Yesterday The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History added hundreds of photographs, papers and historical objects to its collection to document the history of trans, bisexual, gay and lesbian people.   And in case you're wondering about it, yes, the trans end was ably represented on this day.  One of the trans items donated was a wooden tennis racket from Renee Richards, who turned 80 years old yesterday and was one of the newsworthy trans folks of the 1970's.  After she was… Read more.

The inaugural BlaqOUT Conference will be held April 18-19 on the UC Riverside campus! The University of California, Riverside cordially invites all folks who self identify as Black/African American or of African descent and as Same Gender Loving, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning or somewhere on the LGBT spectrum to apply to attend. So what does it cost to attend BlaqOUT? The Regular Registration Fee is $20 per person selected to attend and a t-shirt is included. The Reduced Registration Fee is $10 per person… Read more.

After another exciting weekend and destroying some Pappas barbecue to celebrate my safe airborne arrival at Hobby, I'm back from my trip inside the beltway for the 2014 edition of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.  So what were my takeaways from this trip? That elements of the community have a serious beef with GLAAD on multiple layers We DEFINITELY need to have deep, ongoing discussions concerning race and class issues in the TBLG community, and non-white LGBT people need to be leading… Read more.

Speech To Houston City Council January 7, 2014 By Monica Roberts Happy New Year and good afternoon to you Mayor Parker, distinguished members of City Council, and my fellow Houstonians. I am Monica Roberts, a proud native Houstonian who grew up and resides in District D. I’m standing at this podium today because I’m one of the people that Mayor Parker talked about in her inauguration speech last week and was inspired by it to do so. As a transgender resident of… Read more.

By Monica Roberts @TransGriot Erik McFadden. Photo: Facebook D. Sage Smith turned 21 on December 13.   But there was no party, no gathering of family and friends around a birthday cake with 21 candles on it to celebrate this milestone occasion because Sage is still missing. And so is the person of interest in this case who probably holds the key to finding Sage in Erik McFadden A vigil for Smith was held on November… Read more.

  Dear Transbrothers, Ever since I met Alexander John Goodrum at the 1999 Creating Change in Oakland I have been in love with y'all and was moved today to declare it publicly. I have had a ringside seat as I watched mid to late 90's leaders like Alexander and Marcelle Cook-Daniels not only step out there to organize your ranks, but lead in our overall trans community and the cities that were blessed to have them live there.  I still… Read more.

What can I say about the person I'm about to have the pleasure of doing this Ten Questions interview with? She's an actress, runway model and legendary house mother of the legendary international House of Xtravaganza.  She's in the iconic documentary Paris Is Burning and How Do I Look, and has led a fascinating life as well that she's contemplating writing a book about (and should). It's time to ask Carmen Xtravaganza the TransGriot's Ten Questions. 1. You're originally born in Rota, Spain… Read more.

Editor's Note: This is part of a series on "stealth." The goal of this series to examine the nuanced ways trans opinion leaders conceptualize stealth and how they feel about it. Suzan Cooke kicked off the series with her article, The Many Shades of Stealth. It should be noted that TA is not endorsing any one view, definition or conceptualization. As with the elephant parable, each perception presented in this series represents one representation of the truth; taken together, it's… Read more.

TransGriot Note: Interesting article from one of the people I had the pleasure of meeting during OUT on the Hill last year, Anti-Intellect, concerning the ignorance bubbling up once again in the Black gossip blogosphere concerning this recent photo Chad Johnson took with girl like us Amiyah Scott The guest post at Funky Dineva is entitled 'What Chad Johnson and Amiyah Scott Can Teach Us About Respecting Transgender Women'. It's a call for the Black community to chill with the… Read more.

She's been hard at work at it for several months, but yesterday Jenifer Rene Pool made it official and announced her candidacy for the Houston City Council At Large Position 3 seat on the steps of Houston City Hall. And yeah, some blogger y'all know was there for the announcement a little after 3:30 PM CDT.  I wanted to be there to witness Houston and trans history. If Jenifer is successful in this second run for a city council seat,… Read more.

