Don Lemon Shuts Down Trump Spokesliar

I've had my issues with CNN's Don Lemon at times, but lately he and his network have grown a backbone when it comes to confronting and pushing back against Trump misadministration spokespeople who come on their network to lie or spin.

Here's Lemon shutting down Trump spokesnegro Paris Dennard when he called a story in which they were discussing the cost of Trump's frequent trips to his Florida estate 'fake news'.

Watch Lemon calling Dennard's azz out

.

Bravo for calling out Dennard's lying behind.

Larry Wilmore Puts Milo On Blast

I don't have HBO on my cable package, and this is one night I wish I did.

This week's episode of Bill Maher's HBO Real Time had Maher inviting that transphobic idiot Milo Yiannopoulos on as a guest.   It caused one of his regular panelists to remove himself from appearing on the show.  He did his usual transphobic shtick, that Maher pretty much ignored and let him rant unchallenged.

But when the Overtime segment of the show happens, Larry Wilmore, the former host of the Daily Show wasn't having it, especially after going on a five minute facts free anti-trans rant and calling a decorated intelligence office 'stupid'

Wilmore at that point had enough of Milo's bull feces and put him on blast.

It's ironic that we have this example of a cisgender heteronormative Black man calling out a white gay man who is demonizing the humanity and human rights of transgender people.

Milo is an glaring example of why there are ongoing tensions between elements of the white gay male community and the transfeminine community while the fauxgressive (Maher) sits there in mute silence.

Fro those of you who missed it, here's the video in which Wilmore put Milo's transphobic and racist behind on blast, told him to go pleasure himself, and points out to the British conservafool his hypocrisy of using the same arguments people used to demonize gay people back in the day to do the same to transgender people..



Enjoy!
 

Jazz Doll To Be Introduced At NY Toy Show

I had the pleasure of meeting Jazz Jennings and much of her wonderful family back in 2012.  I have loved her ever since we trans elders first became aware of her amazing self thanks to a 20/20 Barbara Walters interview when she was just six.

Now Jazz is 16, and the trailblazing firsts for her just keep coming as the first out trans person to have a doll modeled on her.

At the Toy Fair in New York that starts today and runs until February 21, the Tonner Doll Company will unveil a prototype of the doll modeled on our fave trans teen.   The dolls are set to do a limited production run starting in the late spring or the early summer

“Ever since I was little, I always loved playing with dolls,” Jazz said in an New York Times interview. “It was a great way to show my parents that I was a girl, because I could just express myself as I am. So this really resonates with me, because it was something so pivotal in my own journey.”

The company markets collectible dolls to adults, and the Jazz dolls will sell for $89.99.  Another version of the doll in a white party dress will sell for $100    A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the dolls will go toward helping trans kids

With the numbers of trans kids increasing every day, this is a BFD to have a doll that is modeled on a trans person
.

NBA Sends Warning To Texas GOP About SB 6

After the NFL's Vice President of Communications sent Texas a warning about the unjust SB 6 that passage of it would put an end to Dallas or Houston hosting any Super Bowls or other NFL events, that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) whined about, the NBA has now weighed in with a warning about SB 6, or what I call the Texas Transgender Oppression Bill.

“We consider a wide range of factors when making decisions about host locations for league-wide events like the All-Star Game – foremost among them is ensuring the environment where those who participate and attend are treated fairly and equally" 

-NBA spokesman Mike Bass  

The state of Texas has three NBA franchises in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.  Dallas last hosted the NBA All Star Game at Reunion Arena n 1986, and San Antonio did so at the Alamodome in 1996.   Houston has hosted the NBA All Star Game three times.  It was played in the Astrodome in 1989, and in 2006 and most recently in 2013 at Toyota Center.

The NBA isn't playing with you Texas Republicans either and is now sending the first warning shot to our GOP controlled legislature, GOP governor and GOP lieutenant governor that SB 6 needs to die.  The league after repeated warnings to the state of North Carolina and its repressive GOP controlled legislature that the game was in jeopardy, yanked the 2017 All Star Game out of Charlotte and moved it to New Orleans because of the passage of HB2.  

