Shea Diamond's 'I Am Her' Drops On ITunes

She talked about it when I met her during the 2016 BTAC conference in Dallas, and we even got a sample of her amazing vocal talents during our Family Fun Day.  

Now Shea Diamond has finally released that first single on ITunes entitled I Am Her.

Here's the YouTube video for the song, and if you like it, please consider purchasing the song and helping a trans sister out.



The song dropped on ITunes back on October 7, and it's available for purchase here by clicking this link. 

Congrats Shea!   Hope we are blessed to hear more of your musical talents in the near future!

TransLatina Coalition's G.A.R.R.A.S. Fashion Show Tomorrow

For those of you in the Los Angeles area, if you're looking for an event to attend that also serves as a fundraiser, tomorrow night the TransLatina Coalition's G.A.R.R.A.S.  Fashion Show will take place starting at 6 PM PDT.

G.A.R.R.A.S. stands for Groundbreaking Activism Redirecting and Reforming All Systems.  The show is not only a fundraiser for the TransLatina Coalition, it is a fashion show in which all of the participants are trans women.

The G.A.R.R.A.S. Fashion Show is an event that provides visibility for the Los Angeles area trans community and supports the Center for Violence Prevention and Transgender Wellness, which is a program of the TransLatin@ Coalition.



There are some limited tickets available for the fashion show that transcends borders, with the ticket prices ranging from $15-$100.   You can click on this link to purchase those tickets.

The G.A.R.R.A.S. Show will take place at the Florentine Gardens, located at 5951 Hollywood Blvd. in  LOs Angeles, CA from 6-9 PM    If you need further information about it, you can check out the TransLatina Coalition website.

Hope that this year's edition of the G.A.R/R.A.S. show is once again a success, and please check out and support my Los Angeles area trans Latina sisters for a night of high fashion and fun for a great cause..

I Won't Be Voting For You, Trump

It's been a while since I unleashed another one of my TransGriot song rewrites upon the world, and while listening to my Spotify 80's playlist, the lyrics hit me while listening to Public Enemy for the perfect rewrite slamming the Trumpenfuhrer.

Y'all know the drill. Fire up your fave music program and sing to Moni's remixed lyrics

I Won't Be Voting For You, Trump
(sung to the tune of I Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man' by Public Enemy)

Runnin' for POTUS day and night
Runnin' a racist campaign, yipes
For your GOP political home
Beat 17 peeps my mind is blown
Get criticized you wanna sue
Disrespecting women, now I'm through
You're getting help from Breitbart chumps
I won't be voting for you Trump

I won't be voting for you TrumpAmerica's already great, you see
I won't be voting for you Trump
It went to Hillary 
I won't be voting for you Trump
You're the favorite of the Klan
I won't be voting for you Trump
You'll put America in a jam

Your supporters are lily white
Campaign lies every day and night
Cyberbullying all the girls
As conservafools all clutch their pearls
Claiming Hillary will take your guns
Saying Mexicans are scum 
You're the  POTUS nominee, chump
But I won't be voting for you Trump

I won't be voting for you Trump
Nobody should be voting for you Trump

You're a raving bigot son
November 8 you will be done
Watching you lose this election (pow)
To Hillary sure will be fun
Face the facts that's on the shelf
Don't qualify for POTUS because of wealth
The Blacks can't stand you chump
I won't be voting for you Trump

I won't be voting for you Trump
You want ten dollars for what?
I won't be voting for you Trump
You can kiss my big Black butt
I won't be voting for you Trump
I'm busy tryin' to be  me
I won't be voting for you Trump
That's the way my vote goes gee

Bass for your face! Go vote people
Bass in your face!  I early voted
Drop that vote homey!  What do I have to lose?Drop that vote homey!  I ain't trying to hear thatBeat the GOP!  Tired of your oppression
Beat the GOP   Probably cheating on Melania
Beat the GOP,  Hope y'all lose the  House and Senate, too
(laughter, than fade)

Shut Up Fool Awards- Fall Back 2016 Edition

Daylight Savings Time ends in the US at 2 AM on Sunday.

