The Air Marshal Is Headed To Chicago

For the second straight week I'm boarding an airplane at Hobby that will fly to Chicago. 

And if Southwest handled their aviation business properly, I should be airborne as you read this.

But this time when I arrive there I'll be getting off and leaving the confines of Midway Airport to head to the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place for a Transgender Law Center organized National Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Anti-Violence Convening on Friday and Saturday.

The Color of Violence Conference will also be convening while we are here. and as I'm flying toward the Chicago area will be kicking off with two per-conference institutes before the opening plenary that features our sis CeCe McDonald.

I'm going to try to find some time while I'm up here in the Windy City to not only see some of my Chicago based trans family, but make another pilgrimage to Giordano's to destroy another deep dish pizza.

And while I'm up here, the Trans 100 reveal show at the Mayne Stage will also take place on Sunday, so I;m going to have a activity filled weekend before I head back to H-town.

California Activist Counters Hate With 'Intolerant Jackass Act'

We've all seen the stories about the so-called 'Sodomite Suppression Act' that if it collects the 365,000 signatures it needs to make it to the ballot, calls for the execution of gays and lesbians in the Golden State.

Activist Charlotte Laws on Monday filed a counterproposal to the unbridled genocidal 'Kill The Gays' initiative proposed by attorney Matt McLaughlin (have they yanked his law license yet?) entitled the Intolerant Jackass Act

"Any person, herein known as an 'Intolerant Jackass,' who brings forth a ballot measure that suggests the killing of gays and/or lesbians, whether this measure is called the Sodomite Suppression Act or is known by some other name, shall be required to attend sensitivity training for at least three (3) hours per month for twelve (12) consecutive months," the initiative reads in part. "In addition, the offender or 'Intolerant Jackass' must donate $5,000 to a pro-gay or pro-lesbian organization."

Laws told The Advocate via e-mail why she filed it.

“I felt that ridiculing this man was the best way to defuse his vicious proposal and take away his power,” Laws told  The Advocate via email. “By filing the Intolerant Jackass Act, I am attempting to speak out against prejudice and hatred. It is important to fight injustice and intolerance. I want the world to know that Matt McLaughlin’s wretched and small-minded perspective is in the minority. Most people in California are caring and loving individuals who welcome the LGBTQ community.”

As delicious as this would be for this to go through the ballot initiative process and become California law, it may not be likely to happen.  Even if it did, it would probably be struck down as unconstitutional

But it sure will be fun to watch and see what happens.

Eden Lane Honored As 'Best Non-Network TV Personality'

And now, time for some much needed good news .
My Denver based sis Eden Lane recently received a wonderful surprise from Westworld, the local alternative weekly newspaper

Every year the editors of Westworld along with their readers select 'Best Of' winners in various categories.  And guess who won 'Best Non-Network TV Personality''?

Here is what they had to say about our hard working media sis.:

Since 2009, Eden Lane has been hoofing her heels all over Denver to cover the burgeoning performing-arts and media beats, using a scant crew to grab an interview with new talents and introduce them to the world via her weekly, self-produced In Focus show on Colorado Public Television (Channel 12 to those in Denver). Always professional, effervescent, creative and dressed to kill, Lane's recent openness on living life as a trans woman just might bring her to national eyes as a role model for how journalism should be done.

Take note of that underlined last sentence.

Hey, I've seen In Touch, and you can also watch the show on YouTube.  I'm still wondering why some network or local station hasn't hired her yet..   But nice to see quality work and a quality person recognized!

Congrats Eden!   Hope this is just one of many awards you'll get and it results in more positive attention for you!

Blake Brockington Commits Suicide

“I’m still a person, and trans people are still people. Our bodies just don’t match what’s up (in our heads). We need support, not people looking down at us or degrading us or overlooking us. We are still human.”
Blake Brockington

I have mixed emotions as I'm writing this post because I have the sad duty of informing you courtesy of QNotes that history making trans activist Blake Brockington took his own life March 23.

18 year old Brockington made history last year as the first ever African-American trans masculine homecoming king when as an East Mecklenburg High School senior he beat out 12 other nominees and raised $2355.55 for a school chosen charity to win the honor.

Since his graduation from East Mecklenburg HS he has been involved in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a mentor to other trans kids and an outspoken advocate for our community.  I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to his at the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference to congratulate him on his historic win and tell him how proud I was of him.

