Sept. 8, 2011
From Anarchist. TransFeminist. Amazon. by Jennifer Amelia Rose (author's profile)

Transcription

May 1, 2011
Revised: 8/13/11

A Brief Introduction
By Jennifer "Baby Girl" Gann

Greetings and welcome! :) My name is Jennifer, but friends call me Baby Girl. I'm a young-looking 41-year-old Irish and Cherokee MTP pre-operative transsexual on a regime of hormone (estrogen) therapy. I'm currently a three strikes political prisoner at a maximum security California state prison men's facility.

These blog posts, letters, poems, etc. are intended to be posted online at Between the Bars as a transgender journal, and they will include my original artwork and writings.

As a transgender woman, it is my sincere hope that people will find what I have to share interesting. I welcome your comments, criticism, feedback, and questions.

I was born October 6, 1969 in Riverside, California as a biological male and was named John David Gann by my parents. When I was 9 or 10, I moved to Orange County with my mother, stepfather, and baby sister. We lived in the West OC suburb of Huntington Beach.

In 1988, I was convicted of a gang-related attempted robbery and was eventually sent to state prison for a parole violation. While in Folsom Priosn, I was involved in the September 1991 Food Strike protest, for which I was sent to the Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU). I was abused, assaulted, brutalized, denied basic human rights by the guards. My safety was deliberately jeopardized by having to defend myself in orchestrated gladiator-style fights. The guards shot at us with high-powered assault rifles at close range!

Eventually, I was charged and convicted for multiple assaults and possession of an inmate-manufactured weapon. For these acts of self-defense and lawful resistance against my oppressors, I received a total sentence of 105 years to life! The weapon possession normally carries a statutory maximum penalty of two years, the battery and assault with a deadly weapon: six years each. However, under the draconian three strikes law, I received three consecutive 25 years to life terms without having received a fair trial or assistance of counsel, as guaranteed to us by the Sixth Amendment.

I now regret some of the choices and mistakes I've made in the past, but I have never raped nor murdered anyone. Nor do I deserve to spend the rest of my life in prison for the crime of robbery, which I was originally sent to prison for seven years. I have been imprisoned for 21 years now!

I appreciate the opportunities I've had to educate and rehabilitate myself, but what good is it if I'm never given another chance to become a productive member of human society? So many people are kept in prison unjustifiably. It's simply a waste of human life and public resources.

As a transwoman, my physical appearance and preferred gender identity is unmistakably femme. I hope to someday undergo sex-assignment surgery (SRS). At the very least, I am inappropriately housed in a men's facility around known sexually violent predators (SVPs), where I am forcibly strip-searched by male guards and sexually harassed on a regular basis. I continue to experience the most hateful and vicious forms of sexual discrimination!

I would be much better off, safer, and at home in a women's facility with my sisters.

I am an Amazon lesbian transwoman with dreams and hopes for the future. I am a revolutionary Amazon queen! I have a lot of positive things to offer the world for my freedom. I am ambitious, creative, friendly, honest, motivated, original, respectful, sincere, spiritual, and unique. I am an activist, aspiring artist, blogger, college pre-grad student, fashionista, feminist, humanitarian, environmentalist, jailhouse lawyer, poet, singer and songwriter, volunteer, worker, and yogini.

I like animals, the beach, cooking, Lady Gaga, Mexican food, people, reading non-fiction, socializing, traveling, and the Wendy Williams show. My dream is to work in the beauty and fashion industry, and/or become a musician, as well as being a full-time activist for Native American, women's, and LGBTQ rights. I'd like to travel to India.

Finally, I am grateful to my beloved mother, Peggy Ann, and to the divine Mother Nature for all that I am and could be—for the joie de vivre.
Viva las Amazonas!
Viva the Revolution!

Write to me at:
Johnny Gann, E-23852
California Correctional institute
P.O. Box 1902
Tehachapi, CA 83581-5902
http://myspace.com/johnny1006

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honeebea Posted 13 years ago. ✓ Mailed 13 years ago   Favorite
HI JENNY!

MY NAME IS CHRISHAUN "CECE" AKA "HONEE BEA" MCDONALD, AND I JUST READ YOUR LETTER... MY LOVE AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO YOU IN THIS CRISIS THAT YOU'RE IN. I KNOW THE FEELING TO BE OPPRESSED, BUT NEVER COULD I IMAGINE HAVING TO SPEND MY WHOLE LIFE BEING IN THAT TYPE OF ENVIRONMENT. TO FEEL NOT YOURSELF, BUT MORE LIKE PROPERTY OF THE STATE. YOU INSPIRE ME TO FIGHT HARDER IN THE CASE I'M DEALING WITH NOW. SO THAT WE AS INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE CAN ALSO HAVE THE SAME RESPECT AS THOSE WHO FEEL THAT WE ARE WORTH NOTHING. I LOVE THAT YOU'RE SUCH A STRONG PERSON, AND YOU GIVE ME HOPE TO GIVE TO OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS. PLEASE NEVER STOP LOOKING FOR WAYS TO GET OUT BECAUSE I'M SURE THERE IS A LOOP HOLE SOMEWHERE IN THIS. BUT IN BETWEEN TIME, I WILL BE FIGHTING THE CAUSE FOR US WITH THIS CASE, AND FOR THE FUTURE.

SINCEREST LOVE AND GRATITUDE,

HONEE BEA

OnTimeInCheckCC Posted 12 years, 2 months ago. ✓ Mailed 12 years, 1 month ago   Favorite
Hello again Jenn! I mentioned in my earlier reply about if you had had any issues with hormone(s) or problems adjusting, etc. This blog clears it up for me and I was wondering if I may write you personally for some much needed advice?? I spent almost 28 yrs as a total mess once puberty hit, and my mother and grandmother BOTH had issues with too much testosterone and not enough estrogen, so when they were finally evened out one of them ended up with hormone fed cancer. I know I am at risk for this myself already, but I can no longer deny myself the freedom I deserve in this crazy world and just want to be happy. I am on two very strong medications- one is a form of estrogen and the other intensifies it for the first six months that you take it, then you HAVE to taper off, its that strong and dangerous. I never knew all of this would be so hard to become used to, physically and mentally going through such changes that thankfully are gradually starting to decrease as the months pass by. The rest I would like to possibly write you about, if you would not mind sharing with me your pros/cons of taking estrogen. For me, someone who never knew they were lacking it so badly, its almost a brand new thing for me to experience like being a new person who doesnt hate who they are anymore and truly can FEEL for themselves and others after years of turning cold on the inside due to being misunderstood. I have also been misdiagnosed countless times before and after puberty and will never forgive the doctor(s) and endocronologist who diagnosed me not by a battery of testing and checking levels but simply by saying that since my blood showed insulin resistance, I must have ovarian issues. (??) She diagnosed me with a serious disease at a young age just by looking at me and a diabetes related blood test which within 2-3 yrs later no longer tested as insulin resistant once I lost 30-40 lbs. Perhaps I did have ovarian issues, but not the kind she made my family believe I had so for years I receive the OPPOSITE kind of treatment medically than I should have been getting! It has been one wild ride since age 14 for sure! Just getting people to listen to me and understand was the toughest ever. I need all the advice I can get from not only friends of mine but ANYONE who understands what undergoing hormone therapy or estrogen is truly like. Once again, stay strong and never change! You radiate true beauty and happiness from your true self! Much Luv, CC

Jennifer Amelia Rose Posted 12 years ago.   Favorite
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