It''s Past Time To Recognize That Black Trans Lives Matter

Still thinking about the fact tomorrow will mark 20 years since a 24 year old Tyra Hunter died from survivable injuries in a SE DC car accident at 50th & C Streets because of medical transphobia.  

In my hometown I along with other activists are battling an attempt to place anti-trans language in the Houston City Charter along with fighting to protect our trans inclusive human rights law.

Out of the 11 trans women who have unfortunately been murdered in the United States this year, seven have been Black trans women.

And we still have elements of the Black community who are attempting to erase our existence from a community we have cultural and blood ties to, and even colluding with white conservative fundamentalist ministers to erase our human rights  

Black transpeople exist.  We are your brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,  neighbors, co-workers and fellow African descended human beings who deserve acceptance and respect, not your faux faith based contempt.

I say this often, and I will repeat it again.   Black trans people are part of the kente cloth fabric of Black America  and we.aren't going away.  We didn't turn in our Black Like Me cards when we transitioned to become the Black men and women we were born to be.   We have talents and skills to contribute to make Black America , the states and the cities we reside in better.   We vote.  We are involved in other protest movements besides LGBT ones and trailblazing leaders inside and outside our community.  

Yep, we're there.  It's just at times we don't disclose we are trans.   Because of the virulent hatred we face even inside a community we should be able to have as a safe haven from anti-trans bigotry and prejudice, we have to fight our own people, and that is depressing and exhausting at times.

Some of you in Black America get that obvious point that Black trans people are also Black people, while others of you still have to get it through your nappy headed skulls that we are.

Black trans people are Black people, and we are caught up in an inescapable web of mutuality.  The minimum requirement we have of you as fellow African descended people is unconditional love and acceptance of who we are, and our humanity is not up for debate or discussion.

What affects the Black community affects me and other Black trans people, and what ails Black trans America is also a problem for Black America as well that needs to be tackled and solved with coordinated action.

If #BlackLivesMatter, ]our #BlackTransLivesMatter, too

The question is how long will it take you Black cis people to realize that?.

Once Again, Dating A Trans Woman Doesn't Make A Cis Man Gay

There are rumors that actor Keanu Reeves is dating actress Jamie Clayton.   Hey, if it's true I couldn't be happier for them as a couple and hope it lasts a while for both of them.

As to people who are tripping about it, your problem with this relationship would be what? That Jamie is a girl like us?  

I repeat, and your problem with that would be?

Once again I and other trans women around the Net are going to have to remind some of you clueless cis peeps that are going to salaciously go there and either misgender Clayton or question Reeves' sexuality about a couple of salient points.

The first point I need to make is that trans women are women, regardless of the genitalia configuration in our panties, which by the way is none of your business. 

Second, gender identity and sexual orientation are separate and distinct issues. Sexual orientation is who you like to go to bed with, gender identity is the person who you go to bed as.

There are guys who prefer or like to date trans women.. It's no different that guys who like blondes, brunettes, women with short or long hair, Black, White, Latina or Asian women, full figured women, women with slim builds, big breasts, A cup breasts, short women, tall women....you get the picture.

And it's not like trans women who are attracted to men don't have the qualities that allow us to get and keep whatever man we want.that is attracted to us.  Some of us so moved those guys hearts they hurried up, put a ring on our fingers and married us.

And in many cases, they have been so happy they did so.

Trans women come in all shapes, sizes, ethnic backgrounds and types just like our cis feminine counterparts.  Just as there are tall girls like me, I also know petite, size 8 shoe wearing girl like us divas and that 'linebacker in a dress' stereotype is so disco era.. Remember, some of my sisters are drop dead gorgeous and photogenic enough to have been walking the world's fashion runways since the 60's.

And even if they aren't walking runways, I personally know enough attractive, smart, and talented trans women who would make nice partners for anyone who gave themselves the chance and the opportunity to at least go on a date or two and get to know us.

We trans women are not only looking for love, we deserve to be loved, too.

So no, I'm not surprised that Jamie Clayton is dating Keanu Reeves if it's true.  Let's be real, Jamie is one attractive girl, and sooner or later somebody was going to romantically step to her.  .It's not like guys in Hollywood haven't been averse to dating trans women, they were doing so back in the day and still are.

Unfortunately some of those relationships were on the down low, and when the paparazzi or the tabloids finally caught up with them, the trans woman would get thrown under the publicity bus.

I'm hoping that if this is true, that it sparks a conversation about the men who love us inside and outside Trans World.   It's one we've needed to have for a long time.

