Shut Up Fool Awards-Stupidity Is Too Damn High Edition

It's Friday, and you know what that means TransGriot readers.  Time to call out this week's fool, fools or group of fools for this week's TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.

Every week I shine the TransGriot spotlight on the people or groups that exhibit outrageous hypocrisy, mind numbing stupidity, overbearing arrogance, and   jaw dropping ignorance for your perusal. 

And now, let's get busy revealing this week's fools.

Honorable mention number one we go across The Pond for in British TERF Julie Bindel who asserted being gay is a choice.  I know more than a few peeps in the GL end of the community who have some elegant and not so elegant things to say to her behind on that topic, so I'll let them call her out..   I'll have fun with her the next time she says something transphobic.

Honorable mention number two is a favorite for this year's Shut Up Fool of the Year Award in Rep. Louie Gohmert. (R-TX).  Gohmert Pyle racistly opened his mouth to charge that the POTUS would protect women from 'hundreds of thousands of immigrant rapists'

Who is going to protect us from your hundreds of thousands of hours of clueless and racist jibber-jabber?  

Honorable mention number three is Rep Renee Ellmers (R-NC) for her idiotic comment about men needing to bring policy discussion down 'to a woman's level'. 

hmm, methinks you've had too many washes, sets, and cranial rinses at the GOP Stepford Salon.
 
Honorable mention number four is ExxonMobil, who got busted by HRC for lying about their non discrimination policies.  

Honorable mention number five is the National Library of Singapore, which announced they would be destroying all pro-LGBT books    Still won't change the fact that TBLG people exist in your nation and everywhere else around the world.

Honorable mention number six is Thomas Thorpe, who is facing first degree murder charges in Florida, refused help from the public defender assigned to him because the public defender in question is African-American.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner is Tea Klux Klan member Scott Esk, who is running for the Oklahoma legislature as a Teapublican and had comments resurface this week that gays should be stoned to death.  .

Instead of criticizing him, we should be thanking him for being candid enough to reveal he's a homophobic bigot.   He also proves once again why I loathe libertarians even more than I do Republicans.

Election Day is rapidly approaching.  handle your business people. 

And oh yeah, Scott Esk, shut up fool!

Je-Shawna's Last NBJC Day

When I attended the 2011 OUT on the Hill, one of the many awesome people I got to meet besides half of my fave DC power couple in Aisha Moodie-Mills, was an impressive Spelman College senior by the name of Je-Shawna Wholley.  

I wasn't surprised to discover later she'd been hired by the National Black Justice Coalition as a Senior Fellow, then moved on up to become a Programs Associate, and subsequently into her current position as the Programs Manager for the Emerging Leaders Institute.

We also got to spend some quality time together doing GLAAD POC Media Institute training in New York during the summer of 2012 and on some other NBJC projects.

Well, after two and a half years as part of the NBJC family, she's moving on to graduate school in Minnesota to pursue her masters degree in gender and women's studies, and her last day with NBJC is today.  . 

Congratulations Je-Shawna!  While I'm sorry to see you leave NBJC and will miss your smiling face the next time I'm blessed to take part in an NBJC event (and I'm aiming for this year's OUT on the Hill September 24-27), it was a sincere pleasure getting to meet you back in 2011 and see you grow and own your power as a leader in that organization.  

I wish you nothing but megasuccess in your future educational and other endeavors and will be an interested observer in what happens next for you.

Damn! Damn! Damn!

That famous Good Times scene in which the late Esther Rolle while playing the iconic Florida Evans, lets loose her anger, frustration and grief over the death of her husband James is what I feel every time I hear or have sent to me an e-mail that informs me of another murdered trans woman that I eventually have to disseminate to all of my TransGriot readers.

That anger and frustration hit me once again as I pondered the death of our sister Mia Henderson in Baltimore.  At the 5:57 AM EDT time her body was discovered by police, several of my trans brothers and sisters were in the process of returning to their homes after spending the last two days lobbying on Capitol Hill.  My peeps in Philadelphia and their allies were awaiting the start of a competency hearing to determine whether Charles Sargent, the alleged killer of Diamond Williams, would stand trial for his heinous crime. 
   
As of this writing, in the cases involving Kandy Hall, Zoraida Reyes, Yaz'min Shancez and Tiffany Edwards, the four transwomen killed last month, only Edwards' alleged killer is in jail right now facing charges for his crime.

