Black History Month 2011

Well, today is the first day of Black History Month, started by Carter G. Woodson in order to help and encourage our people to learn more about our past, document our present so that we make informed choices about our future.

As a child and godchild of historians and a lover of history myself,  I believe that every month is Black History Month and I revel in it 365 days a year, 366 in a leap year.

It's one of the missions of this blog to find and document the lost history of transpeople of African descent, and compile the current history being made so that our transkids growing up now and Black transpeople in general know that they have played major roles in shaping the 'T' part of the TBLG community and are expanding beyond that to impact the cis African American and cis communities as well.

We have some interesting stories to tell.    And I'll also bring some of those interesting nuggets of Black trans history to the forefront in addition to whatever Black history I feel moved to comment on for the next 28 days.

Ohio GOP Governor Cuts Trans People Out Of Anti-Discrimination Executive Order

From now on, I don't want to hear ANY Republican or independent tell me the bull feces that there's no difference between the two parties..

When you're part of a marginalized community, which party control the government at the local, state and federal level when one party pushes civil rights and the other is hell bent on rolling them back is of ginormous importance.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) issued an executive order in 2007 that banned discrimination in state employment for TBLG people.  The order declared that no state employee could be fired from or denied a state job on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Fast forward to 2010 and GOP control of the Ohio state government.    Governor John Kasich (R) let that executive order expire despite a campaign promise to the contrary.   But after getting major flack over it issued a revised executive order that left out guess who?

The list of protected groups in the revised anti-discrimination order is a bit lengthy, protecting state employees or job candidates from discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, military status, disability, age, genetic information or sexual orientation.
 

Gender identity, which was in the Strickland executive order, is missing from the Kasich one.

“The governor is opposed to discrimination in state employment and has made that clear in this executive order in the way that he feels is most appropriate,” said spokesman Scott Milburn in a statement to reporters.

Umm hmm.   Yep, screw the transpeeps..

So for all you Ohio transpeople who voted GOP or didn't vote at all on November 2, elections have consequences.   It's also past time for you to realize that the Republican Party, when it comes to civil rights issues, is not your friend.

Tampa Mom Takes Teen Kids Out Of This World

Kids, when your mother tells you the classic line "I brought you into this world and I can take you out", believe it. 

I'd also advise you to cease and desist with whatever behavior of yours is pissing her off.

16 year old Calyx Schenecker and her 13 year old brother Beau were shot and killed by their mother Julie Powers Schenecker in Tampa, FL  for 'mouthing off' to her.

Police reportedly stated that Schenecker said her son Beau had been talking back to her while on the way to his soccer practice when she shot him twice with a .38 in the family SUV.   She then returned home and shot Calyx twice while she sat in front of her computer doing homework. 

The Army wife had written a note in which Schenecker said she was going to kill her "disrespectful children," then kill herself, writing," "they talked back and were mouthy and that she was going to take care of it."

She's facing two counts of first degree murder. 

Pam's Ponderings-The T-Life Isn't For This Trans Girl

TransGriot Note: The thoughts of author Pamela Hayes


I don’t want anyone to think that I hate trans women because I do not. I am a trans woman, who doesn’t care if a trans girl is pre or post op. I have something in common with her. We all could find ourselves on the receiving end of discrimination.

Violence could be perpetrated against us.

We all are ridiculed. Mocked. There are men who have sex with us, but behind our backs make fun of us to other people.

So we trans women are in this together.

But I find it infinitely easier to deal with mainstream society and natal women and men than SOME trans people. It is easier for me, a trans woman, to be in mainstream society with a reputation as a trans woman than it is being a trans woman in the trans community.

To put it bluntly, some t-girls are hard to deal with. Unless you’re in the same boat she’s in, she is not your ally.

In the straight community, I can put on a dab of makeup, a casual outfit and my earrings and I’m told that I look nice and I receive compliments.  Great!   Most people are truly warm and receptive to me.

But when I’m around some transsexuals, I can feel the shade. They feel that I should have on more makeup. One time, Miss Ava Loren, who fancied herself an expert makeup artist, painted me.

She applied heavy foundation and eyeliner and gobs of green eye shadow. She put on lip liner, followed by lipstick and then lip gloss. “Girl, you look fierce,” she exclaimed, looking at me, admiring her handiwork, I suppose.

I took a look at myself in the mirror and I was horrified.

With all that damn gloss, my mouth was so greasy looking, it appeared as if I ate a 10 piece bucket of KFC and neglected to wipe my mouth.

Ava and I had planned to hit the mall and I was not venturing outside with all that shit smeared on my face. “This isn’t me. I’m going to wash this off,” I told her. Her expression indicated that she didn‘t like hearing that.

“Don’t make me no never mind,” she said.

So, I redid my makeup. “Humph!” She sucked her teeth. Examining her garishly painted acrylic nails, she said, “Now, you look like regular fish.”

“That’s my objective,“ I said, resisting the urge to cuss Ava out for having a smelly attitude. I didn't want to parade around in all that ridiculous looking makeup. She acted like I stole her hormones.

And my 6’1 stature is an issue with trans girls who are shorter. I love being tall. Sometimes, it is a challenge finding clothes that are long enough. And some t-girls have denigrated me for being tall. But when my life is compared to theirs, I can say, I did it. I went from a gay man to a pre-op to a post-op who functions in mainstream society as a woman.  And I can say cheerily, I am not doing it in stealth.

I have a family, a home. My husband makes terrific money and he is generous to me. I have free reign with the money and credit cards. And some of the trans girls have accused me of lying about my wonderful life.

Those bitches are just jealous. But for those types, I’m not tolerating their pathetic shit. I refuse to be around them.  What I’ve done. They could do it too. If a trans woman can stomach some of the annoying, petty crap that goes on in the t-community--the shade. Jealous trans women hating on you, running around badmouthing you to people because she’s envious.

Trans women fighting over “tranny chasers” who don’t give a damn about them. If you can endure that, and God knows, I couldn’t, you can take the bit of iciness that you may encounter in mainstream society. Believe me, it’s much easier to deal with.

SNL Very Unfunny Skit

I was flipping channels Saturday night and tuned it on Saturday Night Live looking to see if I could catch Nicki Minaj performing on the show.

Seems like I missed what has the trans community doing a slow burn right now.

They had a parody commercial for a product called Estro-Maxx which has the trans not too happy right now with the show thanks to
another medically inaccurate misrepresentation of trans lives.



They and some people watching it may have thought it was funny, but MAGNET .and many of our allies aren't laughing.

Ashley Love, a founder of MAGNET, explains, “ Instead of showing the characters as women who were treating their transsexual and/or intersex birth challenge by undergoing legitimate medical transition to have their mind in alignment with their body, they were blatantly mis-gendered and depicted as “men in dresses” and transvestites. It’s unbelievable that such a tele-hate-vision crime would air on NBC, a public network.”


I didn't find it funny either.  As someone who comes from a people who were denigrated with blackface minstrel shows since the 1830's, and once again by a gay male doing a blackface character, the Estro Maxx skit not only fell flat with me, the inaccuracies in the fake ad also bothered me as well.


Don't waste your breath telling me the bullshyt 'lighten up', 'it's a joke' or 'you're too sensitive about this'.  When you're a marginalized community that doesn't have much civil rights coverage and you're fighting tooth and nail for laws to protect your civil rights, much less keep them from being rolled back, media images matter.


And for those people who claim that no one pays attention to what's said on Saturday Night Live, ask Sarah Palin or the McCain campaign.