The state of Texas is bigger than France in size, and that can make it difficult to organize statewide or when we have BTLGQ lobby days in Austin. The sheer size of the state for example makes it hard for someone in the Panhandle, West Texas, Northeast Texas, East Texas or the El Paso area to come to lobby, even if they fly to Austin, without planning on taking at least two days minimum for travel the day of and the day after the event.
Because our Texas TBLGQ communities are also clustered in the state's larger cites like Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, the statewide conferences tend to be held in those cities as well, with the same applicable travel issues.
The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas is predominately Latino and for the most part liberal progressive, but it's still about a four hour one way drive from the Valley's major cities of Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo to our state capitol of Austin. |But the Valley, just like everywhere else in the Lone Star State, has TBLGQ Latinos living there as well.
And with Latinos being the fastest growing ethnic group in Texas, they will be part of an increasingly powerful voting bloc. The Latino population in Texas is estimated to eclipse white Texans and become the largest ethnic group in the state next year and nationally by 2040.
Thanks to Lou Weaver, I was alerted to an upcoming conference, the Aqui Estamos RGV Conference that will be taking place at the STC Cooper Center in McAllen from August 6-7.
It's the first ever LGBTQ centered conference to take place in the Rio Grande Valley, and it seeks to bring together queer-identifying people of color and allies to identify the institutional, social, and cultural currents and themes that continue to oppress queer and gender nonconforming identities in our borderland.
The goal of Aquí Estamos RGV is to strive to challenge those currents and themes by creating a visible and unified movement where LGBTQ people can stand in solidarity for justice.
As the first LGBTQ centered conference in the Rio Grande Valley, Aquí Estamos RGV 2015 will focus on visibility, strategizing, and community and is also open to allies . If you need further details about this first ever event , visit aquiestamosrgv.org. The conference also has its own Twitter hashtag, #aquiestamos15
As many of you are aware of, last year after a bitter fight we got the trans inclusive Houston Equal Rights Ordinance passed after an 11-6 vote.
The local professional gaybaiters and their kneegrow sellouts promptly went to work collecting petitions to force a HERO repeal referendum.
But they FUBARed the process so badly that the city rejected the petitions, and the spoiled vanillacentric privileged right-wing brats and their kneegrow auxiliaries tried to sue in state court and force the HERO referendum that way. After losing in state court in April, HERO went into effect.
Meanwhile, longtime hater Dave "I Pretended I Was Black To Get Elected" Wilson was trying another tactic to bring down HERO. Wilson went to work to collect enough petitions to force a vote to add language to the city charter that attacks the Houston trans community
But Dave forgot that you need 20,000 signatures for a charter amendment petition, and claimed he collected 19,700 signatures. However, that was short of the 20K threshold, and his petition was denied.
Dave tried again, and took another batch of signatures to City Hall in an attempt to get his transphobic charter amendment on the November ballot, and was once again rebuffed by the city of Houston. He's now trying to sue, and we'll stay tuned to see if this goes anywhere.
But the end result is that for now, the trans inclusive HERO ordinance is in effect, and transphobic bigots like Dave Wilson and friends provide ample evidence of why it is necessary.
They have yet to get the message that discrimination's time in Houston has expired.
And Houston peeps, can we look into the possibility of kicking Wilson's butt off the HCC board for violating its nondiscrimination policy?
It's been in the works for a few months, but I can now make the announcement official.
I am now being represented by TLH Public Relations and Consulting, LLP!
The full service public relations firm founded by celebrity publicist Leigha Hagood with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC. The firm represents clients in the theatrical, sports, political and public speaking worlds.
They were enthusiastic about taking me on as a client and I have been wanting to do more public speaking appearances.
I believe they can get me to the level that I need and deserve to be at as a trans human rights pioneer and long time activist..
TLH Public Relations and Consulting, LLP will be handling my speaking requests from now on so I can focus on my writing and activist work when needed.
If you are interested in having me appear as speaker for your event, you can contact Leigha at 646-893-4337 or leigha@tlhpr.com
I knew this was going to happen back in January, but now thanks to yesterday's press release, the whole world is aware of it.
I'm thrilled I'll be receiving it this year, and thanks to all of you who have called or sent congratulatory messages concerning this historic achievement.
I'm looking forward to being in Provincetown, MA in October to receive this award and spend some quality time at the 41st annual Fantasia Fair with the attendees their guests and the Fantasia Fair family.
For those who haven't seen it yet, here's the press release announcing the 2015 Virgina Prince Transgender Pioneer Award.
