Report on Genderthoughts meeting LInc 2001

Report on Genderthoughts meeting LInc 2001

Transgender people

Trans

Transsexuals

Lesbian Community Centres

Lesbian community

Bisexual community

Gender identity

Sexual orientation

Linc Lesbian and Bisexual Community Centre Cork

Orla Egan's article on a seminar in Linc (Cork's lesbian and bisexual community centre) in 2001 called Genderthoughts.
The seminar was addressed by two transgender people and facilitated an open discussion on transgender identities and experiences. There was a discussion on how to decide on who was welcome in the lesbian centre and at lesbian events. In the end there was a move towards a policy that the centre was for women who identified as lesbian and bisexual and that individuals could decide for themselves if this fit with their identity.
This article provides a useful insight into how these issues were discussed and decided on in Cork in 2001.

Orla Egan

Linc

2001

Permission to share granted by Orla Egan. Items in this digital archive are covered by a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No-Derivatives License.

Typed A4 sheet

eng

Text

Cork

2001

OpenDoor Transgender
Creating the lesbian space in Cork that is LInc has given rise to the question: should transgender people be allowed access? To explore this issue, LInc organised a seminar in June.
Orla Egan reports

Organising women-only events, or women-only spaces, used to seem quite simple – women allowed in, no men allowed. Over the years the difficulties with such clear-cut door policies have become increasingly evident. Gender is no longer as simple, or polarised, as we once thought it was. This has been highlighted by transgender communities, which have become increasingly articulate, visible and vocal, particularly in the US. In the past few years, members of Ireland’s small but growing transgender community have been making their voices heard and challenging simplistic assumptions about gender.

This is an issue which Cork’s lesbian community has been trying to grapple with over the past few years. It has come to the fore particularly in relation to door policies at various lesbian events, e.g. the Cork Women’s Fun Weekend and the Lesbian Fantasy Ball. Different policies and strategies have been adopted at different times/events. Where policies have been adopted that exclude members of the transgender community, it has been excruciating and embarrassing both for those implementing the policy and those who have been excluded.

The issue has been raised again in relation to LInc, the new lesbian centre in Cork. Those who have struggled to create a lesbian space in Cork are anxious to maintain that space without excluding those who have a right to be there. Community meetings have decided that the space is for women who identify as lesbian or bisexual, but people have been unsure as to what policy to adopt in relation to access for members of the transgender community. There was a general feeling that people didn’t know enough about this issue and that they needed more information before making a decision. There was a clear need for dialogue with members of the transgender community. So the LInc Steering Group took this on board and organised a seminar, Genderthoughts on June 2.

My overall impression of the evening was one of openness and a willingness to try to engage with issues and concepts which were new or difficult for many people. The other thing which was clear was the diversity within the transgender community: the different ways in which people identify and the different labels which people find useful. The transgender community includes males-to-females (MTFs), female-to-males (FTMs), those in transition (from M to F or F to M) as well as those who identify as intersex or third sex. Those who have transitioned sometimes identify simply as ‘male’ or ‘female’ while others identify as ‘trans’. There is also a wide range of sexual orientations within the transgender community. This diversity was clear from the two speakers who shared their experiences at the seminar.

One of the speakers is transitioning from female to male; while he still has a number of stages and medical procedures to go through, he lives fully as a man. He identifies as a gay man, but also identifies as ‘trans.’ He feels that maintaining a ‘trans’ identity is important to reflect the ways in which his experience as a man who has lived some of his life as a woman is different to that of other men.

The other speaker identifies as a woman. She feels that she was born a woman in a male body and needed to have that body readjusted to fit. She has transitioned fully from male to female and is very happy with the change. She lives with her wife and son and identifies as lesbian.

During the discussion it was pointed out that the term ‘woman-born-woman’ is often used to differentiate women who were born women and continue to live as women from those who are male to female transsexuals. It was clear, however, that the second speaker’s experience was that she was born a woman, just in the wrong body and is therefore also a ‘woman-born-woman’.

Both speakers were asked what they felt the lesbian community could or should do to include and welcome members of the transsexual community. One answered the question by retelling his experience of becoming included in the gay male SM community in Dublin. The criteria applied for inclusion was that he identified as a gay man and lived fully as a man; it had nothing to do with his physical body or genitalia. He was welcomed to participate in events as far as he was comfortable. While some gay men had difficulties with his differences, overall he felt welcome and included. He felt his ‘home’ was more in the gay men’s community rather than in the lesbian community.

The need for communication with the transgender community was stressed by the second speaker. She hadn’t know LInc existed until she was asked to speak at the seminar. She said she felt very welcome in the centre.

By contrast, a speaker in the audience spoke with feeling of her experiences of exclusion and marginalisation as a transsexual trying to participate in the lesbian community in Dublin. Her negative experiences led her to emigrate and left her with feelings of bitterness and distrust towards lesbian communities.

An interesting contribution from the audience stressed the fact that the period of transition from male-to-female or from female-to-male can be very long and that people identify differently at different stages along the transition period. Women who identified as lesbian, and then begin to transition to becoming male, may want to continue to participate in, and have the support of, the lesbian community in early stages of transition. This may then change at later stages. This speaker stressed the need for the lesbian community to be flexible and open to people’s differing and changing needs.

When people encounter lesbians on the street they are often unsure of their gender and some lesbians are often mistaken for being men. One speaker suggested that this experience gives lesbians a particular understanding of ‘gender fluidity’: that gender is not necessarily rigid and fixed. There was a particularly humorous moment when one of the speakers lamented not sharing other women’s experience of being socialised as ‘girls’ and getting to wear frilly dresses, an experience few lesbians in the room had had or would admit to!

Returning again to the question of door policy, a suggestion was made that ID be requested to ‘prove’ that one lives as a woman. Many difficulties were raised in relation to such a policy: as well as being intrusive and embarrassing, not everyone in transition would necessarily have female ID. The consensus seemed to be moving towards a policy whereby it was made clear that the centre was for women who identified as lesbian and bisexual and that individuals could decide for themselves if this fit with their identity. In conjunction with such a policy, clear rules of conduct would be drawn up in relation to acceptable and appropriate behaviour for all users of the centre.

It was clear from the evening’s discussions that this is a very complex and sensitive area and that there is a clear need to avoid generalisations and assumptions in relation to the transgender community. I admired the way the Cork lesbian community faced a difficult and contentious issue head on and I enjoyed the open and respectful discussion. I wonder though, if those who had real difficulties with the issue stayed quiet or just didn’t turn up! One way or the other a good start was make in tackling an issue which the community needed to address. Well done to LInc!