When the System Itself is the Problem

Written By Gina Quattrochi

Trans women anarchists share Occupy Wall Street message.

Two weeks ago, within hours of Gay City News publishing my piece “Occupy Wall Street’s Tragic Lack of Gender Analysis,” a group of trans women reached out to me. They have been an integral part of OWS since its inception and they wanted me to know it.

What follows is a distillation of hours of conversation with two of these women, Justine and Zoë, founding members of the “tranarchist” affinity group that helped jump-start a movement that has swept the nation and the world. Justine, a 26-year-old open source technology developer, and Zoë, a 32-year-old community and online activist, joined forces shortly after anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters’ July 13 call for an occupation of Wall Street.

With two other trans women and a veteran labor organizer, they collaborated to create OccupyWallSt.org, which became the de facto website of the movement. Their twitter, @OccupyWallSt, is followed by more than 105,000 readers.

Clearly, they have a voice, but this is the first time they’ve spoken on the record about themselves as trans women in the OWS movement.

Given the time the women spent talking to Gay City News, the breadth of the conversations, and the value of bringing the most salient points they made to readers, their answers are presented as coming jointly from Justine and Zoë, who asked that they be identified only by their first names.

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Q: I was surprised you responded to my op-ed. Why did you take the time?

A: Your op-ed raised a lot of tough questions about the role and treatment of young women in Liberty Square, questions we’ve been struggling with ourselves. We want folks to know that we share those concerns, and hope that by reaching out we can find ways to work together to improve the situation for young women in Liberty Square and other Occupations around the world.

Your op-ed also really brought home the problem of visibility. Because OWS is a leaderless movement, we’ve been hesitant to speak publicly from what might wrongly be perceived as a position of authority. But as the movement has grown, we’ve noticed that the contributions of women, trans folks, people of color, and others, aren’t being recognized. So we felt the need to speak out and shed some light on the true diversity of the Occupy movement.

Q: Trans people have been key in many liberation movements. Do you feel a connection to those who preceded you?

A: Absolutely. Sylvia Rivera and the other heroes of Stonewall are a huge inspiration, as are the countless unsung trans heroes who’ve fought and continue to fight for social and economic justice. It’s no coincidence that the people who suffer most under systems of oppression are often the first to rise up against those systems. We have the least to lose. For us, reforming the system is not enough. The system itself is the problem.

Q: Why do you call yourselves anarchists, a term that makes so many people anxious and often has negative connotations?

A: The corporate media has a vested interest in smearing anarchists as crazy kids who want violence and chaos, but open any newspaper and you’ll see that it’s the one percent that’s spreading violence and chaos, not anarchism. We’re proud to call ourselves anarchists in the tradition of great thinkers like Emma Goldman. We’re the people who dare to ask questions like, “Why is it even necessary for a small group of men in Washington and Wall Street to control the lives of billions of people?”

Our solution is simple. We’re building a compassionate, egalitarian society by putting power back where it belongs — in the hands of local communities.

Q: You talk about the activism of trans people in OWS and other movements, but what about homeless trans youth or young trans sex workers who don’t have the resources to come to Zuccotti Park or have Internet access to the movement?

A: They’re one of the reasons we decided to share our story. We want all trans and gender non-conforming people, particularly youth, to know they are part of OWS. They have a lot to teach us about building community and surviving without institutional support. OWS needs that wisdom and experience. We’ll help them connect; they just have to reach out through whatever means are available to them.

Q: So if transgender youth want to come down to Liberty Square to get involved, what should they do?

A: The best place to start is the Info Desk, near the corner of Liberty and Broadway. One thing to ask about is “Queering OWS,” or the “Queer Caucus,” which is open to anyone regardless of culture, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We absolutely encourage LGBT youth to come down to the square, make some new friends, and even get some free food while they’re at it.

Q: I’m fascinated by the General Assembly, the human mic, and all those hand signals used during mass meetings. I especially like the “sparkle fingers” [waving your fingers over your head to signify enthusiastic agreement].

A: GA process is designed to facilitate collective thinking in a way where every person participating is engaged in the discussion and, most importantly, having fun! Non-verbal cues like sparkle fingers let people communicate their feelings to the group without disrupting the person speaking. We like to think of it as a social technology, a sort of organic hack.

Everyone has an opportunity to have direct input at the GA, but what a lot of people don’t know about is what we call the progressive stack. If you self-identify as trans, queer, a person of color, female, or as a member of any marginalized group, you’re given priority on the list of people who want to speak — the stack. The most oppressed get to speak first.