Here's a documentary focusing on our Indonesian trans sisters.   They have been catching hell there lately, and the anti-trans attitudes whipped up by fundie Muslims even affected a 2010 international trans conference held there. The anti-trans hatred is felt even more keenly by our Indonesian trans sisters who are Muslims who simply want to be themselves and practice their faith. http://youtu.be/SJTzMHDaOlg Cross-posted from TransGriot Read more.

And how many more Black and Latina trans women have to die before you do so? How many more transpeople have to suffer from anti-trans discrimination before you step up to the plate and do what you should have done years ago? How much more hate speech do they have to publish online at RadFem Hub and Gender Trender before you call them on it? You have four decades worth of evidence that point out the TERF's are a hate… Read more.

We won't have a girl like us competing in the Miss USA 2013 pageant next month because Kylan Wenzel unfortunately didn't win the Miss California USA pageant. I'll still have somebody else to root for besides the women of color and my Lone Star state representative when I watch the pageant on June 16 and see who  Miss USA 2012 Nana Meriwether crowns as her successor. . My friends in the intersex community are excited to learn that Miss Michigan USA… Read more.

The last time I posted on the murder of Milwaukee trans man and rapper Evon Young five suspects, 37 year old Ron Allen, 23 year old Devin Seaberry, 26 year old Billy Griffin, 18 year old Ashanti Mcalister, and 27 year old Victor Stewart had been arrested and charged with Young's murder. In a January 31 court hearing they defendants all plead not guilty to the first-degree intentional homicide charges they face. The charges come with a maximum life in prison sentence… Read more.

I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence that are taking away far too many under 30 transwomen of color before they've had a chance to live their lives.  We are not only losing them, but their potential contributions and talents toward building all the communities we intersect and interact with.   TransGriot  April 5, 2013 29 year old Kelly Young, 30 year old Ashley Sinclair and 20 year old Ce Ce Acoff until this… Read more.

It's not a lifestyle (and I hate that conservaterm).  When you swallow those hormones or take those first shots of testosterone or estrogen, it causes seismic shifts in your life that mere cis people can't begin to comprehend. But if we're going to gain trans human rights coverage and make transphobia as unpalatable as racism, homophobia or sexism are, we're going to have to do our best to make them understand. The day I swallowed my first hormone I no… Read more.

I've discussed in the over 6500 posts on this blog (and had fun eviscerating ) these seven transphobic tropes that seem to constantly pop into articles about this community and radfem hate screeds. Questioning Transphobia has a excellent series of articles that eviscerate the seven most common anti-trans arguments.  And you know as a TransGriot public service I'm going to make it easy for you to find them. Thanks to Questioning Transphobia's Queen Emily for the hard solid thinking and… Read more.

I'm blessed to have some pretty smart people around me as you can tell by some of the conversations that get started on my Facebook page. Sometimes those profound conversations get cranked up by some post I've written.  There are times it happens because either I or somebody else starts doing some hard solid thinking about whatever subject we were tackling at the moment and a comment jump starts a thoughtful conversation. I wrote a post about a Houston area… Read more.

One of the things that mystifies me is why The Southern Poverty Law Center hasn't declared Trans Exterminationalist Radical Feminism as a hate group.   Could it be because the rumor may be true that a TERF works for SPLC and squashes the subject every time it comes up in SPLC circles? SO if you think I being harsh when I call this group of rad fems Whyte Womyn Gone Wyld, trans oppressors or wonder why I have zero tolerance for their hate… Read more.

I've talked in the blog about the Archie Comics having storylines in which they have done 'what if' gender bending with their hero Archie and reimagined his life twice as a girl in issues 516 and 636.  In Archie 636 they took it a step further and gender swapped Betty and Veronica as well as Archie. Gender fluidity has been present in the comic world for decades but only through fantasy based methods such as magic, shape-shifting, brain-swapping, and cloning via adult or independent… Read more.

