The beginning of Queer Survival Economies marked new chapter for in a long history of queer organizing around labor, class, sex work, housing security, and other economic justice issues.
Established by Amber Hollibaugh, with support from the Barnard Center for Research on Women’ Senior Activist Fellowship, QSE grew out of the history and foundations of Queers for Economic Justice, where Hollibaugh previously served as director.
Queers for Economic Justice (2002-2012) was a vital nonprofit organization that fought for economic justice in sexual and gender liberation struggles, and queer liberation in the context of labor and economic justice struggles. Throughout its twelve years, QEJ developed and advanced a left political analysis of queer politics, combining cultural change and public policy work, advocating at the intersections of class, race, work, sex, and desire, and remaining expressly committed to the needs, experiences, and voices of queer people in poverty and an anti-capitalist, anti-racist agenda. In 2014, QEJ was forced to close its doors due to funding difficulties, reflecting the power the funding establishment has to determine the success or failure of radical organizations and political agendas.
The organization’s projects continue through Jay’s House, a nonprofit shelter in Brooklyn, New York, and Queer Survival Economies, an organizing and research initiative supported by the Barnard College for Research on Women in New York City.
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