Later Baltimore, Headed Back To H-town!

As with any event that is a yearly one, you wait 365 days (366 days this year)  for it to happen, it arrives, you enjoy being in the same space and time zone with people that you know, love and admire, say your goodbyes when its conclusion day comes, and go home to start the countdown cycle until next year.

It's been a wonderful two days up here in Baltimore chilling near the Inner Harbor and hanging out with my friends and colleagues in the LGBT media world old and new, getting my crabcake during brunch at Gertrude's.   But as always, the bittersweet time to say goodbye to everyone has come.   It's now time to check out of the hotel and head back to my H-town life.

I enjoyed getting my learn on during the sessions yesterday, enjoying the panelists dropping knowledge, and honing my journalistic skills at #LGBTMedia16 so I can continue evolving to become a better journalist than when I arrived here Friday afternoon.

But Hobby Airport and Pappas Barbecue awaits.  And I do have a nonstop on the return leg home.

Hopefully the flight home won't be as bumpy as the one coming up here to Charm City.
.

Getting Started At #LGBTMedia16

Going to have a long day ahead of me and tried to get my beauty sleep for the business end of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.that's starting right now.

Won't be watching much NCAA tournament action on either the men's or women's side today.but had my breakfast and I'm ready to go.  The best part is I'm 40 pounds lighter than I was last year.

One of the panels I'm looking forward to is one at 10 AM EDT with NY Times columnist Charles Blow, Danielle Moodie-Mills and Michelle Garcia on the topic of Responsible Reporting on Black Communities that will be moderated by Faith Cheltenham..

The opening one discussing RFRA's and other unjust measures to enable discrimination is also going to be an interesting one.

I'll be live tweeting along with everyone else attending under the #LGBTMedia16 hashtag, and will post some commentary on my Facebook page.

Moni's in the #LGBT16 Media Journalists Convening House!

After getting up at 5 AM Houston time to start a several hour travel day, I've finally arrived in the eastern time zone and Charm City, AKA Baltimore for the 7th annual LGBT Media Journalists Convening.

It wasn't a non-stop darn it, so I had to go through Pittsburgh before I got here, but as long as I got the frequent flyer miles for it and arrived here in one piece with all my luggage, than everything is okay.

At the moment I'm attending the opening #LGBTMedia16 reception, and the keynote speech is going on the American Visionary Arts Museum as you peruse this post.

They usually keep the keynoter a surprise, and last year it was the Rev. Dr William Barber II.   Should be interesting to discover who it is this year.

The main business day is tomorrow, and after we get back from the reception, I'm hanging out for a little while and then taking my behind to bed because I will have a long day tomorrow.

Shut Up Fool Awards- Moni's Headed To #LGBTMedia16 Edition

At this moment if my flight left Hobby on time I should be descending toward final approach to Thurgood Marshall -BWI airport and my rendezvous with my media friends from 16 states and the District of Columbia for the LGBT Media Journalists Convening. 

And yes, I'm quite aware of what today is.  It's Friday, and it's the day y'all eagerly surf over here to have me call some fool or group of fools out for all the ignorant, foul, or WTF worthy stuff that went on this week.

It's time for this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.

Honorable mention number one is Donald Trump for the ongoing lies he continues to tell as he rolls to the GOP presidential nomination.

Honorable mention number two is Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX)   In reaction to President Obama calling him out during SXSW, once again he's trying to peddle the laughable lie that voter fraud is rampant in Texas when it actually isn't and the only reason the TX GOP passed that unconstitutional law was to suppress the votes of the non-white Texans who outnumber them..

Honorable mention number three is Michael Savage, who crawled out from under the rock he was hiding to do some combined Hillary Clinton and trans bashing.

Honorable mention number four is Ann Coulter, who said she'd like to see 'more violence' from Trump supporters at his hate rallies.

Honorable mention number five the half term chillbilly Alaska governor herself in Sarah Palin who during a campaign stop for Donald Chump spouted her loud and wrong opinion about the proesters who shut down the Trump Chicago rally.

Hey, don't you have an injured husband to attend to?