***
PROVINCETOWN, Mass. – Real Life Experience, Inc. has announced that the
Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award for 2015 will go to Monica
Roberts. The award, named after the late Virginia Prince, will be
presented Oct. 20 in Provincetown, Mass. during the 41st annual
Fantasia Fair conference.
Monica Roberts is an award winning blogger, history buff, thinker, lecturer and passionate advocate on trans issues.
In 1994, after seeing an article with a problematic representation of
Black trans people in a trans centric magazine, Ms. Roberts resolved to
participate in the next GenderPac trans lobby day in Washington DC and
increase the visibility of Black trans leaders in the transgender
movement. Since then, she’s advocated for trans human rights protections
and has lobbied at the federal, state and local levels in Kentucky and
Texas.
Monica is a founding member of the National Transgender Advocacy
Coalition and served on its inaugural board as its Lobby Chair from
1999-2002. She co-hosted a GLBT radio show in her hometown from
1999-2001, founded the Transsistahs-Transbrothas Internet discussion
list for African-American transgender people in 2004, and helped
organize the 2005 and 2006 Transsistahs-Transbrothas Conferences that
took place in Louisville.
Ms. Roberts is also a prolific writer. She wrote for the
Louisville-based GLBT newspaper “The Letter” and since 2006, has
authored the award-winning blog TransGriot. According to GLAAD, the
writings at TransGriot made Monica Roberts “the first African American
trans woman to create a news outlet that not only reports trans women
of color issues but also showcases the leaders in the fight for
equality of trans people… filling a void in the blogosphere.” Her
writing about transgender issues from a Black perspective has appeared
at Ebony.com, Loop21.com, Transadvocate, Racialicious, Feministe,
Global Comment, The Bilerico Project, What Tami Said and Womanist
Musings.
Monica seeks to not only end the erasure of African-American trans
voices from a movement they played significant roles in starting, but
get African-American transpeople and other voices of color more
involved in empowering themselves. Her activism focus is educating the
GLBT community and allies about our issues and concerns in addition to
shedding light about the struggles of GLBT people across the African
Diaspora.
“We're delighted to help showcase the outstanding work of a true
pioneer of our community” said Barbara Curry, the Executive Director of
Fantasia Fair. Ms. Curry continues saying “Monica Roberts has made a
significant, positive impact on so many. It is an honor to have her
join us this October in Provincetown.”
Started in 1975, Fantasia Fair or “Fan Fair” is the oldest and
longest-running gathering of transgender persons for mutual education,
support, collaboration, and socializing. The week-long event happens
every October in the resort town of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Presenters scheduled to appear at the 41st Fantasia Fair include Denise
Norris, Marisa Richmond, Aaron Devor, Ph.D., and Dr. Jillian Weiss, and
many others.
For more information about Fantasia Fair, including
workshops, daily schedule, and scholarships, please visit http://www.fantasiafair.org.
Because I am a Kennedy Baby, I have grown up as a serious space junkie watching NASA and the US space program undertake some amazing exploratory manned and unmanned space missions .
The Mercury missions started a year before I was born. The Gemini missions happened when I was a toddler, and I spent some of my Saturday mornings as a teen watching as an elementary school student and into my early teen years Walter Cronkite cover the various Apollo moon landings.
I got to see the launch of Skylab as a teen and the three missions that happened on it in 1973-74. I was saddened when our initial US space station burned up on reentry over the Pacific in 1979 before it could be refurbished and boosted into a higher orbit. I watched the Voyager I and 2 probe launches in 1977 as a high school student that flew by Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and off into interstellar space and the Space Shuttle program.
I have grown to adulthood during a period where the knowledge of our solar system and space has exponentially grown. While bassackwards elements of the GOP may hate science, I and many reality based Americans, especially those of us who have grown up here in a Houston in which NASA is an important sector for our local economy, don't.
I am also quite aware that NASA technology and ongoing research is benefiting our 21st century lives today.
Today at 7:49 AM EDT the New Horizons probe will zip by Pluto a mere 7800 miles above its surface to take pictures of the planet. It will do the same to Pluto's moon Charon form 12,000 miles over its surface before zooming off into the Kuiper Belt and a rendezvous with a dwarf planet to be named later.
When that flyby of Pluto happens, the USA will become the first spacefaring nation to have sent probes to all the known planets (I still consider Pluto as a planet along with the IAU) in our solar system.
As New Horizons gets closer to Pluto, I also with the rest of humanity will get to see close up pictures of it for the very first time.
And I'm so looking forward to that along with every other space junkie.
