MAJOR! Coming To H-town!

Been looking forward to seeing the documentary about Miss Major, and was happy to hear that one of the upcoming screenings of MAJOR! will take place in Houston.

It's scheduled to happen on April 1 during the Queer Hippo LGBT International Film Festival that will be hosted by the Houston Museum of African American Culture and run from April1-3.

The museum is located at 4807 Caroline Street in the Museum District, and hoping that we in LGBT and Black Houston show up, show out and support this film about one of our trans elders and icons.


 

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TransGriot Perv Watch- The Case Of The GOP Legislative Ammosexual

In my latest episode of Perv Watch, we go to New Hampshire for the latest case of a predator endangering the safety of our children and they aren't transgender or dressed in femme attire.

According to RawStory and the New Hampshire Union Leader, 30 year old state rep Kyle Tasker (R) was busted for using the Net in an attempt to lure a 14 year old girl into having sex with him.

Rep. Tasker is in his third term, and serves in the New Hampshire Legislature on the House Committee on Children and Family Law that deals with the legal rights and protections for families and children.  He was alleged to have on January 20 sexually harassed an underage girl, and an agent with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force posed as a 14 year girl and set up a meeting via Facebook Messenger with him.  

When they arrived at that location in Nottingham, they found him with a loaded weapon.  Execution of a search warrant at Tasker's Nottingham home led to the discovery of an enormous quantity of controlled substances and several more weapons strategically placed throughout the home.

Tasker was arrested and charged with four felonies and is being held on $250,000 bail.  In addition to his current legal problems, he also dropped a gun on the House floor in 2012 that fortunately didn't discharge.  

Tasker also caught flak in 2014 for mocking sexual assault victims amongst other problematic statements.

New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Jennifer Horn and NH House Speaker Shawn Jasper have called for his immediate resignation.   He was immediately removed by Jasper from his committee assignment.

We'll see what happens in this latest case in the TransGriot Perv Watch files, but once again it drives home the point that transpeople aren't the perverts we've been slandered and falsely accused of being, it's the cisgender males leveling the accusations you must pay attention to..  

Congrats Jenifer On Your Historic Win!

While everyone was focused last night on the big Super Tuesday delegate fight between the presidential candidates from both parties, a little trans history was made in Houston on election night.

Jenifer Rene Pool, who has made three runs for Houston City Council, shifted gears and ran for the Democratic nomination in the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 3 race to see who would take on longtime Republican commissioner Steve Radack.

Pool racked up a decisive win against her Democratic primary challenger, racking up 78% of the vote.  She becomes the first out transperson to win a primary election contest in Harris County and the state of Texas, and now takes on the formidable challenge of unseating a longtime conservative incumbent on Harris County Commissioner's Court.

Congrats on your history making achievement Jenifer!   Now let's take it to the next step and get you that seat at the Harris County Commissioner's Court table!
 

Danni Askini Running For Washington State Legislature Seat

The last time a trans woman was elected to a state legislature in the US was back in 1992 when Althea Garrison accomplished it during the legislative 'Year Of The Woman'.  She was nondisclosed when she was elected to a seat in the Massachusetts House, but only lasted one term as she was outed days after her win.

Over the last few election cycles several out trans women have attempted to get elected to state legislatures in Arizona (Amanda Simpson) Maryland (Dana Beyer), Nevada (Lauren Scott) and twice in Oklahoma (Brittany Novotny & Paula Sophia) all to fall just short of doing so.

Stacie Laughton was elected in New Hampshire in 2012, but never served because of undisclosed legal issues.

>With the exponential increase in anti-trans legislation pushed by our right wing enemies, the time has never been more imperative to have trans people in state legislatures helping to not only write good legislation, but be in the position to kill bad bills instead of begging for inclusion or to kill it from the outside.

And if we ever wish to see a trans person elected to the US Congress, viable congressional candidates come from big city councils, judicial benches and state legislatures, and we have to win some of those races to even get political party attention..

