Poverty, Public Assistance, and Privatization

12 Pages·2008·1.7 MB·English

Fighting for Economic Justice in Every LGBT Agenda… because there’s no justice for queers without it.
POVERTY, P UBLIC ASSISTANCE & PRIVATIZATION:
The Queer Case for a New Commitment to Economic Justice
© TOM OLIN
POVERTY, PUBLIC ASSISTANCE & PRIVATIZATION:
The Queer Case for a New Commitment to Economic Justice
Justice isn’t about a narrow idea of achieving gay equality within a framework of widening
racial, gender and economic inequality that renders most of us not equal.
Real justice is rooted in principled community relationships, and the idea that in community,
we must look out for one another’s rights and well–being. So real justice also includes everyone
who struggles for basic economic survival, and all of those who must have public support in
order to fully exercise their civil rights, including people with disabilities. Real justice honors
and actively supports the sovereignty of tribal nations. It fi ghts for the rights of immigrants,
including undocumented workers. And real justice connects domestic and global economic
justice struggles.
Since the 1980s, there has been a sustained attack on programs of public assistance intended
to provide basic economic assistance to poor and low–income people, people with disabilities,
and elders, many of whom live on small, fi xed incomes.

There has also been a sustained push to privatize assistance to those who most need it — that
is, to abolish public assistance for those who most need it and replace it with market–based
solutions that are in the hands of private charities, corporations and large fi nancial institutions.
All of this profoundly affects the lives of countless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT) people.
Here’s why economic justice is a queer issue¬π…
…and why there’s no justice for LGBTQ people without economic justice…
…and why we need to fi ght relentlessly for a new public commitment to economic justice…
! Economic Justice,
What is a Social Contract — Public Assistance, and
And Why Is It Under Attack? Poverty Are Queer Issues
We are advocates for all of the communities
In the 1930s, in response to the Great Depression that threw millions of
of which we are part — not only the LGBT
people and families — and thousands of communities — into poverty,
community. We are, variously, people of
the government created a new social contract with the people, an
color, Native American, bi–racial, white
agreement that public revenue (taxes) would be used, in part, to assist
people, people with disabilities, able–bodied
those thrown into poverty.
people, young people, and elders. We identify
ourselves in various ways: trans, queer, gender
Help was provided in the form of food, work, fuel, houses, and money.
nonconforming, multi–gender, lesbian, or gay.
This help was limited and racism governed much of its distribution.

And it wasn’t enough to take care of all of the basic survival needs.
Here’s how our own lives intersect with public
But it provided a lifeline for countless people.
support or assistance, poverty, and struggles
for economic justice.
The Social Security program grew from this contract, providing many

elders with their only stable source of income — giving them a benefi t
DEAN SPADE
from the taxes they paid to help others before them — and today
prevents many from falling into poverty. Medicare, Medicaid, and Dean Spade is the founder of Sylvia
other subsidized health care programs were created. Programs of public Rivera Law Project, NYC.
assistance and support continued to evolve, and were more equitably
distributed, into the 1980s. Pretty much all of my
life has been subsidized
But in the 1980s, a right–wing political wrecking ball began to demolish by various poverty DEAN SPADE
the idea that justice means we look out for one another. To do this, the alleviation programs, starting with AFDC (Aid
Right used a demonized, racist stereotype of a single Black welfare to Families With Dependant Children, now
queen, dishonest and greedy, to promote the idea that poor people called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families)
were stealing money that rightfully belonged to hard–working (white) when I was a kid, and Social Security survivor’s
Americans. At the same time, the Right used a demonized, racist benefi ts after my mom passed away, federal
stereotype of a violent, Black male criminal to begin replacing social fi nancial aid for college…
and economic justice initiatives with a law and order agenda.
My family collected welfare on and off
A sustained attack on welfare, or the various kinds of public assistance throughout my childhood. My mom was
programs that help poor people, began. In the 1990s, many politicians raising three kids by herself in rural Virginia,
from both major political parties joined in these efforts under the with a very limited education and no family
misleading label of welfare reform. for about a thousand miles. And our last stint
on welfare started when she was laid off in
The Right also pursued an energetic agenda of union–busting; the same month that our car burned up. We
deregulation of utilities, media ownership, and other industries; lived far away from the nearest town. [Then]
pre–emptive war; and expansion of a for–profi t prison industry at she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She lived
the expense of public investment in schools, housing, and health care. for a year after that and we stayed on public
Other forms of corporate welfare have been strengthened, and there are benefi ts; we got less than $400 a month and
new tax breaks for the wealthy. some food stamps

In short, public assistance to the rich and powerful — who are primarily COYA HOPE ARTICHOKER
white — is increasing, while public assistance to poor and low–income
Coya Hope Artichoker lives in Rapid City, SD, and currently works with
people, people with disabilities, and elders who are living on fi xed
Sacred Circle, an organization in South Dakota working to end violence
incomes, was either gutted or today remains under sustained attack.
against Native women. She is also involved in a number of organizing
Commitment to even the most limited form of justice is being replaced
by the push to privatize public services and resources. projects focused on native sovereignty, people of color communities,
economic justice, and queer organizing.