Now we have Mia Henderson to mourn, light a candle for and read her name at this November's Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony.

I was asked by a trans ally a while back why is this happening to trans women of color?

It's a confluence of factors.  One is simply the fact that it is straight up dangerous to walk planet Earth in a feminine body.  It is unrealistic to think that if our newscasts are full of reports every day in which cis women of all ethnic backgrounds are being murdered for various reasons around the world, that trans women would escape that misogynistic pattern of violence.    

Another factor is that all trans women have been demonized and had their femininity and humanity questioned by friend, foe and frenemy.  That dehumanization only increases when you are a non-white transperson, and increases by a factor of ten when you combine the historic demonization of Black femininity with the devaluing of Black lives and off the charts demonization of transfeminine women.   

When the murderers of transpeople are either never caught, are freed after a trial, freed on legal technicalities,  receive ridiculously low sentences, or a defense attorney attempts to jaw droppingly argue that the killer of a transwoman he was defending didn't deserve a long sentence, the societal perception is set up that trans women's lives aren't as valuable to society as cis people's are, and murdering a transwoman is a crime the perpetrators can and should get away with committing..

It also doesn't help when the law enforcement personnel who are sworn to protect and serve us are seen more as oppressors and predators than protectors.

How many times can I say and write I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of seeing my transsisters killed?   When will the African-American  (and Latino/a ) cis community stop treating their trans sisters like pariahs and begin enveloping us with unconditional love? 

When will you realize Black cis community, Black politicians, Black clergy and Black legacy organizations that just because I or any other transperson transitions, we didn't forfeit our Black cards or our humanity?

I and my trans peeps are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.  We have made some tremendous strides in educating my community about exactly who we are and the talents we bring to our kente cloth covered family table.   All we want to do is live our lives to the best of our abilities and contribute our talents to the uplift and betterment of all the communities we intersect and interact with. 

I love my people and I'm proud to be a Black trans woman.   But you have to start unconditionally loving me and my trans sisters back.   And that starts with eliminating the thought from your mind that just because you have your hate on for a transwoman, you have a justified right to kill her. 

HMS-TV Talks About The HERO Tonight

For you peeps wanting more info about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance and everything surrounding our nearly two month old law, I'll be part of a live local cable access show panel later tonight on Houston Media Source TV at 6:30 PM CDT. 

Besides your fave award winning blogger, the panelists will be Christina Gorczynski, Daniel Williams, Noel Freeman and HERO opponent Kathy Blueford-Daniels to discuss our Houston Equal Rights Ordinance hosted by Fran Watson and Durrell Douglas.

While our opposition will cite her concerns (or regurgitate the lies) about the law, I and my fellow panelists will be ready and waiting to point out the 15 classes of people the HERO protects in addition to gleefully doing mythbusting    

The HERO ordinance prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity or pregnancy.   It also provides for the first time a local recourse mechanism for Houstonians who believe they have been victims of intentional discrimination

Viewers will be invited to call in with questions and comments concerning the HERO and I hope that you'll be able to tune in on Comcast Channel 17 or AT&T Uverse Channel 99.   Those of you who live outside the Houston metro area who wish to check out the show can watch the livestream of it at www.hmstv.org.      .

Should be fun and hope y'all get the opportunity to tune in. 

Tracey Update

A few months ago I wrote about Tracey Wilson, the trans kid in Vancouver whose parents filed a human rights complaint with the BC Human Rights tribunal when her Catholic school refused to recognize her femininity, refused to authorize a name change, let her use the female restroom or allow Tracey to wear the girls school uniform while claiming they didn't have a policy for it.

There's good news to report in Tracey's case

The human rights complaint filed by Tracey's parents on her behalf against the semi-private Catholic school and the Catholic Schools Vancouver has resulted in a new policy entitled the "CISVA Elementary School Policy regarding Gender Expression and Gender Dysphoria.”

“Where a request for accommodation is received on the basis of gender dysphoria or gender expression, the administrative staff should respond in a prompt and supportive manner, and in accordance with the principles outlined in this policy.”

The new CISVA policy states the student has the right to be addressed by their preferred name, even if they don’t legally change it.  School  records will be amended to reflect any changes.  Gender presentation appropriate school uniforms will be provided upon written request by the student's parent/guardian . 

