PTHC 2014 Diary-Busy First Day

The first day of the 2014 edition of the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference dawned overcast and cool,  but it didn't dampen my excitement over this being a first time attendee of the event.

I knew I was going to see a lot of people here, but even I was surprised at just how many people showed up and are showing out in the halls of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

I walked into the massive building and less than 30 seconds into my PTHC day ran in Jazz, who pointed me in the right direction toward the registration desk with all its helpful volunteers.   Neither did it take me long to start running into the long list of friends in the community and peeps I've known for years on Facebook but were finally seeing in the flesh.  

I started seeing people like Sharron Cooks, Simaya Fogle, Katrina Goodlett, Precious Davis, Geena Rocero, Christian Axavier Lovehall, Jevon Martin, Jabriel Williamson, Martina Downey, Nika Jewell, Kristen Parker, Sirena Rivera and Maria Roman.    Ran into Dr Bambi Lobdell, who I last saw when she was my gracious host at SUNY-Onenonta.     
 
Ran in Jos Truitt, who is looking good and sporting a new blonde haircolor since the last time I saw her in DC.  We took a few moments to talk about current events community wise before I started running into other people who wanted to say hi to me.  

I started running into my Philly based activist friends like Dionne Stallworth, Sade Ali and Charlene Arcila.  

The last time I'd seen Toni-Michelle Williams as at the 2011 OUT on the Hill event when she was a student at Norfolk State.   Now my collegiate homegirl is looking fabulous and in the PTHC house.

You know a conference is a good one when you have a multitude of seminars that you can attend but can only choose one or have to split time in order to support someone.

When the 10:20 AM block started I settled on attending the one featuring Jazz and Jeanette and transteen Jessica an her mother  It was a fast paced multimedia presentation in which Jessica and Jazz discussed their very different transition experiences, discussed medical opitions, their lives and future plans. 

Jazz continues to amaze me as someone who is wise beyond her 13 years and is an icon to many trans youth.  Her mother is also looked to as a leader in the trans parenting ranks.

We had a scheduled lunch break before we moved into the highly anticipated keynote speech of Janet Mock.  After what happened to me at CC14 in which I was standing for much of Laverne's Creating Change keynote, I made sure to get my behind to the rooms where the speech was scheduled to take place because it was going to be standing room only.

I ran into Ruby Corado and her man enroute to 108A/B and I sat next to them and Lourdes Hunter for Janet's Mock's riveting speech.   One of the lines I loved from it among many of them was "We are our own saviors."  Janet quoted Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston during the speech before closing with a reading from Redefining Realness and answering a few questions from the audience.

After that concluded, I gave her a quick hug before I left her to her task of signing autographs for the long line of people eagerly waiting for her to sign their copies of her book and me Ruby and her boyfreind grabbing lunch at Reading Market across the street.  .  .

As I exited the room ran into L'lerret Ailith and some of the trans sisters to take a few photos, converse with Geena and Bianca who I met at the hotel yesterday.  

After lunch ran into Elizabeth Clair, who arrived from Denver after enduring the cross country bus trip from Hades.  I was seeing for the first time since 2008 and she is part of an music event featuring herself, KOKUMO and Koko Jones.

I continued to run into Facebook friends, people and fans of the blog as the clocked ticked down to my panel discussion which I discovered after perusing the scheduling grid was Thursday evening and NOT today.

The Trans Pioneers of Color one at 5:40 PM led to me finally meeting my longtime friend BT, who was part of the panel with myself, Christine, Dionne, Janis, and Kim Watson moderated by Leo Watts.

The panel in room 104B was to an overflow crowd.  It also ran over due to all of us having a lot to say about what it was like back in the day for us trans elders on a range of subjects from lack of trans POC visibility to race and class differences in a transition.  We asnwered questions from the audience before ending it

That also closed out Day One of the Thursday seminars.

After going back to the hotel, chilled out with roomie Jennifer and Liz, grabbed some dinner and happily destroyed another Slurpee.  Cheesesteak is on the agenda for today.

