Tag Archives: Lesbian space

Sign Petition to Make Sinister Wisdom an all Female, Lesbian-Feminist Journal Once Again

By Jeanne F. Neath

XX Lesbian Activists (XXLA), a new activist group, has started a campaign to return the journal, Sinister Wisdom, to its all female, Lesbian-Feminist, revolutionary roots. The group, of which I am a member, has a petition we encourage you to sign at https://www.change.org/XXLesbians.

Sinister Wisdom now male If you are incensed at the takeover of women’s and Lesbian spaces by males claiming to be women, take action by signing this petition. Sinister Wisdom’s recent issue #128 on “Trans/Feminisms” features male (“transgender”) contributors, and includes “written and visual images of dismemberment, penises, graphic male sex acts, objectification of women’s bodies, and derision of radical feminists.” (from the quote by JW in the petition) The XXLA petition pressures Sinister Wisdom to return the journal to an all female, Lesbian-Feminist publication.

In addition to signing the petition, XX Lesbian Activists encourages everyone to send a copy of XXLA’s open letter, or their own protest emails, to Sinister Wisdom (julie@sinisterwisdom.org). Let’s see a deluge of emails begin to hit Sinister Wisdom’s inbox on August 26th (in commemoration of the US Women’s Suffrage movement’s victory day). The email campaign will continue until Sinister Wisdom is once again an all female, Lesbian journal. For more information on XX Lesbian Activists’ campaigns or to get a copy of the open letter, you can contact xxlesbianactivists@xxamazons.org.

The petition is printed below. Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/XXLesbians.

Return Sinister Wisdom to its All Female, Lesbian-Feminist, Revolutionary Roots

To the Board of Directors of Sinister Wisdom:

We are Lesbians and Feminists who need Sinister Wisdom to become a Lesbian-Feminist journal again. Sinister Wisdom used to provide us with Lesbian-Feminist writings and artwork that helped us to survive in a world that is hard on Lesbians. Sinister Wisdom did far more than that.

Sinister Wisdom began publication in July of 1976, started by two Lesbian separatists who were part of the revolution in Lesbian and female consciousness of the times. For us, Sinister Wisdom became our cauldron where Lesbian-Feminist thought was rising up and spilling over, creating a world beyond the confines of patriarchy.

Now we are being erased as Lesbians, even by the board of directors of Sinister Wisdom. Our worldview is being denied and decimated. We are isolated and hurting since Sinister Wisdom has abandoned us.

What happened? Earlier this year the Lesbian journal, Sinister Wisdom, published its issue #128 dedicated to “exploring and celebrating transness.”

With Sinister Wisdom’s “Trans/Feminisms” issue #128, we have a complete reversal in which males and male visions dominate in a new twist on the old story of patriarchy.

The result. Lesbians, young and old, seeking that revolutionary Lesbian and female consciousness have had stolen from us a critical link in our web of resistance. We want our Lesbian journal back.

Here are comments from a few Lesbians:

“Sinister Wisdom grew from the grassroots of Lesbian-Feminist outrage! Our words fueled our Lesbian-Feminist energies. Stealing our cultural institutions like Sinister Wisdom from women in the name of including ‘male lesbians’ is a cruel joke aimed to destroy our communities. Only women can be Lesbians.” PEM
“Issue #128, ‘Trans/Feminisms,’ was appalling to me with its written and visual images of dismemberment, penises, graphic male sex acts, objectification of women’s bodies, and derision of radical feminists. I found nothing Lesbian in this issue of Sinister Wisdom, which still claims on its cover to be a Lesbian Journal.” JW
“Sinister Wisdom, one of our last Radical Lesbian-Feminist journals, published my name in a slanderous attack on me. This happened in an article by Mr. Susan Stryker in the ‘Trans/Feminisms’ issue. The Sinister Wisdom editor, Julie Enszer, refused to print my response.” Bev Jo
“And that’s why this issue is such an insult to radical Lesbian Feminists. Our space has been diminished if not completely obliterated. Let the trans folks, Feminist or not, have a journal of their own. They can laud the penis as much as they want to. But keep it out of our space!” RG
“Julie’s intro, with its Orwellian tones of revising history—’we have always been trans-friendly’—told me what I would find in the contents. Sadly, I would recommend removing ‘Wisdom’ from the title. ‘Sinister’ says it all.” CW
“I feel such profound sadness that Sinister Wisdom has fallen to the bullying and finances of the men who now say they are women. This once-beloved publication, along with so many others, both publications and organizations, has lost courage in a way that harms all actual woman.” SW
“This issue overflows with deception, falsification, and grotesquery. But the true horror is that its Lesbian supporters don’t (or pretend not to) feel and see a boot to the face of Lesbians.” RMG