And that's one of the parts that is pissing me off and literally has me in tears as I compose this.  Brockington is the third trans person of color youth suicide this year, and that unhappy trend must end.  22 year old Aubrey Mariko Shine jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge February 24, and was preceded by the February 11 death of 19 year old Melonie Rose of Laurel, MD.

And to add insult to both those deaths, the families of Shine and Rose added to the hurt and anger we feel over these death by deliberately erased their trans identities at their funerals

We lost another one of our trans younglings to the ramped up anti-trans violence and hatred.   If #BlackLivesMatter,  don't #BlackTransLivesMatter too?

Trans younglings, your best revenge is living well and setting the goal of living to see your 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th birthdays.  If you need to talk to someone, find a trans elder or call the Trevor Project.  
It would have been interesting to see how Blake's life would have turned out, but we've been robbed of that opportunity.   

Rest in power, Blake


 For TBLG youth (ages 24 and younger) contemplating suicide, the Trevor Project Lifeline can be reached at 1-866-488-7386. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 can also be reached 24 hours a day by people of all ages and identities.

The Kentucky Anti-Trans Bill Is FINALLY Dead!

It took a little longer than expected, but Sen. CB Embry anti-trans Bathroom Bounty Bill is finally dead with the end of the 2015 Kentucky General Assembly session at midnight EDT.

You'll recall that back in February the Kentucky senate Republicans shadily passed the bill out of committee, then passed the unjust bill it in the GOP controlled Senate on a 27-9 vote.

But SB 76 was DOA in the Democratically controlled House, and it was parked in a committee with no intention to let it out to the House floor much less bring it up for a committee vote.  

With the clock ticking toward the end of the session, Embry decided to tack his unjust bill to HB 236, a bill that overwhelmingly passed the House that would allow for a student representative to be appointed to school superintendent search committees. 

Dismayed Kentucky students from across the commonwealth not only saw the bill they had worked so hard to pass being hijacked by Embry, but also being altered Tuesday after two student rallies in Frankfort and news coverage about the impasse.

HB 236 was altered by the Kentucky senate to allow the student to sit on the search committee,  but the student would not be able to vote on who is recommended for the job.    The 'Student Religious Speech' amendment was also attached to HB 236  by Sen. Albert Robinson (R) to permit students to voluntarily express religious viewpoints in schools.  Senator Alice Forgy Kerr (R-Lexington) successfully attached another amendment that would make HB 236 immediately come into force after it became law with Governor Steve Beshear's (D) signature. 

Sen. Embry withdrew his 'Bathroom Bounty Bill' amendment and the altered  HB 236 passed 27-9. But the damage was done, and the amended HB 236..has no support in the Democratically controlled House when they voted overwhelmingly for the original bill.

While I'm sad that a great bill that would have empowered Kentucky students fell victim to GOP political shenanigans, the bigger picture is that the unjust anti-trans bill is FINALLY dead. 

Why Maya Avant Is More Important Than You Think

On Wednesday morning while I was rolling toward Austin to fight some anti-trans bills at the Pink Dome, the CBS soap opera Bold and The Beautiful was dropping a cliffhanger that would light up the Twitterverse for several hours in terms of the Maya Avant character, played by actress Karla Mosley, being revealed to be a trans woman. 

Seven years ago I wrote about the importance of Rebecca Romijn playing Alexis Meade on the ABC show Ugly Betty.   I compared it at the time to Nichelle Nichols playing Lt. Uhura on Star Trek in terms of the groundbreaking nature of it.

Now for the first time ever, we have a soap with a trans African-American character.   You know I not only have wanted to see a regular trans character that reflects my ethnic background for years now, I have also expressed my frustration at the ignorance level of elements of my people when it comes to trans issues.

The Maya Avant character has the potential if handled correctly by Bold and the Beautiful writers, to finally bust some myths about what a trans person of African descent is like, and educate about many of the issues we deal with.

And while we African-American trans women have had amazing possibility models in Janet Mock and Laverne Cox capture the country's and the world's attention, and are an immense source of pride in our ranks, we now have a fictional character gracing the nation's television screens and the TV screens of the 100 nations where this soap is broadcast.

