20 Years To The 'F' On My License

One of the necessary tasks that we embark on during a gender transition is changing our identity documents to make them match the person we are.    It is a costly and time consuming process to get the name, gender markers and other identity documents changed, and how fast it happens depends in large part on how much money you have in your wallet or purse to do so.

When I started my transition in 1994, money wasn't a problem.   I was an airline employee making a nice living, so it was just a matter of getting the process started and if I incurred fees for doing so, reaching into my purse, pulling out my wallet and pulling out the cash to cover it.

But I also didn't think at the time I started the process it would take me nearly 20 years and living in two states to complete it.

I started with getting my Social Security card changed in 1998 since it is pretty much next to your drivers license a de facto national ID card. While the Social Security Administration won't change the SSN number for numerous reasons, they will change the gender marker and name on it.  

Since Clinton was president when I did so, it was a no drama situation.   During GW Bush's presidency, a problem arose with the SSA starting in 2002 to send 'No Match' letters that had the effect of outing trans people to their employers.

My next task was my Texas voter registration card.   I was determined to be voting in the upcoming 2000 presidential election as Moni, and I successfully completed that in October 2000 just a month before that election.  .Little did I know at the time that less than three months after I got that voter registration changed that I would be bounced from that airline job I'd been at for 14 years and was planning to retire from.

It was a seismic change to my life and my finances, and I now had to adjust to making half of the $40K a year I was making.   While I was upset about it at the time, the September 2001 move to Louisville produced an unexpected blessing that happened two weeks after I moved there.

In Kentucky the name change process in Jefferson County where I now lived was a simple, one page administrative form in which I filled out the info, swore it was accurate and true, and when I was done signed it and paid my then $10 fee.  It was then mailed to me a few days later stamped and signed by the court.

However, while my name now was officially Monica, the only way the gender marker was getting changed under Kentucky law at the time was if I had a 'gender altering surgery'.  Because of my loss of the airline job and using the money I'd saved for surgery to pay bills in the six months I was unemployed in Texas prior to the move to Kentucky, SRS had now become a back burner luxury item

I knew I was going to need to change my birth certificate and file the name change I'd received in Kentucky back in Texas, but that also got put on the back burner as I spent time getting adjusted to my life in Da Ville and dealing with far less discretionary income in my bank account.

I moved back to Houston in May 2010 to help take care of my grandmother, but that still meant that my income was limited to deal with the paperwork issue.  I still had my Kentucky drivers license in my possession that wasn't expiring until June 2013 with correct name but wrong gender marker, but my Texas voter registration was correct.  

But two events in June 2013 would galvanize me to get serious about completing my documentation and infuse it with a sense of urgency.   The unjust ruling in the Shelby vs Holder SCOTUS case gutting Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act meant that the unjust Texas voter suppression law could be enforced, and if I wanted to vote in the upcoming November Houston city elections, I now needed a Texas drivers license.  

We also had a family reunion coming up in Denver in June, when my Kentucky license was scheduled to expire.  That process to simply renew my license in the time I'd been away from Texas had been made more difficult by our Texas GOP majority and it took me nine months to get my Texas drivers license.   I also spent a very nervous trip every time it was my turn to get behind the wheel on our 1700 mile drive to that reunion that took us across Texas through Dallas, Oklahoma, Kansas and eastern Colorado to get to Denver and back

The urgency to have the Texas driver's license in my possession before the November Houston mayoral election did force me to get moving on filing my Kentucky name change in Austin.  I ended up as a result of that nine month Lone Star bureaucracy battle with a new Texas birth certificate and a TDL with correct name but incorrect gender markers.

But it was a driver's license I didn't receive until two months after the election in January 2014, which meant I was voter suppressed out of it..

Fast forward to the 2016 election, the next event that ratcheted up my concern for finishing the process I'd started in 1998.  Because I'm a frequent flier, I was also getting tired of showing my mismatched ID at TSA security and other locations and getting jacked up at times because of it.

