3/4:(IN)VISIBLY AMERICAN:THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL IN QUEER IMMIGRANTS RIGHTS
PRESS ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA
Phone: 202-422-4909
E-mail: ben_deguzman@nqapia.org
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
Barangay-NY
Gay Asian & Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY)
Q-WAVE – Queer API Women and Trans. Achieving Visibility & Empowerment
South Asian Lesbian and Gay Association (SALGA)
Present:
(IN)VISIBLY AMERICAN:
THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL IN QUEER IMMIGRANTS RIGHTS
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- WHAT: We invite you to be part of a unique discussion on queer immigrants’ rights. A panel of experts will provide current updates on the debates around comprehensive immigration reform and their impact at the local and national levels. Members of our community whose lives have been affected by immigration inequality will also share their stories with us. Free!
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- WHO: Speakers Include:
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- Rev. Noel Bordador
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- Un Jung Lim
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- Hon. Daniel Dromm, Chair of NYC Council’s Immigration Committee
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- Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA
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- Miriam Yeung, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
- WHEN: Thursday, March 4, 2010
- Reception and Networking: 6:30 PM (light refreshments)
- Program: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
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- WHERE: Asian American Writers Workshop
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- 16 West 32nd Street,
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- Suite 10A
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- (Between 5th Ave. and Broadway)
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- New York, NY 10001
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- Phone: 212-494-0061
HOW: Co-sponsored by (list still in formation- contact us for more information):
Anti-Violence Project
Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS
Asian American Writer’s Workshop
Audre Lorde Project
Center for Community Change
Immigration Equality
Make the Road New York
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
OCA-NY
Queer Asian Spirit
Queers for Economic Justice
South Asian Americans Leading Together
Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC
Welfare Justice Campaign Delcare Victory; Reina Featured in Gay City News
After 5 years of struggle, the Welfare Justice Campaign declares victory for transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers accessing welfare. Gay City News writes;
Appearing at a February 17 press conference at the Housing Works Bookstore in Soho, Reina Gossett, a representative of Queers for Economic Justice, hailed the breakthrough, which won final approval in December from HRA Commissioner Robert Doar, but cautioned, “We still have far to go. In the past, similar city policies have failed in the training phase using inadequate curriculum and trainers lacking cultural competence. We need everyone’s support to insure that all HRA employees are trained.”
Congratulations to the Welfare Justice Coalition including Queers for Economic Justice, the TransJustice program at Brooklyn’s Audre Lorde Project, Housing Works, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.
QEJ’s February Events in NYC!
Hey Folks,
Just wanted to let you know about some upcoming events in which QEJ is participating. We hope to see you at one or more!
Monday Feb 15th, 730pm: Take This Hammer: James Baldwin & The Right to the City
Followed by a discussion with Rich Blint (Doctoral Candidate, NYU American Studies) and Kenyon Farrow (Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice)
A documentary that was lost for more than 40 years, Take This Hammer follows author and activist James Baldwin in the spring of 1963, as he’s driven around San Francisco to meet with members of the local African-American community.
Brecht Forum: 451 West Street (bet. Bank & Bethune). NYC.
Wednesday Feb 17th, 10am: Welfare Justice Campaign Press Conference.
On December 23, 2009 — after five years of organizing by Trans and Gender Non Conforming communities — the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) passed a procedure to stop rampant transphobic discrimination and harassment in New York City’s welfare system. Speakers include Jane Corbett, Executive Deputy Commissioner of HRA and members of the Welfare Justice Campaign (TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project, Housing Works, Queers for Economic Justice, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project).
Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby Street (between Prince St. and East Houston), NYC.
Saturday, Feb 20th, 7pm: The Myth of a Post-Racial Society.
Post-Obama, has America become colorblind—and is that even a worthy or achievable goal in this country? How does the supposed “post-racial” society measure up to the reality of poor and working people’s lives, 60 years after the Black civil rights movement? Join a freewheeling discussion and celebrate the ongoing struggle for “Freedom Now!”
Speakers include: Norma Abdulah, a retired school teacher and longtime Harlem civil rights leader; Kenyon Farrow, from Queers for Economic Justice and co-editor of Letters from Young Activists; and Emily Woo Yamasaki, representing the Comrades of Color Caucus of Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women.
Door donation, $3. Savory southern supper, 6pm, $9 donation. Work exchanges available for students, low-income and unemployed people.
Freedom Hall, 113 West 128th Street, Harlem (b/t Malcolm X Blvd. & 7th Ave.) Childcare is provided.
