Shut Up Fool Awards-King Day Weekend 2015 Edition

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Holiday will be on Monday, an as per the tradition many groups are preparing to do a day of service to fit the spirit of the holiday.

I usually spend it reading some of his essays and in quiet contemplation.  I think about how much human rights progress has been (or has not been) made and what I need to do to push it forward.

Of course I try to do that on a regular basis, but the King Day Weekend just lends itself to that kind of internal introspection.

And speaking of weekends, guess what day it is?    Naw, do you see a camel here?   It's Friday, and time to name this week's fool, fools or group of fools in our weekly TransGriot exercise we call the Shut Up Fool Awards. 

Let's get busy calling them out shall we?

Honorable mention number one is the Academy for its lily white Oscar nominations that did not issue a single nomination to any actor of color and the nekulturny timing of doing so on the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr's 86th birthday.

The outrage over the snubbing cause them to get called out by Black Twitter in the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag that became for several hours the number one trending topic.

Guess when they pass out the goodie bag at the Oscar ceremonies, they'll contain a DVD copy of 'Birth of A Nation'

Honorable mention number two is a group award for the King Children.    Martin III and Dexter are fighting Bernice in court over control of their late father's 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and his traveling Bible, which was used in the 2013 swearing in of President Barack Obama.

Dr King left no will at the time of his 1968 assassination, and the surviving King siblings have joint custody of the estate.   The King traveling Bible is estimated to be worth $5-10 million, while some of Dr. King's papers have gone for as much as $30 million at auction.

Dexter and Marty III want to sell them, while Bernice doesn't.

"There is no justification for selling either of these sacred items," Bernice King wrote in a 2014 statement. "They are priceless and should never be exchanged for money in the marketplace. While I love my brothers dearly, this latest decision by them ... reveals a desperation beyond comprehension."

And just looks ratchet.

Honorable mention number three goes to Gordon Klingenschmitt and Bill Warner, for parting their racist lips on Klingenschmitt's radio program to say that President Obama is 'the face of Islam in America.'




And you two are the face of conservaignorance in America.

Honorable mention number four goes to Jan Morgan.   This Arkansas ammosexual and Islamophobe has declared the Gun Cave gun range she owns to be a 'Muslim-free zone', and racistly turned away two brown skinned South Asian descended people who aren't Muslims away from it.

If you two South Asians voted GOP last November, now you see how much the National Conservative White People's Party really loves you and supports your Second Amendment rights.

Honorable mention number five goes to ex-teabagging congressman and deadbeat dad Joe Walsh.  He crawled out from under his conservarock to state that he hopes that' CNN and MSNBC pundits are beheaded' by Jihadists for not showing the Charlie Hebdo cartoon that elements of the Muslim community consider an insult to their faith, then tried to claim it was 'satire'..

Yeah right, that what all you white wing idiots say when your mouths get you embroiled in controversy.

Honorable mention number six is  David Brooks, who parted his lips and let something stupid fly out of it on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.    He state that liberals should stop giving money to charity and to the police.. 

WTF?

Honorable mention number seven goes to Kentucky state rep CM Embry (R), who filed a bill that he gave the Orwellian name of the Kentucky Student Privacy Act .   If passed, this unconstitutional bill would force trans students to use restrooms and locker room facilities that don't match their presentation.

Don't y'all have more pressing state business to deal with in this short session like the budget instead of worrying about what bathroom a transperson uses?

Honorable mention number eight  is New Hope Ministries in Denver, CO.  They cancelled a funeral for 33 year old Vanessa Collier as the family was waiting for it to start because they found out the deceased was a lesbian

This week's Shut Up Fool Award goes to  Dr. Ben Carson.  

He was the runner up for last year's Shut Up Fool of the Year award, and he's getting this 2015 Shut Up Fool Of The Year campaign off to a flying start by comparing the Revolutionary War patriots to the ISIS terrorists.

Then when the WTF backlash started happening, he asserted that he wasn't crazy and resorted to blaming the media for his negative image.  

You're a kneegrow Republican, I beg to differ. 

And as you and your conservafool friends like to sneer at others, why don't you take some personal responsibility for your failures and the jacked up stuff you've been spouting?

You also get an Uncle Ruckus Award  and a Negro Iz U Sirius!!! Award for the coonery you are engaged in so you can try and fail to get the GOP nomination for president.

The National Conservative White People's Party does not want your kneegrow (you don't deserve to be called Black) behind at the head of their ticket.   Even if by some miracle you got it  in 2016, reality based Black folks aren't voting for you.

I guess next you'll be touting Herman Cain's 9-9-9 economic plan.

Dr. Ben Carson, shut up fool!

Happy 86th Birthday Dr. King!

Today is what would have been the 86th birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a man that as Tavis Smiley once called him, the greatest American our people have ever produced.

But as we approach the MLK holiday on Monday, we are in a 2015 America that is more racially divided and contentious than it was 50 years ago.   Much of  that is at the hands of a conservative movement what is stirring up racist hatred of President Obama and exacerbating racial tensions no thanks to Southern Strategy 1.0 and 2.0 to secure political power for themselves so they can enact their extremist agenda.