Sinister Wisdom a queer journal? Males, male thought, and male violence have no place in a Lesbian journal. Lesbians have always defined Lesbians as females in same sex relationships. Why would Sinister Wisdom embrace queer/trans ideology and define Lesbian to include males?

The explanation. Sinister Wisdom has lost its Lesbian-Feminist focus, and it now centers on a queer and transgender, therefore largely male, worldview.

Labrys energized and reclaimed Before resorting to this petition, we wrote to the editor and the board of directors of Sinister Wisdom requesting that they allow us to edit an issue that would focus on gender-critical and Radical-Feminist creative work. Despite the considerable writing, editing, and artistic skills we offered, Sinister Wisdom refused our request for one, gender-critical issue.

We Call upon the Sinister Wisdom Board of Directors – Julie R. Enszer, Editor (2010 to present); Roberta Arnold; Cheryl Clarke; Sara Gregory; Yeva Johnson; Briona Jones; Shromona Mandal; Joan Nestle; Rose Norman; Mecca Jamilah Sullivan; Yasmin Tambiah; and Red Washburn – to return Sinister Wisdom to its all female, Lesbian-Feminist revolutionary roots.

Respectfully, XX Lesbian Activists

Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/XXLesbians.

Domination by Trans Rights Activists at Dyke March in San Fransciso

5 Replies

By Jeanne Neath

Twelve old lesbians marching in the June 23, 2018 San Francisco Dyke March were verbally harassed and two of them physically assaulted by transgender rights supporters. Instead of supporting the lesbians being harassed, both the Dyke March and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are falsely claiming that the old lesbians were the ones acting in a threatening and violent manner. As I understand it, the dyke marches across the country have been largely taken over by persons who are not lesbians. How has this happened?

Bats carried by transactivist group at marches

Bats carried at marches by the Degenderettes, an international transactivist group active in San Francisco. Local chapters of the Degenderettes are forming.

In her XX Amazons’ blog last week, Paula Mariedaughter described how “Lesbians [are] Not Welcome at a Women’s Center started by Lesbian Feminists.” That unnamed women’s center in Fayetteville, Arkansas is under the spell of lesbian trans supporters who have abandoned lesbian feminist politics in favor of the transgender politics of so-called “inclusion.”

So far, the board of directors there is all female and may be all lesbian. Some board members support women only space, but are unable to allow women only events due to the power of the trans supporting faction (and the fear of attack on the center by transactivists and their liberal, progressive, and “feminist” supporters). It looks to me like the Fayetteville center is in the early stages of losing its female and lesbian identity and sliding into trans domination. If they are successful in becoming increasingly “inclusive” it may just be a matter of time until lesbians who value women only space are purposefully excluded from the board and a male to transgender person is invited to join the board. Read Paula’s blog for more details of the situation there.

I believe this process of liberal lesbian trans supporters gaining increasing sway over a lesbian organization, adopting a policy and politics of “inclusion”, welcoming transgender persons into the organization, and, finally, welcoming male to transgender persons who claim to be lesbians onto the board of directors has become commonplace. Once this process has been completed, what was once a lesbian organization begins to put the interests of transactivists front and center. If the lesbian organization is considered a valuable enough target, powerful forces from outside the organization may become involved, perhaps training transactivists to infiltrate the organization’s board, providing advice on strategy, or supplying funding.** Some are calling this kind of trans takeover a “transjacking”. Whoops, there goes another piece of our once thriving lesbian culture!

Male to transgender persons are not only appropriating our identity as women, but are stealing our organizations.

Male to transgender persons are not only appropriating our identity as women, but are stealing our organizations. Many women and lesbians are doing our best to stop these thefts. Awareness of what is transpiring is a key part of our resistance.

We offer below links to several personal accounts by lesbians of what happened to them at the San Francisco Dyke March, the Women’s Liberation Front’s (WOLF’s) open letter to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and a link to a Change.org petition from one of the women whose sign was torn up by the trans rights activists at the San Francisco Dyke March (see photo below).

