'Her Story' Emmy Disappointment

Was hoping along with everyone in the community that my girls Jen Richards and Angelica Ross would be making some more history at the 2016 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Sunday night, but alas, it didn't happen for them.

As y'all may be aware, Her Story was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series category, but unfortunately  the show Children's Hospital on Adult Swim walked away with the Emmy in that category.

Said Richards on her Facebook page concerning the result:  "Her Story didn't win tonight, but it's hard not to celebrate when it was just a short while ago that Angelica Ross and I were just two unknown transgender women living together in Chicago, who found in each other reasons to dream big."
 
"We have pushed and challenged and cheered each other, have laughed and cried and strutted despaired and hope together every step of this.  And here we are at the Emmys because we had the audacity to believe our stories mattered," she added..

"Thanks to everyone for their unceasing love and support tonight:."  

But the Emmy nomination for Her Story was a win in itself, especially in light of Hollywood's continued annoying pattern of casting cis masculine actors to play trans feminine characters.

I hope that the Emmy nomination of Her Story not only leads to additional seasons of it, but also leads to Hollywood realizing once and for all that trans stories not only matter, but they best done and most authentic when you cast trans actors in trans roles.

IBetter luck next time ladies!  I have a feeling that one day one or both of you will someday be putting an Emmy in your trophy case.

15th Anniversary of The 9-11 Terror Attacks

September 11, 2001 is one of those dates etched into American history as one you remember what you were doing and where your were when the event happened.

15 years ago today an Al Qaeda terror attack that used hijacked planes to slam into the World Trade Center towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington DC and another that was planned to either slam into the White House or the US capitol building.

That attack was thwarted when the passengers of United Flight 93 overpowered the hijackers and the plane crashed near Shanksville, PA,

The shock and horror of that day was amplified when the twin World Trade Center towers both came crashing down

The 9-11 attacks shocked the world and killed over 3000 people   Our airspace was closed for two weeks in response to the attack, and Canada in Operation Yellow Ribbon opened their airports, hearts and homes to international flights and travelers forced to land there because of the closure of US airspace.

While a new World Trade Center building rises 1776 feet into the New York skyline at the spot where the former towers stood, the gaping hole in the Pentagon has been repaired, and Osama Bin Laden long ago was killed in a SEAL raid, for many of the people who lost loved ones or who survived the attacks, the infamy of that day hasn't subsided..

Here are President Obama's remarks at the memorial service remembering the attack on the Pentagon.

2016 UH Cougar Watch- Number 6 UH Runs Over Lamar In Six Hour Game

It took them six hours and 18 minutes, and enduring a 3.5 hour lightning delay for a game that kicked off at 11:AM CDT, but the number 6 ranked University Of Houston Cougars adapted and overcame the adversity to beat the Lamar Cardinals 42-0 during their home opener at TDECU Stadium.

They also handled their collegiate football business without the services of QB Greg Ward, Jr  and running back Duke Catalon.   Ward and Catalon were nursing nagging injuries and held out of this non-conference matchup by the Cougar coaching staff because they want them healed and ready for their ESPN televised American conference opener on the road Thursday against the Cincinnati Bearcats.

So that meant backup senior QB Kyle Postma was at the controls of the explosive Cougar offense, and FYI people, there is no talent drop off when he is in the lineup.

Postma scored on a 39 yard TD run in the first quarter to stake the Coogs to a 7-0 lead they never relinquished before lightning strikes suspended the game with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

Once the game resumed at 3:12 PM,  the Cougars proceeded to run as if they time warped back in the 1970's during the break and were using Bill Yeoman's Veer offense.  They racked up 381 yards on the ground and had three players rush for over 100 yards for the first time since 1974.

Kevrin Justice scored to make it 14-0 with less than a minute to go in the first quarter, and was the first in a series of TD's that broke the game wide open and built a 28-0 halftime lead..


In addition to Postma's career high 106 yards and two TD's on just seven carries, RB' Kevrin Justice added 111 yards and two TD's, and freshman Mulbah Car  rushed for 108 yards and one touchdown as the Coogs ran over around and through the Cardinals to go 2-0 in this young 2016 college football season.

