Shut Up Fool Awards-Epidemic Of Ignorance Edition

It's Friday and you longtime TransGriot readers know what that means.  It's time for what has become a popular feature on my blog, the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.

Every Friday I shine a bright spotlight on jaw dropping hypocrisy, outright lies and falsehoods, mind numbing stupidity, and stuff that makes you go WTF? 

And in this week's edition of the Shut Up Fool Awards we had an epidemic if ignorance and SUF worthy activity break out.

Time to sort it all out and find out what fool, fools or group of fools deserve to get called out for their nekulturny behavior.

Honorable mention number one is Cathie Adams, the one time head of the Texas Republican Party who is now the head of the Texas Eagle Forum.   She advanced her theory for the so-called 'Texas Miracle'.    Texas' rejection of the 'homosexual agenda' is contributing to its growth.

Insert eyeroll here as you watch this video of Cathie flapping her loud and wrong gums.   People are moving to Texas for a lot of reasons,the oil boom and low taxes being the major ones, but probably not the homophobic one that Cathie cited. 

Houston, the largest city in the state has elected to three terms as its mayor out lesbian Annise Parker and two gay councilmembers.  Dallas County has an out three term lesbian sheriff in Lupe Valdez and Judge Tonya Parker..   Texas is not as narrow minded as the Teapublicans (and non-Texans) think. 

Honorable mention number two I'm going to keep it in the Lone Star State with a group award for Open Carry Texas.  These predominately white conservafool ammosexuals are arrogantly trying to hold an open carry event in Houston's historic African-American Fifth Ward neighborhood even though they have been repeatedly told by the residents they aren't wanted there and warned to stay out.

If these fools do continue, they may find out why Fifth Ward got the nickname The Bloody Fifth' back in the day..

Honorable mention number three is Erik Rush for comparing gay activists to ISIS.

Honorable mention number four is Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) who voted against a minimum wage hike, but disingenuously parted his lips to complain about the fact he hasn't gotten a raise on his congressional pay since 2009.   he also collected his paycheck during the GOP instigated government shutdown.

Somebody in Nebraska please send his azz to the congressional unemployment line on November 4.

Honorable mention number five is Shepard Smith, who while reporting on the suicide of comic Robin Williams called him a coward.   Yo Shep, when is your behind going to come out of the closet since you went there?  Depression and mental health issues are also nothing to demonize people about.

Honorable mention number six is Gavin McInnes who is bucking for full time duty as a FOX noise contributor after unleashing a virulently transphobic screed on Thought Catalog

Honorable mention number seven is Rick Wiles, who parted his lips and unleashed the stupid on his radio show by stating that the Ebola virus could 'solve America's problems with athiesm and homosexiality.'

Naw Rick, it's false prophets like you that are driving people away from Christianity.

This week's Shut Up Fool Award winners are a joint award for the Ferguson, MO PD and the St Louis County PD.  After the execution fatal shooting of an unarmed Michael Brown last week, the Ferguson PD's SUF award winning efforts were to stonewall before mounting public pressure forced them to release the officer's name involved in it.  One FPD officer was caught on tape saying 'Bring it you f-ing animals"  on tape.   A racist comment denigrating the African-American community as 'feral' was attributed to FPD police chief's Thomas Jackson's wife. 

They along with the St Louis County po-po's chose to wear riot gear, use tear gas, rubber bullets, and overwhelming paramilitary force in confronting peaceful African-American demonstrators.  

Now the FPD is trying to demonize Mike Brown in the wake of releasing officer Darren Brown's name to the world.   Still doesn't change the fact that one of your officers fatally shot an unarmed man

Ferguson, MO PD and St Louis County PD,  shut up fools..
  

Moni Speaks At The Houston #NMOS14 Rally

Since the local #NMOS14 rally was happening just up the street from me at MacGregor Park, it was a no brainer about whether or not I was going to check it out.  

After it started a little after 6 PM CDT, we had the moment of silence starting around 6:20 PM to commemorate the life of Mike Brown, what the people in Ferguson, MO were going through and all the victims of police brutality and misconduct.

