CeCe McDonald To Receive The Paul A. Anderson Youth Award At CC15!

The 2015 edition of Creating Change is rapidly approaching, and one of the things the Task Force does during this event is present awards to honor the people involved in our human rights movement.

So happy to discover that the person who will receive the Paul A Anderson Youth Award is none other than CeCe McDonald.  

Since being released last January after 17 months of unjust incarceration for defending herself against a July 2010 racist and tranphobic assault aimed at her and some friends in Minneapolis, CeCe quickly became a leading and outspoken fighter in the movements for LGBTQ liberation, prison abolition, and racial justice.

She is currently working on a forthcoming documentary with actress Laverne Cox on her case entitled Free CeCe. Since being released, CeCe has spoken across the nation: she served as the Grand Marshall of Seattle Pride, received the Bayard Rustin Civil Rights award, was featured in an article published by Rolling Stone Magazine, and has appeared on Democracy Now!, MSNBC, and in various other media outlets.

And I'll finally get the chance to meet her!  Looking forward to giving her a big hug when that happens and hearing her acceptance speech.

Sorry Ashley, Rev Al IS A Black Leader With A Big Voice

Over at Kulture Kritic there is a post by Ashley Naples that caught my attention.   It is basically critical of the Rev Al Sharpton and legacy orgs like the NAACP.

Personally, I like The Rev for his tell it like it is style and his willingness over several decades to speak truth to power.  I also disagree with her assessment of The Rev and here's why.

My first point is that if Rev Al Sharpton isn't considered a Black leader, why does FOX Noise, right wing talk radio  and the conservafool movement spend every waking moment demonizing him as a 'racist'?  If the conservafools are demonizing him and spending their valuable propaganda air time doing so, they obviously fear him and consider him important enough to make the effort to slime him.

Naples asserted in the article that she aimed at White America that his 'popularity is quickly waning'.  By what metric are you judging that?   Rev. Al's Politics Nation MSNBC show is second in popularity only to whatever waste of programming FOX Noise is broadcasting in that 6 PM ET time slot.   The protest march that he called for in the wake of the Garner non indictment in New York back in December drew thousands and national news coverage.

Speaking of that MSNBC show, the fact that it is on five days a week, he has a daily and Sunday syndicated radio programs means that he has the ability to reach far more people than all those social media bloggers that Naples touted but never named in her piece.

While Ms Naples may sneer at his access to President Obama, I'm willing to bet she hasn't come close to signing her name in or running the White House security gauntlet for a meeting with the POTUS or his advisory team as Rev Al has done multiple times.
.

And you never diss or dismiss anyone who has access to the President of the United States, much less got an invite to his second inauguration..

You may be sick of hearing that Rev Al is a leader, but there are other African-Americans who are glad that he is one of the people speaking for our community.

And right now, he is a Black leader with a big voice.

T Minus 2 Weeks To CC15

This time last year it was those of us on the Houston Host Committee for Creating Change 2014 who were checking and rechecking our plans, nervously looking at the long range weather forecasts, and giddy with excitement that we were about to roll out the rainbow carpet to the community for our first ever Creating Change that we intentionally set the bar high for and smashed records in conducting it.

And yes National LGBTQ Task Force, we look forward in H-town to having the opportunity to host Creating Change again.

Now it's Denver's turn.   And we can feel the Denver Host Committee's excitement and nervousness all the way here in Texas.



You can exhale CC15 Host Committee because the nine months of planning meetings are over.  All you're doing at this point is dealing with last minute issues that crop up.  Your four CC15 conference co-chairs are doing their local media blitz and checking with the chairs and co-chairs of the committees they are responsible for to make sure everything is running smoothly.   
 
In just two weeks LGBT World will be gathering at the 5,280 altitude of Denver, Colorado for Creating Change 2015 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown and all the other nearby overflow hotels for the expected 3500 attendees.

And for those of us coming from Houston, we'll be interested to see if they back up the smack talk some loose lipped Coloradans allegedly uttered at the Hilton Americas bar during CC14 that they would smash all our CC all time records we'd just set.

And hope to see my Denver trans family in the CC15 house and all the rest of you peeps I know and love while I'm there.   Looking forward to meeting a few new friends as well.

Denver will be the center of LGBT World from February 3-8, and it'll be fun to see all my fave peeps in the community and report on the CC15 happenings, especially from the perspective of someone who is just a year removed from helping plan one.

I'm also excited because it's the first time ever I've been able to attend back to back Creating Change conferences and it's time for the Air Marshal to take flight again..

So see y'all in two weeks.   And yeah, I'll be bringing my Houston Texans sweatshirt with me.

Anti-Trans Bathroom Bully Bill Filed In Kentucky

TransGriot Note:  In the interest of journalistic integrity, I served on the boards of the Fairness Campaign and its C-FAIR political PAC from 2008-2010

When I lived in Kentucky, while it was 1000 miles away from my birth state, when it came to the politics, I noticed some similarities in terms of it having some politicians in its legislature that would make Louie Gohmert look like a Mensa candidate.