“Upon receipt of a written request by a student’s parents/guardians in the attached form, a school shall provide an alternative uniform for that student, in designated school colours. The alternative uniform shall be determined in collaboration with the student’s parents and the school administration.”

So it looks as though it was a huge human rights win for not only Tracey, but every trans child who will go through the Vancouver Catholic school system.

Now if only the province of British Columbia will follow suit and protect the human rights of Tracey and all its trans citizens like five other provinces and the Northwest Territories have already done.

Another Transwoman Killed In Baltimore

Received the sad news today another transwoman was killed in Baltimore

The body of 26 year old Mia Henderson was found in an northwest Baltimore alley at 5:57 AM EDT.  Police officers from the Baltimore-area Warrant Apprehension Task Force spread out into an alley in the 3400 block of Piedmont Ave. in the Hanlon-Longwood neighborhood near Lake Ashburton attempting to serve a warrant in an unrelated case when Henderson's body was found. 

Henderson's body according to police had suffered 'severe trauma'.    Police say that the murder of Henderson bore strong similarities to the Hall one, but declined in today's press conference held at 4:15 EDT to definitively state because they are active investigations whether the murders are connected beyond the fact both were trans women




Here's hoping that the waste or wastes of DNA involved in this latest murder of one of our sisters is expeditiously caught and brought to justice.  
.

Mom Gives Moving Speech About Her Trans Child

As I've pointed out more than a few times, trans children not only exist, but for those who are fortunate enough to be in the homes of loving and astute parents, are coming out at earlier ages. 

Here's video of Debi Jackson in a moving speech she gave earlier this year at Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City talking about her trans feminine daughter AJ.

And for good measure, Jackson blows up some anti-trans myths while she's at it in this six minute speech. 

45th Anniversary of Apollo 11 Launch

On July 16, 1969 my space junkie self was up on a warm summer Houston morning like everyone else in the country and the world nervously awaiting the launch of Apollo 11 on live television. 

Meanwhile to the southeast of me down in Clear Lake, Mission Control was keeping a watchful eye on their monitors and Launch Pad 39A.  They too along with their counterparts in Florida were awaiting the launch of the ginormous Saturn V rocket from Cape Kennedy that would propel Neil Armstrong, Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin and Michael Collins toward the Moon and their rendezvous with history. 

At 8:32 AM CDT the Saturn V rocket roared to life and slowly lifted off from its launchpad enroute to the Moon.   12 minutes later it was in Earth orbit and after one and a half trips around the planet the third stage of the Saturn V fired up on its translunar injection burn to send Apollo 11 to the Moon.



 

Archie Dies

One of my childhood pleasures which probably surprised some of my readers, was announcing my love for Archie comics. 

My dormant interest in the Archie comics and the Riverdale gang was reawakened after the six series arc of comics (that I own) in the Life With Archie series launched in 2010 was published which depicted him being married to Veronica and another marriage scenario to Betty.

It was interesting to note in those six issues how his life evolved along different trajectories in both instances based on whether Betty or Veronica was his spouse.

I was also intrigued by issues #608 and 609 in which he and Valerie Smith of Josie and the Pussycats briefly dated and issue #636, the gender swap one in 2012 in which the eternal love triangle between Archie, Betty and Veronica gets gender flipped and it's a female Archina being pursued by Billy and Ronnie.

But hitting the stands today is Life With Archie issue #36 in which our hero is shot while trying to stop an assassination attempt on openly gay  US Senator Kevin Keller.  

Keller is one of the newer characters in the Archie universe. He's a married military vet (issue #16) who is pushing for more gun control after his partner Clay Walker is shot in a robbery attempt
     

Archie unfortunately doesn't survive the shooting and dies.  In Issue #37 the story continues and skips ahead a year as all his friends honor his legacy as the series of comics that feature adult versions of Archie and his pals concludes.

As to who shot Archie?   That will be revealed as well. 

The Life With Archie series touched on the post Riverdale High School lives of our fave characters.  It also tackled more socially relevant storylines and topics that seems at times ripped from the headlines such as Keller's same gender marriage to Clay, the death of beloved teacher Ms. Grundy and sometimes Archie love interest Cheryl Blossom tackling breast cancer and affordable health care.

Now the Archie writers are taking one the issue of gun control and the senseless violence that plagues our society.

