Stiletto

Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1

In This Issue
Good News 1
Black Lives Matter Current 6
Events
Last Year’s Struggle Around 9
Police Involvement in Pride
MAJOR! World Premier 10
House Keys Not Handcuffs! 11
Updates on Solitary 12
Confinement
Jail Fight Update: We Won! 13
Letters from the Inside 15
Miss Major’s Retirement 17
Party
Trans People in Prison Fight 19
Barriers to Changing Their
Legal Name and Gender
Markers
Compton’s Cultural District 23
Cookie’s Words of Wisdom 25
& Guidance for the Girls
Still Held in State Captivity
Legal Corner 27
Ally Updates 29

TGI Justice Project is a group of
trans- gender, gender variant and
intersex people—inside and outside
of prisons, jails and detention
centers—creating a united family
in the struggle for survival and
freedom. We work in collaboration
with others to forge a culture
of resistance and resilience to
strengthen us for the fight against
imprisonment, police violence,
racism, poverty, and societal
pressures. We seek to create a world
rooted in self- determination,
freedom of expression, and gender
justice.
New Mailing Address:
370 Turk Street
PMB #370
San Francisco, CA
94102
Email: info@tgijp.org
Website: www.tgijp.org
STAFF
Janetta Johnson, Executive Director
Woods Ervin, Policy Director
KellyLou Densmore, Legal Director
T Pulphus, Programs Directors
Kyle Neil, Development Director
Santos LaRose, Programs Coordinator
Coral Feigin, Administration Coordinator
Toshio Meronek, Administration/Operations Coordinator
StormMiguel Florez, Administration Coordinator
Peaches Banks, Leadership Team
Cookie Bivens, Legal Coordinator
Cody Dolan, Legal Assistant
Ronjah Earl, Re-Entry Specialist
Are you trans, gendervariant and/or intersex and an artist, writer
or thinker? Stiletto is welcoming submissions for the next issue.
Feel free to send poetry, articles, thoughts and art work to the
Stiletto editor and we will work with you to see if we can include
your submissions. Each issue has a different theme but overarching
themes of TGIJP’s work include Black trans liberation, prison
abolition, the prison-industrial complex, re-entry, resisting anti-
Blackness and white supremacy, transformative justice, etc. All
submissions must meet prison guidelines.
Send submissions to:
ATTN Stiletto Editor
TGI Justice Project
370 Turk Street #370
San Francisco, CA
94102
OR
coral@tgijp.org
Dedicated to the memory Tessa Jean Marie Sarver - sister, friend,
philosopher, weirdo, revolutionary.
A Love Letter to My People to Remind
You How Beautiful and Special We Are
Dear Beautiful Black Transgender Women, Transgender
Women Of Color, and all TGI people,
We’ve shown so much strength and courage to make the
decision to not to allow this system to prevent us from
utilizing our gifts and talents. As Marianne Williamson said:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our
dark- ness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not
to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve
the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to
shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other
people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our
own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
We are experiencing a civil rights movement and are in the
midst of a struggle for liberation, so please pay attention. It is
our God- given right to work for our collective freedom.
And especially to my sisters, brothers, and family that are
currently being warehoused in jails, prisons and detention
centers: we must love ourselves and be a part of this movement.
For folks that are getting out, we must and should remember
to prepare ourselves to create a good life where we can reach
back and be a part of our folks’ lives that are not getting out
anytime soon. There’s lots of healing that needs to take place
both individually and collectively in order for our community
and world to affirm that all Black Lives Matter.
Let us start by making sure we love and are taking care
ourselves and our community, including our community’s
medical and mental health. There is a lot of work that needs
to be done so that we can knock down walls and barriers that
prevent us from flourishing and growing in a way that gives us
equal access. It is our God-given talent and right to look at the
disparities and disenfranchisement. When we look beyond
our current situations we can see the systemic circumstances
that are designed to prevent us from excelling in the ways that
other populations have. We cannot create systemic change
alone and this is a note to encourage us to work WITH
other grassroots, accountable organizations, collectives, and
coalitions for the enrichment to our growth for equality.
We must use our voices and our bodies and be visible
and speaking our truth to the faces of oppressors.
According to the 2011 Report, “Injustice At Every Turn:
A National Transgender Discrimination Sur- vey” Black
transgender folks live in extreme poverty with 34%
reporting household income of less than $10,000/year.
This is more than twice the rate for transgender people of
all races (15%), four times the general Black populations
rate (9%), and over 8 times the general US population’s
rate of (4%). In some ways it feels like having this
information sort of validates our disenfranchisement.
This is why we as a community must be available and
cognizant to participate in creating a world without
jails, prisons or detention centers and do everything in
our power to develop systems that will fully afford us to
participate in the building of our communities.
We envision a world where we have equal access to jobs,
housing, educational opportunities without harassment,
medical and mental health services. We envision a world
where we can live safely, openly, and honestly in our truth.
Regardless of your gender identity or sexual orientation,
there is work you can do to help put the “T” in the Black
family dynamic. We can all help expand space and safety
for transgender
people in our homes,
neighborhoods, pods
and yards, in our
faith communities
and our social
services. We are in
it together, and it
is time for us all to
create the better
world that we want
and know is possible.
My people, thank
you for your
beautiful truth!
Be Safe and Stay Strong,
Janetta Johnson
Executive Director
Good News
October 2015
• The National Portrait Gallery at the
Smithsonian Institution added its
first portrait of transgender liberation
movement elder, Sylvia Rivera. The
portrait by Luis Carle went up in the
beginning of October as part of the
“Struggle for Justice” exhibition. The
photo shows Sylvia with her partner
Julia Murray and Christina Hayworth
at the New York City Pride March
in 2000. Sylvia is revered in trans
community as a crucial figure in the
trans liberation movement from her
participation in the Stonewall riots, to
her work supporting street based trans
people and advocating for the rights
of incarcerated trans people.
Sylvia Rivera (with Christina Hayworth and
Julia Murray) by Luis Carle via the Advocate
• A federal government report
released in early October by the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA)
is calling for an end to practicing
conversion or reparative therapy
for queer and trans young people.
The report says that young people
should “be supported in their right
to explore, define, and articulate
their own identity.” Moreover,
the report states that “conversion
therapy perpetuates outdated views
of gender roles and identities as
well as the negative stereotype that
being a sexual or gender minority or
identifying as LGBTQ is an abnormal
1 Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
aspect of human development. Most
importantly, it may put young people
at risk of serious harm.”
November 2015
• A recent research presentation
at the conference of the American
Physiological Society called
“Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolic
Diseases: Physiology and Gender”
suggests that trans women who take
hormones and have also had sex
reassignment surgery may be less
likely to develop metabolic diseases
than people who use hormones but
don’t have any surgeries.
• Marisela Castro is a Honduran
trans woman who has been fighting
to live in the United States after
fearing for her life in Honduras. The
Atlanta Immigration Court finally
granted a withholding of removal
and protection under the Convention
Against Torture claiming that Castro
would “more likely that not” suffer
persecution if she was forced to return
to Honduras.
• Ecuador is changing their
identification documents to
list people’s gender identities as
“masculine” or “feminine” instead of
“male” and “female” as an attempt to
be inclusive of trans and non-binary
people.
• The prison system in British
Columbia, Canada transferred a trans
woman named Bianca Sawyer from a
men’s prison to a women’s prison. This
is the first time that a trans woman
who had not had sex reassignment
surgery was granted a transfer. “When
I was called for transfer I was ecstatic
to say the least,” she wrote “A calming
euphoria of appreciation and thanks
washed over me.”
Bianca Bailey Sawyer. Photo via Facebook
Sawyer lobbied for the transfer with
the assistance of West Coast Prison
Justice Society (WCPJ), a group based
in Burnaby that provides legal aid to
prisoners across Canada. This move
sets up other trans women to also go
through the same process to access a
transfer.
December 2015
• The New York City Commission on
Human Rights released new guidance
that clarifies gender discrimination
under the NYC Human Rights Law.
This shift has made it one of the
strongest protections for trans and
gender non-conforming people in
the country. Included are fines of up
to $250,000 for each violation. The
new guidance describes many ways
employers, landlords and business
owners could violate the law. They
include:
Intentionally failing to use an
individual’s preferred name, pronoun
or title.
Refusing to allow individuals to use
single-sex facilities, such as bathrooms
or locker rooms, and participate in
single-sex programs, consistent with
their gender identity.
Enforcing dress codes, uniforms,
and grooming standards that impose
different requirements based on sex or
gender.
Failing to providing employee health
benefits that cover gender-affirming
care or failing to provide reasonable
accommodations for individuals
undergoing gender transition,
including medical appointments
and recovery, where such reasonable
accommodations are provided to
other employees.
• A new surgery could allow trans
women to give birth to children if
it was adjusted. Cleveland clinic is
performing uterus transplant surgery
on cis women who were born without
a womb or whose uterus is diseased or
malfunctioning. While it’s still in the
research stages, Swedish scientists have
transplanted uteri from live donors
and achieved five pregnancies and
four live births. Trans women who
take hormones would likely be able to
adapt to this procedure because they
have high levels of progesterone and
estrogen. There is little known about
how much it will cost, long-term
impacts, and if they would give this
surgery to trans women.
January 2016
• Transgender athletes will no longer
be required to undergo gender
reassignment surgery in order to
participate in the Olympics. The
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) reportedly updated its
transgender guidelines and they
are expected to be adopted before
the Summer Olympics in Rio.
According to the new guidelines,
“those who transition from female to
male are eligible to compete in the
male category without restriction.”
Trans women have also seen their
restrictions reduced—those athletes
now only have to undergo hormone
replacement therapy for a year before
Stiletto
competing, and maintain regulated
testosterone levels for the remainder
of their Olympic eligibility.
• Britney Austin won a discrimination
settlement against her employer.
Austin received slurs, had her access
to the women’s restroom denied, and
was barred from changing her name
on company records. The National
Check-Printing Company will pay her
$115,000, plus issue her a personal
apology and change its policies for
transgender employees, under a
settlement agreement approved by a
federal judge in Minnesota.
February 2016
The Court of Appeals in Beirut,
Lebanon ruled in favor of a trans
man gaining access to change his
legal paperwork and granting him
access to trans healthcare. This is the
first time a Lebanese appeals court
has rules specifically in support of
a trans person’s right to healthcare.
Organizers in Beirut are hopeful that
this will lead to further shifts in the
way trans people can receive care.
March 2016
• South Dakota‘s governor vetoed a
bill that would have made the state
the first in the U.S. to approve a law
requiring transgender students to use
bathrooms and locker rooms that
match their sex at birth. Republican
Governor Dennis Daugaard shifted
his initial position on the legislation
after the ACLU publically criticized
the bill as discriminatory.
• Lilly Wachowski, half of the famous
duo behind the Matrix movies and