What that meant is that every session, we'd have some WTF bills filed that fortunately, because of the split control of the legislature (GOP Senate, Democratic House) didn't become law because they died in committee.

I was reminded of that aspect of Kentucky politics when I heard about Kentucky State Senator CB Embry(R) filing SB 76, the 'Bathroom Bully' Bill.

It would if passed not only force trans teens to use locker rooms and bathrooms that don't correspond to the person they are now, but would allow students who encounter a person of the opposite biological sex in a restroom, locker room or shower room to recover $2,500 damages for psychological, emotional and physical harm suffered and reasonable attorney fees and costs from the school if school personnel gave permission for the student encountered to use the facility or failed to take reasonable steps to prohibit the person encountered from using the facility.

It was in response to what happened at Louisville's Atherton HS that the hatemongering Kentucky 'Family Foundation tried to stick its transphobic nose in and failed.   They are now trying to get legislatively what they failed to do at the local level in Da Ville

Chris Hartman, director of the Kentucky Fairness Campaign, said the SB 76 bill that Embry has filed is 'a solution in search of a problem' at a time when the General Assembly has many more pressing issues to address.

“It’s sort of a fruitless effort to give him an opportunity to soapbox on something,” Hartman said.  The focus, instead should be on protecting marginalized students through an anti-bullying bill with a strong suicide prevention element, he said.

“We don’t see any reason to further mandate micromanage decisions being quite capably handled by each school,” he said.

Amen Chris.  I'm tired of white male conservatives reflexively spreading bathroom panic fears aimed at marginalized groups for their own political gain and to demonize or 'other' them.

SB 76 needs to die quick, fast and in a hurry because the commonwealth of Kentucky has far more pressing items on its plate than oppressing  trans kids

2015 Williams Watch-Australian Open 2015 Starts

One of the other things that is a regular feature of TransGriot is moi  tracking the tennis playing exploits of my fave kick butt tennis playing siblings in Venus and Serena Williams.  This feature got started because I was tired of the racist disrespect the Williams sisters received at times

With the first Grand Slam of the 2015 tennis season about to start Down Under, it's time for another year of Williams Watch posts.

In addition to Serena chasing history and trying to win her 19th career Grand Slam tournament, she's trying to win her sixth Australian Open and her first since 2010.

But before the number one overall seeded Little Sis even takes the court against Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck, she will make tennis history.

She will become only the fourth player in the WTA rankings era to hold the Number 1 spot for at least 100 weeks.   She joins Chris Evert (113 straight weeks from May 10, 1976 to July 9, 1978), Martina Navratilova (156 straight weeks from June 14, 1982 to June 9, 1985) and Steffi Graf (186 straight weeks from August 17, 1987 to March 10, 1991) as the only players accomplishing that rare feat.

Serena has held the Number One ranking since February 13, 2013 and is guaranteed a 101st week through the second week of the Australian Open.  How long she holds that ranking beyond February 1 depends on how well she plays in this tournament.

Should she get through her opening round match, she would take on the winner of the Vera Zvonareva - Oris Jabeur match

Big Sis is here in Melbourne as well.  She's seeded 18th in this tournament, and she takes on Spain's Maria Torr-Flor inn her opening round match.   She would take on the winner of the Lauren Davis - Aleksandra Krunic match if she survives the opening round tilt.


They are also entered in the Australian Open doubles, and it will be interesting to see if they walk away with their first Australian Open doubles title since 2010.
Here's hoping you both have long successful runs in this 2015 edition of the Australian Open.

2015 Trans 100 (US) Nominee Deadline Approaching

For those of you who have had dissenting opinions about the last two editions of the Trans 100 list, well here is your opportunity to do something about it besides gripe.

The third edition of the Trans 100 will be revealed in March.  But before we can get to that point we must have a nominee pool so we can get down  to the 100 people who will be honored at the Chicago Trans 100 reveal ceremony.

You have until this Friday, January 23 to get those nominations for the 2015 Trans 100 List in.

The key question to ask iwhen you are considering people to nominate for this honor is this: What is this nominee doing to make life better for the trans community?

All nominees must:
- Self-identify as trans.
- Be actively working to improve the lives of trans people.
- Live in the United States.
- Not have previously appeared on The Trans 100.

We particularly encourage the nomination of individuals who:
- Are doing work that is unsung and/or unseen.
- Are working in areas of multiple intersections of power and privilege.
- Live outside of major population centers (New York, Los Angeles, etc).

The Trans 100 places special consideration on those working in the areas of ostracism elimination, stigma reduction, poverty reduction, furthering the social and economic development of the trans community, and building infrastructure within the trans community.
Nominees can be working at any scale, locally, regionally, or nationally.

Here's the link to the nominations form.

