Puerto Rican Senate Passes Trans Inclusive Rights Bill

TBLG Puerto Ricans got some welcome news to celebrate the IDAHOT with as Senate Bill 238, the proposed trans inclusive anti-discrimination bill passed the Puerto Rico Senate on a 15-11 vote after several contentious hours of debate and determined opposition from the island's religious leaders..

The bill submitted by Senator Ramon Luis Nieves would ban anti-TBLG discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and government services in the US territory based on real or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation. 

The bill’s passage also comes three days after San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz mandated the Puerto Rican capital’s police department to equally apply the island's current domestic violence laws, regardless of the reported victim’s sexual orientation.

The mayor also signed a second executive order that bans discrimination against San Juan's municipal employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

Senate Bill 238 isn't the only bill the island's TBLG community is watching.   House of Representatives Bill 488 seeks to extend existing domestic violence protections to any person regardless of their marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Amnesty International says that lawmakers have a “historic opportunity” to end discrimination against Puerto Rico’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

“The approval of these two laws would be a big step for justice and equality for an important sector of Puerto Rico’s population, which to date has fallen victim to institutionalized discrimination,” said Pedro Santiago, director of Amnesty International Puerto Rico.

“These two measures would expand the protection of rights for LGBTI people in Puerto Rico. Our legislators should be brave enough to overcome prejudice when making new laws. Human rights are not a matter of choice but of justice, and all people are entitled to enjoy them regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Santiago.

The passage of these bills would also be welcome news for Puerto Rico's trans community, which endured a horrific spike in anti-trans violence and murders on the island several years ago.

Senate Bill 238 moves on to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives for its approval before it hits Governor Luis Fortuno's (R) desk for his signature

Shut Up Fool Awards-IDAHOT 2013 Edition

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which is being celebrated with events in over 100 countries.   Kinda appropriate we're discussing that subject since the TERF's have been crying White Women's Tears lately.   They're getting confronted  by peeps in or who were formerly part of the Deep Green Resistance movement about their off the charts virulent TERF transphobia injected into it by Lierre Keith and Derek Jensen that is contaminating the movement to the point that people refuse to host their events because of it.    Typical TERF's, pissing off people and making enemies wherever they go.

Transphobia stinks.   So does homophobia and biphobia.   

Speaking of somthing that stinks besides the TERF's, let's segue to what y'all really came over here for, to find out this week's Shut Up Fool Award winner.  

Every Friday I shine a bright spotlight on the fool, fools or group of fools that deserve to be called out for their over the top hypocrisy, bigotry, incompetence and mind numbing stupidity.

Let's get started with this week's honorees shall we?

Honorable mention number one is the unnamed superintendent at St Pius X HS in Albuquerque, NM who is hatin' on Damian Garcia by forcing him the wear the white female graduation robe instead of the black graduation robe male students wear. 

At least they won't be as transphobically shady as Red Lion HS was to Isaak Wolfe (we hope). 

If you're going to be a transphobic bigot, don't hide in in the closet, be proud of it since hating on trans people has been a proud tradition of the Roman Catholic Church since 2003.

Honorable mention number two goes to Gwyneth Paltrow for comparing herself to RuPaul in a USA Today interview.   You better work on learning the difference between a transperson and a drag queen.   You also need to know that in trans circles, comparing yourself to RuPaul is NOT a compliment.

Honorable mention number three goes to Rep Kevin Cramer (R-ND) who claimed in a recent commencement speech at University of Mary's that Roe v. Wade was the reason for the Aurora and Sandy hook school shootings.   Guess what his rating is from the NRA?    

Honorable mention number four goes to Kansas Board of Education member Steve Roberts (R) , who in the name of pushing against 'political correctness'  (God, I hate that conservaterm) uttered the N-word at a recent board meeting, and is now trying to defend the indefensible. 


This week's Shut Up Fool Award winner is Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL).  This conservafool parted his lips to proclaim his love of Public Enemy and its conservative message?  

These fools will say anything in their DOA campaign to reach out to African-American voters.  Not only is Trey not 'Fighting The Power', he's in bed with the Koch Brothers.

I guess Trey didn't know that PE founder Chuck D is a Sunni Muslim, once had a radio show on Air America Radio with Lizz Winstead and Rachel Maddow, and PE's song list contains such conservative fare as 'Pollywannnacracka', 'Anti-N****r Machine', '911 Is a Joke', and 'By The Time I Get To Arizona'



What next Trey?  Is your straight outta Cape Coral azz going to claim you're a fan of NWA?

Chuck, please slap this conservafool back into reality for daring to co-opt PE's straight up unmistakeably Afrocentric pro-Black message.

And oh yeah, Rep. Trey Radel, shut up fool!

 

Yes Stealth People, You DO Have A Responsibility To The Trans Community

'I believe that the old WPATH, then HBIGDA requirement that transgender people fade away into society is a major factor in causing many of the acceptance problems that we are grappling with now.'   TransGriot  September 9, 2008   'Stealth Was A Mistake' 



Once again the old Stealth vs Out argument cropped up in an unexpected place   It surfaced in the middle of a GLAAD website comment thread discussing the media coverage of a May 8 story concerning ABC News producer Dawn Ennis coming out as trans. 

One of the comments in that thread led Jillian Page to write a blog post entitled 'Why Most Transitioned People Don't Carry The Transgender Torch.'.  The thrust of that post I respectfully disagree with because I have seen this selfish 'I don't have any obligation or responsibility to the trans community' sentiment expressed far too often by predominately white and late transitioning trans women.  

When Jillian 'I'm A Woman' Page and her like minded ilk find themselves being discriminated against in their zeal to keep chasing that pseudo cis privilege, how fast do you think they'll come running to the same trans community they diss for support in fighting the anti-trans discrimination aimed at them?  

I'll tell you.  Faster than the late Olympian Florence Griffith-Joyner ran the 100 meters. 

The point is yes, transwomen are women and I agree with Jillian on that point.  But where I part company with her and the stealth crowd is acknowledging the reality that we're also women with a trans history that never goes away no matter how long it has been since we transitioned. 