Honorable mention number six is GA state senator Renee Unterman (R) who blocked a bill to deal with the rape kit backlog in her state.

Really?  I swear, the GOP 'wimmin' are worse than their 'menz' at times.

This week's Shut Up Fool loser winner is Kevin Swanson, the virulently anti-TBLG hate pastor who not only has endorsed Ted Cruz, and called for our genocide, but has hated on Harry Potter and the movies How To train Your Dragon and  Frozen.  

Now he's taken the Conservafool War on The Girl Scouts to another level and called for Girl Scout leaders to be put to death.

Okay, when you are openly calling for people to be put to death, you need to be put in check.

Kevin Swanson, shut up fool!

Moni's Leaving On A Jet Plane-To Baltimore

Been a few weeks since my last flight to Chicago and Creating Change, and now it's time for the Air Marshal to jet off to her latest community event in the 2016 LGBT Media Journalists Convening.

It's one of my fave events, and this 7th annual edition of it will feature LGBT journalists from 16 states and the District of Columbia will be gathering in Baltimore to get our learn on, network and get a better grasp about the issues impacting our community..

While I have driven through Baltimore on the way to and from Philadelphia twice and have flown into BWI a few times on my way to our nation's capital, it's actually the first time I've had a chance to spend some quality time inside the Baltimore city limits.   The best part of this trip is I get to reconnect with some amazing people while I'm there.

The game plan as usual is to tweet, post to my Facebook page and write about what happens, and you can follow the action at #LGBTMedia16 and my TransGriot twitter feed.

But I have a few hours before I have to get up, get to Hobby and prepare for a 8:40 AM departure.  Hopefully TSA won't stand for Transsexuals Searched Always, because I'm getting a little tired of getting felt up without Luther Vandross playing in the background t every time I roll through an airport

We'll see what happens in a few hours.

Alleged Islan Nettles Killer Rejects Plea Deal, Going To March 30 Trial

James Dixon, the alleged killer of Islan Nettles was offered a plea deal today, but rejected it and is going for a jury trial.  The 25 year old Dixon is alleged to have viciously beaten Nettles to death at 147th Street and Frederick Douglass Ave in Harlem back in 2013 and subsequently confessed to several people that he was the perpetrator.  .

 Prosecutors pushed for 17 years in jail in exchanged for pleading guilty for nettle's murder, but Judge Robert Stolz, citing his age and lack of a criminal record, offered him 12 years in jail.  

Dixon turned it down and according to his defense attorney Norman Williams, "would like to exercise his right to go to trial.".

That trial is scheduled to start March 30, and the case against Dixon is considered by Judge Stolz and Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Viorst to be a strong one.

'There will be confessions the defendant made to four different civilians prior to turning himself in and a written confession he made to a detective after he turned himself in," said DA Viorst.

"There will be a lengthy, detailed, videotaped confession he made to me after that," he added.  DA Viorst also stated medical experts will also testify about the horrific injuries that killed Nettles  

"There's clear overlay of animus toward the transgender status of the victim," argued DA Viorst.

Since Dixon decided to take his chances on a jury trial, he is facing if convicted of manslaughter a punishment range of 5-25 years in jail..Unfortunately since the NY state hate crime statute passed in 2000 only covers sexual orientation, the enhanced punishment isn't available.

Yep, New York trans folks got thrown under the legislative bus to pass that sexual orientation only law.

It is a trial in which the New York trans community and all of us across the nation will be watching to see if Islan after nearly 3 years, finally receives justice.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2016

Happy St. Patrick's Day TransGriot readers!

It's probably a happier than normal one for my trans cousins in Ireland thanks to the amazing trans human rights progress they have made there over the last few months.  Congratulations to the trans Irish folks who successfully stood up for their human rights, and may TENI keep that momentum going.

Hope the positive trends that have been happening for Irish trans people lead to positive action for the rest of the British Isles, Europe and eventually the rest of the world.

Here it's falling during Spring Break, and I'm spending today getting my last minute packing and other stuff done in preparation for my trip to this weekend's LGBT Media Journalist Convening in Baltimore.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone at #LGBTMedia16 and getting away from Houston for a few days

As for drinking any green beer, umm no, not for me.

