Thank You For Voting For Me For Houston Pride Parade Grand Marshal

The opportunity to vote for the 2017 Houston Pride Parade grand marshal closed at 5 PM CST yesterday afternoon, no now it's all about counting the votes and finding out who won later this month

I want to thank all of you who did vote for me and helped spread the word about my candidacy for it side I have been quite busy this month fighting the Lone Star Forces of Intolerance, and attending two conferences in Boston and Orlando that were set up months before I agreed to place my name in nomination for 2017 female pride grand marshal.

I won't find out until later this month if I made history by becoming only the third African American female grand marshal in Houston pride parade history and the first ever Black transgender one.

It would also be wonderful if Lou Weaver made that history with me.  He would not only become the first ever trans masculine Houston Pride parade grand marshal, if we both won in 2017 it would would be the first time ever for ANY pride parade to have trans masculine and trans feminine parade grand marshals concurrently serving in the same parade.

We'll see if I made history again in a few weeks
   

Moni's Made It To Massachusetts!

Finally made it to Boston, or to be precise, Brookline, MA.   Flight up was relatively smooth and I'm ensconced in my room, have made my usual call to Mom to let her know her eldest child is safe and had a chance to unwind for a minute and check out my room , the hotel and the nearby neighborhood.

Good to also know there's an MBTA train station nearby as well.

And year, I'm actually having to pull out my sweaters peeps since the high temp right now ins only 53 degrees F.   Way cooler than what I left this morning.

But looking forward to seeing Dr Pamela Lightsey and everyone connected with this human conference that kicks off tomorrow.   We're having dinner tonight to facilitate those intros, and I need to get out of my traveling outfit and get into dinner wear.

So let me do that so I can be ready at ^6:25 PM EDT to get picked up.

Leaving On A Jet Plane- To Boston Again

Your long time TransGriot readers are probably looking at this post and are wondering, weren't you just in Boston a few months ago?  

I sure was, to pick up that Robert Coles Call of Service Award back in October,

New year, new month and new event that brings me not only back to Boston but on a different Boston collegiate campus.   This time I'll be on the Boston University campus for a human rights conference that will take place tomorrow at the George Sherman Union Building Ballroom.

So that means I need to be rolling from Texas in a few hours in order to be in Beantown for it and not miss the panel discussion I'm participating in and Bishop Yvette Flunder's morning keynote.    

But before all that happens. definitely need to be getting my beauty sleep for the travel day that's about to start in a few hours.

It's About Our Kids

I was in a panel discussion last Thursday night and was asked the question what keeps me motivated to keep fighting despite the odds for trans human rights coverage.

My answer to that question?  "It's all about the trans kids."

It has alway been my goal to make it better for the trans kids coming behind me, just aa the trans advocates who preceded me had my generation in mind when they fought they oppressors of their day.

I'm paying it forward, because as the song 'The Greatest Love Of All' that Whitney Houston so eloquently sang says, the children are our future.   It's why they are being attacked by our pseudo faith based opposition and why we must just as vigorously defend their humanity and human rights.

It's our job to plant the human rights trees whose shade we may never get to sit in.  Now if we happen to be around when the trees grow tall enough to produce the shade that will shelter our trans kids when they are our ages from the blazing sun of intolerance, and we get to enjoy the benefits of our labor we're putting in now, that's all good as well.

But yes, when we're talking about the bottom line as to who we are fighting for, it's all about our trans kids.   .  

The Divine Cassadine Transition Scholarship Fundraiser

There are a few posts on TransGriot in which I discuss silicone pumping, the negative effects of it and chronicle the pumpers who get busted and brought to justice or killing people while doing so.

Tanisha Caston AKA 'The Divine Tanisha Cassadine', was born in Memphis  September 16, 1968 and touched many lives inside and outside the House of Cassadine and the pageant and ballroom community    She died on March 16 at age 48 due to complications from silicone injections.

It was a death that shocked many in the pageant world who knew her, and brought home to people the danger of silicone pumping


Miss BTIPS 2016 Taliyah Cassadine is also the founder of Say No 2 Silicone Injections to promote awareness of the danger of silicone pumping.

She created the Divine Cassadine Transition Scholarship to not only keep memories of the legacy of Tanisha alive, but also help create a funding stream to help trans women who want to transition in a healthy and safe way without using silicone.   It can also be used to remove silicone from a person's body, which can also be a costly process.

