WWAV Launches the Louisiana Women’s Advocacy Alliance

In 2012, WWAV is bringing our work to improve the health of women through advocacy statewide with the Louisiana Women’s Advocacy Alliance (LWAA). LWAA is the natural extension of the advocacy foundation built through our internationally renowned NO Justice project.  Working with women and advocates across the state, we will expand a base of support to target Louisiana policies that continue to hinder the health and human rights of women in the state.

One of WWAV’s core guiding principles is that people should not be criminalized for what they do with their own bodies and should be empowered to prevent disease and improve their overall well being in any way that is available, particularly if it is evidence based.  The women we work with often turn to sex work as a way to support substance use and have few options once involved in the criminal justice system to do anything different. WWAV’s success has come largely from a high impact service/advocacy model.  This model allows us to mobilize the communities affected most by social determinants of health, particularly policy, that are normally excluded from decision-making processes.

LWAA’s work will center around three interconnected objectives:

1. Policy analysis. Louisiana has consistently lagged behind other parts of the country in providing Harm Reduction services including syringe exchange programs and gender based modalities that take into account the specific needs of women, including their involvement in sex work. Through LWAA, we will detail specific policies affecting women, including those involved in sex work, craft rights-based policy recommendations at the local and state level.
2. Education and mobilization. The sustainability of social change is rooted in the involvement of the people.  We begin by meeting people where they are and providing services and referrals to address the immediate needs such as food, clothing, shelter and healthcare, that prevent community members from engaging in advocacy activities. WWAV is very visible in Louisiana communities with a presence at health fairs, neighborhood meetings and events conducted by other partners as well as at WWAV offices where we conduct outreach to community members, advocacy trainings and story circles. These activities will continue as an integral part of LWAA.
3. Alliance development. LWAA was launched in partnership with 10 core alliance partners, consisting of individual community members and organizations. Together, we share resources with other organizations engaged in social justice movements, service delivery and advocacy activities. By recruiting individuals as key alliance members, we further ensure the involvement of those most affected by harmful policies.

February 4 – Deon Haywood is the 2012 Krewe du Vieux Queen

Wearing a V for Victory and an A for the Apocalypse in carnival colors the 2012 Parade this year is on Saturday, February 4, 2012 and the Krewe will be rolling and stumbling through the Marigny Triangle and the Lower French Quarter. This year’s theme is Crimes Against Nature, a tribute to WWAV’s internationally renowned work through our NO Justice project, and the 2012 Krewe du Vieux Queen is our very own Deon Haywood.

What is Krewe du Vieux? The Krewe du Vieux is a New Orleans Mardi Gras or Carnival krewe, originally and more fully known as the Krewe du Vieux Carre (“Vieux Carre” being another term for the city’s French Quarter). It is one of the earliest parades of the New Orleans Carnival calendar, and is noted for wild satirical and adult themes, as well as for showcasing some of the best Brass and Jazz Bands in New Orleans.  For more information, visit the Krewe du Vieux website.

Expanding Access to Breast & Cervical Health Care with LSU

Starting January 2012, WWAV is a proud partner of LSU’s Louisiana Breast & Cervical Health Program (LBCHP). LBCHP is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP), which is active in all 50 US states, as well as US territories and tribal organizations. LBCHP’s goal is to prevent unnecessary disease, disability or premature death due to cancer of the breast and cervix in Louisianan women. To accomplish this goal, LBCHP provides quality, no-cost, breast and cervical cancer early detection services to un- or under-insured, low and moderate-income Louisianan women aged 40 or over. Special emphasis is given to reaching women who rarely or never receive screening services.

WWAV’s Story Circles with Wendi O’Neal – Monthly, 1st and Last Tuesdays

As a cultural worker, facilitator, and educator, Wendi O’Neal connects social and economic justice groups’ mission, vision and values with how everyday work gets done. She uses spiritually grounded practices, art, story circles and song sharing as tools for growing inspiration and sharing methodology for democratic process.

Born and raised in New Orleans, she has worked in local, regional and national organizations; but her heart’s work is rooted in the US South, especially the kind of organizing that happens around kitchen tables in the Deep South and Appalachia.

WWAV is truly blessed to be one of the organizations that Wendi shares her gifts with.  We are proud to be hosting weekly story circles EVERY 1^st and Last Tuesday in each month!