Countdown to Fox Noise and the conservafools slamming the issues in 5...4...3...2...1... 

If they haven't sold them out at my fave comics stands, I'll definitely be getting those two issues.

HERO Updates, Notes And News-July 15

It's time for another HERO news update since the last one I penned was back on July 4. 

One thing I and everyone inside Beltway 8 are keenly aware of is that the world is watching our fight to defend the HERO with keen interest. 

I discovered that firsthand when I flew to our nation's capital last week to attend the White House LGBT Innovation Summit.  One of the next questions off everyone's lips once they discovered I was there from Houston was, 'What's happening with the HERO?"

What's happening is the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance is nearly two months old, is still in effect, and covers 15 categories.  I can also confidently report that no bakers have been forced to make swastika cakes anywhere inside the Houston city limits. 

Right now we are in signature counting mode.   As you know for the last update the hate ministers dropped off their petitions with the alleged 50,000 signatures at City Secretary Anna Russell's office July 3.  Mayor Parker held a press conference on that date that I was in attendance for along with other members of Team HERO expressing her thoughts about it.

In addition to the launch of the Equal Rights Houston website, we've also held multiple petition verification trainings that have trained over 150 volunteers how to spot invalid signatures.  Now that we've begun to finally receive those petitions, we can start the actual work of poring through them to find the fraudulent and ineligible ones.  

One of those petition checking events will happen tonight at Resurrection MCC Church starting at 7 PM CDT. and  we'll know by August 4 whether the petition drive was successful or it failed.

There will also be a Civil Rights Strategy Meeting held July 24 at Resurrection MCC starting at 7 PM to discuss HERO.  One of the topics on the agenda will be to assess what needs to be done to combat the lies and ignorance about the ordinance being disseminated in communities of color.

Short answer is get African-American media to give the pro-HERO side as much airtime to counter the lies as you have given the opponents.  Our legacy orgs in the NAACP and Urban League along with our politicians and leaders who support HERO have also been far too silent and not forceful enough to call out the ignorance and lies coming from the Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity. 

Neither have they pointed out the fact they are selling out and siding with white Republican conservatives in opposing an ordinance that benefits the entire Houston community. 

One of the things that has pissed off me and Team HERO in this human rights fight is the Houston media continuing to pimp the lies of Dave Welch, Max Miller and his faith based haters. 

While the Houston Chronicle just published this positive HERO op-ed, unfortunately in one of Houston's oldest African-American newspapers, the Forward Times went in the opposite direction. 

Here's another example of the transphobic bathroom myth being repeated without debunking in this Forward Times ad promoting an upcoming HERO debate forum they are setting up on August 4. 
 
Christina Gorczynski had this to say on her Facebook page in rebuttal to this problematic ad

'Factual information about this ordinance must reach each and every community and we are counting on the media to report HERO accurately. Let's avoid dividing people based on the very characteristics that HERO protects and work together to end all forms of discrimination against every Houstonian.'

She's absolutely right about that.   One of the major problems I've had with the African-American media during this HERO fight is they haven't been doing their job of reporting on this ordinance accurately. 

They have been far too busy parroting of the lies of Max Miller and his Baptist Ministers Assn of Houston and Vicinity but not inviting HERO supporters to counter those lies, much less give us the same air time (Majic 102) they have given them.   Houston African-American trans and SGL people are still waiting for KMJQ-FM to extend to them the same opportunity to appear on Sunday Morning Live as was given to the HERO opponents a few weeks ago. 

Speaking of opportunities to tell our story, I'll be part of a panel along with Christina Gorczynski, Daniel Williams and Noel Freeman on HMS TV Thursday discussing the HERO.     

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

TPOCC, BTMI and BTWI Handling Their Capitol Hill Business

The Trans Persons of Color Coalition (TPOCC) , Black Transmen Inc (BTMI) and Black Transwomen Inc (BTWI) are part of the coalition of groups that are walking the House and Senate office buildings right now handling their Capitol Hill lobbying business on behalf of our community.

It's been past time that we New Black Transmen and New Black Transwomen handle our legislative business.  It's also been past time to let the Congressional Black Caucus and other congressional leaders know that trans people of color exist and are more than capable of speaking for ourselves, owning our power and talking about the issues that affect our community.

It's also time as grown ass POC trans people we determine who we will and will not ally ourselves with politically.   Far too many of the national LGBT orgs that allegedly represent us have NONE of us siting at their policy tables or in their workforces getting paid to advocate for us.

