ConGRADulations Trans Class of 2017

It's not easy getting an education while trans, and our haters are trying to make it harder for you to do so. You deserve the utmost love and respect for making the investment in yourselves to do so.
-TransGriot, May 3, 2016

Me attending a graduation potluck celebration in Emily Chambers' UH dorm room last night reminded me that I haven't written my annual post congratulating the Trans Class of 2017 and showing y'all some love like I have done for trans classes in previous years.

Congratulations indeed on getting your 'ejumacations' while trans, because the right wing transphobic haters are trying to make it harder for you to do so from grade school to graduate school.

But the bottom line is that you persevered.  You are making the jump from elementary to middle school;.  From middle school to high school.  From high school to college.  From college undergrad to graduate school or to that off campus real world life.

Each jump to the next level of your educational journey has its challenges,.  But if you can successfully navigate a gender transition, school is easy compared to that.  

By doing so, you are committing a revolutionary and evolutionary act at the same time.  You are being revolutionary by being your out and proud selves in those academic spaces and excelling in them.  You are becoming indispensable parts of your various campuses.  many of you have evolved become leaders because you have had to fight to defend your very humanity and right to exist from ignorant transphobes.

And most importantly, you are stepping across those stages at either the main or lavender graduation ceremonies that will happen across the country with diplomas (or diploma covers) in hand.

You also did so while also dealing with the challenges of being a trans masculine, trans feminine or gender non conforming person in a classroom or collegiate setting, and that makes us trans elders and hopefully your families, be they blood or chosen, smile.

Congratulations Trans Class of 2017!    Looking forward to see what happens in your lives over the next few years.

  .

Crucial 2017 Texas Legislative Deadline Day Passes

We can't relax yet since the 85th Texas Legislative session is still running until May 29, but for those of us watching odious bills like SB 6 and HB 2899 I have some good news for you.

In addition to today being the 120th day of the 140 day biannual Texas legislative session, yesterday was the deadline for bills that originate in one chamber to be passed and be taken up for consideration in the other legislative chamber.

Translation into English:  If your House bill for example, hasn't been voted out of committee or been voted on by the Texas House to send it to the Texas Senate, it is dead for this session.

That means the odious SB 6 and HB 2899, which are both stuck in the House State Affairs Committee that yours truly and over 389 friends from across the state testified against a few weeks ago into the wee hours of the morning, are dead for this session.

That also means that if they didn't get a hearing, or out of committee, some of the good bills that would positively impact us also died for this session like SB 1341, which would have made the name change process in Texas an administrative procedure and taken it out of our partisan judicial court system.

I am keeping an eye on another one of those positive bills, HB 192 authored by Rep Diego Bernal (D-San Antonio), which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as classes in the area of preventing housing discrimination aimed at TBLGQ Texans.  I testified in favor of passage of it and it surprisingly made it out of the Business & Industry Committee on a 4-3 vote when Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) voted YES.  

We still have to be on the alert for attempts by legislative haters to attach these unjust anti-trans bills as amendments to other bills already on the House calendar to be attached to them in order to pass them that way.

Attempts have already been made by the GOP House legislative transphobes to do precisely that, but so far have failed.   I hope that pattern continues as the clock inexorably ticks down and the days rapidly dwindle to the last day of the 85th Texas Legislative session on May 29.  

As far as getting bills on the House Calendar and through that committee to the House floor, the deadline to make that happen was May 8  

So exhale a little, but not completely until 12:01 AM CDT on May 30.  

President Obama Receives the 2017 JFK Profiles In Courage Award

'I hope that current members of Congress recall that it actually doesn't take a lot of courage to aid those who are already powerful, already comfortable, already influential - but it does require some courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm.'
-President Barack Obama

Last night former president (sniff sniff) Barack Obama took a trip to Boston to make one of his first public speeches since 45 was inaugurated  on Sunday night to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to accept the  JFK Profile in Courage Award.

And as you probably guessed, I was glued to the television for that one.

For those of you who missed it, here's the video of his speech.   It's so nice to see a POTUS that actually has an eloquent command of the English language.

I miss him in DC.

My Thoughts About Brenda Bostick's Murder

So we now know the name of the tenth person we've lost to anti-trans violence in the US in 2017, and as I feared,  she shared my ethnic background in Brenda Bostick.

As of yet, haven't heard of any memorial service or candlelight vigil happening for Brenda, but if and when I do, I'll pass that information along as I receive it.