I found myself on the patio having a long conversation until 2 AM with Lourdes and several transwomen of color in which we talked about a wide variety of issues.  Some of them fall under the Trans Revolution Will Not Be Televised territory, while others ranged from talking about our personal lives to discussing trans politics.   The t-word controversy came up and had us discussing the latest white transwoman gay males have trotted out to justify their continued use of a word we've told them and the world is offensive in Candis Cayne.

You know I'm going to comment on that later, but the bed is calling me right now.

Don't need bags under my eyes for all the photos I'll be taking in a few hours .

PTHC 2014-Day 1 Preview

It's the first day of the 13th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.   It's my first ever one, and I'm excited and feeling blessed to be here after so many failed attempts to be here for this conference  day of school

Megathanks to my roomie for this event, my fellow Texan Jennifer Michelle Gellar

The action at the Pennsylvania Convention Center kicks off at 10:20 AM EDT with the first day of seminars and programming that will include Janet Mock's opening keynote address at 12:45 PM.

And who will I run into today?   Well, if I don't get too busy, will tell y'all about it later.

To  check out what's happening during the conference, the Twitter hashtag is #TransHealth2014

PTHC 2014 Diary-Oh, The People You Will Meet

One of the wonderful things about events like the Philly Trans Health Conference is that for one of the few times in our lives, trans people and our allies are in relatively safe spaces in which we are the majority, and we meet others like ourselves.

And yes, as I mentioned in a previous post, there are people in this community I'm just as anxious and exited to meet as they are to meet me.

That fun started for me even before I walked into my Center City area hotel that will be my PTHC home base through Sunday.

When I arrived at the airport, I was mentally prepared to catch the SEPTA train as I usually do to downtown Philly.  While I was on the sky bridge to the train station Leo Watts called and let me know he was there to pick up some other peeps who had arrived.

Took me a few minutes to get scooped up because I ended back up on the departure side of the ring road, but that started a fun filled van ride to the hotel.

That ride from the airport got me to the hotel faster, but it also meant that I'd be burning time in the lobby area waiting for Jennifer to get here from DFW, and her flight, like everyone's flying into PHL yesterday suffered ATC delays.

So I amused myself by checking my Facebook page, prepping some blog posts and trying to whittle down what fool or fools get tomorrow's Shut Up Fool Award.

While I was doing that, thought my mind was playing tricks on me when I saw Jazz and her sister Ari walk by and head downstairs to the pool area.    Turned out it was not a mirage because I saw their mother Jeanettte five minutes later. 

As I've mentioned before, just as there are people who are majorly excited to meet legendary me, there are people in this community I fangirl over as well.   Jazz is one of those people,

So the mutual lovefest between me and Jeanette started.   She comes in the category of people I've gotten to know and have talked to for years on Facebook but hadn't officially met until yesterday.   I got to meet her parents, and since Jeanette is also one of the leaders in the trans parent and trans youth community, I began to meet some of the mothers of trans kids as Jeanette talked up my blog.

I also began to meet trans fathers.   I got to meet Wayne and his daughter Nicole, and it wasn't long before Wayne and I were having substantive conversations about much of the advocacy work he was doing and other issues.   I also began to learn that dads of trans kids are also beginning to get vocal and organized just like the trans moms have had to do for their trans younglings for years

And yes, the highlight of that day was beginning to meet the trans kid themselves and get those hugs from them.  Because the bottom line of my advocacy has always been to leave a better world for them. It's nice to see firsthand the fruits of that longtime advocacy as you watch them network and bond with each other.

And as I said before I arrived, hugs are always appreciated.

2014 FIFA World Cup Starts Today

I'll have to set aside some time to do so while I'm in Philly, but the 2014 FIFA World Cup finally starts group stage play later this afternoon.