As I, the Transgender American Veterans Association, and a host of other people and organizations continue to point out, the 2011 repeal of DADT doesn't include the trans portion of the community. Trans people still have to hide who they are if they want to remain in the military, and for those of us who already transitioned, we can pay taxes, but are not allowed to sign up at the armed forces recruiting centers to serve our country. That's fundamentally… Read more.

Read the PFOX propaganda about Darrell here. Now that the reparative therapy folks have been discredited to the point that some states are considering legislation to ban it, the ex-gay industry is scrambling to shift tactics and amend talking points in order to keep clocking those dollars from faith based groups and conservative donors. They are now setting their sights on targeting the trans community and separating desperate parents misinformed about trans issues from their hard… Read more.

One of the ongoing arguments I hear and I reject whether it comes from the LGB end of the spectrum or the trans end of it is that 'there is no LGBT community'. Granted I've railed more than a few times on this blog about some of the contentious history that has occurred between elements of it, but the evidence is overwhelming that an LGBT community exists. While I believe there is an LGBT community, at the same time I… Read more.

Another one from the TransGriot The Newspaper Column archives that I pined in February 2005 for Black History Month. We Have a History, Too Copyright 2005, The Letter Ever since I was a child I've loved history. I enjoy looking at past events to get an understanding of how the reality of the present took shape. It is then that you can formulate plans to make a better future. The transgender community is starting to come to grips with this… Read more.

Thought I would pass along to you TransGriot readers the wonderful news that Fernanda Milan has been granted asylum in Denmark on November 26. She did not publicize the news according to ILGA Europe at the time because she is angry that she was forced to go through lengthy and grueling proceedings. Asylum was even denied to her in the beginning with the reversal happening only days before she was scheduled to be deported from Denmark. She got a right to be… Read more.

On one of the trans Facebook groups I monitor a post was put up about the gruesome murder of transman  Evon 'Yung LT' Young.  One person remarked in the comment thread under the post that's why she never leaves her home, and of course my response to that comment triggered this post. That's what the haters want...They want you to cower in fear locked up behind your doors. Your most revolutionary act as a trans person is to be fearlessly out… Read more.

Why in Hades is it so hard for professional journalists to get this breathtakingly simple concept? Per the AP Stylebook: 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 individuals live publicly. Once again (sigh), we have another example of media misgendering of a transperson.… Read more.

It's past time it happened, but it took the November 6 election for this welcome news to become a reality. The Puerto Rican legislature is proposing a trans inclusive anti discrimination bill.    It would make it a crime to discriminate against someone based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Until the Popular Democratic Party gained control of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives and the Puerto Rican Senate, this bill would be proposed, pass the House of Representatives, but die… Read more.

Much attention has been focused on the 'War on Women', the anti-woman political policies the conservative movement and Republican politicians have been pushing for years and implementing once they gain political control of state legislatures. And yes, being that we are now estrogen based lifeforms, they affect trans women as well.. Girls like us have been fighting a two front war. Since the 1970's we've had to deal with the War on Transwomen whose reprehensible foot soldiers are radical feminists in addition to… Read more.

The British Transphobic Feminist Troika unleashed their hate speech upon the world last week probably thinking they would get pushback from the trans community they and their acolytes could spin and demonize them with until it quickly blow over. Not this time. This time it isn't just our British trans cousins who are pissed off about the transphobic scribblings.   They got reinforcements from various trans bloggers around the world and pushback from the surprising direction offeminists, allies and other justice minded folks tired of the… Read more.

I've had a neutral opinion about Roseanne Barr over the years but that may be about to change in a negative direction.   She let fly with a series of transphobic tweets that makes me wonder if she went to Michfest this year. The transphobic Twitter exchange was driven by guess what, the bathroom issue. Kola Boof stuck her nose in the middle of this transphobic Twitter mess and unleashed a series of problematic tweets in support of Roseanne. Note to… Read more.

