Moni's In The Middle Of The 2015 Houston GLBT Caucus Endorsement Meeting

I  have attended a few Houston GLBT Political Caucus meetings before and after my Texan in Exile days in Da Ville, but this one was going to be special.    It was going to be my first one ever as a paid member of the Caucus, and it also happened to be the 2015 Caucus Endorsement Meeting. 

Founded in 1975, the Houston GLBT Political Caucus is not only one of the oldest organizations of its kind in the southern US dedicated solely to the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans equality, it is also the largest political organization in Houston and Harris County. 

A Houston GLBT Caucus endorsement, while it is a nonpartisan org that gives the endorsement based on your support of LGBT rights, has basically become over time one of the most sought after and critical ones if you are a liberal-progressive leaning candidate running for office in the Houston area. 

Getting that endorsement helps your campaign tremendously if you get it, because their endorsement cards are used by Houston LGBT voters and our allies to ensure they are voting for liberal-progressive leaning candidates that have our community's trans..bi and SGL human rights interests at heart and will do a great job in the office they were endorsed by the Caucus for.. 

So while I have experienced being a participant in the political candidate endorsing process when I lived in Louisville and was a member of the Fairness Campaign board, I was still excited about today's events.

I didn't get there until 12:55 PM because I overslept, but once I arrived at the meeting venue I could feel the excitement in the air as I walked into the IBEW Union Hall where they had to move this endorsement meeting from the Montrose Center.  I later discovered that this was possibly the largest endorsement meeting ever attendance wise in caucus history.

Interest was huge because we in H-town are selecting a new mayor to replace outgoing Mayor Annise Parker and in the wake of recent political events surrounding HERO..  It was definitely on my mind and the minds of the folks in that packed and overly warm house.   The air conditioning in the building was having problems and improvised fans were having to be used by the meeting attendees until the AC issue got sorted out.. 

Five seconds after I walked into the room I ran into HISD school board trustee Juliet Stipeche who was seeking the Caucus endorsement in her race.   It also didn't take me long to start running into old friends like Ray Hill, Brandon Mack, Ashton Woods, Fran & Kim Watson, Dalton DeHart, Melissa Vivanco, Lou Weaver,, Brenda Langer, Michael Webb, Antonio Maldonado, Maverick Welsh, Nikki Araguz Loyd and Will Loyd/   It was also an opportunity yo meet new ones like Sharon Fuller.

I also started running into friends running for office like Jenifer Pool, Jolanda Jones and Lane Lewis and candidates seeking Caucus support that I'd met at various events over the last few months like Phillipe Nassif, Amanda Edwards and Laurie Robinson, along with my first 

Not long after I arrived at 12:55 PM because I overslept, the meeting started.  After voting to by acclimation give all the candidates in non-contested races except one the Caucus endorsements they sought,  and that all candidates endorsed by the Houston GLBT Political Caucus must publicly support ‪HERO‬ on some campaign materials, the meeting moved on to the business of dealing with the contested races, starting with the mayor's race.

It  took six hours of sometimes contentious debate and arguments that at times got heated, but in the end no chairs were thrown and no fights broke out.   The Caucus endorsement business was handled masterfully by Maria Gonzalez who kept the meeting civil and Daniel Williams who served as the parliamentarian ensuring Robert's Rules of Order were correctly and fairly applied.

Here are the candidates who earned Houston GLBT Caucus endorsements:.

Mayor 
Sylvester Turner

City Council
District B - Jerry Davis; District C - Ellen Cohen; District F - Richard A. Nguyen;
District H - Roland Chavez; District I - Robert Gallegos; District J-Mike Laster; District K-Larry Green

City Council At Large
Position 1 - Lane Lewis; Position 2 - David Robinson; Position 3 - Doug Peterson; Position 4 - Amanda K. Edwards,  Position 5 - Phillipe Nassif

Controller
Chris Brown

HISD School Board Trustee
District 2 - Rhonda Skillern Jones; Position 3 - Ramiro Fonseca; Position 4 - Jolanda Jones; Position 8 Juliet Katherine Stipeche

HCCS Board
District 3 - Adriana Tamez; Position 8 - Eva Loredo.

Congratulations to all the candidates who did get the Caucus endorsement, and to those who didn't, sorry it didn't happen for you this cycle.  

Now let's focus on the next step of getting them in office this November.

Houston GLBT Caucus Endorsement Meeting Today

In a normal Houston civic election year, stuff usually doesn't start heating up politically until September around Labor Day   

But this isn't a normal election year.   After winning her three allotted two year terms, Mayor Annise Parker will have to vacate the chair in January, and there are 6 declared candidates who have jumped into the race.

There are also peeps running to either replace term limited council members or challenge sitting ones. 

