Transgender Blogger Monica Roberts reacts to TO*WK Using Angie Zapata's memory as a cheap advertising ploy

Monica Roberts, pictured left, who authors the award winning blog TransGriot wrote about Angie Zapata's mother Maria Zapata's Comments On TO*WK

Protesting Educating and Opening Hearts at Q Cinema TO$WK Saturday Edition

Today, we transgender advocates and allies, sisters and brothers gathered together at Q Cinema in Fort Worth. It was HOT but our message was even hotter. We were there protest and Educate about "Ticked Off Tra**nies With Knives"

We needed to help the patrons of Q Cinema to understand how damaging this movie is to the transgender community and instill in them a intimate experience in 30 seconds of being in close emotional contact with a transgender person.

We wanted to make this experience real and for the moments before they entered the building one that they would always remember as the most powerful, meaningful moment when asked by anyone, well how was it? (comments heard often from patrons "They said there would be awful protesters outside but you people are so nice")

Many were so unbelievable sensitive and receptive to our concerns when after the protest, the police commented to me on how peaceful the protesters were I told her "It was peaceful thanks to the patrons, they were so nice."

This held true for most, save the few transgender woman that entered the building. I was abused by some with divisive name calling and even one telling me to "SHUT UP"!

That energized me like a thousand volt shock sending me parading again down the side walk laughing because every protest I have ever participated I was never told to "SHUT UP". Well ladies I didn't and will not acquiescent to your demand.

Future protesters of TO$WK. Contact your local police department and ask them to define the laws that govern public gatherings.

In Fort Worth Texas you do not need a permit and you are within your rights to protest as long as you stay on public property and do not impede the public or block entrances or exists to buildings. Vital to know!

When we arrived in front of the building a Q Cinema attendant officially tried to tell us where we could protest at, which was a building down from the front of there building.

After he finished, I looked him in the eye and told him "Thanks for your input but we will be protesting directly anywhere we want to as long as we do not violate any laws mentioned above. He became extremly agitated and told us he was going to call the police.

Imagine his response when he saw me drawing ghost outlines with chalk on the sidewalks! He was livid and told me to stop, that I was defacing public property, was going to get arrested, well I kept on drawing.

The police just looked on and the little man scurried back inside his building.

After the protest and Q Cinema was only able to fill 3/4 of their seats a theater representative invited everyone to see the movie FREE OF CHARGE! I was not present at for that invitation probably by design because it was made in a attempt to subvert and humiliate should everyone accept.

NOT ONE SOUL ACCEPTED. They told him if it comes on TV I still would not watch this horrendous movie.

We owned the day. The message is ours. The protest was a fantastic success.

We will be back Sunday,

Fort Worth Weekly Article on Our Protest of TO$WK and my response

Friday Jimmy Fowler of the Fort Worth Weekly fwweekly.com published this article. Below it is my response.

"Dallas director Israel Luna’s “transploitation” thriller Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives seems to attract attention wherever it goes – and usually not the positive kind. Ticked-Off is receiving its Southwest premiere at Q Cinema this weekend. An activist group called Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies has announced two protests (7pm Saturday June 5 and 4:30pm Sunday June 6) at the Rose Marine Theater, where Q holds its screenings. DTAA spokesperson Kelli Busey said in a statement:

“Humor can be used to challenge and subvert, but this movie fails on both counts. In a society where trans people struggle to be accepted and have their lives viewed as equally valuable, this film does them no service at all. Instead, it perpetuates harmful and negative stereotypes.”

"I haven’t seen Ticked-Off, though I’m a fan of the lurid and the ironic if they’re done well. But just as Q has every right to screen the movie, so do Advocates and Allies have the right to express their concerns with (peaceful) protests. That’s what keeps free expression alive and healthy in America."

My response....

Jimmy Fowler,

You are the only journalist in North Texas to this point, with enough integrity to report fairly on transgender concerns which otherwise would remain unheard because of conflicts of interests with the Dallas Voice's gay readership and sponsors. Thank you!