But I must admit that Brenda's murder is hitting me a lot harder than the other nine trans women killed so far this year for several reasons.  At age 59, she is the oldest trans women killed in 2017.

Brenda's murder has me in my 'there but for the grace of God' and 'it could have been me' feelings  It's the fact she died as I was celebrating my 55th birthday.  It's the fact that Brenda was just a mere four years older than me when she was brutally attacked and left unconscious on that April 25 evening before she was found near that Chelsea neighborhood Five Guys on Seventh Avenue.

It has me thinking about what I was doing at that moment, and on that date and at the 10:30 PM EDT time she was found I was in Dallas finishing up a hectic first day of our just concluded BTAC 2017 conference in which we had folks from the New York area in attendance.

It's an event in which I got to hug later that week one of my trans elders in Sharyn Grayson, who had just gone through surgery, and promised her I'd do a better job of calling and staying in contact with her.    

It's also Miss Sharyn's 'They're killing our babies' words that reverberate in my head every time I hear the news about one of our young trans sisters dying or I'm in the process of writing the TransGriot stories about their lives tragically being cut short.

Now these wastes of DNA aren't stopping with killing our young trans women, they are going after our trans elders.   And it's sending me into Maya Wilkes mode thinking about it.

It also has me thinking about my trans elders and their safety right now.

If you think that the anti-trans rhetoric being spouted by the Republican party and right wing pastors isn't fueling this spike in anti-trans murders and hate crimes, then you are being willfully clueless about that.

But I have to talk to you cisgender Black people for a moment.  

Once again I have to ask the question, where are you NAACP?   Why aren't you as loud and vocal about the murders of Black trans people as you have been for the Jordan Edwardses, Trayvon Martins and Mike Browns of the world?  

Is it because they aren't being killed by police but by other Black people?   Is it because the people being targeted are Black transgender women?    Is it because the NAACP as an organization has an internal transphobia problem that keeps them from using their gravitas filled voice and bully pulpit to speak out loudly to our community that it is wrong to discriminate against and kill trans people, and the first place it needs to cease and desist is in the Black community?

Where are you Congressional Black Caucus?   Black church?   Black Lives Matter and other orgs working to uplift our people?   Black SGL people?

Black trans women are there standing up for everyone else's movements and causes, but as my sis Diamond Stylz said a few months ago, when will people stand up for and with us?

Let a trans sister know what the problem is so we can address and solve it.

If Black lives matter, then Black trans lives matter as well since we are a part of the kente cloth fabric of the Black community  Brenda Bostick's Black trans life mattered.

 I don't want Brenda's death and the deaths of the other eight Black trans women we have lost in 2017 to be for nothing.  I want something substantive to come from these tragic losses, and to me that substance would be to permanently recognize that Black trans women are Black women, and Black trans people are Black people.

And to borrow Dee Dee Watters' words, 'Before I am trans, I am Black.'   If we realize that undeniable truth in Black Trans World, what's taking y'all so long cis Black America to recognize it?

Yes we Black trans folks, parents of Black trans people and our allies want to hear you say those Black Trans Lives Matter words, pray you mean them and aren't selling us woof tickets when you do so
.
It's even more important to us in a time in which we no longer have a trans friendly POTUS and attorney general in power who sees and hears us at the federal government level, and hostile Republican run state governments gleefully trying to pass unjust anti-trans legislation.

But what we'd love in Black Trans World even more is if your actions as cis Black people and the organizations you are a part of begin to consistently back up those spoken words to prove you love and support your trans siblings.

Unfortunately if and when this happens, Brenda won't be around to see it, and will be resting in power and peace.  But it does need to happen as soon as possible.  

BTWI Statement Concerning The Bostick Murder

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2017
Contact  Monica Roberts BTWI Media Chair
Carmarion D. Anderson  BTWI Founding National Director
855-255-8636 Ext 11
media@blacktranswomen.org

Black Transwomen, Inc is saddened to once again having to discuss losing another Black trans woman to anti trans violence in 2017.

The latest murder happened in New York, and her name is Brenda Bostick.

This 58 year old Bostick is the ninth Black trans woman who has been murdered in the last first five months of 2017, the tenth trans women in the US, and sadly the eldest person we have lost.

