We, the members of the Black Women’s Caucus of Women’s Declaration International USA, believe that it is crucial for Black Women to denounce gender identity ideology. This ideology promotes the idea that sex is nothing more than a social construct and that an individual can choose to *be* a man or a woman regardless of her or his sex. Gender ideologues employ the “forced-teaming” tactic against Black women in order to shame us into being work mules for their campaign of male sexual privileges that they call “transgender rights.” While these efforts are masked as progressive and inclusive concepts, gender identity ideology is actually intrusive and harmful to women, and uniquely so to Black women.
Gender identity ideology erases the unique experiences of women and reinforces the harmful stereotypes of femininity and masculinity. It is also incompatible with the fight for women’s rights because it allows men access to spaces and activities designated for women such as bathrooms, sports teams, and housing. It has been reported that 1 in 4 Black girls are sexually assaulted before the age of 18 and 35% of Black women report experiencing physical sexual violence. Policies that allow men unfettered access to female-designated facilities put Black women and girls, a demographic disproportionately impacted by male violence, at an even higher risk.
Black women are 2.5 times more likely to be murdered by men than White women and this is why the fight against gender ideology is pertinent for Black women; we are the demographic most in need of protection from male violence. There have already been deadly consequences where an employer ignored a Black woman’s whistleblowing regarding a male who demanded to be recognized as a woman. Monica Archer, a caseworker in a women’s shelter, warned her employers about a client, Harvey Marcelin living as Marceline Harvey, who’d made threats against her and other shelter employees. Archer was fired for speaking out. Marcelin had already served 50 years for murdering and dismembering two women and after Archer’s whistleblowing was ignored, Marcelin was found to have murdered and dismembered a 68-year-old “gal-pal” he had met while living in the women’s shelter.
Marcelin has since been reimprisoned, but locking away criminally-violent men who claim to be women doesn’t end the horror for all women. As of 2021, California has imprisoned men who claim to be women in women’s prisons. Since then, there have been women who have come forward claiming to have been harassed and sexually assaulted by some of these men. Studies have shown that even when men claim to be women, they display a typically male pattern of criminality with respect to violent crimes. Additionally, 49.7% have been convicted of sex crimes. Therefore, incarcerated women are forced to be housed with male criminals of whom half have a history of sexual violence. Since Black women are seven times more likely than White women–and more than twice as likely as Hispanic women–to be incarcerated during their lives, these inhumane conditions of incarceration disproportionately and unfairly affect a maligned and especially vulnerable group of Black women. Being raped while incarcerated amounts to torture at the hands of the state.
Black girls are another vulnerable subset of the Black female population who have already borne the brunt of gender identity ideology. In 1993, Luis Morales, a man pretending to be a woman, along with his boyfriend and fellow member of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation gang, kidnapped a 13 year-old Black girl named Ebony Nicole Williams. Ebony was brutally and repeatedly raped and tortured by Morales, who was motivated by sexism and racism. Morales’s boyfriend, Carlos Franco, then mercilessly stomped on Ebony’s neck until it was broken before both men packed her petite body into a box, dumped the box near an expressway, and set the box on fire. The violence Morales and Franco inflicted upon Ebony was so extensive that she could only be identified through dental records. In 1996, Morales was sentenced to 25 years in prison for Ebony’s murder. He suggested that he had avoided the rape conviction due to his “gender identity.”
Unlike Ebony, Morales has been able to grow older and pursue happiness. While detained, Morales became a media sensation and noted advocate for the “rights” of incarcerated men claiming to be women and, after a lawsuit in 2003, was granted wrong-sex hormones paid for by the state of New York. Since being paroled in 2018, Morales has appeared as a member of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s advisory committee. To honor Ebony’s memory and to protect other Black girls, we stand unapologetically against gender ideology.
The impact of gender ideology is not only being felt in the area of male violence against women. It is also a socio-economic issue. Men overall receive a disproportionate amount of sports scholarship funding compared to women, and Black women and girls make up only 9% of student athletes. Making men who pretend to be women eligible for sports scholarships designated for women and girls further disenfranchises Black women and girls from opportunities to fund their education.
Also, Black women are especially likely to be homeless due to inability to find affordable housing. Classifying men as women further aggravates the disparity. When we include men in female-designated housing programs, we do so at the expense of Black women.
