Publication Date
5-2016
Document Type
Comment
Abstract
It is June 26, 2015. The sun is shining, and the grass is wet with morning dew. Those unaware sip their coffee on the way to work, perplexed why so many rainbow flags clutter their morning commute. Celebrations are breaking out across the Nation. The United States Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage. Finally, the day has come when people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBTQ) are given the same rights as their heterosexual brothers and sisters. If only there was any truth to such idealism. To the contrary, there are still debilitating injustices against members of the LGBTQ community that must be acknowledged and rectified.
The same day the Supreme Court reaches its seminal decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, Ashley Diamond, an African-American, transgender woman, sits afraid and alone in a Georgia prison. Once again, Ms. Diamond is being tormented, threatened, and terrorized by her fellow inmates. Tormented, threatened, and terrorized all because Ms. Diamond had the courage to report that she had been sexually assaulted. While incarcerated, she has been repeatedly sexually abused, raped, and exploited.
Recommended Citation
Matricardi, Danielle
(2016)
"Binary Imprisonment: Transgender Inmates Ensnared within the System and Confined to Assigned Gender,"
Mercer Law Review: Vol. 67:
No.
3, Article 13.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol67/iss3/13