TTNS 2015 Accepting Workshop Proposals

Another one of my fave instate events will be happening soon and for the second straight year will be on the road with Jenifer Rene Pool serving as the Mistress of Ceremonies .

The 7th Annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit will take place July 31 to August 1, 2015 at the University of Texas at Dallas with the keynote speakers being Dr. Stephen Sutton, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor University of California at Berkley and Heather Snow, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Arlington.

The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit is currently accepting workshop proposals and poster session proposals. Our website is www.txtns.org    It's also a 501(c)3 organization, so if you feel inclined to donate to TTNS, your donation is tax deductible.

So what's the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit?  It's an event in which over its two days we are gathered onsite, the TTNS teaches and provide resources to people on how to effectively engage administrations on Texas colleges, universities, and public schools campuses to advocate for inclusive policies for transgender faculty, staff, and students.

And it's coming to the DFW area for the first time.  Hope you will join us at UT-Dallas for this event  this summer, and if you need further information about the TTNS you can also reach them at info@txtns.org ,on Facebook and Twitter.. 

2015 Bunnies On The Bayou Party

One of the Houston LGBT community traditions that happens every Easter Sunday is the plaza and park in front of the Wortham Theater Center becomes the site of a major fundraising party that draws people from as far away for it as New York and California and over its history has raised over $550,000.

It's the Bunnies on the Bayou Party, and this 36th edition of it drew a crowd of thousands 21 and up that enjoyed a cool and cloudy Houston day to listen to the sounds of DJ Joe Ross and DJ Special K with proceeds going to several LGBT community organizations.

The Bunnies On The Bayou party got started in 1979 as a small Easter Sunday party amongst friends in a Clay Street apartment complex.   The word of mouth about the event spread throughout the gayborhood and helped it grow into an outdoor party the next year that added an outdoor sound system and sent out invitations for it.

With AIDS taking a terrible toll in the Houston LGBT community by the mid 1980's, the party evolved to help people in our community struggling to overcome it.  The party hosts decided to help their friends suffering from AIDS by charging a bag of food as admission for the still growing event.

By the 1990's the outdoor party had grown so large it was moved to the brand new Wortham Center Plaza downtown next to Buffalo Bayou, and Bunnies on the Bayou was born as the party evolved once again, set up a 501(c)3 organization and began to raise money for local charities.

This was the first time I'd ever attended the event, and was nice to not only see some familiar friends in the H-town SGL, bi and trans community wandering Fish Plaza and the Buffalo Bayou hike and bike path that the massive party covered, but meet some new ones while enjoying complementary adult beverages and wonderful conversation with people outside my usual circles of influence in the Houston BTLG community/.  

It was also fun to see the people who came dressed in costumes for this event that included two gentlemen who were covered in full silver body paint while other attendees wore bunny ears..

It was a fun, festive charity event that I'm looking forward to see what happens in its 37th edition next year.

Countdown To Cuatro De Mayo 2015

With the passage of April 4, the countdown starts for me to Cuatro De Mayo, AKA my birthday which is now 29 days away.

I love birthdays, because it is the one day on the calendar in which you can legitimately say is your personal holiday to celebrate as you wish.

Birthdays are days of celebration as well in which you revel in the satisfaction of surviving another 365 days (366 in a leap year) on this space rock.

And as a trans woman of color, it is a revolutionary act for me to be celebrating a birthday at an age that is well past our sad trans WOC life expectancy of 35 years of age.

With the rapid approach of another birthday, I tend to fall into introspective mode and analyze my life over the last 12 months.  I look at what things I did well, the stuff that was a disaster that I can learn lessons from, and the areas in which I can improve.

I try not to be too hard on myself during that 29 days I'm analyzing my life, but it happens that sometimes I'm more critical about some of the things that happened in the preceding twelve months that is necessary.

And yes, it's a process that ensures I don't get  'Big Head Syndrome' as I become more well known for my human rights activism.  

Then again I have people in my inner circle of friends who make it their job to ensure they are standing by with the needles that keep me at the proper level of humility about the blessings I've received in return for fighting for the human rights of a marginalized community. 

I'm blessed to have a group of friends across different age groups that have no problem keeping me grounded in reality, giving me the motivational kick in the butt when necessary, a hug when I feel down, or giving me sound advice when I need it.

And yes, I'm cognizant of the fact I'm considered a possibility model by people inside and outside our community.  I also take time during this introspective countdown to my birthday in contemplating proper self-care.  I strive to balance the demands of that public role with making space for living my life when I'm not on the trans human rights clock

The end result of this process is that when May 4 rolls around again, I want to be in a better position to be the best human being I can be.  