The Dallas Transgender Advocates are protesting at the Q Cinema presentation of "Ticked Off Tra**nies with knives, but the Sundays protest time has been changed to 2:30pm.

I would like to comment on a couple of things on your article.

Please blur out at least a couple of letters in the word "Tra**ies" in the future. That is a concession we have won from Luna and many in our community are asking everyone, including myself to adhere to that standard in the future.

It is unfair to categorize the Transgender Advocates and Allies as "ticked off'.

The DTAA is comprised of an incrediably diverse group representing nearly every continent on earth. Many of our members are people of different faiths who do not allow anger to be the guide post to advocacy.

We are not seeking to infringe on anyone's right to freedom of speech.

We will be seeking to educate Q Cinema patrons who are predominantly gay, about the damaging effect that this movie has on transgender people.

There is a misconception among the Gay community. Many feel that because the the inclusion of the T in the acronym LGB gay people have a innate knowledge of and the authority to speak on behalf of the transgender community.

That is simply not true and this misconception manifested itself most recently in this gay film makers mistaken beleive that this movie would actually 'empower' transgender people.

Does TO$WK enable trans people? Nothing could be further from the truth or reality.

The truth is transgender people have been murdered at a rate of over 2 people week for a total of 160 deaths, just for our gender expression, since Luna first introduced in January of 2009 TO$WK under a firestorm of condemnation from the worlds transgender community.

The truth is that the murdered transgender woman that Luna originally used as a advertising ploy in the trailer, Angie Zapata's mother Maria, recently spoke out in horror after learning Israel Luna had used her daughters legacy to promote TO$WK.

The truth is there are thousands more mothers of murdered transgender people who will be enraged after they learn Israel Luna has invoked the memories of there dear departed to sell this horrendous movie.

In fact TO$WK only serves to empower Luna's and his film crew's financial well being.

TO$WK sensationalizes in gratuitous grotesquely sexually suggestive images that the act of murdering transgender woman is the ultimate thrill, thereby enabling those who harbor hatred towards transgender people to act on those impulses which will result in even more transgender woman and men being memorialized and grieved over at the next Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This, my dear Jimmy, is why people of conscious from the Metropolitan Community Church's of north Texas will be standing with there transgender congregants in protest.

This why many gay and straight people who are not religiously active will be standing with us.

I do pray for our gay communities enlightenment that they will cease enabling the murderous behaviour TO$WK portrays by not attending TO$WK.

I do pray that Israel Luna's conscious will demand of him to place the concerns for transgender lives over this shameful grab for fame and wealth and that he removes this movie from distribution.

I hope you will be reporting at our protest Jimmy,

Kelli anne Busey
founder/organizer
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies
Author
planetransgender

Angie Zapata's Mother Speaks Out Against "TICKED OFF TRA**IES WITH KNIVES"

Maria Zapata, whose slain daughter Angie’s image was used in the
film’s initial trailer, also spoke out in opposition to the film.

"This week we found out that there was a film that used Angie’s name and the circumstances around her murder as a way to promote what is supposed to be a funny film. There is nothing funny about Angie’s murder and we are deeply offended that someone would use Angie’s name and memory to promote the film, Ticked-Off Tra**ies With Knives.” Glaad Blog

In case you are not aware of the importance of Angie Zapata life. Angie, beloved daughter and friend to all, was slain in 2008 by a man who later claimed he did so because he was 'surprised' that Angie's genitalia did not match her gender expression.

Allen Andrade's murder trial of Anjie captured the worlds attention because he became the first to fail to escape justice when his "Transpanic" defense was thrown out and his sentencing was more appropriate for someone committing violence against a transgender person under Colorado's new hate crime laws.

But Angie's life and death became much more to the transgender community. Her family was embraced by the worlds loving peoples straight and LGBTQ alike, as a symbol of hope. Her death became a symbolic turning point we felt was "A end to hate."

Israel Luna decimated her memory by including her name in the movie "Ticked off trannies with Knives". Luna was successful in igniting a transgender firestorm and the subsequent media attention must have warmed Luna's heart, to a point.

