Many Of The Younger Generation Do Not Know Our Pioneers

When I do a workshop on trans history I have this slide…

1999: National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) founded
    • Vanessa Edward Foster, Monica Roberts and other activists

Many trans people probably have not heard of NTAC but it is one of the first political activist organization, it predates NTCE by about 3 years. In 2004 Transexual Menace and NTAC pro- test HRC for backing a non-inclusive ENDA.

Ms. Roberts lead the way in lobbying Congress and in the quest for our rights.

In 2015 she was awarded the Pioneer Award from Fantasia Fair, in her speech she said,
When the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition was founded in 1999 at an Italian restaurant in Bethesda, MD, two Texans were sitting at that table helping to put it together in myself and Vanessa Edwards Foster.  

And that legacy of innovative Lone Star State trans leadership continues with Josephine Tittsworth's founding of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit, which has resulted in 20 Texas colleges and universities and five school districts adopting trans inclusive policies.  Carter Brown has grown Black Trans Men Inc from a trans masculine centered conference that happened in Dallas to the Black Trans Advocacy Conference that will be held again in Big D in late April.
[…]
But unfortunately one thing hasn't changed since I began my own transition, and that is the level of anti-trans violence aimed at our community.

We received another reminder of it happening on the eve of this conference when Zella Ziona Smith was murdered last Thursday in Maryland.   The thing that infuriates me is that she was just 21 years old and continues the upsetting to me pattern of trans women of  color taking the disproportionate brunt of it.

It was at the Fantasia Fair that I got to meet her. I saw her at the Trans Pride march in Northampton but I didn’t get to meet her.

Just looking at all the articles in the mainstream media you can see all her accomplishments...

• Monica Roberts Uses Her Blog to Bring Justice to the Trans Community – The Advocate
• Transgender Rights Advocate And Journalist Monica Roberts Dies At 58 – NPR, ABC, The Washington Post. The Globe & Mail, Texas Tribune, and Democracy Now
• Monica Roberts, trailblazing trans rights reporter, has died – The Grio
• Monica Roberts, a Black trans journalist who covered the killings of trans women before national media did, dies at 58 – CNN
• 'A trailblazing voice': Monica Roberts, influential trans journalist and activist, dies at 58 – USA Today
• LGBTQ community mourns death of trans journalist Monica Roberts – NBC
• Monica Roberts Had 'Medical Emergency' Before Death – Out

However, not so strangely conservative media didn’t cover her death.

There are no confirmed cause of her death but rumors are flying around, one report that it was a hit and run driver another that she had an aneurysm.

Whatever the cause, we lost a major leader for the trans community. 

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Suggested reading…

About Ms. Roberts;
Roberts, M., (2007, October 18). The 1965 Dewey's Lunch Counter Sit-In. TransGriot, Retrieved September 22, 2009, from http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2007/10/1965-deweys-lunch-counter-sit-it.html 

Roberts, M., (2012, March). A Look at African-American Trans Trailblazers, Ebony. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.ebony.com/news-views/trans-trailblazers

Trans History;
Ekins, R., & King, D. (2005, October). Virginia Prince: Transgender Pioneer. International Journal of Transgenderism, 8(4), 5-15. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from LGBT Life with Full Text database .

Fienberg, L. (1993). Stone Butch Blues. Los Angeles, CA. Alyson Books.

Feinberg, L. (1994). Transgender Warrior. Boston, MA. Beacon Press.

Feinberg, L. (1998). 'I'm glad I was in the Stonewall riot'. Worker’s World. Retrieved August 1, 2009. From http://www.workers.org/ww/1998/sylvia0702.php

Gan, J. (2007, Spring). Still at the back of the bus: Sylvia Rivera's struggle. Centro Journal, 19(1), 124-139. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from LGBT Life with Full Text database.

Green J. (2004, January). Becoming a Visible Man. Nashville, TN. Vanderbilt University Press.

King, D., Ekins, R., (2000), Pioneers of Transgendering: The Life and Work of Virginia Prince, GENDYS 2k, The Sixth International Gender Dysphoria Conference, Manchester England. 

MacKenzie, G. (1994). Transgender Nation. Bowling Green OH. Popular Press.

Meyerowitz, J. (2002). How Sex Changed. Boston, MA. Harvard Press.

Stryker, S. (2008). Transgender History. Berkley CA. Seal Press.