Hero of the Month Archives - Page 2 of 3

Hero of the Month: Alex Andrews

Alex Andrews is on a mission and she’s happy to have you get in her way. She’ll ask you to join her (and you likely will) within three minutes of meeting. Practical, passionate, and purposeful, Andrews is determined to change the way contact with the legal system plunges individuals into a vicious cycle that can be and feel impossible to break. She would like to see each state fully decriminalize consensual adult sex work. While Andrews fights for this ultimate goal, she’s making allies and ensuring sex workers impacted by the legal system have the resources they need to thrive.

“Find your place,” says Andrews. She points out that the National Rifle Association (NRA) comprises only five percent of gun owners in this country. She can imagine how much more powerful sex workers would be nationwide if just five percent committed themselves to fighting for the decriminalization of their own lives and the lives of others. “We all have value. We have to agree to disagree on some of the smaller issues so that we can come together on a national level. We all want full decriminalization but in the meantime, we need to reduce the harm caused by systemic failures,” she implores. Andrews is proud to be part of a diverse community with such “a vast range of skills, talents and lived experiences.” After pulling herself out of a miserable spiral of jail, probation, court fines, and instability, she wants to support others as they do the same.

The “scar of incarceration,” is deep and painful. Andrews knows firsthand. She recalls the sound of metal doors clanging behind her, the click of handcuffs around her wrists, and the incredible uncertainty and fear that comes with arrest. “What happens next? How long do I sit here? I’m going to lose my apartment. I’m completely alone.” Andrews grew up with a supportive family but knew she couldn’t turn to them during these darkest moments. She found herself in a turbulent cycle that led to twelve arrests. She believes that because she lived in fear of another arrest and acted from this place, she continued to make bad decisions that made this fear a reality. It was hard to find stable housing, to pay her court costs, and to get out from under the thumb of predatory bonds people.

With a license in cosmetology, Andrews kept a “vanilla” job as often as she could but it wasn’t enough to pay the bills. She broke her kneecap after slipping down a flight of stairs while working in a strip club and began to escort — it was impossible to dance, cocktail, or work in a salon while she healed. She knows she is lucky to not have had any negative experiences while engaging in sex work — it was her choice and she enjoyed it but the negative consequences of criminalization continued to weigh her down.

At the age of 38, Andrews was finally free from the vortex of probation, court costs, and arrests. She recalls sitting on her patio with her husband and for the first time in so many years, feeling at peace. It took about thirty seconds for her to feel compelled to ensure others could experience that same feeling.

Naturally, she had a passion for working with individuals who were incarcerated, isolated, and stuck in the vicious cycle of the legal system. She connected with people incarcerated in Central Florida who had experienced unspeakable violence at the hands of the legal system. The letters Andrews received and conversations she had were transformational. She was overwhelmed by the extent to which people had been cut off from society and disenfranchised due to their arrests and she knew she needed to work to change the system. Andrews joined the SWOP Orlando Chapter in 2015. She had been doing this work for a while on her own and credits SWOP with giving her the language and tools to expand her advocacy.

Today, Andrews just completed her 4th year on the National Board of SWOP-USA and as a co-founder and co-executive director of SWOP Behind Bars, an organization that supports individuals who have been incarcerated. She works to “reduce the shame, discrimination, and stigma of sex work by...using [herself] as an example to demonstrate that sex workers are just like everyone else.” Andrews was reticent to be named a “DSW Hero,” citing Monica Jones, Annie Sprinkle, Margo St. James, and many others as the “true heroes,” in whose footsteps she follows. She’s about to embark on her annual trip to The Super Bowl to bail out sex workers who are wrongly arrested under the criminal legal community’s guise of fighting human trafficking.

