Our goal in sharing these perspectives is to encourage conversation within the community that might help heal our differences. The views expressed herein are that of the author and not necessarily that of Lesbian.com

Photo via QueerFatFemme.com

BY BEVIN BRANLANDINGHAM
QueerFatFemme

**The title of this post is a riff on the lyrics of the Michfest theme song written by Max Feldman.

A few weeks ago I was asked to emcee a community event that centers around inclusion of all bodies in a queer context. About a week later I was asked by one of the organizers not to emcee because they were afraid that publically aligning themselves with me would make trans women not feel welcome at the event. “You advocate for people to go to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival” they said to me.

I was surprised and hurt that this happened. An important part of my core value system is that I believe all bodies are good bodies. I feel especially moved to do work that celebrates people whose bodies are maligned in our culture–fat bodies, dis/abled bodies, bodies of color, sex worker bodies, older bodies, trans bodies and non-normative bodies of all permutations. Attacking one body is attacking all bodies. The events I produce I intend to be body positive for all. The writing I publish is meant to empower all bodies. It’s sad to think that anyone thinks that the spaces I’m in or create are not safe for trans womyn because I believe trans womyn should be welcome at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. I believe it and I’m an outspoken proponent for inclusion, both in the intention around organizing as well as performers on stages and brought into the community fully. I think it will only make the Festival stronger and better and more wonderful.

I’m going to back up a little bit here, because not everyone knows the controversy surrounding the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. For some background about the controversy and how I feel about the intention around organizing, read Towards a Spiritual Definition of Wymhood, where I advocate for a non-medical definition of womyn. I also want to point folks to the Trans Womyn Belong Here Visioning Statement for an Inclusive Michfest, which was written collectively in May of this year following the letter from Lisa Vogel.

I’m actively part of organizing with TWBH, which includes several trans womyn. All members either attend, might attend or used to attend the Festival. A core value alignment is that we love and appreciate the Festival and believe trans womyn should be included in the organizing principle.

In March I published a post trying to get folks who want to work for trans inclusion to attend the Festival (which is I believe the post the folks who asked me not to emcee were referring to). There’s obvious activist burn-out in this community and we need more help and voices. The more people who no longer attend Festival because the intention around organizing doesn’t line up with their values, the more homogenous the voices at Festival and the more it loses the diversity that makes it stronger.

After I published my piece, there was a renewed call to performers of the Festival to boycott the Festival. A few performers backed out of the line-up, including Andrea Gibson and Nona Hendryx, who felt they couldn’t support the Festival by attending and chose to join the boycott. A small handful of performers, most notably the headliners Indigo Girls, released statements that spoke in support of trans inclusion at the Festival, but also noted support for the Festival itself. They will speak for trans inclusion from the stage and will decline to perform again after this year.

Additionally, many artists who were not called on in the petition to boycott declined to participate in the Festival because of the intention around organizing. Courtney Trouble declined an invitation to screen a film.

After these public statements by artists, Lisa Vogel, the founder and owner of the Festival released a letter to the community. (Because I couldn’t find the letter on the official Michfest website, I republished the letter as a static page on my site here as I received it in an email.) Her letter has been interpreted in a lot of different ways by a lot of different people. It’s interesting the more time that has gone on since Lisa published a Letter to the Community how many different perceptions about her words I’ve heard. Some people read it and hear “No way no how no trans womyn ever.” Some people, including myself, read it really differently.

I genuinely believe it was a step forward from her previous statement in 2006. I believe it was an invitation to continue this dialogue–the biggest we’ve ever gotten from Lisa directly. She said while we haven’t changed the intention yet we are still talking about it. And I want to point out the line where she says specifically, “The onus is on each individual to choose whether or how to respect that intention.” I don’t respect the intention, but I do love an appreciate what this Festival has done for me as a person in so many ways.

I mean, I know Lisa Vogel. I know her well enough to believe her best intentions and to believe that when she says she’s listening she is. I’ve been in meetings with her and seen her listening to all sides of the issue. I know she is working to protect a community that is important to her and she wants to feel that the community is ready to move forward. It’s a giant bummer to think that this community that she’s drawing from is becoming increasingly more homogenous as people who believe trans womyn should be included feel more burn-out and disillusionment and stop coming to be part of the community.