They have a short week plus travel to Cincy as they begin trying to repeat as The American champs and keep the possibility of crashing the CFA championship party alive.

Change,org Petition For Joy Reid To Serve As Presidential Debate Moderator

The Commission on Presidential Debates has already selected their moderators for the upcoming series of 2016 presidential and vice presidential debates that will start September 26 at Hofstra University.

But what has myself and a lot of people angry is FOX Noise's Chris Wallace, who was tapped to moderate the third debate in Las Vegas.   He has made the incredibly problematic statement that 'it's not my role as a presidential debate moderator to be a 'truth squad'..





Naw homey, that IS your fundamental role as a journalist.  The American people are depending on you to do just that and call out the lies during this final scheduled debate by any candidate.  

If you're unwilling to do your job in an election cycle in which the composition of the Supreme Court and the direction of our country is at stake, then  the CPD needs to replace Wallace with someone who will.

Many people (myself included) are disturbed by Wallace's comment, and believe that comment disqualifies him to be a moderator for the third debate on October 19.   As for who should replace him, MSNBC's Joy Reid has already demonstrated that she has no problem calling out lying surrogates and pundits, and is the woman for the job of moderating this last debate and calling out the lies..




 A Change.org petition has been launched that has garnered over 10,000 signatures in just four days. asking for Reid to be added either as the co-debate moderator or sole moderator, since Wallace has already indicated he is not going to fact check the candidates.

Here's the link to that petition if you think that's a great idea and wish to join the 10,279 people who have signed this petition.

Here's hoping the CPD acts on that suggestion and gets a real journalist to do that critical final debate at UNLV.

Shot Up Fool Awards-Moni's Headed Home From GLAAD Gala Edition

As you're reading this week's SUF post, I'm enroute back to the Lone Star State via Denver after last night's GLAAD Gala San Francisco with a nice trophy in my  checked luggage.

It was an amazing event in which I arrived in anonymity but didn't leave that way after my speech.

And once again deep appreciation and thanks for all the lovely comments you left for me on my Facebook page and elsewhere congratulating me for this unexpected honor celebrating TransGriot's ten years of unapologetically speaking truth to power and advancing the human rights of the trans community one blogpost at a time.

It's time to speak more truth to power and call out some fools.  


Honorable mention number one is Mika Brzezinski, for claiming she's hit her breaking point with Donald Trump and his candidacy is not funny any more.

It wasn't funny then when you and your comrade Joe Scarborough fawned over him, gave him softball question after softball question, and basically greased the media skids for him to win the Republican nomination.

Your fauxgressive behind had a chance to shut that down and you failed to do so.

Honorable mention number two is Lena Dunham for once again saying something offensive, apologizing and repeating the offense later.

Honorable mention number three is Matt Lauer, for his piss poor and offensively sexist interview of Democratic presidential nominee Sec. Hillary Clinton during the MSNBC Commander In Chief forum while letting Donald Trump get away with talking loud, lying and saying nothing

Honorable mention number four is North Carolina's soon to be ex GOP governor Pat McCrory,  who keeps doubling down on the twin losing strategies of defending an unjust HB2 bill that has wrecked the state's economy and pimping the anti-trans hatred.

Your SUF loser winner is Tomi Lahren, who aimed her ranting this week at USA women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe, who has joined Colin Kaepernick in the kneeling national anthem protest .

While berating Rapinoe on The Blaze, she said that Rapinoe as a lesbian should be grateful that in this country they don't throw her off of buildings like they do in other countries.

But hold up sister, your movement not only wants to pass laws to discriminate against LGBTQ people, but there are people in your conservative ranks who would like to do to us what ISIL is doing to LGBTQ people unfortunate enough to be trapped in the territory they control.

And I do recall some US based evangelist pastor that referred to the LGBTQ community on his TV show as 'termites in need of a godly fumigation"

You should be grateful you have a job where you can spout such idiocy unchallenged on the air.

Oh yeah, Tomi Lahren, shut up fool

2016 UH Cougar Watch -Facing Lamar

After beating then number 3 ranked Oklahoma convincingly 33-23 last Saturday, the University of Houston Cougars were elevated in the AP poll to number 6 in the nation and number 7 in the coaches poll.

