HERO Updates, Notes and News-August 7

The big HERO news is still the failure of the haters to collect enough signatures to get it on the ballot this fall.  But as we expected, the faith based oppressors went there and filed a lawsuit Tuesday to force their way onto the ballot.

They're trying to claim the sampling by City Secretary Anna Russell is satisfactory enough to get them over the 17,269 signature threshold to place the HERO on the ballot.

City Attorney Dave Feldman is stating that the numerous errors and violations of procedures in collecting those petitions invalidates enough of those petition to where it did fail.

The haters have no one to blame but themselves for the half-assed job they did in collecting signatures, and now they're trying to skirt the rules in court.   The deadline to put any ballot or referendum on the upcoming November 4 ballot is August 18, which is why they filed the suit as quickly as they did. 

And naw CultureMap, people's civil or human rights should NEVER be put to a vote.  But I guess if you weren't a white male who doesn't have to face discrimination of an almost daily basis you'd have a different opinion about that.

Moving on to what's at stake if this does make it to the ballot, as many of Team HERO folks warned in the runup to HERO passage, Bloomberg News has posted a July 31 story warning that if the HERO is repealed, the 2017 Super Bowl now scheduled to be played at NRG Stadium could go bye bye along with the estimated $350 million that it would bring to our H-town economy.

So the question I have to ask to Max Miller, James Nash, FN Williams and all the other kneegrow sellouts in the Baptist Ministers Association of Houston and Vicinity cooning it up with Dave Welch and his right wing friends.

Is your faux faith-based hatred of LGBT peeps being covered in the HERO worth costing the city a Super Bowl?

There was an interesting development during the Forward Times forum that was scheduled to talk about the HERO interestingly enough on August 4.   The news dropped about the failure of the faith-based haters to get the required signatures one hour before the forum's 6 PM start time.   Max Miller and Kathy Blueford-Daniels had been invited by the forum organizers to discuss the opposition viewpoint. They cancelled on the Forward Times forum organizers at the very last moment via e-mail after previously confirming their appearance before the date.

"Due to the Mayor’s announcement of invalid signatures of our petitions and the upcoming court proceedings, it is with my apologies that we will not be attending the forum tonight."
     
Obviously that didn't sit well with the Forward Times organizers, and TaShon Thomas let fly with this column in the online version of the newspaper  

I have always been one who is open to hearing opposition and trying to understand where they are coming from, but it is impossible for me to do that if they do not show up when it is important. The mayor’s announcement should have not deterred the petition leaders from attending the forum; it should have been a rallying cry.

If you truly care about bettering the city of Houston and believe the ordinance would lead to its downfall, then you should use whatever avenue is given to you to get your point across. Do not just say you are going to attend and back out at the last moment as though you are cowering in defeat. Especially now since the window for the repeal to be placed on the ballot is approaching fast.

I was definitely looking forward to the opportunity along with the 60 people in the CWA Hall Monday night to ask Max Miller and Kathy Blueford-Daniels some questions about why they were selling out the community.  

Oh well, I'll hopefully get an opportunity to do so soon, because I'm very interested in hearing his responses to my questions. Already had the opportunity to rebut Kathy's headscratching reasons for opposing a comprehensive HERO ordinance that will benefit her and other Houstonians.

The battle to keep the HERO continues.

The TTNS Road To San Marcos

Another weekend, another Moni roadtrip.  And yes TransGriot readers, at this time last week I was in Boston.  This time I'm traveling to attend the 6th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit, and for the first time in the event's history, it leaves the Houston area and hits the road.

The TTNS will make a 166 mile trip west to San Marcos, TX, the home of Texas State University, the alma mater of President Lyndon B. Johnson

As a matter of fact the Texas State University campus home of this year's edition of the TTNS will be the LBJ Student Center August 8-9.

So yep, this trip will be on Texas terra firma and much of I-10 west.  Hopefully it'll have less drama and a lot of interesting conversation from my traveling companions than last week's Escape From Midway.

Of course, I'll be talking about it on the pages of this blog, and if you want to check out  what's happening you can follow on Facebook and Twitter. 

Tyra Hunter: Plus 19

We must never forget what happened to Tyra on this day. We must also diligently work to ensure that what she suffered at the hands of emergency personnel is not replicated in our locales. The message must be made crystal clear to our first responders that when they swear to serve and protect, that means ALL citizens.
TransGriot  August 7, 2007

Today is the 19th anniversary of a trans death that occurred in Washington DC on August 7, 1995 due to medical transphobia.

It occurred at the corner of 50th and C Streets in Southeast DC that would witness an even more horrific death several years later that is still yet to be solved. 

This is the day that 24 year old Tyra Hunter was a passenger in a car that was involved in an auto accident at that Southeast DC corner and suffered injuries that had she been treated properly she would have survived.

But because of DC Fire Department EMT Adrian Williams' transphobia, and a run in with another transphobic doctor after her arrival at the now closed DC General Hospital, failure to be treated at the accident scene and in the hospital led to her death.   