With HERO no thanks to the partisan Texas Supreme Court being forced onto the ballot, we will have to decide who will be the best candidates in this 2015 election cycle are the ones best able to support the human rights of all Houstonians.

That process for who the Houston LGBT community will support starts with the Houston GLBT Political Caucus that kicking off as you read this.   There was so much interest in this endorsement meeting, they had to move it from the Montrose Center to the IBEW Union Hall,

It`s going to be an interesting afternoon of H-town political action .  And I'm in the middle of it this time because I'm a voting member of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.

Tell y'all what transpired in a few hours.  I'm also armed with my tablet, and if I can do so, will drop some tweets or Facebook comments.

Post Number 9000!

The milestones just keep on coming here at TransGriot, and it caps an amazing week in which I had two of my posts, the Dating a Trans Woman Doesn't Make A Cis Man Gay and one slamming the upcoming whitewashed and trans erasing Stonewall movie  go viral within days of each other. for the first time ever on my blog.

I sincerely thank you readers for making that TransGriot blogging first happen.   Another milestone I need to celebrate is that you are looking at Post Number 9000 since I started the blog back on January 1, 2006.  

Still hard to believe at times that after near ten years, I've not only written that many post and the hundreds of words that comprise them, it's a blessing that I'm still be writing daily posts on this electronic platform.

I'm keenly aware that some of the blogs that either started before or after I did for various reasons are no longer publishing, and that saddens me to think about that from time to time.

There have been some bumps and bruises along the way to 9000 posts..   Several moves including a major one from Louisville where this blog started back to my native Houston.  Times in which I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep pressing on with it.   A kerfluffle or two in which my haters REAL:LY disliked something I wroteconcerning whiteness and white supremacy and called me 'racist' for it.  . 

There have also been numerous times my unapologetically Black trans tell it like it T-I-S is self has been called everything but a child of God by my haters, in cluding, the N-word, B-word, T-word, a combination of the three, or all three at the same time

But those of you who chip in on the blog's Tip Jar, who read my posts and the people I meet at various conferences and events around the country keep letting me know how much you appreciate me and my writing.   My writing means nothing if i don't have people reading it and sharing it with others.

Now more than ever it's vital it is is to have a Black trans owned and operated blog fearlessly speaking truth to power inside and outside our community, talking about trans issues from an Afrocentric perspective while also discussing about our trans community history and current events in the world around us.

I hand one person on the anniversary of her  July 16 birthday call me a modern day Ida B. Wells.  It's funny and an interesting comparison because when I started TransGriot, I was simply shooting to pick up where the late Roberta Angela Dee left off.  

To be compared to and outstanding Black writer and journalists like Ms. Wells is something I hope I can live up to as a writer with a focus on human rights and social justice issues..

It lets me know that the commitment I made to ensure that trans issues of interest to African-American and other trans people of color had a voice and platform in the blogosphere is appreciated my my readers and proven by some of the awards I've either won or been nominated for. 

That's to all my readers over the years old and new, for the times that you have shared my posts to your influence circles, and the college professors who have informed me they use them at times for reading assignments in their classes.  It's not only humbling to know that, but it ensures I don't get sloppy with my writing, lazy with my thought patterns, and stay on point with my commentary.

Well, only 1000 more posts to go until I reach the 10,000 post milestone.. Time to get busy doing the writing to get there.

If You Want HERO, Vote NO

Well, the opening shots in the battle to keep the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance on Houston's law books have been fired .

On Wednesday Houston City Council voted 12-5 to affirm HERO, and then put it on the November ballot to the voters.

Council members Jerry Davis, Ellen Cohen, Dwight Boykins (who voted against HERO last year), Richard Nguyen, Ed Gonzalez, Robert Gallegos, Mike Laster, Larry Green, Stephen Costello, David Robinson, C.O. “Brad” Bradford and Jack Christie, voted in favor of reinstating HERO

The usual conservative haters of Council members Dave Martin, Oliver Pennington, Michael Kubosh, Jack Christie and Brenda Stardig voted to repeal it.

Houston City Council then voted 13-4 to approve the city attorney's straightforward language to place on the November ballot   Councilmember Bradford proposed offering different language, but that motion was defeated 12-5.

The language that City Attorney Donna Edmondson came up with that will appear on the ballot is the following:

Shall the City of Houston repeal the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, Ord. No. 2014-530, which prohibits discrimination in city employment and city services, city contracts, public accommodations, private employment, and housing based on an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy?"

Translation.  what that means Houstonians, is that if you support HERO and wish to keep it, you vote NO on Election Day or during the early voting phase.

“Today what happened is that council members reaffirmed the original Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, and we put it to the voters in the clearest, most straightforward language we could, based on the fact that there was a petition, and that is, ‘Do you want to repeal the ordinance or not?'” Mayor Annise Parker said during a press conference following Wednesday’s meeting. “I and many others will go out and advocate to not repeal the ordinance.”