The result?
"! A broken social contract Native people are different from any other
"! Destruction of the idea that we look out for one another through group of people in the U.S. in the sense that
we have a very specifi c relationship with the
the creation of just social and economic relationships
United States government. I don’t think of
"! A politics of scarcity, fear, and resentment
federal dollars as public assistance but as the
"! Rapidly increasing racial and economic inequality
government fulfi lling one of its promises. This
QUEERS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE ! 1
LAURA HERSHEY technician) for several years, those values
Public Assistance, Laura Hershey is a free–lance writer, consultant, and activist refl ected my working–and middle–class
upbringing. Ironically, it was recovery, not
living in Denver, Colorado.
Supports & Commitments
drug and alcohol addiction, that originally
got me on welfare.
Everybody benefi ts from the various kinds Publicly–funded health care has been a
of assistance, services, supports, and mainstay of my existence throughout
I was admitted to Phoenix House
subsidies paid for by our tax dollars and my adult life. I need home health
Therapeutic Drug Treatment in 1969,
provided by the government, no matter assistance with all activities of daily living.
and was automatically put on welfare.
what our social class. I rely on Medicaid to provide me with daily
Residents don’t receive the money
attendant services, oxygen 24 hours a
Those who demonize poor people and want personally; it goes into the House, which
day, a wheelchair and maintenance for
to slash — or even eliminate — assistance to then provides the residents with everything
it, brace, and so on.
poor and low–income people, people with they need.
disabilities, and elders don’t want you to
think about that. But we do. And we want Home health care and attendant services Shortly after I left Phoenix House, I
you to think about how public investments have been crucial for me — not only so
relapsed. Soon enough, sick, strung out,
in these human needs are related to social that I can live independently, but so that
and unable to support myself, I was
and economic justice. I can live at all. They make it possible
forced to shed my middle–class aversion
for me to pursue my own goals in life,
to taking hand–outs, and I had to accept
We also want you to think about who
including school, writing, consulting,
benefi ts, and how — and who doesn’t — SSI (Supplemental Security Income).
and community involvement.
from attempts to privatize virtually all
of these benefi ts, services, and supports. Welfare saved my life. Without food,
Medicaid, in particular, is crucial to my
medical care, and their insistence that
independence, and to the independence
I attend a recovery program, I would not
of many people with disabilities. People
have survived.
need to understand that there is no private
changes where the conversation begins.
health insurance package that will pay for
I believe that most Native people don’t see After I had been in recovery for a few years,
long–term daily attendant services.
ourselves as being on public assistance. I had a few off the books jobs. When I got
We were placed on reservations against
our will. Part of the treaties were promises
“I think ignoring the fi ght for economic justice will
of food. People see food as part of the
obligation of the U.S. government just separate people in the LGBT community.”
towards us.
I never thought about the federal dollars Some packages may pay for short–term laid off from a long–term job, and my
we receive as welfare. For example, at my home care. But no private, employer– unemployment benefits ran out, I again
job, I don’t have health insurance and sponsored health insurance plans pay for applied for welfare. But this time, clean
that isn’t an issue because everyone who long–term care at home. This is a key piece and sober, I had a plan. I had enrolled
is employed here has access to the Indian of information in terms of how we view in college and was determined to find
Health Service. Medical care is part of what public dollars spent for supports for people a secure job. Finally, I was hired by the
was promised in the treaties. I expect that. with disabilities. New York City Police Department. Welfare
continued to support me for the six weeks
As a small child, my mother was a single REGINA SHAVERS it took for me to get on the city payroll,
mother and we received WIC, food stamps. and that was my start.