2/19: Farrow Speaking on ‘Myth of a Post-Racial Society’
Post-Obama, has America become colorblind—and is that even a worthy or achievable goal in this country? How does the supposed “post-racial” society measure up to the reality of poor and working people’s lives, 60 years after the Black civil rights movement? Join a freewheeling discussion and celebrate the ongoing struggle for “Freedom Now!”
Speakers will include Norma Abdulah, a retired school teacher and longtime Harlem civil rights leader; Kenyon Farrow, from Queers for Economic Justice and co-editor of Letters from Young Activists; and Emily Woo Yamasaki, representing the Comrades of Color Caucus of Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women.
Feb 17: Trans Victory! Welfare Justice Press Conference
On February 17 at 10am a press conference will be held at Housing Works Bookstore (126 Crosby St, between Prince and E. Houston) that will announce a victory for the Welfare Justice Campaign.
The Welfare Justice Campaign is a joint project of Queers for Economic Justice, Audre Lorde Project, Sylvia Rivera Law Project and Housing Works.
Click here to read the full press release.
Feb 15: NYC James Baldwin Film and Discussion with Farrow and Others
Brecht Forum - Film and Discussion
Monday, February 15 - 7:30pm
Take This Hammer follows author and activist James Baldwin in the spring of 1963, as he’s driven around San Francisco to meet with members of the local African-American community. He is escorted by Youth For Service’s Executive Director Orville Luster and intent on discovering: “The real situation of Negroes in the city, as opposed to the image San Francisco would like to present.” He declares: “There is no moral distance … between the facts of life in San Francisco and the facts of life in Birmingham.
“Someone’s got to tell it like it is. And that’s where it’s at.” Includes frank exchanges with local people on the street, meetings with community leaders and extended point-of-view sequences shot from a moving vehicle, featuring the Bayview and Western Addition neighborhoods. Baldwin reflects on the racial inequality that African-Americans are forced to confront and at one point tries to lift the morale of a young man by expressing his conviction that: “There will be a Negro president of this country but it will not be the country that we are sitting in now.”
Act Queer! Teleconference: Economics: Race, Class, Gender and the Economy
The purpose of Act Queer! is to connect grassroots LGBTQ racial and economic justice organizations with national queer and/or allied coalitions and organizations to share information and strategies on racial and economic justice research, organizing and advocacy.
In 2010 all of the Act Queer! telconference series will focus on the economy. As news stories, individuals and organizations have been discussing the drastic effects of the current economic downturn, there has been limited information about how the economy affects low-income people, queer/trans people, immigrants, people with disabilities, people of color, and those of us who fit two or more of those categories. We envision this year-long teleconference series to help all of us understand the economy and capitalism, and to use that knowledge to continue challenging and changing the systems that create poverty and economic injustice in our communities, and to envision economic systems that promote justice, and the health and well being of all people.
Our January 28, 2010 call was the first in this series. It introduced some of the most recent work being done on how the economic crisis is affecting people of color and the LGBT community. This series is a product of a partnership with the Center for Popular Economics. With their expertise these calls will provide some of the latest and most compelling economic speakers and research.
To hear each presenter, press play on the audio player. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.
Alyssa Schneebaum, UMass-Amherst
Brian Miller, United for a Fair Economy
If you have questions, comments, or know of other resources or events related to this topic, please feel free to post in the comments section!
Welfare Justice Coalition to Announce Win For Transgender New Yorkers
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 5, 2010 Contact: Jen Roman, Kris Hayashi
E-Mail: jroman@alp.org
- Phone: 718-596-0342 x 32, 646-305-4177(cell)
HISTORIC VICTORY: WELFARE PROCEDURE APPROVED TO ADDRESS DISCRIMINATION AGAINST TRANS AND GENDER NON CONFORMING PEOPLE, BRINGING NYC CLOSER TO BEING INCLUSIVE FOR ALL NEW YORKERS.
NEW YORK CITY HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION (HRA) APPROVES PROCEDURE
FOR SERVING TRANS AND GENDER NON CONFORMING CLIENTS
(New York City, February 5, 2010) – TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project, Housing Works, Queers for Economic Justice, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project will announce a victory for their Welfare Justice Campaign at a press conference on February 10, 2010 at 10AM at the Housing Works Bookstore, 126 Crosby Street (between Prince St. and East Houston), Manhattan, NY. On December 23, 2009 — after five years of organizing by Trans and Gender Non Conforming communities — the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) passed a procedure to stop rampant transphobic discrimination and harassment in New York City’s welfare system. Speakers include Jane Corbett, Executive Deputy Commissioner of HRA and members of the Welfare Justice Campaign.
