Petitioning Indigo Girls and other MichFest 2013 Performers
Indigo Girls and other MichFest 2013 Performers: Boycott MWMF until the organizers fully include trans women
Petition by
Red Durkin
Brooklyn, NY
https://www.change.org/petitions/indigo-girls-and-other-michfest-2013-performers-boycott-mwmf-until-the-organizers-fully-include-trans-women The official stance of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival indicates that the Festival is open only to cisgender women and that transgender women are not officially allowed on the grounds as volunteers or attendees. This is in accordance with a long-standing policy of exclusion that founder and producer Lisa Vogel confirmed as recently as 2006. (
http://eminism.org/michigan/20060822-mwmf.txt) . Although in the past some of the staff has "looked the other way," the policy against trans women that is in place has cultivated a climate of transphobia at the Festival. This situation is unwelcoming and unsafe for transgender women and has become a divisive influence on feminist communities, both at Fest and around the US.
The reality is that Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is not safe for any women until it is welcoming for all women.
We are asking you, as a musician, and as a person who believes in the dignity and equality of all women, to stand in solidarity with transgender women and our allies and to not attend or perform at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival until Lisa Vogel and the other organizers fully and openly welcome all self-identified women.