Regina Shavers founded and served as Executive Director
During the times my mother wasn’t
of the Brooklyn, NY–based GRIOT Circle,
working, we received food or commodities. CARMEN VAZQUEZ
an intergenerational and culturally
The U.S. government ships in large amounts Carmen Vazquez is a feminist,
of food to the reservations and then, based diverse community–based organization
LGBT activist, organizer, writer,
on your income, you qualify for certain dedicated to enriching the lives of
and community intellectual with
kinds, like government cheese and peanut
older lesbian, gay, bisexual and
butter. We call these commodities. an unyielding commitment to the
transgender persons, especially elders.
realization of gender and sexual rights,
We have jokes about this — like having She died in January 2008.
equality and justice. She lives in New
a commod bod because commodities are
York City.
very fattening, all sugar and starch. Or I used to believe that
being a stamp champ because you receive only lazy, irresponsible
or use food stamps. The long history and people, such as drunks I grew up on welfare in
presence of this assistance has become and dope fi ends, got on the General Grants Projects
part of our culture — not out of a culture welfare. Having been of Harlem where I lived
of poverty but a culture of treaties. a professional (a lab REGINA SHAVERS from the late fi fties through
2 ! POVERTY PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND PRIVATIZATION: A Queer Case for a New Commitment to Economic Justice
about 1971. We received cash assistance and was ridiculous. I
food stamps. My father was a WWII vet who decided to tell her I “[Privatization] removes the focus from
was disabled in the war and became an needed it, and she
people to things that can be owned.”
alcoholic. When his fi fth child was born, he did not respond.
lost his job and never had another one. With
fi ve children (and two more on the way) to
I guess technically Say hel–lo to condos on the way — no more
clothe, shelter and feed, my mother had
I’m not homeless now. I’m living with poor people with a view. My family was
little choice but to go on public assistance.
two lesbians, and I can live with them always on some form of Public Assistance,
for the next six months. It’s informal, but but never cash. My mom always worked
The cash allowed us to pay rent at the low–
they’re almost like foster parents. They but she worked low–wage jobs as a single
income projects that gave poor families
both work to improve schools and make mother. Minimum wage in a thrift store at
clean, safe apartments to call home. It
a safer community. $3.25 when we moved to Kansas City.
allowed us to buy coats and shoes. Before
food stamps, there was government surplus
I break the stereotype of a homeless kid. We had WIC (supplemental nutrition
food, which we lined up for every month:
I get good grades and will probably be assistance) and food assistance — I
butter, sugar, powdered eggs and milk,
the fi rst person in my family to go to remember those nasty blocks of
corn meal, Spam, cheddar cheese.
college. My mom won’t give out her government cheese, government peanut
fi nancial information, though, so I’m butter. I got free lunch in school and
The cash assistance kept us off the streets
going to try to get other fi nancial aid, like breakfast when I got to high school.
and in school. We had a
competitive scholarships.
warm meal every morning
With my mom, the system did what it
and night. It served as a
I cannot apply for federal was supposed to do. Once the kids moved
bridge between the time we
money. The government really out, she didn’t need public assistance any
were dependent to the time
does not notice that its policies more. She got a job that makes enough
when we could work and
with dependent/independent that she can do more than subsist.
take care of ourselves.
status hurt kids whose parents
aren’t supportive. As an adult, I have received unemployment
KYLE RAPINAN twice. Once while I was waiting for my
Kyle Rapinan is an organizer for the Gay, unemployment to kick in, I got a month of
BRANDON LACY CAMPOS
food benefi t. I’ve received benefi ts through
Lesbian & Straight Education Network
Brandon Lacy Campos, Minneapolis, Minnesota,
Every Penny Counts which is for folks living
(GLSEN) in Washington State. He is also
KYLE RAPINAN is currently a fellow with the Liberty Tree with HIV. Once a year you can get housing
an intern with the Safe Schools Coalition
Foundation for the Democratic Revolution. assistance for $400.
and the American Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC) GLBTQ Youth
Program in Seattle. I grew up in the projects in Duluth, I’ve received [access to] a stay in a halfway
Minnesota. At the time I lived there, house. There are times when having
My mom is a single parent, and she it was a new and very nice self–
raised three kids, me being the youngest. contained unit, the kind of
We’ve been pretty on and off with food place a project is supposed to Basic Needs Cash Support
stamps and Temporary Assistance to be. It was built with a focus on
Needy Families (TANF). We’ve also gotten intentional community — there
These forms of public assistance put government checks
dentist care for low–income people, and was a preschool for the kids in the or cash directly into your hands. They are intended to
sometimes rent assistance. project, a large communal space, help poor and low–income individuals and families,
open fi elds, woods. This was elders, and people with disabilities.