hit series Sense8 came out publicly
as trans in an open letter. Wachowski’s
letter mocked the transphobic,
sensationalist and often violent articles
that news sources publish when a
famous person comes out as a trans.
April 2016
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
4th Circuit deferred to the U.S.
Education Department’s position
that trans students should be able
to use a restroom that matches their
gender identity in defense of high
school student Gavin Grimm. The
department has said that requiring
trans students to use a restroom that is
designated for someone of a different
gender is a violation of Title IX. Title
IX prohibits sex discrimination at
school that receive federal funding
May 2016
• The U.S. Department of Education
and Department of Justice released
its most detailed guidelines to date
explaining that if a school receives
public funding then they have
obligations to trans students. These
obligations include using the student’s
preferred name and pronouns,
ensuring them access to the correct
gendered sports teams, educational
opportunities and access to sex-
segregated facilities that correspond
with their gender identity (if such a
facility exists). This applies to public
K-12 schools as well as colleges
and universities that receive federal
funding.
2
June 2016
• This year’s Trans March in San
Francisco was in Dolores Park, as it
always is. However, the program went a
bit differently than usual. Capitalizing
on the shifting moment of trans
visibility, California State Senator
Mark Leno, Board of Supervisor
Scott Weiner and Mayor Ed Lee took
the stage to speak. Instead of being
cheered by the crowd, these three
politicians were heckled, swore at,
mooned and given the middle finger
to. “And why am I a piece of shit?”
Leno asked, before scolding someone
for giving him the middle finger.
Each of these politicians has a
long history with passing racist,
classist, transphobic and violent
policies that negatively impact
trans people. Trans people at this
year’s Trans March returned the
level of care that they have given
to the community.
July 2016
• The Movement for Black Lives
released a “Vision for Black
Lives” platform that articulates
demands the coalition has set for
the movement going forward.
It lists six policy demands:
End the War on Black People,
Reparations, Divest-Invest, Economic
Justice, Community Control, and
Political Power. It also outlines
specific policy goals regarding Black
queer and trans people: “end to the
war on black trans, queer and gender
nonconforming people, including
their addition to anti-discrimination
civil rights protections to ensure full
access to employment, health, housing
and education.”
The brief points out the “pervasive
profiling by police” that Black
transgender people face, such as
bathroom gender policing and
3 Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
prostitution-related arrests, along
with a lack of protection from police.
Many Black trans people experience
harassment, and sometimes physical
assault. And Black trans people “face
unemployment rates two times the
overall rate for trans people, and up
to four times higher than the general
population,” the group writes. Because
of discrimination, half of Black trans
people have reported they’ve had to
sell drugs or become sex workers to
make a living, according to the report.
The movement calls for actions to
“stop those discriminatory practices
and protect trans people’s civil
rights, including access to education,
healthcare, housing and employment.”
August 2016
• Bree Campbell, Executive Director
of the Trans Sistas of Color Project and
board member of Positive Women’s
Network of USA and Positively Trans
listed in Most Amazing HIV-positive
People of 2016.
“The country has wasted too much
time focusing on … protecting
cisgender folks from trans people
when we are discriminated against on
a daily basis,” she says. “On one hand,
I think trans communities of color
have done an amazing job gaining
tons of visibility over the last couple
of years, while simultaneously having
to fight for our basic rights as citizens.
I am happy to be alive in such a time
that I can somewhat comfortably be
my authentic self — but that is not
enough. Visibility will not be enough.
There is still tons of work to be done.”
September 2016
• Limit(less) is a photography project
by Mikael Owunna documenting the
fashion and style of queer and trans
Africans in diaspora. “As LGBTQ
Africans, we are constantly told
that being LGBTQ is somehow
‘un-African,’ and this rhetoric is a
regular part of homophobic and
transphobic discourse in African
communities,” he says. “This line
of thinking, however, is patently
false and exists an artifact of
colonization of the African
continent. Identities which would
now be categorized as ‘LGBTQ’
have always existed, and being
LGBTQ does not make us ‘less’
African.” Limit(less) explores
how LGBTQ African immigrants
navigate their identities and find
ways to overcome the supposed
“tension” between their LGBTQ and
African identities.
October 2016
• California became the first state
in the nation to adopt legislation
requiring that all single-occupancy
restrooms in California businesses,
government buildings, and other
places of public accommodation
be open to all genders. “Gov. Jerry
Brown today signed the legislation,
Assembly Bill 1732, into law, as it
had been approved by both the state
Assembly and Senate. It will take effect
March 1, giving the Golden State “the
nation’s most progressive restroom
access law,” notes a press release from
the Transgender Law Center.
November 2016
• In anticipation of the presidential
inauguration and the assured roll
backs of rights that trans people
have won, there is a national push
to support trans people in changing
their legal documents if they choose
to do so. Lawyers across the country
are donating their time to help trans
people fill out legal name and gender
marker change paperwork and apply
for new identification documents.
TGIJP in collaboration with the St.
James Infirmary and TAJA’s Coalition
held a legal clinic for members of our
communities.
December 2016
Kalki Subrahmaniam speaking at the opening of
the Sahaj school, via BBC.com
• A residential school called Sahaj
International in the city of Kochi,
India has opened to support trans
people who dropped out of school
finish their education. Approximately
half of all trans people in India fail
to complete schooling as a result of
harassment and hostility. The school
welcomes 10 students who are 25-50.
The students are prepared for India’s
Class 10 and 12 board exams and
some vocational skills.
Vijayraja Mallika, a trans person who
heads the school said “The school
Stiletto
aims at making transgenders eligible
for taking decent jobs and living a
dignified life.”
January 2017
• Trans activist Janet Mock called
for intersectional resistance at the
Women’s March in Washington, D.C.
following the inauguration. “I stand
here today because I am my sister’s
keeper,” she said. “Our approach to
freedom need not be identical, but it
must intersectional and inclusive. It
must extend beyond ourselves.”
Mock praised trans liberation
trancestors Marsha P. Johnson and
Sylvia Rivera, who were at the
Stonewall riots and called for increased
visibility for disabled people and sex
workers. “Collective liberation and
solidarity is difficult,” she said. “It is
work that will find us struggling with
each other—and struggling against
each other.”
• In one of his final acts in office,
President Obama commuted most
of Chelsea Manning’s sentence for
leaking secret government documents.
Manning’s 35-year sentence was the
longest ever imposed on a leaker.
Chelsea frequently reported that she
was mistreated in the men’s prison —
denied exercise, subjected to bullying,
forced to adhere to male grooming
standards, and punished for having
radical reading materials.
February 2017
• The world’s first transgender doll
modelled on the US trans teen Jazz
Jennings was created. “Ever since I
was little, I always loved playing with
dolls,” said Jennings. “It was a great
way to show my parents that I was
a girl, because I could just express
myself as I am. So this really resonates
with me, because it was something so
pivotal in my own journey.”
March 2017
• Brooklyn –based DJ Maya Bouldry-
Morrison, also known as her DJ name
Octo Octa released a new album
“Where Are We Going?” This is
Maya’s first album since coming out
as trans and purposefully included
images of herself in the album to push
back against the culture of electronic
music. “For a long time I never took
pictures of myself because I didn’t like
my body,” she says. “It’s only been a
couple of years now, especially since
publicly transitioning, that I’ve finally
felt OK with how I look.”
April 2017
• Tamara Adrian became the first
trans person to be elected to office
in Venezuela and one of the first in
all of South America. Adrian’s first
order of business is to push legislative
advancements for LGBTI people
which have been absent during the 17
years of the Chavist domination of the
National Assembly.
May 2017
• The Northern Australian city
Darwin had its first Miss First Nation,
a pageant for Indigenous sistagirls
(a term used for Aboriginal trans
femmes). Launched by Miss Ellaneous,
4
the event showcases the talent of local
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
queens and trans women. “Generally
though there is a lack of opportunity
and/or showcasing platforms for these
queens and sistagirls,” Ellaneous said.
“I feel that nationally there is still a
lack of understanding and education
around Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people including their
culture, heritage, and history. We
are still a deeply racist country that
has not made peace with the past
atrocities. It’s hard enough just being
Black, so imagine being Black, queer,
and a drag queen.”
June 2017
• Four protesters were arrested at
Columbus Pride in Ohio who are
being referred to as the Black Pride 4.
Organizers attended the pride parade
to protest the acquittal of Jeronimo
Yanez, a police officer who murdered
Philando Castile during a traffic stop.
They were also raising awareness of
the violence against trans women of
color. The organizers joined arms and
blocked the parade, explaining that
they wanted seven minutes of silence
– one minute for each bullet that
Yanez shot at Castile.
5 Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
July 2017 said immigration minister Ahmed
Hussen.
• London Jade released a new album
called “Witch Hoe” which reflects
her struggles through fighting
for her gender identity, surviving
incarceration as a young person and
breaking free of abusive romantic
relationships.
• On July 27th, Janetta Johnson,
Executive Director of TGI Justice
Project and Monica James, National November 2017
Organizer of Black and Pink keynoted
• On November 7th, trans women
the International Conference on Penal
won historic victories in three state
Abolition. Their keynote centered
elections. In Virginia, Danica Roem
around the experiences of currently
and formerly incarcerated Black trans became the first openly transgender
women and the importance centering state lawmaker in the country, beating
Black trans women in the abolition the transphobic veteran politician
movement. who wrote the state’s (failed) trans
bathroom bill.
ICOPA is an international conference
that has toured the world for 23 In Minneapolis, MN, Andrea Jenkins
years bringing together prisoners, became the first transgender woman
former prisoners, prisoners’ families of color to be elected to public office
and communities most affected by winning 73 % of the votes in the City
the criminal legal system. In its long Council race. In Palm Springs, CA,
history ICOPA has only been hosted Lisa Middleton won a seat on the
in the United States once despite town’s city council, making her the
being home to the largest criminal first openly transgender candidate
legal system in the world. This year’s elected to a non-judicial office in the
theme was Abolition and its Ghosts: state’s history.
Historic Memory and Ongoing
Struggles Against Colonialism and
Slavery.
August 2017
• Canadians are now able to identify
as gender neutral on their passports by
using an “X” category, joining those in
Australia, Denmark, Germany, Malta,
New Zealand and Pakistan. India,
Ireland and Nepal. “All Canadians
should feel safe to be themselves, live
according to their gender identity and
express their gender as they choose,”
Black Lives Matter & the Movement
For Black Lives: Current Events
October 2015
Trans day of resilience
Initiated by BreakOut, #TDoR, a
national day of action was led locally
by TGIJP and TAJA’s Coalition.
#HereToStay “Denying Shelter and
Dignity to Black Trans Women is a
Weapon in the War on Black People”
was our local message, as we, with the
help of the Black Out Collective and
our community, strategically escalated
our engagements with Episcopal
Community Services, demanding
and winning: the hiring of trans
people so the staff better represents
the community being served;
establishment of a trans inclusion