So when Bold and the Beautiful returns following the weekend's March Madness games, we'll see what happens with this unfolding storyline that suddenly has a lot of people inside and outside the trans community talking and  paying attention to the exploits of Maya Avant..

Yo Ted, Show Us Your Birth Certificate

Ted Cruz has declared he is running for president in 2016 (stop laughing).  The junior senator from Alberta was an unrepentant birther, and now it is going to be delicious to whack him relentlessly with the same shade he and his birther crew threw at President Obama.

Teabagger Ted fits their scenario they tried and failed to pain the POTUS with.   He was born in Canada, has an American mother and a Cuban father.  

As I love to say, karma is not only a you know what, but wears a dress and stiletto heels.

And Whoopi Goldberg got the party started on The View earlier today by demanding to see Ted Cruz's birth certificate.  We don't care if you released it in 2013.  What if it's a fake?

Post by The View.

(We Gottta) Fight For Our Right To Potty 2015

Back in 2010 I took an idea birthed during a conversation with Ethan St. Pierre and rewrote the Beastie Boys song (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party' as a protest song against the bathroom meme that was then being used to try to scuttle trans inclusion in ENDA.

It's now five years later, ENDA is still not the law of the land, and the bathroom lie is being used to attack trans human rights in general now.

With all the GOP anti-trans bathroom bills out there filed by Debbie Does Discrimination Riddle and Gilbert 'Potty Panic' Pena in Texas,, Frank 'Flush Away Our Humanity' Artiles in Florida, CM 'Bathroom Bounty Bill' Embry in Kentucky and other GOP conservafool legislative oppressors at the behest of ALEC, it was time to pull this song out of the TransGriot archives and tweak the lyrics for the 2K15.

So y'all know the drill.  Fire up those iPods or your fave music program and sing along with Moni's remixed lyrics.

And yeah, if you want to use it at a #WeJustNeedToPee protest, have fun.  Just give me the credit for composing this little ditty.

(We Gotta) Fight For Our Right To Potty 2015
sung to the tune of  (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party by the Beastie Boys.



Kick it!

Trans people need to pee but we don't wanna go
Needs to be gender neutral but the right wing says, "No!"
On anti-trans bills they went to work
As they started hatin' on us like transphobic jerks

We gotta fight for our right to potty

Presentation based bathrooms need to happen today
GOP oppressors are saying “No way!”
Facing trans discrimination can be so sad
Erasing our humanity makes trans folks fighting mad (Busted!)

We gotta fight for our right to potty

Don't like that I transitioned? Why should you care?
Don’t need to know the genitalia that I have down there
I’ve got to pee so bump that noise.
I’m not (will be) going to use the bathroom with cisgender boys!

We gotta fight for our right to potty
We gotta fight for our right to potty

We Black LGBT Peeps Only Care About Gay Rights? Ignorant Fool Please!

I saw this meme on Nephew's AKA Jaison Gardner's FB page that some fool with too much time on his hands created that I am compelled to call out.

It levels an old charge in Black non- SGL circles they aim at the Black TBLGQ community that Black gay people are 'not loyal' to the Black cause because they are 'only loyal to gay rights'.

Which is straight up bull feces.

SGL, bi and trans folks first up are Black people.  We have to deal with the everyday microaggressions and macroaggressions of just navigating life in a Black body just like straight Black folks, with an extra heaping helping of transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia dropped on top of that.

In addition to having to fight the conservative movement tooth and nail just to avoid being dehumanized, we have to also deal with the same crap coming from people who share our ethnic heritage uttering the same loud and wrong BS at us.

We in Black TBLGQ World are sick and tired of being 'too Black' for our gay counterparts and 'not Black enough' for some of you peeps regurgitating that anti-gay propaganda you've been fed by sellout ministers and FOX Noise

The reality is that Black LGBT issues are Black community issues and vice versa.

I guess the ignorant creator of this meme didn't learn anything about Bayard Rustin in school, who not only created the concept of the Freedom Rides so skillfully used by Diane Nash and SNCC two decades later, also was a brilliant movement organizer, leader, and advisor to the Rev. Dr MLK Jr. 

If it weren't for Rustin, the 1963 March On Washington wouldn't have been the spectacular success it turned out to be.   And yes, Rustin was a Black gay man.

