TransGriot 2015 NFL Picks-Super Bowl 50

Well, nailed both the conference title games picks which makes me 7-3 in the 2015-16 NFL playoffs to add to my 2015 NFL regular season prognostication title, and now it's time to get to my Super Bowl 50 pick.

Both teams have had a week off since their Championship Sunday tilts, and they are in Santa Clara getting ready to battle for the NFL title this Sunday.

This may be Peyton Manning's last NFL game, and the Broncos have my Houston homeboy Gary Kubiak as their head coach along with several former Texans in their lineup, and a top five defense.

I deeply appreciate them along with every NFL fan who can't stand New England for beating the Patriots 20-18 and ensuring that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick would be sitting at home watching this game.

But I just can't ignore the fact that the Carolina Panthers have been on a season long roll, also have a an amazing defense, finished 15-1, and only got better in the playoffs as they withstood a furious Seattle Seahawks comeback to win 31-24 after sprinting out to a 31-0 halftime lead in their Divisional round playoff game and stomping the Arizona Cardinals 49-15 in the NFC title game.

And yes, I'm rooting for Panthers coach Ron Rivera to make some NFL history as the second Latino head coach to win a Super Bowl after Tom Flores.   I also want Cam Newton to have the opportunity to shut up his racist haters and become the third African-American starting quarterback (Doug Williams 1988, Russell Wilson 2014) to take his team to a Super Bowl win.

Interestingly enough, Williams and Wilson both beat the Broncos to make that Black sporting history.

Enough jibber-jabber, lets get to my Super Bowl 50 pick. .So who will be hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end of this game?

The Carolina Panthers will emerge as the 2015-16 NFL champions.

Congratulations Johanna And Dustin!

Congrats to one of my sisters Johanna Saavedra, who got married to Dustin Wallace in LA back on January 29.

So happy for Johanna finding the love of her life and hope that she and Dustin have a long, healthy and happy married life together.

You also give those girls like us hope that one day we'll get to follow in your wedding footsteps and find someone who loves us enough that they will want to put a ring on our fingers and marry us too.

Trans Girl Scout Sells 3000 Cookies, Cue The Transphobic Haters

'Placement of transgender youth is placed on a case by case basis, with the welfare and best interests f the child and and the members of the troop/group in question a top priority.  That said, if the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, the Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is emotionally and physically safe.'
-Girl Scouts USA website FAQ

When nine year old trans Girl Scout Stormi started knocking on doors to sell those famous cookies in her Herrin, IL neighborhood, she was greeted by a transphobe who not only hurt her feelings, but motivated her to sell 3000 boxes of cookies.

Many of the people who bought Stormi's cookies did so online, and some of those cookie purchases came from the trans, bi and SGL community livid over the disrespectful treatment she received by the less than kind transphobe.

The bottom line is that trans feminine kids exist, and want nothing more than to live their childhoods and their lives as the girls they are.  Some of those trans feminine kids want to be Girl Scouts and the Girl Scouts USA policy is to welcome them into the fold.


As this story has been getting national attention, the transphobes are coming out to play as well in the comment threads in those stories.  It's mind boggling and despicable that these wastes of DNA can aim so much transphobic hatred at a nine year old trans girl.

But while I'm not surprised by it, I'm not having it either.  I, her trans elders and her allies will not allow transphobic vitriol aimed at our transkids from the ignorati cowering behind computer keyboards to go unchallenged.  You want to pick on somebody, aim it at somebody who will be more than willing and able to respond in kind.

And Stormi, if you still have some thin mints or Trefoils shortbread cookies boxes left, I want some.

TransGriot Update:  Stormi's online cookie sale site will stay open until mid-March and she's now up to 4000 boxes of cookies sold.

Two NYC Groups Fundraising To Buy ATLAH Hate Church

Couldn't happen to a nicer christobigot.   I would love to see the karmic justice of someone buying that hate church and turning it into an LGBT center.-TransGriot, January 29, 2016

The news broke last week that NYC hate pastor James David Manning's ATLAH World Missionary Church is going to be sold at auction February 24 to satisfy Manning's unpaid debts.  I floated the comment out there that I hoped that it could be turned into an LGBT center or hoped that an LGBT friendly church would buy the property located at W.123rd St and Malcolm X Blvd .

