Gender Rights, Transgender Rights, Women's Rights?
Mantilla, Karla
Off Our Backs
July 2001

This was the first national conference on gender sponsored by
GenderPAC, a gender equal rights lobbying organization. According to
GenderPAC, close to 450 people attended the conference, although the
opening plenary appeared to be attended by approximately 100 to 150
people.

The conference was held in a large Washington, DC, hotel, something
which some of the attendees expressed discomfort about. GenderPAC
received funding for the conference from corporations such as American
Airlines and Verizon, as well as some gay groups including HRC, the
Advocate, PlanetOut, and Gay.com.

Workshops presented at the conference included "Intersex Genital
Mutilation," "Gender Dysphoria/Gender Euphoria: Reforming GID,"
"Visibly Queer: Gayness, Gender and Hate Crimes," "Beyond Labels: Be
Your Own Box," and "Womyn-Born Womyn Only: Camp Trans and MWMF"
(covered below). In addition, there was a special three-part Gender Law
Institute put on by legal scholars, activists, and practitioners which
covered gender jurisprudence and strategies for gender rights lawsuits.

Opening Plenary: The Vision of Gender Equality

Riki Wilchins, Executive Director of GenderPAC spoke first. Wilchins,
who was born male, transitioned to female, and now identifies as no
gender, declared that "gender rights are not a personal problem, but
are the civil rights issue of our time." S/he said that everyone is
involved in a web of expectations and demands from the time they are
born, from admonitions to love certain kinds of people or to stand
certain ways and not others. These expectations range from matters of
large magnitude such as rape of male prisoners which Wilchins maintains
is about gender, to medium range matters such as when a transgendered
person does not get a job, to small things such as the routine comments
made by adults to children that "boys don't act that way," or "girls
don't act that way."

S/he said that we learn to disown parts of ourselves and that such
disowning teaches us that gender is a problem about ourselves not
fitting in rather than a problem with the gender system itself. S/he
feels that the struggle for gender rights is "revolution of the
obvious," that everyone knows gender is a problem, yet no one thinks of
it as a human rights issue. S/he asked the audience to envision what
the world would be like if we had gender freedom, who we could be, who
our children could become.

S/he talked about the history of GenderPAC and their efforts at
lobbying on Capitol Hill, how responses from legislators were surprised
to even see gender rights as an issue. S/he ended by saying the dream
of full gender rights equality must come true, that it is "not our
task, but our duty."

Angela Moreno Lippert, from the Intersex Society of North America
(ISNA) spoke about intersex genital mutilation. The ISNA is devoted to
systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries
for people born with atypical sex anatomy. They recommend a model of
care that is patient-centered, rather than surgery-centered.

Moreno Lippert said that to improve treatment, secrecy and shame must
be dispelled. She stated that she is an intersex person, that when she
was 12 years old, her clitoris swelled to a larger than normal size and
that she was "quite attached to it." She said that while "it wasn't
anticipated, it was mine." She told how parents and other adults became
interested in her clitoris, although none of them was concerned with
sexual function because a "child's sexual potential was unimportant."
She felt that adults were preoccupied with the idea that male and
female bodies and behaviors be absolutely distinct. She remarked that
such expectations were "an awful lot of baggage for an ounce of flesh
that just wants to party."

Moreno Lippert recounted that "today in the United States, 5 children
will be subjected to genital mutilation." She reported that 1 in 2000
children are born with genitals that are not normal male or female,
saying it is more common than cystic fibrosis or Down's syndrome. She
talked of the secrecy surrounding intersex, which furthers the illusion
of its being a great rarity. She talked about the medical model
concerning the "existence of ambiguous genitalia" and how surgical
solutions are ineffective and harmful. She said that people need
information on all options and new protocols for handling intersex
infants need to be established. The assumptions have been that parents
will not tolerate ambiguity regarding genitalia and that the condition
of being intersex must be kept secret from children. She said that it
is not an easy issue, but that parents need referrals to counselors and
need to be encouraged to accept their children's differences. She also
said counseling and peer support for children "saves families and
lives." She encouraged making all sex assignments of children
tentative, thus preserving the child's choice, that the choice should
"rest squarely with the individual who lives with the consequences."