The Divine Cassadine Transition Scholarship will be awarded at future BTAC conventions.  Fundraising for the $3000 goal started April 1 with the hope that the goal will be reached and hopefully exceeded by next April 1.

If you're inclined to give $5, 10, 20 or whatever your heart moves you to do at this time, please do so. No amount is too small to give in order to reach and hopefully exceed the goal to seed this fund.  

Even $1 will help the cause, and here's the link to the fundraising page. 

US Seventh Circuit Court Of Appeals Full Panel Rules You Can't Be Fired For Being Gay

“I have been saying all this time that what happened to me wasn’t right and was illegal. Now I will have my day in court, thanks to this decision, No one should be fired for being lesbian, gay, or transgender like happened to me and it’s incredibly powerful to know that the law now protects me and other LGBT workers.”-Kimberly Hively

That's something I always believed and many Americans believed was already the case for TBLGQ Americans, but now we have a federal court decision to back that up in the Hively vs Ivy Tech Community College case.

On Tuesday a full panel of the US Seventh Circuit in Chicago by an 8-3 margin found that workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“… Hively represents the ultimate case of failure to conform to the female stereotype (at least as understood in a place such as modern America, which views heterosexuality as the norm and other forms of sexuality as exceptional): she is not heterosexual. Our panel described the line between a gender nonconformity claim and one based on sexual orientation as gossamer-thin; we conclude that it does not exist at all. Hively’s claim is no different from the claims brought by women who were rejected for jobs in traditionally male workplaces, such as fire departments, construction, and policing. The employers in those cases were policing the boundaries of what jobs or behaviors they found acceptable for a woman (or in some cases, for a man).”
-Chief Judge Diane Wood

This came just three weeks after a three judge panel in Atlanta ruled the other way that Title VII doesn't cover discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The plaintiff in this case, Kimberly Hively, was an instructor at Ivy Tech Community College  who in August 2014 sued the school with the help of Lambda Legal after she was seen kissing her girlfriend in the parking lot of the school and subsequently denied promotions and full employment.

Hively's suit argued that Ivy Tech violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  The trial court dismissed her suit and claimed that Title VII of the CRA, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion, doesn't protect employees from anti-gay discrimination.

In April 2015 Lambda Legal appealed the case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a reversal of the trial court decision and reinstatement of Hively's complaint.  The three judge panel ruled against Hively in July 2016, but Lambda Legal requested it be heard by a full Seventh Circuit eleven judge panel.   The request was granted on October 11. 2016 and heard in November 2016.

What also makes this ruling notable is that the Seventh Circuit not only leans conservatives, five of the eight majority judges in this 8-3 decision were appointed by Republican presidents.

Once again, that 'strict constitutionalism' cuts both ways. so spare me any calls of 'judicial activism'.. You conservafools don't complain when those same federal judges make rulings in your direction.  .

“In many cities and states across the country, lesbian and gay workers are being fired because of who they love. But, with this decision, federal law is catching up to public opinion: ninety-percent of Americans already believe that LGBT employees should be valued for how well they do their jobs—not who they love or who they are. Now, through this case and others, that principle is backed up by the courts,” said Greg Nevins, Employment Fairness Program Director for Lambda Legal. who argued the case in front of the full Seventh Circuit judicial panel.  

“This decision is gamechanger for lesbian and gay employees facing discrimination in the workplace and sends a clear message to employers: it is against the law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.”

And it remains to be seen whether this decision gets litigated at the Supreme Court.      

Payless Filing For Bankruptcy

One of the things I inherited from my mom was a love of fashionable shoes, and while you petite divas would love to be my supermodel level height, it comes with the problem of trying to find those fashion forward shoes in a double digit shoe size.

I wear a size 12, but sometimes I'll go up one size when it's available for comfort.  Many department store shoe departments stop at size 10, or have very few shoes in sizes 11, 12 or 13 where many women are increasingly having to shop as the average women's shoe size gets larger.

Nordstroms is one of those that does carry a nice variety in sizes 11 or 12.   Some brands like Nine West  have them up to size 12, but once again, you have to order them online.   The same is true for DSW and Rack Room that only carry up to size 11, and you have to special order other styles that they carry in a size 12.   Shoe Carnival stores only carry them up to a size 10 or 11.

