Justice For Dandara!

You may recall the vicious February 15 beating and murder last year of 42 year old Brazilian trans woman Dandara dos Santos by several wastes of DNA men that was captured on video. 

2017 also happened to be the deadliest year on record for TBLGQ murders in Brazil.

Dandara was taken out of her home in Fortaleza, stripped, beaten, kicked, stoned and mocked by the killers as she pleaded for her life.  She had transphobic and homophobic slurs hurled at her before she was thrown into a wheelbarrow and carted off. to be shot to death.

The brutal videotaped murder sent shockwaves around the world and outraged the Brazilian and global trans community.  The video also lead to the identification and arrest of the mob of  men  who killed her. .

Justice was finally served in that case as five of the eight participants in this heinous crime received a combined 83 years in jail .

Francisco Jose Monteiro de Oliveira, Jr. who shot dos Santos, was given 21 years in prison.   Jean Victor Silva Oliveira, who attacked her with a wooden board, received a 16 year prison sentence.

Rafael Alves da Silva Paiva, who was filed repeatedly kicking Dandara, was also sentenced to 16 years in jail along with Francisco Gabriel dos Reis.   Isaias da Silva Camurca was sentenced to 14 years and 6 months for his part in the attack on our trans sister, beating her with flip flops.

Jean Oliveira and Paivi are appealing their sentences on the basis of their actions weren't decisive in causing Dandara's death.

Incredibly all of the men tried make the claim that while they attacked her, they weren't responsible for her death. 

It was a claim that prosecutor Marcus Renan Palacio dismissed by saying to them, "No one killed Dandara?   Was it lightning that fell on her head?  Was it a stone from a building?

Francisco Oliveira after being sentenced tried to apologize to Dandara's relatives, claiming that he'd committed the crime because he was deluded and he'd learned he has to have love in his heart.

You were right about the deluded part.   But the date you needed to have love in your heart was on February 15, 2017, not when your azz is about to do 21 years in prison from murdering another human being.

Stop Sliming Activists And Start Appreciating Them

There's a Facebook conversation happening amongst several of us activists that triggered this post.

In the discussion we're talking about our frustrations with getting slimed, backstabbed, disrespected and slandered by the communities we are trying to serve to the best of our ability. 

We are also discussing the shady two bit three block 'activists' who are only in it for their 15 minutes of fame or who actively work to undermine the people who are successfully doing the work for whatever reason.

Being a human rights warrior is a tough job and can take a toll on you if you're not practicing regular self care   The doctor who did the autopsy on the Rev. Dr Martin Luther King shortly after his assassination 50 years ago noted that Dr King, despite being only 39 years old at the time of his death, had the heart of a 60 year old in large part due to all the stress he was under being the principal leader of the African American Civil Rights Movement.   

As I execute my human rights work, I constantly think about a comment that Barbara Smith made during the Black Feminism plenary panel at #CC16 in Chicago when the discussion turned to self care that has stuck with me to this day. 

"We need live revolutionaries, not dead martyrs". 

As someone who has spent 20 years of my more than a half century on this planet fighting for the human rights of transgender humans and other people, I understand how the petty BS in the activism ranks can can drive a person with a heart full of love for their people and a desire to make a better world for everyone walk away from it.

I actually stepped away for two years from national work after I got backstabbed on a 2002 NTAC initiative by a white trans woman that would have if we had gotten the opportunity to execute what was discussed in that Marietta, GA meeting advanced Trans 101 knowledge and info about the Black trans community to the Congressional Black Caucus, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and national NAACP much earlier.


So yeah, I feel y'all when the discussion turns to being backstabbed by other morally bankrupt activists who are in it for their 15 minutes of fame or selfish reasons.

But know that the 'activists' who choose that crabs in a barrel approach to build their activist platform will fail.  Backstabbing your way to prominence may work to get you where you wish to go in the short term, but in the long run it you will have zero credibility, will make a lot of enemies in the process, and karma will get you sooner or later.

