The Criminalization of Identity: A Pride Reflection

In 2017, PJI published a blog titled, “Pride in Pretrial,” making the argument that the Stonewall Uprising had pretrial roots. In the 1960s, police harassment of LGBTQIA people was common, whether for failing to wear “gender appropriate” clothing, or taking the form of raids on gay bars and clubs by the liquor authority. In late June 1969, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back against a liquor raid, in what turned into a six-day siege that transformed the landscape of gay rights. In 2016, the Stonewall Inn was designated a national memorial for its role in the modern LGBTQIA civil rights movement.

Many trans women of color were at the forefront of the struggle. Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were both trans women of color who participated in the riot and in the year following Stonewall created the nation’s first LGBTQIA youth shelter. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a Black trans woman, had her jaw broken by police during the riots and was taken into custody. Later, after serving five years in prison, Miss Major worked for the Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex Project, advocating for the rights of incarcerated trans women of color. In spite of their work, these women and others like them often faced discrimination in the larger gay rights community following Stonewall.

In thinking about Pride this year, the rights and well-being of trans people–and the use of the criminal legal system to oppress them–have come into sharp focus. In early 2025, in addition to ordering the removal of references to trans people on the Stonewall section on the National Park Service website, President Donald Trump issued an order prohibiting gender-affirming care and social accommodations such as clothing and hair removal devices in federal prisons and immigration detention centers and instructed trans women to be placed in men’s facilities. On June 3, 2025, however, a federal court granted a temporary injunction, blocking enforcement of the executive order with regard to hormone therapy and social accommodations and created a certified class of people who are or will be in federal prison and diagnosed with gender dysphoria. (The issue of placement according to identified gender is being separately litigated.)

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 1 in 6 transgender people have been incarcerated at some point in their lives — and for Black transgender people, that number rises to nearly half (47%). A 2024 report from the ACLU found that more than 1 in 4 trans people have experienced physical force by police, with Black transgender individuals facing the highest rates.

Transgender and nonbinary people are also disproportionately subjected to degrading treatment: many report being targeted with insulting language by police, and nearly one-third have been arrested.

From Stonewall to today, the fight for trans rights has always been deeply connected to the criminal legal system — especially around policing, pretrial detention, and basic safety.

These are not separate issues. Justice for trans people means addressing the systemic harms that criminalize identity and limit freedom before trial ever begins.