The thing that really incensed the Washington DC trans community, myself and everyone else in the national trans community in the wake of the tragedy was Williams received a promotion from the DC Fire Department several years later. 

The Tyra Hunter case stays with me because it happened a mere 13 months into my own transition, I still get upset when I think about it, and as long as this blog exists I'm going to continue writing about it because medical transphobia is still happening.

During our fight to pass the HERO, a transman testified that he was denied emergency care at a local hospital by a transphobic doctor.   

The Tyra Hunter incident was one of the trans human rights outrages that began to nudge me in the direction of becoming an activist and trans rights advocate.  I was determined to never again have something as egregious as this happen to one of our sisters at the hands of an EMT, doctor or other medical personnel that could result in death of that trans person.

We can't bring Tyra back, but the best way to honor her memory is to continue as a community to be vigilant and ensure that medical transphobia never takes another trans life, and scream loudly when it does.. 
  

Blowing Up The Anti-Trans Talking Points

Since our right wing oppressors, TERF's and clueless writers like Michelle Goldberg are deploying anti-transgender talking points in their 'fear and smear' campaign to demonize the trans community for whatever reason, as a TransGriot public service, need to point y'all to an excellent post Brynn Tannehill wrote that seeks to push back against the commonly used anti-trans myths

And now, here's Brynn's post, entitled Fighting Back Against Anti-Transgender Talking Points.

Rice University Makes Princeton Review List of LGBT Friendly Colleges

As a proud UH Cougar, hating Rice University when we play them in any sport is Job One. 

But there's no shade involved when it comes to discussing this remarkable accomplishment by our brothers and sisters on that century old campus.

In the recent 2105 update by the Princeton Review of the 20 most friendly/unfriendly LGBT campuses in the country, H-town's Rice University cracked the Top 20 and made the 'Most Friendly LGBT Campus' list 

Rice was the only Texas school on the 'Most Friendly LGBT Campus' list at number 20, with Stanford University topping it this year.  And yeah, I question Smith College's #4 ranking when they are and have been hostile to the enrollment of transfeminine students. 

In case you're wondering who made the LGBT unfriendly list, Baylor and Texas A&M made it on the 20 most unfriendly LGBT schools list for the second consecutive year. 

I'm happy there are no HBCU's on that Top 20 LGBT unfriendly list, but disappointed none have made the Top 20 friendly list either.  

Time to get busy changing that perception HBCU's.  Black LGBT students exist, and failure to deal with that reality will cost you in the long term.

The Princeton Review, not affiliated with the more famous Ivy League university, since 1992 has published an annual review of 379 colleges based on student surveys in 62 categories. 

The annual survey asked 130,000 students at 379 top colleges to rate their schools on dozens of topics and report on their experiences at them. Students were asked 80 questions about their school and themselves during the 2013-14 and/or previous two school years. An average of 343 students per school were surveyed. 

“Our purpose is not to crown one college ‘best’ overall or to rank these distinctive schools 1 to 379 on any single topic,” said Princeton Review senior vice president Robert Franek. “We present our 62 ranking lists to give applicants the broader base of campus feedback to choose the college that’s best for them.”

So yes, this is a BFD for Rice and megacongratulations to them for cracking the Top 20 on the 'Most Friendly LGBT Schools' list.  

It's not only something for you Rice Owls to pop your collars about, but gives Rice LGBT alums like Mayor Annise Parker and us TBLG Houstonians something else to brag about concerning our hometown in our national community circles. 

It's also giving us another reason to fight hard to ensure the HERO is a permanent fixture in our Houston Code of Ordinances so that Houston gets the benefits of the future LGBT kids drawn to Rice to get that quality college education on an LGBT friendly campus.

HERO Updates, Notes and News-August 5

The big story yesterday was the failure of the HERO haters to get the 17,269 signatures they needed to force the Houston Equal Right Ordinance onto the fall election ballot.

Aww, too bad.  The reports by City Secretary  Anna Russell and City Attorney Dave Feldman confirm it.

The haters only gathered 15,249 valid signatures.  They probably had more, but thanks to their own sloppiness and failure to follow the law, many of their petition pages were invalidated.

They can hate the process and blame Mayor Parker all they want, but if they want to know the major reason why their recall petition drive failed, they can look in the mirror.  As far as I'm concerned, no one's civil rights should be placed on a ballot for an up or down vote.  

Because the press conference was held at 5 PM, it was the lead story on all the local news channels. 

KHOU-TV CBS 11



KPRC-TV NBC 2



KTRK-TV ABC 13



KRIV-TV  FOX 26 



About an hour later the Forward Times political forum talking about the HERO kicked off at the CWA union hall with 60 people in attendance.  It was interesting to note that HERO opponents Max Miller and Kathy Bluefield-Daniels, who were supposed to be on the panel, no showed.

