Tag Archives: prison

January 2017 Trans Talk on 90.1 KKFI

Leave a reply


Hello everyone! We have two themes to our program this week. First we are going to re-open the subject of transgender prisoners, focusing on what happens afterwards and how society has placed many barriers on success for transgender persons who have served their time and are fighting to live their lives in America. We will be talking with JoAnna Ramsey, a guest we interviewed last October, to check up on her and find out how she has been doing getting her life in order. Also with us is April, a transgender woman and activist who is also trying to get a fresh start after a history of legal difficulties. In our second half we will interview Ari Copeland, a transgender man who is a senior water scientist at a global engineering firm, to talk about his life and to discuss along with Una the perils and joys of crossing the gender barrier in the corporate engineering world.

As usual, we will share with you the transgender news and the community calendar update. We do hope you will be able to join us this Saturday, January 28 at 1:00 pm on 90.1 FM KKFI, Kansas City Community Radio! You can also stream the program live on kkfi.org.

October 2016 Trans Talk on 90.1 KKFI

Leave a reply

transgender_prisoner
Hello everyone! We are devoting the entire show this month to a special guest and those who are supporting her. JoAnna Ramsey is a transgender woman who experienced a harrowing time incarcerated in Kansas within the male prison population, and she will be speaking with us about herself, what she went through in prison, and her transgender activism behind the wall. Also with us will be Caroline Gibbs, founder of the Transgender Institute of Kansas City, who will discuss how the Institute worked to help JoAnna, as well as plans for a future outreach project for transgender prisoners. JoAnna is also joined by her friend Tyga McHenry, who will talk with us about JoAnna’s experience.

As usual, we will share with you the transgender news and the community calendar update. We do hope you will be able to join us this Saturday, October 22 at 1:00 pm on 90.1 FM KKFI, Kansas City Community Radio! You can also stream the program live on kkfi.org.

Chelsea Manning Could Get Transfer to Civilian Prison

1 Reply

In what I feel is somewhat surprising news, it appears that the Pentagon may be negotiating to transfer Chelsea Manning to a civilian prison in order to allow her to receive hormone therapy and other transgender consideration and treatment.

Manning is a very controversial figure even in my community – many transgender people I know will proclaim in public that they support her, but in private they will do a facepalm and exclaim “we really don’t need this kind of publicity.” Personally, I admit to being torn. Obviously she should have treatment, but I also very much wish she would sort of vanish from the news so the word “transgender” would stop being associated with “leaker,” “traitor,” or “criminal.”

Transgender Leaker Chelsea Manning Could Get Transfer to Civilian Prison – ABC News.

Paris Lees: From Prison to Transgender Role Model

Leave a reply

In the United Kingdom (where I was recently vacationing; I’m on my way back right now) Paris Lees is a big name, raising transgender awareness on many fronts. From the article:

  • Paris presented a collection of films about transgender people for Channel 4, becoming the channel’s first transgender presenter
  • She presented The Hate Debate, a show about prejudices for Radio 1, becoming that station’s first transgender presenter
  • Paris was the first transgender woman to appear on the cover of DIVA, a magazine for lesbian and bisexual women
  • She became the first transgender judge for the Independent on Sunday’s annual Pink List in 2011 and returned to the judging panel the following year
  • She has previously worked with the Gender Trust and Trans Media Watch, and currently works with All About Trans
  • She challenged Jonathan Ross over a transgender joke he made – and charmed him into giving a video interview

BBC News – Paris Lees: From prison to transgender role model.

New Zealand to Allow Transgender Prisoners Transfer of Jail Fit for Their Preferred Gender

Leave a reply

New Zealand has recently been looking more and more like a great place to live. Not only is it an incredibly scenic place (being the set for the Lord of the Rings and many other films), but they recently passed a same-sex marriage law and other major anti-discrimination laws helping transgender persons.

Here they are taking action even though there are only 9 transgender prisoners in their prison system.  Note that this new policy doesn’t care if you are pre-op, non-op, or post-op.

New Zealand to Allow Transgender Prisoners Transfer of Jail Fit for Their Preferred Sex, Not on Birth Gender (VIDEOS) – International Business Times.

America’s Prisons Fail Transgender Inmates

Leave a reply

There are many good points made in this column, but I confess I absolutely do not have a good answer for my transgender sisters and brothers who ask “how come a felon gets their SRS paid for, but I have to work 3 part-time jobs and save every penny, or worse, go without?” I think some are so gung-ho to protect trans prisoners that they forget about “everyone else.”

America’s prisons fail transgender inmates – Salon.com.