One of the highlights of the 2000 presidential election cycle for me despite the jacked up way it turned out was it was the first time I got to cast a ballot in any election cycle as Moni. I transitioned in 1993 but it took me a few years to get the name changed on much of my paper trail    I was so proud and pleased to show my voter registration card to the poll watcher after standing in… Read more.

South America is quickly becoming the most trans friendly continent on our planet.Argentina just passed a groundbreaking Gender Identity Law and now their next door neighbors in Chile have made some moves that benefit their trans population.Chile will soon cover sex reassignment surgeries under its public health plan in order to allow citizens of limited means to “recover their true sexual identity,” Health Minister Jaime Manalich said. Brazil and Cuba are the other nations in Latin America that offer SRS as… Read more.

Some wonderful news coming out of the Land of Smiles is that an accomplished transwoman and local activist is running for political office. That history making transwoman is 30 year old Yollada 'Nok' Suanyot and she is not only familiar to Thai citizens thanks to newspaper stories about her, she has been one busy and accomplished lady since since she underwent her surgery at age 16. She runs a satellite television station, gained her PhD, was once a member of… Read more.

When the 2012-13 school year rolls around, I'll be joining much of the Big East Conference in hatin' on the University of Pittsburgh for a different reason other than their upcoming 2013 departure from the Big East for the ACC. In a step that would make transphobic rad fems and the Exterminationalist Twins proud, the University of Pittsburgh took a transphobic step backwards in regards to campus gendered facility policy for trans students. Last month the Pitt Anti-Discrimination Policies committee,… Read more.

I've been writing posts about NDP MPP Cheri Di Novo's attempts since 2007 to cover trans people's human rights in Ontario by adding gender identity and expression to the Ontario Human Rights Code via Toby's Act. It was named for Toby Dancer, a music producer and trans parishioner of DiNovo's who committed suicide a few years ago.  She has attempted three times to get this passed but it either has languished in the Ontario Legislature or has died due to… Read more.

When I first began my transition back in 1994 I was concerned whether I'd be able to be the type of girlfriend I wanted to be and needed to be to the women cis and trans who eventually became part of my sistah circle. Don't know why I was concerned about that at the time, but after almost twenty years on this side of the gender fence, as many of you have told me during our conversations I shouldn't have… Read more.

There's no love lost between me and Queertyas many of you longtime readers are aware of.  I've written more than a few times about the failures Queerty regularly gets into when it comes to race and trans people.It seems this rainbow themed site never fails to take the low road when it concerns the way transpeople are covered, the transphobia that is unleashed in its comment threads, the racism it sinks to or with gleefully wallowing in white gay male… Read more.

There has been a story developing in Minneapolis concerning a young African-American transwoman who is being held in jail and facing second degree murder charges for defending herself against a hate attack. 23 year old college student Chrishaun 'CeCe' McDonald and her friends (all African-American BTW) were minding their own business on the night of June 5, 2011 walking to a grocery store in South Minneapolis.   As they passed the patio of the Schooner Tavern white adults on that patio… Read more.

Blake Lively back in 2009 used the problematic T-word in a 2009 Allure magazine interview in which I wrote a post taking her to task for it at the time. It's three years later, and obviously Miss Thang didn't get the message or learn from the recent experiences of Neil Patrick Harris, Kelly Osbourne or Lance Bass. Lively did it again in another interview for the March issue of Elle magazine she's on the cover of. She had this problematic… Read more.

Gay media, did I not succinctly make the points in this 2009 post that RuPaul is not a trans person, emphatically said he was a gay man, and if you want to know what the trans community is thinking about an issue it would behoove you to ask a living breathing transperson? Guess I need to repeat it for Michaelangelo Signorile's benefit and the rest of the gay media and vanillacentric Gayosphere. RuPaul is not a transperson, he is a… Read more.

