| Gender
JUST Response to Recent Suicides! |
 Over the past few weeks, there has been
increased reporting on violence directed towards queer youth. As
an organization of queer and transgender youth of color, working specifically to make
Chicago schools safe and affirming for all students, Gender
JUST has drafted the below response to the current discourse around
bullying, school violence, and LGBT
youth.
First off,
we would like to note that what we have seen of late is an increase
in the reporting and discussion of school violence - not an
increase in the violence itself. Young people of color face
violence consistently. As queer and transgender youth of color in
public schools, violence is a reality we live daily in our schools,
on our streets, in our communities, and in our lives. Whether the
violence is self-inflicted, gang-based, based on pure hate and
ignorance, or the systemic violence perpetrated by the state and
our institutions such as our schools, police, welfare system,
non-profits, and hospitals, we need to have an ongoing analysis of
violence that lasts longer than our brief memory of the deaths of a
select grouping of queer youth.
It is critical to remember that we face violence as youth, as
people of color, as people living in poverty, as queers, as trans
and gender non conforming young people. We can't separate our
identities and any approach to preventing violence must be holistic
and incorporate our whole selves. We have seen an overly
simplistic and unneuanced reaction to the recent violence; from Dan
Savage telling young people to wait it out until "it gets better"
and from Kathy Griffin declaring that passing Gay Marriage and
overturning Don't Ask Don't Tell would somehow stop the violence in
our lives, we have found this response to be as misguided,
irrelevant, and offensive as the conservative LGBT Movement
itself.
While youth violence is a very serious issue in our schools,
the real bullies we face in our schools take the form of systemic
violence perpetrated by the school system itself: a sex education
that ignores queer youth and a curriculum that denies our history,
a militarized school district with cops in our schools, a process
of privatization which displaces us, increasing class sizes which
undermine our education and safety. The national calls to end the
violence against queer youth completely ignore the most violent
nature of our educational experience.
 Our greatest concern is that there is a
resounding demand for increased violence as a reaction, in the form
of Hate Crime penalties which bolster the
Prison-Industrial-Complex and Anti-bullying measures which
open the door to zero-tolerance polices and reinforce the
school-to-prison pipeline. At Gender JUST, we call for a
transformative and restorative response that seeks solutions to the
underlying issues, takes into account the circumstances surrounding
violence, and works to change the very culture of our schools and
communities.
Gender JUST had a momentous victory towards this
end in early 2010. Through grassroots youth-led organizing, Gender
JUST developed a Grievance Procedure based on the principles of
Restorative Justice for Chicago Public Schools. But there is still
significant work to be done. You can help reduce violence against
queer youth by supporting Gender JUST's work
to develop leadership and build power among queer youth of
color!
For more information about Gender JUST and to find out how you
can support our work, contact info@genderjust.org.
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| Gender JUST Hosts Queer
CPS Student Orientation! |
 On September 23, Gender JUST hosted the 1st
Chicago Public Schools Orientation for students who identify as
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and/or as Allies. 100
CPS students, teachers, Gay-Straight-Alliance (GSA) advisors, and
community allies joined Gender JUST at Jones College Prep for
resources, information, networking, training, and fun! This was a
hugely successful event and will be just the first in a new annual
tradition.
The Queer Student Orientation began with speed 1-on-1's,
where everyone participated in a structured networking activity to
build solidarity and support among queer youth across the city.
The program began with an interactive training on the rights of
students, highlighting those most important to queer youth of
color. This was followed by information about the new Grievance Procedure developed
by Gender JUST youth in the spring, a training on organizing in
schools, and games to contextualize all of this critical
information.
This was an integral part of Gender JUST's Safe & Affirming Education
Campaign, which has been working to organize and educate CPS
students, teachers, parents, and staff in order to change the
culture of the school system.
Gender JUST would like to acknowledge all of the teachers, GSA
advisors, and youth who made the Queer Student Orientation
possible, and especially acknowledge Jones College Prep for the use
of their fabulous space.
To get involved in Gender JUST's queer student of color
led Safe & Affirming Education Campaign or for more
information, contact schools@genderjust.org.
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| Gender JUST Fights Harassment in
Boystown! |
 As part of Gender JUST's COURSE Campaign, Gender JUST
youth met with Board members of the association representing
businesses in the Boystown area, the Northalsted Business Alliance
(NHBA). Gender JUST youth told personal stories of being kicked
out of shops, pushed off the streets, and having the police called
countless times by business owners who felt that we "scared away"
customers. This meeting was hugely successful and the
business owners agreed to participate in a series of trainings
developed by queer youth of color!
