Assigned Sex

11: PREA, Paulina Poe v. DOJ and Dee Farmer

Shaun pulls up the case files and sits with two women separated by thirty-one years who made the exact same argument to the exact same government: you knew what would happen to me, and you put me there anyway. In this episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun traces the legal history behind Poe v. DOJ [https://www.gladlaw.org/cases/poe-v-us-department-of-justice/], the federal lawsuit filed on May 6, 2026 by a transgender woman incarcerated in a men's prison who is identified in court documents only as Paulina Poe. The case challenges a December 2025 Department of Justice memo that instructed PREA auditors to stop evaluating whether facilities were complying with protections for transgender and LGBTQ prisoners, without going through any public rulemaking process. PREA was not repealed. The regulations did not change. A memo was enough. Shaun centers Dee Farmer [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/511/825/], the Black transgender woman who was raped in a men's federal penitentiary in 1989, sued the United States government, lost twice, and won a Supreme Court ruling in 1994 that established the deliberate indifference standard under the Eighth Amendment. That ruling became the foundation for the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which passed the Senate 99 to zero in 2003 under George W. Bush, and was built into enforceable federal regulations under the Obama administration in 2012.  The episode closes with the numbers behind Poe v. DOJ: 2,198 transgender people in federal custody, 22 of them housed in facilities matching their gender identity, and a federal government that restructured its entire enforcement apparatus over those 22 women. If you are searching for information about the Paulina Poe lawsuit, PREA transgender protections, or the deliberate indifference standard as it applies to transgender women in federal prison, this episode is for you. Follow Assigned Sex on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/AssignedSex/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/assignedsex/] at @assignedsex, and subscribe to the Assigned Sex newsletter on Substack [https://assignedsex.substack.com/] for episode updates and extended conversations. Credits: Host: Shaun Dawson [https://www.instagram.com/iamsdawson]· Audio Engineer: Aaron Freeman [https://www.instagram.com/randfreeman/] · Producers: Shaun Dawson & Nandikayyy · Sound Design: Nandikayyy [https://www.instagram.com/nandikayyy/]· Music: "Soul of Orleans" by John Lopke; "Street Gospel Hip Hop Piano – 75bpm – Bbmaj" by nnaudio (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0). Sources: — Farmer v. Brennan, Oral Argument (Jan. 12, 1994). Oyez. Available at: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1993/92-7247 [https://www.oyez.org/cases/1993/92-7247] — “Two Decades After the Prison Rape Elimination Act.” U.S. Senate Hearing. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUsBIyrB4sc [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUsBIyrB4sc] — Minter, Shannon. National Center for LGBTQ Rights interview on CNN. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22mukg85YVU [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22mukg85YVU] — “Dee Farmer Deliberately Resisted.” Just Detention International. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5BHgJlUXlM [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5BHgJlUXlM] — “President Obama Speaks Out Against Prisoner Rape.” Just Detention International. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0BqGHISAOY [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0BqGHISAOY] — Bloomberg News. “Trump Signs Order to Ban Transgender Women.” Available at: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iAwJPzdIjCk [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iAwJPzdIjCk] — Poe v. DOJ, filed May 6, 2026, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Coverage via National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR): https://www.nclrights.org/about-us/press-release/lawsuit-filed-against-trump-administration-doj-for-ignoring-federal-protections-against-sexual-abuse-in-prison/ [https://www.nclrights.org/about-us/press-release/lawsuit-filed-against-trump-administration-doj-for-ignoring-federal-protections-against-sexual-abuse-in-prison/]