Activism at its core, is building working relationships and partnerships with diverse groups of people or organizations that you can reliably call on to help you solve problems when you need it. 

I have also witnessed in my 20 years 'activists' who are committing repeated civil rights malpractice but want to prevent more competent leaders from rising to successfully do the work the haters don't have the skill set to do.

I've had happen in my 20 years of activism the hurtful thing of trans people running away from me because they are afraid of being outed as trans if they are seen standing next to my unapologetically Black trans activist behind.
I've seen the idiotic online comments from peeps slamming activists stating we should 'stop stirring up trouble' because it's 'causing problems' in their low/ no disclosure lives, and if we activists would just stop 'stirring up trouble' the haters would leave us (and them) alone. 

But those same people attacking us, like the ones running away from me and other trans activists, when they get into trouble are the first ones blowing up my phone trying to call me and other activists demanding help to solve their problem when anti-trans discrimination kicks them in the rear.

No boo boo trans kitties, the haters aren't going to leave us alone if we do nothing.  See the 40 plus years of TERF hatred aimed at us as an example of that or the conservafool anti-trans legislation popping up like weeds in the garden of democracy.

You don't get your humanity and human rights respected unless you repeatedly demand it and relentlessly fight for it.

And if you haven't noticed, we have an incompetent orange white supremacist with his tiny hands on the nuke launch button in the White House.    In this critical time for American democracy, activists are needed now more than ever if it is to survive this crisis.

Angelic troublemakers will always be needed and necessary to hold people, organizations and politicians accountable for bad policies and unjust laws.  It's what we activists do.   Activists are the angelic troublemakers that Bayard Rustin was talking about. 

We are the people who through our efforts, shine a light on the issues of the day, and facilitate the conversations that help move society toward being better for all parties.

So it's past time to start appreciating the people who do that work instead of sliming them.
 

Shut Up Fool Awards- First Week Of April Edition

As an adult I've noticed that the one thing that moves at lightning speed is time.   Years that seemed as a kid to take eons to pass zip by in the blink of an eye as my transiversary earlier this week pointed out to me.

2018 has now moved into April, and that means I'm on countdown to another Cuatro de Mayo celebration. 

But lets get to our usual Friday business of calling out fools, idiots, hypocrites and arrogant people who are operating with WTF level chutzpah.

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

I'm just going straight to this week's winner.

This week's loser winner is one I've gots to call out because she is a Democrat and in this age of Trump we need to have zero tolerance for this type of idiocy.

Florida state rep Kimberly Daniels (D-Jacksonville) is a controversial former Jacksonville City Council member who is now serving her first term as a Florida state legislator.

She was also the sponsor of the 'In God We Trust' bill that was passed in the wake of the Parkland, FL mass shooting that mandates the placing of 'In God We trust' signs in all Florida public schools instead of passing a gun control bill.

Homegirl seems to have gotten her legislative duties confused with her evangelical preaching day job.  The state of Florida's government is based on its constitution, not the Bible.   Not only does the separation of church and state matter, faith based ignorance has no place in our legislative process. 

I can't trust a Black woman to lead who doesn't know this basic fact. Neither can I trust a Black woman to lead who has made anti Semitic statements.   Daniels is quoted as saying that "You can talk about the Holocaust, but the Jews own everything:.

WTF? 

During her closing statement for this bill, she went full Aunt Jemima and thanked God for slavery..

Nope, this is NOT an April Fools joke.   Note today's date.

"I thank God for slavery. If it wasn't for slavery I might be somewhere in Africa worshiping a tree."



Oh hell no..  Somebody in Jacksonville please run in the Democratic primary against her.

Rep. Kimberly Daniels, shut up fool!
       

Anchorage Anti-Trans Proposition 1 Defeated!

While many of us were heading to bed in the Lower 48, the citizens of Anchorage, Alaska were counting ballots in the latest trans rights battleground.

