Monthly Milwaukee Meeting: Voting While Trans in Wisconsin

There has seldom been a U.S. Presidential election where so much seems at stake. Don’t let Wisconsin’s Voter ID law scare you into giving up the one vote (voice) you have in what will happen to all of us over the next four years. Wisconsin ACLU’s Senior Staff Attorney Karyn L. Rotker will be our featured speaker on Saturday, September 24 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center’s Community Room. She will give practical advice on how to deal with the voter ID law if your current ID doesn’t match your current name or appearance, as well as advice on early voting and absentee voting. Make sure you know how to make your voice heard November 8!
 
Won’t be able to attend on the 24^th?  Check out your rights (not trans-specific) here:
http://www.aclu-wi.org/story/answers-some-voter-registration-questions
http://www.aclu-wi.org/story/top-10-voter-id-questions
 
 

What’s the purpose of FORGE’s Milwaukee Monthly Meetings?

1. Share information on pre-selected subjects.
   [Ideas for discussions, speakers, books, films, and panels are initiated by group recommendations and facilitator suggestions. With only 12 monthly meetings per year, these topics only touch a small number of areas with plenty of room for post-meeting discussion and other groups to take on other topics.]
2. Provide support for people who attend.
   [All people who are interested in trans and gender non-binary issues are welcome.
   We encourage people to participate at their level of comfort.
3. [Note: Milwaukee Monthly Meetings are not political action or social justice-focused events. Our purpose is support and information-sharing. There is ample community space for political organizing, confronting injustice, and creating action agendas.
   FORGE monthly meetings are not that space.]

WORKING AGREEMENTS
Creating a space where people can feel free to participate is important. These are some working agreements and principles that FORGE meetings operate under. We will review and add to this list at tonight’s meeting.

1. Confidentiality / Privacy
2. Use “I” statements
3. One person / one mic
4. Move up / move back
5. Oops and ouch (and snap)
6. People can choose to be quiet / Participation is voluntary
7. We are more than our gender (or any one identity/component)
8. Speak about own experiences – please do not talk about others not in the room
9. Criticism-free zone – no hurtful or negative comments about individuals or agencies
10. In this support-centered space, everyone has an equal voice
11. Respect different backgrounds, experiences, and identities
12. Remember we all have trauma