Moni's At The Ray Hill Roast

So how am I spending my first weekend at home since the Tour De Moni ended?  It is Easter Sunday, and while I need to be in somebody's radically inclusive church, I need some rest after I flew 8000 miles last month to Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC twice.

Last night I was honored to be at the table of my activist mentor Judge Phyllis Frye and her spouse Trish as we honored one of our H-town living activist legends in Ray Hill at the University of Houston Hilton's Shamrock Room.  

Ray came out in 1958 as a high school quarterback at Galena Park HS and was raising hell around LGBT and social issues in H-town and nationally when I was in elementary school. 

The self proclaimed 'citizen provocateur' was strategizing with national leaders such as Harvey Milk, Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny and Harry Hay to advance the nascent gay right movement.

Ray was an early and long time supporter of the trans community.   He has filled me in on much of the chatter at the time about Stonewall and confirmed to me in our conversations it was a trans led uprising.

Hey, I wasn't kidding when I repeatedly tell you TransGriot readers Houston has historical connections and was a major player in the national LGBT movement.

Hill tangled with homobigot Anita Bryant back in the day and in some cases many of us in H-town on different issues, but he has also opened doors and opportunities for many of us as well to spread our leadership wings.

In addition to Hill being a mentor and kick butt activist in his own right, he is a beloved figure in our community that hosts The Prison Show on our Pacifica network public radio station KPFT-FM and whose life story is told in the recently released documentary The Trouble With Ray.  

Hill was roasted as part of a fundraiser for the station that raised $10,000 and included speakers such as US Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, Harris County Democratic Party Chair and Houston city council candidate Lane Lewis, state Rep. and Houston mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner, Judge Phyllis Frye and Mayor Annise Parker.

The Ray Hill Comedy Roast and Gala was ably emceed by Jack Valinski, the host of KPFT-FM's Queer Voices.

Houston City Council candidate Jenifer Rene Pool was also in the audience along with Pride Parade Grand Marshal candidate Fran Watson, Ashton Woods, Brandon Mack, Cristan Williams, Equality Texas' Daniel Williams, former council members Jew Don Boney and Vince Ryan, legendary human rights advocate Frances "Sissy' Farenthold, Josephine Tittsworth,  Councilmember Robert Gallegos and other allies and friends.

It was a memorable and enjoyable night for all of us who were in attendance to honor one of our community's and the LGBT rights movement's iconic people.

Happy 21st Transition Anniversary To Me!

Today is the day 21 years ago I began the very public phase of my transition journey when I walked into my job on April 4, 1994, one month before my birthday and clocked in for work as moi.

Little did I realize at the time that this small step would lead to a giant leap in the quality of my life I was living up until that point.   I also look at it as the day my life began.

The activism wouldn't come until a few years later, because at that point in time I was fixated on just being the best sister I could be at the time and fulfilling my vow to my cisgender sisters at IAH who had my back  to be a compliment to Black womanhood and not a detriment to it.

Have I lived up to it?  I believe I have, and so do many of the women who are in my life cis and trans. I'm considered a possibility model as a writer and award winning activist with a widely read and GLAAD award nominated blog. 

I don't just talk about how to be an intersectional trans leader, I do my utmost to role model it. 

But there is always room for personal improvement and evolutionary change.

I've also seen a societal evolution over the last 21 years as a Black trans woman.   I have seen us go from not having our voices heard in either cis, SGL or trans ranks to becoming major respected thought leaders.   I have seen girls who share my ethnic background do everything from write New York Times best selling memoirs, perform at Carnegie Hall, to ripping runways and getting the lead role on an upcoming legal drama series. 

I have also seen trans women succeed in any job they are given an opportunity at from working in retail to being doctors and lawyers.

But just as I have seen some things dramatically change over the last 21 years, there are some that sadly haven't.   My sisters are still facing genocidal levels of violence. 

Instead of gay and lesbian politicians opposing our human rights march, it's now the conservative movement with anti-trans laws they are attempting to pass in Florida, Missouri and my home state of Texas to dehumanize and criminalize our lives.

Far too many of our people are choosing suicide rather than getting their best revenge against trans oppression by living their lives well.

