‘Taerese QUINN AND Enrca R. MEINERS {yr name order reflects a publishing rotation snd not an authorship hierarchy; this isa gi viten article, P Weica R. Meiners teaches and organizes in Chicago. She has written about her ongoing. ator and learning in anti-militariation eampigns, edvestional justice struggles, prison ition and reform movements, and queer aud imnigrant rights organizing in Flaunt it! Queers Organizing for Public Education and Juatioe 2009, eter Lang), Right to Be Hostile: Schools, Prisons, and the Making of Public Enemies (2007), and adical Teacher, Merdians, ARBA Chicago, and Soiad Justice. “Therese Quinnis an seco profisor of a try and tector ofthe Moseam and ion Stes Program athe Univeriyof linet Ching, Sh va bundng : S member of Chicagoland Resrachers end Advocates or Tansformaive Eaton, | (Ces eatehagn org). Her mot recent books ce ton Soil ute | | fdwation:Cultarees Commons (2012), Servalitesin Eduction: Render (2012) nd ih same sex manage eg ans wor Lave Coe om | the television series Orange 1s the New Black on the cover of Time magazine, lots of queer sexon Game of Thrones, and President Obama's invocation of the Stonewall rebellion in is 2013 Inaugural Address” gay people have in fll fabulous fashion, cleasly ‘rived, With manage certificates in our tuxedo pockets, our military 3 ustige movement—have let behind our worst problems and soared past the FE Sirish line toequalty and rights. Right? ‘This view of social progress strikes a familiar chord for many of us working inschools, where the difficulties ofthe past are often explained as vastly distant, ust folktales from an incomprehensible time, place, and people, Slavery? ‘Women coulda’ vote or own property? Gay people arrested, fired, castrated? Who would do that? Notus, that’s for sure, Who were those people? "The ideas that we are different from they, and that now is better than then, form a kind of comfortable common sense; the feeling that things are getting better ean be a relief when we are confronted with history's horrors. For that | Tetoon, isnot surprising that progress narratives, often pained with a focus ‘on changing individual behavior by promoting respect for difference, faleness, nd tolerance, ave dominant in so many diversity and multicultural cuticulurm _ frameworks. Ongoing examples of systemie violations of human dignity and CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 27safety are often ignored and even banned from discussion in public education a settings. 1&5 easier and, let's face it, more profitable, to tout the right to gey nee ‘marriage than the epidemie plight af homeless gay and trans youth. After the : j 2014 killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black youth in Ferguson, Missouri, eae by awhite police offices, the superintendent ofa school district in Iino aa banned discussion ofthe shooting and related protests, “Teachers have been told bein not to diseuss [the shooting] and if students bring it up, they should change the ey subject "The implied message: What's tervibleis past; everything is bettr nom, ‘What int better can be ateibuted toa few bad people, not bad socal structures and oppressive policies. And, finally, what int better its OK to ignore; infact, silence might be mandatory. Progress narratives support dangerously ahistoric understandings of social change, narrowing our attention. For example, why does everyone study the : Civil Rights Movernent but not the eriminal justice system? a Progress narratives aleost always focus on individuals in ways that folate ete them from their historical context and erase the importance of collective effots. ie Every individualizing hero story-osa Parks wouldn't move tothe back ofthe ra dbus, and just like thet, everything changed—obseures the labor ofthe many can others who dreamed up and tried out similar tacts eatlier and those who turned a precipitating event into @ movement. Trained as an organizer a the Highlander Folk School, Resa Parks was an active member of racial justice ce “organizations long before and long after the Montgomery bus boycott, Keeping ee organizations and other people in the story doesn't diminish Parks; rather, it ee puts her action into a context—the aetual planning and hard work that it takes peop to achieve justice. 