Janetta Johnson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Janetta Johnson
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| Born | 1964/1965 (age 60–61) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Honorary Ph.D |
| Occupation | Transgender and human rights activist |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Organization | TGI Justice Project |
Janetta Louise Johnson is an American activist who works for the rights of transgender people and for human rights. She is a transgender woman. Janetta is the Executive Director of the TGI Justice Project, an organization that helps transgender, gender-variant, and ... people.
She also helped start TAJA's Coalition in 2015. In 2017, Janetta Johnson, along with Honey Mahogany and Aria Sa'id, co-founded The Transgender District. This was the world's first cultural district for transgender people. Janetta's main work focuses on the rights and safety of transgender people who are or have been in prison. She believes that changing how police and prisons work can help keep transgender people safer.
Janetta Johnson's Early Life
Janetta Johnson knew she was a transgender woman from a young age. She wanted to medically transition when she was about seventeen or eighteen. She shared that she was transgender in the 1980s.
In 1997, Janetta moved from her hometown of Tampa, Florida, to San Francisco. She wanted to learn from Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. Miss Major is a well-known transgender rights activist. She was also a former director of the TGI Justice Project. Janetta calls Miss Major her "adopted trans mother." Miss Major taught her a lot and supported her greatly.
When Janetta first arrived in San Francisco, she did not have a home and stayed in a shelter. Still, she worked closely with Miss Major. For three years, Miss Major taught Janetta about politics and how to organize communities. Janetta said this experience "changed her life." She also shared that living in San Francisco was the first time she saw transgender women "living their lives authentically." This was another reason she chose to move there.
Challenges and Activism
During a tough economic time, Janetta faced difficult situations to survive. She spent some time in prison. While there, she saw how important it was to help transgender people who were also in prison. She was released on May 21, 2012.
After leaving prison, Janetta continued her work for transgender rights. She focused even more on helping transgender women and gender-non-conforming people who were incarcerated. In 2015, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy retired from the TGI Justice Project. Janetta Johnson was then hired as the new Executive Director.
Janetta Johnson's Beliefs
Supporting Communities
Janetta Johnson believes in changing how police and prisons work. She wants to see money used for housing, education, and healthcare instead of policing. As someone who has been in prison, Janetta is against large prison systems. She wants to find other ways to deal with problems instead of just putting people in prison. She supports using restorative justice, which focuses on repairing harm.
She especially wants to change San Francisco's prison systems. At a rally in 2018, she spoke about closing San Francisco's jail. She said, "San Francisco talks about being creative and innovative... [closing jails] is one of the most important and amazing things that we can do. We need alternatives to jails and prisons." Through new laws and policies, Janetta hopes to greatly reduce the number of people in prison.
Fairness in Money and Jobs
Janetta Johnson believes in making sure transgender people have fair chances with money and jobs. She thinks that for this to happen, "transgender people have to have [their] own businesses, [they] have to have [their] own homes." One way she works towards this is through The Transgender District. This district helps transgender people own homes, businesses, and cultural places. It also has a program to help transgender people find jobs.
She also helps by hiring transgender people who have been in prison at the TGI Justice Project. This gives them work experience and an income.
Janetta Johnson's Activism
TGI Justice Project: Helping Transgender People
What is the TGI Justice Project?
..... It first offered legal help to transgender people who were in prison or had been in prison. Today, the group describes itself as "a group of transgender, gender variant and ... people–inside and outside of prisons, jails and detention centers–creating a united family in the struggle for survival and freedom.”
They work on many issues important to transgender people. These include laws, human rights, police actions, racism, poverty, and how society views them. The organization believes in changing prison and police systems. They also support Black transgender leaders. They help community members return to society after prison. They also help transgender people understand laws and legal policies. The TGI Justice Project is one of the first groups led by transgender women of color who have been in prison. Miss Major Griffin-Gracy was the Executive Director from 2005 to 2015.
While Janetta was in prison from 2009 to 2012, she helped the TGI Justice Project by connecting people. Miss Major talked with Janetta regularly while she was in prison. She told Janetta that she wanted her to be the next Executive Director. In 2015, Miss Major retired, and Janetta became the Executive Director. Janetta does most of the work at the organization because they do not have enough money to hire more staff.
During her time at the TGI Justice Project, Janetta created a program called Black Girlz Rulez. This program brings Black transgender women together from all over the country. It helps them build a community and deal with issues that affect them.
Helping People After Prison
Janetta started the TGI Justice Project's program to help transgender people return to society after prison. This program helps prevent people from going back to prison. While she was in prison, Janetta met many transgender women who had been in prison multiple times. They said they lacked support when they were released. This inspired Janetta to create the re-entry program.
