Increasing police presence in a neighborhood that remains proudly and loudly a home for queer and trans Buffalonians is not making us any safer. Experience teaches us that more police leads to increased criminalization and brutalization of our neighbors, which we cannot stand for. Jordan and Mickey dedicated their lives to making Buffalo, and Allentown in particular, a more colorful, vibrant, and free community. Intensifying police presence here will have the opposite effect and will undermine their legacy. Look no further than Stonewall Nation: WNY LGBT History Mural, which Mickey co-created. It commemorates queer and trans leaders the Stonewall Riots which, lest we forget, were ignited by relentless policing of queer spaces and violent raids and arrests. 

As a community that has historically been heavily policed and even criminalized, LGBTQ Buffalonians have a hard time believing that an increased police presence in their neighborhood contributes to their safety. For much of the 20th century, state liquor laws prohibited Buffalo bars from maintaining “disorderly premises”--and the very presence of queer people was considered disorderly by default. As recently as the 1980s, Buffalo police selectively enforced these laws through bar raids–either when a politician wanted to gain points with voters, to manufacture popular consent for destroying the buildings in which gay bars resided and replacing them with parking lots, or simply as a means of keeping queer and trans people in a state of terror. Outside the bars, sodomy and solicitation laws, often enforced by undercover police officers masquerading as gay men, were used to make even the streets unsafe for LGBTQ Buffalonians. Although gay activist Bob Uplinger ensured that the solicitation laws that primarily targeted white gay men were declared unconstitutional, these laws are still used to target trans people and queer people of color. In all likelihood, an increased police presence in Allentown will primarily target these most vulnerable members of our community, not people who wish LGBTQ Buffalonians harm.

Jordan and Mickey loved their city and their neighborhood. They created and nurtured culture, art, and community that made Allentown what it is, in all its quirky queer glory. They fought for it. They fought to create, improve, and protect public events and spaces that were safe for everyone, especially those of us who are most often singled out, disparaged, or cast aside. Now we must do the same. We encourage Acting Mayor Scanlon to invite us to the table and ask: What would really make Allentown and its queer, trans, Black, brown, and immigrant residents safe? What can we do together to carry on Mickey and Jordan’s legacy of a vibrant, free, inclusive Allentown?

We won’t pretend that there are simple answers, but we will pick up the mantle. We deserve to be safe, and we know that true safety will begin only when we stop repeating the same failed knee-jerk cycles of criminalization, and instead cast deeper and broader nets of communal and institutional support, including adequate health care, economic aid, and cultural enrichment which are all easily accessible to everyone. Some of the ways we would like to see the city implement these answers include investing in neighborhoods, community-led safety, and health programs. The City should urgently invest in programs such as crime prevention through environmental design, clearing and greening vacant lots, addressing abandoned and neglected properties, and ensuring residents' basic needs are met. All of these needs have been overlooked for too long, and Allentown leaders including Jordan and Mickey have called attention to this neglect for years.

Finally, Acting Mayor Scanlon and the entire Buffalo Common Council should demonstrate their commitment to making this city safer for the LGBTQ community by passing a resolution to make Buffalo a sanctuary city for transgender people, committing not to comply with federal efforts to rid them of their rights and necessary resources. 

We believe in our community, and we will fight for it, too.

Signed,
Buffalo Niagara LGBTQ History Project, Partnership for the Public Good, The Good Stuff Gallery + Gift, Jack Rabbit, Stonewall Democrats of WNY, Damsel 'N Disdress, J Fagotti, Torin Rozzelle, Alex Hoehn, Heather Gring, Edmund Cardoni, Bryan Ball, Jordan Cooper, Myq Farrow, Keelan Erhard.

You can add your name to this letter, here.