To remix what my shero Rep Barbara Jordan once said for trans consumption, 'It is a burden of Black transpeople that we have to do more than just talk."

Transpeople have attempted the futile chase for pseudo cisprivilege by hiding in stealth ever since Christine Jorgensen stepped off the airplane from Denmark 60 years ago. Where did that get us as a community?

I grew up as a teen in the 70's not knowing our trans history, who our role models were, much less as a person of color whether there were transpeople who shared my ethnic heritage until I was in early adulthood.  

Stealth robbed me, the transkids of my generation and those who grew up in the 80's of all that and the secure knowledge that we are part of something greater than ourselves in terms of membership in a worldwide trans community.

You cannot fight for your human rights as a community from the closet or if far too many members of it are selfishly sitting on the sidelines unwilling to push back against your oppressors or the injustice shoveled your way.


It's not an accident that when transpeople started becoming out, proud, visible, open about their lives and the issues that plague this community, and organized to fight for justice and trans equality the legislative and legal wins followed.

Carrie Hirsch said this in the discussion we had on my Facebook page about that page blog post that triggered my response to it. 

Our history does not go away. It may be less of a focus in our day to day, but being Trans will always be there. Nothing to be ashamed of. To be proud of one's past, one must be proud of themselves.

Yeah, you do have a responsibility to the trans community to do what you can to help move trans rights forward.  I guess you'd feel differently about the subject if you'd come out of your mother's wombs as marginalized persons and experienced the micro and macroaggressions of bigotry and discrimination in your everyday lives.  

To me it's a disgraceful spitting on the graves of Christine Jorgensen, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson and the long list of trans people who were out there on the front lines doing the education and taking the slings and arrows so you stealth 'I'm a woman now' trans people can deny you ever were trans.  

May I remind you the societal space you have in your lives to be able to sit comfortably on your couches and not care about the trans community is paid for with the shed blood of Black and Latina trans women who died trying to live their lives and be the women they were meant to be.

If trans kids like Jazz are stepping up, showing up and showing out  as they do their part to push the trans rights envelope forward, you selfish stealth trans adults have no excuse not to do so.

Yes, everyone who transitions is obligated to uphold and honor the trans legacy of struggle by doing something to advance the cause of trans human rights in their locales, their nations and around the world.  

How you do that is your choice.   But sitting on your behinds and doing nothing is the wrong course of action.

TransGriot Note: Photo is of Ajita Wilson, a trans movie actress of the 70's and 80's and August 1981 JET Beauty of the Week whose trans status was undisclosed until her 1987 death

New Jersey Teens Create A White Girl Club

Guest post from Renee of Womanist Musings 

I recently came across a story about a group of teens who created a White Girl's Club. The club became so popular that it quickly spread to other schools. Apparently, a group of these young women showed up at school on PI day wearing shirts identifying them as members of this club with a teachers permission no less. The teens communicated using Instagram and Twitter.  

 Another Franklin High School club member commented the club members aren’t offending anyone and tells others to “stfu.”

When another girl commented that the postings were offending people, a club member responded that they weren’t offending anyone.

“You’re choosing to take offense to statements that weren’t about you in the first place,” a club member responded.

Twitter postings by this student included comments such as “Al Sharpton ain’t gonna save your ass now” and “Sometimes I wonder if I crossed a line, but then I remember I’m white and I can do whatever the (expletive) I want.”That same girl sent out a tweet saving “Africa this way” with a arrow pointing down. (source)

Thankfully, the school board is disbanding the club and demanding that those involved get counseling.  The local NAACP is apparently going to investigate the club.  There are some parents speaking out about the club itself, but I am more interested in the parents of the teens involved in the club itself.  You see, attitudes like this don't just develop over night; they are carefully nurtured for years and represent a society which uplifts Whiteness in every agent of socialization.  The families of these girls in particular let them down because they didn't not confront their White privilege and in fact encouraged them to believe and promote their undeserved White privilege.

A White Girl's club is certainly not needed anywhere in North America.  Unsurprisingly, many of the comments on the linked article seek to defend the teams by claiming hypocrisy citing the possible intervention of the NAACP.  A group dedicated to the advancement of Blacks is seen as racist by many of the commenters. Groups like the NAACP can only be deemed problematic by those refuse to admits the historic privilege which Whiteness has lived with for centuries and how this privilege has negatively impacted the lives of POC.  They absolutely refuse to acknowledge that ongoing inequalities exist and claim that the pendulum has swung so far that Whiteness is now in fact systemically under attack.

 In recent years, we have seen an upswing in students wanting to form clubs to support Whiteness, which suggests that youths are being taught that Whiteness is under threat. What they perceive as a threat is actually a fear of a loss of privilege.  The irony is that this loss of privilege is largely in the mind because Whiteness still exists with massive social power and White people can always count on the colour of their skin to grant them access, opportunities, power, and wealth, relative to POC in the exact same circumstance. These children are being taught that they will not be able to benefit from their Whiteness like generations before them.

The idea that Whiteness is a stigmatized and oppressed group is pervasive despite how ridiculous it is. Look for example at some of the comments on, 'White Girls Club' at Franklin High School forced to go to counseling:

notmyidea

How is it the BET ( Black Entertainment Television ) channel exist's with no trouble,but the moment something associated with white people its a big problem? Double standard me thinks...

Eric F

So a group dedicated to "Colored People" is upset and sitting in judgement of a group dedicated to White Girls? Hypocrisy of the highest order. This "counseling" BS needs to be refused by the parents. We don't want your political correctness social engineering garbage.

Tremley

These girls are racial aware! They are more educated on race than most people here making comments! White women who have minority spouses are 12.4 Xs more likely to be murdered by them. Vey little chances of that happening to these girls.

Bob Backlund

So other groups can have appreciation months, tv channels I.e. bet, have groups like NAACP which is all a okay but if a group of girls not harming anyone or inciting violence or harm towards others is in need for counseling because they are proud of their heritage?

Wow.

Ralphie

If a group of students started a Black Girls' Club, or a Muslim Girls' Club, or a Lesbian club, no one would dare touch them.