Transgender and Gender Non Conforming people face extreme, abusive, unjust discrimination when trying to access government benefits in New York City. Some transgender people are denied the ability to even apply for benefits and told to come back when they “dress more like a girl, or boy.” Since 2005, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) communities in New York City have been fighting back by urging HRA to address the widespread Transphobia, discrimination, and harassment that Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people in New York City face when accessing public assistance. In 2005 HRA and a Citizen Advisory Transgender Sub Committee developed Best Practice Protocols for Serving Trans and Gender Non Conforming Clients (the new procedure is based on this document). Unfortunately, these protocols sat on the shelf for years and were never implemented nor adopted by HRA.
Jane Corbett, Executive Deputy Commissioner of HRA and Kavita Pawria, HRA Director of Office of Refugee and Immigrant Affairs have been working along side community groups for the last two years to develop a HRA procedure on serving Trans and Gender Non Conforming communities. On December 23rd, 2009, after years of organizing and advocacy by the community, HRA Commissioner Robert Doar finally approved the new procedure. HRA Executive Deputy Commissioner Jane Corbett stated that, “After much cooperation both within the agency and with community leaders outside of HRA, the procedure was finalized and distributed to staff last December. We expect that this reinforcement of City rules will improve our customer service.”
According to Mya Vazquez, of TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project, “Due to wide spread prejudice in order to survive we’re forced to apply for public benefits, yet when we go to welfare centers, we’re harassed, jeered at, and faced with discrimination because of our gender identities and/or expression.” She states that, “The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell campaign’ has taken up so much national attention and resources, yet the issues of daily survival that Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color deal with go unnoticed”.
Tracy Bumpus of Housing Works states, “This procedure is important because the greatest fundamental human right is to be free to love and live as our minds and hearts guide us. But for Trans and Gender Non Conforming people what is the value of freedom if we are afraid to seek the life sustaining services offered by HRA because we are discriminated against, made fun of and made to feel less than human. Hopefully this procedure will change the outdated ways of thinking that people seem unable to let go of.”
While approval of the HRA procedure is a major win, it is only the beginning. Reina Gossett, of Queers for Economic Justice states, “The approval of this procedure is a major victory for Trans and Gender Non Conforming communities, however we still have far to go. In the past, similar city policies have failed in the training phase using inadequate curriculum and trainers lacking cultural competence. We need everyone’s support to insure that all HRA employees are trained on the new procedure and that our communities are central to the development and implementation of these trainings.”
The Audre Lorde Project (ALP) is a Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Two-Spirit, Trans and Gender Non Conforming People of Color Community Organizer Center in NYC. TransJustice, a project of ALP, is a Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color organizing group.
Housing Works provides homeless and low-income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and their families with housing, meals, medical care, drug treatment, social support, employment opportunities and other lifesaving services.
Queers for Economic Justice is a progressive organization committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation.
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence.
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QEJ Schedule at Creating Change!
If you are attending the 2010 Creating Change conference in Dallas, here’s the schedule of workshops where QEJ staff, members and board will be presenting.
Creating Change Workshops February 3 -7, 2010
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Institute Sessions • 9:00AM–6:00PM
Anti-Racism, Racial Justice and People of Color Organizing Institutes
A series of simultaneous Day Long Institutes, details below, offers opportunities to improve skills to address institutional racism, fully integrate racial justice into LGBT organizational action plans, and learn with and from colleagues of color about deepening LGBT organizing in communities of color. The Task Force is proud to partner with the First Nations Collective, the Disability Justice Collective, Audre Lorde Project, Southerners on New Ground, and Queers for Economic Justice to develop content and to co facilitate these Institutes. The day begins with a special opening gathering of all participants in the Wednesday Day-Long Institute sessions.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4
Institute Sessions • 11:00AM–5:00PM
The Familiar Made Strange: Integrating Disability Politics into Racial and Economic Justice Work
The politics of disability, economic, and racial justice are inseparable in the lived experiences of poverty, the struggles of First Nations peoples for sovereignty, work-related injuries, homelessness, gentrification, sterilization, immigration, the closure of mental health support systems, and on and on. Come join activists from the Disability Justice Collective and from Queers for Economic Justice as we explore the ways albinism and disability impact our various communities and our activism. The first half of this Day Long Institute will focus on the fundamentals of building a Disability Justice framework. During the second half, we will explore the many connections between disability, class, race, queerness, and social justice work.