The floor was then opened by organizer of the event Ashley Williams to anyone who wished to speak to do so. 

And yeah, you know once that happened, I was going to take the opportunity to do just that and represent the Houston TBLG community while doing so. 

When my opportunity to speak to the crowd came, I pointed out that I was there on behalf of myself and the Houston TBLG community, and that Black community issues like police brutality are LGBT issues and vice versa.

I then pointed out that trans people are affected by negative policing behavior. and used the Monica Jones case in Phoenix as a example of it before pivoting back to the reason for the event.  

I pointed out that Black women were experiencing death by po-po and not to forget that.   I also reminded everyone that we have an election coming up on November 4, and that is your best tool for societal change before I stepped down.

I hung around to talk to people and listen to more speakers before I finally left about 8:30 PM. 

One of the chants was 'No more!' in reference to not having another unarmed Black child die due to death by po-po. 

But I wondered as I walked toward the bus stop with the MLK statue in my sights if we were on the road to actually making that happen or we'd be gathered once again at another Houston location to mourn the loss of another African-American child due to police brutality.

I hope not.   But we have a lot of work to do to make no more Black kids dying at the hands of police officers a reality.

Tired Of Black People Being Attacked In Ferguson, MO And Elsewhere

'But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.'
-Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, 'The Other America'

That Dr.. King quote is what is going through my mind as I see my people being attacked by Officer Oppressor in Ferguson, MO and other places inside the borders of the United States.

This isn't a post-racial society.  It is still racist because white people refuse to see and keep trying to delude themselves into thinking that this country has evolved when it comes to race relations. 

Sadly, it hasn't.  This country is more polarized racially than it was when I was a kid growing up in the late 60's and early 70's.  I'm also well aware of the fact as Dr. King also eloquently pointed out in that same 'The Other America' essay, this is a racist country dominated by whiteness, white supremacist attitudes and actions.  

We also have the problem that because of the toxic legacy of slavery, for the last four centuries Black lives have been dehumanized to the point that our kids get shot by the police and Zimmerman wannabees with no punitive consequences to the perpetrators of those shootings.

And enough is enough.  Far too many of our kids are experiencing death by po-po. 

It's clear to our nation and the world the racist nature of American policing when police do everything possible to deescalate an armed standoff with Cliven Bundy and his white-wing thugs, but respond with over the top paramilitary force, tear gas, rubber bullets and drawn guns to peaceful African-American protestors demanding justice in the murder of an unarmed Michael Brown.

All Ferguson, MO residents and by extension, the African-American community wants are answers to why an unarmed Black college-bound kid was shot and killed Saturday by a white police officer.  

We have been met by stonewalling, refusal to name the police badge wearing perp out of 'concerns for his safety', cricket chirping silence, racist disrespect and over the top paramilitary police force.

If that were happening to your community and it was your kids being depressingly killed every year by police that don't look like them or even live in their neighborhoods, would you be sitting silently on your hands about that injustice? 

Nope, I don't think you would.   

As civil rights movement icon Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) said, "The death of Michael Brown is a grave tragedy the community of Ferguson, Missouri should not have to bear. How many more young men of color will be killed before we realize that we have a problem in America? We are permitting the incarceration and shooting of thousands of black and brown boys in their formative years who might have become great artists, leaders, scientists, or lawyers if we had offered them our support instead of our suspicion?"


The bottom line is oppressed people will not remain oppressed forever, nor will they allow themselves to be continuously disrespected.  Sooner or later there will be a reaction to the injustice, hence the protests you're seeing play out in Ferguson and now other cities around the country.
 
It's also why you're hearing that classic NWA rap song right now as the soundtrack to what's going on in that suburban St Louis city.
 
Since the Ferguson, MO police and leadership in that community failed to respectfully respond to those legitimate questions the family and others in the city had concerning the Brown murder by po-po, now you're hearing them articulated in the language of the unheard.

Still Thinking About Sisterhood

Sisterhood should not end when Oprah goes off. Truth be told, there will always be someone prettier, sexier, stronger, and smarter. I'm sorry Boo - that's just the way it is. But that's ok.....just do you!
--Robin Bonner, September 23, 2013, 'Sistahs, Let's Stop Hating On Each Other. 