There are other online outlets like Zappos.com, shoes.com or Long Tall Sally for example, but it's always preferable to see and be able to try a pair of shoes first before you buy them.  Sometimes that shoe color looks great online but when you actually get it may not be exactly be the shade that you're looking for to go with an outfit and sometimes you can't return them if you bought them on sale..

And then there's the cost.   $75 and up, which is another problem when you're low income or on a budget.

Payless has long had the reputation in Trans World of being the 'Trans Woman's best friend' when it comes to finding fashionable shoes, bags and accessories at an easy on our wallet price.  

Its 4400 stores and 22,000 employees in the US and Puerto Rico have been a lifeline for many trans women trying find those nice shoes, flats, boots and pumps to go with a work or dressy outfit or simply for everyday wear.

And when it's BOGO time, I'm going to be buying those shoes I've had my eye on.  One of my current fave pair of Christian Siriano black pointed toe heels I bought during a BOGO sale for $10 and get a lot of compliments when I wear them.

Was saddened to hear that Payless filed yesterday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will be closing 400 stores immediately, with another 500 possible.

I have already lost one of my fave Payless locations in downtown Houston right on the METRORail Red Line at the Main Street Square Station when it closed in February.  I noticed that when I went to Louisville on vacation last summer, the downtown Payless on 4th Street I used to find shoes in up to size 13 when I lived there had closed.

So it will be interesting to note which Payless stores in Houston will be shuttered, and I hope they aren't the few locations where I can get my shoes in a 13.

Big Trans Rights Win In Illinois D211!

With 147 or the 147 precincts counted, and totals still unofficial, in an April 4 school board election with national implications that was closely watched by the trans community in Illinois and our allies, it looks as though the trans inclusive slate of D211 board members Anna Klimkowicz, Robert LeFevre and board member elect Edward Yung backed by the partnership of local parents and national trans rights group the Trans United Fund have defeated a candidate slate backed by a coalition of anti-trans activists and groups affiliated with the anti-trans SPLC-certified hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom.

In the D211 school board race, incumbent member Klimkowicz topped all candidates by garnering  9,951 votes to easily retain her seat.  incumbent member LeFevre got 8,706 to retain his and member elect Yung got 8,144 votes to capture the last available seat and return to the D211 board compared to the ADF affiliated 'Parents For Privacy' hate slate of Katherine Jee Young David with 7,917 votes, Ralph Bonatz with 7,318 and Jean Forrest with 7,225 votes.

"I think that what it says is the community thinks we're doing a good job," Klimkowicz said.

The voters have spoken, and it's a resounding defeat for anti-trans bigotry in D211.

The Alliance Defending Freedom sought to insert themselves in this local school board race in Palatine, IL in order to flip control of the largest school district in the state and undo the DOE/DOJ agreement reached in a discrimination case with a local trans student.

The national Washington DC based trans rights group Trans United Fund jumped into this race two weeks ago at the behest of parents concerned about the ADF affiliated opposition slate.

The Alliance Defending Freedom had been targeting D211 for months with a lawsuit designed to strip the trans protections from the district and overturn the settlement.

"A mom from Palatine, IL called us up to advise me that a slate of school board members was running (the Parents For Privacy slate) to take out school board members who had supported inclusive schools and with the goal of rolling back protections for trans youth," said Chicago based TUF national board member LaSaia Wade.

"The anti-trans candidates recruited to flip control of the school board were supported by a network of anti-LGBT activists and groups ranging from Illinois state senator Tom Morrison to ADF ally Vicki Wilson to the Illinois state chapter of Focus on the Family.  I raised the issues with the board, and they enthusiastically endorsed the idea of going all in to support these D211 moms and kids fighting back against an array of anti-trans oppressors," said Wade.  

Trans United Fund, sensing the national political implications and symbolic importance of this race to the trans rights cause, did more than just send a stand with them in solidarity message to the concerned parents and kids of D211. They launched the first trans led political independent expenditure in the history of the modern trans rights movement on behalf of those parents and kids.

In less than two weeks, despite the financial and organizational head start the anti- trans forces had, Trans United Fund helped the pro-trans slate parents, kids and allies raise funds and quickly assemble a strong political program that included phone banking, mail, digital and volunteer canvassing to get their ultimately successfully messaging out to the D211 voters.