Another conversation we have need to have is dispelling the jacked up and misgendering myth that a cis man dating a transwoman automatically makes his gay, and it needs to die.  What you are doing when you say that is erase the femininity of the trans woman in question and misgendering her, and that's mighty transphobic of you when you do so.

So no, dating a trans woman doesn't make a cis man gay.   Daring another man, trans or cis does.

TransGriot Note:  The photos in this post are of Jamie Clayton, Harisu, Angelica Ross, Lea T. and Geena Rocero.

Hiroshima Plus 70

70 years ago on this date in 1945, the first atomic bomb used in warfare was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by a lone B-29 bomber piloted by Col.. Paul Tibbets named the Enola Gay.

When the 'Little Boy' exploded in an air burst 2000 feet over the city at 8:15 AM local time, 60,000 people were instantly killed and five square miles of the city was left in ruins.  Thousands of other Hiroshima residents who survived the initial blast later succumbed to burns, radiation poisoning or died of cancer and other illnesses combined with effects of malnutrition.

It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki.

While the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki three days later are credited with ending World War II, they are still considered the most controversial events of the war.  The atomic bombings are still being argued in hindsight whether they were even necessary seven decades later.

A ceremony was held yesterday at 6:15 PM Houston time in Hiroshima Peace Park in which representatives from over 100 nations including US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy were there to mark that somber anniversary with a one minute moment of silence and renew the call to work toward a world without nuclear weapons. 

This 70th anniversary also dovetails nicely with the debate going on inside I-495  about whether the recent Iran nuclear deal will not only shut down their ability to build The Bomb, but be enforceable.

While that's another issue for discussion, what we know is that the Little Boy and Fat Man bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were primitive compared to the nuclear weapons we possess now that can be sent zooming off to their targets in mere minutes..  

We have come close in 1962, 1973, 1979 and twice in 1983 because of mistakes, military system glitches and political miscalculations of the US and the Soviet Union launching nuke attacks on each others respective nations and imperiling life on Planet Earth as a result.  

We must do our utmost to ensure that these are the last instances of cities being nuked in anger, and get people to remember, as I paraphrase a line from the movie WarGames, in that the only way to win a nuclear war is not start one in the first place.

366 Days To Rio

366 days from today will come the day the world's sports fans will be looking forward to except everyone in Chicago.    Yes, Chicago I still feel your pain of having the best bid and being eliminated in the first round of venue voting.   Y'all was robbed by the IOC.

It'll be on this August 5 date next year that the Games of the XXXI Olympiad  will kick off in Rio de Janeiro at Maracana Stadium with what will probably be based on what they showed off during the 2012 London Games closing ceremony, an entertaining opening ceremony.    It will be only the third city in the Southern Hemisphere (Melbourne 1956, Sydney 2000) and the first South American one to host the Olympics.

Will be interested  to see what Brazilian gets tapped for the honor of being the final relay runner that gets to ignite the Olympic flame and how the Rio organizing committee chooses to do so since there have been since 1992 some pretty creative torch lightings.

Looking forward to from August 5-21 watching the various Olympic sports take place with the amazing scenery in the Rio area as a backdrop.

This Olympic Games for US and Canadian television and cable viewers will have many events in prime time network coverage in our time zones  

While we are still a year away from knowing who the pre-Olympic favorites will be in many of the sports and the qualifying will start ramping up soon, USA basketball fans know their FIBA world championship men's and women's teams will go in as gold medal favorites.  The USA men will be trying to accomplish an Olympic threepeat and the USA women will be seeking to collect their sixth straight gold medal.  

Both teams are already qualified, it's just a matter of who ends up on the Olympic squads.selected by men's coach Mike Krzyzewski and women' coach Geno Auriemma and what groups they end up in once FIBA Olympic qualifying is completed.  

And can the FIFA world champion USA women's soccer team not only handle their CONCACAF qualifying business in October, but capture their third straight Olympic gold medal in what is shaping up to be a loaded women's Olympic tourney field with host Brazil, Germany, France and a rapidly improving Colombia as four of the already qualified teams?

We will also have to wait until next August to find out what pre-Olympic favorites falter and what unknown athlete steps up big to claim an unexpected medal.

The clock is tucking toward August 5, 2016 and the opening date of the 2016 Rio Games.

'The Best Man Wedding' Coming In 2016!

One of my fave all time movies is The Best Man.   I was at my fave multiplex when it debuted in 1999 and when the Best Man Holiday sequel came out 14 years later (boo hiss). 