3 ‘Not surprisingly, just as curriculum on racial justice often centers on vidual struggle in the pest and the need to be indivially “nee” now, most schools! approaches to LGBTQ issues (when not silenced completely) also admonish us to plant flag for dauntless progress. But what’ the reality? every ‘Standing on Their Shoulders ‘When Obama’ inaugural speech linked Seneca Falls, Selma and 7 Stonevall—important milestones in the struggle for gene ecal, and In sexual equality—he reminded us how much things have, i fact, changed, The 1848 Women’ Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York, was ertcal i ‘the movement for (white) women’ enfranchisement, and the "Declaration x of Sontimonts” presented and endorsed at the gathering is tila powerful antich aurtcalation of what the writers’ described as mens “absolute tyranny” over ident ‘women. Patriarchy lingers on, but we ate at some distance from absolute ‘wiki ‘tyranny today. arepl 1 1963, atthe conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March, Marta pet Lather King Je deseribed the impact of racial apartheid he used the term pe “segregated society", repeatedly emindinghis audience: We've come along fores ‘way... Weare not about to turn around. ... Weare on the move." The next RETHINKING SEXISM, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY‘year, Stokely Carmichael called for Black Power and the Black Panthers were formed in Oakland, California ‘Also in 1966, transgendered women and gay “hustlers” at the Compton. (Cafeteria in San Francisco resisted when police attempted to arrest them for congregating in the restaurant-—one of the first examples of queer resistance to Ieing eximinalized. Then, in 1969, during a brutal raid of the Stonewall ian, a _gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, LGBTQ people fought back: ‘Led by people deseribed by many as drag queens and batch lesbisns, bar patrons, joined by street people, began yelling “Gay Power!” and throwing shoes, coins, and bricks atthe officers. Over the next several nights, police and queers clashed repeatedly in the streets of the West Villages ‘Stonewall is now often rlerred to a the beginning ofthe present-day ‘LOBTOrights moverentin the United Stats. In our view it was a moment red by and builton many others, including the movement agninst ‘the war in Vietnam; Compton; the bith of the Black Power Movement and "> the Black Panthers; the Young Lords, a Puerto Rican Hibesation organization; CChicana/o and women’ iberstion organizing; and marches and protests erywhere, Fach ofthese eruptions, assertions, and eoaleseings sent similar ‘messages about the importance of mobilization to demand transformations of “the status quo. Stonewall was immediately, locally, an uprising against police ‘utality and, broadly, one wave among many against oppression and for social ange. The whole worl wes erupting wth demands for justice and LGBTQ “people were organizing, too. And westil are, = ut nowy given the broad soil vision that ingpired those movements, we se to question our current strategies and goals Sue, some of us have come ne distance, but where do we want to end up? In partiula, the visible surge support for selected lesbian and gay ives-often those who are white and _ pel rosoureed, want to mars, have children or join the military, are “people =a ith? and so on-~places pressure on those of us working for quee justice in hoo! and other contexts to critically revaluste our organizing, Tb that end, we ee thre itertelated questo “What are the aims of our work liberation or assimilation? _ With whomare we in coalition, community, and conversation? “An our labors for just schools and communities, how can we ensure that we -And, for those new to this area, we use queer Hfile—as an adjective and as a noum that refers to all sexualities and gender ties that are outside and challenging of normative, binary categories. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONRETHINKING SEXISM, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY Of course, not all queers are white or able-bodied or wealthy, so LGBTQ, liberation necessarily includes struggles against racism, ableism, and capitalism, ‘These forms of domination are inseparable. The Q, therefor, signifies a political stance that our struggles for freedom and self-determination are one. As poet and activist Audre Torde noted in 1982: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live singl-issue lives” From Equality to Liberation ‘As we said earlier, the increased logitimacy and limited success of LGBT. rights-based movements in the United States motivate us to step back and ically assess LGBTQ and other socal justice organizing. What are our goals? Eequality—-full participation in the status quo—or liberation and collective transformation? Over the lst 20 years, the focus of mainstream lesbian and ‘gay organizations in the United States, while never monolithic, has been assimilation, characterized by a