Yesterday Danni Askini announced she was going to run for an open Seattle seat in the Washington State legislature in its 43rd house district.   Current state rep Brady Walkinshaw is moving on to attempt a run for a US congressional seat

Danni has been and advocate for 15 years, and was busy in Olympia killing this year's unjust anti-trans bills in the GOP controlled Washington Senate.

Askini is vying to become the first out trans person in Washington state and nationally elected to a state legislative seat.

Hopefully, this will be the breakthrough year that happens, and if it does, it will be right on time for that piece of trans history to occur.

Best of luck to you Danni, and when November 8 comes, hope I'll be writing about a history making moment.

The Democratic Super Tuesday Big Winner Is...

Hillary Clinton!

To the consternation of Sanders supporters, the momentum continued for Sec. Clinton as she captured seven states and the American Samoa caucus while Sanders won his home state of Vermont as expected, Oklahoma, and the caucus states of Colorado and Minnesota.

Just as in South Carolina, the power of the Black vote asserted itself as Clinton not only captured the big delegate prizes Tuesday night of Georgia (117) and my home state of Texas (252), she took Massachusetts out of Bernie's backyard.

Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia also went for Sec. Clinton, and her wins during her Super Tuesday victory march through the South and elsewhere have been fueled by overwhelming Black voter support.  Black voter support kept her close in Oklahoma.

Next up on the Democratic Party primary schedule are March 5 contests in Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska, March 6 in Maine, and March 8 in Michigan and Mississippi.

There were also local primary races in the various Super Tuesday states for state legislature, judicial and other seats I'm still waiting for results on.

One result I very happy about was that state Rep. Jessica Farrar curb stomped homobigot Dave Wilson in the TX 148 Democratic primary race.

The shocker of the night locally was transphobic state Rep Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), who pushed two anti-trans bills in the 2015 session we killed, was beaten in her TX 150 GOP primary race by Valoree Swanson for being in her opponent's words, "Not conservative enough'.

Karma is not only a you know what Rep Riddle, it wears a dress and stiletto heels.

But in some trans political news, Jenifer Rene Pool is handily beating her opponent in the Harris County Precinct 3 Democratic primary race.

I'll have a better idea when the rest of our Harris County results come in and I get a chance to peruse them in the morning

SD Gov. Daugaard's HB 1008 Veto Statement

Surprise, surprise!   South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) has vetoed the unjust HB 1008 bill that would have legislatively attacked trans kids in the state.

He did so on fiscal grounds, and note not a word written about how wrong and dehumanizing it was, but at this point I'll take the win..

Here's the veto statement.

***

Gov. Daugaard Vetoes HB 1008

PIERRE, S.D. – Gov. Dennis Daugaard has vetoed the following bill:

                    

HB 1008 – An Act to restrict access to certain restrooms and locker rooms in public schools.

For more information about this bill and other bills, visit legis.sd.gov.          

                                                            -30-

Note: A copy of the Governor’s veto message follows:

March 1, 2016

The Honorable Dean Wink

Speaker of the House of Representatives

500 East Capitol Avenue

Pierre, SD 57501

Dear Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives,

I respectfully return to you House Bill 1008, with my VETO.

House Bill 1008 does not address any pressing issue concerning the school districts of South Dakota.  As policymakers in South Dakota, we often recite that the best government is the government closest to the people.  Local school districts can, and have, made necessary restroom and locker room accommodations that serve the best interests of all students, regardless of biological sex or gender identity. 

This bill seeks to impose statewide standards on “every restroom, locker room, and shower room located in a public elementary or secondary school.”  It removes the ability of local school districts to determine the most appropriate accommodations for their individual students and replaces that flexibility with a state mandate.

If and when these rare situations arise, I believe local school officials are best positioned to address them.  Instead of encouraging local solutions, this bill broadly regulates in a manner that invites conflict and litigation, diverting energy and resources from the education of the children of this state.