So TransGriot readers, before you go out to party or go to bed, you may wish to move your clocks back one hour before you do so.   If you're a Republican, you've already set your clocks back 100 years, so you're good.

Moving on.. It's Friday, so it's time for me to handle my TransGriot business and choose this week's fool, fools or group of fools to call our in this week's edition of the Shut Up Fool Awards.

Let's get started calling people out shall we?

Honorable mention number one is Melania Trump.    In her first campaign speech since the disastrous plagiarized RNC one, not only claimed that she would take up cyberbullying as a cause if she became First Lady, she's now been busted a second time for plagiarizing another speech, this time from Donald's ex Marla Maples.

Girlfriend, It's also the height of hypocrisy for you to decry cyberbullying when your hubby is the king of the cyberbullies.  You also need some new speechwriters that can come up with some original material.

Honorable mention number two is long time Houston LGBTQ hater Steven Hotze, who remixed some old Pat Robertson hatred and claimed that gay people were termites eating away at America's foundation.

Dude, why don't you just come out already?  We long time Houstonians haven't forgotten about your back in the day DWI bust on Picnic Lane in Memorial Park a

Honorable mention number three is Kellyanne Conway, for continuing to lie for Trump.

Honorable mention number four is Lil Wayne, who claimed in an ABC Nightline interview that the Black Lives Matter movement had nothing to do with him and dissed it,  then apologized after the backlash hit his azz.

Honorable mention number five  is the North Carolina GOP, who filed a complaint against the Charlotte Observer in a failed attempt to stop a forum discussing the unjust Hate Bill 2.

Hey, y'all were proud to pass HB 2 in 18 hours a few months ago, so why y'all trying to run away from it now?  .

Honorable mention number six  is a group award for the Country Music Awards and their racist fans, who after Beyonce appeared on the CMA Awards stage Wednesday night with her fellow Texans the Dixie Chicks removed all mention of the performance from their website.

Um CMA people, guess y'all forgot the CMA's were telecast and pics of that joint performance are all over the Net and entertainment media.. .     .  

As for  your racist fans and your attempted erasure of Queen Bey, the Beyhive will be coming for you shortly.

Honorable mention number seven is Shaquille O'Neal, who said in an Esquire interview that when he gets stopped by the po-po, he's not worried because he'shows respect'/

Really?  There are peeps who are dead now because they 'showed respect' to killer KKKops.  It doesn't matter to a white cop who hates you if you're showing respect to them or not in a encounter with them it they harbor anti-Black attitudes.

You do TV commercials, are an NBA analyst and a seven foot tall Hall of Fame athlete.   So pick an NBA arena, have several sections of seats and shut the hell up with that noise

Honorable mention number eight is Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, who posted a misogynist tweet aimed at Hillary Clinton with the c-word in it, then tried to claim it was a staffer's fault, then tried to claim their Twitter feed had been hacked.

Hmm.  Another Republican office holder we need to vote out of office in 2018.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner is FBI Director James Comey.  He leaked information over the weekend about e-mails in a sexting investigation of Anthony Weiner that Trump seized on and used in his campaign stump speeches.  

He did so against the advice of his boss Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and now is concerned that he 'politicized the FBI before the most crucial presidential election since 1860'.

Fortunately much of the country has already voted, and what yo did was piss off Hillary supporters and motivate them to go to the polls and handle their electoral business.

Really  you Republifool?   Now you're concerned about politicizing the FBI?  Should have thought about that before you released info about an investigation that isn't even connected to Hillary Clinton.

James Comey, Shut Up Fool!

The Humanity Of Trans People Is On The Ballot

One of the reasons that I have been so passionate about this upcoming election on Tuesday is because for me as a trans advocate, the choice couldn't be any more clearer about who should be the 45th president of the United States.

I am a political pragmatist.   While I want someone who is as progressive as possible leading our nation, I am also cognizant of the fact that you have to get ELECTED in order to implement your policy platform.

I don't care how progressive your platform is on paper.  If you can't get elected to office, you and your pie in the sky third party and its platform are useless to me and other marginalized groups.