And lo and behold, guess some peeps were paying attention.  Two groups have emerged to buy the Harlem based church in the Ali Forney Center and the Rivers of Living Water Ministries.  

The Ali Forney Center is dedicated to serving LGBT homeless youth, and ROLW Ministries serves as a radically inclusive faith home for many trans. bisexual, and SGL Christians in the New York area.  Both are running fundraising campaigns in order to attempt to raise the $1.2 million that will be needed to buy the property.

The Ali Forney Center has raised $75K of their $200,000 target in 48 hours to finance their bid for the ATLAH property, while the Rivers of Living Water Ministries has raised as of this writing $19,761 of their $1.2 million in their GoFundMe campaign to buy the Harlem church as well.

Whichever group is successful, the bottom line for me is I hope that a building desecrated by a christobigot purveyor of hate gets a new lease on life as either a church or a community center dedicated to helping the New York LGBT community that Manning once attacked from its pulpit.  

BTAC 2016 Approaching Soon

TransGriot Note: Do need to point out in the interest of journalistic integrity that I sit on the board of Black Transwomen, Inc.

This conference up I-45 north from me in Dallas has been growing steadily over the last several years, and will be celebrating its fifth anniversary when it kicks off in April.

It's the Black Trans Advocacy Conference & Awards Gala and this year's event for April 25-May 1 will be moving to a new hotel, the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum by the Galleria.

This year's theme is 'Thinking and Speaking A Better World' and you're invited to join the BTAC family at an event designed to do just that.

I had the pleasure of being its first trans feminine keynote speaker in 2013, so I'm always interested in seeing who will get that keynote nod at every BTAC event.  This year's BTAC 2016 keynote speakers will be Mister Cris and Dora Santana.

And as always, the awards gala, the Black Trans International pageants, the Family Fun Day at Austin Ranch, the Black Diamond Ball and the information filled workshops and panels make this a unique for the conference world exciting, fun filled and informative week in the Lone Star State.

And in addition to it being in my home state and it being one of my fave conferences, it either falls on or very close to my birthday, and it has been a blast the last two years celebrating it during an event with my Black trans family from around the country and increasingly, as Dora's presence as this year's keynote speaker is indicative of, across the African Diaspora.

You have time to get that registration in for the BTAC conference, consider submitting a panel discussion topic or get ready to walk the Black Diamond Ball floor.

So hope to see y'all in the BTAC house this year as we spend the week of April 25-May 1 thinking and speaking a better world so that once we leave we can translate that into action on behalf of our community. .  

And The 2016 Iowa Caucus Winner Is...

Nobody yet.   It's still a razor thin race between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders with several precincts outstanding..

The first event of the 2016 presidential primary season happened last night in the Iowa Caucuses. In the 99 counties across the state, both Democratic and Republican voters headed to 1061 locations all over the state to support their respective candidate choices for their party's presidential nominations.


They started at 7 PM CST, and while the GOP one was over early with the junior senator from Alberta in Ted Cruz upsetting Donald Trump for the win.

As of this writing the Democratic contest between Clinton and Sanders is razor thin and has yet to be called.

One of the other results from tonight is that former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley suspended his campaign after his poor showing in the Democratic caucus, and Mike Suckabee Huckabee finally exited the GOP race after his poor showing in the GOP one.

With 97% of the precincts reporting, Clinton is up by a razor thin 49.8% (22 delegates) to Sanders 46.6% (21 delegates) with O'Malley capturing just 0.6% of the vote percentages.  

The 2016 race to the White House is now in the vote casting stage and the next battle in which actual ballots will be cast will be next Tuesday, February 9 in the first in the nation primary in New Hampshire.   There will be a crucial Democratic debate moderated by MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday which should be fun to watch.

We'll know who won this on the Democratic side in a few hours.

