BTAC 2018 Is Coming Soon

In case you're wondering why I haven't posted much about the 2018 Black Trans Advocacy Conference, it's because I haven't had much information to share lately about it until now.

The BTAC 2018 theme is Journeying Together: Living In Greater Truth and Healing.

I've known since BTAC 2017 closed out that the dates for the 7th annual event were April 23-29.  What I didn't know is that the conference will have a new host hotel for 2018, the Wyndham Dallas Suites-Park Central after two years of being in suburban Addison, TX.

The Wyndham Dallas Suites- Park Central host hotel is located at 7800 Alpha Road not far from the intersections of the LBJ Freeway (I-635) and the North Central Expressway.   I also noted when I pulled it up in Google Maps there's an In and Out located nearby and like the old hotel, it's not far from the Dallas Galleria for those of you who like to shop.

BTAC has people from across the state of Texas, the country and even our international trans fam attend this event.   It's always a pleasure to see Neish McLean from Jamaica and Dora Santana from Brazil there to bring their African Diaspora perspectives of being Black and trans to our panel discussions and general conversations. 

And it's the conversations and fun we have in our hospitality suite that make this week in Dallas even more memorable   

Some attendees have stated post conference that attending BTAC has led to a positive change in their own lives.  That week in Dallas is a welcome oasis from the desert of negativity we face as Black trans people.

Even if you can't come for the entire BTAC week, show up for the weekend  or a day or two.

In case you're concerned about SB 6, it is NOT law in the state of Texas because Black Trans Texans were part of the coalition last year  that helped kill it twice in the regular and Special Oppression Session.  Dallas has had since 2002 a nondiscrimination ordinance in place that protects trans people from discrimination. 

So come on down to the Lone Star State, see and meet your Black trans fam and our allies, get your learn on and have some fun.

BTAC 2018 will not only comprise 50 seminars, but have the features you all love like the  TransManifest Live! talent show, the Black Trans Advocacy Awards Gala, the Mr and Ms Black Trans International pageants, the Black Trans Family Reunion day and the Black Diamond Freedom Party and Rumble Ball. 

For those of you considering attending BTAC 2018 who care about sporting things, while we are  having fun at our host hotel getting to chill out, get our learn and grub on and spending quality time together, the Dallas area will also be playing host to the 2018 NFL Draft at Jerry World (AKA AT&T Stadium), and The Star, the Dallas Cowboys world headquarters in nearby Frisco, TX .

The BTAC conference is usually the start of my extended Cuatro de Mayo birthday week celebration. 

It's one of my fave conferences in large part because it's one of the few that centers my people and our culture.   I've been coming to it since I was honored to give a keynote speech at it in 2013, which was the first one opened to trans feminine participation. 

I'm looking forward to administering more domino beatdowns during that week in Dallas. 

Yeah, I said it.  And I'm more than prepared to back it up as people found out last year during Family Reunion Day.

So this year's BTAC 2018 conference not only is in a new hotel, but it is positioned to be the biggest and best one ever. 

Hope to see y'all in my home state for this one  .

March For Black Women Houston Is Happening!

You would think that Texas white women, after voting for Greg Abbott in 2014 at a 67% clip, and Trump in 2016 would at least be trying in 2018 to atone for their past mistakes and learn what the word intersectionality means.

But nope, still making the same bullheaded white feminism fueled mistakes.  After failing to address concerns by various Houston Black and women of color leaders that women of color representation is still below reasonable expectations, Houston's Black women have said enough and are skipping the Houston Women's March scheduled on January 20.

Black Lives Matter Houston and Houston Rising are organizing the March for Black Women HOU that will take place on February 24 at Houston City Hall.

Black Women!!!! We are a power like no other when we are joined together. We have suffered the most heinous maltreatment in this country and we are still here. Standing. Proudly. Let us gather together to celebrate each other. There is no one that understands us like us. We will celebrate the African Diaspora of womanhood in all the ways it exist. Experience the music and poetry of sisters from dynamic perspectives. Engage in the advancement of Black Lives. Connect.