Lorraine Hansberry, the creator of the play A Raisin In The Sun, in her brief life was a civil rights movement warrior who was also concerned about the African liberation struggle.

Guess whoever created this meme (and I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone in the National Organization for Marriage)  also forgot about James Baldwin and Angela Davis

This meme may be part of their well documented plan to drive a wedge between the African-American, Latino and SGL community, and if the fool who created this is Black, then I pity him for allowing himself to be hoodwinked and bamboozled by NOM's propaganda.

And as Coretta Scott King pointed out in a March 31, 1998  speech:

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery and Selma, in Albany, Georgia, and St. Augustine, Florida, and many other campaigns of the civil rights movement. I salute the contributions of these courageous men and women who fought for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own."

It's not just in the civil rights era that Black LGBT peeps handled their human rights business on behalf of the Black community, it's happening in 2K15 America as well.  

The Black Lives Matter movement founders, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometti rep the L.   Black TBLG  peeps in Houston including yours truly busted their behinds to get the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance passed last May while being opposed by Black ministers and Black people on the loud and wrong side of this human rights issue.

We have the common goal along with our non-gay Black peeps of eradicating the anti-Black societal attitudes that deleteriously impact all of us.  Black BTLGQ people are not only concerned with advancing human rights for our own community, but simultaneously uplifting the Black community we intersect and interact with.

And there are many times we are doing Black community uplift work, but you just aren't aware that the person involved in your local civic club, chapter of the NAACP, or community leader is also part of the Black BTLGQ community.

While there are moments that the Black non-SGL community pisses us off with the internal homophobia that expeditiously needs eradication, the fact remains that we Black LGBTQ peeps are and historically have been an undeniable part of the kente cloth fabric of the African-American community. 

Our fate as Black TBLGQ people in this country is inextricably tied to the rest of Black America, and Black folks wishing to divide the Black SGL and non-SGL communities would do well to remember that.

So to say that Black LGBTQ peeps only care about gay rights is not only a blatant lie, it is a narrative contrary to the historical evidence.

Kerry Washington's 2015 GLAAD Vanguard Award Acceptance Speech

As y'all know, I have much love for Kerry Washington, and look forward to the day when I can meet her and let my inner fangirl loose,

In accepting the Vanguard Award last night, she cut loose with a powerful speech that brought the assembled crowd to their feet.  One portion of it was calling out the hypocrisy of marginalized communities turning on each other.

"So when Black people today tell me that they don't believe in gay marriage… the first thing that I say is please don't let anybody try to get you to vote against your own best interests by feeding you messages of hate. And then I say, you know people used to say stuff like that about you and your love. And if we let the government start to legislate love in our lifetime, who do you think is next?" 

"We can't say that we believe in each other’s fundamental humanity and then turn a blind eye to the reality of each others existence and the truth of each other’s hearts. We must be allies. And we must be allies in this business because to be represented is to be humanized. And as long as anyone, anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake and we are all vulnerable."

And here's the video of that Vanguard Award acceptance speech.

Told Y'all Papi Edwards Was A #GirlLikeUs

"In my two decades of lived experience as a Black trans woman, I have seen more than a few young gay males who liked doing drag, claimed it was 'a hobby', only did it for pageants or gay nightclub talent nights and swore up and down they were gay men and had no intention to transition.

But a year or two later after having that gender epiphany, those same gay males were declaring they were trans, swallowing hormones, answering to feminine names and transitioning to live full time as female."
-TransGriot, February 2, 2015,, The Case For Edwards Being A Trans Murder Victim"

Well, as this Dominic Holden March 6 BuzzFeed article points out, Moni was right.

A trans woman who knew Ms. Edwards and was also at the January 9 murder scene named Tiffany, came forward and publicly confirmed what I was hearing from multiple Louisville contacts.

“Papi got shot because she was a transgender female,” Tiffany told BuzzFeed News in a phone interview this month. “That is exactly why she was killed — because of gender identity.”

The photo in this post is a surveillance camera still shot of Ms. Edwards moments before she was killed.  And she is clearly presenting as female moments before she was killed. 

Henry Gleaves, the alleged shooter who prematurely ended Papi's young life, just had another court hearing March 26, with the trial due to start in Da Ville on October 27.