We urge all Black women to denounce gender identity ideology and instead advocate for policies that protect the rights of Black women and girls. This fight is especially crucial for Black women, as we are the demographic most in need of protection from male violence but with the least access to that protection. We must stand up against any movement or idea that seeks to erase our experiences or undermine our fight for equal justice, safety, and dignity.
Black women have spent decades undoing the trauma of colorism, hair texturism, and featurism. We can’t then turn around and embrace a movement that encourages self-hate and perpetuates the same standards of femininity that were often used against Black women and girls. We can’t teach our daughters the lie that we can be born in the wrong body and expect them to feel comfortable with their skin color, hair texture, or other bodily features. It is against our best interest as Black women to support gender ideology and we urge other Black women to support women’s rights, instead.
~Women’s Declaration International USA- Black Women’s Caucus
Lorraine Nowlin, Coordinator
I and many many Black women support this statement. Thank you!
AMEN!!
Most definitely. Finally someone has the courage of their conviction to do what’s right! Black woman are always told we have to sacrifice our safety to accommodate male desires. I refuse. If we don’t stand up for ourselves who will?
Thank you for speaking up. I stand with you.
I agree with everything you’ve said.
As a white woman (also- in the UK) I was not aware of how some aspects of gender ideology are particularly oppressive to black women e.g. “Black women have spent decades undoing the trauma of colorism, hair texturism, and featurism. We can’t then turn around and embrace a movement that encourages self-hate and perpetuates the same standards of femininity that were often used against Black women and girls.”, and the fight for sports scholarships. To have white men take away black women’s rights is so deeply wrong and offensive.
We see you and we stand with you 💜
Incredibly well said! I’m a white British left winger. I hope the Democrats and ‘moderate’ media listen to you and platform you. Good luck with your campaign in the US.
I am a white woman in the US, and we need all the help we can get on this issue. The media has been silencing Black parents’ voices on this because they want to make it look like a racist issue. I am so filled with gratitude and admiration to see this declaration. Good on you ladies, good on you.
This statement is superb. It spells out clearly the grotesque injustices of gender ideology against women and girls, especially Black women and girls. Every right that women and girls have fought for over centuries is in jeopardy by the fiction that “transwomen are women.” The struggle against this criminal ideology is going to be a long and painful one, but gender identity ideology must be eradicated to protect the rights of women and girls.
An extremely measured and carefully considered paper, with many fact checked points which are compelling. Thank you.
Fantastic. Let’s end this madness and assault on women & children. The West is supposed to be a haven for women. This dismantlement of womens rights and mutilation of children and young adults through indoctrination and Pharmaceutical greed and marketing is horrendous and backward!
Well said. Thank you.
YES! Thank you!
Outstanding piece. So we’ll thought out with the needed talking points society can use to make this common sense argument. Thank you.
Such an important post. Thank you.
Thank you for highlighting all of these issues. I pray that you are heard.
Thank you for your clarity and thinking. Could you also point , or publish, a similar response to the issues involved with trans men? The explosion of trans Id. Has been mostly young girls, including young black women. I understand why trans women are of most concern to you. What is your understanding of trans men, which is not only a wish to be men and have male social power, but also a psychological struggle of developing to be an adult sexual woman in relation to mother.
I see it as the struggle to become an adult woman in relation to the HYPERPORNOGRAPHICATION of women and girls in our society today (especially online). It is an uphill battle for girls to find safety to explore their identity and sexuality amid rampant objectification. To me that is the foremost threat facing girls and young women—combined with physical sexual assault that many have already experienced. 😡
Hi Walter, this is something we discussed but we don’t yet have testimonials from Black woman that have detranstioned at least in the US. As always, we are seeking until we find…
Thank you for this clear well reasoned statement with examples of the logical consequences of the current gender ideology. Sadly I fear that the activists who peddle the anti-biology gender lies will do what they have always done when they don’t have a counter-argument. Shout down, screech, threaten, bully, harass and generally display the debate tactics of petulant two year olds. I hope I am wrong.
This was a fantastic read!
Very well said. Although all these things affect all women, although not to the same extent as women who are black and other minority groups.