 This event is Black woman centered. We welcome all allies in support of black women. Be mindful that this is for us. This event will be continuously updated with artist and speakers who will be present at the march.

I've been asked to be part of it and have accepted the invitation.   As we get closer to the date of the March For Black Women HOU, I'll keep you posted on the developments. 

   

Congratulations To New Caucus Prez Mike Webb!

It was a packed January meeting for the Houston GLBT Caucus to start this 2018 political season which had a dual purpose tonight.

In addition to the many Houston area candidates seeking the prized Caucus endorsements in their state legislative, congressional and state judicial races, the Caucus membership was also meeting to elect a new president and board.

A long list of speakers that snaked around the Montrose Center room took turns getting one minute to explain why they were seeking the Caucus endorsements for their various races.

One candidate I was shocked to see walk through that door was Demetria Smith.  She had a failed run for the District D council seat in 2013 and for Houston mayor in 2015.  She's now running for the Democratic nomination for Texas governor.. 

She was also a transphobic HERO opponent during that failed 2015 mayoral run, but was allowed to come to the mic and address the crowd.  She had a meltdown after her time expired and is now trying to claim she was 'excluded' from the event.

Did Demetria Smith really think the Houston TBLGQ community would forget she opposed HERO and dissed the trans community while doing so? 

Naw boo boo kitty, we didn't.   And Moni is an unapologetic part of the trans community you dissed to oppose HERO.  I damned sure haven't forgotten who my enemies are from the 2015 HERO repeal fight.

Smith had the nerve to come ask for the Houston GLBT Caucus endorsement tonight in her doomed Democratic governor's primary race, and act a fool when her one minute ran out with a line of speakers snaking around the crowded room patiently waiting their turn to do so. 

FYI- 25% of the vote in a Texas statewide election comes from the Houston area.   The other fact is that if you're seeking to win a Democratic primary, the endorsement of the Houston GLBT Caucus (of which I am a member BTW) is a major Houston area political step towards making that happen. 

So have several sections of seats at Toyota Center.  I didn't forget you were anti-HERO and you hated on the Houston trans community while doing so.  And yeah, she's a SUF award nominee.

But back to the post.   Once the speeches were over, it was on to the main business of the night.

Caucus VP Mike Webb was elected as the organization's new president to succeed Frances Valdez,it's first ever Latina one.   Valdez decided not to seek a full term of her own, and was finishing the remainder of Fran Watson's term after she resigned to run for the Texas Senate.

Congrats Mike!  The Caucus leaders once again is in good hands.

How TransGriot Will Be Counting Trans Murders In 2018

When the clock struck midnight to start 2018, it also closed out my count of anti-trans murders at 24 persons

Others were higher for other reasons like counting from the previous TDOR to the next one, or starting their count on October 1, or including one person twice as I saw on one list.  One list even counted the police involved shootings of Kiwi Herring and Sean Hake and wanted to start an argument with me as to why I DIDN'T include either in my count.

Short answer is unless the cops involved were indicted for murder, you can't legitimately count them as such.

The inconsistency in the trans murder counts last year didn't sit well with me because I'm a 'just the facts' person, and there are times when I need to know for media interview or lobbying purposes exactly how many people were lost due to anti-trans violence in the current year.

That's why when you see the inevitable lists of US trans deaths or posts about them on TransGriot this year, my count on TransGriot of those deaths will run from January 1-December 31, 2018   

Not November 20, 2017-November 20, 2018 in the traditional TDOR way.  Or October 1, 2017-November 20, 2018 as one so-called 'official' list does it . 

TransGriot will count the trans deaths that occur from January 1-December 31 of the same year.  I''ll continue to use the Remembering our Dead standards.  Suicides will not be counted, and once again. no police involved shootings unless the police officer in question is charged with murder.

Accuracy and consistency in how we count the deaths of our trans siblings matters now more than ever, especially with a hostile anti-trans federal administration in place.

That's why when I start recording the number of deaths in 2018, it will be people who were actually killed in 2018.

Keeping My Houston City Council First Meeting of the Year Tradition Going

One of the New Year's traditions I've been observing that's a fairly new one for me is to attend the first Houston City Council meeting of the year.

