Rehoboth TransLiance to present ‘We Have Always Been Here’ June 3

Rehoboth TransLiance will meet at 6 p.m., Monday, June 3, at Freddie's Beach Bar, 3 S. First St., Rehoboth Beach.

The program, titled “We Have Always Been Here,” will include a presentation about the struggles experienced by women athletes, intersex, twin-spirited and transgender children assigned male at birth in the pursuit of equal rights on Delmarva. 

Author James Sears will read from his book, “Queering Rehoboth Beach: Beyond the Boardwalk.”

Attendees will learn how Cape student-athletes struggle for the equality embodied in Title IX.

Daria Rawley will give her version of ancient times until Stonewall.

Kathy Carpenter Brown will tell the more current history of struggles ranging from the bathroom bills to the historic roles Cape Henlopen coaches have taken for transgender and women's rights.

“We will explain the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association's role from the first Cape female soccer players to the first female wrestler in state history. Cape Henlopen athletes have worked to promote equality, to strengthen Title IX for athletes assigned female at birth/AFAB,” said Carpenter Brown. “See how [Delaware Department of Education], the Senate DIAA Oversight Committee and Cape administration continue to degrade Title IX for female athletes despite a joint Senate resolution to promulgate regulations that prohibit gender identity discrimination. They continue to hamper our athletes' ability to be the best in the world by excluding those AFAB from competing on male teams when a female option is available. This is not equality. With the inclusion of women's wresting in the DIAA, the regulation 1024 8.5 must be changed because these AFAB athletes want to compete with those AMAB.”

Carpenter Brown said, “We have been here long before Christian churches, Stonewall, slavery, the women's liberation movement, Cape Henlopen High School, Beebe Hospital, CAMP Rehoboth or the Department of Education. We will explain how these organizations actively work to curtail the rights of women and eradicate transgender people.”

Rawley is a neurodivergent person. She is openly transgender and a proud lesbian woman. Currently employed by Rite Aid, she recently completed her certification as a pharmacy technician.

Carpenter Brown is the founder of TransLiance and the Sussex Pride healthcare committee. She is former vice president of Sussex Pride. She currently serves on the Salisbury University Transgender Interprofessional Care Team as well as the rules and regulations committee for the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association.

“We will tell you about the efforts of Salisbury University's Transgender Interprofessional Care Team and our upcoming symposium. To make tomorrow different, we need to change today. For AFAB athletes to be equal, all members of our society must be equal. Biodiversity has no respect for the social concepts of gender assignment. The DIAA has voted to limit those AFAB to female teams only when that option is available. They have eliminated the minimum standards for transgender athletes but gave no guidance to member schools on how to include them. [Regulation] 1024 8.5 must be changed if you wish to strengthen Title IX for women,” said Carpenter Brown. 

For more information, go to meetup.com/rehoboth-transliance/events/300862087.