I'm booing about the 14 too long years it took to get that sequel made, not the quality of the film, of which it and The Best Man are in my personal DVD collection.

The sequel picked up where it left off chronicling the lives of Harper, Robyn, Lance, Mia, Julian, Candy, Shelby, Jordan and Quentin as they get together at Lance's palatial mansion for Christmas.  I was in another multiplex laughing, crying and munching on my popcorn at all the twists, turns and jaw dropping surprises when it was released in 2013.  

Despite the fact the sequel was 14 years late, The Best Man Holiday made $70.5 million in the US box office, which doubled the $35.1 million the original movie made at the box office. 

Since The Best Man Holiday cost only $17 million to make and made all that mad loot in the US market, it was a no-brainer Hollywood decision to bring back the entire cast for a third movie that will be called The Best Man Wedding.

Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Morris Chestnut, Harold Perrineau, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Melissa De Sousa, and Regina Hall will all be back for The Best Man Wedding.  

The third installment of  The Best Man movies will pick up where the last one left off in terms of following the announcement of playa-playa Quentin at the end of the sequel that he was getting married, and the hilarious events leading up to his wedding.  


We have a date for when that third movie in The Best Man series will be released, and according to the Hollywood Reporter it will be on April 15, 2016.

Malcolm D. Lee (Spike Lee's cousin) will once again be writing and directing it, and the Universal press release stated the entire cast will be back.  Does that also include Monica Calhoun, whose character Mia shockingly died in the second film?.  .If it does, going to be interesting to see her character in flashbacks.. 

We The Best Man fans will also be eagerly awaiting the answer to the question of  who is the woman that finally got Quentin to put a ring on it, and is it Shelby?   

And speaking of couples, are Jordan and Brian still together?  How are Robyn and Harper adjusting to parenthood?   What's up with Julian and Candace and have they moved on from the marital squabble they had in The Best Man Holiday?

And the big question is how is Lance adjusting not only to his retirement from pro football, but life after losing his soulmate Mia?

And who is Shelby's daughter Kennedy's daddy?   Remember Quentin and Shelby seem to keep falling into bed despite their mutual distaste for each other, and Kennedy is the right age for being Quentin's child if Shelby ended up pregnant after they hooked up after Lance and Mia's wedding in The Best Man.
Just thought I'd give you a things to make you go hmm moment to ponder until then.  

Unfortunately we'll have to wait until April 15, 2016 to find out the answer to that and other questions

Why Is It Taking This Latina Nearly 5 Years To Get A Passport?

MeChelle Salinas is a hardworking Austin based hairstylist and makeup artist who I met when I attended my first Southern Comfort Conference in the ATL back in 1999.   She's a native Texan born in the Rio Grande border town of Eagle Pass who loves to travel, and would love to have the ability do so internationally.

For that as everyone is aware of, you need a passport.   But MeChelle has been stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare that has dragged on for now almost five years just to get it.

Acquiring the identity documents we need as trans people can sometimes be a pain in the behind as my nine month battle just to get my Texas drivers license was testimony to.  There are also times that we trans people as forced to jump through hoops and encounter additional procedural hurdles before we even can get those necessary identity documents.

Being born in Texas makes Salinas an American citizen by birth.  Both of her parents are also American citizens. But she was also born in her parent's Eagle Pass home with the assistance of a midwife instead of in a hospital.

That's her first problem.  Problem number two is Eagle Pass is on the US-Mexican border. And oh, did I also mention that on her way to adulthood she came out to her family as trans in her teens?.

"I just wish people would open their minds and hearts and accept that we are all human, no matter what gender you chose to be,." says Salinas as we discussed her situation.

Fast forward to a now in adulthood Salinas starting the process to get her new passport.   She has a copy of her certified Texas birth certificate.   She has copies of her doctor's and medical records going back to infancy.  She has copies of all the paperwork for her legal name and gender marker change that occurred in 1998.  She has even enlisted the help of her local congressman Lloyd Doggett to try to break the bureaucratic logjam to acquire her passport.

She has even held a US passport in the past.  "I had a passport before. But they are claiming that any passport info over 20 years old was deleted from the system."

But because the paperwork and documents she has in her possession have been deemed  as 'insufficient proof' of American citizenship, the passport reapplication process she started in 2010 has now been stuck in the bureaucratic maze for nearly five years.

Salinas shared with me the reason she was reapplying for her US passport was also work related.  "I was hired by one of my regular clients to do a wedding in Italy.   I had been doing her hair since she was 8 years old and I was not only looking forward to that trip to see her get married, but get a chance to get paid doing what I love at the same time." she added.

