Queers for Economic Justice Announces New Co- Executive Directors: Amber Hollibaugh and W. Brandon Lacy Campos

QEJ to launch The Queer Survival Economies Initiative in Fall 2012

Immediate Release
March 23, 2012

Media Contact: Roberta Sklar
917.704.6358
New York City, March 23, 2012:  The board of directors of Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ) is pleased to announce the selection of Amber Hollibaugh and W. Brandon Lacy Campos as co-executive directors of QEJ.   The board chose the two as their leading candidates after a rigorous six month search.

Hollibaugh and Campos both have long histories with QEJ, including most recently having served as the interim executive director and development director respectively.  Amber is  a founding member and former board member of QEJ, and Brandon has worked with various QEJ initiatives for a number of years before  joining the staff.

At the end of 2010, hard hit by the recession, QEJ faced the very real prospect of closing its doors. Amber agreed to step down from the board to serve as Interim Executive Director and in doing so brought a fresh  vision and energy to QEJ along with economic stability. . Through her leadership and with the support of QEJ’s first ever professional development staff person, Brandon, QEJ ended the year with an operating surplus, surpassing  fundraising benchmarks for 2011. QEJ also strengthened and expanded the Shelter Program work led by Jay Toole, and laid the foundation for a new framework for radical queer and trans organizing: The Queer Survival Economies Initiative.

“This is an extraordinary moment to be at QEJ”, said new co-director, Amber Hollibaugh. “ I helped found QEJ  and have been with it in one way or another through its entire history. To now be a part of the team placing QEJ’s voice at the center of the economic crisis facing LGBTQ people at this moment in history, is an honor. To do this work with Brandon Lacy Campos as my partner, is a gift”.

“ Amber carries a profound and transformative vision of the world, of bringing ourselves as full and flawed human beings to the work of justice and believing that every person is deserving of liberation and love. It is this abiding passion drawn from a life deeply lived that made me fall in love with Amber and her work. To have the opportunity to work with such an amazing organizer and visionary is a true gift.  Now, during QEJ’s 10^th anniversary year, I am honored to work with Amber to lead QEJ into its next phase,” enthused newly minted co-director, Brandon Lacy Campos.

Board co-chairs, Terry Boggis and Amanda Lugg, were elated about the appointment and said, “”We are tremendously excited. Amber and Brandon have robust activist histories in queer liberation work, unswerving commitment to QEJ’s values and ideals, and achievable, cutting-edge ideas about what QEJ can and should become. They both understand movement intersections, and will ensure QEJ’s work remains focused there. They are the ultimate queer left power couple, and we welcome them into this shared role.”

Over the next year, QEJ will continue to expand it’s shelter work, and launch its Resident Action Group project, a part of QEJ’s Shelter Safety Campaign.  In the Fall of 2012, QEJ is poised to roll out a bold initiative: Queer Survival Economies in  broad  community partnership with local labor, HIV organizers, immigrant groups, queer and trans  people of color allied organizations, working poor, queer elder coalitions.

Amber Hollibaugh brings more than 40 years of organizing experience to her role at QEJ, and Brandon Lacy Campos has worked in the queer movement, beginning as a youth organizer, for 19 years.  It is anticipated that with this new team of co-directors QEJ will emerge in the  second decade of the 21^st century, stable, productive and an innovative presence and voice in the LGBTQ movement.

 About QEJ  

Queers for Economic Justice is a progressive non-profit organization committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation. Our goal is to challenge and change the systems that create poverty and economic injustice in our communities, and to promote an economic system that embraces sexual and gender diversity. We are committed to the principle that access to social and economic resources is a fundamental right, and we work to create social and economic equity through grassroots organizing, public education, advocacy and research. We do this work because although poor queers have always been a part of both the gay rights and economic justice movements, they have been, and continue to be, largely invisible in both movements. This work will always be informed by the lived experiences and expressed needs of queer people in poverty. For more information: www.Q4EJ.org; 212564.3606

QEJ Condemns The Killing of A New Providence Shelter Resident

QEJ Condemns The Killing of A New Providence Shelter Resident

Queers for Economic Justice is shocked and outraged at the police shooting of Yvonne McNeal, 57, a resident of the New Providence Women’s Shelter in midtown Manhattan on Sunday evening, October 1st, 2011. QEJ has been working with residents and staff of New Providence Women’s Shelter since 2003, and Yvonne was someone whom had become a part of QEJ’s extended family.

After an altercation inside the shelter that moved to the sidewalk outside of New Providence where the police shot Yvonne McNeal, killing her. Yvonne’s killing on Sunday underscores the reality that the police cannot be relied on to respond compassionately to low income LGBTQ people when it concerns issues of safety in our communities. At QEJ, we are asking again how many potentially dangerous situations every year have to end up in a police shooting? It cannot be accepted that calling the police can be deadly for low Income LGBTQ New Yorkers.

Even in aggravated situations, the police have a choice to use non-lethal deterrents. A 57 year old woman with a cane that is attempting to re-enter a building, should not be the target of lethal violence. Like Oscar Grant in Oakland, the police had a choice; they chose to kill instead of preserve life. When police targeted largely white Occupy Wall Street protesters, they used pepper spray. When faced with a vulnerable woman of color, they chose to use lethal force as their first option.

“I feel that as homeless people, we don’t have a justice system,” said Gykyira Rodriquez, a member of QEJ’s LGBTQ support group at the New Providence Women’s shelter.

QEJ works at the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity to do organizing and advocacy around LGBTQ poverty, homelessness and economic survival.

