2014 Honor 41 List Initial Videos

The links to the 2014 Honor 41 List honoree videos are becoming available. .  

So what's the Honor 41 list?  It was founded by Alberto B. Mendoza last year to recognize and celebrate LGBTQ Latin@ community role models.   The inaugural list had 5 trans people on it, this year there were nine trans people selected.  One of them was my DC homegirl Ruby Corado.



I'm going to compose an Honor 41 post highlighting all the trans Latin@ peeps selected this year and those nine videos..

In the meantime, congratulations to all the people selected this year, and to see the posted so far Honor 41 List videos, just click on this link.

Educating Us About Us Forum Sunday

One of the things the HERO battle exposed in our Houston African-American SGL, trans and bi community was not only a need to do a better job of owning our power, but also understanding the component parts of our communities and debunking the stereotypes and myths the component groups have about one another.

Austin D. Williams is facilitating a conversation on Sunday, August 24 to do precisely that

Acceptance is a beautiful thing! We all want to be accepted, but to understand those who make up the LGBTSQA-SGL community will make us better as a community. If we don’t take the time to know where others are coming from in our own community we limit our potential on where we can go. I want to invite you to join us in an in depth discussion on the following topics:

Understanding Transgender
Understanding the Lesbian
Understanding the Gay Christian
Understanding the Gay Republican
Understanding the Gay Man
Understanding DL

This conversation will take place at the Montrose Center 401 Branard St. from 3:30-6:30 PM CDT.  I'll be taking part in that discussion and hope you can attend. 

Diamonds Are Mo'Ne's Best Friend

Marilyn Monroe once sang diamonds are a girl's best friend.   But in 13 year old Mo'Ne Davis' case, it's a baseball diamond.

Mo'Ne is the 18th girl to make it to the LLWS, but she has the sporting world's attention as one of the few girls in the 67 year history of the LLWS to be the star player of their Little League team.

Her Taney Youth Baseball Association Little League of Philadelphia squad got to the 2014 Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA on the strength of her pitching arm and her 70 MPH fastball.  

In addition to the personal history Davis is making, her Taney squad is also making it as a team. They are the first team from Philadelphia to make it to the LLWS. 

In the Taney Dragons first game on Friday a 4-0 win against Nashville, Tennessee, Davis proved she was no joke as she pitched her second complete game,   She gave up only two hits and struck out eight batters enroute to becoming the first girl ever in the 67 year history of the event to pitch a shutout. .

In the game last night against Pearland East, my H-town suburban homies and the overflow crowd  of 32,000 found out that Mo'Ne can hit, too. 

Her first inning single made her only the sixth girl to record a hit in LLWS play and help her Taney Dragons team to a 7-6 win that puts them two game away from the US Championship.

They face Mountain Ridge LL from Las Vegas in the winners bracket on Wednesday.

Hopefully Mo'Ne and Taney LL will continue to prove that baseball diamonds are a girl's best friend, too.
   

HERO Updates, Notes And News- August 18

HERO 4-HERO haters 0

Despite the faith-based oppressors trying to spin this as a 'victory', the reality is they lost twice in court Friday in their bid to force a November repeal vote of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

Because the 152nd District Court has a Democratic judge (which is more ample evidence that elections matter) the haters tried to get the case heard in the  14th District Texas Court of Appeals in the hopes they would get a conservative leaning judge.

The strategy didn't work, because the 14th District Appeals Court refused to hear their case and sent it back to the 152nd District Court and Judge Schaeffer

While all this legal maneuvering was going on, Team HERO was holding a noon press conference before the court hearing at the steps of the Harris County Civil Courthouse telling our side of the story.

The pro-HERO peeps are continuing to hammer home the points why this non-discrimination ordinance needs to be implemented without delay instead of being delayed .  

This news story that broke last Thursday about an African-American cis man being denied access to a downtown public bathroom in a public building is more evidence why HERO needs to be implemented in H-town without delay. 


In the Friday afternoon court hearing, the faith based haters went in trying to accomplish three things.  
*A temporary restraining order to stop HERO from being implemented. 
*An order forcing City Council to vote to repeal HERO in its entirety
*An order forcing a City Council vote to place it on the November 2014 ballot.

Never mind the fact the HERO haters screwed up and failed to follow clearly set out city charter parameters for conducting petition drives and they know it.  Now in their faith-based phobic arrogance want the special right to ignore the rules that everyone else has to follow.

At the end of the hearing, the HERO haters failed to accomplish any of their goals.  They agreed to withdraw the TRO request since Mayor Parker made it moot by suspending implementation of the HERO pending the results of the court case

The trial date will be January 19, 2015, which means that the earliest election date that can happen for a HERO repeal vote will be the November 2015 city elections.  

