Moni's 2017 NCAA B-Ball Men's Bracket

It's that time again when the entire country goes gaga over NCAA college basketball and spends the next few weeks checking their brackets to see how accurately they pick what team eventually advances to win the NCAA championship.

I'm a huge college basketball fan, and like everyone else I also do a bracket.  Since 2007 I've been posting mine on the blog for everyone to see and pick apart

In 2015 my March travel schedule was so jam packed I didn't  have time to make out a bracket and just made a pick that Duke alums are still reminding me I got wrong.  I also got wrong what team would be cutting down the nets in NRG Stadium last year when Villanova upset North Carolina

That dropped me to a 4-5 record over my blog's history of picking NCAA men's brackets.

Speaking of brackets, here's the previous NCAA men's brackets that I posted on the blog for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014   

It's 2017, and once again I'm going to attempt to pick what team will be cutting down the nets April 3 when the championship game is over at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Here's my picks

First Four
New Orleans, Wake Forest,  UC Davis, USC

East Regional
First Round
Villanova, Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida, SMU, Baylor, South Carolina, Duke

Second Round
Villanova, Virginia, SMU, Duke

Sweet 16
Villanova, Duke

East Region Champion
Duke

West Regional
First Round
Gonzaga, Northwestern, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Maryland, Florida Gulf Coast, VCU, Arizona

Second Round
Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Maryland, Arizona

Sweet 16
Gonzaga, Arizona

West Region Champion
Arizona

Midwest Regional
First Round
Kansas, Michigan State, Iowa State, Purdue, Creighton, Oregon, Michigan, Louisville

Second Round
Kansas, Iowa State, Oregon, Louisville

Sweet 16
Kansas, Louisville

Midwest Region Champion
Louisville

South Regional
First Round
North Carolina, Arkansas, Minnesota, Butler, Cincinnati, UCLA, Wichita State, Kentucky

Second Round
North Carolina, Butler, Cincinnati, Kentucky

Sweet 16
North Carolina. Kentucky

South Regional Champion
North Carolina

Final Four
Duke, Arizona, Louisville, North Carolina  

Championship Game
Arizona, North Carolina

2017 NCAA Men's Champion
North Carolina   

The Existence Of Trans Women Is Not Up For Debate, Period

Once again we have a situation in which a cis woman has put her pumps in her mouth, spouted loud and wrong opinions about trans women in the media, and gotten mad and because she's being called out for uttering the loud and wrong disco era TERF flavored lies about trans women.

Well, not caring if you are mad Chimamanda Adichie.   You had the option of letting trans women speak for themselves, but instead you waded into a topic you know nothing about and are getting called out on the Net and by us for it.

Let's say this one more time so there is no mistaking it.   Trans women are women.

Now repeat that for the people in the back who didn't or the transphobic bigots who didn't want to hear it.

People have spouted their loud and wrong opinions about trans women (and trans men) since the 70's with little pushback from us.  The most gleeful anti- trans cheerleaders have been the TERF's (trans exclusionary radical feminists), of which many of them were lesbians.  

Because of the way that transitions were done at that time, we were encouraged to hide and assimilate in plain sight.  That had the unintended effect of silencing our voices to push back against this onslaught of anti-trans rhetoric coming from Janice Raymond, Mary Daly, Germaine Greer and other predominately white second wave feminists.

Meanwhile, it was trans folks like Christine Jorgensen and other people fighting local battles through the 70's, 80's and 90's who were holding up the trans banner while fighting for their humanity and human rights.

But because we were hiding in plain sight, and y'all had a louder megaphone unless we were outed like Renee Richards, Tula and a too long list of trans women at that time were, our voices were effectively silenced.  

Now we trans people are unapologetically out and proud of who we are, and we are going to speak our minds, tell our stories and defend our human rights and our humanity as we do so.  We're also going to call your cis behinds out when you disrespect or attempt to legislatively oppress us.

Don't like it that trans people are standing up to defend our humanity and human rights? Too bad.  You can roll your eyes, suck your teeth and snake your necks all you wish about what I just wrote,

But the facts are, and I'm going to say this one more time, that trans women are women.

We are beyond sick and tired of 40 years of predominately white cis women, TERF's and others having a mostly unobstructed run of facts free sliming of the trans community for your fun, profit and personal electoral gain.