It started out of necessity in 2014 when in the wake of Mayor Annise Parker's election to her final term in November 2013, the chatter about a Houston non-discrimination ordinance started ramping up.  Dee Dee Watters and I were concerned that transgender Houstonians would be left out of it because we had no elected trans representation on council, and we showed up at the first Council meeting of 2014 with several Houston Black trans peeps in tow.

At that January 2014 public comment meeting we insisted that any Houston non-discrimination ordinance being considered for adoption cover gender identity in order to protect the trans community. 

We also served notice at that January 2014 meeting that any attempt to pass a HERO without trans protections would leave the Houston trans community with no choice but to work to kill it. 

That's how it started, and ever since then either both of us or one of us will make certain that we are in the council chambers for that first council meeting of the year. 

Today it was my smiling face bringing Happy New Year greetings from the trans community, thanking Mayor Turner, HPD Chief Art Acevedo and his command staff for attending the vigil we held at City Hall for Brandi Seals, our Houston trans sister who was murdered last month. 

I also called for a renewed push to pass HERO 2.0 since in the wake of the November 2015 repeal of HERO, discrimination incidents, especially aimed at the Houston TBLGQ community have been rising.

And as soon as the video pops up, I'll post it.

We'll see what happens as the rest of 2018 transpires, but I definitely will be keeping an eye on Houston City Hall and won't rest until it does.

And yes, I'll be at the first meeting in January 2019.   That's an election year in H-town.

Nigerian Women Bobsledders Make Olympic History

The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will start on February 9, and the sports junkie I am will definitely be tuned into the action from that date until they conclude on February 25.

Hopefully Kim Jong Fool Un will behave himself while the world's athletes are on the other side of the DMZ from North Korea  .

As has been proven in the United States, track athletes have been majorly successful in crossing over and reinvigorating the US bobsled program.   Vonetta Flowers earned a gold medal in the two woman bobsled competition in Salt Lake City in 2002,  and the 2014 Sochi bobsled team was composed of five Black women including Summer Olympic gold medalist Lauryn Williams and Lolo Jones 

Now in a shades of Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled team story,  three US based Nigerian women track athletes have made history by being the first continental African team to qualify a sled in the Winter Olympics.

Driver and team captain Seun Adigun and brakewomen Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere are also the first Nigerians to ever qualify for the Winter Olympics, and did much of it on their own. 

Adigun competed as a sprinter for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Games in London and got the idea to compete in the Winter Games while watching on television the success the 2014 USA women's bobsled team had in Sochi powered largely by US track athletes

She convinced fellow US based track athletes Omeoga and Onwumere to join her, and Adigun built a wooden sled for the trio to practice with they dubbed 'the Mayflower' until they could purchase a bobsled.   Adigun raised $75,000, including $50,000 from a single anonymous donor of a stated goal of $150,000/ 

That was enough to get attention and support from the Nigerian Olympic Committee, for a Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to form and for the trio to get a chance to practice on ice. They have since that time obtained corporate sponsorships from Under Armour and Visa

To qualify, the trio had to drive their sled through five runs on three different bobsled tracks in Utah, and at Whistler and Calgary which they successfully completed in November by finishing fifth.

This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," Adigun told ESPN. "Nothing makes me prouder than to know that I can play a small role in creating opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria." 

"Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics has ever witnessed," said Adigun.

“I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women,” Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation President Solomon Ogba told ESPN. “Their hard work was inspiring, and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this — the work, the discipline and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey.” 

While continental African athletes have competed in the Winter Games, as of yet none has stood on a medal podium,

We'll see in a few weeks if this story has a happy ending and ends up at a multiplex near you.

I Am Jazz Season 4 Debuts Tonight

As many of yo longtime TransGriot readers know I've had the pleasure of getting to meet Jazz Jennings and her amazing family.

While I don't like many reality TV shows, this is one that I make an exception for and have watching for the last three seasons.

