Trans activist Hope Giselle had tea to spill as she called "in" Atlanta Housewife Cynthia Bailey for dropping the ball on a "Trans Takeover" event that Cynthia was supposed to host on her Instagram page during Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).
A Trans Takeover during TDOR, a day dedicated to remembering trans people who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence, was supposed to mean that Cynthia would not post at all and that a trans person would be given the opportunity and the audience to show themselves and post content to bring visibility to the community. Unfortunately it seemed that Cynthia and her team weren't on the same page and that whole "takeover" thing - didn't even take off.
According to Hope who filmed an Instagram Live, Cynthia was expected to post a series of Trans Awareness posts, but when the time came nothing had happened. Giselle called the team and she was told that Cynthia was in filming.
"Ms. Ma'am. Just because you are famous doesn't mean you can't be reached." Giselle then continued on her IG video to name drop all the people she and Cynthia both knew and said that she personally knew that Cynthia had finished filming and was too busy "kee kee - ing" and "ha haa-ing" to put the posts up.
When Cynthia finally did, it was done as an IG story without any of the hashtags or content Giselle had gathered so that people could connect, donate, and learn the importance of the Trans Takeover.
So, Giselle sat down on Instagram to hold Cynthia and her team accountable for the flop, noting that Cynthia's support for Trans Activism was "Performative Activism". Giselle ultimately called the event a "shit show" and "trash".
Hope details that the team barely communicated with her and she was not able to get in touch with Cynthia personally and was kept blind on the process majority of the time. While Cynthia was to post all the items Giselle had gathered to post, Cynthia only posted on her Instagram story instead of actual posts on her IG feed.
When Hope went to Cynthia's DM's to thank her, she details that Cynthia had left the message on read. Cynthia did however upload one trans related post onto her IG feed but later took it down and replaced it with a #flashbackfriday post.
Hope also noted that black cis women (cis: person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex) will take and gas trans women, but when trans women need them, black cis women are nowhere to be found.
Giselle also said, "she could be wrong" but believes the reason Cynthia didn't put her up on the page was because Cynthia "felt some type away" of having another attractive, black woman who had body and could "pass" on her page. She noted that when it comes to trans black women, Giselle had found, "in her experience", black cis-woman are "intimidated by black trans women who can hold candles to them."
Giselle said that even though it may not have been the entire reason it was "definitely part of the reason" and she "feels sorry" for her. She spoke to Cynthia saying she "fucked up" and she didn't want an apology or statement. She wanted Cynthia to reach out to a trans individual "not me, because it would be performative and I don't need the clout" and give them her platform and start donating towards trans centers and programs.
Giselle said she doesn't hate her personally and did not want to call her "trash" but she wants Cynthia to be held accountable and make sure she keeps her word.
"Atlanta's small and we will run into each other," said Hope.
Cynthia Bailey has yet to respond about what happened and why she didn't support the Trans Takeover, especially with her own daughter being part of the LGBT community. Then again, Giselle was not able to get in touch with Cynthia the whole time this went down. We'll see if Cynthia has something to say now.