Act Queer! Teleconference: The Drug War and Queer Communities
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.
Our October 29, 2009 teleconference focused on how the drug war has affected queer communities across the country.
To hear the each presenter, press play on the audio player. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.
gabriel sayegh, Drug Policy Alliance (New York City) discusses the Obama administration’s drug policy agenda and updates on drug policy reform; medical marijuana laws; Rockefeller Drug Laws.
Lynn Paltrow, National Advocates for Pregnant Women (Washington, DC) discusses the connection between reproductive justice and drug policy reform; the history of prohibition of alcohol, abortion and drugs; denying the essentialness of choice in reproductive rights and in the queer community
Miss Major, Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (San Francisco) discusses drug addiction within the transgender, gender variant and intersex community inside and outside the prison system.
Kenyon Farrow, Queers for Economic Justice (New York City) discusses how the war on crime and drugs aimed to “correct” black and brown families through social welfare reform; the effects of the drug war on HIV epidemic in black gay men and transgender women.
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!
10/29: Act Queer! Teleconference on Drug War and Queers
Act Queer! Teleconference: The Drug War & Queer Communities
Queers for Economic Justice would like for you to join us on a national conference call on the drug war, and LGBTQ organizing strategies around these issues, as part of our ongoing monthly series on racial & economic justice issues that impact poor/low-income, people of color, disabled, LGBTQ communities.
Many studies show that LGBT people are disproportionately likely to use or abuse drugs, including alcohol. And many poor and low-income queer people, especially Black and Latino, come from communities that are specifically targeted by the War on Drugs within the US, and then find themselves policed and stopped & frisked for drugs and sex work in and around “gay” establishments.
Internationally the proliferation of opium and heroin is being used as a partial justification for the War in Afghanistan, and other drugs for ramping up the Drug War at the US/Mexico border here in the US. Despite the ways the Drug War shapes the lives of many queer communities, the issue of queers and drugs usually gets reduced to meth use among white gay men–which many reactionary activists and health officials have used to call for closing of bathouses and increased policing of bars and clubs.
QEJ is a partner of the International Drug Policy Reform Conference of the Drug Policy Alliance this November 12-14 in Albuquerque, NM, and want to invite you to this pre-conference call on the Drug War and the LGBT Community.
Please RSVP to this call. Supporting materials will be sent out in advance to those who RSVP.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
2pm-3:30pm EST/11am-12:30pm PST
Conference Call # (712) 432-0600
Password: 751219#
Presenters include:
gabriel sayegh, Drug Policy Alliance (Obama Administration & Drug Policy Reform)
Miss Major, Transgender, Gender-Variant, & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) (Transgender Prisoners, Sex Workers and the Drug War)
Kenyon Farrow, Queers for Economic Justice (The Drug War’s Impact on HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Black Gay Men)
Lynn Paltrow, National Advocates for Pregnant Women (Reproductive Justice and The Drug War)
This call is the 5th of a new monthly series called in our national coalition-building work called Act Queer! 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. The first call on Healthcare and the LGBT Community, can be heard here. The second call on Police, Prisons, and Queer Organizing can be heard here.