Tonight on TLC marks the debut of Season 4 of I Am Jazz, and our fave trans teen is now a junior in high school.  We get to see her deal with the challenges of weight gain and having to shed 30 pounds before she can have the gender confirmation surgery she wants, dating, transphobic haters  and Hurricane Irma



I know I'll be watching the season premiere.  Hope you will as well .

This #MustSeeTransTV show is on at 10 PM eastern.9 PM Central 

Minneapolis Council Members Cunningham and Jenkins Get Acclimated To Their New Job

With us being in the second day of the new year, that means that the trans folks who were elected in those groundbreaking historic elections back in November now over the next few days and weeks get sworn in and start to handle their constituents business.

Here's now Councilmember Andrea Jenkins in a picture from her FB page getting sworn in this morning in Minneapolis.

Here's Councilmember Cunningham's inauguration pic.   He's ready and eager to do the job for the residents of his northside Ward 4 along with his staff .

There's also in the wake of the election, interviewing and hiring the staff for your council office.  And yes, you also have training to go through as a councilperson like any other job. 

There was a three day orientation in which Andrea and Phillipe spent several days learning the nuts and bolts basic rules in filing ordinances and bills, voting procedures and getting up to speed on local state and federal policies that impact the city

And at $98,695 a year, the salary is nice as well.

Yes people, you have to put in the work to be an effective legislator, and having the pleasure of knowing both of them, I know they are more than prepared and ready to hit the ground running as councilmembers.

The big public one takes place on January 8 in Minneapolis when all the councilmembers gather in the City Hall rotunda to be sworn in starting at 9:30 AM CST.

Following that swearing in, the organizational meeting for city council will take place in which the Minneapolis City Council leadership will be elected.   Remember Philllpe beat the incumbent council president Barb Johnson in his race who had been in that Ward 4 seat 20 years and spent the last eight of her term as the Minneapolis City Council president.

The new council president, once elected by majority vote of the council, then will assign members to various committees and appoint the committee chairs.

January 8 will not only be a historic day not only for Andrea and Phillipe, but the city of Minneapolis and the trans community as well. 

Black TBLGQ America Needs To Have A Family Chat With Black America About Your Anti-TBLGQ Attitudes In 2018

There are a lot of things that need to happen in Black TBLGQ-SGL World in 2018.  Some of those things have a higher priority than others.

One of them that is an absolute imperative in 2018 is a family conversation discussing the transphobia and homophobia in our midst that is being exploited by white Republicans and white fundamentalists to create a wedge between the Black TBLGQ and Black community.

We've repeatedly tried and asked for in Black TBLGQ America for the rest of the Black community to have that conversation about the homophobia and transphobia in their midst, but have been ignored. . 

After witnessing 17 Black trans people making up the bulk of the 24 trans people murdered in the US last year, another trans woman in Detroit shot during a robbery attempt and put in a wheelchair, and two Black women and their kids savagely murdered by two wastes of DNA during the Christmas holidays, enough is enough. 

Our Black Lives Matter Too.   

We're tired of politely asking for that convo to happen and being ignored.   Now we're demanding that Come to Jesus family conversation happen because frankly, the homophobic and transphobic ignorance is killing cis and trans Black people. 

It is getting Black trans, bi and same gender loving kids thrown out of their homes and onto the streets because of a specious interpretations of scripture.   It is also leading to as the Houston HERO ordinance repeal vividly demonstrated in 2015, Black folks being hoodwinked and bamboozled into voting against human rights laws that protect the ENTIRE community because they wanna hate on TBLGQ people at the behest of white Republican voting fundies.   Meanwhile those same white fundies, once they get the result they want, kick you useful kneegrow pastors to the political curb and laugh at you in their quiet rooms at their overwhelmingly white exurban megachurches

Whether these family conversations about the anti-TBLGQ attitudes happen locally at town halls, at ,the NAACP, Urban League, National Association of Black Journalists conventions, NBJC's OUT on the Hill or ESSENCE Fest, they need to happen this year. 

It is past time for the Black community to recognize that Black TBLGQ America is an intertwined part of the Black community.  We are not going to be prayed out of existence or back into the closet..

