queerability

[queerability]

A Message From Queerability’s Founder

Dear supporters of Queerability,

As I am sure you've noticed, Queerability has been pretty quiet for a couple of years. Unfortunately, I have been recovering from what too many LGBTQ people and people with disabilities experience: homelessness and underemployment from family-oriented transphobia and ableism. Finding a full-time, accessible job and secure housing took all of my time and energy which meant I was not able to devote as much attention to Queerability as I would have liked.

Fortunately, I have been able to secure housing and full-time employment. I'm also making plans to return to college part-time. Regrettably, this means that I am no longer able to volunteer my time and energy to Queerability for the foreseeable future.

This does not mean that I am abandoning the LGBTQ and disability communities, and this does not mean that I will never return to Queerability. That could not be further from the truth. My plan to return to college has centered around being able to build Queerability into an organization that can sustainably support LGBTQ and disability justice. In order to be sustainable, we need sufficient funding, and, to get that funding, as a couple of mentors have advised me, foundations and government agencies prefer that the leaders of the organization have a college education which I do not have.

Thank you all for your support over the years. It's been amazing to see what we all can accomplish together, and I look forward to returning after I am done with school. Please continue to look out for each other.

Warm regards, Kris Guin Founder, Queerability 

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“Accommodations for trans people OR disabled people OR people of color isn’t enough.“ - Niles Clipson, Member of GLSEN’s (@glsen) National Student Council

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The @translifeline-blog and the National LGBTQ Task Force have partnered up together to implement the first-ever survey specifically about mental health in the trans community. This weekend is your last chance to take it!

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LGBTQ and disabled and live in Southern California? Rooted In Rights wants to interview you about SSI’s marriage penalty! Today is the last day to apply!

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Image: a black man in a wheelchair on a city street.

Eddie Ndopu Is Ready, Willing and Able to Conquer Space

“I am a black, queer, feminist thinker. I move through this world as black, as queer, as disabled – but I also just want to live my best life. I don’t want to live in a world where my identity is visceral at every turn. But I exist in a world that doesn’t care about black people nor queer people – and definitely not people living with disabilities.”

[queerability]

do you consider soft knee braces a mobility aid? i've heard some people say yes and others no, so i'm not sure at this point.

If a knee brace or any other kind of assistive equipment helps someone walk or otherwise transport themselves, then it may be considered to be a mobility aid.

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"Ableism not only complicates our access to Pride events, but also to pride itself, as a feeling."

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Queerability has signed on to another joint statement with the Arcus Foundation.

As U.S. government leaders continue to grapple with addressing gun violence-prevention following last weekend’s homophobic massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, LGBTQ and gun violence-prevention advocates and activists are calling for more stringent checks to keep guns out of dangerous hands.

The Orlando tragedy, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, highlights how vulnerable LGBTQ communities are to hate-fueled violence, especially LGBTQ communities of color.

Hate violence has risen sharply in recent years, with a 20% increase in reported LGBTQ homicides in the U.S. between 2014 and 2015, according to a study released this week by The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP). Of the homicides reported last year, 62% were LGBTQ people of color.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) hate crime statistics tell us year after year that people are most frequently targeted for hate violence based on the personal characteristics related to race, religion, and sexual orientation. According to The Williams Institute, gay men report being victims of violent hate crimes at a higher rate than any other targeted group, and these crimes are more violent and result in hospitalization more often.

And yet we cannot ignore the fact that transgender people are at great risk of being victims of hate violence because of their gender identity and this reality is even worse for those who are also targeted on the basis of their race, ethnicity, class, and citizenship status. Fifty-four percent of all hate-violence related LGBTQ homicides were transgender women of color, according to the NCAVP study.

We recognize the need to address the bigotry that motivates acts of violence toward LGBTQ people, and we also recognize that such violence is far more deadly when carried out with firearms.

Any solutions to the problem of hate violence, including anti-LGBTQ violence, must address the alarmingly easy access that bigots have to such deadly weapons. For example, under current law, people convicted of violent hate crimes can legally buy and possess guns. This is unacceptable.

With each new massacre, most recently the one in Orlando, we hope the number of homicides has pushed Americans over the threshold of tolerance for hatred fueled by people who seek to divide the country; for weak gun laws that arm those with hate in their hearts; and for the more than 90 victims of gun killings nationwide each day, affecting people of all backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities.

Assault-style weapons, like the Sig Sauer MCX rifle used in Sunday’s Pulse nightclub shooting, can be purchased legally in the state of Florida without a background check – as long as the purchase is made from an unlicensed seller.

Eighteen states have already taken steps to close this dangerous “unlicensed sale loophole.” But in the remaining states, including Florida, anyone can buy a gun from an unlicensed seller with no background check, no questions asked.

Under current U.S. federal law, people on terror watch lists can legally buy guns, exploiting this “terror gap.” Since 2004, more than 2,000 terror suspects have taken advantage of this loophole. But we also recognize how this screening mechanism has the dangerous potential to profile specific communities on the basis of their actual or perceived race, religion, national origin, and other attributes.

Orlando is the sixth mass shooting1 in the U.S. since January 2009 to be investigated as an act of terrorism by the FBI. Americans are 25 times more likely than people in other developed countries to fall victim to a gun homicide.

The federal background check system established in 1994 by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act has blocked more than 2.6 million gun sales to prohibited purchasers at licensed dealers; however, an estimated 40% of gun sales across the U.S. take place without a background check, primarily at gun shows and online.