10: Credit Where It's Due

Shaun pulls up a chair with the ancestors, Sylvia Rivera, Bayard Rustin, Marsha P. Johnson, and Stormé DeLarverie, and asks the question that needs to be asked: whose names stay in rotation, and whose work gets acted like it never existed? In this episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun traces the pattern of how movement history gets sanitized , who gets put on the poster and who gets pushed to the margins to keep the story comfortable. Using archival footage of Sylvia Rivera [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-JIOWUw1o] being booed off her own stage at the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally, and Bayard Rustin [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbGWhBhOBog] reading the demands of the 1963 March on Washington to a quarter of a million people, Shaun makes the case that erasure isn't an accident. Shaun also centers Stormé DeLarverie [https://archive.org/details/storme], the mixed-race drag king, Jewel Box Revue performer, and self-appointed guardian of Greenwich Village, whose archival voice runs through this episode. Shaun traces what it means that her legacy keeps getting reduced to a single disputed moment  while her years of mutual aid and community protection quietly disappear underneath it. The episode closes with a look at pinkwashing, corporations and governments leaning on LGBTQ+ imagery to appear progressive while the people who did the original work get pushed to the back, and with Shaun's four-part framework for actually honoring Black trans and gender-nonconforming labor: say where you got things from, put money behind it, change who you center, and stop pretending the proof isn't there. Follow Assigned Sex on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/AssignedSex/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/assignedsex/] at @assignedsex, and subscribe to the Assigned Sex newsletter on Substack [https://assignedsex.substack.com/] for episode updates and extended conversations. Credits: Host: Shaun Dawson · Audio Engineer: Aaron Freeman · Producers: Shaun Dawson & Nandikayyy · Sound Design: Nandikayyy · Music: "Soul of Orleans" by John Lopke; "Street Gospel Hip Hop Piano – 75bpm – Bbmaj" by nnaudio (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0). Sources for archival audio: — Sylvia Rivera, "Y'all Better Quiet Down," 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Rally NYC. LoveTapesCollective (Original Authorized Video). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-JIOWUw1o [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-JIOWUw1o] — also archived at: https://archive.org/details/l020asylviariverayallbetterquietdownoriginalauthorizedvideo1973gaypriderallynycjbjiowuw1o [https://archive.org/details/l020asylviariverayallbetterquietdownoriginalauthorizedvideo1973gaypriderallynycjbjiowuw1o] —  Bayard Rustin reads the demands of the March on Washington, August 28, 1963. American Archive of Public Broadcasting / WGBH. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbGWhBhOBog [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbGWhBhOBog] — full broadcast record at: http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-9707wn83 [http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-9707wn83] —  Stormé: The Lady of the Jewel Box (1987), dir. Michelle Parkerson. Available free via Internet Archive at: https://archive.org/details/storme [https://archive.org/details/storme] —  A Stormé Life. ITL Media. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgCVNEiOwLs [%20https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgCVNEiOwLs]

9: Black Trans Joy

Shaun sits back down with Nandikayyy to talk about Black trans joy, what it looks and feels like, how it lives next to grief, and what they wish they could've seen when they were younger, framed by a lesson on Audre Lorde.  In this episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun and Nandikayyy get into Black trans joy. The kind that looks like finally feeling at home in your body, music that comes back to you after loss, and a Black trans person at the grocery store, unbothered. They also talk about the projects and creators keeping them going, from The Okra Project to Angelica Ross, and what they wish someone had told them when they were young. Shaun also shares a brief lesson on Audre Lorde, the Harlem-born poet, essayist, and self-described "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet" who grew up memorizing poems because no one had words for what she felt. Her life and work became a blueprint for survival, intersectionality, and speaking truth even when the world wasn't ready. Credits: Host: Shaun Dawson [https://www.instagram.com/iamsdawson]· Guest: Nandikayyy [https://www.instagram.com/nandikayyy] · Audio Engineer: Aaron Freeman · Producers: Shaun Dawson & Nandikayyy · Sound Design: Nandikayyy · Music: “Soul of Orleans” by John Lopke; “Street Gospel Hip Hop Piano – 75bpm – Bbmaj” by nnaudio (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0). Sources for archival audio on Audre Lord: - "Audre Lorde interviewed by Blanche Cook, 1982," LoveTapesCollective. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4rDL-xZ8N0 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4rDL-xZ8N0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4rDL-xZ8N0&t=1195s] – - "Audre Lorde interviewed by Judy Simmons, WBAI New York, 1979," WBAI. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_-XhFKn-f0 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_-XhFKn-f0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_-XhFKn-f0&t=6198s] – "Audre Lorde reading at the San Francisco State Poetry Center, 1974." Available at: https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/poetrycenter/bundles/238555 [https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/poetrycenter/bundles/238555] [https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/poetrycenter/bundles/238555]

