Assigned Sex

13: The Werq of Sylvester

Sylvester James Jr. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_(singer)] was born in Watts in 1947, pushed out of his Pentecostal church at thirteen, and ended up homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. He still managed to build the rooms where Black queer people could exist fully. In this Pride Month episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun tells the story of Sylvester. A boy who wore a prom dress in his graduation photo. A man who told Joan Rivers on national television that he was not a drag queen. He was Sylvester. Shaun traces how Sylvester found his people through The Disquotays, a group of Black trans women and gay men who walked through South Central in women's clothing at a time when cross-dressing was illegal. He follows that thread to San Francisco, where Sylvester's 1978 album Step II became a foundation for house music. If you're looking for honest conversations about Black queer history and the origins of disco and house music, this episode is for you. This story was inspired by A Black Queer History of the United States by C. Riley Snorton [https://www.instagram.com/c.rileysnorton/?hl=en] and Darius Bost.  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/] Sources: — A Black Queer History of the United States by C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost. Available at: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/a-black-queer-history-of-the-united-states-revisioning-history/55428083/item/84784210/ [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/a-black-queer-history-of-the-united-states-revisioning-history/55428083/item/84784210/] —  Dick Clark Interviews Sylvester, American Bandstand 1978. Awards Show Network. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKKsI2seeTM [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKKsI2seeTM] — Sylvester on Joan Rivers. Black LGBT Historical Society. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUW53d3U-4k [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUW53d3U-4k] —  What is House? An Insider's Look at Dance Music, 1991. There Is No Planet Earth. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtTcR3KRY3E [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtTcR3KRY3E] — Cockettes Palace Sylvester. harryarends. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4zmW1gDyhM [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4zmW1gDyhM] — Sylvester, Do Ya Wanna Funk. RobertoLoiali. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72nr7VFAg8I [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72nr7VFAg8I] — Jeff Bixby with Sylvester, Pt. 1 of 2. gcncincinnati. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvW-ussQ_90 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvW-ussQ_90] · — You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real). Sylvester. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD6cPE2BHic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD6cPE2BHic] — Etta James, What I'd Say (Live). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVmRPaVWU90 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVmRPaVWU90] · — ESPN story about Disco Demolition, July 12, 1979. TheOriginalShockJock. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zN-oLCKo4 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1zN-oLCKo4]

12: Spicy Work

In this episode of Assigned Sex, Unarchived, Shaun sits down with an anonymous guest who goes by Lady, a Black trans woman who came to escorting at twenty-nine, after years of religious shame and romantic disappointment Lady breaks down what it takes to do this work safely: how she reads a text message to assess threat level, why she has clients stand outside a building she can see from her window before she ever opens a door, what she keeps nearby in case that's not enough. The conversation gets honest about shame and the difference between survival sex work and chosen sex work. Lady makes the argument that in a world where intimacy gets extracted from women for free every day, getting paid for it is not degradation.  In the history segment, Shaun centers CeCe McDonald, the Black trans woman who survived a white supremacist hate crime in Minneapolis in 2011, took a plea deal for defending herself, and was sent to a men's prison by a state that refused to recognize her gender until it was time to punish her. If you're  searching for honest conversations about sex work and the trans experience, Black trans women and survival, escorting safety and emotional labor, or the connection between gender, criminalization, and bodily autonomy, 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: — "Black Trans Bodies Are Under Attack": Activist CeCe McDonald, Actress Laverne Cox Speak Out. Democracy Now! Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOuH43-_4Yo&t=493s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOuH43-_4Yo&t=493s] — "I Use My Love to Guide Me": Surviving and Thriving in the Face of Impossible Situations. Barnard Center for Research on Women. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AorudSjIhEk&t=1332s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AorudSjIhEk&t=1332s] — Free CeCe. University of California Television (UCTV). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4WDdM-4geQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4WDdM-4geQ] — Laverne Cox At The LA Film Festival with Her Film FREE CECE. Rich Girl Network.tv [http://Network.tv]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ynPXo1rzME&t=3s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ynPXo1rzME&t=3s]

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]