Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival

April 9, 2013 ·

Most of the Womyn that come to fest really don’t care whether you’re straight or not as long as your not trans. – D.M., Festival Supporter, July 4, 2012

More Context:

  • MWMF TERFs organizers supported the targeting of a Radical Feminist, Lesbian-separatist music collective for being trans-inclusive and led to armed TERFs threatening the life of a trans woman.

  • Lisa Vogel’s fist inspired trans-inclusive Women’s Music Festivals

  • MWMF violence led to the creation of Camp Trans while Leather Dykes and the Lesbian Avengers offered bodyguard protection for the trans women.

[hr]

It’s been 23 years since the MWMF became a symbol of all that’s wrong with cis-privilege and some might wonder why the fight to end cis/trans segregation at the MWMF continues to be relevant. Lost in the discussion is the actual story of what transpired that cool August night back in 1991. Here’s what happened that night, as recounted by Nancy Burkholder herself:

In August, 1991 I attended my second Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF) with Laura Ervin. Laura and I drove 1,050 miles nonstop in her vehicle… and arrived at the festival, car #33, at about 9:00 am Monday morning. We walked and talked with women waiting with us on the road, bought raffle tickets from a festival promoter, and joined women in joyous enthusiasm, camaraderie, and expectation while we awaited the start of the festival at 2:00 pm. When we got onto the land Laura volunteered the use of her vehicle to help with shuttle service. Laura and I split the work shift. I worked the first two hours while Laura moved our gear to the campsite and set up her tent. She worked the next two hours while I set up my tent.

After going through an orientation run with a shuttle coordinator I began the process of loading women’s gear and driving them to their desired destinations. I felt a sense of pride in my work; welcoming the women, helping them with their gear, and answering their questions. At the completion of my shuttle shift I set up my [campsite], took a much-welcomed shower and went for a long walk in the woods. I met Laura at our campsite and she invited me to walk with her to the main gate to meet a friend who was arriving on a chartered bus from Grand Rapids at 10:00 pm.

We arrived at the main gate at about 9:30 pm and sat down around the fire pit with several other women. We chatted with the women and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. At about 10:00 pm we received word that the bus was delayed and would arrive around 11:00. Laura and I decided to remain at the main gate until the bus arrived. We continued to socialize with the women who come and went from the area of the fire pit. The bus arrived at about 11:00 pm and Laura went over to the bus. A woman requested that I stay away from the bus to avoid congestion. I stopped at the edge of the road about 20 feet from the fire pit.

While I waited for Laura to return I was approached by two women, Chris Coyote and Del Kelleher. Chris said that she needed to speak with me regarding a serious and difficult matter. Sensing her urgency I suggested we move away from the women near the fire pit in order to talk privately. Chris said that the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival was a woman-only event and she wanted to know if I was a man. I replied that I was a woman and I showed her my NH picture ID driver’s license. Then she asked me if I was a transsexual. I asked her what was the point of her questioning and she replied that transsexuals were not permitted to attend the festival. She said that MWMF policy was that the festival was open to “natural, women-born-women” only. I replied that nowhere, in any festival literature or the program guide was that policy stated. I asked Chris to please verify that policy and she went to the office to contact the festival producers, Lisa Vogel and Boo Price. Sometime during this conversation I waved Laura to come over and she witnessed much of what transpired.

I continued speaking with Del. Del stated that the reason the policy was not in any literature was because the issue of transsexuals had never come up as a problem before. Del added that the policy was for the benefit of the transsexuals’ safety and the safety of the women attending the festival. When I pointed out that there were other transsexuals on the land she acknowledged that this was true. Then she added, ‘We haven’t caught them yet, but we did catch you.”

At around midnight Chris returned and told me that she had talked to the producers and that they had indeed verified that transsexuals were not allowed at the festival. I asked to speak with the producers directly. Chris stated that the producers would not speak with me and that she was the designated contact for the producers. Chris asked me if I had had a sex change operation. I replied that was none of her business. I said that I was willing to submit to genital examination in order to satisfy her concerns about my sex. She replied that she would not feel comfortable doing this. I said that was a rather odd reaction since public nudity was quite common at festival. How would viewing my cunt be different from any other woman’s? I told her to please produce her proof to her insinuations that I was a transsexual. She looked at me for a  few seconds, saying nothing. Then she said that the festival producers had empowered her to expel any woman at any time, at her discretion. She told that I had I had to leave the festival and that I would not even be allowed to return to my campsite to retrieve my equipment. I realized that Chris and Del were expelling me in spite of all the irrefutable legal and anatomical proof that I was a women. I knew there was nothing more I could say to these women. I resigned myself to the fact that these women were expelling me from the festival.

