right-on Margo. Have you been to the fest? Alright my understanding of the policy is this:Its not about presenting your gender in a specified way, or in an appropriate way. Womyn are absolutely free to be anything they want. Lots of women who consider themselves genderqueer attend. They run the gammet of 'butch' to 'femme'. As a friend of mine told me, who works at the fest every year, they don't do a "panty" check. They ask that only folks who were born women attend. And women who have not (not completely anyway) had sexual reassignment surgery. As discussed previously, there was an official statement given. I never saw it. But that is my understanding. The thing that makes it difficult is that the policy is exclussionary not for the purpose of marginalizing or dismissing anyone who doesn't fit, but for the purpose or creating a temporary and rather sacred space for womyn. But the overall vibe is one of complete respect and love for everyone. I think that the policy sucks, but i don't think that there is an easy answer. I would love to hear from other folks, especially those who've been to the fest, what you think about possible changes. Do ya'll think that it should just be a point blank open door policy, or should it maintain the womyns space but broaden their def of womyn? The struggle that i have with it is this: I think that everyone should feel free to define their gender by any means they deam appropriate. I would never begin to tell anyone who they were on any level. But the festival is not the world at large, and I would also defend any privite groups right to create a space for themselves.

please define the following:
-card carrying lesbian
-gaytranswomyn
and Privilege (in general or something specific)
i don't think any self identifying lesbian would straight up be indifferent to the realities of gaytranswomyn without being indifferent to reality in general....
i don't know...i apologize if i'm coming of harsh...
i'm just completely frustrated.
i feel like we struggle so much amongst ourselves to define one another that i don't comprehend how we expect others that have NOTHING in common with us to begin to understand who we are....and the bottom line i believe is that it boils down to individuals. non-gay, gay, lesbian, bi, trans and the list goes on and on and on....and gender.....well i feel like gender is this huge continuum that society has chosen to break up into a dichotomy....a fallacy in it's own right...and of course there are going to be separatists because when people don't fit into the dichotomy they want everyone to know it...otherwise no one would be having this discussion in the first place....and whether it's because they are separatists or they are people who want everyone to know they are different and be included (not separated)....we'll call them inclusors (just for the hell of it) so now there are inclusors AND separatists....which again boils down to the genetically nurtured individual that each and everyone one of us becomes....
is anyone following cuz i kind of lost my train there....
any responses to that one?????