I don't waste my vote on third party candidates in a presidential election because they have zero chance to be elected president, and third parties don't have their political act together enough to even have a chance at being viable now or in the near future.   See the Reform Party and their rise and fall in the 90's as an example of the internal third party dysfunction I'm alluding to.

That's why Jill Stein, who is far more unqualified for the presidency than Trump is, and Gary Johnson, who is basically a Republican ashamed to claim the GOP label, never had a chance with me or the majority of non-white voters

There are only two candidates left in this race with a legitimate shot of getting 270 electoral votes and be on January 20 standing on that inaguration platform they have been building since September on the west side of the Capitol.

Those persons who have that shot on November 8 of being elected the 45th president of the United States are Sec. Hillary Clinton and (eww) Donald Trump.

Who do I wish to see succeed the first African-American POTUS?  Definitely the first female POTUS.  

When you do the hard solid thinking about what the issues are that impact our country, Hillary Clinton hands down is the most qualified person and most prepared to handle the massive job of being president of the US immediately after being sworn in and having well thought out policies to tackle those problems.

I've been pointing out since 2012 that the next president will possibly get to select up to four Supreme Court justices and when they do so in conjunction with a Democratic Senate, they will set the course of the SCOTUS and the federal judiciary for the next 30-40 years.

With trans human rights cases starting to percolate through the federal court system and the Gavin Grimm case about to be heard by a SCOTUS that has a 4-4 split, having the right POTUS selecting the replacement for (in)Justice Antonin Scalia is one of the issues that led me to throw my early support to Clinton.

One of the other things I've been alarmed about the legion of professional TBLGQ haters that are Trump's senior policy advisors like Tony Perkins.  Trump has also committed himself to supporting a repressive Orwellian named 'First Amendment Defense Act'

Should the self destructive white privilege fueled racist tendencies of white voters prevail on Tuesday, we will be stuck with people who hate us having offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the Justice Department gleefully making policy backed by the federal government that rolls back all the human rights games we have made since Stonewall. .  

I want to see them crying about a loss on Tuesday on Election Night like they were four years ago.  I also want to see Trump crushed in an Electoral College beatdown so that another Republican candidate never again will go there and use blatant racist appeals to white voters in an attempt to get elected to office at any level of government.

I've also noticed this sexist and misogynist bent to the opposition for Sec. Clinton.  I'm really tired of the men supporting Trump who deep down don't want a woman to be president of the United States and try to cover that up with whatever right wing anti-Clinton lie to do so. 

We have had 43 white men be POTUS. The last white male president was a disaster for the country. We can't afford that as a nation again.  As a trans person, I would see all the progress we have painstakingly made come to a screeching halt, all because some Trump voters don't want to see a qualified woman become the next president of the United States.  

I also see the danger of having a short tempered easy to provoke idiot like Trump in charge of our nuclear arsenal.  As a kid who grew up during the Cold War, that thought keeps me awake at night.

But the people I'm most concerned about are our trans kids.  They are facing a coordinated right wing attack that is being blunted in large part because the power of the federal government is pushing back against that unjust assault on our humanity combined with the trans community, its advocates and our allies fighting our oppressors tooth and nail

If the transphobes get control of the federal government, we will be the first folks to feel the negative human rights repercussions of a Trump presidency.   That repression of trans people will also disproportionately be felt by non-white and low income trans folks who can't afford to leave for other nations as the privileged trans folks say they will do..

It's why trans folks are predominantly voting for Clinton .

As a trans person , I don't want to see what progress we have made so far come to a screeching halt

If you are trans and supporting Trump, you are not only voting for your own oppression, you are voting for the oppression of our trans kids, the rolling back of your human rights, and increased attacks on your very humanity.   What logical reason can you come up with that isn't a right wing anti-Clinton lie to support someone that is massively unqualified for the presidency?  

I and the trans community have too much to lose on Tuesday if Trump wins. Our very movement and humanity is on the ballot , and a vote for Trump is a vote against the humanity and human rights of transgender Americans, and transgender people of color by extension who would bear the disproportionate brunt of that anti-trans oppression being aimed at us.