There were weird power dynamics at home. public housing done right,
My older brother called me a faggot and hit as opposed to skyscrapers. Among these supports are:
me with a lot of different things, and there "! Social Security
was a lot of domestic abuse. We kids spent most of our time "! Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for people
outside, exploring and playing. with disabilities meeting specifi c medical and
My mom basically threw me out, blaming When I’ve wandered back there fi nancial need criteria
me, and told me I could make it on the in later years, I’ve noticed it "! Social Security Disability Insurance
street, where my older brother couldn’t. I looked run–down, like they had "! Unemployment Insurance
was a nervous wreck until I got to Lambert the great idea and then couldn’t "! Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
House. A large percentage of Lambert follow through and keep it up.
Today, more and more restrictions are being placed on
House* youth are homeless.
most of these forms of support, and there is a persistent
Now, of course, it’s knocked
right–wing attempt to privatize Social Security, placing
I actually applied for TANF for a child only, down. Duluth has grown and that a stable source of government income at the whim of
and was told that I needed a letter from was prime real estate — on a hill the stock market.
my mom saying I was homeless, which overlooking Lake Superior.
* Lambert House is a Seattle center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning youth and their allies that encourages empowerment
through the development of leadership, social and life skills. QUEERS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE ! 3
Basic Needs
unemployment really saved my life. The I didn’t get fi nancial aid. I was trying System Subsidies
system isn’t perfect. You sure don’t get to fi nish classes, but could not. I couldn’t
enough money to do very much — but it fi nish my degree, I had no money, and I
You don’t get dollars, but various kinds of
gave me the space to fi gure things out was homeless. The shaming factor really got
goods are given to you to meet a basic need.
without having to fi nd another job right to me. So I went back to my parents’ house.
away. When I went to treatment and lost
Among these supports are:
my job, public assistance let me step back [Later] I went to work for AmeriCorps, "! Section 8 or other subsidized housing
and take care of myself for six months. I which doesn’t pay much, and they "! Nutrition supplements and supports
wouldn’t be talking with you now if that suggested we all apply for food stamps. for women, infants, and children
hadn’t happened. This was the cost of being an AmeriCorps "! Government commodity foods —
volunteer. So I put my pride aside and I cheese, peanut butter, etc.
A. SAVITZ got food stamps. Until then, I had never "! Food stamps
accessed public assistance. "! Medical care for elders and low–income
A. Savitz is a 25–year veteran of LGBT health care advocacy and
individuals, children, and families
community activism, and is a Jewish professional. She lives in "! Student grants/loans
IGNACIO RIVERA
Seattle, Washington. "! First–time homeowner grants
Ignacio is a Black Boricua, Trans Multi–gender, queer, "! Partially–subsidized, state–based health
Although raised and educated with economic and racial justice activist/performance artist/ insurance programs
considerable privilege, and despite community organizer/consultant. He is also a Board member
having worked all of my adult life in
with Queers for Economic Justice and lives in New York City.
both skilled trades and professions,
a series of severe medical I am a person who In order to gain some control in my life,
problems led me to
currently identifi es as I used welfare to my advantage and went
public assistance. I was
trans, but when I was to school. Under the current regulations I
couch–surfi ng within
on welfare years ago I would not have been able to go. I got my
a year of diagnosis:
identifi ed as a lesbian. GED. I received my associates in Liberal Arts:
unemployable,
I was a young, lesbian Social Work, my Bachelors in Human Studies:
uninsured, and unable
mother on welfare for Sociology, and my Masters in Sociology.
to afford even minimal
eight years. My identity
healthcare, or a home.
as a lesbian then greatly Although I was lucky enough to utilize
affected me as a poor welfare before the revisions and get my
With public assistance,
woman on different levels. education, as an activist and artist, I
and the ongoing help
know that I can be one step away from
of my friends and
homelessness. Having a true safety net
The fact that I was
religious community,
should be important, not only to those who
IGNACIO RIVERA a lesbian was one of
I have a comfortable
are currently living it, but for all of us.
the reasons that I needed
(though not completely
welfare. I was not able to get support from
stable) place to live, enough to eat,
family members. I was not able to secure
sustaining healthcare (except when the The Violence of Privatization
a well–paying job because I was a high
treatment isn’t approved, providers won’t
school drop–out, and I feared being outed. & Decreased Public
accept low reimbursements, or basic
medications aren’t in the formulary…forget In 1989, the concept of lesbian mothers was Investment in Human Needs
not as visible as it is today.
alternative medicine), and most importantly,
options more than mere physical survival. Privatization refers to the transfer of wealth,
Options that include politics. While I was on welfare, I could not reveal assets, and public services and function,
my lesbianism for fear that because I
and decision–making about them, from the
was poor and a sexual deviant, my
LUZVIMINDA CARPENTER (LULU) government to corporations and privately–
child would be taken from me. I played
held agencies and organizations.