Just last month I had the amazing experience of going to the White House for a historic Trans WOC policy briefing.   I talked to Angela Davis in Chicago, and the Rev Dr William Barber II.  I took a photo in Philly in front of the former Dewey's Lunch Counter 50 years after the trans themed sit in that happened there, went to Austin to talk to our state legislators, saw Tona Brown perform for the first time, talked to our Harris County DA Devon Anderson, met the amazing Mia McKenzie and Gloria Allen, and got to meet and spend quality time with many peeps I'd known online for years.

What will this month have in store for me?   That's a good question.   But it's a question I can ask because I'm alive to do so and see where this amazing journey takes me next.

So happy 21st Transition Anniversary!   Looking forward to seeing where I am when my 22nd transition anniversary happens next year.

Bye Bye President Jonathan

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who signed a draconian anti-gay law last year during his term but failed to effectively combat the rise of Boko Haram terrorism and corruption in his nation, found himself on the losing end of the March 28  Nigerian elections.

Karma is a you know what, isn't it President Jonathan?

Moving into the presidential villa in Abuja soon will be 72 year old opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Nigerian army major general who once ruled the country from December 31, 1983-August 27, 1985 after a military coup d'etat before he was himself deposed in a military coup and imprisoned for 40 months.

This was the second time that Jonathan and Buhari had faced off in an election that would determine who would lead the most populous nation in Africa.

The president-elect's record is mixed.  While Buhari is regarded as incorruptible in a nation that has been plagued with it messing with its economic growth and development, and took steps as a military leader to eradicate graft as a by jailing 500 politicians, officials and businessmen, his term was also remembered for human rights abuses.

Buhari comes from the Muslim north and backed sharia law there, which led to suspicions in Christian dominated southern Nigeria that he had a secret radical Islamist agenda that contributed to his losses in the last three presidential elections.   He also escaped a July 2014 Boko Haram assassination attempt on his convoy in Kaduna.

But after getting the support of key heavyweight defectors from Jonathan's People's Democratic Party, support from influential Nigerian Christian leaders and promising to end the Boko Haram insurgency within months of his election, Buhari made history by becoming the first challenger to knock off a Nigerian presidential incumbent.

As to what that means for the Nigerian TBLGQ community, we'll have to wait and see.

Will be interesting to see once he is inaugurated what happens in Nigeria under Buhari's leadership and what it means on an African continent in which one out of every five people on it is Nigerian.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Easter Weekend 2015 Edition

After bouncing around the country for the last month, I get to slow down just in time for Easter Weekend and try to decide what open, affirming and radically inclusive church I will attend this Sunday for Easter services.

Today is Good Friday, in which according to our faith tradition Jesus Christ was crucified and died on the cross and rose from death on Easter Sunday.

This Good Friday is also one in which I get to do our usual TransGriot business of calling out the fools in our midst, and I need to get started doing that.

Honorable mention number one is Rush Limbaugh, who I gots to call out for comparing gay marriage to bestiality in an attempt to defend the discriminatory Indiana RFRA..   Hey you should know, you're a beast no woman wants to marry or stay married to..

Honorable mention number two is the idiots who came up with the #whitegirlsrock hashtag because their vanillacentric privileged fee-fee were 'offended' by Black women and girls owning their power. 

"So whoever is offended by Black Girls Rock!-ing and whoever thinks that black empowerment threatens their own power should confront their own racism"
-Beverly Bond, Founder of #BlackGirlsRock

And from Olivia Cole's (a white female BTW) Huff Po post:

“All of the things you take for granted are what you're protecting when you shout down Black Girls Rock: your Whiteness, the system that upholds your face as the supreme standard of beauty, your place in the center of a culture that demands people of color remain hidden in the margins, present, but only barely and never overshadowing the White hero/heroine. Your discomfort with black girls who rock tells me that you prefer the status quo: you prefer for black faces to remain hidden, you prefer for America's heroes to have White faces, you prefer for black actresses to wear aprons and chains.”
-Olivia Cole

Honorable mention number three is Pat Robertson, who crawled out of his crypt and unleashed the cray-cray on his 700 666 Club show.    First he told the anti-gay pizza makers in Indy to 'shut up' because they want to continue pimping their tired 'oppressed Christian cake baker' spin line.



Honorable mention number four is Rick Santorum, who displayed his lack of knowledge of American History and called the separation of church and state a Communist idea.   Rick, didn't know that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were on a par with Lenin and Karl Marx.

The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.”
-James Madison

Honorable mention number four is Richard Sheridan, the longtime gaybaiter in Dallas who is a write in candidate for mayor who was just busted for connection to a recent anti-gay vandalism spree

Honorable mention number five is Tom Cotton, who thinks that critics of the Indiana RFRA 'should get perspective'.




