Moni's Excellent Texas Freedom Advocacy Lobby Day

Yesterday I got up at the crack of dawn to make the two hour ride from Houston to our state capitol to join other TBLG Texans in opposing the GOP controlled legislature's attempts to legislate anti-BTLG hatred in the Lone Star State.

After scooping me up at Casa de Monica, TS Williams, Lou Weaver and I made that journey to our state capital and joined over two hundred people from across Texas, student leaders from the Texas Freedom Network, LGBT advocates from Equality Texas,  HRC supporters and volunteers and other concerned Texans for Freedom Advocacy Day in Austin.

While there have been over 20 anti-GLBT bills filed by Teapublican legislators in this 2015 Texas Legislative session, on the plus side there are also 12 pro-TBLG bills that deserved our support.

After TS, Lou and I arrived at the Capitol Visitors Parking garage, we walked across the south capitol grounds , we headed to the First Methodist Church for a training session and our group assignments.   Because I've been coming to Austin since 1999 to do lobbying trips, and was just in the city last month to hit some offices, I was given the responsibility by Cavan O Raghallaigh to lead a lobby team.

After the training by Daniel Williams of Equality Texas, some role playing and lunch, we headed to a noon rally on the north steps of the capitol in which openly gay Rep. Mary Gonzales (D-Clint) and Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) spoke before we headed off to hit our assigned offices.

“When we humanize policy, we create good policy,” Rep. Gonzalez said during the rally. “When we disconnect it from people’s lives, we negatively impact people’s lives. … I know sometimes they are extremely personal, but today is a day to be brave, to share, to not let people not recognize the negative consequences of these laws.”

Before I could do that, a problem developed with my team.  One member couldn't come to Austin, another local member had a meeting she had to attend, and another person who was part of a social justice org got immediately called back to her office.   My team had dwindled down to just me until Heather Ross joined me off the other trans centric team.

Heather and I were tasked with hitting the Pink Dome offices of Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) , Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston)  Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin), Rep. Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville) and Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) to talk about Rep Gilbert Pena's unjust HB 2801, the 'Trans Kids Bounty Bill' that is getting a hearing tomorrow.

All of these reps and senators have seniority, are longtime supporters of the TBLG community, but need varying levels of education on trans issues along with their staffs.  I was a constituent of Sen. Ellis and Rep Coleman until I moved in November.   So I had more than a few personal cards to play as Heather and I walked into these offices.

After clearing security on the east side of the capitol building, we started with Sen. Ellis' office, and Heather and I had a pleasant conversation with his LA Liliane Bedford as we pointed out the problems with HB 2801 and got out initial visit out of the way as we got a feel for each others lobbying styles

Sen. Garcia's office was a few short steps away down the hall, and as we talked in the hallway with Sam Robles, Sen Ellis stopped literally feet away from us talking to another citizen lobbyist..  

Arrgh.  Opportunity lost to talk to him directly.  

But what the lobbying fates take away, they giveth as well.   A few minutes later Sen. Garcia walked up, and I took that moment as Heather continued chatting with Sam to thank the senator for standing up for our human rights this session.

After finishing up with Ms. Robles, it was time to see Rep. Coleman.   But where Sen Ellis and Sen Garcia's offices are in the Capitol building is in what is called 'The Secret Hallway' because you have to cross the senate gallery to get to it from the rest of the capitol

Once we remembered that point from our training, we crossed the Senate gallery and headed to Rep. Coleman''s office

A few minutes into our ,pleasant visit sitting on the patio with a beautiful view of the north capitol grounds and parts of the nearby University of Texas campus, Rep. Coleman walked into the office. I thanked him for continuing to push for the streamlined name and gender change bill, and told him the story of how it took me nine months to get my TDL with the help of his Houston office.   He also made it clear that he didn't want what happened in Indiana repeated in Texas.

Heather and I then headed to Rep. Oliveira's office, and continued to point out to his LA's how this bill was problematic not only to trans schoolkids, but would also impact  ISD's, teachers and administrators before we headed to Rep Dawnna Dukes office.

Because Heather was from Austin, I thought it was better for her to lead on this one.  If any issues came up that were Austin-centric, she'd be better able to answer them than I would be, and we had another pleasant chat with Na'Asiaha Simon.   

Her boss is on the powerful Appropriations Committee and the fiscal argument resonated with her.  Rep. Dukes is also on the State Affairs Committee that the unjust HB 2801 will get a hearing in.

Our final visit happened in Rep Sylvester Turner's office, and Heather and I both had a wonderful time talking to Erica Smiley and Emma Oliver.    They relayed to us that Rep. Turner was concerned about the unjust bills.