Andrews and her team will be on the ground again, this time in Tampa, bailing individuals out. Not only will they pay sex workers’ bail, but they’ll also cover court fines and other costs — part of Andrews’ never-ending quest to prevent people from getting stuck in that vicious cycle that causes lasting trauma and instability. She and her team will prioritize trans people and people of color as they’re less likely to have other supports. They’ll also be doing outreach — know your rights presentations, safety planning for arrest and critical to Andrews, preparing individuals for what to expect should they be arrested. She wants to do what she can to prevent others from experiencing the deep uncertainty and shame she did upon arrest. Help her and her team with their on the ground efforts here: https://swopbehindbars.giv.sh/c92f

Big picture, Andrews thinks we have a “unique opportunity with the incoming administration for national work on decriminalizing consensual adult sex work.” She wants sex workers and others to come together and to work together to fight predatory laws such as SISEA (Stop Internet Sexual Exploitation Act), which would curtail free speech and infringe on sex workers’ ability to support themselves. She has ambitious goals — housing first, social supports that address the issues of instability that keep people from living comfortable, fulfilling lives. She knows they’re lofty but she’s not easily discouraged. She’s sure that if everyone fighting for the same ultimate goal — decriminalization — works together, they can achieve it. “There are so many personalities, so many skill sets … they’re all valuable and all critical to serving our community.”

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Hero of the Month: Mataoe Aiden James Nevils

Seeking medical care can be scary and stressful for anyone. Now imagine that you know you need medical attention but also know that you’ll confront stigma and bias at a time when you are feeling exceptionally vulnerable. Mataoe Aiden James Nevils is open with almost everyone about their former and current sex work and that they are a queer, nonbinary, transmasculine person. Nevils has spoken publicly for years about sharing their identity and history with medical professionals, and about the responses and reactions they have received in turn. Nevils believes a shift in the treatment of marginalized populations in medical spaces is possible, but not without speaking up and speaking out.

Nevils attended the University of Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and learning development. During that time, Nevils had no family to turn to for financial support, and didn’t want to be burdened with student loans. They worked a full-time job but still found it difficult to make ends meet.

Nevils first engaged in sex work while in college. Growing up AFAB (assigned female at birth), Nevils had frequently heard advice to “use what you have to get what you want.” Sex work allowed Nevils to meet financial needs, but at that time, engaging in sex work made them feel uncomfortable and ashamed. As an assigned female, they had been socialized to feel prudish and vulnerable, and they were also scared of the legal consequences.

Nevils began their transition during college. Having felt marginalized as a Black femme, they now experienced privilege as a Black man. They stopped doing sex work. Because they were “in community,” surrounded by a supportive group with overlapping experiences, Nevils started to advocate on behalf of transgender individuals and was often asked about their experiences. Constantly sharing in informal spaces and not having their emotional labor validated led Nevils to decide to reclaim their time and energy through sex work. They started off doing videos and sharing photos; it felt incredibly empowering to reclaim their position and their body.

Nevils was used to navigating the medical system as a Black person — something they describe as inherently difficult — but now they had to navigate the medical system as a Black, transgender person who is open about doing sex work. Nevils was constantly disappointed and frustrated by their interactions with medical professionals, even in spaces that claimed to be welcoming of nonbinary and transgender individuals. They would be asked about having engaged in sex work, respond honestly, and then be shamed for their choices. They knew they were not being offered medications and treatment that could be lifesaving. Nevils was, and remains horrified that PrEP medication, which can prevent HIV infection, was never offered to them and is typically only offered to men who have sex with men. They worried about their less educated and less outspoken friends — how would these individuals get access to the care they need?

Nevils worries that the fear of judgment by medical professionals and a generational mistrust of the healthcare system causes many Black and Brown people to go without necessary medical care. This issue is especially critical now, while the COVID-19 pandemic is killing people of color at a much higher rate than others. Nevils recalls talking with a group of friends about whether or not they would take a COVID vaccine when it is released, and everyone saying, almost in unison, “Absolutely not, remember Tuskegee?” Nevils believes that this trauma is encoded in their DNA, and regularly witnesses friends turning to each other for medical advice to avoid seeing a professional. Nevils worries about the health of the community and is desperately calling upon the medical field to do better so that individuals can comfortably seek the care they need.

Though Nevils has been an advocate for years, COVID has been a catalyst for increasing their advocacy around the physical health of their community members. It has not always been easy to talk so openly about who they are, but Nevils has grown and thrived by pushing through the discomfort, saying that “on the other side of discomfort is liberty.”