Unjust SB 180 Passes KY Senate

Got the news from my old Kentucky stomping grounds that the GOP controlled Kentucky Senate in Frankfort went there and passed the unjust SB 180, a 'right to discriminate' bill sponsored by Sen. Albert Robinson (R-London).

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article66200452.html#storylink=cpy

It passed the Kentucky Senate on a 22-16 vote with five Republican senators, Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville), Alice Forgy Kerr (R-Lexington), Christian McDaniel (R-Latonia), Carroll Gibson (R-Leitchfield) and Wil Schroeder (R-Wilder) joining the 11 Democratic senators in opposing the unjust bill.

It moves on to the Democratic controlled Kentucky House, where Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-Prestonburg) stated this bill was headed to committee to die.

"We took an oath to defend the Constitution, not violate it," said Speaker Stumbo.

The 2016 legislative session ends on April 12.and I'll be watching along with my former fairness campaign colleagues to make sure that the unjust SB 180 never makes it out of committee.

Secretary Clinton Breaks Out the Victory Broom

The voters in five states spread out from the South to the Midwest went to the polls yesterday for Democratic presidential primary elections.  There were 793 delegates at stake with the big symbolic prizes being Florida (246 delegates at stake), Sec. Clinton's home state of Illinois (182 delegates) and Ohio with 160 delegates.   North Carolina  had 121 delegates at stake and Missouri with 84.

Within minutes of polls closing in Florida and North Carolina came the first indication it would be a YUGE night for Secretary Clinton.   The network calls of Clinton wins in Florida and North Carolina came swiftly, with the call for Ohio coming an hour later.

The Ohio win for Clinton was a disappointment for Sanders, who had predicted he would win the state after the shocking upset win in Michigan last week.

Illinois and Missouri took longer to decide, with Clinton taking her home state of Illinois and eked out a narrow win in the Show Me State late thanks to the voters in Kansas City and St Louis.

#BlackVotersMatter  

Told you Bernie supporters that losing the Black vote would cost him the nomination. Clinton's massive 84-16% support with African-American voters was critical to fueling her sweep of all five primary states.

Thanks to the sweep, Sec. Clinton has opened up a 300+ delegate lead on Sanders and effectively ended the talking point among Sanders supporters that Clinton could only win in Southern states.

Next up are caucuses in Utah and Idaho and the primary election in Arizona on March 22.  Arizona is the big prize with 85 total delegates..

While Sec. Clinton is not the 2016 presumptive Democratic nominee yet, she took another huge step toward making history as the first woman to win a major party presidential nomination.

The obese opera singer may not be singing yet in this Democratic contest, but is definitely beginning to warm up to sing the aria.

Raffi Makes Trans History Again!

Just last August Raffi Freedman-Gurspan made history as the first out trans staffer ever to work at the White House as the Outreach & Recruitment Director in the presidential personnel office and Associate Director for Public Engagement. .

Now the 28 year old trans Latina is set to become the first trans person to be named as the White House LGBT Liaison in the 21 year history of the position. President Obama appointed her to replace Aditi Hardikar, who left the post in January to join Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

I'd met both previous occupants of the LGBT Liaison position, and met Raffi last year during the Trans WOC White House panel event I attended last March.  

Raffi will not only take on the LGBT Liaison job duties, she will continue in her role as Outreach & Recruitment Director

This appointment is a big deal.   It's fantastic to witness a trans person finally being appointed as the initial point of WH contact for LGBT groups on all issues, and continues to illustrate that President Obama has been the best president ever when it comes to not only advancing trans human rights issues, but actually entrusting us with key positions in his administration..

Congratulations Raffi!  

LA Mayor Garcetti Announces Transgender Advisory Council Formation

More trans progress from the Left Coast.