Luzviminda Carpenter coordinates the Ladies First Hip–Hop
the game and had to lie and say my
Project for Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA) in daughter’s father was dead. The process of privatization also transfers
Seattle, Washington. accountability from public bodies, that
I conceived my child through a previous can (at least in theory) be held accountable
I lived in Spokane for several years when heterosexual relationship. That relationship by the people, to individuals or corporate
I went to college. For several months, was an abusive one. I was able to escape entities who have no accountability to the
I was technically homeless, living at the mandatory naming of the father rule public. This should be of particular concern
different people’s houses. I didn’t think that now negatively affects domestic to LGBTQ people and organizations, not
of myself as homeless, though, since I violence survivors as well as lesbians only because private contractors largely
wasn’t actually living on the streets. who fear losing their children due to remain free to discriminate against queers,
During that time, I would go to the food homophobia and those lesbians who but also because this process is profoundly
bank to get food so I could eat. are home–inseminated. anti–democratic.
4 ! POVERTY PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND PRIVATIZATION: A Queer Case for a New Commitment to Economic Justice
What are the impacts on queer communities lot of money selling goods and services of the commitment the government made.
of increasing shifts in public spending for people with disabilities. It’s much less I come from the Rosebud Reservation. As
away from human needs, and toward lucrative for the low–paid workers, like someone who is an enrolled tribal member,
policing, prisons, and war — and the home care attendants, most of whom don’t I have access to health care services. I can
network of public and private interests get health care coverage themselves. go to any Indian Health Service hospital or
who have a huge stake in their expansion? clinic and they have to take me. You have
to stay in the Indian Health Service system
A. SAVITZ
BRANDON LACY CAMPOS unless you have private health insurance.
I’m disturbingly aware of social and policy
Its goal (privatization) is to take the trends toward institutionalized coercion It is very hard to transfer our health care
responsibility of taking care of people and and control. Physical and data surveillance. to private health care without permission,
move it away from all of us to whoever The mercenaries called security contractors. or a separate, private policy.
wants to or gets paid to do it. It removes Increasing criminalization and incarceration
the focus from people to things that can of the poor, the young, the addicted, the There is talk about building a new Indian
be owned. As just a regular person, you economically marginalized. Health Services hospital to replace the old
don’t have any power over a private one and having it be out–patient only.
system, except the power that comes Personally, and locally, other than In–patient care is currently available, but
through how you spend your money. Which commercialization/exploitation of the they are downsizing and say they don’t
brings us right back to leaving poor folks urban LGBTQ market, I’ve mostly noticed the have the numbers to justify keeping an
out of the conversation. change to big business/business foundations in–patient system specifi cally for Indians.
as major donors and policy leaders. Large
In North Carolina, I worked with a statewide businesses fi nd LGBTQ diversity in their This is intense, and I don’t trust their
queer youth social justice organization interest — for now. It’s made fi nding allies (the U.S. government) numbers. The
to stop a private youth prison from being and short–tºerm funding easier, but ongoing solution to the issue of lower numbers
built. Queer and straight youth were in funding, endowment growth, and capital is to increase what they call contract
coalition to stop this prison, and our campaigns more diffi cult. health. The government is contracting the
rallying cry was Schools, not jails! That white private hospital in town to provide
was a moment where I felt like I was part
“I don’t think of federal dollars as public assistance
of something to stop privatization. There
are other isolated incidents of stopping but as the government fulfi lling one of its promises.
privatization, but nothing on a big scale,
This changes where the conversation begins.”
no movement focused on bringing back a
sense of the shared public.
in–patient care to Indians. Rather than
LAURA HERSHEY I think one of the most insidious effects
maintaining the Indian Health Service
of dependence on major resources is that
I especially think about privatization in
in–patient hospital, they are sending the
the LGBTQ community no longer scales its
terms of health care. The whole anti–tax
money to the private hospital for in–
activities to its members’ personal and
crusade that’s been going on over the
patient care. This feels like another way
fi nancial limits.
last 20 years has been devastating to the
to give money owed us (Native people)
states in terms of lost public dollars for
to a private, white–led industry.
