A TEXAS LEGEND

Monica Roberts has passed on

That was the text message I received from my state rep Leslie Herod – who also knew Monica – on Thursday afternoon while I was finishing up my work day.

Because of Monica, it is why I got involved with helping Herod win her 2016 primary election and today she is the Michael Jordan of Colorado politics.

I am still stunned. And I know I’m not alone in those feelings.

I do not know the exact details of her passing at this time and I will not share them out of respect for her immediate family – both biological and chosen – and close circle of friends.

I’m not sure that the upcoming words do someone justice who had a towering presence and made a huge difference in our country’s trajectory towards a more equal and just society. I am sure that I have left out something significant, but I hope that my words joined with others who are more eloquent than I can complete the picture of who Monica Roberts was. To me, she was so much more than a fellow football prognosticator.

I have seen the tributes pour in honoring Ms. Roberts such as actress Laverne Cox retweeting several tributes and articles to the civil rights icon as well as elected officials such as US Representatives Sylvia Garcia and Shelia Jackson Lee, and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner sharing their thoughts.

Among my social group, they are sharing several stories and pictures of meeting her. Maybe it was that one time at a conference, a lobby day at the Texas Legislature, TDOR ceremony, Houston City Hall, a protest, an awards ceremony, a Harris County Democratic Party event, or sharing a tasty Slurpee with her, it is obvious that she had an effect on people.

I had the honor of meeting her twice. The first time it was through a mutual friend and it was at the Texas Non-Discrimination Summit in Houston in March 2011. The second time was at the LGBTQ Task Force Creating Change Conference in Denver in January 2015 and we spent a good two hours in the hotel lobby talking about… well, anything and everything. I would regularly chat with her on Facebook messenger as well as like her tweets. In addition to addressing her as Ms. Roberts in my writings it was my way of saying that I see her and that she mattered to me.

She was definitely a force and regularly made her presence known with authority. In her own words she was unapologetically a capital B-L-A-C-K, trans, and a woman. And I respected her ability to live her authentic true self despite there are groups to this day that refuse to allow people like her to do so.

In 1994, she began her transition while as an employee at Continental Airlines in Houston. There were not a lot of voices out there for people like her and media representation of transgender persons was certainly not very favorable. In 1998, she was one of a handful of people that lobbied in DC for transgender protections. Again, such an idea was unheard of at the time.

Today, several LGTBQ organizations at the state and national level regularly lobby to improve the lives of transgender persons ranging from non-discrimination policies in housing, employment, and health care to banning the use of trans panic defense in legal proceedings. The Equality Act which would codify civil rights for LGBTQ persons has passed the Democratic led House but is stalled due to the Senate and White House being in Republican hands. If Democrats earn the trifecta at the federal level in a little more than three weeks, then one of Monica’s dreams will be fulfilled.

And so many of her dreams were fulfilled such as on 4 November 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president, successfully fighting back against transphobic legislation in the Texas legislature such as a bathroom bill in 2017, seeing transgender persons receive more prominent roles both in front of and behind the camera and ensuring their stories are told in a faithful manner, experiencing Black Panther in the movie theaters, witnessing the number of transgender persons winning and holding elected office increase, and Megan Thee Stallion’s SNL musical performance.

Ms. Roberts started the TransGriot in 2006 in order to give a voice to those largely ignored and to better represent the transgender community. It has won several awards and countless praise on raising awareness on transgender issues before it reached the mainstream. Many times she was the point person on those issues in both Houston and national media.

The thing I admired her the most was doing the difficult duty of reporting victims of anti-trans motivated violence. She did everything in her power to ensure that those victims were shown dignity ranging from accurate reporting of their name and gender identity and expression to the grinds of the legal system to ensure that justice was served. Ms. Roberts was saying their names before it was a thing, and much like her favorite comic book heroes Storm and Black Panther she embodied that spirit.

Another thing I admired her was her command of the facts and her ability to put people in their place who thought they could step up to her. In addition to her numerous awards, Ms. Roberts had the heads of several fools mounted on her wall who thought they could step up to her. Every time that happened, it was like watching Elektra from Pose – understandably one of her favorite shows because Janet Mock is an executive producer – reading someone for filth.

I think it is worth mentioning that she insanely loved her Houston sports teams and cheered hard for her alma matter the University of Houston Cougars in every sport. I’ve jokingly said that if Houston ever got a dodgeball team, she would cheer that with the same intensity as the Texans, Astros, Rockets, and Dynamo. One of the reasons why I want Houston to get an NHL team is because I wanted to see Monica cheer them on, regularly banging on the plexiglass at rink side seats.

Ms. Roberts was excited in voting for the Biden-Harris ticket and do two things: 1) cast the Trump-Pence misadministration to history’s landfill; and 2) put Texas in the Democratic column for the first time since 1976. Unfortunately, she will not get to do that. It should be noted that she was an early supporter of the Kamala Harris presidential campaign and followed her political career since its inception. Monica was telling people to keep an eye on her as she did with other people who entered the political arena such as Danica Roem, Briana Titone, the previously mentioned Leslie Herod, Andrea Jenkins, Phillipe Cunningham, and countless others.

There will be many tributes towards her over the next few days and rightfully so for such a legend. I expect her memorial service will be on the same level as the one given to Spock at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

If you truly want to honor her, then the one thing you can do is vote specifically for the Democratic slate of candidates all the way from president through the legislators and ending up at the bottom of the ballot at dog catcher. Ms. Roberts stressed that conservative legislators have zero interest in passing progressive legislation and the only way to achieve the goal of progressive nirvana is to put Democrats in charge of everything. She regularly made it a point heading into this upcoming election that everyone needed to get in formation and vote like black women who gave Hillary Clinton 94% support four years ago and will likely reach that same mark with the Biden-Harris ticket in a little more than 3 weeks from now.

Even though she and I were raised at different ends of I-45 and in vastly different worlds, we were Texans through and through.

I am not ashamed to say this: Because of her sharp mind and kind heart, I loved her.

Indeed, she was a legend.

Rest in power, Ms. Roberts, and see you at the hotel lobby in the sky