That needs to end now. 

Yeah, wish I was up on Capitol Hill with you, but I have every confidence those of you who are there inside I-495 will do an excellent job handling your citizen lobbying duties on behalf of our community.  

Next time I damned sure want to be there doing my part.  I want to help conduct training sessions, do briefings, give a little motivational speech, and pass on my accumulated knowledge to the current and next generation of trans leaders.

We'll see if that happens.

The 2014 Honor 41 List Honorees Are...

The Honor 41 list founded by Alberto B. Mendoza celebrates  LGBTQ Latin@ role models, and last year we were excited to learn that the inaugural 2013 class of Honor 41 List honorees included 5 trans people.

The Honor 41 list takes its name from a 1901 Mexico City hate crime in which a clandestine party was raided and the 41 people in attendance were beaten, arrested, and disappeared from society because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.   In Mexico, the number 41 became a slang term to refer to someone with a different sexual orientation

Honor 41 confronts this history and reclaims it to honor inspirational individuals and LGBTQ leaders of Latina/o heritage who are blazing the trail toward acceptance and equality. 

The Honor 41 2014 Class was announced this morning, and the trans representation is up to nine people.   As you probably guessed I do know a few of them.   Ruby Corado is one of the nine people honored this year!




"Everyone has a story, so having the opportunity to capture the stories of these amazing role models and share them with others is incredible, said Alberto B. Mendoza, founder of Honor 41 and the producer of the Honor 41 List.  "I know by sharing these stories, we are making it easier for Latino LGBTQ individuals to come out and live their lives with honor and pride."  

In the coming weeks as they are released and I get them from Alberto, I'll be posting the links to all the Honor 41 trans honoree videos.

Congratulations to all the Honor 41 class of 2014 honorees for all they do to advance our human rights struggle and understanding of LGBTQ people inside and outside the Latino/a community. 

Countdown To FIFA Women's World Cup 2015

If you thought that the World Cup wasn't going to happen until 2018 in Russia, think again.   There will be FIFA World Cup action happening next summer, and it'll be right next door to us in Canada.

The seventh edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup will happen June 6-July 5 with an expanded field of 24 nations for the first time playing in the cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Moncton, Winnipeg, and Ottawa.   The title game is set to be played at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver.   

The Women's World Cup Draw to set the groups will take place on December 6 in Ottawa and as of this writing, besides the host nation of Canada, six have qualified so far including defending world champions Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and first timers Thailand and Switzerland.

One team you won't see is North Korea, who is banned for this tournament for having several players test positive during the 2011 World Cup edition in Germany for banned substances.  

The official mascot for this upcoming Women's World Cup has already been unveiled, and she is the female great white owl named Shuéme

If you're wondering if FIFA world number one ranked and 2011 runners up Team USA has qualified yet, the CONCACAF Qualifying Tournament to determine three of the World Cup spots assigned to our federation isn't happening until October 14-26 somewhere here in the USA.  The fourth place CONCACAF team will have to fight a CONMEBOL (South America) third place finisher in a playoff for another World Cup spot. 

Team USA has had a turbulent year.  It has been 15 years since they captured their last world championship with the dramatic Rose Bowl penalty kick shootout win over with China.   But Team USA finished a shocking seventh in the Algarve Cup tournament with zero wins.   After the worst ever finish in the Algarve Cup tournament, the Stars and Stripes (need to come up with a cooler nickname) knocked off China's Steel Roses, then fired coach Tom Sermanni and replaced him with assistant Jill Ellis. 

While Team USA is deep, the question remains whether Ellis will have enough time to fashion Team USA into the dominating unit we all know and love that rolled though CONCACAF Olympic qualification by a cumulative score of 38-0 in 2012 

And yes, the host Canadians will be looking for payback next summer after being knocked out of the Olympic semifinals (they assert they were robbed) by Team USA.  They are also pissed that striker Sydney Leroux, one of the best north of the border players since Christine Sinclair, decided to play for Team USA.

Hey Canada (and Renee), don't hate because we got it like that. I'm glad sistah Sydney (yep, she's Black) is playing for my team. 

But like Canada, the rest of the world is catching up to our FIFA world number one ranked USA squad . The Germans have won two titles.  The French are a threat along with defending champion Japan and Pia Sundhage coached Sweden. And the Brazilians with Marta are always dangerous.