Deon Haywood Honored by Forum For Equality

Recognizing that the face of HIV/AIDS has changed in the New Orleans area, with heterosexual Black women becoming the fastest growing population of newly diagnosed cases in the city and state, the founders of WWAV have provided HIV/AIDS education and substance abuse resources to individuals practicing high risk behaviors such as injection drug use and unsafe sex. Deon Haywood continues this remarkable advocacy effort not only at the grass roots level but also working at the legislative level to change laws that discriminate against poor women of color.  She has been honored recently by national and international human rights organizations such as MADRE which advocates internationally for  women’s sexual rights. These organizations  have highlighted her exemplary leadership as an African American woman. Deon has been honored with the 2011 Political Activism Award by the Forum For Equality

December 2nd – Summit on Sex Work in the South

On December 2nd, 2011, Women With A Vision is joining forces with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, Asheville Sex Worker Outreach Project, Sex Workers Without Borders, North Carolina Sex Workers Alliance and Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive (HIPS) to host the first regional Summit on Sex Work in the South.  Attendees include the awesome Human Rights Watch and other national allies.

We will be discussing sex work in the South, human rights & sex work, the negative public health & criminal justice effects of criminalization of condoms, advocacy for sex worker related issues, risk reduction for sex workers, drug use & sex work, bad date reporting and more!

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Join WWAV in Fighting Drug Testing for TANF Recipients

The past several years, Louisiana State Representative John LaBruzzo (Republican), has introduced legislation that would require random drug-testing for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients.  This legislation, if passed, would require from 50%-20% of all TANF program participants to submit to, and pay for, these random tests with their own funds.  This proposed policy would actually reduce the funds available to those most in need while criminalizing and stigmatizing as opposed to providing treatment.  Such an initiative would negate the original intention of the law and hinder the provision of assistance to vulnerable persons and families while failing to address the root causes of poverty within our  community.

What’s wrong with Drug Testing for TANF?

• Drug-testing is extremely cost-ineffective.
• Drug-testing identifies drug usage—not abuse.  They rarely detect strong substances that leave the system quickly, such as cocaine and methamphetamines.
• Drug use among welfare recipients has been proven to be the same as among the general public.
• Who gets hurt if welfare is denied or mothers are deterred from applying at all due to drug testing?  Their children. This leads to a continued cycle of disadvantage, struggle, and poverty.

Where should our tax dollars go instead?

Each NEGATIVE test kit costs $42 of tax payer money. This money could better be used on addiction treatment, counseling, and other effective community-based services.

What should we do about it?

Let your officials and representatives know that you OPPOSE mandatory drug testing for TANF recipients!

Want to know more?

Download our Drug Testing and TANF factsheet!

60+ LGBTQ Organizations Challenge ICE’s “Secure Communities” Program

On August 5, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton informed governors that ICE would terminate all agreements with states to implement its controversial fingerprint-sharing “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) program, despite previously saying that states and counties could opt-out or modify that agreement. This announcement came as a result of powerful community mobilization throughout the country to challenge S-Comm and expose the harmful consequences of police/ICE collaboration.

LGBTQ immigrants–particularly LGBTQ youth of color, low-income LGBTQ people, and LGBTQ survivors of violence–are disproportionately impacted by S-Comm and all “ICE ACCESS” programs, a set of thirteen federal programs that create partnership between federal law enforcement and local, state, and tribal police and courts.

Because of widespread police profiling, selective enforcement, and poverty, LGBTQ immigrants come into high rates of contact with law enforcement, leading to a greater risk for deportation, now made even greater by programs such as S-Comm. Unfortunately, these programs are only the first steps in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) biometric-sharing “Next Generation Identification” (NGI), a massive searchable database of palm print, fingerprint, and iris scans as well as scar, mark, tattoo, and facial recognition that will be accessible across federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

As LGBTQ leaders, activists, and community members, we call on President Obama to take decisive action to eliminate these destructive programs that target and have severe consequences for LGBTQ people, low-income people, immigrants, people of color, survivors of violence, and young people.

How S-Comm Harms LGBTQ Communities:

• Police/ICE collaboration further endangers LGBTQ communities and all communities with less access to resources. All immigrants in this country struggle to find safe and secure housing, healthcare, employment, and education while living in fear of deportation. Immigrants who are LGBTQ are particularly vulnerable to detention and deportation because they are more likely to come into contact with law enforcement through police profiling and discriminatory enforcement of minor offenses, as well as through false or dual arrest when they attempt to survive or flee violence. Officials often use excessive force and coercion against LGBTQ people at the scene of arrest, including threats of deportation. Once in jail, prison, or immigration detention, LGBTQ people experience rampant and sometimes fatal sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, mirroring the abuse many face from partners, employers, and neighbors outside.




• Police/ICE collaboration programs scapegoat LGBTQ immigrant communities and all marginalized groups of people by labeling them as “criminals.” LGBTQ communities like all marginalized communities face higher rates of poverty, violence, and unemployment. By labeling these communities “criminals,” S-Comm and other similar programs undermine the ability of communities and policymakers to create long-term solutions to these critical issues.

