Queerty's Dead

You long time TransGriot readers know there was no love lost between me and Queerty.   It could be at times transphobic, racist, sexist, __________ (fill in the blank)...but it had its loyal followers.

Was shocked to read that Queerty has closed shop

A message from Queerty

After more than five years of serving the LGBT community with news and entertainment, Queerty has come to a close. The decision to shutter the site was not an easy one to make, and it is with great pain that we say goodbye to our loyal readership. From all of Queerty's writers and contributors, from our first unto our last day, thank you for spending some time with us.

—Queerty and 353Media

 It's sad when any blog shuts down, but especially one that has been around for five years.    Needless to say for those who spent their web surfing time perusing it, it's a big loss.

For those of us who had to deal with all the 'isms' peddled by this blog, good riddance.

Women Of Color Bloggers

How did I miss this one? This Nordette Adams BlogHer article was posted February 27, 2010 and talks about a decade of Women of Color bloggers.

Guess who gets mentioned as a blogger that people consider influential or they simply like. My blogging homegirl Renee and Womanist Musings is mentioned, along with Latoya Peterson's Racialicious (where I've had some guest posts pop up from time to time), Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, Tami of What Tami Said, Twanna Hines of Funky Brown Chick, and Gina McCauley of What About Our Daughters

Wow.

It's a blessing and an honor that I was mentioned with some pretty lofty blogging company. It lets me know that the long hours and hard work I put into making this blog informative and entertaining for you to read has gotten your attention even if I question that at times.

But what is more gratifying and important to me is that it has the respect of my readers and my blogging peers.

Guest Blogging At Feministe Until September 13

Wanted to let you loyal TransGriot readers know that my two week guest blogging stint at Feministe starts today and runs until September 13.

You can check out my initial post over there by clicking this link.

My game plan is to write a mix of posts exclusive to Feministe, some cross posts from TransGriot, and maybe a TransGriot classic or two.

But as always, the goal is to make sure it's thought provoking.

Guest Blogging At Feministe!

I received another surprise when I recently checked my e-mail and discovered one from Jill of Feministe.

It was an invitation for the TransGriot to do a two week guest blogging stint there. I accepted it and you'll see my guest posts appearing there starting on August 31.

It's an honor as a transwoman of African descent to be extended an invitation to guest blog there. You know I'll be 'representin' and telling it like it T-I-S is a I always strive to do here at TransGriot.

Renee of Womanist Musings will be guest bogging over there as well starting August 17 along with one of my regular readers Bint Alshamsa of My Private Casbah (July 13). Frau Sally Benz from Jump Off The Bridge guest blogging stint starts August 3, and Queen Emily from Questioning Transphobia started guest blogging over there June 29.

So check out Feministe and some of the great commentary that I'm sure we'll all be producing just as we do on our own blogs.

10 Worst Countries To Be A Blogger

The Internet and especially the blogosphere have become invaluable for the dissemination of information to the chagrin of political spinmeisters, the powers that be and repressive regimes trying to restrict the free flow of information.

With increasing internet penetration in the rest of the world blogging cultures have exploded in Asia and the Middle East. Unfortunately, as the Committee to Protect Journalists will tell you, the repressive governments in the region are moving just as quickly to stifle the information revolution before it gets started.

The CPJ just published their list of the 10 Worst Countries to Be a Blogger. Click on the link to discover why they made the list.

1. Burma
2. Iran
3. Syria
4. Cuba
5. Saudi Arabia
6. Vietnam
7. Tunisia
8. China
9. Turkmenistan
10. Egypt


The CPJ determined this dishonor list by compiling a series of questions compiled by Internet experts to assess blogging conditions worldwide.

* Does a country jail bloggers?
* Do bloggers face harassment, cyber-attacks, threats, assaults, or other reprisals?
* Do bloggers self-censor to protect themselves?
* Does the government limit connectivity or restrict access to the Internet?
* Are bloggers required to register with the government or an ISP and give a verifiable name and address before blogging?
* Does a country have regulations or laws that can be used to censor bloggers?
* Does the government monitor citizens who use the Internet?
* Does the government use filtering technology to block or censor the Internet?