But as a native Texan, I was going to need to go to court to change that gender marker, and in Harris County, many of our judges are Republicans who routinely deny name changes to trans people.   Thanks to the blue wave that swept many of those regressive Harris County GOP judges out of office and replaced them with diverse Democratic judges, I hope that reprehensible pattern changes.  

But it still costs money to make that name and gender marker process happen, and here's where another unexpected blessing happened that got me closer to completing that process.

The Trans National Alliance held a New Year's Eve Great Gatsby themed fundraiser party at Nikki Araguz Loyd's home in which the TNA was raising money to do name changes for trans people who are on limited incomes.

They raised enough money at that fundraiser to fund two name changes, and I was shocked and surprised to find out moments after we counted down the start of 2017 that I would be one of the people receiving that name change assistance along with Dee Dee Watters.


Two weeks ago Nikki, Dee Dee and I rolled to Austin.  We made happen in the span of five hours getting Dee Dee's name and gender marker change process started, getting me fingerprinted at a nearby Passport Express location from the courthouse, the court order for the gender marker change, getting the request for my new corrected birth certificate submitted, and taking the photo for my new Texas drivers license with the only 'F' I've ever wanted at an Austin DPS office.

And before heading back to Houston, we celebrated the accomplishment while waiting for ATX rush hour traffic to die down with dinner.

Transgender National Alliance is having a dinner and drag bingo fundraiser on March 14 at Hamburger Mary's, so check it out, reserve a table and help TNA raise some money to make happen for other trans people with their identity documents what happened for me and Dee Dee.

Yesterday I received my new birth certificate and Texas driver's license in the mail.  I cried joyful tears when I pulled them out of their respective envelopes and saw my full name with the 'F' and 'female' in the gender marker box on both documents.

Have a trip coming up at the end of the month to Orlando for the LGBT Media Journalists convening, and can't wait to show my drivers license to airline employees, TSA security and hotel desk personnel without having a sense of dread or acute embarrassment happening when I reluctantly pull it out of my wallet.

Now it's just getting my passport so I can finally do some international travel and some other records, and the journey will be complete.   But the major mountain in terms of my identity documents has been climbed. .

It was a long journey to get to this point full of twists, turns, frustration and drama, but seeing and knowing that my documents finally line up with the person I know I am and the world sees me as is priceless.
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Shut Up Fool Awards- March 10 Birthday Edition

Because of my nearly 20 years in the activist world I've gotten to know some amazing people.   One of the things I've also done is keep track of people's birthdays.   Thanks to Facebook, that job is infinitely easier.

Birthdays are the one day on the calendar that is totally yours and to me are important because it is the day you arrived on this planet to bless our lives in the many ways they do so.

It was also interesting to note that we have several of our amazing trans advocates and people spanning different decades born on this day like Laila Ireland, Janet Mock, Justina Williams, Ben Power, and Amailia Black  

There are some kick butt allies to our community born today like Chevara Orrin, ESPN's LZ Granderson and Rodney Nickens, Jr, who I met in 2011 when he was working for the National Black Justice Coalition.  I met Chevara and LZ during the 2012 OUT on the Hill.

So happy birthday to all of you!   Rodney and Amalia are celebrating milestone ones, and I'll let them say what milestone birthdays they are.

Since it's Friday and as Mr T famously said, fools are everywhere, I now need to segue into our usual business of calling out ignorance, idiocy, coonery and buffoonery and WTF level  arrogance.   Time for this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.


Honorable mention number one is a blanket award for the Trump misadministration.  Just pick an outrage.

Honorable mention number two is Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, the wife of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau who put her pumps in her mouth when she stated that we should think about the supportive men on a International Women's Day,

While I deeply appreciate those supportive men, International Women's Day is designated and specifically designed to celebrate the accomplishments of women across the planet.

Honorable mention number three is a joint award for the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Texans.

