LGBTQ2+ Organizations and the Police: Abolitionist, Reformist, and Ambivalent Approaches to Law Enforcement

• In Event: Roundtable: Queer Criminology

Abstract

Relations between minority groups and the police continue to be tumultuous. There are competing theoretical propositions about how marginalized communities interact with police. These include those who assimilate and form amicable relations with the police (Holmes 2021; Forman 2017; Ignatiev 1995), while others hold abolitionist views (Davis 2003; McDowell & Fernandez 2018). Third, some experience degrees of ambivalence between the two above perspectives (Bell 2016; Kirk & Papachristos 2011; Russell 2019). This paper draws upon 80 in-depth interviews and archival documents with people within LGBTQ2+ organizations whose work involves interactions with police. This project is part of a dissertation that explores how police relations develop among LGBTQ2+ organizations who have historically mistrusted police. While data collection is ongoing, this paper will be able to provide answers to the following research questions: How do LGBTQ2+ organizations develop assimilatory, abolitionist or ambivalent orientations towards the police? Do these orientations change over time? If so, how? Lastly, how do activists within organizations create community safety when law enforcement are not always viewed as trustworthy?

Author

• Andy Holmes, University of Toronto