This is the recording of the interview our group conducted with Amber Hollibaugh, CEO of Queers for Economic Justice:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8vK2I3Y7cbjWTI2MV95N08tbk0/edit?usp=sharing
On Thursday, December 13, my group, the LGBTQ Group, interviewed Amber Hollibaugh, the executive director of Queers for Economic Justice (QEJ). QEJ formed during the Clinton administration to stand up for poor LGBTQ people. QEJ is a radical organization dedicated not for equality, but for a new economic system. Amber Hollibaugh explains, “QEJ is a radical organization, it’s not a liberal organization. We’re not trying to get equality, that’s not our vision…we think the whole system’s funky, and we need to change the system, not just amend it to get gay people and transgender people included. We think that the system doesn’t work.” This statement and the one on QEJ’s website make it clear of QEJ’s views.
We learned a little about how QEJ works. They are made up entirely of volunteers, and are always looking for more people to help them. QEJ headquarters was not a stereotypical set of offices. They had a couch, a few rooms in the back, a few cluttered desks, some bookshelves, maps on the walls, and a large oval table. It has a homely feel, and I like it better than some of the other offices I have been in.
Amber Hollibaugh spent a lot of time explaining to us the unfairness of the shelter system for LGBTQ people in New York specifically, though it is an issue in other places as well. Currently, the shelter system is hard on LGBTQ people in many ways. If a person is biologically a male, but identifies as female, they still get sent to a men’s shelter, and vice versa. If two women, for example, live together, have kids, but aren’t married, the pair will be forced to live separately in shelters. Those are the two main issues within shelters that QEJ is fought for, and eventually ended those issues.
Another main issue QEJ is fighting is recognition for LGTBQ people who are not well off financially. Amber says, “Things like poverty are outrageous, in a country with this kind of resource…it’s just unacceptable, and that queer people are often the most targeted and vulnerable…and it’s never even seen as our issue, and most equality organizations don’t bring it up.” This is one of the main reasons QEJ wants to change the economic system.
