What Transwomen Do In The Bathroom

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There have been a lot of lies told by our HERO opponents over the last few months concerning what trans women do in the restrooms besides handle our bodily functions and wash our hands when we're done relieving ourselves.

So what do we do in the bathroom?   Poop, piss, and after we wash our hands primp.  The meetings we have in the ladies room are making sure we look fly when we step out of it. 

Damned sure ain't what the lying professional trans haters accuse us of doing, and we're beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of hearing that lie repeated in the the media and elsewhere.. 

The predator meme has been debunked, and the Houston media (along with their cohorts in the rest of the country) needs to stop repeating the demonstrably false talking points of King Hater Dave Welch and company. 

And yeah Majic 102, it's past time for you to balance the journalistic scales and have HERO supporters on Sunday Morning Live.

Stephanie And Ukea: Plus 12

Twelve years ago on this date at the same 50th and C Street corner in Southeast DC where Tyra Hunter's death by medical transphobia happened,. two young Washington DC transwomen died.
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Sadly, there have been a lot of trans murders and anti-trans violence aimed at my Washington DC trans sisters since 2002, but the brutal execution style slayings of 19 year old Stephanie Thomas and 18 year old Ukea Davis rocked DC and the nation. 

Sadly, the waste (or wastes) of DNA who committed this crime have yet to be brought to justice.  

There are times I think about what happened to these two inseparable friends.  I wonder what depraved soul would have so much hate in their heart for Stephanie and Ukea that they made the heinous effort to terminate their lives.

I also wonder if Stephanie and Ukea had lived, what contributions would they be making to our community at ages 30 and 31?   But that is a question we'll never know the answer to.

Rest in power and in peace ladies.   Know that your Washington DC trans brothers and trans sisters and your trans family around the country won't rest until the perps who did this are arrested, convicted and are rotting in jail for the rest of their lives for it.

HRC Deja Vu At SCC 2014?

When I was on a New York vacation in May 2000, I had a chat with a wise trans Latina that lasted so long, I ended up spending the night at her Brooklyn crib before I headed back to Yonkers where I was staying the next morning.  

She gave me not only the chapter and verse history about what had transpired with transpeeps since Stonewall, she also gave me some advice about what GL organizations were a help and a hindrance to the trans liberation struggle.  She also gave me some advice about one of those GL orgs that I have followed to this day.

So who was that wise trans Latina giving a neophyte TransGriot the advice?   None other than the late Sylvia Rivera.  And what organizations did she advise me to never trust?  HRC. 

My memories of that Transy House conversation with Sylvia got triggered again because of some interesting news I heard yesterday afternoon. 

When the Southern Comfort Conference kicks off in suburban Atlanta September 3-7, one of their three keynote speakers will be none other than HRC President Chad Griffin.  The other 2014 SCC keynoters will be Christina Kahrl and Jamison Green.

Have mad love for both Christina and Jamison.   They will make wonderful SCC keynote speakers and I met Jamison during the  2000 SCC event. 

But before being advised of the jawdropping news that Griffin was going to be one of the keynoters this year, my attention was focused on another missed opportunity by SCC to lift up the work of ATL area trans POC leaders.

What's up with that SCC?   You have Dee Dee Chamblee, Cheryl Courtney-Evans, Tracee McDaniel, Xochitl Bervera, BT and several other prominent trans POC's in your Georgia backyard, and yet you've missed another opportunity to highlight their work.

That oversight led me to once again recall the words an African-American SCC attendee I chatted with during my last SCC visit in 2004. "SCC is definitely Southern and not very comfortable."

That missed opportunity is why Black Trans Advocacy Conference in Dallas on April 27-May 3, 2015, the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference and the upcoming Transgender Faith And Action Network conference in Charlotte August 29-31 continue to exist, grow, and draw diverse crowds . 
 
But back to the news that after a seven year absence, an HRC president will speak at the Southern Comfort Conference. 

The last SCC appearance in 2007 saw then HRC president Joe Solmonese misspeaking lying at the then largest trans conference on the planet about his organization's support of a trans inclusive ENDA and stating they would oppose a non-trans inclusive one.  At that 2007 Solmonese SCC speech they collected $20K in T-bills from the suckers transfolks in the room that went out of our community and straight to HRC bank accounts, then reneged on that promise. .

We got cut by former Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) out of a transgender inclusive ENDA as HRC sat in mute silence about it, then as the rest of the LGB community was coalescing along with a majorly upset trans community behind the United ENDA effort, threw transpeeps under the civil rights bus and supported the trans-free ENDA.

