Looking Back Ten Years Ago

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness.” — George Santayana

There’s been quite a buzz in recent months over our GLBT community – particularly how the GL views and treats the T. It’s reached a fevered pitch with Rep. Barney Frank tampering with the ENDA language and the release of the movie “Trannies With Knives” by gay male prostitute-turned-film maker Israel Luna (of which I’ll write on later).

While all this was transpiring, a couple of anniversaries passed without notice. Ten years ago this past Monday, on March 22, 2000 was the meeting between the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) at HRC HQ in downtown DC, not far from K Street.

Six weeks earlier, on Feb. 11, 2000 was the National Roundtable meeting between the Gay & Lesbian organizations, Trans organizations and a few from academe at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) headquarters, then on Kalorama NW. in Columbia Heights.

The NGLTF roundtable was the brainchild of their executive director, Kerry Lobel, with assistance from PFLAG, and came at a crucial point in GLBT history. It was a period of flux, where the Trans community first began truly exercising its voice.

Only nine months had passed since the largest Trans lobby day on record at GenderPAC, but it created fissures within the T community, with GPAC announcing a move toward “gender” and later “gender orientation.” Also at that lobby day was a seeming closeness developing between GPAC and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and a simultaneous cooling off between them and NGLTF.

Meanwhile the Trans community who were not part of the east coast cabal were breaking from them, and speaking out independently and more pointedly about HRC, with one faction forming what became NTAC later in 1999. At the same time, NGLTF was becoming more pointedly critical of HRC, with PFLAG and others cooling off towards both they and GPAC.

New alliances were being struck, rhetoric was being lobbed back and forth and the community seemed to be roiling. The timing was perfect to have a meeting of the minds to hash things out and avoid a boil-over.

Besides Kerry Lobel and Blake Cornish from NGLTF, and Rob Schlittler and Cynthia Newcomer of PFLAG, and other notables (of whom I can still remember) were Nancy Buermeyer of HRC, Chai Feldbum of Georgetown School of Law, Robert Sember of Columbia School of Public Health, as well as reps from LLEGO, NYAC, Lambda Legal and GLMA.

The bulk of the Trans attendance was NTAC: Monica Roberts, Dr. Sarah Fox, Michael Gray, Chelsea Goodwin, Rusty Mae Moore and I in person, with Dawn Wilson, Yoseñio Lewis, Katrina Rose and Deni Scott via teleconference. Additionally attending were Pauline Park and Donna Cartwright from NYAGRA. Even though Donna would not resign from GPAC’s board for another eight months, she did not declare to represent them at this meeting, curiously enough.

The meeting displayed unspoken symbolism of the community status quo. For the T community it was a watershed, displaying that we did actually have some strong allies, and quite a bit more than we’d presumed. It also showed that GPAC was beginning to wane in the community’s eyes so soon after working collegially with HRC. HRC was feeling surrounded, pained and combative due to their being the only non-inclusive org (they had still refused to add Trans to their mission statement even) and the controversy swirling around their participation in the Millennium March.

And NTAC personified the spirit of this juggernaut of energy in the Trans movement of not waiting or settling for clever image-crafting sleight of hand (such as “gender” being all-inclusive) nor pat answers of accepting that we must be “incremental” and left out of gay rights bills. For many T-folk outside of the northeast (and increasingly within as well) it was becoming obvious we needed something different, with stronger and more forthright representation.

“The meeting was a very good start to build alliances,” NTAC vice-chair, Yoseñio Lewis, noted at the time. “For the most part everybody played well together. There was a tense moment when Nancy Buermeyer brought up the friction between HRC and NTAC.”

Indeed I was out of the room getting the nickel tour with Kerry Lobel, and when we walked back in, it was over: Monica Roberts and Chelsea Goodwin had their backs up, Nancy Buermeyer was crying and Michael Gray was offering to set up a group-to-group meeting between HRC and NTAC. Nancy shoved, and apparently Monica and then Chelsea shoved back.

However, to a person, everyone except Buermeyer left that roundtable with a lot of hope and enthusiasm.

And for the record, I’m not overlooking out NCTE. At that point no one in political circles had heard of Mara Keisling as she was still months away from her first participation in Trans activism with GPAC, and three years away from creating her own organization.

“When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards.” — Theodore Zeldin, philosopher

The following month was “the fact-to-face” at HRC presaging their eventual move to include the T in their mission statement. The meeting, set up by Michael Gray, occurred as the IFGE conference in Arlington, VA was taking place (giving us an opportunity to knock out two birds with one throw).

For my part I wanted no participation in this meeting or the trip. At that time, I was having bouts of heart arrhythmias, major burnout, stress from both of the support groups I was heading (including one member’s suicide the month before) and major stress from my misogynistic boss at the time which included a fight over having to take those three days off of work.

Added to this was additional pressure from NTAC’s interim chair, Dawn Wilson, who insisted/demanded that I (as a steering committee member) attend the meeting as a show of support, even though I had no clue what the ‘ask’ was to be or what we hoped to accomplish with it. Additionally Monica Roberts had already left one of her buddy passes reserved for me at Continental Airlines (where she worked).

It was my opinion (accurate, as it turned out) that HRC would not view us lowly Trans folk as contemporaries or equals in any of our lifetimes and was against my better judgment, but I relented.

My trip was timed so that I’d have enough time to land in DCA (Reagan National Airport), trek over to the Crystal City Hilton where IFGE’s convention was located, drop my luggage off in the room I’d share with Anne Casebeer, Dawn Wilson and Monica Roberts who were driving down from Louisville, change into a business suit and then travel presumably en masse to HRC.

Arriving at the hotel, I noticed that my roomies- hadn’t checked in. Hmm … quandary! Time was tight for the meeting to begin, I had no clue how long it would take in transit to HRC’s HQ and I didn’t know if my roomies were just driving straight in to HRC. I didn’t even own a cell phone at that point!

Plan B, I hailed a cab and traveled to HRC, then housed in an office suite not far off of K Street lobbyist's corridor. Arriving early, I slogged upstairs with baggage in tow and cooled my heels at the front office, looking like some kind of Trans refugee in my faded jeans and running shoes. Needless to say there were numerous staffers walking through, giving (ahem) the semi-discreet side-eyed looks as they walked through, wondering “what is this in our office?”

While sitting there waiting, I kept wondering why I was even there, how the airlines almost didn’t let me on the plane due to buddy-pass complications, and how I wished I would’ve simply missed the flight and stayed home and gone back to work. There was a legit excuse!

As 2PM neared, Nancy Buermeyer popped out and brought me (bags and all) into the conference room. We met and chatted quite a bit as we occasionally ran into each other over the years, beginning in 1996 at Houston’s ICTLEP conference. Nancy, Tony Barretto-Neto and I even went out country & western dancing at a local lesbian bar, The Ranch. Keep in mind that I was brand new to activism in 1996, and was in “discovery phase” of seeing which side was right: Phyllis Frye’s hard-line anti-HRC, or HRC’s being unfairly maligned. Over the course of those next three years, I’d learn Phyllis was correct.

After chatting for nearly a half hour, I realized the meeting was already 15 minutes late and I was the only Trans person there! When Tony Varona and Kevin Layton walked in and saw me, and I repeated that I was waiting for “the others”, we all sat there with a ‘what are we doing here?’ look on our faces. I kept a cool exterior, but was beginning to panic and excused myself to the restroom.

After walking out of the restroom, I was relieved to see Michael Gray walking up and asked where the others were. “They’re not coming” he whispered. “They weren’t ready and won’t be here.”

Panic began anew, as well as anger as we both walked into the conference. Michael would lead and present his white paper: The Primacy of Gender. I sat there feeling useless, not knowing what to do and wishing I was back home. During the presentation, Alex Fox also dropped in, which evened out the numbers at three HRC, three NTAC. The rest of Michael’s presentation went routinely, but ended without any real request or direction other than asking that they all agree that everything GLBT had to do with gender, not sexuality.

We all sat and looked at each other.

So Michael again took it from the top, restarting his presentation and shortly into it used it as a platform to exchange accusations with Buermeyer. Shades of what I’d missed at the Trans Roundtable a month earlier! That was when Alex and I decided to take over.

Nancy railed about NTAC’s story of HRC buying Riki Wilchins a condo (something we admitted had no verification and was removed already from the NTAC website) and also requested removal of Katrina Rose’s editorial comparing Elizabeth Birch’s words to Josef Goebbels.