It's why I'm unapologetically with her, and want to see Hillary Clinton win on Tuesday and be inaugurated as the next president of the United States..

Moni's 2016 PBHA Robert Coles Call Of Service Award Lecture

As many of you are aware of, I went to Boston last week and the Harvard University campus to accept the Phillips Brooks House Association's Robert Coles Call Of Service Award.

The award has been given out since 2007 and it didn't occur to me until arrived at my hotel in Cambridge to see to hit Google and see who the past winners of this award were.

That's when I discovered that i was in some pretty serious company in terms of past recipients of it.   Marian Wright Edelman won the inaugural award in 2007, Vice President Al Gore and BLM co founder Alicia Garza last year.

I also discovered that I am the first trans person ever to receive this award.

Here's a link to the transcript of my 2016 PBHA Coles Award lecture, and the video.  I also answered some questions from the audience concluding the lecture before yielding to a panel of local advocates.



Thanks once again to Maria Dominguez Gray, Shaquanda Brown, Robert Bridgeman, David Dance, Jalem Towler, Dean Katherine O'Dair and the students of the Phillips Brooks House Association for making my time on the Harvard Yard a memorable time.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to come back for a future visit.
.

Last Day Of Texas Early Voting

Today is the last day of early voting in Battleground Texas, and in Harris County and elsewhere across our vast state, early voting turnout has not only seen large numbers of Democrats participating, it is setting records in many of the most populous counties across Texas,

I handled my early voting business on the first day, so if you haven't voted yet, tomorrow is your last opportunity to do so.   You have until 7 PM to be in line at your fave early voting place and cast your ballots in this critical election for not only the next president, but all the important down ballot races that affect your every day life. .

If you miss this last day of early voting, you'll have to wait until Election day to cast your ballot, and you'll have to do so from your regular polling place.

It's your choice.  You can either do it on Friday and have your choice of early voting spots across the county to do so, or wait until Tuesday and be able to vote only at your regular precinct.

But whatever you choose to do, just vote.  The stakes are too high in this election for you to sit it out.

'Back To The Future II' Was Right! Cubs Win!

While I was watching that thrilling World Series Game Seven that ended over a century of frustration for the Chicago Cubs, it hit me that the Back To The Future II movie that was set in October 2015 had a scene in which the news video board in Hill Valley flashed news of the Cubs winning the World Series.

It was against a team that didn't exist at the time the movie was released in 1989 in the Miami Marlins,.  The Marlins only came into existence two tears after the movie debuted and they are a National League franchise. not an American League one.

Something else the movie got right along with the handheld tablet computers and multiple television channels,   Still waiting for my hoverboard and the self lacing Nikes.

The movie predicting the Cubs being world champions was off by a year and in real life it was against the Cleveland Indians ,but at this point long suffering Cubs fans don't care.  They have waited 108 years for this moment to happen and I definitely feel their joy.  I experienced it myself when the Rockets finally broke through in 1994 and ended our H-town sports title drought..

Waiting for the Astros to finally win that elusive World Series title after a series of frustrating playoff losses..

Back To The Future II was right   The Cubs are champions of the American baseball world. Somewhere Harry caray is smiling about that along with Cubs fans there and around the country.

TransGriot 2016 NFL Picks - Week 9

The calendar page has turned to November, and we're in the second half on the 2016 NFL season,

I closed out the first half of it the way I started by winning Week 8 and padding my lead in this year's NFL prognostication contest to five games.

Just have to keep grinding our weekly wins for another seven weeks..

We've surprisingly had in this 2016 NFL season our second tie game in the Washington- Cincinnati contest that was played at Wembley Stadium in London.  This is the first time since the 1997 season that the NFL has had in the overtime era two tie games, and this was first overtime regular season tie game played outside the United States.

It was also only the second time since the NFL regular season overtime era started in 1974 that we have had tie games in consecutive weeks.  