As disturbing as these comments are, they are hardly surprising.  I want to focus on Ralphie's comments because though short, they are very illustrative.  No matter what marginalized group we are talking about, they are always attacked when they organize. Every June straight people line up to complain about not having a straight pride parade. Despite the fact that POC are under represented in the media, television stations which focus on marginalized people are attacked as being racist. Marginalied people organizing, communing and supporting each other is threatening because that means we aware and not content to accept a second class status.  These groups are necessary for our survival, our progress and our mental health. Every marginalization is stronger in numbers and dominant groups know this and that is why they are continually under attack.

When dominant groups form clubs such as the White Girl Club they are reacting to a perceived loss of privilege.  They are ignorant of how power really works and that is why they twist themselves into knots to justify their actions.  They talk about the idea that there is social pressure to be ashamed and guilty about the historical actions of their group and a need to stimulate feeling of pride to counteract this. They talk about the perceived social pressure to conform.  What they refuse to understand is that this isn't about historical guilt or shame but the ways in which they continue to dominate the social world and oppress out groups. One need not feel ashamed for ancestors who engaged in slavery but one should feel shame for continuing to benefit from it, and not pushing for equality.

No powerful group in history has ever willingly capitulated or taken responsibility for their actions.  These groups represent a form of resistance to change. They will continue to gather and propagate outmoded forms of thinking simply because it benefits them. So when these powerful groups attempt to pacify us by telling us how much better things have gotten, we simply need to look to groups like this to see how far we have to go.

Albuquerque Catholic HS Forcing Transman To Wear Female Graduation Gown

In our latest episode of School Administrators Being Transphobic Jerks, we head west to Albuquerque, NM and Saint Pius High.

Damian Garcia is a senior at the Catholic run high school who transitioned and had a legal name change last year.  He is recognized as a male student by his parents, family, fellow students, faculty and teachers. 

“I look at him and I call him my son. That's how he wishes to be acknowledged is as a male,” said father Luis Garcia in a KRQE-TV 13 interview.  .

But Damian's birth certificate still has the wrong gender code on it despite the name change.  The superintendent of the school, reflecting the decade old anti-trans hate injected into the Catholic Church by Dr. Paul McHugh, is seizing on that to force Damian to walk in his graduation in a white robe.  

For some reason Saint Pius HS in its graduation ceremony has male students wear black gowns and female students wear white ones.  Of course Damian wants to wear the gender appropriate gown for him, the black one.

Graduation gown a problem for transgender student

“I just want to walk in my black robe, nice and proud and have that memory to look back on with my family and friends,” said Damian. “I would rather not walk than to embarrass myself by wearing a female robe.”

His father agreed with him. “All you want in life is to see your kids happy and healthy. You never want to see them suffer or being ridiculed or be made fun of,” Luis said.

Your high school graduation should be one of the happiest times in your young life, and the Saint Pius school  superintendent is sapping the joy out of this occasion for Damian by being a transphobic jerk.

Maybe it's time for Saint Pius to consider having everyone wear the same color graduation gown so this doesn't happen again.

Audrey Mbugua's Fight For Her Kenyan Document Recognition

One of the missions of TransGriot I take seriously as a child of the African Diaspora is to relentlessly point out trans people exist on the second largest continent on our planet and the Mother Continent for humanity.  

One of the things that's a common thread across the world in our trans human rights struggle is getting documentation to match our new identities.  In some places it's a simple process to get that changed, while in others you have to fight tooth and nail and sometimes litigate it just to get it done.

One of the persons finding themselves in the fighting tooth and nail category is someone whose videos and writings I've highlighted on TransGriot before in Audrey Mbugua. 

Audrey transitioned in 2001 and she's in the news in her native Kenya because she's having to take the Kenya National Examinations Council to court in order to recognize her gender change and make the necessary documentation corrections to reflect who she is now.   KNEC is resisting her request to change her KCSE certificates, and it's negatively impacting her ability to find employment. 

'I have made several requests to the Kenya National Examinations Council to change the name on my KCSE certificate to reflect my true identity in vain," she said in a Kenyan Daily Post interview.

In her lawsuit she has named the Kenyan Attorney General and KNEC as defendants, and it goes to trial on May 28.

Good luck sis, and hope you prevail.

Anti-Trans SB 1218 Passes Texas Senate

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If you're wondering why I can't stand Republifools and why I've been posting Daniel Williams' Texas legislative updates since the 2013 session started, it's because Republicans continue to demonstrate a shamelessly inexhaustible ability and desire to oppress people

Knowing that the clock is ticking toward the end of the regular session of the 83rd Texas Legislature, the Republifools have all of a sudden gotten busy trying to pass their anti-TBLG hate legislation before they hit the May 21 deadline dates for when those bills can't be considered by the other chambers.

The Dallas Voice reports that the Texas Senate passed SB 1218 yesterday that takes dead aim at the Texas trans community.   One of the documents you can currently can use to get a marriage license in the Lone Star State is an affidavit of sex change.

Well, no thanks to Texas state Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) and her co-sponsor Sen Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) our ability to marry an opposite sex partner in this state may have just taken a hit.   She sponsored SB 1218, which prohibits anyone from obtaining a marriage license with a document that lacks a photo. 

And what document that is on the approved list of those you can use to get a marriage license in Texas fits that criteria?    If you said the affidavit of sex change, go to the head of the class.  Back in the 2011 session Sen Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) sponsored SB 723, which only went after the affidavit of sex change and we got the unjust bill killed.

This time the conservafools were sneakier about how they went about their transphobic legislative oppression.   Sen. Campbell claims that her intent was to make people show photo ID before they can get a marriage license, but we heard that same bull feces laden excuse when they passed their voter suppression act in 2011 that got spiked by the DOJ.  

This is another straight up unconstitutional attack on the ability of Texas transpeople to get married to the opposite gender, and yep, Texas has one of those odious anti-same gender marriage amendments contaminating its constitution.

All is not lost Texas trans folks.  The bill has to pass the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee and make it on the House calendar before May 21.   Daniel Williams and Equality Texas are watching what's going on in addition to working to slow it down so it misses that deadline and gets killed for the session. 

