Human Rights in any society are simple and basic, so it seems.  Our transgender subculture, oftentimes, is not afforded even the simple right, not privilege, to basic human rights.  Transgender subculture is very diverse and, therefore, much misunderstood by mainstream society.  While many of us survive, thrive, and progressively articulate our values and ethics as human beings in an unforgiving society while ever being labeled by and segregated under mainstream society´s "transgender umbrella", others of us continue to live in fear and face daily oppression and persecution.
            Is it any wonder, then, why unification of transgender community is so difficult to engender and gentrify?  As powerful a collective community voice we have as activists and advocates, we are not always heard.  Many of us are empowered to articulate the social injustices brought to bear upon us as a fringed and further subcultured community for those who cannot because of fear or other societal factors.  My work in HIV/AIDS prevention and transgender community is, by contrast, minimized by the value I feel from the current work I´ve been trying to do in social justice in the very same communities but in the prison population.  Dehuminization and oppression of the transgender community in the prison industrial complex runs rampant and without proper check and balance even here in California where activism and advocacy is extremely strong.
            Perspectives of privilege change dramatically when seen through the eyes of incarcerated transgender women.  Vacaville prison is a medium- to high-security correctional medical facility (CMF) located about a one-hour drive northeast of San Francisco.  Transgender/variant In Prison (TIP) committee is comprised of female-to-male (FTM) and male-to-female (MTF) transgender men and women as a solidarity group of social justice activists and advocates.  My privilege as a member of TIP was to rent a 14-passenger van for our visit to Vacaville CMF on September 30, 2005.  While my view of privilege seems so entrenched in community volunteerism, it pails in comparison to the privilege the transgender inmates incarcerated in Vacaville CMF felt with anticipation, empowerment, hope, and blessings of our 9-member legal team visit.  These women humbled me to the depths of my very soul and gave much value to TIP´s mission and work ethic.
            As a Hawaiian, I was raised with great family values and ethics by my wonderful parents.  Therefore, it came as no surprise to me that I was endearingly called a soccer mom when planning the logistics of our road trip which all seemed normal and automatic to me anyway.  Seven of our 9-member team was FTM.  Speak about feelings of privilege being accompanied by my esteemed TIP colleagues, two of whom have Juris Doctorates (JDs).  Again, I have to reiterate that everything pailed in comparison to the privilege I felt in empowerment by these women for whom we coordinated our visit.
            Earlier, I mentioned how my perspective of privilege dramatically changed and it was never more evident than during our dialogue with our first inmate.  "T" as I will call her to protect her and maintain confidentiality, was so empowered by the team´s visit.  T is one of five inmates who formed the Vacaville CMF Transgender Task Force.  At TIP's pre-visit meeting, we were already empowered by this group of phenomenally amazing women who truly embody the strength of transcendence from their current living and social conditions.  T communicated to us how blessed, excited, empowered, and hopeful they all felt because of our visiting them.  Little did they know until expressed to them how much we were humbled by and so in awe of them as activists and advocates in their own individual and collective rights.
            What was once my perspective of feelings of being "underprivileged" as an unemployed member of FREE society, dramatically changed to one of feelings of being "overprivileged" when refocusing through these women´s perspective in an oppressed and militaristic social setting while not being able to make unmonitored choices in one´s life.  This very perspective reminded me to remain humble and to value what I have as opposed to what I don´t have in my privileged life of freedom.  Humbly, I acknowledge that very freedom and lack thereof these women experience on a daily basis while confined to their cells in Vacaville CMF.
            As oppressed as these women are being subjugated to inhuman standards of treatment and socialization, they were truly amazed by the reflection of change in the staff´s behavior as the power and fear dynamics shifted by our very visit.  It did seem inherently strange that the prison staff as high up the chain to the Lieutenant in charge of our group were as amenable and accommodative of our needs as a legal team as well as their seemingly kind treatment of the inmate group we were visiting.  It made for a very interesting and enlightening first visit for this novice of the implications of social justice work.
            Hope is a sumptuous fruit seeded by anguish and despair.  While these women were ever hopeful in spite of prison conditions and because of our visit, it is we TIP members who remain humbly hopeful.  We have been rejuvenated in value of the true benefits of our individual and collective activism and advocacy in pursuit of egalitarian social justice for all, not just some.  It is with faith and hope for all of us in community that I humbly ask you to consider as you read this narrative the benefits of involving yourselves in your passions along your paths in life while serving in community to assist others less fortunate than you.  Already being impuned for their societal indiscretions, these women, I feel, deserve to be treated as human beings and not as caged animals as they are being treated without social justice in place. Melenie