Laura and Chris departed to pick up a few of my personal belongings while Del stayed with me. Del facilitated some arrangements for a room at a motel in Walhalla, about 10 miles distant. For some moments I stood outside the circle of women at the fire pit at the place where out conversation transpired. The night was clear and the air had a chill to it. Suddenly I realized I was cold. I was wearing only nylon shorts, a flannel shirt and sandals. I hadn’t dressed for extended night-time exposure. Del invited me to return to the fire pit. I sat at the edge of the pit for a long time, I’m not sure how long. My mind was blank, my body absolutely still as I became aware of the emotional devastation that I felt inside. The events that were going down seemed totally unreal. Nevertheless, I found a place of calm inside myself. I found acceptance for my situation, and I could feel the emotional devastation without the devastation overwhelming me. I stared into the fire. The heat from the glowing embers warmed my legs and face. Del stayed close by. From the time Del and Chris first approached me until I left the land, I was guarded and forbidden form leaving the area around the fire pit.

After some time Del met with a woman from the office and she called me to come over to her. I got up and went over. I turned on my flashlight and she handed me a printed receipt stamped with an MWMF logo. I signed the receipt and she gave me a cash refund for my ticket. I held my flashlight up and pointed its beam at my right wrist as Del cut the wrist ticket free. Then I returned to the fire pit to await Laura’s return. During this time not one of the half-dozen women who sat with me at the fire pit spoke or looked at me. I no longer tried to keep secret the nature of the events that were going down. I asked Del if someone was going to protect my personal belongings from theft or vandalism. She replied that Chris and my friend had probably gone back to the site to retrieve all of my belongings.

At about 12:50a.m. Laura returned with all of my equipment and her car. We departed the land. In less than two hours and under the cover of darkness, the festival personnel had expelled me from the land. Their actions were facilitated by our closeness to the main gate and the lateness of the hour. There were no witnesses to the events except for Laura, Chris and Del. I don t know the women present at the fire pit knew of the events that had transpired.

Laura and I arrived at the motel at about 1:20 am Tuesday morning. We were both emotionally and physically exhausted. Neither of us had slept more than a few hours in the past 42 hours. The motel room was a small, cinder block room. We were greeted by the smell of wet, moldy carpet. The stillness of the night was interrupted by the loud roar of trucks passing by our open window facing Route 10. I still could not believe this was really happening.

I slept very little that night. I was exhausted from our 20 hours of travel and in shock from the emotional trauma perpetrated by the festival women. I eventually slept for a few hours and when I awoke it was light outside. The mattress bed had duplicated the effect of sleeping outside on the hard ground. My hips and thighs ached.

I showered, repacked my gear and we departed for Grand Rapids. When we stopped for breakfast at Muskegon I called to make reservations for a plane flight home. The flight cost $382 and I was grateful for having a credit card. I did not have the cash. I departed Grand Rapids at 12:40 p.m. and arrived at Worchester, MA at about 6:25 p.m. Laura called ahead and made arrangements for transportation from the airport to me car which me an additional $50. I drove home, arriving at about 9:15 pm.

[hr]

Why is Nancy’s experience relevant to modern trans discourse? Why is the trans community and its allies still focused on ending the discrimination all trans individuals risk at the MWMF?

What happened to Nancy sparked the first community-wide response to the  Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF*) oppression of trans people and was buoyed by the 1991 print publication of Sandy Stone’s response to TERF hate, The Empire Strikes Back. During the previous decade, TERF ideology had begun to bear fruit. TERF leadership had said that the “problem with transsexualism would best be served by morally mandating it out of existence” and they sought to do just that. They lobbied two US administrations (Carter and Reagan) to set up a national program of forced reparative therapy for all trans folk. They teamed up with a powerful racist and successfully stripped the trans community’s access to medical care while at the same time hunting down trans folk in order to out them to their employers. They teamed up with their white upper-class transphobic gay leaders to defeat trans protections and to wipe the trans community from the collective memory of queer history. By 1991, trans people – as a community – had finally had enough and mobilized against TERF hate. The MWMF became both the embodiment of and loud apologist for the very ideology which sought to realize a world in which trans people didn’t exist.

Camp Trans #1

Camp Trans #1

Consider the way the abuse affected Nancy: “My mind was blank, my body absolutely still as I became aware of the emotional devastation that I felt inside. The events that were going down seemed totally unreal. Nevertheless I found a place of calm inside myself. I found acceptance for my situation, and I could feel the emotional devastation without the devastation overwhelming me.”  Is responding to systems that perpetuate this type of abuse still relevant?

The reason Nancy was given for her treatment was that the cis-only policy was , ” … for the benefit of the transsexuals’ safety and the safety of the women attending the festival.” For just a few moments, think about both the threat and the assumption underlying that policy. The TERF ideology informing this policy assumes that trans folk pose an inherent risk to cis folk. Moreover, there is the implied threat that should a trans person be discovered, trans folk may face a brutal response.  Are narratives which teach cis people to view trans people as an inherent risk still affecting the trans community today?

