XX and XY, and gender identity is more complex than the simplistic binary way they wish to believe it is. 

And transphobic bigotry wrapped in selected scriptures is still transphobic bigotry.
 

This SBC trans hate resolution would potentially be voted on at their upcoming convention in Baltimore on June 10-11.  It is ironically the same week that just a short drive up I-95 the trans community will be gathering in Philadelphia June 12-14 for the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, the largest transgender convention in the United States.     

If the Southern Baptists do vote to continue their denomination's legacy of hate and being on the wrong side of human rights struggles, we in the trans community would have no choice but to strike back in the culture war we didn't start for our humanity and human rights.

'Rebellion against God' my azz.  It's more like we transpeople are standing up against white privilege laden conservafools and bigots who wish to continue twisting scripture for their own political purposes and agenda.  

And far from attracting new people to attend your SBC affiliated churches, which have had a sustained two decade long fall in membership, you'd drive even more people away with this anti-trans stance. 

RIP Kandy Hall

I've been able to avoid doing this for six months.   But unfortunately the odds were good that one of our transsisters was going to be killed somewhere in this country before the year was out.

The first trans person murdered this year in the United States (unless I missed one somewhere) took place in Baltimore, MD on Tuesday.   

The person who was killed was 40 year old Kandy Hall.   Her body was found Tuesday in a field on Fillmore Street near a post office and school in northeast Baltimore. 

A reward is now being offered for information that leads to an arrest in Hall’s murder.

Last year 29 year old Kelly Young was found dead in east Baltimore, and unfortunately her killer has yet to be brought to justice.   

But back to discussing Kandy.  So far people have been unable to contact relatives to notify them of her death.  I'll be in contact with my Baltimore area folks who will keep me updated on any news related to this case  or any memorial services planned.

Also looking for pics of Kandy if anyone in the Baltimore area has them. 

Rest in power Kandy.   Your transfamily will not rest until justice is served in your case.  

The Day I Died

This is a guest post from my Canadian homegirl Michelle Dumaresq that she wrote in response to the Ryders Eyewear ad controversy.

Dear Ryders Eyeware people,

Hi there, my name is Michelle Dumaresq, I'm a former professional downhill mountain biker and a transgendered woman.  I really hope that whomever reads this will pass it on to the people that make decisions at Ryders.

Firstly I'd like to say thank you for the second apology (the first one really sucked) and retraction of the offensive "I'm a man" ad. I don't usually get involved in these types of issues within the trans community but given that I grew up riding the north shore mountains and have been wearing Ryder products for so many years, I felt like I finally had to say something.

I'm not sure if you remember a few years ago when I was racing on the world cup circuit but my involvement caused a bit of a stir in the cycling world. I won three Canadian women's DH championships and represented Canada at the world championships four times. I feel like I broke ground for trans women everywhere.   

I thought I'd share a story that I have rarely ever told anyone. It's called 'The Day That I Died.'  I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.

The location was Whistler for the 2005 Canadian DH champs. The three favorites were Claire Bushar, Danika Schroter and me. I was fit, strong and riding at the top of my game. I knew that I had a real chance at winning my third Canadian championship. My parents had never seen me race before so they came, my life partner and her kids were there as well. The energy in Whistler was over the top. Awesome. The race went as expected (it was really close) but I came out on top and I had my third title. How I died came an hour later.

When I started racing I faced a backlash from many of the women that I was racing against. I guess this was not unexpected but I loved what racing brought out of me so I really wanted to continue. I tried really hard to explain to the women that I was racing against that I didn't have an unfair advantage but not many embraced that explanation. I continued to race but as you can imagine I faced a fair amount of discrimination and intolerance. It wasn't until I started racing at the international level that a new threat became evident. I had attracted a lot of attention in the media after I made the national team, all around the world. I quickly found myself in Europe, alone, traveling all over racing my bike. I was never part of a factory team so I funded my own racing but I never realized how vulnerable I would be. People in Europe had seen me on TV and when they would pass me on the street they would point or yell something in a language I couldn't understand. I kept racing. I had men follow me to the hotel I was staying at. I had my bikes tampered with. I kept racing.