Darn, was looking forward to tangling with her and especially Max Miller's sellout behind.. 

Councilmember Dwight Boykins was there along with a rep from Mayor Parker's office who were asked questions by moderators Jeffrey Boney and TaShon Thomas before the forum was opened to questions from the audience.

Eventually one of the HERO haters, Pastor James Nash of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church did show his face in the place, but HERO opponents were definitely outnumbered by HERO supporters.

When Pastor Nash tried to play the sexual predator card mere moments after being told by Cassandra Thomas, a 30 year expert in the field, that the anti-trans bathroom predator scare tactic they repeatedly used in this HERO fight is false, he got smacked with the fact that many of the sexual predators we hear about in the news are his fellow clergy.

So stop projecting Pastor Nash, and give that discredited transgender bathroom predator lie a rest. .

It was another huge win for Team HERO, but the haters are not going to give up.  

Once again, if you anti-HERO peeps have problems with me calling you haters, until you stop working with Dave Welch and other white conservafools to openly oppose my human rights, I'm going to keep calling you exactly what you are:  Haters.

Or if you don't like haters, I could refer to you as faith-based oppressors, faith-based haters, oppressors, sellouts...You get the general drift.

I have zero respect for anyone who works to repress the human rights of someone else.  It's even more distasteful to me when they try to justify their anti-TBLG bigotry by using Bible scripture or your pulpits to do so and colludes with white conservative Republicans.

The Houston African-American SGL, bi and trans community will have another strategy meeting August 12 at the Montrose Center.  This one will take place at 7 PM and will discuss our next steps in defending HERO and what we need to do in our ongoing efforts to reverse the damage caused to community unity by the hate preachers lies..

The fight to keep the HERO continues.
 

HERO Repeal Petition Is Invalid!

While getting dressed to head downtown to the Communications Workers of America Union Hall where the Forward Times HERO town hall was going to be held, the announcement I'd been looking for most of the day concerning Mayor Parker's press conference dropped. 

The press conference was scheduled for 5 PM CDT, just in time to be the lead story for all the local news stations   And it was wonderful news for Team HERO.

City Attorney Dave Feldman announced there are only 15,249 possible valid signatures on the petition and that the city will not certify the petition.  

Translation: Per the review by the City Secretary and City Attorney, the HERO haters failed to get the required number of signatures (17,269) to place it on the ballot for recall in the fall.  

"With respect to the referendum petition filed to repeal the 'HERO' ordinance, there are simply too many documents with irregularities and problems to overlook," Feldman said. "The petition is simply invalid. There is no other conclusion."

Gee, was a long way from the 30,000 signatures Max Miller and his hate preachers claimed they had on July 3, huh?   Frankly, they probably had enough signatures to force a referendum, but because of their arrogance and the shoddy way they went about their recall petition 'bidness', they failed.

And thank God (or whatever higher power you worship) they did




Major props to the 100 volunteers who took time out of their busy lives to go over those petitions and find the invalid signatures.   Once again Houston LGBT community and allies, y'all rose to the occasion to stand up for human rights against our oppressors and show the nation and the world that Houston does not discriminate.  

Is this fight to protect the HERO over?  Nope.

Like the Terminator, King Hater Dave Welch and friends won't stop until they accomplish their nefarious mission of overturning the HERO with their kneegrow sellouts in tow  

And we're going to fight even harder to keep it..  

Happy 53rd Birthday President Obama!

Today is the 53rd birthday of President Barack H. Obama.  As usual, his right wing haters gave him hell and are still executing Massive Resistance 2.0, but as the late Maya Angelou would say, and still he rises.

Bottom line haters is he and the First Family will be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until January 20, 2017 and not a damned thing y'all can do about it. 

Exceedingly proud of the fact he has justified my confidence and the 2008 and 2012 ballots I cast for him that he's been the best POTUS ever when it comes to trans human rights issues.

Impeachment?  For what?  For doing his job?  

Please go there and piss off the African-American community enough to where we will bumrush the polls on November 4 to vote you Teapublican bums out

Happy birthday President Obama!   May you have many more.  May you also get the late birthday present of a Democratic House and Senate.

HERO Updates, Notes And News-August 4

Today is the day Team HERO has been anxiously awaiting since the faith-based haters announced they were going to attempt to collect signatures to force a repeal referendum.

The signatures were turned in July 3, and ever since then City Secretary Anna Russell's office and a dedicated team of over 100 volunteers have been poring over the 5199 pages turned in.

Many of those pages were riddled with errors or had issues of concern that may render them invalid.   Many had duplicate signatures, or were signed by people who aren't Houston residents or registered voters. 

Others had fatal errors that invalidated the entire page, or others were collected before the June 3 start date, also making them invalid. 


According to the Executive Summary issued by the independent review group conducting the signature validation process, the faith based haters only collected 16,500 signatures, short of the 17,269 needed to place it on the ballot. 