These criteria were used by CPJ regional experts to nominate countries for this list. The final ranking was determined by a poll of CPJ staff and outside experts.

Villager's May 2009 Black Blog Rankings

Go Moni! It's your birthday month! Go Moni! It's your birthday month!

And now that the celebration of the blessing of me getting another year older is out of the way, let's see if I'll be doing more dancing as I peruse the latest edition of Electronic Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

The BBR's started in September 2007 with 75 ranked blogs and has exponentially grown since them to become a much anticipated monthly event in the Afrosphere.

In our last episode of tracing TransGriot's climb up the BBR mountaintop, I was still as of the April 12 compilation date of that month's BBR's whining about my stagnant 150 Technorati ranking, but for some reason still managed to climb to a Number 43 BBR ranking.

In May the BBR's ranked 1659 blogs, which is an increase of 30 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still, all together gang, Pam's House Blend. (bowing in direction of North Carolina) If you wish to see Numbers 2-25, check the link. The full May BBR ranking list is here.

The 2009 Blogging While Brown Conference is June 19-20 in Chicago, and the TransGriot is seriously thinking about going if I can make it fit my schedule. If I can commit to it, I'll announce it on the blog.

So let's get to it, how did the birthday girl do this month?

Well, I'm a little disappointed I didn't make it to my goal of reaching the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday. I did finally start making forward progress in both the upward mobility and see a rise in my Technorati ranking after three months of stagnation, but the three months of treading water around the 150 mark killed any shot I had of achieving that goal.

So where's TransGriot now? As of the May 10 compilation date the blog has a BBR ranking of 37 and a Technorati ranking of 159.

I jumped 6 spots in the BBR's and gained 9 points. I knew that continuing to create quality posts and adhering to that standard would eventually pay off.

So that means I need to set a new target goal. It's still reaching the Top 25 BBR's and the 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day, September 7.

Since it's going to take a lot of labor for me to get to that level by that date, making that a target date seems apropos.

Okay, time to me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake and get busy.

Renee Won!

Congratulations to my podcast partner Renee at Womanist Musings! She was a double winner in the 2009 Canadian F-word Blog Awards.

See, Renee. Told ya your hard work would be recognized. ;)

She won in the Best Political Blog and Best Feminist Blog: Oh Canada! Categories. To me it's even cooler because it's recognition from her countrypeeps.

If I had a Timmy's nearby I'd grab a few doughnuts, some coffee and toast you with it.

But alas, the closest one to me is three hours drive time in Columbus, OH so I'll have to hit my local Krispy Kreme instead.

Congrats, sis. It's just the first batch of many awards headed your way for your quality writing on Womanist Musings and it only took you a year to start getting them.

Tell It WOC Speak April Carnival Up

The third installment of the 'Tell It WOC Speak' blog carnival is up, and thanks again to Renee for all of her hard work putting this together on the dedicated site for it to showcase the work of WOC bloggers.

The apropos theme this month is Voices Have Power.

It's past time as women of color bloggers to realize that we need to use our individual and collective voices to speak truth to power and stand up to injustice and intolerance.

Take some time to surf over to the site and check out some wonderful writers. Yeah, you know I made sure I submitted some posts, too. I think it's important enough for me to do so, and it introduces my writing to people that may not have discovered my blog.

If you want to be a part of the May 15 WOC Speak Carnival get cracking now and submit those posts for the next installment.

Villager's April 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The 2009 NCAA college basketball champions on both the men's and women's sides have been crowned, the 2009 major league baseball season has started, I'm a few weeks shy of another birthday, and the Afrosphere is ready to peruse the latest edition of the Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the BBR's ranked 1629 blogs, which is an increase of 8 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend.

For the rest of the blogs ranked 2 to 25 and beyond you can click on the rankings link to discover who they are.