It is the highest ranking a UH football squad has held since November 1990 when they rose to number 3 in the nation at thai time, and it is well deserved going into their home opener at TDECU Stadium against Lamar.

To the big victor goes the spoils.  This home opener was originally only going to be broadcast on the ESPN 3 streaming service, but now it is being televised locally on KIAH-TV, CW39.

Kickoff is at 11 AM CDT, and it will be interesting to see if the Cougars can stay focused and handle their football business against an opponent that doesn't have the same talent level as Oklahoma, but will be gunning to pin an major upset on them that would derail their attempt to crash the college football championship playoff party  .

Moni's 2016 GLAAD Gala SF Remarks

TransGriot Notes: These are the remarks I prepared for delivery as I accept this Special Recognition award at tonight's GLAAD Gala San Francisco.

You can check out the @GLAAD Twitter feed and the hashtag #glaadgala for it.

***

2016 GLAAD Gala SF Remarks

Thank you Angelica for that wonderful introduction.  and thank you GLAAD for this unexpected but deeply appreciated honor.  On behalf of the community and myself, I humbly accept this award. 

When blogging began to go mainstream in 2004, I was writing a column for a local monthly LGBTQ paper in Louisville.   Trans oriented blogs addressing the issues germane to the trans community existed, but the common thread was that none of those early trans blogs were discussing issues important to trans people of color.  Neither were they discussing trans issues and the news of the day from our perspective.   

After prodding by my friends in Louisville and around the country, predominately led by Jordana LeSesne and my own observations that a POC oriented blog was necessary for the growth and maturation of our Black trans community ranks, at midnight EST on January 1, 2006, the first post went up at TransGriot. 

It’s now been a decade, 6.4 million viewers and nearly 10,000 posts later, and TransGriot is still telling it like it T-I-S is on behalf of my community from an unapologetically Black perspective and documenting its history.  It is probably the oldest continuously published blog founded and run by an African-American trans person and I’m exceedingly proud of that fact.

And thanks to the Trans National Alliance, Trans United Fund and assorted individuals who have contributed money and technology to help me keep TransGriot alive and operating for the last decade   

While what I write at TransGriot is focused on and for Black trans people, over time those posts have also touched people around the world.  TransGriot is also unique in the fact it is written by a person who has been a trans human rights advocate for 18 years and counting, and has had a ringside seat to much of the LGBTQ community’s history since 1994.

It has also grown beyond its original mission to talk about the issues that affect all LGBTQ people. 

The power of a blog to shape events is mighty.  It’s even more potent when walk the walk and back up your words with deeds.  I get up from behind my keyboard and lobby legislators, educating people at panel discussions and community forums, and engage in public speaking in order to make that positive change I advocate for via my writing happen. 

And thank you GLAAD for standing up for our human rights and pushing for accurate portrayals of my trans siblings across the media spectrum.   Accuracy in media stories about trans people matters.

TransGriot has shed light and spoken truth to power on the issues that impact trans people of color such as anti-trans violence, HIV-AIDS and anti-trans bigotry inside and outside the LGBTQ community.  Posts I wrote helped push for passage of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance in May 2014, and sounded the alarm when the defense campaign for it was going off the rails.  I have urged LGBTQ people to vote and called out disrespectful reporting on trans people of color.    

And sadly, over the last decade I’ve had to document far too many murders of trans women of color.

Some of my TransGriot writing is designed to build community and pride in being an unapologetically Black trans person.   I wrote an open letter post last month that inspired a young Black trans feminine kid to see that she too can be a leader in our community and that she has a proud legacy and history of Black trans leaders to emulate. As her mother told me in an e-mail two days ago, Trini told her, “Ms. Monica showed me my history.  Now I’m gonna make my own.” 

And I will be pleased and proud to watch you make that history Trini on our behalf.  

I’m proud that TransGriot in its ten years of existence has led the way in sending the messages that LGBTQ rights are international human rights, we trans people exist  we are part of the diverse mosaic of human life, and we will not be dehumanized or disrespected by friend, foe or frenemy.

Once again. I thank you for this award, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the next decade holds in store for TransGriot and the TBLGQ community I serve.  