Inspired by the model created by SisTersPGH, Nevils started a program within SisTersPGH called BroThersPGH that provides support and critical resources to the transmasculine community in Pittsburgh, PA, including housing, career development, and reproductive health education. Nevils continues to lead support groups virtually, and looks forward to the time when the community can gather in person again. Nevils relishes being a support to others, and seeks to be the person that they needed while they were learning to live fully and truthfully.

Nevils is available for speaking engagements. Contact them at: [email protected]

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Hero(es) of the Month: Jet Setting Jasmine and Other Sex Workers Get Out the Vote

For a group too often overlooked and discounted in the political sphere, sex workers more than fulfilled their civic responsibility this election season. Rolling Stone magazine recently released an article highlighting the work of dominatrixes who capitalized on their sizable and growing online influence to encourage their clients to get to the polls in 2020. Jet Setting Jasmine, a licensed psychotherapist, fetish trainer, performer, and co-creator of the adult film production company Royal Fetish Films, is one of this movement’s drivers. She has an Instagram following of 72,000, most of whom are women of color between the ages of 25 and 45.

Jasmine has long fought to amplify the voices and experiences of women of color in politics and culture. Ten years ago, along with her partner King Noire, she set out to address the lack of equitable representation in adult entertainment. The couple hosted “fantasy flight parties” to help their clients, mostly young Black women, explore their fetishes and desires and quickly noticed a trend. “There was a resounding experience, where it would start out fun, and by the end of the night, there would be these group discussions about how Black and brown people are not represented sexually well in adult entertainment,” Jasmine shared in a HuffPost interview. Additionally, women of color in the porn industry are often paid 50-75% of what white performers make. Jasmine and King now produce content to combat decades of stereotyping, tokenism, and dehumanization of people of color in porn. They also offer sex-positive parenting classes and engage performers in activism campaigns.

When sex workers assumed an increasingly public role in the political discourse leading up to the 2020 election, it’s no surprise that Jasmine was at the forefront. Along with about 20 other performers, she joined I Only Date Voters, a sex-worker-led registration campaign with Bigtent Creative in which sex workers use their influence on Instagram and OnlyFans to encourage their subscribers to vote.

Some sex workers involved in the campaign offered free or discounted content in exchange for proof of voting. Dominatrixes, in particular, are in a unique position of power in their ability to influence their clients. King Court, a financial dominatrix based in Ohio, described her motivation to join the campaign after tweeting to ask her clients to vote for Biden: “As a black woman, I would like to see a change in office … having the power I do have over different submissives, I thought it would be best to use that power to affect change.”

Sex workers are not new to political organizing for presidential races. Hookers for Hillary was a 2016 campaign spearheaded by Nevada brothel workers. The movement provided a platform for young working mothers to speak out about their priorities, including better access to healthcare and increased attention to domestic violence. This year, a group of Atlanta pole dancers shot “Get Your Booty to the Polls,” a music video to inspire engagement. Cherie Deville, a famous porn performer, published ErectionSeason.com to help citizens find their state’s voting info.

Ysiad Ferreiras, the CEO of Bigtent, a digital organizing firm, said that “this collaboration is a way to embolden and legitimize [sex workers’] contributions to the political discourse.” Ferreiras told Rolling Stone: “Sex workers have already been working to get out the vote, not just this cycle, but every cycle. Yet their work and contributions have been marginalized — treated as a curiosity at best.”

This movement’s influence cannot be overlooked, particularly highlighting the resilience of sex workers, who have always harnessed their power in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. “[We] are constantly fighting for rights,” says Real Cobra Cummander, another dominatrix organizing on social media. “I describe it as we’re polar bears on ice, and the ice is shrinking. We don’t have many places to go to voice our opinions.” Instagram deleted some of the content she had posted, even though she had edited it to avoid being explicit. “Things like that make it very difficult for us to organize, and that’s why we’re constantly evolving and being creative and resourceful in new ways.”

Polls reflect that the mobilization of the Black vote was decisive in many of the battleground states this year, including Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The voices of those who make up such a critical backbone of President-elect Joe Biden's base must be heeded.