Ms. Rodriguez, who is a QEJ volunteer and support group leader, echoed the sentiments of many shelter residents, including other active members of QEJ’s support group community. QEJ has seen this repeated pattern of racism and disregard for human life when the police are dealing with issues of violence because we are poor, from communities of color and may also be lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender or perceived as such.

A report released last year by Queers for Economic Justice Welfare Warriors Collective in conjunction with the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that calling or interacting with the police can be dangerous: 19 percent of 171 low income LGBTGNC survey responders in NYC had been physically assaulted in the past two years. Among those who were currently homeless, the number jumps to 24 percent. These numbers reflect broader national research that shows that LGBTQ individuals often find themselves victims of police violence when reaching out to the police for safety (NCAVP, 2008).
One QEJ study participant said, “I feel if you call the cops, the cops are going to think you are the criminal (when) they come.”

At QEJ, our hearts are broken at the senseless loss of Yvonne’s life. We are proud to remember Yvonne as she marched with us in the Gay Pride March this year. Earlier this summer, QEJ launched its Shelter Safety Campaign, directed by organizer Doyin Ola in partnership with Shelter Program Director Jay Toole. The violence inside and outside of the shelters, the threat from law enforcement and the wounding that comes from the prison industrial complex illustrates the absolute need for a project of this nature. The Shelter Safety Campaign will honor Yvonne by working to end the senseless and brutal violence bred by racism, poverty, transphobia and homophobia and aimed at the working poor, those in poverty, people of color, women, immigrants, mental health issues and the LGBTQ community.

For information on the Shelter Safety Campaign or the Shelter Organizing Project contact Doyin Ola, Shelter Safety Campaign Organizer, at doyin@q4ej.org or Jay Toole, Shelter Program Director, at jay@q4ej.org.

For information on QEJ and our work, please direct yourself to our webpage: www.q4ej.org.

For questions or comments on this statement, please contact Amber Hollibaugh at amber@q4ej.org or via telephone at: (212) 564.3608

12 Police Officers Harass & Handcuff Homeless Woman for Sitting in Fountain

A friend of QEJ, David Pring-Mill, was in City Hall on July 28th where he witnessed and recorded NYPD harass a homeless woman for sitting in a public fountain. He sent us these photographs, a video, and a write up of the incident and asked that we share them with the public through our website. *Trigger Warning*

On July 28, 2011, a homeless woman sat in the fountain in NYC’s City Hall Park to wash herself (while fully clothed) as well as additional articles of clothing. 12 police officers arrived on the scene. The woman got out of the fountain and sat on the edge of it. The officers encircled her for over half an hour, and then handcuffed her when she tried to walk away.

Full Story (written by David Pring-Mill):

I had heard stories about police misconduct in regards to NYC’s homeless population, but did not witness any such occurrences firsthand until Thursday, July 28, 2011. In the late evening, I strolled through City Hall Park. It was a hot day, and a homeless woman was sitting inside one of the semi-circular pools of water that are adjoined to the sides of the Jacob Wrey Mould Fountain. She was fully clothed, but appeared to be bathing, seeking relief from the heat, and washing some additional articles of clothing. I thought to myself that the sight of a homeless woman resorting to cleaning herself and doing her laundry in a public fountain epitomizes the current state of poverty in America in a profoundly sad way. I felt affected by it, then found an empty bench near the entrance to the park and sat down.

Then the cops arrived. I spotted about five police officers initially. I thought that this quantity was a bit excessive, and I walked over to see what was happening. The officers told the woman to get out of the fountain, and she complied. It looked like two of the officers were then walking away and I thought that they had realized that more officers responded to this call than was necessitated by the circumstances. But then those officers came back. And then another officer arrived. And another. And another. The officers stood and watched as the woman got out of the fountain. She removed the wet clothes that she had been hand washing and hung them out on the fountain edge. One of the officers parked his motorcycle at the scene and nonchalantly leaned against it. After the woman finished, she sat down on the edge of the semi-circular pool as additional police officers arrived. Eventually, there were literally a dozen officers encroaching upon the woman. I say “a dozen” not as a rounded or exaggerated number. I counted twelve, I photographed the incident with my BlackBerry, and my photographs substantiate this count.

As I took the photos, a few of the officers glared at me. Upon seeing this concentrated show of force, people stopped and seemed puzzled as they tried to figure out what was going on. Due to the proximity to City Hall, it is doubtless that some of them must have thought that the large number of officers was provoked by a terrorism scare as opposed to a homeless woman who had been sitting in a fountain. A Canadian couple asked me for directions to the nearest sightseeing tour bus stop, and also inquired about the presence of the officers. When I explained that the large police presence was in response to a homeless woman who had sat in a fountain, they expressed shock and related it to an incident of police brutality that occurred in Canada.

As the events progressed, the police officers proved to be exceedingly more disruptive to the public than the woman had been. She wasn’t violent. She remained seated the entire time. She didn’t shout out any threats. The substance of the conversation was not known to me because she was controlled in her level of voice. She was speaking and was seldom spoken to as the officers gathered around her. It is possible that she was refusing to leave the park, but she had already gotten out of the fountain and at no point did she try to get back into it. Eventually, she stood up to walk away and spoke loudly and with determination. “Okay I’m walking away, I’m leaving,” she said. The officers swiftly moved in and handcuffed her. I hurriedly fumbled to switch my BlackBerry to video camera mode and I filmed her being taken away by the officers. She implored them to state what she’d done wrong and she repeatedly asked for an explanation as she was ushered along. The officers didn’t reply.

