Muammar Al Khadafi

TransGriot Note: Received this from a friend of mine involved in the New York TBLG/SGL POC community and I'm signal boosting it.  Seems like the disco era hate on trans people attitudes prevalent for decades in the white radical lesbian feminist community are trying to take root in the POC community, and people ain't havin' it.





Rivers of Honey is a women-centered monthly cabaret at WOW Café Theatre
in NYC. Since it began in 1998 Rivers has served as a major cultural
institution, a launch pad for artists and producers whose work might
never have been seen and celebrated in mainstream venues, and a vital,
queer-centric POC community space.



In August 2011, a small and closed Rivers of Honey team stated the cabaret
is now a "platform for womyn of color, defined as female-bodied
individuals." Under this new policy trans women are no longer welcome to
produce or perform. Trans men and other female-assigned gender
non-conforming people are still welcome provided they identify with the
"female-bodied" women's only space.

For the past 8 of Rivers’ 13
year existence, trans women, trans men and gender non-conforming people
have all been welcomed to be a part Rivers of Honey. Until recently,
language inclusive of all women and trans folks has appeared on Rivers
of Honey fliers, the WOW website, and Facebook and MySpace pages. A
Rivers of Honey mission statement that was collectively written and
agreed upon in August 2009 states that: "Rivers of Honey is a monthly
women's cabaret featuring queer and trans artists of color."

Questions
about how these decisions were made, requests for clarification, and
objections to the policy have been met with silencing, dismissal, and
the refusal of further discussion.

Rivers of Honey is an
important institution for our community. We love and value it deeply and
therefore do not wish to see it replicate the trans misogyny and
transphobia we struggle so fiercely against in our larger society.

***WHY SHOULD I CARE?***

1.
The exclusion of trans women of color from the women's space of Rivers
of Honey is an act of trans misogyny – a form of transphobia directed
specifically against trans women. Such exclusion is part of a damaging
pattern of discrimination that contributes to the already tremendous
degrees of bigotry, harassment and violence that trans women of color
face.

2. The current language is not truly inclusive of trans men
and gender non-conforming people of color. Just as the current language
implies that trans women are not truly women, it also implies that
trans men and gender non-conforming people are, in the end, actually
women despite their own self-identification. In both cases, people are
being robbed of their agency to define their own identities.

***WHAT WE WANT***

1.
Rivers of Honey reject trans misogyny and include all women of color
equally, whether they are cisgender women or trans women;



2. If
trans men and gender non-conforming people of color continue to be
welcomed as performers at Rivers of Honey, the language of Rivers of
Honey should be changed to "a space for all women, trans men and gender
non-conforming people of color";



3. Rivers of Honey return to
its longstanding tradition of being an open, accountable, and
collectively-run space where dialogue is encouraged, disagreement is
allowed, and decisions are made in an open, transparent, and
community-inclusive manner.



***HOW TO GET INVOLVED***

We ask
our community members and allies to join us in voicing your opinions and
concerns. We offer these ideas for participation:



***DISTRIBUTE WIDELY ***

Share this note with your communities, families, colleagues, and friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, personal blog, etc.



***ENDORSE THIS LETTER*** .

Visit http://riversofhoneycommunity.com/endorse to publicly endorse and support this letter. Both individuals and organizations can endorse!



***LET CURRENT PRODUCERS KNOW YOUR OPINION***



If
you choose not to attend or perform at Rivers of Honey because of these
changes, or if you attend or perform but disagree with or have
questions about these changes, please voice your questions/concerns to
the current producers at riversofhoney@gmail.com



***JOIN US HERE ON FACEBOOK*** .

Show
your support by RSVP'ing to this event! It will be updated to take
place at the same time as each monthly Rivers of Honey until the policy
of trans inclusion is reinstated. Updates about actions related to trans
inclusion at Rivers will also be sent to folks who RSVP to the event.