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Countdown To GLAAD Gala SF 2016

I've gone through my noon PDT rehearsal for my GLAAD Gala speech tonight., know where I'm sitting (will be close to the stage of course) figuring out what I want to wear tonight, and I'm ready as I'll ever be for this event that is starting at 5:30 PM PDT..

And I've even gotten a free Slurpee, so today is definitely a good day despite not being able to find the BART pass I just picked up at the airport yesterday..

The Gala at the Metreon is sold out, and thanks to everyone in the community who continue to honor me with your well wishes.for receiving this award.  

Means a lot to me.

If you want to follow the action, check out GLAAD's Twitter page at @GLAAD and the hashtag #glaadgala

I'll also post the text of the speech in  a few hours.

TransGriot 2016 NFL Picks Week 1

I'm in San Francisco as this NFL season kicks off tonight, and my campaign to defend my 2015 NFL prognostication title and become the first repeat champion begins tonight as well.

Last year was my first title since 2012, and it's ironic I'm here in the wake of 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick's decision to not stand during the national anthem that has gotten him vilified by right wingers and  praise from other people including veterans and other activist athletes like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for being a prominent athlete taking a stand for the Black community.

Should be interesting to see what happens when they take on the Los Angeles Rams down the road from me in Santa Clara on Monday night.

Yep, I said the Los Angeles Rams.  This not only their 80th season since their founding in 1936, they moved back to LA from St Louis in the offseason.  This is their first regular season game as the LA Rams since they bounced for St Louis in 1995.

But back to the fun part.   It's the opening weekend of the 2016 NFL season and the prognostication contest between me and Mike Watts.   Eli's unfortunately not competing this year. and both of us wish him a speedy recovery from the health issues that have him sidelined this year.  He will have the opportunity to guest post his thoughts here about how the season's going and looking forward to doing so when that happens..

We hope and pray you make a speedy recovery and are back tangling with us for NFL prognostication supremacy in 2017.

256 games, 17 weeks, and it all starts with tonight's Super Bowl 50 rematch between Carolina and the defending NFL champion Denver Broncos.  16 games since all 32 NFL squads are in action.
Teams I'm selecting to win this week are in bold print, home team in CAPS.

Mike's Week 1 picks here.

Final 2015 Standings

*TransGriot  166-90
Mike               159-97
Eli                   153-103

Thursday Night Game
Panthers over BRONCOS

Sunday Early Games
TEXANS or Bears
FALCONS over Buccaneers
EAGLES over Browns
Packers over JAGUARS
Vikings over TITANS
Bengals over JETS
SAINTS over Raiders
CHIEFS over Chargers
RAVENS over Bills

Sunday Afternoon Games
SEAHAWKS over Dolphins
Giants over COWBOYS
COLTS over Lions

Sunday Night Game
Patriots over CARDINALS

Monday Night Games
Steelers over WASHINGTON
Rams over 49ERS

Iconic Entertainer The Lady Chablis Dies

“I want people to remember, parents to remember, that when a child is born, it may possibly be someone like myself, so be prepared for things like that. If you don’t like it, just remember that great things can happen.”--Lady Chablis

Sad news to report out of Savannah, GA.  Several local TV stations and Club One are reporting that our trans sister Brenda Dale Knox, AKA The Lady Chablis, who gained fame during the 90's thanks to the 1994 book and 1997 movie Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil and her subsequent 1996 autobiography Hiding My Candy has died at age 59.

She passed away surrounded by family and friends at St Joseph's/Candler Hospital

I have an autographed copy of that book thanks to meeting her during our LGBT Derby party in Louisville in 2003.   She was one of the celebrity guests that was invited to attend along with the late Tammy Faye Bakker and Anna Nicole Smith, and when I spoke to her diminutive self she was impressed by my average for a supermodel height.

When I whipped my copy of Hiding My Candy out of my purse and asked her to autograph it, she cheerfully did so while exclaiming "You made my day".

I replied, "You've made mine, too".   She really had, since the next day was my birthday.