Q: What is your greatest fear for OWS right now?

A: We continue to fear police aggression. Most cops are decent people who just want to do their jobs, and many quietly support the movement, but the brutalities inflicted on peaceful protesters are not just a case of a few bad apples. Instead, we are subject to an unwritten policy of intimidation and unaccountability clearly intended to undermine our civil rights.

We’re especially concerned for trans people because the NYPD lacks protocols for trans incarceration. After the mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge last month, a trans man was segregated from his fellow protesters, chained for eight hours next to a restroom, denied food and water, and humiliated by the very officers charged with his protection. As trans women, we risk incarceration in men’s detention, where the danger of violence against us is real. Injustices like these discourage many of us from participating in civil disobedience. It’s unacceptable.

Q: One of the things people criticize most about OWS is the lack of specific demands. What do you say to that?

A: We haven’t published a “one demand” on our website because no catch phrase can end inequality for all. Every community has their own set of demands to end the unique forms of oppression they face. What right do we have to tell them otherwise?

Furthermore, we believe the trust of the American public has been so thoroughly betrayed by politicians that we can no longer wait for another broken promise. Rather than making demands of the one percent, we call upon the 99 percent to fight back and start building a better world today.

Q: If people want to help, what can they do?

A: The best way to help is by organizing your communities and workplaces to fight back against social and economic injustice. For some, this isn’t a possibility, so we have a donate button on our website listing occupations around the country in need of support. Our website has helped raise hundreds of thousands for the New York General Assembly, but to preserve our autonomy as a collective, we accept no funding from them. If folks want to help us directly, they can go to our donation page at www.wepay.com/donate/ows.

As unpaid full-time activists, we rely on the generosity of others to have our basic needs met so we can continue doing the work we’re doing. We also need downtown meeting and office space, and could really use some temporary housing. Running a major website from Liberty Square was next to impossible, and going from couch to couch each night is exhausting. We know if we were more rested, we could get even more done.

Q: How can people interested in speaking with you, helping, or coming down to participate reach you?

A: As soon as we leave here we’ll set up an email address — lgbt@occupywallst.org. We get busy so if you don’t hear from us, keep trying. We want everyone to understand that we are not leading anything and speak only for ourselves. We believe all of us know the solutions already. We just have to work together to make it happen.
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Published in Gay City News  http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2011/11/09/gay_city_news/news/doc4ebace95a0c26985577656.txt

 

You could always tell whether someone was a “Rodger insider” by the way they spelled his first name. Anyone who forgot the “d” was clearly a wannabee. In the days of spellchek, you had to be extra careful – deletion of the “d” was a fate worse than anonymity for a Rodger fan.

I first met him in 1985, at a benefit for AIDS Resource Center (now Bailey House). His lanky 6’5” frame and those big ears towered above everyone else. I would soon learn that Rodger filled the room in more ways than one.

I don’t know why we clicked – he certainly had many other adoring fans from earlier days of the AIDS epidemic, his role in GMHC and his relationship with ACT-Up founder Larry Kramer, but it was love at first sight. From the initial “darling” in that sweet southern Rodger drawl to the hugs that required him to stoop over, even to my 5”7” frame, he was my friend and confident until he died. He had others in his life – many others – but Rodger was always there for me with his smartass surgical take on whatever was going on.  And like the warrior he was, he never pulled punches!

A few years ago I called Rodger in Denver, where he was head of the Gill Foundation, to seek his counsel on funding issues. When I explained that most government contracts barely covered  1/3 of our modest overhead he shouted, “Close it down. We can’t continue to do this work without the money we need.” and ended by encouraging me to consider organizational hari kari as a political act. Board and senior staff members were shocked but I laughed knowing that Rodger had just delivered one of his loving but unsentimental asskickings. He always knew how to make others dig deep and muster their fight.

Last year I received a call from a colleagues of Rodger’s who informed me that he had committed suicide. When she said it was in Truth of Consequences, New Mexico, I couldn’t help notice the irony. This beloved man, legendary in his own right — an AIDS warrior who had conquered mountains, life on a nuclear submarine, thousands of gay men dying on his watch and countless stunning victories and devastating defeats, had gone to a remote desert town, settled in and taken his own life now riddled by chronic pain. In the end Rodger was the samurai who died by his own hand. For me life will never be quite as colorful without him. I miss you Rodger, and yes, you were right!