"Because of the passport problems, I not only missed out on that trip and the money I was going to get paid, but I also missed getting to see one of my longtime clients get married.".

Salinas is frustrated that she not only missed out on that paid wedding opportunity, she's upset that she's still enmeshed in this bureaucratic nightmare when all she wants to do is get her passport, have it in case opportunities like that missed Italian wedding pop up in the near future and start traveling the world.   She is searching for an attorney to help her out.

Salinas also suspects that because of her intersectional status of being a trans Latina who happened to be born on the US-Mexico border, in a time in which anti-Latino immigration animus is being stirred up in the United States for political gain combined with transphobia, are factors in why her passport reapplication application process is moving at a glacially slow pace.

"It has taken me three years just to get a caseworker," said Salinas. "It's been so hard and frustrating that I have almost given up. But I know I have to fight to make it happen.  I'm just tired and frustrated about the whole experience right now.." . 

"I was denied by mail. All my info and paper work was sent back and I was told to try again in 60 to 90 days " she added. "They also kept every cent of the fees I had paid to them as I .was left with once again to starting the process again from scratch"

"When I asked the caseworker what would change in 60 to 90 days to be able to get my passport she answered, 'I don't know' '".

Despite the emotionally draining at times bureaucratic drama, Salinas is hopeful that she will eventually get her passport and will soon be jetting off to the places that she has dreamed about visiting since she was a child.

And I hope that happens for MeChelle as well.

Soon To Be Released Stonewall Movie Is Whitewashing And Erasing Trans History

When I first heard about a Stonewall movie project coming out of Hollywood, my first thoughts were "That's nice, but I hope they don't whitewash the damned movie".

Now  the initial trailer for the Roland Emmerich directed film Stonewall has come out, and it's worse than I feared.  The screenplay written by Jon Robin Baitz focuses on a fictional white gay man from Kansas named Danny, who moves to New York and is shown during the course of the movie to eventually become radicalized enough to throw the brick that triggered the rebellion and subsequently a movement.

As for Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson?  They are just minor characters in this film.  

Seriously?  The mother of the trans rights movement, who jumped off Stonewall and along with Marsha played a major role in fighting for the recognition of gender variant people as the nascent movement was forming in the wake of the Stonewall rebellion is a minor character?  

That's some bull feces.    But here's the trailer.



Umm, naw boo boo kitty, that's not how it went down, and as long as Miss Major is alive, I'm not letting that fictionalized whitewashed trans free Stonewall narrative even gain a foothold because it's a crime against history and disrepectful to Sylvia, who i had the pleasure of meeting in May 2000.

The reality coming from multiple witnesses to the original event say that it was Marsha P Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, butch lesbians and other gender variant persons of color who jumped off the riot in 1969 while the Fire Island gays were still cowering in their closets.

Even Ray Hill, who is one of our Houston human rights icons and who was one of the early Big Four Gay leaders along with Harvey Milk, Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings, has told me that Stonewall was a trans and gender variant POC led uprising.

So when Stonewall the whitewashed trans history erasing movie comes out, save your hard earned T-bills.   Just say no to erasure and whitewashing of the undeniable trans and person of color influence in what went down on a sultry June 1969 night that changed the course of American history and started a human rights movement,  

TransGriot Note:  If you're pissed off about this trans erasure and whitewashing of LGBT history in this movie project, here's a documentary movie project about Marsha P. Johnson's life called Happy Birthday, Marsha that is in production and raising money for its completion.

2015 US Trans Survey Launches August 19

When the National Transgender Discrimination Survey launched in 2011 and its findings were ensconced in a report entitled Injustice At Every Turn, little did the almost 7000 people who filled out that survey in 2008-2009 realize that their answers would help be a catalyst for change and drive the trans movement forward.

I used that sobering data repeatedly when it was time to lobby or write articles for the blog, and the 2011 NTDS survey served as a snapshot of the US trans community that has had far reaching policy implications.

Now NCTE is gearing up to do so again with the 2015 version of what has now been renamed the US Trans Survey.   It kicks off August 19 with the goal of getting 20,000 trans people to take the survey.

I'm urging all trans folks, and especially trans people of color around the country to take the time to fill this out because it is that important.   If want data about the lives of trans people of color to show up in the subsequent reports that will be generated from this survey, then we need to represent and do so.

The data collected in the US Trans Survey will go toward pushing policymakers, organizations, and lawmakers to do the right thing for trans Americans, and help researchers compile that 2015 snapshot of trans Americans we'll be relying on for that work of advancing our human rights cause until it's time for the next one in 2019..