We in Trans World really don't care if you or anyone else don't like it when the trans community calls bullshyt on cis people's unsolicited opinions about our lives, because those unsolicited opinions result in the deaths of non-white trans women .

And that's unacceptable to me, our trans men and other trans women. 

If you want to learn about trans women and our lives, how about doing the simple thing of actually talking to a trans person, reading our books, inviting us to speak (and paying us fairly to do so) on college campuses and having us do the media interviews to talk about our lives. 

That is the only way to accurately learn what it is like to walk in our pumps and live our trans feminine lives.

Just as there is no universal experience for being a woman on this planet, neither is there a universal experience for being a trans woman.  

But the salient point I want you cis women to take away from this is that the existence of trans women is not up for debate, period.

We exist, and we're tired of you cis women and your allies trying to deny the obvious fact that we do.

The Houston GLBT Caucus Goes To Austin

The Texas Legislature is in session, and those of us whose human rights are being targeted by our GOP majority are making sure they know we're watching what transpires in this legislative session.

At 6 AM CDT this morning the Houston GLBT Caucus along with their partner organizations United We Dream, the Transgender Foundation of America, Women and Allies,  the Iota Chapter of Delta Phi Upsilon, the TransAdvocate, the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and the Montrose Center got on the bus and headed to Austin.

They are there as you read this to talk about SB 6 and other unjust laws that impact our diverse state and the city of Houston such as racial justice, immigration, economic equity and LGBTQ equality.

They plan to be at the capitol until 7 PM and then head back to Houston.

Best of luck while you're up there and hope that you get to talk to as many of our legislators and state senators as possible.

Casa Ruby Vandalized

Hate thoughts + Hate Speech = Hate violence/ Hate murders.  

There are some of you who don't believe this Equation of Oppression to be true, but those of us in marginalized communities know this all too well what happens when bigots and bullies feel empowered to be as hateful as the wanna be, especially when they believe that particular hate speech they espouse against a group has a governmental stamp of approval.

Was angered to hear that yesterday the Casa Ruby LGBT Community Center on Georgia Ave in northwest Washington DC was vandalized and the trans person on duty who was working at the time was assaulted/

And this isn't a hate crime Washington Metro PD?

This was a mere  two days after Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Metro DC Police Chief Peter Newsham reported a 62% increase in hate crimes aimed at TBLGQ Washington residents in 2016 from 66 incidents to 107 in 2016.    Crimes in DC against the DC trans community according to Ruby Cordao have gone up 100%

This also happened two days after anti-trans comments from a feminist blew up on the Net.

I have had more than a few pleasant visit to Casa Ruby in the last few years, and it pisses me the hell off that an org that is doing much good in the District and is the largest employer of trans folks there is having to deal with this level of destructive ignorance.

Metro DC police are looking for this suspect, and hope the waste of DNA who is swiftly captured and brought to justice.

I will also pass on any additional news from Ruby if the center needs anything besides your donations to fix what was damaged.
 

Miss International Queen 2017 Is..

Another Thai winner.  

Jiratchaya  Sirimongkolnawin was crowned on March 10 as the newest Miss International Queen winner.  The runner ups in Miss International Queen 2017 were a pair of girls from South America. First runner up was Nathalie Oliveira of Brazil and the second runner up was Andrea Collazo of Venezuela.



While I ain't mad at those girls who won or were the first and second runners up, I've had a problem with Miss International Queen on a lot of levels since 2011.


My dissatisfaction with this so-called most prestigious premiere international pageant for trans women has only increased since I wrote this post in the wake of the controversial end of the 2011 pageant calling for Miss International Queen to have an international judging panel.

I have serious questions about the impartiality of an all Thai panel with uncomfortable connections to the host Tiffany's venue, and also have serious concerns that those Thai judges have a cultural bias against dark skin girls.

If that's not the case, then why has there in the history of this MIQ pageant NEVER been a Black trans woman to win it, and only three who have even placed in the top three of the pageant since 2004?

Black trans girls across the African Diaspora don't even bother trying to enter the Miss International Queen pageant because of the perceived anti-Black bias.

It's also problematic when all four Thai winners of the Miss International Queen title also won the Thai only Miss Tiffany's Thai pageant that year, and the Tiffany's show bar in Pattaya is the host venue for Miss International Queen.