Preserving local control is particularly important because this bill would place every school district in the difficult position of following state law while knowing it openly invites federal litigation.  Although there have been promises by an outside entity to provide legal defense to a school district, this provision is not memorialized in the bill.  Nor would such defense eliminate the need for school or state legal counsel, nor avoid expenses relating to expert witnesses, depositions and travel, or other defense costs.  Nor does the commitment extend to coverage over settlement or damage expenses.  This law will create a certain liability for school districts and the state in an area where no such liability exists today.

For these reasons, I oppose this bill and ask that you sustain my veto.

Respectfully submitted,

Dennis Daugaard

Will SD Gov. Dennis Daugaard Be A Human Rights Hero Or Zero Today?

Today South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard (R) has a decision to make in regards to the unjust HB 1008 that targets transgender kids in the Mount Rushmore state for oppression.

Today is the deadline for him to act on this unjust bill.  He can either be a human rights hero and veto the bill, or he can go down in history as a human rights oppressor and sign it.   He can also take the coward's way out and decline to sign the bill, which because it is March 1, would become law without his signature.

My money is on him doing the cowardly thing and letting the bill become law without his signature. You know I have zero confidence in any Republican doing the right thing for any marginalized groups when it comes to the human rights of people that aren't conservative white males.

Hope he shocks me, but we'll see what happens today.

TransGriot Update:  Gov Daugaard has VETOED HB 1008

Another Trans Person Lost-RIP Demarkis Stansberry

It's sad for me to announce that we have lost another trans person to violence in 2016

30 year old Demarkis Stansberry was fatally shot in the head on Saturday in Baton Rouge by 24 year old Nicolas Matthews, who turned himself in to the police the day of the shooting and confessed to killing him.

And in case you're wondering if Stansberry was misgendered and deadnamed by the media as does routinely happens for trans feminine people who are killed, unfortunately it happened to Demarkis.

Once again media peeps, the AP Stylebook standards for reporting on trans people exist for a reason. How about you follow them?

Rest in power and peace, Demarkis

It's Super Tuesday!

In a few hours the polls are opening across eleven states for people to cast their ballots in the Democratic primary battle between Sec Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

After posting her own blowout win in South Carolina, Sec. Clinton is seeking to keep that momentum going in the Super Tuesday states and collect the lion's share of the 1017 delegates up for grabs with the help of the Black vote.

Voters in America Samoa, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and my home state of Texas will be headed to polling places and caucuses.

We'll see when the polls start closing at 7 PM ET which way the Democratic contest goes after voters in the 12 primarily Southern states have their say in who should be the person who gets our party's nomination in not only the presidential contests, but a long list of state and local races and judicial seats.

If early voting was available in your Super Tuesday state and you didn't get the opportunity to participate in it, hope you take the time to do so today.

In Texas. polls will be open from 7 AM-7 PM and I hope you exercise your right to vote.

Ho Hum, Another Transphobic Gay White Male Advocating TBLG Separation

Another day, another not so shocking instance of a transphobic white gay male making the case to throw transpeople under the human rights bus.

On the eve of South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard trying to make up his mind whether he is going to be a trans human rights hero or a trans human rights oppressor, another one of those 'We Want A Divorce From The T******s' pieces popped up this morning in USA Today.

This op-ed was written by Joseph R. Murray, who was a campaign official for Pat Buchanan and would be surprised if he was a member of either GOProud or the Log Cabin Republicans.

Let me get right to the heart of why I and other trans people are tired of white gay men clamoring for separation now that you have accomplished much of your gay and lesbian legislative and societal wish list by simultaneously using the trans community as legislative bargaining chips.

It was trans people, and specifically trans people of color like Marsha P. Johnson who threw the first bricks and shot glasses at Stonewall while you Fire Island gays were cowering in your closets.  And far too often in my nearly two decades of human rights advocacy,it has been primarily white gay men who have been the biggest obstacles to trans human rights progress.