We want larger, more elaborate, and more
education, Medicaid and other health
comprehensive events and organizations.
programs, and other public supports. Before the war (in Iraq) began, Indian
But we have volunteered to tailor our LGBTQ
We’ve all been harmed by the idea of Health Service’s budget for the construction
communities’ activities to the requirements
taxation as a terrible burden rather than of new buildings got about $100 to 120
of the businesses, foundations, and
as a way of creating more justice and more million a year, and now it’s down to $20
government agencies that provide much
livable communities. million and it appears to be dropping.
of our funding. What will we
do as that funding ends, or
There is a lot of fraud and DEAN SPADE
the demands of our backers
waste and profi teering Many services, like shelters and youth
diverge from the best interests
in the corporations and services, are run by religious groups that
of LGBTQ peoples?
institutions that provide discriminate against LGBT people.
services to people with
disabilities. Resources COYA HOPE ARTICHOKER The move away from supporting poor
should be there for the Privatization doesn’t affect us people, and toward imprisoning people
people with disabilities, the same way it does [non– for committing crimes like sleeping
and for the workers who Indians] — but it still has an outside, being addicted to drugs, and
actually provide the effect. Medical care is one having sex for money has meant that more
services, not just for the part of our agreement with the and more people in my community face the
vendor companies. These U.S. government. This is not horrible violence of the adult and juvenile
provider agencies make a public assistance, but is part criminal justice systems.
LAURA HERSHEY © TOM OLIN
QUEERS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE ! 5
What We Would Like to KYLE RAPINAN
Community–Wide System
I think ignoring the fi ght for economic
Say to Queer Groups
Subsidies & Supports justice will just separate people in the LGBT
Everywhere…
community. People and groups just seem
to focus wherever the money is coming
These expenditures go to support public spending that
from. So youth, and especially at–risk
is deemed to be in the public interest and is intended …and to all of our allies about what is
youth, get dropped from the picture.
to be widely available. lost to the larger LGBT movement when
we fail to address poverty and fi ght for
Examples are: economic justice. The whole movement might collapse if
"! Public schools, including free and reduced we don’t focus on the youth and bridge
breakfast/lunch programs the gap between generations.
LUZVIMINDA CARPENTER (LULU)
"! Streets & roads
You leave out the voices of many
"! Sidewalk & street accessibility features IGNACIO RIVERA
people. The voices of many people
"! Sewers & waste management of color will never be represented. The awareness around lesbianism in
"! Public health, including immunizations The movement needs voices of people the welfare system is still very invisible.
& disease control/prevention The subject of sexuality (and gender
that are authentically living economic
"! Emergency medical systems justice struggles. identifi cation and expression) is not of
"! Firefi ghting concern to the system we describe as
our safety net. The welfare system is a
"! Disaster response & relief Is the movement brave enough to meet
heterosexist one, and with the welfare
"! Police, prisons & other criminal justice the people who are really living these
reform laws that began in the 90’s, it
infrastructure struggles…even the people who are
became even clearer to those of us who
"! Military & Homeland Security stereotyped as violent? The people
depended on it.
"! Parks & public land who are economically and racially
"! Agricultural subsidies put aside?
The naming the father rule, compensating
mothers who married and stayed married
At the root of a lot of gay organizing,
to their children’s fathers, the fatherhood
Trans people, especially, are locked up economics are never really seen. They say
initiative and even abstinence until
in large numbers because we can’t access we live in a classless society, but there is
marriage sex education in schools all were
jobs due to discrimination. We get kicked a clear hierarchy. We would be having a
a scary and clear indicator to some of us
out of welfare offi ces, put in dangerous very different conversation about priorities
that not only poor women/ people were
shelters where we face sexual assault, if economics were included.
targets, but those of us who were queer/
And are just generally excluded from the
trans and poor were also having a war
remaining shreds of the welfare system. Marriage is a priority to the gay movement.
waged against us.
The result is imprisonment. The conditions But it’s not the priority for
trans people face there create long–term communities of color. The
I think this was at a point
mental health and physical damage that question here is larger: how
where some organizations
impacts our community. do you keep a community and
were talking about the
your family safe? It’s not just
connections with queer and
The loss of funding for legal services has about sexuality with me, and
trans people and poverty but
a big effect on our communities, too. marriage alone is not what
very few were actually doing
When our benefi ts get illegally terminated, I’m looking for. I’m looking to
anything about it.
or we get marked absent from workfare create community that supports
jobs where we’re being harassed or and empowers itself in many
The Mainstream was trying
discriminated against, it’s very hard to different ways. LUZVIMINDA CARPENTER
(LULU) so hard to prove that we
get help fi ghting for our rights to benefi ts.
were queers with money and
Marriage is a wedge issue. In the gay
created a very narrow view of who we
Increasing resources for the War on movement, economic status determines
were, that queerness looked like a gay rich
Terror has also had a big impact on trans who gets to put their issue on the table.
white guy. Of course, this is not the reality.
communities because those changes have Because of privilege, this issue gets on the
Homelessness rates, food pantries, shelters
made it even harder to get ID, which is table. If we don’t have the resources to put
and more are all fl ooded with queer and
already a huge issue for trans people, our issues on the table, the intersections
trans people farther pushed to the margins.
and impacts our ability to work and get of race, class, sexuality, gender, all that,
essential services. will never be addressed.
