I was pleasantly surprised to read Karen Bercovici’s “Conflict of rights — Gender identity dismantles women’s and girl’s sex-based rights” in the Gazette. Her guest column courageously represents the voices of many in western Massachusetts. Thank you.
The issue of males in women’s prisons and gender self-identification policies is a problem at MCI-Framingham where female inmates, often the most marginalized, poor, trauma survivors are forced to share intimate spaces, including communal showers with at least 11 males, including violent sexual offenders, serial rapists, wife murderers and child molesters. The women were not asked, nor did they give consent to sharing intimate spaces with males, often violent male offenders in likely violation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). The women inmates have been punished for voicing their complaints of sexual harassment from the male inmates. The legacy media and politicians have ignored the problems at MCI-Framingham, and I would not be surprised if Massachusetts will soon join the DOJ lawsuits in California and Maine. The human rights of women in prison are violated as a direct result of the gender self ID law. The time to do the right thing is long overdue. Women’s rights are human rights.
Judith Schiavone
Greenfield