TransGriot Update: The winner is Hillary Clinton.  But doing so, she made history by becoming the first woman to win the Iowa caucus.   Hopefully she'll be making more history as this continues.

OutSmart Magazine's 2016's 10 Faces Of Black LGBT Leadership

I've known this was coming for a few weeks, but OutSmart, our local TBLG community publication in honor of Black History Month starting today has published the profiles of 10 Black LGBT leaders in my hometown.

I was honored to be one of the two trans people out of the ten selected for this story, but we do have more excellent Black LGBT leaders in the Bayou City doing the work of uplifting all the communities we intersect and interact with.

And in the wake of the unfortunate repeal of HERO in which many people in our community were hoodwinked and bamboozled into voting against their own human rights based on lies, it's past time that the Houston Black community knew who the Black LGBT leaders are inside Beltway 8.

Thank you Megan Smith and OutSmart for including me in this article

For those of you who don't live in H-town, here's the link to the article for you to peruse it.

'Game Face' Documentary Now On Netflix!

Since we are now in a new month, Netflix is adding new selections to their lineup.

Was happy to hear that the documentary Game Face featuring our MMA fighting sis Fallon Fox is now available for viewing as of today since I have been wanting to see it.

Now it's available on Netflix, and I'll be parked in front of my television checking it out.  Hope you take some time to do so as well.

Happy Black History Month 2016!

Today is the start of the second month of 2016, and the flipping of the calendar page to February means that it is also Black History Month.

It was the idea of Dr Carter G. Woodson, 'The Father Of Black History' who understood the importance of education and knowing our people's history in order to secure and expand our human rights and freedoms.

In 1915 Dr. Crater, recognizing the dearth of information about the accomplishments of  African-American people, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.  It's now call the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH).   The Houston chapter of it is named after my late godmother Pearl C. Suel. who was its longtime president.

Under Dr. Woodson visionary leadership, ASALH created research and publication outlets for Black scholars with the 1916 founding of the Journal of Negro History and the Negro History Bulletin in 1937.

In 1926, Dr. Woodson founded Negro History Week, which corresponded with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln .  In 1976 it was expanded to the entire month of February as people of all ethnic backgrounds discuss the historical accomplishments and societal impact of my people.

For Black History Month 2016, we get 29 days this year since it is a leap year, but as far as I'm concerned, every month is Black History Month.  And in the wake of a loud and wrong FOX negroid fembot calling for the end of Black History Month, it's more important than ever, especially to those of us in Black LGBT World.

For Black trans people, knowing our history and accomplishments as Black trans people is critical to build pride in ourselves and our community.  That is one of the missions of this blog in pointing out the ongoing inspirational and evolutionary story of Black trans people.

Happy Black History Month!  

Murderer Of Melony Smith Convicted

Some good news coming out of southern California concerning our fallen trans sister Melony Smith

A Pomona Superior Court jury found 30 year old Stephen Gonzales guilty of first degree murder in the September 9, 2013 death of 26 year old Melony Smith.

The article has some problematic violations of the AP Stylebook in using Smith's deadname, describing her life as a 'lifestyle'.

But back to the post.

She was found dead at 1:30 PM PDT in her Baldwin Park motel room where she had been staying off and on for a year.

While Gonzales escaped being eligible for capital punishment when the jury found him not guilty of robbing Smith, they did find him guilty of petty theft.

Gonzales is facing a 25 years to life sentence when he returns to court on February 11 for sentencing. Hope they throw the book at his behind.

Countdown To Super Bowl 50

Super Bowl 50 will be taking place  in Santa Clara next Sunday, and even though my favorite NFL team won't be involved in it, I will have a rooting interest in one of the teams that will playing in this year's NFL championship game between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers..

There are also some interesting historical nuggets as we approach the kickoff time for this game. Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera is now the second Latino head coach after the Oakland Raiders Tom Flores to make it to the title game. 

He also wants to be like his idol Flores, the second Latino head coach to win a Super Bowl.   Flores as the hard coach of the Oakland/LA Raiders coached them to NFL titles twice in 1981 and 1984.

