ISNA's Report from Creating Change 2001

Thanks to all of you who came to our workshops during Creating Change 2001 - it was a fantastic experience for us, and we hope that it was for you too. Here are some of the highlights of our activities in Milwaukee:

We were originally scheduled to present one of the plenaries, but it got canceled in order to make room for a plenary panel about pressing current issues in the world. We were still given about 10 minutes of pleary time, and received a standing ovation from the audience. We focused our message on asking them to adopt resolutions supporting our work, and distributed 1000 copies of a sample resolution. Throughout the conference, people stopped us to say how moved they were and how much they learned from our presentation.

We distributed 400 copies of our booklets, Introduction to Intersex Activism: A Guide for Allies and Teaching Intersex Issues: A Guide for Teachers in Women's, Gender and Queer Studies (both of which can be ordered from Eminism.org).

Mani Mitchell and David Vandertie presented a workshop in which they laid out four points: 1) intersex is not a tragedy or a medical emergency, 2) traumatizing children is bad, 3) we need to protect and value our differences, and 4) talking openly about intersex is good. Then they discussed experiences from their own lives, incorporating slides of pictures from Mani's childhood. The workshop was packed, and extremely well received.

Cheryl Chase gave a workshop titled "Intersex in the Classroom," which is based on the aforementioned booklet and the "Teaching Kit." It went really well, and we sold nine additional "teaching kits."

Mani brought with her from New Zealand a TV crew, who filmed her and David's workshop as well as a sequel to "Hermaphrodites Speak!", our historic documentary. It will be some time before they will finish editing it, but we hope to begin distributing it sometime next year.

Moonhawk River Stone (an FTM trans activist and an important intersex ally) joined Mani and David in the workshop titled "Building Bridges," addressing tentions and alliance between transgender and intersex communities. We feel this is a conversation that needs continue beyond this conference.

Okay, so that's it! If you want to add something or share your experience, please feel free to email us!