Was excited to hear that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced this morning the formation of a Transgender Advisory Council in the City of Angels.  It is the largest city in the US to do so and only the second nationally  to create one after LA metro area neighbor West Hollywood, CA

"Today, the City of Los Angeles sends a clear message to transgender Angelenos:  your voices matter and your experiences count," said Mayor Garcetti. "The nine members of our Transgender Advisory Council will bring a new and important perspective to City Hall that will help empower trans Angelenos to lead stigma-free, productive and meaningful lives"

The stated purpose of the TAC once it finishes setting up it basic formation, is to advise the city on how best to serve trans Angelenos and it work under the auspices of the Human Relations Commission to do precisely that.   Advisory Council member Karina Samala stated at the press conference that the TAC would focus on city hiring policies and anti-trans hate crimes.

The LA Transgender Advisory Council will advise the Office of the Mayor, the LA City Council, city departments and various elected officials on projects and policies that affect the Los Angeles trans community like economic development, public safety, accessibility, and public awareness of LA's transgender citizens.

Congrats to Jazzmun Crayton, who was selected for the TAC from a blind application process based on criteria set by the Human Relations Commission and is one of the people I've had the pleasure of meeting at other national events.

Congrats also to other inaugural members of LA's Transgender Advisory Committee: Karina Samala, Diana Feliz Oliva,  Jaden Fields, James Wen, Justine Gonzalez, Talia Bettcher, Terri Jay and Zoey Luna

Yo, H-town, can we form something similar to the TAC here?

Five More States Vote Today

Five more Democratic primary elections happen today in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.  They are all delegate rich, which Florida being the big prize of the night with 246 delegates

Illinois has 182 available, Missouri 84, North Carolina 121 and Ohio will also be another critical state with 160 delegates and Sec. Clinton is favored in all five states.

And bad news Sanders supporters, two more Southern states with large Black populations are voting today

We'll see what transpires later tonight after the votes are cast and the polls close. .

Moni's 2016 NCAA Women's B-Ball Bracket

While I didn't have time to do my men's bracket in 2015, I definitely had a chance to do one for the women's tournament.  I started as part of Women's History Month compiling it in 2008 , and I have continued that tradition every year since.  

Since I just mentioned it, here are my 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 , 2014 and 2015 women's brackets.here

My record in picking the eventual women's NCAA champion is slightly better at 5-3, and I've also correctly picked all four women's NCAA  Final Four teams in 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2015.  Also nailed last year's NCAA women's title game.

But it's a year later.  Can I get it right again and select the four teams that will be playing for NCAA women's basketball supremacy on April and 5?   Will UConn continue their dominance of the NCAA women's basketball ranks and their 69 game winning streak? Will they make NCAA history and become the first women's team to win a fourth straight title or will there be an upset for the ages?..

We're about to find out.

Bridgeport Regional
First Round
Connecticut, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Michigan State, South Florida, UCLA, BYU, Texas

Second Round
Connecticut, Mississippi State, UCLA, Texas

Sweet 16
Connecticut, UCLA

Bridgeport Regional Champ
Connecticut

Dallas Regional
First Round
Baylor, St John's, Florida State, DePaul, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Oregon State

Second Round
Baylor, Texas A&M, Louisville, Oregon St.

Sweet 16
Baylor, Oregon St.

Dallas Regional Champ
Baylor

Lexington Regional
First Round
Notre Dame, Georgia , Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Washington, Maryland

Second round
Notre Dame, Stanford, Kentucky, Maryland

Sweet 16
Notre Dame, Maryland

Lexington Regional Champ
Notre Dame

Sioux Falls Regional
First Round
South Carolina, Kansas State, Florida, Syracuse, West Virginia, Ohio State, Tennessee, Arizona State

Second Round
South Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, Arizona State

Sweet 16
South Carolina, West Virginia

Sioux Falls Champ
South Carolina

Final Four
Connecticut, Baylor, Notre Dame,.South Carolina

Championship Game
Connecticut, Notre Dame

2016 NCAA Women's Champ
Connecticut

Why Y'all Shocked Violence Happened At A Trump Rally?

I was paying attention Friday night when well organized protesters shut down a Donald Trump Chicago rally that was on the campus on the University of Illinois-Chicago campus.

Frankly I wasn't shocked it happened and I've been surprised a racially charged outburst hasn't happened sooner..