A far too long list of African-Americans of all ages and genders are  dying from negative interactions with police as the justice system repeatedly fails to hold them accountable.

The predominately white perpetrators of these death by po-po cases are also inflaming racial tensions from Ferguson to New York City and across the nation..

#BlackLivesMatter,  but the justice system and elements of American society seem to have failed to get the memo.

Speaking of elements of society failing to get a memo, one of them is our own African-American community when it comes to the trans, bi, lesbian and gay members of it. 

Black trans women are being killed at near genocidal rates, are facing 20% unemployment, but when we are included in human rights laws to rectify that problem, sellout black ministers in concert with white  fundamentalists are fighting the advancement of those human rights.


And some of the people pimping the anti-trans lies are other Black LGB people. 

Black community, Black trans people are also Black people and #BlackTransLivesMatter.

As a proud African-American who happens to be transgender, I'm going to do my part to help drive home that reality.

I would rather be in the position of helping uplift the entire community.   I despise being constantly being put in the position of fighting ignorant elements of it who because of my trans status want to erase my Blackness and my femininity.

And I ain't having it.   Until they get it through their thick skulls that transpeople did not forfeit our Black cards when we transitioned, fight I will.

So yes Dr. King, we have some work to do in our Black community ranks as we seek to build the greater Beloved Community you so often spoke about. 

And while we've had some setbacks with renewed attacks on our voting rights, advancing human rights, the war on poverty, and economic prosperity for all, we are even more determined to get to the Promised Land of freedom and equality and fight with every fiber of our beings with our allies to help make it happen..

Happy birthday Dr. King.   Hopefully on your 87th birthday I'll have better news to report as to how we're faring as a people and a nation since you were tragically taken from us..

Jennifer Laude Case Update 3

The new year brings some updated news in the Jennifer Laude case, and the clock is ticking on it.. 

Under the Visting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines, the case nust be resolved within a year.   The prosecution filed murder charges against Joseph Pemberton back on December 15.

The trial proceedings have also been halted at the request of the Pemberton defense team by the Olongapo regional trial court has suspended proceedings for up to 60 days.

The Pemberton camp wants the US Justice Department to review the probable cause finding that led to the murder charge.

NCIS investigators discovered Pemberton's fingerprint on one of the condom wrappers found at the scene of the crime.. 

Pemberton before he was raken into custody aboart the USS Peleliu told a fellow marine the he had attacked Laude after discovering she was a transwoman and allegedly said to that marine: “I think I killed a he/she.”   Pemberton was subsequently transferred from the USS Peleliu docked in Subic Bay to be held in a US facility in the Philippine run Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

There's also some controversy involving the judge  handling the case, Roline Ginez-Jabalde.   Harry Roque, the Laude family attorney,  is going to file a motion seeking the removal from this case of the judge.

The reason?   Judge Ginez-Jabalde was a law school classmate of Rowena Garcia-Flores, Pemberton's attorney

Earlier in the proceedings the court rejected the Laude family’s motions for live media coverage of the hearings, and to transfer Pemberton to a regular Philippine jail.   

Stay tuned to these TransGriot pages for continued updates on the Laude trial, because like our transpinay sisters in the Philippines and transpeople around the world, I'll be watching this case to see if justice was served.

Fix Society, Not Trans People!

Lourdes Hunter last Saturday cut loose a powerful speech during a Washington DC rally attended by over 200 people organized to call for justice for Leelah Alcorn. 

She laid out the problems that trans people face in a society hostile to us, and issued an impassioned call to fix the problems now that ail trans kind.

"I am here to tell you that we don't need to be fixed," she said in the speech. . "What is wrong is society's depraved indifference, willful ignorance, complicity, and inactive engagement with the systems that deny trans people our humanity and our right to life."

Amen, sis.   Here's the speech.

Kamala's Running For US Senate!

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have much love for Kamala Harris, the current two term Attorney General for the state of California

She was an Alameda County prosecutor and a San Francisco city attorney before winning her first term as the California AG after a nasty Karl Rove run fear and smear campaign in 2010. 

With the retirement of Sen Barbara Boxer (D)  looming next year, she announced yesterday that she was going to run for the US Senate seat  currently occupied by Boxer in what it sure to be a crowded Democratic primary race.

“I’m excited to share with you that I’m launching my campaign to represent the People of California in the United States Senate,” Harris wrote in an email to supporters. “Your support has been crucial to me every step of the way, and I’m asking you to help me build a grassroots campaign that reaches every community of California.”

We haven't had a female senator of African heritage since Carol Moseley-Braun became the first (and so far only African-American woman) to do so in 1992.

Could Kamala Harris be the second?   Stay tuned.

Stuff Just Got Real With The ICD-11 Revision

With the outrage building is the international trans community about our Russian peeps being under attack with the BS driving ban, something unfamiliar to many US based trans folks but central to this oppressive drama has come to our attention in the USA.

The UN's World Health Organization puts out every few years the International Classification of Diseases or ICD Manual.

