police

White Supremacists Want To Rebrand #BlackLivesMatter

By AllNiteImages Flickr/creative commons

Special thanks to writers Julia Craven (@CurlyCrayy) and Nick Wing (@nickpwing) for 5 Things To Tell Anyone Who Blames Black Lives Matter For Violence Against Cops. Predictably, Fox News has called out the crazies to gaslight the Black Lives Matter movement and rebrand it as a hate group and murder movement. All of us have to do everything in our power to counter this hateful misdirection designed by, made for, and spread by white supremacists. Please read Craven and Wing's whole piece, if you haven't already, because it so well diffuses the myths used by white supremacists ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Coming Soon: Transgender Day(s) of Action 2015

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". . . We can no longer wait for anyone to save us." -- Lourdes Ashley Hunter, Executive Director of Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC) and, Casa Ruby Comptroller

After opining on the deadly scourge of transmisogyny for the last few days (here, here, and here), it's time for some practicalities. Each November, in hundreds of cities across the world, we gather for a Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) to mourn and celebrate the lives of trans people who have been victims of violence, especially those who have paid the ultimate price. We ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Op-Ed: Culturally Inept Policing Schools Criminals

Photo by Adam Fagen Flickr/creative commons

In our grassroots work in Washington, DC, 3 years ago, we discovered a sad reality that persists. Police training and code, cultural competency training, with additional Special Orders pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) people, and the country's most long-standing and extensive human rights protections for the LGBT community were not enough to rid the police force of homophobes and transphobes. While there are many good policemen, this substantial group cannot not be persuaded to put their personal feelings second to enforcing the law, actually doing their jobs. In fact, some are perpetrators of crimes against the communities they were assigned ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Jamelle Bouie Gives the Larger Picture

Photo by Steve Rhodes Flickr/creative commons

Why the Fires in Ferguson Won't End Soon But while calm is hard to predict, one thing is clear: The events in Ferguson—from the shooting to the police response and everything since—are a product of familiar forces and stem from a familiar history. Put another way, the area’s long-bottled racial tension has burst, and it’s difficult to know if it can be resolved, much less contained. -- Slate's Jamelle Bouie (@jbouie)  In a mere 3000 words, Jamelle Bouie schools us in reality versus perception. The article is well worth a full read and understanding because it applies ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Old Ferguson Makes New Commitments

Flickr/creative commons

VenusPlusX's unique mix, what we mean by The New Age of Sexual Freedom, is aimed at solutions to change the state of our country, our world, through the removal of all obstacles such as racism, sexism, the worst of nationalism, and all the other "isms," that stand in the way of Peace, universal pluralism based on love. (Our Mission, our Manifesto.) In this context, we have written all week about the shooting of young Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, his legacy and his family's continuing legacy, a lightening strike heard around the world that has forever changed ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Solutions Are Available But Will We Pay Attention?

Photo by Chase Carter Flicker/creative commons

"Every once in a while, a dramatic news story can actually produce real reform. More often the momentum peters out once the story disappears from the news (remember how Sandy Hook meant we were going to get real gun control?), but it can happen. And now, after the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missiouri, turned to a chaotic nightmare of police oppression, we may have an opportunity to examine, and hopefully reverse, a troubling policy trend of recent years." -- Paul Waldman, The American Prospect We've written our initial response to the unfolding ...

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in Campaigns / End Police Bias / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Casa Ruby Awards First Dan Massey Trans Ally Award

(l. to r.) Dana Beyer, DC Mayor Vincent Gray, and Casa Ruby Distinguished Service Award recipient, Consuella Lopez Photo by Ted Eytan Flickr/creative commons

Last week, we had another wonderful night out in New York City with our friend and current candidate for the Maryland Senate, Dr. Dana Beyer. The Maryland primary election is today and, win or lose, it's not an exaggeration to say the force is with her. As a trans woman running against an entrenched old boy who happens to be a gay man, she has been heroic in this campaign (and in her previous campaigns for Maryland Delegate) in presenting voters with a true progressive vision that enfranchises all people, not just special interests, not the status quo. Dana ...

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in Campaigns / Dan Massey / End Police Bias / Events / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 0 comments

Sign Our Petition to Stop Harmful Prostitution-Free Zones

Tomorrow in DC we will be delivering testimony, reprinted below, in opposition to  Bill 19-567, a proposed new law that would allow police to designate permanent Prostitution-Free Zones (PFZs), which have been dubbed by local activists as Trans Profiling Zones. If you cannot attend tomorrow, you can watch online. In any case, in the coming two weeks, please join us by signing the change.org petition. Each time someone signs, the DC Council gets email notice. We want to deluge these officials' in boxes and make sure that this legislation is never passed, and that even our current ...

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in Campaigns / Grassroots / Public Information  by Alison Gardner 1 comments