She was born and raised in Quincy, Florida on March 11, 1957, and she's been making people's day as an entertainer since her debut at Savanaah's Club One in 1988.   In addition to briefly doing pageants and winning a few titles, she has raised thousands in campaigns for the American Diabetes Association and various LGBTQ charities,

She played herself in the Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil movie.   Her most recent TV appearance was on the Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2013, but has been in declining health lately.

The Grand Empress of Savannah has transitioned and she will be missed.  Rest in power and peace, sis.

TransGriot 2016 Presidential Electoral Vote Map Prediction

Since I'm the 2016 Netroots Nation Pundit Cup champion, I've been getting asked by many of my readers since I correctly called the Democratic presidential primary race back in February, what's my opinion concerning who is going to win the presidential election?

Before we get to that, I encourage you, especially if you're in the TBLGQ community or an ally or friend to us and love this country, to not only get registered to vote in your state or territory, but participate on Election Day by voting the entire ballot from president to dog catcher.

Here are the 2016 election deadlines for getting registered for the November 8 election in your state or territory.

The interactive map is courtesy of 270ToWin, so if you wish to play with scenarios of your own, you can go to their site and play with the maps.

And now, the TransGriot 2016 Presidential Electoral Map Prediction.   This is what I believe will happen on November 8.

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

I'm predicting Hillary Clinton will become our first female president in an electoral blowout .

Moni's Arrived in San Francisco!

The Air Marshal has landed in San Francisco after another cross country flight, this time on Southwest to the Left Coast via Orange County.  

Was a  little bumpy over the El Paso area.  We were flying through the remnants of Hurricane Newton, which made landfall near Los Cabos the other day.  

The other drama I was facing was whether my bag made it.   Due to heavy traffic got to Hobby 40 minutes before my flight departed.   Fortunately I had TSA Pre and I was leaving out of Gate 20.

I exhaled when I saw my bag plop down on the baggage carrousel.   Let's just say that Moni won't be cutting it so close on the return trip home Friday.  

We got to SFO a little early, and after my BART train ride to the Montgomery St. Station found the hotel.   Had to wait a few moments before my room was ready, but that 19th floor suite was worth the wait.

The Park Central is my homebase until Friday morning, and as you readers know, I'm here for the now sold out GLAAD Gala San Francisco that happens tomorrow to receive an award..

The gala started at 5:30 PM PDT, which means the only way I'll be seeing the Panthers-Broncos game is tby watching the highlights on ESPN's SportsCenter.

After I get a nap in because I've been up since 5 AM CDT to catch my flight out of Hobby, I'll probably explore the area around my hotel.   I can see the City View at Metreon venue for tomorrow night's gala from my 19th floor hotel room and already happily discovered there's a 7 Eleven around the corner.

I'm also hoping to get a chance while I'm here to see some peeps while I'm in the Bay Area.

We'll see how successful that effort is.

Tamron Hall Practicing Journalism On MSNBC Again

One of the reasons I love my Lone Star home girl Tamron Hall is because like Joy Reid, hat she practices journalism on her MSNBC show and doesn't let spin slide.

That's a lesson the rest of the media needs to learn and do so quickly in the 62 days left we have left in this campaign.  Call a lie a lie, and don't  let those lies and spin go unchallenged.

The media is not here to be a politician's best bud.  We are here to do the job of getting information voters need to cast informed decisions when they step into the ballot box and hold politicians and others accountable for their BS, not be stenographers to power.

That means at times hard questions need to be asked to get that information, and when the subject tries to spin and obfuscate, you relentlessly keep asking the questions to need the answer to until they do.

The politician needs you to get their message out, not the other way around.

The latest person to learn that lesson the hard way that Tamron's not playing was senior Trump adviser  A.J. Delgado.  She found out quickly that she wasn't on FOX Noise or Caving News Network

This is what real journalism looks like, and what we should have been getting across the board during this entire campaign.

Nicki Ramos-Transgender People Are Lying?!?!

While I'm flying to the West Coast, here's one of my fave video bloggers for you to enjoy.  

She had this to say back on August 25, 2015 about the claim that trans people are lying when we tell you that we are transgender women

My trans Tejana sis Nicole Ramos breaks it down

The Air Marshal Is Headed To San Francisco!

In what has become a familiar theme for me this year, once again I'm taking it to the sky and flying to another event.

