Trans People Behind Bars Share How They Navigate The Dangers Of Visibility
Today (March 31) is International Trans Day of Visibility, a day to celebrate the resilience and accomplishments of transgender people worldwide. The extraordinary accomplishments — in law, art, and beyond — of incarcerated trans people tend to receive far too little celebration. Yet many trans people in prison keep fighting for their communities, in environments where they often face violence, solitary confinement, loss of needed health care, and punishment for self-expression.
Visibility can be fraught. In prisons, where staff may forcibly — and legally — strip people as a routine security precaution, visibility can be even more loaded than in the outside world.