Volume I: Hope In The Midst of Despair

The week before Christmas a young woman was observed being wheeled into the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) Building 805 medical unit on a gurney.  Her possibly lifeless body was inundated with medical staff feverishly administering air and chest compressions in an attempt to save the young woman's life.  She had cut her wrists.  Her age is unknown and her length of prison conviction is unknown.  The only detail witnesses ascertained was that she had been at the prison so short a time that she had not yet left the receiving yard where one remains no longer than 90 days.  It is unknown whether she survived.  Despair.

During the same week and leading up to Christmas day, a six-woman prison band called The Barbedwire Rose, travelled throughout the prison bringing concert entertainment to each housing unit.  The band, composed of a melting pot of Black, White, Latina, and Asian ethnicity, which included 2 guitarists, a flutist, drummer, and 3 singers, overwhelmed the inmates with an hour and half performance.  Couples cuddled and dancers in the audience boogied to the beat, as the entire housing units were filled with euphoria - one unit at a time.  The magnificence of the Barbedwire Rose transported the inmates from dreary, mundane prison walls to a place of peace, love, and joy, if only for a moment.  Hope.

Inmates, whether in jail, prison, hospice or in their own conscience, often times find themselves in the most dire places under the most dire circumstances, feeling an overwhelming desire to succumb to despair.  It seems it would be so easy to give up, to let go, to fall down.  It is in these moments we must remember to have hope.  It is hope that has the power to erase even the darkest of despair and allows us to remember that though we fall down, we get up!

Rainbow Muzik Spotlight of the Week- Morehouse College's New No-Crossing Policy

WITH PRESTIGE AND LEGACY COME PRIDE, HONOR, AND DIGNITY.  MOREHOUSE COLLEGE STRIPS ITS STUDENTS OF IT ALL

Last week Atlanta, Ga Historically Black College and University Morehouse College, comprised of an all-male student body released a new dress code policy. Number 9 of this new policy reads "No wearing of clothing associated with women’s garb (dresses, tops, tunics, purses, pumps, etc.) on the Morehouse campus or at College-sponsored events." Morehouse College is highly accredited, prestigious, and is one of the top HBCU's in America. It has a tradition that prides itself upon producing a legacy of highly-educated gentlemen whose lives uphold strict morals, ethics, professionalism, and etiquette.

Morehouse College Appropriate Attire Policy
October 2009

Published in The Maroon Tiger

It is our expectation that students who select Morehouse do so because of the College's outstanding legacy of producing leaders. On the campus and at College-sponsored events and activities, students at Morehouse College will be expected to dress neatly and appropriately at all times.

Students who choose not to abide by this policy will be denied admission into class and various functions and services of the College if their manner of attire is inappropriate. Examples of inappropriate attire and/or appearance include but are not limited to:

1. No caps, do-rags and/or hoods in classrooms, the cafeteria, or other indoor venues. This policy item does not apply to headgear considered as a part of religious or cultural dress.

2. Sun glasses or "shades" are not to be work in class or at formal programs, unless medical documentation is provided to support use.

3. Decorative orthodontic appliances (e.g. "grillz") be they permanent or removable, shall not be worn on the campus or at College-sponsored events.

4. Jeans at major programs such as, Opening Convocation, Commencement, Founder's Day or other programs dictating professional, business casual attire, semi-formal or formal attire.

5. Clothing with derogatory, offense and/or lewd messages either in words or pictures.

6. Top and bottom coverings should be work at all times. No bare feet in public venues.

7. No sagging--the wearing of one's pants or shorts low enough to reveal undergarments or secondary layers of clothing.

8. Pajamas, shall not be worn while in public or in common areas of the College.

9. No wearing of clothing associated with women's garb (dresses, tops, tunics, purses, pumps, etc.) on the Morehouse campus or at College-sponsored events.

10. Additional dress regulations may be imposed upon students participating in certain extracurricular activities that are sponsored or organized by the College (e.g. athletic teams, the band, Glee Club, etc).

11. The college reserves the right to modify this policy as deemed appropriate. *All administrative, faculty, students and support staff members are asked to assist in enforcing this policy and may report disregard or violations to the Office of Student Conduct."

An October 16, 2009 CNN article states that the "Appropriate Attire Policy" came about according to Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services in an effort to having "a legacy to uphold". "We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men," he said. "Bynum said the policy comes from the vision of the college's president, who wants the institution to create leaders like notable graduates Martin Luther King Jr., actor Samuel Jackson and film director Spike Lee."