So when August 19 gets here (and that date is rapidly approaching), let's at least double the amount of people taking this year's survey, and let's also strive to get participation in all 50 states so we can get statewide data to peruse for your various states as well.

But in order for that to happen, you must participate. You can hit the link at ustranssurvey.org to do so when it goes live, and make sure you share it with other trans people in your influence circles.

Moni Goes To City Hall Again!

I missed the fun last Tuesday, but I'm in the house for this week's Houston City Council public comment session that starts at 2 PM and may be just as contentious as the one last week.

Team Defend HERO will be in the house to insist our councilmembers keep the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance on the books.   They have until August 24, no thanks to a partisan Texas Republican Supreme Court order to either repeal the ordinance or put it on the ballot.

Well, I'll be there live tweeting it until it's time for me to speak, and the proceedings will also be televised and available via a live feed on HTV for those of you who wish to follow the action online.

Once again Team HERO and I will be in the Houston City Council champers to remind our city council leaders and the haters that discrimination's time in Houston has expired, and discrimination is bad for business.

Happy Birthday To The Best POTUS Ever

Yep, today is President Barack Obama's 54th birthday.   The best US president ever and the best ever on trans human rights issues was born on this date in Honolulu, HI in 1961.

The birthers still dispute that, but frack them, they aren't wrapped too tight anyway.   Just the sight of the Black man in the Oval Office since 2009 has sent them off the deep end into a seething Confederate flag waving rage.   And I love every minute of it.

Oops, I think i just described his Republican Party opposition and not the birthers.  My bad.

This man is the best president ever.  Stopped a second Great Depression from happening.  Got Osama Bin Laden.  Dow is at record highs.  Passed the Affordable Care Act.  Restored respect for our country on the world stage.and is smarter than the average Republican.

And he gets to celebrate one more birthday next year at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Hope he's getting a chance to enjoy it with the FLOTUS and First daughters before he has to handle whatever business is on his schedule for today.  

Arrest Made In India Clarke Case

There has been an arrest made in the India Clarke case.

18 year old Tampa resident Keith Gaillard turned himself in to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office on July 28.  He has been charged with one count of first-degree murder, and one count of possession of a firearm.

Police investigators have declined to cite a motive in the case (transphobic hate) but believe that he knew the 25 year old Clarke, who was found dead on July 21 from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Detectives found a fingerprint on a cigar wrapper inside Clarke's car, and Gaillard's public Facebook profile allegedly showed him showing off a small-caliber revolver, the sheriff's office said. .

Will keep y'all updated as to whether justice is served in this case.

The 40th And Last MichFest

The 40th and last Michigan Womyn's Music Festival starts today and runs in the Hart, MI area until August 9.   After 40 years, it is being shut down by its founder, longtime TERF oppressor Lisa Vogel with rivers of white womyn tears being shed over its self inflicted demise.

People have asked me as a longtime critic of the Trans Exterminationalist (Exclusionary) Radical Feminists and MichFest in general how do I feel about that.

As a trans woman targeted by people indoctrinated on '''The Land' who leave after the Hate On Trans Womyn Convening to take that transphobia they honed there into the real world, all I have to say is this

So long!  See ya!  Adios!  Good riddance to transphobic rubbish! 

Makes me so happy to see it happening after 40 years I feel like popping open that bottle of champagne I was saving for a special occasion and dancing.

But let's be real for a moment.   It didn't have to happen this way.   All Lisa Vogel and MichFest had to do was evolve.  They hypocritically let trans men in the gates, but refused to do so for trans women, and they paid the price for their lack of inclusive vision. 

Women who believed that ALL women should be on The Land tried and failed to get that policy changed, and eventually stopped coming.  Many artists because of the blatant transphobia like the Indigo Girls, Nona Hendryx and Lea DeLaria stopped coming or refused to play MichFest.

Through it all, Vogel denied there was a trans feminine exclusion policy and obstinately clung to those transphobic disco era ways like a wino clutching her last bottle of MD20/20.

So when you womyn-born-womyn are crying those rivers of vanillacentric privileged tears and looking for somebody to blame for your little anti-trans hate party shutting down forever in a few days, look in the mirror first, and then at Lisa Vogel. .   .  

Y'all have fun being stuck in the 70's for the last time on The Land.

Positively Trans Survey Launched

Thanks to the Transgender Law Center, a groundbreaking survey was launched today that has the goal of assessing the needs of our trans community members living with HIV.

