We’re delighted that Seattle’s LGBT Commission and CARW have signed on to our Points of Unity!

We are inspired by CARW’s work to undo institutional racism and white privilege through education and organizing in white communities and active support of anti-racist, people of color-led organizations.

The LGBT Commission’s decision to support our campaign is particularly important given the Commission’s role advising Seattle’s government on matters concerning LGBT populations in Seattle.  The racism, classism, ablism and violence of the youth punishment and child welfare systems are extremely important issues for queer and trans people.

Here are some of the talking points we shared at the Commission meeting about LGBT youth in these systems:

LGBTQ youth enter both the foster care and juvenile justice systems at disproportionate rates. LGBTQ youth are often forced out of their homes due to abuse or severe family conflict. Up to 30% of LGBTQ youth report experiencing abuse at home after coming out and 26% report having to leave their family of origin due to conflict over their sexual orientation or gender identity. This conflict results in LGBTQ youth entering the child welfare system; once in the system, as many as 78% of LGBTQ youth are subject to further harassment or abuse in out of home care. As a result, many youth run away after being placed in foster care. Youth who are caught after running away can be jailed because they have violated the court order placing them in foster care.

LGBTQ youth experience homelessness at far greater rates than the general population. Between 20-40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ.  Due to homophobia and transphobia, as well as the criminalization of homelessness and poverty, LGBTQ youth are also disproportionately jailed. Approximately 13% of youth in juvenile detention are LGBTQ.

Many of the LGBTQ youth in the juvenile justice system were arrested for survival behaviors like prostitution and shoplifting. LGBTQ youth are two times more likely than straight youth to be jailed before adjudication for nonviolent offenses, including being jailed for skipping school. LGBTQ youth leave school in disproportionate numbers – over 70% report feeling unsafe, many skip school or drop out. Truancy is one major way youth land in the juvenile jail.

LGBTQ you are not just being detained at a disproportionate rate, they also experience disproportionate levels of violence while detained. LGBTQ youth are twelve times more likely than straight youth to report being sexually assaulted by a fellow inmate. LGBTQ youth are often subjected to segregation or isolation with the excuse that it keeps them safe. LGBTQ youth are disproportionately labeled as sex offenders and subjected to unnecessary treatment.

Investing in these systems/the Children and Family Justice Center does not address the underlying causes of incarceration and youth homelessness or the real needs of the LGBTQ people in Seattle. The new building has been advertised as benefiting youth by creating safer detention conditions and centralizing court-ordered services. These proposed solutions don’t address the larger question of why we are jailing youth to begin with despite knowing the incredible harms jailing them creates. It also doesn’t address why youth must come into the juvenile justice system in order to receive services.

In order to best serve LGBTQ youth in our community, we need services that are geared towards LGBTQ youth and that do not have, as a prerequisite, contact with the police or the child welfare authorities. Jailing should not be the safety net for youth – it is a source of enormous harm in their lives.  By investing money into jails and courts rather than services such as housing, medical care, employment opportunities, and safe schools, we are deliberately subjecting LGBTQ youth to violence.

Tonight the Seattle LGBT Commission, a group of appointed volunteers that advises the City government on LGBT issues, is going to discuss our Points of Unity at their meeting.  The meeting is open to the public and there is time for public testimony. Please come to show support and/or to share your perspectives on why youth criminalization and the racism, homophobia, and transphobia of the child welfare system in King County are urgent issues for queer and trans people in Seattle.

We are thrilled that FEPPS has signed on to the Points of Unity!  FEPPS provides an educational program inside the Washington Correction Center for Women and believes that by fostering innovative and collaborative learning we can increase educational access and justice in Washington state.  FEPPS is committed to building coalitions with people inside prison, their communities and families, faculty and other education and social justice organizations working on issues of incarceration.

And here are some more postcards that folks have been sending in:

We’re delighted that East African Community Services has signed on to the Points of Unity!  EACS is an organization dedicated to supporting East African youth and families in Seattle, working to help them preserve diverse cultural heritages, adjust to life in the US and participate in communities.  They provide after school programs, summer learning, support in immigration and naturalization processes, ESL tutoring and more.

We’re excited that the CARE Center has signed on to the Points of Unity! CARE Center’s cultivates the social and economic development of immigrant youth in King County with after school programs, and other programs that support youth and parents. We are so excited to have their support in our efforts to stop criminalization of youth in King County!

And here are some more postcards that folks have been returning as part of our campaign:

End the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC), a project of the American Friends’ Service Committee, has signed on to the Points of Unity!

Here are more awesome postcards folks have returned to us!

Gendercast has signed on to our Points of Unity! Gendercast provides an accessible space to discuss relevant and current topics specific to gender identity and what it means to live in a world where an individual’s gender does not match their sex assigned at birth.  We want to create and hold space for themultidimensionality of identity and empower and raise awareness for all voices experiencing oppression.  Gendercast is committed to the perpetuation of dismantling oppressive systems, working toward racial equity and social justice, and providing a media outlet for perspectives, analyses, and commentary thereof.  We are happy to support WISH, an end to the Prison Industrial complex, and join the coalition against the proposed new youth jail and family court facility.

Check out all the groups that have signed on to the Points of Unity so far!

The Race/Knowledge Project, a research cluster of graduate students and scholars dedicated to ruminating on the contemporary status of race within what is increasingly understood as the “global” university, has signed on to the Points of Unity! The Race/Knowledge Project works to understand the complex interplay of specific global and racial histories of Seattle and the University of Washington, so its works is deeply connected to questions of how criminalization and “child welfare” are administered in King County.  We’re grateful to the scholars and activists in the Project for joining our coalition and excited to work together for racial justice in King County!

And for visual stimulation–here are a few more of the postcards folks have sent back to us recently!

Reteaching Gender and Sexuality, a group focused on shifting dynamics of gender and sexuality among young people by producing media tools that facilitate dialogue among students and practitioners in youth-serving professions, has signed on to our Points of Unity!

The University of Washington’s powerful and inspiring student organization, Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights, has signed on to our Points of Unity!