LGBTQ Advocate + Writer
Policy & Research
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Under Attack:
2022 LGBTQ+ Safe Spaces National Needs Assessment
The New York City Anti-Violence Project has been documenting anti-LGBTQ+ violence for more than 40 years - and over the last several years, we have been seeing an increase in hate violence targeted against LGBTQ safe spaces. This first-of-its-kind study surveyed 380 groups across the U.S. about violence and harassment they experienced in 2022.
NYC Against Hate Coalition Policy Framework: Investing in a Restorative Community-based Approach
A climate of hate creates fear. Many communities are struggling to feel safe going about their day to day lives, while policy makers are searching for solutions to assuage those fears, make clear that hate is not tolerated in our communities, and put a stop to the violence. NYC Against Hate’s policy framework highlights investments we need to make to address root causes of hate violence, community-based solutions that include transformative justice practices, as well as critique of and resistance to increased policing and surveillance - which are not effective at deterring hate violence. Investing in community solutions is key to sustainable change.
Co-authored by Audacia Ray and Rachel McCullough
February 2020
Pride and Pain:
A Snapshot of Anti-LGBTQ
Hate and Violence During Pride Season 2019
Pride celebrations around
the country marked June 2019 as the 50th anniversary of Stonewall and
New York City hosted the international community for a combined Stonewall 50th Anniversary and World Pride celebration. In addition to the increased attention and visibility this year, Pride season was also marked by repeated reports of violence in the LGBTQ community. This report outlines some of the incidents and trends of violence documented nationally in the two-month period from May 15 to July 15, 2019.
Co-authored by Audacia Ray and Ericka Dixon
August 2019
Criminal, Victim, or Worker? Impacts of the Human Trafficking Intervention Courts on Adults Arrested on Prostitution-Related Offenses in New York
In 2013, the New York State Court System announced 11 new Human Trafficking Intervention Courts, with the intention of treating people arrested on prostitution offenses as victims instead of criminals. For nearly a year, members of the Red Umbrella Project observed courts in Brooklyn and Queens to figure out what the impact is of these courts on people arrested for prostitution offenses. They have the goal of reframing people who are arrested as victims instead of criminals - but is that really what's going on?
Co-authored by Audacia Ray and Emma Caterine
October 2014
Stop Violence in the
Sex Trades Act (SVSTA) - New York State Bill
Decrim NY, in collaboration with Assemblymember Richard Gottfried and Senator Julia Salazar, drafted and introduced the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act (A.8230/S.6419), a package bill to decriminalize and decarcerate the sex trades in New York, in June 2019. It is the first statewide bill of its kind in the United States. New York state law has more than two dozen anti-prostitution penal codes, about half of which pertain only to sex work between consenting adults, while the other statutes focus on trafficking, exploitation of minors, and coercion in the sex trades.
Policy analysis by Audacia Ray, authored by Richard Gottfried and Julia Salazar
June 2019
Individual Struggles, Widespread Injustice: Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Peoples’ Experiences of Systemic Employment Discrimination in New York City
This New York City Anti-Violence Project report contains data that documents experiences in the 18 to 23 months following the 2016 implementation of the city’s Gender Identity/Gender Expressions Legal Enforcement Guidance. With data from 118 trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) respondents, the report reveals clear patterns of discrimination during the job search process, harassment while in the workforce, unemployment and poverty rates higher than that of the general public, and a disconnect between education level and income.
Co-authored by Audacia Ray, Lolan Sevilla,
and Teal Inzunza
December 2018