Israel Luna was not prepared for the unabated rage from the transgender community, unmollified by his half hearted and delinquent attempts to remove Angie's name and his refusal to disassociate transgender people from TO$WK as later film festivals the pejorative "trannie" is used with no letters blurred despite promises Luna made otherwise.

The damage had been done. Israel Luna has left a scar on our souls as "TO$WK" retains a prologue dedicating this movie to "those who do not fit in" a refrence to transgender people.

Israel Luna has placed this movie as a tribute, a testimony in the memory of our transgender slain, which to the transgender community is blasphemous.

TO$WK slanders of our community, it cheapens transgender womanhood in it's indulgence of those who delight in violence against woman, gay misogynistic men and heterosexual transphobes by the millions, in gratuitous and disgusting portrays of transgender woman as sex craved, morally deficient and expendable targets of violence.

We transgender people who live in north Texas, the birth place of TO$WK and home to gay misogyny will protest on June 5th and 6th at Q Cinema, Fort Worth and fully intend on showing ourselves as we truly are.

Kelli anne Busey
June 3, 2010

Protest "Ticked Off Tra**ies with knives" (TO$WK) ON for Saturday and Sunday!

160 transgender people murdered for our gender expression since January 2009, when Israel Luna first introduced TO$WK amid a firestorm of transgender condemnation. 160 killers who agreed in thought and deed with Luna's murderous gay lead who shouts gleefully after dismembering a transgender woman "NOW THIS IS EXCITEMENT". Transgender Day of Remembrance

Israel "dedication" of TO$WK to transgender victims makes a mockery of the transgender experience and then he further degrades our existence as he laughs all the way to the bank since RedBox just agreed to distribute it "Before it was even released."

It's time transgender people stand up and expose this movie for the fraud it is.


Start Time: Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 7:00pm
End Time: Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 4:00pm
Location: The Rose Marine Theater
Street: 1440 N. Main St.
City/Town: Fort Worth, TX
Map

Description Education Rally/Protest

Now Two Dates to Participate! Saturday protest Rose Marine at 7:00pm. Sunday regroup at 3:00pm at Rose Marine.

It will be hot, wear SPF, dress lightly & bring water.

Recently Q Cinema, Fort Worth has announced that it will be screening the movie "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives" directed by Israel Luna. Billed as comedy/thriller/‘transploitation’, it exploits violence against trans women for cheap laughs.

Humour can be used to challenge and subvert, but this movie fails on both counts. In a society where trans people struggle to be accepted and have their lives viewed as equally valuable, this film does them no service at all. Instead, it perpetuates negative and harmful stereotypes.

Crucially, the movie fails to be funny because of the social context within which trans people live: transphobia is systemic, trans people experience disproportionate levels of violence and discrimination, and each year hundreds are murdered just for being trans. Portraying trans women as murderous vigilantes hunting down their abusers is hardly going to improve understanding about this heavily marginalized group of people.

Those of us who are trans, or who love and respect trans people, won't let this movie go unchallenged.

Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies call to action
http://dallastaa.ning.com/events/protest-ticked-off-trannies

GLAAD supports Q Cinema protest

For background information about "TOTWK" GLAAD Call to Action

Protest facebook page

Zimbabwe: stop attacks and politically motivated arrests of GLBT advocates

Zimbabwe: Drop Charges Against Rights Defenders
Stop Attacks, Politically Motivated Prosecutions Against Gays and Lesbians

For Immediate Release

Contact:
In Cape Town, Chivuli Ukwimi, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (English): +27-21-469-3700; or +27-79-440-3938 (mobile)

In New York, Juliana Cano Nieto, Human Rights Watch (English, Spanish): +1-212-216-1867; or +1-646-407-0020 (mobile)

In Brussels, Shaun Kirven, Protection International (English, Spanish): +32-26-09-4409; or + 32-474-276-555 (mobile)

In Halifax, Kim Vance, ARC-International (English): +1-902-488-6404 (mobile)

(Harare, May 30, 2010) - A police raid and apparently politically motivated arrests at the offices of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) is an attack on all human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, a group of five international organizations said today in a letter to Margaret Sekaggya, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders.