I'll be keeping an eye on this unjust bill and letting you know if it's time Texas trans community for us to be agents of our own liberation again.

And you peeps that live in Sen Campbell's and Sen Nelson's districts can thank them for their transphobia by voting them out of office.

Trans People Got Erased By Rachel Maddow

I've repeatedly made the point in this blog how important it is for us to know our trans history.  We need to have a working knowledge of it not only just for our own sakes, but to empower our trans kids, keep us from being erased in the media and frankly, so we are armed with the knowledge to rebut any lies coming from our detractors.

Former Minnesota resident Katrina Rose points out that while watching a Rachel Maddow Show story last night discussing the Minnesota gay marriage fight, while talking about the 1993 landmark gay rights bill she neglected to mention exactly why it was a landmark bill in the early 90's. 

It was a landmark bill because it was trans inclusive in an era when we trans folks were gleefully getting thrown under the legislative bus so often by the GL community we could tell by the tire tracks the brand name of the tires that ran over us.

I’m not demanding a dissertation from Rachel.  I’m not even saying there was a need to go into his opposition to trans-inclusion in 1975 or his being on board with inclusion when a bill finally passed in 1993. 

But if you are contextualizing Minnesota in the wake of it becoming the twelfth state with same-sex marriage rights, you do have to do the bare minimum of pointing out that it was the first with trans-inclusive civil rights.

Yes, Rachel.  You do indeed have to.

So, Rachel…

I’m saddened that I have to ask this: Why didn’t you?

You did mention the 1993 law.

Yeah, I'd like to know the answer to that question myself.  Here's Kat's ENDAblog 2.0 post. 

And let's see if the fact the 1993 bill was trans inclusive makes it to a future Maddow show Department of Corrections segment

Race In The Transgender Community Podcast

On Monday I had the honor and pleasure of being part of a Prism Radio podcast show with two people from the Louisville portion of my life.  

Holly Knight has 70 episodes of this Blogtalk radio show under her belt since June 2010.

For Episode 71 she invited the TransGriot and Jaison Gardiner (AKA Nephew) to tell it like it T-I-S is about 'Race In Transgender Community' and how it affects the transitions of person of color on multiple levels.

Once again it was one of those shows in which we needed more than the 90 minutes we had allotted to break down this topic.  You know neither Jaison or I are shy about speaking our minds either..  

It's now posted and you can listen to it here if you missed the live podcast.  

History Making Argentine Trans Woman Murdered

Sad news coming out of Argentina.  

32 year old Laura Aguilar, one of the first people to obtain a gender ID change under the Argentine Gender Identity Law in Tierra del Fuego province, was killed in the city of Rio Grande.

She was fatally stabbed May 12 in the home of her former partner Carlos Humbeto Traberg in what appears to be a relationship quarrel that went horribly wrong.

According to a spokesperson, Aguilar had gone to the home of the 55 year old Traberg where he cares for his mother with the intention of trying to rekindle their relationship.   In the midst of a heated argument in the kitchen he took out a knife and stabbed Aguilar in the heart and neck.  

Aguilar had recently filed a complaint because she was facing resistance in terms of local implementation of the nearly year old Gender Identity Law and access to trans specific medical care mandated in it.  With the help of local OHA activists and the backing of Tierra del Fuego provincial Governor Fabiana Rios she prevailed and was on track to get SRS before her untimely death.
   
She is being mourned by her activist colleagues in Argentina and hailed for her history making role.


H/T Eduarda Santos Transfofa em Blog

Just Stop, Cleveland Transphobia Dealer

You've dug this hole so deep in terms of your epic fail of covering Cemia Dove Acoff's murder that you'll probably be popping out on the other side of the planet into the outskirts of Beijing soon.

You and your stenographers have more than demonstrated you don't know, don't wanna know and you simply don't care about our issues or respectfully reporting on Cemia.

It's becoming more c;lear that you delight in flipping the journalistic middle finger at the local Cleveland and national trans community.

I'm sure you'll be getting that call from the Pulitzer Prize Board soon for your stellar reporting in this case.

Cristan's Conversation With SPLC About The TERF's

I've been saying for years that the Trans Exterminationalist Radical Feminists (TERF's) qualify as a hate group and needed to labeled as such by the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

I've wondered aloud along with many people in the trans community why the Southern Poverty Law Center, the major watchdog group shining a spotlight on hate groups in the United States, declared the Men's Rights Movement last year as a hate group, but so far have yet to declare TERF's with their four decades old paper and electronic trail of reprehensible oppressive and transphobic actions as one.

The SPLC is listed as a resource in the FBI web page on hate crimes, so what's up with why an organization that is considered an authoritative one by the FBI on hate groups has not only yet to declare the TERF's as one, but interviewed the Queen Bug of TERFism in their intelligence report slamming the Men's Rights Movement?   

And just in case you have any doubts about what the FBI considers anti-trans hate, from page 17 of the FBI’s Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual.

When crimes are committed against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity, epithets often reveal the motive for the attack. Typical gender identity-related epithets and terms include: “he-she,” “she-male,” “tranny,” “it,” and “transvestite.” Also, the terms “cross dresser” and “drag queen” may be used in a hateful way, even though some individuals may self-identify with these terms. It is common for perpetrators of anti-transgender hate crimes to attack the victim after learning the victim is transgender. -

Well, Cristan Williams has been pondering that question as well and decided to have a little chat with the folks at SPLC about that.   She details the series of conversations starting on April 23 she had with them in this blog post.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill Wins GLAAD Outstanding Digital Journalism Award

Dr Marc Lamont Hill was presented with the award for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article by Trans 100 honorees actress Laverne Cox and writer and filmmaker Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler at the 24^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco on Saturday night.

Hill won the award for his Ebony.com piece "Why Aren't We Fighting for CeCe McDonald?"

While the Ebony magazine print version has garnered several GLAAD Media Awards this was the first time Ebony.com has won a GLAAD award.  

During his moving acceptance speech, Dr. Hill led the audience in a "Free CeCe" chant.