If her offending actions consisted of her being in the fountain, why didn’t the officers take her away immediately? Why did they only do so after a standoff that persisted for well over half an hour? I use the word “standoff” ironically. The term denotes that both parties are standing or on some equal ground – this woman was sitting, with wet clothes, while she was surrounded by standing men with guns. If she said anything during the preceding standoff indicating that she might harm others, it wasn’t audible, and it wasn’t at all reflected in her disposition as she was being taken away. She seemed lucid, albeit understandably frustrated, and she articulated rational questions. The sense of panic and indignation in her voice was obviously the result of the officers’ actions. If she said anything objectionable to the officers prior, it may have been the result of the fact that she was surrounded by twelve law enforcement officers after a situation in which her dignity was already compromised. She did not seem to be a threat to herself either. To the contrary, she was concerned about why she was being handcuffed, and in the video, she can even be heard asking about her bag of things. If the officers wish to allege that she was at risk for self-harm, why would a woman seeking to harm herself be concerned about her meager worldly possessions?

The officers put the woman into a FDNY EMT ambulance, and then they shook each other’s hands and congratulated one another on a job well done. It was sickening to see such pride in such a shameful act, in the feat of twelve armed men handcuffing and carting away a frail homeless woman who was trying to clean her clothes. Most of the officers had merely been spectators. They evidently had heard the call over the radio that a woman was caught bathing in a fountain, and they couldn’t resist the novelty of witnessing such an occurrence. They did so at the taxpayers’ expense and were consequently not available to immediately respond to more urgent matters that might have actually required them to be there.

I confronted a police officer and asked, “Excuse me, why was that woman arrested?” The exchange went as follows:

“She was in the fountain…”

“I know she was in the fountain, but she got out of the fountain. You guys told her to get out and she did; she was no longer in the fountain.”

“You don’t understand, this woman, she’s wacko… she’s not thinking right…”

“About ten percent of the American public have mental illnesses. Are you going to arrest all of them, too?” (Note: After getting home that night, I did a search on Google to fact check myself. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, that figure is actually 19.9 percent.)

“She wasn’t arrested. She’s being taken to a hospital,” the officer replied.

Two other officers stepped up beside me and chimed in: “She’s crazy… she’s out of her mind.”

“A regular hospital or a psych hospital? What hospital?” I asked.

“I don’t have to tell you that. That’s all private. I don’t have to tell you her name, that’s private. A person’s medical records are confidential. That’s all confidential.”

“I’m not requesting her medical records…”

“All of this is none of your business,” he insisted, clearly done with my questions.

“It is if it’s a civil rights violation.”

He waved his hand dismissively in my face. Then those three officers walked away, and all of the officers dispersed from the park.

I am left now with troubling feelings about all of this, as well as the palpable photographs and video of the arrest. It is very probable that at some point in time in this city, rowdy teens have played in public fountains, and a drunken businessman or woman has stepped inside of one. Such occurrences probably resulted in those people being ticketed when caught, if not let off with warnings. But this woman wasn’t ticketed. She was intimidated, handcuffed, and forcibly submitted to a psychiatric evaluation at an undisclosed hospital. It seems that she was treated differently because she was homeless. If her offensive action was being in the fountain and such an action legally warranted that response then that response should have happened immediately. Otherwise, it would seem that they handcuffed her and carted her away because they didn’t like the things that she was saying or the way that she came across, even though there were no perceptible indications that she was a danger to herself, a danger to the officers, or a danger to the public. Do we now live in a city in which the police can handcuff and hospitalize citizens for seeming “wacko” during completely medically unqualified assessments in which the citizens are vastly outnumbered and demeaned?

Clearly, action needs to be taken. Homelessness is symptomatic of larger societal problems, and the fundamental issues need to be addressed. Too often in this country, we treat the symptoms of a problem without rectifying the underlying causes of that problem. In some instances, we not only fail to treat both the symptoms and the causes but we actually regard the victims of our society’s ills with something that comes close to contempt. Correcting the underlying causes would require broad reforms and thorough democratic discuss ions, but presently, one thing is readily apparent. An acceptable solution was not at all reflected in these police officers’ decision to infringe upon the freedom of a compliant homeless woman, encircle her in massive numbers, harass and intimidate her, regard her with derision, and subsequently justify such actions by calling her “wacko.” The NYPD is capable of being better than this, and I hope that New Yorkers will urge the department to institute sensitivity training that will prevent such encounters from occurring in the future. If we want to live in a society of compassion in which the freedom of individuals is respected without appearance or social class serving as a prerequisite, then this incident and other similar incidents are in fact our business, in spite of any claims to the contrary made by the police.

- David Pring-Mill, 7/29/2011

pringmill@gmail.com

QEJ stands in solidarity with the Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers

Hungerstrike News
July 17, 2011 No. 1, Day Seventeen

Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers Reject Proposal:

The Strike Continues!

Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition <http://t.ymlp118.net/eqataybwakajswaoahh/click.php>

Friday, July 15 – This afternoon leaders of the Pelican Bay hunger strike unanimously rejected a proposal from the CDCR to end the strike. In response to the prisoners’ five, straightforward demands, the CDCR distributed a vaguely worded document stating that it would “effect a comprehensive assessment of its existing policy and  procedure” about the secure housing units (SHUs). The document gave no indication if any changes would be made at all.

While the CDCR has claimed that there is no medical crisis, mediators report that the principal hunger strikers have lost 25-35 pounds each and have underlying medical conditions of concern. Despite the promises from the federal Receiver overseeing the CDCR, no one has received salt tablets or vitamins.