Heather and I completed our mission at 3:30 PM, and ran into my ride back to Houston in Brandon Mack and Ashton Woods near the Capitol Rotunda.   After having lunch at a wonderful Cajun place on Rosewood St in East Austin, we headed to the legendary Scholtz Garten to connect with the rest of our fellow lobbyists to hear how their day went and let some of Austin's infamous rush hour traffic on I-35 die down before we headed back to Houston.

Got a feeling I may have to make one more trip to Austin before this session ends. 

I Am A Trans Texan

The current political modus oprandi of the Texas GOP to exhibit 'Proven Conservative Leadership' is to attack the humanity of trans Texans.

While I expected it and have for years, it still pissed me off as a proud native Houstonian and native three generational Texan.

I am not happy about this current unjust effort by white conservafools either here in my hometown or while doing their part time legislative gig in Austin to legislate demonization of trans people, and I will fight it with every millimeter of my being to ensure they don't become law.

Yeah, my human rights are so important to me I took the entire day to travel to Austin to talk to legislators to tell them why they must oppose these unjust Texas anti-trans bills probably crafted by ALEC.

They can attempt to ignore the reality of our lives all they wish, but the bottom line is that trans people are an undeniable part of the diverse mosaic of human life, and many of them like myself proudly live in Texas.

I am the heir of a proud legacy of struggle, trailblazing accomplishments and resistance that I have the responsibility of shepherding to the next generation of trans Texans behind me.

I have the responsibility because of the set of talents and blessings that I have been given, to use them to uplift my trans brothers and trans sisters, and work intersectionally with all the communities I come in contact with to make trans human rights a reality.

And the fact that I am trans does not diminish the fact that I am a proud trans Houstonian and proud trans Texan.   I love every millimeter of the 698,200 sq kilometers (268,820 sq miles) of Texas soil and my beloved hometown, and how dare you conservafools attempt to criminalize my and my trans brothers and trans sisters existence in order to score cheap political points.

What's even more reprehensible is you are not only attacking children, but you are doing so on a lie.

And no, Black peeps, I'm not letting y'all of the hook because some of you along with a cadre of sellout ministers have been aiding and abetting this effort to demonize trans people. 

If you haven't gotten the message by now, some trans people are Black, and I'm one of them.  I didn't give up my Black Card when I transitioned, and my unapologetically Black self doesn't give a rats anus about what you think about me being trans or not.  

Where I draw the line is when your failure to pay attention to medical science tied to a specious interpretation of scripture leads you to ignore the unassailable evidence that trans people exist and irrational fear and hatred of us.

That irrational hatred and fear of trans people in Black community ranks leads to black trans Texans being discriminated against, assaulted, or killed as Ty Underwood tragically was/.

I'm a Black trans Texan, and I'm proud of it.   You will not sell me and other Black trans Texans out so you can curry favor with white conservafools that hate the entire Black community, and I will call your ass out when you attempt to do so.  Black trans people are part of the kente cloth fabric of our community, and it's past time you got that message through your naturally curly haired heads..

I am a trans Texan, I exist and I am a registered voter.  And I will not be ignored or have my humanity disrespected inside or outside of the SGL community because of your failure to recognize my humanity.

Mika Mashes Fiorina Misinformation

The Right Wing Noise Machine is on full blast after former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared she is a candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.  

They have deployed the GOP women pundits to attack Hillary, and some have as usual gone to ridiculous lengths to do so.

One such attack on Clinton came from Carly Fiorina, the failed HP executive that for some reason is tapped for her business experience by Republican candidates.

Watch Mika Brezinski do her job and masterfully point out to Fiorina that she was throwing her partisan shade at Clinton while living in a glass house.

Roll that beautiful YouTube video.

Sunday Houston Trans* Political Forum Conversation

2015 is a city election year for Houston, and in addition to the increasingly crowded field we'll have to select our next mayor, we'll also have some contested at large city council seats and the controllers race on our November 4 ballot.

One thing we don't want on it is a HERO repeal, but that's up to the judge handling the case.

Yesterday at the home of Nikki Araguz Loyd the first of several Trans Political Forum conversations took place.

The idea behind it is to have politicians talk to the trans community about issues of importance to trans Houstonians.

The inaugural conversation was with Jenifer Rene Pool, who is making her third run for council in the At Large Position 1 race.

In this two hour event she fielded questions from trans Houstonians, the TransGriot and our allies about issues ranging from education to streamlining our city government permit process to expanding rail to both airports.

And yes, HERO and the discredited bathroom meme was also discussed.

Pool also discussed the importance of the trans community getting mobilized, engaged and replicating that enthusiasm and energy we put into Annise Parker's first at large city council run in 1997.

Personally, I'd love to see the Houston trans community elect one of our own to sit in one of those nice leather chairs in City Hall, but that isn't up to me.