  For those of you who have been keeping up with the latest news and views in the trans community as the 2k12 goes through week one of the 51 remaining in this year you are probably aware of the kerfluffle that has been building since May over the problematic show Work It. It has garnered protests, pleas from transpeople and our allies to either rewrite, recast or cancel the show with those requests being ignored by ABC and the… Read more.

Well, one of the first names we'll read for the 2012 Transgender Day of Remembrance has been determined and her death happened on all nights, Christmas Eve.I'll slam the transphobic reporting of KCTV 5 'reporters' DeAnn Smith and Nima Shaffe later.   First the details rewritten to follow the AP Stylebook rules for reporting on transgender people 31 year old Dee Dee Pearson was allegedly shot and killed by 26 year old Kenyan E. Jones inside an apartment in the 1000 block… Read more.

For some reason the holiday season has brought another infestation of WWBTism into trans community comment threads from the usual white sheet wearing suspects. Hmm, maybe they're upset because people have been ignoring them and their revisionist bull feces. Before y'all start hollering, "there she goes again' I have a confession to make. Contrary to the spin being propagated in WWBT transsexual world I don't hate 'errbody' who identifies as WBT.   Nor am I in favor of any trans… Read more.

Since we are a few months from the start of the 2012 London Olympic Games, thought I do a few posts about the gender controversies that have cropped up in past ones. I talked about the 1936 Berlin Games in which there was gender drama on two fronts.  Nazi Germany passed off Hermann Ratjen as Dora Ratjen in order to boost their medal count and the 'That's a Man' shade that Stella Walsh threw at Helen Stephens after she beat… Read more.

In certain vanilla scented sectors of the rainbow community they are still throwing hissy fits because President Obama not only beat Hillary in the 2008 Democratic primary, but that he hasn't focused his term on their 'all marriage all the time' political agenda. The 'Obama hasn't done anything for the gay community rant is getting about as tired as hearing the fiction that Lady Gaga does so much for the LGB(t) community. From where I sit, President Obama has been… Read more.

Kelly Osbourne recently opened up in a Glamour UK interview about being cheated on by her ex-fiancé Luke Worrall and let loose some transphobic commentary while doing so. “Having to tell them (my parents) my fiance had cheated on me with a tranny who sold his/her story to the press (was the most uncomfortable moment). It was so humiliating. Everyone kept telling me that Luke was cheating on me, but I never believed them. It’s hard enough to get your… Read more.

There has been no love lost between Dan Savage and anyone in the rainbow community who is not a white gay male, TransGriot included. He is loved by them, but the rest of us see Savage as racist, sexist, transphobic, biphobic, abelist, misogynistic... Well, I could keep waxing poetic about Savage's many sins, but what shocked many of his fans was when he because the first person within the rainbow community to get glitterbombed Tuesday. While onstage at the University… Read more.

And I'm not just talking about our Black history, world history, or American history (although we need to be cognizant of that as well) but our Black trans history. One of the reasons this blog is named TransGriot is because I was tired of Black trans people being unaware of the Black people who walked in our trans shoes before we arrived on this planet to pick up where they left off.  I was tired of us not knowing who… Read more.

Liberal MP Dr.Hedy Fry and NDP MP Randall Peterson just introduced Bills C-276 and C-279 a few days ago in the Conservative majority dominated Parliament. Why did they do so?   Because it's clear that the Great White North and the trans people who live inside its borders need that human rights coverage. A blatant case of anti-trans discrimination has blown up and become international news centered on the Trail's End Farmers Market in London, ON. On September 10 Karen… Read more.

Back in 1977, in the Jefferson's fourth season we were introduced to George's old Navy buddy who was in New York to visit for a few days.   George's buddy had a reputation in the Navy as a practical jokester and he was eager to see his old friend. However, there had been some major changes in the intervening years since George had seen his old buddy, and he was shocked to discover Edie's transition.   He handled their initial… Read more.