As the Trans United Fund board foresaw, this is a major political win, one with soon to be determined political implications that will be felt across the country. One of the moms, sharing how inspired she was by the experience wrote about how it felt to have Trans United Fund have her and her child's back

“…words cannot express how grateful I am that you have taken your time your time and resources to help us fight back against a group of people who have sought to demean and discourage my daughter for being who she is throughout her high school years.  Unfortunately, because of their tactics, I have seen my strong-willed, smart and beautiful daughter's self-confidence shatter.  It has been an exhausting battle and at times we often felt alone and that the majority of people were, in fact, on the side of the hate group.  However, as more and more people step up and speak out, we realize we were wrong.  Through your courageous efforts, you have brought hope not just to my daughter, but to trans kids throughout D211 and the world.  You have told them that they are accepted, that they are cherished and that they have amazing talents to contribute to our society. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” a local mom in Palatine, IL. 

"We have been so inspired by the more than 30 moms and young people who have been at the core of the campaign to fight back against hate and fear in their school district," said Hayden Mora, co-chair of Trans United Fund. "I'm proud that Trans United Fund was able to make a decisive difference but I'm even prouder of the incredible coalition of allies we were able to build. "Tonight's victory is the result of the incredible leadership of moms and youth in D211, the amazing allyship of Brian Johnson and the Equality IL team, the savvy and commitment of LaSaia Wade and the Trans Liberation Collective and our team at Trans United Fund, " Mora added..

"Hate groups weren't just trying to roll back rights in this Chicago suburb, they were trying to build a model that they could export across the country. What they got was a model of what's possible when trans people, parents, youth and our LGBTQ allies work together. The message to parents and trans people all over the country tonight is one of hope and a story about how we can fight back against hate and fear and win. "
Yes we can!   In Palatine, IL tonight, we sent the message thanks to a committed group of people that we will fight for our kids, the allies who support them and do so successfully.

The Race And Everyone Else Enters With Me As Well

On this 23rd anniversary of the 1994 day I nervously clocked in for work one month before my birthday to begin the public coming out as moi in the middle of IAH's Terminal C, one of the quotes that has  stuck with me through this journey in this part of my life is one from sociologist, civil rights leader and educator Anna Julia Cooper.

'“Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole Negro race enters with me.”

That's true for me as well, but I also have a few extra groups tagging along as I get the blessings and opportunities to blaze trails on behalf of myself and the communities I represent in this six foot two inch tall intersectional body.

Everywhen and anywhere I go, the race enters with me as well.  I'm always cognizant of that as a Black trans woman.   I'm always acutely aware that my presentation must be on point, I must be knowledgeable about many subjects, and fearless about speaking my truth in a world determined to silence or shut down my voice

And it's a role that I have gleefully accepted since that day I stepped into Terminal C and haven't looked back.

Upcoming 'Our History, Our Future A Multigenerational Conference on Human Rights' In Boston

Heading back to Boston this weekend to participate in a conference that is going to happen on the Boston University campus.

The ' event will be taking place on April 8 in the George Sherman Union Ballroom on the BU campus jointly sponsored by the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground and the Boston Theological Center.

Join us on April 8 for a public conference titled entitled, "Our History, Our Future: a Multigenerational Conference on Human Rights."

The schedule includes two plenary sessions, two panel sessions and a workshop offering participants nonviolent direct action training. This is a continuing education event; CEUs will be provided upon request. Registration is free but you MUST register to attend.

Speakers include persons known for human rights activism during the 60s civil rights movement, the crisis in Ferguson and Baltimore, the movement for Black Lives, LGBTQ activism, scholars of the movement and serving as consultants to the White House under the Obama administration. They are gifted in ministry, music and the arts, shaping public policy, writing, peace negotiation and nonviolent direct action.

I'm excited because I get to see and hear the amazing Bishop Yvette Flunder speak again during the morning plenary session immediately before my panel with Ahman Green-Hayes and Karlene Griffiths-Sekou scheduled to start at 11 AM EST.