The anti-trans hate group the Alaska Family Council had managed to get a proposition on the ballot that if it had passed, would have stripped the trans protetctions from the city's LGBTQ rights law passed in 2015 by the Anchorage Assembly.   Proposition 1 would have also barred transgender people from using the facilities and locker rooms that matched their gender presentation, even if they had changed their identity documents.

Translation:  The Alaska Family Council haters were trying to pass a nastier Last Frontier version of North Carolina's HB 2. 

It was also going to be the first time that the city of Anchorage would attempt to use a mail-in ballot for a civic election, and turnout was expected to be high.   Anchorage is also the largest city in the state of Alaska .

The Yes on 1 IForces of Intolerance rolled out the usual anti-trans playbook of anti-trans lies and fear mongering but were outgunned by Fair Anchorage, the coalition group working to defeat the unjust Proposition 1   

The Yes on 1 haters raised $128,000 to spend on their scampaign to $800,000 for the Fair Anchorage coalition.   Fair Anchorage not only had more money, they learned the lessons from the failed HERO defense fight here in H-town and attacked the bathroom predator myth head on.

Meanwhile the Yes on 1 side was committing the cardinal sin in Alaskan politics of using a non-Alaskan in their commercials. 

In addition to ads from Alaska' native community, who have felt the sting of discrimination themselves, advocating for their trans neighbors and urging a NO vote,  Fair Anchorage also had local trans people in their commercials and engaged in their coalition of groups fighting this latest trans rights battle.



That predictably deployed trans predator lie by the YES on 1 trans oppressors was also blown up not only in this ad featuring an APD officer, but  a statement from the Fair Anchorage campaign that quoted firefighters, former state reps and a former police spokesperson. 

It also pointed out that a YES vote would be bad for Anchorage.

“While backers of Prop 1 claim they're advocating for public safety, nothing could be further from the truth," Mike Stumbaugh, president of Anchorage Firefighters Union Local 1264, said, according to the press release issued by Kati Ward, Fair Anchorage campaign manager. "And in the 200-plus cities and 18 states with laws nearly identical to Anchorage's nondiscrimination law, the results have been the same: Protecting transgender people is not a threat to public safety — here in Anchorage or anywhere else in the country."

Over 40 Anchorage based businesses also opposed the passage of Proposition 1 as bad for business and the city reputation. 

Fair Anchorage not only aggressively tackled and demolished the predator myth, they also took on and demolished another of the right wing's favorite lies in claiming that by letting transgender women poop and pee in women's restrooms, cisgender women's safety was compromised.



And here's one of the NO on 1 ads that featured a trans person and their parent




35,054 ballots (17.4% of the city's voters) had already been returned before the April 3 deadline.  With all the ballots counted, Proposition 1 was defeated by a 53%-46% margin.

Congrats to the Fair Anchorage coalition for decisively beating the Alaska Family Council haters.
That's wonderful news considering Massachusetts is facing its own looming trans rights election this November. 

It also lends credence to what I have been saying in terms of transphobia becoming less of a winning issue for Republicans and the conservative movement 

50th Anniversary Of The 'I've Been To The Mountaintop' Speech

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's  'I've Been To The Mountaintop' Speech. 

It was delivered at the Mason Temple (Church Of God In Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, TN on the evening of April 3, 1968.    Unfortunately it would turn out to be Dr. King's last speech and the last night he would live in our plane of existence.   The next day he was assassinated aa he left Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel .

Dr. King had been in Memphis to lend his support to striking sanitation workers.

Here's the entire 'I've Been To The Mountaintop' speech for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Number 8- Rest In Power and Peace Sasha Wall

Thanks to TransGriot reader Greg Green, he has made me aware of another trans sister we've lost to anti trans violence and it's  my sad duty to report that to you. 

The latest murder of a trans person happened in Chesterfield County, SC, just across the state line from Charlotte, NC.