So nope, still going to be giving Miss International Queen the side eye until they decide to make the changes necessary that will take the pageant to the next level, make it a truly international event, and people who wish to compete in it don't feel like it's rigged in favor of a Thai or Asian trans girl.

Deenequia Dodds Case Update

Have some more good news to report in the Deenequia Dodds case

To refresh your memory banks, 22 year old Deenequia was our DC sister who was shot during a robbery on July 4 in NE DC and died nine days later in the hospital.

Three men, 26 year old Jalonte Little, 21 year old Monte Tyree Johnson and 21 year old Cyheme Hall have been arrested and charged in this case  with a robbery conspiracy and first degree felony murder while armed that was motivated by Dodds trans status.

These three reprehensible people are also being charged with four other robberies that occurred that day including the trio robbing another DC trans woman.

Little, Johnson and Hall are facing a potential 60 years in jail if convicted, and with the hate crime enhancement, if the judge in the case chooses to do so, bumps up the potential sentence to 90 years in prison.

Longtime DC trans activist Earline Budd praised the indictment in her comments to the Washington Post.

"It sends a message that it's not OK to go around and shoot, harm and kill transgender people," Budd said. "It sends a message that we are human like anyone else." 

Now they just need to enhance the message being sent by finding them guilty of their crime and sentencing them to the maximum sentence allowed 

I will be keeping track of this case as well and seeing if justice is served in Deenequia's case.

Did You Spring Forward Yet?

If you're reading this post and don't live in Arizona, hope you have moved your clocks forward one hour because Daylight Savings Time started today.

If you don't, you'll be an hour early for many of your events and pissed off because you cost yourself an hour of sleep.

So move those clocks and watches if you have one forward an hour.

You'll get to move it back on November 5

Sit Yo' Azz Down Chimamanda And Talk To A Black Trans Woman...

Before you part your lips to say something this cluelessly ignorant about us ever again.

Some of my TransGriot readers have asked me what are my thoughts concerning the jacked up comments that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has made in a British Channel 4 interview in which she made some negative comments about trans women,



After seeing the video, it pissed me off to the point I needed 24 hours to craft a response to it.

It's obvious in this series of WTF level contradictory statements that Adichie has neither talked to or spent any time talking to trans women, and especially Black trans women.  

If she had, she wouldn't be facing the firestorm of criticism she's getting now and me writing this post telling her to have several seats.

Doesn't matter if trans women's parents attempted to raise them as males with the male privilege that comes attached with that.  The nanosecond we start taking hormones and our bodies morph to that female form, we lose whatever male privilege we have and get all the gender specific BS aimed at women on this planet.

There also crap that we get simply for being trans or seen as effeminate..

We in Trans Feminine World don't and never have denied the fact there are certain aspects of our lives that are intrinsically different from a cis woman.  But at the same time neither can you deny or dismiss the fact that there are also similarities in feminine life experiences with cis and trans women.

Neither can you deny unless you are being willfully ignorant and intellectually dishonest about it that trans women get sexually assaulted, murdered, discriminated against and disrespected simply for being and living as women on a plant hostile to femininity.

The fact that we have increasing numbers of trans women who have experienced life on this planet as female from childhood makes her comment problematically clueless.  It also makes Adichie guilty of doing to trans women what she cautions people about in terms of making blanket statements based on a single narrative.

Chimamanda, it's not like I and other Black trans women haven't been telling our stories.  Like your fellow feminists, you refuse to hear it.  We're tired of the facts free sliming that comes from feminists and TERF's. We're also tired as Black trans women of the racism that comes with those facts free lies about us we've heard since the disco era.

It's also comments like these to borrow the words of my homegirl Bryanna Jenkins, that make Black trans women as reluctant to trust and embrace Black cis women as Black women are to trust white women.

But with a hostile Republican administration in place in Washington DC and various US states, if we want to solve the problems that impact all women, both cis and trans Black women are going to need to have those hard ongoing conversations in order to build the sisterhood we'll need to make that collective  action happen.

The base level of understanding we need from Black cis women to get this started is that Black trans women are women.  We can go from there.    

So sit your azz down Chimamanda and talk to a variety of Black trans women before you ever again part your lips to say something as problematic about us in a public setting ever again.

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!.