Cleveland gets it for trading for Brock Osweiler, a 2018 second round draft pick and eating a $60 million cap hit for his contract.  The Texans get called out for signing his mediocre behind in free agency for that much a year ago.

Honorable mention number four is gay male William Busby and the lesbian TERF who testified in favor of passing SB 6.  

Once again these people prove the point that some of the transphobic idiots transkind has to fight also identify as gay or lesbian.

Honorable mention number five is LaPorsha Renae for 'choosing to be straight'.
Honorable mention number six is the kneegrow pastor from San Antonio and Natalie Johnson who let their transphobic selves shine during Tuesday's marathon SB 6 hearing.

Honorable mention number seven is a group award for Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R) and every member of the TX Senate State Affairs Committee that either voted for SB 6 or enabled the outright lies  and transphobia that came out of their supporter's mouths.  

Honorable mention number eight  is Texas State Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr (D) who interrupted Dr Colt Keo-Meier during his expert witness testimony against SB 6 to shadily say 'he didn't know discrimination', voted to advance the discriminatory Texas Transgender Oppression Act out of committee, and then got mad when he cot called on it by Latinx trans people after the hearing was done,

Hope his constituents are lighting his phone lines up.  (512) 463-0127 for is ATX office.
This week's Shut Up Fool loser winner is HUD Secretary Ben Carson

This week he earned the award by claiming that slaves were immigrants who carme here seeking opportunity and worked hard for less.

What crack pipe were you smoking to make you say such a mega WTF level statement?

Sit you ignorant azz down in a whole section of seats at Verizon Center and shut the hell up, Fool!

You can also have a cookie while you're at it.

NOLA Town Hall On Transgender Violence Today

Because of the deaths of trans women Cyna Gibson and Ciara McElvee that happened in New Orleans during Mardi Gras weekend and the disturbing video that came out in January of some wastes of DNA chasing trans women, this afternoon for those of you in the New Orleans metro area, there will be a town hall to discuss the unacceptable levels of violence being aimed at trans women in the NOLA area.

It's sponsored by Transitions Louisiana, Trans United Fund and the Foundation for Louisiana, and starts at 3;00 PM CST at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D), NOLA District D Councilmember Jared D. Brosset, District E Councilmember James Gray III are just some of the NOLA political leaders who have been invited to attend this town hall.

But most disturbingly, according to founding Executive Director of Transitions Louisiana Jada Mercedes Cardona, Brosset and Gray have yet to even acknowledge receipt of their invitation much less send a response whether they will attend or not.

I'm also curious to find out if anyone from US Rep Cedric Richmond's office will show up for this forum as well.

"I'm interested to see if Councilman Jared C. Brossett, District D (where Clara was killed) and James Gray, District E (where Chyna was killed) are going to show.... They didn't even give us the courtesy of a reply. 

Further proof that some elected officials still ignore us, just believe we will disappear (or die) and don't regard us as whole human beings, worthy of respect. 

I'm glad to see both the Honorable Councilman Jason Williams, Council at-Large and The Honorable Councilwoman Latoya Cantrell step up and are willing to listen and help us formulate a plan to improve relations between their constituents!!!!"

At large Councilman Jason Williams, and District B Councilwoman Latoya Cantrell are confirmed attendees for this forum scheduled to run for two hours.

If you're attending this town hall, it's taking place at the First UU Church of New Orleans, located at 2903 Jefferson Ave and Claiborne St.

Hope the event is a successful one, and I also hope to hear that the church is packed with people and NOLA political leaders and law enforcement wishing to come up with concrete steps to solve the problem of anti-trans violence in the NOLA area.

I also hope that when this forum is done, it will also begin the process in NOLA of getting people to recognize that trans lives matter, we have the right to exist, and we are worthy of respect.
 

Moni's SB 6 Opposition Testimony

As many of you TransGriot readers are aware of,  I was one of those 271 Texans who headed to Austin and spent several hours waiting in the overflow rooms in our state capitol building to express our oral opposition to SB 6, the Texas Transgender Oppression Act.

