Stanley-Eric-Captive-Genders-Trans-Embodiment-and-Prison-Industrial-Complex

Captive Gendersexact moment at which legal recognition, and legal rights, will be affordedto a transgender person who has adopted a new gender role. 53 In almost alljurisdictions, Sharpe points out, both statute and case law determine theonly possible point of change to be genital surgery. As a result, transgenderpersons who cannot afford, do not wish to undergo, or do not haveaccess to genital surgery will never be recognized as their chosen identity.Likewise, the legislative separation of gender identity from sexual identitylimits the individuals who can be included under these umbrellas, andenacts another form of violence.It is the structural interconnection of racism, classism, forced genderconformity, and heterosexism that allows violence to continue againsttranspersons of color and also contributes to the apathy exuded by communitiesof color and the lesbian and gay community. Although the lastdecade has witnessed an increase in discursive material produced aboutgender and sexuality, the ways in which queerness and transgender identitiesintersect with race, political economy, and the law are often ignored.When transpersons are subject to violence, how communities respond toviolence and how hate crimes are exposed is predicated on the economicstatus, race, and gender of the victim.Hate crimes have become an important focus in contemporary USlesbian and gay politics. National LGBT organizations, such as the HumanRights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force(NGLTF), and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, have successfullylobbied for the inclusion and protection of sexual orientationand gender identity under the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime PreventionAct, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act, and have assertedthe need for increased research, reporting methods, and social services forvictims of hate crimes. This law—which gives the federal Justice Departmentthe ability to aid state and local jurisdictions with investigations andprosecutions of violent criminals motivated by bias—was recently ratifiedunder the Obama Administration in October 2009. 54 Together with localLGBT groups, HRC, NGLTF, and Lambda Legal have urged the mainstreampress to more frequently cover hate crimes, thereby increasing publicawareness of violence against gays and lesbians, garnering support andsympathy from the heterosexual majority while also opening up avenuesfor prosecuting violent crimes committed against LGBT individuals. 55One way that this hate crimes organizing is limited is that it seeksinclusion and equality within existing social structures. While arguingfor the basic legal protection for queer persons against hate-motivated154