If you think I'm kidding about that, LGBT history has far too many instances of trans folks being thrown under the legislative bus in the name of 'incremental progress' and LG led groups breaking those promises to come back for us.  

And who came up with the bathroom meme?  Before the right wing started using it to attack us and human rights laws in general, it was Rep. Barney Frank with his 'penis in showers' arguments in the late 90's designed to stymie trans inclusion in ENDA.

Which brings me back to talking about this latest example and the repeated ignorant line that trans rights and gay rights are not the same.   While there are some issues that are unique to the trans community. we also identify as gay, bi or lesbian in Trans World in terms of our sexual orientations.

And if our human rights as trans people aren't secured, your hard won human rights gains in Gay World are also less secure.

Now that we have the Republican Party and right wing evangelicals coming out of the closet in terms of working to openly attack our humanity and human rights, now is not the time for advocating kicking the trans community to the curb from a movement we helped build and far too much of our blood has been shed in order to make real the promises of democracy and human rights for trans Americans.

And we're tired of conservative white gay men showing their inner transphobe and making the fatally flawed assumption that your whiteness, your wallets and your eager willingness to sell out the rest of the LGBT community will protect you from the anti-LGBT discrimination that your party wishes to impose on all of us.

Happy February 29!

Happy February 29!  This is a day that you get to see on the calendar every four years.  It's also the interesting timing to me that it happens during US presidential election years and Summer Olympiads.

So we get an extra day in this month of February, and an extra day of Black History Month.  But as far as I'm concerned, every month is Black History Month, and I'll continue with my ongoing mission of exposing you to Black trans history makers of the past and present.

But the reason we have the extra day on the calendar is so our calendars stay accurate.  Planet Earth takes 365 days and roughly 6 hours to make one trip around the sun. After four of those trips the six hours part of the solar year accrues into an extra day, so in order to keep our calendars as accurate as possible we add the extra day to it,
An extra day that for the about 4.1 million people around the world is their actual birthday.   Happy birthday to all you Leaplings born on this day.   That's what people born on this day are called and who have this unique birthday.

In case you're wondering what day do the Leaplings celebrate their birthday on in non-leap years, some do so on February 28, while others do so on March 1.

But enjoy this extra day on the calendar.            

The 2016 SUF Lifetime Achievement Award Winners Are..

Well, as promised, it's time to reveal who the Class of 2016 SUF Lifetime Achievement Award losers winners are.

And because this is the tenth anniversary year of TransGriot, I'm naming ten SUF lifetime fools in this class

Just as a reminder of who all the previous winners of this honor were going back to the first one in 2010, you can click the link to read that post spotlighting their ongoing lifetime excellence in idiocy and WTF mind bending statements.

The envelope please:

The Class of 2016 winners of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Awards are:

Supreme Court (In)justice Antonin Scalia
Steven Hotze
Dave Wilson
Germaine Greer
Sean Hannity

The Log Cabin Republicans
Pat Robertson
Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
RNC Chair Reince Priebus
Ben Carson

Mya Taylor Makes Some Movie History

While the Oscars broadcast and the people nominated for the awards will be melanin free, there are other awards shows that are far more diverse than the whitewashed Oscars.

Was excited to find out that Tangerine actress Mya Taylor picked up an Independent Spirit Award for her performance as Alexandra in that independent film that was considered Oscar worthy but unfortunately was snubbed by the Academy for consideration.

Taylor made a little trans history when she picked up that award for Best Supporting Female. She's probably the first out trans person to do so and noted in her acceptance speech that Hollywood needs to expand opportunities for trans actors.

 

Congratulations Mya!  Hope the award results in more acting opportunities coming not only your way, but for all trans actors.