The hunger strike is now in its third week and shows no signs of weakening. In fact, the settlement document distributed last night to all hunger strikers at Pelican Bay prison, resulted in some people who have gone off the strike to resume refusing food. Hundreds of prisoners at Pelican Bay remain on strike, with thousands more participating throughout the CA’s 33 prisons. Advocates and strike leaders dismiss the false claims that the strike is being orchestrate by prison gangs. (Click here <http://t.ymlp118.net/eyazaybwaiajswatahh/click.php>  for a clip from a legal visit with hunger strikers, explaining why prisoners are doing this hunger strike)

International solidarity with the striking prisoners also continue to mount with demonstrations and messages emerging from the US, Canada, Turkey and Australia.

According to mediation team Laura Magnani, “From day one. the CDCR has demonstrated it’s inability to resolve this situation. We call on Gov. Brown to step in and negotiate in good faith to bring this situation to a just resolution.” Strike supporters plan to flood the Governor’s office with phone calls and emails, echoing the striker’s demands.

Given how basic the strikers’ demands are, it is immoral that the CDCR would insult these men with such poor faith proposal,” state mediator Dorsey Nunn.

The challenge for supporters outside of prison is to match the courage of the hunger strikers, and to effectively pressure the CDCR to immediately negotiate on the standards any negotiation should follow: with the prisoners in good faith, addressing all of the demands, and with the prisoner-approved outside mediation team.
It is still important to continue calling in and writing letters to Sec. Cate.

We also need to intensify pressure on all elected officials, from Governor Brown to local state representatives, to get involved in this struggle–urge them to make sure the CDCR negotiates with the prisoners, urge them to visit Pelican Bay and demand to see the prisoners. We can also be targeting press and media to do the same.

MOBILIZE to SACRAMENTO:
MON, July 18th from 1-4pm. Demonstration outside CDCR Headquarters. 1515 S. St.

*FOR SUPPORTERS EVERYWHERE:
Join a conference call to hear direct updates, and to strategize effective ways to support the strike and the prisoners in winning their demands!

NATIONAL HUNGER STRIKE SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE CALL:
Monday, July 18th: 6 pm EDT/ 5 pm CDT/ 4pm MDT/ 3 pm PDT
Toll-Free Call In Number: 1(800) 920-7487
Participant Code: 62435226

Click here for a complete list of Coalition press releases and advisories. <http://t.ymlp118.net/msalaybwafajswaoahh/click.php>

Recent Media Coverage

• Protestors In Support Of Pelican Bay Prisoners March Through SF <http://t.ymlp118.net/muaiaybwakajswaiahh/click.php>  - Jana Katsuyama reports for KTVU television, July 15 2011
• Prison Reform Movement’s Blogtalkradio show <http://t.ymlp118.net/meacaybwagajswadahh/click.php>  talks to Ed Mead, Julie Tackett, and D.J. Vodicka, on July 16, 2011
• Interview with Carol Strickman, staff attorney for Legal Services for Prisoners with Children “The CDCR is using every method they have to try and stop this hunger strike” <http://t.ymlp118.net/mmapaybwaxajswagahh/click.php> Revolution #239, July 17, 2011
• Interview with Clyde Young, revolutionary communist “We should stand firmly with the prisoners and their demands” <http://t.ymlp118.net/mjapaybwavajswaxahh/click.php> Clyde Young is a revolutionary communist and a former prisoner. This interview was originally done on The Michael Slate Show and has been posted at revcom.us <http://revcom.us>  courtesy of The Michael Slate Show (KPFK, 90.7fm Los Angeles, 98.7fm Santa Barbara, www.kpfk.org <http://www.kpfk.org>  worldwide).
• Interview with Lance Tapley, journalist; U.S.: “The World Torture Champions” <http://t.ymlp118.net/mbagaybwavajswavahh/click.php> Lance Tapley is an award winning investigative journalist at the Portland Phoenix in Maine where he has covered the Supermax prison in Maine. Lance is also one of the contributors to the anthology “The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse”. This interview was originally done on The Michael Slate Show and has been posted at revcom.us <http://revcom.us>  courtesy of The Michael Slate Show (KPFK, 90.7fm Los Angeles, 98.7fm Santa Barbara, www.kpfk.org <http://www.kpfk.org>  worldwide).
• Interview with Manuel LaFontaine, member of All of Us or None and the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition: “The worst of the worst is not allowing people to be treated as human beings” <http://t.ymlp118.net/mhafaybwadajswagahh/click.php> Manuel LaFontaine is a member of All of Us or None and the Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition. This interviewed was originally done on The Michael Slate Show and has been posted at revcom.us <http://revcom.us>  courtesy of The Michael Slate Show, (KPFK, 90.7fm Los Angeles, 98.7fm Santa Barbara, www.kpfk.org <http://www.kpfk.org>  worldwide)
• Emergency Press Conference in San Francisco: “We cannot stress enough how critical the situation is” <http://t.ymlp118.net/mwapaybwalajswapahh/click.php> Revolution #239, July 17, 2011
• Thousands of California Prisoners & Supporters Rally for Weeks <http://t.ymlp118.net/mqaraybwaxajswavahh/click.php> MIM(Prisons), July 2011
• When the Hunger Strike is in the US | Cubadebate (English) <http://t.ymlp118.net/myataybwaxajswaxahh/click.php> By Juana Carrasco Martín, Cubadebate Jul 16th, 2011 A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann
• Letters from Hugo Pinell and other hunger strikers – Rally to support the hunger strikers <http://t.ymlp118.net/jsanaybwaaajswacahh/click.php> San Francisco Bay View July 15, 2011
• Protests Grow in Solidarity with California Prisoners as Hunger Strikes Enter Third Week <http://t.ymlp118.net/juavaybwafajswaaahh/click.php> Democracy Now July 15, 2011
• Carl Small of the Montreal Hungerstrike Support Committee interviewed on Radio Free Worldinterviewed on Radio Free World <http://t.ymlp118.net/jeavaybwapajswarahh/click.php> , CKUW 95.9 FM Winnipeg, July 15 2011
• Pelican Bay/California hunger strike: 6,000 prisoners and growing <http://t.ymlp118.net/jmacaybwaoajswazahh/click.php> By Michelle Schudel, Liberation (Newspaper of the Party for Socialism and Liberation) July 15, 2011
• Pelican Bay Hunger Strike: Supporters Plan to Rally, Possibly Disrupt the Evening Commute <http://t.ymlp118.net/jjaraybwaoajswazahh/click.php> By Erin Sherbert San Francisco News, July 15 2011
• Rush Hour Protest Today to Back Hunger Strikers at Pelican Bay <http://t.ymlp118.net/jbafaybwagajswagahh/click.php> Rachel Swan East Bay Express, July 15, 2011
• Calif. inmates fight lockdowns, punishment of groups by race <http://t.ymlp118.net/jhacaybwacajswaoahh/click.php> BY ARLENE RUBINSTEIN, The Militant – July 25, 2011
• July 15: Amidst Pressure, CDCR Enters Negotiation with Pelican Bay Hunger Strikers <http://t.ymlp118.net/jwalaybwanajswaaahh/click.php> press release from the Prisoners Hungerstrike Solidarity Coalition
• Corrections officials accede to pressure, begin negotiating with hunger strikers as their health deteriorates <http://t.ymlp118.net/jqaiaybwafajswatahh/click.php> by Isaac Ontiveros, Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity, San Francisco Bay View July 15 2011.