The conference is free, but you will need to register for it at this link 

 Conference Schedule

9-10am Breakfast, Welcome and Introduction10-11am Plenary One (Bishop Yvette Flunder)11-12pm Panel (Monica Roberts, Ahmad Greene-Hayes, Karlene Griffiths-Sekou)12-1pm Lunch1-2:30pm Nonviolent Direct Action Workshop (Rev. Osagyefo Sekou)2:30-3:30pm Panel (Ruby Sales, Kevin Rigby, Darnell Moore, Tef Poe)3:30-5pm Plenary Two (Rev. Michael McBride)

Address is 775 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, 02215. and I'm hoping to see some of my trans family who can attend be there.

2012 Sage Smith Case Is Now A Murder Investigation

Sage Smith of Charlottesville, VA went missing ironically on November 20, 2012, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, and still hasn't been found four years later.

The 19 year old left her home to meet Erik Tyquan McFadden at the Charlottesville train station, and hasn't been seen by her family and friends since.   McFadden has also gone missing since that time

The case after four years has now been reclassified as a homicide case, which opens it up to more law enforcement resources to be brought to bear on solving it.

With the reclassification, McFadden is now considered a person of interest in the homicide case.

Sage's grandmother Lolita Smith, like myself and others in the trans community, wondered what took so long to get to this step.

“Frankly, I don’t understand why they waited so long,” she said. “It’s been four years. I think the Charlottesville Police Department dropped the ball from day one.”

Here's hoping that the reclassification into a homicide case results in justice being served and us finally learning what happened to Sage..

My HRC Houston Gala John Walzel Equality Award Acceptance Speech

TransGriot Note: The text of the HRC Gala John Walzel Award acceptance speech I'm delivering at the Marriott Marquis for the 20th Annual Houston HRC Gala

To the HRC Houston Gala Tri Chairs, HRC Houston, Chad Griffin, Ian Barrett, our local, state and national political leaders, distinguished gala attendees, fellow award recipients, gala volunteers and my TBLGQ family in the house. 

Tonight, I stand at this podium to announce that I humbly accept the John Walzel Equality Award.

In three days I’ll celebrate the 24^th anniversary of the April 4, 1994 day I nervously walked into Houston Intercontinental Airport’s Terminal C to clock in for my first shift as the person you see standing before you.   As those who know me are already aware of, I’m not only proud of being unapologetically Black and trans, I have no problem speaking truth to power and calling crap out.

Next year will mark 20 years of activism for me.   I’m also part of a tradition of Houston trans women who have since 1972 in the late Toni Mayes, Phyllis Frye, Sarah DePalma, Nikki Araguz Loyd and Dee Dee Watters just to name a few, have fought tenaciously for our humanity and human rights as trans people and the human rights of others.

I started getting involved in trans human rights efforts in 1998 because I didn’t see people who looked like me in the leadership ranks of this community.  Black trans people exist, we are more than just ‘tragic transsexuals’ and we are definitely capable of leading in this ongoing human rights fight. 

Black trans people must be at the advocacy and policy tables because frankly, some of the legislators voting on our issues share my ethnic background.

Human rights are not a zero sum game.  I practice what I preach on TransGriot about coordinated intersectional actions and being there for other communities in their human rights struggles.  I believe that when you criticize someone or an organization for screwing up, you must praise them when they are doing things right.  I must admit that since the 2007 ENDA debacle, HRC as an organization is on a positive trend line.  

Can it be better?  Yes, and it’s going to have to be if HRC is ever going to win the trust of transgender community folks.  It is your deeds as an organization at the local, state and national levels those skeptics will be watching, and you have little room for error.

I saw local HRC members like Melissa Vivanco and Lou Weaver in the trenches when we passed HERO in May 2014 and while defending the ordinance.  I saw Ian, Lou, Melissa, Meghan Stabler, Marty Rouse and other folks from HRC at multiple lobby days in Austin last month in partnership with other organizations walking the halls of our state capitol.

I see the HRC sponsorships to trans conventions like the Black Trans Advocacy one in Dallas and the new HRC Houston office.

The progressive community needs HRC to be on its A+ human rights game because of a hostile to LGBTQ human rights Trump administration.   Texas has a regressive GOP legislature trying to pass unjust laws like the Texas Transgender Oppression Act (SB 6) while fueling the hellfire flames of anti-trans hatred and attacking trans kids to do so.   That hostile rhetoric is killing my Black trans sisters.

We have work to do to ensure there is no slippage or repeal of TBLGIQ positive human rights laws, court cases, programs and polices people and our allies have worked tirelessly for decades to achieve. 