For the third straight year, a team with an African-American starting quarterback will be in the Super Bowl house.   Russell Wilson of the Seahawks was that quarterback the last two years and won (2014) and lost (2015) one, and this year it will be Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers representing at the QB spot..

Newton will be bidding to make some Black history by attempting to join Doug Williams and Wilson as African-American NFL starting quarterbacks that have won a Super Bowl.   Ironically both of those wins by Black quarterbacks in 1988 and 2014 came at the expense of the Denver Broncos, this Sunday's opponent.

Newton will be trying to do so against a quarterback in Peyton Manning who may be playing in his last Super Bowl.

As to who I'm picking to walk away with the Vince Lombardi Trophy next week?    I'll let y'all know on Friday.

2016 Williams Watch- Number 22 On Hold

The Australian Open women's title was on the line, and I was up at 2 AM Houston time to watch the action from Down Under and see if Serena Williams would capture her seventh title, take home another Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and win her 22nd Grand Slam title to tie Steffi Graf for second on the women's all time Grand Slam tournament win list.

Fittingly her opponent was 28 year old lefty Angelique Kerber of Germany, who grew up idolizing Graf and does have a recent win against Serena

But this is a Grand Slam final, and Serena is usually on her A+ game for those.  But she wasn't today, and was upset by Kerber 4-6, 6-3. 4-6 to capture her first major Grand Slam title

Meanwhile Serena is still not only the world's number one ranked player even with the loss, she's sitting on 21 major title wins.

Oh well, the French Open is in May.   We'll see what happens there..

The Trans Pariahs Are Hatin'

Still amused by that group of millennial trans women who got their jaws all puffed out because I called them out on their pattern of negative behavior at various conferences over the last year and their disrespect of elders.   Somebody had to call out the pattern of what was going on, and point blank ask them if they want to be trans leaders or trans pariahs.

Not going to even link to their hit pieces and give them exposure, They have chosen trans pariah status, and I'm not paying any attention to them until they apologize for their reprehensible actions and disrespect of community elders.

Funny they pulled that stunt in the name of 'holding people accountable', but ain't liking it now that someone else is holding them accountable for their nekulturny behavior.

And BTW,  here's my answer to taking down those post you don't like.

If I didn't retract a post calling white GLBT people out for their racism aimed at President Obama several years ago, what makes y'all misguided peeps think I'm going to take the posts down I wrote calling y'all out on your crap?

You've been busted for your attention grabbing stunt at #CC16 and you need to give it up.  The more you and your surrogates attack and attempt to bully me for telling the truth about your behinds, and revealing the real reason you bumrushed that panel, the more ridiculous and disrespectful you look.

In the meantime, while y'all continue your increasingly speedy spiral to irrelevance, I will continue do my part to build intersectional community and network with other trans people and our allies to accomplish the much needed human rights work of the community while y'all plot and plan 'to take spaces that are rightfully yours'  whatever that Palinesque word salad means.

While y'all were hi-fiving each other and mugging for the cameras for your misguided protest action. I was as a representative of TPOCC in a morning meeting with the leaders of several trans orgs on January 22 discussing strategies for combating the anti-trans laws Republicans are trying to pass around the country.

Funny I didn't see y'all there.

Last night I spent a few hours talking to a TV reporter I know in Austin getting the ball rolling on correcting the misgendering in the story about Monica Loeda that resulted in us not knowing we have lost our first trans sister in 2016 until last night.

So while y'all rant, rave, fume and continue to prove my point through your actions that y'all like to keep mess and confusion going, I'll continue to do the work of this community.

And on that note, bye Felicias.  I have grown trans folks business to attend to.

First Trans Murder of 2016- RIP Monica Loera

I'm sad to report thanks to a tip by Gina Morvay and the Austin Chronicle that the first trans murder of 2016 has happened in the Lone Star State in Austin.

The reason we in Texas and Austin didn't know about it until a week after it happened is because once again, the trans victim was misgendered by the police and subsequently the local media.