We decried the lack of trans inclusion in legislation, wanted our own access to legislators in order to educate them on T issues and blasted the pre-lobbying of legislators by HRC and GPAC. On the last item, again Buermeyer insisted there were no such meetings – until I brought up the fact that I had a screen shot saved of GenderPAC’s website circa 1998 (thanks to Gwen Smith’s eagle eye), noting the specifics of the very meeting at Sen. Harkin’s office (the first we were aware of) including who visited … including Ms. Buermeyer herself.

At that she backpedaled and admitted the meeting did occur after all – but it wasn’t pre-lobbying.

In the end, I explained to Nancy, Tony and Kevin that I personally had no problems with them not including us (at that time, Trans was not even part of HRC’s mission statement). In fact, that was fine with us: HRC should continue focus on the sexual orientation issues in Congress, and NTAC should focus on the gender identity issues.

As HRC had their ability to get their message to Congress, we stated that NTAC needed our own voice to be heard similarly as we knew our issues experientially. We were also opposed to being shoehorned into a dicey inexplicit coverage under “gender” (which was the prevailing push at that time to get Trans folks to believe they were covered).

HRC threw much of the non-inclusion blame at Barney Frank’s feet, wanted NTAC’s editorial blasts stopped and all rhetoric about the pre-lobbying with GPAC ceased as well. We explained the pre-lobbying rhetoric would stop so long as they stopped the pre-lobbying visits that we felt poisoned the well before we even arrived.

All seemingly agreed the requests were reasonable and came to a tentative agreement to take them back to our respective leadership to achieve them. When Alex asked Tony Varona about a timeline on when we would hear back from HRC on their behalf, Tony replied that their upcoming Equality Rocks concert was their focus at the moment and gave a soft “couple months” answer.

That response from Tony should’ve been a sign.

In the interim we removed the offensive editorials, and stuck specifically to news communications as per our half of the agreement. Even when HRC took over and conducted the Millennium March later that year with its unresolved financial controversies, and when many other GLBT orgs were piling on, we didn’t capitalize on the situation while they were down.

Though I sent a few Emails to Nancy inquiring of it afterward, we never heard back from them again. They never followed through with us.

“Kick ‘em when they’re up.
Kick ‘em when they’re down.
Kick ‘em when they’re stiff.
Kick ‘em all around.” — Dirty Laundry, Don Henley

“Even Gandhi, with all his charisma, did not 'melt the hearts' of his oppressors, as he had hoped. After softening, hearts harden again.” — Theodore Zeldin, philosopher

Much has changed since those meetings in early 2000. At the beginning of 2001, HRC suddenly announced they were including transgender in their mission statement and shortly after began billing themselves as the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights group in the nation. They were not going to allow us our own voice: they would declare oversight of it in order to manage our message themselves.

Responsively NTAC turned up the heat in the media in 2001-2002 and had a measure of progress, even beginning to crack through to mainstream press. HRC claimed they were working with “transgender leadership,” we responded that that were working with GPAC who had recently divested themselves from the T word, and that HRC was indeed not working with us.

We also worked diligently on developing good relations with all our allies apart from HRC. Things progressed well through 2002 and it seemed (save for a number of the former GPAC Trans members) that the community was coming together in a do-it-yourself, shoestring fashion. There was no funding and precious little assistance, but we were moving forward and doing it for ourselves despite it all.

New Years 2003 saw the advent of Mara Keisling, who went through numerous ad-hocs on the periphery before jumping in solo as the professed “hired gun” lobbyist in DC. Six months later, she changed her mind and appointed a board of directors and by year-end was a full-scale organization. As opposed to NTAC, NCTE would work collegially and collaboratively with HRC, not having the same history as the more tenured trans advocates. In fact, of all the trans leadership that were part of those meetings in 2000, the only one on the national-level radar at the moment would be Donna Cartwright who went from GPAC’s board to NCTE’s board of directors.

Over the next three years, NCTE effectively supplanted NTAC and all its members. It wasn’t for malfeasance or being in the wrong (we were actually correct, which ironically worked to our disadvantage). We were replaced strictly for not playing the Washington game: we didn’t feel that Trans folks should simply accept our “place” at the bottom of the pecking order.

While playing the game didn’t show results immediately, the progress has been coming. There’s been a jump in visibility in mainstream media, but it’s also a much more controlled, watered-down version than our gay and lesbian counterparts enjoy.

We finally got explicit inclusion in hate crimes legislation and got it passed. And after a couple of false starts, we’ve also seen legislation written with explicit inclusion as well. But again, in the tightly controlled environment, we still don’t know what the language or limitations of this potentially watered-down bill might be – even after so many have lobbied for it, sight unseen.

In early 2000 we seemed to be on a track of true GLBT community cohesion. From 2010’s vantage point, that view was quite delusional. The good relations NTAC had with other organizations through 2002 magically vanished almost overnight in 2003, coinciding with Mara’s arrival. Shortly thereafter, media relations vanished as well. Most everything began singularly funneling through Mara Keisling afterwards. This was no longer a community dialogue, but a top-down controlled environ.

The last half of this decade saw a decide distance develop between Trans and GLBt organizations as well (NCTE for the most part notwithstanding). The years have seen increasing grassroots Trans criticism and frustration with formerly closer allied groups such as NGLTF, GLAAD, PFLAG and ACLU. It’s becoming increasingly evident that the marriage between GLB and T was not made in heaven. It’s been a boost in visibility, media and funding for the former, and come at the expense of those in the latter who worked so hard to make T progress in the first place.

Indeed, the trans movement overall has become much more machine-like as a result of having one rep in the GLBT elite who’s part of the Washington game. For nearly all of the families and activists who worked so hard over the years for it, even the hate crimes victory had an anti-climactic feel to it. It wasn’t our victory: it was Washington’s. Even the sentiment that the community’s resigned to accepting whatever limited language in ENDA just to have something – anything – speaks to the lack of soul that we used to have.

Then again, it’s no major surprise. The Trans community always eschews our own history. What’s here today will be forgotten tomorrow by the next generation as we’re each compelled to create our own. Even those who lead today helped perpetuate that trend with their predecessors.

A local activist, Jackie Thorne, called me during Christmas holidays. During our conversation, she lamented how our community wasn’t “community” in feel any more –we’re just a “bunch of individuals now” seeking our individual stardom. The cohesion and cross-pollenation in our movement that began the last decade has been replaced by a classic Washington by-the-book, silo style of management complete with its hierarchies and insulated communication.

We’ve changed quite a bit over the last decade. I can’t say it’s worse. But I can’t say it’s better. It’s just certainly changed.

“All is flux. Nothing stays still.” — Heraclitus, from the book Diogenes Laertius

“The conquest of the Earth, which mostly means taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it.” — Joseph Conrad

Syracuse Sucks If You're Trans And Murdered

"It's just one of those days
When you don't wanna wake up!
Everything is fucked, everybody sucks!" — Break Stuff, Limp Bizkit

How furious am I today? Let me count the ways ....

On second thought, no. Who's listening? Precious few. Yeah, cumulative things get to be a rabid bear when they're piled atop each other and compounded. Starting off the day fighting doesn't help. Nice sticky heat with none of the forecasted "cooling rain" magnifies it. Then losing water (my precious lifeline to cooling off!) for a good portion of the day added a topper to that.

But the news forthcoming wasn't anything pleasing. Quite disquieting actually – some of it, downright infuriating. As they say down here in Texas, it was enough to piss off the dead. First was word that the overwhelmingly democratic U.S. Senate, in its infinite wisdom, decided it would be a good thing to add the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act onto S. 1390: the Dept. of Defense spending bill replete with funding for F-22 fighters which are wasted spending and which Pres. Barack Obama has already vowed to veto if it makes it to his desk!

That's right. Democrats are helping kill off the trans-inclusive Hate Crimes bill in the Senate by sending a veto-ready bill for signature! And that, of course, is if it makes it past a Conference Committee with a joint-session membership (and manages to maintain all the aspects of the current Hate Crimes bill.) If something goes awry and gets cut out and passed in joint session, it goes from there to the President.

Then another headline caught my eye: "Sex-changer's suit claims bias against Parks Department." It was a headline from the New York Daily News (think FOX News in a newspaper format). Now the writer, Jose Martinez, did actually stick to the guidelines, mostly avoiding pronouns, and once referring to "her." But the screaming headline and later referencing that she had not had "a sex-change operation" lets you know where this is going.

The plantiff Chanel Birden wasn't helping her own case either, something her attorney Derek Smith should've monitored and didn't. As a result, the Daily News writer didn't focus much on the slurs and insults she was receiving and filing grievances about before her firing from the mail clerk position at New York's Central Park. Instead, the writer highlighted quotes from her self-describing herself as being "a gorgeous woman" and how she "would always go to work looking very glamorous" and similar responses. Sure, it wasn't officially out of bounds. But it's still predatory journalism looking to caricature and dismiss trans women who don't know better while sublimely covering his own tracks.