The ICD-10 was endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and has been used in WHO Member states since 1994.  

So why is the ICD important?  The ICD is not only the standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes, it is used by physicians, nurses, other providers, researchers, health information managers and coders, health information technology workers, policy-makers, insurers and patient organizations to classify diseases and other health problems recorded on many types of health and vital records, including death certificates and health records.

In addition to enabling the storage and retrieval of diagnostic information for clinical, epidemiological and quality purposes, these records also provide the basis for the compilation of national mortality and morbidity statistics by WHO Member States. Finally, ICD is used for reimbursement and resource allocation decision-making by countries.

Translation:  insurance companies use it for coding purposes, too.

And as witnessed in Russia recently, the ICD has been used to attack and pathologize the trans community for decades.   As Dr. Kelley Winters, who tracks these issues on her GID Reform blog said on my Facebook page on January 10: 

"They've been used every day to attack us, for generations, by conservative bigots on the right and Raymondites (TERFS) on the left. Gender reparative psychotherapies are still practiced from the Clarke Institute (CAMH) in Toronto, to private practices and "religious counselors" in every state. Countless more trans children are shamed into the closets of their birth assignments by parents, doctors, shrinks, school administrators and school counselors, based on these bigoted and scientifically baseless diagnostic policies. Leelah was just one of many youth who lost their lives to the stigma and false stereotypes promoted by these policies."

Homosexuality was removed from the ICD in 1990, and trans people in several nations including Canada's Jenna Talackova have been pushing to have the same thing happen for transsexuality in the ICD-11, which is currently being revised.   It is scheduled to be released in 2017.

The World Professional Assn for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the American Psychological Assn. (APA) have also called for the depathologization of transsexuality.

According to Dr. Winters, this is what is currently happening in those ICD-11 efforts.

"The current plan of record for the ICD-11 is mostly good news-- to eliminate trans related (transsexualism, GID, GID-childhood, and transvestic) categories from the mental disorders chapter (chapter 5/ F-codes) and replace them with non-mental codings, named Gender Incongruence, in a new chapter on Sexual Health (chapter 6). Gender Incongruence of Adults and Adolescents (GIAA) will be used to facilitate access to hormonal and/or surgical transition care for those who need it -I support this new category, though I think its descriptive text needs clarification and more age flexibility (for adolescents who may need access to blockers or medical care before Tanner Stage 2 characteristics are outwardly visible." "A second new category proposed for the ICD-11, Gender Incongruence in Childhood (GIC) is controversial. Since children do not get hormonal or surgical treatment and need no coding for them, there is no clear benefit of a pathology coding for trans (including socially transitioning) children. Yet the stigma of pathology/defectiveness and the torture of consequence gender-conversion/gender-reparative psychotherapies puts their lives at risk. Global Action for Trans* Equality (GATE) has proposed a less harmful alternative proposal to replace the GIC coding in the ICD-11. My own opinion is that there should be no GIC childhood coding in the ICD-11 and that the alternative GATE proposal (I helped define it) should be implemented instead."

So as you can see, the revisions to the ICD-11 are of critical importance to us in the USA and the international trans community not only in terms of our human rights fight.

It is also a fight to assert our very humanity as trans people in the face of increasingly organized efforts by the Southern Baptist Church, right wing politicians and the TERF's to deny it

Deal With The Fact Black Trans Women Exist

Angela Giaandrea Valentino is one of my longtime readers who had a major problem with transphobic hate for Laverne Cox coming out of the mouth of Flo Anthony on a morning radio show. recently and had something to say about it on her Facebook page.

I thought it deserved to be signal boosted, so here's Angela's comment.

***
So this morning on a local radio station (WDKX-FM) they were talking about Laverne Cox appearing on The View yesterday (January 8) and Flo Anthony had called in to express her thoughts. Okay fine.

As I was listening more closely I hear them calling trans women all types of he/shes, shims, men.... Flo Anthony calling Laverne Cox a drag queen, saying that she shouldn't be representing black women. "We have all of these bad reality show stars and now we have Laverne..." Why THAT comparison? Flo Anthony should be so fucking honored.

They went on to mock her voice, saying she sounds like a man, like a drag queen, asking why her voice isn't higher... So this is what it comes down to? Overlook her intelligence, her character, her poise, her elegance and her grace and let's focus on "She had on too much makeup and her wig was too long and her voice isn't feminine enough."

Seriously? Laverne is flawless. Point blank period.

I intend to light Flo Anthony's raggedy ass up once I get on Twitter. How dare she. Never mind the fact that she mentioned how she hasn't been able to get on The View to save her life.

So it's sour grapes then? Nobody is checking for you boo. Laverne was there for a reason. We trans women are here for a reason. Oh you can't deal? That's too bad. Because you will. One way or another.

We are not going anywhere.  Deal with it.

***

All I can do is say amen and piggyback on what my sis Angela said for you transphobic Black cis women (and 'errbody' else who cosigns Flo Anthony's alleged loud and wrong ignorant comments) to chew on.

Stop  hatin'.  Trans women are women as many of your cis sisters realize.  

