 It's been about two and a half years since the January 6th Capitol insurrection and many of the individuals who tried to overthrow the U.S. government have since had to face the music. That includes individuals like Richard Barnett, who's the guy that was photographed with his feet on Nancy Pelosi's desk. He was sentenced to over four years in prison. Now there's also Stuart Rhodes, the founder of the Oathkeepers, who was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy. And of course, there is Jacob Chansley, a.k.a. the QAnon shaman, who served about 27 months of his 41-month sentence but was released early. Now those are just some of the more recognizable people involved in the Capitol insurrection, but there were many, many more people who participated and have since been convicted. Politico reports more than 1,033 of the rioters have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences. About 277 defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars and roughly 113 defendants have been sentenced to a period of home detention. So lots of people have been held accountable for their actions on January 6th. One of the lesser known insurrectionists, however, is Jessica Watkins, the woman pictured behind me. She is an army veteran and Oathkeepers member who was sentenced to 8 and a half years in prison, and her story is very unique. Politico continues, Watkins' attorney said that the trauma and rejection from her friends and family due to her being transgender was what pushed her to be dragged into conspiracy theories around the 2020 election and to eventually take part in the riot. So it's interesting because situations often lead people to radicalization, right? COVID-19, that time, you know, at home during self-quarantine, that's how a lot of people got involved in QAnon, but this lady got involved in I guess election denialism because she didn't know how to process her family rejecting her for being trans. So that's where she found some sort of comfort or identity, at least that's what her attorneys say. Now, during her trial, she tearfully explained how she struggled with her identity as a trans woman while she was in the military, and she was in the military during the Don't Ask, Don't Tell era. Now for those of you who don't know, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was a policy that meant that any LGBTQ plus person who came out while they were in the military was dishonorably discharged. But ironically, she went on to riot for a president that banned trans people from participating in the military. So it's certainly, I guess we'll say interesting that in response to her being rejected by her family, she got involved with a group of people who aren't necessarily the most welcoming when it comes to LGBTQ plus people. I mean, maybe they weren't aware that she's trans, maybe they didn't care because they had a common cause of installing Trump as president. But either way, that's her defense, right? But putting aside her identity for a moment, she wasn't just another participant in the insurrection. She was a leader, in fact. As CNN explains, at trial, prosecutors showed evidence that Watkins founded and led a small militia in Ohio and mobilized her group in coordination with the Oathkeepers to Washington DC on January 6th. Watkins and her counterparts ultimately marched in tactical gear to the Capitol and encouraged other rioters to push past police outside the Senate chamber. Quote, I was just another idiot running around the hallway, Watkins told the court before the sentence was handed down. But idiots are responsible and today you are going to hold this idiot responsible. And since she took full responsibility and shared her story of being transgender in the military with the judge, the judge was even moved and said that anyone who heard her story and listened to her speak would also be moved. But the judge also noted that she wasn't necessarily remorseful per se at first. So there was a phone call that she had from jail where she allegedly mocked Capitol police officers that were on duty on that day, saying boo-hoo in response to them getting PTSD from the Capitol insurrection. Now fast forward to today and she still describes herself as a political prisoner incarcerated for exercising her First Amendment rights. And that's at least what it says in her Twitter bio, which is run by her husband and close friend. Now they've been posting screenshots of texts that she sends them from jail through the Getting Out app. And in her Twitter debut on July 21st of this year, she claimed that she did what she did to quote, defend free and fair elections. She also has since condemned Trump's indictment and attacked Jack Smith and she even defended transphobes like Riley Gaines while signaling support for a ban on trans women in sports. And embarrassingly, she also apologized to cis women for possibly making them uncomfortable in locker rooms. So I mean, it's all come full circle, right? She joined this movement due to transphobic rejection, only to eventually throw her own community under the bus in a pathetic attempt to be the pick me for right wingers and insurrectionists. And she also attacked Rhino Republicans and hinted at being an anti-vaxxer as