TransGriot Note: Another day I thought I would never live to see when I started my activist journey, but here is the statement from Secretary of Defense Ash Carter discussing the DOD Transgender Service Policy.
This is a wonderful moment for the 15,000 trans people serving our country in the US Armed Forces. and thanks to all the people who have worked diligently inside and outside the military to make this day happen.
Statement by Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on DOD Transgender Policy
Over the last fourteen years of conflict, the Department of Defense has
proven itself to be a learning organization. This is true in war, where
we have adapted to counterinsurgency, unmanned systems, and new
battlefield requirements such as MRAPs. It is also true with respect to
institutional activities, where we have learned from how we repealed
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell," from our efforts to eliminate sexual assault in
the military, and from our work to open up ground combat positions to
women. Throughout this time, transgender men and women in uniform have
been there with us, even as they often had to serve in silence alongside
their fellow comrades in arms.
The Defense Department's current regulations regarding transgender
service members are outdated and are causing uncertainty that distracts
commanders from our core missions. At a time when our troops have
learned from experience that the most important qualification for
service members should be whether they're able and willing to do their
job, our officers and enlisted personnel are faced with certain rules
that tell them the opposite. Moreover, we have transgender soldiers,
sailors, airmen, and Marines - real, patriotic Americans - who I know
are being hurt by an outdated, confusing, inconsistent approach that's
contrary to our value of service and individual merit.
Today, I am issuing two directives to deal with this matter. First, DoD
will create a working group to study over the next six months the
policy and readiness implications of welcoming transgender persons to
serve openly. Led by (Acting) Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel
and Readiness Brad Carson, and composed of military and civilian
personnel representing all the military services and the Joint Staff,
this working group will report to Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work.
At my direction, the working group will start with the presumption that
transgender persons can serve openly without adverse impact on military
effectiveness and readiness, unless and except where objective,
practical impediments are identified. Second, I am directing that
decision authority in all administrative discharges for those diagnosed
with gender dysphoria or who identify themselves as transgender be
elevated to Under Secretary Carson, who will make determinations on all
potential separations.
As I've said before, we must ensure that everyone who's able and
willing to serve has the full and equal opportunity to do so, and we
must treat all our people with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Going forward, the Department of Defense must and will continue to
improve how we do both. Our military's future strength depends on it.
Y'all know how much I love my little sis Isis King and enjoyed hanging out with her and the cast of the Hello Forever movie when it debuted at WorldFest here in H-town.
Well, my sis is going to be back on the small screen to do a guest appearance on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.
As you know The Bold and the Beautiful has an ongoing and evolving trans lead character in Maya Avant played by Karla Mosley.
Maya is the lead model for Forrester Creations, and starting on Wednesday there will be a fashion show featuring Maya and Isis as one of the models.
I also noted this photo of Isis, Karla and possibly Carmen Carrera on a website that tracks soap opera news, so can I presume based on that photo this particular soon to be broadcast Forrester fashion show in question has all trans models?
The B&B episodes featuring Isis will start on Wednesday and run through Friday, and I'm pleased and excited for her . I'm looking forward with heightened interest to watching those upcoming Bold and the Beautiful episodes and see how they transpire.
As for my sis Isis, she's becoming more visible these days, and I hope this leads to more amazing opportunities and acting work for this hard working lady.
Do you remember what you did on your 18th birthday? On mine I was prepping for my test to get my Texas driver's license and preparing for my last month of high school.
So what did Malala Yousafzai do on her 18th birthday which was yesterday? She was in Lebanon opening a school for Syrian refugee girls living there in the Bekaa Valley on Lebanon's eastern border with Syria.
Because of the ongoing fighting in Syria, 4 million people have fled to neighboring countries to escape the conflict. Lebanon is home to 1.2 million of them, with around 500,000 school age children among them, but only a fifth of them are in formal education.
"I decided to be in Lebanon because I believe that the voices of the Syrian refugees need to be heard and they have been ignored for so long," Malala told Reuters in a schoolroom decorated with drawings of butterflies.
Hard to believe that it was in 2012 when a Taliban gunman boarded a school bus Yousafzai was traveling on in her native Pakistan and shot her for advocating in a clandestine blog the rights of girls to have an education. She became the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.
After surviving the attack, she has moved to England with her family and become a powerful international advocate for children's education.
The school that was opened in Lebanon was paid for by the Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that invests in local education projects, and can accommodate up to 200 girls ages 14-18.
"Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets," Malala said in a speech.
Would be nice if they did so Malala, especially in my own country.