 
One on the topics I've talked about a lot on this blog is sisterhood.   Whether it's between cis and trans women or inside our transfeminine ranks, I see sisterhood as a mutually beneficial situation. 

It not only helps trans woman become the quality women we know we are and continue to strive to be, but it helps cis women to understand the issues we grapple with while making the connection that trans women are women. 

We trans women deal with many of the same issues and struggles that come with walking Planet Earth in a feminine body.  While there are some issues that cis women deal with that I and other trans women will never know what it's like to experience, that doesn't (and shouldn't) stop me and other trans women from standing in sisterly solidarity with you.

We trans women deeply appreciate the support and unconditional love we get from those of our cis sisters who have come to the realization that trans women are women and include us in your sister circles.  It's deeply appreciated when you wrap your arms around me, hug me and call me your friend or homegirl.  

And yes, those sisterly friendships are vital to our continued feminine evolutions, especially when Black and Latina trans women are so hated upon.
Thanks once again for the frank conversations, sharing your joys and concerns, the motivational kicks in the behind when necessary and lending an ear when we need it. 

Knowing and hearing you express that trans women are women, and seeing you excel while looking fly inspires me to step it up another level and role model that quality Black woman I talk about on these electronic pages so much. 

Contrary to the lies the TERF"s have been pushing since the disco era, trans women aren't your enemies, nor do we want to be.  We have far more struggles in common in our evolving feminine journeys than we do differences, and I enjoy it when I get to sit down and have conversations with cis and trans women and talk about them.   

Building sisterhood and working partnerships in the cis and trans feminine ranks is a worthy and achievable goal    Let's get busy making it happen.

HERO Updates, Notes and News-August 13

The scene for the battle to keep the HERO shifts from City Hall to the Harris County Courthouse at 201 Caroline Street on Friday afternoon.

It'll be heard in Judge Robert Shaver's 152nd Civil Court on the 11th floor of that building at 1:30 PM CDT on Friday

The clock is ticking on the faith-based oppressors as they try to get in the courtroom what they failed to get when they committed their unforced errors in collecting signatures.

They have a looming August 18 deadline to get their repeal  referendum language on the ballot, and they have no one to blame but themselves for their predicament.

King Hater Dave Welch told them in the training video what not to do when collecting the signatures for the repeal petitions, and they did it anyway. 

Meanwhile on to other issues of importance.  Media Matters wrote a story that confirmed what Team HERO already knew.  Houston media coverage of our HERO fight has been slanted far too much in the oppressor's direction, and offered suggestions to fix it.

On Monday night was the August meeting of the Stonewall Young Democrats, and in addition to having a small celebration to acknowledge the HERO wins so far, this meeting also revealed more of the groups endorsements in statewide  and local judicial races.

There was another HERO strategy meeting held at the Montrose Center last night in which several bullet point issues of importance to the Houston Black SGL trans and bi community were discussed.   There was also a review of the previous meeting, where we stood with HERO and continuing to do our 'Revolution Will Not Be Televised' work to own our power.    Watch this TransGriot space for date, time and location of the next meeting.

A HERO fundraiser is happening later tonight with suggested donations of  $250, $500, to $10,000. RSVP to Kathryn@KChace.com if yo wish to attend this event at the home of  Richard Holt and Mark McMasters

Interesting news dropped about one of our haters in Jonathan Saenz of Texas Values and why he's hating on HERO.  Seems according to Lone Star Q, his ex-wife left him for another woman.  Hmm.  .  

The #NOFILTER conversations also start at 7 PM tonight

Don't you think it's time for us as a community to come together and have those hard conversations that we always wanted to have but didn't know how to? Well, we have the discussion for you. #NOFILTER is a place to start tearing apart any of the things we want to get off our chest!

In case you're interested, MSociety is located at 1116 Jackson St.in Montrose.

There is also a HERO volunteer appreciation event happening August 19 at Resurrection MCC Church.  If you did anything to help the HERO pass from speaking at City Council to checking petitions to e-mailing our councilmembers, your presence is requested and wanted for this event.