One night in Austria I had a dream before the last world cup race of the year. In my dream I beat Sabrina, Tracey and Marla. I finally won a world cup race. In my dream I got up on stage, climbed to the top spot on the podium, I heard the Canadian national anthem playing and I got my rainbow stripes. At that moment a man broke through security, climbed on the stage, jumped on the podium and cut my throat with a knife in front of thousands of people. I died that day in my dream. It seemed so real. It seemed like a possibility. But I kept racing.

Fast forward to Whistler. I had won my third champ and I was on top of the world. The award ceremony was held right after the race with about a thousand people hanging around to watch including my parents, my partner and her young kids. I should say that one of my least favorite places in the world is a podium. I like to ride my bike but standing up in front of everyone on a podium is a foreign world to me. I kinda zone out on the podium and try to not fall off or trip. So I jumped up on the top step and accepted my medal. To my left was Claire and my right was Danika. I'm not sure where I was zoning out to but I didn't notice a man jumping up on stage.

When I noticed him he was already running over to us. I'm sure you can imagine what went through my mind at that moment. He turned out to be Danika's boyfriend and he ran over and put a white t-shirt on her that said "100% pure woman" a play on the title of the documentary (100% Woman) that I was involved in about my racing life. I of course couldn't see what he was doing. I turned away from him and realized that my dream was about to come true. I truly thought my throat was about to be cut on the podium and in front of my parents. I had seen it so clearly in my dream. He was escorted off, I put on the new national champ jersey and went to get pee tested. I was 35, fast and living a life that I never thought possible. . . I never raced again. He destroyed me that day.

I'm writing this partly for you to try and shed some light into the shit storm that your ad created and also for me. I forgave him for what he did but I can never forget. Your ad represents my fear that I live with everyday. That one day I'll be walking down the street and a man will recognise me from the media. He will secretly harbour a hatred to trans women for whatever reason, and I will die. If I crash my DH bike at a million miles per hour and I die, I'm ok with that. If I get killed by some person who decides that I should die because I made a decision to live my life to its fullest is bullshit.

Violence happens against trans women every day. I hope that you realise the power of influence that you hold via the media. You can make the world a better place and I'd be happy to help.

I really hope that the next Ryders Eyeware ad that I see in a cycling magazine show's the diverse population in the cycling world. Trans women and men ride bikes too. We used to buy your product with the faith that Ryders was part of our world. You broke that faith, fix it.

Thanks
Michelle Dumaresq

Shut Up Fool Awards-SUF Day For Fools Edition

Today is the 70th anniversary of the successful June 6, 1944 amphibious invasion of Normandy by allied troops from Great Britain, Canada and the United States.  The loss of 9000 soldiers in that invasion led to the liberation of France and the eventual end of the war in Europe eleven months later. 

Today is SUF Day, in which every week on the blog I shine a bright spotlight on the fool, fools or group of fools that exhibited mind numbing stupidity, jaw dropping hypocrisy and just did or said something so stupid you gotta say WTF?

So let's find out who this week's Shut Up Fool Award winner is, shall we? 


Honorable Mention number one goes to Ryders Eyewear, the Canadian company that created a transphobic ad, tried to claim it was humorous, and then had to pull it in the face of mounting criticism of it from our Canadian trans cousins. 

FYI as you discovered, transpeople wear your products, too.  Transphobia not only stinks, it is dehumanizing and leads to discrimination, violence and death for us in Canada and around the world .

Honorable Mention number two  is Houston City Councilmember Brenda Stardig, who parted her lips to say in a Tuesday council public comment session over a transportation ordinance that 'this councilmember doesn't discriminate 'when she not only voted against the HERO, she threw her own gay brother under the human rights bus when she did so.  

Honorable mention number three is Pastor Jamal H. Bryant of the Orwellian named Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, MD.   He unleashed a sermon last Sunday that was anything but empowering to the female members of his congregation and was chock full of misogyny, homophobia and sexism.

Honorable mention number four is Richard Land, who opened his mouth and let something stupid come out of it.   In continuing to beat the conservadrum for the faith-based Colorado baking bigot, Land made the loud and wrong equivocation that equal rights for LGBT people is like forcing Black people to participate in KKK induction ceremonies.    Seriously?   Since when did you Southern Baptist peeps ever care about the human rights of my people?   Your denomination has spent much of your time trying to use the Bible to justify ways to continue oppression of my people.   So have several seats and a nice glass of STFU W 


This week's Shut Up Fool Winner is Pastor Kendall Baker.   He was one of the lead kneegrow sellout  pastors hatin' on the HERO, but it has come out he was bounced from his City of Houston job for sexual harassment.   

