Act Queer! Teleconference: Jobs Bill, TANF, Real ID, American Power Act
As we geared up for the US Social Forum Queer People’s Movement Assembly we co-hosted, we wanted to take a look at 4 major policy issues happening this year (The REAL ID Act, TANF Reauthorization, American Power Act and the Local Jobs for America Act) that impact queer lives, and ways we may be able to organize around them.
To hear each presenter press play on the audio. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.
Francis X. Tobin, Jobs with Justice (Local Jobs for America Act)
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Materials:
Local Jobs for America Act Fact Sheet
Donna Pavetti, Center for Budget & Policy Priorities (TANF)
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Materials:
Slides on TANF
Report: “Strengthening Unmarried Parents’ Relationships: The Early Impacts of Building Strong Families.” The Building Strong Families Project. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, May 2010. Synopsis: This report provides impacts of BSF on couples about 15 months after they applied for the program. Early impacts show that, when results are averaged across the eight individual programs included in the evaluation, BSF did not achieve its primary objective of improving the stability and quality of the couples’ relationships.
Ari Rosmarin, New York Civil Liberties Union. (REAL ID Act)
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Nia Robinson, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (American Power Act)
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Materials: American Power Act Policy Documents
The purpose of the Act Queer! teleconference series 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 issues.
Queer Left At US Social Forum Pledge A Movement for ‘Safe Self-Determination’
For Immediate Release: June 28, 2010
Press Release
Contacts:
Caitlin Breedlove, Southerners On New Ground: 404-549-8628
Kenyon Farrow, Queers for Economic Justice: 212-564-3608
Joaquin Sanchez, Communications Liaison for the Queer and Trans Peoples’ Movement Assembly: 917-575-3154
Queers to the Left, to the Left
Queer and Trans Peoples’ Movement Assembly at the United States Social Forum Broaden LGBTQ Movement Agenda to Include Immigration, Racial and Economic Justice
Detroit – A newly formed national coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, two spirit, transgender and gender nonconforming groups working for economic justice announced a new agenda for the queer rights movement on Saturday at the United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit. This is the second United States Social Forum, which brought together over 15,000 activists, organizers and community members from across the United States and around the world to share strategies for advancing human rights and social justice. The ROOTS Coalition, grantee partners of the ASTRAEA Lesbian Foundation’s Movement Building Program, expands the current agenda beyond marriage equality and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to include the needs of the most vulnerable communities and the structural causes of queer oppression.
Kenyon Farrow, Executive Director of Queers for Economic Justice in New York City, explained, “The most vulnerable people in our communities face discrimination from schools, landlords, lenders and employers. This leaves them underemployed, underhoused and without access to formal education. This creates a pipeline into poverty, continuing the legacy of state-sponsored violence against poor people.”
“Queer people are immigrants, the working-poor; we are hard working single-mothers, domestic workers and bus drivers, journalists and educators. We live in rural communities, the big cities, the reservations and on the gulf coast. Immigrant rights, reproductive justice, environmental racism, indigenous sovereignty, the economic recession and ecological destruction are all issues that affect our communities,” added Paulina Hernandez, Co-Director of Southerners On New Ground, a southern regional organization based in Atlanta, GA.
The coalition released the “Queer and Trans Peoples’ Resolution for Safe Self-Determination,” statement generated through a collective process called the People’s Movement Assembly. Over 500 people over the course of the USSF worked together to produce a set of principles for Safe Self Determination. According to the statement, Safe Self-Determination is defined as a call to action to hold government systems accountable for ALL forms of state sponsored violence enacted upon queer, trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, gender non-conforming people; to fight for specific and concrete human rights and overall system transformation, deconstructing the US and global capitalist economy while building alternative economies, infrastructure and interdependence among groups rooted in the most vulnerable communities. (For the full text, follow the link: http://pma2010.org/node/210)
In the closing ceremonies, the more than 15,000 participants of USSF committed to upholding the resolutions produced by the 52 People’s Movement Assemblies that took place over the course of the week, including the Queer and Trans Peoples’ Movement Assembly.