WOLF’s open letter to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) demands that the organization retract its slanderous and false allegations against the 12 lesbians who were harassed at the 2018 San Francisco Dyke March. In a classic reversal, “demonstrating a stunning degree of anti-lesbian bias”, NCLR falsely claimed that the lesbian marchers had “chanted transphobic slogans and violently harassed and threatened other marchers.”

See Max Dashu’s account of what happened at the San Francisco Dyke March. Max Dashu writes: “All of the old lesbians in our group were quickly surrounded, subjected to chants of “TERFs go home!” and blasted with hatefulness for the entire course of the march. Young queers berated, hounded, and crowded in on us. Most of them refused to speak with us, only glaring, chanting, and screaming.”

In “Young Women Attack Dykes their Grandma’s Age” Lavenderjoan writes: “It was a nightmare scenario. Imagine the Lavender Menace meets Lord of the Flies. Twenty-something participants in the Dyke March swooped down on our small contingent of old lesbians like crazed predators thirsty for blood…”

Here is Sherri Golden’s petition calling for The San Francisco Dyke March, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Bay Area Reporter to retract their “defamatory and libelous statements” claiming that the lesbian victims of threatening and violent behaviors by trans rights activists were instead the attackers. See Sherri Golden and what happened to the sign she carried saying “You can’t silence us with violence – Resist lesbian erasure” in the photo below.

Lesbians attacked at 2018 San Francisco Dyke March.

By Jeanne Neath

** Interview with Mary Lou Singleton, Women’s Liberation Radio News Edition 16 transcript

** Sue Donym, Inauthentic Selves: The modern LGBTQ+ Movement Is Run By Philanthropic Astroturf And Based On Junk Science

What IS Lesbian space?

3 Replies

By Woody Blue

In 1979, Womonwrites emerged as an lesbian only conference held in a public space in the South. It was structured as a writer’s conference. The founders of the conference recognized the need for lesbian space and were not apologetic in their approach to forming it and defining it as such.

Lesbian space is hard to find. It is different from women only space. Women only space grew from consciousness-raising groups in the 70’s. Women only groups gave women the breathing room needed to define themselves as women. They were able to see more clearly that because they had been born with a vagina, they had been assigned a subservient role in a patriarchal structure that put men at the top. Men decided what women would wear, how they would look, what jobs they could perform and what pay they would receive. From these women’s groups, a feminist analysis of patriarchy was pieced together and women, feeling empowered by this new understanding, dared to challenge patriarchal ideas and systems.

Lesbian space is hard to find. It is different from women only space.

Lesbian space grew out of the women’s groups. Straight women partnered with men and their discussions included that at the end of the day they would return to their male cohorts. Women who came out as lesbians faced a double threat. Not only did they not agree to conform to stereotyped sex roles; they also chose not to center their lives around men. Lesbians only wanted to focus on lesbians; empowering themselves and not spending their time, energy and skills providing for men. Their focus was clearly and decidedly on women.

And with that, by 1979, Womonwrites was born.

Womonwrites 1979 Before I came to WW in 1986 I had been very involved with the Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in the Finger Lakes region of upstate NY. To put it in a nutshell, it was a 52 acre farm bought by women and peace groups to create a women only community, putting feminist values into practice. It was situated adjacent to the largest US nuclear military base in the country which warehoused nuclear weapons and shipped them overseas to US bases in European countries that were NATO allies. The purpose of the camp was to train women in all aspects of nonviolent civil disobedience as well as learn and practice feminist principles in order to build a more peaceful world. There were sister encampments in England, Scotland, Germany, Sicily and a few other countries. It could be said that women world-wide were organizing to get rid of patriarchal structures by taking the fight to the U.S. military. The peace camp was our practice space.

I had only been out for 3 years before stumbling into WW in 1986 and I clasped my lesbian identity around me like a warm blanket that occasionally reverted to a suit of armor.
I found myself as a lesbian in public, structured lesbian space. It was like having a lesbian discussion group magnified 400 times. I didn’t have to explain myself; I didn’t have to explain my sexual preferences; I didn’t have to guess if someone at the conference was a lesbian or not. She was a lesbian; no need to ask. This was enormously freeing as I was used to walking in a predominantly straight world, where I’d been told 1 in 10 was gay.