There were another 1302 Texans who expressed their distaste for SB online

Thanks to my friends at Transform Houston, I now have video of that March 7 testimony in front of the Senate State Affairs Committee for you to watch.

Enjoy

  

BTWI Statement Concerning SB 6 Senate Committee Passage

TransGriot Note:  BTWI statement concerning SB 6 passage out of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2017
Contact: Monica Roberts BTWI Media Chair
Carmarion Anderson  BTWI Founding President
855-255-8636  Ext 11
media@blacktranswomen.org

BTWI is saddened but not surprised as a Texas based organization.to note that the unjust SB 6 bill attacking the humanity and human rights of Texas transgender people cleared the Republican dominated Senate State Affairs Committee on a 7-1 vote in the early morning hours of March 8.

The bill now goes to the Texas senate floor despite 13 hours of testimony of Texas overwhelmingly opposed to it.  Black Transwomen, Inc proudly adds its name to the long list of organizations that are vehemently opposed to the passage of SB 6

BTWI thanks Senator Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) for standing up for the human rights of transgender Texans with her State Affairs committee NO vote.  We also thank Senators Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso) and Borris Miles (D-Houston)  for also standing with our community against this unjust bill.  

We at BTWI hope that others in the Texas Senate and Texas House will join them in publicly opposing this misguided bill that fuels the hellfire flames of transphobic bigotry against trans Texas.

Thanks to the BTWI, BTMI and BTIPS members, our founding BTWI president Carmarion Anderson, and Black Trans Advocacy leadership team members who journeyed to Austin to take part in Trans Texas Lobby Day on March 6.

Thanks also to our BTWI board member Monica Roberts who participated in the March 6 Lobby Day and testified at the March 7 marathon State Affairs committee meeting along with other concerned Texans.

As BTWI has noted, six of the seven trans women we have lost in 2017 are Black trans women. SB 6 if passed will only raise the level of anti-trans hatred in the Lone Star State and elsewhere that feeds into the anti-trans discrimination and violence we face,  

Black Transwomen, Inc will fight to ensure that the Texas Legislature is aware Black trans Texans exist, and know that our voices matter in this SB 6 conversation.

The transphobic commentary from a Black San Antonio minister makes us painfully aware at BTWI just how much ongoing work we must do in order to eradicate transphobia from our Black community ranks.

SB 6 is not yet Texas law.  We at BTWI/along with our coalition partners will fight this unjust bill every step of the way throughout the legislative process until it is defeated.

 BTWI will also continue to fight until every Texan gets the message that trans rights are human rights.

Black Trans Women Are Leaders

"It's got to stop somewhere, and it won't unless somebody steps forward and takes a stand.  I guess that's me.  Lady Java,  October 21, 1967 

On the way back from Austin I was thinking about once again in the early morning hours of International Women's Day the comment Diamond Stylz made about all the ways that Black trans women show up for many movements, but are in many cases dissed, dismissed or ignored as we are whitewashed out of the historical narrative.  .

And that needs to stop.  'Black trans women aren't just here to entertain you, provide melanin for your photo opps or be saddled with the 'tragic transsexuals' meme that your predominately white LGBTQ equality org uses to fundraise and lobby on.

Even when talking about trans kids, far too often the issue is framed through a white cultural lens. Black trans kids exist, and their voices need to be in this ongoing cultural conversation.  

There is this problematic narrative in the Black community that being trans 'is a white thang'. The best way we Black trans people and our community allies counter and attack it is having visible Black trans leaders combined with whacking the haters saying this with historical examples of the existence of Black trans people.

It can't be just in some photo op.  It must be a targeted, sustained media effort as well.

Black cis people need to consistently see and hear Black trans people talking about trans issues.  A white spokesperson can do that all day long and the massage will just be ignored.  

