Stories From the Road

I recently returned from Dallas Texas, having visited both Houston and Tyler while there. I flew down, bringing the cameras and a light and rented the tripods and stands locally. I met up with Paul Taylor, who would be my cameraman.

Paul and I last saw each other 27 years ago, but like all good friends, we picked up where we left off and set about planning our schedule for the week. We had four interviews to complete.

Our first assignment was to drive to Houston to interview Phyllis Randolph Frye (above). Phyllis recently retired from being the nation's first openly transgender judge, having worked in the Houston Municipal Courts. From my 1994 archives, I found Phyllis addressing the crowd at the NGLTF conference in Detroit. The organizers had added the “B” and the “T” in the acronym (From “LG” to “LGBT”). Frye was gracious at the time in her response to the inclusion but was careful to phrase it as more of a “return.”

Phyllis recently retired from being the nation's first openly transgender judge, and was working in the Houston Municipal Courts. She told us the intriguing story of her life and experiences and provided lots of photographs which is always welcomed.

Current Affairs

The transgender community is currently taking a psychological (and sometimes physical) beating right now, and rest assured homophobia is rife throughout the land.

I recently had the Legacy Project’s Facebook page reported as “obscene” and taken down. (If you post a complaint and use enough trigger words it comes down automatically). I did appeal and after two weeks it finally came back up. Until the next time.

On a happy note, June is here, and the Cleveland Gay Pride Parade and Festival this past weekend was incredible. ~ Big shout out to the Cleveland PD.