council to review complaints of anti-
trans prejudice; work towards ending
anti-trans culture; and expansion of
safe access to shelter housing.
December 2015
Black Xmas
In 2015, on December 23rd, one of
the busiest days of the holiday season,
Black communities across the United
States took brave actions to impede
the flow of goods and commerce
with peaceful protests calling for an
immediate overhaul of the justice
system both locally and nationally
while demanding accountability for
police, removal of grand juries in
cases involving police shootings, an
immediate halt to militarized police
units and weapons, and extensive
reviews of racialized police practices in
Black neighborhoods.
SF Jail Fight Victory!
After 2 years of organizing with the
Stiletto
No New SF Jail Coalition, a victory
was won when the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors voted to reject
$80 million in new jail construction.
This victory was was won through
strong, consistent organizing and
an engagement of hundreds of
community members through various
actions, including town halls, call-
in campaigns, and a direct action
shutting down a Board of Supervisor’s
meeting in December 2015.
January 2016
Combahee Alliance /
Tennessee Trip
TThe Combahee Alliance includes
Transgender, Gender Varient &
Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP), Black
Lives Matter (BLM), Southerners on
New Ground (SONG), Community
Justice Network for Youth (CJNY),
The BlackOUT! Collective, The
Highlander Research and Education
Center, and The Ruckus Society. This
is direct action training project trains
justice-loving freedom fighters to
use creative tactics to engage targets,
rapidly respond in critical movement
moments, and build the power and
capacity of organizers across the
nation. We are in an exciting political
moment where risky interventions
are necessary, Black leadership must
be invested in, and Black and Brown
unity must be built. The first phase of
the training brought 60 Black folx and
people of color from the organizations
of the Combahee Alliance together for
a 5-day training in January 2016.
96 hours of Actions
For the second year in a row, the
Anti-Police Terror Project called for
96 Hours of Action throughout the
duration of Martin Luther King
weekend, January 15-18. The call was
“to meaningfully interrupt business
as usual whether that be with direct
action, teach-ins, concerts or prayer
vigils and to do so with action logic
that links our resistance to fighting
racism, economic injustice, and
imperialism.” Demands lifted up
ranged from an “immediate end to the
rampant and violent criminalization,
incarceration and police murders of
Black and Brown transgender and
gender nonconforming people” to the
ring of [Former] Oakland Police Chief
Sean Whent & [Former] San Francisco
Police Chief Greg Suhr. Actions
throughout the weekend included a
mobilization to Mayor Libby Schaaf ’s
house in Oakland, a mobilization to
Sean Whent’s house in Brentwood, a
march of thousands throughout West
Oakland and Emeryville, and the
shutdown of the Bay Bridge.
April 2016
Frisco5 + Frisco500
On April 21, 2016, five San Francisco
residents began a hunger strike at the
doors of the Mission Police Station.
They demanded that the SFPD
stop killing Black & Brown people
throughout the city and start the
journey towards that goal with the
firing of [Former] Police Chief Greg
Suhr. After 16 days, the Hunger
[Strike] for Justice in San Francisco
became the longest hunger strike in
San Francisco history. During the
time of the hunger strike, there was
a solidarity mobilization garnering
the participation of thousands of
residents from throughout the Bay
6
BLM Current Events Continued...
Area and an occupation of city hall by
a multigenerational, Black & Brown-
led group of organizers, activists, and
generally caring people. Out of the
SF City Hall occupation was birthed
a group now known as the Frisco500.
June 2016
BLM organizer Jasmine
Abdullah Targeted &
Convicted of ‘Attempted
lynching’
“After months of targeting and
harassment by Pasadena Police and
the Los Angeles County District
Attorney in Pasadena, Black Lives
Matter organizer, Jasmine Abdullah,
AKA Jasmine Richards, was
convicted of attempted lynching”
(blacklivesmatter.com). Legally,
lynching is defined as taking, by
means of a riot, any person from the
lawful custody of any peace officer.
Several people organized around
Jasmine’s court case and appearances,
packing the court, providing court
support, and more. Although she was
sentenced with approximately three
months in jail, Jasmine is now home,
free on bail.
No Pride for BreakOUT
After being named a grand marshal
for the 2016 New Orleans Pride
Parade, BreakOUT, a radical,
resistance-based organization fighting
the criminalization of LGBTQ youth,
pulled out. Although they planned
to march in Pride under a banner
reading, “How can we walk down
the aisle when we can’t walk down
the street” (youthbreakout.org), the
organization pulled out in resistance
to the increased police presence at
Pride, which is directly related to the
7 Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
continuously disintegrating safety of
LGBTQ young folks in New Orleans.
Week of Action to Stop, Stay,
and Expand
From June 13-17, a coalition of
organizations in Oakland called
for a week of action targeting “the
repressive policies and practices of the
[Libby] Schaaf administration” in an
effort to “fight back against private
interests and large developers who
are displacing families and driving
up rents”. Demands throughout the
week were for “immediate protections
for renters, redirecting City money to
protect low wage workers and public
education around connection between
police terror, displacement and the
impact on our schools/young people”.
Actions included visioning nights
on the East 12th St & Lake Merritt
Blvd Land Parcel, a march to and
occupation of Oakland City Hall,
and an Oakland Police Department
(OPD) Shut Down.
September 2016
BLM in Solidarity with
NoDAPL
BLM releases a statement in solidarity
with Standing Rock and sends a
delegation to North Dakota to
support protesters fighting the Dakota
Access Pipeline; Colin Kaepernick
of the San Francisco 49ers takes a
knee during the national anthem to
protest Black lives being killed by
police; Keith Lamont Scott is killed in
Charlotte, North Carolina by police.
Protests ensue and are met with police
aggression; Court support for Justice
4 Kayla Moore.
November 2016
Trump Elected President
Trump elected President.
December 2016
Backing Black Business
BLM launches BackingBlackBusiness,
a website designed to support the
development and ownership of black
businesses.
January 2017
Reclaiming MLK’s Radical
Legacy
BLM participates in a series of actions
nationally on Martin Luther King Jr.
day weekend. These actions lead up to
January 20th, inauguration day for the
President. BLM participates in a series
of actions on inauguration day as well;
Trump introduces an executive order
banning people from certain Muslim
countries from entering the US.
BLM is part of massive outpouring of
resistance at various airports across the
country in opposition to the ban.
March 2017
Protecting Trans Women
BLM launches a call to the network
to Protect Trans Women. Releases a
statement as well.
April 2017
Environmental Justice is
Black Liberation
BLM participates in People’s Climate
March, a multi-sector march held in
multiple cities to raise awareness of
climate change and how our current
reliance on coal and oil contribute
to it; BLM participates in, as well
as critiques, the Women’s march
- a multi-city march held globally
that highlighted women’s issues and
targeted the president for his anti-
woman policy proposals.
May 2017
Mama’s Day Bail Out
BLM organizations participate
in the Mama’s Day Bail Out -
where they drew attention the
ways in which the bail system
disproportionately affects Black
mothers. The organizations raised
several tens of thousands of dollars
nationally and then partnered
with local organizations who
were advocating for community
members identified as “mama’s”
to bail them out of jail;
Documentary Whose Streets?
released, which tells the story of
the uprisings on the ground in
Ferguson, MO after Mike Brown
was murdered by police; Officer
that shot Tamir Rice is fired.
June 2017
Black Land and
Liberation
BLM participates in a Pride/
Father’s Day Bail out - focusing on
fathers and LGBTQ community
members; BLM participates in
a Juneteenth action. Juneteenth
celebrates the emancipation of Black
people from slavery. The action is
titled the Black Land and Liberation
Initiative - a project where multiple
groups nationally built useable
structures on pieces of unclaimed
Stiletto
municipal land for the benefit of black pushed the city to tear down a statue
communities. of a confederate soldier. This results in
struggle in streets between the white
July 2017 supremacists and anti-racists where a
young woman is run over and killed
by white supremacists. Other white
4 Years of BLM
supremacist marches are announced
BLM turns 4 years old!!!
in cities across the nation. BLM in
Boston organizes a counter-
protest that draws around
40,000, effectively shutting
down the white supremacists. A
wave of direct actions is sparked
nationally where people start
tearing down monuments to
slavery.
September 2017
Taking a Knee Against
Police Killings
The protest style of Colin
Kaepernick spreads as multiple
sports team members from NFL
to high school basketball team
members take a knee during
national anthem to protest police
killings of Black people.
October 2017
FBI Targets Black
Organizing
Black Identity Extremists listed
as threat group by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
August 2017
Counterprotest to White
Supremacist March
Organized white supremacists hold a
rally in Charlottesville, VA after locals
8
 Last Year’s Struggle Around Police Involvement in Pride
In Response To Increased Policing of Civic Center, Grand
Marshals, Awardees Withdraw From Pride Parade
Multiple Pride honorees state that increased policing every day to find solutions. We know
and militarized security makes LGBTQI communities the militarization of large-scale events
of color unsafe at Pride Celebration. only gives the illusion of safety. We
are choosing to do the real work
San Francisco, CA – In light of Friday. “While I am thankful for of building safe communities” said
last year’s announcement that PRIDE this honor, and grateful to Pride Shanelle Matthews, a member of Black
participants would be subject to for bringing our work to the front Lives Matter, who also announced
increased policing, metal detectors this year, the decision to add more their withdrawal from the parade.
and discretionary admittance, several police to Pride does not make me,
Grand Marshals and awardees of the or my community, more safe” The St. James Infirmary, which was
“racial & economic justice” themed Johnson said. slated to receive the Heritage of Pride
event withdrew from Award at the main stage
participation in the Pride on Sunday, echoed the
Parade or Civic Center concerns of the Grand
activities because of the Marshals. “LGBT sex
unsafe conditions created workers are often victims of
for our communities by violence and exploitation
law enforcement. In the at the hands of police”
aftermath of the Orlando said Executive Director
shooting that took the Stephany Ashley. “The
lives of dozens of queer, increased police presence
trans and gender non- at Civic Center, as well
conforming people of as the ban on shopping
color, many people in our carts and items typically
community are afraid. belonging to marginally
For us, celebrating Pride housed and homeless
meant choosing between people will only make pride
the threat of homophobic less safe and accessible to
vigilante violence and the our communities. These
threat of police violence. policies do not reflect
We had a tough decision the theme of racial &
to make, and ultimately we economic justice which
chose to keep our people we sought to march under
safe by not participating proudly.”
in any event that would leave our Other honorees also recognized
communities vulnerable to either. the increased concerns about The move comes a week after Grand
safety several argued that a greater Marshals of the New Orleans Pride
Grand Marshal Janetta Johnson, police presence would increase Parade, BreakOUT! announced
Executive Director of the TGI Justice the likelihood of violence against they would not be marching because
Project- an organization by and for queer and trans people of color. increased law enforcement made its
trans, gender non-conforming and “In the Bay Area, and the rest of members—predominantly young
intersex people in prisons, jails and the country, Black communities trans people of color—feel unsafe to
detention centers - announced her experience real fear and terror at do so. In addition to a 25% increase
decision to withdraw from the parade the hands of homophobic vigilantes in local law enforcement (both in
at a PRIDE press conference on and law enforcement, and we work uniform and undercover), federal

