Transphobia in Queer Up North festival
From an e-mail:
A Transphobic musician has a gig in Manchester as part of Queer Up North LGBT arts festival - she is against MTF inclusion in women's spaces, but in favour of Transmen's inclusion in women's spaces. There are plans for a protest outside of the gig to raise awareness of the fact that a Queer event is allowing Transphobic people to take part.
Bitch, formerly of queercore duo Bitch And Animal, is a veteran of the Transmisogynistic (Transwoman hating) Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and has long been an outspoken supporter of the exclusion of Transwomen from women-only events.
She's coming to Manchester to play a gig on May 18th as part of the annual Queer Up North festival.
She's said in interviews that as far as she's concerned protests against Transwoman exclusion are about "making men comfortable and satisfying men", basically saying that Transwomen are men.
She has also used her relationships with Transmen to 'prove' that she is not Transphobic, and argued that MWMF isn't Transphobic because there are loads of Transguys there.
About Transwomen: "It doesn't mean that they're not a woman. If they want to be a woman, I'll call them a woman, I'll treat them as a woman, no problem. I don't have any problem with changing up my definitions of what a woman is. But, they're definitely not a woman like I'm a woman."
The point of protesting her gig for Queer Up North isn't about trying to silence her in any way or follow up a personal vendetta. She's not the only one with these views by a long shot - they're incredibly common throughout the feminist and dyke communities.
However it is important that these sorts of views are publicly challenged and people do make a visible stand against Transphobes clothing their prejudice with a veneer of feminism.
If you can't make it to the march, please consider e-mailing or writing to Queer Up North and asking them about why they'd book someone who was kicked off the Boston Dyke March billing for her Transphobic words and her involvement in defending MWMF's Transmisogynistic policies last year.
For more information, see this Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=12293997822
A Transphobic musician has a gig in Manchester as part of Queer Up North LGBT arts festival - she is against MTF inclusion in women's spaces, but in favour of Transmen's inclusion in women's spaces. There are plans for a protest outside of the gig to raise awareness of the fact that a Queer event is allowing Transphobic people to take part.
Bitch, formerly of queercore duo Bitch And Animal, is a veteran of the Transmisogynistic (Transwoman hating) Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and has long been an outspoken supporter of the exclusion of Transwomen from women-only events.
She's coming to Manchester to play a gig on May 18th as part of the annual Queer Up North festival.
She's said in interviews that as far as she's concerned protests against Transwoman exclusion are about "making men comfortable and satisfying men", basically saying that Transwomen are men.
She has also used her relationships with Transmen to 'prove' that she is not Transphobic, and argued that MWMF isn't Transphobic because there are loads of Transguys there.
About Transwomen: "It doesn't mean that they're not a woman. If they want to be a woman, I'll call them a woman, I'll treat them as a woman, no problem. I don't have any problem with changing up my definitions of what a woman is. But, they're definitely not a woman like I'm a woman."
The point of protesting her gig for Queer Up North isn't about trying to silence her in any way or follow up a personal vendetta. She's not the only one with these views by a long shot - they're incredibly common throughout the feminist and dyke communities.
However it is important that these sorts of views are publicly challenged and people do make a visible stand against Transphobes clothing their prejudice with a veneer of feminism.
If you can't make it to the march, please consider e-mailing or writing to Queer Up North and asking them about why they'd book someone who was kicked off the Boston Dyke March billing for her Transphobic words and her involvement in defending MWMF's Transmisogynistic policies last year.
For more information, see this Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=12293997822