“THE TRANSEXUAL MENACE – NEW YORK CITY,” Camp Trans members, including, from left, Riki Anne Wilchins, Leslie Feinberg (September 1, 1949 – November 15, 2014), and Prof. Minnie Bruce Pratt, Oceana County, Michigan, August 1994. Photo c/o R. Wilchins. For more on Camp Trans—and for other incredible stories from trans history—check out Rhys Ernst’s (@rhysernst) “We’ve Been Around” (wevebeenaround.com).
From its inception in 1975, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF)—a week-long music and culture festival that sought to provide lesbian-feminists and lesbian-separatists a safe environment free from domination, oppression, and interference by men—maintained a “womyn-born-womyn” policy, and therefore excluded trans women from attending.
In 1991, trans activist Nancy Burkholder was ejected by MWMF organizers after an embarrassing interrogation; according to TransAdvocate.com, “what happened to Nancy sparked the first community-wide response to the Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF) oppression of trans people,” which found its roots in womyn-born-womyn radical feminism and in the trans exclusionary outlook of gay cis-male activists like Jim Fouratt.
Perhaps most notably, Burkholder’s experience gave rise to Camp Trans, led by Leslie Feinberg, who died two years ago today, and Riki Anne Wilchins. Camp Trans “consisted of several dozen trans women and supporters who leafleted [MWMF] attendees and held workshops and readings that attracted hundreds of women from the other side of the road.” Wilchins noted the significance of Camp Trans: “…it was the first time that significant numbers of the hard-core lesbian community backed us.”
While an official change in MWMF policy never came, resistance to the festival grew, with attendees and artists withdrawing until organizers announced that MWMF 2015 would be the last. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #TransWeek #CampTrans #WeveBeenAround #LeslieFeinberg (at Oceana County, Michigan)
QueerAnarchism 