9 Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1

law enforcement agencies are also
scheduled to be on site at the Civic
Center events.
In closing Janetta Johnson thanked
SF PRIDE for their collaboration
and understanding, “I am so honored
that the community selected me. It
is important that other Black trans
women, especially younger girls
and especially formerly incarcerated
Black trans women, know that
we matter, our actions matter, that
we can work together to create a
different future. But I just don’t feel
comfortable accepting being in this
parade. I walk in my neighborhood
and see so many people sleeping on
the street. I know come Sunday, they
won’t be allowed to be here and many
will be in jail. Particularly, in the San
Francisco County Jail. But I can’t
even bring myself to call it housing
really, the truth is my community
needs house keys not handcuffs,
needs care not cages, needs jobs and
job training, economic power and
cultural self-determination. We need
safety, real safety. And when Black
trans women are safe, in our city, in
our society, every single day. When
my community is safe, then we can be
really proud.”

MAJOR! World Premier

On November 13th, 2015 the feature length documentary MAJOR! had it’s World Premiere as part of the San
Francisco Transgender Film Festival. Over 1,200 people filled the historic Castro Theater to watch the story of Miss
Major Griffin- Gracy’s life and campaigns, including friends, family, and staff from TGIJP. Over 100 tickets were
donated to community members to attend the screening. Miss Major received a standing ovation before when she
was introduced before the film,and received a five minute standing ovation at the conclusion of the film.

