9th - Harm Reduction Coalition

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9th National Harm Reduction Conference FROM PUBLIC HEALTH TO SOCIAL JUSTICE Braine, Naomi, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY nbraine@brooklyn.cuny.edu Sexual minority women, drug use, and marginalization Throughout the HIV epidemic, there has been growing evidence that women who have sex with women (WSW) IDUs experience greater levels of marginalization than exclusively heterosexual women IDUs. Some studies have found that WSW IDUs have elevated risks for HIV in comparison to heterosexual women and men, while others have found greater behavioral and contextual risks but not higher levels of infection. Lack of access to services, including invisibility to and/or prejudice from staff, may be one factor affecting levels of contextual risk, including homelessness, inadequate medical care, and dependence on illegal sources of income. This presentation will explore the growing literature on WSW IDUs, and present preliminary data from a qualitative study of barriers to care for WSW IDUs and NIDUs in NYC. The experiences of this population illustrate the intersection of multiple forms discrimination and marginalization, as well as strategies used by drug users to manage their lives and reduce the destruction caused by systematic marginalization. Naomi Braine is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College, City University of New York and a lifelong queer social justice activist. She has published in Social Networks, AIDS Education and Prevention, Culture Health and Sexuality, and other public health and social science journals. Her primary research interests include HIV and drug use, the social Construction of gender and sexuality, and social policy. She came to research on drug use and HIV through her work as a harm reduction activist. Breyer, Johanna, Exotic Dancers Alliance (EDA), San Francisco, CA jbreyer@nyhre.org UPRISE Peer Training Program New York Harm Reduction Educator’s UPRISE (Uniting Peers for the Rights of Injectors and Sex workers Everywhere) Peer Training program includes a rigorous 14-week workshop training program and a supervised 6-month Field Practicum during which UPRISE Peers further develop the expertise they need to be effective community educators and advocates. UP- RISE workshops focus on harm reduction, health education, sexual health, violence prevention, legal rights, and political advocacy. UPRISE is both a return to NYHRE’s activist roots and a next step in addressing community need through the efforts of community members themselves. Our Peers are individuals who belong(ed) to social networks of substance users and/or sex workers whose members regularly interact with each other because of their reciprocal needs to obtain and use drugs and/or exchange sex for money. NYHRE Peers are able to easily engage these individuals, provide them with information and help them to live healthier and more stable lives. Our model challenges the traditional relationship between an “all-knowing” provider and a “helpless” client because we work with participants in a way that respects and honors their autonomy and individuality while also creating a very real foundation for self-empowerment and self-efficacy. This empowerment then extends into the community as participants find their voices and begin to share their experiences and knowledge with others in order to combat stigma and discrimination. Upon completion of UPRISE, NYHRE participants become exceptionally active in empowering their communities to respond to inequities in public arenas such as public benefits administration, homelessness and affordable housing provision, methadone maintenance treatment, and discriminatory law enforcement and the criminal justice process. Additionally, NYHRE Peers provide program support in the areas of prevention outreach, syringe exchange, and health education for NYHRE participants. The proposed workshop will focus on the challenges and benefits of developing a peer training program for individuals who use drugs and/or engage in sex work, and explore the correlation between peer based interventions and increased levels of empowerment, self-advocacy and social capital. Johanna Breyer is the Co-Founder of the Exotic Dancers Alliance (EDA), and Co-Founder and Former Executive Director of the St. James Infirmary (SJI). Johanna received her BA in Sociology and Counseling from San Francisco State University in 1993, and MSW from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998. Johanna worked with several different CBOs in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 17 years, and is a recipient of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club Community Service Award. 12
9th National Harm Reduction Conference FROM PUBLIC HEALTH TO SOCIAL JUSTICE Broudo, Melissa, Urban Justice Center, NY, NY mbroudo@urbanjustice.org Bad Date Lists—A Multi-City Comparison and Discussion One of the core principles of harm reduction is safety, and the necessary minimization of attendant harms that may occur as a result of certain activities. Sex workers, whether in the industry by choice, circumstance, or coercion, are often subject to physical violence, abuse, and sexual assault while on the job. While systemic oppression and discrimination renders protection more difficult for sex workers, the Bad Date List (BDL), a tool used within the industry, is one way to minimize violence and take back the power that our institutions seek to deprive those in the industry. This Panel will explore how the BDL has been implemented in various cities across the United States and Canada (specifically Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Durham, and Washington, D.C.), with sex workers and advocates discussing the creation and dissemination of local BDLs, their impact, and issues that arise in the BDL process for workers and advocates (such as figuring out the appropriate format and venue, legal liability, etc). This Panel seeks to inform others who may be starting a BDL in their home city, as well as the larger harm reduction community, of a critical prevention tool. Policing Sex Work—The Harms of Criminalization The criminalization of prostitution and related crimes (however defined by the state) has a deeply negative impact on the health, welfare, and exercise of basic human rights of sex workers. Practices such as the use of condoms as evidence by police and prosecutors, as well as the criminalization of various sexual, racial, and gendered persons have a severe impact on sex workers or those perceived to be sex workers. This panel will explore a few widespread law enforcement policies that fly in the face of harm reduction, including: the use of condoms as evidence, harsher penalties for people perceived to be outside of the “norm,” and the profiling of certain individuals (such as transgender women). Best practices and solutions to these issues will also be discussed. The panel will include experts from cities across the country, including: New York City, Washington, DC, New Orleans, and a multi-city perspective by Human Rights Watch. Melissa Sontag Broudo is a staff attorney with the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. Ms. Broudo provides legal advocacy, advice, and information to sex workers and survivors of trafficking on a variety of issues, including criminal law, civil consequences of convictions, family law, and internet privacy/copyright law. Ms. Broudo has worked to implement the innovative “Vacating Convictions” law that allows survivors of trafficking to vacate prior prostitution and loitering for the purposes of engaging in a prostitution offense cases in New York. Ms. Broudo is currently on the board of the Desiree Alliance and Best Practices Policy Project, two national sex workers’ rights organizations, as well as the PROS (Providers of Resources and Services to Sex Workers) Network, a New York City-based coalition. She is also an active member of the Sex Workers Outreach Project’s New York City chapter. Ms. Broudo received her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, her Master in Public Health from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Brown University with a focus in Gender Studies. Brown, Keith, Catholic Charities AIDS Services, Albany, NY keithb@ccalbany.org Implementing a Pharmacy-Based Syringe Access Program Several states have enacted legislation allowing for over-the-counter purchase of syringes. Although these laws have dramatically improved access to sterile syringes for injection drug users, there are several limitations. First, the cost associated can pose a significant barrier and varies by pharmacy. Second, syringes themselves are the only items provided through purchase; and third, there is no direct contact established between the program and its participants. In this workshop, participants will learn about how one program in New York State has addressed these limitations and evaluate whether such a program would work in their state/locality. The workshop format will foster dialogue among participants about how such programs might be expanded and improved. 13
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