One of the things I was contemplating during my downtime at Out on the Hill, while riding the Washington Metro and on the plane ride home is the state of the Black trans community.During the Transgender Person of Color (TPOC) breakout session, one of the things that was foremost on our minds amongst the participants in it was the vast gulf between us and the white trans community on many issues.One glaring issue of difference is one that was pointed… Read more.

While today is a historic and monumental day for GLB people who serve in the military with the death today of the odious Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, there's one part of the rainbow family who still will not be able to serve in our military openly and proudly in the transgender community. Never mind the fact that one of the people who was chained to the White House fence and arrested for protesting the DADT policy was transwoman Autumn… Read more.

According to the DC Trans Coalition,  the city has promised to help address on of the pressing problems in the local trans community in terms of unemployment. As the Injustice At Every Turn report painfully pointed out,  Black transpeople are facing unemployment rates as high as 26% almost double the African American employment rate. The program had a start date of September 12  and would start with an initial class of 20 participants.  The participants would spend the first three… Read more.

I know we're concerned in the States about the spike in anti-trans violence happening here, but it pales in comparison to what's happening in Honduras. I wrote a post expressing my concerns back in May 2009 about how our Honduran transsisters were getting killed and their human rights were being abused in that nation and things for our transsisters there were still problematic as the New Year dawned. Human Rights Watch compiled a May 2009 report during that same period… Read more.

I talked about this issue that Thai transpeople face when they are disqualified for military service by labeling them as mentally ill. There has been a lawsuit filed, activism centered on the issue and changes to that policy are being discussed in the 'Land of Smiles'. Because the birth records of Thai transwomen are not changed to reflect the persons they are now, after age 18 they are subject to being conscripted into the Thai military.  The Thai army routinely… Read more.

If you're wondering what the African-American TBLG/SGL community perspective is concerning President Obama, I can say with certainly it's vastly different from the one expressed by elements of the white GLBT one. To point that out, thought you needed to peruse the Presidential Midterm Report Card that was issued by the National Black Justice Coalition, the organization  that advocates for the African descended TBLG community on issues of concern to our community. As NBJC  Executive Director Sharon Lettman-Hicks pointed out… Read more.

I've said this multiple times on this blog and will continue to say it until you peeps embed this point in your brain cells.   You need to focus on what's between a transperson's ears, not their legs. I'm tired of repeating this obvious point ad nauseum, but if that's what it takes for you recalcitrant gay and straight cis people and elements of the trans community to get it, so be it. It's none of your business what's between mine… Read more.

The fight continues around the globe to respect the human rights of transwomen to get married.   Check out this interview on Indian television with trans activist Kalki. Read more.

While United States transpeople are gearing up for a battle to openly serve in the military long since won in other nations such as Canada, Israel, Spain, the Czech Republic and Australia, our Thai transsisters recently won one just to not be labeled insane by their military for being themselves. In Thailand all males starting at age 21 until age 30 are entered into a subscription lottery to serve two years in the military.   Because as of now in Thailand… Read more.

Tomorrow' ABC will broadcast a Primetime Nightline segment starting at 10 PM EDT/9 PM CDT that will focus on transkids.  The segment will focus on 'Princess Boy' Dyson Kilodavis, Germany's Kim Petras, who started her transition at age 10 and is believed to have been the youngest person ever at age 16 to receive SRS surgery , ten year old Jackie in Ohio and 19 year old New Yorker Vanessa. It will also have on it Charles Kane, the poster… Read more.

Many people in the wake of Katrina's devastating landfall in the New Orleans area were evacuated to Houston and other places in the metro area. New Orleans also has a large cluster of transpeople who were also affected by 80% of the city being flooded in various ways.   Some of them found themselves transported out of the city as evacuees and spending time here in the Houston metro area. One of those evacuees was then 20 year old Sharli'e… Read more.