Since its premiere last November, MAJOR! has been touring the world and has screened at festivals in India,
Canada, and throughout the United States, with more screenings scheduled throughout 2017. The film is being
met with critical and audience acclaim, and at the time of press had won Best Documentary at QFest New Jersey;
Best U.S. Documentary at Queer Hippo Houston; both jury and audience awards for Best Documentary at Wicked
Queer Boston, and the Public Award for Best Film at Massimadi Afro-Caribbean Film Festival Montreal.
In June, Miss Major will travel to Toronto, Canada for the film’s premiere at InsideOut, and later in June she’ll be
a guest of honor at Outfest Peru. Upcoming screenings in 2017 include Glasgow, Scotland; Atlanta; Los Angeles
and New York City.

Stiletto 10
House Keys Not Handcuffs!
But also Harm Reduction Housing in the Meantime!?!
One of the projects that TGIJP has
been putting considerable time into
has been shifting the housing policy
for the San Francisco County Jail.
With our partners at the Transgender
Law Center, TAJA’s Coalition, and the
National Center for Lesbian Rights,
we have been able to articulate a policy
that allows housing based on gender
identity rather than police perception
or government documentation.
Unlike what the media may have you
believe, the policy has neither been
accepted or implemented yet, but it
has been vetted through community
and is more detailed than to force
women into women’s housing and
men into men’s. This housing policy
creates space for gender identity,
allows for intersex peoples’ informed
navigation of a binary business.
One of the main issues we keep
coming back to and hearing folks
chime in on is the idea of transgender
housing. We are stuck because we do
not know how to put forward new
and creative ideas without a safety
plan knowing the CDCR and other
places will do everything they can to
twist our ideas and words into their
own drive to expand and grow and
cage more of our community.
We are wondering what you think of
the idea of transgender housing? How
can that exist without giving their
system reason to build more cells or
spaces for our community? (We say
frequently that we know that no cage
is a good cage, and if they build a bed
they will fill a bed.) What would it
look like to have a TGI yard or two
at a facility? Which facility should it
11
be? Would it be open to trans men, and changes could you see that would
women, and non-binary people? expand safety as you survive the time?
Another issue we see across the board Lastly, and to be clear, TGIJP
is that TGI peoples’ security levels get knows that TGI peoples’ safety and
escalated because of our genders and incarceration go together like oil and
because of us having to water- they do not
survive violence inside mix. While that is our
the system. While How might truth, we also want to
we are working to improve the realities
more fully understand
transgender and lives of people we
how classification housing exist love while not enabling
happens, and/or can without giving the system to expand
be engaged, we are also its reach, control
aware that a lot of our their system and exploitation of
folks are missing out reason to build our lives. The people
on or kept ineligible at TGIJP want and
for programming
more cells or need our community
due to their security spaces for our to come home to us
risks. Which is a community? on the outside; we
double edged sword want all people to be
as you know because in community and
programming helps experiencing care. We
reduce actual risk and increase chances want to see restorative justice practices
to survive, parole, etc. Anyways, what and community accountability grow.
do y’all think about how the yard/s We want to see safety and economic
would navigate mixed custody/risk opportunity for our people. We want
level of people? How could mixed to see you! So be safe and stay strong,
security trans housing fit under and if you have time/space/capacity,
corrections logics of division around let us know what you think about this
containment? If this is something housing strategy question.
that is desired, can you help us on the
outside understand the specifics of Thanks, TGIJP family!
the vision? The details of the fears of
close but not quite and now we’re in
a worse bind? What type of situation
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
Updates on Solitary Confinement
In our last issue of Stiletto, there was an article
about the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike and the massive
organizing efforts by people in California prisons to
fight back against the horrifying conditions in solitary
confinement.
Solitary confinement has continued
to be a buzzword in the recent past
months. As you may have heard, there
have been many changes to the law and
policies affecting solitary confinement
and housing on a national level, on a
state-by-state level and in the county
jails. We know that TGI people are
very often put into administrative
segregation and secure housing units
(SHU) purely because of gender
identity, and often under the guise
of “for your own safety,” even though
that is not allowed under the Prison
Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
On the federal level, in the summer
of 2015, Obama initiated a review of
the use of solitary confinement across
U.S. prisons. Based on the findings of
this review, the Attorney General and
the Federal Justice Department made
the following new recommendations:
• no solitary confinement for juveniles
• no solitary as punishment for breaking
minor rules
• more mental health care
• more time outside of their cells for
people in solitary
As of 2016, there were 10,000 people
currently in federal solitary, hopefully
these new rules change state policies
and the way the federal prison system
treats people.
Stiletto
Last year, California saw an incredible
settlement agreement in the Ashker
v. Brown case, emerging out of the
historic hunger strikes and organizing
of imprisoned people inside Pelican
Bay State Prison - a fight that TGI
people were involved in.
The case ended indefinite solitary
confinement and regulates the use of
solitary. The settlement monitoring
period is coming to a close on
October 15th 2017. CDCR is in the
process of drafting regulations to meet
the requirements under the Ashker
Settlement Agreement.
The Center for Constitutional Rights
summarized the changes determined
by the settlement into five main
points:
1. Solitary will be used as a punishment
for bad behavior, not for suspected
gang status alone.
2. After serving their defined SHU term,
“validated gang affiliates” who are
found guilty of a SHU-eligible offense
will enter a faster 24 month SHU step-
down program to return to the general
prison population.
3. California reviewed all current gang-
validated SHU prisoners to decide
who should be released from solitary.
This resulted in approximately 90% of
people who had been in SHU for gang
validation being released to general
population units. Also, almost every-
one who had spent over 10 years in
solitary was immediately released to
the general prison setting, regardless of
recent offenses.
4. A new alternative to solitary, the
Restricted Custody General Population
Unit (RCGP), was established in
California for people with safety
concerns who can’t go to the SNY
yard, and for people who are unable
to complete the step-down program.
People currently in RCGP are
participating in small group education.
5. Extensive solitary will be limited, and
those in solitary will get more time
out of their cells. There is a small
Administrative-SHU which is solitary
and is limited to a small group of
people for disciplinary reasons and
can only be applied to someone by the
Departmental Review Board.
Although over 2,000 people have
been released from, SHU since the
settlement. Many of them are going
to Level 4 facilities and reporting
that they still get very little time out
of their cell (not so different from
solitary itself ). People can still be held
in Ad-seg for “safety reasons.”
TGIJP wants to know, what are your
experiences with solitary confinement?
How have your experiences with
solitary been affected by your gender
identity? What do you think about
these new laws? We know they are
not enough, what would you want
to see differently? What do you see as
TGIJP’s role in these changing laws
and policies on solitary confinement,
housing and classification? We want
to hear from you!
12
Jail Fight Update: We Won!
In the last issue of Stiletto, we laid out work that
TGIJP was engaged in as part of the No New SF Jail
Coalition to fight the plan to build a new jail to replace
the current one that stands at 850 Bryant in downtown
San Francisco, CA.
When we left off in November
2015, San Francisco Board of
Supervisors had decided to
apply for the $80M the State
of California could loan the
city in order to build a new
facility. While this was a
significant setback, we were
committed to stopping the
jail – so we laid out a plan
and got to work.
Arguing at the
state level
On November 2 2016, the
California State Executive
Steering Committee
recommended that SF county receive
the $80M in construction funds for
a new jail. We were disappointed
but not surprised and geared up
fight the funds at every point that
we could. The Board of State and
Community Corrections (BSCC),
which is responsible for distributing
jail construction funds, was the next
place the No New SF Jail Coalition
could go in order to fight to stop the
distribution of the funds.
The No New SF Jail coalition
moved on the BSCC in Sacramento,
mobilizing alongside communities
across the state of California to stop
$500M in funding being distributed
for jail expansion. We had a strong
show out to rally, advocate for the
BSCC to not distribute the funds to
13
the $215M loan to construct the
jail. Simultaneously, the city was
proposing that the jail be reimagined
as a mental health jail specifically.
The proposed facility would have 384
beds as opposed to the initial 904. We
knew that this
was supposed
to appease us,
but we would
not accept
anything but
absolutely no
beds and no
jail.
The coalition
knew that it
would come
down to the
decision by the
San Francisco
Board of
Supervisors –
so we began
SF and other counties across the state, to push them
and then shut the meeting down when hard – really challenging the assertion
they insisted on moving forward with by the Capitol Planning Committee,
awarding the money even though we Sheriff and Mayor that a mental
protested. health jail would be the answer.
Because the money did go to SF, Turning up the
the next place to intervene was SF’s
Capitol Planning committee, where
pressure in SF
they would decide whether to accept
the funds that were distributed. As On December 2 2015, the Budget
the capitol planning committee was and Finance committee of the Board
invested in receiving more funds for of Supervisors in San Francisco was to
their plans to move forward, we knew decide on whether to approve funding
it was unlikely that they would heed on moving the jail project forward.
our opposition now that the BSCC We knew that we needed to stop this
had released funds to them. vote if we could. And so we did. The
coalition shut the meeting down and
Even though the city received the took the chambers to pressure the
funds, the city had to vote to approve Board of Supervisors to delay the
using the funds as well as taking on decision until a vote with the entire
Board. This would give us a chance to
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
move the new Board members and do
a final presentation by the Coalition
on alternatives to building a new jail.
On December 15 2015, the full Board
of Supervisors was scheduled to meet.
After years of struggle against the
jail, amidst all of the controversy that
we’d been able to generate around
the proposed facility and against
the backdrop of growing resistance
to prisons, police and the impact
on Black, Brown, poor and trans
communities, we prepared for what
would be a definitive decision.
carried us to victory.
While it took some time for San
Francisco to reject the $80M loan from
the state of California they eventually
came through. The money was slated
specifically for jail construction and
could not be used for anything else.
TGIJP is proud to have participated
in such a strong fight. We appreciate
the ways the coalition really brought
the struggles of trans people inside
jails to the center of the conversation.
We appreciate the way the coalition
truly valued our work and leadership.
While the fight to stop the jail is
won, shaping what will take its place
instead of a jail has only begun. We
are currently involved in the work
to envision and recommend what
concrete alternatives would actually
bring everyone home and reduce
recidivism. We will continue until San
Francisco invests in true alternatives
for trans people and all people.

The final say

The coalition made sharp and smart
arguments, from our variety of
perspectives, against the proposed
mental health jail. We argued for mental
health care in the community, more
housing in San Francisco, bail reform
and pre-trial diversion. We argued
against the ongoing criminalization
of Black people, Latino people, poor
and homeless people and trans and
gender-nonconforming people. We
argued for San Francisco to invest in
the communities we represented and
not through a jail.

Much to our surprise, the supervisors

decided to vote in our favor. After 3
years of struggle, we’d won.