With 2 weeks left to go, Auction Mania is in full throttle.  From the posters designed by Pace Kaminisy in 300 phone kiosks throughout the City to the media buzz, things are in full swing. But what is this thing, the Bailey House Auction?  Let me describe it to you like this. Where can you go to mingle with 1000 of the best looking people in NYC while you pick up a Mapplethorpe and bid on chance to do the weather with ABC’s Sam Champion? Or, let’s put it this way. Where can you go to drink and eat all night, bid on over 250 items like fabulous trips, “meet and greets”, New Year’s Eve in the ABC booth above Times Square and a cool Herb Ritts photo for only $250?

The best part is while you’re  drinking custom blended blue drinks you will be rubbing shoulders with some of the sexiest celebrities around. In past years auction goers hobnobbed with Tim Gunn, Anderson Cooper, Simon Doonan, Jonathon Adler, the Duchess of York, Martina Navitolova, Susan Sarandon, Luci Arnez, Cindy Crawford, Parker Posey and Ashley Judd. You may have even ended up in Bill Cunningham’s pictorial column in the NYT Sunday Style.  Nice.

Yes, the Bailey House Auction & Party is the thing dreams are made of. Well maybe that’s too dramatic but here are some of the fantasies we know will be activated by this year’s experience. Will the Armani model be free later? Will ARod throw a ball my way when I’m in my Premium seats on Opening Day? Will Sponge Bob wave to me as I watch him float by from my VIP seats at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade?  Will Tim Gunn think my outfit should be on Project Runway? Good luck and remember that like the NYC lotto commercial says, “you’ve got to be in it to win it”.  .

Run out and buy your tickets now. Or better go to www.baileyhouse.org and get them online. And keep in touch on our facebook page for updates on new items and other exciting news! I’ll see you at the bar. Maybe Anderson Cooper will stop by and we can quiz him on what it’s like to spend New Year with Kathy Griffin. Blue margaritas anyone?

An aging Scrooge is a bitter man.  He received his diagnosis of HIV many years ago, but because of his wealth, he has been stably housed and taking HHART.  His vast resources and social status have helped him maintain his health.

The fate of Bob Crachit and his family is much different.  Bob, his wife, and his youngest son Tiny Tim, also have an HIV diagnosis, but with no stable housing and healthcare, the Cratchit family’s future is uncertain.  Now facing eviction, doctors fear that the stress from one more trauma will kill Tiny Tim.  Stable housing is healthcare and without it, Tiny Tim will not take his meds or show up for his doctor’s appointments. Scrooge doesn’t care and neither do many others.

The Ghost of Holiday Past paid Scrooge a visit to remind him of how he felt when he was first diagnosed. Fear. Stigma. Despair.  Tears ran down his face as he remembered all of the funerals he attended.  He could hardly call out their names as their spirits appeared alongside the Ghost of Holiday Past.  “If you had helped them when they were sick they might have been here to spend the holidays with your sorry self.”

Suddenly Scrooge found himself looking at 1000’s of women and men, looking sick and haggard, waiting in line at a NYC government office. “That’s the office where poor, homeless people with AIDS go for housing.” said the Ghost of Holiday Present. “But how can there be so many?!” screamed Scrooge.  “36,537 as of November 2009 and that does not include the HIV infected homeless. New York City only allows emergency housing to those with an AIDS diagnosis.   “What do you want me to do?” pleads Scrooge wearily.

In front of Reddens Funeral home on 14 ^th Street, where countless HIV/AIDS funerals have taken place since the beginning of the epidemic, Scrooge sees a casket in an empty room. “Whose funeral is that?” asks Scrooge. The Ghost of Holiday Yet to Be responds glumly, “Yours. You died 10 years after Bob, his wife and Tiny Tim.”  “But how did they die before me? Tiny Tim was just a kid.” “They lost their housing right after the holiday of 2009. They asked you for help but you refused. You said you were playing it safe to see how the market did in 2010.”

Scrooge howled in horror.

“I can’t believe I let Tiny Tim die.

What can I do?!”

Maybe Scrooge isn’t the only person asking that question this holiday season.  Come over to 180 Christopher Street or 1751 Park Ave and our countless apartment houses throughout NYC and see HIV/AIDS infected single people, couples and families living in places that look nice …. peaceful.  We might not be able to bring back Tiny Tim, but we can make sure the next young man living with HIV/AIDS gets off the street and into the Bailey House STARZ Program.  We can make sure Bailey House’s Street Pantry brings food to where homeless HIV infected people need it most. You can help underwrite a Bailey House family for a day, week, month or a year so that what happened to Bob Crattchit and his family never happens to another family living with HIV/AIDS in our City again.