The voters of the city of Houston will have that final say in who sits in that At Large Position 1 seat, and if the Houston trans community wants th person taking the oath of office next January in the Wortham Center to be Jenifer, then we;ll have to bust our butt to make it happen, and show up to vote for her on November 4.

Nikki Araguz Loyd who hosted the event, stated to me that there will be more of these conversations with various candidates during the 2015 election cycle, and they are in discussions with at least two to replicate this informative enjoyable conversation.

Looking forward to finding out who that next candiate for Houston public office will be.

Back To Austin To Lobby

The Texas Legislative session is still going on for another several weeks, and we still have 20 unjust anti-trans and anti-SGL bills that have been filed that have yet to get a hearing.

The last time I'd been to Austin to lobby was 2001.   This will make my second trip to our state capitol this year because of my deep concern for those anti-trans bills filed by Reps. 'Debbie Does Discrimination' Riddle and Gilbert Pena.

I'm headed up to the ATX to participate in the Equality Texas organized Freedom Advocacy Day.   'Once again me and a few friends from Houston and elsewhere in our state are inside the Pink Dome to remind our state legislators that we are proud Texans who love this state, and passing unjust laws that attempt to legislate anti-TBLG  hatred will have dire consequences for this state's economy.

The 2016 Final Four and the 2017 Super Bowl are scheduled for Houston.   I'd like them to stay there and not get yanked because of GOP legislative stupidity.

I hope you're also listening to business people in your own conservative ranks that are basically saying the same thing we are in terms of this bills are not good for the business climate of the Lone Star State

Will let y'all know how things transpired on this latest day trip to Austin.

Where Does Hillary Stand On Trans Issues?

Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton declared today she is a candidate for the 2016 Democratic nomination for president. 

While many people are justifiably excited on our side of the political spectrum that she has finally done so, she's seen as a prohibitive favorite to win the nomination, the general election and be inaugurated as the 46th and first female president of the United States, there is still a long way to go until that possibly happens.

Should we have that happen, and on January 20, 2017 we end up with a second President Clinton, one of the questions we are currently asking in Trans World is whether she would be as great a president on trans issues as President Obama currently is.



The question on whether she would be that trans friendly president combined with her early endorsement by an HRC we were royally pissed at in 2007 is why many of us in Trans World (myself included) not only supported then Senator Obama, we also took the unprecedented step of putting our money where our mouths were by setting up an ActBlue page.

That page raised over $10K for his ultimately successful capturing of the Democratic nomination in June 2008 and the presidency five months later, and as we'd hoped, President Obama did indeed become the most trans friendly POTUS ever.

Now there is no fracking way I'll be voting for a Teapublican in 2016.  I know this election is far too important.   Four SCOTUS seats may pop open during this next term. There are still vacant seats in the federal judiciary.   We have serious issues like income inequality and global warming amongst others to tackle. 

And with the GOP controlling both houses of Congress, we will need a Democratic POTUS standing by with her (or our eventual nominee) veto pen.

You ignore the trans community at your political peril, as we proved in 2008.   But I have to ask if a President Clinton will appoint a qualified trans person to either her cabinet or to positions in her administration?  Will she continue the trans inclusive policy direction that the Obama administration has set in motion?  

Will she push for a trans inclusive ENDA?   Will her attorney general interpret the 1964 Civil Rights Act as covering trans Americans and vigorously prosecute anti-trans discrimination?

Will she even say 'transgender' or acknowledge our existence during and after her we hope will be successful campaign?

She stated she wants to be a champion for everyday Americans/   Does that extend to trans* Americans?

These are questions that many of us in Trans World will need to have answered by her or her campaign before many trans skeptics will be 'Ready For Hillary'.

 

Trans* Political Forum Today

Speaking of events to check out, Moni chatting with Houston City Council candidates continues as I head to an event starting at 2 PM being hosted by Nikki Araguz Loyd.

It's the first of a series of candidate political forums in which the Houston trans community will get to talk to candidates about issues and concerns of importance to our community like housing , unemployment, HERO, and the latest attempt by Dave Wilson to enshrine anti-trans discrimination into our city charter.

To kick this series off, the first one will involve the only declared trans candidate running for public office in this 2015 city election cycle in Jenifer Rene Pool.

Jenifer is running for the city Council at large Position 1 seat against some formidable competition, and will be interesting to hear he take of local political developments.

Intersectional Houston Saturday

Yesterday, April 11 was a Saturday in which I woke up with two events on my mind, and ended up at three.  

My day started at the Montrose Center for the HPD-LGBT Community Dialogue that kicked off at 10 AM and was scheduled to run until 1 PM.   HPD Chief Charles McClellan and his command staff, along with LGBT Liaison EJ Joseph and several LGBT officers were in the house to discuss the spike in Montrose crime  which has sadly taken a life, along with John Gaspari, who was shot in a hate crime, and other concerned residents.