There is one more international game left this season, and it will involve the Texans playing the Oakland Raiders on November 21 at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

That's a few weeks from now.   This week my undefeated at home and first place in the AFC South Texans get to chill on the bye week with their 5-3 record.  Hopefully as they do so, they  get Deandre Hopkins and Brock Osweiler on the same page as QNB and number one wide receiver.   Both London game participants along with the Cardinals, Bears and Patriots also join them in watching the rest of the NFL play.

It's now Week 9, and time to keep the momentum going in my bid to be a repeat TransGriot prognostication champion.  Only 13 games to pick this week, and y'all know the drill.  

The teams I'm picking to win will be in bold print, and the home team will be in CAPS.   Mike's picks can be viewed here.

2016 NFL Week 8 Results                                      2016 NFL Season Record
TransGriot  8-4-1                                                     TransGriot  77-43-2
Mike           7-5-1                                                      Mike          72-48-2
Eli               --                                                            Eli              --


Thursday Night Game
Falcons over BUCCANEERS

Sunday Early Games
Lions over VIKINGS
GIANTS over Eagles
DOLPHINS over Jets
CHIEFS over Jaguars
Cowboys over BROWNS
Steelers over RAVENS

Sunday Afternoon Games
Saints over 49ERS
Panthers over RAMS
PACKERS over Colts
CHARGERS over Titans

Sunday Night Game
Broncos over RAIDERS

Monday Night Game
SEAHAWKS over Bills

Down Ballot Races Matter

We have two more days of early voting left in the Lone Star State and six more until Election Day itself next Tuesday.  One of the things that makes me shake my head when I hear it is when people try to justify sitting out an election.  

They spout off rhetoric laced with comments about their 'principles won't allow them to participate in this 'corrupt system' or vote for 'the lesser of two evils' , then once the election cycle is over they sat out are dismayed with the results and spend the next two to four years complaining ad nauseum about it.

Well, you folks who sit out elections for specious reasons are part of the problem with our political system so have several seats.   Your decision to not participate allows the political status quo you deplore to continue.

Sitting out an election is not an option, especially if you are part of a marginalized group.   Sitting out elections hurts the liberal progressive candidates you say you wish to get elected to shake up the system you deplore and is basically a vote for the status quo system you hate.

While voting isn't going to solve the systemic problems marginalized communities face overnight, it is still the most important and vital tool for social and political change because it determines who the politicians will be that implement the policies and laws you need to change the system and move it in the direction of working to solve the systemic problems your group faces.

Why do you think the Republican Party has spent millions on voter suppression efforts and passing blatantly unconstitutional voter suppression laws?   Chief Justice John Roberts made his money in conservative world before being elevated to the SCOTUS as a lawyer working for decades to kill the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The Republicans and conservative movement have bragged about suppressing Black and Latinx voter turnout, and you self-suppress yourself out of an election cycle.  Every time you do so, a Republican says thank you for doing so.

Elections matter because not only is it the most powerful tool to enact social and political change, it is because down ballot races matter. We all know about the tops of tickets and their importance in presidents, governors, mayors and your state supreme courts, but the down ballot offices matter as well..  

For example the secretary of state controls the administration of election law and voting in your state. In Texas, the county clerk has that same function but has the power to determine not only when you can early vote, but how many machines go to your particular precinct or early voting site..

We know about the Texas Supreme Court, but district court judges are the ones you'll encounter when you step into their chambers to get married, do a nae change  and other issues.  What do you think will be the outcome of your name change petition if the judge deciding on it not only has an (R) behind their name, but is drinking the GOP Red hate on trans people Kool Aid?

The state board of education matters.  County commissioners court matters. Judicial benches matter,  DA's matter.  County sheriffs matter.

There are many dedicated people who are running for those down ballot offices below the main event president race who want and deserve your vote.  It's why you not only need to getting off the couch and voting either in the last two days of early voting here in Texas, on November 8 and in every election cycle from now on until you pass away, you need to be doing so as an informed voter.

Down ballot races matter.   You have until November 8 to reconsider sitting out this election and participate in it, or don't and zip your lips about complaining about the results of this 2016 election cycle

.