Finally, Patricia Ireland, President of the National Organization for
Women (NOW), spoke. Ireland began by saying that she doesn't like
labels in general because labels are "snapshops" of people and that
people are more than the sum of their sexuality. She then spoke of how
things have changed from when most people didn't use the word gay, to
saying lesbian and gay, and now, LGBTQA. She said those initials still
leave out "celibate by choice or by chance."

She said she likes best the definition of feminism as the radical
notion that women are people. She talked of how she used to be told
that if she would just "be good and behave, you could have all you
seek." She spoke of her early passion as fighting employment
discrimination against women, and that many early feminists "had a
difficult time with the "sexy" issues -- abortion rights, gay and
lesbian rights," etc. But she emphasized that ending all oppression is
vital to feminism, saying that if more moderate feminists had indeed
"pushed every lesbian [in the women's movement] back into the closet,
we still would not have gotten the ERA passed."

Ireland then talked about past feminist history, emphasizing that
changes that are now accepted as mainstream were, at the time they were
introduced, labeled excessively "radical." She retold how at the 1848
Women's Rights Conference in Seneca Falls, New York, Elizabeth Cady
Stanton's husband left town rather than be there for the fallout when
women announced they wanted the right to vote. She said that the early
suffragists were accused of being "mannish," and "spinsters." She said
that today, the same tactics are leveled against feminists. She also
mentioned how when second wave feminists advocated for child care,
then-president Richard Nixon called it the "sovietization of American
children" in a speech he presented (which was written by Pat Buchanan).
She cited a quote from Frederick Douglas, "Power concedes nothing
without a demand, it never has and it never will." She stressed that we
"have to be willing to make people uncomfortable, that we have a right
to our own sexuality and gender choices," and that there should be a
"guarantee of full and equal civil rights no matter what those choices
are." She said that the model for gender rights should not be
transgression, but transformation and transcendence, moving beyond and
above gender stereotypes.

Womyn-Born Womyn Only: Camp Trans and MWMF

Camp Trans History

The presenters, Simon Strikeback, an FTM, and Katie Herzig, gave a
brief history of Camp Trans, saying that it is not against the Michigan
Womyn's Music Festival (MWMF). They stated that Camp Trans was started
in 1992 when Nancy Burkholder, an MTF, was removed from the MWMF, and
that it was at that time that the explicit womyn-born womyn policy was
started by the Festival. Copies of the MWMF statement on their
womyn-born womyn policy were distributed among workshop participants.

Simon retold the shower incident at the MWMF: an FTM who is a member of
the Transgender Officer Protection Service (TOPS) went into the
Festival to "put the womyn-born womyn policy into practice." According
to Simon, the FTM told everyone who was at the showers that "I have a
phalloplasty and am going to take a shower," and that was apparently
okay with the women at the showers. Subsequently, other women happened
along after the announcement, saw the penis, and became upset. Simon
said that story "got used to demonize our efforts at inclusion." He
said that rumors were started that transgender people went to the
girls' camp at the Festival and exposed themselves. He said that "it is
very difficult to talk to people if they believe that 6 men exposed
themselves to girls." Katie said that what was used against transgender
people is transpanic -- the idea that transmen are going to rape and
pillage. She said that that is already happening -- that domestic
violence occurs among women, and that rape isn't necessarily only done
by men.

Lacking Ideological Clarity?