The new policy plainly states that no "female garb" is to be worn on the Morehouse campus. This does not provision professional female business attire to appropriately be worn in class, nor does it state that "female garb" is allowable on campus in private dwellings. The "no headgear worn indoors" sanction provides for exceptions for "religious or cultural dress", but no such exceptions are made for transgender students in policy Number 9. As no provisions are made for Number 3 students with permanent decorative orthodontic appliances (e.g. "grillz") which can only be inserted and removed by a dentist. Florida natives whom are known to possess these iniquities need not apply to Morehouse.

According to Bynum's statements the cross-dressing "men" were living a gay lifestyle. It is atypical of gay men to cross-dress in public on a daily basis. It is commonplace for a transgender or transvestite to do so. By definition, a transgender is an individual born with male or female biological composition whom psychologically identify themselves as the opposite sex. To the average person this is incomprehensible, but to the transgender it is an daily struggle to be normal. A transgender does NOT consider him or herself to be homosexual. Psychologically they ARE the opposite sex with the wrong hormones and genitals so it is natural for them to be attracted to what outsiders would deem to be someone of the same sex. A transgender (that is financially able) will undergo hormone therapy to reduce testosterone levels and increase estrogen and stimulate breast growth in males, and reduce estrogen levels and either has breast reduction mammoplasty and increase testosterone levels in females. Transgenders must undergo very rigorous long-term psychological evaluations before they are cleared to undergo gender reassignment surgery
which include meeting the following specifications:
1. Live for at least one year full-time in the new gender role (called Real Life Training or RLT)
2. Engage in hormone therapy for at least one year (which can be simultaneous with the full-time experience)
3. Gain the recommendation of a psychologist or therapist after an appropriate series of sessions.
4. Gain a recommendation of a psychiatrist that surgery is not contrary to the mental health of the patient.

When all these qualifications have been met, each surgeon also requires an HIV test to read negative (which they have performed at their facilities) and a personal interview so that they may verify your mental and physical condition personally.

Requirement number 1 would persecute a Morehouse pre-op transgender student via the newly adopted "Appropriate Attire Policy", which punishes violaters by first prohibiting them from attending class if they don't change, followed by suspension for repeated violations.
Morehouse is a member of the Atlanta University Center or AUC which is also comprised of walking-distance neighboring HBCUs Clark-Atlanta University and all-female Spelman University. Students enrolled at one school may also take courses at any or all of the other schools that make up the AUC. Morehouse, however, is the most prestigious of them all. Along with Howard University in Washington D.C. they are the top-ranking HBCUs in the count with respect and reputations that are world-renowned. When it comes to HBCUs, the corporate world ranks a degree from Howard University or Morehouse College as comparable to a Harvard or Yale degree, especially those in business, medicine and law. In other words the two schools are the elite amongst HBCUs and throughout history have set the standard for all the rest.
When a transgender male is given the option of enrolling in one of the top schools in the country, which happens to only enroll men, the choice may seem easy, despite the gender one may identify himself with. The fact that 5 students enrolled at Morehouse, despite whatever ridicule they were sure to receive from fellow students stayed true to their individuality and dressed in attire they were comfortable in and identified with speaks volumes for their character. They exuded the confidence and dignity a Morehouse man is expected to demonstrate upon graduation when he enters the corporate world.

Morehouse is located in Atlanta, Ga, an area known for not only it's Black LGBT population, but more importantly Atlanta is home to what many would argue reside the most Black men on the Down Low. Men who appear in their public and in most cases private lives to be heterosexual, but in reality have sex with other men. The man on the DL or Down Low is usually married to a woman or has a steady girlfriend. The problem is so widespread that thanks to author J.L. King the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has incorporated the DL man as an HIV/AIDS demographic group. The biggest problem with the DL man is that he is having sex with another man (protected or unprotected) and then goes home to his wife and has unprotected sex with her in an effort not to reveal his infidelity. The message Morehouse sends to gay and transgender men with its "Appropriate Attire Policy" is that to be a proper gentlemen in the corporate world you must deceive the world by adhering to what is considered "normal" and "acceptable" foregoing personal beliefs and the honestly that lies within. This policy also advocates further complicating the already out-of-control Atlanta Down Low epidemic.

When an institution teaches its students to stop being an individual, the institution no longer has anything to teach, rather the institution has a lot to learn.

Interestingly enough, it was Morehouse grad, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who taught the world that "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: - 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'