Her name is 29 year old Sasha Wall.  She was originally from Charlotte, NC  but was living in Pageland, SC, 40 miles SE of Charlotte. 

Wall was found at 8 AM EDT Sunday in her running car slumped over the steering wheel.  She had been shot several times, with one gunshot wound in her neck.. 

And as you probably guessed, Sasha was misgendered in the article and in the on air broadcast by the police.

A passing motorist discovered what happened at the intersections of Sandy Plains Road and Highway 145 north of Chesterfield and near the North-Carolina-South Carolina state line and called 911

According to Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks, Sasha's black Toyota Corolla was parked on the side of the road with the engine running for nearly two hours.



A small caliber bullet was recovered from the driver's side door, and Brooks told WSOC-TV that whoever shot Sasha was either sitting in the passenger seat or was standing outside the car with the door opened.

The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Department at this time doesn't have a person of interest or a suspect in this case

Sasha is now the eighth trans person killed in 2018, and the fifth Black trans person murdered this year.   And once again, the pattern continues of an under 30 trans woman being murdered.

Rest in power and peace sis.   We will say your name and won't rest until justice is served in this case,

Happy TDOV 2018!

Today is the Transgender Day of Visibility, the March 31 day in which every year we celebrate living trans folks and how awesome we are. 

And it couldn't have come at a better time considered the haters we have arrayed against us from the TERF to white fundies to the Republican Party.

TDOV is the flip side of the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance which is a memorial to the people we've lost to anti-trans violence. 

TDOV is a day in which allies get to show their support for the trans community.  It's a day in which we draw attention to the accomplishments of trans people here and across the world

TDOV is also the day in which we in conjunction with our allies raise our personal and community visibility

And TDOV can also be a day, as Geena Rocero did in 2014, use as the day to not only come out as trans,  but release her viral TED Talk video to the world explaining why she did so.

So Happy TDOV! 

Make Trump, Mike Pence, Potty Dan Patrick  the TERF's, Republican Party and other fundies mad by not cowering to their attempts to oppress us, but instead give it the middle finger.

TDOV is a day in which we can get started with the process of not only building community, but helping us build community so that we can make the world better for all transkind.

Cotton Lives!

She's alive!    Cotton is alive!   #LivingBlackTransCharactersMatter .

For those of you who have been watching the FOX TV show STAR, Cotton is the name of Amiyah Scott's groundbreaking trans character on the Empire spinoff show focused on the rise of an ATL based girl group..

Amiyah Scott made history when the show debuted by playing one of the first major transgender characters on a prime time network drama series.

Had they killed Cotton off this show, I already had a  post prepared to put the show on blast, but now I won't have to do that.   Instead I can talk about why this character is so important to my Black trans community

One of the things that has become depressingly familiar to me and other people observing the trajectory of transgender characters on television is that far too often we're either killed off in the first ten minutes of the show, we're playing sex workers, the sassy drag queen or other tropes.

The other thing that has been a pain in the azz is that far too often, those characters have been played far too often by male actors in drag.   Less frequently they are played by a cis feminine actress or actual transgender people.

The television landscape is even more bleak for Black trans television characters.   You have to go back to a 1977 Season 4 episode of The Jeffersons in which Edith Stokes appeared (played by Veronica Redd) to find a non stereotypical Black trans character.

The.more recent Black trans ones are Maya Avant Forrester on the CBS soap The Bold and the Beautiful played by Karla Mosley, and the two characters both played by Laverne Cox in Orange Is The New Black's  Sophia Burset and the now canceled CBS show Doubt's Cameron Wirth. 

So you can see why I was concerned and slightly angry with the Star fall finale cliffhanger in which we didn't know if Cotton was dead or alive.

Cotton's character is important for many reasons.  Black trans women are taking the brunt of the anti- trans murders happening in the United States.  We still have people in the Black community who think that being trans is a joke, a choice, sinful or who are openly hostile to our very existence.