Is the MWMF still an embodiment of and apologist for the very TERF ideology that recently sought to have the United Nations declare open season on trans people? When a TERF leader said in 1979 that the best way to deal with the trans experience would be to “mandate it out of existence,” has not the MWMF carried out this very policy for the last 23 long years?

Since the MWMF has never repealed their cis-only policy, the protests continue.

“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.” – Indigo Girls, 4/4/2013

“With a heart full of love, sadness and hope I am writing to announce my decision to cancel my performance at the 2013 Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Since the announcement of my intended participation several weeks ago I have received a great deal of heartfelt feedback that in light of the festival’s policy of not welcoming trans women, my decision to attend is one that is causing pain within our community, and that is truly the opposite of what I had hoped to create by attending.” – Andrea Gibson, 3/24/13

Is it still relevant to stand against trans discrimination and cis-privilege at every turn?

Tell me what you think in the comment section below!

*HT Gemma 🙂

Cross-posted from Ehipassiko

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  1. From Tuesday, November 10
    Language etiquette 
    Pronouns: Always use the pronouns that person currently uses
    Ey/em/eir/emself
    They/them/their/themselves
    Xe/xir/xem // ze/zir/zem
    Even when talking about them in the past
    Terminology: never ‘when she was a man’
    Uses of AFAB, etc. These should generally be avoided because its’s transphobic af to refer to a trans person by their birth sex, it should really be used for a description of how they were socialized when growing up. Unless you are a doctor who deals with a lot of trans patients, there’s really no need to know someone’s assignment.
    Under the “does this even need to be said?” genitals. Never ask about a persons genitals, it is not your business unless you are sexually involved with them or you are their doctor (and even then be VERY respectful). Asking about a trans person’s body objectifies them by reducing them to their physical bodies, whereas gender is all about how you feel inside.
    Transphobic language
    Examples:
    It
    She-man / she-male
    He-she
    Transvestite
    Misgendering
    “confused”
    Using a dead name
    These words are really harmful emotionally to trans folks because of their history and their connotations. They were made with the intention of dehumanizing and hurting trans folks
    non binary identities
    Agender
    Genderqueer
    Genderfluid
    Demigender
    Bigender
    Trigender
    Third gender
    Hijra (South Asian) – only legally recognized in India but used around South Asia
    Mahu (Hawai’i) – identity in Hawai’I that has evolved into a slur :/
    Two-spirit (Native American) – Lakota and Navajo tribes are examples of tribes that use this
    Disclaimer: This is a limited list. Genders are as infinite as the universe
    T.E.R.F.
    Trans Exclusive Radical Feminism
    TERF is branded within its community as “gender critical feminism” groan
    Feminism’s problematic herstory
    MichFest
    The gender police
    Passing and “realness”
    “Real” is used to describe cis people
    Trans people are often policed more than cis people, which leads to passing as a form of survival
    Creates a hierarchy within trans community

    Petition to remove the T from LGBT

    Violence against trans women
    Removing the T from LGBT: Cathy Brennan: prominent feminist and all around Very Bad Person bc of her views on trans people and her history of harassing trans people. Important intersectionality note: part of this is her whiteness that lends her credibility and amplifies her voice.
    28 trans people have been killed this year
    Failure of news outlets to cover these properly and respectfully
    How can we combat these issues in feminism?
    What TERFs look like
    Outing a trans or nb person to their employer
    “Trans women can’t be lesbians”
    Assert that cis people aren’t privileged
    Believes ‘cis’ is offensive
    Uses normal in place of the word ‘cis’
    Also assert cis people aren’t privileged in a world that’s hostile to trans people