prioritization of issues such as full and equal participation in the military and marriage, It’s easier and, let’s face it, more profitable, to tout the right to gay marriage than the epidemic plight of homeless gay and trans youth. ‘This wasn't always the case. Many cerfior LGBTQ organizers drew on international perspectives and movements. Henty Gerber, who founded the nation’ first LGBTQ group, the Society for Human Rights, in 1924, was inepired by the efforis of German activists. Gay and feminist liberationists in the 1960s and "70s were often internationalist in their polities, linking their own freedom to the liberation of nations and peoples globally, and identifying with anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements everywhere? And, as policing and punishment were central to queer lives, early LGBTQ liberation movements analyzed the prison system, offered legal services, and created pen-pal programs \ith people inside. They saw anti-prison organizing as central because LGBTQ. lives and communities were criminalized. Being gay or lesbian was against the Jaw and, therefore, supporting LGBT lives required not only prisoner support ‘work but also fighting agsinst police harassment, Many ofthe gay publications of that period, including Lesbian Tide, off our Backs, and Gay Community ‘Neds, included letters and articles by people in prison and supported anti prison organizing, The cover of the 1972 issue of Gay Sunshine: A Newspaper of Gay Liberation featured a collage titled “We Are All Fagitives" that visually connected queer struggles with anti-prison, anti-colonial, feminist, Black Power, and othe forefront of the "70s. Now, togeth including the A Against Violene mainstream LG ita hostof bene receive any stat markers ofour¢ affordable healt contingent and public housing 4 parental leave b “The issue live s Lord Were also eo suesessful eamps course we're not the permanent v vehicles, initiate of State Hillary ¢ ‘Yemen, and othe mts of thes: riitarism and a ‘Thenatrowe orgenizations—i aceeptance ofan should not be on Building Goal ‘The trade-of apparent than in that lead to effec the context: the:| Dublic education‘Power, and other liberation movements. Lesbian and gay organizers were at the "forefront of the anti-war, civil rights, and feminist movements ofthe 1960s and "10s. ‘Now, together with grassroots justice organizations across the United States, including the Audre Lorde Projeet in New York and Communities United. “Against Violence in San Franciseo, we question the current focus of most ‘mainstream LGBTQ organizations. For example, although marriage brings with it ahost of benefits, this access is offered at a moment when fewer individuals ‘any state support or protection, Readers, we are sure, ean name the markers of our crumbling publie sphere: ongoing struggles to access quality and affordable healtheare; the decimation of unions and concurrent explosion of contingent and ‘justin time” workers without any benefits; the eradication of _ public housing and decimation of rent control; and the dearth of cildeave and parental leave benefits, “There is no such thing as a single- issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.” —Audre Lorde We're also concerned sbout the politcal and practical implications of the Secs campaign to gve LGBT people equltyin the US, military. OF quality bt promoting lesbian and gay participation © he permanent war economy is prablematie, Drone strikes by drivetless aerial (on, have killed thousands, including children, in Pekistan, 2n, and other parts of the world, in attacks described as a “mass torture” of esidents ofthese countries. Queer justice movements, we argue, must reject ltacism and all forms of violent domination, __The narrow aim of equality pursued by mainstzeam lesbian and gay brganizations—including access to marriage andl the military—signifies {ceptance of an unequal and unjust world, Assimilation into this status quo houla not be our goal. ent than in schools today. We can't begin the meaningful conversations Hist lead to effective coalitions and strong comrmunities without understanding context: the abandonment of any form of wealth redistribution for K-12 lic education, frontal assaults on teacher unions, bipartisan support for the CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONi 3 g RETHINKING SEXISM, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY privatization of schools through charters and vouchers, and the school-to-prison pipeline, with its high suspension end expulsion rates for Black and Latina/o students, Our Chicago context offers an on-the-ground example