We'll get the official word later this afternoon from the City Secretary's office and at a 5 PM CDT press conference featuring Mayor Parker and City Attorney Dave Feldman.  If it turns out the executive summary is correct, the petition drive fails, and then the HERO haters as they have already indicated will start filing lawsuits

Good, that's less money they can throw into GOP campaigns this fall.

I was out of town when it happened, but it was reported to me by people in attendance that the sisterhood discussion moderated by Dee Dee Watters on July 31 at the Montrose Center went well. 

I was there on only 6 hours sleep for the noon HERO strategy meeting that happened at Legacy Saturday.  Some of the things we're going to do I'm sworn to secrecy about, but some of the topics we talked about were our game plan should this move into a referendum either this year or in 2015, making sure all sectors of the Houston LGBT are involved and our messaging is on point and hammering home the fact the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance protects ALL Houstonians. 

The African-American SGL, bi and trans community is planning to have another strategy meeting in which we talk about issues and messaging strategies specific to our community.   August 12 at 7 PM is the tentative date and time for it, and once I get the date and location I'll post it in a future HERO news update.

Starting at 6 PM will be the HERO forum sponsored by the Forward Times.  Still haven't been able to determine whether Mayor Parker and various city council members will show up, but keep hearing that one of the panelists will be former city councilmember Jolanda Jones.

It'll be interesting to see which haters show up.

Location for this forum is the CWA Hall at 1730 Jefferson St. downtown, and definitely will be there along with Team HERO in full effect for this one.

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

Why Y'all Tripping About This, White Trans Women?

Interestingly enough I found out about a new campaign that the San Francisco based Transgender Law Center is working on that is raising the voices of trans people of color. 

TLC is planning to have four names of various prominent transpeople in these photos in regular intervals.  They started the series with Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, CeCe McDonald and a certain award winning blogger y'all all know.   Should be non controversial right?  

You guessed wrong.

On the TLC Facebook photo thread you already have some white transwomen mindnumbingly complaining the listing of four names of nationally recognized African-American trans women and trans leaders is 'racist'.

Seriously?  Have several seats at your nearest stadium and a nice glass of STHU for saying something that monumentally stupid.  

The focus on trans issues has been on white transwomen for over six decades.  Are y'all still so jealous that positive attention is being focused on trans women of color, (and especially Black transwomen) that you're foaming at the mouth hating on this campaign that's just getting started before you let it unfold? 

Damn, there y'all go hatin' again.  Are some of you white trans women even capable of sharing the movement spotlight? 

If you aren't and arrogantly think the only trans people who should get recognized are white ones, um no.  Y'all need to buy a vowel and get a clue that it's my Latina and Black transsisters taking the brunt of the anti-trans violence as demonstrated by one of my sisters getting stabbed on a DC subway train last week.  

You damn skippy it's past time that transfolks who have melanin in their skin get some time to shine in the media spotlight concerning trans issues after 61 years of you basking in it.  I thank TLC for putting my name on your initial photo. 


You nattering nabobs of trans negativity didn't even give this campaign time to even see where it was going before you cried 'racism'.

First up, that charge is laughable, because there is no such thing as 'reverse racism'   If you believe there is, you need to check that vanillacentric privilege you marinate in, turn off Fox Noise and whatever AM talk radio station you listen to.

BTW to you peeps who forgot your Sociology 101 and spouted that bovine feces, racism = bigotry/prejudice + systemic power.

Racism is the systematic discrimination, denial of rights and benefits by whites against non-whites in all areas of human activity. (economics, education, labor, law, politics, religion, sex and war)., not an organization like the Transgender Law Center highlighting and honoring the names of Black transfeminine leaders.

If we say the trans community is a diverse one, then that needs to demonstrated not only in our words, but deeds too.  Highlighting the names of African-American trans feminine leaders is a good way to demonstrate that.

Too bad some of you in the community don't think so.  

Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Law Overturned

Score one for Team Human Rights!  On Friday the Ugandan Constitutional Court overturned the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Law on the basis that it was wrongly passed by parliament. 

The law is "null and void", presiding judge Steven Kavuma told the court on Friday, saying the process had contravened the Ugandan constitution, as it has been passed in parliament in December without the necessary legislative quorum 

"Justice prevailed, we won," said lawyer Nicholas Opiyo, who led the challenge in the constitutional court.  The challenge to the law was fueled by a coalition of groups that included academics, journalists, both ruling and opposition MPs, human rights activists and rights groups.

"The retrogressive anti-homosexuality act of Uganda has been struck down by the constitutional court - it's now dead as a door nail," said Andrew Mwenda, one of 10 petitioners challenging the law.

Of course the haters are going to file an appeal of this decision striking down the law in the Ugandan Supreme Court.  They are also considering reintroducing it in parliament 

The unjust draconian law passed by the Ugandan parliament in December and signed by President Yoweri Museveni in February resulted in aid cuts by several European nations and sanctions being slapped on Uganda by the US government.