How about you 'get the perspective' that discrimination is not acceptable in this country?

Honorable mention number six is Ted Nugent, who crawled out from the rock he's been under and blamed the POTUS for the suicides of veterans.

So sayeth the chickenhawk who avoided service in Vietnam.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner. is Michele Bachmann, who just compared the POTUS to Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who caused the Germanwings crash last week in her WTF level criticism of the Iran nuclear deal..



People are still grieving over that terrible tragedy and you open your mouth to let something that stupid fly out of it.

Yeah, we get it that you and your fellow Republifools are doing Bibi Netanyahu's dirty work for him and trying to undermine this deal so this country will be forced into another war.   But as Winston Churchill once said, "It is better to jaw jaw than to war war."

Thank God you are no longer in Congress.   And you need to shut your jaw jaws up fool!

Michele Bachmann, shut up fool!

Forever 21 Hit With Trans Discrimination Lawsuit

Another retail outlet is hopefully about to find out that discrimination aimed at trans people is unacceptable and costs you money.

Former Forever 21 employee Alexia Daskalakis filed a discrimination lawsuit Wednesday after enduring transphobic commentary that she was a “hot mess” and “disgusting,” that she looked “offensive,” and that “in my eyes and in the company’s eyes, you’re still a male.”

Daskalakis was hired by Forever 21 in May 2011 as a sales associate at their Brooklyn store and was quickly promoted to visual merchandiser, a job that made her responsible for setting up the store's visual displays.

In January 2014 she began her transition, and that's when she alleges in the lawsuit that the harassment and discrimination began.

In August 2014 she began taking hormones, and the transphobic  insults from male supervisors escalated.   Over the next few months, male supervisors insulted her and subjected her to bias because of her transgender identity, the lawsuit says. In one instance, a store manager told Daskalakis that her clothing choice of jeans, a crop top, and leather jacket was inappropriate and that she needed to change even though other female employees were wearing the same thing.

She was also told according to the lawsuit, “The male dress code is different from the female dress code and you’re still a male until you change your birth certificate,” the manager said, before sending Daskalakis home for the remainder of the workday, according to the complaint. In another instance, the same manager told Daskalakis, “You used to be a hard worker when you were a guy, but not anymore.” The store fired Daskalakis in January.

“[Forever 21] has discriminated against [Daskalakis] on the basis of her gender, gender expression, gender identity and/or failure to conform to gender stereotypes in violation of the [New York State Human Rights Law] by denying [her] the same terms and conditions of employment available to other employees, up to and including the termination of her employment,” the lawsuit says.

This also comes in the wake of Saks & Company last month settling a discrimination lawsuit filed by Leyth Jamal after she was discriminated against at a Houston Saks store in December 2012. 

It also follows a recent announcement by US Attorney General Eric Holder that the Department of Justice will interpret the sex prohibition of Title VII in the 1964 Civil Rights Act as applicable to transgender people.

This also glaringly points out why GENDA needs to be passed without delay in New York State.

Popping My NCAA Women's Tournament Colllar

The NCAA Women's Final Four will be kicking off in Tampa this weekend, and I get to gloat a little bit before it starts.

For the fourth time in TransGriot history and for the first time since 2012, I correctly predicted all four women's Final Four teams (Connecticut, South Carolina, Maryland and Notre Dame) that ended up in Tampa.

Will I get the champion right, too.   We'll see when the fun starts on April 5 with the semifinal games.

Connecticut will take on Maryland, and Notre Dame will battle South Carolina for the other berth in the April 7 NCAA women's title game.

Can Maryland do what only Stanford has done this season and derail UConn's bid to threepeat?   Can South Carolina and Notre Dame rebound from previous losses to UConn and shock them in the title game? Or will UConn roll to their 10th title?

We'll see who is cutting down the net on April 7.

2015 Final Four Coaches Issue Statement On The Indiana Religious Bigotry Law

The men's Final Four is taking place in Indianapolis this weekend, and instead of us talking about whether the Kentucky Wildcats will win the two games they need to become the first unbeaten NCAA men's champions since Indiana did it in 1976, we are talking about events that happened up the street from Lucas Oil Stadium at the Indiana statehouse and governor's mansion.

The GOP controlled Indiana legislature passed a RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) that is a Trojan Horse that allows discrimination against TBLG people, and is so broadly written that it could open the door to discrimination to other groups that white male Republicans don't like on the basis of their alleged Christian beliefs.