Soon as I get the time, I'll pass it along in a future HERO update post.

And finally, on August 14 there will be a Houston moment of silence for Mike Brown, the folks in Ferguson, MO and all the people who were either killed unjustly or due to police brutality. 

Ashley Williams is organizing this #Houston National Moment of Silence which will take place Thursday at MacGregor Park at the corner of Old Spanish Trail and MLK (at the MLK statue corner of the park) starting at 6 PM CDT.  



#NMOS14 organizers are asking you to bring your families, signs, and stories. If you have any questions, or need more info, please contact Ashley at  fashionfwd_ash@yahoo.com or send a text to 214-608-6329

I'm planning to attend and hope we'll have representation from the Houston TBLG community there.

The fight to keep the HERO continues.   

Aww, METRORail Purple Line Opening Delayed Until December

I live about five blocks from where the METRORail Purple Line will terminate, and I have had a ringside seat for its construction, soon to be completion and anxiously anticipated by moi opening.

That was supposed to happen in October for the new Purple and Green Lines, but according to  Swamplot, that's not going to happen until December for several reason not including the delay in getting the needed 39 railcars from CAF USA to start the new service.

Houston Rapid Transit, the contractor building the two new rail lines, won't be ready to turn the rail lines over to METRO until September 30.  It will then take METRO sixty days to prepare the rail lines for revenue service. 

In addition, the live wire testing is happening on both lines along with the initial construction of the second downtown 1000 room convention center area  hotel scheduled to open in 2016. 


The Altic and Cesar Chavez stations on the far end of the Green Line won't be accessible until the rail only overpass crossing the Union Pacific freight railroad tracks is completed.  

It was going to be a rial and traffic underpass, but chemical contamination combined with liability concerns caused METRO despite the desires of the community to go with the overpass option.

Well, we've waited this long for the new Purple and Green Lines, what's another few weeks?  

Now if we can get the federal funding we need to get the east-west Blue Line started to connect the rest of our rail system with the planned Bus Rapid Transit Gold Line in the Galleria area.

22nd Annual Houston Unity Banquet Happening Next Month

It's been an amazing year for Houston transkind with the passage of the gender identity inclusive HERO that many of us in the Houston trans ranks fought hard to make it happen.

Normally this event happens in April, but considering we were majorly committed to pushing for HERO passage, it was probably a good thing that the Houston Transgender Unity Banquet was postponed.

The 22nd annual edition of the HTUC Unity Banquet emceed once again by Trystan Reece will take place at the Sheraton Brookhollow's Grand Ballroom, located at 3000 North Loop West.   The Unity Banquet is one of the major fundraising activities for the local trans community and tickets are on sale for it right now.  

It supports not only the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA), but the Peggy Rudd Scholarship, trans activities during Houston Pride, and the Houston Trans Community Awards in various categories (The Dee McKellar I was nominated for once back in 2001 but didn't win) 

So why do we have the Unity Banquet here in H-town?  One of the reasons we do so is to promote unity, cooperation and facilitate cooperation between several local transgender groups.

The Houston Transgender Unity Committee (HTUC) was formed to plan and coordinate common activities for the Houston Transgender Community including Tau Chi Chapter of Tri-Ess, Helping Transgenders Anonymous (HTGA), Some Transgenders Are Guys (STAG), Houston Transgender Cover Girls (HTCG), Diamond T Girls, and Transgenders of Faith-Community Gospel Church.

The Unity Banquet is the fundraising event for HTUC, and since the late 90's has been held each year to acknowledge and honor our allies and advocates in the Houston area.

After being held in the spring for many years, it's going to be an interesting shift of the Houston Transgender Unity Banquet to a fall one.  It probably needed to happen because of all the late spring organizing that happens in conjunction with Houston Pride. 

It should be an interesting night on September 20 when the 22nd annual edition of the Houston Transgender Unity Banquet takes place at the Sheraton Brookhollow.

Hopefully I'll be in town and in the Grand Ballroom when it happens.      

    

What Transwomen Do In The Bathroom

-

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.
   .
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.