Clinton Massively Blows Out Sanders In South Carolina

After Sec. Hillary Clinton's six point win in Nevada, the next election contest in the 2016 Democratic party primary schedule is the South Carolina primary.   In this one, African-American voters would get a major say in who would become the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee and divvy up the state's 53 delegates.  

Tonight Black voters in South Carolina served notice that the road to the Democratic nomination comes through Black Democratic voters.  In 2008, 55% of the voters in South Carolina's Democratic primary were African-American, and they made up an astounding 61% of the electorate today

Told y'all Bernie fans that your candidate's failure to build a convincing case for Black voters to vote for him was going to cost him, and tonight Clinton has won South Carolina in a massive blowout fueled by Black voter turning out for her.

The rout was so complete networks were calling the election within minutes after the polls closed there. Sanders according to exit polling lost the African-American vote 86-14%, and it played out in the election results.   With 99% of the votes counted, Clinton leads Sanders 73.5% to 26.0%, and has swept every county in the Palmetto State.



This butt kicking has been brewing for several weeks, and anyone who was paying attention to the primary election so far could have seen this coming.  Clinton's dominance of the Black vote in South Carolina carried her to a blowout win and getting 39 of the state's 53 delegates.

And what's more ominous as we come to Super Tuesday on March 1 is that six of the Super Tuesday states, Alabama, Arkansas. Georgia,, Tennessee, Virginia and (ahem) Texas have sizable African-American populations, and I don't think that Sanders will fix his problems with African-American voters between now and Tuesday.

Carla Lewis-Note To My Young Trans Folllowers

When  marginalized groups are fighting for not only their very existence and their human rights, the discussions on how they do the advocacy work to get to the point they aren't messed with can be heated at times.  I've been in it now for 18 years and have seen how heated those discussions can get.
Carla Lewis is one of our kick butt community leaders in Tennessee, and she felt compelled to write this note on her Facebook page to all the young trans kids who follow her.  They are sentiments I share when it comes to our trans youth and I believed this needed to be signal boosted.

Our trans children are our most prized assets, and they must be protected and defended from attacks by our enemies.

And now, here's Carla.

***

There are a handful of young transpeople that follow me on social media. To them I want to state this:

You may witness frequent arguing and fighting among transwomen, in particular. We each have our own ideas about how the world should be better.

The one thing we all have in common is that we do not want your youth to be filled with shame and self hate. We do not want you to have to buy black market hormones. We do not want you to be coerced into reparative therapy. We do not want you to have to navigate in a world that wants you to die or go back in the closet. We do not want you to take your own life.

We cannot get our innocence back. We cannot erase our years of shame. We cannot erase the discrimination and loneliness we experienced. We cannot erase our losses.

We do not want this to be your future. This is why we fight in this world. This is why we bicker with one another.

We may never know a world where being trans is no big deal, but you will. I promise.

Right now, whatever you are going through, please know that anywhere in the world you are, you can reach out to a trans brother or sister and know we will help you in any way that we can.

Trans Attracted Men Revisited Panel

The trans attracted men panel that was rudely interrupted at Creating Change will be happening today on YouTube at 12 noon Eastern.

So if you wish to see the discussion on trans attracted men, moderated by Tona Brown and Bryanna Jenkins, and featuring Antwan Fields, Troy Kennedy and Jonathan Hayden, you can click on the link to hear that discussion

2016 South Carolina Democratic Primary Today

In a few hours the Democratic voters of South Carolina will start heading to the polls to determine who will win their state's presidential primary and how they will apportion the states 59 available delegates to this summer's convention in Philadelphia.

It's looking good for Hillary Clinton right now as she seeks to build on the momentum of her win a few days ago in Nevada and keep it going into the critical March 1 Super Tuesday contests.

Sec. Clinton is maintaining her huge double digit polling lead overall and her big lead with African-American voters in this state despite attempts by Sen. Bernie Sanders to reach out to this critical Democratic voting bloc.  African-American voters will comprise up to 50% of the people casting ballots in this primary contest.