"The trans community always seems to have a knack for finding a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." — trans activist, Cathy Platine


Then I got the bombshell. Lateisha Green's murderer, Dwight DeLee, received his verdict in a Syracuse Courthouse. He was found innocent of second degree murder. He was convicted of first degree manslaughter. The jury determined that after DeLee had lobbed invective and epithets at Lateisha Green sitting in her brother's car, after he'd gone into the house to retrieve his rifle, and after lobbing a few more epithets and leveling the gun at point blank range into the car and shooting Teish, that he'd intended to only "seriously injure" her but had no intentions of killing her. Manslaughter, not a murder.

Any other victim killed in such a manner would expect their killer to receive a murder sentence. Ah, but Teish was murdered while Trans! And further, as my homegirl Monica Roberts would say, she was murdered while Black and Trans! As we read between the lines of this logic, it helps validate the killer's motivations. Why, having a trans person outside near his house practically requires one to go in their house and retrieve their rifle ... pop off a warning shot in their direction from a few feet away, just to make sure you don't have to fear for your life from the transsexual menace!

Certainly any average citizen in Syracuse would understand that threat, that fear! It's palpable!

Reality time: essentially this verdict actually foists some of the blame on the victim. That's right! The good people of Syracuse decided that being Trans, Lateisha Green should've known she's partially to blame for being attacked! It's kinda like women being partially to blame for being raped, Asian store owners being partially at fault for getting robbed in their stores, unarmed black men being partially understood to have been shot by police because of their potential threat – or even white men being partially culpable for getting shot while driving through a minority neighborhood! Everyone should know that's coming, and certainly expect that those who commit these crimes aren't to be fully blamed for it!

At least, that's the logic in Syracuse.

There were a number of statements in the press to note the verdict: "Today's verdict brings justice for Lateisha Green, but it can never heal the immense loss her family has experienced," said Jarrett Barrios, incoming President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

"This verdict sends a strong message that hate violence will not be condoned. How many more like Lateisha Green must spill blood before our society says no to harassment, no to discrimination and no to violence against transgender people? ... {J]ustice was served today." said Rea Carey, Exec. Dir. of National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)

A measure of justice, perhaps. But was absolute justice served? Is Manslaughter a strong message? It must be noted that neither Carey nor Barrios are Trans. Point of fact, only one of the statements put out yesterday on the DeLee verdict by the organizations was from a trans organization (TLDEF - the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund), but the statement was from their non-trans executive director.

Oddly, the lone trans person responding from any major org was from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) who tacked on a trans voice to Exec. Dir. Joe Solmonese's statement. "I am relieved to see Lateisha’s killer brought to justice," said Allyson Robinson, HRC Associate Director of Diversity.

Both IFGE and NCTE remaining silent on this is odd. And to think that NTAC was criticized for putting out press and "drawing attention to ourselves." So leaving the attention to non-T voices and orgs is better?

Either we just don't pay attention to the details any more, or maybe it's just gotten so bad that any conviction more than simple assault of a person who murders a trans woman is a victory. Maybe it's me and all the other Trans folk around the country who are pissed at this lesser treatment by the court that are out of step?

Or maybe this is just a great way to put out a message that's consistent, celebratory and assures that there's no dissension: ensure that there's message control.

One has to wonder how the Gay & Lesbian community would react to this? If Matthew Shepard's murder drew a manslaughter conviction with a maximum 25 year sentence, would Judy Shepard feel this was justice served? If it were the Trans community declaring before press that such as sentence was justice, would the Gay & Lesbian community agree with our statements and consider it closed?

Or if not, would they speak out? After watching their responses in recent months, I believe I already know that answer.

“Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.” English writer, Gilbert K. Chesterton

"If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation." former First Lady to the 2nd U.S. President, Abigail Smith Adams

HRC Protest Houston: Only The Committed Continue Fighting Against The Odds

"There's no way out of here, when you come in you're in for good
There was no promise made, the part you've played, the chance you took
There are no boundaries set, the time and yet you waste it still
So it slips through your hands like grains of sand, you watch it go." — There's No Way Out Of Here, Unicorn


There was none of the controversy or the hype this year. There were no protest barricades, no crowd control police on horseback, no show of force whatsoever by the Houston Police Dept. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Gala in Houston went off with little fanfare on both sides.

As for the protesters, we only had two show: Courtney Sharp from New Orleans and myself.

In that sense, being honest, this was a big victory for HRC. You may also surmise it was seen as a big loss for the transgender community. Certainly from a visual perspective, HRC has to be happy in breaking the trans community down further, winnowing the small numbers further, and looking forward to the day when we give up completely and our voices silence.

Of course, there are still a number of folks who gave Courtney and I the moral support. One Gala goer admitted he hates the organization, and only does it for business and "for visibility reasons." He even came out to apologize to us and was honest about "being a quisling and going back in" to the party.

Another couple drove by, spotted us and asked us which organization we were from. When I told her I was from NTAC, the passenger whooped and called me out into the street to their car to shake her hand. As it turns out, she was visiting from out of town and was coordinating San Diego's protest of the Hyatt Hotel for their owner's contributions to California's Prop 8. She also commented that we needed "a lot more people out here!"

I agree with her. Sadly, the community's tired and doesn't want to be bothered. Being principled and consistent is a laudable thing – or at least we were raised on that being the case. These days, though, it's also what gets you punished. You're written off as the crazy dingbats, too stubborn to realize you've lost.


And of course, to the victor go the spoils. HRC will de facto own the trans community's voice, regardless of their spotty and shady history. We've allowed them to divide us and easily conquer.

However, as long as there's a few of us left with history, and a decided need for something to trust in, something more principled, there will always be a few of us showing to speak truth to power. We'll let them laugh at us and duck in to their well-heeled parties. It please them, so at least we can make someone happy! And meanwhile, we'll rare few will still walk it like we talk it!

Nevertheless, it got Courtney and I discussing when the trans community and the trans movement totally implodes and becomes annexed into the gay and lesbian community holdings, as it were. They have the money and the power. That alone allows them to take whatever they want. And as we've learned in politics, you don't have to be in the right. You only have to have the money and pull to buy whatever you choose to be reality.

We reminisced about the 2007 Southern Comfort Conference, with Courtney recalling Ethan St. Pierre's call to her concerned that he'd have to "walk home" to Massachusetts. Ethan and I were the only two visible folks giving a silent protest of the HRC presence, and the exalted position they and NCTE's Mara Keisling were afforded, celebrating the 'staunch alliance' and HRC's commitment to support only a trans-inclusive ENDA.


Of course, Ethan and I and the NTAC crew knew better. While Ethan was exhorted by IFGE's E.D. Denise LeClair to remove his "UnEqual" sticker, we both – me especially – did everything we could to warn of the impending betrayal. No one wanted to hear it. It was "negative" news. It sullied the dream. It was a direct threat to the illusory bubble that nobody wanted burst.

In the end, we actually generated a couple extra donations to HRC due to our warnings. I actually had one trans woman finish her argument with me by stating she believed Mara and Joe Solmonese, and just for what I'd said, she wrote out another $100 check to HRC right in front of me which she then took to give to Joe.

In the end, we were right ... and we were also the big losers! Lesson: don't do "the right thing." It's something I suppose I'm too stubborn to learn.


As Courtney mused, it was at that moment that she said we were done. HRC had won, and no matter what we did and what was accurate, our own community was not going to believe its own. We weren't going to support our own.

In short, we'd lost our community.

Since then we've been working, especially after the grand betrayal, to bring things back. But as HRC has already discovered, the trans community appears to have a very short memory. Additionally, there's any number of available (and desperate) folks willing to be HRC's wedge, to keep us divided into pro-HRC vs. pro-trans camps. Time is on their side, and if they wait long enough, we'll die off and give them the defacto victory by attrition in a death-of-a-thousand-cuts style. They have the money and security to wait us out.

At the same time, take notice how the gay and lesbian community remembers everything. They have a full knowledge of their community's long history of being left out of the civil rights movement a la Bayard Rustin. They rally around their community in uniform outrage when they've been denied. They rally their troops and are aggressive in courting allies from other communities (even trans people!) to support their protests for their current causes. They know how to maximize their numbers, their echo chamber and thus their impact in making change for their own, even on marriage (the most sticky issue of all).

It's something trans folks should envy. But knowing how easy it is to divide us and break our will, it's not something I see us replicating in the short term. Only once the gay and lesbian community has won its entire slate of issues, and once the trans community realizes we're getting nothing of the like will we finally start realizing this – although many years too late.


To be sure, we'll have more losses. More New Hampshires, etc. Of course, knowing our community tendency, they realize in a year the trans folks will be saying "Who Hampshire?" We'll be worrying about the next new outfit we can buy, or maybe snaking a free ticket to an HRC banquet.

"Have We Lost Our Voice?" — Sen. Robert Byrd

Virginia Prince: The Passing Of A Trans Icon

"She never compromises.
Loves babies and surprises.
Wears high heels when she exercises.
Ain't that beautiful?
Meet Virginia." — Meet Virginia, Train

We got word last night that we lost arguably the most important figures in the our community's history. An innovator. A true pioneer. A queen. A Prince.

Above all, she was the grande dame of the "Transgender" Community — a term she semi-coined. Virginia Prince passed away after a short illness this past month. She was 96. Dr. Richard Docter, who has been compiling her biography, broke the news to the Liberty Conference yesterday in Philadelphia.

Though she was never a lobbyist on Capitol Hill, she was certainly (in my opinion, at least) the pre-cursor to Transgender advocacy. It was ironic, considering that she was only crossdressing when she began this quest. The risk of such public outing of oneself is overwhelmingly anathemic to most crossdressers. Personal impact be-damned though, Virginia Prince was courageously public in educating the psychiatric community, the viewing public and even government administrators and the courts.

And she did it all quite effectively and successfully.

I had the good fortune of meeting and visiting with her a few times: the first time was Juneteenth in Houston (June 19) a decade ago, the most recent was the IFGE conference in Philadelphia, immediately after Pres. George W. Bush began bombing Baghdad. That was about the time she'd decided to move to an assisted living facility. It was both distressing and yet left me resigned that it was a proper decision on her part as her memory was starting to fade slightly.

My first meeting with Virginia was quite the contrary. At 86, Virginia was as sharp as a tack and still quite cantakerous, but was quite solid in promoting the trans community's understanding and advancement. She was actually very supportive of my budding advocacy and activism then, which I hadn't expected. Our only beef was her disagreement with my usage of the word "queer." While I tried to explain the disarming of the term by capturing it for our own, it was still a word with a lot of sting for her history.

We had quite a lengthy and animated chat in 1999, giving me a very generous insight into her. I was shocked that she had much larger breasts than I (especially considering I was transsexual and openly on HRT. She was bemused by my use (and the community's) of the word transgender, and how the story affixed it's authorship to her, even though she'd referred to it as transgenderist as a self-descriptor once she'd moved from occasional crossdressing to living as female, though not transsexual (she was quick to correct that!)

The photos I had with her and me were reflective of her visit in Houston (I always tried to have plenty of photos in those days as I was our local transsexual group's photo-laden newsletter editor.)

"You see, her confidence is tragic
And her intuition magic,
And the shape of her body
is so Unusual." — Meet Virginia, Train

My last meeting with Virginia was quite a bit different. Unlike the previous two meetings, she didn't remember my name this time and seemed notably less focused. Then again, I was also distracted (due to political happenings). Our last visit was nice, but nothing as weighty as previous chats. She even had someone (I can't recall who) that was acting as sort of a handler/caretaker.

Similar to my initial photos, the one photo I have from that meeting was also reflective. One thing that stuck in my mind was her lipstick which was noticeably messed up, and numerous people saying hello, but leaving her to look smeared, kind of clownish. I went over with a tissue and wiped the excess and retouched it, and Mariette Pathy Allen snapped a picture of me wiping her face. Mariette thought it was a touching, poignant moment. It's not one that I ever showed publicly though as I felt it was unflattering to her.

At the time I figured I'd get a chance to see her again on a better day, maybe more like the Virginia of the late 90's or early millennium. But that was my last visit with her. Nevertheless, there's nothing to take away from my memories or her legacy. To paraphrase creatively here, Virginia Prince truly lived a Full Personal Experience in her long life.

I'll end this by tacking on the article I did in 1999 for the TATS (Texas Assn. for Transsexual Support) Newsletter for July, 1999: Meet Virginia ....

Transgenderism's ultimate pioneer, Virginia Prince, paid a rare visit to Houston, June 19 at the Westchase Hilton. She was introducted by Tri-Ess' Jane Ellen Fairfax, who read a passage written about Virginia 'Charles' Prince and giving a stirring requiem of her loss (*there was a false obituary which was circulated at that time, noting the passing of Virginia Prince).

Then Virginia took the podium and, quoting Mark Twain, stated: "The reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated." She then mentioned she was here by "special dispensation," quipping, "I always said I'd be more at home in hell than in heaven — there'd be more of my friends there."

Born in 1912, she surmises she felt the first stirrings to crossdress around the age of 12. One incident from her adolescence stood clearloy in her mind. Her parents and she had taken a trans-Atlantic cruise when 'Charles' was 16, and during the cruise she was exhorted by the wife of another passenger to have her dress young Charles as a 16-year old girl. It captured the teen's imagination and ignited stirrings never realized before.

But she didn't do it. She was so wracked with self-guilt and denial that she couldn't release herself.

After receiving her PhD in biochemistry at University of California, she discovered at one of her pharmacology symposiums that one of the other interns was a crossdresser. An epiphany! She badly wanted to contact the individual, but realizing the environment and fearing for her career, she had to think up a moniker [in order to keep her true identity secret].

She chose the name Charles (her father's first name) and Prince (the street she lived on). Later, Virginia evolved from the Charles Prince persona. After contacting this other crossdresser Louise Lawrence, she got the names of others in the Los Angeles area.

Still 'Charles,' she realized there may be some validity to this behavior. Someone once asked her if she'd ever seen a psychiatrist, and she replied: "Yes, I've cured two of 'em!"

It wasn't until she visited a Dr. Bowman from the college she interned at that she got her second epiphany. After spilling her guts, the psychologist put his feet up on a desk drawer and said, "Okay. So what else is new?"

'Charles' was shocked. Hadn't the doctor listened to anything that was just said? Did he not care? Insulted and mad, the doctor then explained that 'Charles' wasn't "alone. There [were] thousands more like you." The doctor related that he knew of at least 350 in New York alone!

"Learn to accept yourself!"

Virginia then moved to L.A. and looked up a person in Long Beach – desperately poor and living in a small shack – and along with seven others, they began a loose-knit crossdressing club. It was there that she got her first idea for "Transvestia."

Transvestia published its first issue in 1960, pre-sold at a (rather hefty for that time) price of four dollars each! The first issues were mimeographed, which was found to be unworkable.

About that time in the early 60's, she formed the Hose & Heels Club, but it was a tense start. Because of rampant paranoia during that time, and also the fact that crossdressing was still outlawed (thus many were afraid to admit to it), the group had a difficult time trying to figure out how to begin.

"You started thinking," Prince remembered, "that the person sitting next to you was with the Sheriff's, and the one sitting across from you was the FBI...."

So they devised a way of safely finding out who was a member.

Each attendee, in those early days, brought two bags. In one was a lunch; in the other, hose and heels. In that tension-filled first meeting, everyone sat in a circle and ate their lunch from the first bag. Then after the contents of the first bag were emptied, Virginia piped up, "now we have to eat the contents of the second bag." The participants put on the hose, and then put on the high heels. That was the telling factor: "if they had shoes that fit, they were a transvestite."

Later, Virginia founded FPE (Full Personality Expression): the pre-cursor to Tri-Ess. There were a number of chapters around the nation, and she recalled a visit to the Houston Chapter. "It was strange, walking the streets of Houston," she mused. The fear was that this was a rednecked city with (as many municipalities) laws against her appearing in public.

During the mid-60's, Carol Beecroft formed Mademoiselle: an open-membership group (such as GCTC - Gulf Coast Transgender Community), that was a conglomeration of crossdressers, transsexuals and drag, hetero an gay alike. Eventually Beecroft left that organization and offered to merge with Prince's group, which became Sorority for the Second Self – or then, Tri-Sigma.

However, there was a real female sorority of the same name, "and when they found out, they were not happy!" After the sorority filed suit, the group decided to rename itself Tri-Ess (S). Since then, Tri-Ess has become the largest and oldest crossdressing organization in the world.

At one point, Virginia was actually arrested for mailing pornographic materials during the U.S. Postal Service's crackdown on homosexuality. "We all know how effective that was!" she quipped.

But the arrest inspired two things. First she was sentenced to 3 years probation – meaning no crossdressing for that period (keeping in mind it was still illegal.) However, her attorney mentioned she could perhaps do seminars as a kind of "release." He mentioned his involvement in Kiwanis Club, and Victoria agreed to do it.

The first presentation on "pseudohermaphroditism" went so well that she was asked to another, then another. Before long she was touting and giving lectures on the subject, which brought her to Washington DC for a TV (pun intended) interview. As an aside, Virginia claims origination of the acronym TV, coined so she could talk about the subject in public without openly referring to it.

While in Washington, acting on information she'd received from an attorney frind, she spoke with the Postal Inspector General, and long story short, was instrumental in helping halt the Post Office's heavy-handed censorship of the mail and overturned her probation. She was free to live as Virginia full-time again, and never looked back.

At one point this Tri-Ess founder had actually sexual reassignment surgery! It was immediately after hearing about Christine Jorgensen. "When she hit the newspapers," Virginia related, "if I'd had $5,000, I'd have been on the next boat to Denmark!"

The fact that Christine didn't have to worry about a permit to wear women's clothing and appear in public captured her initial fancy. But in the end, Virginia said, "I was flad I was broke at the time. It would've been the greatest mistake of my life." At one point, she got a chance to meet Christine and her mother as she was performing in L.A. Jorgensen was a curiosity, but Virginia had no impression of her otherwise.

Someone once referred to Virginia as a "pre-op." – a term she said had no meaning to her. To back up her view, she quipped, "we're all pre-dead! What does that mean?"

In her view, if you're not a transsexual, you're a transgenderist – a term she coined and uses to identify herself. In fact, she considers sexual reassignment surgery a mistake for anyone, and doesn't really understand one's identification with transsexuality.

She also disagreed with another term finding usage in the GLBT community: "queer." In her view, it is as defined in the dictionary: a derogatory term meaning unusual or odd (or as Webster's defines it, mildly insane.) While understanding the need for a term to identify the entire GLBT spectrum, she prefers the search for a more positive connotation.

On gays, lesbians and transgenders, Virginia proffered that we "all have the same enemy: ignorance!" She then mentioned that she'd like to see the gay / lesbian community confront societal attitudes, to tell America, "what damn difference does it make? It doesn't affect what a person does. It doesn't affect anybody else. It's no one else's business unless they make it their business!"

"Why can't we give people the choice to be who it is, or what is is they want to be? And why does society get upset about males who wear dresses?"


Virginia related she was also good friends with Dr. Harry Benjamin, who in fact gave her her first prescription for estrogen. She then related a story of how Dr. Benjamin lived to be over 100 years old. At about the time he was to turn 100, one of his friends asked him: "What's the first thing you're going to do when you turn 100?"

Dr. Benjamin thought for a few seconds and answered: "I'm gonna look in the mirror." After the friend asked why, Benjamin replied: "because I've never seen a 100 year old man before."

Said Virginia, one of her goals is "to live to be 100, so I can look in the mirror. Because I've never seen a 100 year old crossdresser before!"

Stumbling a bit at one point, Virginia quipped, "I can't think ... I can't remember.... The important thing is to remember to think!"

Summing things up, Virginia mentioned we needed, "to get involved, in whatever fashion." She also exhorted the members of groups and organizations of the need to get actively involved, and to do their part to help their groups stay alive.

Sage advice indeed.

"Well she wants to be the queen,
And she thinks about her scene.
Well she wants to live her life.
And she thinks about her life." — Meet Virginia, Train

Post-Mortem On IFGE Conference

The IFGE Conference (www.ifge.org) was both an interesting and fun event this year. It was good to see some old faces, and also connect with some of my Facebook friends I hadn’t had chance to meet in the flesh. It was informative, though the presentations didn’t seem to draw many people this year. They screened a movie (unique touch) and did a grassroots organizing series as well (an important first). But due to the economy, attendance was down about 50% per reports (which makes me wonder about all our events). Not knowing the final numbers, they still pulled in around 150, maybe as many as 200 (since those not attending meals or presentations couldn’t be assessed.)

However, the last blog I posted on their board elects seemed to generate quite a buzz and overshadowed the event.

"If you're not controversial, you're not doing your job" — Clinton FCC chairman, Reed Hundt

For the record, my most recent blog wasn’t a post blasting IFGE – nor inviting such blasts from others. Other than my sudden shock at the announcement, monitoring this situation there would be in order, as I fear a repeat of the Southern Comfort Conference (SCC) debacle in 2007. This was intended to be more a bowshot to HRC to keep their greedy mitts out of our comparatively impoverished community’s events.

Nor was the post done to impugn the character of Allyson Robinson, nor invite others to do likewise. Before the IFGE Conference, I’d never met Allyson and could only speculate. During the conference, I met her while she was chatting with Bree Hartlage. Again, I expressed my concerns in my blog to the both of them. Allyson and I spoke at length and I reiterated to her that I didn’t question her motivations, integrity or morals. What I did let her know was there had been a long, consistent history with her employer, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – something she appeared to have no interest in – and that this was “pollyannaish” naïveté in the fervent hope that they will change. I explained to her that for the vast majority of the trans community, there is no reason to “hope” – that went out the window years ago. Our only options are to fight for change or give up.

She understood my position and hoped that I’d someday amend my views on HRC. I also understood her position and what she faced, and know that someday she’ll understand what Mara Keisling, Jamison Green, Donna Rose, Kylar Broadus and even Riki Wilchins learned before her. She got a bit condescending at one point, stating, “maybe someday I’ll have your wisdom and know all that you’ve learned over the past ten years.” However, I’m sure my “naïveté” comments were likely seen similarly, so fair game. Nevertheless, as with all the above mentioned, I don’t suspect I’ll be adopting their opinions on HRC, and it’ll be them coming around to mine. Allyson even encouraged me to keep speaking out as it makes her job easier (and draws me extra reviling).

Again, I don’t believe Allyson is in HRC for the wrong reasons (and yeah, I know, she gets a paycheck, etc. – spare me.) Nor do I think IFGE has gone to the dark side simply because of the board selection. What I am fully apprised of is HRC’s guile and ability to lull anyone not vigilant into their siren’s song, leading lambs to the slaughter. And I’m loath to see IFGE led there.

In 2007 I bit my tongue upon hearing what I was to happen with ENDA very early on, and yet I was personally blasted for not warning everyone beforehand! And those few that I did explain it to (those who questioned me on my “un-Equal” sticker at SCC) actually argued with me about Mara Keisling’s speech and Joe Solmonese’s promise. Two of them (one writing a check in front of me) even went in to give HRC an additional donation!

Those are things you don’t forget, and I don’t suppose anyone will understand me on that one. You had to be there.

"Stood still on a highway, I saw a woman by the side of the road
With a face that I knew like my own reflected in my window.
Well she walked up to my quarterlight and she bent down real slow;
A fearful pressure paralyzed me in my shadow.
She said “Son what are you doing here?
My fear for you has turned me in my grave.”
I said “Mama, I’ve come to the valley of the rich
Myself to sell.'
She said “Son, this is the road to hell.”" — The Road To Hell, Chris Rea

Nevertheless, one of the things I was bracing for from my post and which I warned Bree Hartlage (IFGE Chair) about was the distancing and character assassination I’d receive – typical to all situations exposing HRC. I lived it before in 2004, and it was no slice of heaven again in 2007. One thing I’ve learned is that our community as well as the gay and lesbian community will punish those who speak truth.

Bree assured me this was not going to be the case, and that they were trying to usher in a new sense of community union.

The last two days I spent on the road trip home, but upon returning got the following response from IFGE Exec. Dir, Denise LeClair.

It's a great story, but Vanessa knew about Allyson Robinson's nomination months ago. She was the first person we contacted when we vetted Allyson, but she waited until after our elections to raise an alarm. Vanessa was attending the IFGE conference as my guest when she posted this tantrum. Who blindsided whom?

This is absolute falsehood: I found out at that luncheon announcement – thus the reason I went to Ethan to verify this was the same Allyson Robinson. Even the logic – that they somehow vet board members through me first, especially since I’m on a completely separate org – hyperbolically stretches the imagination. They may have known this for three months, but I never heard a peep. I can see HRC doing things like that, but I don’t expect that kind of fabrication from IFGE.

It's ironic to be accused of collaborating with HRC, when IFGE is the ONLY national trans organization that has been refused a seat with Joe on the National Policy Roundtable (NPR). NTAC, NCTE, and NGLTF are all there. Why is that? None of the major GLB (or for that matter T) organizations in Washington DC will give IFGE the time of day, let alone funding.

A histrionic rant to be sure – where does she see my speaking of their collaboration with HRC? HRC is working with Mara on this year’s lobby day, and Bree Hartlage did mention “partnering” with NCTE and coordinating their next conference around NCTE’s next lobby day. But I did not prognosticate that HRC would work with NCTE next year, nor did I even mention the coordination with NCTE next year. That’s a little too flimsy to suggest a collaboration! And why the reference to “a seat with Joe on the National Policy Roundtable (NPR)”? I don’t know. The NPR was created in 2000 by NGLTF, not HRC. HRC as well as NTAC were two of the original invitees to the Roundtable, with NTCE joining in 2004. While NTAC used to “get the time of day” from GLB groups until 2002, that stopped once Mara hit town – and not due to anything on NTAC’s part. Funding? That doesn’t happen for any Trans groups except Mara’s.

If Denise is inferring that NTAC or I are responsible for IFGE not having the open door with GLB groups, or being on the NPR, then she’s barking up the wrong tree. In fact, the very same Mara Keisling they’ll partner with sits on the Members Committee of NPR – the group that establishes the policy for whom to allow in, and rules for members to follow. They should be inquiring of Mara why they’ve never been allowed on.

Denise even admitted later that “we were all aware from the onset that Allyson's nomination would be controversial, Allyson is not that naive and neither am I.” So why this reaction if they knew it would be a controversy, and insinuating that I created it?

In point of fact, Allyson was nominated by Ethan St. Pierre, one of HRC's most passionate critics. HRC had nothing to do with her nomination, or election. It happened despite them, not because of them. You can't throw a stone in DC without hitting someone from that organization, and any national organization that says they don't work with HRC is not being honest. The difference is that we don't lie about what we do.

If I read that first part correctly, that makes me more at ease knowing HRC was trying to stop Allyson from joining the board. Perhaps that’s what Ethan was seeing that none of the rest of us could see. I’d sensed we’d have another defection from HRC before year-end, and maybe this is it. Allyson didn’t give me that impression in our conversation, though. I’m skeptical of her leaving behind a job for the board position.

However, I don’t know why Denise put out the last part of the statement that “any national organization” not working with HRC is lying about it. IFGE is in DC. What is that saying?

And I think everyone knows better than to believe NTAC “gets the time of day” from HRC.

“To be misunderstood can be the writer's punishment for having disturbed the reader's peace. The greater the disturbance, the greater the possibility of misunderstanding.” — literary critic, Anatole Broyard

Here We Go Again: IFGE Elects HRC’s Allyson Robinson To The Board

The past few days I’ve been attending the IFGE Conference in suburban Virginia. As today was the Trinity Awards for the community, I made a point of attending. I was please to see folks get rewarded for their hard work – many times done out of pocket and unfunded.

During the announcements portion of the luncheon we heard the news of the newly-elected board at IFGE. Congratulations go out to all, and a special congrats to Bree Hartlage who will be the new board chair.

But then, at the end of the announced new board members for IFGE was a name that stopped me cold: Allyson Robinson. Shortly after I verified with board member Ethan St. Pierre: yes, this is the one employed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). She is now on the board of IFGE.

This wasn’t just a blindside, but a gut-shot and a lead pipe to the back of the head! This one came out of nowhere. The same girl that some of these same folks were panning when HRC hired her about the “activist” tag they tossed around, the same one folks have stood warily away from for her obligatory HRC promotion and concerns about motivation is now the same one on the board of IFGE.

So now, HRC has established their first foothold in yet another trans organization, and is eyeing another trans conference opportunistically. While Allyson may not be a bad person (I don’t know), one thing I am fully aware of is HRC’s propensity for strategic placement with a distinct eye toward marketing and ultimately their own bottom line. They must continue finding ways to keep employing themselves and bring up the next crop of gay and lesbian activists and future leaders – you know, the things trans people have never been able to enjoy?

“Got moneys not looking for the cure.
Got moneys not concerned with the sick among the pure.
Got money, “let’s go dancing on the backs of the bruised.” — Head Like A Hole, Nine Inch Nails

Have we not learned anything from October 2007? Southern Comfort Conference was just over a year ago, and it seems we trans folks are willing to forgive and forget and offer and olive branch of trust once again. WHY? What did we do wrong in the build up leading to October, and subsequently when we were unceremoniously ditched by both Barney Frank and HRC. I mourn that our community is once again doing what will paint us as nothing but brain-dead dupes still too stupid to be aware of when we’re getting fleeced.

And please do not give me nor anyone else the crap that this was all Barney Frank and that HRC was solely an unwitting participant in this whole travesty! From 2005 on, this was the direction HRC was lobbying toward. NTAC held its tongue, practically biting through the damn thing after Lobby Days in May 2007 as we were preemptively “damage controlled” by Mara Keisling at Esprit Conference and after. We watched, waited, gave them every opportunity to make an unfettered decision, and HRC obscenely screwed us!

It reminds me of what I’d just finished writing about a week ago: how have we NOT learned our lessons? Where has HRC done anything that even smacks of change, much much less atone for the damage they’ve wreaked on the trans political scene? When has there been anything but this constant attempt to drive wedges, divide and conquer, ultimately crushing the trans community leadership and voice, then waiting around for the spoils of their war against trans people fighting for our own egalité?

“No you can’t take it.
No you can’t take it.
No you can’t take that away from me.” — Head Like A Hole, Nine Inch Nails

Now it’s the trans community, in the persona of IFGE, that wants to let bygones be bygones, amazingly undermining our own ability to even leverage HRC, and pry away any gains! What the hell has HRC ever done for trans activism to deserve favor? We’ve always been, and still continue to be dismissed, disrespected, disengaged, discredited, disempowered, crushed and dispensed to the four winds!

Now they’ve convinced yet another organization to allow them to worm their way in so that they may undermine the trans political leadership once again, with a particular eye toward what opportunity they may reap for themselves and their own on the backs of ours, and availing themselves of the tragedies of the trans community! I have two words to describe them: selfish greed!

For trans people who don’t genuflect and capitulate, showing them what they feel is proper deference, they will vindictively retaliate as always. So much for thinking there was a chance for change from them. That killed it!

It’s ironic that Lisa Mottet of NGLTF, one of the Trinity Award winners, mused that it was ashame that the trans community doesn’t work together, and how far too often we find ourselves at odds with each other. This followed on the heels of the HRC employee now a board member, with their long and consistent history. They not only can’t see things from a trans perspective – the absence of hope, the pervasive unemployment, the pulverized dreams, the constant betrayals – they refuse to! That was a nice try, but I’m not buying those words for half a second! I’m following what experience has taught numerous times – the only change came from our side, not theirs!

All day the organization and others onstage referenced Sylvia Rivera and her courageous fight. And yet, here we have something that’s not simply disrespecting her memory but is certainly sending her spinning in her grave. If she were alive, taking a look at the trans community’s predicament and with this discovery today, Sylvia would be absolutely furious!

For all the IFGE folks who say “oh, but this is different … it won’t happen to us,” all I can say is bone up on history. There’s nothing comprehensive about this: it’s isolating one thing, wedge here, wedge there, pry and pry until you break it loose, then grab the spoils. Back to their usual selves ….

“Bow down before the one you serve.
You’re going to get what you deserve.” — Head Like A Hole, Nine Inch Nails

It’s time to bloody up the waters, seriously! It’s time to expose these avaricious HRC folks for the greed, manipulation, and hateful disrespect they’ve always shown the community and continue wanting to purvey with impunity! We must find ways to take this to the press, to the straight community and out into the streets.

We must blast them until the truth is finally known and then continue blasting them until we even it up and everything is made right!

Until then, there is no such thing as “equal” when your trans! And I for one am sick of being “lesser than”!

“Head like a hole, black as your soul.
I’d rather die than give you control.” — Head Like A Hole, Nine Inch Nails

“Blood on the streets, blood on the rocks,
Blood in the gutter, every last drop!
You want blood? You got it!” — If You Want Blood, AC/DC

My Predictions For 2009

Yeah, this is kind of a fluff piece, sorta. Again, I’m not much of a person to sit down and write a blog like it’s my personal diary. There’s plenty of diary blogs around with other T folk discussing how their day at work went, or what they did or their pets did today, or other personal sentiments about things I’m doing or experiencing, etc. That’s something that would make me feel self-centered – just my personal quirk.

However, I did break with that right before Christmas and started writing about more personal stuff (it was a brutal holiday season, sorry), and had a lot of comments (both the complimentary and those worrying). Over the years, I’ve been pretty good at following the patterns on things, so I figured I’d do a personal take on what I foresee based on the trends. Keep in mind, these are purely unscientific – essentially guesstimates. So here are my predictions:

“Never make predictions, especially about the future!” — baseball manager, Casey Stengel

The Obama Administration will do a remarkably solid job (a sincere break from the past eight years). He will help push a number of things through Congress, but a solid core of Republicans will begin trying to discipline their members to stand uniformly in opposition to Democrats – not because it’s bad legislation, but because it benefits the Democrat brand. They will also be extremely obstructionist at Obama’s court picks, even to the point of filibustering to stop all legislative progress. Moderates John McCain and Olympia Snowe will attempt to quash this, but McCain will eventually decide to retire instead of re-run and Snowe will end up having to fend off a GOP-spurred opponent. Democrats will have to stand firm to fight off complete governmental breakdown. The Obama White House will also become increasingly annoyed with what they feel is petulance from the gay and lesbian leadership as the first year of the term unfolds.

On GLBT legislation, both Hate Crimes and the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) will pass both Houses of Congress near the end of the year or soon after, and end up on Pres. Obama’s desk. The Hate Crimes will be inclusive of gender identity. Barney Frank will feign trying to include “people with transgender” in ENDA, but will let his cold feet get to him and work to push through the non inclusive separate bills – one passing, the other for trans, dying in committee. Ol’ Barn’ will attempt to use the Hate Crimes passage and his hire of Diego Sanchez (the first trans person on Congress staff) as political cover. It won’t work, and Barney really won’t care anyway.

On other GLBT, Mara Keisling (if not the entirety of NCTE) and HRC will again begin working “collaboratively” in an effort to raise Mara’s visibility once again, and to try to damage control the public relations damage HRC self-inflicted this past year. This will create dissension and maybe a couple private defections from NCTE’s board. Mara will become more impatient with working with trans people and will quietly move more towards lesbians as replacements for the board and staffing decisions. Once this knowledge hits the community, there will be further uproar.

Meanwhile, HRC will not participate in the “report card” threat in lobbying Congress this session. They will, however, privately (possibly in conjunction with Mara) give blessings on moving the sexual orientation ENDA (basically a SONDA) forward. They will also circle their wagons and continue fending off the outside trans groups, maybe trying to increase the distance between them. Before the year is up, there will be one more trans defection from HRC, though not necessarily because of the ENDA push.

The trans community, and increasingly more of the gay, lesbian and bi community not part of the entitled and empowered parts of the gay and lesbian movement will become increasingly hostile towards HRC, even while both NCTE & HRC try to repair the split. This will eventually spill over to all of the big-budget Washington organizations. The noticed move of even grassroots groups toward the high-dollar black-tie events for fundraising purposes will create a greater chasm between the grassroots and the controlling organizations.

As the marriage push continues to fumble along, more states will begin collecting signatures for statewide votes banning marriage as it’s the one issue that cash-strapped conservative advocacy groups know they can offer up and still pull in funding. As the move continues forward, there will also be increasing restiveness and desire from trans people to separate ourselves from GLBT. This along with the disenchantment of the rank-and-file grassroots GLBT folk will create a hostile environment for other GLBT groups beyond HRC.

High profile trans activist Donna Rose will be hired in a prominent position in a big GLBT group in a vain attempt to quell acrimony and distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack of orgs. It’ll only work to paint the group as cynical reactive placation and attempting to manipulate the situation. This break by the outsider masses will begin to catalyze on or around Pride Month – recapturing the original spirit on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall Rebellion.

I’ll also go out on a limb and predict that attorney Shannon Minter will leave NCLR and take a job somewhere in either the Obama Administration or in Congress (more likely the Senate). He’ll be our second trans man, and the highest level trans person hired in government.

In entertainment circles, there will be a number of transgender autobiographies and novels in the coming year. There will also be at least one or two film documentaries that will capture a lot of attention beyond the GLBT circle. Twenty-year old model and club-kid Izzy Hilton (a self-described “boy who hires out as a female model”) will burn out near year end and end up in rehab for stint, including a brief respite from the club scene, but will re-enter with more measured approach, moderating the partying, and will come out as trans in the years to come (if not this year). Proliferation of trans rock groups, musical artists with releases in the coming year. Out transgender musicians will have a higher profile this year than ever in our previous history, if not necessarily critical accolades or sales success … yet.

The American economy will pick up briefly during the early/mid first year of the Obama administration, then sink back again, even worse this time. There will be even more, larger economic bombshells including a major scandal about the Wall Street “bailout” for banks and what happened to money. In the end, large portions of the $350 billion will not be accounted for, creating a lot of energy ferreting out the culprits – though they will likely never find them, much less prosecute.

We’ll revisit another edition of the “black tag” migration a la the 1980’s (for those unfamiliar with the term, it was called black tag, because most of the folks moving down were from Michigan, who had black license plates with white lettering). Again we’ll replay the movement of many of the Michigan and other states in the rust belt region down to the south, particularly Texas. And again, I fear they’ll be coming down looking for the employment cornucopia which is, even as I write, already evaporating down here. Nevertheless, Texas and the southern economies are still an improvement over the economic disaster in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and other states bleeding red ink and hemorrhaging jobs.

This movement will also change the political map, as more of the previous northern working-class Democrats find new roots in the red-meat, corporate elite south. This will cause a political shift in the previously blood red south, and the few Republicans remaining will turn on each other as maps shift, and positioning to remain on shrinking pieces of red turf commences.

Economic stress will also wipe out some of the smaller charitable organizations and incite others to merge in order to survive. Especially on the gay and lesbian advocacy front, this redundant “organization for every mood” environment we’ve seen over the years where new non-profits spring up like mushrooms after a rain will end up reducing itself by necessity. In one sense it will be more efficient. In another sense, it will also become increasingly more “corporate” and self-fulfill the prophecy of the outsiders who scream of the increasing distance and insularity from these groups professing to represent them.

It will also help fuel a move toward more smaller, informal grassroots organizations proliferating without the offices or the bloated obligations requiring the three-figure a plate dinners and star-bedazzled preening for bucks. The newer groups will be the targets of another new move in non-profits: micro-funding which seeks out groups that provide high bang for relatively lower buck.

Foreclosures will increase greatly over the coming year, and continue throughout. The billions put forth early last summer to keep home loans from falling into foreclosure will save precious few loans next year (zero have been worked out to date), and will fall way short of the billion-dollars price tag paid. That will become part of the above “bailout” scandal. Other investment scandals similar to the Madoff one will be discovered, though none approaching the level of that infamous one. And Bernie Madoff will never see a day of jail time, and will die before ever being convicted – another Ken Lay.

Speaking of deaths, more individuals who are called and compelled to testify in charges brought on the Bush / Cheney Administration will die in suspicious circumstances. People will brush it off as mere Clinton-era murder conspiracy heresy, though a number of blogger sleuths will sift through and begin connecting dots. Regardless of how much is eventually discovered, no one will have the stomach for bringing forth charges as they don’t want to be painted as being like the histrionic Republicans circa Clinton impeachment. If Dick Cheney is ever compelled to testify, he will have a heart attack that is fatal this time.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and I believe Karl Rove will eventually be outed from their closets, though they’ll fight it avidly. It will finally cost the Texas governor both his governorship and his ever-so-tenuous marriage. Rove will fight it all the way down, even when Jeff Gannon comes out and disputes him. Ironically George W. Bush will not be outed, and will continue living his life in ignorant bliss.

Oil prices will continue falling for some time to come. This will create economic strains in the previously-oil rich Arab states. As a result of the falling revenue and increasing desperation and restive populace, Iran will unfortunately act aggressively at some point during the year, will embargo oil shipments to the West and will create problems for shipments through the Straits of Hormuz. The U.S. will end up having a new, more ominous hotspot to deal with, overshadowing even the Israel-Palestine skirmish (which will continue).

Somali pirates will also compound the problem (possibly with Iranian help), and later this year oil, gasoline and heating fuel prices will again spike upward. This will continue exacerbating already struggling economies across the globe (save for oil producing nations and individually with corporate Big Oil, who will make up for lost ground over the previous year). Europe's economy will falter badly, as will Australia and most nations in Latin America. Venezuela, still pissed off at the Bush-Cheney era, will use this to continue wooing struggling economies in South America to turn away from America (who can’t help them during our own economic malaise).

China, also suffering its own economic woes will sell off bonds, stocks and gold invested in U.S. to shore up their economy. This will create an even worse market situation than we’ve seen to date across the globe. As they do so, and begin righting their own economic ship, they’ll begin working with Iran and other nations to try to stake out a large swath of the petroleum production. While we’re in a current lull, the need for breaking the addiction to oil will become apparent in late 2009, and unfortunately America (esp. areas with inadequate public transportation in the south and west) will be woefully unprepared.

After China’s sell-off, U.S. and most other nations’ currencies will weaken badly and inflation will take off like the Nixon-Ford era of the 1970’s. As our economy worsens, we’ll see something not witnessed in decades: many more protests, particularly of employers and corporations. There will be a rise in spontaneous workplace violence, and indeed violence will increase across the board. There will be an unfortunate rise in snap violence against symbolic targets and individuals, and I see a spike of that targeting GLBT people.

Rubbing salt in that wound, a number of major cities will be found to have been suppressing their murder rate numbers, affecting reported numbers on both protected and non-protected class murder numbers. Folks will lose faith in law enforcement and the court system as a result.

This will be a productive and hope-inspiring year as we all begin working as a community and eschewing, ostracizing and isolating the wealthy and wealth-lusting wannabes. The Reagan cum Bush era of “greed-is-good,” “let-me-display-my-power,” and self-consumed, imperious hubris are no longer heroic nor attractive qualities. That halcyon is now complete. In fashionista terms, “Poor is the new Black” for this coming season, and many more to follow. There’s a lot of roll-up-your-sleeves work with little of the spotlight and no showered riches to follow. Expect to see a lot of grunge style clothing, no “bling,” kitschy out-of style skirts and evening wear, flannel shirts, tees and jackets, holy-kneed jeans, patches, worn out shoes maybe with holes (if our President can be photographed with them, then it’s good enough for us). It’s a bohemian era now.

Expect to see a lot of older, sturdy cars on the road, fixed up and rolling. In fact, a lot of the “old” things that may have been long ago forgotten will now become the new “thing.” People will be pulling out their throwbacks (whether jerseys, music albums and turntables, furniture, books, old movies, even old board games). The solid and proven – the originals – will overshadow the new and flashier, and people will move away from having to have the newest of everything. We’ll also be recapturing some of our historic spirit (even in the guise of protests). So all you castaways out there, hang on – your time is coming back!

And for my last prediction, we may see our first 8-8 NFL team make it to a Super Bowl. My beloved San Diego Chargers come into the playoffs with the worst record amongst all, having been 4-8 at one point, but also come in as one of the hottest teams going. They’ll be playing the current hottest team in the league, Indianapolis, but in San Diego. So, I’ll predict the Colts, and the Titans will both be looking beyond the Chargers (not taking them seriously) and will lose. Getting beyond the Steelers in Pittsburgh is also possible, as they did so before on an AFC championship. Unfortunately, I don’t think Pittsburgh will be taking them as lightly, knowing the history. But there’s a chance they can pull it off!

San Diego going up against New York Giants (with the very same Eli Manning who demanded to be traded to New York after San Diego drafted him) would be a great grudge match! So there are my prognostications, take them for what you will … we’ll see how accurate I am this weekend when the Colts visit San Diego. Charge!

“They're gonna find the Queen is a man but that Philip don't care
(I predict)
Lassie will prove that Elvis and her had a fleeting affair
(I predict) ….
They're gonna stop Saturday night, so you better have fun now
(I predict)
They're gonna stop having the sun, so you better get tan now
(I predict)” — I Predict, the Sparks

Barney Hires A Who? 1st Trans Staffer Hired On Capitol Hill

Barney Frank’s really getting a bit too predictable. Some months back, when Mara Keisling began her “I Hate HRC” tour, I began musing about the prospect of how both the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and especially Ol’ Barn’ (“let me lock ‘em up Andy! ...I caught ‘em in the women’s bathroom!”) would attempt to sanitize their PR images. One thing I knew was that they had no intention of doing the right thing. About that time HRC announced their new hire: “activist” (though no one here had ever heard of her) Allyson Robinson.

At the time, I figured Mara was out and would need a way back in. It also seemed Ol’ Barn’ would want something to do to give the impression of (without anything actually being) contrition. It occurred to me that he would want to keep tabs and tweak his rivals HRC, and Mara the Moth wouldn’t stay away from the limelight. So it struck me that Barn’ would bring in Mara as the first congressional staffer. She’d revel in the history of it and Barn’ would have an incented HRC-antagonist that wouldn’t tell the trans community about the sickle about to loop around and slit their throat from behind.

That didn’t happen. Now all the old parties are back playing footsies, with the only isolated adversaries being the other non-NCTE trans orgs again. But it appears Ol’ Barn’ was still wondering how to fix his transphobia problem. It especially hit a new level of urgency when President-Elect Barack Obama announced his job openings with his new executive hiring policy that was trans inclusive (something he’d mentioned before). After trans people hit unprecedented activity levels to break with GLBT orgs and get Barack Obama elected, and it was noted by bloggers such as Pam’s House Blend that Barn’ and HRC were both behind the curve … something had to happen quickly!

Of course, Ol’ Barn’ doesn’t really want to push through the single-bill inclusive ENDA. So how could he proceed with some plausible cover? Hire a tranny!

“We know what you’re up to, pal.
You’re trying to shatter our morale.
You’re trying to stir up discontent...
And seize the reins of government!” — The Wickersham Brothers, from Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who TV version

Enter Diego Sanchez. Barn’ loves Diego. He’s a trans man (enough of those damn harpy trans women!) He’s educated. He has money (a rarity in trans land, and something all gay folks love to have around … there’s always needs for fundraising for something!) He’s articulate and tempered (unlike we intemperate trans folk are destined to be by stereotype). And he’s latino – an added bonus!

There are a lot of trans folks concerned about Diego, primarily because he’s coming straight from HRC’s Business Council. The perception is that he was being used by HRC to market to us rather than to market our issues to them – that, and helping provide convenient cover. And now he’s going from the red hot frying pan of HRC straight into the blue flamed fire of Ol’ Barn’.

Now I know Diego, and while no one’s perfect, I don’t perceive him as someone who’s out on a Gen. Sherman’s march, reaping the spoils for himself alone while leaving a scorched trail behind him. The one thing I can say from observation is he’s not been angling for the singular power-broker, “lone tranny star” position. What I’ve seen of him indicates that he’s of a mind that he can actually make change there, not a career or profit motivation. Only time will tell, but I feel we can take solace in that.

If any issue is relevant, I think it would be the he’s more the naïf, approaching with an ever-optimistic ingenuousness and desire to succeed into a congressional lair that is quite the antithesis to what he’s preparing for. Regardless of what anyone wants to say, Ol’ Barn’ has mastered the art of Washington. He’s a long-toothed, bonafide player, will be driving his vehicle (everyone else’s good intentions-be-damned) and is in it for the same reason all the other gray-haired critters-for-life are in it for: personal ambition and power (which in the end mean money, if parlayed well.)

“A politician is a man who will double cross that bridge when he comes to it.” — composer, Oscar Levant

Even if President Obama goes down to Barney’s dinosaur den himself, Ol’ Barn’ will expend every bit of effort to wiggle and wangle and work his way out of it. On the surface, he’ll tell you whatever empty rhetoric it is that he thinks will get you the hell out of his office. But make no mistake, he’ll go down with a fight rather than give in to anyone, and logic (if it’s not his personal one) can go to hell. He’ll undermine it away from plain sight, then scapegoat some other unsuspecting congress-critter.

Barn’s already been caught blaming Christopher Shays and George Miller for being the “hold up” in keeping trans-inclusive legislation, and many trans folk fell for the bait, hook, line and sinker. But the reality is that those were fables – Barney’s blusterous bullshit.

And sadly, this is what Diego is going to find out shortly after. He’ll be able to be eyes and ears in the office, he’ll be able to interact with other aides on what the official SOB (standard operating bullshit) message is from Barn’. Always be mindful … it is Washington.

In the end, Ol’ Barn’ will leave him to twist in the wind. Then, even if Diego does find out what Barney tells the other offices or what rabbits are pulled out of his butt (e.g. the sudden “poll” indicating that 70% of the gay and lesbian community approved going forward with non-inclusive legislation – remember that one?), what can he do? He’ll communicate our fury in tempered tones. He’ll maybe even feel used and betrayed.


But Barney’s da boss in his office, and he don’ care. And for any of us expecting that Diego will tell him off and slit his own career’s throat there to show solidarity with the trans community … well, that’s a nice thought, and also wholly unrealistic. Take a look at the economy. Think that’ll happen? Honestly?

Diego Sanchez is setting history, and Barney Frank will take his rightful credit for that part in hiring the first out trans person ever in a congressional office on Capitol Hill. (Susan Kimberly was hired by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), but in the home state office, never – to my knowledge – up on the Hill). He’ll hopefully de-stigmatize transgenders to the rest of the offices he interacts with, maybe even open other opportunities for other trans-men on the Hill. Beyond that, Barney is not changing, he’s strategizing.

And Diego’s prime duty will be running interference for Ol’ Barn’s selfishness when that occurs. I’m happy for Diego and hopeful for him. However, I’m not hopeful now for our prospects.

“Power has no limits.” — Tiberius

“I like power and I like to use it.” — former U. S. Rep, Sam Rayburn