As usual, I'm going to do the Austin media's job for them and give our sister the respect in death and proper pronouns she deserves and another example of how to properly report on trans murder cases..

According to the Austin Police Department, 43 year old Monica Loera was engaged in a conversation with a man in front of her home along the 300 block of East Powell Lane in north Austin at 3 AM on January 22 when she was shot.

Loera was transported to the nearby University Medical Center Brackenridge hospital where she was pronounced dead from her injuries and the Travis County Medical Examiner ruled Loera's death a homicide.

Thanks to witness descriptions and messages from the alleged perpetrator left on Loera's phone, 29 year old JonCasey William Rowell was later arrested by APD and charged with the first degree murder of Monica Loera.  Rowell is currently in the Travis County Jail under a $250,000 bond.

I will be watching this case until our sister receives justice.  If I receive any further information about the Loera case, I will pass those details along as I get them.

Rest in power and peace, Monica.   Your trans family and all who loved you will not rest until justice is served/.

TransGriot Update:  Got a call from one of my reporter contacts in Austin.  KEYE-TV will start working on doing their due diligence, talking to people who knew Monica as a prelude to correcting their station's story starting Saturday morning.   

APD's information officers need to do a better job as well of informing the media when it comes to dealing with trans murder victims and not misgendering them. 

FAA No Longer Stigmatizing Trans Pilots

I had the pleasure during my Air Marshal days of meeting the trans pilot who cleared the path for me to transition at work.  It was an emotional meeting for both of us because I'd not only heard about her via her court case, she's heard through the CAL company grapevine there was a Houston gate agent who was transitioning as well.

Jessica Starnes filed a successful lawsuit that reinstated her job, her seniority and paid her an undisclosed settlement back in the early 90's.  It was a case I was watching closely because I was at the emotional point of being ready to live in my truth and getting  my transition started but was worried about whether I would be able to keep the airline job I absolutely loved at the time.

She won, and in 1994 I finally got my own transition started.   She was based in Newark, and I ran into her at where the south side hallways of Terminal C intersected near the food court.

Both of us were crying when the meeting happened, and she told me, "You were one of the reasons why I fought so hard to get my job back.  I wanted to make it easier for the next trans person to be themselves and keep their job,"

I thanked her for doing so, and she headed to her next flight and I headed to my gate.

The reason I'm going through this Moni flashback moment is because I not only have much love and respect for trans pilots I know or who are on my FB page like Denver based pilot Jessica Taylor, I have heard and read the wonderful news that trans pilots have won their long battle with the FAA and gotten them to drop the disorder label they saddled transgender pilots with.

On January 27 the  FAA changed its Aviation Medical Examiners guidelines to remove the disorder label for trans pilots and replace it with  'gender dysphoria'.  The change according to the FAA will allow trans pilots to get their medical certifications more quickly and not undergo a time consuming and expensive process in order to convince federal officials they were medically fit and stable enough to fly.

Pilots have to get medical exams every year before they are certified to fly, and trans pilots not only are given that extra scrutiny before flight certification is granted, they face discrimination from the FAA in doing so.

This FAA policy change is also wonderful news to the Transgender Pilots Association..

However, trans pilots who have been on hormone therapy for less than five years or undergone gender reassignment surgery less than five years ago will still have to undergo additional testing and paperwork before they are certified.

But it still doesn't change the fact that the FAA policy change, despite the attempts of that organization to downplay it, is good news for trans pilots.

Happy Brazilian Trans Day Of Visibility!

Today is the Trans Day of Visibility in Brazil.   Every year since 1994 in that nation January 29 is celebrated by the local trans community as their day to let their fellow Brazilians know that they exist, their humanity is worthy of recognition and respect, and their human rights need to be protected as well.

Brazil also has unfortunately led the world in the deaths of our transsisters, with one as young as age 14 being murdered last year.

Unfortunately in 2016 they have gotten off to another horrific start in that category with 48 trans women being murdered in Brazil in this month alone, and it needs to stop.

May this day not only open hearts and minds in Brazil, but lead to substantive change in the way the nation treats its trans citizens.

