LGBTQ Experiences in US History

The film, Major!, provided a very human perspective on transgender women in prison. I was aware that a disproportionately large number of  transgender people were sent to prisons (as we learned from other films like Screaming Queens), but I now understand significantly more about the terrible situations that the trans people had to work through once they were there. A quote from the film which I feel sums up the situation quite well is when Miss Major was asked how the transgender women were treated in prison. Her response was “Shady as F”***in’ sh*t,” to which one of the other women in the room responded, “So normal.” Trans women in prison are treated terribly, and this moment shows a very human perspective on the situation—namely, that it’s horribly unjust.

A concept I’m still wondering about relates to the cause of the disproportionate amount of trans people (especially of color) in prisons. Specifically, I’m curious about the degree of activeness in the decision to put trans women into solitary confinement. That is, are there explicit, spoken rules in certain prisons that dictate that trans women should be placed into solitary confinement for their “protection?”

As an extension to this question, to what degree is the greater number of trans people in prisons purely a result of trans people being kicked out of their families, forced into prostitution, and other situations, and how much is it a result of other causes? For example, how much of this disproportionality can we attribute to an internalized transphobia of prison workers?

–AG

The film was so interesting to watch. I learned so much more about how transgender people of color are so abused when they are in jail. I really enjoyed getting to see a little bit about who Mrs. Major is, because she has been doing amazing work with the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP). What surprised me the most were the statistics that Major talked about. She said that about 58% of people in jail are Black and Latino, but that we only make up about 25% of the population within the United States. I was really surprised by that number. I knew that many of the people in jail were people of color, but I did not know just how much suffering transgender people went through in jail either.

From that point, I am wondering why is is that more than half of the people in jail are people of color. What I want to learn more about is, out of that percentage, how many of these people are part of the LGBTQ+ community, especially how many are transgender, because of all the abuse that they receive in jail? I also want to know why there is little to no coverage of the deaths and murders of transgender people of color? I have heard about it through other LGBTQ people, but I have not heard it once from a news report or article. I hope that this starts to change with the amount of transgender activists that are standing up to these injustices.

While watching the film “Major!”, there were many new things I learned about the transgender community, especially transgender people of color. A generalized thing I learned was that the United Nations considers more than 15 days of solitary confinement to be torture, yet our prison system uses it in excess all the time. Solitary confinement is also used for a lot of transgender people in prison as a form of oppression but can be excused as a necessary safety measure for transgender people’s own safety. I thought that it was really sad to hear about how additionally horrible a lot of transgender people’s prison experiences are. Being the only transgender person in a prison, and having to deal with harassment, sexual abuse from inmates and guards, and being placed in solitary confinement are incredibly harsh experiences that many transgender people face.

Something that the film left me wondering was what can I be doing in my life to advocate more for transgender people? I fell like the film showed a lot of points where society is flawed and oppresses transgender people, and I have been trying to think about what I can be doing to help counter this oppression. The fact that it is still hard for transgender people to get jobs because they can be discriminated against or fired has led to the criminalization of transgender people because some end up having to resort to illegal means in order to survive. After thinking about it, I feel like the biggest thing to be done would be to try to make political change ensuring non-discrimination rights for transgender people in the workplace.

~BZ

I learned many things from the film Major!—it was filled with information that I was previously unaware of. The biggest takeaway of the film for me was the information about the treatment of trans people in prison. My only previous knowledge of this topic came from Orange Is the New Black, which is obviously not an entirely accurate source or a good source. Learning about this topic was more sad than surprising. It was crazy to me that there are transgender women who have spent many months in solitary confinement when the maximum time spent there is supposed to be less than fifty days. The film left me wondering about the treatment of transgender people, mostly transgender women of color, in prison and about social action in general. There was a great point brought up by Major in which she stated that while places like San Francisco have laws to protect trans individuals, they are not always enforced.  She then said that there needed to be fines for police and other things implemented so that the laws are actually followed. This made me wonder why people always aim for laws before all else if they are not necessarily effective. Is it because they are the best way to initiate change? Or is it something else?

The part of the film Major! that left the biggest impression on me was the treatment of trans women in prison. I knew that conditions in prisons in the US are quite poor and inmates are continually taken advantage of, and I was also aware that trans prisoners are usually treated worse, but the stories of former inmates opened a whole new level of horrific. One of the biggest issues is solitary confinement. Often, trans inmates are placed in solitary confinement “for their own protection.” In reality, they are put there so prison staff don’t have to deal with them. People are often in solitary confinement for months, even though the UN considers solitary confinement for more than a few days to be torture. Although solitary confinement and violence affect all prisoners in the US, trans women are disproportionately affected by the mistreatment.