When Griffin does speak at SCC next month, I hope my white trans sisters and trans brothers don't fall for the HRC okey doke again and are smart enough to keep their checkbooks and debit cards in their purses and wallets until they see what HRC is selling.

We'll see in three weeks if my white trans brothers and transsisters remember their 2007 SCC history lesson and proceed accordingly.

I will also be paying attention along with much of Trans World to that speech.  I'm curious about what Griffin has to say just in case he and his org are serious about forging a new path with the trans community. 

This will be a pivotal speech for HRC.  Depending on what happens after it is delivered, it will either start HRC on the road to redemption in the trans community or if handled badly as they are prone to do, set back their efforts to overcome their negative trans oppressor past another generation.  

HERO Updates, Notes And News-August 11

It's been a week since the haters faith based oppressors failed to gather enough signatures to place the HERO on the ballot for recall.   Because it was via their own ineptitude that they failed to do so, now they want the court system to bail them out of the mess they made for themselves.

They tried to play it off as if the city was being nitpicky about it, but as this training video shows, even King Hater Dave Welch knew what the requirements were before they got started on the failed recall petition drive  



The case was sent to federal court, on August 6, but went back to state court the next day with a hearing on August 15.  The HERO haters are running into an August 18 deadline if they want to get it on the 2014 election ballot, and the clock is ticking. 

As expected, a judge has enjoined the city from enforcing the HERO  until the legal questions are resolved.   Mayor Parker had already anticipated this, which is why she suspended HERO mplementation for two weeks until the haters trip through the court system is done. 

In the meantime, Team HERO is in standby mode.  While we'd rather the HERO not be on the ballot period, if push comes to shove we are ready to start fundraising money and prepare defending our much needed human rights ordinance.Stay tuned to this TransGriot channel to see if they were successful 

On to other news.  The next Civil Rights Strategy group meeting will be on Tuesday, August 12 at 7:00 PM at the Montrose Center, 401 Branard, Room 112..

The struggle to keep the HERO continues

Bye, Stacey!

I've said the most dangerous bigot is one that has the power to write legislation, and Tennessee Teapublican state senator Stacey Campfield has been Exhibit A of that.

Ever since he was elected to the Tennessee legislature in 2010, he has not only proposed unjust legislation like the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, in 2013, he put forward a widely criticized bill that would have reduced welfare assistance for families if their children did not do well in school.   Campfield also is behind a new Tennessee law requiring the state to drug-test applicants for public benefits.

In addition to Sen.Campfield's attempts to push unjust legislation, he has also flapped his gums and made cringe inducing remarks that even his own party has backpedaled from.

Back in May Campfield invoked Godwin's Law and parted his lips to say that the Obama administration touting how many people signing up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act was like the Nazis bragging how many Jews they sent to the concentration camps.

"Democrats bragging about the number of mandatory sign-ups for Obamacare is like Germans bragging about the number of mandatory sign-ups for 'train rides' for Jews in the 40s," Campfield wrote at the time. The misspelling of "mandatory" appeared in the original text.

Campfield has compared homosexuality to bestiality, made a tasteless joke about the Boston Marathon bombing, and in 2012 made wildly inaccurate claims about the origin of AIDS during a Sirius XM OutQ interview with Michelangelo Signorile.

He became well known in Tennessee LGBT community circles as being hostile to TBLG constituents that came to visit him in Nashville, which is probably a factor in why he lost his re-election bid.   

"Campfield was actually WORSE than his reputation. He regularly berated and attempted to humiliate LGB and especially T constituents who went to meet with him," said Brenda Lunger.." I had to help console a young gender nonconforming person and their partner once after they had a meeting with Stacey. I just hope his replacement is human. Campfield isn't."

Last Tuesday was the Tennessee primary elections, and Campfield went down in flames in his state senate District 7 race.  He was crushed by Knoxville cardiac surgeon Richard Briggs.  

With all precincts reporting, Briggs had 13,977 votes, or 66 percent, compared with Campfield's 5,824 votes, or 28 percent.

Buh Bye Stacey.   Don't think they are going to miss you in Nashville.   And good riddance.  

Still Musing About Marcus Major

Back in July 2011 I wrote a post asking the question what happened to author Marcus Major? 

After writing the short story Kenya and Amir and the bestselling novels Good Peoples, 4 Guys And Trouble, A Man Most Worthy and A Family Affair from 2000-2003, it seemed as though he just vanished from the literary world and hasn't written a new novel since 2003.

Basically myself and ofter fans of Major who grew to love the characters in his Philly-Newark-DC centered writing universe have been wondering ever since what's happened not only to him, but the characters populating his novels?

