In the Union lobby, surrounded by Christmas trees, wreaths and holly, students and staff helped the LGBT Resource Center send holiday cheer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer folk who are incarcerated.
Around 20 to 30 participants colored snowmen and other winter-themed cards pre-addressed to LGBTQ inmates throughout the United States. This is the second year the center has sponsored the event.
More than 2.2 million people in the U.S. will spend this holiday season in jail and prison, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics; LGBTQ peoples are more likely than the general population to be incarcerated. For example, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality, 16 percent of transgender adults have spent time in prison and jail, compared to 2.7 percent of all adults.
Alithia Zamantakis, outreach coordinator for the LGBT Resource Center, hopes this event gets people to think about a broader range of queer issues.
“While we can’t guarantee abolition right now, we can guarantee that we show people that we care about them,” Zamantakis said.
The cards came from Black and Pink, a LGBTQ organization working to abolish prison as the standard means of punishment in the U.S. The group supports alternatives to incarceration, such as community work and programs focusing on crime prevention.
Tina Xu, a senior in biology who attended the event, heard about it through flyers in the dorms.
“I like the idea of sharing holiday cheer with folks that may not have as much opportunities to receive it,” Xu said. “This project is really neat because it’s so simple … it’s not asking much out of you.”
She was inspired to start writing more letters to people who are incarcerated through the rest of the year.
Queer people, especially gender-queer and transgender folk, are more likely to be incarcerated because they are more likely to experience poverty, homelessness and profiling by law enforcement, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Queer people in prison also face more discrimination and assaults than other incarcerated persons. The National Inmate Survey reported 40 percent of transgender inmates reported sexual victimization, compared to 4 percent of all the general prison population.
The LGBT Resource Center offers the opportunity to write to people who are incarcerated year-round. Students who want to participate can visit their office on the fourth floor of the Union or they can visit blackandpink.org/pen-pals.
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