The parallel between Jasmine’s work highlighting the sexual experiences of minorities and uplifting marginalized voices in politics is unmistakable. She and King hope that by changing people’s understandings of adult entertainment, that impact will spread into other sectors. “When Black and brown people are able to represent themselves or have a primary part of the dialogue in how they’re represented, we wind up diversifying the content in so many ways,” she says. Based on the success and profitability of Royal Fetish Films, it seems to be working.

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Hero of the Month: Henri Tolbert of The Ishtar Collective

DSW’s sex worker Hero of the Month is Henri Tolbert, co-founder and co-director of The Ishtar Collective (TIC), the first Vermont-based anti-trafficking and sex worker rights organization. Tolbert is a second-generation sex worker who has close to ten years of lived experience in the industry. Like most, Tolbert’s time as a sex worker is nuanced and deeply personal; they were kind enough to share some details about their experiences with us.

For their first few years in sex work, Tolbert worked to survive. They were in and out of strip clubs as they struggled with a variety of substance dependency issues. Tolbert describes how, through that admittedly dark time in their life, “in those hen house dressing rooms, I found incredible moments of solidarity and support with the other femmes prepping [ourselves] for work.” Encouraged by this mutual support network, Tolbert’s lifestyle changed, and so did their participation in sex work. Without the desperation of survival, they were able to pivot and have more agency over their work. Tolbert notes that “not everyone’s walk in this line of work is constructive.” They feel privileged that the sex industry provided them with a network of such encouraging friends and co-workers.

The Ishtar Collective’s origin story was a result of this motivation to make things better. As Tolbert recalls, they were working behind the counter at a liquor store in Montpelier, “whining to myself about how hard it was to get in touch with state reps who were pushing for a [bill to fully decriminalize sex work] here in Vermont when this vision in periwinkle hair appeared.” The vision turned out to be a real human being, DSW’s J. Leigh Brantly, who was in the capital to assist in the passage of that very same decriminalization bill. Brantly and Tolbert kept in touch and eventually cobbled together the building blocks of what became TIC.

The organization is run by and for current and former sex workers, industry allies, and human trafficking survivors local to VT. Though only founded at the beginning of the year, TIC has already opened up relationships and dialogue with state representatives, regional activists like the Erotic Laborers Alliance of New England (ELA-ONE), and anti-violence organizations like Mosaic Vermont and the Pride Center of Vermont. In September, The Ishtar Collective was asked to host a “teach-in” on sex work and racial justice during the recent Black Lives Matter Encampment protests in Burlington, VT. Through advocacy, direct services, and community education, the collective supports the intersectional issues of sex work, LGBTQIA+, race, class, gender, and disability equity.

DSW has partnered with TIC, not only on the decriminalization bill (H.569) in VT but also on H.568, a bill to provide immunity to victims or witnesses of crimes who are participating in sex work at the time of the encounter. The legislation also creates a study commission to review and modernize current VT laws governing sex work. Neither bill was made law this session due to the legislative priorities of COVID-19, but we are hopeful for progress later this year.

Tolbert is deservedly proud of what TIC has created. “Every member is gifted with individual skills, boundaries, and aspirations. One thing I know for sure,” they say, “is that when we come together to talk shop, the bone structure of what we do feels sourced in joy and big picture focus for a better quality of life for not just sex workers, but all marginalized communities.”

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Hero(es) of the Month: Honoring the Dancers of the Lusty Lady

In 1996, the Lusty Lady in San Francisco became the first strip club in the country to successfully unionize, making history for the entire informal labor sector, including sex work. Despite the club’s closure in 2013, “Lusties,” as the dancers call themselves, remain a symbol of resilience and empowerment in an industry so often criticized for exploitation.

Siobhan Brooks, a dancer in the Lusty Lady peep show who went on to earn her Ph.D. in Sociology, played a pivotal role in unionization. Brooks observed that the club hired very few women of color and rarely allowed Black women to work in the private booth section, where dancers made larger tips. She raised her concerns with management and was told that "[B]lack women make the club lose money." In response, Brooks filed a racial discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Employees voted in favor of unionizing, and the club was organized by the Exotic Dancers Union, an affiliate of Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The next year the Lusty Lady hired more Black women than it ever had before. Brooks later authored “Organizing From Behind the Glass,” an account of the successful unionizing effort, for the January 1997 issue of Z Magazine.