An audience member said that if the MWMF is a private organization and
Lisa Vogel is making the decisions,then perhaps they can do whatever
they want. Another audience member suggested holding a trans music
festival. Another asked the workshop presenters, "If Camp Trans is a
critique of Michigan, are you saying that one of the problems is that
men aren't allowed into Michigan?" Simon replied that he cannot say
what Camp Trans thinks because they are all individuals and have their
own diverse and divergent opinions. The participant asked if most
people at Camp Trans agree that everyone should be allowed into
Michigan. Simon again replied that he could not say. He said that Camp
Trans is a "national network with no central location of thought or
theory," kind of a "whatever it includes, do it" approach. He said they
are responding to "what we see as wrong with the Festival," and that
they also promote safe sex, domestic violence awareness, rape crisis
services, and "radical crazy sex."

Several members of the audience felt that to be productively critical
of Michigan's policies, Camp Trans ought to have a clearly articulated
position that they are advocating. One participant said that Camp Trans
needs to have an ideological position, "otherwise you're just gumming
up the works." Simon continued to reply that there is no one position
that Camp Trans advocates or takes, reiterating that "we don't have one
for our whole group." Katie Herzig said that "every single person has
their own ideology." There was some tension among some participants at
that point in the workshop, whereupon Simon requested that people try
to calm down. Discomfort seemed to be centered on not having concrete
requests for change as part of the Camp Trans efforts.

What's Good About Michigan?

Someone affirmed that Camp Trans is open not just to trans people, but
to everyone, including pets. Another participant asked why trans people
want to be admitted to Michigan if they aren't wanted there, and what
is good about the MWMF? Several participants responded to what they
felt was good about the MWMF. Overall the feelings expressed about the
festival were highly positive: Katie Herzig responded that "feminism
gave me my voice." She said it is important to recognize misogyny and
patriarchy, that women are made not born and that the trans movement
wouldn't be possible without the feminist movement before it.

An audience member responded by saying that she loves Michigan, loves
the woods, loves women and that she wants her tranny friends to be
there with her. Another participant said "I don't want women to be a
category that is forced on me. It is a brand of feminism that doesn't
work for me -- cultural feminism." Another said that Michigan is the
place she had seen the most diversity ever -- "so many things you can
do there. When I think about freedom, I feel the free-ist there. I can
be whoever I want.... You can celebrate whoever you are and people love
you for that. I am really active in spirituality and could not get
mentoring in that in any other place." Another participant said,
"Michigan was one of the most liberating weeks of my life." She said
she was trans supportive, and that people should take into account the
past generations of feminists, that she didn't want to demonize or
downplay others, she just wanted to change the policies.

Men at Michigan -- Really Radical?

Another audience member said, "In my life there were signs that said
whites only...I want to say something really radical. I think that men
should be allowed into Michigan. I don't think there should be any
discrimination anywhere in the country."

At that time, there was a prolonged silence throughout the room, as
people seemed to consider what was said. One person responded by saying
that she agreed in principle with idea that everyone should be let into
Michigan, but that "maybe someday we will be there, but we're not there
yet. Maybe when there's no Jesse Helms." Another participant said, "I
have to strongly disagree that everything should be open to everyone.
Ten to twenty women were raped at Woodstock. I don't think we're at the
point where we don't need women-only space." She said we have to
consider "who has what to fear from whom,...there are reasons why we
need separate spaces. There are reasons for people of color space. But
whites-only space needs to be scrutinized." She said we should examine
whether separatist spaces are positive and or are reinscribing
oppression.

A participant of color talked of the importance of having her own space
"without having a white woman sitting next to you." She also described
the first time she was in a space where everyone was gay and how
empowering that was for her. Another participant said she did see the
benefit of separatist spaces, but that perhaps spaces should be defined
by what the space is about instead of based on genitalia or identity,
like perhaps having a "feminine music festival," where all people who
are feminine (male, female and transgendered) could attend. The general
consensus in the room seemed to be that almost no one wanted to include
men in Michigan.

Someone asked whether there has been a survey of festival participants
as to who they think should enter the festival. Katie Herzig replied
that the Festival has not done a survey, that there is a "myth about
the Festival being a democratic process." She asserted that the
festival is run by Lisa Vogel and that final decisions are made by her.
Katie said that inside the festival, regarding the Camp Trans protest,
"there are people who were negative, but folks inside were positive
too."