As far as the rest of the women's football world is concerned, the race is on to punch their tickets to Canada.  The CAF (Africa) will determine their three spots at a qualifying tournament to be held in Namibia October 11-25 while the 2014 South American Women's Football Championship will be held in Ecuador September 11-28 to determine two of the CONMEBOL spots.   UEFA (Europe) is still sorting out who will represent them and take their remaining seven spots, while New Zealand barring a monumental upset is probably going to get Oceania's lone tournament slot. 

So we still have a few months left before we know which teams will be playing in Canada next summer and which groups they will be competing in with the ultimate goal of being in Vancouver to hoist that trophy.   The only team that does know their group are the host Canadians, and they will be per FIFA tradition in Group A.

The answers to the rest of the Women's World Cup related questions we'll discover by the end of the year..
 

Transgender Lobby Day In DC Today and Tomorrow

Today and tomorrow my transpeeps are going to be walking the halls of Congress visiting congressional and senatorial offices engaging in exercising their constitutional right to petition their lawmakers for redress of trans grievances.

Translation: they'll be lobbying.  

Contrary to public opinion, lobbying isn't just for high dollar corporate backed K St pros or former congressmembers, it is also for citizens from various states and congressional districts across the country who are taking their time to visit their congressmembers and let them know their thoughts about various issues 

My trans peeps will be visiting offices in the Cannon, Longworth and Rayburn House Office Buildings and the Hart, Dirksen and Russell Senate Office Buildings to talk to staffers and if their lucky, a few congressmembers and senators about the issues of importance to our community. 

The Transgender Lobby Day is a joint project of the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC), Trans Latin@ Coalition, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, PFLAG National, Black Transmen, Inc., Black Transwomen, Inc and NCTE.

And nope, not in DC for this one despite the fact I've been there, done that numerous times  since 1998.

Several of the coalition orgs let me know last week when I was in DC how much they would have rather had me there inside I-495 helping train the neophyte lobbyists instead of being in Houston.

But there are enough vets there to where my presence isn't necessary this time.   Besides, I can do a better job of lobbying when I come to DC unannounced.    

A welcome reception was held last night for all attendees of the event and on tap today at the Meeting House of the Friends, at 2111 Florida Ave, NW. is a policy conference.   After some lobby training on Tuesday in the same location our trans citizen lobbyists will head to the Hill. 

For those of you in DC for the event, here's some other tips they may or may not cover.  

*There's an app for your phones you may wish to download that tells you the House or Senate office building and office number for your congresscritter, the phone numbers for that congressional office and several staffers, and will dial that office number once you find the congressional office you wish to visit.

*Street parking is almost non existent in that area due to heightened security, so do what 'errbody' else does in DC and take Metrorail.  If you're staying near a CVS you can buy a reloadable SmartTrip card there or get it at a Metro subway station.  Catch the Orange or Blue lines to the Capitol South Station, which is a easy one block walk to the Cannon House Office Building.   You can access the Longworth and Rayburn HOB's via tunnel once you clear security at Cannon HOB.

Unfortunately, since the 9-11 terror attacks, the subway between the House and Senate office buildings has been restricted to congressmembers and staffers, so you will have to exit one of the house office buildings and walk past the Supreme Court Building plaza and Capitol Visitors Center to get to the Senate office buildings.

*The Senate HOB's have electronic video boards to make it easier for visitors to find Senatorial offices.   Unfortunately the House doesn't yet (probably because it's GOP controlled).  The House directories are near stairwells and elevators in a font size that can be hard to read at times. There are some in various House office buildings located in spots where even my tall behind had to tiptoe to read them or have a small flashlight to do so because of the darkness of the corridor.

*The offices will have the nameplate of the member plus the state flag outside the door to further help you find your member as you wander the House and Senate office buildings in search of those offices..

*The cool thing about visiting your own congressmember is as a district constituent, the staff will take time to talk to you even if you don't have an appointment. 

I salute and thank you for taking the valuable time out of your schedules to represent yourselves and our community in Washington DC. Enjoy your time in our nation's capital, have fun and I know you will represent our community well.

Diamond Williams Case Update: Sargent Mental Competency Hearing

Here's the latest update in the Diamond Williams case.

