LGBT Communities and Drug Policy Reform

Personal sovereignty informs both the LGBT liberation and drug policy reform movements. Both are rooted in a core principle that our body belongs to us, yet we both find our bodies a battleground for competing political and cultural ideologies. We often face the same enemies and have some of the same weapons arrayed against us. Police surveillance and repression, along with stigma and moral panic, are used to great effect against both LGBT individuals and drug users. The LGBT movement has a proud history as a voice for freedom, liberation, social change, and social justice. Certainly not all LGBT individuals are progressive or even liberal, nor do they all need to be, but as a community, we have spoken out against harmful social policies. We need to join the fight against prohibition.