8: It Be Your Own People

In this episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun moves from the murder of Islan Nettles and the “real woman” trope to Lil Duval, Boosie Badazz, Dave Chappelle, and the Black church, breaking down how toxic masculinity and bioessentialism push Black trans folks to the edge while still expecting them to ride for “the culture.” Shaun also shares a history lesson on Monica Roberts, the Houston‑born journalist and creator of TransGriot [https://transgriot.blogspot.com], whose reporting shifted how media covers Black trans women’s lives and deaths, and whose insistence that “Black trans women are Black women” offers a different way to imagine Black community. Follow Assigned Sex on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/AssignedSex/#]and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/assignedsex] at @assignedsex, and subscribe to the Assigned Sex newsletter on Substack [https://assignedsex.substack.com]for episode updates and extended conversations. Credits: Host: Shaun Dawson [https://www.instagram.com/iamsdawson] ·  Audio Engineer: Aaron Freeman [https://www.instagram.com/randfreeman]· Producers: Shaun Dawson & Nandikayyy · Sound Design: Nandikayyy [https://www.instagram.com/nandikayyy]· Music: “Soul of Orleans” by John Lopke; “Street Gospel Hip Hop Piano – 75bpm – Bbmaj” by nnaudio (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0). Sources for archival audio on Monica Roberts: – Monica Roberts “Call of Service” Lecture & “Courage to Act” Panel, PBHAserves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ap2jzha7CA&t=631s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ap2jzha7CA&t=631s] – “Prominent trans rights activist and journalist Monica Roberts dies at 58,” KPRC 2 Click2Houston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-qafUZ5Yu0 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-qafUZ5Yu0] – “Monica Roberts accepts a Special Recognition Award at the 2016 GLAAD Media Awards,” GLAAD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s81wzwM_Qa4&t=247s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s81wzwM_Qa4&t=247s] – TransGriot Weekly with Monica Roberts: https://www.youtube.com/@transgriotweeklywithmonica915 [https://www.youtube.com/@transgriotweeklywithmonica915] – “Monica Roberts HERO Testimony April 30 2014,” Houston Equal Rights Ordinance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKOCv0Di4K4 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKOCv0Di4K4] Additional sources for archival audio: – “Diamond Stylz on Why Black Trans Rights Are Civil Rights,” The Root: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw6psXYXw6 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw6psXYXw6] - "Candace Owens Compares Being Trans to Rachel Dolezal Being Transracial," Hollywood Unlocked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8vaVEe2Aww [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8vaVEe2Aww] - "Dave Chappelle on Transgender for 25 Minutes straight," Laugh Up Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUERjJCw0tE&t [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUERjJCw0tE&t] - "Boosie Praises Trump for Blocking Transgenders from Women's Sports: No More Juwanna Manns! (Part 25)," Djvlad:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuT-2tvnh_0 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuT-2tvnh_0] - "Lil Duval & The Breakfast Club Roast The Real Sidechicks of Charlotte,"  Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lItBaZ3jc_E&t=485s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lItBaZ3jc_E&t=485s]

7: Pay It No Mind

In this episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun reunites with Jade, an original Assigned Sex documentary [https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/325810319] cast member, to talk about where she is now, the community and chosen family keeping her grounded, and the work of protecting your mind in a world determined to misread you. Shaun also shares a brief lesson on Marsha P. Johnson [https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson], the Jersey-born street queen and co‑founder of STAR whose life held mental illness, sex work, HIV, and world-shifting activism all at once, underscoring how Black trans and gender-nonconforming people have always been central to our history. Jade closes by talking about where she finds her trans joy now: making music as her alter ego Fox Sinclair, teaching herself Unreal Engine, and creating the kind of thoughtful, less hypersexual music she wants to hear. Follow Assigned Sex on Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/AssignedSex/] and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/assignedsex/] at @assignedsex, and subscribe to the Assigned Sex newsletter on Substack [https://assignedsex.substack.com/] for episode updates and extended conversations. Credits: Host: Shaun Dawson · Guest: Jade Cervantes · Guest Host: Aurora Jonez · Audio Engineer: Aaron Freeman · Producers: Shaun Dawson & Nandikayyy · Sound Design: Nandikayyy · Music: “Soul of Orleans” by John Lopke; “Street Gospel Hip Hop Piano – 75bpm – Bbmaj” by nnaudio (licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0). Sources for archival audio on Marsha P. Johnson: – “L002A Intro 475: Marsha P. Johnson interviewed by Betty Brown, April 27, 1973,” LoveTapesCollective. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvW-Fif4KFE [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvW-Fif4KFE] – “Marsha P. Johnson | Artifacts | The 1979 Stonewall Interview,” Artifacts. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0YX_bIq8U [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0YX_bIq8U] – “Pay It No Mind: The Life & Times of Marsha P. Johnson,” PROUDVISION TV – LGBTQ Public Media Network. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeRejL0sMpQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeRejL0sMpQ]