I repeat.  We have three cities with competitive NBA franchises that this bill would negatively impact along with the convention and tourism business of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

I have to wonder if that is the intention of our predominately white, rural and GOP dominated Texas legislature to out of spite pass laws like SB 6 to intentionally hurt the folks who choose to live in our diverse cities, not realizing they are hurting themselves and this state's economy when they do so..

I ask the question once again.  How far do you want to go Texas Republican Party to prove to your base how badly you want to oppress trans people?  .

Shut Up Fool Awards- Messing With Texas Edition

The pressure is mounting for the Texas GOP majority to kick the unjust SB 6 to the curb, and they ain't liking the fact they are being called out on their transphobic bigotry.

The Texas business community, legislators with common sense, citizens and the NCAA, NFL and now the NBA have spoken about their opposition to the Texas Transgender Oppression Act .

Will the fools listen?

Nice segue into our usual Friday business of calling out the fools inside and outside of the Lone Star State and point out their rank hypocrisy, jaw dropping ignorance and what the frack level verbal statements

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

Honorable mention number one goes to  Donald Trump for just pick an outrage.

Honorable mention number two is Tom Brady, for hypocritically suggesting that his New England Patriot teammates who are planning to not show up at the Trump White House should 'put politics aside' and come.

Yeah, the same person that skipped the Patriots visit to the Obama White House for a bogus reason

Honorable mention number three is Carlos Santana who is not a singer, saying that Beyonce lost Album of the Year because ;she is not a singer',

The Beyhive is still pissed about that Grammy result, and turned on Santana.  After getting dragged by the Beyhive all over social media, he quickly changed his tune.

Honorable mention number four is Alex Jones, who said on his show in response to Jennifer Lopez;s Grammy speech that she should 'go get gang raped;.

Honorable mention number five is  Bill Maher, for inviting  Nazi racist Milo Yiannopoulos to his show and allowing his to spew racist rhetoric unchallenged.

Honorable mention number six is TX Gov. Greg Abbott who is mad because the NFL sent the warning shot that Texas will not get any more Super Bowls or NFL events if SB 6 is passed.

You and your GOP buds should work on fixing our broken foster care system and public school finance system instead of oppressing trans people.

This week's SUF winner is James Charles   Last year he became the male to get a Covergirl makeup spokesperson contract, and this week he tweeted something ugly by saying he was scared to go to Africa because it had Ebola.

What made this statement more ignorant and appalling was that he was going to the nation of South Africa which is one of the 54 counties on the African CONTINENT.

News flash:  As of January 14, 2016 the World Health Organization has stated that the African continent, which is the second largest and second most populous one on our planet, is now clear of Ebola.

He tried to at first defend it with the standard 'it's a joke' line, but he kept getting dragged on the Net by peeps who didn't see that as even remotely funny or a joke.  ,Calls have been coming forward for a boycott of CoverGirl if Charles isn't removed as a spokesperson

And yes, this is another example of gay folks and their casual racism and ignorance that needs to checked and called out.

James Charles, shut up fool.

Who Will Be The Class of 2017 SUF Lifetime Achievement Award Winners?

Since 2010, every year during the Oscar Awards, I have been naming a Shut Up Fool Lifetime Achievement Award winner because it was obvious that some people did and said stupid idiotic WTF stuff on such a regular basis, I needed to just retire them from weekly SUF consideration for their excellence in idiocy.

Rush Limbaugh was my initial SUF Lifetime Achievement Award honoree in 2010, but starting in 2011, because selecting just one fool out of so many worthy contenders wasn't enough and it was the fifth anniversary year for TransGriot, I expanded the SUF Lifetime Achievement Awards to five people.

Here were the Class of 2011 winners:

Sarah Palin
Glenn Beck 
Bill O'Reilly
Ann Coulter
Michele Bachmann
The SUF Lifetime Achievement Award Class of 2012 was the first one in which I gave out a group award for the first time, and these were the 2012 winners.    