We in Black TBLGQ World will not allow your incorrect interpretations of your religious faith to be used as an excuse to justify your anti-trans and anti-gay bigotry to fellow Black people.

Do we expect the anti-TBLGQ attitudes to go away this year?   No we don't.   We in Black trans, bi and SGL World know this is a long term project.  But we can't fix the problem unless we start diagnosing and talking about that problem.

Whenever those community conversations happen or how they get organized, it needs to be ASAP.  The patience that Black TBLGQ America has for having a polite family discussion about the transphobia and homophobia in our community's midst  is wearing thin, especially when it's our peeps who are taking the brunt of the casualties because of it.the

Transgender Americans Can Enlist In The US Armed Forces Today!

Despite everything Trump and his misadministration attempted to do to thwart it, one of the things that happened starting today is that transgender Americans who wish to do so can enlist in the US Armed Forces.

The Trump Administration decided on Friday they would no longer challenge the policy in court after taking losses last week in two different circuit courts which rejected their bid to put on hold orders from lower court federal judges requiring the Pentagon to admit transgender recruits starting today.

“Plaintiffs allege, and the Court agrees, the ban sends a damaging public message that transgender people are not fit to serve in the military,” U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal said in his ruling. “There is nothing any court can do to remedy a government-sent message that some citizens are not worthy of the military uniform simply because of their gender. A few strokes of the legal quill may easily alter the law, but the stigma of being seen as less-than is not so easily erased.”

That makes six federal courts that have rejected the Trump Administration on this issue.

As you probably guessed, the potential transgender recruit will have to clr a series of lengthy urdles before they can join the branch of our military they are applying for, but after dealing with a gender transition, those hurdles will probably seems like a cakewalk to that person. 

The recruit must be certified by a medical provider they are clinically stable in their preferred gender for 18 months, and are free of significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other areas.

Like advocates for open trans military service, I'm concerned that the Pentagon's guidelines, especially in the hands of a hostile political regime and people inside the military resistant to the enlistment of transgender recruits will result in little to zero trans people being allowed in to join the over 15,000 trans people already serving in our armed forces..

We in Trans America will be watching along with our allies to see if the Pentagon not only allows transgender recruits, but does so in a fair and impartial manner.

Happy New Year 2018

Happy New Year, Trans Griot readers!   Yeah, I know it hasn't hit midnight in the Mountain and Pacific time zones yet, but since I'm chilling in Houston, it is 2018 for moi.

And yes, today is also TransGriot's blogiversary

2018 is also a political election year, so all you peeps pissed off over everything that is coming out of the GOP controlled government, on November 6 you have a chance to step to the ballot box and change it.

There's also some things I want to leave behind in 2017 and goals I want to and need to reach in 2018   While 2017 wasn't as bad as it could have been, there are things that happened that also would have made it much better.

Is a relationship in the cards for me in 2018?   That I'm not sure about. 

I'd like to do more education and panel discussions on trans issues.   I want to get bust on that needed and necessary project of eviscerating transphobia from cis Black community ranks that is negatively impacting the human rights of all Black people as the GOP tries to use it as a wedge issue.

I'd like to put those championship punditry skills to use  (I'm the Netroots Nation 2016 Pundit Cup champ) and exercise them in 2018.   I want to have more op-ed articles published this year .

And I want to do an international trans conference this year.

There are a few trans folks I haven't met in Trans World I'd love for that to happen like Laila Ireland, Lauren Foster and Del. Danica Roem for starters.  .And yes, trans kids, you know I'll always have and will make time to listen to your concerns. 

Better self care is also on the menu in 2018.  I need to spend more time hanging out with my homies and homettes for stuff beyond just activist stuff.   Need to do more fun stuff with the peeps I care about, and maybe the upcoming debut of the Black Panther movie can be the jumping off point for it.

We'll see if all of that happens for me as this year unfolds. . 

Happy 12th Blogiversary TransGriot!

Happy 2018 TransGriot Readers!

Today is also my blog's 12th anniversary.   At 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time on January 1, 2006, my first blog post went up at TransGriot after nearly two months of persistent pushing from my homegirl Jordana LeSesne .