well. So in other words, she's still about that bullshit and is a full blown maggot chud till this day, who seemingly said what she needed to say at the trial to garner sympathy. So this isn't necessarily the redemption arc that I was hoping for. But despite her idiocy politically, she's shedding some light on a really important issue, one that is unique to trans people who are incarcerated. For example, on July 23rd she tweeted, I transitioned to female 20 years ago. Do I look like I belong in a men's prison? The Bureau of Prisons under the Biden administration listed me as male on documentation for the first time in nearly two decades. And she's made this post multiple times with different pictures of herself showing that her sex is listed as male. And she's currently serving in a men's jail and is at risk of being transported to a men's prison. And on top of that, she's being denied crucial medical care that she needs. And in response, she shared this call to action where she encourages her followers to call the Federal Bureau of Prisons in order to urge them to not put her in a men's prison against the judge's orders. And as you can see, she also shares Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Green's numbers in hopes that they take action on her behalf. But we'll come back to that in a moment. And she also shared the contact information for the US Marshals Office in hopes that people will call and pressure them to help her get the medical care that she needs for a potential cancerous growth that she needs to have removed. Now, these are very serious issues and we'll talk about the broader issues that inmates and trans inmates in particular deal with when they are incarcerated. But first, we have to address the elephant in the room. That is her tagging Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Green. Now, I think we all know why she did it. These are two lawmakers who are insurrectionists themselves. Marjorie Taylor Green in particular always refers to January 6 insurrectionists as political prisoners. So I mean, it makes sense that an insurrectionist would want to get their attention in order to get support. But I mean, on the other hand, these are two of the most vicious transphobes in Congress, especially Marjorie Taylor Green who don't view her as an equal, despite her status as an insurrectionist. This is what Marjorie Taylor Green wrote in response to legislation introduced by Pramila Jayapal that would give trans people more legal protections. So she dismissed it as mentally unstable wokeness and called it the most insane piece of legislation she's ever seen. She also suggested that it would lead to quote, trans-tifa riots and rejected the idea of a ban on discrimination based on gender identity, writing, that means trans become a protected class and women's rights are totally and completely annihilated. Men pretending to be women would not just be equal to women in all areas. They would be preferred and above all women, essentially replacing women. Now, in the very next sentence, she pointed out how the legislation would improve conditions for trans inmates. And yeah, that's pretty relevant to Jessica here. Now, while Matt Gaetz doesn't talk about trans people as much, he's still deeply bigoted. He claimed in 2019 that the Equality Act will allow Trump to declare himself the first female president, which proves how ignorant he is when it comes to trans people and what it means to be a trans woman. So I'm assuming that Jessica is hoping that her being an insurrectionist people, I guess, cancel out her identity as a trans woman to Marjorie and Matt and get them to see her as the woman that she is, to actually get them to see her humanity despite her being a trans person and them dehumanizing trans people. But unfortunately, that's wishful thinking because Jessica's core problem here requires recognition that she is indeed a trans woman. And Marjorie Taylor Greene is not willing to do that because every single thing that she's done has been in service of transphobia and in service of delegitimizing trans people and their very existence. But here's the thing, Jessica is a woman. And since she's a woman, she should serve her time in a woman's prison like other female inmates get to. But that's why Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't going to advocate for her because she fundamentally rejects the idea that trans women are women and she doesn't think that they are valid. So this isn't an insurrectionist issue to Marjorie Taylor Greene. This is an issue that uniquely affects trans inmates. And if Marjorie Taylor Greene were to advocate for Jessica in this instance, then she's bringing attention to an issue about how trans people are treated in general. And this is indeed an important issue where trans inmates are dehumanized. Now as NBC News reports, based on the available records obtained from 45 states, just 13 transgender women are housed with women and two transgender men are housed with men. They're referring to inmates. In Texas, which has one of the largest incarcerated populations in the country, none of the 980 transgender prisoners live in gender-affirming housing. The state's 891 transgender women are housed with men and its 89 men are housed with women. Pennsylvania's 214 transgender prisoners are all incarcerated according to their sex-assided birth as are Wisconsin's 173 transgender prisoners. These housing decisions can have dire consequences. 