NOW Board Member Accused of Posing as Woman of Color to Boost Re-Election Chances

This year’s board elections at the National Organization for Women were already poised to be tense: Allegations of racism at the highest levels of the feminist group have infuriated its membership and pitted current board members against one another. Now, the election is threatening to be completely upended by allegations that a candidate is claiming to be a woman of color in order to boost her election prospects.

NOW members told The Daily Beast they were shocked when BJ Star, a current board member, identified herself as Asian-American in campaign materials. Star, born Barbara Bencsik, had never identified herself as such in previous campaigns, and lists herself as white in voter registrations dating back to 1984. Multiple members said Star had not identified herself as a woman of color in past conversations about race or attended special meetings designed for women of color in NOW. 

Despite this, Star’s bio on the candidates’ website now states that she intends to build NOW’s diversity membership “as Asian-American.” (Downloaded versions of the page show this line was added sometime between July 23 and Aug. 7.) According to emails obtained by The Daily Beast, Star personally told at least one woman that she intended to run as a woman of color. 

Read more at The Daily Beast.