President Obama was one of many world leaders decrying the unjust law's signing by Museveni.

No word yet from Scott Lively or MP David Bahati about what they think about it being struck down.  The faith based oppressor Lively has bragged he's responsible for getting it passed in the first place. 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also hailed the ruling by the Constitutional Court, calling it a 'step forward and a 'victory for the rule of law.'

Arrest Made In DC Metro Trans Stabbing Incident

I'd been in my Boston hotel room barely three hours Wednesday when I received word about a 15 year old transfeminine teen being stabbed in the back on a Washington Metro Green Line train before it pulled into the Fort Totten Station in NE Washington.

The teen's injuries are non life threatening (thank God) and she is recovering in a local hospital 

The waste of DNA who committed the transphobic deed, 24 year old Reginald Anthony Klaiber of Greenbelt, MD was arrested at the scene and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. 

Because of his witnessed transphobic remarks aimed at the 15 year old victim of the assault, it's also classified as a bias crime.   Klaiber is also facing potential hate crimes charges.

Good, throw the book at his transphobic azz because according to reporting by the Washington Blade's Lou Chibbaro, Jr., Klaiber has a criminal record.  D.C. Superior Court’s online records show Klaiber pleaded guilty to a July 2013 felony robbery charge and pleaded guilty to a July 2013 misdemeanor charge of threats to do bodily harm.

Will be paying attention to see if DC prosecutors aren't selling woof tickets again and actually use the hate crimes statute in this case. 
 

Arrest Made In Shancez Murder Case

An arrest has been made in the Yaz'min Shancez case!

After a month long investigation, 45 year old Terry Lynn Brady of Fort Myers was arrested and charged with the June 19 murder of Shancez.  

Police detectives are not sure of the connection between the two, but Shancez's stepmother said the two knew and did not like each other. 

“Thank God. It gives us a little closure,” said Shannon Adams, Owens’ stepmother.

Brady is facing second degree murder charges, and I'll also be following this case until justice is served for Yaz'min.

The Air Marshal's Travel Day From Hell

As someone who spent 14 years in the aviation industry (and misses it at times) and is flying around the country for different events, I love traveling by air. 

Veteran trans activists still call me Air Monica or the Air Marshal because back in the late 90's when I started as an activist I became the trans community's rapid response team.   When a crisis or snap protest needed some national trans leadership support, because I was an airline employee at the time and could easily do so, if if happened on my days off, I was hopping a flight to your vicinity

So as many of you know I spent an enjoyable two days in Boston with Tiq, Kellee, Kenyon and many of the wonderful peeps who attended the National Association of Black Journalists conference there and is still going on with more seminars today.    I also had a trip from heaven up to Boston for it on Wednesday.

My panel was fun but serious business.  We discussed talking about the issue of trans coverage in the media and how Black journalists can do a better job of it because frankly, they must.

It is import that the media, and especially journalists who share our ethnic background get it right.

I got to meet many of the people involved with the organizations LGBT Task Force and get an invitation to join it.  I was also bummed I missed their reception last night.

I even had some fangirl moment when I got to see ESPN's Michael Wilbon walking the halls as eager journalism students stopped him in the halls to take photos. I thought I saw one of my journalism idols in former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson   I bumped into Mark Thompson while grabbing a Dunkin donut in the massive mall that was between my hotel and the Hynes Convention Center.

I even ran into Houston's Mary Benton, who interviewed me during the HERO fight and FOX 26 Isiah Carey when I showed up in the Sheraton bar post panel with my fellow panelists, Jonathan and Chris from the LGBT Task Force to talk about some other issues and our lives..    

And yes, seriously thinking about becoming a member of NABJ.   Next year's conference is in Minneapolis, so get ready Twin Cites. 

So as I mentioned, I had the travel day from hell and it started that morning in Boston. 

After getting up at 5:30 AM EDT to check out of my room and allow time for my train ride to Logan Airport so I can clear TSA security and make my 9:05 AM departure to MDW and home, I bounce to the Back Bay station to start my trip on the Orange Line.

I'm ready to leave the room at 6:30 AM and after dropping off my room key and getting direction from the bell captain, I made one wrong turn trying to get to it that put me in the Copley Square Mall's parking garage. I finally the station at 6:55 AM  and the MBTA ticket machines so I can purchase my ticket to start the journey to Logan.  Of the two available one is out and the other is being electronically recalcitrant and timing out my transaction before I have a chance to complete the purchase.   I know the clock's ticking and I need to make forward progress toward Logan so I hit the call box to get some help.

A friendly sister MBTA employee starts trying to get the machine to work and I miss one northbound Orange Line train in the process.  Fortunately it's rush hour, and and she makes some failed attempts to get the recalcitrant ticketing machine to do its job sends me on my way with her apologies.