Happy 18th birthday, Malala. May you celebrate many more of them in your so far amazing life.
I've been saying for a few months now the evolving Maya Avant trans storyline on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful has the potential to be a groundbreaking, evolutionary and important one, and so far I haven't been disappointed.
Coming up this week on B&B is a fashion show episode that will air on July 16 featuring Isis King and Carmen Carrera.
But back to talking about this groundbreaking trans character played by Karla Mosley. While some folks in Trans World are disappointed this character isn't being played by a transfeminine actress, that's mitigated in my eyes by the fact Maya Avant is a major character on the show and is a woman of color..
This is also groundbreaking on multiple levels. It has been rare to see fictional African-American trans feminine characters on television, and rarer still for them to be a major show character. It's why I was thrilled to see this happen, gave the side eye to some peeps who were grousing about the fact the character wasn't played by a trans woman, and I'm hoping this ongoing storyline starts driving a positive discussion about trans issues in the Black community.
FYI, to underscore how serious the B&B producers are about this storyline, transmasculine actor Scott Turner Schofield pops up on the show as Maya's best friend and mentor Nick.
Last week we got another major peek into Maya's backstory when her parents Julius and Vivienne Avant, played by veteran actors Anna Maria Horsford and Obba Babatunde show up in LA.
They are on a mission to bring little sis Nicole back to Illinois with them so she isn't in her father's mind 'under the influence of Maya.'
Dude, Nicole is an adult woman who loves her big sis. Get a life and a clue that trans people exist and aren't going away.
Julius has major problems with Maya's transition, and refuses to wrap his head around the fact he has another daughter and Maya was never comfortable in her skin until after her transition.
Like myself, Anna Maria Horsford is also hoping this storyline jump starts a much needed conversation about trans and SGL subjects in our community and across the country.
"Gay and transgender subjects are not comfortably discussed in the African-American community," Horsford says. "We might see that our children are different but we don't tell anybody about it. We all know that church choir director who never got married and his mother still insists it's because he never met the right girl. We may want to say, 'Oh, Mama, c'mon, we know!' But we keep it polite. I love that this story on The Bold and the Beautiful is ultimately about truth and integrity and acceptance. It's going to stir up a lot of positive talk in our community—and hopefully in all communities."
Another subject in which I hope this Maya Avant trans storyline on B&B will help foster a needed discussion about is blowing up the misguided notion that trans women aren't viable life partners for cis men.
Trans women are women, and many of us have no problem attracting masculine attention because we are quality human beings just looking for love like everybody else on this planet.
The other lie that also needs to be expeditiously shut down is the one bandied about that a cis man attracted to a trans woman is 'less than a man' for doing so. Umm no. Society needs to stop denigrating the men who genuinely seek us out for long term relationships.
I know trans women who are in relationships with, engaged to or happily married to cis men, and it's past time society stop beating up on the men who love us or being shocked that trans women got it going on like that..
It's also past time for trans women to get over our internalized issues and believe that we are worthy of being loved by any man, cis or transgender.
And if a soap opera storyline can make all those needed conversations happen, I'm all for that.
As y'all have been observing, the conservafools are in full freak out mode now that marriage equality is the law of the land after the recent affirmative 5-4 SCOTUS ruling.
But since when did the faux faith based haters let facts and history get in the way of a good lie?
The bottom line is that marriage is basically a legal contract between two parties, not a religious sacrament, hence the need to get a marriage license from the government before you do so.
As a TransGriot public service, here's a masterful takedown of all the right wing arguments about 'traditional marriage' by Matt Baume that you can use on your right wing relatives, the ignorati as you surf the Net or the peeps reciting FOX Noise talking points.
There is an upcoming movie about Stonewall that has pissed some people off because it gaywashes and whitewashes the real history of the rebellion that it was a trans, people of color and butch lesbian led event.
Well, only proves the old saying that you have to be in control of writing the history, because if you aren't, you're not going to be happy about what is produced, especially if it is by people who don't like you.
Miss Major, courtesy of the Trans Oral History Project, talks about June 1969 night.
Serena Williams ended her business trip to London on a successful note as she captured her sixth 'Williams'-don title, her 21st Grand Slam championship overall, and her second Serena Slam with a 6-4, 6-4 straight set victory over Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
But the 21 year old Muguruza, who knocked Serena out of the French Open last year in the second round and was confident she could pull off the upset again, and was determined to not roll over and hand the Venus Rosewater Dish to Little Sis.
