Marie Lewis is a longtime social activist and self-described queer, intersectional, socialist feminist and transfeminist organizer. Upon joining Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 2018, they revived the Socialist Feminist group and gave it new life.
In my interview with them, they go into how and why they joined DSA, the challenges involved and then touch on topics including queer liberation and the impact of overturning Roe v Wade.
Alex Mell-Taylor
Hello, my name is Alex Mell-Taylor. I am an editor at After the Storm, a futurist publication that tells stories, both fiction and nonfiction, beyond capitalism. I’m joined today by the fabulous Marie Lewis. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself in your own words?
Marie Lewis
My pronouns are fae/faer, or they/them, I also accept she/her, but there are usually only a few days in a month where I prefer those pronouns be used for me. And those aren’t generally apparent to someone who doesn’t know me intimately.
I’m a Gen-X, non-binary, transfeminine Demigirl and a Sapphic riot grrrl. A queer, Caucasian, atheist grrrl. I’m a person of Ashkenazi descent who considers Jewish culture an important part of faer heritage. A libertarian socialist. A person who knows that until black women, and especially black trans women, are free, none of us are free.
Someone for whom being a “guy” always felt off. Fae was definitely gender nonconforming in their 20s. And they almost certainly would have identified as nonbinary in the ’90s, had the language existed then. Who would sometimes fantasize about being a woman or wish they could be reincarnated as a girl.
Who’s angry and who’s egg began rocking in faer mid-40s and then hatched in their late 40s when she discovered the language that describes so much about them and began unlocking suppressed memories.
Alex
Wow. You gave us the Wikipedia summary. I love that. So you’re also a steward of the DSA Socialist Feminist Caucus. Could you describe that for me as well?
Marie
I first joined DSA in late July 2018, after AOC had won her primary, and I read about it and I’m like, “Okay, let’s check this out.” I had started identifying as nonbinary and using they/them pronouns in May of that year, so just about two months previously. The first event I attended was a planning meeting for a response to the Charlottesville “unite the right” anniversary where they killed Heather Heyer coming to DC. And that meeting was the first time that I was in a non-queer space that there were name and pronoun introductions. So I was like, “Okay, this is definitely somewhere where I can be comfortable.”
At that point, Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America only had a Socialist Feminist reading group, which met monthly. The member who was the primary organizer for that group left the chapter in December 2019, one of many comrades who became very disillusioned about DSA after the 2019 national convention.
Like her, I had serious misgivings about DSA after that, and with the bias towards cis-hetero white men in the chapter and the organization as a whole. But I could see progress being made, so I was willing to stay involved. There was less talking over of women, people of color, people who weren’t cis, hetero or able-bodied. Progress has definitely been made, especially within our chapter, but recent events have reminded me that there’s still a long way to go before Metro DC DSA is truly an inclusive organization that elevates the voices of marginalized people.
Let me return to when the previous Socialist Feminist reading group went dormant. That organizer who had left the chapter had tried to get someone to take the reins of the reading group, which I was unable to do at the time. … I had just formed the Queer Caucus that previous September, and it was taking up the majority of the time I was able to devote to organizing, but by spring 2020 the Queer Caucus had enough recurring membership that it could stay active without constant hand-holding. So I had enough of a capacity to organize another formation, to see if there was interest in getting a Socialist Feminist group within the chapter.
I called an organizing meeting — I think it was in May 2020. We discussed if we wanted to do this — form a Socialist Feminist group — and if we wanted to be a working group, which was my preference, or just a caucus, which was what the majority decided. By July 2020, we had enough actively involved members to have the Socialist Feminist Caucus be an active part of the chapter.
At the 2019 convention, I had been part of a meeting to restart the National DSA Socialist Feminist Working Group and volunteered to be on the Electoral Committee for the Steering Committee. Nearly a year later there was still one vacancy among the comrades who had volunteered to be on that Steering Committee. The bylaws for the national working group call for seven members on the Steering Committee, at least four of whom are non-cis men. Ideally at least one person of color, and at least one trans or non-binary person. In July of 2020 I felt that I had the capacity to spend the time on that working group. And that was kind of perfect since I was a transfeminine person. I served on the Steering Committee for a year, and I recruited one of our other chapter members, Jordan (she/they), to follow in my footsteps, running for election in 2021 for the next term of the Steering Committee of the National Socialist Feminist Working Group.
And there ended up being two trans members on the Steering Committee this year.
Alex
Nice.
Marie
So after the 2020 local convention, the members who had been the primary leaders of the Metro DC DSA Socialist Feminist Caucus became very disillusioned by some things that had happened at that 2020 convention. Things that I’m not really aware of because I could only attend part of it. And they left without giving notice to anyone else who was involved in the caucus or had been showing interest in leadership.
I only noticed when there were no events scheduled for January. I contacted Kristen B, who had previously shown interest in being in leadership for the caucus and we both stepped into active leadership. We did the paperwork to convert it into the new section formation that had been added to the bylaws during that 2020 convention.
