BLAQUE/OUT MAGAZINE: Does A "Safe Haven State" Really Exist? Tamara Leigh

Does A “Safe Haven State” Really Exist?

"By asserting the problem is so much worse elsewhere, by creating an illusion of equity and inclusion somewhere where there is so much work to do, we do a disservice to everyone. Where problems are acknowledged, resources to correct them typically flow. By this same logic, creating narratives around what resources, protections, services and level of acceptance exists in the North vs the South for Trans and LGBTQ+ community members is potentially a dangerous narrative to promote. This isn’t a regional problem, it's an American one."

BY TAMARA LEIGH, Editor

January 1, 2024-

As a native New Yorker living in Florida and a full-time activist up North and a full-time educator down South, I think it puts me in a unique position to dissect the blue and red, rainbow and Black state of our country as we step into 2024. It’s my job to know what is happening in the world, especially when it comes to Black and Brown Intersectional Queer identities. We are walking bullseyes in most cases, in a country that has labeled us as less than or felonious for being Black and Queer. Legislation hits us differently because we typically fall into the groups most vulnerable to it. Although we are already in those categories, additionally, we are most likely to fit in all the other risk categories: poor, undereducated, under-resourced, unhoused, worst medical care and access, least opportunities, least family support, highest incidences of illness and poor mental health care. I find the rhetoric between the North being a safe-haven and the South being a danger zone most interesting. The legislation being passed in the states of Florida and Texas, for example, are certainly devastating to families and LGBTQ+ individuals, but the truth is my friends who are activists in New York and those who are fighting in the South are fighting very similar battles. Recently, The Guardian published

an article, “Trans people are finding safe haven in an unexpected place: upstate New York” about how upstate cities like my hometown of Rochester, New York, have become a destination for weary Southerners escaping persecution and to gain access to life saving gender-affirming surgery and pharmaceutical intervention.

The story that article didn’t tell is that according to the US Census, Rochester has a 29.3% poverty rate compared to the 12.4% national average. In 2021, there were 85 recorded homicides and in 2022, 75 in a population of less than 210,000. That is equivalent to a murder every 8.8 days in 2023 ***. There are few shelters that will accommodate any unhoused folks. There are tent cities set-up in open fields as well as under bridges and overpasses that are regularly destroyed by city government, only one youth shelter with a handful of beds to accommodate LGBTQIA+ youth, and none that I’m aware of for adults. I consulted several agencies and organizers in Rochester and no one could provide me with an exact number of medical providers offering gender-affirming care, but I know from the difficulty of my peers in finding care in Upstate New York, let alone quality and culturally-

competent care, is increasingly challenging. Braden Reese, the founder of a Rochester-based grassroots mutual aid and LGBTQIA+focused community group, Rochester LGBTQ+ Together, started in the wake of the pandemic to serve a severely underserved local LGBTQ+ population and distributed nearly $20,000 to community members in the form of cash asks, grocery shops, and community giving between 2021 and 2022. The need continues to grow, thus he continues to seek funding (which has become more and more difficult), that typically comes from individual LGBTQ community members. People in the community looking to help each other through difficult times and mutual aid, not major non-profits or corporate sponsors because if those resources are being given, it is rarely to these types of groups. Organizations like Reese’s and small independent Trans-led orgs like WAVE Women, Inc. and Next Generation Men of Transition who serve the Black and Brown Trans community, specifically, are inundated with requests for help with housing, complaints about equity and mistreatment by medical providers and larger agencies, a need for food, employment and transportation. When asked about the available resources and access to care for Rochestarians and residents of New York, the President/Founder of WAVE Women, Inc.,

Javannah Davis, states, “As progressive as most of the New York State legislature is towards improving the lives of its LGBTQIA residents, there is still much that it lacks when it comes to healthcare resources for its Transgender/GNC (gender non-conforming) residents; especially BIPOC Transgender/GNC residents. Whilst we now hold the title as a ‘safe haven’ state, as a healthcare professional of over 19 years, it concerns me that the potential influx of asylum seekers will prevent the current NYS residents of 76,000+ who identify as Transgender seeking the already scant resources for gender-affirming care, may continue to struggle even more to get the care they need. Does this mean [to] turn anyone away? Absolutely not! But it does mean that we can’t just focus on the victory of being a safe haven state, but start to focus on how we create more resources, train our existing healthcare providers, and implement policies and procedures that will benefit the existing >0.5% of our Trans-identifying residents in NYS. This will also allow for a smoother transition into our system for those that are seeking a better way of life and offer the choices necessary for quality gender-affirming healthcare. ”

In no uncertain terms, while New York State passed bills like the Marriage Equality Act in 2011 and Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) in 2019, Queer and Trans people, especially Queer and Trans people of color are still fighting for basic needs.

According to the Human Rights Campaign’s, “The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the United States 2023 Report”, “Since January 2013, HRC and other advocates have identified 335 transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who were victims of fatal violence in the United States. As of this report’s release on November 20, 2023, we have recorded 33 fatalities since the last Transgender Day of Remembrance, including 25 deaths to-date in the calendar year of 2023. Fatal violence impacts [T]ransgender and [G]ender [N]onConforming people of all ages, races, gender, gender identities, and from rural and urban areas. However, people living at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities have been disproportionately impacted relative to others. ”

Since the release of this annual report, 5 additional names have been added to that list. The report goes on to say, “to date, cases have been recorded in 177 cities and towns, across 38 states, territories and the District of Columbia. Fatal violence is found in blue states and red states, in cities and rural areas.