Upon arrival at WW, I immersed myself totally. I was from the North yet I was welcomed because I was lesbian. I didn’t consider myself a writer, but I was welcomed because I was a lesbian. I hardly knew anyone but that was fine. There were plenty of lesbians that wanted to meet me and wanted to hear about the Peace Camp.

I remember my first reading. I refused to stand on the stage. Instead I insisted on being on the grass and shouting my poem about being a curious housecleaner that invented stories about the people she cleaned house for by searching for clues under the bed and in the wastebasket. I refused to read it; instead memorizing the 3 page poem and strutting up and down on the grass.

At WW, I was given the freedom to be who I was, to break the rules, to explain my life experiences. WW, as safe lesbian space, allowed me to grow into my lesbianism, and encouraged me to take writing seriously. This is something that I could not have accomplished in a straight women’s writing group, in a mixed male and female writing group, in a trans, queer, or bisexual writing group. I needed and still need a lesbian writing group. I don’t see that ever changing.

At WW, I was given the freedom to be who I was, to break the rules, to explain my life experiences. WW, as safe lesbian space, allowed me to grow into my lesbianism, and encouraged me to take writing seriously. This is something that I could not have accomplished in a straight women’s writing group, in a mixed male and female writing group, in a trans, queer, or bisexual writing group.

Over the years, WW has attempted to keep the conference lesbian and to keep it safe. In the last 10 years, there have been efforts from some lesbians attending, to open the conference to the queer, bi, and trans communities. This would invite a male presence into the conference and it was strongly opposed.

In the last several years, there have been women who have challenged the definition of lesbian space. Their argument is that males that have transitioned are now women. If they have women lovers, they are also lesbian and now they should be allowed to come into lesbian space. The counter argument is that transitioned males are NOT women. They have their own set of gender role disparities and they do not become women just because they say they are women. Males do not have the right to redefine what a woman is. This is not all there is to the arguments but it does state the crux of the matter.

The last 10 years this issue has not gone away from WW. There have been some women who have shared their thinking in the readings. There have been a few workshops to explain various points of view. Not everyone attends workshops. There is little time to have an open discussion with all members of the WW community during the conference. As a result, there has been no concrete open public dialogue. Rather, there have been closed private discussions, mostly among those wishing to change policy.

The Dispossessed Despite our differences, WW has been a safe environment for lesbians. Throughout the years, I’ve always felt safe to speak my mind regardless of whether we were engaged in arguments over SM issues, health issues, or what to pay the cooks. I have always felt that my interests were taken into consideration when decisions are made.

Last February, after years of discussion about opening up the lesbian writer’s conference to queer and trans women, the planning committee voted to change who would be allowed to attend the conference. The planning committee was well aware that there were many lesbians who strongly disagreed with opening up the conference. There had been a stormy debate on the WW FB page. It was not a good place to hold this discussion. Though most of us tried to keep it polite and respectful, it was not always so. There were women who weren’t on FB who couldn’t participate in the discussion. There was an occasional person chiming in that had never been to WW. It was agreed to close that discussion and pick it up at the planner’s meeting.

Last February, after years of discussion about opening up the lesbian writer’s conference to queer and trans women, the planning committee voted to change who would be allowed to attend the conference. The planning committee was well aware that there were many lesbians who strongly disagreed with opening up the conference….It was never stated that a decision would be made at that planners’ meeting.

It was never stated that a decision would be made at that planners’ meeting. Not everyone can get to the meeting and I rely on having all lesbians’ opinions brought into the decision-making process and consensus being reached. In my memory, that is the way it always has been. The planning committee now says they have always voted on decisions; however, I and others say this is revisionist. Be that as it may, the decision was made.

Lesbians opposed to this decision argue that people born with penises can NOT become women through medical interventions, can NOT change the definition of women to suit their needs, can NOT be a women because they feel like one. Much has been written on this, yet most lesbians have not heard the arguments, and have not been able to have public discourse on these issues. Lesbians and others that raise these issues are quickly shouted down, and referred to as bigots and the new slur word of TERF, short for trans-exclusive radical feminist. Concern and protection of lesbian space is translated as trans hatred and transphobia.