I suspect that spike is crime is related to the anti-LGBT rhetoric that was (and continues to be) uttered and broadcast post passage of HERO by our not so favorite christobigots, and as Ashton Woods pointed out during this meeting, the gentrification of Montrose which leads the folks with criminal intent to think that peeps in the gayborhood are walking ATM's.

After the first segment of it involving the chief and command staff was conducted with news cameras rolling, the second segment happened with Officer Joseph and four LGBT HPD officers..  That lasted until 12 noon before it concluded with Q&A and moi being teased by Officer Joesph about my lack of quality time with her due to my recent trips to DC twice, Philadelphia and Chicago for TBLG community events.

After talking to a Houston Chronicle reporter, other African-American HPD officers and laying the groundwork for future projects and collaborations, I got snatched up by Brandon Mack and Ashton Woods to join them in a hilarious at times car ride through intermittent rain and showers to the Acres Homes area and Sylvester Turner Park for state Rep. and current Houston mayoral candidate Sylvester Turner's 8th Annual Family Fun Day.

Hey, y'all thought I was kidding about my wicked sense of humor.  But back to the post.

There was free food, water and juice along with music ranging from R&B classics to hip hop and a live zydeco band as I got to talk to several candidates for Houston elective offices like Dwight Jefferson, Laurie Robinson and see HISD school board trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones.

I had an interesting conversation with Ms. Robinson, who is running in the Houston City Council at Large Position 4 race. in which we discussed HERO (she supports it) , my trans activist life, and life on the campaign trail as a city council candidate.

After hanging out there for two hours and grabbing a smoked turkey leg, it was time to get ready for my first HRC Houston Gala at the Westin Galleria.

35 years ago I was on the other end of the Galleria at the now Westin Oaks Hotel for my high school prom, and now I was attending for the first time at the invitation of Ian Barrett to what is referred to in Houston LGBT circles as 'Gay Prom.'

After arriving around 5:30 PM for the 18th annual edition of it, it was a succession of running into old friends, meeting new ones, seeing political leaders like HISD Board President Anna Eastman, Councilmembers Robert Gallegos and Mike Laster and killing time until we were able to sit down at our tables for the gala.

Yeah yeah, I know I'm one of HRC's longtime national critics.  But I was invited to the gala by a Houston based African-American national board member, and curiosity about what happens during one of these events drove me to accept the invitation and have an open mind about the experience.

And yeah, I got to do so while seated with Brandon, Ashton, and Synthia Walton.

The big surprise of the night for me was when HRC President Chad Griffin during his speech gave me a shout out in it.  That ended my anonymity at that event because after that I was approached my dozens of people thanking me for my longtime service to the community.

I'd like one of them to thank me with a public policy job in Austin, Houston or Washington DC, but that's another post.

I was successful in getting my fangirl moment in during one of the breaks.  I finally got to meet my slam dunking Houston homegirl Brittney Griner, who you longtime readers know I have mad love for.   Brittney joked during this photo it was nice for once to not be the tallest woman in the room.

So when I returned to Casa de Monica, I had a new collection of business cards to add to my collection, more opportunities for community building, and a bunch of pleasant memories to what turned out to be a doubleplusgood  day for yours truly practicing what I preach about intersectionality.

NFL Hires First Ever Female Referee

The 2015 NFL officials pool will have a groundbreaking member added to it in Sarah Thomas, who was recently hired as the NFL's first ever full time female official

The 41 year old Thomas is a mother of three and pharmaceutical sales rep when she's not on the gridiron, and growing up played softball and basketball.   She began her officiating career at the high school level in Mississippi and by 1996 was officiating at the Division I-A level in the state.

At that  time, the NFL wasn't the goal, but by 2007 Thomas was working games at the collegiate level in Conference USA.   In 2009 she became the first woman to officiate a college bowl game, the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl, and has worked the Senior Bowl, the Fight Hunger Bowl, and the Medal of Honor Bowl in addition to the C-USA Championship Games in 2010 and 2014.

She also worked two seasons as an official in the defunct United Football League.

In 2011 she became the first woman to officiate a game in a Big Ten stadium when Rice played Northwestern,, and was in the NFL's officiating development program in 2013-14 working NFL preseason games, minicamps, and training camps.

"My goal has always been to be the best line judge I can be any time I get the opportunity,"said Thomas at a Wednesday press conference. "I feel honored and blessed to be in the National Football League now."

Thomas won't be the first woman to work an NFL regular season game.  That honor went to Shannon Eastin, who was called up during the 2012 NFL officials lockout and worked preseason and regular season NFL games until the lockout ended.