It is a first-of-its-kind community-led needs assessment to examine the legal and policy landscape as experienced by transgender women, men, and gender non-conforming people living with HIV/AIDS across the country. The survey is open for responses in English and in Spanish.

“As transgender people living with HIV/AIDS, we are capable of forming our own network, telling our own stories, and developing our own strategies for advocacy,” said Cecilia Chung, Senior Strategist at Transgender Law Center and project lead for Positively Trans. “This survey is a groundbreaking opportunity to not only highlight our needs, but also our resilience when there are few resources available. We are ready to offer policy makers, providers and legislators our own solutions.”

The survey was developed in partnership with the project’s nine National Advisory Board members from across the country — Arianna Lint, Channing-Celeste Wayne, Dee Dee Chamblee, Milan Sherry, Octavia Lewis, Ruby Corado, Tela Love, Teo Drake, and Tommi J. Luckett — the majority of whom are trans women of color living with HIV.

“This survey is for us and will not be done without us,” said T+ National Advisory Board member Tiommi P. Luckett of Arkansas. “Every trans woman and man living with HIV should fill out this survey because we need people to know that we’re here, and that we can develop our own solutions and strategies to take care of ourselves.”

So if you are a trans person living with HIV, this survey is for you.   Please take a moment to fill it out and let your voice be heard.   We advocates and allies need to have solid data and statistics on trans people living with HIV that we can take to federal, state and local governmental officials, provider organizations and policy makers to help make a reality the solutions and strategies you come up with.

Here's the Positively Trans survey link, available in English and Spanish.   


TransGriot Update: Participants in the Positively Trans Survey have an opportunity to enter a drawing in which 8 people will receive a Visa Gift card worth either $250, $100, or $50.

TERF's Now Come In The Sellout Kneegrow Variety

One of the things I'm consistently amused by is the lengths the TERF's will go to hate on little ol' truth telling about their azzes me.

They know that I will swiftly point out their TERF ranks are chock full of predominately white stuck in the 70's females with massive privilege, a boulder sized rock on their shoulders, and mad they weren't born as white men with the power to oppress people at the same level.

They have tried and failed to confront me over the years because they are similar in their thought processes to right wing Republicans in that they are stuck in reciting their convoluted devoid of logic dogma.  I have over a decade of practice in deconstructing their BS while giving zero phucks calling them out as they cry tasty vanilla flavored White Women's Tears.

So they tried a new tactic and sent the TERF Kneegrow Auxiliaries after yours truly. 

Seriously?  If Moni gives zero phucks in calling you white womyn gone wild out, what made you think I was gonna go easy on your Kneegrow TERF Auxiliaries?

The first one was someone I used to know in the Louisville progressive activist community who went to the Hart, MI Hatefest, stepped on 'The Land' and is now spouting their rhetoric.  She complained in a post I had written on my FB page a month ago that 'TERF was a slur', and I patiently tried to point out to Tanisha it wasn't.

You're probably driving to The Land for the last MichFest, so let me repeat it for you once again.

TERF stands for Trans Exterminationalist (Exclusionary) Radical Feminist, and it is a truth in advertising label created by feminists tired of y'all so called 'gender critical feminists' contaminating their brand.

You don't like the TERF description, take it up with your fellow feminists. If you don't want to be called a TERF, there's a simple pathway to follow to not be called one.  Don't emulate their reprehensible behavior or spout their transphobic rhetoric and we trans folks won't have to call you out about it. 

Am I happy this is the last MichFest?  You damned skippy!   I and other trans women are gleefully celebrating the self inflicted demise of an event that was founded by a longtime trans oppressor and transphobe in Lisa Vogel.   It unfortunately was molded in her TERF image to train cis women like you to hate trans people.

And I'm saddened you drank the TERF Kool-Aid.

If you are too clueless as a Black woman to not see the over four decades of TERF oppression of trans womyn (or are deliberately choosing to ignore it) and side with white womyn stuck in the 70's that hate your Black behind, too then you can exit my Facebook page and never speak to me again.

The second kneegrow I'm about to put on blast is one I was warned about by Diwa Cain, one of my Seattle based BTAC brothers.  He shot me a Facebook message a month ago expressing his concerns about Jaqueline Sephora Andrews, a local Black(?)  trans woman who has been saying some jacked up anti-trans crap that has him and other Seattle area trans leaders concerned .

Andrews calls herself a 'gender critical transwoman' which is the latest TERF speak codeword for " I'm gonna be as transphobic as I wanna be."   The fact a trans woman calls herself that is laughable and mind numbingly delusional at best.