Needless to say, a link to an article does not imply endorsement.

Click here for complete list of links to news articles since July 1. <http://t.ymlp118.net/jyataybwapajswakahh/click.php>

Upcoming Events
(next 72 hours)

EVERYWHERE
*Monday, July 18th: 6 pm EDT/ 5 pm CDT/ 4pm MDT/ 3 pm PDT:
NATIONAL HUNGER STRIKE SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE CALL: FOR SUPPORTERS EVERYWHERE. Join a conference call to hear direct updates, and to strategize effective ways to support the strike and the prisoners in winning their demands! Toll-Free Call In Number: 1(800) 920-7487. Participant Code: 62435226

In the US:

California

Los Angeles
Monday, July 18th, 9am – 5pm ALL DAY – Reagan State Building, 3rd and Spring Sts., Downtown Los Angeles

Sacramento
Mon, July 18th1:00-4:00pm: Demonstration @ CDCR Headquarters.1515 S St. Sacramento, CA

San Bernardino
Sun, July 17th 12:00-3:00 pm: Demonstration at San Bernardino County Central Detention Center (CDC). 630 East Rialto Avenue. San Bernardino

San Francisco
EVERY DAY at noon. California State Building, Van Ness and McAllister, San Francisco.

Nevada

Las Vegas
Mon, July 18th 8:00- 9:00 p.m: VIGIL IN SOLIDARITY WITH HUNGER STRIKE ACROSS CALIFORNIA. Address: *waiting on location*

New York

New York City
Mon, JULY 18th 11:30am – 1pm Demo in Solidarity with Hunger Strike in California. California State Franchise Office, 1212 6th Ave. between 47th & 48th, Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Arizona
Tuscon
Tues, July 19th @ 8pm: Informational Update on the Hunger Strike and Radical Folk Music Show featuring Ryan Harvey. At Dry River Radical Resource Center 740 N.  Main Ave. Click here <http://t.ymlp118.net/bsakaybwaxajswadahh/click.php>  for more info.

Rhode Island
Wed, July 20th: Fast/Rally (assuming the strikers haven’t had their demands met by then). organized by DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality). For more info, call: 401-351-6060 <http://t.ymlp118.net/buadaybwaaajswaxahh/click.php>

This list is of upcoming events we know of within the next 72 hours – for a complete list click here <http://t.ymlp118.net/beadaybwanajswapahh/click.php>

If you are organizing an event in your area, let us know <mailto:hstrikenews@yahoo.ca> !

Hungerstrike News can be reached at hstrikenews@yahoo.ca

QEJ Seeks Executive Director

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Executive Director

Queers for Economic Justice seeks an experienced, creative, visionary, progressive leader to fill the position of Executive Director (ED). This position is full-time and located in New York City. Check out our website at www.q4ej.org/jobs for more details including a full job description.

Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ) is a progressive multiracial, multi-class and multi-gender non-profit organization committed to promoting economic justice in a context of sexual and gender liberation. We are committed to the principle that access to social and economic resources is a fundamental right, and we work to create social and economic justice through grassroots organizing, public education, advocacy and research. The organization currently has a staff of three, associated consultants, many dedicated volunteers and a committed board of directors.

QEJ’s work is well known and respected in progressive social justice circles throughout the United States. The organization is committed to its foundational program of organizing with LGBTQ people living in homeless shelters within the five boroughs of New York, while looking forward to reviving and leading new projects.

We are looking for the right individual who brings

• Vision.
• A progressive analysis of class and intersecting issues of race, gender, age, ability, and immigration status.
• Political commitment to LGBTQ low-income folks.
• Organizational experience.