I think I might copy this make posters and stick them up in random places.
May even use the basics to make one that is for all women and stick that up as well.
The more people who realise what is happening the better. And I think there are a lot of people walking around blind.
I agree with you. Black women are treated worse than white women. Misogyny, and hate in a dress.
But I think that we need to have a general statement to safeguard women’s rights.
All women need to have their rights and be protected. Getting to be a very dangerous world for women and young girls. This needs to be dealt with now. Thank you for that statement and I also back all the black ladies and people from minority groups who are unheard.
Thank you from Scotland
I agree with the policy put forward by the Black Women’s Caucus but wonder why in addition to black women denouncing gender ideology that in addition a call for ALL women regardless of color or creed be inclusive in this policy.
Congratulations and Solidarity!
This is fantastic. I applaud you for standing up and speaking out. We need more like you all before it’s too late. These men pretending to be women is not what our mothers and grandmothers stood up for with women’s rights. Men should not be stealing what they worked so hard for. Women deserve to be seen and respected, not imitated and mocked. We are being disrespected by this ideology and it is setting us back. Harming us! Thank you, thank you, for this!
I am one of those mothers and grandmother’s and I am outraged at what is happening. I have spent my entire life fighting for women’s rights and I cannot even believe that the same women that fought with me for those rights have abandoned them. Our daughters are being given puberty blockers at schools without the parents permission and you can now have your children taken away from you if you don’ support what may well be nothing more than a phase. I cannot think of any time that I was more ignorant than I was as a teenager. They can’t sign a contract or vote but they can decide to be sterilized or have their breasts removed? The government is taking over our parental rights and butchering our children while we are told to stand by and watch? How is this even happening?
Bravo!
The courage to speak the truth gives birth to the courage to act.
Beautifully written.
My heart breaks for Ebony. I was her same age in 1993…and I now have a 13-year-old niece who I adore with all my heart.
Grown up me wishes I could travel back in time and scoop that little girl up and protect her…put her back in the loving arms of her mama.
Shame on these men who think they can use a woman or a child for their own gratification. Shame on them for their disgusting, thoughtless violence.
And heaps and heaps of shame on people who are supporting these violent predators because it’s “trendy” and politically expedient.
I’m a black British woman and your statement was beautifully said! Thank you for especially pointing out the “forced-teaming” tactic that they use to try to get our support. They don’t deserve it
Thank you. So many important points here. I stand with you 100%.
Well said! I am going to share this all over the world – more and more women waking up to the idea that they are being completely shafted and erased by this ideology. I hope the prominent women in US politics are reading this and re-thinking their stance (especially those on the left) – the number of times that Biden has insulted women in plain sight and in government is unbelievable. Wheeling out men who think they are women and calling them representational of women is outrageous. International women Day – speechless!!!!
You are right about the “forced-teaming” – and sure as eggs is eggs your rights and inequalities will fall to the bottom of the pile as they claim the most oppressed status, trampling on women as they go, calling us bigots and transphobes when we argue back.
Thank you for standing up for women.
Thanks for this great statement. It is badly needed. Especially since so-called “trans rights” activists majorly hijack the fight for racial justice as cover for their agenda. Black Lives Matter protests were used to get crowds to chant “black trans lives matter.” The now-despicable ACLU made a point of referring to the men who competed against women in high school sports in Connecticut as black while somehow failing to notice the black women harmed by them. A PR strategy document for the Gender Cult explicitly talks about using race to push the Cult’s agenda. See the discussion of these issues in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Transgender Galaxy at https://caroldansereau.substack.com/p/hitchhikers-guide-part-ii-hitchhiking
Wonderful!! Would love to hear be Caucus’s take on all the unnecessary surgeries and hormones Black children are being conned into demanding.
The only article we came across did mention a boy receiving estrogen to “curb his behavior.” However, the article doesn’t state his race and as of now, there is no follow up. If we find more info, we will write about it.
Thank you – you’re speaking absolutely the truth.
As a black woman I find this a pretty disgraceful statement. I, especially, find your BS about black girls not being able to feel comfortable in their own skin if they’re dare taught to have empathy with the trans community. One has nothing to do with the other.