While Thomas is downplaying her role in sports history, it's still a big deal to a league which is decades behind the NBA, Major League Baseball and FIFA when it comes to having female officials calling their games.

You Don't Like Moni Calling You Out?

Then don't do the jacked up stuff that puts me in the position of having to do so on this blog.

Yeah, it's good for my hit counts when I call out the stupid crap that goes on inside and outside of Trans World. But if I had my druthers, I'd much rather report on and praise people for doing the right thing by all the communities I intersect and interact with.

But there are just some of you peeps who get your jollies oppressing people or saying some problematic crap, and then I get to have fun gleefully calling your azzes out.

As some of you are quite aware of, I don't have any problem holding people accountable.

Neither do I have a problem in calling out friend, foe and frenemy for the fracked up crap they do, or when they are trying to push unjust policies and proposed bills that seek to denigrate and dehumanize my trans brothers and sisters.

So don't start none, won't be none.   But as long as some of you arrogantly wallow in cluelessness. transphobia, homophobia, sexism, racism, (fill in the blank), and it has the potential to harm the trans community and our human rights movement, I will call you out without hesitation.

The Bold And Beautiful Maya Watch-Week Of April 6-10

Since the reveal of supermodel and fashion executive Maya Avant as the first major trans character on a network soap last month, I've been watching this  The Bold And The  Beautiful storyline unfold with keen interest as one of the peeps that Karla Mosley is playing.

As a TransGriot public service, I'm going to do a weekly recap of all things Maya related during the week on The Bold and the Beautiful.   For those of you who haven't gotten your B&B fix, this post will contain spoilers.

***

The week started with Maya and Nicole getting into another argument as she attempted to use her knowledge of Maya's trans status to extort her way into a modeling shoot.   Maya's ex fiance Carter overheard the conversation, and after Nicole left the office, angrily confronted her about what he overheard as he flashes back to memories of their two year relationship.  

He is pushing Maya to tell current boyfriend and Forrester Creations CEO Rick to tell him, which Maya doesn't want to do until she is ready to do so.   Rick walks into the office during their argument, but Carter decided not to spill her trans status to Rick and walks out.

Carter tries once again to get Maya to tell Rick that she's trans, pointing out that it's not just her personal business, but because Rick needs to know and it could affect Forrester Creations.   She replies to Carter that she'll tell him after she get engaged to him.

Carter confronts Nicole about extorting her way to a modeling shoot, and points out Maya is scared of what might happen if she reveals she's trans.

Rick notices that Maya is agitated about the confrontations and asks her what is wrong, but she tries to play it off and declines to tell him.   He professes his love to her and tells her he admires her integrity as she professes her love to him.

Maya later defends Rick with his mother Brooke at her side as Ridge once again throws barbs at him because in his mind Rick is unqualified to be Forrester Creations CEO.   Maya's defense of Rick impresses Brooke, who has resumed working for Forrester.

As Rick and Maya once more profess their love for each other, as she walks into the office she fails to realize she dropped the  package that contains her estrogen tablets. 


Rick finds the bottle on the floor, reads it and asks her the question why she would need to be taking conjugated estrogen.

Tune in Monday to find out the answer.

Moni's Going To The 2015 Houston HRC Gala

Check the date, this is NOT an April Fool's joke like this post was.

I have a long documented history as one of HRC's fiercest critics going back to 1998, but in a few hours I'll actually be going the 18th annual Houston HRC Gala.

The last time I actually was in the vicinity of an HRC Gala, I was in Washington DC outside the Walter Williams Convention Center protesting their national dinner in response to trans people getting cut out of  ENDA in 2007

This time I won't be there to protest, but observe the proceedings at the Westin Galleria ballroom.  Thanks to Bryant and Ian Barrett for the invitation to sit at their tables.   

As for who will be at the Houston HRC Gala,  HRC president Chad Griffin is supposed to be here for the proceedings as one of the special guests that start at 5:00 PM  along with my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner. 

They say they have changed, we'll see.   And getting a chance to meet my Houston homegirl Brittney Griner and hang out for a few hours with some friends in the community may make it worthwhile.

I'll at least get a post out of it.

Shut Up Fool Awards- It's April, Fools Edition

Yep it is April, it's Friday, and time for you fave feature on TransGriot in the Shut Up Fool Awards.

I get to call out the fool, fools or group of fools who need to have the bright spotlight of scrutiny shined upon the stupid, hypocritical and WTF head scratching crap they do and say.

Let's get started with this week's cavalcade of fools shall we?

Honorable mention number one is Ben Carson.   After he remembered he was Black earlier and called the murder by po-po of Walter Scott 'an execution on the streets', he had to go back to cooning it up for conservamassa and let fly with the ridiculous claim that 'gays are better protected than Christians'

Conservakneegrow please!   You can be fired in 29 states for being gay and 34 states for being trans*.

