Lydon began their presentation by presenting the origin and background of Ebony & Pink.
“The work that individuals do at Ebony & Pink is predominantly focused on meeting the immediate requirements of LGBT folks people who are presently locked up in prisons and jails around the world,” he said.
Black & Pink presently reaches about 12,000 prisoners around the world every month through their monthly magazine made of “prisoner produced content, where prisoners are telling stories to every other,” he included.
Based on the Ebony & Pink site, the team actively works to abolish the “prison industrial complex” through advocacy, training, direct solution and organizing.
Lydon himself has offered amount of time in county jails in Georgia for trespassing onto a military base to create understanding towards the ramifications of U.S. international policy. He created Ebony & Pink after he got off to stay linked and l k down “for the inventors while the prison fold which had cared for me,” he said.
Next, Lydon explained the massive “prison industrial complex” and how it is really not simply just the buildings “where we’re housing peoples bodies,” however a complex system involving our justice system and “the authorities and exactly how they target communities.”
“We’re talking of a court system that forces people to simply take plea discounts and forces them to get into jail for extremely long jail sentences,” added Lydon.
Lydon then managed to move on to go over the unjust drawbacks and disproportionate focusing on faced because of the LGBT community.
Based on Lydon, 40percent of prisoners in women’s prisons identify as bisexual or lesbian yet they only constitute 8% for the basic populace.
“We also know the LGBT people are more likely become homeless, are more inclined to make use of drugs that are illegal mostly in order to cope with homophobia, transphobia, and culture,” he said.
“That’s a rather reasonable thing for people to accomplish. Whenever you’re wanting to involve some feeling of self in this technique, in this culture that devalues you, having a rest from that, through the use of medications could be a break through the damage and physical violence that you’re experiencing.”
Nevertheless he included, due to the real means medications are criminalized, the LGBT community will be disproportionately targeted by authorities.
“When you’re homeless, you don’t get access to jobs, which means you don’t get access to a spot to call home. You’re likely going to split the legislation and figure out how to survive. That’s likely to be area of the method that you obtain by,” he stated. “You’re planning to steal things, you are going to trespass only to get by. Therefore we see our communities struggling with that.”
Moving on towards the remedy for LGBT individuals in prison, Lydon shared his experiences in county jails in Georgia.
He described being placed into a cell that is separate 24 other queer individuals being forced into embarrassing situations and circumstances, such as for instance being expected to improvement in front side associated with right, cisgender males.
“They said these people were maintaining us safe,” he stated, however in truth “guards would also come in while making fun of us and contact us names, simply because they knew it had been where in actuality the queer everyone was.”
Regardless of the physical violence, Lydon stated, “Even in a spot where we encountered harassment, we had been in a position to come together as a household.”
He included, “That’s why Ebony & Pink calls ourself an available family members, because so often LGBT communities, particularly when our individuals get locked up, lose use of their loved ones of beginning. So Ebony & Pink attempts to appear in and provide household.”
Lydon then talked concerning the access that is limited essential products such as for instance hormones replacement therapy in prison.
Relating to Lydon, numerous transgender people utilize hormone replacement therapy in order to alter their human body, therefore it’s an essential section of their transitions, but the majority prisoners are rejected use of this type of essential product.
He additionally explained that the end result of stopping the utilization of hormones replacement treatments are significantly harmful on both psychological and health that is physical the body gradually readjusts.
Lydon then chatted in regards to the many intimate assault within prisons.
“The jail it self really functions as something of intimate physical violence,” he said. “For prisoners, their bodies don’t participate in them. They fit in with the state.”
Lydon finished their presentation by saying, “We’re all more than the thing that is worst we’ve ever done and we’re also all significantly more than spotted dating the worst thing that is ever been done to us.”