Interesting you say that one has nothing to do with the other. Would you please tell men colonizing women that “one has nothing to do with the other” when they compare themselves to Black women? Or is it only an issue when Black women speak up? Black women deserve safety and privacy, that includes you.
How is it bs, the trans ideology is literally is teaching that people are born in the wrong body. That if they have “dysphoria” over their any part of their they should change it to feel bettter
Thank you this informative piece! Thank you for your courage to stand up and speak up!
As a white woman, I support and thank you for this statement. All power to you, recognition of biological reality is critical to your safety and empowerment. Resist the forced teaming. The forced teaming with race was a stated tactic of extreme trans activists (essentially MRAs) after their forced teaming with LGB groups began to be resisted.
That’s a superb statement – thank you, in solidarity.
(White woman in Ireland)
How refreshing to read a clear argument amidst so much emoting. All ideas do not carry equal weight and factual evidence matters, especially when deciding policies that affect over half of the population. Gender Recognition Certificates will allow men to be placed in women’s prisons, hospital wards, sports teams etc without disclosing their biological identity and all women; black, white, gay or straight, should be very angry that governments are willing to place them in harms way to silence a tiny number of men.
I was neither for or against gender ideology a few years ago. I really didn’t care what one wanted to identify as. Then I started hearing “trans women” and their supporters say “ If black women can be women, then any one can be women”. The misogynoir and disrespect of black womanhood required to make this a rallying cry is absolutely disgusting. Questioning our womanhood has been an on going thing for centuries, hence Soujourner Truth “ain’t I a woman “ speech. I can’t support any movements who’s tenant is to strip me of my womanhood to claim theirs.
Thank you all for your support. Rest assured this is only the beginning and we encourage women from racial minority groups here in the US to speak out about how this dangerous ideology impacts them uniquely and for white women to continue to speak…
As a gay white male, I cannot thank y’all enough for being another voice against the “forced teaming”. You hit the nail on the head. The people invested in this movement are hateful and abusive and do not respect boundaries.
Back when it all kicked off circa 2015, I thought nothing of it (“Be Kind!” even), but I have seen too many women – especially lesbians – take abuse from this group that would never be tolerated in any other context. It’s nice to know we’re not alone in taking a stand.
“Black women have spent decades undoing the trauma of colorism, hair texturism, and featurism. We can’t then turn around and embrace a movement that encourages self-hate and perpetuates the same standards of femininity that were often used against Black women and girls. We can’t teach our daughters the lie that we can be born in the wrong body and expect them to feel comfortable with their skin color, hair texture, or other bodily features. It is against our best interest as Black women to support gender ideology and we urge other Black women to support women’s rights, instead.”
This is goood!!
I’m a white woman from Australia; my birth country Canada is really worshipping the trans god! All women are facing disparity with the trans cult; you all are getting a triple portion of trans hell; we have to fight against being erased. More and more de transitioners are speaking up so that helps, as well as sharing the truth and exposing the insanity. It’s surprising how many women don’t really know what’s going on or they don’t want to talk about it, and of course, the biological females who’ve bought into this insanity. People are rising up, even school kids are getting sick of it so there’s hope. The trans cult is also in our Australian Federal Labor party whose goal is to force Christians and other religions into teaching trans ideology; so far the Catholics and Presbyterians have drawn a line in the sand and said, ‘No.’ And the real nazis and fascists are the trans people; it’s their way or the highway, yet they call us terfs and those two other names. We don’t have freedom of speech here or in Canada so our hands are tied, parents get arrested for not using proper pronouns or affirming their children and can lose custody of their children and be both fined and or jailed. All religions, races, atheists, etc. need to keep fighting this evil. Karen Davis is great on, “You’re Kidding, right?” Sal Grover is going to courts here DownUnder to fight for women’s right to have their own websites. I’m praying for more people to become aware and for anti-transgender groups to grow like weeds; God’s going to be busy.
The message here is disappointing and goes against what many social scientists (I myself am a psychologist) would recommend. But fortunately the argument isn’t cohesive or compelling, so may not have much impact. Two of the examples (much of this statement uses anecdotal evidence) are of women in the shelter and prison system. Yes, abuses happen in these systems, but these systems themselves are a result of societal failures, and the societal failures have a bigger impact than anything individuals in this system could have. Of course abuses happen in them. Also, a majority of Black girls and women AREN’T in the prison or shelter system, so why not focus on an issue that affects a broader representation of Black women, like barriers to getting healthcare, Black maternal mortality, high rates of school suspensions for Black girls? I appreciate all efforts to elevate Black women hope the energy and passion here could be put to better use in order to address actual system oppression, and towards efforts that don’t marginalize any subsection of Black women.