In 2001 Roger Forbes, a strip-club magnate and partner in Déjà Vu, a company that owns most of the adult theaters and clubs in San Francisco, bought the building and doubled the rent. The owners were facing incredible pressure to close. In response, dancers at the Lusty Lady pooled together $400,000 and purchased the club. For the next 10 years, the Lusty Lady functioned as a worker-run cooperative known for defying stereotypes of tanned, blonde strippers favored by traditional club management.

The Lusties are the inspiration for a growing number of “Stripper Strikes” across the country. In Minneapolis, New York City, Portland, and beyond, dancers began organizing to oppose racist hiring practices, wage theft by management, and a lack of labor and safety protection in clubs. We Are Dancers USA, a national harm-reduction and advocacy organization, was founded in 2018 to empower strippers across the country in response to a gap in resources tailored explicitly to dancers. The organization grew out of We Are Dancers NYC, a local organization founded by dancers and allies, including DSW’s Melissa Broudo.

The NYC Stripper Strike partnered with Broudo and DSW colleague Crystal DeBoise to raise awareness around discrimination and exploitation in city clubs, gaining support from the International Women’s Strike. In response to a report by the Minneapolis Health Department that raised concerns about many city clubs, SWOP Minneapolis partnered with Minnesota State University to successfully pass a city ordinance protecting strippers’ rights in 2019. In Portland, the Haymarket Pole Collective’s grassroots activism has spurred the city’s clubs to adopt mandatory anti-racism training, enforce fair labor practices, and maintain racial equity in hiring practices.

DSW is proud to be a part of the Lusty Lady’s legacy, building equity and empowerment for all workers.

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Hero(es) of the Month: TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie Organize the Largest Sex Worker March in U.S. History

More than six hundred activists, community members, and allies, including DSW’s Ceyenne Doroshow and Frances Steele, filled Manhattan’s Times Square on a Saturday at 5 p.m. The crowd gathered for the Black Sex Worker Liberation March & Vigil. When the event concluded five hours later, it was conclusively the largest demonstration for sex worker rights ever to take place in the U.S.

The lead organizers of the event were TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie.

SX Noir is an activist, researcher, podcast host, and vice president of the Women of Sex Tech, a movement championing the intersection of sex work and sex tech. Her podcast, “Thot Leader Pod,” frames the conversation around sex, love, dating, and tech, “holding space for authentic conversations with innovators, influencers, and activists about how we navigate developments in the sex tech industry.” Noir’s work uplifts sex workers through storytelling, looking at the reality of this work in an ever-changing world. Her podcast “aims to unpack how empathy in digital spaces can enhance our human experience in physical spaces” and has featured other movement leaders such as Kate Zen from Red Canary Song and Jacq the Stripper.

TS Candii is a Black transgender woman, sex worker, organizer, political activist, and public speaker. A fixture in the NY sex worker and transgender rights movement, she is an organizer with Decrim NY and the Repeal the #WalkingWhileTrans Ban Coalition. Candii is currently producing a documentary called “Policing Our Bodies,” sharing the experiences that have shaped her life and her identity.

Gizelle Marie is a NY-born dancer and founder of the New York City Stripper Strike. Always active in her community, Gizelle Marie’s organizing work with the Stripper Strike has been the impetus for her becoming a national figure in sex worker rights. The labor movement was launched in October of 2017 to bring awareness to the abuse and discrimination faced by exotic dancers in NYC and around the country.

Many ‘upscale’ clubs engage in racist hiring processes, setting low caps on the number of dancers of color allowed on the floor. In contrast, ‘urban’ clubs, which discriminate less by race, are more dangerous and less profitable for dancers, and generally dancers have to pay high house fees to management and bouncers. The Stripper Strike partnered with DSW’s Melissa Broudo and Crystal DeBoise through their organization, the SOAR Institute, garnering support from the national Women’s March movement. The International Women’s Strike has also spoken out in solidarity with the Stripper Strike.

Collaboration for the event began months ago. Gizelle Marie launched a fundraiser this past June to support Black sex workers amidst the pandemic. As her work gained momentum and support, making a notable difference in the community, the idea for the march followed.