Donald trump has been race baiting for several months at his Tea Klux Klan rallies, the white dominated media was silent or in FOX Noise's case, deliberately obtuse about what was blatantly obvious to any person of color in this country, and you're shocked that the people you're race baiting weren't going to do something about it?

And on top of that, you actually thought that you would be able to do you're usual racist campaign shtick at an arena smack dab in the middle of the ethnically diverse South Side?

And yeah, here's Rachel Maddow laying out the escalating Trump race baiting over several campaign events.




Trump and the Republican Party tried to spin this as his free speech being messed with.  Both Trump and the GOP conveniently neglected to mention that the protesters were also expressing their First Amendment free speech rights to protest his ongoing race-baiting..

But the bottom line is this racial tension in the USA didn't just happen.  The Republican Party has been race baiting their way to political power since the Dixiecrats migrated to the GOP in the late 1960's as the Democrats embrace passing civil rights legislation.  You have also engaged in an ongoing campaign of massive resistance aimed at President Obama.

So nope, not shocked at what happened in Chicago last Friday.

Moni's 2016 NCAA Men's B-Ball Bracket

I am a serious college basketball fan, and love March Madness except for replays of a certain painful to watch 1983 NCAA championship game that get nauseatingly run every year

Since 2007 I'd been putting my NCAA bracket on the blog for you TransGriot readers to peruse.  But last year my travel schedule was so jam packed full of events in March that I didn't have time to sit down long enough to post my 2015 NCAA Men's NCAA tournament bracket.   

But I did make a prediction that turned out to be way off, and the Duke alums I know made sure to remind me of it.  Oh well, that's the way the ball bounces sometimes.  It also broke my three year streak of correctly predicting the eventual men's champ.

I'm now 4-4 in the picking the NCAA men's champs, and here's my previous NCAA men's brackets for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

But it's a new year as the Final Four will be played in my hometown this year at NRG Stadium.  But before we get to those national semifinal and national championship games on April 2 and April 4, we have several weeks of games in which the 68 teams will be whittled down to the Final Four teams that will play for the NCAA men's title.

And  now, my 2016 NCAA Men's Bracket

First Four Games
Wichita State, Florida Gulf Coast, Michigan, Southern

South Regional
First Round
Kansas, Connecticut, Maryland, California, Arizona, Miami (FL), Temple, Villanova  

Second Round
Kansas, Maryland, Arizona, Villanova

Sweet 16
Kansas, Villanova

South Champ
Kansas

West Regional
First Round
Oregon, Cincinnati, Baylor, Duke, Texas, Texas A&M, VCU, Oklahoma

Second Round
Oregon, Duke, Texas A&M, Oklahoma

Sweet 16
Oregon, Oklahoma

West Champ
Oregon

East Regional
First Round
North Carolina, USC, Indiana, Kentucky, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Xavier

Second Round
North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Xavier

Sweet 16
Kentucky, West Virginia

East Champion
Kentucky

Midwest Regional
First Round
Virginia, Butler, Purdue, Iowa State, Seton hall, Utah, Syracuse, Michigan State

Second Round
Virginia, Iowa State, Utah, Michigan State

Sweet 16
Virginia, Michigan State

Midwest Champ
Michigan State

Final Four
Kansas, Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan State

Championship Game
Kansas, Michigan State

2016 NCAA Men's Champ
Kansas

It's 3 AM...Did You Spring Forward Yet?

It's now 3 AM CDT.   It's time to move those clocks forward one hour in case you forgot.   If you're a Republican voter, move your clocks forward 200 years.

You'll get your one hour of sleep you lost on November 6, two days before Election Day.

So check your watches, clocks and move them forward.  If you don't, you'll be an hour early for everything today.

Need To Recharge The Creative Batteries

Need to take the weekend off and recharge the creative batteries.   Have been fighting with writer's block, and the best thing to cure it for me is to just take a weekend break and do something besides give my computer a blank stare.

I'll be back with the regular TransGriot posts on Monday, but if some breaking news happens or I get some inspiration to write something on the blog, up it will go.

See y'all  Monday.