Make a Donation. Make a Difference.

We may know where our children are but do we know what they know about AIDS? Oh sure, by now they probably know something about condoms if they live in an urban area and are lucky enough to attend a school where the HIV/AIDS curriculum is presented. But wait, even if they do let’s not take things for granted. Until about four years ago, schools in NYC did not provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS education until advocates and then City Council member and now Manhattan Borough President Scott Springer led the fight to force the issue throughout the five boroughs.

But what else do they know? Do they know that clean syringes reduce transmission of HIV infection and that these are available from NYC’s Harm Reduction and Syringe Exchange programs? Wait a minute you say, no kid of mine is going to be an injection drug user. Well maybe not but what if your son or nephew shoots steroids? Or insulin? And just in case they do inject drugs, wouldn’t you prefer they do it safely and receive HIV counseling and testing when they receive the clean syringes.

Do they know that homelessness is one of the greatest risk factors for HIV infection? Do they know that stable housing helps homelessness HIV infected people get into and stay in HIV/AIDS care and treatment? Do they know that they can help end AIDS by getting involved?

It’s World AIDS Day 2009. It’s almost 30 years into the epidemic. Do you know where your children are?

“How I learned that syringe exchange really works on the mean streets of the South Bronx!”

Last week, I was out with our friends from Citiwide Harm Reduction on their Friday evening syringe exchange to drug users and sex workers in the South Bronx. For those of you unfamiliar with these services, syringe exchange programs give people new syringes and safe disposable containers, collect old containers, distribute condoms, hygiene and first aid kits and provide information about HIV and other services.  This has all been legal and funded by NYS since the mid 1990’s when Yale and other schools of public health proved through vigorous studies that sharing needles was the primary way injection drug users were infected. If they were given an ongoing supply of “clean” needles, along with condoms, the spread of infection could be greatly reduced. It’s probably one of the most daring attempts yet to stem the HIV pandemic. To date there is still a Congressional ban on federal spending for such programs.

But back to my Friday night! Bailey House’s contribution to the evening was 20 bags full of food from our food pantry, portable enough to be eaten in places where there are no cooking facilities. Most sex workers are homeless or unstably housed. Because we now know that homelessness is one of the major risk factors for HIV, these connections make sense. This was evident as we rode around desolate parts of the South Bronx in the Hunts Point and Mott Haven sections and then into Harlem near the new Bailey House office at 122^nd/Park. At each point we encountered a solitary working male, female or transgender sex worker. Few had condoms and they welcomed those as well as new syringes, hygiene and first aid kits. The food was a big hit.

Watching all of this was a humbling experience. I got tears in my eyes when the first food bag went out and its recipient’s face lit up. Yeah, I thought I was jaded too but this was so powerful in its simplicity …. food, housing, condoms, clean needles and a safe way to dispose of them if you can’t stop using just now. It’s what we call harm reduction. It may not be what you want personally for people or what you morally think they should be doing.  But if you want the HIV epidemic to end and you want people to survive and not be infected or infect others, it’s the proven way to go. BTW, people of transgender experiences also need syringes to shoot hormones. One we spoke with said she had been shooting hormones since she was 13. Syringe exchange is the only program that helps her and others stay HIV negative.

It was good to be part of something so honest. No judgment. In needle exchange you just don’t give people clean needles, you offer them hope. Couple that with housing and food and you provide one of the most powerful prevention tools we have. In the coming weeks, Bailey House will be going out periodically with the Citiwide program and bringing along the food bags. We are in the process of putting together one that is nutritious, but can be easily carried in a small purse. Really! It’s about creating programs that people will use. It’s about extending community so that one day soon that person will walk in the door and take the next step with us and know, without judgment, we will be by their side. It’s about prevention and it’s about creating community.

Our new office at Park Avenue and 121^st has been open about 3 months now and folks from the community are already coming in to see what we have to offer.  I arrived today after my first coffee of the day and “Morning Joe”. My ears were ringing from hearing the news pundits battling  over whether President Obama’s attempt to reform healthcare was a plot to deny care to the elderly (and Palin’s down syndrome baby) or the most important social justice program since the Civil Rights Act. Fortunately, when I got to the door I ran into Ms. Pamela who wanted to know what we were doing in here. When I told her, she asked if we could help her get healthcare.  