What comes next

We didn’t accept when they reduced
the beds, we didn’t accept when it
was reimagined as a mental health
facility. We didn’t accept any of their
arguments for a smaller, nicer, service
laden jail. Our continued call for no
new jail and accepting nothing less

Stiletto 14
Letters from the Inside
Sleeping Beauties
By Ms. Nina
Hey Girls. This is Nina coming your
way from Mulecreek. I’m a proud
strong trans woman. This article is my
tool to sound the alarm to all my sistas
behind the wall. The time has come
to rise above the status quo and open
your eyes to what’s really going on.
Our Brothas and sistas are out there
in those dangerous streets protesting,
advocating, and demonstrating for
our rights and our freedom. I ask
what have we done to advance the
trans movement? I praise the few
girls behind that wall that’s pushing
forward, but there are too many
transgenders that’s only focused on
the trivial drama that plague these
prison yards. I call on all the real
Queens to stop living a stereotype.
Embrace these young girls coming
in and educate them on what it truly
means to be a BOSS QUEEN! Realize
we are fighting the same fight and
dealing with the same discrimination,
so why are we tripping each other up?
To not love your sisters is a form of
self hatred. The lack of action by the
trans community in prison has been
nothing less than a slap in the face to
the whole L.G.B.T.Q. community
that’s out there standing on the front
lines of the trans revolution. We are
on the bubble of receiving relief in
the form of cosmetics, clothing, and
S.R.S.
Do you girls know that C.D.C.R
agreed to a settlement that allow
us to have all these items? Do you
understand that we will not receive
15
nothing if we don’t come together and
demand justice and equality? There is
power in numbers, at any given time
there are over 300 transgenders in
prison here in California. We have to
organize, we need to build a network.
Sistas this is our time! Please feel me
on this if we don’t rally C.D.C.R will
not honor the settlement, they will not
accommodate us. Why? Because we
are a fractured community and they
(C.D.C.R) knows as things stand now
there will be nothing more than a few
602’s written on the issue. Girls please
don’t allow our struggle, our fight, our
existence to become a footnote on a
C.D.C.R memo.
We need each other, I know I need
you, all my Girls! Please stand next
to me, please be better than our
current situation, elevate your focus,
mend bridges with your sistas and
stand together and be treated as the
strong women we are. Nothing that’s
worth having comes easy or free. If
we can’t stand up and work together
for our own preservation then our
very existence means nothing more
than the C.D.C.R number we are
identified by.
In closing I want all my girls to know
that we are all a reflection of each other.
Join me and stand up and be counted!
And I promise you our reflection will
resemble the presence of who we really
are STRONG and PROUD TRANS
WOMEN, and that’s the real “T”.
Detrimental
By Fatima Malika Shabazz
The first thing that “all” prisoners
need to understand is that when it’s all
said and done, we are all in the same
boat, when the boat sinks you all go
down together. As it happens, that
boat also includes gay and transgender
people as well. However where “we” as
transgender and gay men and women
are concerned, if we ever really expect
people to take us seriously, respect us
and recognize our power, we really
need to operate from a far greater
position of “self dignity and self
respect.”
I know I mention this a lot, that’s
because it is important. People respond
“visually” to their surroundings and the
people in them. Victims of robberies
are often victims because they look
as if they can be victimized; likewise
people who are victims of disrespect
are often (not always) but often victims
because they purport themselves as
though they can be disrespected.
When we as a community fracture
our community we create situations
that allow outside “haters” to move
into position setting the stages for
the old divide and conquer tactic. We
must no longer allow this happen to
us. The GLBTQ community wields
an enormous amount of power, it
can best be put to use if we realize
that we all have certain talent and are
allowed to best use that talent in ways
that make us all feel useful, when you
deny us that right you make us feel as
though you are being condescending
and dismissive, and no one wants to
feel like that. Those who are made
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
to feel like this, quickly move from
being your biggest ally, to your most
dangerous adversary; consider this the
next time you as a gay male look down
your nose at a trans woman as inferior
or as a (fake) woman.
The same applies to lesbian woman
who view the hardcore “butch”
woman as imitation men. If these
people were your potential political
representatives how would you view
them then? What if that person had to
make a decision on employing you at
their place of business?
These are things you have to consider
in your everyday life. In the same
manner that you are judging other
people of our community, many
people outside our community are
judging you, and what’s worse is that
most of “these” people are painting us
all with the same brush, unfair though
it may be, it is a reality. Now I know
that we cannot be the spokepersons
for our entire community. Many of us
are just wild, no doubt about it, but
we can be representatives of who we
are in our best form.
I am ecstatic about being a trans
woman, more so that I am African
American trans woman, I am very
proud of who I am, and (in the face
of a great deal of hate and deception)
I work hard to achieve and maintain
the highest level of respect and dignity
as I possibly can, under “every”
circumstance, but I will be the first
to admit that it is not always an easy
thing to do when fracturing factions
among my own ilk seek to destroy
me for their own selfish benefit, but I
Stiletto
refuse to be detrimental to my people
or our cause.
Thoughts and Caring
By KAT
Insecurity is a trademark of any creative
person and LGBTs themselves. We
agonize over everything. Even more
difficult is the task of one who is
imprisoned within societies prisons,
or within themselves, which often
amounts to the same thing.
While society has made leaps and
bounds in Gay Rights the same
cannot be said inside its prisons where
homophobia is rampant where being
called the casting of slurs on another’s
person is cause enough for murder,
assassination of one’s character,
morality, and ability to stand up for
one’s self under adverse conditions or
circumstances. To be gay is seen as an
expression of weakness – according
to the doctrine of prisons – for in the
years gone by and even today being
forced to become a homosexual or
sex toy for other prisoners is still
very much part of the prison culture.
So that all persons of alternative
lifestyles get tarred by the same brush.
Therefore, many keep their proclivities
hidden as much as possible from
others. While those out there in plain
view must deal with much negativity
and prejudice from staff and other
prisoners including the closet LGTBs.
None of the abuse does much to boost
our self-esteem already ravaged by the
slings and arrows that fate and society
had burdened us with in our formative
years.
The dichotomy of our personalities
and beings – it can be a change to
function at all with any sense of
normality. Although many would
say there is nothing normal about
any of our lifestyles. Even those of
us who stand out, our humanity gets
impugned upon at every turn as well
as our right to live our lives in the
manner we see fit or choose to. For all
life must be viewed from an individual
perspective. What may be right for me,
may not be right for you. However, we
should always respect another’s right
to be what they must.
I spent too many years trying to find
myself or in letting others dictate
to me how and what I should be
– irrespective of what or how I felt
myself to be. As a result much of life
passed me by or was truncated.
A prisoner can be anyone – imprisoned
by ideals, doctrines, biology, etc., etc.
Thanks for the thoughts and caring.
16
Miss Major’s Retirement Party
Trans People in Prison Fight Barriers
to Changing Their Legal Name and
Gender Markers
Written by Victoria Law and originally published in Truthout on 7/11/17.
Reprinted with Truthout and Victoria’s permission. Art by Wripley Bennet
During her 30 years in California’s
prison system, Cookie Bivens has seen
numerous trans women attempt to
change their name and gender marker
while incarcerated. Not a single
woman ever succeeded.
In California, people seeking to legally
change their name or gender marker
must file an application with the
county court and pay a filing fee of
nearly $500. (A person earning less
than $2,127 per month can file for
a fee waiver.) Once the paperwork
is filed, the court sets a hearing date
within six to 12 weeks. If the court
receives no objections to the proposed
name and gender marker change, the
petition is granted.
Incarcerated trans people face an
extra hurdle: obtaining approval
from the prison’s superintendent and
other administrators. Without that
approval, they cannot begin the court
process. Watching other trans women
have their requests denied again and
again, Bivens decided to not even try,
and to focus instead on getting parole.
Bivens has been out of prison for six
months and is only now beginning the
process of legally changing her name
and gender marker. At the same time,
she wants to be sure that other trans
people have the opportunity denied
to her and the women with whom she
served time. To do that, she’s pushing
for the Name and Dignity Act, or SB
310, to remove the additional hurdles
that incarcerated people face when
19
attempting to change their names and a male name can be degrading and
gender markers. She’s not the only dehumanizing for trans women, and
one. In California, organizations that can also cause fear and anxiety.
support incarcerated trans people have
formed a coalition to push legislation Recalling her own time awaiting trial
that benefits in the San Jose County
trans and gender jail, she explained that
nonconforming jail staff routinely called
people behind California’s SB 310 people by their last names.
bars. This year, could ease some But if the person was a
the coalition, trans woman, staff would
which includes
of the challenges instead call them by their
Bivens, is facing trans legal first name. “If your
throwing its people in prison, legal name was Frederick
support to Douglass, they would call
pass SB 310, such as a legal you Frederick,” she said.
authored by name change.
Sen. Toni Atkins Not only was calling a
(D-San Diego). trans woman by a male
name “a way of agitating and taunting
Fighting for Dignity -- Inside people,” explained Johnson, but it
could often be a precursor to physical
and Out
violence. “When you use male names
for trans women, outside of prison but
“In prison, we should have the right
also in prison, it usually is followed by
to change our names,” Bivens told
an attack or an attempt to harm.” Even
Truthout. “It gives us dignity.”
when no physical violence followed,
being called a male name was often
While incarcerated, Bivens
triggering.
encountered prison staff who referred
to her by her legal (male) name. “It
Determined to stop the practice,
was a way to humiliate and degrade
Johnson wrote a letter to Judge Charles
you,” she recalled. “It just makes you
Breyer of the US District Court, who
feel less than human.”
was presiding over her case. She told
him about the practice and explained
Janetta Louise Johnson is the executive
how it traumatized trans women.
director of the TGI Justice Project, an
“I told him how I always felt under
organization supporting trans, gender
attack, how it put me on the defensive
variant and intersex people both in
and caused me anxiety and panic
and out of California prisons. She
attacks.” The judge responded by
also understands firsthand how names
warning the jail that if staff continued
have power -- and how being called
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
to misgender and misname the trans
women in custody, he’d make sure
that their contract to house (and be
paid for) federal prisoners was pulled.
The practice stopped.
This isn’t a practice limited to
California. Rev. Jason Lydon is
the director of Black and Pink, a
national organization that works
with incarcerated LGBTQ people
across the country. “Trans women
are intentionally called by their legal
first name,” he told Truthout. “Or
they’ll call her Mr. + the last name
just to be an asshole.” In contrast,
when speaking to a cisgender person
in custody, Lydon notes, prison and
jail staff do not refer to that person as
“Mr.” or “Ms.”
The Name and Dignity Act won’t stop
staff members from using the wrong
name, gender pronoun or salutation
for trans people incarcerated in
California. What it will do is
remove the additional barriers that
incarcerated trans people face when
attempting to change their names and
gender markers, giving them the same
access to the court process as people
who are not incarcerated. It also
smooths the rocky road of reentry.
Bivens was fortunate to
get a job with TGI Justice
Project, enabling her to
avoid questions about
why the name and gender
on her identification
don’t match her gender
presentation. But, say
Johnson and Bivens,
many trans women aren’t
as lucky. “One of our
members told us she did
not apply for jobs because
she was afraid an employer
Stiletto
would expect someone looking
different at an interview due to her ID
documents,” Johnson told legislators.
Being both trans and formerly
incarcerated have thrown up various
roadblocks in that search for a place
called home. “If they’re not transgender
friendly, you don’t get [the housing],”
Bivens said. Added to that, she must
also explain her lack of credit history,
which means revealing her 30-year
incarceration. Bivens has interviewed
for several sublets; she’s been turned
down for each and every one of them.
Bivens is currently staying with friends
while continuing her search for more
permanent housing.
Trans People Behind Bars
Face Challenges to Changing
Names or Gender Markers
The process for changing one’s
name and gender marker vary
from state to state. In some states,
incarcerated trans people don’t need
to seek permission from prison
administrators before filing with the
courts. In Massachusetts, for instance,
incarcerated people can petition for
name changes in family court without
waiting for jail or prison approval.
Changing the gender marker on
identification is a more involved
process requiring a letter from a
medical professional or social worker
attesting that the applicant’s gender
marker should be changed. The
letter need not be long or detailed;
it can simply state, “This person has
GID or gender dysphoria. They have
transitioned their gender and the
appropriate gender marker should be
F.”
For those inside prison or jail, obtaining
such a letter can be difficult. But, says
Rev. Jason Lydon, while name changes
are a top priority, changes to gender
markers have not been a pressing
issue for people returning home in
Massachusetts.
This might be because Massachusetts
has anti-discrimination laws that
prohibit discrimination based on
gender identity. Laws prohibit denying
a trans person access to housing or
homeless shelters. Both public and
private programs that receive funding
from the Department of Health are
also prohibited from denying entry
to trans women. “That doesn’t mean
discrimination doesn’t happen, but
the law gives you some tools to fight
back,” Lydon says.
But, he adds, just because
currently and formerly
incarcerated people have
not identified changes
to gender markers as a
priority does not mean
that it’s unimportant.
“We are all coerced to
have state IDs,” Lydon
said. “Having one that
affirms some aspect of
your identity is important.
Prisoners should not need
20
to demand that for that to happen.”
Other states require more time, effort
and money. In New York, there is no
court process for a gender change.
Instead, a person must go to each
individual agency separately and
comply with its rules for changing
or correcting a gender marker. There
is, however, a court process for
name changes, which requires
an original birth certificate.
Applicants with criminal
records are required to submit
either a certificate of disposition
for each conviction from the
court or a current rap sheet.
For people incarcerated in New
York State prisons, all of these
same requirements apply. But
prisons do not allow people to
keep their birth certificate while
incarcerated, so many must try
to obtain a copy, which costs
$30. For people earning a
fraction of minimum wage at
a prison-assigned job, that cost
alone can be a barrier. Then
there’s the filing fee which, in
many upstate counties where prisons
are located, is $210.
The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP),
which works with incarcerated trans
and gender nonconforming people,
has found that many counties will not
waive the fee for incarcerated people.
Mik Kinkead, SRLP’s staff attorney
and director of its Prisoner Justice
Project, is currently working with 30
people on name changes. The Project
not only helps people navigate the
court process and obtain necessary
documentation, but also covers the
costs. It’s an expense that takes up one-
third of the Prisoner Justice Project
budget, but is the only way that many
behind bars would be able to change
their names.
21
Even then, the process is not necessarily
quick or easy. Kinkead estimates that
he files four to six petitions in a six-
month period; most of that time is
spent waiting to obtain a certified
birth certificate in order to complete
the court petition. One client, he told
Truthout, filed her petition three years
ago; only recently did she receive her
birth certificate. She is now waiting
to be placed on the court’s special
calendar for name changes. Even then,
she may not have her name changed
immediately; the judge might require
additional information, which takes
more time to gather.
Another client was never issued a birth
certificate. The Office of Vital Records
sent a certificate of no certificate, which
certifies that no birth certificate was
ever issued. The judge initially refused
to believe it, delaying the process even
more and requiring a back-and-forth
conversation. The woman, who filed
for a name change in December 2015,
is still awaiting a decision. “Had she
not been in prison and had she been in
New York City, she could have gotten
this done within a week,” Kinkead
said. But even if an applicant lived in
New York City before incarceration,
they must file their petition in the
county of the prison.
In Louisiana, however, people who
are in prison, on parole or probation
are not allowed to legally change
their names until they complete their
sentence. People who have
violent felony convictions are
ineligible for name changes
even after completing their
sentences.
Nicholas Hite is an attorney
with the Hite Law Group, a
New Orleans law firm that
specializes in working with the
LGBTQ community. He works
with people who are trans and
have criminal convictions that
exclude them from changing
their names. However, their
convictions do not preclude
them from changing their
gender markers, which is a whole
other process requiring that an
applicant have had surgery.
“On top of the surgery, there’s
the added cost of the court process,”
he said. In contrast to changing one’s
name, which may not even require a
hearing, a person seeking to change
their gender marker must go to trial,
which means paying for an attorney.
Depending on the parish, court filing
fees cost between $250 to $700.
For those who no longer live in that
parish (or in Louisiana), they must
take time off from work, travel to that
parish and stay in a hotel during the
trial. “The cost is immense, the time
it takes is immense,” noted Hite,
pointing out that the people most
likely to be stopped and profiled by
law enforcement are often the people
who cannot afford these costs. But,
he notes, having the changed gender
marker on a birth certificate and
state identification can provide some
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
modicum of safety even for people
targeted by law enforcement. Police
often rely on the gender in a person’s
birth certificate to determine what
facility to place a person in; for a trans
woman who has gone through the
process of legally changing her gender
marker, she’s more likely to be placed
in a women’s facility, thus decreasing
her risk of violence and abuse.
Even for people able to have their
names changed, the cost can be
prohibitive. In New Orleans, the
filing fee is $504. Because the court
considers changing one’s name
an elective process, the fee is not
waivable. In addition, applicants must
submit copies of documents, such as
their original birth certificate. If they
do not have these documents, they
must pay to obtain them.
Shortly after the 2016 election,
BreakOUT!, a New Orleans
organization that works with
criminalized LGBTQ youth, held two
legal clinics where attorneys answered
questions about name changes, gender
marker changes, immigration and
expungement of criminal records.
BreakOUT! also launched a Trans
Defense Fund to help 30 members
change their legal names (as well
as two gender changes), including
covering the costs of filing fees and
related expenses. Changing one’s name
removes “a big barrier to employment,”
said BreakOUT! co-director Wes
Ware. “Now they are able to show
their identification that matches their
name.” Ware points out that given
the heightened policing of trans
and gender nonconforming people,
having the name on identification
match the name that they give an
officer removes the threat of being
charged with “misrepresentation to
law enforcement,” a charge that many
members have encountered in the
Stiletto
past. “It’s one more way for people
to be a little bit safer in our current
political climate,” said Ware.
How Many People Affected?
According to the California
Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR), there have
been approximately 589 requests for
name changes since 2012. However,
the department does not collect data
about the number of requests that
were denied or approved. It also does
not track how many requests were for
a name change to reflect the applicant’s
gender identity. In other words, no
one knows how many imprisoned
trans people have tried to change their
names.
This shouldn’t be surprising, given
that no government agency tabulates
the number of transgender, intersex
or gender-variant people behind bars.
The Bureau of Justice estimates that,
between 2011 and 2012, there were
3,209 trans people incarcerated in state
and federal prisons and another 1,709
trans people in local jails. According
to California’s prison medical data,
at least 400 people in California’s
prison system are receiving hormone
treatment.
In January and February, TGI Justice
Project sent a survey to 40 of its
incarcerated members. All had started
the process of changing their names
by writing a memo to the prison
superintendent. “That’s where the
gatekeeping begins,” explained Kelly
Lou Densmore, TGI Justice Project’s
staff attorney.
Of those 40 members, 10 received
denials. The reason given was “safety
concerns” with no further explanation.
One trans woman received approval
and recently completed the process
of legally changing her name (though
her gender marker remains M).
The other 29 have yet to receive a
response. “There’s no requirement for
the warden to give a response at all,”
said Densmore. That means that those
29 applicants may stay in legal limbo
until their release date. Then, on
top of fulfilling parole requirements
and searching for employment and
housing, they will also have to navigate
the legal process to change their names
and gender markers.
SB 310 has already passed the Senate
and, on June 27, passed the Assembly
Judiciary Committee. It continues on
to the Committee for Public Safety on
July 11. From there, it will go to the
Appropriations Committee, then to
the full Assembly for a vote.
Though Bivens won’t benefit from the
Act, she is hopeful that it will make a
huge difference for other trans people
in prison. “The Name and Dignity Act
makes us more dignified,” she said. “It
gives us more opportunities for work,
housing and navigating society. To
have that process done more easily
while in prison helps both us and
society as a whole. It builds everyone
up.”
Victoria Law is a freelance journalist who focuses on
the intersections of incarceration, gender and
resistance. Her first book, Resistance Behind Bars:
The Struggles of Incarcerated Women, examines
organizing in women’s jails and prisons across
the country. Her next book, co-written with
Maya Schenwar, critically examines proposed
“alternatives” to incarceration and explores creative
and far-reaching solutions to truly end mass
incarceration. She is also the proud parent of a New
York City high school student.
22
San Francisco’s New Transgender Cultural District:
Compton’s Cultural District
WHY:
The District is named after the
Compton’s Cafeteria Riots that
took place in August of 1966. The
riots were the first known incident
of collective LGBT resistance to
police harassment in U.S. history,
and occurred three years prior to the
Stonewall riots in New York. The
Compton’s Transgender Cultural
District is an officially designated
Cultural District, similar to Calle 24
in the Mission, SOMA Phillipina, and
Japan Town.
city of San Francisco will need to ensure that neighborhood services, business,
community groups, and public policy are transgender focused and culturally
appropriate for the transgender community.
2) To stabilize and economically empower the transgender community, and
especially transgender women and femmes of color, through ownership of
buildings, business,
homes, historic sites, and community space.
3) To preserve the places where transgender history took place for future
generations. That means making sure that historic buildings like Compton’s
Cafeteria and the El Rosa Hotel are preserved and accessible. It also means
protecting Legacy Business and historic non-profits like Aunt Charlie’s, the St.
James Infirmary, and TGIJP from displacement.

