There’s lots to be said, and much has already been said, about the Queer/Trans invasion of spaces for lesbian and bisexual women. I guess what I am wondering is, how do we resist this type of colonization? Having women-centered spaces like Ovarit online is one thing, but keeping spaces and circles for ourselves in the real world is another.
I have heard so many stories about one TIM/male enby/straight female enby destroying the integrity of WLW groups. With the frequency this is happening it becomes apparent, at least to me that lesbians and bisexual women need to start becoming aggressive at pushing back against this. But how do we do this without going underground? I’m somewhat baffled as to how gay men have managed to keep TIF free spaces public while all exclusively lesbian events are now on the downlow. What are some strategies we can use in our everyday lives in our communities to be gatekeepers and keep spaces only for homo/bi women?
It's difficult when, as another commenter said, we have to watch out not only for the colonizers themselves but for their handmaidens. Ideally, I would like community for all same-sex attracted women, not just those who are radical feminists. But that's risky, because any of those female members who are either not currently particularly politically involved or actively leaning TRA could be the downfall of the group. I wonder if the way to do it is somewhat like here on Ovarit, where the organizers/leadership/founding principles/whatever are radical feminist, but the members themselves need not be.
I have felt more affinity for groups of radical feminists of all sexualities than I have for groups of WLW of all political leanings. I would personally be happy to leave the TRAs well enough alone and share a space together, but they never seem to be able to leave me alone. I've been in WLW book groups, meetups, etc., and my experience has consistently been that even if they were initially normie, they veered TRA over time. My best experience approximating WLW community so far has been meeting with irl local terves, about half of whom are same sex attracted. That's just an informal network of friends and acquaintances, nothing official or formalized. Perhaps loose networks are a better way of doing things anyway. But I guess that's underground, which you would like to avoid.