We have had eight trans women killed this year.  I expect there will be more before the calendar turns to January 1, 2016.   This Edwards case underscores the importance of police departments when they encounter trans murder victims, ACCURATELY identifying and publicizing the fact they are dealing with a trans murder case.

Because the sooner the trans community knows we are dealing with a trans murder case, the sooner we can spring into action to help you peeps in law enforcement solve them.

Trans 100 Class Of 2015 Honorees Revealed Next Week

Next Sunday at the Mayne Stage in Chicago, the latest edition of Trans 100 honorees will be revealed in a show hosted by our fave trans couple in Precious Davis and Myles Brady.

The Trans 100 event will not only have our fave trans couple in the house, but will feature keynotes from Tiq Milan and Lana Wachowski and musical performances by Tona Brown, Laura Jane Grace and Rocco Katastrophe

Yeah, in case you're wondering, I was honored in the inaugural 2013 class of Trans 100 honorees.  And thanks to me being in Chicago for a fortuitously timed conference  I will be in the Mayne Stage house for the first time to actually witness the reading of the names in the Trans 100 Class of 2015.

For those of you who won't be in Chicago for it, you can watch the live feed of it.

I'll also be interested to see which Trans Texans join Phyllis Frye, Carter Brown, Katy Stewart (2013), Lou Weaver, Cristan Williams, Sharyn Grayson, Robyn Morgan Collado, Tye West  (2014) and yours truly as Trans 100 honorees.

I'm so looking forward to the Trans 100 reveal.  I'm looking forward to getting another\ opportunity to not only see some old friends , but finally get the opportunity to meet Lana Wachowski and Laura Jane Grace

We'll see what happens next Sunday.

Kerry Washington To Receive GLAAD Vanguard Award Tonight

The 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, LA Division will kick off in a few hours at the Beverly Hilton and I'm pleased to hear that one of my fave actresses in Kerry Washington will be honored with this year's Vanguard Award.

The GLAAD Vanguard Award is presented to the media professional who have made a significant difference in promoting equality.

Some of the previous Vanguard Award recipients have been Janet Jackson, Charlize Theron, Kristen Chenoweth, drew Barrymore, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Taylor, Antonio Banderas and Sharon Stone.

In addition to appearing in LGBT-inclusive projects like Scandal, Peeples, She Hate Me, The Dead Girl, and Life is Hot in Cracktown (in which she played a trans woman),Washington has tirelessly spoken out in support of full equality and human rights for TBLGQ people. She has has participated in GLAAD's annual anti-bullying campaign, Spirit Day, by wearing purple to show her support for BTLGQ youth, and talked about the importance of stopping bullying on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Congrats to Kerry, and looking forward to seeing her later tonight along with her acceptance speech.

We Lost A Media Friend When 'Ronan Farrow Daily' Was Cancelled

Was pissed when Ronan Farrow Daily and Joy Reid's The Reid Report shows were cancelled on MSNBC for two reasons.   In addition to the fact I loved Joy's show, I was in talks with the Farrow folks to do a show talking about the off the charts murders of African-American trans women that had spiked at that time.

The other reason I was not happy about the cancellation of the show besides my lost opportunity to talk to a national audience is because when it comes to media outlets, the Ronan Farrow Daily show was the gold standard when it came to respectful and diverse coverage of trans issues.

And they also did something groundbreaking that has only been replicated so far on Melissa Harris-Perry.  They brought trans people on their sets to talk about trans human rights issues.

It was Ronan Farrow Daily that along with Mel Wynore debunked the bathroom predator lies surrounding the Maryland trans rights law last May and forcefully called it a myth. 



It brought Allyson Robinson on to talk about trans military service.  Tiq has been on the show multiple times to discuss the TIME trans tipping point article and the detention of trans immigrants.  

And in the wake of the Leelah Alcorn suicide, Ronan Farrow Daily did a week of trans themed programming coveting a wide variety of issues that earned him a GLAAD Media Award nomination.

It remains to be seen whether we'll get the same level of coverage about issues of importance to our community on other MSNBC shows.  Lord knows we're still waiting for Rachel Maddow to even say the word 'transgender', much less cover our issues in depth on her show.

We lost a media friend and trans human rights ally when Ronan Farrow Daily was cancelled, and it will be interesting to see what MSNBC show picks up that torch and is willing to use its broadcast platform to discuss our issues.
.