Also, who/ what is the Black women’s caucus? What are their mission and values? I couldn’t find any other info about it, and this post seems to be the only thing on this whole site related to Black women, the rest of the representation seems pretty White. Who actually wrote this? It’s not clear…
Your comment is quite heartbreaking especially the egregious statement about not mentioning Black women in prison which is likely due to a pretense in virtue rather than genuine compassion for Black maternal health. I’ve known Black women that have come out of prison and are now doing wonderful work. On that alone, you’ve lost credibility.
Well, I think the fact that most of the amens here are from white women, who are rarely so vigorous in their support of Black women’s issues, speaks volumes…I too push back on the male privilege many trans women bring with them and I believe they need to be schooled…but this, nahhh… and right, WHO is this Black Women’s Caucus? Membership raise your hands 🤷🏾♀️
“Yes, abuses happen in these systems, but these systems themselves are a result of societal failures, and the societal failures have a bigger impact than anything individuals in this system could have. Of course abuses happen in them.” True, incarceration is not a day at the beach, and abuses are rampant throughout the prison system. Should we therefore take it for granted that women are going to be raped by men in their own cells?
Prison abuses, ubiquitous as they are, should never include the rape of a woman by a man pretending to be a woman in a space reserved for women. Imagine your best girlfriend or your sister pinned to the bathroom wall while a male inmate twice her size uses his lady penis to rape your loved one. This is where we are now. No vetting, no standards, not one iota of concern for the safety of women forced to bunk and shower with male sex offenders and murderers. It sounds like a horror movie that could not possibly be true, but it’s happening everywhere in the world where public policy has been captured by trans ideology — unfortunately, most places these days. I can think of few issues more illustrative of the deep hatred and disdain our institutions have for women.
In this excellent article, the Black Women’s Caucus speaks eloquently, among other things, about the fundamental feminist issue of male violence and overreach as it relates to women — not only in prisons but in traditionally sex-segregated spaces generally — and how it is enabled by the pseudo-scientific corruptions of gender. To downplay and deride this article and the Black Women’s Caucus as irrelevant or illegitimate is offensive and deeply misguided.
I fully support this statement, and thank you all for the decision to speak out. We are not going to back down from this due to all the important reasons you all have highlighted. This is a power struggle and they feel like we should be silenced, but our track record speaks for itself and above all, God is on our side. He does not want society to be torn apart by these radical gender lies. And they have they nerve to think that they are in step with the civil rights movement, which is the only reason it has gotten this far, because they ended up aligning it with the push for DEI. Hopefully more of us get the guts to stand against it.
You just articulated my thoughts as a black woman. We have been placed by society at the bottom of the social ladder, so bringing in men claiming to be women further disenfrancises us.
A good example is Dylan Mulvaney! Here a man waltz in and gets an opportunity that ordinarily a white woman would have had. Yes, white women will always get better opportunities than us (overall) but it means we are next in the queue.
This statement is full of misinformation and white feminist rhetoric
I’m curious to the work y’all are doing to repair the harm that this statement and your values are causing and the folks you are choosing to erase, particularly within the Black community?
Queer and Trans people have every right to be acknowledged and included, if not centered, in our collective fight for liberation
I am about to stand up in my chair and cheer. I am so proud of your statement! It’s ABOUT DAMN TIME somebody said this! And I’m a White American Republican. I am so tired of this dangerous ideology damaging the very people it pretends to support. You are awesome for printing this.
BRILLIANT Throughout and true. In particular thank you for this truth , which is universal : “Being raped while incarcerated amounts to torture at the hands of the state.” Through your efforts to restore sanity, soundness and women’s strength to the global discussion may we successfully find common ground to combat a misbegotten gender ideology crusade that hypersexualizes our world’s children, corrupts their innocence and permanently mutilates their precious bodies , yes in the service of Big Pharma and mad medical science.