A group award for the Gendertrender radfem trans hate blog
Michelle Malkin
Dan Savage
Michael Savage
Chuck Knipp (AKA Shirley Q Liquor)

The SUF Lifetime Achievement Award Class of 2013 winners were:

Mitt Romney
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Sen Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Supreme Court (In)Justice Clarence Thomas

The SUF Lifetime Achievement Awards Class of 2014 includes:
Cathy Brennan
Group award for the TERF's
Bryan Fischer
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
Ted Nugent

The SUF Lifetime Achievement Award Class of 2015 winners were

Dinesh D'Souza
Rudy Giuliani
Phyllis Schlafly
Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
Pastor James David Manning  

TransGriot celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, so I expanded the number of fools we honor to ten.   The Class of 2016 SUF Lifetime Achievement Award winners were

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

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

So with the 2017 Oscars looming on February 26, it's time to consider who the next ten people will be that will receive this coveted award.    Let me know who should join this illustrious list of folks that I will reveal on Oscar Night.  

Gov Abbott Whines About NFL Warning About SB6

So far during this rollout of the Texas Transgender Oppression Bill, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has been content to let Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) get their hands and reps dirty in pushing oppression of Texas trans people via SB 6.

On Tuesday the governor finally opened his mouth when the NFL warned that if SB 6 passed, there will be no more Super Bowls for Houston and Dallas.

"We want all fans to feel welcomed at our events and NFL policies prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other improper standard," said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy in a prepared statement.

"If a proposal that is discriminatory or inconsistent with our values were to become law there, that would certainly be a factor considered when thinking about awarding future events."

What future NFL events you ask?   In addition to the big prize of Super Bowls, there's also hosting the NFL Draft, NFL owners meetings and the Pro Bowl.

Abbott  issued this response to the NFL:

"'For some low-level NFL adviser to come out and say they are going to micromanage and try to dictate to the state of Texas what types of policies we're going to pass in our state, that's unacceptable.  

'We don't care what the NFL thinks and certainly what their political policies are because they are not a political arm of the state of Texas or the United States of America.  They need to learn their place in the United States, which is to govern football, not politics."    

You'd better care what the NFL thinks, Gov. Abbott.  The NFL isn't playing on this and they have the power to determine whether Houston or Dallas gets their multimillion dollar generating championship event ever again.

You and your Texas Republican buddies should stick to governing the state and not using your power to legislatively bully other Texans who aren't white hetero male conservatives.

If you think the NFL is selling woof tickets on this, ask the state of Arizona, who lost Super Bowl XXVII in 1990 to Los Angeles because of their failure to enact a MLK holiday, and nearly lost Super Bowl XLIX  in 2014 over a 'license to discriminate' bill before then Gov. Jan Brewer (R) vetoed it.

The state of Georgia was warned that if they went ahead with passing a discriminatory 'religious freedom' law, they could kiss their chances of getting Super Bowls in Mercedes-Benz Stadium goodbye.

Gov. Nathan  Deal (R) vetoed that unjust legislation, and Atlanta was subsequently rewarded by the NFL with Super Bowl LIII in 2019.  Super Bowls are also scheduled for Minneapolis, Miami and Los Angeles

Note to Greg Abbott, all those future Super Bowl host cities have non discrimination ordinances in place that prohibit anti-trans discrimination.

Gov. Deal when push came to shove wasn't going to be delusional enough to let political ideology cost his state the millions a Super Bowl brings to the state financial coffers  But I am worried about Gov. Abbott and my Texas GOP know nothings in Austin doing the stupid right wing thing with the unjust SB 6 just to curry favor with your Texas Teabagging voters.

The Super Bowls have been awarded by the NFL through 2021, so the next opportunity Houston or Dallas would be able to host one wouldn't be until then.

But our chances of Dallas or Houston hosting them or San Antonio getting an NFL franchise die if SB 6 is passed.