This time it will be for the GLAAD Gala in San Francisco, and it will be the first time I've actually flown into SFO since 1999.   I'm sure there will be many changes to the airport since the last time I flew into it was for the 1999 Creating Change Conference that was held in Oakland and the Air Marshal was a CAL employee.

I already know what one of the biggest changes from 1999 is, and that is BART rail service (hallelujah) to and from the airport.

It will be a short trip.  I'm out here just long enough to enjoy Wednesday on the Left Coast and for the Thursday night gala, and return back to my H-town life on Friday morning.

In addition to the Thursday night gala, looking forward to seeing some of the San Francisco based TBLGQ family out here in the Bay Area and destroying some Ghirardelli's chocolate while I'm there

And oh yeah, rumor has it that I'm getting a Special Recognition Award tomorrow night.

2016 Williams Watch- Moving Towards A US Open Semifinals Clash?

Sadly, no.   My fave tennis playing siblings are in this year's 2016 edition of the US Open, and were until yesterday on track to meet in the semifinals.

Serena hasn't dropped a set yet on her way to the quarterfinals.   She beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, then took down fellow American Vania King by the same 6-3, 6-3 straight set score in the second round.

In the third round it took Little Sis exactly one hour to blitz Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-2, 6-1 to set up her fourth round match with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, who also bowed down to the Queen of Tennis in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to punch her ticket to the quarterfinals.

Serena with the Monday win over Shvedova, also became the winningest player of any gender in Grand Slam tennis history with her 308th match win in Grand Slam play, passing Martina Navratilova (306) and Roger Federer (307).

She will face number 5 seeded Simona Halep of Romania, and should she get past Halep, would face the winner of the Ana Konjuh-Karolina Pliskova match in the semis.

Big Sis was a third set tiebreaker match point away from joining Serena in the US Open quarters, but alas it didn't work out for her.

Venus started her 2016 US open by beating Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, then beat Germany's Julia Gorges in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.

Venus then got past Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-1 in the third round before running into Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the fourth round and falling in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (3-7).

So we won't see another Williams Sisters Grand Slam clash, but i'd rather have those happen in a Grand Slam final anyway.

 

5th Annual Miss Trans Star International Pageant

While we're waiting for the first trans contestant to walk a Miss Universe stage, in the interim we pageant junkies do have several international trans pageants to watch and root for our sisters who are competing in them around the world.

We still have several national Miss Universe organizations (Mexico, Venezuela) that even though the parent Miss Universe organization's rules allows qualified trans women who are 18-27 to enter and compete, they transphobically refuse to allow trans entrants.

The longest running trans pageant open to international contestants with international recognition has been the Thailand based Miss International Queen one that I've covered on these TransGriot electronic pages.  The Thais also have the Miss Tiffany pageant for Thai trans women only that happens in May.  

In the pageant happy Philippines, there's not only the local and regional trans pageants that model and advocate Geena Rocero once competed in as a tennager, but the Amazing Philippine Beauties national one.  There are also other national trans pageants that are popping up in various nations around the globe.

In the United States, we have the prestigious Miss Continental Pageant that has been around since it was founded by Jim Flint in 1980 and just concluded its annual Labor Day weekend competition to crown its new queen yesterday.

Miss International Queen one has been around since 2004 and currently has the most international acclaim and news coverage since that time.  It has become a sought after title for trans women around the globe.  But with increasing criticism of its all Thai judges panel that got louder after a controversial 2011 end to it, exacerbated by the fact there has never been an African descended girl win Miss International Queen, much less a dark skinned beauty period, I'm not surprised that other international trans pageants are popping up in different parts of the world.

One of those new trans pageants is the now five year old Barcelona based Miss Trans Star International Pageant.  It came up on my radar last year because my Brazilian homegirl Aleikasandria Barros was competing in it last year and finished as the first runner up.

Aleika's disappointment at not walking away with that title didn't last long.  In December she captured the Miss Trans Universe title that was held in Italy.

This fifth anniversary version of it will be taking place September 16-17, and one of the 28 women entered in the 2016 edition of this pageant is another one of my international trans homegirls in Miss SaHHara.   She'll be representing her birth nation of Nigeria, and she was the runner up at Miss International Queen in 2011.

