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Camp Trans was the name of an annual demonstration and event held outside the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MWMF or Michfest) in Oceana County, Michigan. This demonstration was held by transgender women and their allies to protest against the Festival's policy of excluding trans women from attending, until the Music Festival's end in 2015. [1]
Camp Trans was sparked by a 1991 incident, in which Nancy Burkholder was ejected from the festival, after refusing to answer when a woman asked her whether or not she was transgender. [2] The MWMF maintained a womyn-born womyn policy since its inception, as evidenced by posters from the first festival in 1975. [3] Each year afterwards a group of women, both transgender and cisgender, protested the exclusion of trans women from the event. [3] Initially, these protests were small and sometimes carried on inside of the camp. [4]
A more organized group of transgender women and their allies began camping and holding demonstrations outside the gate. After a five-year hiatus, Camp Trans returned in 1999, led by transgender activists Riki Ann Wilchins and Leslie Feinberg, as well as many members of the Boston and Chicago Lesbian Avengers. [5] The events of this year drew attention and controversy, culminating in tensions as a small group of transgender activists were admitted into the festival to exchange dialogue with organizers and to negotiate a short-lived compromise allowing only transgender women who had sex reassignment surgery on the festival land. [6]
In the early 1980s and in 1999, a transgender musician who had transitioned 10 years earlier did perform in MWMF. During the 1999's Camp Trans event, a number of transgender women purchased tickets and were admitted to the MWMF. [7] A similar claim of victory was published by Camp Trans that year. [6]
By 2005, activists at Camp Trans and MWMF had become frustrated with the boycott effort and felt that a combined effort of external and internal activism on the grounds of MWMF might be more effective in securing inclusion. [8] [9]
In 2006, a transgender woman organizer of Camp Trans named Lorrraine Donaldson was sold a ticket to the 31st annual Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. [10] [11] On Tuesday, August 8, 2006, Donaldson approached the workers at the front gate of the festival and asked if she could purchase a ticket. She was instructed to read an outdated handout that was printed by the festival office in 2000 following the controversial events surrounding the "Michigan Eight" protest. [12] This paper indicated that the festival was still enforcing a policy of exclusion for transsexual women. When Donaldson pointed out that the document was outdated and asked for a current version from the workers, they told her that none was available. Donaldson requested that the workers seek up-to-date policy information in writing from the office and informed them that she would return the next morning. That same day, the newly organized Yellow Armbands pro-inclusion support group held their first meeting at the Watermelon Tree in the common dining area of the festival. [ citation needed ]
On the morning of Wednesday, August 9, Donaldson again approached the box office workers near the front gate and asked to purchase a ticket. [13] She was met at the gate by three members of the Yellow Armbands and one organizer of Camp Trans, all of whom witnessed Donaldson disclosing her trans status to the box office manager, before being sold a ticket and given an orange wristband that designated her as a "festie". Donaldson attended the festival for the remainder of the week and participated at a trans inclusion workshop that was presented by trans woman Emilia Lombardi, who was also an organizer with Camp Trans and who was sold a ticket to the festival on Friday, August 11, as well. The workshop was listed as part of the official festival program and both Donaldson and Lombardi were open about being trans women at the workshop that was attended by over 50 people. [14] Donaldson and Lombardi also continued to join the Yellow Armbands mealtime gatherings, where they were met with support from festies and workers. The conclusion of the 2006 festivals in Hart, Michigan was marked with noted optimism and collaborative spirit between Camp Trans constituents and their pro-inclusion supporters at MWMF, as was noted immediately by members of the community and media. [15] [ better source needed ] A camper also captured the good news as it was presented onstage by a Camp Trans committee member and later posted it on YouTube. [16]
Following the 2006 festival, a small group of Camp Trans organizers issued a press release that stated that the MWMF had "ended its policy of exclusion." [11] A disagreement ensued within the Camp Trans and Yellow Armbands organizations over whether or not this press release was ethical due to issues of transparency and consent. [17] [18]
Camp Trans argued that the press release was a deliberate and necessary tactic designed to bait WMWF founder Lisa Vogel into responding with a transphobic press release which would make the parameters of the "wbw-policy" officially known. Supporters of this tactic felt that because Vogel hadn't given the Camp Trans organization permission to republish the letter, nor was the policy (or what Vogel referred to as an "intention") available in writing on the MichFest website or elsewhere, that this was the only way that Camp Trans could ostensibly prove that the policy actually existed. Others felt that the motivation behind the press release was nebulous and not supportive or inclusive of Donaldson or others who were involved in the positive developments that occurred in the summer of 2006. They also believed that the press release caused unnecessary conflict between inclusion activists and the festival office and they preferred to focus on the larger community who were clearly supportive of trans women attending in 2006. Regardless, Vogel did in fact issue a response where she stated again that the festival is intended for women-born-women, and that they hope and expect trans women to respect that intention. [19] Following the press release fallout, Donaldson resigned from Camp Trans and joined the Yellow Armbands as an organizer. [20]
In 2007, the Yellow Armbands blog was frozen by an organizer who resigned from the activism due to lingering issues regarding lack of transparency in the inclusion movement. [21] Other activists also resigned over concerns that Camp Trans was privileging the voices of trans men over trans women in their organization. The remaining inclusion activists at Yellow Armbands created a new online community and blog and renamed their organization Fest For All Womyn. [22]
Donaldson returned to MWMF in 2007 with the newly renamed Fest For All Womyn/Yellow Armbands and camped in The Twilight Zone area of the festival along with other trans women and female inclusion supporters. [11]
2007 was also a landmark year for Camp Trans, because for the first time in their 16-year history, they held elections for their organizational positions. [18] Camp Trans organizers celebrated this as a positive step in the right direction when the majority of elected positions were filled by trans women.[ citation needed ]
There were tensions during the 2010 festivals. A piece published in both Anarchist News and the queer zine Pink and Black described a confrontation with a tow truck driver. The driver allegedly threatened to kill Camp Trans members with a tow cable after he was asked to turn off his engine during a Camp Trans speech. [23] [24] [25]
Pink and Black wrote that there was vandalism during the festival, saying that, in one incident, someone painted the words "Real Womyn Have Cocks" in a MichFest kitchen. The zine also said a flyer was distributed that read: "Second-Wave 'Feminists', / A hot load from my monstrous tranny-cock embodies womanhood more than the pieces of menstral (sic) art your transphobic cunts could ever hope to create. / Love, Womyn-born-Monsters". [24]
There have been groups created "on the land" like Trans Women Belong Here, for support, care, and acquiring a "safe space" within MichFest. MichFest itself, however, ceased as an ongoing concern after its 40th season in 2015. [26]
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In 2022 a trans art and community camping festival of the same name was held in Leighton Buzzard. [27] The event was a success and is planned to take place again, on a larger scale, in the summer of 2023. [28]
Womxn and womyn are alternative political spellings of the English word woman, used by some feminists. There are other spellings, including womban or womon (singular), and wombyn or wimmin (plural). Some writers who use such alternative spellings, avoiding the suffix "-man" or "-men", see them as an expression of female independence and a repudiation of traditions that define women by reference to a male norm.