So let's see.  What made Pastor Baker solicit sexual acts, make crude remarks about female anatomy and hugged subordinate female employees?  Could it beeeeee, take it from here, Church Lady.
 
Have several seats at Grace KKKommunity Church you transphobic hypocrite

Oh yeah, Pastor Kendall Baker, Shut up Fool! 

Ryders Eyewear Transphobic Ad Fail

Well, here we go with another company who is getting the message the hard way that transphobia not only doesn't sell products, the trans community and our supportive allies are not putting up with dehumanizing disrespect from anyone.

The latest example of this is from Ryders Eyewear.   They are a Canadian company based in North Vancouver, BC that makes performance eyewear, sunglasses and goggles.

They rolled out this ad campaign that has raised the hackles of our Canadian trans cousins in which two people meet at a bar and each has a secret that the other doesn't know.   The man's secret is he owns an large amount of cats.   The woman's secret?   She is a 'man' with the tagline 'Imagine we could see everything so clearly.'

When the backlash started, Ryders first tried to defend the transphobic ad.   They posted this initial June 3 comment concerning the ad on their Facebook page.

****

We've received some backlash regarding our recent ad in Bicycling Magazine--some people have wrongly concluded that Ryders is attacking transgender people.

This ad is not, in any way, an attack on transgender people. It's simply showing two people who are attracted to one another, each with a secret that the other might want to know up front. The person on the left has a secret--he owns an abnormal quantity of cats. The person on the right has a secret--he is actually a man dressed as a woman. We were toying with some of the social constructs that have made gender roles appear as truths, in an attempt to bring some humour to the concept that seeing isn't always believing.

****
But as it became cleared the ad wasn't humorous, but hurtful to our Canadian trans cousins, the gravity of the situation began to sink in.   Ryders starting changing their transphobic tune on it and attempted to issue an initial apology that fell flat and poured even more gasoline on the simmering controversy.  .

This was the second attempt:

It's now been a full day since the first messages arrived in response to our ad in Bicycling and it's clear that we have offended lots of people. It doesn't matter what our intention was, the result was anything but humorous. This ad was clearly a failure.


We are sorry. We are sorry to those we have offended and we are sorry for spreading a hurtful message.


Thank you to everyone who messaged us. Without you we would have carried on with this advertisement, oblivious to the harm it was causing. We were ignorant and you have shown this to us.


We have pulled this ad from all of the publications in which it was to be printed in the coming weeks and months. Unfortunately, some have already been printed and distributed. Rest assured, this ad will never be distributed again.


We are also in the process of having it pulled from digital magazines and other web sites. For some sites, especially those of distributors outside of the US and Canada, this may take a few days before it's entirely cleaned up but it is our top priority to completely remove this image.

Again, we are very sorry. We've learned a lot from this.

****

Ryders, what you did was reinforce the dangerous for us 'deceptive transwoman' meme that not only dehumanizes us but fuels the anti trans violence directed at us as was demonstrated by the May 20 attack on two transwomen riding a MARTA train in Atlanta.   

Transphobia not only stinks, it is dehumanizing and leads to discrimination, violence and death for us in Canada and around the world .

Thanks for getting that message and pulling the ad.

70th Anniversary Of D-Day Invasion

June 6, 1944 was one of the pivotal moments not only of World War II but of world history.  

70 years ago on this date on the shores of Normandy, the fate of the world was in the balance as the D-Day invasion to liberate France and Europe from the clutches of Nazi occupation began.

The largest seaborne fleet ever assembled sailed from southern English ports laden with 156, 000 British, Canadian and American troops, tanks and other weapons to land at five code named beaches along 50 miles of heavily fortified French coastline. 

The 5000 ship amphibious invasion fleet was protected by a massive air umbrella of over 11,000 airplanes that flew ahead of the ships speeding south to not only drop paratroopers behind the invasion beaches but attack any German forces moving toward them by road, canal or rail.  