But let Laverne Cox or another Black trans person say the same message and their ears will perk up. We know how to talk to our people.  

When we lobby local, state and federal legislators, there are things I can say that doesn't have quite the same context when a white trans person says them.   And let me remind you that some of those local, state and federal legislators we're trying to persuade have my ethnic background.

Note that it was Laverne Cox that came up with the perfectly succinct line to talk about the Grimm case and our lives in general.

To further illustrate my point in the importance of centering Black trans people in our work, there was an incident that happened during the SB 6 hearing yesterday in which Sen. Eddie Lucio said to Dr Colt Keo-Meier that 'you don't know what discrimination is like".

Do you think Sen Eddie Lucio would have dared say that to me?

If he had tried that with me,  I would have immediately pushed back and said, "Sen Lucio,  I'm old enough to have started my school days in a segregated HISD school.  So yeah, being Black and trans I know what discrimination is like, and SB 6 is a discriminatory bill."

And at a time when we have hostile GOP state and federal administrations, we don't have time for non-intersectional BS.  It's nation time as far as we're concerned.  We're wanting action and solutions to the problems that ail our community, because we see this as a Defcon 1 emergency level situation because our sisters are being murdered,

The bottom line is that if you wish to have lasting success in this trans rights movement, it ain't gonna happen without Black trans women being at the table helping to formulate the strategies and tactics to do so.

We have numerous examples around the country of Black trans feminine leaders like Raquel Willis, Angelica Ross, Sharron Cooks, Janet Mock, Dee Dee Watters ,Precious Brady Davis, Andrea Jenkins, Tracee McDaniel, Rev Carmarion Anderson, Jazzmun Nichala Crayton, Lourdes Hunter, Elle Hearns, Bryanna Jenkins, Kim Watson and countless others,

There are also emerging young Black trans feminine leaders like Trinity Neal.

We Black trans women have been handling our leadership business even before Stonewall when you think about Lady Java, Lucy Hicks Anderson,  and post Stonewall in the person of Miss Major, Dawn Wilson, Marisa Richmond and yeah, some Texas based blogger y'all know.

So ponder this thought during International Women's Day in that Black trans women are leaders. We have a proud legacy of Black feminine leadership to draw on from our history and build upon.

In many cases  we are making history as we blaze these leadership trails   So why wouldn't you have capable Black trans women in your organizations?

You can either reach out and have us at the table to help create a winning strategy for all of us, or you can continue to wallow in the depths of anti-Blackness and spite, not include us as equal partners, and watch us do the damned thing anyway and look fly while doing so.

Your call.

Happy International Women's Day 2017

Got back from ATX after a long day at the SB 6 hearing yesterday and then crashing into bed nanoseconds after I finally hit the house,  but now that I'm awake and in hard solid thinking and writing mode wanted to wish everyone a happy International Women's Day.

On this day I'm thinking about all the amazing women in my life cis and transgender who are amazing leaders in various fields, entrepreneurs, teachers,  moms, aunts, nieces, and just generally bad ass. in every way.  And thanks to the men, cis and trans who ain't 'scurred' to love, support and kick it with us bad ass women

Thank you sisters for being your fabulous selves in every way.   I also thank on this International Women's Day those cis women who are intelligent enough to realize that trans women are women, and just go with it from there in terms of helping us build the relationships and sisterhood we will need to challenge the issues that ail all women together

I'm also thinking about my international sisters who are also facing challenges in their various corners of the world.   I see you, I hear you, and on this day pledge to do what I can to elevate your concerns and get the discussion started with input from you in what actions we can take together to make your lives better.

On this day, it's all about honoring women across the planet for being themselves and working together to make this a better world for all of us to navigate.

Happy International Women's Day 2017!.

SB 6 Marathon Hearing Session

31 groups, over 400 people and we're into the wee hours of the morning expressing their opposition to SB 6.

Even though I testified back around 6 PM. I'm still here supporting the people who are waiting to express their opposition to the Texas Transgender Opposition Act.