I also totally understand why people think that there’s absolutely no moving forward based on Lisa’s letter. I can see that perspective, though I don’t agree with it.

I’ve done a lot of soul-searching on this issue. I literally think about this every day. What it comes down to for me, as in all things, is whether or not what I am doing is in alignment with my values.

I believe trans womyn are womyn. Period. I also believe this Festival is an important part of our living herstory, there are so many things that are available through this gathering that don’t happen anywhere else. I’ve been part of this community for over a dozen years and I consider them my family. I don’t want to walk away from my family while we’re having this conflict, I want to make sure my voice is heard and I want to bring forward the voices of trans womyn.

There are still trans womyn who attend the Festival and Trans Womyn Belong Here provides scholarships to trans womyn to attend Festival to ensure their voices are not silenced in the conflict. There are still trans womyn who want to attend the Festival. (There are also lots of trans womyn who don’t want to attend and who are tired of hearing about this issue.) I want to continue the work until I no longer believe that change is possible. I want to stand in solidarity with the trans womyn who are at the Festival and want to come. That’s what my value system leads me to.

Change comes from a lot of places, it comes from people choosing not to attend the Festival. It comes from people choosing to attend and have dialogues. It comes from people doing what is right for them and there isn’t just one way to go about changing something. I support people who want to boycott the Festival if that is what makes sense to them. There are people who have attended for many years who can’t participate any longer because the conflict itself is too much to bear.

People call Festival a healing place. For me it’s a place of growth and centering. I am challenged to do new things and I’m confronted with a huge conflict. I hate conflict! I want to run and hide from it. But I know I’m not on this earth to hide. I know I’m not here to run from things that are uncomfortable. I believe in the transformative power of connection.

I think this conflict is solvable because I know how similar both sides on this issue are. If there are thirty dominant political beliefs that we all agree on but it’s one that we don’t, I think it’s something that can be resolved. I think the conflict is particularly uncomfortable for everyone right now because it’s coming to a head–this is what change feels like.

Marianne Williamson said on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday “Younger people know more about things that change, older people know more about things that don’t change.” I’ve learned so much from the intergenerational aspects of the Festival, but this conflict seems to drive our lesbian elders farther and farther from the younger queer community. Festival is an amazing space that fosters this intergenerational interaction like nowhere else I’ve been and I think it’s crucial to maintain a space that has so much herstory and to continue to grow and adapt to further generations.

Separatist space is an important part of my life. I feel like this place is particularly centering for me because it is a womyn-centered space. I grew up going to Girl Scout camp, it’s empowering to be in a space that is only womyn. It’s a wonderful, positive, caring community. I want this space to be as loving and welcoming to all womyn. Honestly, I have more in common with most of the trans womyn I know than someone who has always felt entitled to her womanhood–especially folks who were raised middle class or wealthy or thin. I spent most of my adolescence beating back huge parts of my personality and self-expression because I didn’t feel like I had agency over my femininity or womanhood. Michfest helped me learn how to step into who I am as an empowered woman, but I have that battle for womanhood in common with many trans womyn and we got here in different ways. They are an important part of the diaspora of womynhood that should be represented on the land.

And because I didn’t feel born into womanhood, because I feel I had to fight my way into it, I don’t identify as a woman born woman. I don’t attend the festival as a woman born woman, I attend it as a woman who fought to get into her body and does hard work every day to step into her power.

It has bothered me for quite some time that the festival advertising and materials do not include the intention clearly stated. When I was 22 and considering my attendance at the Festival, I was post-Women and Gender Studies degree and was lucky enough to have professors who taught the Kate Bornstein school of gender. I knew that trans women were women at that time and I still believe without a shred of doubt that their womanhood is just as legitimate as mine is.

It’s not the Michigan Womyn Born Womyn’s Music Festival. It’s a womyn’s festival. And the intention around organizing isn’t clear from the festival advertising. If I had realized in 2001 that the Festival excluded trans womyn, I probably would not have chosen to attend. I wouldn’t have gone and wouldn’t have learned how much that space could do for me, fuel me and feed me so that I could go back out into the world and do the work I do. But I did go. It continues to fuel me. And I don’t want to walk away from it while I believe there is work to be done to expand the intention around womynhood.