While the British and Canadian troops landing at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches and the Americans landing at Utah Beach encountered light resistance that morning, that wasn't the case at Omaha  Beach.   

Bad luck in terms of nothing going as planned for the American invaders and fierce German resistance at the water's edge caused over 2000 casualties and had General Omar Bradley briefly consider a withdrawal of troops from the tenuous beachhead. 

But the determined attackers pushed through, eventually made their way off Bloody Omaha and inland although not at the planned rate of advance.

It wasn't a good day for the German defenders either.   Their commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was in Germany celebrating his wife's June 6 birthday as his command staff was occupied at a military conference.   Indecision and confusion reigned from Berchtesgaden to the Normandy invasion front as the massive invasion caught them by surprise.  . Attempts to move German reinforcements to the area met savage air attacks by the Allied aircraft that ruled the skies. 
 

By the end of the day the Allies would be starting the liberation of France and Western Europe.  The five separate landing beaches would be linked into a single front containing a half million men by the end of the week being reinforced by thousands of tanks tasked for the breakout from the Normandy region in Operation Cobra.  Paris was liberated by August and nearly a year later, the European phase of the war ended as Germany surrendered. 

The stories of that day have been written in endless books, articles and told in documentaries and movies such as The Longest Day.    But without the ultimate sacrifices of these 9000 men that we remember 70 years later, the world might be a far different place.

Houston HERO Opponent Accused Of Sexual Harassment

“I say to you, what if I came into the bathroom while you were sitting on the toilet? Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable?”
-Pastor Kendall Baker, in his anti-HERO public comments  

Yeah, your comment is cringe inducing now that we are aware the reason you lost your city job was because of a sexual harassment allegation, according to a News 92FM report from Adela Uchida

Kendall Baker, the pastor at StraightUp Ministries World Church, is also a member of the Houston Area Pastor's Council that has been fighting the HERO.

He has been one of the pastors featured along with the Rev. Max Miller used as the faces of the anti-HERO effort by Dave Welch and Dave Wilson.  They have used non-white ministers as their spokespeople in an attempt to present the veneer of a multicultural, broad based coalition, when the reality is the coalition is overwhelmingly dominated by the usual H-town white evangelical Christian conservative haters with ties to the Republican Party.  

Baker was the former manager of the City of Houston's 311 Services Division until his suspension and termination.  After a female employee filed a complaint on June 27, 2013, the Office of Inspector General found during the subsequent investigation that Baker solicited sexual acts, made crude remarks about female anatomy and hugged subordinate female employees. 

Baker was also alleged to have solicited donations for his church, which he denied according to the OIG report.

During the May 13 public comment session, there was a snippy exchange between Mayor Parker and Baker that was a things that make you go hmm moment, but we now realize is related to this situation.

In response to testimony questions about the OIG and their potential role in investigating HERO complaints, Baker said:  "The reason I know the OIG is overwhelmed is because I just ended a 28-year, 11-month career with the city and was wrongfully terminated and the OIG did not handle the case appropriately.”

Mayor Parker's response to Baker's comment was:  

“Absolutely, you are proof we do a good job in the OIG, sir.”

As of yet Baker hasn't responded to media requests for comments concerning the sexual harassment  allegations that led to his termination from his city job. 

But isn't that special (and not surprising) that one of Dave Welch's Pastor Council sheeple hypocritically lives in a glass house.  

Houston Style Magazine Issues A Retraction To Problematic HERO Post

I'd demand a retraction and apology, but I'd probably have better odds of seeing the Astros, Texans, Rockets, Dynamo and Dash all win championships in the same year than seeing you post an apology for this transbaiting piece.
--TransGriot,  June 4, 2014   Houston Style Magazine, Stop Pimping The HERO Bathroom Lie 

Well, well.  I guess people really are paying closer attention to TransGriot inside Loop 610 these days.  

I called out Houston Style magazine yesterday for a June 2 post on its Facebook page that not only transphobically perpetuated the lie that our faith-based opponents have been telling about the HERO, but triggered anti-gay and anti-trans hatred in the comment threads of that post.   

Today, a retraction was posted on the Facebook page concerning the post I blasted from Houston Style editor and publisher Francis Page, Jr. 