The haters were trying to get it on the ballot this November, and the deadline to submit ballot language to the Texas Secretary of State for the upcoming election was today.   It's why the HERO haters were so pressed to force City Council to act on it.  

But while a HERO repeal referendum will not be on the November 2014 ballot, it also means the HERO will not be in effect either until the legal issues are sorted out.   The silver lining is that it gives us time to educate the people who have been bamboozled into believing the faith based lies and flip them into becoming supporters of the ordinance once we lay out the facts

Moving on to other HERO related news.   On Tuesday August 19 there will be a HERO Volunteer Appreciation Event at Resurrection MCC featuring Mayor Annise Parker.

At the event will get an update on where the legal challenges against HERO-our new landmark nondiscrimination law stand, take a moment to celebrate the amazing work that our broad citywide coalition has done and accomplished so far and hear what we need to do to ensure that HERO remains City of Houston law.

The Volunteer Appreciation event will start at 6:30 PM at the church, located at  2725 W 11th St. 

On Wednesday August 20 at Social Junkie, the Houston Forum will present starting at 6:30 PM entitled '10 Things I Hate About You: Why Houston Needs HERO.   It will feature Councilmembers Ellen Cohen and Ed Gonzales      

As is so apropos to this HERO discussion, Social Junkie is located at 2412 Washington Ave, the street where clubs located on it have been going buck wild discriminating against anyone that isn't a heterosexual white male.  

The Houston Forum is a space for like-minded people to meet, network and discuss current issues and to foster the progressive community in Houston.   If you wish to attend what should be an interesting event,  e-mail Lillie Schechter at rsvp@lillieschechter.com to do so. 

Meanwhile at the Montrose Center that same night, starting at 7:30 PM will be the Real Talk: A Message Of Equality event jointly sponsored by the Movement Advancement Project and Equality Texas.

African Americans are the best messengers for LGBT equality in the African American community. This training brings national experts from the Movement Advancement Project and Equality Federation to lead a conversation among African Americans about the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance. Our presenters will provide evidence-based information on effective messaging that can be difficult to hear, but is vital to broader public education efforts.

RSVP is required for your attendance.  Please go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/realtalktraining.

The struggle to keep the HERO continues.

Fallon Has A New Fight-With Wannabee 'Advocate' Tamikka Brents

Our fave MMA warrior is now in training for her next fight with 24 year old Tamikka Brents

Y'all know I have much love for Fallon Fox and I'm looking forward to meeting her in person.  I wish the 'Queen of Swords' the best of luck as she gets ready to handle her business inside the octagon on September 13 in Springfield, IL.

And Fallon's probably got some extra motivation to be on her A+ WMMA game with this upcoming opponent after Tamikka Brents flapped her gums and let loose some dog whistle transphobia back on May 25, 2013. 

“I am tired of Fox getting all this publicity just for being a transgender fighter rather than having great skills. I think it’s unfair anyway but as long as the opponent knows and accepts the fight then go ahead… I mean Allana took her to the third and she’s not even a 145er; she’s a more of a 135er who can probably go even lower to 125 pounds. She’s using all that attention as a good publicity tactic – go ahead and ride that free publicity train as long as you can. I’ll gladly derail that s#*t quickly so the world can go back to giving the publicity and notice to the female fighters who earn it. It just pisses me off that Women’s MMA has fought to get away from being seen as a side show. She’s using that to further her career while setting Women’s MMA back in the process.”

And this from a woman who claims in a November 2012 Bleacher Report piece she wants to be an LGBT advocate.   Well, she said she wanted this fight with Fallon bad, and she's about to get her wish. 

But let me focus on Tamikka Brents' advocacy, or lack thereof.   The only thing you've done is take a rainbow flag a few hundred feet into an octagon twice.   I haven't seen op-eds written by you in TIME magazine, the TransAdvocate, or much less my GLAAD Award nominated blog   I have yet to see you at an National Black Justice Coalition event or do anything in support of the SGL, trans or bi  community.

While you bump your gums in a puff piece about wanting to be an advocate for the LGBT community, Fallon Fox is role modeling it. 

So stop hatin'.

And here's your first advocacy lesson, Tamikka.  The 'T' in LGBT stands for transgender.  Without transfolks like Ms. Fox showing up and showing out at Stonewall in 1969 fighting for everyone's human rights including our own, you wouldn't have a movement to consider being an advocate for.