Gender JUST began working on the issue of harassment,
discrimination, brutality, and profiling of queer youth of color in
the Boystown area after a series of solicitation arrests of trans
youth of color, many of whom were merely looking for a safe space
to be themselves. The COURSE Campaign organizes to increase
funding for services for queer youth on the South and West sides of
Chicago, but we were inclined to ask ourselves "what happens to
queer youth of color when we are forced to travel to the North side
for services in the meantime?"
Many queer youth of color travel to the Boystown neighborhood
because resources in our communities are under-funded and, as a
result, starved and devastated. When we get to the North side, we
are harassed and profiled by businesses and often end up within the
Prison-Industrial-Complex for no fault of our own.
 After several unsuccessful attempts to
communicate with NHBA about their role in this phenomenon, Gender
JUST staged a direct-action on September 21 and took over the
office of the President of NHBA. Over 70 youth piled into the
office chanting "N-H-B-A, You Can't Make Us Go Away, Queer Youth
Are Here to Stay!" You can check out a video of the action on YouTube!
After the action, NHBA leadership met with youth from Gender
JUST and expressed a commitment to work together to reduce
discrimination and profiling from area business owners towards
queer youth of color. Gender JUST has begun working with allies to
develop the training series and a system of local community
accountability to address this issue.
For more information on the youth of color led COURSE campaign
or to get involved in the struggle, contact COURSE@genderjust.org.
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| Gender JUST Fights Police Surveillance at
COH! |
 Gender JUST has continued negotiations with the
Center on Halsted (COH) over the past few weeks, so that this space
can be truly safe and affirming for queer youth of color. Coming
out of an acknowledgement that COH is a critically important
resource to queer youth, Gender JUST began negotiating with COH to
reduce police presence in the space and reduce barriers to trans
youth utilizing COH services. So far, Gender JUST has been
incredibly successful at making the case to COH leadership and COH,
in turn, has been tremendously willing to improve the
space.
COH is currently working with Gender JUST youth to revise
their Code of Conduct, to bring it into line with principles of
Restorative Justice. COH's Code of Conduct currently outlines
reasons for which youth will be banned from the space and/or turned
over to the police. Several of these reasons, such as falling
asleep in the space or carrying mace, disproportionately oppress
the very homeless youth which COH exists to assist. Gender JUST is
in the process of working with COH to fundamentally shift the way
they see discipline, as opposed to making small reforms to a
fundamentally punitive system.
Additionally, COH has already changed the bathroom signs
to reduce policing of transgender youth in the bathrooms. LeVea
Nole, a member of Gender JUST, explained the story of being
escorted from the women's bathroom - despite a Chicago ordinance
protecting trans people from such harassment. This small change is
a huge victory for trans youth who access the space.
 While these are some important victories,
Gender JUST youth are continuing to pressure COH to adopt a
No-Police-Zone policy. This would entail (1) refusing to turn information about youth or turn
youth themselves over to the police, unless required to do so
by a warrant or mandatory reporting requirements;
(2) not granting police access to the space for meetings, such
as CAPS or Beat Meetings;
(3) not calling the police, except in life- or
safety-threatening situations; &
(4) making the community aware of this policy by posting
"No-Police-Zone" signs in the space.
While COH has agreed to several of the points listed above,
they have not agreed to make COH a No-Police-Zone. Gender JUST
will continue to pressure COH to make this policy change.
For more information on the youth of color led COURSE campaign
or to get involved in the struggle, contact COURSE@genderjust.org.
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| Support Gender
JUST! |
 With impending leadership
transitions at Chicago Public Schools and throughout the Chicago
with the mayoral election, Gender JUST's work is more important
than ever in order to raise the voice of queer and trans youth of
color in important decisions that impact our lives. It is also
critically important that we don't lose the capacity to do the
critical leadership development work as we take on greater and more
ambitious struggles. We can certainly do this, and maintain our
grassroots character - but not without your
support!
We need your support so we can continue to
build bridges between movements, develop courageous young queer
leaders, and build power for queer youth across Chicago. If you
support this cause, you should support our work!
If you feel that Gender JUST is an
important organization to you and your community, please support us
financially so that we can continue and grow this
work.
CLICK
HERE to learn more about supporting Gender
JUST!
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