Andrews has attacked and repeatedly misgendered Caitlyn Jenner, thrown barbs at Janet Mock up to calling her a misogynist, expressed support for anti-trans bathroom bills and leveled an attack at Jazz Jennings and by extension all trans kids by claiming that their parents allowing them and other trans kids to transition is child abuse. 

And she got my attention and subsequently got on my bad side by misgendering moi and Fallon Fox on Twitter.  That's NOT a place you need to or should ever want to be.

If you wanted my attention, you self hating rhymes with itch, now your cookie chomping sellout ass has got it, sir.. Caitlyn, Janet and Jazz and her family are going to take the high road and ignore your azz. 

I'm going WMMA on your clueless Uncle Ruckus wannabe behind  

One thing I despise more than racists and human rights oppressors is kneegrow sellouts who collude with them for whatever reason.   And I damned sure don't like Jaqueline, an (alleged) Black trans woman gleefully spouting TERF rhetoric.   It's especially problematic that you're doing so on your two bit three hit so-called blog that I'm not even going to link to for your TERF/HBS/-TS separatist fuckery after people in the Seattle area have tried to reason with you and point out what you are saying is some phucked up crap.

Your ass has never been to a trans conference, much less interacted with your local trans community, and you have the nerve to spout harmful TERF rhetoric at people who are doing more to advance the human rights of trans people and especially trans people of color than your shady azz.

Who the phuck are you to insult Jazz, Janet, Fallon, Caitlyn and moi, who have done more collectively and individually to advance the human rights of transpeople of all ethnic backgrounds than your no interaction with the Seattle trans community don't know and don't care when you started transitioning behind?

So let me put this in terms I'm sure you'll understand:  Get thee behind me TERF wannabe Satan.

And you know you've earned a Shut Up Fool Award nomination for this week as well.

Happy Birthday Eden Lane!

Couldn't let today pass without giving a TransGriot birthday shout out to my trailblazing Denver based television producing sis in Eden Lane.

I say trailblazing because she is the first out trans reporter and journalist to cover a national political convention.  She covered the 2008 Democratic National Convention for PBS when it came to Denver.

She has also produced the show In Focus with Eden Lane for the last seven years on Colorado Public Television, and is seeking to raise $15,000 to produce another season of the weekly show that focuses on the local arts scene in Denver and the state of Colorado as she works on other media projects..

And if her name seems familiar to you, you have probably seen Eden's insightful commentary pop up recently on CNN and other television shows. 

Lane was also recently voted by readers of the local Westworld  newspaper as the 'Best Non-Network Television Personality', and I definitely hope she gets the birthday present of a major network or local station in the Denver area giving her an on-air job.

Happy birthday Eden!  May your special day find you enveloped in love, be a stress free one, and you receive the ultimate gift of celebrating many more of them.

And so looking forward to the next time we get to spend some quality time together.

Registration Now Open For BTAC 2016!

Dee Dee Watters and I zooming past our old hotel on the DART  light rail (and I'm not kidding about the zooming part) on our way to and from Richardson and the just concluded TTNS reminded me that the clock is ticking toward the next time the BTAC family gathers in the Dallas Ft.Worth area for the 2016 Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

The theme for 2016 is 'Thinking and Speaking A Better World' and the dates are April 25-May 1 for this fifth annual edition of it.   The BTAC will have a new hotel hosting it.the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria.   Personally I'm gonna miss the Doubletree Campbell Center, especially since it was on the DART Red and Orange light rail lines, had great views of the downtown Dallas skyline and was an easy trip from the downtown Dallas Megabus dropoff point for me, but sometimes change is necessary for your event to evolve and be positioned for greater success and growth.

Wow, it has been five years for this growing event in which I have been a part of since 2013 when I was asked to be a keynote speaker that year. 

Since it happens so close to Cuatro De Mayo (my birthday) and it's just a four hour drive or Megabus ride up I-45 from me, it has quickly become one of my fave conferences. 

It's also one of the few national conferences in which you get to meet many of our Black trans masculine and trans feminine leaders.  We were also honored to have some trans folks from Brazil, Panama and other places in the African diaspora in the house in 2015, and hope that trend line continues.

And trans women, did I mention all the handsome trans men that will be in the house?  Okay, just wanted to make sure I pointed that out.

I'm not only planning on being there but hopefully taking a more active role in BTAC 2016.  I plan on doing two seminars in 2016 and looking forward to administering more dominoes beatdowns at Family Fun Day  

You have been warned. 