The march featured speakers including DSW’s Ceyenne Doroshow, who highlighted the critical vulnerability of transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNC) sex workers of color, and how they have prevailed and built community against all odds. Doroshow’s organization, Gays and Lesbians Living In a Transgender Society (G.L.I.T.S.), has been working to establish safe and equitable housing for transgender sex workers in NY. State Sen. Jessica Ramos; Melania Brown, sister of Layleen Polanco; U.S. Congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman; and Manhattan District Attorney candidate Dan Quart also spoke.

The Times Square rally exhibited the unity and resilience of the sex worker rights movement amidst COVID-19. The march highlighted experiences of sex workers of color, particularly transgender or gender nonconforming folks, who bear the brunt of the stigma and criminalization faced in the industry. But those who showed up represented all corners of sex work, from immigrant massage workers in Queens organized by Red Canary Song, to Melania Brown, sister of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who died at Rikers Island while being held on prostitution charges.

In her Instagram post, SX Noir thanked all of those involved: “The mutual aid, legal observers, paramedics, security team, speakers, and volunteers. None of this is possible without you all! We literally took over Times Square!!! To everyone who donated THANK YOU 🙏🏾 as the lead organizer of this event, I am blessed and proud to honor my community with this action. ✊🏾 The fight continues! We are still accepting donations. Link in bio!”

If you are able, please donate to this incredible, ever-growing movement.

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Hero of the Month: Portland-based stripper and sex worker rights activist Cat Hollis is demanding fair treatment for Black sex workers

Across the country, strippers are mobilizing for increased labor rights and racial justice in the adult entertainment industry. At the center of the movement is Cat Hollis, a Portland-based dancer and founder of the Haymarket Pole Collective. The organization began its work in November of 2019 to support “proactive policy and equitable treatment [of] Black and Indigenous workers by facilitating restorative justice in the adult entertainment industry.” Since the resurgence of Black Lives Matter activism in the spring of 2020, Hollis and her fellow Portland-based activists have sparked national momentum, building on local strippers’ rights protests that have been popping up across the country.

Hollis moved to Portland from the Midwest in 2015 and built her extensive support network from scratch. She is a Renaissance woman; with a varied career history as a sailboat deckhand, middle school teacher, gallery curator, and published playwright, Hollis found anonymity, acceptance, and empowerment in the adult entertainment world. Contracting with four different Portland strip clubs, she also did a stint in club management and was brought face to face with the predatory economic practices that can be used by clubs when booking dancers. With the support of fellow Portland strippers and activists, Hollis formed the Haymarket Pole Collective to bring advocacy and accessibility to adult entertainment.

Hollis describes the deep inequities embedded in a quintessential Portland industry. The Haymarket Pole Collective draws in artists, sex educators, night-life entertainers, designers, and bartenders. Their work is inspired by their experiences in adult entertainment but applies broadly to common struggles that independent contractors face: instability, discrimination, and resource scarcity. Hollis talks about predatory management, racism, and sexism in clubs, among other issues that people in many informal industries can relate to.

Perhaps this is why the movement has been so successful. Or perhaps it is because of the dynamic irreverence of its founder. Hollis frequently shares videos on her Instagram speaking out about sex-phobia and her experiences as a Black stripper and a Black woman. Her humor and honesty are as refreshing as they are compelling. Quoted in an OPB article about the movement, Hollis says the strike really started by accident when she made “a group chat of Black strippers, sending just memes and funny things to make each other smile.” Now, the Haymarket Pole Collective has members in 18 states, including Illinois and Pennsylvania, and the Portland Stripper Strike is one of the largest in the nation.

Already, the movement has been successful in getting all of Portland’s 31 strip clubs to adopt their demands for ending racial discrimination in the industry. The Haymarket Pole Collective released updated requests last month. Hollis says that the pandemic, and the closure of many clubs, probably provided the momentum needed to effect change. “Because technically none of us have jobs right now,” she said, “it makes it a lot easier.” She feels hopeful “that change is possible.” In a recent Instagram post, the organization thanked “all the dancers who risked it for the biscuit."

To support the movement for labor rights and respect for sex workers across the country, please consider making a donation.

