Moni's At Aggieland Tonight

Moni's on her way to Bryan-College Station at this moment to do her first Trans 101 presentation since she returned to the Lone Star State, and it's happening on the Texas A&M campus in College Station.

Thank you Lowell Kane and the Texas A&M LGBT Center for the invite, and it's an honor and pleasure for me to walk the same campus my activist mentors once trod.

If you want the TransGriot to speak on your campus about trans issues, GLBT politics, history et cetera, shoot me an e-mail with proposed dates for when you'd like me to do so.

A Wonderful Discussion At U of L's Ali Institute

It's Pride Week on the U of L campus and I spent a wonderful few hours this afternoon leading a brown bag panel discussion of the subject of gender neutral bathrooms.

It was sponsored by the Muhammad Ali Institute For Peace and Justice, which is located on the second floor of U of L's Ekstrom Library.

As I like to do with any speaking engagement, even though it was a noon start, I like getting there early. I enjoy walking around on college campuses, talking to staff and students and observing what's going on.

I had a chance to chat with Ali Institute staff members Stacy Bailey-Ndiaye, Erika R. Stith, and Mikal Forbush and two Ali Scholar students who dropped in before we got started with the panel discussion.

I also discovered that two of the students attending read TransGriot on a regular basis.

We ended up covering issues beyond just gender neutral bathroom ones. We discussed a wide variety of topics such as intersex issues, Caster Semenya, trans ID issues and race and gender in the hour and ten minutes I was there.

I was also surprised and pleased to get the neat U of L Ali Institute note pad I received as a token of the staff's appreciation when it ended. It's definitely going to be put to good use.

Before I left the U of L campus I paid a courtesy call to Brian Buford and the gang at the Office of LGBT Services. We had a brief discussion about how the event was going as he gave me a quick tour of the place.

Just an FYI, the 2009 edition of U of L Pride Week will continue until September 29.

On my way to the Red Barn where it's located, passed by a fundie preacher spouting the usual anti GLBT hate screed. After I grabbed something to eat I was going to go mess with his head a bit but he'd ended his christodiatribe by the time I exited the Student Center.

So as you can tell, I had a wonderful time on campus. I deeply appreciate the gracious invitation the Muhammad Ali Institute staff extended to me and the warm welcome I received from them and the students attending today.

I'm looking forward to helping them with another event in the near future.

Tavis Smiley's 10th Anniversary State Of The Black Union Symposium in LA Saturday

Tavis Smiley's annual State of the Black Union Symposium is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Saturday, February 28, and this year's event will take place in the place where it was born in Los Angeles.

The SOBU will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center and will be televised on C-SPAN with the theme of Making America As Good As Its Promise. There will also be conversations about issues important to high school and college students taking place on Friday, February 27 at the University of Southern California and several high schools in the Los Angeles area.

The conversations will be moderated by attorney Raymond Brown and Tavis Smiley with the first session kicking off from 8 AM-11 AM PST (11 AM-2 PM EST). The second session will run from 1 PM PST-4 PM PST (4 PM-7 PM EST).

This 2009 SOBU will bring back panelists from the first conversation held on the USC campus such as Danny Glover, Nikki Giovanni, Lani Guinier, Na'im Akbar, Michael Eric Dyson, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Danny Bakewell, Sr., Jawanza Kunjufu, Les Brown, Charles Ogletree, Randall Robinson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Iyanla Vanzant, Dr. Julianna Malveaux, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Earvin 'Magic' Johnson and Cornel West.

Other participants in this year's SOBU conversation are Arlene Holt Baker, CA Rep. Karen Bass, Peter Harvey, Van Jones, Erica Williams, Emile Townes and Marc Morial.

For those of you in the Los Angeles area who wish to attend, the symposium is free but online registration is required at www.tavistalks.com