Responsibilities include: Supervise overall programming of the organization while maintaining autonomy of staff and volunteers; strategic planning and program development; collaborate with staff in representing QEJ public events, government and media; fundraising and major donor development; managing and expanding the organization?s $350,000 budget; building coalitions with other LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ social justice organizations; and collaborate with staff in representing QEJ in government and media.

Qualifications: Minimum 3-5 years of both organizational management and budget/fundraising experience; a broad understanding of economic justice and how it affects LGBTQ people on the local and national level; experience with coalition-building with multi-racial and multi-classed organizations; and superior writing and strong public speaking skills.

Applications will be accepted until October 1, 2011. No phone calls please. Women, people of color, people with disabilities, gender nonconforming people and transgender people are strongly encouraged to apply. QEJ welcomes applications from applicants regardless of nationality, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, sex, citizenship/status or disability. Hire is expected April 1, 2012.

For more information about how to apply as well as a complete job description including qualifications and salary/benefits please refer to our website at www.q4ej.org/jobs.

Please forward this announcement widely!

Needed — Shelter Support Group Leaders

Shelter Organizing

SUPPORT, TRAININGS AND ADVOCACY FOR THE LGBT HOMELESS

QEJ are the only organization to focus our work on the issues facing homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults.

* Outreach and Support: We run outreach and support groups at homeless shelters across the city. We are the only LGBT organization (and one of the very few groups of any kind) who go into homeless shelters. We provide support, and provide referrals to LGBT-sensitive services.
* Trainings: We also bring shelter residents out of the shelter and into our monthly “Know Your Rights” Trainings, where we offer concrete information and tools for LGBT homeless people to better advocate for themselves.
* Media: Q-Talk is our monthly television series which highlights political issues of concern to low-income queers. It can be viewed on MNN cable channel 34, and online.
* Advocacy: We advocate for fairer policies in the shelter system.
o In 2007, we successfully organized a coalition to demand that the City treat homeless LGBT domestic partners as if they are a married couple when they apply for shelter.
o In 2006, we succeeded in getting the City to create a policy that would allow transgender residents to self-determine which shelter system (male or female) they would like to live in.

For more information about the Shelter Project or to get involved, contact Jay Toole at jay-at-q4ej.org.

Sunday! QEJ Joins Forces with Labor Orgs To Show Solidarity at NYC Pride March

June 24, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

QEJ Joins Forces with Labor Orgs To Show Economic Justice Solidarity at NYC Pride March

Queers for Economic Justice, United Auto Workers (UAW), Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) & Walmart Free NYC Coalition join forces to make the economy’s impact on LGBTQ people visible at NYC Pride March

Contact: Amber Hollibaugh, Interim Executive Director, QEJ. 646.696.1266

Who:Queers for Economic Justice, United Auto Workers (UAW), Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) & Walmart Free NYC Coalition

What: NYC Heritage of Pride March

When: Sunday June 26, 2011, 1130am.

Where: Groups to convene at 39th Street between 5^th Ave and Madison

New York, NY—For the first time in many years, New York’s Heritage of Pride Parade this coming Sunday will have an economic justice contingent in the parade, comprised of labor unions, Queers for Economic Justice, and the coalition to keep Walmart out of New York City.

“Whether or not marriage equality passes in New York, LGBT New Yorkers are in desperate need of affordable housing, healthcare, jobs that pay livable wages and access to services,” said Amber Hollibaugh, co-founder and Interim Executive Director of QEJ. “The time is right for QEJ to stand strong with labor, and vice-versa, to speak out against the targeting of public employees and their unions and the criminalization of immigrant workers, including LGBTQ immigrants. QEJ is proud to celebrate the power of the labor activism happening in Wisconsin and the Midwest. We hope our joint presence at the parade will remind people of the bread-and-butter issues many of us continue to face.”

National data all point to the fact that LGBTQ people, especially people of color, are more likely to be homeless, lack adequate healthcare, and be discriminated against in the job market. In 2010, QEJ released the results of a survey of 171 low-income LGBTQ New Yorkers and found that 70% of them were currently, or had been homeless at some point in their lives.

“Today’s part-time employed might be tomorrow’s homeless,” noted Jay Toole, QEJ Co-founder and Director of the Shelter Project at QEJ. “Every day I meet queer people in the shelter system who’s main problem is that they are unable to get a decent paying job, or any job at all. And you can’t get housing without work. It becomes a viscous cycle. I am glad QEJ is beginning to work with labor so that we can get more of our people into jobs, and more into affordable housing.”

While QEJ has largely made organizing and advocacy for queer and trans people who are homeless and on public assistance it’s focus, it is laying the groundwork to be organizing more LGBT people who work in economies where there are a disproportionate number of marginalized workers.

Anyone who wants to march with this contingent of the Pride Parade should arrive at 11:30am on East 39^th Street bet. 5^th Ave & Madison Street.

For more information visit:

Queers for Economic Justice: www.q4ej.org | United Auto Workers: www.uaw.org | Walmart-Free NYC Coalition: walmartfreenyc.org | Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union: www.rwdsu.org

Another QEJ leader, Ignacio Rivera, speaking at a Pride event

‘Oppression is oppression’: Kalamazoo Pride speaker Ignacio Rivera says ‘we can work together’ on GLBT issues
Published: Wednesday, June 08, 2011, 5:00 PM

KALAMAZOO — For Ignacio Rivera, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgender (GLBT) pride is about being free to openly identify one’s self, no matter how complex that identity is.