Planning for Camp Trans

The discussion then turned to plans for Camp Trans for the upcoming
MWMF. Simon proposed organizing a labor strike, that "people on the
inside can take control -- not to shut it down, but to suspend a big
show for half an hour or so." He said it is important for festival
workers to "act up." He mentioned one worker who was supportive of Camp
Trans and who brought food to Camp Trans people. Simon said there
should be solidarity between outside the festival (Camp Trans) and
inside. He said he himself can't go in because he is trans.

In response, a festival participant spoke up saying, "I am performing
at the festival and I think that is a bad idea." She said that that
kind of disruptive action could damage the ability of trans people to
win over festival-goers. She said that people come from all over the
world just to come to the festival and that such a disruption would not
win them over to the cause. Another participant suggested trying to get
a negotiation going with festival management. Another suggested doing a
campaign of letter writing, phone calling, faxing and emailing. She
said that protests should be a "last ditch effort."

Many people in the workshop began to talk about an effort at education
as the key to changing the minds of people at the Festival. A woman
suggested creating an education unit which would be a core of people
who would talk to people, hand out flyers, brochures, and stickers. She
emphasized that "you have to come at it from that perspective --
dialogue, caring and being in a family." Another woman agreed that
"protests or workers' strikes will alienate people because you are
hurting something that is important to them." Another person said, "We
need to articulate what we're in support of...educate before direct
action." Someone else said that brief worker strikes do not really harm
the women at the Festival and that there are ways to do huge symbolic
actions.

A transgendered person replied that that is still a "psychological
attack. I don't want it to be let in from that [a psychological
attack]." She said she did not want any kind of aggression against
women. She said, "You can protest without attacking women. You can go
there and change one person. It will take time, But to attack women,
you're attacking me too." Someone else said that direct action is meant
to make a spark where none exists and that "There is already a lot of
tension inside on these issues."

The participants were still trying to come to an agreement about
strategies for this year's Camp Trans at the workshop's end. Several
people agreed to meet later in the conference to talk more about
strategies.

About GenderPAC

Originally, GenderPAC was created as an advocacy group for transgender
rights, but under the leadership of Riki Wilchins, GenderPAC's
executive director, the organization's mission has come to be more
broadly construed as seeking "gender rights." GenderPAC's mission
statement includes "working to ensure every American's right to their
gender free from stereotypes, discrimination and violence, regardless
of how they look, act or dress or how others perceive their sex or
sexual orientation." In further explanation, they say, "We use `gender'
in the most inclusive sense -- including transgender, as well as sexual
orientation, because we believe the main-spring of homophobia is
gender, i.e., the prejudice that gay men are insufficiently masculine
or lesbian women necessarily inadequately feminine. And we also include
sex and sexism, because we believe the basis for misogyny is our
culture's devaluation and derision of femininity and vulnerability."

There has been some disagreement among transgender activists over
whether GenderPAC ought to advocate for the rights of transgendered
people, or be more inclusive, as it now is. In January, an open letter
of concern about GenderPAC's mission was signed by 22 transgender
activists including some current and former GenderPAC board members.
The letter accused GenderPAC of not adequately representing the
concerns of transgender people. According to Pauline Park of the New
York Association of Gender Rights Advocacy, "GenderPAC seems intent on
jettisoning the transgender components of its mission, which were the
central part of its original mission." The International Foundation for
Gender Education has said that it will not longer serve on GenderPAC's
board or work with the group because of this ideological difference..

GenderPAC's statement of explanation of this more inclusive mission is
that "GenderPAC is committed to achieving gender rights for all. This
means we organize around the common issue of gender rights, rather than
representing any single identity or constituency. We believe that all
of us, at some time or another, are harassed, shamed, or made to feel
afraid because of our gender. Therefore we believe gender is too basic
to be left to any single group, and too fundamental to leave anyone
behind."

Copyright Off Our Backs, Inc. Jul 2001