And for those of you who drank the GOP red Kool-Aid and claim it won't, then why did Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) have a double secret signing ceremony for it last Thursday with three professional gaybaiters in attendance?

Hey, if you're so proud of this bill, then why the secret signing?  Why are you ashamed Gov. Pence of your and your GOP controlled state legislature's discriminatory handiwork?

It has triggered a backlash that is seriously fracking with Indiana's economy through cancelled concerts and lost convention and tourist business.   If they don't kill this unjust law, this may end up being the last NCAA men's (or women's) Final Four they host.

The 2016 Women's Final Four is scheduled to be held in Indianapolis next year. 

FYI Texas Legislature, the 2016 Men's Final Four is scheduled to be in Houston.  So I would suggest that you drop ALL the anti-TBLG bills you flied this session in order to avoid the fate of Indiana.

The coaches involved in this year's Final Four, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Wisconsin's Bo Ryan, Kentucky's John Calipari, and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski issued this statement condemning the Indiana law through the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

“We are aware of the recent actions in Indiana and have made a point to talk about this sensitive and important issue among ourselves and with our teams," the statement read. "Each of us strongly supports the positions of the NCAA and our respective institutions on this matter – that discrimination of any kind should not be tolerated. As a part of America’s higher education system, college basketball plays an important role in diversity, equality, fairness and inclusion, and will continue to do so in the future.”
 

Stay tuned, we'll see if Indiana does the right thing instead of the right-wing thing and kills this unjust law.

Why It's Inaccurate For A White Person To Call Blacks Racist

If I had a dollar for every time  I have called out the deleterious effects of whiteness and white supremacy on this blog and been inaccurately called a racist by white people inside and outside the LGBT community who have ZERO lived experience with navigating it, I'd be a multimillionare by now.

Once again, racism is  not an epithet pissed off white person utters at a non-white person that calls them on their crap.  If you believe that bull feces, you've been watch too much FOX Noise or are swimming in too much unacknowledged vanillacentric privilege.

As a TransGriot public service, here's the Sociology 101 definition of racism.

Racism= bigotry/prejudice + systemic power  (economic, judicial, police, military, legislative, sexual) used by a majority group to deny, retard or roll back the human rights progress of a minority group.

In the USA and much of the world, historically that group has been white people  Black people can be bigoted and prejudiced, but we have never had the power as a group to negatively impact white lives as a group. 

Only white people have had that power, and they have (and continue to) gleefully at times use it

And you will get the eye roll, called out in cyberspace or laughed out of the room if you even try to deploy a dictionary definition of racism with me or any other Black person to invalidate our lived experience with it.

To underscore what I'm trying to get across to you in this post, here is Dr. Joy de Gruy Leary  explaining to a group of people discussing police brutality and the shootings of unarmed Black people how racism plays a role in it by pointing out the power element.

Hey Houston, I'm Headed Home!

This isn't an April Fool's joke.  After nearly a week of being in Chicago and Washington DC for two events in which I represented Houston and the state of Texas, it's time for me to head back home.

I haven't done this much flying  since my Air Marshal days, and one of the things that I have loved about this latest trip that took me from Houston to Chicago with a Washington DC detour added to it is I not only got to see many old friends, but got to meet some amazing trans people of color who are just as serious about making trans human rights and acceptance of our people a reality as I am.

I saw the future of our movement, and as an elder I am pleased about much of what I saw in Chicago at the National Trans Anti-Violence Convening and yesterday's White House Trans Women Of Color Women's History Month Briefing.

I even got to cross visiting Ben's Chili Bowl off my DC bucket list.

But there was also something that happened in Chicago I was NOT pleased about, and the parties involved know what it is and the need to chill.  

We have much work to do because we as trans people of color are in a state of emergency, and it will take all of us utilizing all our various talents to deal with it.   I'm willing to work with people who are down with trans liberation and ensuring our humanity is not a debatable prospect.

How we make that happen is one of the questions I'll be pondering on the plane ride home.

Moving To Washington DC

Something else wonderful happened while I was up here.

After the WH event I was approached by a congressional chief of staff and immediately offered a job as a staffer in their office here in Washington DC to handle LGBT affairs.

One of their staffers saw me speaking during Creating Change back in February, and told her boss about me.   They liked what I had to say about issues on TransGriot, my ideas about progressive policy, and believe I would be a great fit for their office.

It was a dream of mine to work in Washington DC and on Capital Hill and now it's about to happen.  I e-mailed them my resume after I returned from Denver, they liked it, and have offered me a job that starts May 1.