Kristen had been handling about two-thirds of the administration stuff for the section when she was co-steward, because I work a lot in a side job that helps me pay for surgeries and other transition expenses, and she had more available time for organizing. After my second upcoming scheduled surgery, the one in December, once I recover from that, probably in February, I will be able to dedicate the amount of time I would ideally like to dedicate towards organizing.
Then a few months ago, end of March, Kristen stepped back from her role as a co-steward of the Socialist Feminist Section, and as the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) liaison, to be able to concentrate on her duties as secretary of the NoVA branch, which is an understandable decision. Someone’s got to know the capacity that they have. I am currently looking for someone who might have the spoons to step up and take a leadership position, at least until the next time elections come around in October.
Alex
So if there are any readers out there that are listening to this, they should maybe throw their hat in the ring!
Alex
We touched on it a little bit when you talked about the 2019 national conference, but what challenges have there been in establishing this community, specifically the Socialist Feminist Caucus, both internally within the organization, but also externally?
Marie
Well, one of the biggest challenges that we’ve had is having enough active involvement, and a membership to keep these structures going.
Also, a big challenge for me is my personal availability due to other demands on my time. Primarily due to having to work a second job to pay transition costs because of capitalism.
Another big challenge has been not being consulted on issues that fall within the domain of SocFem until I bring it up and ask why I’m being excluded.
Also, the challenges that I personally face primarily with my short-term memory as a result of a traumatic brain injury that I survived back in 2011.
Alex
Transitioning a little bit to recent events. What seems to be the likely overturning of Roe v Wade that’s happening. I saw that the Socialist Feminist Caucus was doing some organizing in that regard. Could you tell us a little bit about that and how our readers can get plugged into your efforts?
Marie
The chapter leadership as a whole has taken the point on organizing events in reaction to the leaked draft and coordinating with allied organizations. So for folks who are interested in what’s happening, the #action-alerts channel, in the chapter Slack, is the primary source for these actions, which I do my best to copy to the #socialist-feminist channel and the Socialist Feminist list-serv. The list-serv is open to anyone, including non-DSA members, and anyone can send an email to socfem@MDCdsa.org to join.
Alex
How are your members or just you reacting to the ruling?
Marie
Horrified. Personally hoping that John Roberts can peel one of them off to just approve the 15-week Mississippi law, but not go all the way with the language that’s in that fucking draft, because that can be used far, far beyond just overturning Roe v Wade. The underlying arguments can be used to overturn Obergefell v Hodges, Lawrence v Texas and possibly even Griswold v Connecticut. And those are respectively: marriage equality, sodomy laws and contraceptive protection.
Alex
You’re also involved with the Queer Caucus.
Marie
It’s the Queer Section, these days. I’m only involved at this point as a member. While it was still a caucus, I was a chairperson and then became a mentor to Nate, who took over the next time that elections came around. He was responsible for getting it converted to a section and I was one of the members who signed the paperwork on that. Then he had to step back for personal reasons, but Hayden then stepped up as interim steward and she’s currently running that section.
Alex
With this in mind, what would you say have been some significant barriers towards not just this section, but queer liberation in general?
Marie
The most important barrier would be the reactionary, racist, colonialist, capitalist, cis-hetero, patriarchal, white supremacists that are sustaining their minority role through gerrymandering and voter suppression, disinformation, and panicked dog whistles that they create out of whole cloth. Like the whole critical race theory bullshit that is not taught in secondary school or anything that is not grad school. Also the Florida “don’t say gay” bill. … So those would be the primary barriers and challenges to queer liberation.
Alex
That makes sense. For that string of words that you just used, I’ve fallen in love recently with the word kyriarchy. It’s a word used to describe all of the interests, connecting social systems of oppression. But, yes, I agree with you, the white supremacist, patriarchal, colonial, capitalist system that we are in is the problem.
Marie
Let’s just start with something that is pretty much on my mind all the time, especially when I’ve got top surgery in four and a half weeks and bottom surgery in December. So trans-related medical procedures would be covered under single-payer, which was what we called it when I advocated for it when I was in my 20s as an activist with ACT-UP. And is effectively the same thing as what is known today as Medicare for All.
I was also an activist with Queer Nation. And something that I am very, very proud of is that I helped to reclaim that word. Gen Z-ers have never known it as anything but a positive word, but some millennials might remember it as a slur when it was in transition to being reclaimed. But while I was growing up it was not something that you would want to be called.
Alex
To clarify for our readers ACT-UP was not just a pro-AIDS organization, but a queer liberatory organization. And Queer Nation, how would you describe that organization?
Marie
ACT-UP: Aids Coalition To Unleash Power. It grew out of the gay men’s health crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, but it definitely expanded into being very intersectional. Before that, only four risk factors were associated with AIDS, one of which was being male and gay. It was believed and wrongly communicated that women couldn’t have AIDS, even though they were dying from it. They just suffered and died from all the symptoms and secondary infections associated with it (see more about Queer Nation here).
