The Oregon State Correctional Institution, or OSCI, recreation yard was more colorful than usual, adorned with flowers, crepe paper garlands and a rainbow handprint banner. The rec yard, usually lacking in bright colors, was decorated for the prison’s first-ever Pride celebration June 14, which also marked the first official Pride event in the Oregon prison system’s history.

OSCI prisoners and a staff member organized and hosted the event to increase visibility and strengthen community among OSCI’s LGBTQIA2S+ population. The three-hour event, which drew over 400 attendees from within the prison, welcomed nonprofits to table and share resources. Volunteers passed out rubber rainbow bracelets to all attendees while pop hits played over stereo speakers.

Kristine Tschopp, OSCI behavioral health services manager, spearheaded organizing efforts. The event was nearly a year in the making. Tschopp said after meeting with other clubs and organizations, there was a desire to better support the LGBTQIA2S+ population in the prison.

After facilitating suicide prevention programming in the prison, Tschopp said she saw a shift in people’s willingness to talk about suicide and mental health.

“All I could think was, ‘What if we did the same thing? What if we helped change the culture, not create a club and various other things or individual activities where people might feel left out?’” Tschopp said. “Let's try and get as many people involved as possible.”

Behind the scenes

Tschopp credits three dedicated individuals incarcerated at OSCI for the event's success. Jacob Barrett, Tyler Young and Brian Killian helped her plan and implement the celebration. She said planning for an event of this size in a prison requires a thorough proposal outlining every detail of the event and an itinerary. It becomes even more complicated when an event hosts a large number of outside visitors, another unusual aspect of the event.

Barrett, Young and Killian coordinated with outside organizations to table at the event and share resources with the prison population.

Amanda Esquivel-Lopez attended on behalf of True Colors Recovery, a Portland nonprofit focused on addiction recovery and mentor services for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals. Esquivel-Lopez spoke about her experience as a formerly incarcerated lesbian woman and acknowledged just how varied the experience of being LGBTQIA2S+ in prison can be.

“Different communities within the LGBTQ+ spectrum face different barriers,” Esquivel-Lopez said. “So for me, as a lesbian woman that went to prison, it was very easy for me. There was a lot of representation for us. If you have chemistry or you have charisma, then you can get along pretty well with anybody within those prison walls, but when it comes down to our more marginalized people within the umbrella, that changes.”

Esquivel-Lopez said conditions for transgender people in prison can be especially difficult. One in six trans people report being incarcerated at some point in their lives, according to The Prison Policy Initiative.

Esquivel-Lopez emphasized the differing struggles of LGBTQIA2S+ people, and while Pride may be celebratory for many, acknowledging the different struggles within the community is vital to combating the injustices LGBTQIA2S+ communities face both inside and outside of prison.

“Just because we're underneath this umbrella doesn't mean that we all get along or that we all even understand each other or have a basic level of understanding of the differences within our community,” Esquivel-Lopez said. “So it's important to highlight that and understand that just because it's a safer environment for me to go ahead and be around doesn't mean that it's the same for everybody else.”

Sharing their POV

A Pride event would not be complete without words shared by those who see a larger mission amid the celebration.

The event began with a speech by Ga lo Vann, who proclaimed his support for LGBTQIA2S+ communities and said toxic masculinity creates barriers for LGBTQIA2S+ prisoners to feel safe and heard. Vann drew parallels between the fight for rights Native American communities face and the larger LGBTQIA2S+ community.

“I come from a community that experiences criminalization and marginalization like you do,” Vann said. “Indigenous people are natural allies to LGBTQ+ people and your people.”

Another speaker, Samantha Swan, shared her experience as an out transgender woman in a men’s prison. Both vulnerable and celebratory, Swan said she’s never been happier since she chose to open up about her gender identity.

“Being trans for me is about inclusivity and transparency about who we are,” Swan said.

Tyler Young was integral in the prison’s pride event but was unable to attend due to health issues. However, Travis Tomlin read a speech Young wrote for the event.

Young’s speech spoke to the revolutionary origins of pride, citing the Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1969. He noted the significance of the day’s event, the first official Pride celebration hosted in an Oregon Department of Corrections prison. Young said he was openly part of the gay community since the age of 12 as a child in Washington County, where he found community within an organization called Pride Project.

Why they’re attending

Tschopp’s vision of encouraging attendance from all, LGBTQIA2S+ or not, is part of a larger vision to shift the culture around non-heteronormative identities in prison. Tschopp saw part of her vision realized as she observed people she knew with differing religious beliefs and backgrounds, including some she did not expect to attend. She said she wants people to feel safe and respected, regardless of their background.

“The LGBTQ+ population is larger than people realize, and there are way more allies than people realize. That's what I really wanted people, especially in prison, to know,” Tschopp said. “This isn’t something we talk about in prison, much like suicide wasn't something we talked about in prison, right? So people don't know what terms are appropriate to say or what someone’s gender is and so I think there's a lot of knowledge that we have the ability to share with people.

“And I think this event really started that for a lot of people.”

Following the event, Tschopp said she heard attendees and staff felt it was a true success.

Barrett, a key organizer of the event, said he sees heavy toxic masculinity in the prison impeding people’s ability to be more open-minded. Barrett saw his role in supporting the event as a means to challenge those norms and as a means of supporting his daughter, a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ communities.

“I would have never thought I’d see something like this,” he said, reflecting on over 25 years in prison.

While many mainstream, current-day Pride events feel as though they stray far from their revolutionary origins for attendees, this is not true for all. In the United States and around the world, LGBTQIA2S+ communities still fight for basic rights and fair access to health care and against job and housing discrimination, to name a few. But for the community in OSCI, the spirit of Pride’s origins is strong.

Pride month may be a loud celebration for some, but OSCI’s inaugural celebration reveals that for others, it can also be a subtle acknowledgment, a rubber rainbow bracelet signaling allyship, or a day on the yard recognizing your community may be a lot larger than you thought it was.

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