All ten trans women who have been murdered in the United States this year have been trans women of color.  Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow in South Dakota, the lone non-Black trans woman killed in 2017 so far was Native American  

Ms. Bostick was found unconscious and severely beaten outside of a Five Guys restaurant on Seventh Ave at 10:30 PM EDT on April 25..  She was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center when she succumbed to her injuries on May 4..   It is not known at this time if she regained consciousness while in the hospital, and an autopsy to discover the cause of death will be performed by the medical examiner soon.

The NYPD is investigating this case as a homicide, so if you have any information that will lead to the capture, prosecution and incarceration of the killers of Ms. Bostick, you are urged to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) .  

Rest In Power and Peace, Brenda Bostick

We have lost another trans woman to anti-trans violence., this time in New York

We don't know the name, or the ethnic background of the 59 year old woman who has unfortunately become the 10th trans person we have lost to anti-trans violence in the United States in 2017.

What we do know at this time is that she was found severely beaten, unconscious and badly hurt on April 25 outside of a Five Guys restaurant at 10:30 PM EDT on 7th Avenue.

She was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center, where she died from her injuries on May 4.
It is unknown at this time whether she regained consciousness, but law enforcement sources are stating that her injuries do not appear to be self-inflicted nor from a fall and they are investigating this case as a homicide.

NYPD doesn't have at this time any suspects in this murder case, so if you have any information about that April 25 night that can help solve this case or lead to the identification of the victim, you are asked to call the NYPD

An autopsy is being done by the medical examiner to determine the cause of death, and notification next of kin is happening at this time.  My New York area trans family are working to discover who this fallen trans person was, and as soon as I get more details either from the media or the New York area trans community, I will pass them along to you.

Rest in power and peace Number 10.   Hopefully we will find out what you name was so we can honor you and your life properly.  We also pray for the expeditious capture, prosecution and conviction of the person or persons who callously took your life, and won't rest until that happens..

TransGriot Update  Thanks to Elizabeth Rivera, we now know number 10's name.  It is Brenda Bostick, and yes she was Black .  

Ms. Bostick is now the ninth Black trans woman we've lost in a five month span due to anti-trans violence

#SayHerName  #StopKillingBlackTransWomen   #BlackTransLivesMatter

Congrats Alvin McEwen For Winning The 2017 GLAAD Outstanding Blog Award!

After four nominations for the GLAAD Outstanding Blog award, Alvin McEwen's Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters finally took home its first win at last night's GLAAD Media Awards in New York

Alvin also made a little history as the second Black owned blog to capture the Outstanding Blog award.  Rod 2.0 was the first to do so back in 2013.  

After a year off because of a misguided 2016 decision by the GLAAD Media Awards to cancel the Outstanding Blog category, it was a stacked 2017 field that included My Fabulous Disease, Mombian, I'm Still Josh and some blog y'all read called TransGriot.

I couldn't be happier for him.  I met the South Carolina based Alvin along with Pam Spaulding during the 2012 Netroots Nation in Providence, RI, and he had me and Pam doubling over in laughter for most of our time together.  But what is no joke is that Alvin is the creative force behind Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, can eloquently discuss and write about what they are up to along with a lot of other subjects, and strikes fear in their dark hearts. 

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters has been since it started in September 2006 on chronicling the activities of right wing fake faith based hate groups and their reprehensible leaders.

Congratulations Alvin!   The award was well deserved and I and your fellow bloggers are immensely proud of you.

Maybe at a future GLAAD Media Awards we bloggers will actually get on the stage to collect a future Outstanding Blog Award.  

Have No Problem With Peeps Detransitioning - Until They Start Attacking The Trans Community

It's why detransition is such a contentious topic in the transgender community.  We get prickly about it not only because of our own personal psychic and sweat equity investments in perfecting our gender presentations and gender identities to the world, but by the awareness that far too often some of the people who do detransition become the trans equivalent of 'Ex Gays'. 
-TransGriot August 15, 2013 

One of the things I haven't talked about much on this blog is the subject of detransition, because frankly, when 95% of the people who transition are leading happier lives despite some of the challenges and that satisfaction percentage shoots up to 98% if that person has gender confirmation surgery. it allows me to focus bandwith on discussing more high priority conversations that people in Trans World and beyond need to hear. ,

I've also don't focus on the miniscule numbers of people who for whatever reason detransition because they get disproportionate levels of media attention for doing so, especially from right wing orgs and outlets.

People transition for many reasons, and as we know, it is not an easy path.  In many cases much hard solid thinking and prayerful consideration went into making the call to boldly live our lives as our true selves and taking the steps to make it happen.

