QEJ Will Be There — Join Us!
Unite and Win: Stand Up for Workers’ Rights
New York City, NY
April 4, 2011 05:00PM to 07:15PM
Hosted by Chris Shelton, Vice President CWA District 1
Contact: 212 344-2515
On April 4 this year,the anniversary of Dr. King’s death, we will remind our elected officials that workers’ rights are human rights, and that those rights will not be destroyed.
In every state, in every community, the fight for workers’ rights and dignity goes forward.
And we’re not alone. Civil and human rights activists; union members and supporters; Latinos, Asians and immigrants; religious supporters; environmental, student and women’s groups; and many others: all of us will stand together for workers’ rights.
Some politicians want to silence millions of working and middle class families.
On April 4th at City Hall Park it’s time for Middle Class Families to make their voices heard. We will stand together. We won’t be silenced.
IT’S TIME TO FIGHT BACK
Sponsored by:
City Hall Park
New York City, NY
10007-1214
City Hall Park between Broadway, Park Row and Chambers Street
Whose House? Our House!
Whose House? Our House!
By Caitlin Breedlove, SONG Co-Director
Just a few weeks ago, I attended the Queers For Economic Justice annual reception as the Co-Director of SONG, with the gift of having my parents in attendance. Little did I know, how badly we would need the analysis and work of QEJ (and other LGBTQ working class organizations) so soon in Madison, Wisconsin. My family thought we had become middle class: that we were somewhat protected. However, now my aunt faces losing her job as a single mom, and her daughter (as a young girl with a disability) faces massive cuts to her schools. Everyone I know in the community there is deeply personally affected by the devastating bill and budget that Governor Walker is forcing on Wisconsin. Needless to say, the uprising of the people of Wisconsin is personal for me. I spent most of last week up there, in the cold beside my family, friends, and the community that raised me fighting for a just democratic process, our public space back, and our economic survival. What poor people and other oppressed people have been trying to tell all of us, has become clear to thousands in Wisconsin: the greed of the ultra-rich is endless and we have to fight for our lives, resources, air, water, other beings on this planet, and our dignity. They will give us nothing, we have to take it, and while as “middle class people” we are not as deeply impacted as poor folks, our historic buffer is disappearing. Millionaires will only protect Millionaires.
When in Madison, I had the incredible privilege of interviewing several LGBTQ leaders, people of color and white folks. I share some of their insights here. As Shameka Powell said: “This is so much bigger than collective bargaining, this is about human rights, and public good. That is what is at stake.” As LGBTQ people, we are part of this fight, we are workers, and are deeply affected. We are present in Wisconsin, and our community is still fighting a battle in a much bigger war: all of us against 5% of the planet that seeks total control of the planet’s resources. Poor LGBTQ people have always led the way in the LGBTQ movement in knowing and voicing these realities. Now we see even mainstream LGBTQ organizations and media, answering the call to the fight for worker’s rights. The importance of organizations that have been amplifying the reality that poverty and homophobia are connected and part of much bigger systems is key right now because our organizations have the base, the trust, and the wisdom to frame and lead these struggles forward.
Throughout the struggle in Wisconsin, we hear the chant: “Whose House? Our House”, as a call to the people to reclaim the public space of the Wisconsin Capitol. Few people know as much as poor LGBTQ people about being shut out of public space, both physically and culturally. In 2011, we have a chance to amplify our voices as poor LGBTQ people and allies—and share what we already know: homophobia, transphobia, racism, classism, and all forms of oppression lead to a zero sum game of violence, chaos and poverty for the majority and immense wealth for a very few.
Trans, Lesbian, Gay, Bi People: This House, this Capitol, is Our House. They have no right to tell us it is not our struggle, not our place, not our fight. We are workers as much as anyone else, and LGBTQ people in Madison are some of many leading a historic moment in our name. I encourage poor and working class LGBTQ people to join the many already involved to make our voices heard in the struggle in Wisconsin, Ohio, and all over this country. Solidarity!
QEJ says the obvious…still, being visible matters!
Study Undercuts View of College as a Place of Same-Sex Experimentation
New York Times
Amber Hollibaugh, interim executive director of Queers for Economic Justice, a New York-based advocacy group, said the results of the federal survey …
2011 Amazingly Queer Race Date Announced
AMAZINGLY QUEER RACE 2011
It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Yes, the 5th Annual Amazingly Queer Race for Economic Justice is happening Saturday, May 14, 2011! We’ll have more of the same—queer racing, queer challenges, queer prizes, and of course… LOTS OF QUEERS! We’ll be setting up to register teams soon, so start asking your friends! We’re also looking for some fabulous people to help organize the race, so if you can volunteer a few hours or a few days, please email volunteer@q4ej.org. In the meantime, email all questions about the race to race@q4ej.org.
