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

Stay tuned to www.q4ej.org/queer-race for the latest!

Email jay@q4ej.org for questions or concerns.

QEJ Holds A Vigil for Yvonne

On Sunday October 2, Yvonne McNeil, a resident of New Providence Women?s Shelter, was murdered by the police in an uncalled for act of violence.

A regular at QEJ events and support groups, Yvonne was a kind, reserved member. She marched with us at Pride and was a reliable source for other LGBT people at New Providence. Yet this was not taken into consideration as NYPD unnecessarily shot Yvonne five times following a supposed altercation between her, her partner and the police.

Please join QEJ staff, residents, volunteers, family and friends as we hold a vigil in honor of Yvonne?s life and every other person who is targeted by the police because of who they are and where they live.?The vigil will be on Friday November 18, from 5-7pm at the New Providence Shelter located at 225 East 45th St.

We will be having a moment of silence for Yvonne as well as a silent walk around the block together?showing the New York City community that low-income queers will not be taken advantage of and that we are a community wiling to support each other.

If you can help volunteer for the vigil either by picking up shelters and escorting them to New Providence or coming to our office at 2pm to help make sack dinners for vigil participants, please email carlos1@q4ej.org

For more information, call QEJ at 212.564.3608, email jay@q4ej.org or carlos1@q4ej.com

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

Our writers have written some amazing work ranging from stories to poetry to non-fiction. Join us this Friday, August 12th at the QEJ office at 6pm for QUEER VOICES: A Performance by QEJ’s Writers’ Group. We will be listening and supporting each others’ spoken word and talent and we hope you can be there to join!

Food will be provided, metro cards are available to those who need them.

Sit back and relax as we turn the QEJ office into a hip writers’ cafe! We’ll see you there!

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

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!

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.

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