After expressing the sentiment in a November 2015 phone conversation with her that we needed a blog in the emerging blogosphere of the time that looked at issues from a Black trans perspective. Jordana's next words to me were "So when are you going to start it?"

She also stayed on my behind until she got me to commit a week later to a January start date for the blog I eventually named TransGriot

I came up with the name because I wanted one that would pay homage to me being unapologetically Black and trans, reflect my African heritage and also the fact that I come from a family of historians in my mom and late godmother Pearl C. Suel.

Griots in West African cultures are oral historians who are capable of reciting up to 500 years of their people's history from memory.   And since some of what I do in this electronic space is record the history of Black transgender people across the African Diaspora

My mission statement came later.on January 2, 2011 and the logo debuted last year.

The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community. I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended trans brothers and trans sisters across the Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the things that impact our trans community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.

There were only 124 posts in that first year because I was writing TransGriot the column for a local monthly TBLGQ paper in DaVille.  I saw the blog as a realtime way to comment on the issues impacting the community.   The blog over time became bigger than the newspaper column.

And it has also become important to the trans community during the now 12 years I've been publishing posts as well.

And since this is an election year, I'll have plenty to say about a lot of subjects between now and November 6.

The Winner Of The TransGriot 2017 NFL Prognostication Contest Is:

Mike Watts

Those two weeks I forfeited two games because I didn't get the Thursday night game picks up in time eventually cost me along with me transposing a NFL Week 5 pick in which I correctly picked Washington to win but when I wrote the official post inexplicably transcribed it the opposite way. 

Nevertheless, I was still in positing to capture my third straight title despite all that drama this season.

I had a one game lead going into today and all I had to do was at least tie Mr Watts to get the threepeat.   Instead I had my third (and fatal to my threepeat) losing week of the season.

Arrgh.   And yeah, I'm going to be thinking about those two missed Thursday night game picks all offseason.

But enough jibber jabber about me screwing up.   Mike went 36-12  over the last three weeks to my 34-14 to capture the TransGriot 2017 NFL prognostication title.

 Congratulating to our new NFL prognostication overlord.   And yeah, coming for you in 2018.


Week 17 Results                                                            Final 2017 NFL Season Record
TransGriot  7-9                                                                    TransGriot         162-93
*Mike          10-6                                                                   * Mike             163-92

The TransGriot 2017 Shut Up Fool Of The Year Is...

It's that time again.   Time to discover out of all these folks nominated who will be named the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Of The Year for 2017.

But before I do that, let recap the previous winners of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool of the Year Award

2009- RNC Chair Michael Steele
2010- Sarah Palin 
2011- Herman Cain
2012-Mitt Romney
2013- Sen. Ted Cruz 
2014- Rep. Louie Gohmert
2015- Donald Trump
2016- Donald Trump
2017-  ?

There were many worthy nominees, and Trump more than did enough in his ongoing dumpster fire of a mispresidency to win the SUF of the Year for a third consecutive year. 

But I decided to give it to another deserving fool this year.

The five 2017 Shut Up Fool of the Year finalists I narrowed it down to were a group award for the Republican Party, Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  

The envelope please.

The 2017 Shut Up Fool of the Year is Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick
Potty Dan Patrick wasted much of his political capital and Texas taxpayer dollars trying to foister an unjust anti-trans 'Bathroom bill' on the state that the Texas trans community, its allies, Texas reality based citizens, Texas police departments and police chief , the Texas business community, Texas oil companies, Texas colleges and universities, the mayors of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, and most importantly Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio) and Chairman Byron Cook (R-Corsicana) of the House State Affairs Committee repeatedly told him they didn't want and was bad for Texas.

But Patrick and his henchwoman Sen. Lois /Locker Room' Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) tried to force this legislative cow chip through the 2017 regular legislative session and a special session he forced that cost the state's taxpayers an addition $800,000 only to fail twice to pass it.tanks to the adults in the Texas House.

Just talking about SB 6 passage cost the Houston, Dallas and Austin millions $66 million in lost convention business.  It cost Galveston, TX a conference, and put $200 million of business in jeopardy.