So I'll be returning home to pack my stuff, and in a few weeks start my dream job.

But before you send me well wishes and congratulations, check today's date.  ;)

I do an annual April Fool's Day post on TransGriot, and this is it.

Historic Day For Trans WOC At The White House

I've been coming to Washington DC since 1998 to lobby for trans human rights issues, policy meetings, board meetings, retreats, and panel discussions.  I've even been to the White House four times.

But this fifth trip to the White House was special and historic, because for the first time trans women of color, fittingly on the Transgender Day of Visibility, were gathering from around the country for the inaugural White House Trans Women Of Color Women's History Month Briefing.

It was organized by the National LGBTQ Task Force's Kylar Broadus and kicked off at 9:00 AM in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's South Auditorium with opening remarks from Aditi Hardikar from the White House Office of Public Engagement.

She was quickly followed by Tina Tchen from the White House Council For Women and Girls and Stacey Long Simmons from the Task Force before we dove into the policy remarks part of the program.

Cecilia Chung started the policy portion of it with some framing remarks before yielding the platform to my fellow TPOCC board member Mattee Jim and LaLa Zannell from the National Anti Violence Project.

Mattee's commentary focused on the issues that Native American and rural trans women face, while LaLa focused on discussing how many of the women we have lost to anti-trans violence were actually intimate partner violence (IPV) cases.

Zannell also pointed out that trans women are less likely to be protected from IPV and some recommendations to change that negative paradigm.

When those ladies were done with their presentations, Ruby Corado of Casa Ruby and Bamby Salcedo of the Trans Latina Coalition were up next.

Corado's presentation concentrated on HIV status, how it affects trans women and the issues that revolve around that but reminded us that 'action solves problems.' 

Salcedo talked about our trans Latina sisters an the issues they face in ICE detention including sexual assault and HIV infection and pointed out "It's important for us to understand how structural violence plays into us getting killed.".

Tracee McDaniel from the Juxtaposed Center for Transformation, Inc in Atlanta and Kylar Broadus from the National LGBTQ Task Force talked about the employment discrimination that trans women of color face on the micro and macro levels..

The final two person info panelists were Dr. Ayana Elliott, FNP and Raffi Friedman-Gurspan from the National Center for Transgender Equality.  Dr Elliott got our attention by stating 'Transgender women are an endangered species," then broke down the statistics across various health categories to back that sobering statement up.   

Raffi's presentation also contained some suggested policy recommendations for the assembled White House staffers and trans women of color from across the country nodding their heads in agreement.

When their panel was finished, Roy Austin, the Deputy Assistant to the President for the Office of Urban Affairs  Justice and Opportunity, took a few moments in his remarks to update us on where things stood on trans issues inside the Obama Administration.

In addition to informing us that Title VII the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers  transpeople, Austin also discussed a Task Force on 21st Century Policing report that urged in its recommendations that police departments and law enforcement personnel across the US improve their relations with their local trans communities (which probably explains the invite I got from Harris County DA Devon Anderson last week to talk about issues of importance to the Houston trans community).

He opened it up for questions, and I asked about the possibility of getting mandated national standards for ID.  I pointed out that much of the discrimination we face is triggered by mismatched identification that in many cases the states throw up multiple barriers for us to correct.

After taking a few questions, Mr Austin departed, and a super info panel was convened in which audience members received a few moments of the remaining time left in the event to ask the info panelists questions.

After remarks from Aditi, Kylar and Stacey and a poem from Cherno Biko, the briefing ended at 12 noon EDT.

We then headed to the National LGBTQ Task Force headquarters on Massachusetts Ave for lunch and remarks from Stacey Long Simmons, outgoing deputy director Darlene Nipper, and incoming deputy director Russell Roybal.. 

It was my first visit to Task Force headquarters since the 2000 National Transgender Policy Meeting they facilitated at their old NE Washington DC digs.  It was fun reconnecting with all my friends in the Task Force from the Creating Change team (and yes H-town, I let them know we want to host it again), and was happy to see Kathleen Campisano and Sarah Reece from my days of causing angelic trouble in Louisville with both of them.

We also were in the building on Nipper's last official day as deputy director, and we gave her a standing ovation when she was finished.

Major thanks to Kylar and Stacey for the invitation to be there for this historic briefing, lunch, and to super intern Dominique Chamely who did a wonderful job on the logistical end getting me and my trans sisters to DC from our various spots around the country.

And thanks to all my transsisters who made this historic day at the White House and this 6th annual Trans Day of Visibility a memorable one for me.