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Lierre Keith vs. transgender people

Lierre Keith is an American environmentalist and author. She is a founder of environmental organization Deep Green Resistance, a radical feminist group that has been criticized for anti-transgender views.

Background

Keith was born in 1964. She went to high school in Brookline, Massachusetts. In the 1980s she was involved in a number of feminist projects, including Vanessa and Iris: A Journal for Young Feminists, the journal Rain and Thunder, the groups Women Against Violence Against Women, Minor Disturbance, Feminists Against Pornography.

Her environmental activism includes the 2009 book The Vegetarian Myth and the 2011 book Deep Green Resistance, co-authored with Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay. McBay left in 2012, citing increasing anti-trans views of his co-founders.

Anti-trans activism

Keith helped found the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). WoLF was founded in 2013, incorporated in 2016, and earned non-profit status in 2018. They have held meetings called WoLF Fest since 2016 that largely consist of anti-transgender networking and presentations.

In a 2014 piece by Michelle Goldberg titled “What Is a Woman?” Keith explained her position:

Trans women say that they are women because they feel female—that, as some put it, they have women’s brains in men’s bodies. Radical feminists reject the notion of a “female brain.” They believe that if women think and act differently from men it’s because society forces them to, requiring them to be sexually attractive, nurturing, and deferential. In the words of Lierre Keith, a speaker at Radfems Respond, femininity is “ritualized submission.”

[…]

Three years ago, she co-founded the ecofeminist group Deep Green Resistance, which has some two hundred members and links the oppression of women to the pillaging of the planet.D.G.R. is defiantly militant, refusing to condemn the use of violence in the service of goals it considers just. In radical circles, though, what makes the group truly controversial is its stance on gender. As members see it, a person born with male privilege can no more shed it through surgery than a white person can claim an African-American identity simply by darkening his or her skin. Before D.G.R. held its first conference, in 2011, in Wisconsin, the group informed a person in the process of a male-to-female transition that she couldn’t stay in the women’s quarters. “We said, That’s fine if you want to come, but, no, you’re not going to have access to the women’s sleeping spaces and the women’s bathrooms,” Keith told me.

References

McBay, Aric (May 14, 2013). DGR and Transphobia. http://www.aricmcbay.org/2013/05/14/dgr-and-transphobia/

Staff (May 16, 2013). Response to Aric McBay’s “Deep Green Resistance and Transphobia.” Deep Green Resistance https://deepgreenresistance.blogspot.com/2013/05/response-to-aric-mcbay-deep-green-resistance-transphobia.html

Goldberg, Michelle (August 4, 2014). What Is a Woman? The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2

Keith, Lierre (May 28, 2014). Liberals, Radical, and Why It Matters. RadFems Respond https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcRZqGpTU9A

Ring, Trudy (January 30, 2019). Anti-Trans Feminists Appear at Panel of Right-Wing Heritage Foundation. The Advocate. https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/1/30/anti-trans-feminists-appear-panel-right-wing-heritage-foundation

Fitzsimons, Tim (January 29, 2019). Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists “from the left.” NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/conservative-group-hosts-anti-transgender-panel-feminists-left-n964246

Schmidt, Samantha (February 7, 2020). Conservatives find unlikely ally in fighting transgender rights: Radical feministsThe Washington Post.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/02/07/radical-feminists-conservatives-transgender-rights/

Langas, Amelia (November 14, 2017). ‘Radical’ feminist organization criticizes ETHS transgender locker room policy. The Daily Northwestern

Lee, Mia (February 24, 2021). Inclusion of anti-trans group in UW employment fair sparks controversy. The Badger Herald.  https://badgerherald.com/news/2021/02/24/print-2-23-inclusion-of-anti-trans-group-in-uw-employment-fair-sparks-controversy

Burns, Katelyn (September 9, 2019). The rise of anti-trans “radical” feminists, explained. Vox https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical

Hachey, Isabelle (June 12, 2019). La femme qui dĂ©range. La Presse. https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2019-06-12/la-femme-qui-derange

Bauer, Sydney (February 11, 2020). The New Anti-Trans Culture War Hiding in Plain Sight. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/156539/new-anti-trans-culture-war-hiding-plain-sight

Staff report (December 11, 2o19). Event at Seattle Public Library causes firestorm, group accused of being ‘hate group'”KIRO 7 News Seattle. https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/controversial-hate-group-event-seattle-public-library-causes-firestorm/SHZT7665XZAYRNCV3FT5OM5IWA/

Staff report (April 26, 2021). Far-Right Groups Flood State Legislatures With Anti-Trans Bills Targeting ChildrenSouthern Poverty Law Center.https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/04/26/far-right-groups-flood-state-legislatures-anti-trans-bills-targeting-children

Kolowrat, Hayden (February 1, 2021). UPDATED: QLaw opposes Women’s Liberation Front’s involvement in UW Law interview program. The Badger Herald. https://badgerherald.com/news/2021/02/01/qlaw-opposes-womens-liberation-fronts-involvement-in-uw-law-interview-program

Anita Noelle Green v. Miss United States of America, LLCNo. 21-35228 (9th Cir October 29, 2021).

Gevisser, Mark (June 27, 2020). The front line of the new gender wars. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/003c71d6-b55c-11ea-8ecb-0994e384dffe

Haywood, Phaedra (August 12, 2016). Radical feminists sue Obama administration in New Mexico court over bathroom directive. The Santa Fe New Mexican. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local%20news/radical-feminists-sue-obama-administration-in-new-mexico-court-over/article/53f86667-80aa-58dd-8d8c-299ca8b533d1.html

Joseph-Charles, Saeeda; Walz, Mackenzie (August 11, 2016). Case: Women’s Liberation Front v. U.S. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. https://clearinghouse.net/case/15477/

Paul, Crystal (December 9, 2019). Amid outcry, Seattle Public Library weighs decision to provide venue for ‘radical feminist’ event criticized as anti-trans. Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/amid-outcry-seattle-public-library-weighs-decision-to-provide-venue-for-radical-feminist-event-criticized-as-anti-trans/

Martinez, Christian (November 25, 2021). Suit takes aim at law that lets transgender inmates choose housing based on gender identity. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-11-24/lawsuit-takes-aim-at-law-that-allows-transgender-inmates-to-choose-housing-location-based-on-gender-identity

Norris, Sian (September 30, 2021). The Far-Right Co-Option of the Transgender Rights Issue. Byline Times.  https://bylinetimes.com/2021/09/30/the-far-right-co-option-of-the-transgender-rights-issue/

Petition for Rulemaking to Protect the Safety and Privacy of Women in Need of Shelter Due to Homelessness or Violence (PDF). May 1, 2017. 

Quinlan, Casey (June 27, 2022). Experts on white nationalism say anti-trans rally in DC part of larger threat to democracy”The American Independent https://americanindependent.com/white-nationalism-lgbtq-our-bodies-our-sports-anti-tran-rally-washington/

Media

Amy Sousa (March 9, 2022). Conversation with Lierre Keith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0nPeVlZmiw

Resources

Lierre Keith (lierrekeith.com)

Women’s Liberation Front (womensliberationfront.org)

Vegetarian Myth (vegetarianmyth.com)

Deep Green Resistance (deepgreenresistance.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)