It's on like Donkey Kong now.  To help you peeps remember how to vote on HERO in November, just say or sing this little human rights protecting tune to yourself.   If you want HERO, Vote NO!"
TransGriot Update: And once again, the HERO haters went crying back to the GOP Texas Supreme Court mad because they hate the straightforward no BS ballot language the city came up with.

Will keep y'all posted about how this turns out.

Shut Up Fool Awards- Dancing On MichFest's Grave Edition

While the TERF's are crying rivers of White Womyn's Tears over the self inflicted demise of the 40th annual Hate On Trans Womyn Convening, AKA the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival that kicked off on Tuesday, I'm breaking out the bottle of champagne I received to celebrate a special occasion and doing the happy dance over it's rapidly approaching end on August 9.

Good riddance to transphobic rubbish.  No more anti-trans indoctrination on 'The Land'   And damned sure don't feel sorry for Lisa Vogel and her cadre of stuck in the 70's hatemongers because of their refusal to evolve. They would rather kill the festival than give up their desire to hate on and discriminate against trans womyn who may have been interested in attending their shindig in the Hart, MI woods and the allies who would reconsider their boycott of it if they would just let trans womyn who wish to attend it on The Land. .

If you peeps who liked MichFest want to blame somebody for its demise, you point the finger at Lisa and her like minded TERF's.  Don't aim any of that vanillacentric privileged White Womyn's Hate at Trans World

Anyway, enough jibber-jabber about the soon to be dead MichFest and time to move on to other more important things like calling out this week's bumper crop of fools.

Honorable mention number one is Lisa Vogel for failing to evolve and killing MichFest rather than opening the door to trans feminine women who wish to attend to do so, then doubling down on the transphobia by setting up on The Land a trans reparative therapist.. 

And y'all don't hate trans people at MichFest.  Yeah, right.

Honorable mention number two is Jaqueline Sephora Andrews, a so called 'gender critical transwoman' who got my undivided attention in the wrong way and got put on blast for it.

Really?  The TERF's still hate your allegedly Black trans azz no matter how much sucking up you do to them.  Ask your white TS separatist/H?BS friends how fast they threw them under the bus after they got busted colluding with them on that Brennan-Hungerford anti-trans right BS to the UN Entity on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women

Honorable mention number three is a collective award for every fool on stage at the GOP 'kiddie table' debate and the Cirque se GOP one in Cleveland.

Honorable mention number four is Mike Huckabee, one of our contenders for 2015 Shut Up Fool of the Year who once again tried to take a dig at open military service for transpeople during the debate by reciting that tired 'The military is not a social experiment line'

That would be news to Baron von Steubing, one of the first generals in the Continental Army who was gay, the 54th Massachusetts, the Buffalo Soldiers, the Tuskegee Airmen,  the 761st Black Panther Tank Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Sgt Shane Ortega, Kristin Beck, Brynn Tannehill, the LGB peeps who openly serve in our military and the over 15,000 estimated trans people who are currently serving in our nation's armed forces.

Honorable mention number five is Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) who did some mansplaining on the Senate floor  floor and asserted that he had the right to lecture a woman about abortion because ' it's a man's issue'

Her body, her call on what to do with it, even if you impregnated her.   She has the veto power because she's the one who has to decide whether or not to carry the fetus to term, give birth to it and raise that child for the next 20 years..  Until a man can do that, have several sections of seats at FedEx Field and STFU.

Honorable mention number six.is Jeb Bush for claiming that women health issues are overfunded,

Just more evidence why we need to #StayOutOfTheBushes and there should be #NoBushPOTUSThreepeat

Honorable mention number seven is Rep. Steve King (R-IA) who thinks that because same sex marriage is the law of the land, people will marry their lawnmowers.  

In the race to determine who is the dumbest member of Congress, it's between Louie Gohmert and him.

This week's Shut Up Fool loser  winner is Caitlyn Jenner

She finally let her conservative side show during an August 2 episode of I Am Cait, and it was not a good moment either .  Her insulated from the realities of trans life self made some problematic comments about social programs.

“They can make more not working with social programs than they actually can with an entry-level job,” Jenner said to an RV full of LGBT activists on the show.

Um no boo boo.  As anyone who has had to do SNAP or any other social program for a minute can tell you, one, we DON'T want to be on them because of the stigma, and two, sometimes it's necessary because you may need that helping hand for a short period of time.

And did it not occur to your sheltered, living large GOP voting behind that the average income for some transpeeps because of anti-trans discrimination in many cases pushed by your GOP friends is $10,000 a year?  That's well below the poverty line of $15K.