We are proud and beautiful Black trans women    We are going to live, laugh, love, excel and represent ourselves, our people and our community to the best of our ability.  We are part of the diverse mosaic of human life and part of the Black community as well with all our perfect imperfections.

Ain't we Back women, too?   Yes, we are.

We are part of the kente cloth fabric of the African American community.  Black trans women have appeared not only on the stage of The View, but the stage at Carnegie Hall.  We have been elected to a state legislature, graced the covers of ESSENCE and Time magazines and even had a JET Beauty of the Week.  

We are New York Times bestselling authors and GLAAD award nominated bloggers.  We are college professors, actors, doctors, lawyers, business owners, musicians, models, athletes, ministers, wives and mothers   We are as diverse and multifaceted as the Black cisfeminine community is.

We Black trans women also face sexual assault and genocidal levels of violence aimed at us.   We have had our beauty denigrated just as Black cis women's beauty has been under attack by whiteness and white supremacy for the last 400 years.  

And I and other Black trans women are sick and tired of being sick and tired of hearing out of the mouths of jealous cis Black women engaging in femininity policing that we shouldn't be 'representing Black women' 

The melanin in our skin says otherwise.

We also get enough of that erasure of our femininity crap from society.  It's even more hurtful when it comes from our own people, and even more injurious coming from our cis Black sisters.

We'll keep that 'not representing Black women' sentiment in mind the next time a Black trans woman does something groundbreakingly amazing.  

And I have no doubt that with the young, gifted and talented Black trans women following in mine and other Black trans feminine pioneer's pumps, they will exceed what even we have been able to accomplish so far in this decade.

We Black trans women are also down with the cause of uplifting and celebrating Black womanhood.  If you have a problem with the depictions of Black womanhood in the media, I suggest you start in your own cisgender feminine house first before you even attempt to ignorantly step to Black trans women.

And as my sister Angela advised, deal with it.  Black trans women exist and aren't going away.

Guilty Plea In DC Metro Trans Teen Stabbing Incident

Justice was finally served in the case in which a then 15 year old trans feminine teen was stabbed on a Washington Metro train last summer.

Maryland resident Reginald Anthony Klaiber was arrested immediately after the stabbing happened by DC Metro Police on a Green Line train at the Fort Totten Station.

On Friday January 9 the now 25 year old  Klaiber pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon, with a hate crime enhancement, for stabbing the trans feminine teen..

The Honorable Juliet McKenna scheduled Klaiber's sentencing for March 11, and Klaiber is facing 10-15 years in prison. Because the offense was a hate crime, the charge includes a bias enhancement.

Assault with a dangerous weapon is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. However, with the bias enhancement, it is punishable by up to 15 years of jail time.

We'll see what happens on March 11 in the sentencing phase, but at least the trans teen and the DC trans community can exhale and take comfort in the fact the initial stage of justice in this case has taken place.

Hey Cowboy Fans, NFL Officiating Karma Is A You Know What

Y'all know I have no love for that NFL team that plays in Arlington and have been a Cowboy hater since childhood

And after watching the Lions get robbed by a jacked up call last weeks and Cowboys Nation telling the pissed off Detroit  fans to 'get over it', now after the officiating karmic wheel kicked their fave squad in the teeth, the griping about it has been loud and long.

And before you get started with that 'What have the Texans done?' line, they've won one more playoff game and one more division title than the Cowchips have in this decade, and they've only been around since 2002..

And please Cowboy fans, don't start bragging about those Super Bowl titles.  Not only is that so 20th century, y'all haven't been to a Super Bowl much less won one in the 21st Century without buying a ticket for it or watching it on your big screen TVs.

Dez Bryant had an amazing and critical 4th down fourth quarter catch wiped out because of NFL Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 1 AKA the 'Calvin Johnson Rule'.   Yeah, he caught the ball, but he didn't according to that rule after making contact with the ground maintain control of it. 

Because he didn't do that, the catch call was correctly reversed after the challenge by Packers coach Mike McCarthy.   The Packers got the ball and the Cowboys never saw it again.

And in other news, Chris Christie is rumored to be heading to the NFL store to buy a New England Patriots jacket and a Seattle Seahawks 12th Man flag.

Yes Cowchip fans, I have some sympathy for you.  I and other longtime Oiler fans are still pissed about a lousy call in Three Rivers Stadium that robbed the Oilers of a tying touchdown in the 1980 AFC Championship game against the Steelers and possibly cost us a Super Bowl trip.

But not that much because of your Harris County bandwagon riders that crawled out of the closet,

They were insufferable as usual inside Loop 610 after being cricket chirping silent about 'Dem Boys' for the last three 8-8 seasons as the Texans were winning back to back AFC South titles

So yeah, NFL Officiating Karma is a you know what.

Dallas TransVisible Screening Today

If you 're looking for something to do in Dallas later today, you may wish to head to the Texas Theater and check out the documentary TransVisible.

It depicts the life and advocacy story of Los Angeles based Latina trans activist Bamby Salcedo, and the movie was produced by Dante Alencastre.   