IDAHOT 2013 Happening Friday

IDAHOT stands for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which is an international event created in 2004 to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, social movements, the public and the media to this issue.  Transphobia was officially added to the campaign in 2009

It is not one centralized campaign under UN auspices, but coordinated by a Paris based IDAHOT committee founded and headed by French academic Louis-Georges Tin.   It is designed to be a day in which everyone can use it as a way to take action against the twin scourges of homophobia and transphobia.

As of this writing, biphobia has not been officially added to the campaign. 

The May 17 date was chosen by the IDAHOT creators to commemorate the World Health Organization’s 1990 decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.    It something we transpeople around the world are seeking to replicate with the WHO in terms of getting GID declassified with this upcoming revision of the ICD-11 manual in 2015.

The IDAHOT is celebated in more than 100 countries and has gained official recognition in the European Union, Belgium, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

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Ms W Finally Wins The Right To Marry!

The third time was finally the charm for Ms W in her nearly three year long Hong Kong court battle to marry her boyfriend.

After losing two previous rounds in court, she finally prevailed Monday at the Court of Final Appeals level in a 4-1 decision and won a groundbreaking ruling for transpeople in Hong Kong in the process.

The Registrar of Marriages had argued that because her birth certificate couldn't be altered under Hong Kong law and said she was male, she could not wed her boyfriend.

Ms W argued the previous adverse court rulings were a violation of her constitutional rights and the Hong Kong government subsidized her SRS back in 2008. 

"It is contrary to principle to focus merely on biological features fixed at the time of birth," the court said in a written judgement by the panel of five judges.

It added that existing laws "impair the very essence of W's right to marry"

The court said the nature of marriage as a social institution had "undergone far-reaching changes" in a multi-cultural present day Hong Kong.

However, the five judge panel stopped short in this ruling of allowing same gender marriage in Hong Kong. 
Ms W according to her attorney Michael Vidler was overjoyed at the landmark ruling, which not only allows her to marry her boyfriend, but orders Hong Kong to rewrite their marriage law to allow trans women to marry cis men and trans men to marry cis women.

Vidler read a statement by the now thritysomething Ms. W to reporters in which she said,"I have lived my life as a woman and been treated as a woman in all respects except as regards my right to marriage. This decision rights that wrong."


"I am very happy that the court of appeal now recognizes my desire to marry my boyfriend one day and that that desire is no different to that of any other women who seek the same here in Hong Kong," W said.

"This is a victory for all women in Hong Kong."

Interestingly enough had Ms W lived in mainland China, she would have been able to get married.  China's marriage were changed and clarified in 2003 to allow transpeople to get married to their opposite gender partners.  Hong Kong as an autonomous Special Administrative Region is still under British law.

The landmark ruling brings Hong Kong in line on the issue of trans marriage with other Asia-Pacific Rim nations such as mainland China, Singapore, India, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.   Out of all those Asia-Pacific Rim nations, only New Zealand allows same sex couples to marry.

After Joanne Cassar's win in Malta and this one for Ms. W, can Nikki Araguz make it three in a row for international trans human rights with a trans marriage win here in Texas? 

Ms W is going to have to wait another 12 months for the landmark ruling to take effect and give the Hong Kong government time to rewrite the marriage laws, but she'll probably spend that time planning her wedding.

C-279 At Second Reading Phase In Canadian Senate

Our Canadian trans cousins (and so are we south of the border) are still anxiously watching Bill C-279, the Trans Rights Bill move through their national legislative body.

It has now moved to the Canadian Senate after being passed March 20 by the House of Commons on a 149-137 vote with the critical support of 16 Conservative Party MP's .

Interestingly enough one of the people who didn't vote on C-279 in the House of Commons was new Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, while Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper voted NO. 

The 105 member Canadian Senate is appointed, and has a current makeup comprised of 63 Conservatives, 36 Liberals, three independents and one Progressive Conservative.

The private members bill sponsored by the NDP's LGBTQ critic Randall Garrison had First Reading in the Senate on March 21 and its first hour of Second Reading debate on April 16. 

Senator Grant Mitchell of Alberta, the senate sponsor of C-279 gave a lengthy and comprehensive speech in favor of it, which would add gender identity to the list of protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act and under the hate crimes section of the Canadian Criminal Code. 

It underwent its second hour of debate May 9 with Sen. Hugh Segal of Ontario doing the honors

Honourable senators, the amendments to the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code proposed in this bill are timely and necessary. They are about extending the protection in these laws to a minority of Canadians who face particular challenges. That is what human rights is all about. That is what civilization at its best is all about. I support this legislation before us without reservation.

I will cite the testimony of Shelly Glover, Member of Parliament for St. Boniface, an MP for whom I have great respect and a former Winnipeg police officer, in her elegant testimony before a committee in the other place on this be bill. She said:

To give hope and opportunity to transgendered people through a bill like this, to give them hope in knowing they will have clarity every single time they report, every single time they want to go before a commission or a tribunal, that gender identity means they can be a transgendered individual and not have to rely on sex, which to most people means plumbing, or disability, which is not what many of them feel, I think is imperative. I think it's imperative that this move forward. I think it's imperative that we, as Canadians and parliamentarians, embrace the notion that we are inviting other Canadians to feel the sense of belonging that this will bill will give them.

When people say it's symbolic only, I disagree wholeheartedly. I want transgendered individuals to feel they can go to a police service, that they can go to a court, knowing full well that gender identity is in the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act. I agree with the Canadian Bar Association when they say it will also provide clarity and public acknowledgment. I agree with Mr. Fine, who asks that there be a leaning towards more explicit language, which is what this bill will do. And I agree with all of the two-spirited people I spoke with at Safe Night off Winnipeg Streets recently who said this is an important bill.

Many who are sincerely opposed to this bill have raised the spectre of the protections included in it somehow giving licence to a transgendered individual to use public or school lavatories as predatory sites without any sanction. This is an undue and baseless fear.
Let me quote Randall Garrison, MP, the distinguished and courageous sponsor of this legislation, from his speech on February 27 of this year:

There were some concerns about "gender expression" being less well defined in law and that this would somehow open the gates to abusive practices on the basis of the gender identity bill. I will be very frank and talk about the main one of those, which was the concern that somehow people could use this bill to gain illegitimate access to public bathrooms and change rooms in order to commit what would always be criminal acts of assault.

