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!

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

]]> http://q4ej.org/military-job-is-not-economic-justice-qej-statement-on-dadt/feed 27 http://q4ej.org/military-job-is-not-economic-justice-qej-statement-on-dadt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Q4EJThinkQueer/~3/gmjmhJUR5Js/aug-19-act-queer-teleconference-on-hivaids http://q4ej.org/aug-19-act-queer-teleconference-on-hivaids#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:16:25 +0000 Q4EJ http://q4ej.org/?p=974 Despite the lack of leadership from the Left and LGBT Movement on the AIDS epidemic, queer and trans people, poor people and people of color continue to be disproportionately impacted by the epidemic. Recently there have been some major developments in HIV/AIDS policy and research, and we anted to share with you these exciting updates:

JOIN THE CALL TO FIND OUT!

Please RSVP to this call.

Thursday, August 19, 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:

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)

Materials:

Local Jobs for America Act Fact Sheet

Donna Pavetti, Center for Budget & Policy Priorities (TANF)

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)

Materials:

REAL ID Act Policy Brief

Nia Robinson, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (American Power Act)

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.

Research is something many grassroots movements shun, given its history of pathologizing low-income, queer and trans people, people of color, the disabled, etc.

And yet, there is a wealth of research happening by grassroots organizations, and researchers interested in the strength & resilience of communities.

What are the research strategies being utilized by different queer and progressive groups? What has been successful and what has failed in the past? When complete, where and how is this research distributed? How can the movements engage research towards creating a vision of social justice?

The April 29th call focused on the grassroots research of several organizations:

To hear each presenter press play on the audio. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.

Michelle Billies, Dwayne Bibb and Kagendo Murungi, Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative (New York, NY)

• Their report should be released this summer, stay tuned!

Shira Hassan, Young Women’s Empowerment Project (Chicago, IL)

• Download their report entitled Girls Do What They Have to Do to Survive: Methods Used by Girls in the Sex Trade and Street Economy to Fight Back and Heal here!

Juan Battle, Social Justice Sexuality Initiative (New York, NY)

• Take his survey here!

Download QEJ’s most recent report entitled Tidal Wave: LGBT Poverty & Hardship in a Time of Economic Crisis.

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!

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.

Building a Queer Left

QEJ is working on a new research report through the Building a Queer Left project (BQL). The BQL project seeks to build a progressive and radical coalition of organizations who approach their work in queer communities through a racial and economic justice framework. This coalition is determined to identify what issues are present within the “other” gay agenda.

The creation of an organizational directory is one of the tasks of the BQL coalition. This directory will feature organizations/groups/projects that are organizing around issues affecting our queer communities. This directory will be available to the public and can be used as a tool for grant proposals, referrals and coalition-building. We hope to complete this report by the end of the summer. Stay tuned!

The March 18th call served as an introduction to and description of movement building within LGBTQ organizing.

To hear each presenter, press play on the audio player. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.

Moderator: Suzanne Pharr, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice (New York, NY)

Presenters include:

Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, Intersections/Intersecciones Consulting (San Francisco, CA)

• Recent blog post written by Lisa that discusses movement building.

• Zemsky and Mann – Building Organizations in a Movement Moment (pdf)

Patty Berne, Sins Invalid (San Francisco, CA)

Coya Artichoker, Two-Spirit First Nation Collective (Minneapolis, MN)

Paulina Hernandez, Southerners on New Ground (Atlanta, GA)

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!

Our friends at EMERJ let us know that they have their movement building strategy posted online. Check it out by clicking here!

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

• Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community

Brian Miller, United for a Fair Economy

• 2010 State of the Dream Report

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!

Our December 17, 2009 teleconference served as a 2009 queer policy wrap-up.

To hear each presenter, press play on the audio player. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.

Andrea Ritchie, Attorney, (New York) discusses hate crimes and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Act.

• Sylvia Rivera Law Project Statement on Matthew Shepherd/James Byrd, Jr. Act.

Nicky Grist, Alternatives to Marriage Project, (Brooklyn, NY) discusses relationship recognition policies.

• Alternatives to Marriage Project – Blog (Same-Sex Marriage Section)

• Fact Sheet – Three Principles for Reducing Barriers to Coverage for Unmarried People

• Fact Sheet – Why You Should Care About Barriers to Coverage for Unmarried People

• Fact Sheet – New York Hospital Rights for Partners

Karina Claudio, Gays and Lesbians of Bushwick Empowered, (Brooklyn, NY) discusses trans unemployment and the Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

• Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Safe Space Flyer

• GLOBE Services Flyer

• Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Employment Survey

Robert Espinoza, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, (New York) discusses racial equality in LGBT philanthropy.

• Racial Equality Campaign Benchmarks (PDF)

• Grant Making Tool Kit (Postcard)

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!

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 November 19, 2009 teleconference focused on organizations that are using cultural organizing to push queer social justice issues.

To hear each presenter, press play on the audio player. Read materials from each presenter just below the audio player.

Graciela Sanchez and Amanda Haas, Esperanza Peace and Justice Center (San Antonio, TX) discuss the necessity of providing bilingual organizing in queer movements; grounding our communities in the knowledge of the intersection between our heritage and our queerness

Selly Thiam, None on Record (U.S., Canada and South Africa) discusses the documentation of the struggles and joys of QLGBT Africans through audio stories and their use for political change

Aurin Squire, Freedom Train Productions (New York City) discusses their theatre performances as a vehicle for imagination and creativity; using stories/performances to create empathy not just tolerance; using art as activism

Freedom Train’s manifesto

Kebo Drew, Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (California) discusses using their films to bring visibility to the many facets of queer women of color; women of color and immigration; QWOCMAP Annual Film Festivals

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!