Harm Reduction Conference 2018: LGBTQ POC + Healing Justice Track

We are so excited to see you all at the Harm Reduction Conference in New Orleans this year! We started Reframe Health and Justice because we knew there was a niche that needed to be filled — a space for LGBTQ Black, Indigenous, and people of color to bring healing justice and harm reduction to all spaces; a space for racial equity, transformative analysis, and bold solutions to come forth. In that vein, we’ve put together a list of sessions that we think like-minded folks would be interested in attending!

Sessions by consultants in our collective (Kate, Sasanka, Mags, and Shaan) are highlighted with three asterisks (***). Please note that we are only listing panelists who are LGBTQ BIPOC, even if the sessions contain other panelists and/or facilitators.

Thursday, October 18

10:00am — 12:45pm | State of Harm Reduction Healing Justice Panel
While RHJ is not represented on this plenary session, we are thrilled to see the Harm Reduction Conference grounding in a healing justice framework. Please check out our newly released “Healing Justice Principles of Harm Reduction” to learn more about RHJ’s work on this!

***2:15pm — 3:45pm | #MeToo Can’t #JustSayNo: Harm Reduction Frameworks for Consent, Magali Lerman (she/her/hers) and Sasanka Jinadasa (they/them/theirs)***
Magali and Sasanka have developed a session to interrogate tough questions about enthusiastic consent, sobriety requirements for sexual activity, and the exploitation of people using drugs. They will take a particular interest in the effect this has on women, femmes, POC and LGBTQ folks.

Friday, October 19

***9:30am — 10:45am | FOSTA/SESTA Plenary, Kate D’Adamo (she/her/hers)***
Kate will moderate a panel on the effects of the recently passed legislation, FOSTA/SESTA, which has affected people who trade sex by restricting their access to online platforms and making it more difficult for them to reduce harm while working. Kate’s emphasis will be on effects on POC and street-based workers, as well as the efforts that can be taken now to keep people who trade sex safe.

***11:00am — 12:30pm | Sexual Health for Drug Users, Zooey Zara (she/her/hers)and Magali Lerman
Magali and Kate have developed a workshop that focuses on harm reduction tools that take into account the health needs of people who use drugs. It’s going to be a great, practical space tracking the various strategies necessary to providing robust, holistic sexual health education.

11:00am — 12:30pm | Blueprint: Creating A Toolkit for Reducing the Harms of Crystal Meth Use Among Black Queer Men, Charles Hawthorne (he/him/his)
Already highlighted in the HRC “Communities of Color” track, this toolkit presentation will highlight the needs of Black queer men using crystal meth.

11:00am — 12:30pm | SCS Advocacy in Communities of Color (POC Only Space), Rajani Gudlavalleti (she/her/hers)
This POC only space will delve into effect advocacy for safer consumption space in communities of color, from Baltimore organizer Rajani.

***2:15pm — 3:45pm | Harm and Healing Within the Movement : a Closed Space Moving Towards Accountability, Sasanka Jinadasa, Shayla Schlossenberg (they/them/theirs), Jessica Raven (she/her/hers)
Shayla, Jessica, and Sasanka are taking on a tough topic: the violence that women, LGBTQ, and femme folks are experiencing within the harm reduction movement. This brave and vulnerable space will serve as a starting point for both prevention and response — and what we can do to start addressing this harm in our “harm reduction” movement.

***2:15pm — 3:45pm | Money Complicates the Narrative: Overlaps and Diversions between Sexual Violence, Sex Work, and Human Trafficking: Kate D’Adamo and Zooey Zara
This session will blur and complicate the “happy hooker” vs. “tragic victim” binary. How do capitalism and cash complicate how sexual violence and bodily autonomy are experienced? And what does it mean to overlay a criminal legal definition onto one specific part of that narrative?

***5:45pm — 7:15pm | Harm Reduction in AAPI Communities, Sasanka Jinadasa, Rajani Gudlavalleti
This roundtable will focus on how AAPIs have been left out of discussion on harm reduction and want can be done to increase inclusion and address gaps. We’re hoping to see lots of AAPI folks to start thinking about intergenerational, culturally inclusive approaches that disinvest from the model minority myth!

***5:45pm — 7:15pm | HIV Criminalization Beyond Non-Disclosure: Advocacy Toolkits on Intersections with Sex Work and Safe Syringe Access, Kate D’Adamo
HIV criminalization disproportionately affects people trading sex and using drugs — and multiple communities have come together to create advocacy toolkits to address it! This panel will address the various localities experiencing this criminalization, and focus on addressing these harms in your own community.

***5:45pm — 7:15pm | Townhall: Policing and Criminalization, Magali Lerman, Najja Morris(she/her/hers), Deon Haywood (she/her/hers)
Magali will be part of a townhall on policing and criminalization — expect to hear about the flaws of diversion programs, the harms of surveillance, and the need for non-carceral approaches to healing and violence.

Saturday, October 20

9:15am — 10:45am | 2:15pm — 3:45pm | A Path to Wholeness: Healing Justice for People of Color, Erica Woodland (he/him/his)
Erica Woodland is a healer from Baltimore, MD. We’re excited about the expertise he brings to the space — you can also catch him on the plenary panel on the State of Harm Reduction.

***9:15am — 10:45am | Disrupting the Great White Hope: Harm Reduction of Color, Sasanka Jinadasa
This panel will bring together perspectives on harm reduction and its intersections and divergences with racial justice.

***11:00am — 12:30pm | Harm Reduction and Healing Justice, Ismail Ali (pronouns), Magali Lerman
This workshop will focus on the intersections of harm reduction and healing justice, and why healing-centered harm reduction pushes us to value each other beyond survival.

***4:00pm — 5:30pm | ChemSex Harm Reduction, Magali Lerman, Shaan Wade (he/him/his, they/them/theirs)
This workshop will focus on harm reduction for the underserved communities participating in chem sex, especially queer and trans people of color. Expect tangible skills with a hefty dose of reality on how racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia affects harm reduction services.

***4:00pm — 5:30pm | Young People in Harm Reduction Caucus, Sasanka Jinadasa, Charles Hawthorne (under-35 only)
This caucus is a space for young people under the age of 35 to gather and discuss the needs of young people working towards harm reduction. We’re talking mentorship, gatekeeping, and community-building — with an eye towards sustainable network creation!

***5:45pm — 7:15pm | Sex Work 201: Using Harm Reduction to Get from Introductions to Praxis, Sasanka Jinadasa, Shayla Schlossenberg
This workshop will focus on developing new tools in sex worker harm reduction beyond “Sex Work is Work” — already featured in HRC’s sex work track, this workshop is for people who are already committed to sex worker rights and want to learn more and do more with other like-minded activists.