Special Episode: Justice Through a Queer Lens

The Restorative Lens

Rami El Gharib (he/him) is a Lebanese Restorative Justice practitioner. Rami was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon but moved to the United States in 2018 to escape the criminalization of homosexuality in his home country, and to pursue a master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of New Haven. Rami serves as the Juvenile Justice Program Manager for King County, Washington. Rami is the founder of the ⁠Restorative Rainbow Alliance⁠, an Alliance which aims to introduce a LGBTQ+ lens into the field of Restorative Justice by providing extra care for LGBTQ+ victims of hate crimes and assisting facilitators in understanding the extra levels of harm that LGBTQ+ individuals may face, as well as creating virtual safe spaces. Rami is also the founder of The Space, a LGBTQ+ youth safe space in Colorado that utilizes Restorative Circles to assess the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in the Region. The Space was funded by the State of Colorado’s Restorative Justice Council.

Jasmyn Story (they/them) is an international Restorative Justice Facilitator, Doula, and the founder of ⁠Honeycomb Justice⁠ and ⁠Freedom Farm Azul⁠. Named one of Vice’s 31 People Making History by Creating a Better Future, they are a dedicated human rights activist with a decade of experience working in the voluntary sector. As the former Deputy Director of Social Justice & Racial Equity for the Office of the Mayor of Birmingham, Jasmyn co-led the launch of the State of Alabama’s first government-sustained Women’s Initiative. This decentralized movement aims to interrupt the cycles of harm plaguing Birmingham’s women, children, trans, and non-binary folk. After completing their M.A. in Human Rights at the University College London, they are currently completing their Ph.D. as a third-generation Tuskegee University student. Today, they serve the national office of the Sierra Club as the Conflict Transformation Strategic Advisor.

Stas Schmiedt (they/them) is a nonbinary BlaQ-Italian storyteller, transformative justice practitioner, abolitionist organizer, healer, and survivor based on Ute, Arapahoe, and Cheyenne lands (also called Denver, Colorado). They are a co-founder, vision keeper, and imaginatrix at Spring Up and bluelight academy of the liberatory arts.

Ames Stenson (they/them) hails from Denver, Colorado and their family tree has been rooting on stolen land in the west since the 1700s. Ames currently serves as the program manager with the ⁠City of Englewood, CO Municipal Court Restorative Justice Program⁠; the board president for the Colorado Coalition for Restorative Justice Practices; a founding board member of the Restorative Rainbow Alliance; previously served as the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice’s online programming coordinator and recently retired from seven years of teaching as an Adjunct Faculty member at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work. They have a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, a master’s in Theological Studies and a master’s in Social Work and consider themselves to be a lifelong learner. Ames loves spending time with their family, Kyla and Russ, and doing all-things-fun from travel to sports to geocaching – it’s a yes!

View Podcast Transcript Here

Watch the recording of the "Justice Through a Queer Lens" panel here.

This project is supported by Grants No. 2020-MU-CX-K001 and No. 15PBJA-20-GK-00035 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view, images, or opinions in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.