But at the time I transitioned in the early 90's you were required under WPATH Standards of Care in place then to go through counseling to ensure that you weren't making this life changing move in a cavalier fashion.  The counseling with a certified gender therapist also ensured that you could discuss some of the issues that crop up and if you were ready to move forward with a transition, or have more time to consider it if you weren't sure.  

And I've seen and heard it talked about far too often in this community of trans feminine people who tried to suppress their feminine side for decades by going into the military or deeply into regimented religious life, and it becoming intolerable to the point that they eventually come out anyway and transition.

One of the concerns I have along with my trans elders is that we have elements of Trans World who transitioned for the wrong reasons.  They may have loved doing drag and thought their lives would be as fab if they were under the drag spotlight if they became women full time.

Some who transitioned may have lived miserable lives as men and believed that if they became women it would improve them.  They may have thought because of the positive media attention we trans people have been getting lately. it is cool and trendy to be a trans a genderfluid person but didn't think about the short and long term ramifications of it.  

Or they simply did so and didn't consider the fact that being a woman in a male dominated society steeped in sexism and misogyny ain't easy.  The issues are magnified when you are a woman of color and you can multiply them when you are a trans woman of color.

One of the reasons I'm commenting about it right now is because the latest person to start the process of detransition is one I have a personal connection with in Pretty Paris.  

She sought me out a few years ago for advice when she started transition, and when she asked me to do so, I gave her advice when she hit bumps in the road as she lived her trans life.

But now that Paris has become a born again Christian, for whatever reason he has started the process of detransition.  

So yes, I can empathize with those persons who make the call after whatever amount of time they live in Trans World to make the even more difficult call to detransition.  But my empathy has its limits.

One of them is when you detransitioning folks start attacking transpeople as RiRi Nicole and another one who partnered with PFOX did.

The problem I have with that particular group of detransitioned people is that after they do so, elements of them start sounding like right wing christians as they spout their harmful;anti-trans rhetoric. that makes Republican politicians, the TERF's, professional hate groups and the faux faith based transphobic ignorati smile. 

I also can't stand those detranisioners who allow themselves to be played by conservative churches anti-trans hate groups, and allow themselves to be the faces of efforts to attack other trans people for Republican political gain. 

And I really have a problem with it when you detransitioned peeps start attacking trans kids and their amazing parents.

News flash to you detransitioning trans folks before you start quoting Scripture out of context and Bible belting folks.  It is not wrong and never has been wrong to be trans.  Even Scripture is on our side on that point in the Old and New Testaments, and gender variant peeps have been on the planet on every continent except Antarctica (and may even be there in some research facility) since humans started walking the Earth.

God made us just like he did you detransitioning peeps . If you choose to detransition, that's a personal decision that's on you, and I wish you the best of luck in your life moving forward.  
But don't you dare demonize those of us in Trans World for who transitioning not only was the correct decision but a lifesaving one that allowed us to be out best selves and live happier lives .

I and other trans people are living our lives, not a lifestyle.  Using that word while wrapping yourself in Scripture to describe being trans IS and will be seen as an insulting attack on us that will get you swiftly and deservedly called out.

Bloggers Are An Afterthought Again At GLAAD Media Awards

Bloggers are being treated like stepchildren by GLAAD again.

A year after we TBLGQ bloggers had to raise hell just to get the Outstanding Blogger category reinstated after it was dropped from the GLAAD Media Awards entirely, looks like GLAAD is backsliding once again into the problematic behaviors that pissed many of us in Blogging World off and compelled us to write about it in the first place.

In the drop down category menu for the New York awards show that is taking place tonight at the New York Hilton Midtown, there is no mention of the Outstanding Blog award nominees.  

In fact one of the reasons my statuesque behind will be in Texas tonight and not New York for it is because the blogging category isn't even going to get an onstage presentation.

If you claim that bloggers are indispensable to the movement and jump starting policy and societal conversations about TBLGQ and other issues, then your GLAAD Media Awards show actions and how the blogging category is handled doesn't convey the 'we're valued' sentiment to me and other bloggers who put in the time and effort to create informative quality content for the readers of our platforms.

And I'm saying that as someone who received a Special Recognition award that is sitting on my shelf just a few months ago during the GLAAD Gala San Francisco.

