Queer and Trans Community Action, Support, and Education

We're working on issues similar to most other trans organizations, such as anti-trans violence, poverty, homelessness, etc., but some issues are different, and perhaps in conflict with our surrounding organzitions, such as addressing social work abuse, violence from non-profiteering, and addressing inter-community conflicts.

Our goals are significantly different from surrounding trans organizations. Politically, we're more closely aligned with organizations like the Audre Lorde Project or the Sylvia Rivera Law Project in New York City than we are with our local political landscape. We recognize critiques against those organizations as well, especially coming from trans women of color.

Long-Term Goals:

• Share Space: Reshape the local trans community to BREAK DOWN DEEP INTERNAL CLASSISM, so that trans people from all backgrounds share space, resources, political power, privilege, etc.
• Community Accountability: Create a permanent community-wide TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE space accessible to all trans people, and a community atmosphere where everyone can be held accountable, and especially the types of folks who are getting away with far too much abuse today, including cis and trans social workers, non-profiteers, activists, etc.
• Community-Wide CONSENSUS BUILDING PROCESS: A thoroughly accessible permanent resource to engage the entire trans community into a truly inclusive political process, where no criticism or idea is ever ignored and unprocessed, and no one is ever left behind
• Completely END ALL FORMS OF HOMELESSNESS for all trans people, including underhousing, precarious housing, violent housing, shelter-based incarceration, etc.
• Create a community-wide EDUCATION RESOURCE that is completely free and unencumbered, thoroughly credited, and continually updated through direct feedback, feedback through support spaces, political processes, and every possible avenue for gaining information from every trans person

In addition to community work, there are two SYMBOLIC GOAL POSTS:

1. Stop the trans flag-raisings and other racist, transphobic, co-optive events on TRANS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE (Nov 20th), and replace them with healing and political events in line with the politics developed by trans women of color
2. Take back control of the TRANS MARCH (in June) from Pride Toronto, and center the event around community-wide organizing

Going after this type of flag-ship representation is important, because they set the political tone and narrative of the community. Overarching representation enables and disables respective personalities, networks of people, political direction, historical perspective, social development, culture, beliefs, and activities, i.e, if the representation is right-wing/neo-liberal, then community is built around it and favors right-wing, abusive, racist, and otherwise oppressive trans folks at the expense of marginalized trans people.

Having neo-liberal and right-wing trans representation has lead to those politics trickling down at the community level, which is why poverty, violence, and exclusion are now increasing (despite what the non-profits will have us believe), resources shrinking, service "providers" taking over, erasure of grassroots history, lack of organizational transparency, co-opted narratives and education, and a complete absence of accountability and justice around inter-community and systemic violence.

These are low key gatherings, primarily for sharing space and talking about community issues, mostly just trans people, but sometimes cis allies, especially when we're organizing around a protest:
Trans Community Building, Creative Resistance, History, Protests

• TDoR 2018 Booklet - Summary of the TTA, how it came to be, and the damage caused by the TTA and flag-raising
• Aaryn Lang's article Why I Don't Believe in Transgender Day of Remembrance captures how and why racialized and marginalized trans folks are being alienated by TDoR. Orgs like the TTA have been exploiting our communities for many years, fueling violence in the lives of already intensely marginalized trans folks
  
• Anti-Racist Organizing Principles Principles of organizing are a key component that distinguish racist organizations and events from communities of resistance. This was a presentation created for a talk at the University of Toronto, and addresses how and why many organizations like the TTA are racist, and how we need to rebuild organizations that are intentionally anti-racist

QT CASE is an initiative to fight back against the racism and conservatism settling into the local queer and trans communities, oppose corporate and "non-profit" exploitation, as well as rebuilding communities based in true grassroots efforts. QT CASE seeks to promote community-wide consensus based decision making models, direct action, community accountability, accessibility, community-based support, and community-based education models.

Follow us on social media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/qtcase
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/qt_case
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/qt_case
• or send us an email: qtcase at qtcase dot com