She was planning on making Serena earn the trophy, and she did.. Muguruza broke Serena's serve in the opening game of the first set and built a 4-2 lead before Serena kicked it up another level and won the next five games to take the set and go up 1-0 in the second set.
Williams built a 5-1 lead in the second set before the nerves and magnitude of what she was about to accomplish briefly affected her, and she dropped two service games with a chance to serve for the title as Muguruza fought to stay alive in the match.
Muguruza closed to 5-4 with a chance to serve to knot the set at 5-5. But Serena would wake up and build a 40-0 lead and watch Muguruza hit a forehand shot wide to get the break and her sixth Wimbledon title.
In addition to winning her fourth straight Gland Slam title since the 2014 US Open, she is now seven wins away from capturing her first calendar year Grand Slam, tying Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam title wins and only three Grand Slam title wins from catching Margaret Court.
The queue for the strawberries and cream flavored Haterade forms to the left.
See y'all in New York next month for what may shape up to be a historic US Open.
The Confederate flag that went up on the South Carolina capitol dome in 1961 as a symbol of resistance to the Civil Rights Movement has finally come down Friday morning to cheers of thousands of onlookers watching a South Carolina State Police honor guard take it away.
And it was way overdue.
That flag is a odious to me as the Nazi flag is to our Jewish friends, and I'm beyond sick and tired of hearing the 'heritage not hate' lie southern revisionists, Dixiecrats and white supremacists routinely spouted whenever it was pointed out the Confederate flag was the flag of white supremacists traitors to the US federal government who fought an armed rebellion to keep my people enslaved.
I would have preferred they burn it, but it is going to its new home in a state archive.
Goodbye and good riddance to that symbol of treason and hate.
If you missed it, there was a Royal Pains episode that aired on June 23 featuring another of our amazing trans teens in Nicole Maines called 'The Prince of Nucleotides'
I finally got a chance to see some video of her performance courtesy of YouTube, and here it is a scene from it.. If I can find the full episode I'll post it here.
I was surprised, pleased and honored to see a meme created by TransMusePlanet that quotes me on the importance of Black trans history.
It's why my blog is named TransGriot and one of the reasons it exists. While I'm writing many of the posts here to chronicle it and pass it on to my transpeeps that wish to get acquainted with it, it needs to also be seen by my cis Black family and our human rights allies.
I come from a family of historians. My late godmother Pearl Suel was the founding president of the Houston chapter of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life, wrote the first Black history curriculum for HISD and taught history at the collegiate and high school level.
That's where she encountered my mother, who was one of her star students, and my late father. My mom got her bachelors in history, and passed that love of history to me. I was involved in History Prep Bowl academic competitions in junior high as was captain of the team in my 8th grade year.
My dad was an admirer of Marcus Garvey. I also count amongst my friends several collegiate history professors teaching at institutions across the country.
The love of history runs deep in my life, and I am keenly aware of the importance of it for marginalized groups and how it can be used to empower them.
Our opponents are aware of the power of history as well, which is why they work hard to keep you from not only having knowledge of your history, but seek to whitewash or eradicate any mention of it every chance they get. It is no accident that one of the things our Texas conservafool majority is up to is trying to rewrite the history books so that their misdeeds and failures are glossed over.
One of the first questions I pondered when I transitioned in 1994 was about trans history and Black trans people's contributions to it. Who are our heroes and sheroes? Who are the people who preceded me and set the table for our community at the time I encountered it? What can I do to help make this community better than when I first started hearing about it in 1975?
This blog is one part of the answer to that question. We not only need to know our Black trans history, but Black cis people ignorant of our trans existence and the contributions we have made to the Black community. Black trans people are part of the kente cloth fabric of the African-American community and the African Diaspora, and just didn't pop up out of nowhere in the second half of the 20th Century.
While we have known that trans actresses like Alexandra Billings, Alicia Brevard, Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Candis Cayne existed, it was a current actress in Laverne Cox, no stranger to making history and blazing trails, was thrilled to find out that she was walking in the path of a girl like us actress named Ajita Wilson.
Diamond Stylz and I still chuckle about the time she busted a cis woman on the Net who made the erroneous comment as a joke there would never be a transfeminine JET Beauty of the Week, only to be informed by Diamond, armed with the links to the info, that Ajita Wilson had done that as well.
There have also been some colorful characters in our history such as Lexington, Kentucky resident James 'Sweet Evening Breeze' Herndon, Georgia Black, Lady Java, Jim McHarris, and Lucy Hicks Anderson to remind us they were fighting to be their true selves in conditions and a time period far more hostile to Black people be they cis or trans.
