Michigan festival slaps down transwomen, betrays feminism
by Jess McCabe // 18 September 2006, 21:06
Before I start, I'd just like to say I hate stories like this. As if it wasn't enough that we've had the breast wars last week, now the Michigan Womyn's Festival has said that transgender women can buy tickets, but only if they're prepared to be insulted and alienated first.
I think this headline says it best: 'Womyn's Fest Tells Trans Women to Ban Themselves'.
While the Festival box office will now sell tickets to transwomen, according to WWTMC\x92s Lisa Vogel, the only people welcome are "womyn who were born as and have lived their entire life experience as womyn." Vogel\x92s statement continues, "If a transwoman purchased a ticket, it represents nothing more than that womon choosing to disrespect the stated intention of this Festival."
This is the latest insult in a long dispute about Michigan Womyn's Festival's policy of only admitting women-born-women, not transwomen. For a long, heated and informative debate about this 15-year old issue, I will direct you to Barbelith.
In much less high falutin terms: this sucks.
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