35% of transgender people who had spent time in prison in the previous year reported being sexually assaulted by staff or fellow prisoners, according to a 2015 report by the Department of Justice. Advocates say that the figure for transsexual assaults is likely an undercount because sexual assaults are underreported. Many of the current and former transgender prisoners said guards dismiss their reports or retaliated against them for reporting. Transgender prisoners are also unable to express their gender in the most basic ways, including being called by a name that reflects who they are, they said. In response to questions, some state prison representatives said they only moved transgender prisoners if the prisoners had received gender confirmation surgery, regardless of their housing preferences. Others said that they review prisoners' transfer requests on a case-by-case basis as required by law. Most said they are fully compliant with federal law on housing transgender prisoners. But here's the thing, they're not complying with the law. The Prison Rape Elimination Act went into effect in 2012, and that law requires prisons to regularly interview trans inmates every six months and ask them where they feel safest, and they also have to hear their concerns, and they're supposed to take them into effect and even consider if there are threats to these trans inmates. And if they violate this law, they risk losing 5% in federal funding. The problem with the law is that it relies on the discretion of prisons ultimately, and even if a trans woman, for example, expresses that she fears violence if she's placed with male prisoners, they can just choose to disagree and place her with men. And out of the 4,890 transgender state prisoners that NBC News was able to track in 2020, 15 were housed with inmates who shared their gender. Meaning that the overwhelming majority of trans inmates are housed with prisoners of the opposite gender. So this issue is systemic. Jessica is not the only transgender inmate to experience discrimination in this form within the prison system. And you might think, well, I mean, she's a Trump-supporting insurrectionist, so who cares about her? But let me tell you why that's wrong. First of all, all human beings deserve dignity, including inmates. And Jessica is serving her time just like all the other insurrectionists who are convicted. But because she's trans, she risks being placed in a population that makes her vulnerable to rape and violence unlike the cis insurrectionists like Stuart Rhodes or Richard Barnett. So the question is, why should she endure a harsher punishment specifically because she's trans? The answer is she shouldn't. It's extremely unfair. So I mean, you can disagree with her politics and find her sentence justified as I do, but she shouldn't have to face a steeper penalty for simply being trans. And finally, if we're okay with one trans person's gender identity being invalidated because of her disgusting political views and actions, then we're communicating to all of our trans friends and family members that we think that someone's gender identity is up for debate and should be violated if the trans person in question is bad. But I mean, think of the message that that sends to trans people. It tells them that you were never really a true ally or that your support is conditional on them being a good person. But I mean, if you sour on them, then you suddenly have permission to reject their identity. That's not okay. That's not the way that being an ally works. LGBTQ plus people like all people can be shitty people. They can be mean. They can even be insurrectionists as we've learned. But I mean, being a bad person shouldn't make us okay with discrimination against someone on the basis of their immutable characteristics. I think that making fun of Jessica's insane political views is fair game, right? And it's fine to point out that she is very clearly one of the people who voted for the Leopards eating people's faces party and then never thought that the Leopards would eat her face. But at the end of the day, this isn't a moral dilemma to me in the same way that it would be for someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Trans women are women. Therefore, Jessica shouldn't be placed in a men's prison. She should be in a women's prison where she belongs, period. All trans inmates should receive fair treatment. But unfortunately for Jessica, Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't coming to the rescue for her anytime soon because supporting Jessica would require her to violate her anti-trans disposition. But with that being said, Republicans are also hypocritical. So I'd be happy if Marjorie Greene proved me wrong. But unfortunately for Jessica, I just don't think that that's going to be the case. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. F-around and find out. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Trans rights are human rights. It is necessary to push trans on the kids. Pride.