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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE SEPTEMBER 17, 1993

In Ward 14, vote for a new change, but

vote for a man with the proven

Transsexuals challenge

experience, dedication and integrity that Michigan festival's policy

can represent you from Day One.

Only one person in the race for Ward 14:

• has been here working with all of us for over 20 years.

with a track record we can trust.

That person is MIKE O'BRIEN who has:

lived in the ward for 23 years.

'worked to develop block clubs for 14 years.

worked to make the Crime-Watch Program city-wide and prevented the shutdown of the mini-stations.

worked to crack down on slumlords.

worked to bring the Housing Court to Cleveland.

worked to take houses out of the hands of slumlords and bring them up to code.

developed the that became the group non-profit Near West Housing Corporation.

signed one of the first Community Reinvestment Acts (CRA) forcing banks to make loans to neighborhood residents.

whose work is based on the democratic priciple that people of the neighborhood need to be involved in the decision making process from the beginning.

If it is grassroots neighborhood development that you want, you know that O'Brien will be there!

by Charlton Harper

Four women who tried to attend the 1993 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival found that perhaps they weren't "women" enough to attend. Nancy Burkholder of New Hampshire, Davina Gabriel of Missouri, Wendi Kaiser of Maine and Rica Fredrickson of Pennsylvania, all post-operative male-tofemale transsexuals, were expelled by staff security on the third day of the event.

All had successfully registered and entered the land without complication on Monday, August 9, the day before the festival began.

Festival policy states that attendance is limited to "all womyn-born womyn.”

"I debate that particular part of the policy because so many transgender women do identify as women," said Janis Walworth of Massachusetts, a non-transsexual supporter who also came under fire. Transsexuals, who feel they were born women with male genitalia, hold that the policy is ambiguous.

It is this ambiguity, along with a general needs for education about gender issues, that the four transsexual women sought to change with their presence.

Throughout the week the five women shared in workshifts in the kitchen and at the medical and emotional support areas. They also staffed an information and literature table, distributing buttons and pamphlets, and sought signatures from supporters for a petition to repeal the exclusionary policy.

They also attended concerts, ate meals and took showers with other festival participants, not only without incident, but with a great deal of support, says Walworth.

"There is a receptivity by most women toward this issue," Walworth said. "At the same time I see a tendency by some women to not have to deal with 'disturbing' issues like this."

By Thursday, the third full day of the festival, security personnel responded to requests to remove the transsexual women before participants took action into their own hands.

Walworth confirms that there had been threats of disruption to a planned workshop and that vandalism to the literature table had occurred. Many supporters had advised the women to stay, while a group of leatherwomen even offered to guarantee their safety. Security women were reluctant to ensure Walworth of her safety, advising her to leave. She chose to remain inside festival grounds, continuing her grassroots efforts at wider acceptance.

The four women set up their alternative campsite across the road from the festival on Manistee National Forest land, and resumed their advocacy work. Many women ventured across the road with food and support, and expressed outrage at their treatment.

Walworth, an articulate woman who has given long consideration to the issue of gender since "exclusion of transsexuals from the community is depriving us from a rich experience," says the women would not have chosen to attend the festival had responses to a survey at last year's festival been less than positive. Of 633 women

surveyed, 73 percent said yes to including transsexual women at the yearly event.

"We're not in a position to force ourselves on people. That's the typical patriarchal-legal approach," Walworth said. She's also adamant that any change to the policy must come from within the women's community itself and does not wish to play the issue in the legal forum. "I think the legal approach would indicate a failure on the part of this system. I'm also not willing to threaten womyn-only space by taking this into the courtroom. I think a degree of caution should be exercised."

But in order for the system to work, there needs to be more of a system. Walworth met with feminist author Kay Leigh Hagan, acting in the capacity of official representative for the festival producers, and was told that festival producers Barbara Price and Lisa Vogel were the sole determiners of policy. In effect, there are "no specific steps to affect policy, no process for change,” says Walworth. There's process and then there's process, she says. "Clearly, the festival has chosen to not duplicate the male process, and that's okay, but they should offer alternatives."

Any change to current policy seems unlikely. Festival organizer Lisa Vogel is adamant that festival policy reflect a positive air. "We feel positively and strongly about our policy and do not wish to put a negative spin on who is not allowed, but wish to emphasize who is welcome,” says Vogel. She also points out that "there's a lot of room for variety within the gay community," offering a forum for transsexual people separate from the specific aims of this festival. "This particular event is to include women who have been women all their lives."

It's a very tricky question that calls into debate other issues as well. Is the festival merely one big party, or does it stand for something more? "I've seen it change from a learning place to a vacation place," says Barb, a festival veteran. "Times are changing and younger women don't need the festival for the same reasons we did ten years ago."

Is there room for transsexual women? Dimitra thinks so. "It was the women who were most maligned that started our whole movement. I mean, where do you draw the line? Are you going to bar women with facial hair? The first time I saw a woman with a beard I freaked out. But now, because I've seen them, I can deal with it. There's lots of space for everyone to do their own thing."

Christine, a participant at this year's festival, also sees it as a matter of degree. "It's nice to go there and not have to worry about the whole male issue. But there is almost a third sex out there. Do we need a different festival?"

This year's festival marked the 18th year for the event. It is the largest and oldest of the outdoor women's music festivals, with 7,500 attending this year. A staff of 650 women are responsible for the entire staging of the event, from erecting stages, wiring and plumbing needs, to daily care for children and meal provision.

VOTEM Waiting to know you better

Mike O'Brien

For Council Ward 14 September 28th Primary Elections

Paid for by the Mike O'Brien for Council Committee, Jimmy Schlecht, Treasurer, 1703 W. 32nd, Cleveland, OH 44113

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