Take action to fight discriminatory policing! #RepealPFZs

We know that many in our communities have turned to informal economies, including engaging in sex work, to support themselves. Sex workers have long been subject to police violence and harassment. Since 2006, the Chief of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has had the power to designate any public space in DC as a prostitution free zone (PFZ). In a PFZ, the police can tell anyone to leave the area or face arrest, without any concrete basis for suspicion. That’s a recipe for police profiling, and it’s time to put PFZs to an end.

We opposed PFZs when they were first introduced, and now the DC Council is considering legislation to repeal this harmful and discriminatory law, that DC’s own Attorney General has determined is unconstitutional and indefensible. On Wednesday, June 9, at 11am, the DC Council’s Judiciary Committee will be considering the repeal measure. You can follow the hearing live online. Be sure to join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #RepealPFZs.

Most importantly, DC Council members need to hear from you to support PFZ repeal. We especially need to reach Council members Jack Evans (Ward 2), Muriel Bowser (Ward 4), and Anita Bonds (At-large). Please take a quick moment to email these Council members to voice your support for ending PFZs in DC. Just copy and paste the message below!

I am writing today in support of Bill B20-760 co-introduced by Councilmembers Grosso, Catania, and Cheh and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Wells and Barry, which would repeal the discriminatory Prostitution Free Zones provision from the D.C. Code. 
 
Prostitution free zones promote the unfair profiling of DC's most vulnerable communities and create an atmosphere of mistrust toward the Metropolitan Police Department. Repealing this law will assist with the process of repairing relations between DC's trans communities and the police, and open the door for more meaningful conversation about issues related to sex work.

This bill is an essential first step in achieving our broader goal of decriminalizing sex work in DC. Your voice is essential to make sure we’re successful. And if you’d like to share your experience with PFZs or biased policing, please just reply to this email and we’ll be in touch ASAP.

April 11: Action to support Monica Jones and end Prostitution Free Zones

Join HIPS, DC Trans Coalition, GLAA, and Best Practices Policy Project and groups around the U.S. and the world standing in solidarity with Monica Jones on her trial date, April 11, 2014. We are joining this global day of action against criminalization and profiling of trans women of color, and calling on DC to repeal the discriminatory Prostitution Free Zones.

Monica Jones, a human rights defender in Arizona and an advocate for the rights of transgender people and sex workers, was profiled and wrongfully arrested for “manifestation of prostitution” by a police sting operation and anti-prostitution diversion program known as “Project ROSE”. Ms Jones had been a speaker at a rally protesting Project ROSE—which is run by Phoenix police and Arizona State University’s School of Social Work—the day before. At the time of her arrest, she was not engaging in sex work, but was in fact walking down her street to the local bar.

On April 11 at 8:30 am (U.S. Mountain Standard Time) Monica’s case will go to trial at Phoenix Municipal Court. She will plead not guilty and an action is planned outside the court to show the City of Phoenix Prosecutor that we won’t tolerate the systematic profiling and criminalization of transgender people of color and sex workers. In DC, we will rally at noon in front of the Wilson Building in solidarity with Monica and trans women of color throughout the U.S. subject to such mistreatment. We will also call on the DC Council to repeal the discriminatory Prostitution Free Zones and promote the human rights of sex workers in our city.

What: Rally against criminalization of trans women of color and for human rights of sex workers
When: April 11, 12pm-2pm
Where: Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Click here to RSVP on Facebook.

DCTC joins in Community Response to Hate Crimes Assessment Task Force

Today, DCTC joined with six other DC LGBTQ community organizations in responding to the Hate Crimes Assessment Task Force report released by the Metropolitan Police Department on February 26. Taken together, the Task Force Report, MPD’s response, and the community response provide an essential starting point to improving relations between MPD and DC’s LGBTQ communities.

In the community response, we thank the Task Force for their research and findings. In general, we agree with the recommendations that the Task Force put forward. Our recommendations are designed to build upon the Task Force report by offering concrete steps that MPD and community organizations can take that, over time, will allow for positive change in how LGBTQ-police interactions occur in DC. The community response also looks beyond the issue of hate crimes to discuss response to intimate partner violence in LGBTQ relationships, interactions with LGBTQ youth, and interactions with sex workers. We look forward to engaging with MPD to begin implementing these recommendations.

Finally, the community response offers three specific recommendations to the DC Council, including:

• Repeal Prostitution Free Zones and decriminalize sex work,
• Strengthen the authority of the Office of Police Complaints, and
• Hold annual hearings on marginalized community relations with MPD

UPDATE: A community forum to discuss the recommendations and next steps will be held at Casa Ruby on Wednesday, March 26, at 7:00pm. You can RSVP via facebook or by emailing vvillano@transequality.org.

