Society of Southwest Archivists - Requesting feedback re: SAA's Statement on 2019 mtg in Austin, TX

26 Jul 2017 8:31 AM

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Message # 4995786

Jess Tucker

From the SAA Council -

"Dear SAA Members:

The SAA Council currently is discussing legislation pending in Texas that would restrict transgender persons to using restrooms and dressing rooms that match their sex assigned at birth. SAA is contracted to hold its Annual Meeting in Austin in August 2019.

As noted in a letter from SAA Executive Director Nancy Beaumont to the chief executive oﬃcer of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau for his use in testifying regarding the legislation:

“SAA is made up of a diverse group of members, people who are parents, friends, family members, and colleagues; people of different ethnicities, abilities, and ages; people who are women, men, transgender, non-binary, and genderqueer. Furthermore, our members’ core beliefs involve creating a safe and inclusive workforce and an archival record that documents and preserves all stories. SB6 not only violates the well-being of our own members visiting or living in Texas, but impairs the ability of a historically marginalized group to tell its own story.

“The seemingly trivial but necessary act of using a bathroom should not result in fear, violence, trauma, and humiliation, which is the experience that many transgender people have expressed when forced to use bathrooms that don’t match their identity. It’s time to listen to the transgender community. This bill brings harm to transgender people and attacks their dignity. It is discriminatory and intentionally dismissive of the rights of an entire group of citizens. And as archivists know, when one community of people is devalued, silenced, and erased, we all suﬀer from the loss.”

In light of these concerns about the proposed Texas legislation, SAA is exploring options for relocating the 2019 Annual Meeting.

The SAA Council"

26 Jul 2017 12:47 PM

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Reply # 4996279 on 4995786

Anonymous

Here is a copy of the e-mail response I send SAA regarding this issue.

"Dear SAA Council:

I will presume that you knew that Texas has an unapologetic capital punishment program and a dismal women's rights report card, but yet that didn't seem to stop you from scheduling the 2019 meeting in Austin. Instead you drew the line at a bathroom bill. Capital punishment and women be damned but by God no one is going to tell us where to pee! I do see some hypocrisy in that. I am wondering if you do as well.

You may be interested in knowing that many businesses and organizations in Austin have already changed their customary bathroom model in favor of inclusiveness. I am sure if you did a little investigation you would discover this to be true.

I do believe that if you are going to start culling cities, in fact states, anywhere in this nation based on political incorrectness, social inadequacies or outright deficiency then you should be prepared to hold your meetings on dingy's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean because I am quite certain there is no city with an adequate score.

Austin is historically a blue dot in the middle of a red sea. I am confident that anyone can fly in and out of there without getting any conservative cooties on them. Austin is a beautiful city with much to offer our fellow SAA members. It would be a shame for them to miss it.

You may also want to consider the size of Texas. There are many outstanding and hard working archivist living in Texas who are looking forward to SAA coming to Austin. Many of those archivists are in small repositories who do not have the means to travel to all the other cities SAA holds conferences. Do you plan on punishing them for something they don't have control over and for how long? Until you're bored? Until another hot button issue comes up in another state? If this bill passes, of which I am fairly certain it will, how long do you plan on boycotting the entire state of Texas for it? I urge you to think about the members you serve as a whole.

As you can see, getting into politics when deciding which state to hold our annual meeting is a very slippery slope. It's a place I don't believe you need to be as a council. I would urge you to focus on cities who have appropriate to excellent space for our members learning experience; who have adequate or excellent hotel accommodations; and who have adequate to excellent places to feed all of us and then let the individual members decide if they want to bring their archivist dollars to that city based on members preference for each cities warts.

In full disclosure, I live in Fort Worth, Texas, although I am an Arizona native. I have no ties to Austin. No one has asked me to write this for them because I am from Texas. In fact, I usually ignore these type of things and carry about my busy work schedule, but I found this particular statement from SAA to be so absurd that I felt compelled to say something. And by absurd do not think that I am trivializing SB6. There are many Texans who do not like this bill and fight for change and inclusivity in Texas. But SAA's potential exclusivity in the name of inclusivity is a ridiculous paradox at best.

I am hopeful to see you in Austin in 2019.

Thank you for your consideration.

Chanin Voss Scanlon, C.A."

27 Jul 2017 9:33 AM

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Reply # 4998012 on 4995786

Anonymous

There is another bill before the Texas Legislature, SB65, which was introduced July 18. The very issue which SAA leadership is apparently up in arms over is addressed in SB65. SB65 is pro-LGBTQ, providing for use of public bathrooms/restrooms in state-government-related facilities according to one's gender identity and/or one's gender expression.

I have yet to attend an annual SAA meeting because the meetings are usually held at one end of the country or the other. Yet I have continued my membership in the interest of my profession. If SAA leadership decides to snub the State of Texas and exercise what they believe to be their political sway then they have lost sight of the organization's mission. SAA will have no impact on what the Texas Legislature does or does not do. There are plenty of Texans that are members of the LGBTQ community and the City of Austin itself is a very liberal city. SAA leadership should consider that they will be holding a meeting that is more centrally located within our nation to better serve all SAA members and give those who usually do not attend the opportunity to do so closer to home.