But as any political observer will tell you, the only poll that matters is the one being conducted at the ballot box, and we'll see who wins when the polls close later tonight at 7 PM EST.  

Why U Mad Because Moi and Other Black People Aren't Supporting Bernie?

Ever since I put up that February 16 post announcing that I was supporting Sec. Clinton in the Democratic primary, like anyone else who is #NotFeelingTheBern, I've ended up blocking 10 people (and counting), had my cognitive abilities attacked by rabid Sanders supporters, and had comment threads n my FB page inundated at times with facts free anti-Hillary articles mixed with insults aimed at moi.

Not a smart move, people.  Never mind the fact that I pointed out in the original Clinton support article I wrote that I was moved from neutral to supporting Clinton because of the initial red flag of Sen. Sanders being supported by Cornel West, and my disgust at a civil rights icon like Rep. John Lewis being disrespectfully attacked.

Bernie Sanders has failed to make the case to me and a wide variety of Black voters, including ones from the trans, bi and SGL community as to why we should support him over a longtime Democrat in Sec. Clinton that we have seen repeatedly take the best punches the right wing can throw at her and is still standing.  

And the Republicans are 'scurred' to face her in a general election, which is why they have attacked her nonstop.   They know she came agonizingly close to winning the Democratic nomination in 2008 and made them look like fools in the Benghazi hearings last year..

They aren't scared of Sanders and are eager to yell SOCIALIST! at him from now until November, but are just holding their fire on him for now until we finish our Democratic nomination business.  

Many of us who support Clinton have serious doubts in this critical 2016 election cycle that Sen. Sanders can withstand the negativity onslaught that he would get from the GOP if he was the nominee, and that electability question matters.

Something else that matters is the fact that Hillary has been a Democrat since 1972 and is the most qualified candidate ever for the presidency, especially when it comes to foreign policy..

When did Sanders join my party again?

And now, in the wake of yesterday's launch of the Trans United For Hillary page, I'm seeing trans Bernie supporters attack people that I know and respect as 'corporate sellouts'?

Really?

Bottom line is you can support whoever you wish in this primary.  You can even attempt to continue to state your case as to why you feel Sen. Sanders is the better candidate.  But do it with facts, not insults I've repeatedly seen and heard about her in my lifetime from right wing idiots on FOX Noise and will elicit nothing but an eye roll from me and swift deletion from my page.

I'm tired of anti-Hillary people trying to paint her as a 'Republican' or worse than Ann Coulter when the facts don't bear that allegation out.

At the same time, these people who are demonizing her are trying to hold up Bernie Sanders as some kind of political messiah when he has flaws and problematic policy positions just like Sec, Clinton does.


Moi expressing my First Amendment free speech rights to call you on your loud and wrong attacks on Sec. Clinton, pointing out the fact your candidate supported the same legislation you're excoriating her on, or expressing the fact Sen. Sanders' failure to get Black voters support is going to cost him dearly tomorrow in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday is not 'bullying', it's telling it like it T-I-S is.

Funny y'all don't seem to mind when I'm calling people out on BS any other time, but now that I'm doing my job and turning my inquiring mind toward pointing out his overwhelmingly white millennial support, asking valid questions about questionable stances your candidate needs to answer or asking you to come up with reasons why you support Sanders instead of  'because I hate Hillary', y'all wanna hate.

"She's a liar" isn't going to cut it with me and any other person who bases their decisions on what candidates they support with logic and reason combined with their life experiences, or who may still be trying to figure out who to vote for in the Democratic primary

The bottom line for me is I want the Democratic candidate to win on November 8, and I want my party to get control of Congress back, starting with a Senate we are only four seats from getting out of the clutches of Mitch McConnell.

So don't hate because me and other people aren't feeling the Bern in this primary election season, and we're with her.