We urge Congress to make a start towards stronger protections against gun violence nationwide by enacting laws to:

1. Prevent known and suspected terrorists and those convicted of violent hate crimes from legally buying guns.

2. Ensure that criminal background checks are required on all gun sales, including online and at gun shows.

View the full list of signatories here.

[queerability]

Can I consider myself as someone who is disabled if I have a documented learning disability and an auditory processing disorder? This is certainly a strange question, and I have considered myself disabled in the past, but I'm not sure if I have the right to.

Whether or not you decide to identify as a person with a disability is a choice only you can make. However, a learning disability and an auditory processing disorder are both generally considered disabilities since they both impair at least one major life function.

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Thank you @rampyourvoice for highlighting the voices of LGBTQ+ disabled people of color!

#WeArePulse: Members of the Disabled PoC LGBTQ+ Community Speak Out

#WeArePulse: Members of the Disabled PoC LGBTQ+ Community Speak Out

This week’s post will be to honor the 49 lives that were taken too soon in the Pulse shooting that happened in Orlando last weekend.  The act was senseless and filled of hate, and another example of how pivotal it is for us as a nation to take a firm stand on gun control in order to stymie the all too frequent occurrences like this we see too much of.

I wanted to cover this moment, since so many…

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Queerability has signed on to the LGBTQ Groups Call For Unity In The Wake Of Orlando Shooting initiated by the Arcus Foundation.

We the undersigned organizations working on the front lines of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) movement share in the profound grief for those who were killed and many more who were wounded during Latin Night at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Their lives were lost or forever altered in this devastating act of violence targeting LGBTQ people. Our hearts go out to all the family and friends touched by this horrific act. We know their lives will never be the same again.

This national tragedy happened against the backdrop of anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping this country and we must not forget that in this time of grief. Unity and organized response in the face of hatred is what we owe the fallen and the grieving. Collective resolve across national, racial and political lines will be required to turn the tide against anti-LGBTQ violence. Our response to this horrific act, committed by one individual, will have deep impact on Muslim communities in this country and around the world. We as an intersectional movement cannot allow anti-Muslim sentiment to be the focal point as it distracts from the larger issue, which is the epidemic of violence that LGBTQ people, including those in the Muslim community, are facing in this country.

The animus and violence toward LGBTQ people is not news to our community. It is our history, and it is our reality. In 1973, 32 LGBTQ people died in an arson fire at an LGBTQ Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans. More than forty years later, similar acts of anti-LGBTQ violence are commonplace. Crimes motivated by bias due to sexual orientation and gender identity were the second largest set of hate crimes documented by the FBI in 2015 (over 20 percent). Murders and violence against transgender people globally have taken more than 2000 lives over the last nine years. Bias crimes against US immigrant populations, which include significant numbers of LGBTQ people, have increased over the past decade as anti-immigrant rhetoric has escalated.

For those of us who carry multiple marginalized identities, the impact of this violence and discrimination has even more severe consequences. These intersectional identities and their ramifications are apparent at every level in the Orlando tragedy, which disproportionately affected Latino/a members of our communities, and has xenophobic consequences that threaten LGBTQ Muslims. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), there were 24 reports of hate violence related homicides in 2015, and 62% of those victims were LGBTQ people of color. Transgender and gender nonconforming people made up 67% of the homicides, the majority of whom were transgender women of color. The violence against transgender and gender nonconforming people has continued into 2016 with 13 reported individual homicides this year alone. NCAVP research on hate violence shows that LGBTQ people experience violence not only by strangers, but also in their everyday environments by employers, coworkers, landlords and neighbors. The Orlando shooting is simply an extreme instance of the kind of violence that LGBTQ people encounter every day.

As LGBTQ people who lived through the AIDS crisis, we know what it looks like and feels like to be scapegoated and isolated in the midst of a crisis that actually requires solidarity, empathy and collaboration from all quarters. We appeal to all in our movement and all who support us to band together in rejecting hatred and violence in all its shape shifting forms. Let us stand united as a diverse LGBTQ community of many faiths, ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds.

View the full list of signatories here.

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Queerability Statement On Orlando Pulse Shooting

Queerability expresses our sympathies to the 103 victims, their loved ones, and the LGBTQ community in Orlando, Florida after the violent attack on the Pulse nightclub. LGBTQ nightclubs have historically been a place of safety for the LGBTQ community, and this attack has rattled that sense of safety. All LGBTQ people have the right to be safe from harm in the community.

We also stand in solidarity with the Muslim community, including the LGBTQ Muslim community. Islam is a peaceful religion, and we will push back on efforts for it to be seen as otherwise.

Often after acts involving gun violence, the conversation about gun control and mental health grows. Queerability urges caution when relating people with psychiatric disabilities to gun violence. Research indicates that people with psychiatric disabilities are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of violence.

We encourage people to ensure that themselves and others are safe. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network has listed some useful resources in their statement.

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Police: 50 Killed in Florida Nightclub Terror Attack

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First African American LGBTQ Youth Summit Advances the Inclusion Conversation

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Queerability Statement on the Joint Statement from the Departments of Education and Justice

Queerability applauds the joint statement and guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice on restroom access for trans students. Trans students are frequently barred from using the restroom that best matches their gender identity. This is unacceptable and may have an impact on the mental health of trans students. Trans students must have access to the gendered restroom that best matches their gender identity. The joint statement will have a significant impact on trans students, including trans students with disabilities who are a significant part of the broader LGBTQ population, by improving access to restrooms. Due to exclusionary polices and attitudes in the community, 41% of trans people attempt suicide. Acceptance is known to reduce this risk. We hope that this statement and guidance will help reduce the number of suicide attempts by creating more inclusive policies and schools.