A. SAVITZ
“Is the movement brave enough to meet the people I’ll work on marriage, or the right to die
for the military, when you help everyone
who are really living these struggles…the people
live in peace, health, and justice.
who are economically & racially put aside?”
6 ! POVERTY PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND PRIVATIZATION: A Queer Case for a New Commitment to Economic Justice
DEAN SPADE Now, there’s increasing talk about creating What Our Experiences
Mainstream gay organizations have not gay nursing homes. Sometimes I hear
Have Taught Us
prioritized economic justice, and I’ve found people talking about that concept as a
it harder and harder to see myself refl ected positive thing. That’s so narrow. It doesn’t
in their agendas. solve the problem. Creating new gay CARMEN VAZQUEZ
versions of institutions that Welfare made a difference.
Fighting for rights only for economically are like prisons doesn’t I don’t know that college or
privileged trans and queer people is a actually take us forward. the rest of my life as a teacher,
trainer, and activist would have
losing strategy. It is clear that the current
economic climate is pushing more and None of us wants to have been possible without the cash,
more people into poverty, more people our lives controlled by food, and housing that were a
are living without health insurance, other people. I don’t think safety net for my family and
and everyone has less job security. gay nursing homes are the thousands of families like mine.
answer for LGBT people I don’t know that my life as an
If we only fi ght for health care rights for with disabilities or who are advocate for LGBT liberation
those who get health care privately through getting old. But it’s hard for would have been possible
CARMEN VAZQUEZ
their jobs, but ignore those who get our movement to talk about without welfare.
Medicaid and Medicare, or if we only fi ght these things. In some ways, I think
for parental rights for two–parent, middle– it’s a case of out of sight, out of mind. DEAN SPADE
class families and ignore the violence of the Growing up poor had a massive impact
child welfare system, we’re just fi ghting for Nobody wants to think about nursing on the rest of my life, primarily because
less and less queer and trans people. homes, or getting old, or becoming it helped me understand the economy in
unable to function without a lot of daily a way that I think only poor people can. I
A winning strategy is a strategy assistance. So there’s a lot of denial going understand that what I have relates to what
of solidarity, where on. That makes it very hard to think about others have, that poverty is not a matter of
we stand with all the new options. work ethics or morality. It is a matter of state
millions of people operations of distributing wealth, and that
who are losing out Nursing homes have been the only I can demand a fairer distribution.
in this system, rather response for so long that people have
than just fi ghting for come to think of them as a natural part My life and well–being are connected to
a queer piece of the of the social landscape. those of others, so as I moved out of poverty,
pie for the few queer I have maintained a strong sense that I am
and trans people who BRANDON LACY CAMPOS personally responsible for wealth distribution.
BRANDON LACY CAMPOS
have access to the pie. If we aren’t integrating poverty work I need to live simply and give away as much
and thinking about economic justice in as I can, and at the same time, work with
LAURA HERSHEY everything we do, we are not working social justice movements demanding that
When the LGBT movement overlooks towards justice. If you can’t tell me how resources be distributed fairly.
economic justice, they’re overlooking what you’re doing is affecting the whole
not only people with disabilities, but of us, and not just your friends, then stop I realize that everyone, not just people on
also the people who do caregiving and what you’re doing. welfare, is supported by the state, whether it
is through public schools, roads, tax breaks,
support service work for us.
