Hey People!

Help WRAP fight for Incarcerated Trans People's Rights

Last week marked the official annual Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). The Transgender Day of Remembrance is meant to commemorate trans people who we have lost each year due to anti-trans violence.

At WRAP, we want to not only honor those trans people who have been murdered but also the trans and gender nonconforming people who have died this yearliving on the streets.We know that transgender people are 4 times more likely than cisgender people to make under $10,000 a year and are twice as likely to be unemployed due to discrimination. 21% of all trans women have been incarcerated and almost 50% of Black trans women have been incarcerated. The average life expectancy for a trans woman of color is 35.

Trans people are often denied access to housing, job and healthcare for being trans and are deeply and disproportionately affected by poverty and homelessness.While the numbers of trans people experiencing pre-mature death as a result of over-exposure to the elements, lack of access to basic needs, police violence and being forced to work in unsafe conditions are less publicized – we know that these are realities for all of our community members experiencing homelessness. Poverty is a queer and trans issue.

This year, WRAP is participating in the Women's Policy Institute through the Women's Foundation of California to run state legislation in California impacting the lives of women and girls.

WRAP, in partnership with the Transgender Gendervariant Intersex Justice Project, the Transgender Law Center and the St. James Infirmary, is working on moving an Incarcerated Trans People's Bill of Rights. This effort is led by currently incarcerated trans people and will ensure that trans people have access to legal name and gender marker changes while in custody to reduce barriers to housing, employment and healthcare when they arereleased.

WRAP sees this effort as critical to our work of ending the criminalization of poor and homeless people's existence by not only interrupting the state's ability to fine and arrest poor people for existing but also supporting the rights of poor people already locked up in county jails and state prisons across the country.

Stay tuned for updates as we introduce this bill in 2017! You can help ensure that this crucial work continues by making a donation to WRAP today, help us get our match from our friend!!!