But to get back to my ideal queer future … something that is actually in phase one clinical trial right now is an effective HIV vaccine. Daily PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) pills or the monthly PrEP shot are also available to prevent HIV, but insurance is needed. Both prevention (vaccine and PrEP) and treatment to reduce viral load to an undetectable level so as not to transmit the virus should be at no cost, or with an extremely low co-payment under Medicare for All.
Where there would be no such thing as coming out. Standard practice would just be that if someone is interested in another person or people, they would ask things like “are you interested in guys, gals, enbys (nonbinaries) or some combination of those?” Or “I find you quite intriguing. Would you have been interested in having a drink or a cup of coffee or something of that nature? And some conversation to see if we might have any connection and chemistry and want to see where things might go.” Or even just something simple like, “I find you very attractive, would you be interested in having some enthusiastic, consensual, private playtime?”
Where consent always has to be asked for and freely given. Where it is verbally specific. There’s a difference between “can I touch your arm?” and “can I touch your chest?” Those are two separate questions for two separate actions.
And where it’s always understood that consent can be withdrawn at any time. A yes does not mean it is a yes forever, or even for the next hour. Someone can say stop and everything stops.
Alex
Yeah. That’s very important.
Marie
But basically, it comes down to, “If it’s not a ‘Hell Yeah,’ it’s a no.”
Of course that applies to more than just queer folks. That would be everyone. But isn’t that part of the ideal queer future, where being queer is nothing remarkable or unusual, nothing different? It’s just the same as asking, “Are you into blondes or brunettes? Are you into boys or girls?” No different.
Alex
To our last question, what is your favorite piece of media about the future?
Marie
If we’re talking visual visionary speculative media then definitely Star Trek Discovery.
Alex
Oh my God. Another Trekkie fan.
Marie
I love that the captain is a Black woman, that it had gay characters, and that there are other women in higher-ranked positions, since it is semi-military.
I really like that there is a non-binary character and a trans man who is a recurring character. I think by the end of season four, Gray, the trans male crew member, had an artificial body. And I think he actually became a full crew member.
Alex
That part was so moving.
Marie
If we’re talking about written speculative fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness had a tremendous amount of personal meaning to me, and a major influence on the course my life has taken. I first read that in a Gender Roles in Speculative Fiction class in college back in ’93. I really wanted to be a Gethenian.
Alex
That makes sense. To clarify for readers, Left Hand of Darkness is set in a future where aliens can …
Marie
Well Gethenians are actually an offshoot of humanity where they develop to be androgynous, except when they go into a monthly phase called kemmer where they can present with either “typically male” or “typically female” bodily organs, which are active. They have both, but usually both are dormant.
Gethenians can both sire and birth children at different times in their life cycle. And normally the phase (of kemmer) that they go into is influenced by the phase that someone else is in.
Alex
So they’re biologically gender-fluid.
Marie
Pretty much exactly. But able to fully function in either role.
Octavia Butler’s work is also excellent and is problematic as it is by today’s standards when you consider the context of the time in which this work was written. Robert Heinlein was a major visionary to me who has also helped influence a lot of my personal philosophies.
For when he was writing, in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, the way he wrote about gender roles and race was incredibly visionary, even if the language is very cringe-worthy if you consider it by today’s standards.
Alex
A great author. I think probably the text that maybe our readers will know the most is Starship Troopers.
Marie
Oh, that is a very excellent one. That is thinking about what war really is — is this really something that we want to do? That was one of his four Hugo Award-winning novels. Another very excellent one is Stranger in a Strange Land, which introduced a lot of people in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s to the concept of polyamory, without the language for it back then. I first learned the word polyamory in the ’90s when the gal that I was dating and I both identified as poly bi switches.
Some of his lesser-known works are also very good. Another one of his Hugo Award-winning works that is excellent is The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
Alex
What’s that one about?
Marie
The moon is used as a penal colony, like Australia used to be. After a certain amount of time, people’s bodies would be adapted to only live in that gravity field. So it was basically a life sentence to get transported to the moon, even if you’re only “a prisoner” while doing work for the (Lunar) Authority. And then they have a revolution.
Alex
That sounds eerily too close to home for what some people want the moon to be. Those were wonderful book recommendations. Where can our readers find you? And also any of the organizations that you’re a part of?
Marie
Any member can DM me on Slack at Marie, Fae/Faer, They/Them, SocFem Steward, and I’ll get notified. I also get notifications for every message that is posted in the #socialist-feminist channel, the #queer-comrades channel, or the #queer channel.
Non-DSA members who want to be informed of actions and events that we’re having — things like meetings and fun, social events, and happy hours — can join the list-serv by sending an email request to socfem@mdcdsa.org.
Alex
Wonderful. And people can find us on Medium at After the Storm or you can send us an email afterthestormmag@gmail.com. This has been a pleasure. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this.
Marie
Alex, thank you for the opportunity.