Lesbians who agree with the decision claim that they are evolved; that they are open-minded; that transwomen have suffered from misogynistic society and need our support. The claim that anyone can be a woman because he says so, whether that person is on hormones or not, whether that person has a penis or not, whether that person has no lived experience as a woman is accepted by many lesbians as well as queer, transgendered, bisexual, and all the other gender variations that have popped up lately. These are people first in line to throw stones at women born women who raise a fuss.

It has come down to this. There are lesbians and feminists who strongly oppose the intrusion of men to redefine who a woman is and who occupies women’s space. Revising the definition of women to include men who insist they are women takes away the ability to have, create or maintain women only space. And, of course, that underscores the definition of lesbian and makes it impossible to create and maintain lesbian only space.

This year, the planning committee, voted to change the mission statement of WW. The statement now reads, “Founded as a lesbian conference and reflecting lesbian values, WW is a gathering of lesbian writers and others who may identify differently but know they belong at a lesbian writer’s conference.”

This past spring, the WW conference was open to those others who identify differently but know they belong at a lesbian writer’s conference. It was no longer lesbian safe space. A number of lesbians who disagreed with the decision refused to attend. The people that did participate, attended workshops and ate communal meals in a tense atmosphere. Those that supported the new participants deserted the public areas for the most part and spent their time in the loud and rowdy cabin. There was some intermingling, and there were some intensely hostile moments.

This past spring, the WW conference was open to those others who identify differently but know they belong at a lesbian writer’s conference. It was no longer lesbian safe space. A number of lesbians who disagreed with the decision refused to attend. The people that did participate, attended workshops and ate communal meals in a tense atmosphere. Those that supported the new participants deserted the public areas for the most part and spent their time in the loud and rowdy cabin. There was some intermingling, and there were some intensely hostile moments.

Personally, I am distressed and downright outraged that we have lost public lesbian space. Womonwrites community, as part of the larger lesbian nation, is now divided and the division comes in the form of whether we are willing to protect men who say they are women. Having attended WW for over 30 years, I am now marked and targeted as a hater, a bigot with a restrictive attitude. I’m told I belong to a group of old white cis women, the tofu-eating and Birkenstock wearing generation who refuses to evolve. My opinion doesn’t count and neither does anyone else who stands by me. I seem to be standing in the way of progress.

I refuse this description of me and I refuse to back down from my opinions. Pressure is strong from the trans community. Lesbians all over the country are looking for lesbian space with lesbians that were born with a vagina and have lived experience from birth as female.

The only lesbian space I now know of is this Gainesville Lesbians Reader’s Potluck group and the Lesbian Writer’s group that is meeting irregularly. I’m asking this group to confirm that this is a lesbian only group holding the definition that lesbians are born with vaginas, and that we not change that. Even if there are lesbians that align themselves with the trans community, I ask that they not lobby to change the nature of this particular group.

With all of the hatred flowing in this country at this time, I would like to have one safe spot as a lesbian, a woman born lesbian. There is a lot more to say, and I would like to propose that lesbians who feel strongly about this issue meet and form a study group or a book group or a support group, whatever feels appropriate. I would like all of us to engage each other in discussion and work out agreements that are acceptable and not trample on opinions or disrespect each other or name call.

I do not want to see the Gainesville Lesbian community divided. In these troubled times, it is more important than ever to maintain lesbian space and keep it safe.

By Woody Blue

Requiem for Womonwrites

1 Reply

By Rand Hall

I think it is important that there is a permanent record of the death of Womonwrites, the Southeastern Lesbian Writers’ Conference as a lesbian only/woman only space. In 2018, after 39 years, the publicity states that anyone who thinks they belong is invited to attend with a specific welcome to transgendered people. This is being done under the banner of inclusivity and diversity. Those that do not want males (people with a penis, growing up as males or currently identifying as male and claiming male privilege) at Womonwrites are now considered “opposed to diversity.” There is no recognition of the diversity among (woman-born-woman) lesbians: Southern lesbians, West Coast lesbians, black, brown and multi racial lesbians, Latina lesbians, old lesbians, teen age lesbians, newly-out lesbians and old dykes, single lesbians, never married lesbians and recently divorced lesbians, blue collar and professional lesbians, new writers and published writers, mothers of sons and child-free lesbians. And all of these diverse lesbians and many others have attended and been welcomed at Womonwrites. It is not that straight or bi women or a transexual has not attended in the past for they certainly have. But as non-lesbians, they were not specifically made welcome and their non-lesbian issues and experience were not a focus.