As for TransGriot, in last month's rankings I was as of the March 8 compilation date sitting at Number 46 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do this month? As of the April 12 compilation date, TransGriot was Number 43 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

My Technorati ranking is making as much upward progress as my 401k lately. I've had the same ranking for the last three BBR's, but inched up three more spots in the BBR's.

Go figure.

I'm also running out of time in terms of getting up to my goal of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday.

But all I can do is suck it up, go back to writing the same insightful, informative and entertaining commentary I've always do and have faith that the rankings and Technorati rating catch up with the quality of the writing.

Vote For Renee!

The voting for the Canadian F-Blogs Awards has started and my broadcast partner Renee's Womanist Musings blog has received six nominations for one of the awards.

She's in the running for the Best Canadian Feminist Blog Category, and the first elimination round started today and will run through the 14th. I'll make it easy on you and provide the link to the ballot.

I think it's great that she's finally beginning to get some recognition for the quality, tell it like it T-I-S is writing she puts together at Womanist Musings.

We bloggers have many reasons for starting our blogs, and we don't consciously start them seeking to grab up every award in sight. But when you're nominated for them because you do the hard work, and the peeps that create these awards and your readers like what you do enough to nominate you for them, it's nice to get the affirmation.

So show her some love and give her a little support.

Installing IntenseDebate

Because of the negativity that has recently intruded my cyberhome, I decided to go ahead and install the IntenseDebate commenting system in order to better manage the comments.

I thank my regular commenting family for coming in for the last several years and creating some stimulating debate on the various topics I post here. But there are fools who basically want to turn discussions into WWE wrestling matches, especially since I tackle topics that don't neatly fit with their worldview, and I'm tired of it.

My increasing profile and attention across the Net will only ensure that those troll infestations will increase, not decrease, so I've taken this step to ensure this blog remains a space in which intelligent discourse will continue to reign.

To comment on TransGriot from this point, you'll either have to use your OpenID or register with IntenseDebate before it allows you to post a comment. It also has some cool features as well as the ability to rate a commenter.

I've had the chance to observe it on other blogs I regularly comment on and I think you'll enjoy the enhanced experience as well. I also apologize for any inconvenience the switch may cause in order for us to continue to have substantive conversations here.

Congratulations Renee!

Putting a quality blog together is hard work. It involves long hours just researching info, composing multiple drafts and sometimes multiple edits to get them polished to your satisfaction before you post your thoughts to the world.

So I was happy to hear that my podcast partner was nominated for a 2009 Canadian F-Word Blog Award in the Best Feminist Blog Oh!Canada! English category.

She's been writing thought provoking and quality posts at Womanist Musings for almost a year now, and it's nice to see her Top 25 BBR blog (number 13 last month) finally get the recognition it deserves in her home country as well.

Nominations were accepted starting on April 1st and the last day for them is today.

The First voting/elimination round: April 11-12
Final Vote: April 18-19
Winners announced April 25th

I hope she has better luck than I did with the 2008 Weblog Awards. Congrats for the nomination, Renee and hope it's just the first of many more to come.

Villager's March 2009 Black Blog Rankings

It's a new month, spring is here, and to the breathless anticipation of the Afrosphere, the Villager has compiled and unveiled his March 2009 edition of the Black Blog Rankings.

Will I get closer to my Top 25 BBR pot of gold, or will I be just looking at the rainbow in the sky from last month's position or worse in the BBR Top 50?

This month the BBR's ranked 1621 blogs, which is an increase of 22 blogs over the last ranking period. The Number One BBR ranked blog is, all together now gang, Pam's House Blend. For the rest of the blogs ranked 2 to 25 and beyond you can click on the rankings link to discover who they are.

As for TransGriot, in last month's rankings I was as of the February 8 compilation date sitting at Number 48 with a Technorati ranking of 150.

