i was unsure where to post this link but i am disturbed by what is going on with this speaking tour...i received this in my email today and was shocked to learn of a leaked "secret agenda" as follows;
- uterine social purity for our liberation from patriarchy
- making rainwater “sis-terns” from reclaimed materials
- eliminating the trans like Drew Deveaux and Susan Gapka from
Toronto womyn-born-womyn spaces - rooting out trans from the internet (how to find, expose, and
prosecute them) - eco-cultivation of private properties and abandoned fields (with
how-tos by Orla Hegarty) - making the case that trans = rapey in rape culture
- why “cis” is hate speech: a comparative roundtable on how “cis”
is the new rape - winning over Canadian “liberal” feminists like Sarah Nicole
Prickett and Stephanie Guthrie - making a drum circle to synch our cycles with La Luna
- the “Cotton Floor”: we set the rules for who we sleep with (guest
keynote by Cathy Brennan)
this agenda is for a meeting set for friday and to be followed by the rad fem conference. vancouver rape relief and other abolitionist groups seem to be aligning themselves with these people....unbelievable....
here's a snip it of the article..
Word has quickly spread on the web in the last week or so that Rachel Ivey, a member of the Deep Green Resistance environmentalist movement that holds openly transphobic views as "core" principles, is putting together a speaking tour consisting of a few relatively high profile events in June and July. This speaking tour supposedly includes events at City College of NYC as well as the University of Toronto.
Of course, in their own words, Deep Green Resistance (DGR) is not transphobic, they are merely "Critic[al] of the politics raised by the transgender movement." They like to couch this 'criticism,' for example, in terms of simple-minded race-gender analogies that are not only non-sensical but probably a bit racist.
You can see the webpage for Rachel Ivey's online fundraiser for her speaking tour here. Up until recently, several planned dates and speaking venues appeared on the page, including two events scheduled for NYC and a July 4 engagement at the University of Toronto. However, the list of dates and venues were recently removed from the page, apparently because some of those venues have been persuaded to cancel Ms. Ivey's appearance (such as NYC's Bluestockings Bookstore).
As a trans woman with strong ties to Toronto, it disturbs me to consider who or what organization might be so misguided as to invite this woman to speak at the University of Toronto. I'm also guessing that it's no coincidence that the July 4 event occurs right before the radical feminist RadFem Rise Up conference, which is scheduled for Toronto on July 5-7. My guess is that Ms. Ivey will be be speaking at the conference as well (and indeed, her fundraiser page had until recently stated that further events would be announced in Ontario).
It's worth pointing out that while 'trans politics' (i.e. the existence of trans people) will almost certainly be questioned at RadFem Rise Up, all trans people are banned from attendance. Indeed, Ms. Ivey has stated herself that she's "...not presenting this topic for debate. Not in the slightest."