I was part of an email discussion among Womonwriters who were not in the Facebook discussion of non-women-born-women (trans people) welcome at Womonwrites. That Facebook conversation can only reflect the opinions of those women on Facebook and on Facebook during the few days of the discussion and those willing to post in that public forum. At the request of a few of those non-Facebook email writers, I am sharing some of their words. These were written just before and immediately after the 2018 Womonwrites planning meeting held in Atlanta.

On Feb 2, deJoly LaBrier wrote:
. . . . There are not enough places where we can experience lesbian only space. I too feel ok about other women taking men/trans as partners, that’s their business. But if an event or place is designated lesbian only space, I feel that should be honored. Womonwrites was always a lesbian writers conference, until the trans population began moving into it. Now there are several who come and want to bring their partners who may also be trans but feel they are lesbian now. Although I can’t imagine all that entails for them, I see lesbians as women born women who love women born women. I’m not sure I can go to WW any more, unless I assume and accept that it is no longer a lesbian writers conference.
deJoly

On Feb 2 , Linnea Almgren wrote:
WW is a lesbian writers conference, by and for lesbians. Welcoming all the other gender types of the world makes WW something else, with a different focus and basis. I attend for the feeling of lesbian unity. If it becomes a sexual diversity conference, I am likely to drop out. . . . . . Of course, I maintain that WW, as a lesbian writers conference, can only continue to exist as a lesbian venue. If non w-b-w lesbians and other males and hetero women are included, then the focus changes. I could not share myself in the same way. I would experience this kind of diversity as a violation of my lesbian self. It is unlikely I would put myself through the struggle even this one more time.

Again on Feb 4, Linnea Almgren wrote:
as for a lesbian having a trans partner…that is her business….but at Womonwrites, I would not welcome her trans partner. I do not feel she is respecting her lesbian sisters if she insists her trans partner should be able attend. Even if one trans is allowed….it is no longer lesbian…the door has been open..usually, it cannot be closed. I do not have resentment against trans…to each his/her own. It was hard enough for me to accept who I was…to embrace that I was a lesbian and I was ok. I do not mind going to events with trans, but I would mind if it was a lesbian event…I feel that is an invasion.

On Feb 4, Iris Laudy wrote:
First, some of the trans population who call themselves women and/or lesbians destroyed Michfest. This was a refuge and space I and thousands of other womyn-born-womyn were sustained by for decades. For me, the loss of Michfest remains an open wound.

Second, some of the trans population who call themselves women and/or lesbians are now attempting to encroach upon the lesbian only Womonwrites space. I don’t want that to happen.

Our womyn-born-womyn lesbian spaces are under covert and overt attack. I am totally opposed to this insidious intrusion. We must stay Amazon strong so we can preserve the lesbian womyn-born-womyn traditions we so carefully created.
Iris

On Feb 4, Linnea Almgren wrote:
Somebody who does Facebook please post the following message for me. You have all said it so well — at WW and everywhere else — wbw lesbians are healed and strengthened by lesbian unity and lesbian visibility in ways the focus on gender diversity can never provide. If WW changes from a lesbian writers conference to a gender diversity focused writers conference, I won’t want to be there.
Linnea

On Feb 4, Jan Jennings wrote:
Even though the transgender issue has been decided, I would like to comment to this issue because I just joined the fb discussion today. . . . I must say, there are experiences that form our womanhood that are not shared with transgendered women. And that speaks to our writing, our feeling of safety to write and share whatever is in our hearts, and to many who have been traumatized by men, our feelings of personal safety.

In school, I was often the child in the class who made the best grades, but the boy who had done the best was introduced as the best student in the class. As a former teacher, I can tell you that statistically teachers do call on male students more often. Male dialogue is seen as more important in academic situations. Girls are supposed to perform in an average way, keep quiet, and fade to the back so that male students can shine.