The word cisgender 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 means on this side of. The term cisgender was coined in 1994 as an antonym to transgender, and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender. The term has been and continues to be controversial and subject to critique.
Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. People of color who are transgender experience discrimination above and beyond that which can be explained as a simple combination of transphobia and racism.
The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a lesbian feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to as "The Land" by Michfest organizers and attendees. The event was built, staffed, run, and attended exclusively by women, with girls, young boys and toddlers permitted.
Le Tigre is an American art punk and riot grrrl band formed by Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning in 1998 in New York City. Benning left in 2000 and was replaced by JD Samson. They mixed punk's directness and politics with playful samples, eclectic pop, and lo-fi electronics. Like with many bands in and from the riot grrrl movement, many of the lyrics addressed feminist themes and ideas. The group also added multimedia and performance art elements to their live shows, which often featured support from like-minded acts such as the Need.
Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama in The Transfeminist Manifesto.
Riki Anne Wilchins is an American activist whose work has primarily focused on the impact of gender norms.
Mr. Lady Records was a San Francisco-based lesbian-feminist independent record label and video art distributor. Artists on the label included Le Tigre and The Butchies. OutSmart magazine noted that Mr. Lady was "queercore's strongest label."
Women's music is a type of music base on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian-separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness, chiefly in Western popular music, to promote music "by women, for women, and about women".
Heather MacAllister was an American burlesque performer and social justice activist, whose work covered anti-racism, LGBT rights, and especially the fat acceptance movement. MacAllister performed on stage as Reva Lucian, a play on 'revolution', and Ms. Demeanor.
Womyn-born womyn (WBW) is a term developed during second-wave feminism to designate women who were assigned female at birth, were raised as girls, and identify as women. The policy is noted for exclusion of trans women. Third-wave feminism and fourth-wave feminism have generally done away with the idea of WBW.
Anne Ogborn is a transgender rights activist from Salina, Kansas. According to Patrick Califia she "should be credited as a forerunner of transgender direct action groups." She is a software engineer known for her contributions to SWI-Prolog.
Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.
The Mountain Moving Coffeehouse for Womyn and Children was a lesbian feminist music venue, located in Chicago and known across the United States. It operated for thirty-one years, from 1974 until 2005. The name of the organization evokes the political task that feminists must "move the mountains" of institutional sexism and homophobia. The alternative spelling of "womyn" represented an expression of female independence and a repudiation of traditions that define women by reference to a male norm.
Eli Erlick is an American activist, writer, academic, trans woman and founder of the organization Trans Student Educational Resources.
TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term TERF was originally used to distinguish transgender-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists who reject the position that trans women are women, reject the inclusion of trans women in women's spaces, and oppose transgender rights legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists assert that these ideas and positions are transphobic and discriminatory towards transgender people. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with radical feminism. In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "gender-critical feminism".
Womyn's land is an intentional community organised by lesbian separatists to establish counter-cultural, women-centred space, without the presence of men. These lands were the result of a social movement of the same name that developed in the 1970s in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and western Europe. Many still exist today. Womyn's land-based communities and residents are loosely networked through social media; print publications such as newsletters; Maize: A Lesbian Country Magazine; Lesbian Natural Resources, a not-for-profit organisation that offers grants and resources; and regional and local gatherings.
Emi Koyama is a Japanese-American activist, artist, and independent scholar. Koyama's work discusses issues of feminism, intersex human rights, domestic violence, and sex work among many others. Koyama is best known for her 2000 essay "The Transfeminist Manifesto", which has been republished in many anthologies and journals for transgender studies. She is a founder of the advocacy group Intersex Initiative.
Gender-critical feminism, also known as trans-exclusionary radical feminism or TERFism, is an ideology or movement that opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology", the concept of gender identity and transgender rights, especially gender self-identification. Gender-critical feminists believe that sex is biological and immutable, while believing gender, including both gender identity and gender roles, to be inherently oppressive. They reject the concept of transgender identities.
Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli is an Indian transgender activist, RTI activist, singer and motivational speaker. She intervened in the “Suresh Kumar Kaushal & Other vs Naz Foundation & Others” case in the Supreme Court in 2014 in which she highlighted the deleterious effects of conversion or reparative therapy on queer people through her affidavit.