[gpva-ic] Doodle Poll for Zoom With Margaret Elisabeth

[Tina Rockett]

The purpose of this Zoom/poll is for the GPVA elected local leadership (leadership council) and elected leadership at the state level to assist in picking a date for a meeting in order to hear directly from a spokesperson for the NLGC that brought the complaint before the AC for an upcoming GPUS NC vote on whether to disaffiliate the state of Georgia.

The LC is not about personal opinion/availability, it is about representing your locals (of which Local Reps are a part). It is important that we at least have all Local Reps (or a substitute rep) attend in order to pass on information to members who cannot make the meeting. Please poll your members in your locals in picking a date.

The purpose of this meeting is to receive information directly from a source in the dispute in order to make an informed decision on a very serious matter through informed discussions based on what we have learned through this presentation and q&a.

Margaret Elizabeth from the NLGC has offered/asked to speak to the GPVA/state parties directly. We have had no communication from the GAGP to speak to us at this time, but Jonah has requested we meet with them as well and I would support hearing from Jimmy Cooper, a trans member of their party, who voted for the bylaws that are in dispute to hear why she feels the GAGP should not be disaffiliated.

Margaret Elizabeth will be speaking to us unless a majority of the leadership council *in representation of their local members* oppose a meeting, but the NC vote will happen with or without our LC input. It is in our best interest to support our NC delegates in making a representative decision.

In order to include the most Virginia Greens possible, please respond with preferred dates that work best for you and your members on the Doodle poll.

As Ryan said, when a date is worked out it will be posted it to the discuss, business, and IC lists. 

Best,
Tina

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 10, 2021, at 12:54 AM, Sid Smith via gpva-ic <gpva-ic at vagreenparty.org> wrote:
> 
> This issue that the national party is dealing with touches on many things, and while some of our members may wish to wave away this conflict or pretend it doesn't really matter, it is not going to go away and it really does matter.
> 
> A fundamental question we face, and that we have no clear answer to, is what ideological or platform positions, if any, should disqualify a state Green party from affiliation with the national party. As trans rights proponents reasonably point out, if a state party adopted an openly racist or openly militaristic platform plank, most Greens would think that to be an appropriate reason to disaffiliate that party from GPUS. Should a transphobic platform plank be viewed any differently? To what extent are state party platforms expected to echo or comport with the GPUS platform? Current affiliation requirements demand nothing more specific than "acceptance" of the Four Pillars and 10 Key Values. Has GAGP violated this general requirement? If it has, can this be demonstrated? If it can't be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the general membership, is GPUS even entitled by its own rules to disaffiliate GAGP for its platform planks on trans rights?
> 
> Short of disaffiliation, should GPUS give itself authority to censure or in some other manner punish a non-conforming state party?
> 
> This of course begs the question, what exactly is at stake in the GAGP platform planks with respect to which the Lavender Caucus has filed its complaint? This turns out to involve profound questions over the distinctions between sex and gender in our society. Trans gender individuals are trans precisely because their sex and their gender do not align. (A tiny percentage are intersex or sexually ambiguous, but that is not true for most.) How then do rights that previously included protected categories based on sex apply when the distinction is not sex but gender? Should Title IX (protections for women's sports), which was written explicitly to apply on the basis of sex, be reinterpreted to apply on the basis of gender? In that instance and hundreds of others, how we draw our distinctions between sex and gender has far reaching and profound implications throughout society and especially our legal system; thousands of laws will have to be reintrepreted or rewritten both nationally and state-by-state in the next several years as these matters get sorted out.
> 
> As Ryan points out, youth are very much at the center of this. Most trans gender and non-binary individuals become gender dysphoric in childhood or their teen years. The proportion of youth diagnosed with gender dysphoria has jumped in the last several years, which raises questions about how gender dysphoria is affected by cultural and peer-group influences, and as well about the robustness of the current (DSM-V) diagnostic criteria. Also, gender dysphoric youth are at greatly heightened risk of emotional and psychological problems, and for suicide and other self-destructive behaviors. What are the best ways for our social, educational, and medical systems to support such youth? Many gender dysphoric youth become trans adults, but some who are diagnosed in youth are not gender dysphoric in adulthood. Are permanent life- and body-altering transition therapies (such as puberty blockers and hormone therapies) appropriate for gender dysphoric minors? To what extent are children (or adults) entitled to such treatments?
> 
> The social divisions over these questions have deepened and hardened in recent years. There are people on both sides who are troublingly militant about their positions. Many members of the National Committee have called for other members to be silenced, and have attacked the list-serve Forum Managers for not censoring people whose posts they find ideologically offensive. There is a real risk of a general breakdown of the National Committee, and a serious weakening of the party across the country. How well the Green Party navigates this issue will impact its effectiveness going forward , and is likely to have a significant impact on how it is viewed by people now and in the future. Whatever inclinations we may bring to the subject, I believe we have an obligation as leaders in our own party to understand this issue, in all its many facets, as well as we can, and to deliberate with all the maturity and mutual trust and forbearance we can muster.
> 
> Sid
> 
> ********************
> B. Sidney Smith
> 
> 
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