I wanted to write this piece because I want to clarify that I believe all bodies are good bodies. It was hard to be asked not to emcee a show because people understand my politics in a way I don’t intend. But it helped me remember that people just see black and white about this issue–I attend Festival and therefore they don’t wait to hear my politics about it. I wanted to make sure people who read this know why I continue to choose to attend, continuing to work towards a goal I know a lot of folks have given up on.

I was asked by Lisa Vogel to help facilitate a workshop over several days of the Festival talking about the conflict. I’m looking forward to working with people who have different views than I do about trans womyn’s inclusion. I’m looking forward to working towards healing and resolution because I still believe it is possible.

If you are at the Festival this summer, please attend the workshop series “Loving Allies in Understanding.” I will also likely have some TWBH schwag on my person (or know where to get some) so please come see me! I work at the Box Office by the front gate and when not at work am found roaming downtown.

If you’re not attending Michigan this summer because you have decided to participate in the boycott, here is a tumblr for folks who are homesick for Michfest.

Here are some more writings I’ve done on the issue of trans womyn’s inclusion at Michfest and Michfest itself:

Lesbian Tea Basket (2012 Festival)

Towards a Spiritual Definition of Wymhood

Everyday Glitter (2011 Festival)

Glamping Tips and Fashion in the Woods

How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Festival 2010)

Lessons from the Nudie Workshop (2008 Festival)

Originally published by QueerFatFemme.com

Bevin Branlandingham is your femmecee at QueerFatFemme.com where she chronicles the relentless pursuit of her joy.

In considering the amount of vitriol seen on discussion boards about MichFest, Lesbian.com is moderating comments in hopes of enabling dialogue without attacks. Hate speech of any kind, including misgendering of transwomen, will not be tolerated. Please civilly discuss your ideas, freely but kindly, in the comments below or on our message boards.

The post MichFest: No more transphobia in my name first appeared on Lesbian.com.

One response to the WBW policy. Lorraine Donaldson, Camp Trans organizers, and Yellow Armbands, 2006

The backstory: The infamous Michigan Womyn’s Musical Festival is a much beloved multi-day festival that has been held for decades in Hart, Michigan. It also has a controversial “womyn-born-womyn” (WBW) policy that excludes transgender women from entering “the land.” Trans allies actively protest and many major acts, including Andrea Gibson and the Indigo Girls, have started distancing themselves from the event due to the policy. But festival founder Lisa Vogel claims that the exclusion of transwomen is not inherently transphobic and attendees are vocally divided on the issues. What do you think?

Our goal in sharing these perspectives is to encourage conversation within the community that might help heal our differences. The views expressed herein are that of the author and not necessarily that of Lesbian.com

BY SARAH TEREZ ROSENBLUM
AfterEllen.com

Trigger warning: This discussion includes varying viewpoints on gender, anatomy and sexuality that might be triggering for some readers.

My introduction to the Michigan Womyn’s festival came via the LGBTQ section at Barnes and Noble. At 19, I felt compelled to learn all I could about lesbianism before committing. I can’t recall the name of the book which explained everything from what The Lesbian Avengers were to why lesbians made jokes about U-Hauls, but it boasted a whole section on the festival.

Created in 1976 as a safe space for women, the annual event offered camping and nudity and tofu and drum circles and I knew right away I would never attend. Still, I understood its import, the significance of women only space. But even in 1999 as I slouched in the bookstore’s overstuffed chair, the word woman was coming to mean something more complicated than many second wave feminists understood.

Remember when lesbianism was a psychiatrically defined disorder? A lavender menace at the corner of the feminist movement? I don’t. But women like Lisa Vogel, founder of The Michigan Womyn’s Festival must. The word transgender is on a similar journey now. Moving slowly, slowly from the embodiment of freakish difference to a normalized identity, trans* as a designation is just as fraught as lesbianism used to be (and in many small towns and narrow minded families, still is).