I'm appalled that you're willing Gov. Abbott to cost the Lone Star State millions and pass a potentially unconstitutional law just to prove to your base how far you and your party are willing to go to dehumanize Texas trans people.
.

2017 Pride Houston Grand Marshal Candidate Meet and Greet On Sunday

As many of you loyal TransGriot readers are aware of, I have been nominated as a finalist for Pride Houston's female Grand Marshal   along with Lou Weaver, for whom this is his second nomination for the honor of being male Grand Marshal at the Pride Houston parade.

As you probably guessed, if I win I get to make a little history as the first Black trans feminine Pride Houston parade female Grand Marshal and only the third Black female in the history of the event to ever become Grand Marshal.  

Lou would also make some history if he wins.  He would become the first ever transmasculine Houston Pride Male Grand Marshal.

Just in case you're wondering who the other trans feminine Grand Marshals were, Judge Phyllis Frye was the first trans feminine Parade Grand Marshal back in 2006, followed by Jenifer Rene Pool in 2012.

Last year I marched in the parade with the Organizacion Latinas De Trans en Texas along with Dee Dee Watters in front of their amazing color guard carrying trans pride flags.   If I successfully get enough votes to do so, I'll have the honor of riding in one of those nice Grand Marshal cars at the start of the parade in addition to being present for the Pride Week events in the runup to Saturday's parade.

Pride Week this year will run from June 18-25, and here are the  the events scheduled for it..

We'll see if that happens for me since the online voting just went live and runs through April 9 at 5:00 PM CDT for the honor.   Here's the link for the Pride Grand Marshal voting to do so.  

For those of you who don't live in the Houston area, I'll keep you updated on what's happening in the process all the way to the Pride Kickoff event in .April in which the winners will be announced.

On February 19 I get to attend a meet and greet from 5-8 PM CST at Guava Lamp in which I get to meet not only my fellow Grand Marshal nominees, but also people in the community.

It's located at 570 Waugh Drive on the edge of the gayborhood near Allen Parkway, and hope that you'll spend part of your Sunday with me and my fellow Grand Marshal candidates. ,

Wednesday Is Becoming Must See Trans TV Day

With the highly anticipated and historic for trans kind debut of the CBS legal drama Doubt, and FOX's Star both having major trans characters on both shows,  Wednesday night is quickly becoming Must See Trans TV Day.

While Doubt is getting much deserved attention because of my lovely Emmy Award nominated sis Laverne Cox and her groundbreaking Cameron Wirth character,  I have to point out that with the debut of tonight's show at 9 PM CST Laverne is only the second trans person to play a trans major character on a network drama series.  

That television history of a major trans character in a drama being played by an out trans woman was already made by Amiyah Scott because of the earlier December 14, 2016 debut of the Empire spinoff show Star on FOX..  

Amiyah is playing the trans character Cotton, a receptionist in me mother's beauty shop in the ATL who is in a sometimes contentious relationship with her devoutly religious mother Carlotta (played by Queen Latifah).  Carlotta is a former singer who now does so in her church on Sundays, and who is struggling to accept her only child's transition.



Cotton is a driven person who while acting as a big sister figure to Star, Simone and Alexandra and helping them realize their dream of becoming a successful music group, is pursuing her dream of being accepted as her mother's daughter.

But it's going to be a bumpy contentious ride along the way for both of them to get to that point, and it has been interesting to watch that particular trans themed storyline develop on the show that comes on at 8 PM CST on FOX. .

She also representative of the segment of the trans community that is struggling with accomplishing a  gender transition while on a low income.

Meanwhile Cameron Wirth is different from Cotton.  The obvious difference is that she's an Ivy League educated attorney working at this New York boutique law firm.

Cameron is also in my lifetime the second Black trans character who not only is a major character on a show, but has a professional background (Maya Avant Forrester on CBS soap opera the Bold and the Beautiful being the first).   It is in stark contrast in a landscape of Black trans characters that have either been played for comic relief, shock value, and have been sex workers, entertainers, a prisoner, or the murder victim.