Back in 1992 we had a transperson named Althea Garrison elected to the Massachusetts state legislature, and hopefully that will happen again in my lifetime.
And while trans models of all ethnic backgrounds like Geena Rocero, Lea T and Andreja Pejic are probably aware there has been a long stylish line of trans models dating back to the 60's starting with April Ashley. our current Black trans models like Isis King and Arisce Wanzer are also aware of and hopefully inspired by the fact they were preceded on the catwalks and magazine covers by Tracy Africa Norman.
We know that Miss Major and Marsha P Johnson raised hell at Stonewall a mere 4 years after a group of African-American gender variant kids in Philadelphia kicked off a trans-themed protest at Dewey's Lunch Counter.
And speaking of Black trans leaders, it isn't just Black trans women who have been fighting for and shaping the direction of our movement. Black trans men like Marcelle Cook-Daniels, Alexander John Goodrum and Kylar Broadus have also been handling their human rights business.
We have people who were plaintiffs in human rights court cases like Patricia Underwood and Patti Shaw, just to name two of them.
We have people in the religious leadership ranks like Rev. Yeshua Holiday, Rev. Carmarion Anderson, and Rev Lawrence T. Richardson among others making the case that Black trans people are also people of faith.
We have had trans trailblazers in the music world like Wilmer Broadnax, Jordana LeSesne, Jaila Simms and Tona Brown who cover many types of musical genres with others following in their trailblazing footsteps..
Black trans history isn't just a recitation of past accomplishments. We have people making history today in tech entrepreneurs like Dr. Kortney Ziegler and Angelica Ross. We have people in academia like Dr Van Bailey, Dr Kai Green, and Dr. Marisa Richmond.
And I can't forget Kye Allums and my WMMA sis Fallon Fox. Kye broke ground as a NCAA Div I collegiate basketball player, and Fallon is kicking butts and taking names in the octagon while representing our community and our athletically inclined transpeeps blazing trails and busting stereotypes in the sports world
And I'm still doing my part to not only help chronicle our Black trans history, but help make some of it as well. Stories of back in the day Black trans people that once were untold are
now being discovered and told to a new generation of trans people to
educate and inspire them to greater heights.
And that telling of our Black trans history is a crucial piece of building up our Black trans kids resistance to the urge to end their lives prematurely, and reinforce the point that #BlackTransLivesMatter.
We still have much human rights work left to do and much left to accomplish. We have an amazing and evolving story to tell as Black trans people. I'm proud to do my part as a trans writer walking in the footsteps of Roberta Angela Dee to bring it to you.
The New Horizons mission was launched by NASA on January 19, 2006 to explore Pluto and the Kuiper Belt region beyond it.
The spacecraft after it does the Pluto flyby will head farther into the Kuiper Belt to examine one or two of the ancient, icy mini-worlds in that vast region, at least a billion miles beyond Neptune’s orbit.
It is already paying dividends by revealing that Pluto has four other moons besides its largest one Charon named Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos
Next Tuesday the New Horizons space probe will make its closest approach to Pluto by flying within 7800 miles of the planet's surface. As it does so, the United States will become the first spacefaring nation to have sent probes to all the known worlds in our solar system.
Meanwhile back on Planet Earth, it's Friday, and y'all know what that means. It's time to select the fool, fools or group of fools that continue to push the boundaries of ignorance, go to new horizons of arrogance, and boldly go where no azzhole has gone before.
It's time for this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.
Honorable mention number one goes to all 16 GOP presidential candidates for suddenly having a 'scheduling conflict' that will prevent them from attending the upcoming National Council of La Raza Convention in Kansas City.
Way to compete for that Latino vote.
Honorable mention number two goes to Mike Huckabee, who continues to talk out of both sides of his disingenuous mouth by claiming on one hand Palestinians don't exist, and then called for them to be relocated.
I have a few Palestinian friends who would love to have a few words with you about that subject.
Make up your mind Mikey. Either they exist or they don't If they don't exist, how can the ' non existent Palestinians' be relocated?
Honorable mention number three goes to Candace Cameron Bure, who is revealing herself to be as bad as her right wing fundie brother Kirk for still trying and failing miserably on The View to justify anti-gay discrimination in the wake of the Oregon homophobic cake bakers having to pay a $135K.legal settlement to the lesbian couple they discriminated against.
Raven-Symone of all people called her azz out on it.
Honorable mention number three goes to Si Robertson, who points to calendars of all things as his 'proof' that atheists don't exist.
Y'all just keep proving to me every day that conservatism is a hotbed of stupidity and ignorance.