Kyle Dixon of 'Below Deck' Comes Out As Trans Attracted

“Most men who are attracted to and date transgender women are probably stigmatized more than trans women are,  I think a man who is dating trans women, who is a celebrity, or famous or is an athlete or something, needs to come forward –- or a musician –- and needs to say, ‘I love transgender women and [they] deserve to be loved and I’m going to declare that publicly.’ I think those men need some sort of inspiration and hope, so they can live more authentically.”-Laverne Cox 

Trans folks are just like everyone else in this planet in that we are looking for someone who not only loves us, but will do so until death do us part.    One thing that I admire and envy about our transmasculine population is that they far more often are in relationships that can and do lead to marriage with cisgender people  

It does happen for girls like us.  I know trans women who have been in relationships, married to or have been married to cis men in some cases for decades.   But in my two decades of personal observations of our community, I've seen far more transmasculine folks in coupled relationships with cis people than I have trans feminine people coupes with cis people and know from personal experience how hard it is for a trans feminine person to date. .

I have met and count among my friends some amazing cis men who have dated,are currently dating or are happily married to trans women

When I have those conversations with those cis men about why they love girls like us, the reasons go across the spectrum, but the major takeaways are that they date us because they prefer and see trans women as viable dating and life partners.

What Laverne was talking about in that June 2015 SiriusXM Progress interview with Michelangelo Signorile may have just come to pass in terms of a celebrity coming out and stating that he dates trans women and why y'all tripping about it?

Kyle Dixon from the Bravo reality series Below Deck has not only come out to the crew on the show as bisexual, he also revealed that he was currently dating a trans woman

It's not a professional athlete or a major film or TV star (yet)  but it's a start that hopefully will lead to others following suit.  Breaking down the stigma and toxic masculinity surrounding dating trans women is a vital component to eventually stemming the unacceptably bloody tide of trans women of color being murdered by people who they were in dating relationships with or hooked up with sexually

If this leads to a broader conversation about trans attracted men and and the role they need to play in squashing transmisogyny, bring that conversation on.

It's Trans Awareness Month 2016!

November 1 also means that it is the start of Trans Awareness Month.

Because the Transgender Day of Remembrance happens on November 20 that memorializes the people around the globe we have lost to anti-trans violence, what has happened is that in many locales, a week of activities leading up to that day have occurred with the mission of educating and informing people about our community.

We did something similar in Louisville while I lived there in advance of the TDOR, and in some places it has been two weeks of events leading up to that TDOR date.

Because TDOR also falls close to Thanksgiving, it sometimes tends to get overshadowed by that looming holiday as well.

The Trans Awareness Week concept has been supported by advocacy groups like GLAAD, NBJC, the Transgender Law Center and the Task Force just name a few along with local groups across the nation.

Because Trans Awareness Week tends to get overshadowed at times by the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, it was expanded in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Trans Political Coalition to a month of events focused on trans human rights.

With trans human rights and our very humanity being under attack by the Republican Party and the conservative movement, the time for a standardized Trans Awareness Month celebration is needed and necessary not only to educate people about our lives, but also to help drive the message that trans rights are international human rights

Happy Trans Awareness Month!.

Seven More Days

The calendar has flipped to November, and we now have seven more days in this historic presidential campaign between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Seven more days.

Seven more days until the most contentious presidential election in modern US history s over.   Seven more days until other states without early voting get to finally choose between two vastly different candidates.   Seven more days until the trans community and everyone else discovers what direction this country is going to travel.

For those of us who are trans, or non white, or women, or marginalized, these next seven days will be nerve wracking and stress inducing.

Seven more days to make plans to get out the vote, or if you are in an early voting state like Texas, continue to bumrush the polls until early voting ends on Friday.

Seven more days until we can exhale,

 

Is Your Halloween Costume Racist?

Today is Halloween, and thought I'd post this handy flowchart graphic to help you avoid selecting a racist costume and getting the side eye for the groups offended by those costumes.

Remember a people's culture is not a costume for you to mock on Halloween.  If you did and aren't part of the basket of deplorables, you have time to run to your nearest Party City or other costume shop to get a replacement.