Bingo. Reality talks and the pundit’s voices fade into the background. Maybe they should do a show from Park/121^st. Lucky for Ms. Pamela, she qualifies for Medicaid. Now that may not seem like a lucky thing to most people these days.  If you lose your job and are not entitled to programs like the NYS ADAP program, which provide medical insurance coverage for those living with HIV/AIDS who are not Medicaid eligible, you are OUT OF LUCK.

We think healthcare insurance needs to be reformed to give everyone coverage so we can all get the care we need. We see firsthand how good healthcare helps people live longer, even with diseases like AIDS, viral hepatitis and many types of cancer. We urge all of you to get up to speed on Healthcare Reform so if you are standing on line at Whole Foods or hanging out at Lenox Lounge, you can counter claims that all of this effort is aimed at getting rid of the Baby Boomer generation a decade or so early.  One source is www.healthcare09.org.  BTW, we are in the process of helping Ms. Pamela and she did leave here with a bag of groceries from our incredible food pantry. Sometimes, it’s that simple.

These days it seems that we swipe our way in and out of life on a daily basis … the subway, our ATM card ….. It’s endless.  For people on Medicaid, it’s even more insidious because a “negative” swipe can mean the denial of a benefit or service and at the very least, hours of waiting, endless interviews, the need to find documents and fill out more paperwork.  Chills just ran up my spine. But that’s what happens when everything becomes part of a “medical model” and funding for HIV/AIDS services is limited to funding streams like Medicaid.  An agency like us can provide lots of good services with Medicaid like we do in our COBRA program (check out this program in our Services section), but both the client and we go through a lot of paperwork and “swiping” to do it.  There always has to be other sources, both public and private.

Last week, as we were talking with clients, we all realized that the thing we liked best about the new office is that we have more space to just get together.  Clients can come in and have a healthy breakfast in the morning, read the paper, watch TV and guess what …. NOT SWIPE.  Then, they may attend one of the morning groups that run 5 days a week around topics ranging from recovery to creative expression and guess what ….. NOT SWIPE.   After that, there are other groups focused on getting healthy, independent living skills and guess what …. THEY DO NOT SWIPE.  They shared that at other agencies (don’t worry we won’t reveal those names!) they are always swiping.  One man even claimed he has to swipe to go to the bathroom.  He laughed when we all believed him.  We like that we don’t have to ask people to swipe all the time.  Clients like that they can come in and just be.  It helps them feel human. It helps us feel more human too. It helps them feel they are more than their disease.  It makes us feel hopeful.  We so love this antidote to all of the “swiping” that all of us have to do that we have created the “Just Come In and Be Among Neighbors and Friends Program. No Swiping Necessary.”

I first met Tom Duane in 1993 when he opened his district office in Chelsea on the same floor as our headquarters at 275 7th Avenue. That was in the “early days” when AIDS was still considered a death sentence and even our landlord put us and Tom and later APICA all on the same floor in case it was “catching”. Ah, the old days. Somehow they seem more honest despite the terrible suffering. We knew where we stood. There were no illusions.

Today many believe that HIV stigma has been eradicated. I am not sure I agree. But more about that later. I loved Tom from the first minute I met him. He was big and Irish and he bear hugged me and called me “honey” and he was the first openly gay, openly HIV positive legislator in the nation. He was alright by me. And he loved Jones Beach and Field 6. We were a match made in heaven! After Tom was elected to the Senate, his office moved and I missed running into him on my way to the hallway bathroom. It’s those times when you really get to know people because you talk about the real stuff … politics, family, kids, life, and death. Tom saw my daughter grow up and when he met me, I was pregnant with my son. Now my daughter is almost twenty and the son I gave birth to back then is almost 15.

Bailey House is older too and so is our relationship with Tom. That’s why we have been really proud of his leadership over the years on behalf of homeless people living with HIV/AIDS. Tom has been fiercely out front on the floor of the Senate and elsewhere on issues like “HASA for ALL”, a campaign that seeks to put a legislative cap on the percentage of income homeless men and women living with AIDS have to pay towards their rent in housing programs subsidized by NYS and NYC. A couple of weeks ago, Tom gave an extemporaneous speech on the floor of the NYS Senate about this issue that rocked the house and made its way to You Tube and around the world. Tom’s our hero and we hope after seeing this video, he’s yours too!

If you would like more information about this campaign go to www.nycahn.org. For information about how housing is HIV prevention go to
www.nationalaidshousing.org. Let us know what you would like to hear about ……