LGBTQ resources – Memphis Flyer

The slew of executive orders issued by President Donald Trump on his first day in office has prompted organizations like OUTMemphis to be proactive, and to prepare their communities for the challenges ahead.

Today, OUTMemphis Executive Director Molly Quinn, held a virtual press conference to give “quick information” about the services the organization is offering for extra support to those affected by the orders.

“The new presidential administration has issued several executive orders upon inauguration, including new discriminatory and ill-planned guidance around sex and gender identity,” Quinn said. “We anticipated this as a national LGBTQ+ movement. We’re working very closely with our national and local partners to understand the exact impact — and in what way, and what order — on transgender and nonbinary people in the Mid-South.”

On January 20th, Trump signed a number of orders that tackle topics such as immigration, American citizenship, and more. These orders will adversely affect members of minority populations, including those in the LGBTQ+ community.

Among these orders is one that states “sex” refers to an “immutable biological classification as either male or female.”

“‘Sex’ is not a synonym for and does not include the concept of ‘gender identity,’” the order said. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality. Under my direction, the Executive Branch will enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality, and the following definitions shall govern all Executive interpretation of and application of Federal law and administration policy.”

Tennessee already has regulations and restrictions on the state level that are similar to the ones Trump has imposed federally. Last summer, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that residents in Tennessee would not be allowed to change the gender on their birth certificate.

Court documents said “there is no fundamental right to a birth certificate recording gender identity instead of biological sex.” OUTMemphis officials said they are already offering services to help individuals navigate this, as it can be a barrier to accessing social services.

Quinn also said this executive order could immediately impact federal sex-segregated spaces, such as prisons. This would cause transgender women to be transferred to a men’s prison, and transgender men to be transferred to a women’s prison.

The executive order also prohibits federal funds from being used to promote “gender ideology.” This is one of the things Quinn said her and her team are monitoring closely.

“OUTMemphis as an organization benefits from federal programs,” Quinn explained. “We deliver federal dollars for HIV prevention and care, mental health, and housing for youth and adults in the community. All of those programs are based on the idea that LGBTQ people are a protected class with regards to social services.”

OUTMemphis said their immediate focus is their legal clinics and financial resources regarding identification and family rights. They are also looking to expand support systems for minors and teens.

“I think we all know and we all understand the broad spectrum of poor climate for the welfare of young people in our state,” Quinn said. “We have bathroom bans, bad school policy, bad foster policies. We have harmful healthcare policies, and the new federal attacks and stigmatization of transgender people will be particularly harmful to minors and adolescence who are coping with so much.”

Quinn also mentioned that new DEI regulations may also significantly impact organizations like OUTMemphis, as they have benefited from several policy initiatives.

While these orders may be the signal of what’s to come, OUTMemphis said they’re prepared to help individuals access social programs and resources.

“The fight that we have in front of us feels very new, but it truly isn’t,” Quinn said. “We already know how to prepare for Trump. We already know how to prepare for a more hateful state legislature, another wave of corporate bullies, of removing DEI culture within our capitalist systems. This is part of what we’ve done for a very long time.”

Phillis Lewis is the CEO and founder of Love Doesn’t Hurt, a Memphis-based nonprofit organization that “provides assistance to victims of Domestic & Sexual Violence in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.”

“Believing is one of the most important things,” said Lewis. “I think a lot of people don’t understand how charismatic, how believable abusers can be, and hearing someone’s story and their journey, just because it’s not your experience, doesn’t mean it’s not theirs.”

The Flyer got in touch with Lewis to discuss Love Doesn’t Hurt’s purpose, and the resources that they offer for the community.

Memphis Flyer: How would you describe Love Doesn’t Hurt?

Phillis Lewis:We are a nonprofit organization that focuses on providing crisis intervention for victims of crime in the LGBTQ+ community, addressing things such as housing insecurity, food insecurity, and getting individuals connected to resources that are diverse and inclusive to their needs.

All the referrals that we make for our clients are with organizations and agencies that we have worked with directly, and we know have affirming and welcoming practices in the work that they do.