• Deporting and increasing surveillance of people does not create safety. Removing people from their homes and communities breaks apart biological and chosen family, drains resources, and creates a culture of fear. In addition to anticipating anti-LGBTQ bias, the fear of being referred to ICE can discourage LGBTQ immigrants from accessing supportive services. Many LGBTQ people face strained relationships with their biological families, and depend on others in their community for support. S-Comm and other similar programs tear at the fabric of these life-saving networks. True safety comes from whole, fully-resourced communities where everyone has the support they need to thrive.

• Complex problems require complex solutions. Programs like S-Comm distort and exacerbate the real problems communities face. For example, LGBTQ people often immigrate to the U.S. because of persecution and discrimination in their countries of origin. Upon finding similar discrimination in this country, LGBTQ people often turn to criminalized and underground economies to survive or are profiled or subjected to selective enforcement for minor offenses based on their sexual or gender non-conformity, leading to criminal charges and a greater risk of deportation under S-Comm and other similar programs. Instead of punishing people for their survival, we would be wise to address the underlying lack of economic and educational opportunity, destructive economic policies, and intergenerational legacies of trauma and bias that truly jeopardize our communities.

For these reasons and more, we invite LGBTQ leaders, organizations, and elected officials to join in this critical opportunity to defend the dignity and well-being of our most vulnerable community members and urge President Obama to immediately eliminate S-Comm and all police/ICE collaboration. Click here to endorse this statement.

Please see the 2010 National Report on Anti-LGBT Hate Violence for stories and statistics documenting LGBTQ interactions with law enforcement. If you or someone you know would like to share your experience being impacted by S-Comm or challenging the program, please email lgbt_scomm@streetwiseandsafe.org.

GROWING LIST OF ENDORSERS:

3rd Space, Phoenix, AZ
Ali Forney Center, New York, NY
API Equality – Northern California, San Francisco, CA
Audre Lorde Project, New York, NY
Best Practices Policy Project, Washington, DC
Black and Pink, National Office in Boston, MA
Black and Proud, Baton Rouge, LA
Brown Boi Project, Oakland, CA
Capital City Alliance, Baton Rouge, LA
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), New York, NY
COLAGE, National Office in San Francisco, CA
Colorado Anti-Violence Program (CAVP), Denver, CO
Corcoran College of Art and Design, Washington, DC
Community United Against Violence (CUAV), San Francisco, CA
Different Avenues, Washington D.C.
El/La Program Para TransLatinas, San Francisco, CA
Equality Louisiana, Baton Rouge, LA
Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York (GAPIMNY), New York, NY
Gay-Straight Alliance Network, San Francisco, CA
Gendercast, Seattle, WA
GetEQUAL, National
Gender JUST, Chicago, IL
GRIOT Circle Inc., Brooklyn, NY
Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, San Francisco, CA
HAVOQ/San Francisco Pride at Work, San Francisco, CA
Latino Commission on AIDS, New York, NY
Lavender Youth Recreation & Information Center (LYRIC), San Francisco, CA
The LGBTQ Project of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Louisiana Trans Advocates, Baton Rouge, LA
Make the Road New York, New York City & Suffolk County
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), Boston, MA
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), National Office in San Francisco, CA
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), National Office in New York, NY
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Office in Washington D.C.
The Network/La Red, Boston, MA
One Colorado, Colorado State
Our Family Coalition, San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Our4Immigration, National Based in San Francisco, CA
OUTlaw of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Peter Cicchino Youth Project, New York, NY
Positive Force, Washington, DC
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP), San Francisco, CA
Queers for Economic Justice, New York, NY
Sex Workers Action New York (SWANK), New York, NY
Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) NYC, New York, NY
Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center, New York, NY
Southerners On New Ground (SONG), Southern Regional
Spectrum LGBT Center, Marin County, CA
Streetwise & Safe (SAS), New York, NY
Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), New York, NY
Transformative Alliances LLC, Denver, CO
Transgender, Gender Variant, & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), San Francisco, CA
Transgender Individuals Living Their Truth, Inc. (TILTT), Atlanta, GA
Transgender Law Center (TLC), Statewide Office in San Francisco, CA
Trikone Northwest, Seattle, WA
Trinity Place Shelter, New York, NY
Women With a Vision, Inc., New Orleans, LA
Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, New Orleans, LA
Women Organizing Women of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Women With a Vision, Inc., New Orleans, LA

Click here to endorse this statement.

WWAV’s Danita Muse on Harm Reduction in the South

The “Reducing Harm & Building Communities: Addressing Drug Use in the South” conference took place September 8 & 9, 2011 in Durham, NC. Several advocates were interviewed and offered insights into syringe decriminalization, harm reduction and their work, including WWAV’s own Danita Muse:

What About Syringe Decriminalization? from North Carolina Harm Reduction on Vimeo.

August 11th – Making our SCAN Legislative Victory Retroactive

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