Waking Up With Aisha And Janet's Punditry

Woke up this morning on a weekend that I've been feeling less than 100% to two Sunday morning talk shows that made me feel much better when I saw them.

On the PBS To The Contrary show hosted by Bonnie Erbe, a diverse panel of four women pundits with diverse perspectives discuss the issues of the day.    I  was flipping channels when I stumbled across Aisha Moodie-Mills intelligently breaking down the issues as usual.

And when I discovered the next segment was discussing the Jamal case. I left my TV on that channel to watch her explain the issues at play in this case to her fellow panelists.

The Jamal case segment starts at the 10:40 mark




Speaking of watching, before I switched over to the PBS show, I was watching Melissa Harris-Perry and was pleased the discover when my TV powered up that Janet Mock was part of the conversation on this morning's show.  

There was also something else added to the graphic under her name:   MSNBC contributor!

Congrats Janet! 

TransGriot 2014 NFL Picks-Championship Sunday

I had an identical 3-1 record picking games during the Divisional Round, and just like last weekend, I benefited from a controversial call in a Dallas Cowboy playoff game in compiling my 6-2 playoff prognostication record.

This time (snicker snicker), the controversial call didn't benefit the Cowboys to the consternation of their fans and their legions of bandwagon riders.  

Oh well, the karmic NFL officiating wheel rolls that way sometimes, but now Cowboy Nation don't wanna hear that or get over it.

Life has moved on, and the NFL playoffs are in the Championship Sunday round.   Four teams battling to see who will face off in Glendale, AZ for the NFL title February 1.

And one of them ain't the Dallas Cowboys.

So now that I've gleefully gotten my hate on for the Cowchips, time to get serious and get back to NFL prognosticating.   I'll be predicting who will be the two teams you see fighting for NFL supremacy during Super Bowl XLIX.


NFC Championship
Green Bay Packers (13-4) vs Seattle Seahawks (13-4)

The early game on Championship Sunday is a rematch of the September 4 season opener at CenturyLink Field in which the Seahawks raised their Super Bowl championship banner and subsequently smacked the Packers 36-16.

But this one is for a trip to the Super Bowl.  I don't think the game will be a blowout, or Aaron Rodgers will be 'scurred' to throw to Richard Sherman's side of the field like they were earlier this season.

But Rodgers is basically playing this game on one leg, and while he got away with that against the Cowchips, the NFL number one ranked Seahawk defense is light years better.   If the Green Bay offensive line doesn't protect Rodgers or open holes for Eddie Lacy to run through, it's going to be another long day for the Cheeseheads in the Pacific Northwest.

The 12th Man will be very happy after this game.   Seahawks to win the George Halas Trophy


AFC Championship
Indianapolis Colts (13-5) vs New England Patriots (13-4)

The nightcap features the New England Patriots, who were expected to be here against the precocious Indianapolis Colts, who knocked off the Denver Broncos last week to get another crack at the Patriots.

It's Tom Brady vs my Houston homeboy Andrew Luck, who I get to hate on twice a year as the Texans biggest AFC South rival.

The Colts got drilled at Lucas Oil Stadium 42-20 back on November 16 as Jonas Gray ran over, through and around the Colts defense for 199 yards and four touchdowns.. 

Nobody gives the Colts a chance at beating the Brady Bunch (myself included) except for people inside the Indianapolis metro area, and even they are probably hedging their bets.   But an interesting stat to throw out there in that the Colts are 12-0 in rematch games.  

But this one is being played in Foxborough, the Patriots are 13-3 in home playoff games, and the Colts aren't the Baltimore Ravens. 

We'll see if the Colts pull off another upset, but I doubt it.  This is their fourth straight AFC title game appearance, and the Patriot fans at Gillette Stadium will finally get to see Tom Terriffic hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy.

Patriots to win this game.

Being Honored With A 2015 Transgender Pioneer Award!

One of the long running transgender themed conventions I have never been able to attend is the Fantasia Fair in Provincetown, MA.

Fantasia Fair is the oldest and longest running annual trans themed event of its kind, having first started in 1975 in this LGBT friendly resort town on Cape Cod... 

Even going back to my Air Marshal days, I've always wanted to attend Fantasia Fair, but for various reasons including the timing of it, I was never able to make my schedule work for that to happen. 

When the 2015 edition of it kicks off October 19-26, I'll finally be in the Fantasia Fair house

I was informed earlier today that  I will be honored with the 2015 Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award.   I was not only shocked to find out this is happening, I'll be making a little history when I do so.  I will be the first African-American trans person ever to receive it.

The Transgender Pioneer Award is given by the nonprofit Real Life Experiences, and it honors leaders in trans* communities who have freely given of their time, energy, and money, often at a private cost to their careers and personal relationships.

So yes, I have a few months to put together a keynote speech for it.   Also looking forward to to the trip to that part of the country and hope we'll have some wonderful October weather in Provincetown for it.

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.