The film, which focuses on trans women of color, leaves me wondering what sort of organization and activism there is for trans men of color. Although the focus on trans women is extremely important – trans women are one of the groups most prone to violence and homicide – I’m curious what sort of support there is for trans men of color, who are also disproportionately affected by violence.

In watching the film Major! About Miss Major Griffin Gracy, I was reminded immediately how corrupt our criminal justice system is, especially in dealing with trans women of color, many of whom should not be in prison in the first place. A statistic from the film indicates that in combining the number of people who are in prison with those who are under parole or probation, one in every 31 adults is under some form of correctional control. With this, based on statistics from 2008, 58% of all prisoners in the US State and Federal prison population are people of color, even though they only comprise about 25% of the total US population. Another horrible fact I learned about the prison system revolves around the overuse of the Secure Housing Unit. According to the UN, solitary confinement in greater use than 15 days is considered torture. Janetta Johnson, a trans woman of color from the film, was in the Solitary Housing Unit for her “protection” for six months of her three-and-a-half-year sentence for a nonviolent drug crime. Continuing on the subject of the US justice system, it is also important to note that “crossdressing was considered a criminal offense” and all throughout the 1960s and beyond, police officers would raid gay bars to arrest people. After watching the film, I would like to know what is being done about the prison system now. I was also curious about TGI Justice, but after finding their website online I learned that they are still operating, however Miss Major has since retired, and they are currently looking for many volunteers and workers to join their program.

-MF

On May 21st, 1990, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, aka ACT UP, led a “die-in” as part of their Storm the NIH demonstration.  By lying on the ground, protestors provided a powerful visual representation of the over 120,000 lives that had already been lost to AIDS.  Organizers also sounded horns five times each hour to signify that one person was dying of AIDS every 12 minutes in the U.S.  ACT UP demanded that the government take action to combat the AIDS crisis.  They pleaded for the NIH and the FDA to conduct and authorize more research on treatments, and urged them to make medications available to patients throughout the country.  After years of inaction under the Reagan administration, the government finally began to take measures to combat AIDS.  Many Americans today maintain that Reagan was responsible for the deaths of thousands. 

It is estimated that over 700,000 Americans have died from AIDS-related illness since the beginning of the epidemic in 1981.

Image courtesy of the NIH History Office.

#lgbtqexperiencesusa

-RF

This poster is relevant to our class because the HIV/AIDS crisis was originally thought to only infect gay men, and during that time the LGBTQ+ community endured many injustices and buried many of our own.  When HIV/AIDS first emerged, it was called GRID: Gay-Related Immune Deficiency.  To examine the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States, I think it is important to do research and learn about the HIV/AIDS crisis and the death and pain that this disease caused.  Also, the U.S. government, particularly President Ronald Reagan, has long been criticized for their reluctance to provide any funds or resources to research this disease until it eventually became apparent that “GRID” affected the white heterosexual population, and not just the gay population.

I find this poster interesting because of the irony of the playful words above, in comparison to the morbid second meaning brought forth by the text underneath.  This poster sends the message that HIV/AIDS is not something to be taken lightly, and that if you do not use a condom, you are risking death.

-RF

This poster relates to our class in that it is calling attention to how critical education is. In the text down the side of the poster, it asks a question, directing the audience to read and wonder, which is an effective educational strategy. I find it interesting because it is entirely true. Education is a vital part of life; we are lucky enough to live in a place, and to attend a university, that so highly values education. There is an element of timeliness and insistence that the audience listen to the poster’s message because lives are dependent upon an understanding of a deadly illness. The poster elicits parents and families to pay attention, by declaring that education starts at home.

Source: University of Rochester River Campus Libraries Rare Books and Special Collections AIDS Education Posters http://aep.lib.rochester.edu/node/40820

-MF

This poster really struck me, especially with the “Famous Last Words” in the red text at the bottom. It made me think about how many people died as a result of contracting AIDS from choosing to have unprotected sex, when they could have prevented the disease by wearing a condom. This poster points out the potentially tragic effects of AIDS, which was similar to the issues touched on by the AIDS Memorial Quilt- The Names Project we saw at the special collections. It is saddening to think about how many lives could have been saved by wearing a condom, which is what the poster is advocating.

“I don’t need to wear one of those.” | River Campus Libraries. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2018, from http://aep.lib.rochester.edu/node/40841

-ML