I had a period with all the embarrassment and pain that entails. I felt the emotional rise and fall that going through puberty means for a girl. My point is that while transgendered woman have had their own trials . . . . . they are not the trials that formed a woman born woman . . . . . For me, shared experience is very important in my sharing of writing. I love WW because it is a very safe place to share . . . . . So, I will attend WW with a very open heart, but I do wish there were somewhere, some event, where woman born women were allowed to flourish as a group with shared experiences and like mindedness. . . . .
Jan J

On Feb 5 Barb Stoll wrote:
It boggles my mind that lesbians are still so afraid to protect lesbian-only space. I will protect Lesbians and their space with my last breath. I support LESBIANS and that does not mean that I am not sympathetic to transgender people and would fully support their right to be who they are. BUT, that doesn’t mean it has to diminish my right to Lesbian only space just as my right to lesbian only space should not diminish their right to space of their own. I will fight for my lesbian sisters and their right to NOT BE ERASED!!!!
Barb

On Feb 6 Jan Smith wrote:
The decision made at WW is so sad. I feel betrayed by the women at WW who fought for me, lesbians, in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s….all the years. When I attended WW the last years…I was inspired, in awe…so many lesbian women that thought as I did…had my hurts and my dreams. I was floating on a cloud…finally a space for me…. Now, I find out , I have no say in including men in my space. They may act like women, dress as women, think they are women….but when the clothes come off, the makeup removed they are men with a man’s heart and penis. My question, if I attend WW…will I be expected to sleep in a cot next to a trans…take a shower in their presence…will the name be changed, as it will no longer be lesbian WW….all my adult life I have been in a straight world….finally, I had thought I had found some place to feel safe, to be with lesbians….. now, I am suppose to be accepting of men, trans, in my lesbian space . . . . . just so sad….
Jan S

On Feb 6 Barbara Stoll wrote:
I hear you sister. My heart is broken. . . . The whole situation is very sad to me. The loss of yet another space for lesbians to be their authentic selves without any male anything.
So sad.
Barb

On Feb 6 Jan Jennings wrote:
Me, too. I am rethinking going again. I thought I should go try it since there is really nothing else. But when I think of the betrayal, I realize that my attendance may be taken as approval. I also do not want to be sleeping, showering, etc. with a man. It’s extremely sad for me, too. Sometimes I wish I had been born a bit earlier so that I could have more experiences of lesbian spaces before they all disappeared. Sad.
Jan

On Feb 6 Barb Stoll wrote:
As with anything worth having and keeping it must be fought for, continually. Unfortunately, the younger generation of lesbians do not see this as worthy of their efforts. They are in a different place, having been able to get to that place on the backs of their foremothers hard won efforts.
Barb

On Feb 6 deJoly wrote:
Me too… I have withdrawn my name from the WW Facebook page and I will not be going again. My space that I thought was safe for me to be free to speak about my most intimate lesbian life, is now gone… betrayed by my own sisters is right… just not going back.
deJoly

On Feb 7, Jan Smith wrote:
I am correct, I think, in saying WW has been going on for over 30 years. Everyone knew it was a lesbian event. When some of the women have trans partners and they cry because they cannot attend…well, they knew it was a lesbian event. Respect for the others who attend seems to not be on the table. Wow…because of a few, my lesbian space has disappeared. I am suppose to look the other way and it be ok??? Inclusive for all…wow…so much power a few seem to have. I find it very upsetting, very sad….I am old…but being in the company of lesbians was very important to me. . . . .
Jan

On Feb 5, Barb Stoll wrote:
Is anyone posting these responses on the WW Facebook page? They should be there. I am not on Facebook or I would post them.
Barb

On Feb 7, Rand Hall wrote
Womonwrites has been my home and my family since 1979. I, a woman-born, woman loving lesbian, am now attacked as wanting to be with “like-minded old lesbians,” like this is an offensive thing. It may still be called Womonwrites but it is no longer a place I
want to be. –– Rand Hall

NOTE:
Here is the language that was voted on and overwhelmingly passed at WW Planners’ Meeting 2018: This inclusiveness statement will be in the WW information, and on a large sign near our registration table.

INCLUSIVENESS
Womonwrites is committed to providing an atmosphere where everyone feels welcome and is encouraged to participate at their desired level. We continue to review our policies, behaviors, activities, and attitudes toward these goals. Within workshops and throughout the conference, we will engage in some facilitated and some unfaciltated discussions to stimulate and assist in shifting our internal and external experiences with outreach and inclusiveness related to but not limited to race, age, gender expression, gender identity, class, ability, and ethnicity. Founded as a lesbian writers’ conference and reflecting lesbian values, Womonwrites is a gathering of lesbian writers and others who may identity differently but know they belong at a lesbian writers’ conference.”