And yes, it goes without saying that cis and trans community allies are also enthusiastically welcomed to attend BTAC 2016.  If you wish to have further information about BTAC 2016, you can click on the following link to do so.

Hope i do see y'all in the BTAC 2016 house.

See y'all in Dallas in a few months for BTAC 2016.  Looking forward to checking out the new hotel, seeing my.BTAC family and meeting more allies during that extended birthday celebration weekend for me.

2015 TTNS UT-Dallas -Day 2

Day 2 of the 7th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit kicks off on the UT-Dallas campus with a block of concurrent sessions before we move into the keynote speech by Dr. Heather Snow.

And yeah, I get to stop playing reporter for a moment and do a session later this afternoon starting at 1:05 PM on 'Contemporary Texas Transgender History'

Congratulations DFW area!   You stepped up and broke the all time attendance record with 70 attendees for yesterday`s session.

You folks at Texas A&M Central Texas in Killeen will have some work to do to beat that for #TTNS16

So if you're in the Dallas-Ft Worth metroplex, looking to get your learn on about what you can do to advance trans human rights in Texas school districts, colleges and universities and meet a bunch of cool people from around the state while doing so, you may wish to swing by the UT Dallas campus in Richardson.

The UT Dallas campus address is 800 W. Campbell Rd. and hope to see you there in the UTD Student Union building .

Shut Up Fool Awards-Chillin' At TTNS 2015 Edition

I'm in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the seventh edition of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit that is taking place as you read this at on the UT-Dallas campus.

We are at lunch right now,  and we have heard our TTNS Day 1 keynote speaker Dr. Stephen Sutton give an interesting and well received speech to the people in attendance as I think about my seminar tomorrow.

But today is Friday, so it`s time to get to our normal weekly business and call out the fool, fools or groups of fools for our illustrious award

Not going to tease you this week with a long list of fools that were in contention for this week's award, I'm going to get down to SUF 'bidness' and let you know who won it.

This week`s Shut Up  Fool Award winner is Mike Huckabee.

Whether he was violating Godwin`s Law by invoking concentration camp imagery in his critique of President Obama and the Iran nuke deal to saying something else offensive about the trans community being able to serve in our country's military, and tripling down on it while continuing to defend pedophile Josh Duggar.




And on that note, Huckabee can have several seats and a heartfelt Shut Up Fool from moi.

2015 TTNS UT-Dallas - Day 1

The 7th annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit gets cranked up on the UT-Dallas campus this morning.as it continues its ongoing mission of working to enact  transgender friendly non discrimination policies and procedures in Texas school districts, colleges and universities.

And hey DFW, let's see if y'all can break the all time TTNS attendance record that was set last year when Texas State University in San Marcos, TC hosted it.

The fun gets started with an opening breakfast, the TTNS opening ceremonies, and a keynote speech by Dr. Stephen Sutton before we dive into the Day 1 sessions.  

In case you're wondering, yes, I will be teaching a seminar, but it happens tomorrow.   Today I'm in reporter mode.

This is the second consecutive year the TTNS has ventured from its home base territory in the Houston area, and the first time it has been in the Dallas-Ft Worth Metroplex. 

Would love to see you at the UT Dallas Student Union building, and the campus is located in Richardson, TX at 800 W. Campbell Rd.  

Moni's Arrived In Dallas!

Well, actually I'm in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, TX.   I'm chillin' at the hotel and getting ready for the 7th edition of the Texas Transgender Non Discrimination Summit that will be held on the UT-Dallas campus starting tomorrow.

This year's sponsors in addition to UT-Dallas are Rainbow Guard UTD, UTD Pride, and the Gallerstein Women's Center.

This is the second straight year the TTNS has hit the road and began to do what founder Josephine Tiittsworth and the board envisioned for it when it started back in 2009.   It not only is helping to push for trans inclusive non discrimination policies on Texas college and university campuses and school districts, it is also being held in different parts of the state as it does so.

It';s been fun to witness the growth of the TTNS since I became aware of it in 2010, and I'm not only eager to teach my own seminar on Saturday, I'm looking forward to seeing if the Dallas-Ft Worth metroplex can break the all time TTNS attendance record set just last year when Texas State hosted it. 

And did I get my Slurpee on the way to the hotel?    What do you think?

TransGriot Update: I not only got my Slurpee at the DART St. Paul Station 7-Eleven, I qualified for a free one during that visit to the DFW`area. There were two walking distance 7-Elevens in walking distance on either side of my hotel in Richardson, and my app got a workout.