The few supporters haters that are still around are still trying to throw alt facts while the army of trans people speaking in opposition are telling their heartfelt stories.

Discrimination is NOT a Texas Value .  The best way to improve SB 6 is to kill it..

The Voices Of Black Trans People Need To Be Heard At These Press Conferences & Rallies

There was a  #StopSB6 rally that Equality Texas organized starting at 11:45 AM to push back on SB 6 that I wanted to attend but after a few moments of observing it, the problem with it became glaringly apparent to me.

While I agreed with many of the comments that were expressed in the time that I did watch it, and I appreciated the fact you has a trans masculine and trans feminine person speaking it was problematic in the wake of the conclusion of a month is which we lost five Black trans women, not one Black trans person was tapped to speak at it.

And oh yeah, I was there in Austin to lobby against SB 6.

The reason I'm posting about is that I was pissed off having to watch a Black pastor from San Antonio earlier today violate several commandments while talking about the effects of their non discrimination ordinance, and thinking about the fact that so far, we haven't had anyone from my demographic group  being shown as speaking for the trans community and against SB 6.

Visibility matters.  It especially matters when we are fighting a pitched battle to educate and inform my African American community about trans issues.

It is important that we have Black TBLGIQ people and our allies vocal in this trans rights fight be seen and heard during these press conferences because there is this mistaken belief in elements of the Black community that being trans is a 'white thang' .  And why wouldn't they have that perception when the only people my people see speaking in the media in opposition to SB 6 that purport to rep all demographics of the community are overwhelmingly white?

May I also remind you that some of the people who share my ethnic background are Texas legislators that will be voting for or against this SB 6 bill.

Black trans people aren't just here to entertain you, provide melanin for your photo opps or be the 'tragic transsexuals'.  We're trans folks trying to live our lives to the best of our ability. We helped jump off Stonewall.   We're pioneers and innovative leaders in this movement.

We're also more than qualified to talk about trans human rights issues, especially when we show up for everyone's human rights fights in addition to the one our people have waged since 1619.

I'm disappointed that once again an opportunity was missed to send a message to the assembled media that Black trans people exist and their lives matter as well.

We Black trans people exist.  That message to my people, however in order to be received, sometimes has to be sent by people who look like me.

Moni's In The House For The SB 6 Hearing

I'm here in Austin waiting for my turn to testify against the Texas Transgender Oppression also known as SB 6

Right now I'm sitting next to a hate pastor and we're trading snide remarks at each other   Nope, giving the bigots no love at all on this.

Was here at 7 AM to clear security and be part of the long line of people waiting to testify for and against SB 6   I'm in Group 6 of the people who are scheduled to give oral testimony testify and gearingup for a long day here at the Capitol.

I'll also be live tweeting the hearing and commenting on my Facebook page

You can watch the hearing play out on the Texas Senate website

Headed To ATX For Trans Texas Lobby Day & SB 6 Hearing

Seems like I've been doing this ever since my first one in the 1999 session, but when I arrive at the state capitol in a few hours, this lobbying foray at the Pink Dome will be for much higher stakes.

Trans folks and our allies from across the state will be converging on Autin to make their voices heard to their state legislators.  They will be urging them to #FlushSB6 and other unjust anti-TBLGQ bills and passing pro human rights bills.

The North Capitol steps will also be busy March 6 with a TENT press conference at 11 AM and one with a coalition of business groups at 1 PM condemning SB 6 as a preventable disaster for the Texas economy.

The Trans Texas Lobby is a joint production of TENT (Transgender Education Network of Texas), Equality Texas, ACLU-TX, Texas Freedom Network and HRC and run from 9 AM -6 PM CST on March 6.

SB 6, the unjust Texas Transgender Oppression Act being pushed by Dan Patrick and Lois Kolkhorst, will have a committee hearing tomorrow starting at 8 AM,    This is a job killing bill of the highest order in addition to being one that oppresses a segment of the Texas population.