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Hero of the Month: Ceyenne Doroshow, Celebrating Pride Through Justice

DSW’s Hero of the Month for June is Ceyenne Doroshow — activist, organizer, and a cornerstone of the international sex worker and transgender, gender-nonconforming, nonbinary (TGNCNB) rights movements. Ceyenne, a Black transwoman, is also the founder and executive director of Gays and Lesbians Living In a Transgender Society (G.L.I.T.S.) in NYC.

G.L.I.T.S. helps to address the barriers to health and human rights faced by transgender sex workers through crisis support, health care, housing access, advocacy, and public education. Building off of Ceyenne’s deep network of advocates and service providers, the organization works to improve the safety and equity of TGNC sex workers in NYC.

Ceyenne and G.L.I.T.S. have received widespread acclaim for their recent work, both with supporting sex workers and other communities ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the protests against senseless state-sponsored violence directed at Black people in our country. She has emerged as one of the preeminent figures in the national movement for Black trans lives. For example, Ceyenne helped organize the historic 20,000+ person rally in support of Black trans lives in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, on June 14.

The Brooklyn Liberation Rally was part of the larger Black Lives Matter and police-accountability movement that has been mobilizing across the country. This day of action, in particular, highlighted the pervasive violence, discrimination, and harassment that transgender people of color are routinely subjected to at the hands of law enforcement. The rally was co-sponsored by G.L.I.T.S., The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, The Okra Project, For the Gworls, and Black Trans Femmes in the Arts.

Ceyenne was one of six speakers at the rally, including Raquel Willis of Out magazine, Ianne Fields Stewart of The Okra Project, and the sister of Layleen Polanco, a transwoman who was killed at Rikers Island. The enormous crowd that gathered filled the Brooklyn Museum Plaza, spilling down the Eastern Parkway towards Grand Army Plaza. “I love each and every one of my trans family members. I love you, and I want you to live,” Ceyenne declared to the audience, which cheered so dramatically that she had to pause her speech to wait for the noise to die down. “I want you to breathe and sustain. I want you to stand tall and proud and Black and live. We have always been last, but that’s not going to happen anymore.”

In the march that followed, protesters demanded justice for Layleen Polanco, Tony McDade, Riah Milton, and countless other Black trans people who have been senselessly murdered across the country. Ceyenne and other leaders have been speaking out about these injustices for decades. People are starting to listen.

The event and Ceyenne’s work has been covered by CNN, Jezebel, GQ, Teen Vogue, Vogue, U.S. News and World Report, and other news outlets. To support the work of GLITS and the movement they’re building, please visit their donation page here.

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Leader of Mexico Sex-Worker Group Dies of COVID-19

This month, DSW honors Jaime Montejo, one of the founding members of the Elisa Martinez Street Brigade to Support Women; the sex worker support organization can be credited with decriminalizing sex work in Mexico City. Montejo dedicated his life to uplifting the sex workers of Mexico City. Early this month he died after contracting COVID-19.

Fellow activists and community members continue Montejo’s critical work, fighting for the rights and dignity of all people, even as they mourn his devastating loss.

In a Los Angeles Times article, Kate Linthicum reported that just last month, Jaime was in downtown Mexico City with co-workers from the Street Brigade. Wearing a surgical mask, Montejo and his co-founders, Elvira and Rosa Icela Madrid, brought meals, face covers, and tarps to sex workers who had seen their livelihoods disappear overnight as a result of the pandemic. Unable to find clients, workers were forced out of the $5/night hotels they had been living in and set up a makeshift camp near the subway station.

Montejo and the Madrid sisters met as students together at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, studying prostitution in Mexico City’s red-light district in the 1980s. Their research coincided with the beginning of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Mexico. Sex workers were dying at alarming rates, while being subjected to regular violence at the hands of police, managers, partners, and criminals posing as clients. The trio resolved to make things better. Upon graduation, they set up an advocacy group in the La Merced neighborhood of the city to help workers access healthcare services and contraception and to file reports when they were harassed or assaulted.

They founded the Street Brigade in 1993, named for a sex worker who passed away from complications of AIDS. The organization helps both trafficking survivors — who want to exit the trade — and consensual adult sex workers in need of support. Their advocacy led to a 2014 victory when a judge in Mexico City ruled that prostitutes should be recognized as non-salaried workers, allowing them to access certain benefits. In 2019, city lawmakers effectually decriminalized sex work altogether.