Honorable mention number four is Paula Deen, who obviously didn't learn a thing from the last kerfluffle she stirred up and posted a picture of her son dressed in brownface.
Yeah, you have some 'splaining to do to the Latino community about that and your Southern fried bigotry.
Honorable mention number five is Rick Wiles, who renounced his American citizenship because of the SCOTUS marriage equality ruling. So Rick, when do you leave my country?
And when you do, make sure you take the rest of your right wing fools with you.
Honorable mention number six is Stacey Dash, who had the wash set and GOP cranial rinse and is trying hard to fit in as a FOX Fembot. In her latest appearance of the GOP Propaganda Network, she opened her mouth to say that she wants Donald Trump running our country.
That's it. You have confirmed to the entire world that you are a beautiful fool.
Honorable mention number seven is the conservafool majority on the Texas State Board of Education Miseducation. They are about to push out a textbook that is a crime against history that tries to claim slavery was a side issue in the Civil War ( it was THE issue) , downplays the KKK and Jim Crow segregation, and tries to whitewash to Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Hey, you proud Americans did all that crap, so practice what you screech at other and own your crap.
Honorable mention number eight is a group award for all the Ugly American foolswho sent racist tweets in the wake of Team USA's 5-2 victory in the FIFA Women's World Cup final over defending champion Japan.
See, you people are why we can't have nice international reps.
This week's fool is Donald Chump Trump, the leading contender (no joke) for the GOP 2016 POTUS nomination who continues to triple down on the racist and xenophobic crud he's saying on the campaign stump as people and companies rush to sever business ties to him.
Trump recently launched an attack on African-American kids in addition to the continued insults he's lobbed at the Latino community., but incredulously thinks he's going to win the Latino vote.
Yeah right, the sellout Latino vote. But keep sellin' those presidential woof tickets and race baiting until at least until the first GOP debate on August 6. You're doing the country a huge service by exposing the racist underbelly of the Republican Party o moderate voters and motivating non-white voters to show up and show out at the polls on November 8, 2016
It's the 'Williams'-don semifinals, and Serena Williams was going for her 8th Wimbledon ladies final appearance against a foe in Maria Sharapova who hasn't beaten her since 2004.
And she wouldn't do it today either.
Williams and Sharapova were meeting for the 20th time, and Serena has owned her with a 17-2 record in their head to head meetings.
Make that 18-2. Serena beat her for the 17th straight time since that shocking 2004 straight set Wimbledon finals loss,. Little Sis was on her A+ game and made quick (1:19) 6-2. 6-4 straight set work of Sharapova to get to her 8th Wimbledon final, the 25th Grand Slam final of her career and win her 26th straight Grand Slam match.
The win over Sharapova keeps her quest alive for a Serena Slam. This will be if she wins Saturday in addition to her sixth Wimbledon ladies singles title, her fourth straight Grand Slam title since she captured the 2014 US Open. With a win Saturday at Centre Court Serena will also set up a chance to accomplish a calendar year Grand Slam at the US Open and tie Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam wins.
How you like her now haters? Here's some strawberries and cream flavored Haterade for you to drink. Hater tots will be coming soon for you to munch on.
She will face 21 year old Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who knocked off 2012 Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2.3-6, 6-3 to become the first Spanish woman since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario did so in 1996 to advance to the Wimbledon final.
And you can bet Serena won't be sleeping on Muguruza. If that name sounds familiar to you, it was none other than Muguruza who upset Serena in the second round of the French Open last year.
While Muguruza is capable of doing it, she'll probably get a Serena who is on her A+ game, remembers what happened last year. at Roland Garros and is ready to atone for it..
But unfortunately for Muguruza, this ain't Roland Garros, it's the All-England Club, the Williams sisters personal tennis playground.
Should be fun to watch this tennis history unfold for the greatest tennis player of all time as she attempts to win her sixth 'Williams'-don ladies singles title and another Venus Rosewater Dish for her trophy collection.
I also love the fact she's on the verge of doing so 40 years after Arthur Ashe won his Wimbledon title.
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is the largest national Hispanic civil rights organizations in the country, and their annual conference is the largest gathering of Hispanic leaders, institutions, politicians and activists in the United States.
This year's NCLR conference is in Kansas City, MO from July 11-14, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak to an estimated 2200 delegates along with Democratic presidential candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley.
attendees
will hear NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía and other speakers
address key issues in the Latino community today, including our nation’s
economy, technology and community policing, among others. - See more
at:
http://www.nclr.org/index.php/about_us/news/news_releases#sthash.XiRf3DKp.dpuf
The delegates will also gather to hear NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguia and others speak on July 14 about issues of importance to the Latino community such as immigration, community policing, the economy, and education just to name a few.