Donald Trump however, is fair game.

Gavin Grimm Case Going To The SCOTUS

Looks like the G.G v Gloucester County Schools trans human rights case is about to become a landmark US human rights case

On Friday the US Supreme Court announced that they would hear the Gloucester County, VA school district's appeal to the 4th Circuit ruling that favored Grimm.   It also sets up a landmark case that could determine the course of transgender rights in the US for decades to come.

A group of 23 states led by my transphobic Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (R) is fighting the DOE/DOJ guidelines that were issued by the Obama administration on behalf of transgender students.

The ACLU filed the original lawsuit on behalf of Grimm in 2015 because the Gloucester County board adopted a policy in December 2014 requiring trans students to use only single stall restrooms after some transphobic parents complained to the board.

That was despite the fact that Grimm, who was a high school sophomore at the time the unjust policy was adopted, had been using the boys restrooms for two months without incident with the permission of the school's principal

The ACLU contends that this is a violation of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and Title IX of the US Education Amendments of 1972, which is a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in school.

Translation: The ACLU is arguing that 'sex' in that law covers transgender people.   Ken Paxton and the other right wing transphobes he's leading want to make discrimination against transgender people legal.

Grimm originally lost at the federal district court level, but won his appeal in front of a three judge panel at the 4th Circuit court of appeals level in April.  The 15 judges of the 4th Circuit declined to rehear the case in May, thus establishing a trans positive precedent in the 4th Circuit court states that include North Carolina.   The Gloucester County school board decided to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which in August unfortunately put the appellate ruling on hold .

The justices have finally decided to get off the sidelines and settle this matter.   It is hoped that by the time they hear this case sometime in April, there will be nine justices to hear it.

We'll also be nervously anticipating in Trans World the Grimm case ruling when it is announced in June 2017.

Will The Washington NFL Team's October 16 Win Translate To A Clinton One?

One of the interesting election bellwethers in American politics involves our national passion of NFL football and the Washington NFL franchise.  I'm refusing to use the racist nickname of the team in this post and per TransGriot policy out of respect to my Native American friends.

Since the team moved to DC from Boston in 1937, when the Washington NFL franchise wins their last home game before the presidential election, the incumbent party stays in the Oval Office.  If they lose their last home game, according to the rule, the party out of power wins the subsequent national presidential election.

The Washington Rule has been remarkably consistent, and only been wrong once.

In 2012, the Washington NFL team lost to the Carolina Panthers 21-13, but incumbent President Barack Obama won in an electoral landslide over Mitt Romney.

If you count the presidential elections of 1932 and 1936 before the team relocated to Washington DC, it's twice.

In 1932, they beat the Staten Island Stapletons in their last home game before the election 19-6 but Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover for the first of his four terms.

In 1936, the first year they competed under their racist nickname, they beat the Chicago Cardinals 13-10 in their last home game before the election, and FDR was reelected in a landslide.

The Washington NFL franchise is playing across The Pond at Wembley Stadium today against the Cincinnati Bengals and because of their subsequent bye week, won't be playing their next home game against the Minnesota Vikings until after the election on November 13.

So what was the result of their last home game?   The Washington NFL team's last home game was on October 16 against the Philadelphia Eagles, who they defeated 27-20.  According to the rule, that means the incumbent party (the Democrats) will keep the White House and Hillary Clinton will become our next POTUS..

Will that result on October 16 be backed up by the election on November 8?   We'll find out in a few days.

TransGriot Update : Nope 

Shut Up Fool Awards- Moni's In Boston Edition

As you TransGriot readers are aware of, I'm on the Harvard University campus to receive another award later tonight.

It's the Robert Coles Call of Service Award that has been given by the Phillips Brooks House Association for now ten years to an illustrious list of people that include Marian Wright Edelman (2007),  Vice President Al Gore (2008) .current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2011) and last year BLM co-founder Alicia Garza.

Discovered I'm the first transgender person ever to receive this award, so I'm in some amazing company.  Also heightened the anxiety i have surrounding this speech tonight.

