A-Infos (en) US, SDS News Bulletin #2 - Transcending Gender While Transforming Spaces by Christa Hendrickson, Drew SDS

As one by one the police ripped us apart, zip-tied us in plastic cuffs, and 
slowly dragged us off, our comrades kept strong the chant of "No War, No 
Warming! Resistance Is Forming!" Early on October 22nd, SDS members from 
numerous chapters converged on the streets of DC to protest the War on Iraq and 
Afghanistan and its connection to global climate change. Twenty-six SDSers 
locked arms and blocked an intersection near the Capitol successfully 
obstructing early morning traffic. Along with signs depicting war and warming, 
we had a banner that stated "War Pollutes Our Democracy; Sexism Militarizes Our 
Bodies" to convey the message that we were analyzing war and warming with a 
feminist lens.

As we sat along the curb after being dragged from the
intersection, an officer came by and wrote down our name and
gender until someone requested ze ask our gender instead of
automatically writing something down. I consider my gender to
be fluid but I more often than not identify as female. However, I
felt the need to demonstrate that gender is not binary, that there
are more than just two genders. As ze got to me, I identified
as genderqueer. Genderqueer individuals reject the idea that
there are only two genders and identify as neither/both male or
female. The officer looked at me and jotted something down.
Once we arrived at the holding warehouse, the police officers
separated us into male and female lines. They placed one of our
male-bodied members in the female line, most likely because he
had longer hair. Eventually they realized the mistake, and moved
him to the male line. Once checked in and given our booking
numbers, the officers searched us (female officers for those in the
female line and male officers for those in the male line). Then
we sat in assigned seats corresponding to our booking number.
There were strict lines of folding chairs, all facing forward, with
a large aisle between males and females. Initially we were not
allowed to stand, move seats, or talk with the men.
We sang chants, discussed among ourselves, and continually
asked the officers impertinent questions as the morning wore
on. Slowly we were called to the front for our interviews. After
answering all of their banal questions, I was told I was finished
and could return to my seat. I, however, was annoyed.
I informed the interrogating officer, "You didn't ask my
gender."He responded with, "Don't worry, I wrote it down
at the beginning." But you didn't ask me, what did you write
down?" He gave me an odd look, "Female of course." "I really
wish you would have asked me, can you please change it to
genderqueer?" "I'm sorry ma'am that is not an option, I already
filled it out." "I really would prefer if you changed it."

He called over another officer and I repeated my request. She
responded with, "You cannot change it, you are female."
I countered with, "You don't know my gender identity and you
clearly cannot see my genitals."
"Honey, just by looking at you I can tell you're female, just like
I can tell you're white. We are not changing it. You think you
are so clever. Go sit down. Now."
I walked back to my seat contemplating the irony of her
statement yet aggravated by her assumption. Shortly after, an
officer was returning our drivers licenses and ze tried to find
the owner of a male's ID in the womyn's section. Clearly, sight
alone is not an indicator of gender.
We spent hours testing the waters by standing up, talking across
the aisle, and asking questions. Eventually, we began to elude
the police's restrictions. Across the room, a couple of our SDS
male-identified folks were attempting to close the enforced
gap between men and womyn. Throughout the morning, they
gradually moved a seat over until they were at the edge of the
aisle. One of the men tried to sit with the womyn but was
told immediately to go to the men's side. However, a female
SDSer managed to sit on the men's side for some time without
detection before she decided to return to her seat.
Slowly the "men's side" slid their seats to narrow down the
aisle. Eventually the "womyn's side" side caught on and we
slowly moved our seats to meet in the middle. The officers were
oblivious until the aisle was practically nonexistent. An officer
asked what happened to the aisle and one of our seasoned
activists explained how she had been doing activist work for
years but was still learning from young folks. "For example,
gender lines are easy to cross...see?" Then she proceeded to
switch seats with a male next to her. The officer just shook hir
head but did not ask us to reform the aisle. We then dragged our
seats into a circle, began to discuss amongst ourselves, and played
games; the room transformation was complete. What began as
an ordered, segregated, authoritarian room, transformed into an
open, integrated, imaginative space. We started out as powerless,
isolated individuals and became a unified horizontal group that
challenged the controlling nature of the room.
Everyday in the prison system, the binary gender manifests itself
in extremely dangerous ways. Entering the prison system as a
transgender or genderqueer person is one of the most terrifying
situations. The likelihood of abuse and rape is high and officers are
unsympathetic towards their situation. A week before my arrest, DC
Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued a statement on how transgender
people should be treated, a major victory for the DC Trans Coalition,
an organization that fights for transgender rights in prison.
Our No War, No Warming experience was more of a gender
experiment in a relatively risk free space. While our action
attracted media attention to warfare and global climate change,
we also fought a more silent struggle against the gender binary.
Now we need to make this struggle heard!

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