IN THE TENDERLOIN?
The Compton’s District is actually the oldest TLGB neighborhood in the country.
The history of the TLGB community in the neighborhood began during the gold
rush and lives on into today. It is also, unfortunately, the community most at
risk of displacement from gentrification and development. A swift and concerted
effort from City Hall and the TLGB community is needed to save this at risk
historic neighborhood before it’s too late.

WHAT:
The Compton’s District Coalition
has outlined three main goals for the
district:

1) To create a safe, welcoming and

empowering neighborhood lead by
trans women and femmes for trans
women and femmes, and to create
a place of healing, opportunity, and
reparations in a neighborhood that
historically has been a place of both
violence and resistance.

That means making sure that trans

women who currently live in the
district are able to stay by creating
pathways to affordable rent and
homeownership. It also means that the

23 Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1

 Dear Loved
Ones,
Our transge
nder and ge
establishme nder-varian
nt of the Co t family in th
mpton’s Tra eB
long history
of transgend nsgender Cu ay Area has won a big v
and violenc er ltural Distric ictory with
e to claim sp and gender-variant com t—a recogn
it io n, long overd
the
ace and surv munities wh ue, of the
ive in this n o have strug
This Distric eighborhoo gled against
t has been e d . oppression
especially B stablished d
lack and Bro u ring a histori
trans wome wn trans wo c spike in vio
n have for g men, nation lence against
against marg enerations e wide. This v transgender
xperienced th io le nce is not n peop
assault to cri
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munities—v e b runt of viole e w. Black and le,
minalization iolence that nce that this Brown
and over-po has taken m country has
licing to dis any forms, sp directed
The Tenderl crimination anning from
oin neighbo to d ispossession p hysical
violence tha rhood share of property.
t has for too s this long h
predecessors long been ig istory of vio
in the Tend nored and in lence against
sufficiently tran
collective up
risings such
erloin have
always resist dealt with. B sgender people;
ed transmiso ut
its name, as
well as throu
as the Comp
ton’s Cafete gynist and ra our trans siblings and
The Compto gh political ria Riot from cist oppressio
n’s Transgen mobilization which the C n, through
der Cultura , communit ompton’s D
l District co y care, and tr is trict derives
My vision fo mmemorate ansformativ
r the Distric s, and conti e justice wo
from violen t is the creati nues, this w rk.
ce and discri on of a safe o rk .
mination. W spa
e at TGI Just ce for my trans and gen
• Where B ic e Project inte der-variant
lack and Bro nd to make siblings
and gender- wn trans wo the District
variant peop men living in a place:
everyone els le , be treated w a n d v is iting the Dis
• Where a e; 
 ith respect b trict, as well
nyone doing y a ll agencies, sh as all other tr
b op owners, ans
place of busi u si ness is respe v isitors, and
n ess ensures d c tf u l to the tran
• Withou ignity and d s communit
t violence, d e c e n cy for every y, and work
• Where B iscriminatio one; s to make su
lack and Bro n, or over-p re their
access to op wn trans wo o li c ing; and
portunities m en and the g
for business reater trans
ownership, and gender-
Correcting housing, serv variant com
decades of w ices, and spa munity hav
exclusion, a rongs enacte ce for cultura e
nd prejudic d against tra l creation. 

ending viole ial treatmen ns folks in th
nce against t will take w e form of vio
the needs of tr ans people re o rk from everyo lence, dispo
transgender quires those ne within th ssession,
advocating o people, and who are not e District. U
n behalf of e for each of u transgender ltimately,
neighborho ach other. W s to unearth to listen to a
od residents e at TGI Just in ourselves nd respect
with you. 
 and business ice are comm a lifelong co
es toward re itted to work m mitment to
alizing this v ing collabora
ision. We lo tively with
ok forward
to working

Stay blessed
and strong,
Executive D Ja netta Johnso
irector, TGI n

Justice Proje
ct

Stiletto 24
Cookie’s Words of Wisdom & Guidance
for the Girls Still Held in State Captivity
Hello, first and foremost I want to give my love to all my
trans girls inside still struggling and surviving incarceration.
My heart and mind is with you always.
After thirty years of incarceration, I was finally able to free
myself from confinement with a lot of support inside and
out. And I want to thank all those who played a personal role
in helping me to achieve that goal. Getting out after all that
time was like a dream that happened suddenly, into a new
world with new excitement and definitely new challenges.
First thing, when I got past that prison gate and into a car
I asked the driver to stop at the line. That was the prison
property limit line. And I got out and kissed the dirty
ground of freedom. Yes, I kissed all that dirt and tears rolled
down my face - had to do it!
I want to talk about my re-entry process and share some of
my truth in hopes to give some insights into transitional
struggles that some may face. Before I got out of prison, I
wrote to several transitional houses and was accepted into
HealthRIGHT 360. I wanted to go to San Francisco where
I was supported through TGIJP And now work in the re-
entry program. I did 6 months in Health Right 360 drug
treatment program. This program is funded under STOP
and contracted through CDCR. Under STOP funding you
have to do 31 hours of group a week. That was way more
25
then I did inside. This is mandatory, so be prepared.
After finishing my 6 months at health right 360, I did
not have a place to stay. I tried to stay with my family but
that quickly did not work. So I was considered homeless.
You cannot be homeless under parole. So I had to stay in
hotels until I found housing. Number 1, you can be housed
through parole but it will be another program or halfway
house, which might work for some. 2, you can try to get
housing through low income housing lotteries and you pay
30% of your income. But it is like playing the lottery. That
takes time and good luck. Number 3, you could also search
the web through craigslist or some online housing search if
you can afford that. Finding a sublet would be great for a
start.
San Francisco is one of the most expensive places to find
housing. My advice is to work on all the available options
and take advantage of the halfway houses and transitional
houses. That gives you time to work on finding a more
permanent place after your stay there. Also, you need to get
your ID and social security number and look for a job. Some
of these transitional houses will help you get all or some of
that. And San Francisco has a lot of job opportunities for
transgender people if you apply yourself.
Good parole plans are a key to success. Most definitely there
are challenges out here. I consider myself lucky to have
support from great friends and coworkers. And we have a re-
entry program at TGIJP that gives you work experience and
pay, helps you develop skills in an office setting, networking,
personal development and coping skills. As TGIJP is a
family/work environment. I have grown in so many ways
and it has not been easy by far. But it has been something
that I would not have wanted to miss out on, for sure. This
year has been very exciting for me. I participated in the trans
march. I felt real powerful to see all my trans community
move as one. Looking back seeing all of my sisters made me
feel the pride in a special way.
The highlight of this year was that I got the chance to
meet the legend, Miss Major. And I thanked her for all the
struggles she has been through for all of us trans. I also had
my very first bday, which is my birthday, since I have been
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
out. It was on the beach with my friends and coworkers.
Sometimes I can’t believe, can’t actually believe, that I Letters From
made it to this place in my life. I am working on honing
my skills on leadership development, computer training Outside
and advocacy and I’m very hopeful for the future. We
have won the Compton’s district, which is the area Members
in the Tenderloin that has a history of struggle and
perseverance in the trans community. This translates
into opportunities for our community which gives jobs
and job development for our girls. For those businesses
that are in our district, we say hire our trans girls and
invest in them. Our community has a future stake in
this district. We will be adding a restaurant, the very
first trans run restaurant, in the district as part of our
re-entry jobs program. These are very exciting times
and I am proud of all the work from the inside-out.

And finally, for those that are facing overwhelming odds

behind bars - believe in yourself and know that as trans
people we have been through so much pain and struggle,
that’s what makes us some of the strongest people on
earth. I truly believe in that. For me personally, I would
never feel whole until all trans girls inside are free.

We stand with you in sisterhood and solidarity.

Yours truly,
Cookie monster.