The free event is starting at 4:00 PM and the featured guests at this screening of it are Bamby and Dante.  There will be a question and answer segment once the movie concludes and a reception with light snacks.

You will have to have a ticket to pick up food from our vendor, but TICKETS ARE FREE. Be sure to order yours online today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/transvisible-bamby-salcedos-story-with-guests-bamby-salcedo-and-dante-alencastre-tickets-13915384289
You can also congratulate Bamby (along with Janet Mock) for being named by Colorlines Magazine as one of the 14 Women of Color Who Rocked 2014.

The Texas Theater is located at 231 W. Jefferson St. in south Dallas, and hope y'all give Bamby and Dante a nice Texas welcome and large crowd for it.

TransGriot 2014 NFL Picks-Divisional Round

Went 3-1 on my Wildcard weekend round picks thanks to an assist from the refs in the Detroit-Dallas game.

Now we move on to the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs in which all of the road teams have the formidable task of trying to oust teams that went a combined 15-2 at home.

How is this weekend going to shake out according to Moni?   Let's get busy.

Saturday Divisional Round Games

Baltimore Ravens 11-6 vs New England Patriots 12-4

Once more with feeling as the Ravens and Patriots battle at Gillette Stadium to see who advances on the AFC side of the playoff bracket.   The Patriots are a formidable 12-3 in home playoff games, but two of those lasses are to guess who?   The Ravens go up to Foxborough with the confidence of having beaten them there multiple times and Good Joe Flacco showing up and showing out as they dispatched their AFC North rivals the Steelers in convincing fashion at Heinz Field.

But the Patriots come into the game knowing this may be their best chance to get to another Super Bowl with Tom Brady at quarterback and if they can take down their playoff nemesis it will be a huge confidence boost.   And yeah, Darrelle Revis works for them now while the secondary has been the weak spot for the Ravens for much of the season.

While the Ravens have been on a roll and are motivated to as Terrell Suggs said "to ruin everybody's plans', the only plans getting ruined today are theirs.

Patriots to advance to AFC Championship game.

Carolina Panthers 8-8-1 vs Seattle Seahawks 12-4

The Panthers head to Seattle to take on the defending NFL champions at CenturyLink Field and the 12th Man will definitely crank up the decibel levels for this game.   Something else that has been cranked up lately is the Seattle defense.   They won their last six games to capture the NFC West and homefield advantage for the NFC playoffs, and were the Number one ranked defense in the NFL.

But the Panthers are no slouches in that department either, holding the Arizona Cardinals to a record low 78 yards in their 27-16 playoff win last week.   The Panthers are probably the team in the NFC closest to the philosophy of the Seahawks in term of having a defensive minded mentality, and the last time they faced each other it was a low scoring affair.  Carolina has also been playing must win games for a month just to get to the NFL playoff party, so they are already used to playing win or else football.

The difference in this game however is Carolina won't be playing at home against a third string quarterback, they will be facing Russell Wilson and a team that wants to repeat as Super Bowl champs.

And they will be playing the NFC title game in Seattle next week.    Seahawks to win this game

Sunday Divisional Round Games

Dallas Cowboys 13-4 vs Green Bay Packers 12-4

In the early Sunday game you have the first playoff matchup of these teams at Lambeau Field since the 1967 Ice Bowl game.   While it won't be as cold in Green Bay tomorrow as it was for that game, temp will be cold enough at 16 degrees. 

It also has the interesting angle of the 8-0 at home Packers facing the 8-0 road warriors in the Cowboys.   Something's gotta give there, and Green Bay fans are worried about Aaron Rodgers strained calf that might affect his mobility.   The Green Bay defense's task will be to ensure that Wisconsin homeboy Tony Romo gets introduced to the turf early and often. 

This game may come down to special teams, and Green Bay has had a league high seven kicks blocked while Dallas was one of eight NFL teams that didn't block one this season.

Picking the Packers in this one only because it's being played at Lambeau

Indianapolis Colts 12-5 vs  Denver Broncos 12-4

It's the first playoff matchup between Peyton Manning and the QB who replaced him in Indy in Andrew Luck..    It's also a matchup of the number three (Indy) and number four ranked offenses in the league.   The Broncos and Colts opened the season against each other in Denver with the Broncos delivering a 31-24 nationally televised spanking to the Colts that we gleefully enjoyed in H-town.

Denver has lately gone to more power running to complement the third ranked defense in the NFL and excel at stopping the run.   In this case they don't have to worry about the run since Indy sucks at it and it will allow the Denver front seven to tee off on Andrew Luck.

But they can't forget as they try to turn Andrew Luck into a pinata that Indy has the number one passing offense in the NFL, and will have to keep an eye and bodies on TY Hilton. 

But alas, Indy's season will end the way it started, with a loss in Denver.   Broncos to advance to the AFC Championship game.

Call For The Ballroom Community And Allies To Boycott Saks

Saks Fifth Avenue is facing a discrimination lawsuit filed by trans woman Leyth O. Jamal, that occurred when she was an employee of the location here in Houston. 