A trial is set for June 10, 2010, for two persons arrested in a raid at the GALZ offices in Harare on May 21. The arrests occurred shortly before the opening of a national Constitutional Reform Outreach Program, through which GALZ is seeking to remove discriminatory provisions and secure constitutional protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. The five human rights organizations believe that the context in which the raid and arrests occurred raises serious concerns that they were politically motivated.

"It is troubling-and ironic-that the government is persecuting people who are seeking to protect the rights of all Zimbabweans through the constitution," said Juliana Cano Nieto, researcher in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. "This assault on the LGBT community threatens everyone in the country who is working for human rights."

In the raid on May 21, the police arrested a GALZ staff member, Ellen Chadenama, and a visitor to the offices, Ignatius Mhambi, charging them with possession of "dangerous drugs" and "pornographic material," and confiscating educational material. On May 24, a Zimbabwean Magistrate's Court added the charge of "undermining authority of or insulting [the] president" because the GALZ office displayed a placard that made a critical reference to President Robert Mugabe. Two days later, police searched the house of the acting director of GALZ, confiscating his birth certificate, several GALZ magazines, books, and business cards. The Magistrate Court in Harare granted bail to Chadenama and Mhambi on May 27 after they spent six days in detention.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which is providing legal assistance to GALZ, said that Mhambi and Chadenama stated being physically assaulted by the police while in custody. Mhambi said that police hit him with empty glass bottles on his knees. Both told the lawyers' group that the police forced them to "sit in the air"- crouching in an uncomfortable position-for a long period of time.

"This is not the first time a state has used antiquated public decency laws to garner public support for intimidation and harassment of legitimate sexual rights work," said Shaun Kirven, advocacy officer at Protection International. "These attacks only inflame public intolerance and prevent the international community from taking action against state-sponsored homo- and transphobia."

Other GALZ staff members, including some who were out of Zimbabwe at the time of the arrests, are afraid to return home or to the GALZ office, and the work of the organization has effectively been halted, the human rights groups said. GALZ, the only organization of its kind in the country, provides critical HIV/AIDS and psychological support and services to the LGBT community in Zimbabwe.

"The raid on GALZ, the arrests and the charges severely impede the work of an organization that provides life-saving services to a marginalized population," said Chivuli Ukwimi, health and human rights officer at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. "It is time for the government of Zimbabwe to deliver on its promise of equality and justice to all members of society."

In their letter, the human rights organizations called on Sekaggya and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, to investigate the raid on GALZ and the prosecution and alleged ill-tratment of Mhambi and Chadehama.

"This is a cynical and revealing move by Mugabe's camp to exploit the fact that the international community is in 'wait-and-see' mode vis-à-vis the unity government, which has also left the opposition toothless and vulnerable," said Lisa Veneklasen, executive director of JASS.

Government-sanctioned homophobia has led to attacks against GALZ in the past. In 1995, GALZ was denied permission to participate in the Zimbabwe International Book Fair because of government pressure. In May 1998, the state-controlled Sunday Mail published a front-page article accusing GALZ of running a brothel from its office and of showing pornographic videos. Subsequently, the same paper accused GALZ of holding "rowdy parties" featuring "public indecency." In no instance was there any evidence to support the allegations.

Speaking at a ceremony marking International Women's Day earlier this year, President Mugabe said, "Those who engage in homosexual behavior are just crazy." In the past, Mugabe has compared homosexuals to pigs and dogs and has stated that homosexuality "degrades human dignity."

The 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders calls on states to take all necessary measures to ensure the protection of everyone against any violence, threats, retaliation, adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the Declaration."

The letter was signed by the following organizations:ARC-InternationalHuman Rights WatchInternational Gay and Lesbian Human Rights CommissionJASS-Just AssociatesProtection International

The mission of The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) is advancing human rights for everyone, everywhere to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. A non-profit, non-governmental organization, IGLHRC is based in New York, with offices in Cape Town and Buenos Aires. Visit http://www.iglhrc.org for more information.