And what pisses me off Tamikka is you piling on Fallon.   She's handled this lemon situation of being outed and the subsequent microaggressive and macroagressive publicity it generated with class and dignity while trying to build her reputation in women's MMA.  

She has remained classy as you and several of your women's MMA colleagues like Ronda Rousey, Ashlee Evans-Smith and Allana Jones have been transphobically shady towards her while spouting jaw dropping anti-trans ignorance.

So yeah, looking forward to September 13.   

Musing About These Austin Gender Variant Photos

I've talked about the point more than a few times that Black gender variant people are an intertwined part of the African-American community and not something that just popped up out of thin air in the late 20th-early 21st century . 

Thanks to Max Reddick, I have some more proof of that and some interesting photos to peruse.

The cool part is that these photos were taken at a club in the Lone Star State.

Max sent me a link to a story in the Arts Labor Austin blog by Michael Corcoran dated February 7, 2014.    In it Corcoran discusses finding some photos dated October 7, 1955 while searching for another legendary Austin establishment called Charlie's Playhouse.  

The photos weren't of Charlie's, but possibly of the IL Club which was on East 11th Street    The east side of Austin was predominately African-American at the time but due to gentrification of those historic neighborhoods and the rising cost of living, Austin's African-American population is falling. 

It's interesting to note these photos are of drag artists of that time period performing at a blues club.

Not a big surprise to me, knowing that the Halloween Finnie's Ball in Chicago and elaborate drag balls in New York's Rockland Palace dating back to the Harlem Renaissance were quite popular and drew large crowds during that period.  

The winner of Finnie's Ball was covered in Jet magazine from the 50's through the late 60's-early 70's.  
      
And just across the Sabine River, New Orleans has had a longtime gender bending reputation and Mardi Gras events that lent themselves to celebrating gender variance .

As I look at these photos I'm curious about the lives of the people in them.  How old were they at the time these photos were taken?  Did they continue to live in the Austin area or move on to cities with larger gender variant populations?

Did their gender variance cross over into transgender territory? 

To see more photographic evidence of gender variant people prior to my arrival on the planet is exciting to me and drives me to want to learn more about this Austin scene and the snapshots taken on this October 7, 1955 night.   It's even more exciting to note that it's in my home state, and these folks share my ethnic background..

Islan Nettles-One Year Later

21 year old Islan Nettles was just beginning to have some positive things happen in her life.   She had just started a new job.  She had recently moved into her own apartment in Harlem and the budding fashion designer was starting to work on her own clothing line.

She was also beginning to blossom into a confident young woman as her transition progressed..

But that came to a screeching halt one year ago today.  Nettles was out with a group of trans girlfriends when they ran across a group of cis men around 11 PM EDT on that fateful Saturday night at the corner of West 148th Street and Eighth Ave in Harlem. 

When the men on that corner realized the women they encountered were girls like us, they began spouting transphobic slurs at first that progressed up the transphobic violence scale to knocking Nettles to the ground and  savagely throwing punches at her until she was rendered unconscious. 

Nettles was taken to Harlem Hospital where she remained on life support for several days.  She was declared brain dead, taken off life support on August 22 and subsequently died of her injuries.

It's a year later and Nettles alleged killer Paris Wilson still hasn't been brought to justice, to the major pissivity of my New York area trans sisters   TWOCC and others in the area continue to stay on the case to ensure that Islan's memory and what happened to her doesn't fade from our consciousness.  

They are also determined that the perpetrator of this heinous crime is tried, convicted and sentenced to extensive jail time


Rest in Power, Islan.  Know your New York sisters and all who loved you will keep fighting to ensure justice is served in your case.

TransGriot Update:  There will be at 4 PM EDT a demonstration at the same corner and police precinct where Islan Nettles was murdered.    Gathering at the corner of 147th St and Fredrick Douglas Ave in Harlem,  NYC 10030.

Two Trans POC Involved Events This Weekend

As I've stated more than a few times on this blog, intersectionality is an important value for trans people of color.   We are keenly aware of the fact that our skin color makes our transitions different from our white trans counterparts and we can't (nor do we wish to) separate our ethnicity from our trans status. 

We are also quite aware of the fact that issues that affect our Black and Latino communities also affect us.as trans people who also are members of those communities.    

There are two events happening on different coasts that involve elements of our diverse trans community. 

Here in H-town members of the Trans Latin@ coalition will be in full effect at the FLAS 20th Anniversary Gala that will take place tonight starting at 6 PM CDT at the Hilton Southwest Hotel. 

FLAS stands for Fundacion Latinamericano de Accion Social, a Houston based organization that provides health services and social programs for the Latin American community.

