Bar Raids.
Street harassment.
Being locked up against your will in psychiatric institutions.

Historically, this was your reality if you were a queer or trans person in North America.

In response to this treatment, queer and trans people struggled and organized .

Recent social gains and increasing acceptance means many queer and trans people, particularly those who are more privileged, no longer face the same degree of criminalization.

But it has also meant that the connections between queerness, gender, and these institutions of social are not as obvious as they once were.

Sarah Lamble argues that these connections do indeed still exist.

And for those of us who are involved in queer, gender, anti-violence and prison justice work,  an understanding of these connections is essential if we are to be effective in our goal of self-determination and liberation.

Lamble is gender and queer activist who has been involved in struggles around prison abolition, antiracism and globalization issues, both in Canada and the UK.

As part of her PhD, she is working on a project called Transforming Bodies of Knowledge: legal institutions, queer and trans activism and social movement politics in Canada.

Stark Raven speaks with Lamble about her work and these issues.