We'll learn more about Cameron's backstory as the show evolves.  I'm looking forward to seeing the show every Wednesday at 9 PM CST on CBS.

And I'm so happy they are fortuitously scheduled on Must See Trans TV Wednesday so that I don't have to choose one show over the other

Rest In Power and Peace, Jo Jo Striker

I'm sorry to ruin Valentine's Day for y'all but it's my sad duty to report that we have lost another trans woman to anti-trans violence and hate.  We go to Toledo, Ohio for the latest news about the third trans person murdered in 2017

23 year old JoJo Striker was found dead on the evening of February 8 at in a vacant north Toledo garage at 215 Austin Street just before 7 PM EST .

Striker died from a single gunshot would to her torso and as you probably guessed as to why I and other media is just now finding out about out lost trans sister is because once again, local media are misgendering her along with her family.

I'm really sick of this repeatedly happening to Black trans women and tired of the media disrespecting her.   I'm also upset that once again, we have had another Black trans woman violently taken from us before her 30th birthday.

The Toledo PD investigation into this crime is ongoing and they have no leads so far in this case.  If you have any information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the waste of DNA who did this, please call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-111

Rest in power and peace JoJo.   You trans siblings and all who loved you won't rest until the person who did this is brought to justice and rotting in a jail cell.

Happy Valentine's Day, My Trans Valentines!

I may be single again on Valentine's Day, but that won't stop me from showing love to all my trans valentines today.  

Hey, that rhymed.    Sometimes the poet in me comes out at unexpected times.  But back to the post.

#MyTransValentine will go to a long list of people

I'll start with all my trans kids.   I don't and at this point in my life probably won't have kids of my own, and I have two blood nieces. but I'm so proud you have made me your Auntie Monica.

I  take that role seriously as your adopted aunt, and I'm just as proud of all of you as you have repeatedly told me you are proud of me for simply living your lives.   I'm even more proud to witness that and some of you have stepped up to be the eloquent and amazing leaders the entire community needs now and not just for your peer group.

My Trans Valentines are also the Mama and Papa Bears who are raising my trans nieces and nephews and working hard to ensure they not only become the best people they can be, but are tenaciously fighting to protect their humanity and human rights.

Love y'all just as much as y'all have told me on numerous occasions that you love me.

The Mama Bears have begun to add to that mission of protecting their kids, being the moms and dads many adult trans people lost when their blood families turned their backs on them for transitioning.

It's needed and necessary to help some of the adult trans folks in that situation heal from the hurt and pain that separation caused.

My Trans Valentines also go out to all of you who are in relationships while trans.   Loving a trans person is a revolutionary act, and when both members of that couple are trans, it is a powerful statement in light of the fact we now have an administration in place for at least the next four years that is hostile to our lives.

There's also a long list of trans masculine and trans feminine people who I admire and look up to for various reasons who are my Trans Valentines

Another Trans Valentine goes to all the cis women who have my back.   You have included me in your sistahcircles.  You have given me advice and told me your stories good, bad and indifferent going back to your girlhoods and your current lives.   Because you did so, you made me a better person in this ongoing evolutionary process of me becoming and being that quality Black woman I aspire to be.

You've also been there for me when I've needed to vent or get some 'ejumacation' on how to navigate the world while inhabiting a feminine body and look fly while doing so.

And finally, my last Trans Valentine goes to you loyal TransGriot readers.  Some of you donate on a regular basis to my blog, while others of you share my posts and  tweets.  It's thanks to you I've been around for 11 years, over 10K poss and 6.5 million hits since 2006 and i deeply appreciate it..

Happy Valentine's Day, my trans valentines.  

Laverne Talks Trans Rights On The Stephen Colbert Show

You know I have much love for Laverne Cox and I'm eagerly anticipating the debut of the CBS legal drama Doubt tomorrow at 9 PM CST,

Last night she was on Stephen Colbert's show to not only discuss Doubt, but also talk about her meeting Beyonce at the Grammy and other subjects.