Shut Up Fool Awards- I Pity The Tool Edition

Hey, was nice to hear that our Shut Up Fool inspiration and  mascot Mr T is about to get back on TV with a new reality show called I Pity The Tool

In this show coming soon to your television screens on DIY Network, shows our hero demolishing outdated rooms and with the help of HGTV Design Star winner and interior designer Tiffany Brooks,  give a family a home makeover with beautifully remodeled rooms.

Sounds like an interesting premise.

As y'all know I pity tools here every Friday, but they are political tools, fools and peeps who just say and do some of the most mind boggling things.

So let's cut out the jibber- jabber and get to determining this week's Shut Up Fool

Honorable mention number one goes to Zoey Tur for a long list of problematic transphobic  statements I had to call her ass out for

Form the comment I posted to her on a mutual FB friend Elizabeth Rivera's page.

So if you don't like me calling you out, too damned bad. The way you avoid that now and in the future is change the nekulturny behavior that caused me to call your ass out in the first place.

When you came out, you had a community ready and willing to help you. Unfortunately you have killed much of that initial good will with your Susan Stanton 2.0 antics.

You still have time to change those negative perceptions, but the clock is ticking along with the rest of your credibility.

Honorable mention number two goes to Raven-Symone for cosigning that racist comment about the FLOTUS Rodner Figueroa got himself fired from Univision for last week by stating on The View that 'some people look like animals'

Yeah Raven,, we can call you Toucan Sam, but we can't call you a lesbian or African-American. You look like a bird alright, the dodo bird.

Honorable mention number three to Rick Wiles for 'scurring' his conservafool listeners by telling them they have one year to get out of the country before it is 'destroyed by the POTUS'.

You got it twisted dude.   President Obama is trying to save the country from your racists asses.

Bye haters...Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split ya.   And don't forget to pay your taxes on the way out.

Honorable mention number four is Dinesh D'Souza, who parted his lips to say that the left hates him because he is a non-white immigrant patriot..

Naw son, we dislike you because you are ca convicted felon and a clueless tool.

Honorable mention number five is FOX Noise fembot Andrea Tantaros, who doesn't like along with her FOX controllers the idea of every American voting.

Honorable mention number six is LA USD  'teacher' Steven Carnine, who is probably bucking for membership in the Orange County KKK after making racist remarks to African-American and mixed race students in his class.

This week's Shut Up Fool loser winner is is ESPN's Stephen A Smith, who parted his lips to suggest at a Vanderbilt University speech that for one election cycle, all Black folks should vote Republican in 2016.

Um not  no Stephen, but OH HELL NO!.  I'm not voting for a party that has hated on me and my people since 1964 and has anti-trans legislation popping up in FL, KY and TX.

Are you not paying attention to the fact that 2016 is a presidential election year?   We must have a Democratic president in the White House to finish replacing all the GOP leaning federal judges appointed by Reagan and Daddy Bush that are now hitting retirement age.   There are three possible SCOTUS seats that will pop open in the next presidential term and I want a Democratic POTUS, whoever he or SHE is, picking those judicial nominees.

And I want a Democratic POTUS poised with their veto pen to kill any jacked up Republican legislation that comes to his desk.

Stephen A. Smith, shut up fool!

D.W. Just Needs To Pee In Peace

Another day, another transphobe tripping because a transperson is living their life.

Meet 13 year old DW Trantham.   Because the Office Of Civil rights has informed school districts that they must provide access to the bathroom of the trans students' choice,  and DW is obviously trans feminine, two parents at South Junior High in Boise pulled their kids out of the school.

Gee, that bigotry sounds familiar.



And here's DW's and her family's response to their transphobic ignorance




The bottom line is that transpeople need to pee, poop and wash our hands when we're done.  We are facing more danger from you haters than you are from us, and no, sending trans masculine and trans feminine people to bathrooms that don't match our gender presentation doesn't solve the problem, it exacerbates it.

All  DW and other transpeople want to do is pee in peace.and have you cis people stop demonizing us for it.

Moni's 2015 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

As part of Women's History Month I started compiling in 2008 a women's NCAA tournament bracket, especially since I have a lot of women's sports fans and I think it's only fair that the NCAA women's ballers get the same kind of love I give the men.

