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10/10/13 Indigo Girls Speak Out About Anti-Trans Policy at Michigan Womyn's Music Festival | GLAAD
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Indigo Girls Speak Out About Anti-Trans Policy at
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
By Megan Townsend, GLAAD's Entertainment and Operations Coordinator | April 5, 2013
A new Change.org petition has been launched calling on the Indigo Girls and other performers at
the 2013 Michigan Womyn's Music Festival to pull out and boycott the festival until the festival
adopts a policy that would allow transgender women to attend. The petition, launched this week,
currently has over 1,200 signatures.
Festival founder and producer Lisa Vogel has stated previously that the Festival "has been
created by and for womyn-born womyn, that is, womyn who were born as, and have lived their
entire life experience as, womyn." After a transgender woman was ejected from the festival in
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10/10/13 Indigo Girls Speak Out About Anti-Trans Policy at Michigan Womyn's Music Festival | GLAAD
www.glaad.org/blog/indigo-girls-speak-out-about-anti-trans-policy-michigan-womyns-music-festival 2/8
Issues: Entertainment, Music, Transgender
Tags: Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Indigo Girls
1991, trans people have organized multiple
protests against the policy, including
establishing Camp Trans outside the
festival's gates.
The Indigo Girls addressed the protest in a
statement posted to their blog yesterday:
"We strongly feel that the time is
long overdue for a change of
intention, to one that states very plainly the inclusion of Trans Womyn. To
us, this change of intention is the only path to a truly 'safe space' for
womyn. […] Although we are playing the festival, we honor the current
protest against MWF and hope that it will help move the community
towards change. Any money that we make playing the Festival will go
towards Trans Activism. We will make a statement from stage at the
Festival in support of Trans Inclusion. We have made it clear that this will
be our last time at the Festival until MWF shows visible and concrete
signs of changing their intention."
The full text of the Indigo Girls statement can be read at their website and the petition calling on
performers to boycott the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival's for their policy of excluding
transgender women can be seen here.
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Erica Watson
Being a woman is not about being born with a vagina. It is about the mind. As far as I understand (and as far as it matters to me) a trans
woman IS a "woman born a woman". She was just born with the wrong physical parts to match that. A trans woman is not a man who one day
wakes up and decides to start wearing woman's clothing and calling himself Jane instead of John. She is a whole person who has endured and
often long and painful process of recognizing herself for who/what she truly is and accepting that person and bringing her out of hiding. I just
don't understand the bigotry some people feel the need to perpetuate.
Reply · · Like · Follow Post · April 12 at 10:18am1
Jade Gee ·
So yeah, everyone is saying that this is a big deal for The Indigo Girls to openly support Trans women inclusion at MWMF. I don't hand out
cookies for doing what was right all along. This is still a shame on them for ever supporting the policy and a I am still left unconvinced seeing
that they are still performing at this years MWMF.
Reply · · Like · Follow Post · April 6 at 12:35pm
Follow
4
Po Lomami · · Présidente et cofondatrice at CHEFF asbl
Shame for making a statement on stage against the policy in order to raise awareness and give the money to Trans Activism ??
Reply · · Like · April 6 at 3:34pm
Follow
1
Jade Gee ·
No, shame that they have supported the rule all these years. I don't believe in handing out prizes for something people should
have done in the first place.
Reply · · Like · April 6 at 8:49pm
Follow
3
Katie Berger Tremaine · Top Commenter · Intern/Volunteer Cataloger at Quatrefoil Library
You know, most of us have done the wrong thing for a while before deciding to do the right thing.
Reply · · Like · June 2 at 10:13am1
Jenny Boylan · · Top Commenter · Member, Board of Directors at GLAAD · 438 subscribers
GLAAD blog post on the Indigo Girls good stand on the transphobic MIchigan Women's Music Featival.
Reply · · Like · Follow Post · April 5 at 10:01pm
Follow
14
Edie Love · · Starr King School For The Ministry
Actually the blog post is not 100% accurate. Camp Trans has moved inside the festival now, for the past several years
transwomen have openly attended, much to the dismay of the hardcore "womyn born women" crowd.
Reply · · Like · April 5 at 10:06pm
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3
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The GLAAD Wrap: Neil Patrick Harris directs a magic show, Nathan
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