Here's the Texas state data for the 2015 US Trans Survey has also been released with 1490 Texans recording their responses as part of the largest survey to date of transgender people in the US with 27,715 respondents

Since I'm planning to attend both the Lobby Day and the hearing, that means AX I'll be chilling there and won't leave until after the SB 6 hearing is concluded.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in the ATX a few hours.

Harris County Democratic Party Chair Election Today

My home county, Harris County is the largest by population in the Lone Star State and provides 22% of the vote totals in any statewide election    It is also one of the most diverse counties in the state thanks to its county seat of Houston

We just had the pleasure of watching it turn blue in the 2016 election cycle and want to solidify those  Democratic gains in 2018 and other future elections

Despite that success in turning Harris County from purple to blue, Lane Lewis, who has served ats the HCDP chair since 2011 resigned in February and today at HCDP party headquarters the precinct chairs will gather to select his replacement

Two favorites have emerged so far in Lillie Schechter, who was endorsed by the Houston LGBT Caucus, Eartha Johnson and Dominique Davis, who is active in the HCDP leadership ranks and is garnering an increasing number of supporters for her to get the job.

One of them is me.  

Unlike some of the other candidates, Dominique actually reached out to me and asked for my support.

 I attended a listening session she held yesterday,in Southeast Houston  with a diverse group of precinct chairs and was impressed with her knowledge of the party operations, her willingness to listen to the concerns of the precinct chairs, solicit their ideas for making the HCDP better  and also after it was done, ask me what can be done to increase and have sustained representation of trans people in the Harris County Democratic Party ranks

I believe Dominique Davis would be the perfect choice to succeed Lane Lewis as HCDP chair,. I'm not only enthusiastically endorsing her for HDCP chair, I'm urging people to make that happen at today County Executive Committee meeting..

Thee meeting at HCDP headquarters is open to the general public, but only the precinct chairs will be allowed to vote for our next Harris County Democratic Party leader.

It is running from 3-6 PM and will take place at the IBEW Union hall next door to HCDP headquarters at 1445 North Loop West Fwy.

And yes, I'll be in the house to watch it..

TransGriot Update:  Lillie Schechter ended up getting elected as HCDP chair with 190 votes over Eartha Johnson with 118.   Dominique received 21 votes.

Arrest Made In Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow Murder Case

There's some good news to report in the case concerning our murdered sister Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow.

The Sioux Falls, SD police arrested 25 year old Joshua Rayvon LeClaire on January 7 in the wake  of obtaining video surveillance footage of him leaving her home and using her cell phone on January 1.

The initial arrest of LeClaire after being confronted by SFPD officers and using a false name to avoid arrest was for marijuana possession and a parole violation.  The charges got upgraded after video surveillance evidence was obtained by SFPD that showed LeClaire leaving Wounded Arrow's apartment in the early morning hours of January 1.  

LeClaire admitted he was in Wounded Arrow's apartment in the early morning hours of January 1, and he was indicted by a grand jury and charged with one count of first and second degree murder, one count of false impersonation and one count of marijuana possession.

If LeClaire is convicted, he is facing the death penalty or life in prison without parole.   He is currently being held in the Minnehaha County Jail on a $2 million bord.    

Still keeping my eye on this case along with our South Dakota trans fam to see if Jamie Lee receives justice.

A Bathroom User Speaks About The Unjust GOP Bathroom Bills

We trans women know that the GOP Bathroom Bills like Texas' SB 6 are bull feces, and don't do anything except oppress trans woman, damage a state's economy and give Republican legislators raw meat for their base to run for reelection on.  

Seriously TV has this video taking a potshot at the Republican Party for pushing these unjust bills and calls out their War on Women.

