"Active, Intentional Dialogue"

There is still palpable anger and feelings of betrayal in Trans World over NCLR and the Task Force withdrawing their  support from an Equality Michigan sponsored petition that has the goal of ending the trans feminine exclusion for those trans women who desire to go to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.

The intent is to engage in 'active, intentional, dialogue with a long time foe of the trans community in the hopes she will reverse their longtime ban on trans women entering The Land'.

Active, intentional dialogue with someone like Lisa Vogel who doesn't even trcognize the humanity of trans women?   Yeah, right.  I have some waterfront property I'd like to sell you along I-10 in the Atchafalaya Swamp.

Toni D'orsay  has written a post at her Dyssonance blog commenting on the controversy:

There are folks who know Kate and Rea better than I do.  By far. One thing I do know is that both of them have a common history that is very much a commonality among many lesbian leaders of established organizations.  In something that goes back as far as the involvement of lesbians with the work for women that Eleanor Roosevelt did, there is a strong and persistent line of what we think of today as radical feminism that informs them and their outlook on the world.

I am not a lesbian, I am bisexual, and I share much of that — it is part of the time and place and the world we grew up in.

Like most, though, they backed away from the uglier parts of it as trans people moved forward and they knew the lies they were being told were lies.

But they also understand that mindset — far better than most of my peers do.  Not all — and believe me, I am not saying they are part of the TERF movement, they are merely people who understand it.  They are, after all, cis women, and one of the most potent attacks that the TERFs have been using is the whole basis behind the argument about trans women and cis women being lovers and the problems around that.

Because they incorporate an element of “lesbian hate” into their arguments. One that ignores the fact that said hate is coming from other lesbians, but that’s because they refuse to see them as women, and therefore not lesbians.

Exciting, isn’t it?

Here's the link to the rest of the Dyssonance post entitled ''Active Intentional Dialogue': Michfest, NCLR and the Task Force  that definitely needs to be signal boosted.

Bryn Mawr Students And Alums Craft Trans Inclusion Petition

Following the lead of Oakland's Mills College, Mount Holyoke College became the first Seven Sisters one to change their admissions policies to openly welcome transfeminine and gender variant applicants to their campus.

I had the pleasure of speaking on Bryn Mawr's campus in 2009 and urged them at that time to start working toward coming up with trans inclusive policies.  

If some Bryn Mawr students and alums get their wish, Bryn Mawr will be the next Seven Sisters college to include trans students on their campus.   They have penned an open letter and started a Change.org petition that as of this writing has amassed 1275 signatures that they hope will expeditiously jump start the process.

From the open letter accompanying the petition: 

Bryn Mawr’s current approach to handling trans student applicants is ineffective and insufficient. As long as Bryn Mawr continues to exclude trans and nonbinary students, it continues to neglect its essential educational mission. Bryn Mawr has a long history as an institution that offers educational opportunities to students who face discrimination because of their gender. The time has come to expand Bryn Mawr's safe, supportive community to fully include trans students and other gender minorities. This fall, Bryn Mawr faces a great choice: return to our historical mission of helping students break through the gender-based limits imposed on their education, or stand still and watch as others make change. 

The open letter also requested the following six things occur at Bryn Mawr:

1. Bryn Mawr to commit to adopting a trans-inclusive admissions policy by October 15th, 2014--one month before the Early Decision I application deadline for transfers and the class of 2019;

2. Gender inclusive restroom signage to be implemented no later than January 20, 2015, which is the first day of second semester classes;

3. A revision to the College's statement of nondiscrimination to include gender, gender identity, and gender presentation as protected classes;

4. Bryn Mawr to follow the students’ example and use gender-inclusive language in all College documents and signage, including but not limited to: the College website; marketing, recruitment, fundraising materials, and Alumnae Association materials;

5. The development and implementation of accessible, simple, and thorough procedures for students to change their preferred names and pronouns on various platforms used by the College, including but not limited to: Moodle, PeopleSoft, transcripts, diplomas, medical records, and other university records and documents;

6. A demonstrated dedication to further providing and supporting continuing education and training for the entire campus, focusing on the involvement of faculty and staff, and ensuring that the voices of current students and trans women are prioritized.

***

It will be interesting to watch and see if Bryn Mawr's administration takes this seriously and it becomes the next Seven Sisters institution to welcome trans and gender variant students to its lovely suburban Philadelphia area campus, or another Seven Sisters campus beats it to that distinction.

In either case, the trans community and our allies will be watching and waiting along with the parents of trans feminine kids rapidly approaching college age.

Introducing Trans* Athlete

After I compiled the post about why I write about sports as a trans person on a transcentric blog, I discovered while surfing the Web the founding of this timely and still evolving website called Trans* Athlete.

As evidenced by my old roommate Dawn, Fallon Fox in women's MMA and Jazz fighting her two year battle with the US Soccer Federation so she and other trans kids like her could play soccer, trans people are increasingly getting out there and participating in the games we love.

The Trans* Athlete website morphed from an idea by Chris Mosier, an educator, nationally recognized transgender Ironman triathlete and coach and Jessica Pettitt, a Social Justice and Diversity Consultant and Facilitator to create a large-scale resource about inclusive sporting policies for trans athletes. 

After Mosier and Pettitt began to examine the existing documents about sporting inclusion for trans people, they discovered that others have been doing excellent work in creating resources for specific populations regarding policies and best practices for trans inclusion. Chris then morphed the project into this website, which puts together resources for folks looking for information on trans inclusion in athletics.

Trans* Athlete is a resource that puts in one centralized location for students, athletes, coaches, and administrators information about trans inclusion in athletics at various levels of play from K-12 through the collegiate level and beyond.

If this website does its job of allowing trans people to play the games they love, participate and excel at competitive sports and do so without drama from you cis peeps, then it's successfully doing its job.