When Major's last novel A Family Affair was published, we discovered Marisa and Myles were married.  Mike had just gotten married to now Dr. Erika.Truitt.  Carlos and Jackie Roque were the parents of adorable toddler CJ. Kenya and Amir were married and dealing with their now eight year old twins Deja and Jade, and everyone's fave playa player Ibn Barrington is still hilariously single.

Eleven years has elapsed since A Family Affair was published.   For those of us Marcus Major fans musing about Marisa and Myles, not only do we wonder if our fave couple had a boy or girl, did that at this point 11 year old child receive a name starting with 'M'?  

If their child is a girl, would Marisa name the baby for her late Cuban mother or if a boy, would he be a Myles Jr or some other male name?   Would the career obsessed Cubana slow down her legal, media and advocacy track for mommyhood or would Myles be more of the stay at home dad as they discussed at the end of Good Peoples? 

Speaking of juniors, what's up with Carlos Roque, Jr?   How is he progressing under the parental guidance of Jackie and Carlos Sr?   Is the group home that Jackie and Kenya were running still active?    What's up not only with Kenya and Amir Moore, but with their twin daughters Deja and Jade who would now be about college age at 19?   What's their Aunt Tanzania up to?   Did Jasmine and Darius stay together or move on to other people as Jasmine pursued her college education?  

As for the questions focused on the characters from 4 Guys and Trouble, we know that Mike and Bunches AKA Dr Erika Truitt got married, and Ibn's being Ibn, but did the same thing happen for the other characters in that novel? 

Did Tiffany get married to Maryland state senator Harold Hawkins III and repair her friendship with Erika?  Are Colin and Stephanie still together and did that newly blossoming relationship result in them getting married?  Did Dexter find someone else in the wake of his breakup with Denise?   Did she marry Kwame?.

What happened to Sharice?  Terence?   Did Erika keep her promise and adopt Tiana who would now be in her early twenties?  

We know Stacy went on to cause the end of a Moore family marriage in A Family Affair , but is she still wrecking homes?  

And Ibn, Ibn, Ibn?   Has Ibn finally met the woman that made him want to give up his playa playa card?  Does he still think about losing Tiffany?   If he hasn't given up his playa card, what other wild situations did Ibn find himself in as alluded to in the A Man Most Worthy book when he showed up at Adele's with his frat neophytes who had just gone over, and his hilarious cameos in Amir's barbershop in A Family Affair? 

As for the Newark based characters in A Man Most Worthy, we can probably presume that John and Josephine Sebastian and Gloria and Jules Anthony are still together because both couples had seriously rocky roads to their dual  reconciliations and marriages.   But there's still questions you can ask related to that novel.

How did Gloria adjust to being the stepmother to Jules' then seven year old daughter Nakira, and what's Nakira doing now that she's 18?  

Did the now 34 year old Scent get her doctorate and find love?   Are Hakeem and Rashahn still living up to the motto of their problem solving business and dishing out well deserved beatdowns?  

In case you forgot:  "No problem too big or too small to be fixed, no azz too big or too small to be kicked."

Going back to Nakira, would be interesting to see a novel in which Tiana,  Nakira, Jade and Deja bumped into each other at college with Scent or Jasmine as one of their professors,  Marisa doing a guest lecture, and Ibn making a hilarious appearance doing his usual frat mentoring.

But then again, that's up to Marcus Major.   Would be nice of him to unleash another book for his devoted fans like moi who would love to once again immerse themselves into his Philly-DC-Newark centric character universe and see what's transpiring in the 2k10's.    

Hey, Ibn Barrington's exploits are worth two novels and a movie by himself.

Anti-Trans Violence In NYC Subway

One of the things I'm beyond being sick and tired of being sick and tired of is the anti-trans hate being directed at Black transwomen in our community by Black cis males that manifests itself into anti trans violence.as demonstrated in the MARTA attack on two transwomen by Luther Thomas and Frederick Missick back in May. 

I had this video clip sent to me by longtime TransGriot reader LaSaia Wade of another depressing transit system attack on a Black trans woman by a cis Black 'man' as this Black trans woman is trying to just go through her day without drama.  

Not aware of what transpired between the two to drive it to this level that is videotaped in this attack on the transwoman in question in this NYC subway platform, but I am bothered that no one came to her aid.

I'm even more upset about the fact some people thought this crap was humorous, and this alleged 'man' thought it was okay to put his balled up fists on a trans woman. 

No dudes and ignorant transphobes,.trans* women are women, and you're a punk if you think it's ever okay to take a swing at us.  

Sharae Kavoskii, your transphobic ignorance and poisonous self loathing is also on display for using the t-slur word in your caption of the video.

