Shoutout for Support: Amazon on Hunger Strike
Amazon, a transfemale from Gender Anarky in prison in California, began a hunger strike the morning of October 7, 2015 for transfer to a women's prison. Amazon is legally a female. In January 2015, Amazon's birth certificate was amended by the Office of Vital Records in Sacramento to record her sex as "female." Under a new law signed by the governor, transexuals no longer need full sex-reassignment surgery to amend their vital records, but instead a doctor's declaration of transition to reflect their current gender. Amazon accomplished this. She then applied for a transfer to a women's prison. The prison required Amazon to present her new birth certificate. However, prison rules prohibit inmates from possessing birth certificates and Amazon asked the prison to verify the document with the Office of Vital Records. The prison refused to do so. Amazon then attempted to file a grievance over the issue, but she was again required to produce her birth certificate to pursue a grievance.