Over the years, Vogel has come under fire by trans* activists and allies for her refusal to welcome transwomen onto the land. To explain her desire that the festival remain a “womyn-born-womyn” only space, Vogel appeals to its place in the feminist movement’s history. “We started Festival,” she writes, “to make a home where we could grow our own definition of female identity. At the time, the mere idea of a female identity autonomous of male identity was revolutionary.”

But revolution is ongoing, and just as lesbians played a key role in the feminist movement, trans* activists have advanced the LGBTQ movement. At least according to The Indigo Girls. “We are in a time of struggle and rapid changes in our movement,” they write on their website, “and we would be remiss to not recognize that many of the strides that have been made are a result of Trans Activism and the strength and perspective they have brought to the queer and feminist revolutions.” This statement is particularly noteworthy from a folk/rock duo known as much for their activism as their music. Whereas another celebrity might slap her name on whatever organization her agent thinks will advance her career, the Indigo Girls have proved themselves genuine, making informed choices about which causes to endorse. Maybe that’s why their statement regarding The Michigan Womyns Festival has caused such a stir.

Although they will play the festival this year, they believe “the time is long overdue for a change of [The Festival’s] intention, to one that states very plainly the inclusion of Trans Womyn. We feel that if someone identifies as a womyn [sic], they are a womyn [sic] and should be welcomed into our community with open arms. We will only be stronger for it.” With this in mind, they plan to donate any money they make playing the festival towards trans* activism. They write: “We have made it clear that this will be our last time at the Festival until MWMF shows visible and concrete signs of changing their intention.”

Perhaps the musicians’ response elevated news of the controversy; however, their message actually came in the aftermath of a 2013 petition posted on Change.org by trans* comedian and activist Red Durkin. Durkin’s petition calls out the Indigo Girls specifically, requesting that they and other scheduled performers “stand in solidarity with transgender women and our allies and not perform at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival until Lisa Vogel and the other organizers fully and openly welcome all self-identified women.” Durkin asks that trans* allies boycott the festival, stating that the “Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival is not safe for any women until it is welcoming for all women.”

A provocative statement given the festival’s raison d’être and one that has given rise to explosive reactions. While most fans support The Indigo Girls’ decision, calling it “brave” and “on the right side of history,” as news spread about their announcement, their Facebook page flooded with hyperbolic protests.

“Very disappointing to see you cave to the trans-gimme people,” one commenter writes, characterizing the struggle to make the festival a trans-inclusive space as “a male power grab and invasion of space. Men have been trying to get into Moon Lodge for centuries. There is no intention to participate and share and nourish,” she continues, “only to invade and destroy and desecrate. And once ‘conquered’ they will move on to some new distraction. How sad that The Indigo Girls, thought wise by so many women over the years have now proven themselves easily fooled by men in women’s clothing (or re-arranged body parts).”

While the idea that men are plotting to weasel their way onto the land seems far-fetched, many attendees have voiced more nuanced thoughts about the controversy. “I’m so, so sick of Fest being framed as transphobic,” says an anonymous eight-year veteran, “as if that’s the only possible explanation for women-born-women gathering exclusively. I also reject the idea that Fest somehow views transwomen as not-really-women. Rather, transwomen are women — just different from WBW. Not better, not worse, just different, and that’s OK. For example, people who were born Jewish have a different experience than those who converted to Judaism. People who converted are not any less Jewish. But, their experience is different, and I would support born-Jewish space, converts-only Jewish space, and all-Jewish space. All of those spaces would be different. And this one week in the woods focuses on the experience of WBW.”

In contrast, another anonymous, loyal fest-goer plans not to attend this year, citing the Indigo Girls as influences. “They said that welcoming transgendered people is ‘the only path to a truly “safe space” for womyn.’ I want to stand in solidarity with my sisters, no matter what their biological origin.”

But is a boycott the best method to get this message across? Many think it isn’t, and Vogel is among their number. She writes: “There is no doubt that complex political debate is healthy and necessary within our communities; however, a boycott, within this context, fails to advance resolution and only seeks to exact damage.”