But I didn't have a ticket or receipt, and flashbacking to home and METRO transit cops patrolling the METRORail trains looking for peeps trying to ride free and getting ticketed for it made for an anxiety filled MBTA train ride as I moved closer to my Orange Line transfer station to the Blue Line that would take me to Logan.

I eventually arrive at the Airport Station and just miss the shuttle bus heading to the airport.   The next one arrives five minutes later and unlike my inbound trip when I went from Terminal E straight to the station, I have to do the Tour De Logan this time including a stop at the Rental Car Center..

Then I get to Terminal E, check the monitor to find my gate and as I'm approaching TSA security realize I can't find my tickets.  The panic that registered on my face led the TSA security personnel to give me the full treatment including scan, pat down by female officer and swabbing of both hands before being allowed to proceed to the gate. 

I get to the gate, get on my flight, we leave early and get to Midway early around 10:40 AM CDT.   I gt to gate B14 and settle in for my what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour wait as visions of Pappas barbecue are dancing in my head along with my fave R&B tunes playing on my laptop.

Then I notice as I look out the windows of Gate B15 an ominous darkening of clouds heralded the pop up thunderstorm that would ruin my travel day.   Moments later it unleashed a torrential rain so intense that I couldn't see the Southwest hangar buildings or the off airport property treeline.

And once I heard our inbound aircraft making up our Houston trip diverted to Milwaukee, my feeling of impending airline travel doom was confirmed.    The short but intense storm caused 20 planes to divert and triggered a creeping delay on my originally scheduled 12:30 PM departure that got backed up to 1:45 PM, then 2:30 PM, then 3:55 PM.   Meanwhile as I'm sitting there I think about the fact the plane I got off of was continuing to San Antonio and a delayed flight next door on B12 was going to New Orleans.

As we're sitting in the ever more increasingly crowded lobby area in B12-14, plugs to recharge our electronic devices are at a premium.  A renovation project has started in the gate lobby areas to add the nice leather chairs with plugs Southwest has in many of its airports at Midway.  The comfy chairs were there, but weren't plugged in so you could charge or run your devices on them.    

Speaking of not plugged in, it was at that point we also discovered that Midway doesn't have free WiFi.  

Note to Chicago Airport Authority:  Join the rest of us in the 21st century and offer free WiFi to your citizens and passengers transiting through your airports.  It damned sure would have come in handy during this delay situation.  

A bitter joke starts circulating amongst many of the stranded travelers that MDW stands for Motherf*****g Damned Weather and other more profane combinations that you can come up with for Midway's IATA designation.   

At approximately 5 PM the news comes that Flight 2314 has been canceled.   I know my gate agents are going to be overwhelmed, so I head up the hall to B-9 to find out which one of the two remaining fights from MDW to Hobby I've been booked on.    I discover from the friendly B-9 gate agent I'm on the one that is scheduled for 7:15 PM but is delayed until 9 PM back on gate B-14.

After checking the flight, I call Tiq Milan who is still at the NABJ convention, tell him I'm stuck in Chicago and ask him to help me get in contact with some of the peeps I know in the Chitown trams community since I left my phone book with those numbers in Houston thing I wouldn't need it..

Note to self:  From now on, bring that damned phone book with you.  

I also call Mom to let her know I was stuck in Chicago, because I was supposed to be back in Houston originally at 3:10 PM.  I also tell her I'm formulating a back up plan in case this delayed one I'm on now gets canceled for whatever reason and I have to spend the night in Chicago.

I eventually get calls from Myles Brady and Jen Richards, and it's agreed that if I have to stay in Chicago, it'll be at Jen's place.  I seriously considered just saying frack it and asking to be rebooked in the morning and heading over there since I'd been up since 5:30 AM Boston time and I'd spent 6 hours in the crowded confines of MDW already, but I wasn't feeling another encounter with TSA security.  

I also had a HERO meeting I wanted to attend in Houston that started at 12 noon Saturday, and was going to do my utmost to get back to the Lone Star State for it, even if it was in the wee hours of the morning.

Those of us who were on the cancelled Houston fight by now were bonding.   Holding seats for each other if one of us got up to use the bathroom, discussing our lives and several crowding around one person's laptop so we could watch the Astros-Blue Jays game with a Cubs fan originating in.Chicago but headed to Houston to visit family.

We finally got some good news-bad news about our delayed Houston flight around 8 PM.  We have a plane, a first officer and enough flight attendants to board our flight, but would have to wait for a captain and a replacement flight attendant to round out the crew.   We also weren't boarding it until about 9:30 PM and it would be through gate B-12.

We end up boarding our flight around 10 PM and sat on board as we waited for our flight attendant and captain.  We get our sister flight attendant around 10:15 PM and our captain 5 minutes later.   After the timed out FA briefs the new arrival as to what's up, she leaves.   Gate agent places final departure paperwork in cockpit around 10:30 PM and shuts the main cabin door.   At 10:30 PM, exactly 12 hours after I arrived in MDW for what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour layover, our 737-800 pushed back from gate B-12 destination Houston and takes off a few minutes later.

