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Queer Review Launch Party

July 30, 2015 By HKearl

“When Kevin Hawkins was 16 and living in an area of Maryland still struggling to accept queer people, his mother disowned him. Down in South Carolina, Kesha Garner, who now lives in Washington, D.C., remembers growing up without adequate resources for LGBTQ+ people.

“Every time I drive the nine hours home, I worry about stopping to use the restroom.”

And even though D.C. is comparatively very progressive, Kesha knows the city, like every city across the country, is still home to an uncomfortable level of discrimination in public spaces. So they’re trying to do something about it.

Their new website, Queer Review, launched on Monday to give LGBTQ+ people around the world the opportunity to share their experiences in a variety of places, like restaurants, bars, hair salons, and movie theaters.”

Read the full Huffington Post article written by SSH Board Member Patrick McNeil.

Kevin and Kesha put the website together in three months and threw an awesome party last night at DC9 Nightclub in Washington, DC to celebrate its launch. I was honored to speak about the harassment LGBQT+ people face and why a tool like this is so important. The founder of Casa Ruby LGBT Community Center spoke about discrimination against LGBT people and the shelters they run for youth and adults. All of the shelters have 30+ people on waiting lists. (Donate to support their important work!)

The event had a really welcoming vibe and had stations where people could write what a safe space means to them, make note of gender-neutral bathrooms in the DC-area, and write business reviews at a laptop station.

Take a moment to write a review and also, use the reviews to choose where to go. Take your business to places that ARE welcoming and safe. Maybe if they lose customers, other businesses that are not will want to change.

Queer Review Launch!

July 20, 2015 By HKearl

Today is the launch of the Queer Review website, http://www.myqueerreview.com/. It’s “the first and only online resource to help you discover Safe Spaces around the globe. Starting July 20th, you can rate and review businesses on a per-location basis regarding their treatment of the LGBTQ+ community.”

So go ahead and start writing your reviews!

Washington, DC-area friends – I’ll be speaking at the release party on July 29, 5:30 p.m. at DC9 Nightclub, as will our board member Patrick McNeil (pending his work schedule). The event is free, goes until 8:30 p.m., and proceeds from drinks will support the Casa Ruby LGBT Community Center. Hope you can come by!

NCCWSL and Awesome Con

May 31, 2015 By HKearl

On Friday, I co-presented with Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS) at the AAUW/NASPA National Conference for College Women Student Leaders at the University of Maryland College Park. We talked to 25 college women from across the nation about street harassment and how they can use activism, teaching, and writing to make concrete change and sway opinions.

There was a portion of time for people to share stories and it ran over because so many people wanted to share recent experiences they’d had on and around campus. The most heartbreaking story came from a transwoman of color who was followed by men to her campus and they would not leave until she and several other students came out to confront them. She said she felt lucky she had back up. Her concern for her safety is very justified and she talked about thinking regularly about transwomen who are attacked and killed in public spaces simply for being their authentic self.

On Saturday and Sunday, I assisted Feminist Public Works/Geeks for Consent and CASS in tabling at Awesome Con in Washington, DC. Those organizations have done a lot of work to help the conference organizers address harassment (e.g. training volunteers to assist those who have been harassed, posting signs about consent and no harassment, etc). I spoke with many people who said they felt there was a better culture of respect this year and that they felt safe etc.

On Saturday as we were wrapping up, a man stopped by to say he had stopped 8 people from taking photos of others without first seeking consent to do so.

Today, two people who stood out to me the most were a mom who stopped by with her 13ish-year-old son and took lots of materials about consent and told him he should talk to his friends about consent (yes!) and the mom who stopped by with her three daughters who looked like they were all under 12. She also grabbed a lot of materials and said to them, “You haven’t been harassed yet but you will be soon enough.” It’s good she’s thinking about how to help them when the inevitable happens… but how said that it is inevitable.

All told, both events were a great opportunity to talk one-on-one about street harassment with people from all over the country and learn about their experiences and offer them support.