We have the moral high ground in this fight, not our loud and wrong pseudo-faith based opposition.   And when we work together as a team, we can accomplish anything.

Why No TransGriot April Fools Prank Post This Year

Normally as part of a longstanding TransGriot April Fool's Day blog tradition, I would have taken the time to think about and unleash upon you a prank post.

And as some of you who fell for them in previous years know, I'm pretty good at writing them.

But because of that 2016 election cycle that was dominated by fake news and the real and serious costs it had for our country in addition to having an ongoing barf inducing April Fools Day joke sitting in the Oval Office, I decided not to prank y'all this year because the wounds from that election are still fresh on everyone's minds.

Maybe next April 1 I'll hit y'all with one, but I'm going to cut y'all some slack this year.  

Florida Silicone Pumper Sentenced In Nuby Case

When we last checked in on 36 year old silicone pumper Oneal Morris, she was about to do a year in jail as part of an accepted plea deal for practicing medicine without a license.

But she was still facing manslaughter charges for the pumping death of 31 year old Shatarka Nuby, when the silicone that was pumped into her posterior leaked to other parts of her body and caused fatal respiratory failure

On Monday she was sentenced by a Florida judge to ten years in prison and another five years of probation as Nuby's family and people she'd pumped watched the courtroom proceedings.


The only thing I do have a problem with is you being sentenced to serve your time in a men's jail. You need to be incarcerated in a women's facility, not subject to being assaulted and abused by male prisoners and guards

Back to the case.

Medical experts could never determine what exactly was in the pumping concoction, but what they do know is that Morris injected Nuby ten times between 2007 to 2011, with the initial procedure costing her $2000 and eventually her life.

Morris of course denied that she intentionally hurt anyone and that she was being 'convicted by the media'.

Naw boo boo kitty, don't even try it.  Your pumping actions resulted in injury to several people and the death of one, so enjoy your time in jail. .  

Sharron Cooks Makes History Again

Last summer Sharron Cooks made history by becoming the first out trans person in the state of Pennsylvania to become a DNC delegate.  She's made history once again by becoming the first out trans person to chair a city commission in Philadelphia.

 On Thursday she was elected as chair of the 23 member Mayor's Commission on LGBT  Affairs.

"As chair of the Mayor's Commission on LGBT Affairs, I am committed and dedicated to serving the needs of the City of Philadelphia's LGBTQ community.  I am committed to advocating for equality and building and maintaining positive and supportive community relationships with trust, honesty, transparency and integrity, " Cooks said in a G Philly Interview.

"This is a new role for me as a Black transgender woman.  I am open to learning and receiving respectful feedback, and I am looking forward to working with all members of our LGBTQ community and allies here in Philadelphia and abroad as well as working with other organizations and institution to help address the needs of our community."

Congrats Sharron for making history once again and being a trailblazing leader for your community.   Have no doubts you'll do a wonderful job in that chairperson's role.   

Down Goes UConn in Dallas!

This is not an April Fools Day joke.   If you weren't watching the NCAA women's Final Four semifinal game between Mississippi State and UConn from Dallas, you missed a historic game.

UConn was on a 111 game winning steak and playing for a shot at their fifth straight NCAA title against a team that they beat by 60 points last year in Mississippi State.

But this year's UConn squad lost four seniors from that title team, and Mississippi State was fueled by that embarrassing for them 60 point loss to have an amazing 2016-17 season.    

After Mississippi State knocked off Baylor to get another shot at Goliath, no one in the country expected them to win this game.

But the Bulldogs had other ideas, and they raced out to a 36-28 halftime lead before UConn clawed their way back into it. The Bulldogs had a shot at winning it in regulation, but Morgan William's attempt to hit the streak busting shot was blocked by Gabby Williams to preserve the tie and send the game to overtime.

Morgan William got another chance to hit a game winning shot and this time she didn't miss.

66-64 Bulldogs.   And fittingly the smallest player on the floor slayed the basketball Goliath that is UConn
     
 .


Oh well, I got half of this year's women's title game right.

Mississippi State has taken down might UConn to set up an all-SEC final with South Carolina.   Do they have one more upset in them?  

