Trans Awareness Week is proud to present a Special Keynote Address by
Leslie Feinberg,
the groundbreaking trans activist
better known as the "Transgender Warrior"!
Lecture, Book Signing & a Special Screening of Leslie's Biodoc "Outlaw"
Friday, May 6, 2005
7:00 - 10:00 pm
Unitarian Church, 10804 119 St.
Free Admission, All Welcome!
Transgender Warrior Leslie Feinberg is a celebrity in the activist, feminist and transgender alliances. S/he is a pioneer in uniting the lesbian, gay and trans communities and in disintegrating all barriers between the genders.
Perhaps more groundbreaking, however, is hir refusal to use an "accepted" male or female pronoun and hir dedication to live life within the spectrum of gender. S/he not only questions the preconceived notions, ignorance and fears of humanity, but the very societal structure inherent in a male OR female identity.
How can someone embrace an "ambiguous" gender while still fighting for Trans equality and awareness? Feinberg, it seems, uses hir visibility to fight for the rights of others. When it comes to hirself, s/he draws on hir experiences in hir fiction and speeches, but is ultimately not "Transgendered Leslie Feinberg" or "FTM Leslie Feinberg." S/he is activist and feminist Leslie Feinberg, who happens to be a dedicated partner, an intellectual, a union worker and transgendered. It is the MANY facets of Feinberg's identity that make hir such a compelling speaker and educator.
S/he told lesbian magazine
Curve , "When we talk about fighting for sex and gender liberation,
these are trans issues and lesbian/bi issues. The right of individuals to
control their own bodies. The right to express their gender freely without
facing harassment or violence. The right to self-definition. The removal
of prejudicial attitudes that the dominant culture imbues in femininity
and masculinity. The revisiting of the question of what it means to be a
woman or a man in this
society."
Feinberg first hit international underground cult status after publishing hir fictional novel Stone Butch Blues and followed it up with the ground-breaking who's who in trans history, Transgender Warriors.
Extensive
research on the life of Feinberg turns up very little about hir actual transformation.
Instead, one finds a wealth of speeches, rallies, historical perspectives,
editorials and other academic articles. S/he says of hir speaking engagements
"I give people a working understanding of some of the concepts of transgender,
transsexual, intersexual and the relationship of the trans communities to
the l/g/b movement. I also examine the relationship of groups who are oppressed
and discriminated against to each other, and where trans liberation fits
in the overall political climate and progressive movement we face today."
It is exactly this dedication to global tolerance instead of simply a personal account of struggle that has made Feinberg so influential in a multitude of communities. Feinberg is a national leader of Workers World Party and a Managing Editor of Workers World newspaper. As a trade unionist, socialist and anti-racist, Feinberg also organizes a broad-based multi-issue coalition in defense of oppressed nationalities, women, the disabled and the working class as a whole.
by Sez G.
Feinberg lives with hir partner, feminist writer Minnie Bruce Pratt. You can learn more about Leslie's causes and books at www.transgenderwarrior.org