Making Queer and Trans of Color Counterpublics

Abstract

Drawing on 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the accessibility organizing efforts of queer and transgender of color community initiatives in Toronto, Canada. I argue that these efforts constitute a kind of counterpublic making in which queer and trans of color organizers discursively construct the marginalized populations that they seek to include. In contrast to approaches to accessibility that prioritize conventional service institutions as the locus of social transformation, this article illustrates the significance of social workers supporting the work of existing community initiatives in their drive toward an intersectional politics of inclusion.