Houston Style Magazine

RETRACTION: Houston Style Magazine - Houston Equal Rights Ordinance
On Monday June 2nd, a member of our staff wrote a lengthy posting on the official Houston Style Magazine Facebook account, examining his opinion of the recently passed non-discrimination ordinance. The opinions expressed were only those of the author, and do not align with Houston Style Magazine, its editorial staff, of me, Francis Page Jr., Editor and Publisher or of the magazine.

We have always been full supporters of equality and tireless opponents of discrimination. Our publication's editorial line has consistently to support Mayor @AnniseParker in her quest to end discrimination in the City of Houston against all, be it those discriminated against based on sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy. All Houstonians deserve better.

Sincerely Yours,
Francis Page, Jr. (@FPageJr)
Editor and Publisher
Houston Style Magazine | ‪#‎EqualRights‬ ‪#‎EqualRightsOrdinance‬ ‪#‎HoustonCityCouncil‬ ‪#‎CityOfHouston‬ ‪#‎AnniseParker‬ ‪#‎MayorAnniseParker‬ ‪#‎News‬ ‪#‎InstaNEWS‬ ‪#‎Houston‬ ‪#‎StyleMagazine‬ ‪#‎HoustonStyleMagazine‬ ‪#‎HoustonStyle‬ ‪#‎NEW‬ ‪#‎HSMNews‬ ‪#‎CNN‬ ‪#‎ABC‬ ‪#‎FOX‬ ‪#‎HOUNews‬ ‪#‎WorldNews‬ ‪#‎World‬ ‪#‎TeamStyleMag‬

Now Mr. Page, if you'd like a post or column from an actual H-town transfeminine person about what our lives in this city are really like, I'd be happy to discuss that with you.  . 

Faith Based Cognitive Dissonance

Ran into that all last month from the faith-based HERO haters at 901 Bagby Street   

But note to the Christians uber Alles crowd:  The HERO has been in effect a week.  Still no fire and brimstone raining down upon the city.  Still no bakers being forced to make swastika cakes or any of your other parade of horribles coming to pass.

And yes, discrimination's time has expired in H-town to the relief of everyone who has been victimized by it.
 

Today's The 25th Anniversary Of A Massacre..

The world will never forget.   

It's the 25th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in which it is estimated that up to 1000 people died after PLA troops and tanks were called in to brutally crush a five week old democracy demonstration by students in the square. 

Never forget that day.   Also never forget that freedom require eternal vigilance to maintain it from the external and internal enemies determined to crush it.

Houston Style Magazine, Stop Pimping The HERO Bathroom Lie

One of the things that has really pissed me and Team HERO off about this battle to pass the now week old Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is how the elements of the Houston media are still stuck on stupid in continuing to deploy the bathroom meme.

The latest demonstration of facts free Houston media stenography concerning the HERO comes from Houston Style magazine.   It's a local African-American oriented publication that's available on newsstands in predominately Black H-town neighborhoods.and has a Facebook presence.

I was angered along with Team HERO to see Houston Style post this grossly inaccurate June 2 commentary on the HERO on their Facebook page that made it all about the bathroom and once again poured gasoline on the lie injected into this HERO debate by the Daves and the Black auxiliary ministerial sellouts about the damned bathrooms.

The push to pass the HERO started because of the discrimination experienced by a straight Black woman who is a sitting judge (Alexandra Smoots Hogan) at a Washington Ave nightspot.  She discovered along with Councilmember Ellen Cohen there was no way to address that type of discrimination locally unless you filed a federal lawsuit.  . .



Houston Style, it is irresponsible stenography like this (it doesn't deserve to be called reporting) that leads to anti-trans hatred and attacks upon trans African-Americans.

Here's a crash course in Trans 101 that you sorely need.  You also need to remember that some of the trans people you are dissing have melanin in their skin and African heritage.

As one of those proud Black trans Houstonians who fought for passage of the HERO and is a leader in the African-American trans community locally and nationally, I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the anti-trans hatred and ignorance being trafficked in our community and our media outlets.    