Because this show is being broadcast at a time in which the Republican Party at the federal and state level are openly persecuting trans people with discriminatory legislation, Star has an opportunity if they choose to take it to basically show trans women like Cotton as the complex people we are to the millions of people in their vast viewing audience. 

If you're pooh poohing that thought, it was over a decade of positive portrayals of gay and lesbian characters on network and cable television that led to human rights advances for that community and the breaking down of stereotypes aimed at lesbian and gay people.  The same was true for the African American community 

We need the same thing to happen in Black Trans World   There are many stories that can be told about Black trans people through Cotton.   You can already see the evolution of her relationship with her mother Carlotta, played by Queen Latifah.   She already loved and lost a man who she deeply cared about in Elliott. 

And unfortunately has a psycho one after her in Otis.

Some things that affect us in Trans World have been addressed in earlier Star shows.   There was one in which Cotton was attacked while with a guy outside the strip club she moonlighted at and Star ended up punching him.   Silicone pumping was addressed in another episode in which Miss Bruce was making extra money by doing it in the shop.  Another episode featured a minister laying hands on Cotton to 'pray the trans away'. 

Because Cotton lives, there will be more opportunities to tell stories like that on Star.  Hopefully I get to see an episode in which Cotton gets a name and gender marker change done because that is a BFD in Trans World.

So how would I do that on the show if I was writing the script for it?  Cotton has a conversation with Carlotta to ask her what she would have named her had she been born cis feminine, and changes it to that name.

I have other ideas specific to this trans storyline Lee Daniels, call this trans sister writer to hear them

I'm deliriously happy that Cotton lives, and I'll get to see how her character evolves over the rest of this season and hopefully many more seasons to come.

And yeah, I want to see what transpires in the lives of Star, Simone and Alex on the show too and if they are able to make their musical dreams come true as well

Run Danielle Run! Another Texas Trans Person Is Running For Office

The record breaking year of Texas TBLGQ people running for public office continues as Danielle Skidmore has decided to run for the Austin City Council's District 9.

The seat is currently held by Austin Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, who is running for reelection and has held the District 9 seat since 2011.

I had the pleasure of meeting Danielle last year as part of the team of trans Texans and allies working hard to kill SB 6.

She has appointed Alicia Roth Weigel as her campaign treasurer, but won't be able to officially file to run for the central Austin city council seat until July 23

Skidmore is an engineer who also serves on Austin's LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission 

If Skidmore is successful in the race this November, she'd become only the second openly trans elected official in the Lone Star State and the first ever in the city of Austin, which has a statewide and national rep as a liberal progressive enclave.

I wish her the best of luck, and I'm eager to see if Danielle gets to make that history later this year.

Meet Marvia Malik, Pakistan's First Trans News Anchor!

As the Trump misadministration and their white fundie allies try to force transpeople back into the closet and strip us of what human rights coverage we've managed to achieve, other countries on this planet are moving forward on trans rights issues and making history.

Pakistan is an Islamic nation in which transpeople have been ostracized, shunned by family members, treated as a joke and at times violently attacked with a frequency only exceeded in Brazil. 

But like here in the States and in other countries, the Pakistani trans community is getting landmark legal wins that are helping to open hearts and minds in the country. 

Our trans cousins in Pakistan are celebrating as one of their own, Marvia Malik, became the first transgender news anchor in their nation.   The 21 year old Malik is no stranger to breaking barriers in her nation.  She recently became the first openly trans model to walk a fashion show runway there.

But her passion is journalism, and the private Kohenoor broadcast network based in Lahore decided to take a chance and hire her.

"I have made history in my country, and I vow to use my profession as anchor to help change the general attitude of our society towards transgender people."

"Our community should be treated equally and there must not be any gender discrimination. We should be given equal rights and be considered ordinary citizens, instead of third-gender," she said in a BBC interview.