I was advised by Gloria Casarez about an upcoming Wednesday July 16 mental competency hearing in the case of Charles N. Sargent, Diamond's accused killer. 

The 44 year old Sargent was arrested for murdering and dismembering Williams last July after luring her to his Strawberry Mansion home. 

He faces charges of murder, abuse of a corpse and other related charges to this case.  Due to concerns about his mental state, he has not had a preliminary hearing


For those of you in the Philadelphia metro area wishing to attend this hearing in a show of support to for Diamond, her family and the local trans community, it will be held at 9 AM EDT on July 16 in Courtroom 1103 of the Criminal Justice Center, 1301 Filbert St. in Philadelphia.   Municipal Court Judge Marsha H. Neifield will preside over the hearing. 

Here's hoping that this is the first step to Sargent being held accountable for his heinous crime and our fallen sister receives justice.

TransGriot Update:  Sargent was found COMPETENT to stand trial!

Not Supporting Lauren Scott Or ANY Trans Republican

In the wake of me writing about Paula Sophia being poised to make trans history and possibly get elected to the Oklahoma Legislature on August 26 if she prevails in her runoff election, I had a Republican leaning trans person contact me and ask why I hadn't written a similar post about Lauren Scott's candidacy in Nevada. 

As I wrote in this 2010 post, and will expand on it as we head to the 2014 midterms, the right trans candidate for public office at any level of government is NOT a right-wing one. 

As far as I and other non-white voters are concerned, the Republican Party is nothing more than the political arm of white supremacy, and they gleefully make that clear to us every day. 

If you're a libertarian, we non-white peeps don't have much love for you either because all we see you as is the flip side to the same white supremacist political coin.

It's also laughable to me when we have daily examples of Republican politicians at ALL levels of government being bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic, (fill in the blank) that ANY politically savvy and thoughtful trans person would want to join, much less be a member of a party that oppresses them and their trans brothers and sisters.

At first glance Ms. Scott's record is one that would make you gravitate toward supporting her legislative candidacy.  She's an Air Force Desert Storm vet, small business owner, has participated in an NCTE sponsored lobby day in 2007, is the founding Executive Director of Equality Nevada since 2009, was appointed by Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) to sit on the Nevada Equal Rights Commission until her term expires October 31 and unsuccessfully ran for an open Nevada Assembly seat in 2012.

While I commend Ms Scott for stepping up to run for office, it's the choice of party affiliation that is raising red flags with me and other big picture thinking trans people.  When the Nevada Assembly currently has a 26-15 Democratic majority and the Nevada Senate a precarious 11-10 Democratic majority, why in Hades would you run for office in that party? 

Granted, you are running for the Nevada Assembly seat in District 30 currently occupied by incumbent Assemblyman Michael Sprinkle (D) that you didn't make it out of the primary fr in 2012.  

But should you make history and win that race, it puts the Republicans one seat closer to gaining control of the Nevada Assembly and possibly unleashing the flood of batturd crazy racist legislation that is the sadly all too common result of GOP control of a state legislature.

That hasn't happened in Nevada only because of Democratic control of both legislative chambers. 

Yes, I have repeatedly said that the next level of our trans human rights struggle is to actually get our people elected to public office.  And yes, it is important to have our folks involved in both political parties.

But let's be real about the fact that in this 2014 cycle, in many parts of the country the Republicans are nothing more than neo-Confederate anti-government trans oppressors, and any trans person in those GOP ranks is wasting their time. 

Nevada's GOP might be different, but after seeing Sharron Angle's 2010 US Senate campaign, Cliven Bundy tripping, and the damage that conservatism does when they get control of a state (or national) legislature, I would hate for Nevada voters to find out the hard way their Republicans are just as off the chain as the Arizona and Texas GOP.     

So no, I'm not voting for or supporting ANY transperson who is a member of the Republican Party, because as a trans person of color, neither I or my people can afford to have that trans GOP legislator, no matter how moderate they may seem at first glance, be the one vote that gets the Republican Party closer to or actually tips the balance of legislative control of a House or Senate chamber.

Doing A Moni Me Time Weekend

Been a busy few months for me, and I'm feeling the need for some downtime to recharge the creative batteries.

So yep, it's past time to take the weekend off for some Moni Me Time. 