I repeat, where is the DROP Squad when you need them?

Honorable mention number two is Ted Nugent.   Ted parted his lips to let something stupid fly out of them again by claiming he's being 'persecuted for doing God's work'.

What God?   Conservagod?   Baal?  St Ronald of Reagan?

Naw Ted, you're doing somebody's work alright.  Who could it be?

Honorable mention number three is Rand Paul, who is already fracking up in his newly declared presidential run by getting testy with CNBC anchor Savannah Guthrie when she started asking him tough questions about policy flip flops  that he obviously didn't want to answer.



Oh Randall, just a word of advice.  Attacking a female anchor trying to do her job is not a good look for you in the eyes of independent and moderate voters.

Honorable mention number four is Tom DeLay.  He popped up on Newsmax to defend the 'Religious Freedom Discrimination bills by saying that we must fight for those 'with every ounce of our being.'

And I'm going to fight those unjust bills to ensure they don't become law in this state.

Honorable mention number five goes to Carly Fiorina, who blamed the severe three year California drought on 'liberal environmentalists'.

No wonder Hewlett-Packard tanked under your misleadership

Honorable mention number six is a group award for the NRA.  Their convention is kicking off in Nashville, and the NRA ammosexuals that are trying to push open carry laws, put guns in your kids elementary schools and on college campuses, won't allow loaded firearms for safety reasons at their convention hall.

Can you say hypocrites TransGriot boys and girls?   Thought you could.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner I have to go local for it in Dave Wilson.  

For several months the longtime hatemonger has been trying to gather enough signatures to push an anti-trans charter amendment onto the 2015 city election ballot.   With great fanfare he showed up at City Hall with news cameras rolling, turned in six boxes of petitions  and claimed he'd gotten 19.700 signatures.

However, since this is a charter amendment, the threshold under Texas state law is 20,000 VALID signatures.  

Oops.   Thank the Lord my right-wing opposition here is inept at times.   If they had even half the brains of the FOX Fembots, they'd be more problematic to deal with.

He huffed and puffed about filing a lawsuit to force it on the ballot, but the end result is he has to start over.

Yo HCC, can't y'all find a way to kick this hater off your board?

Dave Wilson, shut up fool!

There Will ALWAYS Be Somebody Prettier Than You...Deal With It

Sisterhood should not end when Oprah goes off. Truth be told, there will always be someone prettier, sexier, stronger, and smarter. I'm sorry Boo - that's just the way it is. But that's ok.....just do you!
Robin Bonner, September 23, 2013  Sisters, Let's Stop Hatin' On Each Other

I was talking to one of my trans homegirls recently and the subject turned to what Robin discussed in the September 23. 2013 guest post in terms of sisterhood.  While Robin's guest post was talking about it in general, me and my trans homegirl were talking about how it manifests itself in our transfeminine ranks.

The conversation was triggered by our observations about one of our sisters who has a self esteem problem.   She can't see her own beautiful self because she is so fixated on the other women in our circle that happen to be drop dead gorgeous.  She has used that as an excuse to decline from participating in the ongoing community building and crafting of sisterhood circles we are engaged in here in Houston.

I'm going to borrow and focus on a section of what Robin said in that quote I highlighted at the beginning of this post and say it once again.  

There will always be someone who is prettier, sexier, stronger, smarter, et cetera, and that's life.

Do I have some cis and trans women in our community I'm envious of and admire?   You damned skippy I do because I'm human.  But at the same time I'm aware that I have a combination of qualities they are just as envious of and admire about me that inhabit my statuesque body.  

I've also had 20 plus years to evolve and do me, and to borrow to words of my brother Kye Allums, I am enough.

That salient point about the diverse community of women encapsulated in Robin's quote is also reflected in Trans Feminine World.  

The reality is there are always going to be trans women who got the genetic luck of the draw.    There will be trans women who will be prettier, sexier, stronger, smarter, or have combinations of those various characteristics inhabiting their bodies.

There are going to be increasing numbers of trans women who because they transitioned in early childhood, their teens  or early in life are going to be indistinguishable from the average cis woman. 

And yeah, let's be real, trans women can be our own worst critics about how we look. 

There are those of us in Trans World that will also because of varying reasons that include fiscal ones, be able to avail themselves of surgical enhancements, hormones and GRS to correct or enhance whatever they perceive needs to be corrected on their bodies that results in their personal happiness and satisfaction.

And just like cis women, trans women come in all shapes, sizes, skin tones and body configurations.   There are going to be some of us who have the classic hourglass shape, perfect cheekbones and single digit shoe size.   Some of us will be petite while others of us will be supermodel height.  Others of us will be full figured and have a double digit shoe size or other various combinations of characteristics.  