FLAS has provided education, HIV counseling and testing and treatment referrals for Latinos affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as STD referrals. Throughout the community, we host education seminars and health fairs at a variety of locations, including churches, civic organizations, consulates and even on-street corners
 
For those of you in the Houston area that may wish to join the TransLatin@ coalition and attend this event, the hotel is located at 6780 Southwest Fwy.  If you need more information call Elia Chino at 713-772-2366.

In Boston, the transbrothers are there and in full effect for the LGBTQ Health and Wellness Weekend that is running through tomorrow.  It started last night with a dinner in honor of birthday boy Rev. Louis Mitchell.

The event is sponsored by Body Image 4 Justice, TPOCC and long list of orgs.  It will feature a keynote speech from Fallon Fox, our fave MMA fighter and trans human rights warrior in keeping with this year's theme of LGBTQ Athletes And Sports.

The Health And Wellness Weekend features seminars, panel discussions, live demos and more at two venues.  Emerson College's Max Mutchnick Campus Center will host Saturday events, and the Holmes Sports Center on the Simmons College Residential Campus will be the venue hosting Sunday events. .

For those of you in those areas, hope you can attend and support these events orgs that are also supporting our community.

6th Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit Recap

To be honest, I'd like to take a road trip to San Antonio, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin or even better one of our Texas HBCU campuses in Texas Southern University or Prairie View A&M to attend or teach a seminar at a TTNS one day.
-TransGriot, July  21, 2013    5th Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit Recap.


You know what they say about being careful for what you wish for, you just might get it.  

And what we got for the 6th Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit on August 8-9 was a road trip.  For the first time in TTNS history, we Houston folks would have to hit the road to attend an event that was born inside Beltway 8.  

The 6th edition of the TTNS would be hosted by the wonderful folks at Texas State University in San Marcos, and I hit I-10 west on a warm sunny Thursday morning with Maria Gonzales, Kristen Capps and Daniel Williams for the 166 mile run to their campus nestled between Austin and San Antonio. 

And yes, there were some very interesting conversations during that drive. 

Texas State used to be known as Southwest Texas State until the 2003 name change, and its most famous alum is Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States along with country singer George Strait and actor Powers Boothe.. 

After a lunch stop at the 80 year old Frank's Restaurant along I-10 in Schulenburg, we hit San Marcos a little after 2 PM   Our hotel was across the street from a popular outlet mall, and the hotel was surprisingly full because we had the double whammy of summer graduation on the Texas State campus transpiring Friday and the start of the Texas tax free shopping weekend.  

Ironically it was hotter in San Marcos than the home sweet humidity I left behind, with the temp hitting 102 degrees F (39 C).  Not long after I settled into my room and decided to grab some ice and something to drink, I ran into my roomie Nikki Vogel in the hallway.   The last time I'd seen her was when UH was trying to pass the Tittsworth Act.   Since then she's been working on her masters at UT-Austin and is taking a killer class load to get it done in less time.

Several hours later we were making the short drive down I-35 south to New Braunfels and Oma's Haus to sample its tasty German-Texan cooking.  I had their German chocolate cake for dessert, and Mom, yours is light years better. 

I passed on the peanut butter fudge knowing I needed to get some sleep for our busy day tomorrow. 

Friday dawned with Nikki and I after a pit stop at a nearby Starbucks to get her coffee, heading to the LBJ Student Center at 8 AM to help set up its cavernous third floor ballroom for breakfast and the historic first day of the TTNS.  

After the meet and greet phase, founder Josephine Tittsworth took to the stage at 9:30 AM to welcome everyone to the TTNS and introduce Dr. Sherri Benn, the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs and the Director of Multicultural Student Affairs at Texas State. 

I'd already started during the meet and greet at our table having an awesome conversation with her, Dr. Audwin Anderson and Jesse Silva in which we were discussing a wide range of topics before the TTNS day started.  

She welcomed everyone to the Texas State campus and laid out in her occasion speech why we were there.  Dr. Benn is also an ordained minister, and it was evident in her rousing speech.
 
After Dr. Benn's speech concluded, Josephine introduced our MC Jenifer Rene Pool, who shortly after taking the stage introduced our Friday keynote speaker in Dr. Gage Paine, the Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin just up I-35 from San Marcos.

Dr. Paine's keynote started at 10:55 AM and was entitled 'The Power of Paradox'.  She talked about the university paradox of being a guardian of tradition, yet also being an agent for change.  Another interesting point she made during her keynote is that what needs to be done to create allies for systemic chance is not to talk more, but to listen. 


Another point that jumped out at me during her speech is that mixed messages are part of the paradox.   Dr Paige closed with another thought provoking message in be yourself, but live in community before taking questions from the audience.