In addition to recharging the creative and personal batteries,  I need to prep for a seminar at the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit on the Texas State campus in San Marcos August 8-9 and another one later this month at an upcoming  convention I'm in final confirmation stages for 

Once I confirm that upcoming East Coast panel discussion, I'll let y'all know when, where, and what time it happens.

If I get some breaking news, an inspired thought that leads to a post before Monday, you'll see me post it.   Otherwise the game plan is just to take a mini writing break and get back to doing my usual TransGriot writing schedule on Monday 

Tiffany Edwards Case Update

Here's the latest news update in the Tiffany Edwards case courtesy of LGBTQ Nation. 

Quamar Edwards, the 25 year old waste of DNA arrested in the murder of our sister Tiffany after he turned himself in to Cincinnati Police on July 2, was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on one count each of aggravated robbery, aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, having weapons under disability and tampering with evidence.

Investigators said Quamar Edwards solicited the victim for sex, and fatally shot her following an argument.   So much for his uncle trying to play the 'trans panic defense' card. 

Edwards is currently cooling his heels in the Hamilton County Jail under a $500,000 bond

And as always, I will keep you TransGriot readers posted concerning any new developments in this case.

Shut Up Fool Awards- No Fools Zone Edition

It's Friday, and you long time TransGriot readers know what that means.   It's my ongoing weekly effort to expose the fool, fools or group of fools in our societal midst who continue to exhibit mind numbing stupidity, jaw dropping ignorance and over the top hypocrisy.  

And I have fun calling their asses out, too

It's time for this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.  Since I know you're anxious to find out who won this week, I'll shut down the jibber-jabber get right to it.

Honorable mention number one is a joint one for Kanye West and Stacey Dash.   After Kanye went on a problematic 20 minute rant during a July 5 London concert comparing the paparazzi to rapists.   Stacey Dash, in her new gig as a Faux Noise pundit and who had appeared in Kanye's All Fall Down video, then suggested to he needed to spend some time at Riker's Island to know what rape really is.  

Both of them need to have several seats.  


Honorable mention number two is the Ugandan government for making the ludicrous claim that the Anti-Homosexuality Law 'is not meant to punish gays.   

Oh really?  In what delusional world did you come up with that conclusion when the bill call for lifetime imprisonment for repeat violators of it?    Own your homophobic bigotry and the consequences of letting white American homophobes bamboozle you into passing that draconian law. 


Honorable mention number three is Chicago disc jockey UB Rodriguez.   The WGCI-FM disk jockey let loose with this transphobic tweet while commenting on the video Laverne Cox appeared in for the John Legend song You & I.



After initially trying to defend the slur, Rodriguez deleted it.   

As I said in the post discussing the just launched Windy City trans respect billboard campaign,  

Ten of these billboards are being deployed on Chicago's South and West sides and like Channyn, I hope they convey the message to the rest of cis society what transwomen already know.  Transwomen are human.

We're also just trying to live our daily lives without added drama or BS.  

I also hope one of those ten billboards is across the street or near the WGCI-FM studios

Honorable mention number four to the Thanks A Million Corp. for their Add a Kid Line of t-shirts that includes a problematic monkey one.   To promote the line it has multiethnic headshots of kids, and one retailer paired the African-American kid headshot with a monkey t-shirt.

Thanks a Million Corp, did it not occur to you not to have a monkey shirt in the first place, being that African-Americans up to and including the POTUS and FLOTUS still have to deal with that racist imagery?  

Honorable mention number five is Joan Rivers, who refuses to part her collagen injected lips and apologize to the First Lady for her racist and transmisogynistic comment I blasted her for last week.

Honorable mention number six goes to Alex Jones, for doubling down on that transmisogyny that Rivers attacked the FLOTUS with and going even more off the chain with it.


This week's Shut Up Fool Awards winner is Southern Talabaptist President Richard Land, who declared that 'transgenderism is the ultimate rebellion against God' 

Seriously?   The 'ultimate rebellion against God' is you and your SBC fools claiming to speak for the Almighty while trying to erase the irrefutable fact transpeople exist. 

Here's some New Testament for you, from Jesus himself.  .

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
 
Trans people are part of the diverse mosaic of human life, and God loves us, too   So you and all your Southern Talabaptists can have several seats in those arena sized churches and have a tall sweet tea flavored glass of STFU.

So let me say this in terms easy for you to understand:   Richard Land, thou art a fool that needeth to shut  thine lying lips