And why?   For Dan Patrick's personal political gain.

That anti-trans rhetoric he, Lois and his party peddled during the session to pass SB 6 led to four trans Texans being killed and others being harassed across the state.

And once it was clear it wasn't going to pass in the Special Oppression Session, Patrick blamed everybody but the person staring back in the mirror. 

There's an ever lengthening list of politicians who lost their seats or offices for peddling transphobia that includes TX Rep. Debbie Riddle, TX Rep Gilbert Pena, NC Gov. Pat McCrory, and now VA Delegate Bigot Bob Marshall.

Hopefully on November 6 you'll be the next legislative transphobe added to that not so distinguished list.

Congratulations, and Shut Up Fool of the Year.

Ashlee Preston Is Running For Office!

The list of trans folks running for public office in 2018 just got a little bit longer.

Civil rights activist and journalist Ashlee Preston has announced she is going to run for the California State Assembly for the District 54 seat that was held by Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas

The 30 year old Assemblyman abruptly announced on Wednesday he was resigning from the seat and terminating his reelection campaign for it effective immediately because of health reasons.   

Ridley-Thomas is the son of LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, and the Morehouse grad  first captured the safely Democratic seat at just 26 years old in a 2013 special election.  He was in the middle of his second full two year term before announcing his resignation.

Ashlee Preston has decided to jump into the race to be the next Assemblyperson from the Los Angeles area district that covers West LA, Mid-City LA and Culver City.

"As someone directly impacted by the issues that often diminish the quality of life, I have an acute understanding of which policies must be put into play in order to move progress forward for the constituents of the 54th District and beyond," said Preston.

"I believe in prioritizing people over politics.  We are more than percentage points; we are real people with real stories.  I fully intend to continue honoring those experiences, and advocating for those who don't have a seat at the table," she added. 

A special election for the remainder of Ridley-Thomas' term will be held soon but as of this writing a date for it hasn't been set.

If Preston is successful in capturing the 54th District seat, she would become the first out Black trans woman elected to a state legislative seat since Althea Garrison did so in 1990.

Best of luck to Ashlee, and hope that she is chosen by the voters of District 54 to represent them in Sacramento and make that history..

TransGriot Update: Preston has decided to suspend her campaign 

TransGriot 2017 NFL Picks-Week 17

It's the last week of the 2017 NFL season,which many of us in Houston considered it ended the day Deshaun Watson went down in practice with a knee injury and Bob McNair decided to do the right wing thing insead of the right thing to help the Texans win by not signing Colin Kaepernick.

But I still had a 2017 NFL prognostication contest to get through and I was playing for a third consecutive title.   There are now sixteen regular season New Year's Eve games tanding between me and the threepeat,

Mr Watts hasn't rolled over.   He's been on a hot streak.  I've just been one game better.   He went 12-4 in Week 16.   I went 13-3. .

The Cleveland Browns are on the verge of joining the 0-16 club when they face the playoff bound AFC North Champion Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.  If the Browns win that game it'll be the upset of the decade.    They have already clinched the number one overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.

I just need to be better for one more week.  So let's get to it.   Mike's picks will be here.   As usual, Team I'm picking to win will be in bold print with the home team in CAPS.

And what's my over/under number for NFL non-playoff teams head coaches and GM's to be fired on Monday? 
7 coaches and 2 GM's 

Week 16 Results                                                              2017 NFL Season
TransGriot  13-3                                                              TransGriot  155-82
Mike           12-4                                                              Mike           154-83

New Year's Eve Early Games
COLTS over Texans
LIONS over Packers
VIKINGS over Bears
STEELERS over Browns
PATRIOTS over Jets
WASHINGTON over Giants
EAGLES over Cowboys

New Year's Eve Afternoon Games
Jaguars over TITANS
Bills over DOLPHINS
RAVENS over Bengals
Raiders over CHARGERS
SEAHAWKS over Cardinals
RAMS over 49ers
Panthers over FALCONS
Chiefs over BRONCOS
Saints over BUCCANEERS