She added: "My family knows I have modeled and they know that I work as a newscaster. It's the age of social media and there's nothing that my family doesn't know. But they have still disowned me."

She is grateful for the opportunity, and went through three months of training before she made her first on air broadcast.  Malik has done so well that the station has hired a second trans person as a copywriter   The owner of the station, Junaid Ansari, made it clear that Malik was hired for her journalism talent, not because she was transgender. 

Malik's determination to be a change agent is echoed by Farzana Jan, the head of Pakistan's Trans Action Alliance.   Jan is hopeful that Malik will not only be a positive role model, but be a catalyst for further positive change in Pakistan.

"Thank God, one of us is going on television in a serious job," Jan said. "Previously we've been presented as a joke. I hope and I believe this will help us get our rights, our protection and our respect".

Your trans cousins around the world hope that what you have expressed comes true in Pakistan. 

Congratulation to Marvia, and hope she has a long problem free career as a television anchor.   

'The State Of Black Women In America' Discussion At TSU Tonight

Looking forward to this conversation on the Texas Southern Campus tonight organized by Dr Carla Brailey and Dr Kimberly Brown Pellum.

It's a discussion entitled The State Of Black Women In America, it has on the panel attorney Cha' mira Keener, Tomiko Meeks, psychologist Dr. Alauna Curry,  Dr Michon Benson, TSU assistant professor of English, Kandice Webber, who organized the recent March of Black Women, and Tiffany Thomas, former board trustee from Alief ISD.

I am concerned that we're having a discussion about Black women in America on an HBCU campus without including the voices of Black trans feminine people, and it's a major reason why I'm attending this event tonight.

Kandice Webber is a ride or die accomplice for Black trans women, so I have no doubts at some point during the two hours scheduled for this conversation we will get to talk about the issues of Black trans women one way or the other

In case you live in the Houston area and wish to attend this event, it's happening from 7-9 PM in the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland Public Affairs Building in Room 114 on the Cleburne St. side of the TSU campus . 

Hope you'll consider attending this what is sure to be a thought provoking panel discussion 

Number 7- Rest In Power and Peace Amia Tyrae

Been a few weeks since I wrote my last post chronicling a 2018 death of one of our trans sisters.
Unfortunately that break is over.

TransGriot reader jade Lenore has informed of another trans sister who has been violently taken from us in Baton Rouge, LA. 

Her name is Amia Tyrae Berryman, and she was 28 years old.   Her body was found at 1:15 AM in the Shades Motel on Airline Highway with gunshot injuries.  She died at the murder scene, and the  East Baton Rouge Parish coroner will be conducting an autopsy tomorrow 

And as you probably guessed, local media stating WBRZ-TV 2 misgendered her.   

As of this writing we have no information about any suspects or persons of interest in this crime

She is the seventh trans woman killed in 2018 and the fourth Black trans woman this year.  And yes, she's under age 30.

If I'm made aware of any memorial vigils, I will pass on that information to you.

Rest in power and peace, Amia.  We won't rest until justice is served in your case 

Paris Lees Dropping Truth Bombs On The BBC's 'Question Time'

“Bigotry is bigotry, whether it’s dressed up as religion or dressed up as feminism.'-Paris Lees 

Been observing what's been happening across The Pond and the ongoing attacks against the British trans community by their TERF's, the tabloids and assorted conservative politicians.

Our trans sister Paris Lees, who made history in 2013 as the first girl like us to appear on the BBC show Question Time, once again appeared on the show to drop some knowledge on the telly and call out anti-trans crap.

And yeah, you need to see our journalist sister in action.

Not Surprised Austin Terrorist Bomber Was White Male

Color me not shocked to discover that the terrorist bomber that caused fear all over the city of Austin killed two people and wounded three others was a white male.

Maybe that explains the reluctance of the media to call the series of bombings a terrorist attack.

23 year old Mark Anthony Conditt of Pflugerville, TX blew himself up with an explosive device as SWAT officers were closing in on him.