People throwing their balled up fists at a transwoman isn't cute, funny or entertaining.  If you think it is, something is seriously wrong with you as a human being.  We transgender women are not your punching bags to take out whatever anger issues you have in your miserable life out on us.

We transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life on this planet and we aren't going away.   Deal with that reality. 

Trigger Warning for language in fight video  

NBJC Calls Out Transphobic Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

The Michigan Transphobic Womyn's Music Festival started on August 5 and is in its final day in Hart,. MI. 

While I prefer my concerts indoors and have no desire to swat mosquitoes in Michigan's summer heat, I know people that love going to 'The Land' every year.  Some of those women who like going are my transsisters.

But what I don't love about MichFest  is its transphobic 'womyn born womyn' policy that hypocritically excludes transwomen from attending it, but lets transmen in..

MichFest has been getting increased pushback and pressure from artists to end the policy   This year they  released a long bull feces laden statement trying to to spin their way out of the fact it is transphobic in the wake of calls by boycotting artists, trans allies, Equality Michigan and HRC to end the policy.  

Equality Michigan also initiated an online petition calling for the end of the policy.

While I was enroute to San Marcos for the just concluded TTNS,  the National Black Justice Coalition  (NBJC) joined the call of Equality Michigan to end their nearly quarter century old anti-trans women exclusionary policy.  

Here's NBJC's statement.

Washington, DC -- The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) joins the call for the organizers of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF) to end their informal policy of not welcoming transgender women to participate in the international, all women music festival.

Birthed out of the feminist movement of the late twentieth century, MWMF has provided an exclusive space built by and for women since 1976. This weeklong music and community festival, located in a small wooded area of Hart, Michigan, has maintained a policy that only women who were assigned female at birth should attend. This policy, known as the 'Womyn Born Womyn' intention, was first enforced during the 1991 MWMF when a transgender woman was asked to leave the festival because of her trans identity. It has been maintained by MWMF organizers every year since this initial incident.


“Our transgender sisters are simply women and deserve to be treated as such. It is baffling that at MWMF -- an event organized by and built exclusively for women -- imposes such blatant discrimination against one of the most marginalized groups of women in our society,” said Sharon Lettman-Hicks, NBJC Executive Director and CEO. “NBJC joins with Equality Michigan and the host of other advocacy organizations calling on the organizers of MWMF to immediately end their policy of not welcoming transgender women. This unjust policy only perpetuates hate and stigma, and has no place in a space meant to empower women.”

As Michigan’s only statewide anti-violence and advocacy organization working primarily for Michigan’s LGBT communities, Equality Michigan led the effort against the MWMF’s discriminatory policy by launching an online petition against it last week. “[W]e reject the premise that transgender women are lesser than, we reject that this belief is a tenet of feminism, and we will no longer respect the 'intention' or that 'leaving the onus on each individual to choose whether or how to respect it' equates to inclusion,” Equality Michigan wrote.

“NBJC urges its entire constituency and all supporters to sign the Equality Michigan petition and show the organizers of MWMF that no form of discrimination against our transgender sisters is acceptable in 2014,” added Lettman-Hicks.

To sign the Equality Michigan online petition to end the transgender exclusion at MWMF click HERE.

Tiq Discusses Trans Detainee On MSNBC

Got to spend some quality time with him last week during an NABJ panel, but always good to see my trans brother Tiq Milan handling his business on behalf of the community repping the 'T'.

While I was rolling west Thursday on I-10 towards San Marcos, Tiq was on MSNBC's Ronan Farrow Daily discussing 23 year old Marichuy, a trans detainee who was being mistreated and subsequently sexually assaulted in an immigration detention center. 

40th Anniversary Of Nixon's Presidential Resignation

The Watergate saga came to an end when embattled President Richard Nixon, who was about to become the first president to be impeached and removed from office, resigned effective at noon EDT on August 9, 1974 rather than face the ignominy of being impeached and removed from office.

And yeah, as a teenaged political junkie, I watched the speech that Nixon gave to the nation on the night of August 8, 1974

TTNS Texas State-Day 2

It's Day 2 of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit in San Marcos, TX.

We pick up where we left off with more seminars and our keynote speaker being Daniel Williams of Equality Texas.

And yep, I get to teach my Contemporary Texas Trans History one that was well liked last year.in the morning concurrent seminar block. 

You can still join us at the LBJ Student Center.   Registration starts at 9:00 with the TTNS 2014 action starting at 9:30 AM.  If you can't be here in San Marcos, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.       