So how did I do this month? As of the March 8 compilation date, TransGriot was Number 46 with a Technorati ranking of 150

Talk about the luck of the Irish. I'm chuckling to myself and shaking my head because I had the same Technorati ranking, but GAINED two spots. The good news is that I'm STILL in the BBR Top 50 blogs, but progress toward my goal of a 200 Technorati ranking and a Top 25 BBR by my May 4 birthday has been glacial at best and the clock is ticking.

It's been a frustrating month for me Technorati wise because TransGriot's Technorati ranking has yo-yoed up and down and I know it should be far higher based on the traffic I get. It was as high as 154 at one point and has slid to 146. Since it's based on links people, if you like what I do here at TransGriot, show me the love by linking to the blog.

That still won't deter me from channeling my inner Taurus and continuing to come up with fresh commentary on a wide variety of subjects. You can also hear me run my mouth along with my partner Renee of Womanist Musings on our new twice monthly Blogtalkradio show.

So thank you for spending your valuable blog perusing time here, it's deeply appreciated. Hopefully, when I do next month's BBR post I can report some more substantial forward progress.

Thanks For Linking To TransGriot

Wanted to take a moment to say thank you to my regular readers here who comment (hint, hint) read the posts and link to them. I also thank you peeps who have been kind enough to put me in your link lists on your own blogs or subscribe to RSS feeds, follow me on Twitter or just Googled something and your knowledge search brought you here.

I'm working hard to try to keep this blog informative, fresh and come up with features to maximize your precious web surfing time.

While I'm at it, thanks for all of you who've checked out me and Renee of Womanist Musings new Blog talk radio show. We'll be on the air every two weeks and the next one will take place March 28 at 4 PM EDT. If you missed last Saturday's show, it's now archived on the Blog talk radio site. Just as we do on our respective blogs, we'll be coming up and coming at you with provocative, thoughtful and timely show topics. Our guests will be from inside and outside the blogosphere to discuss the issues we focus on.

So tune in as we 'tell you something good'. We had a lot of fun with our last show and it promises to only get better from here. Me and my broadcast partner also thank the 189 people (and counting) who have already checked out the podcast, and that's great for a first time out of the box debut show. You can also join in the conversation by calling (347) 326-9452 on show days.

TransGriot is a Top 50 BBR blog and a 2008 Weblog Award Best LGBT Blog Finalist, but I'm not resting on my laurels. I want to continue to grow and will need your help to do that. I'm honored by the increasing attention that I'm getting from the womanist/feminist blogs and other sectors of the blogosphere.

I recently had a post linked to on BlogHer, so that was a thrill to see my work there along with Racialicious linking to a few of the transgender themed ones. I also thank Latoya for graciously allowing to post the Not Rape Epidemic post here as well.

Thanks to those of you who have sent me e-mail, it's deeply appreciated, and if you're wondering, I love speaking to groups. Just e-mail me the dates and details.

Queerty Transphobia, Racism and White Gay Male Privilege On Display

TransGriot note: Thanks to Zoe at AE Brain, we have a recent comment posted on Queerty that's emblematic of the selfishness, privilege, racism and transphobia inherent in some elements of the GL community.

At the risk of sounding controversial, I visit Queerty because I am a gay white male. I have no interest in 'women issues'. While I'm not opposed to sporadic and infrequent attention to lesbians, I do not want this blog devoting any more time to their cause....

Yeah right, doesn't want to sound controversial but dove right into controversy in the first paragraph. Right off the bat he announces his neo-Mattachine selfishness toward the lesbian community.

Simply because I am gay does not mean I care about lesbians, bisexuals or transgender persons. I don't even know why some people try and group us together as one cause - GLBT - because we are not. I can see some purpose to grouping G + L and even Bs together, but not Ts.

Two reasons, first, we transpeeps were the ones that started the Stonewall Riot 40 years ago that kicked off the movement you Mattachine gays hijacked.

In case you didn't know, and obviously you don't since your transphobia and GWMP is showing, some of my transgender brothers and sisters are GAY and LESBIAN themselves.