Austin PD and the FBI tracked him to a hotel parking lot in Round Rock, TX, 18 miles  north of the ATX where they found him .inside his vehicle.   The officers on the scene wanted to wait for backup before engaging him but Conditt drove off.

Conditt stopped on the side of the I-35 frontage road and as a SWAT officer approached the car Conditt detonated an explosive device, killing himself and injuring the SWAT officer approaching the vehicle.  Shits were fired at the car in response.

After being cricket chirping silent about the terror attacks for weeks, White Supremacist in Chief Trump finally commented on the terror attacks by congratulating the officers for their 'excellent police work'

No words from Trump to the families who lost loved ones to the bombing like Draylen Mason or Anthony House, or those who are recovering from their injuries.

Then again, why expect someone like 45, who cares about no one but himself,  to have empathy for others?

Austin can exhale a bit, but officials are warning there may still be some bombs he shipped or mailed before he killed himself, so they are advising people to be alert

But once again, just proves the point the Republicans an the conservative movement tried to suppress in 2009 that domestic terrorism in the United States has a right wing, white male face.   

What Is A Democrat?

I'm sick of the Green Tea Party far left labeling anyone they don't like, especially women and people of color as 'corporate Democrats.' I also noticed that that label gets applied to any Democrat who the far left thinks is a possible candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination like Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren...

You get my drift. .Note to you peeps, the 2020 Democratic Party primary voters will determine who will be that nominee, and many of those Democratic Party primary voters look like me.

So what is a Corporate Dem? Seems like the definition of a 'Corporate Dem' is anyone who doesn't walk in lock step with non-Democrat Bernie Sanders or who doesn't pass their vanillacentric privileged goalpost shifting standards of a purity test.

Those 'purity tests' didn't work in 2016, and they damned sure didn't work in 2000 either. All your far left Green Tea Party purity tests have done is to get the worst possible Republicans elected and saddle us with a radical conservative SCOTUS because in large part you have an irrational hatred of the Democratic Party that we and the country don't have time for. First things first, we need to have a laser beam focus on the 2018 midterm elections. So what is a Democrat? Here's my thoughts concerning what a Democrat is and not the RussiaLeaks or Republican version of one is.

To me, to be a Democrat is to be someone who is in favor of human rights protection for all. It means you care about the social safety net and wish to defend and improve it. It means you care about the environment.. It means that you will fight to the death to defend Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. and eventually universal single payer health care.

It means you fight for public education.and making it easier for people to afford a college education without breaking their family's bank accounts or putting the college grad in debt for the next 20-20 years It means fighting for science and scientific research to get the tax dollars it deserves and our school systems go back to teaching critical thinking skills and not test taking .

Being a Democrat also means you fight tooth and nail to protect the right to vote and a woman's right to choose. It means that you respect freedom of religion, and people's choice to be free from having religious beliefs at all.

It means that you are in favor of reasonable gun regulations. It means fighting for a justice system that lives up to its name. It means making our federal, state and local governments, the people who work in them and the folks in our judicial system look like America

It means you fight for working class people, not the 1%. It means fighting for a fair tax system in which corporations doing business in the United States and those who can pay more pay their fair share in taxes. It means being about creating jobs at a livable wage with regular increases in the minimum wage based on inflation, and relentlessly fighting for a strong union movement.
It means investing in infrastructure, be it our transportation networks, internet communications networks or our technological expertise in space.

It means that we Democrats serve with the highest ethical standards because character matters. It means,because believe in a government of, by and for the people, we want government to work. We should as Democrats when we have control of the government find the most qualified people to run their agencies It means that when we create governmental policy that is going to impact people's lives, we do so with facts. It means we Democrats use logic and reason based policies to make government work efficiently and better for all people

Finally, being a Democrat means that we don't fear the future, we look forward to it and plan ahead so that our kids and grandkids inherit a better world
That in my eyes, is what a Democrat is.