But the fun isn't over yet.  Flight attendants are advised by our captain to stay seated after takeoff, and we have to deal with bumpy air for the next 15-20 minutes of the flight as we escape the Chicago area.  We ducked and dodged storms as we crossed the Midwest enroute to Texas before it smoothed out and it was safe for the flight attendants and passengers to move around in the cabin.   

But once we hit 10,000 feet I didn't care because I had a whole row to myself and enough music for the 2 hour ride back to Houston.   Made up for me losing my A boarding position once the original flight cancelled.     

Eventually we flew over Dallas (and I waved at my Dallas peeps as we did so) and an hour later we were on final approach to Hobby.   We finally touched down and pulled into our arrival gate at 1:45 AM Saturday.

After having some great travel experiences over the last year, even including the trip up to Boston, it was just a matter of time before the law of averages caught up with me and I'd have a negative one.  Airline travel can be like that sometimes.   But the one thing I'm most concerned about with any airline trip is getting me from Point A to Point B safely. 

And on that, Southwest gets an A+ despite all the weather induced drama that caused me to spead a lot more time in Chicago than I'd planned.     
       

Shut Up Fool Awards-Moni's Flying Home Edition

After spending a few days in Boston, I'm enroute back to the Lone Star State after handling my business at the NABJ convention.  

While I had fun taking part on yesterday's panel, it's time for me to head back to the Lone Star State and the HERO defense battle.

But it's also Friday, and yes it's time to determine what fool , fools or group of fools get this week's Shut Up Fool Award.

Honorable mention number one is The GOP led House for going on a five week vacation and setting the standard for congressional non-productivity. 

Don't you have more important things to do like, you know, run the country?   Since that seems to be such a difficult task for you Teapublicans, it's time to relieve you of that responsibility on November 4. 

Honorable mention number two is Iowa US senate candidate and current Iowa state senator Joni Ernst, who's  had too many washes, sets and rinses at the GOP Stepford Salon.    Ernst said at a 2013 forum that Congress shouldn't pass laws that states will nullify.  

Guess Ernst was asleep during government class.  FEDERAL laws take precedence over STATE ones.  The unanimous 1958 Cooper v. Aaron decision added and exclamation point to that debunked argument.says that FEDERAL laws take precedence over state ones. 

If you don't know that fundamental fact Joni, you don't deserve to be in the US Senate.

Honorable mention number three is Michael Peroutka, the Maryland GOP candidate who got busted singing Dixie at a 2012 pro-secessionist convention.  In his zeal to prove he wasn't racist.....well, you know




Honorable mention number four is Michelle Goldberg for that full of fail TERF love letter that got published in the New Yorker.

Honorable mention number five is a joint Uncle Ruckus award for kneegrow sellouts Eric Knowles and Robert Broadus, who stood next to the 'I'm not racist' Peroutka and cooned it up for their GOP massa.

This week's winner is our homegrown King Hater Dave Welch.  

When you call for imprecatory prayers in a HERO fight you and your pseudo-faith based haters are losing, you win hands down 

Dave Welch, go to hell, oops shut up fool

Heading Back Home From Boston To H-town

I've had a wonderful time here on my first trip to Boston for the NABJ convention, and the best part it is has been 15 degrees cooler than my home sweet humidity I love so well.

I'm in bed as you read this, and I get to write the words my fellow Houstonians love to see when the Air Marshal takes flight from the Lone Star State and I leave Harris County:  

I'm headed back home.

I have to get up early to catch my train and my 9:05 AM flight out of Logan back to H-town.  I was fortunate enough on the leg up here to get a non-stop that got here early, but no such luck on the return.  I will have to connect through MDW to get back home to HOU.   

That's airline codespeak for Chicago-Midway and Houston-Hobby airports.

I'll have a 1.5 hour layover in MDW, and if my laptop decides to recognize a WiFi connection along the way, will try to Tweet or comment about stuff on the return trip back.   Otherwise I'll just do it the old fashioned way and take notes for the recap post later.   

NABJ Trans Panel Discussion Today

The convention kicked off while I was enroute to Boston with an opening address from Gov. Deval Patrick,  but my participating in it starts today. 

What I flew from the Lone Star State for is an #NABJ14 panel
discussion entitled Transforming Media: Fairly and Accurately Reporting On Black Trans Americans. 

I get to share the Hynes Convention Center stage with Kellee Terrell and Kenyon Farrow of this Tiq Milan moderated panel that kicks off at 2:15 PM EDT in Hynes 310.   You can follow the discussion at #NABJTRANSFORM.

 I'm beyond excited to make a personal dream come true thanks to GLAAD in attending the NABJ.  Then again, that's been happening a lot for me this year.   I'm also honored that I was invited to be part of this panel.  I appreciate getting another chance to represent our community and be able to authoritatively talk about media coverage of Black transpeople with this group of distinguished journalists who share my ethnic background.