Giving them more love this year because I got squeezed for time in doing my men's bracket.

Here's my 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 women's brackets.   I have only a 4-3 record in picking the eventual NCAA women's champion, but bear in mind I have correctly picked all four Women's Final Four teams in 2008, 2009 and 2012.

The Road to Tampa Bay starts March 20 , and who will be the team cutting down the nets on April 7?

Despite Geno Auriemma trying to downplay it, I and everybody else in America believes it'll be UConn getting their 3-peat, but they will have to work for it.

But then again, that's why we're playing this tournament.

Albany Region

First Round
Connecticut, Rutgers, Texas, California, LSU, Louisville, Iowa State, Kentucky

Second Round
Connecticut, Texas, Louisville, Kentucky

Elite Eight
Connecticut, Kentucky

Albany Region Champions
Connecticut

Spokane Region

First Round
Maryland, Princeton, Mississippi State, Duke, Gonzaga, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee

Second Round
Maryland, Duke, Oregon State, Tennessee

Elite Eight
Maryland, Tennessee

Spokane Region Champions
Maryland

Oklahoma City Region
First Round
Notre Dame, DePaul, Oklahoma, Stanford, Washington, Iowa, Northwestern, Baylor

Second Round
Notre Dame, Stanford, Iowa, Baylor

Elite Eight
Notre Dame, Baylor

Oklahoma City Region Champions
Notre Dame

Greensboro Region

First Round
South Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio State, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Florida State

Second Round
South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas A&M, Florida State

Elite Eight
South Carolina, Texas A&M

Greensboro Region Champion
South Carolina

Final Four Teams
Connecticut, Maryland, Notre Dame, South Carolina



Championship Game
Connecticut, Notre Dame

2015 NCAA Champion
Connecticut

Moni's 2015 NCAA Men's B-Ball Prediction

I absolutely love March Madness except when they show video of a certain 1983 NCAA title game,. 

Since 2007 I have posted my NCAA men's brackets for the whole world to see.

Because my schedule has been so packed full of events combined with breaking news that had a must write about priority, just wasn't able to sit down long enough to put together my 2015 NCAA bracket post before the First Four games started on Tuesday.

Oh well, with all the upsets yesterday my 2015 bracket would have been trashed anyway.  And darn it, I'll be out of town when the South Regional Final happens at NRG Stadium March 29

And assuming our stupid azz GOP controlled state legislature doesn't pass any hate legislation, the NCAA Men's Final Four is scheduled to return to NRG Stadium in 2016.

Just in case you're curious, here's the brackets for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

All I have time to do unfortunately is predict who will win the men's NCAA title this year when they cut down the nets in Indianapolis on April 6

That team will be undefeated Kentucky

Yep, I'm predicting that they will run the table, get those six tourney wins they need  and finish as the first undefeated.team since Indiana did so back in 1976.   Ironically this year's title game will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Will the Cats do it?   We'll see as the 2015 edition of the NCAA tourney unfolds.

CBS' Bold And The Beautiful Soap Reveals A Trans Feminine Character

African-American trans characters on TV shows are a rare phenomenon. 

The last time a CBS broadcast television series had a serious African-American trans feminine character that wasn't a stereotype, you have to go all the way back to 1977 and Edith Stokes on The Jeffersons 'Just A Friend' episode to find her.

Now that Orange Is the New Black and Transparent have proven it's okay to put trans characters on TV and surprise surprise, if you do them right get ratings and Emmy nominations for the actors that portray them, it seems as though the networks are finally coming to the trans character party late as usual.

Seems as though CBS has decided to continue to break ground when it comes to creating African-American trans characters.   Laverne Cox will debut as the lead character in a legal drama slated to air this fall called Doubt, and now comes word that yesterday the CBS soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful shocked its viewers with an unexpected cliff hanger that involves a trans character.

Actress Karla Mosley has played model Maya Avant on the soap for the last two year.s   Yesterday the bomb was dropped by Nicole Avant (played by Reign Edwards) that Maya was once her brother with the dead name Myron.

“You’re not my sister, Maya. You’re not Maya at all,” said Nicole (Reign Edwards) during an emotional argument. “You’re Myron, my brother.”