I feel like there has been some work, or Social Security — and that giving all the
Sometimes I think that the LGBT movement however minute, on recognizing the breaks to rich people, and then blaming poor
has mostly adopted a civil rights model importance of addressing race in our queer people for being poor has got to stop.
of non–discrimination. Everyone should work. Everyone knows that your work is not
be treated the same. And that’s okay — up valid in any justice context if it’s all white My life work has been focused on economic
to a point. But a more expansive concept people doing it. justice because of my own experiences of
pain and trauma growing up poor. I have
is the concept of human rights at an
international level. That doesn’t mean that folks have changed come to see my role in joining a global
and that there struggle for redistribution of resources, an
are lots of end to exploitation, and self–determination
“I don’t know that my life as an advocate
people of color for all people.
would have been possible without welfare.” in leadership
positions — KYLE RAPINAN
this awareness Being from a really low–income family
Human rights are about the fundamental exists more often as lip service than action. has really pushed me to be a survivor…I
right to the dignity of the person, to a But it is a place to build from. We have to think that being poor and not having what
home, to a job. It goes beyond non– do the same kind of thing with class. Our everybody else has let me see that there’s
discrimination. Economic justice is a work is not valid if it’s only people with a connection between having privilege and
large part of the human rights concept. economic privilege imagining and doing it. being oppressed.
QUEERS FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE ! 7
For example, I have privilege because I can pass for a white American, Fighting for a New Commitment
but I’m oppressed because I’m a kind of effeminate–acting person.
to Economic Justice
Both of these things affect me being able to look for services.
Placing a commitment to economic justice at the heart
IGNACIO RIVERA
of LGBT work takes more than rhetorical declarations
Although I cannot personally speak about trans people and welfare
of solidarity.
since I identifi ed as a lesbian at the time, through my work with Queers
for Economic Justice (QEJ), I know that reform has been horrifi c for
It demands that we place the voices, histories, and experiences
trans– identifi ed individuals.
of those who experience poverty and struggle for basic
survival at the center of decision–making. And it demands
Work mandates have forced trans people who have lived in their
that we confront white supremacy and racism in every
preferred gender to dress according to their birth sex. Many trans people
aspect of our work — ranging from how we frame and
have had to leave work sites due to harassment and lack of protection.
articulate issues to whose voices are centralized in strategic
decision–making to who we depend on for our funding.
“Mainstream gay organizations have not prioritized economic justice,
and I’ve found it harder and harder to see myself refl ected in their agendas.”
BRANDON LACY CAMPOS
Others have said that leaving the mandatory work site, which meant
Everything I have accomplished has come with some kind
losing benefi ts and going to the streets, was safer than navigating
of assistance — from birth to college to treatment to sitting
through the welfare system and its transphobic mandates.
here right now. I get to engage with social justice work and
be fi erce about change because of my education and the
A. SAVITZ safety net that helped me out.
The personal is political. Again.
All queer people, and especially folks with HIV,
I have the empathy, interest, and skills, if no longer survive because of public dollars. Economic justice
an excess of money and energy, to pursue justice. and poverty are always there. They defi ne who gets to
Being experienced, I have more perspective on what participate and who gets left behind.
change is possible in any given period of time, or
economic/political climate. Sometimes folks are not there doing the social justice
work because they have to work crazy, long hours
I also know the LGBTQ political and social to just pay their bills. And so folks who never needed
mechanisms we’ve created to pass single–issue any kind of public assistance and who have the time
legislation, or fund one election cycle, will have A. SAVITZ and ability to work for low–wage nonprofi t jobs end
to develop considerably to change United States up defi ning the movement.
attitudes about providing a baseline standard of living.
You cannot have anti–poverty work done by people
COYA HOPE ARTICHOKER who do not personally understand poverty. It makes
it too abstract.
We’re on reservations because that is where we were put historically.
We’ve been put on land that’s not farmable, in really isolated and
As long as people with money and time defi ne the issues,
economically poor areas.
then poor folks will be left out. Gay marriage is only a
fundamental issue if you already know you can pay your
Given the genocide that took place and the attempts to acculturate
bills, have a place to sleep, and
us and to integrate us into what would be considered modern
eat something tonight.
society, the U.S. government created a situation which put us
in poverty. There is historical precedent for that, our poverty
did not occur in a vacuum. Let me be clear, it is this historical IGNACIO RIVERA
precedent that has created this. I have seen the harsh changes
that occurred with welfare reform.
A lot of folks think native people are waiting for handouts Under the current regulations, I
or there is a belief that we are complicit in our poverty. That’s would not have been able to go to
not true — it’s a question of land, of community, and of being school. Thousands and thousands
COYA HOPE ARTICHOKER
together as a people. of welfare recipients had to drop
out of school due to mandatory
Given a vision for ourselves, I don’t believe this is level of poverty, is work provisions. Quick–fi x trainings are encouraged and
what my people would want for ourselves, our children, or our families. education is not emphasized.
8 ! POVERTY PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND PRIVATIZATION: A Queer Case for a New Commitment to Economic Justice