See you all at the Amazingly Queer Race!
Jay, Rebecca, Dan, Marita, and Tyler
Tonight! Former QEJ ED Kenyon Farrow to be Honored on BET!
We just found out that tonight at 7pmEST Black Entertainment Television (BET) will be profiling former QEJ Executive Director Kenyon Farrow as one of 4 Modern Black History Heroes, a series of 106 & Park specials on contemporary “unsung heroes.” QEJ’s work will also be shown in the segment.
The others profiled this month also include:
Kevin Liles, an author, a philanthropist and a former Def Jam Music Group president;
Marvelyn Brown, an author and AIDS activist;
and Beverly Bond, the founder of Black Girls Rock! Inc.
They will also be posting a longer interview with Kenyon on the BET.com website.
Also earlier today, the Huffington Post published Kenyon’s statement for QEJ on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Tune in tonight if you can, and read the Huffington Post piece.
Congrats, Kenyon!
QEJ
New Video: See the Work Your Donation Supports
Dear Friend,
Many people around the country know QEJ from our presence at Creating Change, the Act Queer Teleconference Series, our Beyond Marriage statement, or some of the other national work we do to bring an economic justice perspective to queer organizing.
But fewer of you know what our work in NYC looks like on a day to day basis. Much of our NYC based work is organizing LGBTQ people in the NYC shelter system. As we come to the end of the year, and if you are still debating about where to make your end-of-year donations, or you’ve been looking for a way to tell your friends about QEJ, take a look at this video we’ve recently produced (with the help of QEJ intern Nicole Henry) about QEJ’s work on queer homelessness in NYC.
After viewing, please make a tax deductible contribution to QEJ, and forward this to 10 friends, asking them to make a donation as well.
LGBTQ Homelessness: Your Support Matters
Dear Friend,
Did you know that the average cost of renting an apartment in NYC is now $2700 a month? It’s no wonder then that the number of people in NYC shelters reached an all-time high in 2010 of 39,000? Our own recent survey of 171 low-income LGBTQ New Yorkers found that 70% were currently homeless, or had experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. Nationally, we know that queer homelessness is at crisis levels, as many urban centers have hugely disproportionate numbers of queer and transgender people who are homeless (adults as well as youth). And despite high numbers of homeless queer people, many are invisible in many organizations and in our queer community spaces.
Queers for Economic Justice has made homelessness the foundation of its work in NYC, running support groups in NYC shelters for LGBT people, linking queer homeless people to friendly social services, providing trainings for our constituents as well as service providers serving our community, and advocating for policy change at the city-level. QEJ trains volunteer facilitators to run those support groups in shelters to first provide a sense of community, and from there, it is possible to organize for social change.
We have found that many of us who are homeless are experiencing violence, discrimination and isolation. In 2011, we’ll be focusing more on ending violence and discrimination against LGBT people who are homeless. Won’t you make an end-of year conribution to support QEJ’s work organizing queer homeless people?
Tomorrow, we’ll be sending you a short video about our work in the NYC shelter system. We hope that after viewing, you’ll not only make an end-of-year donation to QEJ, but will also share the stories from the video with your friends, colleagues, and comrades.
Happy Holidays,
QEJ
A Military Job Is Not Economic Justice: QEJ Statement on DADT
In just a few moments President Obama is scheduled to sign the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy, which in theory, will allow for gay and lesbian members of the military to serve without being in the closet.
Queers for Economic Justice staff and constituents have all met people in the LGBT movement who have said to us that the DADT repeal is an economic justice victory, since many poor and working-class LGBT people join the military to have access to better jobs, and because the military is the nation’s largest employer, QEJ should be joining the in the victory dance.
But QEJ believes military service is not economic justice, and it is immoral that the military is the nation’s de facto jobs program for poor and working-class people. And since QEJ organizes LGBTQ homeless people in New York City, we wanted to remind the LGBT community and progressive anti-war allies that militarism and war profiteering do not serve the interests of LGBT people. Here’s how:
- The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports that about one-third of all homeless people in the US are veterans, but about 1.5 million more veterans are at risk of homelessness “due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.” They also report that 56% of homeless veterans are Black or Latino.
- Some studies also show that one in four veterans becomes disabled as a result of physical violence or emotional trauma of war. There are currently 30,000 disabled veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Rape and sexual violence are very common occurrences for women in the military, and the ACLU is currently suing the Pentagon to get the real numbers on reported incidences.