Janetta said, "[After I was incarcerated] I decided, I’m going to create a program so that Black trans women don’t fall through the cracks.” Now, Janetta runs this program to help Black transgender women.
The program helps transgender people return to society by providing housing, food, money, and access to health care. This support lasts for sixty to ninety days after their release. Janetta works with community members to pick up recently released people from prison. They bring them to temporary housing in hotels or motels. The program also pays its members at least $25 an hour. This helps them financially as they return to society. Janetta believes that "Reentry must come with a paycheck." She notes that finding housing for the program has become harder, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
How COVID-19 Affected Their Work
Janetta noted that the COVID-19 pandemic created special challenges for transgender people. She said, "any type of disease or stigma is always attached to trans people." Because of this, Janetta Johnson made the TGI Justice Project focus more on helping transgender people during the pandemic. This included managing crisis cases and providing general community care.
Housing support became an even bigger issue during the pandemic. Janetta says seeing people without homes inspired her to create housing programs. During the pandemic, Janetta spent many days finding hotels that would rent rooms to transgender people. Many hotels would refuse or raise prices once they knew the person was transgender. As of June 2020, the organization housed thirty transgender and gender-non-conforming people. The TGI Justice Project also has volunteers bring meals and groceries to those in hotels. They also bring food and hygiene products to transgender people living on the streets.
Janetta noted that donations to the TGI Justice Project increased after the protests about the murder of George Floyd. These protests happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
TAJA's Coalition: Creating Safety
Janetta Johnson helped start TAJA's Coalition in February 2015. This organization was created after Taja Gabrielle de Jesus, a transgender woman of color in San Francisco, was murdered. TAJA's Coalition works to make transgender women and gender-non-conforming people safer. They do this by helping them get more education and housing.
The Transgender District: A Special Place
In 2017, Janetta Johnson helped create the world's first officially recognized transgender cultural district. This district is called The Transgender District. It is in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. She co-founded it with Honey Mahogany and Aria Sa'id, who are also Black transgender women. Today, Aria Sa'id is the only one of the three co-founders still working with The Transgender District.
The District covers six blocks in the southeastern Tenderloin. It also crosses Market Street to include two blocks of Sixth Street. It has important historical places. One is the former location of Compton's Cafeteria and the Compton's Cafeteria Riot. This riot happened at the corner of Turk Street and Taylor Street. These streets have been renamed by the District as “Compton’s Cafeteria Way” and “Vikki Mar Lane.”
Janetta and the other founders were inspired to create The Transgender District. This happened after a company planned to build new homes and a hotel in the Tenderloin. This would have changed the area a lot. Brian Basinger, who leads a non-profit helping people with HIV/AIDS, spoke out against these plans. He got support from other groups, including Janetta Johnson and the TGI Justice Project. Even though the initial efforts didn't stop the building plans, the company ended up providing money to help establish The Transgender District.
The District was first named Compton's Transgender Cultural District. This name honored the historic August 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot. This riot was one of the first times transgender people stood up for themselves in the United States. The riot happened because police were bothering transgender people. At that time, it was illegal to dress in clothes typically worn by another gender. This law led to a lot of unfair treatment of transgender women. A transgender woman in the documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria said she could be arrested for having buttons on the "wrong" side of her shirt. Even though newspapers didn't report on the riot much at the time, it was "rediscovered" by Susan Stryker in her 2015 film. This film helped lead to the creation of The Transgender District.
The Transgender District's goal is to create a place that celebrates the history and culture of transgender people. It also aims to help transgender people gain ownership of homes, businesses, and safe community spaces. Janetta's main hope for the District is to create a "safe space" for transgender people. She said, "I believe in creating a space without violence, discrimination, and over-policing; and making sure Black trans women have opportunities for ownership and cultural spaces [where] they feel safe."
Working for Fair Laws
Janetta Johnson worked on a campaign in California to pass Senate Bill 310. This law is also known as the Name and Dignity Act. The TGI Justice Project helped support this bill, and it became a law in October 2017. This law allows transgender people in California prisons to ask a court to change their name and gender on their official papers. Janetta says this makes it easier for them to return to society.
Janetta explained, “A person exiting prison with identification documents that actually match who they are... has an exponential impact on their ability to access life-giving services without some of the discrimination that comes with having identification documents that don’t match their gender presentation.”
During the pandemic, Janetta and the TGI Justice Project also provided legal help to people in two prisons near their organization. Janetta has also been a member of the Transgender Law Center's national group.