In Black trans feminine ranks, we come in 24 different shades ranging from light bright and damned near white to deepest darkest ebony in terms of our skin tones.   All of them carry baggage beyond run of the mill trans issues, and all those skin tones are beautiful.

And as my homegirl Joanna Cifredo enlightened me to during a conversation we had in Chicago, trans Latinas also have to contend with the overall cultural beauty standards that cis Latinas have to deal with.

All that  matters is that we get to a point in in our ongoing feminine journeys in which as we get comfortable in our skins, we have personalities that are just as beautiful inside that match or exceed the outside shell.
What is also important as a trans feminine community is that as we evolve toward acceptance of the reality there will always be somebody prettier that we are, we deal with it by not projecting our insecurities, jealousies and issues onto our sisters be their cis or trans.

We need to be focused on the bigger prize of being about the business of building sisterhood in our ranks..

HPD -LGBT Community Dialogue Tomorrow

For those of you who can make it to the Montrose Center tomorrow morning from 10-AM-1 PM CDT, there will be a town hall meeting featuring  HPD Chief Charles McClelland, HPD's command staff,  HPD LGBT Liaison EJ Joseph, HPD personnel and other community leaders to discuss the spike in anti-LGBT crimes that I believe is fueled by the hate rhetoric spouted by our opponents during the fight to pass the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance..

We will be gathering in Room 106/107 at the Montrose Center to hopefully  come up with solutions to this problem that has already taken one life and left two other people seriously injured.

One suggesting is to extend the hours that the Montrose storefront police station is open.  I suggested in a previous post to bring back the Q Patrol citizens patrols that we instituted for several years in the wake of the Paul Broussard murder back in 1991

Address of the Montrose Center for those who wish to attend is 401 Branard St.

I'm One Of Those Proud Texans That Supports TBLG Non Discrimination Laws

As many of you TransGriot readers are quite aware of, I am a proud Houstonian and Texan who absolutely hates the GOP dominated government that has mismanaged it over the last 20 years.

Instead of our state government doing what they are supposed to do and pass laws that benefit all Texans, they are basically working to oppress anyone that isn't a conservative white male.

LGBT Texans love this state, and as much as y'all would like us to either leave it or go back in the closet so you can go back to pretending we trans, bi and SGL peeps don't exist, neither one of those thing is happening any time soon.

The Lege back in January was hellbent on passing legislation to remake our bipartisan passed in 1999 RFRA into an Indiana style bill until they witnessed the backlash Indiana got for trying to legislate discrimination.

And may I remind the legislative conservafools and the FOX Noise bamboozled sheeple that support them that the 2016 NCAA men's Final Four and 2017 Super Bowl are scheduled for Houston's NRG Stadium.  

And as business leaders in this state are increasingly opening their mouths to say, discrimination is bad for business.

If  you and these fools wish to continue to see NCAA men's and women's Final Fours and Super Bowl coming to San Antonio, Dallas and Houston along with major corporate relocations and conferences, the Tea GOP needs to back the hell off of those unjust bills you're proposing.

And yeah, despite your best efforts to keep me from doing so with your unjust voter suppression laws, I vote

I'm a proud Texan that supports nondiscrimination laws that protect LGBT Texans, and I'm in the majority on this issue.   All I or any other TBLG Texan wants is to live our lives without micromanaging from our government or having our existence criminalized based on a debunked lie.

White House Affirmatively Responds To Petition Calling For Conversion Therapy Youth Ban

One of the things that is a major concern for TBLG leaders is the use of so called conversion therapy on TBLG people to 'cure' them.  It was such a conversion therapy that drove Leelah Alcorn to commit suicide.

In the wake of Leelah's death, a WeThePeople.gov petition calling for the passage of Leelah's Law that would ban the use of the scientifically discredited use by licensed therapists of conversion therapy aimed at TBLGIQ youth, hit the 100,000 signature threshold for a White House response in January  and eventually 120,958 signatures when it was closed. 

In the petition response yesterday from senor White House adviser Valerie Jarrett:

Conversion therapy generally refers to any practices by mental health providers that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.[1] Often, this practice is used on minors, who lack the legal authority to make their own medical and mental health decisions. We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects on the lives of transgender as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer youth.

When assessing the validity of conversion therapy, or other practices that seek to change an individual’s gender identity or sexual orientation, it is as imperative to seek guidance from certified medical experts. The overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that conversion therapy, especially when it is practiced on young people, is neither medically nor ethically appropriate and can cause substantial harm.

As part of our dedication to protecting America’s youth, this Administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors.