I contacted the jurisdictions in the United States that have had these provisions in place for a very long time. Four of those did reply, those being California, Iowa, Colorado and the state of Washington. All of them reported the same thing: there have been no instances in any of those states of attempts to use the protections for transgendered people for illegal or illegitimate purposes — no incidents, zero, none.

Honourable senators, this bill has multi-partisan support in the other place and I respectfully submit that it warrants bipartisan support in this chamber, because whatever partisan divides we face, whatever pettiness sometimes invades our rhetoric on all sides, however ideologies of the left or right proscribe our creativity and constructive ability to cooperate, I appeal in humility and sincerity to our better natures and our more noble shared aspirations for coming together around this legislation.

I subscribe to the view that a society is not in the end judged by how the wealthiest and most powerful make out, how those with the loudest voices and most efficient lobbies survive and prosper. We are judged most accurately by how those who are most vulnerable make their way and experience genuine equality of opportunity.

Transgendered Canadians and those who are seeking to redress their personal struggle are indeed a minority among us, but that minority status should not diminish their rights to protection from discrimination; it should ensure protection of those rights as fully as we can.
Honourable senators in this chamber will remember when, decades ago, we tolerated in Canada discrimination based on gender, based on age, based on religion, based on colour and race, and based on sexual orientation. All of these have been addressed, at least in terms of our formal laws and Constitution if not yet completely in practice. However, over time function follows form and the values of the Magna Carta of 1215; Mr. Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights of 1960; the Charter of Rights and Freedoms advanced by Mr. Trudeau in 1982 with the help of Premiers Davis and Hatfield and made stronger by activists like our Senator Nancy Ruth and millions of other women; and changes in human rights codes to protect different sexual orientations have all headed in the same direction, and Bill C-279 continues that step forward.

As a Conservative, the fact that this will set us apart from dictatorships like Iran, Saudi Arabia and many others makes me very comfortable and happy. If we work together and proceed to advance this bill, we will all feel even prouder to be Canadians living in the best country in the world where no legitimate rights are set aside or willfully ignored.

Bill C-279 still has a few more steps to navigate on its legislative journey through the Canadian Senate. It will reconvene on May 21 and if Conservative Senate majority leader Marjory LeBreton of Ontario allows the bill to go to a vote and it passes, then it would head to a committee for review and possible changes.  

If changes are made to C-279 at the committee stage, the bill would need to return to Parliament for another approval vote.   If changes aren't made, then the bill would proceed to Third Reading stage, another two hours of debate and then if the majority leader allows it a final vote.

If C-279 passes Third Reading, it would then go to Governor General David Johnston for Royal Assent, which would make it Canadian law.   Senator Mitchell would like that to happen before the end of June and told Xtra that he has spoken to 30 Senators, with 15 assuring him they will support the bill. The majority of the remaining 15 senators he has spoken to he indicates are leaning toward supporting the bill.

We'll see what happens to C-279 in the Senate and if Sen. Mitchell is correct when it reconvenes.

Dr. Ben Barres Elected To National Academy of Sciences!

It's one huge honor for him and one giant leap for transkind.

Meet neurobiologist Dr. Ben Barres, a professor and chair of the department of neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.   He is one of 84 new members elected to the 150 year old National Academy of Sciences.

It is a major accomplishment and one of the highest honors a scientist can achieve. There are 220 NAS members who have won Nobel prizes and potential NAS members are nominated and extensively vetted by their peers, “in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

Dr. Barres joins a distinguished group of 2,200 American NAS members and 400 NAS members from other nations. While he was humbled and thrilled about his election to the NAS, he also recognized the significance of his achievement to the trans community.

“This was a total surprise,” Barres said. “I had heard last year that I was nominated but had no idea I had actually been elected.”  Barres said that personally, his election to the Academy was a “nice honor.”

“But the primary significance to me is that it matters for young people. It sends a strong message to them that our country really values science and that they should consider becoming scientists. And of particular importance to me is that this matters to young trans kids. I am the first transgendered person to be elected to the NAS. This helps them to have confidence that they can feel comfortable being who they are, including changing sex, and still be successful in their career, in this case science. They don't have to choose between the two (identity and career).

“Young people should never let anyone make them feel bad about who they are--their differences are often their greatest advantages in life! I have been contacted by so many talented young trans kids (and I meet with them at every Society for Neuroscience meeting and hear their personal stories) who tell me their parents strongly resist their changing sex because they will lose their careers. That they can point to me as an example that this is not true really matters.

“When I decided to change sex 15 years ago I didn't have role models to point to. I thought that I had to decide between identify and career. I changed sex thinking my career might be over. The alternative choice I seriously contemplated at the time was suicide, as I could not go on as Barbara. Very fortunately, my academic colleagues have been incredibly supportive and my fears were far worse than reality. I hope that my election to the academy will help young trans scientists (and LGBT folks in general) to see this.”

Congratulations Dr. Barres for your groundbreaking National Academy of Sciences election.  Thank you for being a strong voice criticizing the gender divide in science and being a role model to our kids who may be considering careers in science, education and technology fields.

Thank you for proving once again to our naysayers that transpeople, if given the opportunity, can excel in any field.

CNN-The Caucasian News Network

When my family installed cable in our home back in the early 80's, one of the things as a news junkie I absolutely loved was CNN.  From James Earl Jones distinctive voice in its commercials announcing 'This Is CNN' to having Bernard Shaw as one of its early anchors.  It was one of the channels I turned to when I wanted to keep up with what was happening in the nation and the world.

But that's over now.   I've been more than pissed at CNN for a lot of reason from the rightward drift in its coverage, CNN President Jeff Zucker's initial hires only being white journalists to its refusal to have non-white anchors on except on the weekends and in the mornings.