Shut Up Fool Awards-Happy 7th Anniversary Edition

On January 30, 2009 one of the regular features on this blog that you TransGriot readers have come to know and love was born.   It's my weekly Shut Up Fool awards in which I shine a bright spotlight on hypocrisy, stupidity, and jaw dropping ignorance.

The inaugural fool I selected in 2009 as initial Shut Up Fool Awards weekly winner was FOX Noise's Juan Williams.  The weekly SUF awards grew into the Shut Up Fool of the Year Awards that I reveal every New Year's Eve, and the upcoming Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Awards that get passed out during Oscar weekend.

So now that we have reached a lucky seven years and counting in calling fools out, I'll definitely be busy this year because this is an election year.

Lets' get busy cranking up another year of TransGriot Shut Up Fool award winners

Honorable mention number one is everyone who was on stage for the latest GOP debate.

Honorable mention number two is one of the remaining Y'allQaeda 'terriss' for cluelessly saying that Ferguson protesters were treated better than us and it was unfair.

Oh really?  I didn't see the Oregon National Guard deployed against your vanillacentric privileged asses with full riot gear and military equipment.  I didn't see tear gas or rubber bullets used on you, much less you peeps being surrounded by a ring of law enforcement.

Don't even try it.

Honorable mention number three is Indiana state rep Woody Burton (R) who stated at a town hall he is opposed to LGBT rights protections in the Hoosier state because 'there are no laws protecting fat white people'.

Let me move on the next honorable mention fool and let you readers marinate on that level of stupid for a few minutes.  Indiana peeps, think about the fact a majority of your fellow Hoosiers gave this moron  the power to write legislation. 

Honorable mention number four is Carly Fiorina, who is slimy on many levels to begin with, but gets called out for hypocritically profiting from a company that uses the aborted fetal stem cells she has demagogued about in her war against Planned Parenthood. 

Honorable mention number five is this kneegrow Fort Lauderdale hate pastor cooning it up for the Religious Reich and testifying in favor of an unjust SB 110, that would allow businesses in the Sunshine State to deny service to LGBT customers.  He straight up lied and said gays were killers that deserved no rights.
Um dude, guess you forgot when the segregationists trying to justify Jim Crow laws said the same thing (and still do) about us.

Honorable mention number six is the rapper B.o.B, who tried to claim the earth was flat and he had proof until astrophysicist Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson dropped a truth nuke on his azz.

I got proof that B.o.B is wrong, too.  Here's a picture of planet Earth taken from the International Space Station orbiting 100 miles above this planet's surface.  

You need Jesus and remedial courses in science, astronomy....

Honorable mention number seven is Bill O'Reilly for keeping the FOX War on Transpeople going and trafficking in transphobia.  He wondered if transpeople will get a special voting booth

Yeah, I got a special cussout reserved just for is transphobic azz.

Naw you ignorant mofo, your party is busy trying to keep my Black trans behind from voting, much less have any human rights, so phuck you and the racist GOP. 

Honorable mention number eight is Bristol Palin.  The spawn of Sarah opened her mouth and inserted her pumps into it by trying to hide behind Stacey Dash's skirts and comment on the melanin free Oscars with the flippant not everyone gets a trophy line.

You can't get the Oscar if you aren't nominated for one in the first place you chillbilly

This week's winner is Stacey Dash, who wants an apology from all her critics who dragged her clueless azz all over social media for saying the stupid conservacrap she said about eliminating BET and Black History Month when her hypocritical ass was getting her bills paid by acting in BET projects.

She now doubling down on her anti-Black rhetoric, which will ensure the Black community will be pushing back just as hard against this sellout.

Bye, Stacey.  Have several seats at the Hollywood Bowl and a 32 oz. cup of STFU while you wait for an apology you will never get until you stop getting those wash, sets and GOP cranial rinses at FOX Noise HQ.

And oh yeah, Shut up fool!
.

 

2016 Williams Watch - Going For Number 22

In a few hours we'll find out if Serena Williams will earn her seventh Australian Open title and 22nd Grand Slam title win in her illustrious career.