We'll see on Sunday

Transgender Day Of Visibility 2017

Today is the 8th annual celebration of the International Transgender Day of Visibility

It got its start in 2009 because its founder, Rachel Crandall, believed we needed a day that was the polar opposite on the TDOR that focused on the folks who are living and our community successes.

One of the points I wanted and needed to drive home on this day is that visibility matters.

It is only because we have come out of the shadows, told our stories and gotten more politically active is why we have made the societal progress that we have made and the hatemongers see us as a threat worthy of spending millions to oppress.

Trans rights are human rights.   They know it, we know it, and we have the facts and the moral high ground in this human rights struggle.

That visibility is also important for trans communities of color.   Far too often in the Black community there is this impression that being trans is a 'white thing'.  We have far too many sellout Black pastors and faux faith based haters in our ranks busy trying to use that impression to deny our existence,

No, boo boo kitties.  Black trans folks exist.   Gender variant people have been around as long as humanity has existed and live on nearly every continent ,including on the African continent where humanity started,  

We aren't going away.

Black trans folks are also leaders, and it's past time the TBLGQ movement recognized that and the undeniable fact that if they want to win this human rights fight, it will be needed and necessary to hire us and pay us for our talents and abilities. If you don't wish to do that then don't get mad or upset when we build our own leadership tables.

So stand tall, be proud and when you're comfortable to do so, be visible.

'I Am Jazz' Gets Renewed For Season 3

This is wonderful news to talk about on the Transgender Day of Visibility

It's took a while for ti to happen, but the news finally dropped that TLC has renewed I Am Jazz for a third season.

The second season received strong rating, so people were wondering why it took so long for TLC to greenlight a third season of the show chronicling the live of our fave trans teen,

In Season 3 we'll see her taking on conservative commentator Tomi Lahren (or maybe not since lahren is suspended from The Blaze) , trying to deal with all the issues of being a teen in addition to the aspects of it brought on by transition.

So starting on June 28 we'll be getting new episodes of I Am Jazz, and looking forward to seeing it this summer

You Just Proved My Point, Gays For Trump Conservafool

Little did I know when I wrote my innocent tweet that it would start a Twitter dragging in which myself, Alvin McEwen of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters went in on this fool Peter Boykin,the head of Gays For Trump, with another gay conservafool jumping in to dig the hole even deeper for themselves.

Note the racist response to the original tweet.

As James Baldwin pointed out in a 1984 Village Voice interview,  the gay world is no more prepared to accept Black people than anywhere else in society.  We as also painfully aware of the fact that in elements of GLBTQ world, there are folks who are part of this community who can be just as racist, biphobic, transphobic, sexist, misogynist, homophobic as their cis straight counterparts.

When they combine that willful cluelessness with swimming in white privilege, they come off as even more douchebaggy.   Being part of the LGBTQ community doesn't change the fact that you by dint of your white skin have more privilege than any POC member of the community ever will.  

One of the ridiculous comments Boykin deployed early in the thread was holding up his biracial boyfriend as 'evidence' he wasn't racist, even though he'd already demonstrated it by the racist meme he aimed at me in addition to being the president of the Gays For Trump, and making the statement in favor of continued NC discrimination aimed at transgender people which is why I wrote the Twitter comment aimed at him and other like minded gay and lesbians in the first place.  

And your point in doing so?   Strom Thurmond had a Black daughter, but that still didn't stop him from being a lifelong segregationist and fighting mightily until he died to oppress her and her people.

Ann Coulter is dating Jimmie Walker.   Dating a non white person is not a get out of jail free pass to keep you from getting dragged for your casual racism .

But all your facts free ranting did was prove my point that some of you white gays and lesbians are not only bigger human rights oppressors than the GOP, you are gleefully participating in pushing unjust legislation for whatever self hating reason.

And once again, if you voted for Trump, especially if you're trans, you are a sellout to this community who voted for your own oppression.   When the GOP is done messing with trans folks, they will be coming to repeal your rights including your hard won ability to get married. .

Your pink sheets are showing, so don't get mad when the people who that unjust legislation is being aimed at call you on your crap.
 

Angela Rye Calls Out Joe Walsh On CNN

You TransGriot readers know how much i love CNN pundit and contributor Angela Rye.  She has no problem calling BS out and going toe to toe with conservafools

Enjoy watching her eviscerate Joe Walsh  for making the mistake of stepping to her with some loud and wrong BS on Twitter