- Half of the US budget in 2009 was made up of military spending, including current expenditures, veterans benefits and the portion of the national debt caused by military costs, according to the War Resisters’ League. That is more than the US spent on Health & Human Services, Social Security Administration, Housing and Urban Development and the Department Education combined. Wouldn’t more social safety net spending help the millions of queers who can barely make ends meet?
In short, military service is not economic justice.
Furthermore, QEJ understands that there are LGBTQ people in other parts of the world, particularly Iraq and Afghanistan, who have been killed, traumatized, or made disabled directly as a result of the recent US-led wars, or who have become vulnerable targets by fundamentalist backlashes to US imperialism. We stand in solidarity with other LGBTQ people around the globe, and do not condone violence against them or their home countries so that “our gays” have the “right” to serve openly in the military.
QEJ supports real economic justice. You should support QEJ this season.
It’s hard to ask for a donation on such a tough issue, but showing your support for real economic justice is one way to reject the framing of militarism as economic opportunity. Make a donation to QEJ today.
From all of us,
Queers for Economic Justice
Kenyon Farrow: Why I Support QEJ
In 2005, I walked into one of QEJ’s Know Your Rights Trainings for 25 LGBT homeless people in our shelter project to lead a resume writing workshop. My life as an activist was changed. I found my political home. And since then, I’ve been with QEJ in many capacities, and most recently as Executive Director.
Next Wednesday will be my last day in the office as Executive Director. Though I will not be paid staff, I am staying with QEJ, and I hope you will too. Please consider making an end of year donation to support economic justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people?
I’m asking for your support because I know, not because it’s my “cause.” I am from Cleveland, OH, and knew many many of the gay, lesbian, bi and trans people in the poor black neighborhood I grew up in. Some of them are family members, some were close family friends. This community of poor and working class queers is where I started when there was no movement reaching out to us, when there weren’t any organizations.
When I came out as a gay man about 17 years ago, in the so-called “Gay 90′s,” I was shocked to find I could not find people like my mother’s best friend “Uncle” Roger, my sister’s friend James, the transgender woman I saw pass by window nearly every day, as part of the movement for LGBT rights.
But everyday at QEJ in our office, at our events, at our shelter groups, I work with people who are much like the kinds of queers people I grew up with, and continue to make up my chosen family. QEJ is more than just an idea, or a set of politics. It is my home. It’s our home, and we need your support to continue our work of building community in order to build a movement, to make real change.
That’s why I support QEJ. And I hope you’ll make a donation, and become a monthly sustainer. Make us your home too.
In struggle,
Kenyon Farrow
Welfare Warriors’ Documentary ‘Taking Freedom Home’ Released!
Taking Freedom Home chronicles two years in the life of the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative (WWRC), a project of Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ), a New York based non-profit organization. The film sheds much needed light on the challenges faced by low income LGBTGNC (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender nonconforming) residents of New York City as well as their intersectional social justice organizing strategies.
Equal parts video postcard and revolutionary workbook, the film utilizes memory, artistic expression and group analysis to reveal a process of personal healing and collective empowerment. Taking Freedom Home celebrates the creativity and vibrance of diverse LGBTGNC movements and particularly the historical initiatives of trans and gender nonconforming people of color in New York and throughout the US from the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 to the Critical Resistance (CR10) conference in 2008.
This documentary video was co-produced by Queers for Economic Justice and Wapinduzi Productions to document the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative’s storytelling process. It accompanies A Fabulous Attitude!: Low Income Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Gender Non Conforming and Queer People Surviving and Thriving on Love, Shelter, & Knowledge, the collaborative’s 70-page research report on low income LGBTGNC issues.
The Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative was a participatory action research project of Queers for Economic Justice that convened from 2007 to 2010. We came together to investigate the disturbing and infuriating poverty-related violences low income LGBTGNC people navigate every day. Trained in research by a graduate student at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and in documentary video production by the founder of Wapinduzi Productions, we videotaped 10 storytelling interviews and conducted 171 surveys with low income LGBTGNC people of color and white folks in the NYC area.
Our findings show that the majority of low income LGBTGNC people are strongly involved in their communities and use many strategies to fight for justice. We deal with continual discrimination and violence at the hands of police as well as staff and guards at government and nonprofit institutions. Those in our research also create personal and community projects that make their lives richer and stronger. Still, the struggles low income LGBTGNC people face are harsh and isolating 69% of survey takers have been homeless at some point in their lives and 40% use isolation as a means to avoid being targeted. Our work shows how racism, transphobia, and homophobia entangle with economic injustice to create such conditions.
Taking Freedom Home will engage the interest of friends and allies to LGBTGNC movements, advocacy and organizing groups, academics and policy makers, and community members that can relate to the difficulties of being low income and having the desire for justice.
To see the documentary CLICK HERE!
