Transcending Barriers to QTPOC Labor in the South

Anthony Belotti, Virginia Commonwealth University

Anthony Belotti Political Science Major and LGBTQ/Queer Studies Minor Virginia Commonwealth University "Justice During Troubled Times: Engaged Ideas and Lived Experiences" “Trans-cending Barriers to QTPOC Labor in the South.” Dr. Jayme Canty Abstract As a region, the American South has an economic history, primarily as it relates to free labor and exploitation of those marginalized in the region. Colonization and the expansion of capitalism in the South is the root of why labor rights in the South are so infringed upon, specifically for those that do not fit the colonial fold. From enslavement in the American South as a source of free labor source to the criminalization of Southern queerness and gender nonconformity, economic labor has always been complicated for LGBTQIA+ workers, especially for queer folks of color living in the American South. This paper highlights the economic history in the South and its implications for trans and queer persons of color. Starting with the first sodomy laws and when the first enslaved people were brought to Virginia, to the Jim Crow era and the passage of right to work, we find evidence of the way Black queer and trans people were criminalized, exploited, and denied access to employment. This paper will also contextualize an intersectional lens to explain where we are now as it relates to the labor laws in the South that impact trans and queer persons of color and the policies that can be implemented to right the wrongs of the South’s history.

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 Presented in Session 102. Race and Gender in Labor History