“I am a gender queer, queer black Boricua (person of Puerto Rican/African/indigenous/Spanish heritage) from Brooklyn, New York,” Rivera said from Brooklyn. “Right now, I identify as trans-person, gender queer, and my pronoun is gender neutral, ‘they,’ ‘them’ or ‘their,’ or just my name.”

Rivera is an activist, performance artist, filmmaker and a founder of Queers for Economic Justice. Rivera recently performed at Fire in Kalamazoo and will give the keynote address at Kalamazoo Pride on Saturday.

Events such as Kalamazoo’s basically are about “visibility and also about trying to find a sense of equality.” In smaller towns “they are very necessary and very wonderful,” Rivera said.

“I actually think that the pride events in places that may be smaller or more conservative are places that need to have pride events. I think they have a different flavor than Pride of New York,” Rivera said. NYC Pride “is fantastic, it’s beautiful, but it’s huge, it’s grand, and some people feel that it’s very commercialized at this point.”

Rivera was born in Brooklyn in 1971. There was a time when Rivera identified as female, and became a single parent and was homeless.

If you go
Kalamazoo Pride

When: Saturday, June 11
Where: Arcadia Creek Festival Place
Cost: Free
On the Web: kglrc.org

Schedule
2 p.m., welcome address.
2:15 p.m., Le Souk Dance Company, Middle Eastern dance.
3 p.m., Community Showcase, talent show.
5 p.m., Nervous But Excited, folk duo.
6 p.m., State Representative Sean McCann.
6:15 p.m., keynote address with Ignacio Rivera.
7 p.m., Dunyua Drummers.
8 p.m., Doll House Invades Pride, drag queen/king show.
9 p.m., Pop Goes the Gio, Chicago band that’s been on Logo TV, MTV and is scheduled to be on “America’s Got Talent.”
10 p.m., Doll House Pops Pride, Pop Goes the Gio with drag queens/kings.

“Back then, when I had my daughter when she was 1, I came out as a lesbian,” Rivera said. As a parent in poverty, coming out, “I felt like there were lots of injustices around those things.”

An aunt invited Rivera to Massachusetts. Rivera earned a master’s degree and began grassroots organizing.

Rivera organized the first pride event in Lawrence, Mass., in the late ’90s. Some residents responded with a “Save the Children” event, to bus kids out of town to a theme park on the GLBT event’s day, “so they wouldn’t be subjected to Pride,” Rivera said. Religious groups fought to block their event’s parade permit.

At the same time, Rivera also was working for an environmental group fighting pollution from trash incinerators.

“Funny thing is, a week later, a bunch of us rallied to shut down the incinerators,” Rivera said. “Looking around at people fighting for people’s health and people’s rights, I saw the same (anti-GLBT) people fighting against us. … But in that moment we stood together, fighting side-by-side.

“I felt like people didn’t see the bigger picture. We lived in the same town, we breathed the same air. … It was pretty interesting.”

The experience stuck with Rivera during a move back to the NYC area. Rivera would like people to understand that “all oppressions are very much connected. Whether you agree or disagree with someone’s life, how they’re living, how they identify, what they look like, the bare bones of it is oppression is oppression. And we need to work together on these issues.”

Rivera often thinks of the quote attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller about apathy during the rise of Nazi Germany: “First they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. … Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

“I always think about those words. I think we get bogged down by a lot of differences, and sometimes differences scare the hell out of people.”

Rivera said in spite of differences in a community, there is much “that binds us together. We should think about how we can work together.”

Kenyon’s Speech for Newark, NJ LGBTQ Pride last night

Keynote Speech for Newark Pride Week
June 7, 2011

Remarks for Newark Pride Week City Hall Flag Raising Ceremony

Monday June 6th, 2011

Kenyon Farrow

First I want to thank the Newark LGBTQQ Advisory Commission, Newark-Essex Pride Coalition, Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center, and the African American Office of Gay Concerns.

When I first moved to the east coast from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio in 1999, I moved to Jersey City. And like many people living in Northern New Jersey, I would spend a lot of time traveling on the PATH train into New York City, in the hopes of finding some safe space for a young Black gay man like myself, something called community.

I spent a lot of time on the Christohper Street piers in the West Village. Listening to the latest hip-hop, R&B, or house beats blaring from boom boxes, watching the next generation of ballroom legends perfect their best duckwalk, or butch realness runway—the broken slabs of concrete slung over the dark river that once upon a time, nobody else wanted, transformed into red carpet worthy of a Hollywood award ceremony. I would head into Two-Potato, a hole-in-the-wall dive bar just up the way, and catch the drag queens dart in and out of the flimsy curtain keeping their latest fashion creation mostly hidden from the audience until time for the big reveal. From there, the night might take me to Chi-Chiz, the bar that stood right next door to the PATH train, where I would sit at the bar, mostly getting drinks bought for me that I was to broke to afford, and in between the Anita Baker or Stephanie Mills oldies playing where the bar would seem to be singing in unison, I’d be talking to whomever was sitting next to me.

After some time, of spending many nights riding the rails underneath the Hudson River, I began to notice how many of us, mostly Black and Latino lesbians, gays, bisexual, queer and transgender folks were coming to and fro from Jersey City, Newark, and all parts of New Jersey in between, in search of community, a good time, or some place that felt safer than the homes, apartments, shelters, or street corners from which we were fleeing. I thought back on the many conversations I’d had at the pier, or on bar stools dotted along Christopher Street, where so many people who I’d socialized with in the West Village, NYC, were actually from New Jersey.

