Petition for Stronger Trans-Inclusion
at the Lesbian Sex Mafia

Important Note: On February 17, 2008, the Lesbian Sex Mafia announced the results of the vote on our motion to remove the rule “If you have a bio-penis, please keep it covered” from LSM’s party etiquette. The motion passed by a majority vote of LSM’s full membership and the rule has been removed!

A month earlier, on January 18, 2008, LSM held a members-only meeting at the LGBT Center in New York to discuss this party etiquette rule. Throughout the almost two-hour-long meeting, pledge and full members of LSM spoke both for and against the rule. The first 48 signatures of our petition were submitted for LSM’s records, and a number of the argument segments that we collectively wrote were spoken as part of the proceedings and submitted for inclusion in the minutes. At the end of the meeting, LSM full members voted on a motion to remove the rule from LSM’s party etiquette policy. The minutes for that meeting were then compiled and transmitted to the LSM full members who were unable to be present at the meeting along with a confidential ballot. The deadline for voting was Saturday, February 16, 2008 — and LSM announced that the motion passed on the following day.

We want to thank everyone who took the time to sign our petition, to write such considered and passionate responses, to talk with us over email and LiveJournal and the telephone and in person, and contributed to our thoughts, strategies and our collective argument. While this is a marvelous victory, we know this is just one step in the greater fight for trans-inclusion and sex liberation in our communities. We’ll be continuing to work at LSM to improve our policies and make the organization more inclusive, supportive, educational and hot for everyone. If parts of this argument are helpful to you in organizing for stronger trans-inclusion in your community, please feel free to redistribute this language. Just drop us a line to let us know where you’ve reposted — and how your fight is going, too.

In peace and solidarity,

The Folks at CC4D

The Lesbian Sex Mafia’s current party etiquette includes the rule:*

“If you have a bio-penis, please keep it covered.”¹

Given that the LSM by-laws state “Transsexual women who live their daily lives as women are among the intended membership of LSM and are not subject to any terms of membership, application for membership or membership procedure that differ from those of any other woman,”² and the statement of purpose reads “The Lesbian Sex Mafia is a social and educational organization for women who have a positive personal interest in BDSM with other women. Our tenets are safety, consensuality, confidentiality and the right of women to explore their sexuality as they choose,”³ we believe that this party etiquette rule is counter to LSM’s core values and should be removed.

Want to learn more about the issues? Read our collectively-written argument.

Sign our Petition Now!

To sign this petition, please send an email to CirclesofFireProductions@gmail.com with the subject line “LSM Petition” and provide us with the following information:

Petition Signature Items

1. Your Name
2. City and State
3. A Statement for our Petition
(OPTIONAL — A few sentences personalizing your signature will dramatically increase the impact of our petition. Please tell us why this issue matters to you.)
4. Email Address
(For verification purposes only — your email will NOT be visible on the petition.)

Demographic Information

Please answer the following questions. Help us demonstrate that people both within the Lesbian Sex Mafia and outside of it care about trans-inclusion:

5. Are you an LSM full (voting) member?
6. Are you an LSM pledge member?
7. Are you eligible for LSM membership?⁴
8. Has this policy kept you from joining LSM?

Please allow 24 hours for your petition signature to appear on the petition signature page.

Thank you for helping to make the Lesbian Sex Mafia a more inclusive space! See who else has signed the petition and please spread the word!

References:

* On February 17, 2008, LSM announced that our motion to remove this party etiquette rule passed by a majority vote of LSM’s full membership. The rule has since been removed from the party etiquette.

1. “LSM Party Etiquette,” located at http://www.lesbiansexmafia.org/etiquette.html, last accessed December 22, 2007.

2. and 3. “LSM By-Laws,” located at http://www.lesbiansexmafia.org/bylaws.html, last accessed December 22, 2007.