At his memorial, one transgender woman remembered how Montejo’s work had given her a family after she was kicked out of her house at 14 for wearing girls’ clothing. The crowds that gathered to honor him maintained “a healthy distance,” unable to embrace in their grief. Instead, they wrote notes to him and his fellow co-founders and left the notes next to the memorial.

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Hero of the New York Transgender Community Passes Away From COVID

Lorena Borjas, fearless transgender activist, tireless advocate, and hero of our movement, passed away at Coney Island Hospital from COVID-19. She was 59 years old. Lorena was the heart of New York City’s translatina community. She dedicated her life to ensuring those around her had the support and resources they deserved.

From her time as a staff attorney at the Sex Worker Project, DSW’s Melissa Broudo recalls how Lorena would show up at their offices, sometimes every day, with community members seeking help. She was never too busy; no one’s needs were ever too small. In a New York Times article, friend and fellow translatina advocate Cecilia Gentili tells the story of how Lorena became a mother to the transgender community in Queens. Lorena helped women escape trafficking, deal with police violence and harassment, and access health care. “If one of the girls got arrested doing sex work, she would answer the phone at 3am and at 8am she would be in court with a lawyer and money to bail you out,” Gentili said. Lorena always came to the hearings of those she referred to services to show judges that her community members “were loved.”

Lorena was dedicated to giving people the tools they needed to thrive. Lorena frequently walked Roosevelt Avenue for hours, handing out condoms to sex workers to ensure they had enough to protect themselves. She helped hundreds escape exploitative work environments and work towards U.S. citizenship. Lorena was also a central figure in the trans community’s battle against HIV, turning her home into a clinic to provide transwomen a safe place to get tested. She was “a light” for her community through the crack epidemic, the AIDS epidemic, and punitive changes in immigration policy. Lorena was especially passionate about breaking the arrest-to-deportation cycle, founding the Lorena Borjas Community Fund (LBCF) in 2011. Along with colleague Chase Strangio, through LBCF she raised money to put up bail and cover court costs for more than 50 people and helped hundreds gain immigration status and services.

Lorena knew what it is like to be a translatina immigrant in Queens, trying to make a living while criminalized at every turn. A trafficking survivor and sex worker at different points in her life, Lorena faced multiple prostitution charges, some of which were successfully vacated after it was demonstrated that she was a victim of human trafficking. DSW’s own Melissa Broudo was the attorney who litigated her vacatur case while at SWP. Yet Lorena’s legal battle continued, with SWP’s immigration lawyers seeking to secure her citizenship. Community members testified how Lorena’s support allowed them to escape trafficking, access community, and rebuild their lives. Letters, awards, and certificates poured in, and after a lengthy and hard-fought battle, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) finally pardoned her in 2017.

In 2019, Lorena became a U.S. citizen. She was the inspiration for several non-profits serving immigrants and the TGNC community. In September 2019, DSW’s J. Leigh Brantly worked with Lorena and the Colectivo Intercultural Transgrediendo to co-produce an ethnographic research film, Caer. The film is set to be released in late 2020 as part of an extensive international research project, SEXHUM. This film will depict some of her work with transgender LatinX sex workers in NYC.

One of Lorena’s last acts was to create a transgender emergency relief fund for COVID-19, benefitting the LGBT Center Intercultural Collective. Please consider honoring her memory by donating to the fund here. Her legacy of compassion, bravery, and tenacious love will live on and influence the work of those who remember her. Rest in Power, Lorena.

January 7, 2021

Courtesy of Alex Andrews.

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Lorena Borjas (center) is pictured with DSW’s Crystal DeBoise (left) and Melissa Broudo (right). Both Melissa and Crystal worked closely with Lorena during their time at the Sex Workers Project.

Lorena is pictured with fellow trans rights activists at a rally in New York City.

Lorena Borjes visits the Sex Worker Pop-Up in Manhattan shortly before falling ill. The exhibition celebrated sex worker rights around the world through art, performance, and dialogue. It closed early on March 13 to support the containment of COVID-19.

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