I'm not feeling the love when a GLAAD Award Best Blogger category I've now been nominated for twice and will hopefully win in a few hours, doesn't even get the prestigious respect of being handed out onstage.

TransGriot Update: The Outstanding Blog award finally went to Alvin McEwen's Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters tonight.  This was his fourth nomination for it.      

Shut Up Fool Awards - Cinco Denial Edition

Yesterday as many of you know was my 55th birthday, and today is Cinco de Mayo.   I missed being born on this day by an hour and 15 minutes.

Today is Friday, which also means that it's TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards day.  This is the day on the calendar you loyal readers eagerly look forward to to see who I'm going to call out this wek for their WTF level idiocy, coonery, buffoonery, stupidity and brazen hypocrisy.

This week it's just in my face obvious who should be the winner  .

This week its a group award for all 217 House Republicans who racistly voted to strip health care away from 24 million American and kill the Affordable Care Act because a Black president got it passed. and then giddily celebrated their 'accomplishment' ..

I can't even come up with the worlds to discuss how monumentally stupid this is, but I probably will do so in a later post.

In the meantime, I have this to say.   House Republicans, shut up fools.  

Thank You For A Fab 55th Birthday!

Just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone here in Houston, Texas and around the world who played a role in making my 55th birthday a special one.

Even the H-town weather cooperated to make Cuatro de Mayo  a special day.  Blue skies, low humidity and temps in the low 70's.  A perfect Houston Chamber of Commerce weather day.

I know many of you wanted to be at the surprise party but couldn't because of your work schedules. so maybe it's time for me to actually plan a birthday party for next time.

I have 365 days until the next one, so maybe next year since it's on a Friday I'll actually get to throw a 70's themed (or whatever i come up with)  party with music and alcohol from the 70's through the 90's .

I am feeling a Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler today.  Wonder if they have that retro alcohol at Spec's?

But once again it was all of you peeps in my life who made this day special.  Whether it was my blood family, my chosen family, my fam in Da Ville, my BTAC one, my CAL-UA one, my classmates or the activist one, you made sure you let me know early and often starting with my international fam on the 3rd y'all were thinking about me.

I can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your busy lives to shower me with appreciation and love.

Whether it was the surprise birthday party at Pride Photos with Eric, Januari, Lou, Jessica, Erika, Crimson and Audrey, dinner at El Tiempo with Dee Dee and Kandice, or the hundreds of messages, texts, phone calls (that are still coming in as I write this) , once again I deeply appreciate everything that you did personally to show me some love.

Until my next Cuatro de Mayo celebration.

Why I'm Proudly Stating My Age Today

During one of the BTAC 2017 panels I was on last week, a question came from one of the attendees as to why since I look fabulous at 55, why I was stating my age to the world.

There are a few reasons why I'm doing so, and I can't think of a better time of laying out why I do so than on my birthday.

First off, I'm at the point in my wonderful trans flavored life in which every birthday I reach is a happy one.  That 55 year old milestone birthday is magnified for me as an unapologetic Black trans woman who has witnessed and documented far too many of our Black trans feminine younglings die way before they reach my age.

I've also received the blessing and opportunity to meet, talk to, at times mentor and watch an amazing group of young Black trans women who are just doing the damned trans human rights thing and making me proud as I witness their evolutionary growth into some fabulous women.

They are and will accomplish things I haven't even dared dream could happen.

We have a live fast and die young mentality that needs to change in Black Trans World.  That mentality feeds into some of the negative behaviors like silicone pumping and risky sexual encounters.   I don't want to be a pretty corpse.  When that time comes, I want to be one that lived her life well, did stuff that mattered, and leaves this community in better shape than it was when I arrived.

And frankly, one of the other reasons I reveal my age is that our young Black trans women need to see examples of what 55 and Black trans feminine looks like.

I didn't always share that sentiment.  When I turned 50 I was bummed about it and and made the mistake of whining about it while having drinks at a northeast Washington DC bar during the 2012 NBJC OUT on the Hill conference with Kimberley McLeod and Janet Mock that September evening.

Yes, that Janet Mock

Janet quickly put an end to that nonsense by calling me on my crap.  She and Kimberley reminded me of all the trans sisters that we'd lost that year who hadn't reached their 40th, much less 30th birthdays and here I was complaining about the blessing of reaching 50 years on this space rock.

Janet also said that when she turned 30 the next year, she was going to celebrate that milestone birthday.