Also wanted to thank my hosts Maria Dominguez Gray, Shaquanda Brown, David dance, Robert Bridgeman  Jalem Towler and all the amazing students who are part of the Phillips Brooks House Association and its student led and run programs.   What's more impressive is that they are participating in these various programs and wrapping it around their Harvard class schedules.

Well, let's just announce this week's winner since my time is tight and I have another event and an alumni reception to attend before the award ceremony later tonight .

It's Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who I used to consider a reasonable Republican until he let a racist comment fly during his recent debate with Rep. Tammy Duckworth.

The Kirk comment also revived the anger in LGBT World about the Human Rights Campaign's controversial shades of D'Amato endorsement of Kirk over Duckworth, who had a higher HRC Congressional rating score than Krk did and whose election will help flip the Senate to Democratic control and put us a step closer to passing the Equality Act.  .

She's spanking that behind in Illinois anyway, and Kirk's racist comment probably sealed it.  We'll find out for sure on November 8.

Sen. Mark Kirk, Shut Up Fool!

Happy Birthday, Trinity!

It's come to my attention that today is the birthday of one of our amazing trans teens!

I got to meet Trinity and her mom DeShanna back in June during the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, and over the last few months she's been making it clear that she wants to not only become a possibility model and advocate for our community.

Today is Trinity's 13th birthday, so wanted to take a moment to give her a well deserved TransGriot birthday shout out as she officially enters her teen years..

Happy Birthday Trinity!   Hope today is filled with lots of love, fun and abundant blessings.   May all your birthday wishes come true, and may you be given the ultimate blessing of celebrating many more birthdays to come  

Having A Wonderful Harvard Visit

Have enjoyed my visit to Boston so far.   To be correct, I'm actually staying in Cambridge, MA,  close to the Harvard University campus.  My hotel room has an amazing view of the Charles River, and from time to time I can see members of the Harvard rowing team going up and down the river..

I've also enjoyed the fact it's been much cooler here than it has been at home, and the first night I was here the temp dropped to 30 degrees and had to turn the thermostat up in my room and grab the extra blanket out of the closet.   I knew this was possible before I flew up here, so I was prepared for it.

Packed my coats and sweaters and deliriously happy I'm getting a chance to wear them.

I always forget something on these trips, and this time what I forgot was my umbrella.   It figures that the one time I leave it back in Houston we get rain here in the area.   Hasn't been heavy, but just enough to be an annoyance.

Also had an amazing visit to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum today, and a mini tour of Boston that took me past Fenway Park, The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Berklee College of Music, UMass, and MIT.

Interestingly enough, on my mini tour of Boston I passed by the Roxbury area apartment at 397 Massachusetts Ave. that the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr lived in from 1952-53 when he was a doctoral student at Boston University.

The other interesting point about that is Maria Dominguez Gray, the executive director of the Phillips Brooks House Association and one of my gracious hosts here, once lived in that first floor apartment for several years and told me some amusing stories about that time in her life.

My Phillips Brooks House Association hosts and the various student leaders I've had an opportunity to meet have been amazing and eager to discuss their various student led programs they offer, and last night I got an opportunity to tour the drop in facility they provide for homeless youth

It's something I would love to see replicated across the nation to help alleviate the LGBTQ homeless youth problem

The business end of my trip happens later today when I actually get to step on the Harvard Yard and be presented with the Robert Coles Call Of Service Award.  I give a lecture and participate in a panel discussion.

Time to get some sleep.  I'll need it for the busy day still to come.

Arisce Wanzer's Making History

The long stylish line of trans models has led the way in breaking ground for our community not only in the modeling world, but at times through their activism on behalf of themselves and this community.

Proud to announce that for the first time in the 111 year history of the iconic Spiegel catalog, a girl like us will grace the cover of it.

Arisce Wanzer, who recently appeared as one of the stars of the reality show Strut, is the model who will be making this inevitable breakthrough.

Congratulations to her, and hope to continue seeing her do her thing in the modeling world.  It also proves once again if given an opportunity to do so, we can don anything and excel at