That Aussie Open women's final will start at 2 AM CST.

She punched her ticket to this Australian Open final by taking out fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland for the ninth time in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.   She not only bumped her record against Radwanska to a spotless 9-0. she continued her impressive march through this Aussie Open women's field.

For the first time in her career, she has made it to an Australian Open final without dropping a set along the way.

Serena's reward or doing so will be to face Germany's Angelique Kerber, the 28 year old lefthander who idolized Steffi Graf growing up, and who will be standing in the way of Serena trying to tie her idol for Grand Slam title wins.  Kerber is also the first German player in 20 years to reach a Grand Slam final since you know who.

The seventh seeded Kerber knocked off #14 seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5 in the quarters and surprise semifinalist Johanna Konta 7-5. 6-2 in straight sets to get to her first ever Grand Slam final, and says she relishes the challenge of taking on the world's number one player.

We'll see if she feels the same way in a few hours.  Go get her Serena!

Unjust Washington State Anti-Trans Bill Out Of Senate Committee

Some bad legislative news out of Washington state in which Senate Bill 6443 escaped the Republican controlled Commerce and Labor Committee on a party line 4-3 vote at a hearing in Olympia in front of an overflow crowd estimated at 300 people...

The unjust bill was sponsored by Senator Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) specifically to overturn a rule that allows trans people in Washington state to use gender segregated locker rooms and bathrooms in public buildings that correspond with their gender presentation.   Trans people have had their human rights covered in the state since 2006, and the December 26 ruling by the state's Human Rights Commission was simply a clarification of that anti-discrimination law.

But now that it's GOP policy to transphobically attack by legislative means the human rights of trans people, you could smell this legislative caca coming.

While this unjust bill may pass in the Republican controlled Senate, it is DOA when it arrives in the Democratically controlled House.   House Bill 2589, its companion bill and HB 2782, another transphobic bill that was filed to also attack the Human Rights Commission ruling, is bottled up in the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma) and she has made it clear that neither unjust bill will get a hearing in her committee.

Even if by some miracle either did get out of committee and pass the House, Governor Jay Inslee (D) is waiting with his pen to veto it.

Don't panic yet Washington trans community. The haters won a battle.  They haven't won the war, and as long as y'all stay vigilant and handle your legislative business in Olympia they won't.

You may wish to get busy writing and calling your state senators and urging them to oppose Senate Bill 6443 and calling or e-mailing your House reps to urge them to do the same and kill House Bill 2782.

You may also wish to call or write Rep Jinkins, Sen Bob Hasegawa (D-Seattle), Sen. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma) and Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Kent) and thank them for standing up for your human rights.

And FYI, trans Washington, when these human rights heroes and sheroes run for reelection, kick them some T-bills and do whatever it takes to ensure they stay in Olympia defending your rights.

You also need to give Danni Askini of the Gender Justice League some love for also standing up to fight for the human rights of trans Washingtonians.

Then once the session is over y'all need to punish the haters and support your friends at the ballot box.

ATLAH Hate Church Going Up For Sale

In some news out of New York that will get your weekend off to a great start, the Harlem based ATLAH World Church of hate pastor James David Manning has been ordered by a New York state judge to go up for public auction because of unpaid debts totaling  $1.02 million.

According to DNAInfo, the public foreclosure auction will be taking place on February 24, for those of you in the New York area wanting to gleefully celebrate the occasion..

The frequent Shut Up Fool Award nominee has let loose with SUF award worthy commentary over the years by claiming that Starbucks laces its lattes with 'sodomite semen', and let fly the comment that Justin Bieber is a 'transgender man' among the other hate gems he has unleashed on his YouTube channel

Well, instead of making YouTube videos, he should have been working on paying the bills to keep his hate church open.   He has nine federal tax liens dating back to 2002 totaling $355,000, owes New York state $28,000 and creditors $30,000.

Couldn't happen to a nicer christobigot.   I would love to see the karmic justice of someone buying that hate church and turning it into an LGBT center.

But have February 24 circled on my calendar to see what happens.