I pondered what both women said, took another sip of my amaretto sour, concluded that my sisters were right and told them so.  Since then I've basically had the attitude that every birthday I reach is a happy one.

I have some role models to look up to when it comes to being a fabulous and 50 Black woman.   Some of them are my high school and collegiate classmates.  Some are in Hollywood.  Some are my former co-workers.  Some are inside the community, some aren't.   Some are just women of any age and ethnic background I admire for a lot of reasons.  

But they all give me a template for role modeling and putting my own interpretation on what that looks like for Black Trans World because I am quite aware of the fact that I'm looked at as a iconic leader in this community, even if I don't feel that way at times or try and fail to downplay it.

Yep, Moni's has hit 55 today.   On to the next milestone birthday in 2022, if I'm blessed to make it.

But with a maternal grandmother who turned 95, a great aunt who lived to be 102 and a mon who is still celebrating anniversaries of her 39th birthday, I like my chances.
 

It's Moni's 55th Birthday!

Well, I've made it through another 366 days on this space rock and get to celebrate another birthday. Yay me!

A lot has happened in my time on the planet.   Mere months after I was born the Cuban Missile Crisis happened.  The Civil Rights Movement.  The assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and RFK.  Watergate. and my hometown growing to become the third largest city in the country.  

And oh yeah, something else happened in 1994 besides the OJ trial and the Houston Rockets winning the first of their back to back NBA titles.

So what's in store for me on this milestone birthday?   Don't know yet.  One of my birthday presents was last week's BTAC conference in Dallas.  Another friend gave me a DVD copy of the movie Hidden Figures that I never got to see in the theaters and heard me lamenting it.

Now that the cold front has blown through town at least we'll have chamber of commerce weather for my born day.

As to what transpires on it to be recorded for the history books, we'll find out in a few hours.  

BTWI Statement Concerning The Love Field TSA Harassment Of Our BTAC 2017 Attendees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2017
Contact: Monica Roberts BTWI Media Chair
Carmarion Anderson  BTWI Founding National Director
855-255-8636 Ext 11
media@blacktranswomen.org


Black Transwomen, Inc along with Black Transmen, Inc, the Black Trans International Pageantry System (BTIPS) and Black Trans Advocacy are dismayed to learn that several trans masculine and trans feminine attendees of our just concluded BTAC 2017 Conference were harassed by TSA security at Dallas Love Field as they were returning home on April 30.

Seven of our attendees from Birmingham, six trans feminine, one trans masculine told their local Birmingham media in a television interview they were harassed by TSA agents when an identification issue arose with three of them at the DAL Love Field checkpoint. The Birmingham group missed their flights because of the issue and had to fly out of DFW to get home.

We were subsequently advised this morning by another trans masculine attendee from Baltimore that he was harassed and subjected to additional screening while transiting the Love Field checkpoint earlier that Sunday morning.

Black Trans Advocacy has since discovered while investigating these reports that the Dallas Love Field TSA checkpoint has a negative history with transgender travelers.  Even more disturbing to us, the Dallas TSA at Love Field when confronted about those incidents has been uncooperative and tone deaf when it comes to getting the obvious TSA transphobic travel issues resolved.

BTA has already contacted Congressmember Eddie Bernice Johnson's office this morning asking for assistance in resolving this matter.  We also contacted Dallas City councilmember Adam Medrano, whose district includes Love Field.  We will be reaching out in the coming days to other Dallas area officials to do the same.

The just concluded BTAC 2017 conference now in its sixth year, ran from April 24-30 and set an attendance record with over 300 people.  Those attendees from around the Unites States, Jamaica and Brazil spent several days in the DFW area not only attending our event and experiencing our BTAC hospitality, but spent their hard earned money outside the conference host hotel with area businesses. 

#BlackTransPeopleTravel, and sometimes we do so by air.  We deserve and demand the same dignity and respect that other travelers receive when they transit Love Field's TSA checkpoint.

Harassing our conference attendees transiting through Dallas Love Field or any TSA security airport checkpoint is unacceptable to BTA, and we demand that TSA Dallas take immediate steps to educate and train their local employees about the existence of transgender travelers and our travel issues so this doesn't happen again.             

My Birmingham Trans Fam Weren't Shown Any Love By TSA At Love Field

I've made the sarcastic comment more than a few times that the Transportation Security Administration's TSA initials stand for 'Transsexuals Searched (Scrutinized) Always '.