The CNN relaunch ad that is at the top of the post didn't help, since the only non-white folks in it are Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria.  It also served to bitterly remind us in the African American community CNN has lost Black and Latino anchors off its airwaves such as TJ Holmes, Tony Harris, Rick Sanchez, Soledad O'Brien and  Roland S. Martin in stark contrast to rival MSNBC embracing diversity. 

My fellow Houstonian and 2013 NABJ Journalist of the Year wasn't shy in verbalizing his thoughts as to why CNN has had a problem with diversity.

"You have largely white male executives who are not necessarily enamored with the idea of having strong, confident minorities who say, 'I can do this,'" he said. "We deliver, but we never get the big piece, the larger salary, to be able to get from here to there."



People of color are all over MSNBC in a variety of capacities from contributors to anchors such as Tamron Hall, Rev. Al Sharpton, Melissa Harris-Perry, Karen Finney, Victoria DeFrancesco Soto and Joy Reid just to name a few of the faces you'll see there along with Martin Bashir and Alex Wagner.  It's also led to an astounding 61% growth in MSNBC's African-American audience as well. 

The dearth of CNN African-American and Latino anchors has led me to stop watching what I sarcastically call the 'Caucasian News Network' and go elsewhere to channels like MSNBC, for national and international news.  I'm not supporting a channel that won't hire or use pundits who look like me.   

It ain't just me complaining about the ethnic cleansing that's happened at CNN.  The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists also ain't liking what has happened at CNN either.

In a multicultural nation, it is vitally important if you want balanced news to have viewpoints coming from a diverse group of people.   News executives, 'diverse group of people' doesn't mean old white men, young white men, liberal white men, or conservative white men with a white female or two thrown into the mix.

It means Black and Latino folks need to be at your news anchor desks since we do represent a sizable chunk of the US population.  I can even tolerate conservatives as long as somebody is sitting at that desk to counter their crap.  

I also want somebody sitting at that desk that reflects my lived experiences as well. 

Brandi's In JET Magazine!

If you search the JET magazine archives in Google books, you'll find articles on Black trans women throughout its nearly 60 years of publication that run the gamut from positive to not so positive.

Some of those JET articles were light years ahead of the mainstream media in terms of respectfully using correct pronouns while others would be right at home in our current media environment when it comes to covering trans women of color.

We even had a girl like us appear as a JET Beauty of the Week.in its August 20, 1981 issue in the late actress Ajita Wilson

There's a saying in the African-American community that you haven't made it until you appear on the pages of JET or EBONY.

I was deliriously happy and pleased to discover via Janet Mock and ELIXHER that JET"s April 29 issue contained a one page article featuring Washington DC trans woman Brandi Ahzionae.

29 year old Brandi opens up about her journey to be a girl like us in that JET issue that may still be available on your grocery store magazine racks with the 'Missing And Black' cover story.  

Brandi was subsequently interviewed on the electronic pages of ELIXHER.   She said something in the ELIXHER interview I enthusiastically agree with, especially in light of the ongoing journalistic hate crime being perpetrated by the Cleveland Plain Dealer aimed at Cemia Acoff.


I’d like to see Black trans women portrayed in a more positive light. I want the media to give us just as much of a right to be “normal” as anyone else. This is an opportunity to start a movement and gain some respect in the transgender community. The T in LGBT is excluded. We are a separate issue and people need to learn this.

Amen Brandi and congratulations on continuing the tradition of Black trans women being featured in one of our community's iconic magazines.    

Our Birth Names Are Not Germane To Telling Our Stories

Was having a conversation Saturday with my little sis from another mother Jordana in which we touched on the jacked up news coverage of Cemia's death and the AP Stylebook guidelines for covering trans people.

We noted how the Cleveland Plain Dealer seems to have adopted flipping the journalistic middle finger at the Cleveland trans community in their Cemia Dove Acoff coverage and also talked about the disrespectful reporting incidents in New York with Lorena Escalera and Los Angeles with Cassidy Vickers that pissed off people in those trans communities as well.

By the way, here's what the AP Stylebook currently states about covering transpeople  . 

transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.   
If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

Fortunately I'm seeing a lot less instances of media outlets putting a trans persons chosen or new name in quotation marks.  But with the way some of the media outlets have been backsliding on or straight up ignoring the AP Stylebook guidelines lately, I won't be surprised to see that odious news article tendency make a comeback.

What I and a lot of transpeople are also concerned about is seeing in far too many stories about us lately adding the line 'born as ___________'  or 'legal name is __________'.

I'm proposing that since many transpeople find this problematic, another line be added to the AP Stylebook guidelines or the NGLJA and GLAAD stylebooks that state that we find this problematic and they not do it.

You already know by stating the person is transgender is sufficient enough for the average reader of your story to know that the person you're writing about wasn't born with the gender characteristics they currently have.  So why add the birth name of that person unless you're deliberately trying to be disrespectful or salacious?   

I also can't stress this point enough that transpeople consider you using the name that matches their current gender presentation as a sign of respect of their lives.   

I've had a longstanding policy in any interview I do that my birth name is none of your business.   I've noticed that other trans people are also doing the same thing these days.  When Kylan Wentzel declined to give her old name to a reporter, I noted the tone of the article tuned pissy when she did so.  

Reporters, so don't get mad when we insist in only giving you the names that correspond with the way we live our lives now.  
I'd advise my trans younglings who are fortunate enough to get the opportunity to be interviewed from this day forward to decline to answer that question.  Far too often what I've observed is that your old name gets used to attack and misgender you. 

If we can respect Cher, Sir Elton John, Tina Turner and Sting and a long list of celebrities and politicians by not pointing out their birth names are Cherilyn Sarkisian, Reginald Dwight, Anna Mae Bullock and Gordon Sumner, why do we insist that somehow it's different for trans people and we MUST know their old names they no longer identify with?  Are we not worthy of the same media respect that a cis person gets? 

My birth name or the birth name of any trans person you're writing about in many instances is not only not germane to the story, it's a derailing distraction. 

So if you're concerned about writing a story respectful to our community and the trans person in question, how about simply focusing on our lives in their current manifestation? 