To read the Community Response to the Hate Crimes Assessment Task Force, please click here (pdf).

Click here to read the Report of the Hate Crimes Assessment Task Force and MPD’s response (pdf).

Action Alert: Support Trans Health and Services in DC’s Budget

Our friends Andy Bowen and Nico Quintana with the DC Trans Economic Justice Campaign are asking for your support advancing two key DC budget proposals that will benefit trans people.

DC Council Members are voting on the annual Budget Request Act on Wednesday, May 22. There are two items in the budget that need your support TODAY to help fight for trans justice.   

DC’s Health Care Exchange 

Tell your council member to support the DC Health Care Exchange funding in the Budget Request Act.  Why- the DC Health Exchange has trans inclusive care language in it. Powerful forces have gathered to defeat DC’s health care exchange. If those folks are successful, we’ll lose local control over our health exchange, which means we could lose our battle to make sure Health Exchange-provided plans do not have trans exclusions. 

One City Fund

Tell your council member to support the proposed One City Fund. Why?  The fund will provide grant opportunities for direct service and anti-poverty organizations, some of which have trans clients.  The fund would start with an initial $15 million.

Today! Call or email Council members and say: “I am a DC resident, and I want you to continue funding the DC Health Care Exchange and the One City Fund in the Budget Request Act as is. Local control over the Health Care Exchange is vital to making sure the Exchange meets community needs, such as those of the transgender community, who need to ensure that the Exchange plans do not exclude transgender people from treatment. The One City Fund will support and expand vital services for transgender DC residents. Thank you for your time.”

DC Council members’ contact info:

The Honorable Phil Mendelson, pmendelson@dccouncil.us  (202) 724-8032
The Honorable David Catania, dcatania@dccouncil.us (202) 724-7772
The Honorable Vincent Orange, vorange@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8174
The Honorable David Grosso, dgrosso@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8105
The Honorable Anita Bonds, abonds@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8064
The Honorable Jim Graham, jgraham@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8181
The Honorable Jack Evans, jevans@dccouncil.us  (202) 724-8058
The Honorable Mary Cheh, mcheh@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8062
The Honorable Muriel Bowser, mbowser@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8052
The Honorable Kenyan McDuffie, kmcduffie@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8028
The Honorable Tommy Wells, twells@dccouncil.us (202) 724-8072
The Honorable Yvette Alexander, yalexander@dccouncil.us  (202) 724-8068
The Honorable Marion Barry, mbarry@dccouncil.us  (202) 724-8045

DCTC finds evidence of bias in MPD hate crimes review

In testimony before the DC Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety today, the DC Trans Coalition notes evidence of bias in the “independent” review of hate crimes response and LGBTQ community relations that the Metropolitan Police Department commissioned from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). DCTC obtained over 1500 pages of MPD Chief Cathy Lanier’s emails pertaining to the ADL review, which was announced last year, following DCTC’s October 2011 request for confidential mediation with MPD facilitated by the Community Relations Service of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The emails obtained include this note to Chief Lanier from David Friedman, who heads the ADL’s Mid-Atlantic Office, from November 2011, when MPD claims it was beginning discussions with the ADL about establishing an “independent” hate crimes review:

On Nov 3, 2011, at 9:00 PM, “Friedman, David” wrote:

Wouldn’t worry. The only people who don’t like you have outstanding warrants.

D

From: Lanier, Cathy (MPD)
To: Friedman, David
Subject: Re: Staying in your post
Date: Thursday, November 03, 2011 9:03:58 PM

That David, is one of the many reasons I love you…. So quick

Cathy L. Lanier
Chief of Police
Washington, D.C.

Other emails obtained show that Chief Lanier was asked to approve potential members of the ADL-led review team, which consists of four other national civil rights organizations and two academics. In our testimony today, we note:

In short, the ADL hate crimes review task force has proven itself to be both insufficient to address community concerns, and blatantly biased against us. We do not relish conflict between our communities and MPD. Yet, due to a persistent failure to listen openly to our concerns, conflict persists, and the day to day lives of trans people in DC are endangered as a result. Our concern is that the ADL-led task force is a publicity stunt rather than a good-faith effort at making progress.

We once again encourage MPD to accept our offer of confidential mediation through the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service.

Other topics included in today’s testimony include:

• Progress towards eliminating the use of condoms as evidence in sex work cases,
• A request on the status of the grant MPD received from Harvard University in 2006 to expand the work of the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit,
• Ongoing issues in implementing MPD’s general order on interactions with trans people,
• MPD’s inability to relay information about trans detainees to the U.S. Marshal’s Service, and
• A request on the status of the suspended “prostitution-free” zones.

Our full testimony is available here.