Defunding Police Supports Queer & Trans Liberation
Cops target queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming folks
Through violence—including surveillance, entrapment, and intimidation—police have always controlled queer people and their community spaces, often via obscenity and indecency laws.
Defunding police is central to Pride
The first Pride—the 1969 Stonewall Riots in NYC—was a demonstration against police violence following the police raid of a queer bar. During the AIDS crisis, gay activist groups like ACT UP worked alongside the Black Panther Party to denounce police violence.
Cops especially target queer folks who are trans, poor, and/or Black or Brown
Police fail to protect Black trans women and trans women of color when they are attacked, brutalized, and murdered at increasing rates. In fact, police make them unsafe by assaulting, harassing, and arresting them. 40% of unhoused youth are queer, often criminalized for truancy and running away, and pushed into criminalized activity like drug sales and sex work. Privileged LGBTQ demands—for marriage equality, corporate representation, and hate crime laws that often increase policing—have done little to improve the safety of more marginalized queer and trans people.
Police violently enforce laws attacking queer children and their families
Many states are pushing to criminalize parents seeking gender-affirming care for their trans children, deeming care as “child abuse.”