That bombshell lit up the Twitterverse as a trending topic for several hours, and now has me scrambling to catch up on some back Bold and The Beautiful episodes, since I've been on a soap hiatus ever since ABC took my beloved All My Children off the air.

“My first reaction was surprise, because 10 or 20 years ago, this is not a story we would be telling, and not in a way that’s truthful and not sensational,” said Mosley in a USA Today interview about her trans feminine character. “My second reaction was, ‘Thank you.’ It’s a gift. It’s a privilege,” she told the newspaper. “It’s a real opportunity to educate our viewers here and all over the world.”

“It is about people respecting other people’s differences and their uniqueness,” said Bradley Bell, executive producer and head writer for B&B in a statement obtained by USA Today. “In the end, we all want to be loved, and in order to love someone else you first have to love yourself,” Bell added. “If you are transgender, gay, straight, it doesn’t matter. It’s about finding love in life. This is a love story.”

And this is going to be a long term B&B storyline according to Mosley that unfolds over a long period of time, and the characters on the show will gradually find out about Maya's past.

"Everyone has a different reaction," she said. "So even if the audience can't necessarily be on board with Maya, or if they have [certain] feelings about Maya's experience now, hopefully they'll be able to see themselves in the reactions of the people around her and we can all sort of process it together."

Until yesterday, Bold and the Beautiful wasn't in my soap opera watching rotation.  Now it is Must See TV as I watch this historic television storyline unfold.

Moni's Excellent Austin Lobbying Adventure

Spent yesterday doing a quick trip to Austin to strike a blow along with a group of students and allies to let key legislators know we exist, are proud Texans, and aren't standing for the anti-trans discrimination and trans bounty bills that Debbie (Riddle) Does Discrimination and Gilbert Pena want to import into the Lone Star State.

It was also the first time I'd been to the state capitol to lobby since I'd returned back home in May 2010, and the first time I'd done so in Texas since 2001

I found myself in a car with Nikki Araguz Loyd, her hubby Will, and the lovely Meagan Gillett roaring westbound on US 290 headed toward our 12 noon rendezvous at Equality Texas HQ.

After a couple of potty stops and a few moments circling to wait for the Capitol Visitors Garage to open up some parking spaces because SXSW was also going on in the ATX, we finally arrived at the third floor offices of Equality Texas just in time for Cavan O Raghallaigh's briefing.

We had a group of students, Lou Weaver, Dee Dee Watters, TS Williams along for this foray under the Pink Dome that included Mel Gonzales, the first ever trans homecoming king in Texas.

I even got the pleasure of seeing Nikki Vogel again and Dr. Paige Schilt

After a group visit to Rep Alma Allen (D-Houston) office, we split up into four groups to handle all our scheduled visits.   Cavan and I along with Claire Bow and her spouse Carol hit the offices of  Rep Myra Crownover (R- Denton)to talk to her LA.  After that pleasant visit was completed, we headed to the Capitol Grille for a few moments to meet with a reporter, then proceeded to a 3 PM appointment with my state rep Jessica Farrar. (D-Houston) as we once again broke it down why we wanted HB 2081, 2082, 1747  and 1748 to die

Meanwhile as I was handling my business, Nikki Araguz Loyd was headed to the belly of the GOP transphobic beast and visiting Rep Gilbert Pena's (R-Pasadena) office, who sponsored two of the trans hate bill, and Rep Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball) office.    

The LA in Rep Riddle's office kept trying to blame Mayor Annise Parker and the passage of HERO for these bills, which wasn't flying with Nikki.   It also seems that the national publicity and derision she's getting for it is also having an effect, so keep those calls, memes and jokes aimed at her office coming.  

May also wish to do the same to Rep Gilbert Pena too, since his bills were only filed on march 10, and he has yet to get the full effect of state and national negativity coming down upon him like Riddle has.

After leaving Rep. Farrar's office,  the rest of my team members had to leave, so it was Cavan and I who got to visit Rep Joe Deshotel's  (D-Port Arthur) chief of staff and lay out why those anti-trans hate bills needed to die..

After reuniting with some of our team members and making a quick visit to Sen. Kirk Watson's (D) office to help Cavan make good on a promise he'd made, we headed back to the Equality Texas headquarters for a debriefing and to pick up thank you cards before departing back to Houston.

Was a wonderful day to do so, and I have a feeling I'll be back up there again before this session is over.