I am quite comfortable being male, and I hate being associated with crossdressers. I find Ts offensive and do not want to extend any rights to them. Remember, had we not tried to press for "gender identity" clauses in all legislation, but instead limited it to "sexual orientation", gay marriage would be legal in every state. I have to agree with straights when they observe how bizarre and socially-inept crossdressers are, with their drug use and alcohol abuse.

You're also quite comfortable being a privileged selfish transphobe. It's not 'gender identity clauses that have kept you from gaining marriage equality, it's your inept political leadership and insistence on pushing this issue with conservatives controlling the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court that have caused your marriage equality failure along with your failure to court allies inside and outside the community.

And before you start throwing shade about drug and alcohol abuse, I can bat that ball right back at you about your peeps as well.


Transgender persons should fight their own battles, because at the moment they're hindering the rights of gays, lesbians and bisexuals everywhere.

p.s. I am not opposed to lesbians reading the blog.

Actually dude, it's the other way around. If it weren't for us having to fight rear guard actions against gay males (and lesbians) who thought like you, we transpeople would probably have our rights already. Besides, you've already arrogantly stated in the first paragraph that you didn't care about lesbians or their 'cause'.

btw. In terms of transvestites, I do not hate them. I like the one that appeared on the Tyra show recently. She was very human, although obviously depressed and (before Tyra rescued her) was homeless. This is embarrassing: as gay men try to gain acceptance, we need to do so on the basis that we are educated, affluent and have greater disposable incomes (due to a lack of dependents). Crossdressers go against everything we work to attain.

Your refusal to use the correct terminology to describe TRANSGENDER people already makes a mockery of this paragraph. I damned sure don't appreciate you disrespecting Isis and your GWMP is showing when you pronounced Isis as being depressed without benefit of a PhD in psychology.

Your lack of knowledge about how the rest of the gay community lives is an embarrassment as well. There are far more poor gay people than there are ones in the upper income brackets where you HRCoids are.


I am quite content with how I live my life and, unlike you, I don't need to pretend for a moment that I must have the support of crossdressers so to be successful. I'm very happy surrounding myself with men, both gay and straight, and women, lesbian and straight. I don't need to go looking for peasants or (not to be mean) heshes for some form of validation.

So you're content with being a racist transphobe. This practically screams 'Log Cabin Republican' too.


I did not matriculate with a Juris Doctor in Law so to defend transvestites. I did so for selfless reasons, to work on bringing marriage equality for gay men and lesbians everywhere. It pains me when all our hard work is undermined by crossdressers, most of whom as Tyra shows, are welfare recipients, homeless and addicted to illicit drugs. They're embarrassing and as a "community" bring out reputation into disrepute.

TransGriot readers, here's an example of an 'educated fool'. The major thing that brings this community into disrepute is the breathtaking ignorance you're demonstrating in this comment.

Shannon Minter, the attorney who argued the Cali court decision giving you your marriage rights is a transman. Most of your so called hard work to gain your rights was on the backs of transpeople. Oh BTW, your racism is now on display as well. Not all transpeople are on welfare, drugs, or homeless either.


I will also be the first to admit that I have not done enough to stop Prop 8 or work towards legalizing same-sex marriages. I practice commercial law (and don't believe in pro bono work) so naturally I'm very busy. However, I HAVE made a personal commitment to work towards legalizing same-sex marriage this year. I am happy to boycott businesses, picket churches, etc., and by the end of the year I will know I have made a difference. Yes, I can accept that as of today, I have done very little for our 'cause', but that will change.

Do the gay community a favor and continue to be the self-centered, pompous anus you've demonstrated yourself to be in this comment that I've dissected. While I thank God that there are some GL peeps who are wonderfully inclusive allies, there are far too many peeps in the GL community we run into like this that turn us and potential straight allies away from supporting you on marriage equality issues because of the racist, transphobic selfishness in this comment.

They have the nerve to get their panties in a bunch when people call them on it.