Trans America

Recently I visited with local lesbian activist/indie rocker Sarah Dougher, and we got to talking about the trans movement. Even though I write a weekly column on queer issues, I've hardly uncovered the real day-to-day issues transgender and transsexual people face. Sarah told me about how she's on a lesbian-run record label that's being boycotted by some trans activists. She and I had lengthy discussions about this movement, and I was taken with her passion. So, for the first time ever, I'm letting someone else take up my Queer Window window. Here's Sarah's take:

I record for Mr. Lady Records, a label devoted to queer independent music and video, that's become the target of some trans activists. Why? Two bands who perform on our label--The Butchies and Le Tigre--have played at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.

The MWMF has what it calls a "womyn born womyn" policy, which excludes most men and self-identified trans people. The festival, over 25 years old, has its roots in the lesbian separatist politics of the 1970s. MWMF has struggled to keep up with the times, but it hasn't changed its policy.

Because Mr. Lady bands take part in MWMF, some trans activists think the label should be boycotted. In addition, the people who run the label have been threatened with violence and harassed for almost three years by activists who demand both an apology for playing the fest and the adoption of a position against the exclusionary practices of MWMF.

I think it's important to recognize the diversity within all radical movements (especially marginalized ones) and to resist the pressures popular culture places on these movements. The mainstream wants all gay and lesbian people to be alike, all trans people to be alike and, most of all, everyone to be just like them. It's this attempt to put people in boxes that takes away marginalized people's power. And it's this kind of pressure that causes what would otherwise be allied forces to fight each other. Perhaps more importantly, activists need to resist this tendency themselves. Our challenge is to respectfully address the issues that cause us to fight each other instead of our common foes--and then to work together to fight them.

Mr. Lady produces art that advocates for the rights of women, queers and trans people. For some artists on the label, it's important to acknowledge and honor the histories of the queer and feminist movements at the same time. MWMF is a "womyn's only" space--this is still a radical and exciting notion in a society where sexism still exists. But what's an even more radical notion is that this category--"womyn only"--is faulty. This is exactly what trans activism highlights.

Trans activism and art offers all of us amazing and transformative ways of understanding ourselves and how we relate to gender in our lives. Leslie Feinberg's book Stone Butch Blues, drag king shows and the film Hedwig are only a few that inspire. The trans movement shows us how deeply our prejudices and assumptions about gender rule us. Trans inclusion and the fight against transphobia should be a part of every political and cultural movement. It is up to trans and non-trans people alike to do this hard but necessary work.