The host Brazilians will be kicking things off (pun intended) in Sao Paulo against Croatia 

The rest of the matches start tomorrow, and Team USA doesn't get to start Group G play until the 16th.   Team USA will face off in Natal against Ghana, who eliminated us in the knockout rounds of the last two World Cups in 2006 and 2010. 

As to how Team USA will fare in a 'Group of Death' that features the FIFA number 2 ranked Germans, FIFA number 3 ranked Portugal and all everythang Cristian Ronaldo and FIFA number 38 ranked USA killer Ghana remains to be seen for our Jurgen Klinsmann coached FIFA number 14 ranked squad. 

It'll be a miracle if we even get out of the group stage.   But if Team USA wants to be taken seriously instead of sneered at as a soccer nation, this is the perfect opportunity for them to prove they can handle their soccer business while the whole world is watching.

I've Finally Arrived In Philly!

After traveling through the ATL to get here from Houston and ducking a few storm clouds on both flights, the Air Marshal has finally made it to my hotel and I'm in Philadelphia for my first ever Philly Trans Health Conference. 

Looking forward to seeing all my trans fam I didn't get to see at Creating Change and getting reunited with the people I did in H-town.   I'm also excited to be able to finally get the opportunity to meet some people for the first time like Jazz, Geena Rocero, L'lerret Ailith, and Koko Jones just to name a few.


As I mentioned in a previous post, this is my first ever Philadelphia Trans Health Conference and I'm excited to be here.   So excited I didn't get much sleep despite taking my behind to bed earlier than normal.   

Loving the fact my hotel is literally right across the street from the Philadelphia Convention Center where all the PTHC fun will be taking place. 

So yes, I will be in reporter mode fo this event in addition to handling my seminar business on Friday.

And remember #TransHealth 2014 is the Twitter hashtag to keep up with everything being tweeted and talked about during the next three days.

Canadian Senate Stonewalling Trans Rights Bill Passage

My Canadian trans cousins were justifiably celebrating along with the rest of the world when on its fourth attempt, C-279, the Trans Rights Bill passed the Canadian House of Commons back March 20, 2013 and moved to the Canadian Senate.

C-279 simply amends the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Canadian Criminal Code to add gender identity as a protected class. It was cruising toward passage last summer and Royal Assent until the Conservatives in the Senate started playing games with it after it cleared committee and was at the Third Reading stage. 

The result was the Canadian Senate departed for their summer break without passing the C-279.  To make matters worse, when Parliament was prorogued that summer by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, it got legislatively reset in the process after being reinstated by the Senate to the First Reading stage because it was a private member's bill.

Translation: C-279 had to start over in the Canadian Senate legislative process.

C-279 is now at the Second Reading stage as another summer break looms for the Canadian Senate on June 27.   If it's not passed by then, trans Canadians will have to wait until October 1 before the Senate returns to session.

Canadian Senate, and especially Conservative Party Canadian senators, justice delayed is justice denied. 

But then again, just like your fellow conservatives all over the world, you continually show through your actions why conservatism as a political philosophy is despised by marginalized people across the globe.

It's fairly obvious what the Conservative dominated Senate is doing, and it's time to start calling their behinds out on it.  There is a long list of organizations and unions starting to do so, but it think it's past time for trans Canadians to raise their voices.  It's past time to start calling out the Senate and pushing them to pass C-279 because it is the right thing human rights wise to do.

And the world is watching.   

If they continue this reprehensible legislative tactic, I hope you Canadian peeps, and especially my trans Canadian cousins punish the Conservative Party at the polls when your federal election happens in 2015 

       

Leaving On A Jet Plane- Back To Philly Again

It's been 14 months since I last took a flight which had Philadelphia as its final destination, but once again I'm piling up the frequent flyer miles as I head to the City of Brotherly Love for the 13th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.

It's my first ever one, and I'm deliriously happy to finally be attending one after so many near misses and last minute obstacles that canceled previous planned PTHC sojourns.

I'll be on Delta this time flying through the ATL up and back, and this time instead of those cursed regional jets the last time I flew on DL from Hobby to the ATL, this time I'll be on a Boeing 717 on the HOU-ATL legs of the flight.

