FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 24, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Vogel - 231.989.3707 MICHIGAN WOMYN'S MUSIC FESTIVAL AFFIRMS WOMYN-BORN WOMYN SPACE The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is the largest and longest running womyn's Festival in the United States. This week-long camping event in Northern Michigan celebrates womyn's culture, community and ingenuity. With over 6,000 womyn attending annually from every U.S. state, Canadian province and over 30 other countries, the Festival acts as a petri-dish in which the popular discussions of the lesbian community are incubated. For 25 years Michigan has been in large part defined by the politics that are woven into the infrastructure of this city of womyn in the woods. The hallmark of Michigan has always been its creation of separate, self-defined and deeply honored womyn's space. From its earliest days, the Festival was described as "A Gathering of Mothers and Daughters for Womyn-Born Womyn" (1978 promotional flier). Now in its 25th year, the Festival continues to claim the right and the responsibility to state clearly that the Michigan Festival is intended for womyn-born womyn. This is defined as individuals who were born as womyn, and have lived their entire life experience as womyn, and currently identify as womyn. The Festival has always been home to many womyn who would be considered gender outlaws, either because of their sexual orientation (lesbian, bisexual, polyamorous, etc.) or their gender presentation (butch, bearded, androgynous, femme - and every combination or permutation in between). The essence of the Festival is that it is one week a year that is by, for and about the glorious diversity of womyn- born womyn. It is a powerful, uncommon experience that womyn enjoy during this week of living in the company of other womyn-born womyn. There are many opportunities in the larger world to share space with the entire queer community, and many spaces that welcome all who define themselves as female. In the year 2000, the queer community represents such rich diversity that there surely is room for all affinity groups to enjoy separate, self-determined, supportive space if they choose. The queer community is strong enough to hold our incredible diversity with mutual respect and support. There are many divergent viewpoints on the larger gender discussion happening in the queer community. Many of the womyn essential to the Michigan Festival are leaders and supporters in trans-solidarity work and the broader LGBT movement. The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival supports this larger discussion, and values and respects the transsexual community as integral members of the broader queer community. We call upon the transsexual community in turn to respect and support womyn-born womyn space.