On of the subjects that Laverne talked about is the upcoming Gavin Grimm case, and you may wish to take notes about how she talked about it and the unjust trans bathroom oppression laws in less than two minutes.



This is also an excellent  example of how you use your visibility to advance our human rights.

Happy Valentine's Day 2017

Today is Valentine's Day and as usual I'm spending it by myself.   While I am blessed with many talents, finding myself in a long term relationship is not one of them.

So I'm buying my own chocolate, some ice cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup to go with it, and I'm perusing my stack of DVD's to for my Black romance movie marathon I will indulge myself with later today.

The ironic thing is when I started my transition in 1994, I put myself on a two year dating moratorium so that I could get adjusted to being me, deal with morphing into the new body an the second puberty issues that come with it,  and get a few years into the social transition before I attempted to tackle dating while trans.

And I'm still looking for that quality person to get in a relationship with

After witnessing several couples get married last year or seeing peeps I know who are in happy and healthy  relationships short and long term, that does allow me to keep hope alive that it will happen for me someday.  

We'll see.   But for those of you who are booed up, I ain't mad at you on this day that is for lovers.

Happy Valentine's Day people.   And now, time to hit the Blue Bell.and flip on the DVD player.

Why Laverne's Cameron Wirth Character Is Important

One of the things I had a chance to talk about with young trans advocates during this just completed Transgender Leadership Institute in Dallas was the upcoming February 15 debut of the CBS legal drama Doubt and why Laverne's Cameron Wirth character to me has the same social and societal importance as Nichelle Nichols Uhura character was to Star Trek.

We are now in a moment in which the visibility of trans characters is increasing, and even better, they are increasingly being played by trans people,   As much as I love Karla Mosley, love her as a cis woman and standup trans ally playing Maya Avant on The Bold and the Beautiful and talked about how groundbreaking and important her character was in Soap World, one problem I see with Maya Avant is that the longtime major character on the soap didn't originally start out as a Black transgender woman.

In Doubt, Cameron Wirth is not only a major character that happens to be trans from the outset of the show, but is also played by a girl like us who can bring those subtle nuances of being a trans woman in real life to this character.  .

"Yes, she's trans. But now what?" Cox told a small group of reporters during the Television Critics Association's winter meetings. "It's sort of like a who cares, really. And I think having something like that on television, it helps the public to become familiar with that, to become comfortable with that. ... Years before we saw a Black president in real life, we saw Black presidents on television."

In a Hollywood in which far too often trans characters of color have either been killed off in the first fifteen seconds, are riddled with stereotypes, or played for comic relief, it is nice to see a girl like us dramatic character that is reflective of the segment of the trans community that is blessed to have advanced degrees and professional careers.

That character being Black and Ivy League educated is also a bonus. It's also nice to hear this close to Valentine's Day that Cameron will have a love life on the show.

It's also coming at this critical time not only for this country, but for my own people in all the group I intersectionally interact with.. We all need to see Cameron Wirth for various reasons on our respective television screens.
 
Black folks have been far too reluctant to have this necessary ongoing honest discussions about transgender issues and the undeniable fact that African descended trans peeps are an interwoven part of the kente cloth fabric of the Black community.

As much as the right wing haters would love to force us back in the closet aided and abetted by preening kneegrow ministers spouting cherry picked scriptures designed to drive a wedge in our community between Black trans and cis folks, I'm happy to tell them that we exist, and we aren't going away.

Cameron is reflective of a segment of the Black trans community my people and others need to see.far more often instead of the Jerry Springer stereotype or 'tragic transsexual' narrative playing in an endless loop in their brains.  

The other reason why Cameron's characters is so important is like Nichols' Uhura character, it will expand in our trans kids and others minds the parameters of what is possible for trans people,

As a matter of fact, I know an amazing Black trans woman who is currently studying to become an attorney, and she is eager to see the show.

Just as seeing Uhura on television inspired a young girl growing up in Chicago named Mae Jemison to become an astronaut and another girl growing up in New York we know as Whoopi Goldberg to become an award winning actress, what impact will Laverne's portrayal of Cameron Wirth have on the next generations of trans kids?

