Questioning Transphobia

Over the past several months, the DC Trans Coalition has been fighting the District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DOC) to insure that transgender prisoners are housed properly, given access to hormones, that the proper names and pronouns are respected, given access to gender appropriate clothing, and that other needs are met.

The DOC Office of Inspector General released a report stating that DOC was not in compliance with the human rights law (need link for this). In response, DOC released a prospective new policy that is inadequate because it continues to house people based solely on their genitals, rather than considering their gender identity or safety.  Also, the DOC persuaded the Office of Human Rights to propose new regulations which would 1) exempt people in DC city custody (whether police or DC jails) from respecting gender identity and expression as described in the Human Rights Law, and 2) remove the regulation that public single-stall bathrooms be gender neutral. These are rights that trans people in DC have fought for and won, and now they are being endangered by the Office of Human Rights.

Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance (GLAA) has many links related to this, particularly:

• Comments Regarding Proposed Regulations Amending DCMR Ch.8 Title 4
  Governing Gender Identity and Expression
• D.C. Department of Corrections’ Response to Complainant Allegations and Director’s Inquiry of Discrimination
• Councilmembers’ Answers on Corrections Discrimination Against Transgenders
• Officials soften objections to DP bill, trans prisoner rule

I would urge other feminist and LGBT bloggers to pick up this story. It’s fairly late in the process, and very few people are aware of the situation.