It made me think a lot about home, and even in my own work as an activist with FIERCE!, why we were fighting the gentrification and displacement happening to Black and Brown queer youth in the West Village, but had not yet stepped up to the task of working in the places where many of us actually lived.

Being from a city like Cleveland, which is the butt of many national jokes in the same way that Newark is, in that people blame the condition of the city on the people itself, and coming from such a place, means that you carry that stigma or mark. People carry the blame for a city’s condition, instead of understanding the way deindustrialization, the undermining of organized labor, the gutting of welfare and other safety net programs, education systems dependent on property taxes and the bloated policing and prison budgets as more responsible for the ways in which people have to live. In cities and communities like these, in the national conversations and media about the “gay community” it is almost as if LGBT people do not come from places like this.

Our cities are not places where life—certainly not fabulously queer life—can flourish, or so goes the logic. Most of are are not wealthy. Most of us do not have expendable incomes. Many of us have children—either our own, children of other family members we’re raising, or other people’s LGBT kids who’ve been kicked out. We, like most people around us, are a no more than 3 paychecks away from utter ruin. It feels cliché to say it, but the television images and sometimes advocacy organizations claiming to be speaking for us, don’t not only look like us, but aren’t speaking to the realities of what it means to be gay, black or latino, in a place like Newark. Race, class, gender and the community in which you grow up or live, all impact the way in which your life, and life choices are shaped. It is not that there can be no LGBT community in cities like Newark, but that it looks different, and sometimes in ways that are illegible to the so-called mainstream. In may ways, when primarily Black and Brown cities like Newark are discussed, especially in their proximity to being “LGBT friendly” is similar to the ways in which African countries are discussed, as “backward” where there are no local activists or communities of LGBT folk in those places who are working hard to challenge homophobia and transphobia, and are not waiting to be rescued by an American or European NGO.

Whether or not we are on the radar of the national LGBT movement as a legitimate set of organizations and coalitions with expertise in organizing in cities like Newark, is not important. It would be nice to be recognized. It would be nice to have some of those many millions of dollars in suport from LGBT foundations coming in to support the work here.

But sometimes the best work happens in the places where there isn’t tons of support. With abandonment can come freedom—some sense of radical possibility. It is a place where innovation can occur, and where our community, or base constituents we are organizing, have the most opportunity to hold us accountable for the work we’re claiming to do in their name. And it is also important to me, that we do this work not just in the gayborhoods of America like the West Village & Chelsea, but that the work happens in Cleveland, Detroit, New Orleans, Bed-Stuy and East New York, Brooklyn, and Newark, NJ.

When the life of Sakia Gunn was taken in 2003, the question of where we do work became even more important to me. And although I knew there were organizations and activists already in place in Newark, like Liberation in Truth, AAOGC and longtime Newark activists like James Credle, I was impressed by the level of activism that took place here around her case, and a level of social justice work for the LGBT community here in Newark has only increased since. And Newark Pride Week, the possibility of public celebration of who we are, and our contributions to this city, is the fruit of all of the labor its taken since 2003 to build a better world for the LGBT community in Newark.

Though there have been other acts of violence, and other forms of targeting and bias that have occurred since, and sometimes challenging moments from members of the community who feel like having Pride Week or any LGBT recognition is an imposition, or a somehow in a city like Newark, separate from concerns about racial justice. To those people, I would offer that the work being done here by the coalition of grassroots organizations to make schools safe for students, to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic, to provide community activities locally for LGBT people is a benefit for any of us interested in reducing violence of any sort, of creating events and organizations that foster community and sense of belonging, and increasing the opportunities for supportive education enviornments for every student.

The fact that that we are here, celebrating PRIDE in Newark, because local organizations, local activists, decided to take care of home, is a testament to the strength, tenacity, intelligence and beauty of community organizing, the organizers who are here, many of whom have become close personal friends over the years. Struggle is never about arriving at some utopian destination, it is about the process of challenging what’s difficult, and continually building towards your vision of the world you want to live in.

So now the gentrification in NYC’s West Village is nearly complete—The Cristopher Street Pier was redeveloped and privatized. The boom boxes have long been banned. A seemingly never-ending runway on which many a ballroom legendary icon trained, was paved over. With it, the numbers of yuppie baby carriages, joggers, and high-end retail shops have sprung from the ashes of Black and Latino LGBT bodies lost to concrete, their ghosts just visible in the shadows of the Hudson River. Some of their stories have been captured in history. On Christopher Street itself, Two Potato was shuttered around 2002, and that bar that sat right next to the PATH station, Chi-Chi’z, poured its last drink this past March. What stands in its place is a large flourescent spotlight owned and operated by the New York Police Department, that probably cost several annual tuitions for a CUNY education, as a way to deter the young people from even stopping to hold a conversation.

So now that the NYC Christopher Street area has intentionally been made an inhospitable place for those of us who used to flock from Harlem, Bed-Stuy, East New York, Jersey City, and Newark night after night, I have to be thankful for the foresight of the LGBT community in Newark to be building community spaces right here, at home, for people to be able to organize, worship, receive needed services, and socialize.

So this year, we will celebrate Newark Pride with the usual mix of parties, marches, and fesitivities. We will raise this flag on Newark’s City Hall, which in many places is an act taken for granted. But I know that the celebrations are the result of struggle—a struggle that began long ago, has come along way, but has so very far to go!

Happy Pride, Newark!

QEJ Amazingly Queer Race for Economic Justice — TOMORROW, May 14th

Join us Saturday, May 14th to Race, to volunteer and to be a part of the Party to celebrate the winners at 4:00pm at the QEJ office. See You There!

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