Shut Up Fool Awards- Let's Rodeo 2017 Edition

It's the first weekend of March, and that means it's time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to kick off.   All the various trail rides converged on Houston today in time to camp out in Memorial park for tomorrow's rodeo parade.    The Rodeo Houston kickoff weekend also means that the World Championship BBQ contest is also going on over at NRG Park to see what BBQ cookoff tem will walk away with the grand prize.

But it's Friday, and that means it's also time to discover who gets the grand prize for stupidity, jaw dropping ignorance and WTF levels of hypocrisy.

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

Honorable mention number one if for the LugenPOTUS.   Just pick an outrage.

Honorable mention number two is a group award for every HBCU president that showed up for Trump's photo op, and then the Morehouse president basically saying what everybody in Black America knew in that you got played.

Honorable mention number three is Sec of Education Betsy DeVos, for stupidly saying HBCU's are 'pioneers in school choice'.

Betsy, Betsy Betsy.    You're not only clueless, you were asleep in history class at that private school when they covered the fact that HBCU's were founded because of Jim Crow segregation barring Black people from attending white institutions.

They were the only choice for over a century we had as a people to pursue higher education.

Honorable mention number four is Van Jones, for drinking the CNN pundit Kool Air and claiming that the speech made Trump 'look presidential'/

Dude, really?   Are you high?   Nothing will make that serial liar look presidential.

Honorable mention number five is Texas State Senator Don Huffines, who lost his cool when he got schooled by a group of Richardson ISD students about the GOP school choice scam ..

Honorable mention  number six is Franklin Graham, who got pissed off because Grack Slick donated royalties she made from Chick-Fil-A using her songs in a commercial to lambda Legal.

Condemning someone to death is so white wing KKKhristian of you.

Thou Talabaptist, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.

This week's Shut Up Fool winner is  EW Jackson, who made the ludicrous statement that men wearing earring is a white liberal plot to emasculate Black men.

EW Jackson, you are a white conservative plot to make Black men look stupid and ignorant, and you need to have several seats and a cookie.

EW Jackson, Shut Up Fool!

Roller Rink Opening At Discovery Green

One of the things that people don't know about me is I know how to ice skate and occasionally hit the ice  rink at the Galleria when my schedule allows me to do so.

During what passes for winter here in Houston, Kinder Lake in Discovery Green, the park that we have in the middle of our downtown Convention Center district has an ice rink set up for operation from Thanksgiving until late January.

While I can and love ice skating, roller skating has been more of a challenge for me.  My first foray at a now closed roller skating rink at Scott and OST in the 'hood back during my teen years in 1976 ended with the embarrassing spectacle of me at the end of a long frustrating day at a rink splitting the seat of my pants after a fall.

Fortunately I had a jacket to cover up the gaping split in the seat of my pants, but that incident is probably why I don't do much roller skating.  But even with my personal aversion to roller skating, I can get excited about this news.    

Thanks to Avenida Houston, the first ever outdoor roller skating rink in H-town will occupy that space starting today

The Rink  Rolling At Discovery Green opens today and will be in operation through the summer.  

It'll be open from 5-10 PM  Mondays-Thursdays, 5-11 PM  on Fridays, 11 AM-11 Pm on Saturdays and school holidays and 11 AM to 9 PM on Sundays.  Tickets are $12 per person onsite and $14 online.   The Cheap Skate night tickets are $6, aren't available online and are scheduled for March  6 and March 20

You can bring your own skates, either the four wheel kind or inline skates if you don't wish to rent them,  Bringing your own safety gear is encouraged.  

And because this is an outdoor rink, weather can and will affect its operations when lightning, rain or excessive heat happens

It will also be available for school and church groups, scout troop outings, daycare groups, company parties and birthdays.  There will be an event sponsored by the Houston LGBTQ Advisory Board on March 17 from 6-10 PM called Rainbow and Roll which will be a TBLGQ themed night..

And yeah, I'm going to attempt to get on roller skates again on that night.   Maybe if I do the inline ones/ roller blades, it'll be more familiar to what I'm used to and will have better results.

We'll see...