I've had my own run-ins as a frequent flyer with TSA like many trans folks have, and it gets old.

The TSA claims they are working to better train their personnel about the realities that trans travelers exist and how to treat us with the same dignity and respect you treat other airline passengers while dealing with our trans specific travel challenges.

Bu far too often, the TSA fails at that minimum level expectation of treating trans travelers with respect, and I expect it to get worse during 45's administration.

I was not happy to hear in the wake of our BTAC conference that Daroneshia Duncan, the founding executive director of the Birmingham based (TAKE)  Transgender Advocates Knowledgeable and Empowering organization and our Birmingham trans fam received less than friendly treatment at TSA's Love Field security checkpoint.

The group of seven people, six trans women and one trans man, didn't have any issues with TSA in Birmingham enroute to BTAC, but the drama started on their way back home   Three of the women had temporary ID cards issued to them by the Alabama DMV, which are legal for travel purposes because they do contain a photograph

The TSA peeps at Love Field didn't seem to know that, and harassed the TAKE group, causing them to miss their flight back home.  After sorting out the ID issues, they eventually had to go to DFW and catch a flight home on Delta and told their story on their local TV station WIAT-TV.


 
Here's hoping that we get the TSA peeps at Love Field some Trans 101 training to ensure that this travel mess doesn't happen again.

And news flash to the TSA peeps at Love Field.  Trans people exist, some of us are Black, and we do travel by air.   We deserve and expect to be treated with the same dignity and respect that you extend to other cisgender air travelers transiting your airport.

BTAC 2017 Post Conference Thoughts

Like many of my BTAC trans fam, I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep and get adjusted into being back in a world that can be hostile at times to trans people.  

I'm also trying to deal with the reality that I'll have to impatiently wait 365 days before another opportunity presents itself to spend an amazing and empowering week in Dallas with the peeps who I am blessed to have as part of my chosen family.

And I already miss them.   Oh well, that's what phones and Facebook are for.  We'll continue to connect by chatting with each other until it's time for us to meet in Dallas once again.

And yeah, I have another birthday coming up in 48 hours.  

Our sixth annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference is now another one for the history books, and we already know the dates on which #BTAC2018 will happen (April 23-29).

Your job for those of you who wished you could be at this year's edition but couldn't is find a way to get there for the life changing experience that is our Afrocentric trans family reunion.

We had a lot of first time BTAC attendees this year.  We had a group come from Birmingham.  More peeps from NYC, the Carolinas, the ATL, Kansas City, Seattle.  The DC and Maryland peeps were in the BTAC house .  Some of our BTAC family like Dr. Kortney R. Ziegler returned, while others who couldn't make it were in our thoughts during our week long BTAC 2017 event.

We'll also start in a few weeks the BTAC 2017 Regional events in which we bring a taste of BTAC to your city or state..  

This is the early schedule, and so far BTAC regionals will happen for Seattle (July 15-16), Kansas (July 28-29), Tennessee (August 5-6), Baltimore (August 19-20), Philadelphia (September 9) Houston (September 23) Atlanta (September 30)  California (October 14-15).

The New York and Carolinas BTAC Regionals events are TBD at this time.   There's also the possibility that more many happen, so as I get information about them and the dates from BTA, I'll pass that along to you.

So what would I like to see at BTAC 2018?   More representation from Houston and other cities in Texas for starters.  We had people come from Austin and Amarillo.  Houston and the DFW area were well represented since it's their hometown and home state event, but would love to see people from Corpus Christi, San Antonio, the Valley and other cities across the Lone Star State come.

I deeply appreciate the media peeps who came like David Taffet of the Dallas Voice, Dezjorn Gauthier of Black T Magazine , Lauren McGaughy of the Dallas Morning News, and Jessica Diaz Hurtado of KERA who covered our conference and interviewed people in attendance.

I also appreciate all the love that people showed me as a trans elder.   I loved the conversations I was proud and honored to be a part of with my trans siblings.   I enjoyed talking to the spouses.  I loved talking to and connecting with my first time attendee trans sisters and taking the first steps toward building that bond with them.

It was also nice seeing and spending some quality time with Daye Pope and Jessica Herbst, spending some quality time with Sandy James and Rebecca Kling, Lou Weaver and other folks and sponsors at the gala.

