Stanley-Eric-Captive-Genders-Trans-Embodiment-and-Prison-Industrial-Complex

Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer Movementbig problems “official” solutions transformative approachesQueer and transpeople are disproportionatelypoliced, arrested,and imprisoned,and face high ratesof violence in statecustody from officialsas well asother imprisonedor detained peopleAdvocate for “culturalcompetency” trainingfor law enforcementand the constructionof queer and transspecificand “genderresponsive”facilities;create written policiesthat say that queerand trans people areequal to other peoplein state custody; staylargely silent on thehigh rates of imprisonmentin queer andtrans communities,communities ofcolor, and poor communitiesBuild ongoing, accountable relationshipswith and advocate for queer andtrans people who are locked up tosupport their daily well-being, healing,leadership, and survival; build communitynetworks of care to supportpeople coming out of prison and jail;collaborate with other movements toaddress root causes of queer and transimprisonment; work to abolish prisons,establish community support forpeople with disabilities and eliminatemedical and psychatric institutionalization,and provide permanenthousing rather than shelter beds for allpeople without homesI. How Did We Get Here?The streams of conservative as well as more progressive and radical queerand trans politics developed over time and in the context of a rapidlychanging political, economic, and social landscape. Although we can’t offera full history of how these different streams developed and how themore conservative one gained national dominance, we think it is importantto trace the historical context in which these shifts occurred. To charta different course for our movements, we need to understand the road we’vetraveled. In particular, we believe that there are two major features of thesecond half of the twentieth century that shaped the context in which thequeer and trans movement developed: (1) the active resistance and challengeby radical movement to state violence, and subsequent systematicbacklash, 7 and (2) the massive turmoil and transformation of the globaleconomy. 8 Activists and scholars use a range of terms to describe this erain which power, wealth, and oppression were transformed to respond tothese two significant “crises”—including neoliberalism, the “New WorldOrder,” empire, globalization, free market democracy, or late capitalism.19