Faculty: Disability Justice Collective and Queers for Economic Justice
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5 • 3:00PM–4:30PM
Beyond the Meth Monster:
Queer Strategies for Ending the War on Drugs
Health • All Audiences
From Prohibition to the present day, the war on drugs has adversely impacted the LGBT community through the policing and raiding of queer spaces, resulting in disproportionate arrests for drug offenses. And yet, current organizing being done on the impact criminalization of drugs has on poor and working class queer communities, especially queers of color, is largely invisible (often the only reference to queers and the war on drugs is to meth use among white gay men). This roundtable will feature an intergenerational dialogue from experienced queer organizers from the Stonewall Era to the present, about their work organizing against repressive drug policies in poor and low-income queer communities, past and present.
Presenters: Miss Major, Executive Director, TGI Justice Project, San Francisco, CA; gabriel sayegh, Director, State Organizing and Policy Project, Drug Policy Alliance, New York, NY; Laura Thomas, San Francisco Drug Policy Alliance, San Francisco, CA; Jay Toole, Queers for Economic Justice, NY
Sexual Liberation as a Framework for Change
Sexual Freedom • All Audiences
LGBT people have had to cross treacherous terrain in order to find and claim our desires, and this valuable force remains a razor-sharp reminder, deep within our hearts, of who we really are-and of everything we truly can be. We have been shaped, deformed and liberated by the sexuality we have dared to claim. Because of that journey, we know that sex and desire are political. Liberation movements in our country often suppress or fail to understand the power this political fact exerts on shaping our worldviews, our definitions of oppression and freedom, our sense of what is possible. Leftist, feminist, labor, civil rights and transnational freedom movements all suffer from lacking an integrated view of sexuality as essential to a vision for liberation. Sadly, fighting right wing backlash at the ballot-box has had the same effect on the LGBT movement. Which brings us to the question of the day: are we still a movement for sexual liberation?
Presenters: Amber Hollibaugh, Chief Officer of Elder and LBTI Women’s Services, Howard Brown Health Center, Chicago, IL; John D’Emilio, Historian and Professor of Gender Studies,
University of Illinois in Chicago, Chicago, IL; Kenyon Farrow, Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice, New York; Debanuj DasGupta; Jaime Grant, Director, Policy Institute,
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Washington, DC
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 • 9:00AM–10:30AM
Equity, Fidelity and Sustainability
Sexual Freedom • All Audiences
How do we create equitable agreements in our sexual encounters and relationships? Does equity require symmetry in sexual practices and rules? How do divergent needs get met equitably? What is fidelity? Is it sexual exclusivity? Is it honesty? Is it both or neither? How are we creating sustainable practices and frame working our relationships? How do we measure success? Is longevity the measure of a successful relationship? vibrancy? Something else? This lively discussion will feature panelists who are embodying and exploring these values and concepts in greatly varying ways.
Presenters: Amelie Zurn, Jack Harrison, Kenyon Farrow
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 • 10:45AM–12:15PM
Welfare Warriors: Surviving Violence,
Fighting Injustice and Building Community
Racial Justice • All Audiences
This interactive workshop led by low income LGBTGNC members of Queers for Economic Justice will focus on sharing the resistance and resilience strategies that low income queer, trans and gender non conforming people use to navigate poverty related violence and build strong self determining communities. The Welfare Warriors project utilizes participatory action research (PAR), in which all members of the collective participate at each step of the research.
The session will be an opportunity to learn about PAR as a mechanism for raising critical consciousness around structural violence against queers of color and how QEJ has incorporated research into our on going campaigns. This workshop will screen the documentary of the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative, a project of Queers for Economic Justice. The half hour documentary captures on screen how low income LGBTGNC fought back against injustice, created liberating communities and survived poverty related violence in New York City. We will share how this media project has become a strategy of the Welfare Warriors to challenge discrimination, Homophobia and trans-phobia in New York City.
Presenters: Reina Gossett & Dwayne Bibb, Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 • 3:00PM–4:30PM
HIV, Race and Generational differences
Gay and bi men are a small minority in the U.S., but nearly three in five new HIV infections. Black gay/bi men are hardest hit. Infections among gay/bi men are increasing. Has HIV prevention policy failed? How do protectionists address the striking race and age differences among HIV+ gay/bi men? How will we handle the graying of AIDS, with a third of HIV+ people 50+?
Presenters: Kenyon Farrow, Executive Director, Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY ; Ronald Johnson, AIDS Action Council , Washington, DC; Francisco Roque, Institute for Gay Men’s Health, Gay Men’s Health Crisis , New York, NY; Lyndel Urbano, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), New York, NY
DAY-LONG INSTITUTDONGINSTITUTES