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Low-Income LGBTQ New Yorkers Reveal “A Fabulous Attitude” in New Report
The Welfare Warriors’ Research Collaborative (WWRC) of Queers for Economic Justice celebrate Pride by releasing the findings of a three-year community participatory action research project, “A Fabulous Attitude: Low Income LGBTGNC People Surviving & Thriving on Love, Knowledge & Shelter.”
WWRC co-researchers conducted surveys with 171 low-income LGBT and gender nonconforming (GNC) people, gathering information about the economics of peoples’ lives, struggles with social services and police, as well as the many ways people generate justice. They also video recorded 10 storytelling interviews and audio recorded hundreds of hours of our research meetings, both of which were analyzed as data for this report. Some of the findings in the report are:
- Most of the people who participated in our survey (69%) have been homeless at some point in their lives. The majority (58%) currently live in a shelter, on the street or subway, or in temporary living situations.
- Survey takers manage intense targeting by police: over half have been stopped for questioning and almost half have been arrested. Further, 29% have been strip-searched and 19% have been physically assaulted by police at least once.
- Over 70% of survey takers rely on government financial and health benefits. Yet almost half report discrimination in a government or community agency – ranging from verbal harrassment to physical assault – and two-fifths of those were denied services. Staff or employees were involved in over 50% of incidents, police in over 40% and guards in 20%.
As these statistics begin to indicate, the report shows that low-income queers are dealing with issues of government and nonprofit violence, both inside and outside LGBT organizations. The struggles go beyond making ends meet; violences of poverty, racism, policing, and ablism pervade the lives of low income LGBTGNC New Yorkers.
At the same time, low income LGBTGNC communities give back and fight back. 113 responders described the 271 groups and organizations they are part of and 58% take action on their own and with others to resist daily injustices and build the communities they want to live in. Recommendations and desires included in the report include promoting community ethics, ending the use of the law against our communities, and taking action together for economic, housing, racial, sexual, and gender justice.
WWRC findings contribute to the ongoing call for attention to the ways racism and economic injustice intersect with homophobia and transphobia. This is necessary because of the ways LGBT issues continue to be framed in mainstream political and research agendas primarily in terms of sexuality, and to some extent gender, while ignoring racialized and classed dimensions of peoples’ everyday lives. Further, because low-income LGBTGNC people draw on their identities to survive and resist discriminatory and dehumanizing treatment, it is crucial to see and honor each other as members of multiple communities.
Download the full report here.
An accompanying documentary produced by the Welfare Warriors’ Research Collaborative will be screening in NYC and around the country. Portions will be made available online soon.
June 17: Act Queer Teleconference: REAL ID, Jobs Bill, TANF!
As we gear up for the US Social Forum Queer People’s Movement Assembly we’re co-hosting, we wanted to take a look at 4 major policy issues happening this year (The REAL ID Act, TANF Reauthorization, American Power Act and the Local Jobs for America Act) that impact queer lives, and ways we may be able to organize around them.
JOIN THE CALL TO FIND OUT!
Please RSVP to this call.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
2pm-3:30pm EST/11am-12:30pm PST
Conference Call # (712) 432-0600
Password: 751219#
Moderator: Kenyon Farrow, Queers for Economic Justice (New York, NY)
Presenters include:
Donna Pavetti, Center for Budget & Policy Priorities. (TANF)
Ari Rosmarin, New York Civil Liberties Union. (REAL ID Act)
Francis X. Tobin, Jobs with Justice. (Local Jobs for America Act)
Nia Robinson & Kari Fulton, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (American Power Act)
The purpose of the Act Queer! teleconference series 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 issues.
6/17: Welfare Warriors Release “A Fabulous Attitude” Report & Film
