Michigan/Trans Controversy Archive

Descriptions included in this section were written by Emi, except where indicated otherwise.

Feminist punk-folk duo responsible for "Pussy Manifesto," a call for "a spread-it-yourself revolution born inside the eggs of us all." Bitch and Animal play at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival despite the fact that Animal identifies as transgender, as someone who falls somewhere between boy and girl. S/he said to a Toronto alternative weekly, "I just want [protesters] to look at who's playing there - it's not anti-trans!" Then he makes a curious analogy: "If the KKK... asked me to play their music festival, I'd play it in a second, just to have that opportunity to educate them. This is the same thing." Interesting.

Female-to-male trans activist who founded TOPS (Transgender Officers Protect/Serve) in 1995. Tony entered the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in 1999 and took shower inside, inadvertently exposing his penis, which was made from a skin graft from the forearm. This is considered to be the orgin of the myth that "men walked around the festival exposing themselves" (which has no concrete eye-witness reports beside Tony's story itself). Some Camp Trans participants questioned his entering the festival since he is now a man, but he defended it because he has "paid the dues." He says: "I have gone to jail and paid with the same body I had surgery on and, by God, I have paid with my blood and my soul and with all too many friends who've been lost because womyn didn't have control over their bodies... I lived the fear and the tragedy and the pain, the ecstasy, the joy, and the beauty of it all and you can never take that away from me."

In 1991, Nancy Jean Burkholder was attending Michigan Womyn's Music Festival for the second year when she was asked by another attendee if she was a transsexual woman. She answered honestly "yes," which was reported to the festival security, leading up to her eviction from the festival ground. This incident drew attention to the festival's unwriten rule against transsexual women on the land, and became the rallying point for trans activists' protests against the "womyn-born womyn" policy.

Editor of Strap-On.org, a "progressive, queer-centered, sex-positive, girl-friendly online community." Since its founding in November 2000, the site has become the place for trans activists and allies to strategize and discuss over how to organize around the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. Sadie also wrote the petition in support of trans activists protesting Butchies shows when there was a backlash. In early 2002, hardware maker Snap-On Tools, Inc. threatened to sue Strap-On.org for infringement of its trademark and unfair competition, which is pretty silly.

Legendary lesbian folk singer whose 1973 album (with the late Kay Gardner), Lavender Jane Loves Women swept through the women's communities and marked the beginning of the women's music movement, from which Michigan Womyns Music Festival emerged. While her lesbian-feminist commentaries published in Windy City Times are often criticized for being transphobic (see Passover Revisited, for example), she stopped over at Camp Trans in 1994, issued a joint statement with Riki Wilchins, and has not since returned to the festival for reasons unknown to anyone but herself.

Trans activist who came up with the strategy of challenging "womyn-born womyn" policy by lobbying musicians and record companies to pressure the organizers of the music festival. If top-notch musicians stop supporting the policy and start refusing to play at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, the argument goes, the festival will be forced to change its policy to remain attractive to its fans. Several of the Michigan musicians have since canceled their performances or declared their opposition to the policy during their shows, and some, like The Butchies, openly stated their support for the policy, while most avoid making any statements at all.

[BethX will write this]

Transsexual woman who had been the editor of now-defunct newsletter, TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism. Gabriel participated in the protests against "womyn-born womyn" policy in the early 90s with the goal of persuading "the organizers to change the festival policy to allow postoperative - but not preoperative - male-to-female transsexuals to attend." Later she turned critical of Camp Trans when it began advocating for the rights of "pre-operative" transsexual women to be allowed to participate in women's communities, calling it "misogynist." The 2000 statement she co-wrote urged both festival organizers and protesters to end the confrontation by treating "post-operative" transsexual women just like any other women while continuing to exclude "pre-operative" transsexual women. The statement was harshly criticized by another group of transfeminists.

(coming soon...)

Editor of this Michigan/Trans Controversy Archive. Emi participated in the roundtable discussion on this topic for Bitch magazine (issue 17, summer 2002) with Robin Finkelstein and Grover Wehman, and wrote the article "Whose Feminism is it Anyway? The Unspoken Racism of the Trans Inclusion Debate."

Self-described as "a badass fatass jew dyke amputee, performance artist, writer and activist." Nomy Lamm has been the staple of punk, feminist, genderfucking culture of Olympia, Washington since her undergraduate days at Evergreen State College. When the confrontation between trans community and feminist punk musicians intensified after a petition condemning trans activists for non-existent "violent protests" against other musicians was circulated, Nomy wrote an alternative "trans inclusion" petition, in an attempt to bring both sides together.

Group initially founded by Maxine Wolfe, Sarah Schulman and others involved in ACT-UP in New York City to promote dyke visibility and pride. Chapters were created across the nation, although they remain independent of each other. Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and several other chapters of Lesbian Avengers have openly criticized the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival for its transphobia, and participated in Camp Trans.

Hip, feminist spoken-word artist who has been touring nationally and internationally for the last several years. Alix has performed at both Michigan Womyns Music Festival and Camp Trans, although she has not made clear where she stands on the issue, possibly in fear that she would anger some of her fans regardless of what she would say. Apparently, she has been feeling "confused" and "conflicted" for several years straight. Her 2001 debut CD, "Built Like That," includes a poem that pays tribute to "transgender ancesstors," although it is not clear what she is willing to do to challenge transphobia.

The founder and producer of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and the owner of its production company, We Want The Music Company (WWTMC). Vogel was barely 19 year old and inexperienced at the time she started the fest, but managed to transform it into the most successful and 0largest women's festival in the nation with the help of co-producer Barbara "Boo" Price and others. She has always maintained that the festival is intended solely for "womyn-born womyn," which means "women who were born as women, who have lived their entire experience as women, and who identify as women."

Long-time "gender activist" who is the founding executive director of GenderPAC. Wilchins' group, Transexual Menace, took over the planning of Camp Trans in 1994, 1999, and 2000, during which her use of confrontational tactics and post-identity politics were criticized by both festival organizers and conservative transsexual activists like Davina Anne Gabriel. Even more transsexual activists felt betrayed when in 2000 GenderPAC shifted its focus from specifically transgender issues to general gender (inclusive of women's, queer, and intersex) issues.

Co-owner with Tammy Rae Carland of Mr. Lady Records and Video and a member of the band The Butchies. A respected figure from the legendary dyke punk-rock band Team Dresch, Kaia's open support for the transphobic "womyn-born womyn" policy came as a shock to many. She has stated that, while she supports trans inclusion in queer movement/space, she does not think that women's movement/space need to include trans women, as if all trans people belong to the separate gender of "trans" - a direct negation of many transsexual people's identification.

Are we missing anyone? Email emi@eminism.org.