of the effects of the national trends toward expanding school privatization: The number of charter ‘schools doubled in the city between 2005 and 2012. The overwhelming majority of teachers at charter schools locally and nationally are not unionized; in ‘Chicago these teachers are prevented by law from joining the Chicago Teachers Union. A nonunion workforve is flexible—without the right to due process that contracts and tenure guarantee—and cheaper. In Chicago, the teachers laid off, predominantly older and Aftican American, were replaced by newer, and ‘whites, teachers, often with little connection tothe schools and surrounding. ity. A nonunion workforce also has less ability to push back against ‘regressive policies and to support students, As schools are increasingly sites of temporary and precarious, unprotected labor; this reshapes how teachers and other adults are likely to advoeate for ‘queer youth and take potentially unpopular positions, Our own research and 0 A MINUTE OF Tis, IT'S THE REVOLUTION ~ Slee Fanea experience indicat the national trend and Mississippi, ms school conditions — students, Students that foster speech, i privatization and m agenda of safe-scho An agenda for q Aemocratic and well are invested in call safer spaces for LGD struggles. More bros concern. The work f Ttis the push for jus supremacy, itis the v anyone bebind, iis of these intertwined Justice, and are core LGBT@—and al!—st Students, teacher need to work togethe working conditions supportive environ ‘queer curricular poss Leave No One Behin LGBTQ ediucatior participate in, and de serious problem why anti-bullying laws tha school-to-prison pipel the risk of both being struggles, and of too community. In fact, anti-bullys tolaw enforcement a of schoo! push-out.” I Punishing polices ané create profoundly uns disabled youth, espect| esprienceindzate that where school personnel work a wl students often Gf themselves withot“ou” LGBTQ teachers and staf andwienr an Allies. This reduces the number ‘of advocates for queer youth and. facilitators {for Gay-Straight Alliances and similar student, ‘organizations. More broadly, nation! trend toward vight o werk" ava sch asin chigens dior __ th4 Missi) makes idea or workers to cxganize and toca ootenpat ssthool conditions—fom ravst discipline practices to vk students. Students benefit when schoo! employees have workplace protections qe that foster speech, independent thinking, and advocacy, Pushing back on school [Eyratuation and making alinces with teacher unfons has not bees nari agenda of safe-school: ‘Movements, and it must be. ‘Ao agen for quer iberaon and tansfemation tana int blog Aouishing corm se lnvestd in chellenging ailinjstics For those of us tying to maleate [sale spnces fo LGBTQ youth ur works absolutely iaepmreble hone Struggles. More broadly, the goal of making schools ‘strong is a community once. The work (or Ban just shone snot juan LODO strale 1Bisthe push for just and quality funding, itis the movement tose one {9prenay tthe work or meaning immigration reir tet does ot eave [severe behind itis the campaign tend sexual harassment ond ance a : lertwined movements shape LGBTQ lives, ae cea ty edcanon ‘ ing schools as pen and aiming spare for © LGBTQ—and all ‘students, staff, and communities. Students, teaches union, grassroots community organizer: We all ‘o ensure that school ate worksites with good end fir a. auctor, ike students and communities need secre and Supportive environments o mos efetvly help create pact for ada ad _sicer coniular possibilities, and tobe visbleand out LOBTO vole mata }-GBTQ education justice movements are being ofiilly invited to p Participate in, and de facto legitimate, the “new normal” in education, Theres eros problem whon “gy enuaiy” means anetworkof song end pra bullying laws that ed into zero tolerance disgline polices aad ne en. tn this context, LGBTQ schoo sey organizing rans He Fk ofboth being isolated from and not in dialogue with intesclted tag and of oo nny defining who eounts asa member othe LoBro [as ans baying programs thst rely on eiminaliation and lose ea Slaw enforcement and ‘Punishment increase racialized and ‘homaphobie forms fetoopush-ou In efforts o mak leaning sae or LGBT sedenie ishing policies and closer Partnerships with the juvenile justice: system: Profound unsafe schools for many young people Ast one empl, bled youth, especially those who are Black and Brown, experience more and GHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONbarker dslin thn ots in seon* see “rater od gender nonconfoning indaa fice some of heost panne I vitriolic backlash and pimishment on