Standing with Baltimore

April 30, 2015 By HKearl

On April 19, Baltimore resident Freddie Gray died in police custody from spinal injuries. How it happened has remained unknown, but it sparked protests in Baltimore this week akin to those in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. To learn more about why, here is a Washington Post article written by a reporter who has lived in Baltimore for 30 years.

Because a minority of people at the protests grew violent (some burned a CVS), some media outlets have unfairly focused on them rather than the majority of peaceful protesters who simply want justice for Gray and justice for their communities.

SSH Board member Maureen Evans Arthurs lives near Baltimore. She shares what she did on Wednesday:

“I joined the No Boundaries Coalition at St. Peter Claver Parish in Sandtown, Baltimore to distribute food and toiletries to residents in need. The community asked for help, and we were right there to provide it. The media is depicting Baltimore as a city of lawlessness and upheaval, when really, communities are coming together to support one another and causing a positive uprising for change. #BmoreUnited

Every day this week there have been protests and that will continue, not just in Baltimore, but in other parts of the country. CNN reports:

“From coast to coast, marchers are taking to the streets to support Baltimore protesters and complain about police brutality in their own towns. The momentum only seems to be building as the week goes on.

Demonstrations are planned for Thursday in Cincinnati,CNN affiliate WXIX reported. And Philly.com said a “Philly is Baltimore” protest will be held at Philadelphia City Hall. Seattle, Portland, Oregon, and Oakland, California are on tap for Friday, which is also May Day or International Workers Day — often used to call attention to issues affecting the working class and minorities. In addition to Baltimore, protests took place in at least half a dozen cities Wednesday.”

SSH Board member Malikya Muhammad lives in New York and she joined the “NYC Rise Up & Shut It Down With Baltimore” last night with 1000s of other protesters. Unfortunately though, she said it turned scary, “The cops turned a peaceful protest into a jail cell roundup folks who have been doing this for awhile. I never saw anything like this before.”

Men are not the only ones unfairly policed or killed. I attended a vigil in Washington, DC, last night for Rekia Boyd and other Black women who have been killed by police. The organizers had us chant out for justice for dozens of women and women in the crowd came up to share poems, songs, and thoughts. Several reminded the Black women in the audience that they matter, their stories, their voices matter. Indeed, they do.

We hope you will do something, take a stand (take part in the “Shut it Down” event May 1 in Baltimore), speak out, and advocate for a cultural shift where #BlackLivesMatter and everyone feels safe in their communities.

Vigil in Washington, DC. Photo by Ilana Alazzeh‎

Washington, DC area #EndSHWeek actions

April 21, 2015 By HKearl

International Anti-Street Harassment Week was huge… groups in at least 40 countries took a stand. In the Washington, DC-area, where SSH is based, we were also busy five with offline actions.

On April 14, we joined the Georgetown University Women’s Center in distributing information and encouraging people to write white board messages for social media and attended a talk on rape culture (including street harassment) by writer and political pundit Zerlina Maxwell.

April 15, several of our board members (Liz, Layla, and Maureen) and volunteers, staff and volunteers with Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS) and the DC Rape Crisis Center, and staff from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority distributed flyers, tshirts, and bracelets at five Metro stations about harassment on the transit system and how to report it. We were able to reach hundreds of people.

April 16, we celebrated the achievements of our friends CASS at their six year anniversary party!

April 17, we hosted Nigerian LGBT/HIV activist Bisi Alimi at the meeting of the Gay District group at the DC Center. He talked about discrimination against LGBT individuals, including in Nigeria, and how that includes harassment and assault in public spaces. SSH board member Patrick, Bisi and I put up a few Stop Telling Women to Smile posters afterward as part of the International Night of Wheat Pasting!

Finally, on April 18, we joined Batala, CASS, and Defend Yourself for street action. From drumming to flyering and chalking (watch a 90 second video clip), we were able to raise a lot of awareness about street harassment. Batala was particularly amazing and drew crowds to hear their beats, giving us an opportunity to talk to people about street harassment, etc.

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