The Bilerico Project

Dan Savage, Chill With Your Race Baiting

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:00 -0500

Dan Savage just won't give up pimping that thoroughly discredited meme about the Prop 8 loss in Ca-lee-forn-ia.

"I do know this, though: I'm done pretending that the handful of racist gay white men out there--and they're out there, and I think they're scum--are a bigger problem for African Americans, gay and straight, than the huge numbers of homophobic African Americans are for gay Americans, whatever their color.

"This will get my name scratched of the invite list of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is famous for its anti-racist-training seminars, but whatever. Finally, I'm searching for some exit poll data from California. I'll eat my shorts if gay and lesbian voters went for McCain at anything approaching the rate that black voters went for Prop 8."

Damn, just when we thought the drama over Prop 8 had subsided a bit, here comes Savage pouring gasoline on the smoldering embers..

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Moni's Ah Kua Show Commentary

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:00:00 -0500

I was surprised when I received an e-mail from Leona Lo, my sis in Singapore, a few months ago with a request. She asked me to compose a comment for the program of her Ah Kua Show she was putting together.

In case you weren't following the progress of it on her blog, the Ah Kua Show is a play she wrote based on her life. It had a successful sold out run from August 6-8 at Singapore's Substation Theater.

I was deeply honored to be asked to write the program commentary by one of the people in the worldwide trans community I admire. I felt it was my small way of being a part of the show even though as much as I would have loved to, I couldn't be there in person to support it.

The comment I wrote is underneath the jump.

Leona, thanks once again for giving me the opportunity and honor of composing it.

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Black Female Athletes: An Ongoing Meme of Ignorance

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:00:00 -0500

One of the depressingly tired memes of elite level athletic competition is that almost every time a Black woman rises to become the best at her sport, she is either dissed, suspected of cheating or has her gender identity questioned.

The latest episode of this sorry meme is evolving right now in the wake of Caster Semenya winning the 800m world championship in Berlin with the fifth fastest run of all time.

Since she doesn't look stereotypically female, has short cropped hair and a deep, raspy voice, that's enough 'evidence' for the IAAF gender police to haul her in for gender testing.

Wonder if Caster had been a blonde haired blue eyed European runner who ran that same time? Would the IAAF react the same way?

Probably not.

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The Trans-Free BET 'Who's Who In Black GLBT America' List

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0500

I was shocked and surprised to discover BET.com puts out a list of what it considers as the 'Who's Who in Black GLBT America' and has done so for three years now.

Jasmyne Cannick, one of the people some Projectors love to hate, made the list for the third consecutive year. The other Black GL people that made this year's list were Wanda Sykes, Angela Davis, Kecia Cunningham, Palm Springs, CA mayor Ron Oden, poet Staceyann Chin and Anthony Woods (the Black GL community's version of Lt. Dan Choi) who is running to become the first openly gay African-American congressmember.

There are a total of 33 African-American GLBT people on this list. Care to guess how many African-American transpeople were on it?

The same number that were part of the transgender contingent at the White House GLBT event last week.

Zero.

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Another Historic Meeting, Another Melanin-free Transgender Contingent

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:30:00 -0500

I went nuclear last year when there was a historic committee hearing on transgender issues and not one African-American transgender person was invited to participate.

There was another historic gathering of importance to GLBT people that took place on Monday. It was in the wake of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that took place June 28, 1969.

This time the host was none other than the POTUS, and it took place in the building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that my ancestors helped construct with their unpaid labor.

So did the white transgender community learn its lesson from last year and make sure in the twelve transgender people that were selected to be there, there was some African-American representation?

Nope.

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Jena Six Free!

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0500

After more than two years of protesting, writing phone calls and thousands of people descending on Jena, Louisiana, to protest this outrageous retro Jim Crow case, the Jena 6, Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell are all free to move ahead with their lives.

The five remaining Jena 6 cases were brought to a conclusion last Friday when Beard, Jones, Bailey, Shaw, and Purvis pleaded "no contest" to misdemeanor simple battery charges.

They will spend no time in jail, serve seven unsupervised days on probation, and were fined $500 and court fees.

It's a remarkable outcome considering the Jena Six were originally and outrageously charged with attempted murder in this small Louisiana town with a racist past for what basically was a schoolyard fight provoked by nooses hung in a tree.

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GLBT Peeps, If You Want Your Rights, Fly This Flag

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0500

The gay community has gone through post mortem after post mortem in terms of dissecting why the Prop 8 fight in Cal-ee-forn-ia was lost last year. But I doubt anyone thought about one simple change that will help immeasurably in this struggle.

Flying the American flag.

Since today is Flag Day, starting like yesterday, the TBLG community should make sure Old Glory is front and center at every protest, every march, and the backdrop at every press conference that's held from now until the next electoral showdown in 2010 and beyond.

One factor as to why the GLBT community continues to lose is that it hasn't forcefully made the unassailable case that we are AMERICANS who deserve and are demanding our constitutional rights.

And how do we do that? The easiest way to prove that we are is by flying the flag.

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Introducing Annise Parker

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:30:00 -0500

One of the first mayoral elections I was eligible to participate in back home after I turned 18 the previous year was the historic 1981 one in which we elected city controller Kathy Whitmire our first female mayor.