There will probably be some fangirl moments for me as I walk the halls of the Hynes Convention Center and run into some of my fave African descended journalists.

You can also follow the  rest of today's scheduled conference action at #NABJ14

I'm In Beantown!

Well after my nonstop flight up here and navigating Boston's T, I have finally made it to my home for the next two days. 

I'm checked in have a spectacular view from the 31st floor, have gotten the lay of the hotel and the route I'll need to take to the Hynes Convention Center that's close to the Back Bay hotel. 

Fenway Park is near here as well, but won't be watching the Red Sox play  even though they are on a homestand and play the Toronto Blue Jays tonight.

I did get up here just in time for another hatefest between them and the New York Skankees Yankees, but that series starts Friday.   

And I'm probably not going to have enough time on this in an out trip to check out the JFK Presidential Library.   Oh well, maybe next time.

At any rate, time for me to enjoy the view from this room, relax and get ready for this panel  that's happening tomorrow.   

   

HERO Updates, Notes And News-July 30

In our latest update of HERO news, Dave Welch of the Houston Area Pastors Haters Council is in this one.

Welch is one of our longtime inside Beltway 8 human rights oppressors who cut his repressive teeth with Ralph Reed and the Not So Christian Coalition.  It's why he got the stank eye and call out from me during that HMS-TV debate a few weeks ago.

Seems like King Hater in a recent update to his faith based hatemongers has called for “imprecatory prayers” as the deadline to count the HERO repeal petitions deadline approaches. 

So what's an imprecatory prayer?   It's one in which you pray for vile and evil things to happen to your opponents and the destruction of institutions that you perceive as wicked.  

And y'all wonder why I call Welch King Hater.  Probably need to photoshop a '666' on his forehead in any future photos of him.   Whether the misguided Mr Welch and his faith based bigots actually wants negative things to happen to all of us fighting to defend the ordinance is subject to debate, but as the late Maya Angelou stated, if somebody shows you who they are the first time, believe them.

Him parting his lips to ask for imprecatory prayers, being obsessively focused on the sex lives of gay people and obsessed about where we transfolks go potty are signs the man need Jesus and a good psychotherapist.

It's also dangerous when a so called religious leader makes such a dark, chilling and irresponsible call and proves his side and supporters are anything but Christian.   History is also chock full of examples of disturbed people who heed the calls by hate preachers like Welch that subsequently do violently horrible things in the twisted belief they were carrying out God’s will.

Moving on to a more positive subject besides King Hater. .    Let's talk about the HERO recall petitions. 

With the August 4 deadline to verify the petitions rapidly approaching,  the HERO petition.com website went online publishing the names of all the peeps who signed the repeal petitions which are a convoluted mess according to a recent OutSmart magazine article. . 

The HERO haters claimed they gathered 50,000 names and certified 30,000, to which we called bull feces.  Team HERO has subsequently had 80 trained people in a crowdsourcing effort to verify whether or not Max Miller and company were sellin' woof tickets back on July 3. 

The question concerning whether or not the HERO haters gathered enough signatures to place it on the ballot (17,269) is also being asked by our local media. 

The other interesting development happened at yesterday's city council meeting.   Mike Craig and Noel Freeman testified at that meeting it appears that the HERO haters didn't turn in enough signatures.

 

We'll know for certain if that is true when City Secretary Anna Russell and City Attorney Dave Feldman deliver their reports after the August 4 verification deadline.  If it's true, I'll do another happy dance and have a nice bottle of champagne chilling in the refrigerator that will be uncorked in celebration

We also have several meetings of interest coming up as the calendar page flips from July to August.

On July 31 will be the What Is Sisterhood one being held at the Montrose Center at  7 PM moderated by Dee Dee Watters.   On August 2 will be another HERO Strategy Meeting at Legacy starting at 12 Noon.  The Forward Times Town hall will happen on the critical August 4 deadline day also at 7 PM.

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

Air Marshal Takes Flight To Boston

I'm at Hobby again to take another jet plane. 

This time I'm headed to Boston for the National Association of Black Journalists Convention.

This trip will be one full of firsts for me.  In addition to this being my first ever time to Boston after multiple ones to western Massachusetts, it's also the first time I'll get the opportunity to be in the NABJ convention house. 

I have a panel discussion set for tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to finally meeting Kellee Terrell after corresponding with her for several years on Facebook.   Looking forward to being in the same space with the awesome Kenyon Farrow again for the first time since that OUT on the Hill panel we were participating on together and seeing Tiq Milan again.

I get a nonstop nearly 4 hour flight (3 hours and :50 minutes on the schedule) for this opening leg of this trip but wasn't so lucky on the return.

On my return leg home I'll have to roll through Chicago Midway before I get back to my beloved Texas soil.

Assuming the Southwest flight is on time, I'll get there in the afternoon.    As always I'll be taking notes and doing a recap post concerning my latest travel excursion.