Shut Up Fool Awards-Moni's At Texas State Edition

Another Friday afternoon, another event.  At this moment I'm at the LBJ Student Center on the Texas State University campus having lunch and chilling with everyone who is attending the 6th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit

This TTNS is blazing a historic chapter for the event because for the first time ever it's being held on a college campus not located in the Houston metro area where it was founded by Josephine Tittsworth.

We're halfway through our first day of seminars, the keynote by Dr. Gage E. Paine, Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and discussing how to get trans inclusive nondiscrimination policies ensconced in Texas school districts and on Texas college campuses 

But I'm well aware that Friday means it's time to call out this week's fool, fools or group of fools worthy of this week's TransGriot Shut Up Fool Award.

So let's cut the jibber-jabber and get right to this Friday's SUF 'bidness'.

Honorable mention number one is a group award that goes to the 63 Texas Teapublican legislators who signed an amicus brief Monday arguing that recognition of gay marriage could lead to the legalization of incest, pedophilia and polygamy.

I don't even know where to start demolishing that one, but these boys doth protesteth too much. 

Honorable mention number two I stay in the Lone Star State for in Rev. James Nash.  He's one of the kneegrow ministers HERO hatin' and cooning it up for Dave Welch.  During the Forward Times HERO town hall Monday night, mere moments after being told by Cassandra Thomas, a 30 year expert in the field, that the anti-trans bathroom predator scare tactic he and the hate pastors were using were false, he tried to push the lie once again and got smacked down by the assembled crowd for it.

Christopimping ain't easy, huh Rev. Nash?   

Honorable mention number three gos to Richmond, CA city councilmember Corkey Boozé.   Home gets an honorable mention because he's regularly hatin' on Richmond's openly lesbian vice mayor Jovanka Beckles.

His reason?  He doesn't like her 'lifestyle'.  Mr. Boozé also takes it a nekulturny step further by having shills in the council chamber audience regularly come to meetings to scream anti-gay insults and yell "filth" at her.   It's getting so bad the Richmond City Council is considering enacting a six month ban on people who disrupt council meetings.

When is your next election to remove this hater from council? 

Honorable mention number four is Mr. Watts' least favorite state legislator in Jonathan Strickland.  Seems the Tea Klux Klan member Mike, Stacey and yours truly made look stupid on Facebook didn't need our help this time.   He's writing legislation (he can write legislation?) to ban the state of Texas from paying for the surgeries of transgender inmates.   

Even if the GOP manages to hold on to control of the state Lege and passes it next January, the 8th Amendment to the constitution will invalidate it.   And we may end up with a governor who will veto it.
 
Honorable mention number five goes to Milton Wolf.   The Kansas Tea Klux Klan member and doctor threw his cousin under the bus by invoking Godwin's Law and comparing him to Hitler.    .A second cousin who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.   He was trying to knock off incumbent senator Pat Roberts (R), but his campaign died when a Topeka reporter busted him back in February about x-ray images of gunshot victims posted on his Facebook page.   Roberts thumped him by seven points.

Serves your azz right for dissing the POTUS.

Honorable mention number six goes to Laura Ingraham, who opened mouth and inserted pumps on her radio show Wednesday to say that giving transkids hormone therapy is 'child abuse'.

There are many transgender children and their parents who would probably love to call your ignorant butt out for saying something so monumentally stupid.  

Honorable mention number seven goes to Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) for trying to trying to pull out the vcitim card and claim that the Democrats are waging a War On White People.  

Silly Teapublican.  It's your own party that's waging that War on White People and 'errbody else' not in the 1% by not expanding Medicare, refusing to do infrastructure projects, raise the minimum wage....

This week's Shut Up Fool Award goes to Donald Chump Trump. 

If you thought there was any shred of decency left in the man, he removed all doubt he had it when as part of a Twitter rant, wrote that American healthcare workers Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were infected with the Ebola virus while on humanitarian missions, not be allowed back into the country for treatment. 

Trump tweeted that healthcare workers “must suffer the consequences,” for their humanitarian impulses.

Why don't you 'suffer the consequences' and spend some of your megabucks to go to Bosley to exchange that squirrel on top of your head for some real hair?
 
Donald Trump, you're fired, er shut up fool.
    

TTNS Texas State-Day 1

We're about to start a historic day in the life of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit!.  

For the first time ever the TTNS will be on a Texas college campus that isn't in the Houston metro area, and founder Josephine Tittsworth is excited about that along with the folks on the Texas State University campus.

We've got a full day of events happening at the LBJ Student Center starting at 9:00 AM CDT including the keynote from Dr. Gage Paine, Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

The TTNS as always is packed with exciting seminars along with the opening reception later this afternoon starting at 4:30 PM.

And speaking of tradition, hope they're still doing the chocolate break. 

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..