LGBT and HIV Positive Individuals in Jail: Toward an LGBT/HIV Criminal Justice Agenda

The National LGBT Bar Association, a national association of lawyers, judges, law students, activists, and legal organizations, is hosting it's annual Lavender Law conference in New York City, at the Sheraton Times Square on August 21-23, 2014. At this national conference, CHLP's Legal Director, Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, will be conducting a workshop titled LGBT and HIV Positive Individuals in Jail: Toward an LGBT and HIV Criminal Justice Agenda on Friday, August 22, 2014, at 10:30 AM.

Forty-five years after Stonewall, queer identities continue to be criminalized and punished, and LGBT people and those living with HIV continue to experience discrimination in the criminal justice system. Police misconduct and abuse remain among the most urgent issues facing the LGBT/HIV community. In 2013, the first national LGBT/HIV criminal justice convening to examine these issues brought together advocates, activists, and academics from fifty organizations to Columbia Law School, resulting in a white paper and a set of federal policy recommendations for the Obama Administration. Drawing from this year-long project and white paper, the panel will highlight areas where federal government agencies can take action and encourage state and local authorities to reduce the harms of criminalization. The panel will explore how LGBT and HIV-affected folks come into contact with criminal and immigration systems, what they experience while in those systems, work being taken up to address these problems, and how other advocates can incorporate this work in their own advocacy. The panel will also examine queer experiences as criminal suspects, prisoners, and survivors of crime.

Panelists: Urvashi Vaid, Andrea Ritchie, Joey Mogul, and Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal.

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