Yep, the same anti-trans discrimination our lying anti-HERO opponents claimed wasn't happening in H-town. 

Yeah, it is, and if y'all hadn't fought HERO's implementation after it passed May 28 this Saks trans discrimination BS wouldn't have happened.

Saks is now attempting a disgusting legal defense strategy asserting they have a 'right to discriminate' against trans people.

Attorney General Eric Holder, the EEOC, several federal courts and the trans community have dissenting opinions, but if y'all wanna be that stupid and waste that money fighting this, that's on y'all. 

Saks, y'all need to admit you were wrong, pay the trans lady and move on.  

Trans activist Mariah Lopez, a member of the House of Ebony, is calling on the Ballroom Community and their allies to boycott Saks.    Thanks Mariah for giving me permission to post it.

And here's Mariah Lopez Ebony's Saks boycott call to all the communities she intersects and interacts with..

• To My Communities. ...especially the Ballroom Community,
  
  It is important that we stand behind Ms. Jamal and going forward, demonstrate that support by indefinitely boycotting Saks Fifth Ave.
  
  There are two reasons for this call to boycott Saks.
  
  Number one. Economic pressure is one sure way to declare our community's buying power.  Ballroom members and allies undoubtedly shop at Saks ("Labels Labels Labels!!!").
  
  Although we clearly do not have the numbers to hurt Saks financially, Ballroom's choice to finally get involved in the Trans Rights Movement through an all out boycott of Saks stores and affiliates nationwide may be just what we need to demonstrate Ballroom's huge following and support. The press may even take note.
  
  The second reason:  Ballroom without a doubt has infiltrated all levels of mainstream pop culture and contemporary media from Beyonce and Tamar's Glam Squad, to the voguing and other NYC Black/Latino GLBTQ art which is now common in both Europe and Asia.
  It's time for the so called friends and admirers of GLBTQ Of Color Culture to use their platforms, wallets and voices to do more than copy and spread our art and vernacular.
  
  But in order for everyone from Madonna to Nicki Minaj to stand with us, our Ballroom  community members who have access to these artists need to call in favors!
  "If you support the ballroom scene and its trans members, BOYCOTT SAKS!"
  
  Then and only then we will be able to see if their  (celebrity) dollars and shunning of Saks will be enough to catapult Trans issues into the mainstream conversation about GLBTQ equality and bring justice in the Jamal discrimination case.
  
  For any of us in the Ballroom Community or our allies to shop at Saks Fifth Ave would stink of weakness and complacency!
  
  Ballroom and its friends are not weak or powerless!   Let's prove it with this Saks boycott.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Baby It's C-C-Cold Outside Edition

The blast of Arctic air that has made the last few days miserable for my friends in much of the country has finally made it to my Lone Star neck of the woods.

When I attended the Justice Coalition town hall last night, while we didn't have the high winds that were exacerbating the cold in other parts of the county, the lack of cloud cover ensured that I and 'errbody' else in H-town was going to have a very chilly night and a cold for Houston Friday.

The high temp for today is only predicted to be 41 degrees with a 50% chance of liquid snow (AKA rain) for later tonight.  While you peeps in Chicago and elsewhere are sneering "Is that all?", that's enough to get me and everyone else here in H-town reaching for our cold weather gear.

It's time for our usual Friday business of calling out the fool, fools or group of fools that exhibited Shut Up Fool award worthy stupidity, arrogance or hypocrisy.

So let's get to it.

Honorable mention number one is a group award for the Congressional Republican Majority who are already trying to pass their reactionary agenda, trying to claim credit for the improving economy when they had absolutely nothing to do with it, and blame President Obama for the massacre in Paris.

Honorable mention number two is a group award for Russia for continuing the Scott Lively instigated anti-LGBT campaign they have enthusiastically been implementing by issuing a decree that bans people with disorders of sexual preference from driving

It relies heavily on the ICD-10, the current edition of the World Health Organization’s manual for classifying illnesses formally known as the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.   Insurers also use the ICD for coding purposes.

Laws like this demonizing and othering a group is how genocide begins.

Because the Russians did this, it adds more urgency for the international trans community effort underway to have transsexuality removed as a disorder when the ICD-11 comes out sometime this year.

Honorable mention number three goes to Gina Miller, who wrote a column on the Leela Alcorn situation in which she stated that it shows the 'tragic folly of the transgender delusion'.

Your column shows the tragic folly of calling you a Christian.

Honorable mention number four is Richard Dawkins, who in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo terror massacre in Paris went on an anti-Islam Twitter rant blaming it on the entire religion.

There's another religion that has its fair share of extremists, and many of them look just like you Mr. Dawkins.   It' s called Christianity.

Honorable mention number five is a group award for FOX Noise for doing their usual race baiting, Islamophobic hatin'  and Obama bashing in relation to the Paris terror attacks,  and pimp gun ownership at the same time.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner I'm going old school for this one in Phyllis Schafly.  

She rolled up out of her conservacrypt to post some crap on WingNutDaily stating that campus sex assault is on the rise because too many women go to college.

