Lu’s Re-Opening, Femininjas Will be There
On October 1st, Femininjas operatives Acute and InIn will be attending in good grace the grand re-opening of the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, the organization behind Lu’s: a Pharmacy for Women. Acute Ninja is a trans woman. We are live blogging this event here on www.femininjas.com, and on our Twitter feed @femininjas.
Why are we going? It’s true that Femininjas is opposed to Lu’s exclusionary policy towards trans and intersexed women. We are, however, not opposed to the valuable space and services that Lu’s could potentially provide. We feel that a women-born women policy limits their ability to serve all women. We do not believe that any business should be able to dictate who is and who is not a woman.
The closure of Lu’s: a Pharmacy for Women has never been a Femininjas goal. Our main rationale for going is quite simple. We want to change their minds.
It is not a matter of dictating to Lu’s how to run their business, but of developing a mutual understanding that their present policy is not in the best interest of all women. Especially the women who need women’s only spaces the most. Excluding trans women from a women’s space amounts to discrimination against a visible minority.
We fully believe that change can happen now to no additional cost or duress to Lu’s: a Pharmacy for Women. Our presence at the grand re-opening of Lu’s is a step forward. We trust that this is a positive indication of Lu’s willingness to participate in serving the wider community of women. We will continue to work with Lu’s to address any concerns or needs, work through a process of community consultation with Lu’s peers, and hope to see a positive change in Lu’s policies, sooner rather than later.
We look forward to a day when all women can get prescriptions filled at Lu’s: a Pharmacy for Women.
