After a decade of grueling advocacy work, the Caribbean Equality Undertaking (CEP) in Queens is celebrating a serious milestone.
Mohamed Q. Amin based CEP in 2015 in Richmond Hill, Queens, on the identical day the U.S. Supreme Court docket dominated in favor of marriage equality. “It turned a monumental celebration for all LGBTQ individuals, and for us as a company, it simply amplified the work that we have been doing,” stated Amin.
The incident that sparked the thought for the group was not as celebratory, although: Amin stated that he, his brother, and associate survived an act of violence in 2013 in his neighborhood.
“A big a part of the explanation was there have been no sources or no house for LGBTQ Caribbean immigrants to entry immigration companies, psychological well being companies, neighborhood areas,” stated Amin. “A part of my therapeutic journey was to additionally be capable to create these areas. In a means, you may say I turned trauma into activism.”
CEP is a thriving community-based group that advocates for Afro and Indo-Caribbean, lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender, gender nonconforming, and queer Caribbean immigrants in New York Metropolis by public schooling, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, neighborhood organizing, civic engagement, storytelling, and racial justice, in addition to gender fairness programming. The group additionally uplifts Black and Brown Muslim, Hindu, and Christian members of the Caribbean diaspora of all generations. Their packages, equivalent to Unchained, run yr spherical.
Over the past decade, CEP had to reply to a number of crises within the metropolis, together with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the inflow of migrants and asylum seekers in 2022. It’s been an exhausting, albeit fulfilling, expertise, Amin stated.
“The previous couple of years as a grassroots group have been actually onerous,” he stated. “It’s been emotionally draining. It’s been bodily taxing. It’s been difficult to navigate the complexities of who qualifies for social companies in New York Metropolis. A lot of our neighborhood members have fled the Caribbean and crossed the border in harmful journeys to simply merely be in America, they usually view America because the land of alternative, however for a lot of LGBTQ Caribbean individuals, they view America as hope, as a spot of belonging and as a spot of survival.”
Amin stated that throughout the pandemic, immigrants have been hailed as important staff, however now, simply 5 years later, they’re being labeled as “harmful” or “criminals” by town and federal authorities. He stated this messaging has contributed to a lower in foot visitors in immigrant neighborhoods; a lower in assist for small companies; and households experiencing worry and isolation, and deciding to not ship their youngsters to highschool. He famous that many are additionally opting to “self-deport” due to a worry of being jailed, retained, or imprisoned in a violent or inhumane means.
Within the face of this rising anti-immigrant sentiment and transphobia, particularly since President Donald Trump took workplace in January, CEP has added ‘Know Your Rights’ coaching, immigration authorized companies, psychological well being referrals, and workshops on the Trump administration’s govt orders and the way they impression the local people.
Persons are responding “from the worry of mass deportation to the assaults on trans healthcare to the visceral erasure of trans individuals on the federal degree,” stated Amin, referring to the “rebrand” of the Stonewall Inn with out the T for transgender.
CEP helps greater than 500 asylum seekers from nations like Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and Grenada. Amin stated many have fled their house nations due to political turmoil or anti-LGBTQ violence. The group additionally employs eight asylum seekers.
On the metropolis degree, CEP is supporting Councilmember Shahana Hanif’s payments on entry to reproductive well being on the upcoming gender fairness listening to on Thursday, Feb. 27. This invoice would replace an current native legislation to forestall interference with entry to reproductive healthcare amenities and shield entry to amenities providing gender-affirming care.
“I feel what we’re seeing now’s a compounded political assault on trans individuals,” Amin stated. “We’re seeing a continuation of hate and worry -mongering from the federal authorities. We’re seeing the erasure of LGBTQ identities not solely in historical past, but in addition in colleges by schooling. We’re seeing variety, fairness, and inclusion being weaponized in opposition to LGBTQ individuals, and other people of colour [who] have traditionally been marginalized, oppressed, and lacked alternatives, and what we’re additionally witnessing is a nationwide disaster on LGBTQ our bodies — a nationwide disaster that’s attacking LGBTQ existence.”
Amin stated the reality is that increasingly more People have private ties to the LGBTQ neighborhood, whether or not by relations, associates, or co-workers.
Based on Gallup polling of grownup People, there was a 9.3% soar in final yr’s survey of individuals figuring out as LGBTQ+, consultant of a proportion that’s “almost doubled” since 2020 and is up from 3.5% in 2012. Gallup discovered that youthful generations of People are more likely than older generations, earlier than 1946 to even 2006, to have extra fluid sexual identities. This confirms the elevated visibility of LGBTQ individuals as a complete in comparison with earlier generations, which Amin stated is being weaponized in opposition to the neighborhood now.
“We all know the ability of our neighborhood,” he stated. “We vote, we’re educated, we’re contributing to the financial cloth of America. We’re contributing to the political panorama of America and we’re contributing to the range of America. These are all parts of what being an American seems to be like and what being a New Yorker seems to be like.”
Senator Jabari Brisport, one in all two overtly homosexual state senators and New York State’s first overtly queer individual of colour ever elected, just lately acquired the Changemaker Award from the The Lesbian, Homosexual, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Neighborhood Middle for his work locally.
“It’s not misplaced on me — the place I occupy,” stated Brisport. “And wWe dwell in very scary instances for the queer neighborhood.”
Considered one of Brisport’s pathways into politics was preventing for marriage equality whereas he was a scholar in school. He helped foyer the state Senate in 2009, misplaced the vote, and got here again in 2011. He was elected to his seat in 2021. Since then, he’s co-sponsored the Lorena Borjas Transgender and Non-Binary Wellness and Fairness Fund (TWEF) and supported the Trans Protected Haven Act and the state’s Equal Rights Modification.
Brisport theorized that far-right Republican and conservative teams goal transgender and nonbinary or gender-nonconforming individuals in an try and sow division as a result of they’re a smaller inhabitants inside a minority group.
“That is out of the playbook of so many authoritarian governments: You discover a very small group and also you begin vilifying them and use them as a political tactic to rally your base,” stated Brisport. “Bare political transfer. I do know they don’t suppose they’d be as profitable in the event that they tried that with homosexual or lesbian or bisexual people who find themselves bigger segments of the inhabitants.”
Brisport added that as somebody of Guyanese heritage from Brooklyn, he is aware of the Caribbean has a methods to go together with LGBTQ rights. He counseled the Caribbean Equality Undertaking for his or her work. “This motion must be led by Caribbeans and the CEP is doing nice work,” he stated.
CEP will maintain its official tenth anniversary celebration on Mar. 20, 2025, on the Rhythm of Transformation profit in Manhattan. For data and tickets, go to www.caribbeanequalityproject.org/rhythms-of-transformation.