Well, you know I'll have my eye on this upcoming pageant.   Best of luck to my sis Miss SaHHara and all the women competing in Barcelona for this title.

Happy 10th Blogiversary Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters!

Eight months after I founded TransGriot on January 1, on September 6, 2006 South Carolina based blogger Alvin McEwen was founding his now decade old award winning blog entitled Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.

The blog was initially started by McEwen as an effort to support a book of the same name that Alvin was trying to get published that discussed the anti-gay industry, but turned out to be far more successful than the book was according to Alvin.

I finally got to meet him and Pam Spaulding at Netroots Nation 2012 in Providence, and had a blast getting to know him and discussing with him and Pam some of the issues impacting our community at the time.   I also have the pleasure from time to time of chatting with my fellow Southern blogging colleague on a somewhat regular basis.

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters has done such a great job of calling out the tactics of the anti-gay right, he has become after Joe Jervis of Joe My God, the other LGBTQ blogger they love to hate  

McEwen's blog has also been nominated twice (2014-2015) for GLAAD Media  Awards, and there are times I link to him for his take on the issues of the faux Christians and their ongoing facts free attacks on our LGBTQ community and other subjects.

Happy blogiversary Alvin and congrats on 10 years of publishing success for your blog. It is needed and even more necessary now than it was when it started.

May you have continued success in exposing the facts free hypocrisy and outright blasphemous lies of the anti-LGBTQ industry.

GLAAD To Honor Moi At The Gala San Francisco

The reason why I'm hopping a flight to San Francisco on Wednesday has finally been announced, so I can now talk about it.

On Thursday during the GLAAD Gala San Francisco I am going to be honored for the ten years I've been speaking truth to power courtesy of my TransGriot blog I founded on January 1, 2006.  

The Special Recognition Award will be presented by Angelica Ross, and so looking forward to seeing her again.

"Monica Roberts has used her blog to become a powerful voice for trans women of color and all trans people for the past 10 years," said Nick Adams, GLAAD's Director of Transgender Media. "Monica has consistently spoken out about the discrimination and violence faced by our community, and she's shined a light on trans people, especially people of color, when other blogs and media outlets would not. We are thrilled to honor Monica for her work and for her contributions toward accelerating acceptance for all trans people."

Thank you GLAAD for the award and thank you everyone for the continued expressions of congratulations and well wishes for this award.  I've been especially touched by the ones that have come from my former CAL co workers, who have told me every time I encounter them either while transiting IAH, on a United flight or just while out and about in Houston how proud they are of me along with everyone else in the community.   That's also true of my local LGBTQ community, the one I was part of in Louisville and nationally.

Thank you everyone.  It means a lot that y'all think so highly of me, and you see me as a worthy possibility model, friend and mentor.

It's been ten years, nearly 10,000 posts and 6.4 million visitors later and I'm still posting and telling it like it T-I-S is about the issues that impact my community.

If you can attend, here's the info for the gala.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at City View at Metreon on Thursday night, and as many peeps in the Bay Area trans community as I can while I'm there.starting Wednesday afternoon.

TransGriot Update:  Now hearing that the GLAAD Gala San Francisco is sold out.

Happy Labor Day 2016

Happy Labor Day, TransGriot readers!

This long weekend off to celebrate the last days of summer and allow to to hit the sales, take that last trip of the summer season, chill out and watch an orgy of college football is brought to you by the labor movement.

It is the labor movement that created this day to celebrate the social and economic achievements of the movement here in the USA and Canada.

And yeah, our Canadian cousins spell it a different way.   It's Labour Day in the Great White North.

After several states passed legislation starting in 1887 to recognize the Labor Day holiday, and act was passed by Congress in 1894 to make the first Monday in September a holiday,

So hope you are enjoying your holiday.  I know I'm definitely enjoying mine after my fave college team shocked the world again and beat Oklahoma.  

But once it's over, it back to work until Thanksgiving.   That day comes next month in Canada, but not until November for us.    And I hope to as I'm carving some turkey giving thanks that the sane American voters come out 63 days from now and I hear the words 'President-elect Hillary Clinton,'

Happy Labor Day everyone!