As a college student invested in the study of both LGBTQ+ health and mass incarceration, I have become acutely aware of the pressing societal issue that lies at the intersection of these two fields. The systemic nature of mass incarceration and continued maltreatment of the LGBTQ+ community represents a problematic relationship that cannot be overlooked.

LGBTQ+ individuals who are currently incarcerated experience significant disparities in mental and physical healthcare. This is compounded by the disproportionate rate at which LGBTQ+ individuals are jailed, arrested, and imprisoned. A study published by the National Institute of Health shows that lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are three times more likely to experience incarceration than the general population. Once incarcerated, LGBTQ+ individuals are at an increased risk sexual assault (6x more likely than the general prison population), experience discrimination, harassment, and threats from fellow prisoners and correctional officers on a daily basis, and rarely have access to basic adequate healthcare, let alone gender-affirming care (Lydon 2015). 

While this matter comprises several different concerns, lack of healthcare for transgender, nonbinary and Two-spirit individuals in prisons proves even more severe than that of the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. In response to this crisis, we call for immediate action including the passage of Assembly Bill A709A in NY State. This bill enacts the "Gender Identity Respect, Dignity and Safety Act". Among other measures increasing safety and respect, the bill ensures that any incarcerated individual who has a gender identity different from their assigned sex at birth has the right to "access all necessary and appropriate medical and mental health care, including routine and preventative medical care related to their sex characteristics, and affirming medical and mental health care related to gender dysphoria or gender affirmation...including items associated with necessary and appropriate care after gender-affirming surgery".  

The time has come for us as a society to address these injustices head-on. We must improve healthcare options and treatment for hypermarginalized populations within prison systems as enforcement of basic human rights. Please sign this petition today!