our streets and in our classrooms, and communist-to this is particularly 60 for those who are nonwhite and/or poor. Standing up for ‘Movement—h uaseersghs dignisad otysefn one then tan ag ee fortes sn gy youth, For exam Outshr tthe baron pati en : ‘School Board in Winois backtracked on a policy they had just five days earlier ‘many civil righ uneninouty sported tres geal peconoel opee be toga tropa en genes nononfoning start Ding ders te Usttwer sho dit vended te poly fa Noveber 2015 afghans cn ssa gt I ‘that the Orono school *t was not in violation of Maine's Human Rights Act ‘the Gay Liberat wien tbc th grade wangeniee staat a coing oho Pero whch batrom ose temper Onthe postive sin Dcembn 2012 fer packed sco meting ott ong th Orange Cont Shoal odin Herida pteone fo ec, rola the on td wanagender stents an aff dts sondern poleg poverty ana i However, these battles are hard fought. Fear of moving “too fr, too fast” can repression, | rsultinmorenens emake nd commutes doping te oo hen esta i the work gets tough. At the forefront of the Stonewall uprising were transgender Rich’s life of res: and gonder nonconforming people of color, angry and tired of systemic state i ‘and police repression. As we work to support LGBTQ youth in schools, let's not exemplified by accept the 1974 1 forget the Tand Q. Award as an ind ‘Leaving no one behind demands that we analyze and critique what the state claiming the aw and the schools identify as LGBTQ educational justice issues—Why not schoo} allwomen and s her other feree, and activist non Walkerand Aud policing and school privatization? It also demands that we ensure that the strategies engaged build community and don’t harm or isolate others. Lorde’ povesti Rising Up! Infused through == and Walker’ org Seneca Falls, Selina, Stonewall—these were movements that pushed back, activism has con arguing thatthe ‘same ol” plitis of patriarchy, white supreme, trans- and decades, fom th ‘homophobia that structure our everyday lives and institutions, fromm schools ‘women's mover ‘o courtrooms, must be disinantled. As the transgender sex workers and ‘queer bar patrons at Stonewall who fought back against police brutality and ‘marched against forms of state repression demonstrated, queer movements have grounded histories demanding structural and systemic change forall. To continue their work is to not settle for the status quo or the erumbs ofleted. We need to put“our queer shoulders to the wheel’ to quote Allen Ginsberg, exercise ‘our radical imaginations, and work together to build the world we need. hereurent supp festment, and against the oceay All of these peop! of persistence, of there are nosing! the long haul, am ‘What ean this look like in schools? The possibilities are endless Schools As these histo should all be beautiful and resource-rich spaces filled with art, light, and well- ‘work extends toi rested and supported teachers. Their students and staffs should be encouraged strategies, We are tospeak and act. teachers, from Le An important piece of transforming schools lies inthe eurriculum— pushing back aga remembering, surfacing, and teaching radical queer history. And always, as we “These folks are n¢ RETHINKING SEXISM, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY{mentioned atthe beginning, situating individuals inthe broader context of the ‘movements in which they worked, Bayard Rustin, for example, was a queer, communist-to-socialist pacifist strategist who was ciel tothe Gv Righis -Movement—he was central organize of the 1963 March om Washington for Jobs and Freedom—yet his contributions were purposely obscured beeawse of his pallteal views and homosexuality, and he was marginalized by Finny cr ight leaders. Flay ly sed cle he ena through labor organizing and inthe Commonist Patty {USA to co-found the Mattachine Society the fst, sustained gay onganlzation in the United Stats, ‘Faeries, which continues today. Sylvia Rivera, a | ansgender Latina sex worker, was a member ‘ofthe Young Lords and played a central sole inthe Stonewall uprising; she spoke powerfully and organized against police = repression, Poet and activist Adrienne ‘ich’ life of resistance wes ‘exemplified by her refusal to accep the 1974 National Book ‘Award asan individual, instead claiming the award on behalf of all yomen and sharing it with her other fierce, queer artist and activist nominees: Alice _ Walker and Auer Lorde. | Lorde’ powerful ideas are ‘infused throughout this essay, and Walker’ organizing and activism has continued across ‘women’s movernents of the 1960s to ‘her current support forthe Boyeott, | Allofthese people remind us ofthe importance