Resources: LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources
PARC corresponds with and mails a directory of these resources to prisoners, their friends and family members. We are often the first point of contact for people to connect with prisoners' rights organizations, community organizations, prison literature and arts projects, family and visiting resources, health care and legal resources, parole and pre-release resources, and the prison abolition movement.
Download a PDF copy of the November 2024 Edition here.
Please note recent updates since our last publication:
Compassion Works For All has closed (see listing in Religious Programs)
Missouri Prison Books: Now sending to Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana. Is banned in Missouri, since Sept 23, 2024
The Pathfinder Network: correct phone is 503-892-5396
Providence Books Through Bars c/o Paper Nautilus 19 S Angell Street Providence RI 02906
Women’s Book Project 3501 Aldrich Ave. S, Minneapolis MN 55408
PDX Books Through Bars: ships up to 3 books for free to anyone incarcerated in all states except Wisconsin. General topics/genres only. PO Box 11222; Portland OR, 97211
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Black and Pink Black and Pink is a national prison abolitionist organization dedicated to abolishing the criminal punishment system and liberating LGBTQIA2S+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS who are affected by that system through advocacy, support, and organizing. It has 13 volunteer-led chapters, including in Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Missoula, New York City, and Portland OR. Sends newsletters. Write for more info and for local chapter information. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Black and Pink Minneapolis Our project connects Midwest-based 2SLGBTQIA+ folks on the inside with 2SLGBTQIA+ and allied community members. We work with prisoners from the Midwest from these states: MN, WI, IA, ND, SD, IN, and MO. Due to a lack of resources, we prioritize prisoners in Minnesota, and our newsletter currently only goes out to Minnesota inside members. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources, Regional Advocacy Organizations, Minnesota |
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GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy and education, GLAD works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status and sexual orientation. As part of this work, GLAD takes very select legal representation on behalf of LGBTQ prisoners. Has a victory in Sept. 2018 achieving transfer of a trans woman to a women's prison in Maine. Also has a New England centered resource guide. Mostly serves people in New England. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Hearts on a Wire Hearts on a Wire is a grassroots organization working to address the needs of incarcerated transgender people in Pennsylvania prisons. They are a group of trans and gender variant people building a movement for gender self-determination, racial and economic justice, and an end to policing and imprisoning our communities. Offers a free newsletter to incarcerated and detained people. Write to be added to their mailing list. In your letter asking to be added, please tell us something about your relationship to the trans community. Serves transgender people in Pennsylvania only.
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LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Lambda Legal Lambda Legal carries out its legal work principally through test cases selected for the likelihood of their success in establishing positive legal precedents that will affect LGBT people and those affected by HIV. Lambda Legal recently represented a trans prisoner successfully in a lawsuit against the Texas prison system. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center The Miss Major Alexander L. Lee TGIJP Black Trans Cultural Center (fka TGI Justice Project) works closely with transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex (TGI) people who are currently or formerly incarcerated across what is known as the United States -- with a particular emphasis on TGI Californians and Floridians. We provide inside correspondence (letters of support for parole, resource guides, newsletters, magazines, coloring sheets, poetry, etc.); reentry, legal, and housing case management; court support; name and gender marker change support; referrals to other allied organizations; and financial support for reentry clients on a limited case-by-case basis. We cannot provide legal representation at this time, though we can provide referrals to pro-bono attorneys. TGIJP has been a leader in the global fight for Black trans liberation and abolition for 21 years.
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Nationwide Organizations and Resources, LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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National Center for Transgender Equality Advocates for change policies and society to increase understanding and acceptance of transgender people. Its Racial and Economic Justice Initiatice includes work on reforming detention conditions for transgender people in correctional facilities and in immigration detention. In 2019, NCTE published Failing To Protect & Serve, an audit of the policies at the 25 largest police departments and a model policy to help local advicates and law enforcement. Operating remotely in January 2022 and will continue to do so for an undetermined period of time. They are still active during the pandemic but remote status may impact phone and written responses. Will send resources nationwide. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Prisoner Correspondence Project The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a solidarity project for gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer prisoners. Letters to PCP in Canada cost $1.15 in US postage. Speak/write French. Serves people nationally in USA and Canada. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Queer Detainee Empowerment Project Part of the Center for Transformative Action. Assists folks coming out of immigration detention in New York in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal, and emotional support and services. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |
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Sinister Wisdom Publishes work by lesbians only - prose, poetry, essays, graphics, and book reviews. Will send free to women. Nationwide to women's prisons only. |
LGBTQI-focused Organizations and Resources |