Shut Up Fool Awards- Spring Forward 2016 Edition

Believe it or not, it's that time to move those clocks up one hour on March 13.  At 2 AM you'll need to moe those clocks up, otherwise you'll be an hour early for everything you do on Sunday.

So keep the time change in mind if you're going out on Saturday night, because when the club clses, you will have already lost an hour of sllep before you get home.

It's now time to segue into our usual Friday business in this week's Shut Up Fool Awards, so let's not waste time and get right to calling fools out.

Honorable mention number one is Lil' Scrappy, who let loose with a transphobic rant that even his mama called his azz out on.  Now it's my turn.

Naw you ignorant transphobic azz, I nor any trans woman is not obligated to post our baby pics on our Facebook pages, and neither are we in you less than eloquent words 'men with wigs on'.   What, you mad because a trans woman turned your down for a date?

Bttom line it is hate speech like yours that fuels the anti-trans attitudes in the Black community that lead to us being assaulted or murdered., and we will not tolerate that shyt..

Honorable mention number two is Lisa Ling, for letting loose a problematic comment aimed at Caitlyn Jenner.   While she is on my caca list for the long list of problematic statements and comments that she deserves to be called out for, still doesn't give you cis women a free pass at throwing transphobic shade at her.

Call Caitlyn out for the jacked up comments, not her trans status.

Honorable mention number three is Sen John Cornyn  (R-TX), who threatened at CPAC to ruin the career of anyone who accepted a SCOTUS nomination from President Obama.  I don't know who I hate more representing my state in the Senate between him or Ted Cruz. 

2020 can't get here fast enough.

Honorable mention number four is Guy Benson, the conservagay who also put his foot in his mouth during a CPAC panel and said that gays should be more tolerant of discrimination aimed at them by their right wing haters.

Still trying desperately to get that lost white privilege back, huh Guy?  

Honorable mention number five is Ted Cruz, who opened his mouth on the campaign trail and said that gays are 'waging a jihad against Christians'.

Um Ted, shut the phuck up and stop projecting.   The jihad is only going one way, and your lying dominionist azz knows it..   Once again people, do NOT elect this Canadian for the GOP nomination.

This week's Shut Up Fool Award winning loser winner is the still unidentified Greene County, GA teacher who told Shaniyia Hunter in front of her high school class in December that she was 'dumb' and her purpose was to 'have sex and have children' because in his estimation she would never be smart..

Obviously this fool failed to read the mission statement of the Greene County School System. which states. 'The mission of the Greene County School System is to educate, inspire, challenge and support students to be productive citizens prepared to compete globally.'

This waste of DNA failed to do that for Shaniyia and Lord knows how many other kids who had the misfortune of being in his class.


This is why any Black parents are homeschooling their kids nowadays.  And why is this fool not being identified?  He needs to be outed for saying something that foul to a child and drummed out of the teaching profession.

And one other thing he needs to do:  Shut up fool!

 

Prime Minister Trudeau's State Visit Is Today

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie are in Washington DC for a state visit, and it may be a toss up who is more excited about that happening.

Despite Canada being our northern neighbor and our number one trading partner, this was the first visit by a Canadian Prime Minister to the US since 1997.

They were welcomed with a pomp and circumstance filled State Welcoming Ceremony on the White house South Lawn this morning and later tonight will enjoy the first state dinner held for a Canadian leader in 20 years.

 

Another Split Decision In The March 8 Democratic Primary Contests

There were two primary contests Tuesday in Mississippi and Michigan that were favored to go in Sec. Hillary Clinton's direction on this International Women's Day.

Once again, the Black vote mattered as she stomped Sanders in Mississippi in another electoral blowout by an 83-17% margin.  Michigan however turned out to be a Sanders upset as the white independent and crossover Republicans vote helped Sanders as he eked out an upset victory that for now, has the Sanders peeps crowing until Saturday.   

A little reality check for sanders folks.  He's still trailing in the all important delegate count and in fact because of the Clinton blowout in Mississippi LOST ground because of the proportional allocation rules.

Clinton finished the night with 88 delegates while Sanders picked up 70,and she's now up 761 to 547 not including the superdelegates which Sanders still massively trails in.

On to the March 15 contests in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio.