#IAMJADA – Jada Speaks Out

The 16-year-old whose nightmare went viral – is fighting back. Hear Jada speak out in a powerful cable news exclusive interview with Ronan Farrow.

Taking Care of Transgender Elders

January 2, 2014 was a cold day in New York City and Tanya Walker remembers it well. The 51-year-old had surgery that day after being diagnosed with lung cancer. “I was homebound, and the weather was so cold I couldn’t breathe outside,” she explains.

As a black trans woman, Walker was in an unenviable position. Aside from structural barriers that create disproportionate obstacles to healthcare, Walker doesn’t have much family support in New York. But she hasn’t had to face her illness alone.

Walker says she started coughing up blood about a year ago, and soon visited a doctor. After blood work and several scans, she was diagnosed with Stage Three lung cancer and told that she would need an operation, chemotherapy and radiation. A longtime member of the Audre Lorde Project (ALP), Walker says she brought up her diagnosis to her fellow members. “And all of the sudden they said, ‘Why don’t we get together as a community and help Tanya out through this illness?’”

Continue reading on Colorlines.

5th Trans Woman of Color Murdered in 41 Days

The lives of our young people are are at stake. Goddess Queen Sister Mia Henderson was found murdered in the 3400 block of Piedmont Avenue in Northwest Baltimore around 8:00am on Wednesday, July 15, 2014. She was only 26 years old. She is the fifth trans woman of color murdered in 41 days. It is important to note that these murders are taking place during the same time our nation celebrates the 45 Anniversary of Stonewall Rebellion. How can we fight for equality when we are fighting for our lives everyday?

“It is time all social justice movements rallied around the lives of Black trans women. That is the work. The time is now. Our lives matter!”

That was a statement from Lourdes Ashley Hunter, Co-Founder of the Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC). It was her response to the news of yet another trans woman of color found murdered in 41 days. Her pain is real. Her fear is real.

More from A Gurlz Guide.

The Cold War Between Straight Black Women And Gay Black Men

This antagonism and foolishness between Black women and Black gays? It’s exhausting. This eternal spring of joke-wrapped anti-Negress vitriol is a side effect of Black men historically finding a whole new rack of material by putting on dresses, wigs, and pearls for laughs once they run out of engaging roles to play as themselves. Some say it’s problematic on some “effeminization” shit, which is a whole different barrel of bullshit to unpack. It is, however, an ugly mutation of an existing, also tired-as-fuck comedy trope. We need less of this.

More over at Very Smart Brothas.

The Peculiarity of Black Trans Male Privilege

In May, I journeyed to Dallas to spend a weekend of community building and love sharing with a group of black trans men, many of whom I call my chosen brothers, at the third annual Black Trans Advocacy Conference. As it is one of the few opportunities for black transgender people to collectively gather, each one of us traveled from different parts of the country with our significant others, with friends, or by ourselves to the annual gathering with the hopes of finding family…

Through all of our talks, however, we kept returning to the topic of navigating our newfound privilege as men who carry with us the emotional, mental, and physical memory of being perceived as women—a peculiar type of privilege that is both liberating and restrictive.

Read the rest on Advocate.