WTF?   Where are the TERF's protesting this enemy to women when you need them?   Never mind the fact her hypocritical ass has BA and JD degrees from St. Louis'  Washington University and an MA from Radcliffe College.   

What that tells me is that Title IX is doing its job., and that's to be celebrated, not condemned.   If you and your conservative friends  don't like the fact that women are getting 'edjumacated', too damned bad.

Phyllis Schafly, shut up fool!

Trans Woman Making Bid To Run NC Democratic Party

In 2012 Janice Covington Allison was one of the thirteen trans delegates to the Democratic National Convention being held in Charlotte, NC. 

She was also the first trans delegate ever from the state of North Carolina  and has held leadership positions in the North Carolina Democratic Party's LGBT Caucus..

Now she is running to lead the Democratic Party in the Tarheel State.

When the party's Executive Committee meets in Raleigh on February 7, she will one of a large field of candidates to lead the party in the wake of former Party Chair Randy Voller stepping down.

And if she is successful in winning the job, Allison would become the first out trans person ever to lead one of the major political parties at the state level.

“I know that I will have great barriers to overcome, because I will be the first transgender woman in our country’s history to seek out a state’s Democratic Party chairmanship,” Allison said in a recent news release. “However, I think because our party is the party of the future, acceptance and diversity, I will be accepted, based on my ability to do the job.”

We'll find out on February 7 if that happens for her.  You know I'm hoping it does.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2015/01/05/4452136/two-more-candidates-running-for.html#storylink=cpy

Upcoming Know Your Rights With The Police Event

I missed the first one, but definitely plan to be in the house for the second in a planned series of trainings organized by Ashton Woods that are in the current climate of mistrust between the police and the community vitally needed.

For many of us, the idea of getting stopped by the police can be intimidating. One reason is that many of us do not know our rights and how to properly respond to police. This Know Your Rights training series is intended to teach you how to respond to police, and know your rights during your interactions with police.

The trainings are being taught by attorney and former Houston city councilmember Jolanda Jones and this next event will take place on Saturday, January 24 from 12:30-2:00 PM.

Location of the training will be at Resurrection MCC's The Gathering Place.   Resurrection's address is 2025 W. 11th St.  Hope to see you there.

Why The Lack Of Media Coverage Of The NAACP Terror Bombing?

Back in 2010 I asked the question when is a terrorist attack NOT a terrorist attack?   I asked that in the wake of the predominately white media twisting themselves into pretzels to avoid calling the dive of a private airplane into the IRS building in Austin by a white anti-tax zealot a  terror attack when conservative media was gleefully stirring up anti-government fervor as a tactic to stop passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Now in a time in the USA in which we have heightened racial animus because of police brutality aimed at African-American and our protests against it, an attempted bombing of an NAACP headquarters in Colorado Springs yesterday morning by a white male suspect has gotten little media coverage on CNN or other major news networks.

And when CNN probably because of the building social media outrage finally covered ittoday , they neglected to mention the ethnicity of the suspect, who is a balding while male in his 40's driving a white pickup truck.

I'd be willing to bet that if an IED had gone off across town at Focus on The Family's headquarters building and the suspected perp was a member of the LGBT community, FOX Noise and the networks would have been on that story ad nauseum like pigs at their feeding trough.

But in an incident eerily reminiscent of the Jim Crow era Klan terror bombings aimed at churches and the homes of back in the day African-American civil rights leaders, an improvised explosive device exploded outside the headquarters building of the Colorado Springs NAACP branch on S. El Paso St. in an incident in which the FBI initial investigation is calling deliberate.

Well duh, they damned sure weren't attacking the hair salon next door.

In a statement on the NAACP website about the attempted bombing:

No injuries were reported in what is believed to be an explosion near the Colorado Springs NAACP Branch located on the 600 block of S. El Paso St. The cause of the explosion is still unknown. The NAACP looks forward to a full and thorough investigation into this matter by federal agents and local law enforcement.

But one group it seems to the increasing agitation of African-Americans that seems disinterested in covering this unfolding story is the media.   

And why is that?  Could it be because this is a concrete example of another White on Black terror attack that we can thank God didn't have fatalities attached to it?  

Or is it because you white media peeps are reluctant to admit, that when it comes to domestic terror in the United States, and especially when those terror attacks have been aimed at my people, it has historically had an overwhelmingly white male face..

Happy Birthday Jordana!

Today happens to be the birthday of my musically gifted little sis from another mother and the reason this blog exists in Jordana LeSesne.

And you know she's getting the TransGriot birthday shout out!

I've told the story every TransGriot blogiversary about how she pushed me to set a date to start the blog until I did so on January 1, 2006.    She was also in the room in Philly when I received my IFGE Trinity award a few weeks later..

There have also been some long, thoughtful intergenerational conversations in which I've learned much from her.    She also makes sure when we're debating different subjects that I stay on point  and don't ever slip into 'lazy thought' mode.

That's an invaluable skill to have when you have 3 minutes to talk to a legislator

And best of all, my gorgeous Little Sis isn't afraid to call my azz out when I need it.  