Thank you Our Lady of Blessed Airplane Legroom.

Assuming things stay on schedule, I'm scheduled to arrive in Philly at 4 PM EDT and might be able to attend the PTHC  pre-conference event. 

If you wish to keep up with everything that happening at PTHC on Twitter, check out the hashtag #TransHealth2014

See y'all in a few hours.
 
.   

SBC Officially Hates The Trans Community

Count the Southern Baptists along with the Roman Catholic Church as a religious denomination that officially has an anti-transgender policy.  

Yesterday the faith based Southern Baptist bigots at their conference in Baltimore continued their nearly decade long history of ramping up hatred of transpeople by overwhelmingly passed the Denny Burk proposed resolution that condemns trans people.

Why am I not surprised the 5000 messengers (convention delegates) went there?  The Southern Baptists already have a long negative history of being on the wrong side of all the human rights movements of the 19th and 20th century.   By hating on transpeople, they keep their reprehensible streak of misguided white privileged hatred for people not like them going into the 21st century. 

And naw, you SBC peeps electing Ronnie Floyd as your president with the same homophobic baggage isn't going to distract us.  Neither will it change the fact this was faith-based transphobia at a scale not seen since the Catholic Church unleashed their anti-trans doctrine in 2003.

That Catholic anti-trans doctrine is a contributing factor to the off the charts anti-trans violence my Latina trans sisters experience in Latin America and my eastern European trans sisters deal with.  

SBC, you were on the wrong side of history in terms of supporting slavery, Jim Crow segregation, opposing women's suffrage, the African-American Civil Rights Movement, interracial marriage, and marriage equality.

Now you can add hatred of trans people to that list.   And the mind blowing thing about this passed resolution is that you arrogantly put yourselves on the opposite side of the words of Jesus himself in pushing this hate on trans people policy. 

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. 
Matthew 19:12

As a matter of fact, here's some more words from the Good Book that point out just how off the rails y'all are before I even begin to drop the avalanche of scientific research done on and about transpeople you faith based fools obviously are ignoring. 

Your hatred of trans people is not going reverse the two decade old trend of declining membership at SBC affiliated churches.  Neither will it make your denomination attractive to young people and other fair minded folks who count transpeople among their friends and relatives.

But thanks SBC for doing the trans community and our allies a favor and letting us know exactly where we stand with you.  You Satan's helpers are officially an enemy to our community just like the trans exterminationalist radical feminists (TERF's) and will be treated as such from this day forward. 

Transphobic bigotry wrapped in scripture is still transphobic bigotry, and that salient fact isn't going to change no matter what y'all told yourselves after that vote.

And the only way you'll see trans people darkening the doors of your church sanctuaries is protesting outside of them.
 

Down Goes Cantor! Down Goes Cantor!

As you longtime TransGriot readers know I can't stand conservafools, and never liked Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) the House Majority Leader. 

That dislike of Cantor goes back to August 2009 when Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) referred to him (and McCarthy and Ryan) as 'Great White Hope leaders' in the wake of their loss of the White House to then Senator Barack Obama.

So you know I was doing the happy dance when the breaking news came onscreen as I was watching MSNBC about Cantor losing his House primary race to Teapublican challenger Dave Brat.   

And it wasn't a narrow loss either.  Cantor got spanked by 12 percentage points and lost to a guy he outspent by a 25-1 margin.   Hey, as the POTUS proved in 2012, Koch Brothers money can't buy everything and in many cases, it IS about the candidate. 

Cantor made some history with this political earthquake of a loss.   He is the first sitting House majority leader to not even survive his party's primary. 

In case you're wondering, there is a Democratic candidate in the Virginia 7th Congressional District race in college professor Jack Trammell, who ironically works at the same college as Brat.

Now we need to send some cash to Trammel and help him win that seat. 

Bye bye, Eric.   Not sorry to see you go.

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!