In conjunction with the crisis intervention part, we also know that the community also needs life-hack skills and educational sessions to help in the long-run of things, because violence is not just a one-time, incident thing. With that, we want to make sure we’re giving people in the community tools, so that way we can lower the risk of victimization in the future. We do different informational sessions to talk about grief, trauma, self-care, and financial literacy. Next year we will be doing some quarterly cooking classes, as well as quarterly self-care events. Just taking a holistic approach that working with individuals is not just one thing that you’re trying to address. It’s usually a web of things, and we are doing our best to work with other organizations to build a safety net for the clients that we come in contact with, so that they have the best chance of thriving after victimization.

As the founder, was there something that you saw in the community that you felt wasn’t being addressed? Or was there some type of moment or incident that occurred that prompted you to make sure that certain resources were available?

My mother was a victim of domestic and sexual violence, and when she experienced her abuse, it was during a time back in the early ’90s where there wasn’t a lot of protection or a lot of assistance for victims of crime, especially when it came to intimate partner violence. That kind of drove me toward the work, but what drove me toward working with the population I work with, I myself identify as bisexual. So when I started my career at the district attorney’s office, I came in contact with a couple of clients, but one in particular had been in an abusive relationship with her spouse. When we referred her to one of the vendors that was on our referral list, instead of focusing on the trauma she had experienced, they focused more on her sexual orientation. When you are working in social services, you are taught to work in a trauma informed space — not asking people like, ‘what’s wrong with you?’ but ‘what happened?’, and ‘how can I show up for you in this space to help you heal from the trauma you’ve experienced?’ instead of re-victimizing someone that has already been through something hard enough.

How has the landscape changed in recent years? What are some areas that still need work?

In regards to things that need to be improved upon, housing is probably one of the biggest issues. It was even an issue before the pandemic. The pandemic just exacerbated the disparities that we have when it comes to affordable housing. We have individuals that are trying to rebuild their lives, but they don’t have the capacity to do so, and they live in spaces where the requirements to gain housing are sometimes very unreasonable. You say you are charging $800 a month in rent, but you expect the person who is living in that space to make four times the amount of rent. If they made four times the amount in rent, they probably wouldn’t choose to stay in that spot.

Also in housing, when it comes to grants and having flexible funding to help meet people where they are. There are some grants that won’t allow you to help people apply and pay for the application fee. You’re having to figure out where to get funding from, in order to help the need that the clients have. That way they can get to where they’re trying to be.

If you as an agency can help provide first month’s rent and a deposit, but they can’t even pay the application fee, then they’re not going to even get to the point where they can pay rent or the deposit.

In recent weeks we’ve reported on how members of the LGBTQ+ community have had negative experiences with certain agencies, which causes them to not seek help or reach out. How do you all work as a vessel to help restore their confidence in seeking and receiving help?

We take the approach where we let them know what their options are, because the options are out there. If you would like to report it to the police, you can, but also when you’re dealing with individuals that not only have a mistrust when it comes to dealing with law enforcement or the criminal justice system as a whole, whoever the abuser is to them, that is someone they’re going to have to deal with. So as service providers, we’re only coming in as a triage. So, long-term, we try to help not only find the information, but resources so that the individuals that are enacted by the violence can stay safe, and be violence-free. Whatever we can do to help support them in that, we allow them the freedom and autonomy to let us know how they would like to move forward. If they do wish to involve law enforcement, then we make ourselves available to accompany them. If it does get to the point where they do go to the court, and they have to go in for a court proceeding, then we go with them so they have support, and connecting them with other agencies to help provide court advocacy. … Not only do they see our face, but they see other individuals that we’re working with, and letting them know that they have a support system there and there are people there that are trying to help them, to help build trust and rapport. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. You’re talking about years, decades of trauma that has happened between the LGBTQ+ community and law enforcement.

There are a lot of different things that you help people with. What are your most popular resources?

Our educational sessions are where we have our greatest reach. In 2021, we were able to reach over 27,000 people through the educational stuff that we do. That is a piece of what we do, but a lot of the direct services part, comes more with the crisis intervention. Sometimes we’ll have people who will call us, and they just want to do a safety plan. They just want to know what their options are. They may not want to move forward with getting out of those situations, but sometimes people just need someone to talk, to know that they’re not crazy for feeling the way that they do, or to reassure them that what they’re experiencing is not the norm.