So happy birthday Jordana!   I know my life is much better with you in it, and I hope this year and subsequent ones are filled with abundant blessings for you.

Jordan Baker Protest At Houston City Hall

One of the things that will continue to be an issue in Houston and elsewhere around the country is unarmed Black people continuing to be shot and killed by predominately white police forces.

And yeah, the Black community is beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of it.

And before you pro-police peeps go there and start spouting insulting FOX Noise talking points such as my people need to learn respect for the po-po, how about the police officers who look like you turn off the right wing radio and stop using my people as gun practice targets?

In the Houston area, we have the Jordan Baker case to sadly contribute to the national conversation about the death by po-po of Black people of all ages and what needs to happen to end it. 

And as per the disgusting pattern that has played out elsewhere, the HPD officer in question was NOT indicted.

At the same time we have another fatal incident that occurred i n Texas City that has exacerbated racial tensions there to the point that a protest by the family of Carlton Smith was bumrushed by predominately white pro-police supporters.

Since today is the first city council meeting of 2015, a protest will happen at 1:30 PM CST on the steps of city hall in advance of the city council meeting in which people have signed up to speak about the Baker shooting and policing HPD style.

Yep, definitely will be checking it out.

SXSW Interactive Trans Tech Panel

Not too early to get started thinking about what conferences and conventions you'll have an opportunity to attend in 2015 and get your trans learn on.

If you're attending the SXSW Interactive event in Austin, TX from March 8-17, know that transpeeps will be in the house.

One of the fascinating panels that will be taking place during the SXSW Interactive portion of it will be entitled Transgender In Tech: Past Present and Future.

Unfortunately, this will also be the ONLY trans themed panel at SXSW, and that's another issue we need to discuss in another post.

We have a long proud legacy in the tech industry that we can trace back to Dr. Lynn Conway. who has served a role model to many trans peeps currently in the tech industry. 

The panel will bring together three people who have helped forge the path toward trans inclusion in tech spaces.   Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler will be in the SXSW house to talk about Trans* H4CK, his innovative hackathon and speaker series that highlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship and has had successful sessions in Oakland, Las Vegas, Chicago and most recently Boston. 

Dr Lynn Conway will also be there.   IBM fired her after she transitioned in 1968, but Dr. Conway went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics.

The third panelist will be Brielle Henderson.  She is a user interface engineer at Facebook who helped create and implement the custom gender options that you can select on your Facebook profiles.

The facilitator of this fascinating panel will be Allyson Robinson, the VP for Knowledge and Impact with the LGBT Technology Partnership based in Washington, DC. 

She'll facilitate a conversation amongst the panelists that will focus on the trajectory of trans inclusion in technology and what it will mean for an industry that struggles with diversity and inclusion.

So if you are planning to be in Austin for the SXSW Interactive event, you may wish to be there for this fascinating panel. 

This panel brings together three figures who have helped make history advancing transgender inclusion in tech spaces. Lynn Conway was fired by IBM and nearly ended up on the streets when she transitioned in 1968, then went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics. Brielle Harrison, a user interface engineer at Facebook, helped create and implement that platform's industry-leading custom gender options. Dr. Kortney Ziegler envisioned and built Trans*H4CK, a hackathon and speaker series that spotlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship.
Allyson Robinson, Vice President for Knowledge and Impact at the LGBT Technology Partnership in Washington, D.C. and a transgender pioneer in her own right, will facilitate a conversation among these trailblazers about the trajectory of transgender inclusion in tech and what it might mean for the future of diversity in the industry.
- See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/39695#sthash.lAYHcBET.z50gWX0o.dpuf

Hey Trans Men, Wake Forest Scientists Create Human Penis In Lab

One of the ongoing truisms we'll say in the trans community that relates to bottom surgery for our trans brothers goes like this:

'Trans men got the blessing of instant passability, but their bottom surgery sucks.'

While medical science has long been able for decades to create aesthetically authentic looking genitalia for trans women, so far that has been problematic enough for our trans brothers to the point many forgo the genital surgery.

But that may be about to change thanks to news of a. medical technology breakthrough that may change that for trans men and cis men who have lost their genitalia for whatever reason.

In 2009 urological surgeon Dr. Anthony Atala the director of the Wake Forest University Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and his colleagues attached a bioengineered penis to 12 male rabbits.   When those rabbits mated, 8 had successful ejaculations and 4 produced offspring.

With the successful animal trials completed, they have now moved up the evolutionary ladder and are working to do the same for human males

Atala's technique is to use a donor penis, soak it in enzymes that remove the donor cells, then use cells from the patient so they have a biologically functioning penis.   Once the organ has grown strong enough, it is then attached to the patient.

What is needed is someone to do the first human transplant test to know if the technique is viable, and Atala's team expects that to happen in the next five years.

As for whether it  would work for our trans brothers, there are pro and con arguments so far, but the only way we will know for sure is once the technique is perfected or medical science comes up with a better solution.   And as fast as medical technology has been evolving lately, it may be sooner rather than later.

But a long held dream of the trans masculine community that wishes it in terms of realistic and functional penis may become a reality within the next ten to years.