Dear PWN community,
Let’s take a deep breath together; we have some hard stuff to talk about. Content warning for discussion of anti-trans* violence.
In recent months, on virtual events that PWN hosted, we failed to interrupt trans-antagonism as it was happening in our spaces. This was our mistake as an organization and we apologize for the harms that were caused, and commit to learning to hold space that truly centers liberation for all Black people – cis and trans*.
Please check out this video message from PWN staff.
We have also observed a rise in trans*-exclusionary spaces in the HIV community – events, groups and formations that are designated as being only for cisgender women.
This comes in the context of escalating anti-trans* violence. Rhetorics, policies, and practices escalate dehumanization, and – knowingly or unknowingly – promote violence against trans* communities at all levels. Cis-only spaces continue the cycle of oppression, erasure, and devaluing of trans* lives. For Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, Arab, and other trans* women of color, the situation is even more dire. Black trans* women consistently face fatal violence at five times the rate of the general population. More than 20 states in the US have recently enacted anti-trans legislation. Trans* and gender diverse people face greater levels of harassment, bullying, discrimination and violence than cisgender people in every context they encounter- from walking down the street to encounters with law enforcement to seeking employment, housing, healthcare access and taking care of any basic needs. Data on experiences of anti-trans* discrimination and violence is incomplete because data on gender identity is incomplete, but we know that state violence and community violence function together to create dangerous and deadly conditions for people who are trans and gender non conforming.
In the United States, only 2 out of 10 people say they personally know someone who is transgender. There are real issues of transmisia (previously known as transphobia) that exist in this country and show up in the HIV movement—all of which are rooted in anti-Blackness. We must be in conversation and community with one another to listen to each other and realize our collective liberation.
More than 40% of transgender and gender expansive women of color in the U.S. are living with HIV. Trans and gender diverse communities of all races, but especially Black trans people, have been and continue to be under-resourced for HIV services and other essential human rights. While some small steps have been taken to address this, there is a long way to go before even the most basic services are available to trans and gender diverse communities, and meanwhile, the rights and basic humanity of trans and gender diverse people are being stripped away. Just a few weeks ago, North Carolina became the 22nd state to enact legislation restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for trans minors. These policies have fatal consequences. A study published earlier this year showed that transgender people attempt suicide at nearly eight times the rate of cisgender people.
Small and large actions that cisgender people take, or fail to take, at every level either create more safety or more danger for people who are trans or gender non conforming—from jokes, to problematic portrayals in media, to normalizing use of pronouns in our spaces, to policies and practices around how we invite people into and hold space that does not allow disrespectful comments.
PWN has been explicitly trans-inclusive since our founding in 2008 and we firmly believe that a lens of power and privilege, and of advancing liberation in our communities, means that while transgender-only spaces are often necessary for safety and survival, cisgender-only spaces are mostly problematic because of the ways they reproduce and perpetuate oppression, othering and false narratives about difference.
This gender justice analysis is similar to our analysis around the absolute necessity of maintaining, cultivating and supporting Black only spaces in our movement and the simultaneous absolute unacceptability of white-only spaces.
For years, PWN has been cultivating and supporting spaces for Black people and people of color. We helped found HIV Racial Justice Now, a space for BIPOC leaders to advance racial justice in the HIV community. We helped found and continue to support BULI, the Black United Leadership Initiative. Internally at PWN we have a Black staff caucus. We will always protect and maintain these Black and BIPOC only spaces because we understand how power and white supremacy function and an equity and safety analysis requires that we resource and protect these spaces so Black, Indigenous and People of Color can organize powerfully and safely.
The practice of caucusing along lines tied to socio economic and socio political status (how much power groups hold in society) is important. It also requires reflexivity and accountability. We do not and will not support white-only organizing spaces. While PWN does hold an ongoing white folks dismantling racism political education group, as a transparency and accountability practice, that group is not closed to BIPOC individuals and its very purpose is to hold white folks accountable to learn about, unpack and actively seek to dismantle anti-Blackness and other forms of racism in the HIV field.
As an organization that is majority composed and led by Black women living with HIV, PWN deeply understands that Black cisgender women have been failed by all aspects of the HIV response. Black cisgender women living with HIV are dying at alarming rates and are facing co-morbidities, mortality, economic crisis, and a dire lack of funding and services that are truly culturally relevant. The needs, expertise and leadership of Black women- cis and trans- have been under-resourced and under-recognized in the HIV field. Misogynoir – the intersection of anti-Black racism and sexism – in the HIV community itself has real consequences for policy and practice that have allowed the state of the domestic HIV response for Black cisgender and transgender women to be, quite frankly, unacceptable.
But let’s be clear that the lack of focus on Black cisgender women isn’t actually because there are “too many” HIV resources going to trans and gender non conforming communities. It’s a much deeper problem about the ways the lives and humanity of Black women, femmes and gender-diverse people are both under-valued and seen as a threat to white cis hetero patriarchy, and that white supremacy and patriarchy will stop at nothing to harm our communities and attempt to contain our power.
We must and will demand action, accountability, resources, and a concrete plan from decision-makers to show measurable commitments to improving the lives, health, and dignity of all Black women living with HIV.
The oldest tactic in the oppressors’ book is to divide and conquer us. But we are boundlessly powerful when we unite and center the leadership of Black cis and trans* women and gender expansive folks.
As part of this, PWN will not be organizationally or institutionally supporting spaces that exclude people of trans experience. We will continue to uplift and support advocacy agendas and priorities that attend to the needs of Black cis and trans women and to the needs of all communities disproportionately impacted by HIV, and which do not reproduce the scarcity mythology that there isn’t enough for all of our communities to be well, safe, free and whole – because there is. It just requires redistribution of power, resources and wealth. We must dismantle so we can rebuild.
We understand that our liberation is interconnected, and that when Black cis AND trans* women are free, we will all be free. This is the future we are fighting for, and we hope you join us on this journey.
