Festival Reaffirms Commitment to Womyn-Born Womyn Space: A Statement from Michigan Womyn's Music Festival

Off Our Backs, Jan 1999

The 24th annual Michigan Womyn's Music Festival brought more than 5800 womyn and children together for an inspiring, rejuvenating week of performances, workshops, and community. This year's Festival was also the site of an action organized by the group Transsexual Menace.

When WWTMC, the organizers of the Festival, learned that Transsexual Menace planned to hold a "Son of Camp Trans" event across the road from the Festival grounds, producer Lisa Vogel issued the following statement:

We do not and will not question any individual's gender. The Festival is an event organized by, for, and about womyn. Our intention is for the Festival to be for womyn-born womyn, meaning people who were born and have lived their entire life experience as female. We ask that the transsexual community support and respect the intention of our event.

On Friday, August 13, six individuals and a group of supporters from "Son of Camp Trans" approached the Box Office and requested tickets to enter the Festival. They proceeded with the full knowledge of the intent of the Festival to be a womon born womon space. In keeping with the Festival values that no womon's gender ever be questioned on the Land, the Box Office workers did not question anyone's gender, and sold tickets to the six individuals when requested. Those individuals then entered the Festival.

"As community organizers, we operate from a position of trust, expecting that people will try to do the right thing, rather than policing people to catch them doing the wrong thing," says Vogel. "We do not and will not question any individual's gender. We hoped that the Transsexual Menace organizers would honor that trust and respect the intention of this event."

The Son of Camp Trans activists proceeded from the Front Gate Box Office to the outdoor, communal showers in the RV camping area. They took off their clothes and it was apparent to the womyn in and near the showers that two of the Son of Camp Trans activists were anatomically male. The word began to spread that there were men on the Land who had shown their penises in the showers. A member of the Son of Camp Trans group stopped by the teenage girls' discussion group at the Community Center, and engaged in explicit discussion about the clinical aspects of sex change operations. The group later began selling Transsexual Menace t-shirts outside the Main Kitchen area, attracting attention and complaints (sales of products and services outside of the Crafts Bazaar is not permitted out of respect to the craftswomyn who go through a selection process).

As the Son of Camp Trans activists made their way through the site, increasing numbers of Festival participants became aware of and expressed concern about their actions. Festival organizers focused on rumor control and the safety of everyone involved. The Community Center, Oasis peer counseling area, Staff Services and Security/Communications crews all worked hard to ensure the flow of accurate information and provide constructive opportunities for the expression of the full range of thoughts and feelings generated by these events.

A number of spontaneous gatherings developed where participants discussed and debated the presence of Son of Camp Trans activists and their actions. Volunteer facilitators helped to structure discussions so that various viewpoints, including those of the Son of Camp Trans, could be heard. The Son of Camp Trans activists scheduled a workshop session for Saturday at noon in the workshop area, and various festival participants announced their intention to hold community meetings at different locations on Saturday.

In response to confusion and concerns among Festival participants, organizers distributed 2,000 copies of the following statement on Friday evening, August 13:

There has been an event called "Son of Camp Trans" organized across the gate from the Land to protest the Festival as an event organized by, for and about womyn born womyn only.

The Festival is womyn's space, something that is rare and precious to most of us. We also define that further as womon-born womon space, meaning a place for people who were born and have lived their entire life experience as female. This is our public statement to the Camp Trans organizers, and we ask that they, and other members of the Transsexual community, respect those wishes.

We are aware that some individuals associated with Camp Trans have not respected the Land as womyn's space. We know that many of you are angry about this, and have questions about whether this is a change in festival policy. There is no change in Festival policy, politics, or intention regarding womyn's space. We too are angry that this has been disrespected, and we are dealing with it now the best we can. We want you to know that we always have been and always will be committed to the Festival as womyn's space.

We want to caution all of us on two things. First, the Festival does not and will not question any individual's gender. This is basic to the environment of trust and freedom that the fabric of the Festival depends upon. Many of us move about a world that questions our femaleness every day. This is not an experience that we want any single womon to have on this Land. Please do not perpetuate this by approaching any womon to question her gender.