Other Michigan performers concur: Ubaka Hill for example, writes that as an “adult-child of the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Rights Movement, Anti-War Movement, Anti-Apartheid Movement, Native People’s Rights Movement, Gender Equality Movement, Student Rights Movement, Environmental Protection Movement, Animal Rights Movement, Worker Rights Movement, my response to your courageous request that I cancel my Drumsong Workshop and the Drumsong Performance by participating in a strategy of a boycott against my own employment, my fans, my students, my peers, my musical, spiritual and cultural community of womyn and against the collective MWMF community, this is not the method of change that I want to participate in.”

Both Hill and Vogel believe that wanting a separate space for womyn-born-womyn is not inherently transphobic. Vogel writes that “this false dichotomy prevents progress and understanding. I believe in the integrity of autonomous space used to gather and celebrate for any group, whether that autonomous space is defined by age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, gender, class or any other identity. Whatever spaces we carve out in our community to encourage healing and rejuvenation should be accepted, and we should support each other in this endeavor. Nobody should be asked to erase the need for autonomous spaces to demonstrate that they are sisters in struggle.”

One wonders how Vogel feels about country clubs which refuse entry to women or African-Americans. Does she believe in their integrity as well? By no means has the feminist movement achieved all of our goals. And arguably, women still benefit from a space apart from men. But no one is advocating inviting men onto the land, but rather inviting transwomen into the definition of woman. Vogel has said that transwomen have benefitted from male privilege, and in some cases that’s true; however, it’s hard to picture a child desperate to shed the body she was born into benefitting from a penis she never wanted.

Still, that penis is a sticking-point for some attendees.

“Fest is a clothing-optional space,” another anonymous attendee says. “Even though transwomen who have not had surgery don’t identify with having a penis, penises have deep cultural meaning to many women, particularly survivors of sexual assault. I don’t think that some women’s identity should get to trump others’ lived experience. And, it wouldn’t be fair to say that WBW get to take their clothes off, but transwomen don’t (showers are open-air, with one curtained one). It also wouldn’t be fair to say that only transwomen who have had surgery get to come, because that’s so expensive that it would be classist to only invite those who are able to afford surgery.”

In a way this is the crux of the issue, or rather proof that there is no crux, no single issue. In debating the inclusion of transwomen in The Michigan Womyn’s Festival, there are no easily arrived at solutions. Nor should there be. Questions of classism, sexism, separatism, differing concepts of power and purpose all come into play. Debates like this have enriched the feminist movement which, by the way, is not merely about equality for women. It’s about equality period, about acknowledging the interlocking systems of domination effecting society as a whole.

bell hooks writes that women are not “outside the practice of domination in the exclusive role of victim.” In fact, women can be “agents of domination.” It bears considering who exactly is dominant in this scenario. Is it womyn-born-womyn, desperately in need of a festival of their own? Is it transwomen, determined to be accepted on their own terms? As someone who’s already set to boycott the festival because I reflexively boycott anything involving a tent, I can’t authoritatively speak to the complexities of the issue. Truly, I can see it from both sides. Still, I’m not sure what harm it would do to hundreds of blissful attendees if transwomen who grew up feeling isolated, displaced, and different got the chance to see what it’s like to fit in.

Originally published by AfterEllen.com

In considering the amount of vitriol seen on discussion boards about MichFest, we are moderating comments in hopes of enabling dialogue without attacks. Hate speech of any kind, including misgendering of transwomen, will not be tolerated. Please civilly discuss your ideas, freely but kindly, in the comments below or on our message boards.

The post The fight about MichFest: Revolution is ongoing first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY CINDY ZELMAN

When I was a younger woman, I donned leather pants, white ribbed tanks, and high-heeled black boots. I’d take off most weekends to meet women at lesbian dances in Boston. I was slim and fit because I worked out. I learned how to flex my muscles without looking as though I was flexing. This is how I met girlfriends-to-be: with a dash of egoism and a sexy outfit.

I attended these dances to validate myself as an attractive woman, measured by how many women wanted to talk with me, dance with me or get my phone number. I’m embarrassed now to admit how shallow my motives were, and that such a superficial validation was so important to me, but it was — and for a long time.

But times have changed.