Any smart politician is keenly aware of the fact that Latinos are the fastest growing demographic group in the US, and will have increasing clout in the upcoming 2016 presidential election.
People who are competing for their party's presidential nominations and eventually the presidency of the United States would be wise to speak to these assembled leaders at this NCLR Conference, lay out their vision for America and what their policies will specifically do for the Hispanic community.
But guess who won't be in the Kansas City Convention Center for the NCLR conference? All 16 Republican presidential candidates. Interesting to note they all declined their invitations from NCLR to speak at this year's conference.
Hmm. Don't feel bad Latino community. The GOP routinely disses the NAACP convention until it's an election year. Shows you how serious they are about wanting to court your votes, and I hope you remember that in November 2016.
But then again, with all the hateful rhetoric they and Donald Trump have spewed lately about Mexican immigrants lately on FOX Noise and in conservafool media combined with their refusal to pass immigration reform despite having control of the House and Senate, it's probably why the Republican candidates are making sure their campaign travel plans don't include Kansas City this week.
Should be fun to watch what happens in KC over the next few days and see what excuses the GOP presidential clown bus comes up with as to why they avoided the NCLR Conference.
If you're the fabulous trans teen Jazz Jennings you woke up early this morning in New York along with your wonderful mom Jeanette to get ready for a live TV appearance on ABC's The View.
I think Jazz has more frequent flier miles than I do this year, but I digress.
As you all know the TLC reality show featuring Jazz and her amazing family I Am Jazz is set to start on July 15. Jazz is also a spokesmodel for Clean and Clear, has written a picture book to inspire other trans kids with the same title, and as someone who has had the pleasure of meeting her, is one very sweet kid.
She's had some amazing stuff happened for her. as she continues to live her life, fight for the human rights of transpeople, educate others along the way and be a shining example for other trans kids.
Hey. she's also a wonderful role model for us adult trans folks as well.
As soon as I find the video for this morning's broadcast, I'll post it on the blog for you peeps to see it.
Looking forward to seeing this The View episode since I missed it, the reality show and seeing what happens next for this amazing young lady.
TransGriot Note: This guest post from Ashton Woods explains from his perspective as an ally to the trans community why other peeps in the SGL community should support their trans brothers and trans sisters. Overthe last fifteen years of being out and proud, I have had the privilege of meeting some great people who just so happened to be Transgender.
When I was fifteen and
still living in my beloved New Orleans, I would visit my life long
friend Dee whose mother is friends with my mother. He lived around the
corner from me and when I would visit him I would notice four people
sitting on a porch, sometimes five, two to three women and two men. I
had always spoken (its a NOLA thing) to them in passing and one day I
was drawn to go directly and speak to them out of attraction to this
beautiful man named Jeff. My attention was quickly stolen by a regal and
stately elderly woman named Mrs. Williams, who I came to think of as my
own family: "Boy come on up here and sit on this porch.." she belted
out in strong yet soft tone. It turns out that this group of people for a
short time in my teenage life would be part of my chosen family! Amber,
one of the women, out of the three happened to be Trans and I couldn't
tell until she made mention of it.
THIS is where my advocacy for Trans persons of color originates from. I
mean there was this eighty year old woman, her sister who was in her
seventies, me a teenager, and two thirty something men just sitting on
the porch on Saturdays for a couple hours and talking about life! The
best part about us is that we were all Black! Like I said, they were my
family for a short time do in part to me becoming an SGL-BT/LGBT
homeless youth, which led me to just be around people like me, Black
SGL-BT/LGBT homeless youth.
On the first of many nights having to sleep
out in the streets, a man held a knife to me in order to force me into
having sex with him until I saw this tall statuesque woman come up from
behind to take the man down. She told him "Don't mess with this
baby..." and she literally took the knife out of his hand and sent him
away bloody. Honestly, it was all a blur, but she saved my life and I
never knew her name, she saved my life.
She was in transition and she let it be known during a short
conversation over food that she bought me after convincing me to go and
eat at Clover Grill. Mind you, the frame of time between meeting Amber
and this stranger who came to my rescue was a matter of months from 1999
to 2000.
Thanks to Lou Weaver, I was alerted to an upcoming conference, the Aqui Estamos RGV Conference that will be taking place at the STC Cooper Center in McAllen from August 6-7.
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