That's a question I won't be able to definitely answer for a while, but in the interim, I'll enjoy watching Doubt starting Wednesday night at 9 PM EST while I do more hard solid thinking about the question I just posed to you. .

Laverne Cox Urges Grammy Audience To "Google Gavin Grimm"'

It's T- 48 hours until the CBS legal drama  Doubt graces our televisions screens and we get to witness Laverne Cox in her role as attorney Cameron Wirth on the show.

But before that happens on February 15,  Laverne took the Grammy stage to introduce Lady Gaga and Metallica.   While doing so she urged the audience during that time on stage to "Google Gavin Grimm".

What she was referring to was the upcoming March 29 SCOTUS case that has the potential depending how the eight current justices rule to be a watershed case moving trans human rights forward or be our Dred Scott.

It looks like people heard her and responded, since inquiries about the case spiked after she did so.

Laverne also got to finally meet my Houston homegirl at the Grammy (who was robbed for Album of the Year, BTW).  Glad I was asleep because I would have been even more pissed had I witnessed that.

 And Grammy voters, you know you're getting a Shut Up Fool ward nomination for the travesty of a Black female artist not winning the Album of the year Grammy since 1999 and only three Black women in Grammy history ever doing so.

This pic of Trace and Laverne at the Grammy's is also meme worthy, and thank you ladies for doing what you do to ensure that our voices are heard in Hollywood.

Hollywood is just as important to advancing the trans rights cause as Washington DC is, and thanks Laverne and Trans Hollywood for not only doing i well, but looking fab while doing so.

Looking forward to seeing that debut episode of Doubt Wednesday night.   .  

Janet Mock's New Book 'Surpassing Certainty' Coming In June

When we spent some quality time together at Chautauqua Institute making some history back in August as the first out trans people to ever grace a CHQ tage that has had former presidents, senators and other luminaries and thought leaders on it,  in the quiet moments we had before that historic event, she told me that she was working on a new book.

That book my New York Times bestselling author sis was telling me about during that quality time we spent in Western New York I was happy to discover this weekend will be out in June.

It is entitled Surpassing Certainty, What :My Twenties Taught Me. is a memoir that focused on a young woman searching for purpose and place in the world without a roadmap to guide her on how to move forward.

This sounds interesting already.

Before she could become an advocate for others, she had to first become an advocate for herself, and through trial and error, she did,

From Janet's website about the upcoming book.

Surpassing Certainty begins a few months before Janet Mock’s twentieth birthday.

She is adjusting to her days as a first-generation college student at the University of Hawaii and her nights as a dancer at a club. Finally content in her body, she vacillates between flaunting and concealing herself as she navigates dating and disclosure, sex and intimacy, and most important being truly seen. Under the neon lights of Club Nu, Janet meets Troy, a yeoman stationed at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, who becomes her first. The pleasures and perils of their union serve as a backdrop for Janet’s progression through her early twenties with all the universal growing pains – falling in and out of love, living away from home, and figuring out what she wants to do with her life.

Fueled by her dreams and an inimitable drive, a woman with few advantages plots her way through New York City while holding her truth close. She builds a career in the highly competitive world of New York magazine publishing – within the unique context of being trans, a woman and a person of color.

Long before she became one of the world’s most respected voices in media and lauded leaders for equality and justice, Janet was a girl taking the time she needed to just be – to learn how to advocate for herself before becoming an advocate for others. Surpassing Certainty will embolden you as you witness Janet’s slow-won successes and painful failures, shift the way you see others, and affirm you as you seek certainty in yourself.

You already knew I was going to put the link up so that you can preorder it and get what I am certain will be Janet's next New York Times bestselling book.  

I'm looking forward to reading this one just like I did with Redefining Realness, Hope you purchase Surpassing Certainty and get a few extra copies to donate to TBLGQ centers, libraries or as a gift to that trans person in your life. 

I'm also looking forward to the next time we're in the same area code.