Lorena Escalera-One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of the day that 25 year old Lorena Escalera was found dead in her Brooklyn apartment following a suspicious fire.   The model and member of the House of Xtravaganza was found during the subsequent investigation to have died by strangulation and suffocation suffered BEFORE the fire started at approximately 4 AM.  

However, the New York Times and the rest of the New York media decided to engage in an all too familiar pattern in media coverage of the deaths of POC trans women and sensationalize it. 

As Janet Mock stated about the coverage of Lorena at the time:

“As my city's and our nation's paper of record, I would expect the New York Times to treat any subject, regardless of their path in life, with dignity.”

"In Lorena Escalera's life she was so much more than the demeaning, sexist portrait they painted of girls like us. It goes beyond a ‘choice of words.’ According to the Times' limiting, harmful portrait of Lorena, she was nothing more than a ‘curvaceous’ bombshell for men to gawk at. That is not the ‘personal’ story of any woman, and until we treat trans women like human beings - in life and death - with dignity, families and struggles, our society will never see us beyond pariahs in our communities."
.

It's now a year later and her killer or killers still haven't been brought to justice and the murder remains unsolved.   Lorena's friends and family want NYPD to move forward on the investigation.  

They want justice for Lorena.   So do we as her trans brothers and trans sisters.  And as the Good Doctor says, justice delayed is justice denied.   It's past time for the process to begin so that the wastes of DNA who killed her can be punished for it and justice can finally happen for Lorena and all the people who loved her.

Mr T: Treat Your Mother Right Video

Well, since it's Mother's Day and I'm going to be spending it with my mother and grandmother, definitely thought this is the day this video needed to be posted.

It's Mr. T doing his 'Treat Your Mother Right' video from the 80's.  (God I miss that decade and the 70's).

 

NBJC-A Celebration Of Motherhood

TransGriot Note: From The National Black Justice Coalition

A true celebration of motherhood encompasses mothers from all walks of life. As we celebrate Mother's Day, we must remember the many mothers in the Black lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, because motherhood transcends categories such as sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.

The history of motherhood in the Black LGBT community is replete with many women mothering against the odds. Disparities that mothers often face like equal pay for equal work, providing safe environments for themselves and their children, and finding good schools for their children are all exacerbated by issues like homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

"When I had my first son, I kept hearing that I was going to fail my son due to my sexual orientation," says NBJC Leadership Advisory Council Member Kamora Herrington. "I'm currently raising my second son, a 15-month old, and I can now say with confidence that Black lesbian moms raise amazing sons."

We salute our lesbian, bisexual and trans mothers. Women like Alice Walker, June Jordan, and Miss Major are all mothers who dared to raise their children in spite of the oppression they encountered. These women challenged stereotypical notions of what it means to be a provider and expanded the narrative around motherhood. In our community, motherhood is not just having children, but it is also a matter of providing a space for our youth to find safety, support and love.

"The Mother in the House Ball culture plays an integral part in the lives of LGBT people who often times have been disinherited from their biological families based solely on their gender identity or sexual orientation," says Icon Mother Ayana Christian of Royal House of Christian.  "I have had the privilege and honor of nurturing the spirit and souls of so many adolescents and young adults over the last 14 years. The most amazing thing about it for me is knowing that, despite the fact that I have not birthed them from my own womb, their lives have my distinct imprint of motherhood."

  

The National Black Justice Coalition believes that the celebration of motherhood should be more than a symbolic gesture. That is why we are committed to supporting legislation that strengthens Black families. We are proud to support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF), a bill that would empower Black LGBT parents to provide homes to the nation's hundreds of thousands of kids in our foster care and adoption system by denying federal funds to states that discriminate against adoptive and foster parents on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. However, even amidst these challenges, resilient Black LGBT people have continued to raise families and give love.

Mother's Day is not only a celebration, but a reminder of the hard work that our lesbian, bisexual and trans mothers undertake daily.

We salute all those who mother to make this world a better place for our community.

Happy Mother's Day

A Labor Of Love

TransGriot Note: Shakira wrote this on April 20 and posted it in our The Tea Spot Facebook  group just a few days before she passed away.  It was penned to mark the occasion of her mother's April 19 birthday.   I promised I'd give it some visibility in the wake of her death and I can't think of a better day than Mother's Day to share this with the rest of the world.

A LABOR OF LOVE
by Shakira Daneshia Gordon Garr

As each day passed with the setting of the sun, although your work seemed tedious, it was strength, courage, faith, that moved you to get it done. Flying high above adversity, as if GOD gave you wings of a dove. Nothing could stop the unconditional feeling presented to you by A LABOR OF LOVE.

It was your hope of the future of this generation,that motivated you to complete your task. Given the gift of the opportunity to instill our Heritage without being asked. The innocence you carried became the gardens you would tend, nothing would keep you from your farming, it was determination of your nurturing technique, that would help you see the seed you planted grow to the end.

Even though the weeds did come to destroy your path, Your motherly instincts taught you, that those weeds could not stay long or last. So you pressed forward with protection and prayers to the above. For like the others who had come before you, this was your time to have A LABOR OF LOVE.

Like a warrior you stayed, battles you fought, victories were made. Joy overshadowed sorrow and the foundation had finally been laid. Now its time to reap the salvation of your bountiful harvest of that nurturing heart. The seeds stand grateful of your journey, because you refused not to do your part. I celebrate your love, teachings, knowledge, and time you put into an unknown abyss. For without your tenacity, strength, courage, and faith our bloodline would not continue to exist.

Your irreplaceable wisdom still grows to this day, As each and every harvest passes and the sun moves to set in the same way. You are priceless, a blessing to the earth from the heavens above. For I know without a shadow of doubt. My legacy would not be, without you taking A LABOR OF LOVE.

This Week In The Texas Lege 2013-Weeks Ending May 3-11

It's May, and the Lege is still busy (or not busy) passing laws that will affect everyone in the Lone Star State.  That's good news for anti-LGBT issues but bad news for legislation that will positively benefit our community. 

Equality Texas Field Organizer and Legislative Specialist extraordinaire Daniel Williams breaks it all down for you.as the clock ticks down to crunch time in this 2013 Texas Legislative session.

Week Ending May 3




Week Ending May 10