It is also concentrated in some pockets of the country, including both those with larger [T]ransgender populations (and larger populations overall), and more restrictive anti-[T]ransgender legislative environments. Almost two-thirds (63.6%) of all victims identified to date were killed in just ten states: Texas, Florida, California, Louisiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, and North Carolina. Texas and Florida, two states with some of the most extensive slates of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in place, are home to the highest number of fatalities, with 34 reported in Texas, and 31 reported in Florida. At the same time, California, which has non-discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity, and which has declared itself a sanctuary state for [T]ransgender youth seeking medical care, is home to the third highest number of fatalities, with 23 fatalities –including three in the last 12 months. ”

Those numbers are disgraceful and abysmal. If you are part of the community or work in the field and keep track of the names and numbers as they climb throughout the year, you are also aware that the murders are spread North to South and East to West. It's significant to note that these homicides are occurring in Southern states passing Transmisic and homophobic legislation, as well as states like New York and California designated as “safe haven” states that will welcome in LGBTQ+ residents openly. 2023 saw Jasmine Adams’ maced, drug out of a corner store in Staten Island by her hair, and kicked in the head by an employee because he thought she was Trans, she was not. In July, O’Shae Sibley, a 28 year old Queer Black man was stabbed to death in a gas station parking lot in Brooklyn because he was voguing to the new Beyonce’ album.

Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times presented a relatively foreign concept in the 2019, The 1619 Project. The collection of essays by brilliant minds attuned to history, Black culture, politics, transportation, housing, capitalism, incarceration and the like, told the much more well-rounded version of history that considered enslaved Africans as the foundation of America not just the once upon a time property of it. 1619 highlighted how American history as it is traditionally taught was a miseducation and not only affected how white culture views Black culture but how the Black community views itself. In a project I contributed to for the University of Rochester-Center for Community Practice and the NYSDOH (New York State Department of Health) AIDS Institute, we examined how not only are Southerners widely uneducated about the truths of the institution of slavery, but Northerners are miseducated about the very real existence of slavery in Northern states, including New York and including Rochester.

This false ideation contributes to, even to this day, diminishing the very prominent existence of institutional racism, implicit bias and inequity suffered by people of color in the North. By asserting the problem is so much worse elsewhere, by creating an illusion of equity and inclusion somewhere where there is so much work to do, we do a disservice to everyone. Where problems are acknowledged, resources to correct them typically flow. By this same logic, creating narratives around what resources, protections, services and level of acceptance exists in the North vs the South for Trans and LGBTQ+ community members is potentially a dangerous narrative to promote. This isn’t a regional problem, it's an American one. Since 2015, hate crimes have nearly doubled nationwide and that emboldened campaign of hate amplified and uplifted the legislation we see today.

The ACLU is currently tracking 510 pieces of legislation that are detrimental to the life, liberty, and safety of Queer and Trans people in this country with the most severe and highest number either having been proposed or passed into law in Southern states like Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arkansas, North and South Carolina and Tennessee. But the truth is, they are in motion in every state outside of New York, Illinois, Delaware and DC**. There is no question that the LGBTQ+ folks, youth, and families living in those states are in danger and in crisis. Living in Florida means depending on the make-up of your local city government leadership, you may or may not have access to gender-affirming care or access to appropriate rest rooms. It means your venue may be shut down or refuse your drag event due to public pressure and the oppressive state government and accepted climate that exists openly. With that being said, I live in the Florida city with the biggest Pride celebration in the lower US, run a successful group of nearly 1,000 Black and Brown Queer women and partner with St. Pete Pride to host a Black sapphic wonderland of a Pride party every June. I would never suggest any Trans person move to any of the aforementioned states right now. Your access to life-saving and gender-affirming care may very well be limited and worse down here and EVERYONE deserves to be able to live authentic lives and receive the care it requires to do so. In several states, you may even run the risk of the state removing your children from your custody for allowing them access to gender-affirming care and that is a risk no family should have to take. But it’s also dangerous to create a false narrative of a Queer utopia when no such place in this country exists. The difference may be as simple as Northern activists fighting for legislation and Southern and Mid-Western activists fighting against legislation. An important differentiation, but still a slight one, because the fight for all of us is far from over.

In the same breath, none of this is disparaging against New York. In a pervasive climate of hate, New York has probably been the most successful in evading the onslaught of anti-legislation. And much due to the influence of New York City, a vastly red upstate still keeps the state as a whole, consistently blue. With coalitions like Gender Equality New York comprised of powerful advocates like Ari Moore and extremely visible advocacy organizations downstate like New Pride Agenda led by Elisa Crespo, fighting for NY State Senate Bill 2023-S2860 (Gender Identity Respect, Dignity, and Safety Act (GIRDS)) and the Expansion of the New York Safe Haven Act. In addition to the powerful voices that have made their way to tables where decisions are being made like Chanel Lopez (Deputy Director of LGBTQ+ Affairs for the NYS), New York continues to push forward in protecting its LGBTQ+ citizens.

With all of that being said, there is so much work left to do and that fight presses on every single day. The fight in Florida, Texas and beyond on behalf of the communities at the most dire risk does as well. That is the moral of this story as a whole. The sad truth is, there is no corner of this country that is a safe space or real “safe haven,” especially if you are Black, Brown, and Trans. Neither is there a list of risk factors that doesn’t list Black and Brown, Queer and Trans folks as the most at risk no matter what city or state you call home. In this political playground of semantics- we can NEVER lose sight of that.

updated January 4, 2024 1:00PM EST

Sources:

https://www aclu org/

https://www theguardian com/usnews/2023/dec/18/trans-americans-upstatenew-york-rochester

Reference: NYS Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2021-2022

The 1619 Project; Nikole Hannah-Jones

The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the United States: 2023 Report; https://reports hrc org/

***Rochester, NY Police Department Open Data Portal