I was parked in front of the TV like most of trans America watching Don Lemon's interview on The Joy Behar Show, and I spent most of it like Janet Mock and probably countless other people around the country mumbling WTF under my breath Here you had a panel that includes Harmony Santana, Isis King, Laverne Cox and Chaz Bono.  All are groundbreaking people with interesting storylines, and the best you can do in that air time is conduct a… Read more.

I've had the honor of speaking at many types of events.   They range from Trans 101 panels to speaking about trans issues from an African American perspective in college classes to testifying in front of governmental committees on behalf of trans rights issues. But one of the things I'm most proud of is being asked to be a keynote speaker at three Transgender Day of Remembrance events. It happened for me twice (2002-2003) in Louisville and I was honored… Read more.

  Been interesting to note that when it comes to trans issues lately, it seems Latin American nations are leading the way when it comes to positive forward momentum on human rights issues that affect trans people. Brazil's universal health care system not only provides free SRS, they created a national LGBT council that formulates policy recommendations and guidelines aimed at decreasing the discrimination that TBLG people face in the country. Brazilian transwomen from Roberta Close to Lea T are breaking ground in many fields inside… Read more.

Paris Dupree, whose ball provided the name for the iconic 1990 Jennie Livingston documentary about the Harlem ballroom scene and was one of the memorable people in Paris Is Burning has reportedly passed away.    Dupree was founder of the House of Dupree in the 1970's and was one of the last Big Five founding house mothers who appeared in the documentary still alive.  Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Avis Pendavis and Pepper LaBeijia preceded Dupree in death. A memorial service for… Read more.

One of the issues I don't talk about enough is the prevalence of pumping amongst POC transwomen.   It's a subject that is guaranteed to start a vigorous discussion amongst us because the trans women who have resorted to it get defensive about pumping when we talk about the people who weren't so lucky. Talking about the risks of pumping is not by extension those of us broaching the subject  engaging in making moral judgments about their choice to do whatever they wish… Read more.

I see the WWBT's are still hatin. I just spent a lovely two days at a conference in which the participants were laughing at y'all.  They noted the outright hatred you WWBT's have for lil old award winning chocolate me with the blog that 'nobody' reads. Autumn Sandeen at Pam's House Blend just wrote a post that engages in piling on A.G.Casebeer.  Because of my now twelve year and continuing friendship with him, the WWBT's are trying and failing miserably… Read more.

On August 12, 2002 the city of Washington D.C and its trans community were rocked by the execution style killings of two transteens, Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis.They were shot dead by a semi automatic weapon at the same 50th and C Street corner in in Southeast D.C. in which the fatal traffic accident occurred in 1995 that started the chain of events that ended in transwoman Tyra Hunter's deathI've written posts about their murder on the anniversary it happens since 2007,… Read more.

As I've talked about over the last five years on TransGriot, the way a gender transition is experienced for African descended transpeople is vastly different from the way our white counterparts do. The National Black Justice Coalition recently sent me a copy of the report they compiled based on the recently released National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS). Of the 6,456 people who completed the survey that the data was based on, 381 of them were Black or Black multiracial. This… Read more.

While I'm amused at times about the hysteria being whipped up about transpeople and the bathrooms we relieve ourselves in, it is never too far from my mind as a transperson of color that the same arguments people are uttering now about us are the same ones that the Forces of Intolerance fighting to defend Jim Crow segregation were using to defend 'separate but equal' facilities back in the day. I'm more than a little sick of the arguments being… Read more.

You know what I'm upset about right now? The fact I even have to write this post in the first place.. As some of you know earlier Sunday morning I was in a chat with a longtime freind of mine that discussed the odious UN paper that seeks to bar trans rights coverage to transwomen. That friend had a negative interaction a few years ago with one of the authors of that paper that she never apologized for that spurred… Read more.

In the wake of the failure of GENDA to pass and become the law of New York state for the fourth time, there has been some justified anger and venting about the lack of support from the GL community on this issue. But the bottom line is that we trans people also have the ultimate responsibility of looking out for our damned selves just like the New York GL peeps did on the same sex marriage bill and pass the… Read more.