I’m in my early fifties, and I don’t wear leather pants anymore. Although I’m still in good shape, I eat too many cheese puffs and red velvet cupcakes to fit into any leather-hugging trousers. I don’t wear heeled boots either, due to a nerve condition I have between my toes. Today I took delivery on three pairs of “Grasshopper” shoes. These are sensible and very comfortable tie shoes for a woman who no longer is trying to impress anyone. I realize I am no longer bringing sexy back, but I’m bringing something else these days, something more important — a wider perspective on the LGBTQ community.

For example, my views on Michfest have evolved. Known to those of us of the 1980s coming out era as The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, in those days the featured singers were Holly Near and Ferron and Cris Williamson, among others. Today, there is controversy as to what kind of woman should be allowed in — whether trans-women should or should not welcomed. The Indigo Girls plan an onstage protest of this womyn-born-womyn only policy.

Once I would have agreed with the only-born-as-a-woman policy and said, no, if you still have a penis or an Adam’s apple, you are not a woman, and therefore, you are not allowed into MichFest.

Now I find such a view as embarrassing as my leather pants. One of the ideas behind such an event is to end the isolation of a group of people who have been kept down in society. Who could be more isolated than a “man” who is really a woman? A transsexual, or a woman in transition, who has always felt like a woman but has never been welcomed into the women’s community? I believe anyone who identifies as a woman should able to attend. We must be more open-minded about what we mean by “woman.” Gender is no longer “bifurcated” as the intellectuals might say, and it can be very complex.

Other things have changed over the decades, for example, in the 21st century so many (r)evolutions in thought and technology have allowed me to be “out” in numerous ways that I felt unable to be in the 20th century.

Well, look, I’m writing a blog on Lesbian.com. There was no Lesbian.com way back when. There was no dot.com anything. Here I have a forum to talk about whatever I want as a gay woman where once I felt I could not even say the word lesbian. I have Twitter and Facebook accounts and a WordPress blog, and every so often, The Huffington Post, to talk about gay issues. I don’t take this for granted. If having to reach my fifties and move into comfortable shoes is the price I’ve had to pay to get to this place of expressive freedom, so be it.

My feelings for Pride, too, have changed. Years ago, I was embarrassed by the parades – by the parading –  with lesbians going topless and the men in full flame. I used to think: flaunting it is no way to garner support from the rest of society. Even when you’re gay, you can still carry mainstream homophobia with you, and that’s exactly what I did in my leather pants and heeled boots. I thought we needed to “please” the rest of society in some way in order to gain acceptance.

Now, in my looser-fitting blue jeans and comfortable shoes, I’m more of a mind to say, ‘go eff yourself’ and let us be what we are. I now realize that we need to flaunt our identities just to remain visible and Pride is a place for that to happen annually, and all around the world! We need the shock value — until we are accepted wholesale with full rights and full love — into society.

As I’ve shed my sexy boots, so, too, have I shed my narrow-minded views on the queer community and let go of my own socialized homophobia. I may not be bringing sexy back with my new dress style, but I’m bringing back something much more important: a wider and more encompassing perspective, that for me personally, couldn’t have happened until I’d had time to grow into middle age. Maybe I don’t look so cool now, but I am so much cooler than I was in those boots.

Cindy Zelman is a writer based in Boston, whose blog, “The Early Draft,” explores a variety of topics, including lesbianism, writing, agoraphobia and humor.

The post Everything changes, even my shoes first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Though they’ll be on hand to perform, lesbian favorites the Indigo Girls are encouraging a protest against the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival for the event’s continued exclusion of transgender women. Andrea Gibson also recently announced her decision to cancel her performance at MWMF after receiving “heartfelt” feedback in light of the festival’s policy to be exclusive to cisgender women.

“We have made it clear that this will be our last time at the Festival until MWMF shows visible and concrete signs of changing their intention,” Amy Ray and Emily Saliers wrote on their site. “We have no animosity towards anyone in this case but see the deep and fearless legacy that MWMF has had during its existence and we honor that. We also honor the prayerfulness that has been a part of this struggle on both sides.”

Read the full statement here.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Indigo Girls encourage debate over Michfest policies first appeared on Lesbian.com.