You should be ashamed of yourselves, Houston Style magazine for perpetuating the debunked transphobic lies of longtime gay baiters Dave Wilson and Dave Welch.   I'm sure the Daves, the Republican Party and their Baptist Ministers of Houston and Vicinity sellouts are pleased you continued the perpetration of disinformation about a long needed ordinance that protects the human rights of ALL Houstonians, not just those of us in the trans, SGL and Bi community.



I'd demand a retraction and apology, but I'd probably have better odds of seeing the Astros, Texans, Rockets, Dynamo and Dash all win championships in the same year than seeing you post an apology for this transbaiting piece. 

How about you do the Houston African-American community a huge favor by doing your jobs and actually printing the facts about the HERO instead of the 'fear and smear' talking points of the opposition?


TransGriot Update: A retraction was made for the problematic bathroom lie  comments I was lambasting in this post.

What's Up With Tona's Carnegie Hall Gofundme Campaign?

Tona Brown's upcoming historic Carnegie Hall concert in New York is one that promises to be one interesting and magical night three weeks from now at the Weill Recital Hall.

Because some promised corporate and organizational funding has yet to materialize and she couldn't waste any more time waiting for it to happen, 29 days ago Tona started a Gofundme crowdfunding campaign seeking to raise the additional $25,000 she would need to pay the balance of the money the Carnegie Hall folks requested and still put on a first class event.

I was stunned to see that as of this writing, she's only raised $325 dollars. 

This is outrageous to me when I see trans people with less melanin in their skin crowdfund that kind of cash for an SRS, top surgery or whatever other purpose no questions asked in less than a week, but you can't get off $5 or $10 dollars for a Black transwoman trying to have an event the entire trans community can be proud of. 

I'll bet if Tona's skin tone had less melanin in it she would have hit that fundraising target and then some a long ago and it would be all over the media about this 'groundbreaking concert for the transgender community'

So what's up people?  It's not like you don't know what Tona is raising the money for because she been upfront and transparent about that.  So that leads me to ask the things that make you go hmm questions such as are other factors at work here that are keeping her from hitting the targeted goal?   

Is Tona Brown's Carnegie Hall concert not worthy of supporting and hitting her fundraising goal?

Because that's what you're saying to me and the trans communities of color at large when she's had this campaign up for 29 days now for a positive event and it has only raised as of this writing $325 dollars.

We have got to do better than this.    And note to the orgs that promised her funding and support and left our trans sister hanging, follow through with your promised commitments

The show is entitled 'From Stonewall to Carnegie Hall' and will feature works of African-American composers.  It will also discuss the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion and the positive effects the transgender community have had on the TBLG human rights movement.

I not only want to see the Weill Recital Hall full on the June 25 night she does the 'From Stonewall To Carnegie Hall' concert, I want her to have the funds she needs to make sure it is a memorable night for all involved and cover any unforseen expenses.

So help her out with a donation and share this post to spread the word about this Gofundme campaign 

 

Director Thompson, How About A 'Transgender' Category For the 2020 Census?

US Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson wrote a blogpost yesterday announcing that a Local Census Office was opening in Washington  DC for a Local Census Test scheduled to take place on July 1.

It will be conduced in 200,000 homes in parts of Washington DC and Montgomery County, MD and is designed to research way to make the 2020 Census more cost effective, efficient and easier for people to respond to accomplish its goal off accurately counting the population of our country.

That announcement has also got me thinking once again about something that I have been pushing for to happen ever since I made my first trip to DC 16 years ago this month.   I have been asking for as part of the identity options available for checkoff on the US census forms to add a 'transgender' category to it. 

So what say you, Director Thompson?   Transpeople have been part of our country for over a century and it's past time we started counting them.  I've been saying 1-3% of the population is transgender based on the Lynn Conway prevalence of of transsexualism ratios she came up with, and it would be nice to have some hard Census data to back that up.    

We need to find out exactly how many transpeople reside in the borders of the United States and get US census data on our lives that can't be dismissed or ignored by our conservafool opponents.. 

Nations such as Nepal and India already do so.   It would be nice to walk into a city, state or federal legislative office when you're lobbying them for a human rights issue, and when they deploy the 'I have no trans constituents' lie, the rebuttal can be "The census says you have X amount of trans people in your district."

With the next US Census being six years from happening, it's time we as a community began pushing hard now for the ability of transpeople to be counted in 2020.