police sgt. john brock thinks queer people are more violent than their heterosexual counterparts. in fact, he said “they’re very violent” and “when they get mad, they get really mad”. i bring up brock’s comments about the queer community not just because they are unsettling and unfair stereotypes but because they are part of the reason given for why an atlanta gay bar was raided in 2009.

the eagle was raided in september of 2009 by a vice squad that was known as the red dog unit. this unit, founded in the 1980s to deal with drug crime, was notorious for illegal searches and aggressive tactics. partly due to the unlawful nature of the eagle raid and the lawsuit the city faced as a result, red dog was disbanded in february. but just because the unit was no more did not mean that the investigation of the raid and the involved officers ended. the final report, of what has aptly been viewed by the queer community as an antiquated, stonewall-esque bust, was finally released just days ago.

going through every minor detail of the raid is not really of interest to me. the synopsis of the what happened in september goes like this: dressed in black fatigues, cops busted into the bar; kicked down doors; handcuffed patrons and made them lay face-down on the floor; illegally searched and falsely imprisoned people from the bar; and yelled anti-gay slurs.

in the 349 page report, there are certainly highlights. the comments about violence don’t stop with brock, the raid leader, but are complimented by a statement made by a participating officer who said he felt for a “man [to] have sex with another man” was “very violent”. these comments were made to investigators after the raid. but during the affair, cops asked patrons to admit to being in the military so they could “call your sergeant and tell him where you’re at” (this is before the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell). cops also revealed that their cultural insensitivity went beyond the targeted minority of the moment saying within ear-shot of patrons “this is more fun than raiding n***ers with crack”.

the red dog unit was bad news, and for the people they beat, imprisoned, and humiliated for nearly thirty years this statement is most certainly not past tense. however, the problem of policing, particularly that of the queer community, is a pervasive and expanding issue. the percentage of queer identified people behind bars is disproportionately high and the number of transgender people who come forward with reports of police brutality is staggering. as angela davis put it so well, “the prison functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities…”

in this story, queer people are written off as violent. there are important questions to be asked of this situation. how is the media supporting this labeling of queer people as anti-social and aggressive? is the general public buying into this stereotype or is it just an idea that is taking hold with law enforcement? will this label further domesticate the queer community, making folks cower and keep quiet in hopes of not being lumped in with “the angry ones”? or will queer people learn that being mad, really mad is valuable when there is an injustice to be angry about?

[artwork by qteam collective entitled queers don’t make friends with the state]

there is news on the homefront. the sparrow community house will no longer be confined to a single dwelling. after almost three years, kirsten and i have been called to the next leg of our journey.
my time in atlanta has been both challenging and an unmistakable gift. a lot of folks have come through the house and we have all learned so much from one another…about companionship, communication, hospitality, and cooperation. even in our community’s hardest moments, i couldn’t have traded it for a more full force look at what shared space and relationship can be. it was the real deal from the get go…even if that deal was sometimes messy.
but now, I am finishing up my second americorps term and waiting for the Spirit to lead me. right now, kirsten is in virginia hanging out with babies and chickens…the folks she likes best. she is keeping a blog about her adventure. stay up to date: http://firstacoustic.tumblr.com/ when my term ends in july, kirsten and i will meet back up and head to the next spot.
a friend told me to hang onto the sparrow community name and i will. i have this feeling that it will come in handy again. i’ll also continue to maintain this blog (better than i have this past year) so that folks can find out how the mobile, very small sparrow community is fairing.
thanks to everyone who supported us and believed in us. and mad love to the haters too.

tomorrow, folks in atlanta who rely on public transportation are facing a huge blow. marta (metropolitan atlanta rapid transit authority) service has always been spotty and unreliable at best. it can’t even begin to compete with bart in san francisco or the t in boston but it was what atlanta had to offer and a lot of people made due. but on april 20th, buses and trains that are going to be scrapped will be marked for elimination. facing a $120 million dollar deficit and a lack of state aid, marta will cut service. who will lose their job as the result of a lack of reliable transportation?  which communities will be cut off from services? atlanta’s unmitigated onslaught on the poor pretty much answers those and a myriad of other questions.

check out act now’s website for updates.

in the spirit of the season, a little carol by the folks from food not bombs atlanta. this song was sung last year outside a bed and breakfast owned by an atlanta politician who supported the city’s anti-panhandling ordinance.

though the house is just starting to become a reality, the idea for it sprung forth almost 7 months ago. and certainly, the need for a living space that welcomes transgender homeless people has been around for longer than many can imagine.

seven months ago, i was a caseworker at a men’s overflow shelter in atlanta. one morning, a young woman, new to the city, came into my office and asked me to help her find shelter for the night. she handed me her out-of-state id so i could make a copy for her file. when i looked at the information next to her smiling, well-posed  picture, a different name than the one she had given me was printed next to a sex field that read “m”. i spent the rest of the day trying to find a single placement for an HIV negative transgender woman. nothing. not in atlanta. not in decatur. basically, not in georgia.

if this client had been HIV positive or a few years younger, there would have been a placement. but since the situation was what it was, i had to tell her to be safe on the streets of atlanta or go back to the city she left in hopes of something better. the streets are the only real option we’re giving trans women. of course, once this life without shelter or income forces these women into sex work, they will be demonized. but if they contract HIV doing this work or while sitting in jail for this survival crime, then there will be shelter for them. kind of sounds like genocide because it kind of is. force trans women into a dangerous situation that lends to abuse and disease and then, once things are at their worst, offer them a space.

the links posted in addition to this note explain what’s been/is still happening.

isn’t it time to denouce the injustice that kills the poor?