You really need to talk to the peeps I'm in contact with, along with more trans persons of color who will gladly break it down to you what life is like for those of us who don't live in a Malibu mansion and have been publicly out way longer than you have.

Ciatlyn Jenner, shut up fool!

Tyra Hunter Death 20th Anniversary

Today is the 20th anniversary of a needless tragedy that occurred on this date in 1995.

A 24 year old trans woman by the name of Tyra Hunter needlessly died after a car accident at 50th and C Streets in SE Washington DC of survivable injuries because of a transphobic EMT.

That happened a mere 16 months into my own physical body morphing.  The Hunter case still bothers me 20 years later because the blatant medical transphobia on display could have easily happened to me or any other trans person.

The fact it was fellow African-Americans involved in his episode of transphobic hate along with it happening in the early stages of my own transition is probably why this Hunter case has stuck with me for so long.   It was also one of the events that began to push me toward the trans human rights activism path.

I find myself on this 20th anniversary of Tyra's death pondering many what if questions and coming up with some possible resolution scenarios for them.:.

What if Tyra had gotten the care she needed to save her life?   What would a now 44 year old Tyra Hunter's life be like now?   Would she be flexing her hairdressing skills and owning her own shop by now?  Would she have found love?   Would she still be living in the DC area?

What kind of contributions would Tyra be making to our community and society in general if she were still here?

But no matter what scenarios I come up with good, bad or middle of the road for a 44 year old Tyra Hunter, I know deep down in my soul that they are questions we will never find out the answer to. 

The reason why is because she is resting in power and peace due to the transphobic actions of one DC Fire Department EMT named Adrian Williams  and subsequently at the now closed DC General Hospital from Dr Bastian because these people entrusted with the responsibility of saving human lives failed to see her as a human being..

#WeExist.  Black trans people exist.   And on this day we in Black Trans World and our allies must rededicate ourselves to reminding our fellow cis Black people that our Black trans lives matter, too.

The one thing that we can take away from this tragedy is that medical transphobia kills.   In Tyra Hunter's memory, we need to as a community be vigilant in ensuring the avoidable tragedy that happened to Tyra Hunter on this sad August 7 day 20 years ago never happens to another trans person of any ethnic background ever again.

50th Anniversary Of The Signing Of The Voting Rights Act

August 6 is also the day 50 years ago that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.   I find it deliciously apropos that yesterday the 5th Circuit Court struck down the Texas Voter Suppression (ID) law for the third time using Section 2 of the law.

The Voting Rights Act when it was signed into law by President Johnson, resulted in the mass enfranchisement of racial minorities across the nation.   It was markedly dramatic in the South, where the Jim Crow voter suppression and blatant disenfranchisement mechanisms in place were successful in denying African-Americans the right to vote.

The VRA was designed to enforce the voting rights provision in the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution, and has been updated and amended five times by Congress to expand its protections.  It is considered the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted by Congress, which is why it has also been under relentless attack by the conservative movement and the Republican Party..

The Voting Rights Act is not only groundbreaking legislation, it led to a dramatic expansion in the number of African-American politicians at all levels of government including four decades later the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.

It's why I and other African Americans are still highly pissed off about the Supreme Court's racist and clueless 2013 ruling in Shelby v. Holder that gutted a key enforcement provision in the Section 4(b) 'coverage formula' , that was designed to encompass jurisdictions that had historically engaged in egregious voting discrimination at the time the VRA was passed, and was subsequently updated in 1970 and 1975.

The coverage formula was the part that made the Section 5 preclearance provision work, and while the SCOTUS didn't strike Section 5 down, by shadily declaring unconstitutional the coverage formula, they basically made Section 5 unenforceable for the time being until Congress can pass a legislative fix to update the old formula.

While this should have been fixed immediately, and President Obama called on Congress today to act on the VRA fix legislation that Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) has filed to do so, good luck with that happening in a dysfunctional GOP controlled House and Senate whose party is heavily invested in keeping the number of voter going to the polls down in order to win elections.

As a result of Section 5 being gutted and the feds having to prosecute voting rights and discrimination cases using the VRA's Section 2 , the immediate result was Republican controlled legislatures gleefully started passing voter (ID) suppression laws designed to mess with and severely restrict the ability of  non-white voters to cast their ballots.  Texas' then Attorney General (now Governor, boo hiss) Greg Abbott, despite having the Texas Voter Suppression Law being struck down in federal court twice, reinstated the unjust law within hours of the SCOTUS misguided 5-4 ruling.

It resulted in the 2014 election cycle in 600,000 predominately non-white Texans not being able to vote.

So on this 50th anniversary of the passage of this groundbreaking law, let's remember that it safeguards the voting rights of all Americans, and must be defended by all who cherish human rights in our country.

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.