The road to the mayor's chair in Houston runs through the controllers office. During the 80's Mayor Whitmire guided the city through explosive growth, the oil bust, a tumultuous relationship with the Houston police and fire departments, trying to get METRO's heavy rail plan implemented and making some groundbreaking appointments in the process.

She even garnered national attention because Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie character had a slight resemblance to her..

She nominated our first African-American and first woman police chiefs in Lee Brown and Elizabeth Watson, appointed Sylvia Garcia as head of the Houston municipal court system in addition to opening up the city administration to all Houstonians.

After ten years, she finished third in a three-way race between Bob Lanier and Texas state rep Sylvester Turner. In that same 1991 city election, incumbent Councilman Vince Ryan, whose district encompasses the Montrose gayborhood, was challenged by the chair of the Neartown Civic Association Annise Parker..

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Goodbye, Octavia St. Laurent

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:30:00 -0500

The first time I saw Octavia St. Laurent , I was at the River Oaks Theater back home watching the 1990 blockbuster documentary Paris Is Burning.

I was starting my own transition at the time and the movie was on my must see list since it was about the ballroom community descended from the Harlem drag balls.

I was captivated by the class, grace and easy elegance she showed in that film living her life. I added her to the long list of women I based my own evolving feminine presentation on. I also resolved to meet her one day.

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Moni Goes To Washington

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Sun, 10 May 2009 14:30:00 -0500

I've spent the last three days since my May 4 birthday in our nation's capital exercising my constitutional right to petition my legislators for 'redress of grievances'.

Translation: I've been lobbying.

Lobbying isn't just for high priced hired guns working in concert with corporate interests to squash legislation designed to help average American citizens. It's also a powerful constitutional right available to you as a congressional constituent.

For the last eleven years I have been availing myself of that right as the former Lobby Director for NTAC and as a concerned citizen to get hate crimes and ENDA legislation passed for my transgender peeps and the GLBT community.

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Dwight DeLee Trial To Start June 11

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:00:00 -0500

Now that Allen Andrade is rotting in jail for the rest of his life, it's now time for the transgender community's attention to focus on the other alleged murderer facing hate crimes charges for killing a transwoman.

"The decision to prosecute Lateisha's murder as a hate crime sends a clear message that targeting transgender people for violence will not be tolerated," TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman said. "Lateisha's senseless death demonstrates the increased risk of violence transgender people face, but we are hopeful that justice will be done, and that the outcome will help prevent future violence against transgender people."

20 year old Dwight DeLee of Syracuse pleaded not guilty in Onondaga County Court to charges of second-degree murder and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the November 14, 2008 shooting death of Lateisha Green at a house party.

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Yes. Perez, You ARE a Representative of the Gay Community

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:30:00 -0500

I'm not a representative of the gay community, in the same way that being Cuban, I'm not representative of the Latino community.

I just speak for myself. And I'm Perez Hilton, Rick Sanchez. I can be offensive. I don't have to be politically correct. I can call her the B-word.

Perez Hilton, April 2009

One of the major errors of the GLBT community is they continue to forget that once you declare that you're gay or transition, you are a minority and the old "rugged individualist" rules no longer apply to you.

As a matter of fact, in the Houston GLBT community we used to have signs posted in many GLBT clubs that stated:

What I do reflects on you
What you do reflects on me
What WE do reflects on the ENTIRE gay community.

It's something we already know in the African-American community, but it reminded people of the fact that whether you like it or not, the parent society will look at you as a representative of the marginalized community and your behavior better be on point lest you paint the entire community in a negative light.

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I'm Joining HRC

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:30:00 -0500

This may come as a shock to all of you who've known me for years as one of HRC's most virulent critics, but I'm pleased to announce that I am joining the Human Rights Campaign outreach team to the African-American GLBT/SGL community.

Some of you may see this as selling out, since I've had much to say on this blog and many others about some of the less than honorable stuff this organization's done in the past to not only impede the rights of transgender people, but ignoring my community as well.

But they asked, and it's an attractive offer I couldn't turn down.

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Allies Aren't 'Homophobes' or 'Transphobes' For Telling The Truth

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:30:00 -0500

The late poet Gwendolyn Brooks said it best when she stated that 'truth tellers are not always palatable, there's a preference for candy bars.'

One of the things that irritates me is when the people in the GLBT community who prefer candy bars start hollering 'homophobe' or 'transphobe' when allies offer constructive criticism. Many times that criticism is not offensive, but is offered in the spirit of King-ian love in terms of helping to improve or contribute to the ultimate success of the movement they support.

It takes courage for a straight ally, knowing they will probably take a lot of crap for doing so to stand up and publicly declare that they are with us. Many of them see the interconnectedness of the issues that we are fighting for and realize those issues also impact them as well. It takes even more courage for one who is a politician or similar public figure to do so.

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Smokin'

monica@bilerico.com (Monica Roberts) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:30:00 -0500

When I began going out to Houston clubs not long after my 18th birthday in 1980, one of the things I noticed was that when I compared and contrasted my experiences in GLBT clubs vis a vis non GLBT ones there were far more smokers in the GLBT ones.

I thought I was imagining things at first, but I noted that as I began to travel and visit gay and straight clubs around the country during the 80's and 90's, the pattern I noticed in Houston was replicated in every city I visited. It was also consistent across GLBT race and gender lines in those communities as well.

It turns out I wasn't imagining things. According to the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network based in Boston. members of the LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender) community are 35 to 200 percent more likely to be smokers than the general public.

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