    Instead of…  use…
    Girl // boy // man // woman à human // person
    Girlfriend // boyfriend à partner // date // datefriend // datemate // babefriend // person // significant other
    Ladies and gentlemen à distinguished guests // folks // y’all // yinz // guests
    Queer
    Original meaning was peculiar
    Came to be used as a derogatory term
    Reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ community
    Usage varies
    Media Representation
    What are some examples of good representation? How about bad representation?
    Celebs
    News
    TV shows
    Movies 
    Transparent, Orange is the new black, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P Johnson, American Horror Story
    PGH resources
    Rainbow Alliance
    Transgenderresourcespgh.blogspot.com
    Gay and Lesbian Community Center
    Transpridepittsburgh
    Project Silk
    Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund
    The Name Change Project
    Sources
    http://genderqueerid.com/gq-terms
    http://www.transadvocate.com/michigan-womyns-music-festival_n_8943.htm
    http://www.dsm5.org/documents/gender%20dysphoria%20fact%20sheet.pdf
    http://jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2463347&utm_content=buffer6aa85&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
    http://theterfs.com/
    http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/11/06/lgbt-groups-respond-petition-asking-drop-t?team=social
    http://juliaserano.com/av/TransmisogynyPrimer-Serano.pdf
    http://wstudies.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/Gender-InclusiveLanguageGuidelines.pdf
    http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/04/02/3642054/university-of-pittsburg-transgender-suit/
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  2. Intersectionality is an important part of feminism and by having it be a central part of feminism, we recognize the intersecting identities that all influence our lives in different ways. Some women deal with racism and sexism compounded, others deal with misogyny, ableism, and classism, others a combination of the aforementioned or with even more issues like transphobia, fatphobia, etc. Intersectionality is important in regards to feminism though because it acknowledges the fact that we all experience life and society through a different lens and through many identities.
    The reason I started off by talking about intersectionality is because there are some fractions within feminism that are exclusionary towards trans women, claiming that trans women aren’t actually women. (Hint: trans women are in fact women.) But intersectionality is important in this regard because it reminds us that we have to take into regard the many identities that shape us as individuals.
    Before anything further, let’s define what trans exclusionary radical feminism is. Kelsie Brynn Jones wrote a great article about what trans exclusionary radical feminism is, defining it at the beginning as:

    Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism, or TERF, is a loosely-organized collective with a message of hate and exclusion against transgender women in particular, and transgender people as a whole. They have attached themselves to radical feminism as a means to attempt to deny trans women basic access to health care, women’s groups, restroom facilities, and anywhere that may be considered women’s space.

    TERFs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) have a long history of advocating against trans people (particularly trans women). One concrete example? The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, or Michfest – “a womyn born womyn” (read cis women) music festival that took place every August starting 1976 to 2015. This year’s festival was actually the last after the leaders of the festival decided to close their doors rather than make the space trans inclusive.
    The TERFs is a website with so many resources about trans eclusionary feminism, including what it looks like, where the term comes from, examples of real violence perpetuated by TERFs, and TERF positions on issue like trans health care and trans restroom access. Adrian Ballou and Justin Killian wrote about why the end of Michfest is good for feminism, saying among many other things that the idea of womyn born womyn spaces are strictly for cis women and alienate others. Justin Killian points out that:

    When people say that some women are born female, they’re saying that other women absolutely can’t be.
    The idea that [trans women’s] womanhood is not as “natural” as cis women’s is already very popular. If we were not “born women,” then the gender binary dictates that we are strictly male. We are nothing more than wells of “phallic energy.”

    I fundamentally believe that trans women are women, that they are my sisters in this struggle. My feminism includes the most marginalized and the people who are both like and not like me.
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  3. There is no way that they arrived in line on a Monday morning at 9am and was car # 33..so my point is if the opening statement is a lie…how can I believe or trust the rest of the article?

  4. I didn’t see where the term “TERF” was explained. For the benefit of those who may not know this acronym, it stands for “trans exclusionary radical feminist”.

    It pains me to note that support for Camp Trans and the MWMF protest movement in general has fallen out of fashion in the trans community, particularly in the wake of the events of 2010. The following year, only about 12 of us made the trip, and so far as I am aware, there was no Camp Trans in 2012.

    As I stated at Camp Trans in 2011, it is my hope that Camp Trans will continue to exist as the embodiment of the protest movement, with a focus on the goal of convincing the MWMF to formally rescind the policy/”intention” (as they now term it), apologise, and make Camp Trans a space on The Land for those of us who wish to camp among our sisters, rather than in the general population. Even in 2010, much of the discord surrounded the idea that Camp Trans had become nothing more than an excuse for a party in the woods.

    Some of us who attended Camp Trans in 2011 subsequently became the focus for TERF attacks in the wake of Alice Kalafarski’s article at Pretty Queer, and a hateful article at a well-known TERF echo chamber website that targetted Alice, myself, and several other trans women who were accused of attending MWMF and invading The Land.

    A year and a half later, I am still receiving email notifications of hateful comments being added to that article, as well as suffering from public libel. The stories that have been made up about me are so ludicrously false that they would be laughable, if they didn’t come from people who have gone out of their way to attack my credibility and my character with fabrications.

    I am pleased to see the recent response from the Indigo Girls, even if I am not a fan. I was heartbroken to see that Jill Sobule, one of my favorite artists, played MWMF in 2011. The week leading up to my trip to Camp Trans in 2011 was one of the most horrific weeks of my life. Although few trans women attended, we were pleased to host many Fest workers during the week before MWMF, and both years I attended Camp Trans, it was a healing experience for me the like of which I can never fully express. Someday, I hope to return.

    In the meantime, Lisa Vogel has been very careful not to make any public statements one way or the other about the policy. It is clear that the feminist and lesbian communities are changing, and that MWMF is not as relevant as it once was, but I still believe that it serves as a focal point in those communities, and that makes it important to hold the policy up to the light of day.

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