ofppersistence, ofthe power of community, and that _ there re no single-issue struggles, They were all in it for ‘helong haul, and not interested in assimilation. [_Asthese histories hirstories* and herstories ground us, our JF work extends to inelude unfolding and yet-to-be-imagined tacties and Strategies, We are particularly energized by networks of youth, parents, ad teachers, from Los Angeles to Atlanta, who are organizing, speaking out, and Dushing back against punishing and undemocratic schools and communities hese folks are not settling for business as usual in our public schools, nor are they CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONpithng teachers and labor struggles against the needs of Black and Brown parents. ‘The conditions that necessitate these labors and the work itself seem daunting, but many ofthese groups—including Now York’s Audre Lorde Project, which ‘works to make communities safer and stronger for LGBTQ youth of eolor—offer friendship and support slong, with radical visions that challenge the “new normal” and foster social justice everywhere. ‘These powerful examples of the many who are struggling for transformation, not assimilation-blberation, not equality—inspire and remind us that we are not alone, Raising radical (from the root) questions creates more opportunities for solidarity, nore sites for bulging community, and more people to joyfully ‘work alongside. We can build the communities we know we need, and leave no ‘one behind along the way. During the 2012 strike, the Chicago Teachers Union rejected aitempts to divide working and poor patents, often people of color, from Public schoolteachers, and countered claims that edueatars eared more about benefits and salaries than the weil-being of Chicago’ children. Good teaching conditions are good learning conditions, they insisted, We insist om this too, and ‘on an expanded version ofthe idea: The conditions for flourishing lives are exactly ‘the same as the conditions for justice. 1 wil take all of us to do the work to build this world. We willbe there! Presentel Blass, Mark, a Sourcebook of Gi 8 Kunzel, Regina, Lesbian Prison 9 Quinn, Therese, Negotiating Het School? Journal 10 Meiners, Erica. 2 of Public Bnernie 11 Lewin, Tamar, 2 New York Times, students-face-ne 12 Hira trans-sens pronoun.” gender Endnotes 1 Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama, Jan, 21, 2019. whitehouse. gov/the-press-office/2013/01/21/inaugural-address-president-barack- ‘obama 2 Strauss, Valevie. 2014, “School District Bans Discussion on Michael Brown, Ferguson’ Washington Post, Aug. 26. vashingtonpost.com /blogs/answer- sheet/wp/2014/08/26/school-district-bans-classro0m-diseussion-on- ichael-beown-ferguson/ 3. "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." 1848, Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls. eessba.rutgers.edu/docs/seneca.html 4 ‘Address athe Conclusion ofthe Selina to Montgomery March, March 26, 19652 mlk-kppot stanford.eiu/indexphpfeneyclopedia/ocumentsentry/ doe_address_at_the_conclusion_of_selma_march/ ‘5 Mogul, Joey, Andrea Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock, 2011 Queer (Injustice: The Criminatization of LGBT People in the United States. pp. 45-46, Beacon. © Lorde, Andre. 1982. "Learning from the 60” blackpast org/1982-eudre- Jorde-leaming-6os 7 Many representations of these movements and ideas are available in: RETHINKING SEXISM, GENDER, AND SEXUALITYBlasius, Mark, and Shane Phelan. 1997. We Are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics. Routledge. ‘8 Kunzel, Regina. 2008. “Lessons in Boing Gay: Queer Encounters in Gay and Lesbian Prison Activism.’ Radical History Review 100: 11-37. 9 Quinn, Therese. 2007. “You Make Me Erect’: Queer Gitls of Color ‘Negotiating Heteronormative Leadership at an Urban All-Giel' Public School” Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education 4.3: 31-47, 10 Meiners, Bria, 2007. Right to Be Hostile: Schools, Prisons, and the Making of Public Enemies. Routledge, “AL Lewin, Tamar, 2012. “Black Students Face More Diseipline, Data Suggests” ‘New York Times, March 6, nytimes.com/2012/03/06/education black- students-face-more-harsh-diseipline-data-shows html?_r=0 12 Hir, a trans-sensitive gender pronoun. See more at“A gender neutral | _ pronoun. genderneutralpronounwordpress.com/tagytransgender/ CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTIONRETHINKING SEXISM, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY Edited by: Annika Butler-Wall, Kim Cosier, Rachel L. S. Harper, Jeff Sapp, Jody Sokolower, Melissa Bollow Tempel A RETHINKING SCHOOLS PUBLICATION