I keep telling y'all that President Obama is the best POTUS ever on trans issues, and he keeps proving it with every executive order he issues and every policy position he takes.

50th Anniversary Of The Astrodome Opening

It's been long since overshadowed by the 2002 opening of NRG Stadium, but fifty years ago on this date the Harris County Domed Stadium, better known to the rest of you peeps as the Astrodome, opened as the world's first multi-purpose domed stadium.

'The Eighth Wonder Of The World' was an iconic part of my childhood as I not only attended Astros baseball, Oilers, UH Cougars and TSU Tigers football games in its cavernous space, but  the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Texas high school football playoff games, concerts and other events also happened there.

I even worked at the Dome's concessions company for several years during college from 1981-1986.

The Astrodome was the dream of Judge Roy Hofheinz, who conceptualized it as early as 1952.   When Houston was granted a National League expansion franchise in 1960 that started play in 1962 as the Colt .45's, it was after the Hofheinz led expansion group promised to build a covered stadium to deal with our blast furnace summers.

Construction on the Dome began on January 3, 1962 and was completed ahead of schedule in November 1964.

It opened on this date with a sold out exhibition game between the Astros and the New York Yankees attended by President Lyndon Johnson and the First Lady, Texas Governor John Connally, and Houston Mayor Louie Welch.

The Dome would host the nationally televised 1968 'Game of The Century' between the University of Houston and UCLA that not only established a college basketball attendance record that wasn't broken until 2003, it set the stage for March Madness and proved college basketball had a viable TV audience. 

The 1973 'Battle of The Sexes' tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King was also played there, and as many of you are aware, the 1992 GOP National 'Culture War' convention nominated President George HW Bush was  also hosted under its domed roof.

One of my fave Dome events was the 1980 Luv Ya Blue pep rally that happened after the Oilers controversial 27-13 AFC championship game loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  After my father dropped me off on the Fannin Street side of the stadium, I had to climb the locked seven foot barbed wire topped security fence surrounding the Astrodome perimeter and got inside the stadium just before the fire marshal ordered no more people be allowed in because it was beyond capacity.



I still had a memorable evening despite all that work to get in there.    

I also enjoyed it when I got to go to the Astrodome for TSU games.  Because my dad was the Tigers radio play by play announcer, I got to sit in the press box, act as a spotter during the game, and enjoy the press level cafeteria with its delicious food and bottomless soda cups as the Tigers engaged in gridiron battles against their SWAC foes.

And yes, there was one day I was working at the Dome during a high school football doubleheader that involved the (boo hiss) Jack Yates Lions. 

As I was sitting outside the concession stand I managed at the Dome's west gate taking a break, three young flamboyant Black drag queens on hormones sashayed through the crowd

A cluster of ten kids were following them laughing as they paid it no mind until they got to where I was sitting with one of the HPD cops working security.  Stuff got real as sistah girl's wig got snatched off her head and they had to start chasing the wig thieves playing keep away with it as they ran down the ramp to the lower level

We;re still trying to figure out how to repurpose it so it is around for another generation of Houstonians.   So on the 50th anniversary of its opening, the Dome will be opened for a birthday celebration starting at 6 PM.    It was added to the National Register of Historic Places last year so it doesn't suffer the fate of the Kingdome, the Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome and the RCA Dome. 

But I'm going so I can once again even if just for a moment, stand inside the stadium that triggered so many childhood memories for me and hundreds of thousands of Houstonians.

150th Anniversary Of Lee's Surrender To Grant

150 years ago today CSA General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia after abandoning the Richmond-Petersburg area, headed west in an attempt to link up to the Confederate forces in North Carolina while pursued by Union forces under .Lt. Gen Ulysses S. Grant.

The Confederate retreat was cut off at Appomattox Court House, and Lee launched an attack that morning that sought to break through the Union force in front of him under the assumption it was just a cavalry unit.   When it turned out it was backed up by two Union corps size infantry units, Lee had no choice but to surrender, and did

The surrender of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant effectively ended the War To Perpetuate Slavery combat in Virginia.   But as word spread of Lee's surrender, it had seismic effects with the rest of the starving and disillusioned Confederate armies still in the field.

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his army in North Carolina on April 26 to Gen. William T. Sherman in Durham, NC.  Gen Edmund Kirby Smith surrendering the Trans-Mississippi Department near New Orleans and Nathan Bedford Forrest (the future KKK founder) surrendering in May. 

The last battle of the Civil War took place in Texas at Palmito Ranch on May 12-13, and the last sizable Confederate unit under Gem Stand Watie surrendered in Oklahoma on June 23.

It also meant that with the military defeat of the Confederacy, it mean the end of their traitorous armed insurrection against the US government, their attempt to win by force keeping slavery alive and the emancipation of my ancestors.