Monica Katrice Roberts (May 4, 1962October 5, 2020) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

blogger, writer, and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

rights advocate. She was the founding editor of ''TransGriot'', a blog focusing on issues pertaining to

trans women A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

, particularly African-American and other women

of color The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

. Roberts' coverage of transgender homicide victims in the United States is credited for bringing national attention to the issue.

Early life and education

Roberts was born and raised in segregated

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was a DJ. Roberts graduated from Jones High School in the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest Public school (government funded), public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the ci ...

in 1980. In 1984, she graduated from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

Career and activism

Roberts was working in Houston as an airline gate agent in 1993–94 when she began her

gender transition Gender transition is the process of affirming and expressing one's internal sense of gender, rather than the sex assigned to them at birth. It is a recommended course of treatment for individuals experiencing gender dysphoria, providing impro ...

. She was a founding member of the

National Transgender Advocacy Coalition The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) was a federal level political lobbying and advocacy organization which was founded in 1999 and established as a 501(c)(4) lobbying group in Virginia of 2000. The NTAC was founded by a group of ex ...

, and served as its Lobby Chair from 1999 to 2002. In

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, Roberts served on the board of the Fairness Campaign and its

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

C-FAIR. In 2005 and 2006, she organized the Transsistahs-Transbrothas Conference that took place in that city. She began writing ''TransGriot'' in 2004 as a newspaper column for ''The Letter'', a Louisville-based

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

newspaper; the term "

griot A griot (; ; Manding languages, Manding: or (in N'Ko script, N'Ko: , or in French spelling); also spelt Djali; or / ; ) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicatin ...

" refers to a storyteller from

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. Roberts founded the ''TransGriot'' blog in 2006. Roberts was motivated by a lack of trans blogs focused on black people and other

people of color The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

. One of the missions of her blog is to "chronicle the history of Black transpeople". The blog allowed her to address community issues in a more timely manner and allowed greater control than the column after it was taken away due to a conflict with an advertiser over her writing. Through ''TransGriot'', Roberts also identified transgender homicide victims in order to tribute the victims, many of whom are often misgendered in police reporting and media coverage. Roberts' coverage of transgender homicides is credited for bringing national attention to the issue. As a black

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

, Roberts explored the intersections of

cissexism Cisgenderism or cissexism is an ideology that challenges people's gender identities and thus leads to discrimination against gender variant people. It is systematic, and reflected in culture and the practices of legal authorities. Cisgenderism in ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

in her writing. In a 2009 column, she stated that people who have a problem with the word ''

cisgender The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and ...

'' "are wailing in unacknowledged cisgender privilege", and compared this criticism to white people that "call me 'racist' anytime I criticize the underlying structural assumptions that buttress whiteness".

Awards and recognition

In 2006, Roberts won the

IFGE International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE) was an American non-profit transgender advocacy organization. The foundation was devoted to "overcoming the intolerance of transvestitism and transsexualism brought about by widespread ignorance ...

Trinity Award for meritorious service to the transgender community; it was the transgender community's highest meritorious service award, and she was the first African-American Texan and the third African-American openly trans person to be given the award. In 2015, Roberts received the

Virginia Prince Virginia Charles Prince (November 23, 1912 – May 2, 2009) was an American transgender woman and transgender activist. She published '' Transvestia'' magazine, and started Full Personality Expression, which later became Tri-Ess, for male he ...

Transgender Pioneer Award from

Fantasia Fair Fantasia Fair (also known as FanFair) is a week-long conference for cross-dressers, transgender and gender questioning people held every October in Provincetown, Massachusetts, a small Portuguese fishing village and largely gay and lesbian tourist ...

, making her the first African-American openly trans person to be so honored. In 2016, Roberts received a Special Recognition Award from

GLAAD GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...

, and became the first openly trans person to receive Phillips Brooks House Association's Robert Coles "Call of Service" Award. In 2017, Roberts received the HRC John Walzel Equality Award from the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

. In 2018, she was named one of "8 Houston Women to Watch on Social Media" by '' Houstonia.'' and won Outstanding Blog at the

GLAAD Media Awards The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

. In January 2020, Roberts received the Susan J Hyde Award for Longevity in the Movement from the

National LGBTQ Task Force The National LGBTQ Task Force (formerly National Gay Task Force; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT ...

. In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ

Pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

, ''

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay- and LGBTQ-oriented entertainment and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was ...

'' named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people". In April 2021, TransGriot won a

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

in the Outstanding Blog category.

Personal life, death and legacy

Roberts began her

in 1993–94. She had felt since she was five or six that "something was different about me", but didn't have access to black trans role models at that time (the 1970s); she felt that she would have transitioned earlier if she had. Roberts died on October 5, 2020. Her death was announced on October 8, 2020, in a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

post by her friend Dee Dee Watters, and was later confirmed by the Harris County Medical Examiner and local media. Roberts' death was initially reported as a

hit and run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the criminal act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there ma ...

case, though the medical examiner later stated that the cause of death was a "medical emergency"; her family reported that she was feeling unwell in the days prior to her death. The following week, the medical examiner reported the cause of death was complications of a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain ...

. Many LGBT activists, writers, and other celebrities paid tribute to Roberts via social media following the announcement of her death, including

Janet Mock Janet Mock (born March 10, 1983) is an American writer, television producer, and transgender rights activist. Her debut book, the memoir '' Redefining Realness'', became a ''New York Times'' bestseller. She is a contributing editor for ''Marie ...

Raquel Willis Raquel Willis (born 1990/1991) is an African American writer, editor, and transgender rights activist. She is a former national organizer for the Transgender Law Center and the former executive editor of ''Out'' magazine. Her memoir, ''The Risk ...

, Jen Richards, Darnell L. Moore, and

president Alphonso David. In January 2021, Dee Dee Watters, another Houston activist and friend of Roberts, announced plans for a publication named ''TransGriot'' to continue the work Roberts had done to cover black and trans issues on her blog of the same name. There is a memorial to Roberts, in the form of an

electrical enclosure An electrical enclosure is a cabinet for electrical or electronic equipment to mount switches, knobs and displays and to prevent electrical shock to equipment users and protect the contents from the environment. The enclosure is the only ...

painted with her likeness, in Montrose. Abbie Kamin, a member of

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. The Council has sixteen members: eleven from council districts and five elected at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, wi ...

, established the project to make the memorial; Katherine Ligon and Brad Pritchett were the artists. The process of proposal to completing the memorial was about one year. Sam Byrd of '' OutSmart'' stated that the memorial shows a "silent gaze".

References

External links