After lunch came the initial session of the 2014 TTNS conducted by Iliana Melendez, the Student Conduct Officer for Texas State, entitled Understanding Title IX on a College Campus.   Melendez's presentation focused on the parts of Title XI discrimination claims based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity.

In addition to pointing out it protects students, faculty and staff, she then talked about the expansion of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act of 2013 that takes effect October 1, and the Know Your IX website.  When she was done answering questions about her presentation, Josephine took to the stage to talk about the Macy v Holder case and the Title XI sections that help trans collegiate students

After a ten minute break, at 2:30 PM we prepared to leave the ballroom and head to the first concurrent sessions of our choice.  The choices were Chris Busby's Engaging The Conservative Movement In Meaningful Dialogue or Supporting Trans* Students of Color

Since I'd checked out Chris' seminar last year, I decide to check out the one in LBJSC 3-14 taught by the Texas State team of Corey Benson, Jesse Silva, Iliana Melendez and Texas State police officer Sue Taylor.

It was an interactive seminar that discussed the point that we all have multiple dimensions of identity.   There was some lively discussion about privilege being brought into all marginalized spaces and needing to be aware of that ended far too soon at 3:40 PM  

After we returned to the ballroom for closing remarks from Josephine, Day 1 of the TTNS at Texas State ended with a reception that lasted until 5:30 PM  

Two hours later Nikki, Josephine, Cheryl Cabusas and I headed to Centerpoint Station, another local eatery that had milk shakes made with Blue Bell ice cream.  Passed on them this time because I was full from the meal.

Day 2 of the TTNS began with Corey Benson introducing our Saturday welcoming speaker in Dr. Brandon Beck who had made a little trans history of his own the day before.   Dr. Beck became the first open transperson to earn a doctorate at Texas State, and he picked it up at the summer graduation ceremony the day before.

After his speech, I got to teach starting at 9:30 AM my Contemporary Texas Trans History seminar in LBJSC 3-14, while in LBJSC 3-13 the other concurrent seminar was Transgender Perspectives: Learning From Literature that Dr. Brandon Beck was teaching. 

After that seminar block, we returned to the ballroom at 10:55 AM for Jenifer's introduction of our Saturday keynote speaker in Equality Texas Field Organizer Daniel Williams.

Daniel's entertaining and informative keynote speech was entitled  'A Tale of Three Amendments'.  It discussed the odious attempts by Texas Republican legislators Wayne Christian and Bill Zedler to shut down LGBT resource centers on Texas collegiate campuses and the progress made in getting bipartisan support to keep them alive.  His speech also discussed the Littleton v Prange and Delgado v Araguz trans marriage cases and noting that with the looming January start of the 2015 Texas Legislative session we will have to fight  hard to defend those gains  

After the opportunity to ask Daniel some questions we moved to lunch and the concurrent sessions starting at 1:15 PM.  The choices were the Transgender Legal Issues one by the Frye, Oaks and Benavidez PLLC Law Firm in LBJSC 3-13 and Trans*cending Limitations: Student Panel on Creating Spaces For Trans* Identified Students and Allies moderated by Dr. Brandon Beck in LBJSC 3-14.

I wanted to see the student panel, so LBJSC 3-14 was where I ended up.   It was an interesting discussion of Texas State students that lasted right up until the scheduled 2:45 PM end time and our return to the ballroom. 

Ten minutes later a panel comprised of people who have helped create change on collegiate and school district level policy answered questions from the audience until 3:45 PM.  . 

Then came the What's Next? remarks from Jenifer, followed by the closing remarks and thank yous from Josephine.   And as quickly as it had started, the 6th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit at Texas State came to an end. 

The Houston contingent on our way back home stopped in Luling to chow down on some tasty barbecue before we played tag with each other on I-10 east all the way back to H-town.  I got to ride with Nikki on the way back so she wouldn't be making that drive by herself..

This TTNS broke its all attendance record set at the 2010 event at Rice University with 82 people in attendance.   Two attendees thought it was important enough to make a 495 mile drive (one way) from West Texas A&M in Canyon, TX to the San Marcos campus of Texas State. 

It also exposed the event to Central Texas, got it out of the Houston-Gulf Coast area where it was founded, and fulfilled the dream of founder Josephine Tittsworth that the TTNS be an event held on college campuses around the state to discuss these transgender-specific higher education issues     

As to what Texas school will host the 7th annual TTNS?   Good question.   If you're interested in hosting it, send the proposal.  But you know I'll pass on that news as to the 2015 host school as soon as I receive it.

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

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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.
   .
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.