It was also cool to get to spend some quality time with Rachel Gonzales after I arrived in Dallas and wish I could have spent more time the local DFW area Mama and Papa Bears, but that will have to wait until the next time I'm in north Texas or they come to Houston.

I want to see and meet more trans parents and trans kids, and especially trans parents and trans kids of color.  I want to meet more spouses, siblings of trans people and have even more diversity in our BTAC ranks.   I want to continue to have those conversations with our millennial trans peeps because I learn just as much from them as hey tell me they do from me.

I also want to see more of my Houston trans brothers and more of my Houston trans siblings make the four hour drive up I-45 to meet their brothers, sisters and siblings from around the country and increasingly the world.

If one of our trans family members from Jamaica can come for the second consecutive year, what's stopping you Houston trans masculine folks from coming to BTAC?  

We set an attendance record this year with over 300 attendees.  We had the most trans women ever in attendance.  We want to break that attendance record we just set next year.  We want to continue having those thought provoking conversations during the Black Trans Community summit.  

We  want more contestants in the BTIPS Mr and Miss Black Trans International national pageants. We want to sell out the awards gala again next year.  We want you to experience the Black Diamond Ball, the Family Fun Day and the spiritual power of the opening and closing ceremonies.

And we ultimately want more people from across the African trans diaspora and our allies to experience this event.

We at BTAC want to be having and aren't afraid to have those ongoing conversations in the hotel lobby, our rooms, in the hospitality suite, with hotel guests and employees and at nearby restaurants in the area. We want to be laughing, crying and loving on each other until the wee hours of the morning.

And just so you know, some of those conversations are The Black Trans Revolution Will Not Be Televised level ones.

And warning, I want to be administering more domino table butt kickings at next year's Family Fun day or if you can't wait that long, in the hospitality suite.  Since y'all are in my home state I'll be nice and won't make y'all sign the score sheet when it's over.

Most importantly, we at BTAC want more people inside and outside the trans community to experience the life changing event and family reunion that we call the Black Trans Advocacy Conference.

What A Horrible Trump World

Dear Cheeto Leader has demonstrated once again to the reality based part of the country and the world just how massively stupid he is by not knowing what caused the American Civil,War.

Sad!  But then again if you surround yourself with and stick your White House staff with know nothing idiots, you're going to look and sound like one.

Big hint Don the Con:  The Southern War to Pereptuate Slavery.was all about the Southern idiots wanting to fight for the right to keep my ancestors permanently doing their work for free while their lazy azzes sat on the porch drinking sweet tea.

Orange Julius's lack of knowledge about the Civil War inspired this latest Moni song rewrite, and this time I'm going the classic route by remixing Sam Cooke's (What A) Wonderful World for the 2K17 times we live in.

So fire up your fave music streaming service and sing along with Moni remixed lyrics

What A Horrible Trump World
(sung to the tune of 'What A Wonderful World' by Sam Cooke)

Trump don't know much about history
Trump don't know biology
Trump never cracked open a science book,
Hatin' on the Spanish I took
We do know that he's racist, boo,
We know that about his voters, too,
What a horrible Trump world this will be

Trump doesn't know any geography,
Thought being POTUS would be easy
Didn't know about the Civil War,
Didn't know what we were fighting it for
Know that slavery was its cause,
Him not knowing that should give you pause,
What a horrible Trump world this will be

Trump always claims he is an "A" student,
But uses words like 'bigly'
Only thing he gets an "A" for, baby,
Is massive stupidity

Trump don't know much about history,
Trump don't know biology
Trump never cracked open a science book,
Hatin' on the Spanish I took
But we do know that he's racist, boo,
We know that about his voters, too,
What a horrible Trump world this would be

History.
Biology
Science book
Spanish I took
We do know that he's racist, boo
We know that about his voters, too
What a horrible Trump world this will be

BTAC 2017- Day 6 Schedule

The final day and official event of BTAC 2017 takes place with the closing interfaith service starting at 11 AM followed by our traditional brunch at Blue Mesa.

We've had a record turnout of BTAC attendees, and many of them were first timers.  We've had folks come from Alabama to Jamaica    We've learned, laughed, networked and loved on each other, and witnessed the passing of the BTIPS crowns to a new king and queen.  

But now it's time for us to say so long to Dallas and head back to our home areas to implement the things we learned here.  It time for us to wish each other safe travels to our final destinations to do the work of building family and Black trans community power until we gather in Dallas next April for #BTAC2018

It's going to be a long 365 days until we're back together again.