Stiletto 26
Legal Corner
Updates on the Legal
Program at TGIJP
We have several exciting updates
about the legal program at TGIJP. We
have been working hard to respond to
your legal letters and to provide you a
response with a depth of information
for you to be able to advocate for
yourself. Thank you to everyone who
has written to us with legal questions
or asking for assistance. We are hoping
to be able to continue to expand our
legal letter response even more so
that we can better direct advocacy by
writing to wardens or other prison
staff when needed. We are developing
visitation teams in California to
come and build with those of you in
CDCR. We are hoping that these visit
teams will travel to different prisons
around the state to meet with you face
to face to get to know you and hear
your thoughts, experiences, and ideas.
TGIJP is in its second year of being a
part of the Trans Advocacy Group, a
coalition of several organizations in the
Bay Area who are working on behalf
of trans and gender nonconforming
people in prison. Our coalition
includes the following organizations:
Transgender, Gender-variant, Intersex
Justice Project (TGIJP), Justice Now,
California Coalition for Women
Prisoners (CCWP), the Prison Law
Office, the National Lawyers Guild
- San Francisco (NLGSF), Legal
Services for Prisoners with Children
(LSPC), and Medina Orthwein LLP.
Being a part of this coalition allows
all of us to share legal knowledge and
resources between organizations so
27
that we can provide better assistance to
you on the inside by pulling together
our skills and resources on the outside.
In addition to strategizing individual
legal support for you, recent projects
of the Trans Advocacy Group include
providing public comment on CA’s
Prop 57 regulations and on CDCR’s
new property regulations; we have lawyers and public defenders to ensure
been gathering information to find that the legal defense is vigorous,
out why so many of you (almost culturally appropriate, and we request
everyone) who applied for SRS was for alternative sentencing whenever
denied without being provided much possible!
reason for why; and we are working
on issues facing trans people in parole
suitability hearings in California.
Update on Gender
Affirming Commissary
Keep your eyes open for a new resource
written for advocates who are helping
Items
their loved one(s) to prepare for a
As of March 28, 2017, CDCR released
parole suitability hearing. We know
emergency regulations changing
that trans and gender nonconforming
sections in Title 15 related to property
people face unique (and sometimes
for transgender people. As part of
discriminatory) questioning during
compliance with the Quine v. Beard
parole suitability hearings, so TGIJP
settlement, Section 3190(d) now states,
has teamed up with a few individuals
“ The Transgender Inmates Authorized
to create a resource that provides tips,
Personal Property Schedule (TIAPPS)
suggestions, and information on what
(4/28/17) identifies a separate list of
we have learned from our members
allowable personal property afforded
who have gone through hearings,
to transgender inmates and inmates
about what has been successful how
with symptoms of gender dysphoria as
to best respond to things such as the
identified and documented in SOMS
use of wrong names and pronouns or
by medical or mental health personnel
to questions related to your gender
within a CDCR institution.”
during a parole hearing.
Depending on classification, the new
For our community inside of jails,
additions to the property matrix allow
TGIJP has been working with people
trans people in men’s prisons to now
in Bay Area county jails. We have been
access: bras, panties, sandals, t-shirts,
visiting, showing up for court hearings
walking shoes, body splash, blush,
to let the court know that our members
cotton balls, emery board, eyebrow
have community support, and we have
been collaborating with appointed
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
pencil/eyeliner, eye shadow kit, fabric
softener, face powder, facial astringent,
facial cleanser, feminine hygiene wash,
foundation, hair gel spray and lock
gel, hair rollers, lip gloss/lipstick/lip
liner, mascara, pumice bar, scrunchies,
shower bag, shower caps, shower puffs,
tweezers and a chain or necklace.
Depending on classification, the new
additions to the property matrix allow
trans people in women’s prisons to now
access: athletic supporters, binders/
compression tops, briefs/boxers.
We have heard that many of you are
still having difficulties accessing these
items due to guards being gatekeepers,
or because of discrepancies between
prison staff and Inmate Package
Vendors (IVPs). Please let us know
what your experience has been and we
will do what we can to help you get
these items!
TGIJP Members:
Supporting Our
Community Inside
We have seen some incredible
leadership by our members on the
inside to create support groups for
the trans community, and to get trans
members on the “Inmate Advisory
Councils” at various facilities (In
California, it is called an “Inmate
Advisory Council,” a “Women’s
Advisory Council” or a Men’s Advisory
Council” depending on the facility.)
We wanted to provide some insight
from what people have been doing to
Stiletto
try to get an IAC representative and
support groups. What have you done
in your facility? TGIJP is excited to
help by writing letters in support of
your efforts, or to mail you resources
and materials to share in your groups.
Please feel free to reach out!
In order to get a transgender
representative on the IAC, many
people have sent in petitions to the
chairperson and secretary of the IAC
on your yard. In that petition, you
should include why it is important
to have a transgender representative
on the Council. The petitions that we
have seen include a statement about
the particular housing, medical, and
program needs of transgender people
in prison, and the fact that people
who are not transgender can- not
properly represent the needs of the
trans- gender community.
Getting a support group at your
facility seems to require a similar
process. You will need to submit a
proposal to the IAC explaining the
particular needs of transgender folks
inside, and the importance of creating
a space for transgender people in your
facility to express themselves.
Title 15, Chapter 1, Subchapter 3,
Article 3, Section 3234 allows you
to create this group, and explains
specifically what you will need to
include in your proposal for the
group. TGI is, again, happy to help in
any way that we can.
Document everything!
Finally, we want you to know how
incredibly important your self-
advocacy is both for your- self and
for the rest of our community.
Your strength and resilience is so
empowering, and so important for
moving towards collective liberation!
We know there is a lot of repression
happening, and that many of you are
facing a lot of retaliation when you
assert your rights. Be sure to write
down everything you possibly can
when rights are violated - dates, times,
names of staff involved, (this includes
doctors if they are violating your rights
and/or not meeting your medical
needs). Be sure to file a grievance
(602s in CA) within 30 days after your
rights are violated. We know it can
seem like a really useless process when
you never get any response, but it is
so important for future advocacy and
potential legal action to show that the
prison knew that they were violating
your rights. Be safe, stay strong, and
keep on fighting. We love you and
believe in you!
28
Ally Updates
HEARTS ON A WIRE
We have heard from inside members
at 4 different facilities in Pennsylvania
that they are starting or have already
started LGBTQI organizations.
One of our inside leaders, Mrs.
GeGe, shares this update about the
organization she founded:
“We are LIGHT (Learning Initiative
for Gay Heterosexual and Transgender
People). Here is an update of what we
have been up to. We have just released
our second newsletter reaching 300+
readers, thanks to Hearts. We are in
the process of getting the PA DOC to
change its commissary to a unisex list
for everyone regardless of gender or
identity. We got a response from the
higher ups and they said they are going
to be making those changes soon.
So it looks like it’s going to happen.
We have also gotten our LGBTQI+
support group approved here at SCI
Rockview. It will be once a month
on the second Thursday. Yay! Our
next mission is to get other people to
start similar organizations started in
the facility they are incarcerated in.
We all have a responsibility to stand
up for our rights and spread love and
happiness. Love you all.”
Hearts’s outside collective is shifting
our priorities and resources towards
supporting our inside leadership,
while we also deepen our commitment
to raising awareness about the issues
that our inside members face. We
finished a collaborative zine with the
Philly Survivor Support Collective
that is all about how to stay safe while
incarcerated, which will be available
soon. We applied for a number of
29
grants to cover our costs for future
newsletters, homecoming grants, and
more. We are also creating a workshop
on how to care for, respect, and better
the lives of trans and gender variant
folks who are incarcerated, which
we plan to present at conferences
and trainings in the late spring and
summer. Sending you all love and
solidarity!
FAMILIA
TRANS QUEER
LIBERATION
MOVEMENT
By Jennicet Gutiierez, B Loewe, Jorge
Gutierrez
By the time you read this Christina
Lopez will be out of detention and
back with her family after two years
behind bars. She’s a 35-year-old
transwoman from Peru who has been
in this country most of her life. Like
many trans women, she experienced
violence in a relationship she was in.
The abuse moved her to engaging
alcohol and making decisions based on
trying to cope with life. Unfortunately,
after receiving her 3rd DUI she ended
up in detention and found herself
isolated and with minimal support.
When FAMILIA, TLC, and the
#Not1More campaign came across her
case, we were able to make it public
and found pro-bono support by Ava
Banach, a trans lawyer in DC. As a
result, she was able to become eligible
for bail which we raised through a
public campaign.
Her case is one of hundreds in
detention, not just in Santa Ana
where there is an “LGBT pod” but in
other centers across the country. ICE
has said it’s reformed its detention
practices to respect and honor trans
detainees. It’s released new memos
that outlines treatment and care
guidelines. Officers are to get training
on sexual orientation and identity
and how to acknowledge people’s
proper pronouns-- but we know that
that’s not happening detainees are
reporting strip searches, violence, and
still being abused. Even if they did
follow the memo’s guidelines, having
your gender recognized by your jailer
isn’t the respect that’s needed. What’s
needed is freedom.
That movement to end trans detention
is growing. The agency tried to come
to the largest queer conference in the
country, Creating Change, to trumpet
its achievements on trans issues,
thousands protested their invasion
of our space and got their invitation
cancelled. More recently, the city of
Santa Ana in California worked out a
$2,000,000 deal with ICE to expand
detention at the Santa Ana jail,
especially of LGBTQ detainees. But
when groups found out, Santa Ana
residents mobilized and made sure it
was shot down. A trans woman who
had been in that detention facility was
joined by teachers, students, queer
and straight immigrants and Latinos
in three and a half hours of testimony
that convinced the council that
detaining our loved ones is no way to
balance a budget.
We’ll continue pushing until
everyone is free. #Not1More
#EndTransDetention
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
BLACK & PINK and volunteers as well as brand new • 70% of respondents experienced
members to Black and Pink. It is a emotional pain from hiding their
majority formerly incarcerated and sexuality during incarceration/
Recruiting More Penpals
people of color team as it is essential throughout their interactions
We went from about 5000 penpal
that we are centering the voices of with the criminal legal system.
pairs in January 2015 to about 10000
penpal pairs in January 2016. This
those most affected by the prison • 78% of transgender, nonbinary
industrial complex in our leadership gender, and Two-Spirit
doesn’t account for folks who have
and decision making. This team is respondents experienced
stopped writing without informing
tasked with coming up with a new emotional pain from hiding
us, but does show how our work and
structure that aligns with our values their gender identity during
our movement is growing!
and purpose; that is practical and incarceration/ throughout their
effective; that includes prisoner voices; interactions with the criminal
Ending Solitary Confinement
and that ensures we are strengthening legal system.
Working Group
the movement for abolition, not
Black & Pink is currently forming a
simply building our organization. ► Of transgender, nonbinary gender,
national working group focused on
The Transition Team’s planning work and Two-Spirit survey respondents,
solitary to amplify both local and
should be completed by Fall of 2016. only 43% have been diagnosed with
national campaigns focused on ending
Gender Identity Disorder or Gender
or reducing solitary confinement. This
Coming out of Concrete Closets: A Dysphoria. 31% reported being
is in response to our Coming Out of
Report on Black & Pink’s national denied these diagnoses upon seeking
Concrete Closets survey and report,
LGBTQ Prisoner survey them during incarceration.
in which our prisoner membership
made clear that abolishing solitary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This ► More than a third of transgender,
confinement is one of the highest
report lifts up the voices of LGBTQ nonbinary gender, and Two-Spirit
priorities. Folks in several of our
prisoners from across the United respondents took hormones prior to
chapters are already involved in
States so that they can inform, shape, their incarceration. The majority of
specific campaigns to regulate/reduce
and lead the movement for prisoner these respondents took street-based
solitary confinement in their states.
justice. These numbers, statistics, hormones that were not prescribed by
and stories represent the largest a doctor.
National Structure
ever collection of information from
At Black and Pink’s 10-year anniversary
LGBTQ prisoners. This collection ► 23% of transgender, nonbinary
organizing weekend we decided it was
of information is possible because gender, and Two-Spirit respondents
important to create a team of people
of the time taken by 1,118 prisoners are currently taking hormones in
who would help revamp Black and
across the United States to handwrite prison, while an overwhelming
Pink’s national structure. For the last
responses to our 133-question survey, 44% report being denied access to
ten years decisions have been made
which was itself designed/drafted with hormones they requested.
for the organization by a group of
prisoners themselves.
people based in Boston informed by
► Only 21% of respondents are
relationships with prisoner members
KEY FINDINGS: allowed access to underwear and
of Black and Pink. As we have grown
cosmetic needs that match their
and the family has widened, it is
► Sexual Identity and Gender gender.
important that the decision making
Identity:
body also grows. This Transition
• 65% of respondents identified ► 15% of respondents have been
Team has been created to ensure that
as LGBTQ prior to their barred from programs offered by
we do that new structure well. The
incarceration. the prison because they identify as
team consists of long time leadership
LGBTQ.

Stiletto 30
Ally Updates Continued....
► Only 20% of respondents have
access to LGBTQ affirming books
► Gender / Sex & Sexuality and
Solitary Confinement
• All respondents who experienced
solitary confinement, whether
by request or involuntarily, were
placed in solitary confinement
against their will at higher rates
than by request.
• Further, trans women, Two-Spirit
people, and cisgender gay men
are put into solitary confinement
against their will at the highest
rates.
• While prison staff may claim they
are placing LGBTQ prisoners in
solitary confinement for their
own safety, it is often being done
so as an attempt to decrease sexual
activity amongst prisoners or to
control what they see as disruption
of the social order of the prison by
LGBTQ prisoners.
GABRIELA
U.S. Out Of The Philippines
TGIJP was honored to be at
GABRIELA USA’s National Congress
in March. From opening sessions to
cultural celebrations and ecumenical
services, our kasamas made sure
TGIJP was involved throughout
their powerful gathering. These
brilliant leaders continued to affirm
the need for the U.S. military to
leave the Philippines, for sovereignty,
safety and economic justice for the
people. For readers who had been
following the case of Jennifer Laude,
Olongapo Regional Trial Court found
Pemberton guilty of homicide and
31
he is at Camp Aguinaldo, and will accusations. We are presently working
be under the Bureau of Corrections towards building the leadership of
control for 6-10 years. formerly-incarcerated people. Our
nationally-recognized Ban the Box
Other news regarding the struggle campaign challenges the stereotypes
against imperialism in the Philippines, of people with conviction histories
in April 2016, TGIJP proudly by asking employers to choose their
stood in outrage with our Filipina best candidates based on job skills and
comrades demanding “Rice Not qualifications, not past convictions.
Bullets, Bigas Hindi Bala.” Our The question on applications for
comrades in Gabriella confronted the employment, housing, public benefits,
Philippine Consulate General in San insurance, loans and other services,
Francisco after police in Kadapawan means lifelong discrimination and
City, North Cotabato, Philippines exclusion because of a past arrest or
massacred innocents by opening fire conviction record. We have chapters
on farmers seeking government relief throughout California, with our most
to hunger. International solidarity and active chapters are in the SF Bay Area,
intersectional struggle is becoming the Riverside, and Los Angeles. All of Us
texture of the threads of our TGI lives or None is not a pen-pal organization.
in the San Francisco Bay. We are
#InItTogether and proud to be in it For more information, please contact
with such solid and integrity filled folks All of Us or None via Legal Services
as the organizers with GABRIELA. for Prisoners with Children at:
1540 Market St., Suite 490
ALL OF US OR NONE San Francisco, Ca 94102
All Of Us Or None is a grassroots
organization led by formerly-
imprisoned people committed to
fighting for the human dignity of
people who have been or are being
held captive in America. We are
fighting for the full restoration of our
civil and human rights and against
the systemic discrimination facing
us while in captivity and upon our
release. We demand to be called people
and not the dehumanizing labels we
are usually referred to, such as ex-
offenders. These characterizations
prevent us from being seen and
treated as human beings. Although
we may have been to jail or prison,
our lives are much more than the
sum total of our past indiscretions or
Fall 2017 | Volume 9 | Issue 1
 Edxie Betts, for the Third Annual Trans Day of Resilience

Back Cover: The Trans Life & Liberation art series is a weekly
series of collaborative portraits created about and with living trans
people on the front lines of our liberation movement. Trans visual
artists across the U.S. work with other artists and organizers to create
portraits that tell their stories and honor their work. The project centers
trans women and femmes of color, and disabled and incarcerated trans
people of color. Art is shared on social media and used to support trans
justice organizing and fundraising.

As Janet Mock said: “We can’t only celebrate trans women of color in
memoriam. We must begin uplifting trans women of color, speaking
their names and praises, in their lives.” Or, in the words of BreakOUT!
trans youth in New Orleans: “Give us our roses while we are still here!”
At this time of intense violence and oppression, this project is a way for
trans people to celebrate and support each other while we are alive.
Trans Life &
Liberation
Art Series
BY MICHA BAZANT