8 May 8 - 14, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents experiences behind the prison walls. Flores heard about a support group for the women of Seagoville, but it had already been dis- banded before she got there. “Any type of programming or special groups for us, to help us, is now no longer al- lowed,” Flores said. “So we took it into our own hands. Every Sunday, we have a little tiny transgender support group outside in the recreational yard, just to help one an- other. But it’s not anything official, and we have to be very careful about it, because if a [correctional officer] is walking and sees all of us huddled up together, they will try to tell us to separate or say that we’re trying to start something.” A spokesperson for Seagoville said psy- chiatrists are available by appointment for all inmates. Still, Flores said the counselors had little experience working with trans- gender people, and she felt threatened and belittled when she met with hers. Proper mental health care is crucial for the transgender community, which has a higher than average risk of suicide, and an additional target from the Oval Office places significant risk on the transgender commu- nity. According to a report from the Univer- sity of California Los Angeles, 42% of transgender adults will attempt suicide at least once in their lives. Since feminine products were removed from Seagoville’s commissary, two transgender inmates have been placed on suicide watch. “Gender affirming care is life-saving,” said Shayna Medley, an attorney with Advo- cates for Trans Equality. “It’s medically nec- essary. Major medical organizations agree that this includes social transition, so that includes things like gender affirming cloth- ing, undergarments, hairstyles, makeup. The federal government and the prison systems attempt[ing] to deny trans people those gen- der-affirming items are denying them a form of health care. All people in custody have a constitutional right to basic health care, in- cluding trans people.” Aside from the unnecessary mental toll that removing gender-affirming care can have, it also puts transgender individuals in harm’s way. “All trans people are at increased risk of violence in custodial settings, but particu- larly trans women who are housed in men’s facilities,” Medley said. “... Trans women are at serious risk of increased violence from both corrections officers and other people inside when they’re housed with men.” Medley said the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment de- mands protection from violence, and the gap created by placing women in men’s facilities, placing them at higher risk, is unconstitu- tional. “People are supposed to be protected un- der PREA, under the Eighth Amendment, from risk of violence,” Medley said. “This risk is certainly known to corrections facili- ties. The failure to protect people from that is unconstitutional.” Plainly put, the treatment of transgender people within the federal prison system is cruel for the sake of cruelty. “Several courts have held that denying this type of care, including access to gender affirming clothing and commissary items, discriminates on the basis of sex and the ba- sis of disability. There’s really, you know, no justification other than cruelty for denying trans people these items.” Medley says the attempts to erase the transgender community by the current ad- ministration are undeniable. But the lack of empathy for inmates, expressly based on their status as criminals, leaves gaping cracks and facilitates dehumanization. “Trans people are under attack from the federal government in all areas of life,” she said. “People in custody are often the most overlooked and intentionally [so]. The issues and harms that people in custody face are less likely to receive public attention.” The removal of commissary items strips transgender women of their femininity. The revocation of pink cards leaves them suscep- tible to danger. The misgendering belittles and humiliates them. The lack of mental health care and the potential withholding of hormone therapy leave them with sizeable health concerns. But still, the trans women of Seagoville men’s prison stand together, as they are, women. “You can take my makeup, you can take my bras, you can take all that stuff. But guess what? I’m still transgender.” Flores said. “And I will always be transgender, and you will have to deal with that. I will never change that for anybody.” ▼ CITY HALL ‘MISSING MIDDLE’ DALLAS ADOPTS RESIDENTIAL CODE CHANGE TO INCREASE AFFORDABLE HOUSING. BY EMMA RUBY D evelopers should soon find it easier to build small-scale apartment com- plexes with eight or fewer dwelling units in Dallas. The Dallas City Council adopted an up- date to the ordinance that guides residential development construction standards across the city. While the previous code regulated homes with only one or two dwelling units, the amended ordinance will cover the devel- opment of small-scale density up to eight dwelling units. Buildings with three or more units previously had to meet the regulations outlined in the city’s commercial code. Council members lauded the change as a much-needed “modernization” of the city code that will help address Dallas’ afford- able housing crisis. “Our code today treats a four-plex the same as a 200-unit apartment building. That doesn’t make sense. It drives up construc- tion costs and discourages the kinds of hous- ing we say we want in Dallas,” Council member Paul Ridley said. “This is a com- mon-sense change.” Ridley, who is credited as one of the members who spearheaded the local code change, said the update will help align the city’s residential development code with the goals outlined in the Forward Dallas 2.0 land use plan. He said that expanding the number of units allowed to be built under the residential code is a “transfor- mative step” in encouraging developers to build missing middle developments, such as townhomes or multi-plex homes, with- out being penalized by an “outdated” code. The ordinance caps developments cov- ered by the residential code at 7,500 square feet, eight units and three stories. The Dallas Builders Association and the Dallas Housing Coalition supported the change. Council member Chad West described the code change as a “modernization of a regulatory burden on the housing industry” that has worked in other cities. In 2022, Memphis city leaders passed a similar ordi- nance allowing buildings with three to six dwelling units to fall under the residential code umbrella. Similar ordinances are be- ing implemented in cities across Canada and at the state level in North Carolina. In 2023, Austin expanded their residential code to cover up to three dwelling units. “[Dallas] needs every tool possible to ad- dress our affordable housing crisis,” West said in support of the change. West has previously asked the city to con- sider amending the development code to al- low for denser housing. In 2023, he authored a five-signature memorandum (a way for council members to ask for a horse- shoe discussion on a topic) that asked the city to consider updating the residential code to include three- and four-unit struc- tures. The memo also asked for the reduc- tion of minimum lot size in single-family districts, and for three- and four-unit build- ings to be included by right on undeveloped lots in single-family zoning districts. While the ordinance adopted will help remove some roadblocks involved in build- ing permitting and planning, it does not im- pact zoning. Some skeptical council members voiced concerns about fire safety risks that more dense housing developments could cause. While a city memo lists the Dallas Fire De- partment as one of the stakeholders in- volved in the ordinance rewrite, council members Jesse Moreno and Cara Men- delsohn asked for further information about any qualms the department may have with the ordinance. Some U.S. cities have begun allowing taller apartment complexes to be built with fewer staircases to promote housing density by reconsidering building codes, a trend that multiple firefighter associations have op- posed. In the case of Dallas’ ordinance change, though, Dwight Freeman, a section chief with the Dallas Fire Marshal’s office, told the council that the ordinance’s three- story height limit assuaged his concerns about density. “There’s always concerns when we’re dealing with people in closely packed communities,” Freeman said. “However, I believe the way this ordinance was struc- tured, the partnership that was created and the safeguards that were installed in the ordinance will help protect the citi- zens that will ultimately reside in these units.” ▼ EDUCATION BARELY PASSING DALLAS ISD GETS ‘C’ IN DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY RATING. BY EMMA RUBY A fter two years of legal debate, the Texas Education Agency has re- leased the academic accountability ratings for each public school district in the state for the 2022-2023 school year. As predicted by Dallas ISD officials last year, the district received a C on the A-F scale. In the 2021-2022 school year, Dallas ISD scored a B, although the scoring was in- complete due to COVID-19. In the 2018- 2019 school year, the last full year before the pandemic disrupted schools, Dallas ISD re- ceived a B. Due to ongoing litigation, scores from the 2023-2024 school year have not been re- leased. Rankings for the current school year will come out in August of this year. In a re- cent press conference, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath warned that parents may want to wait until this summer to begin scrutinizing their district’s ratings, as the newly released grades could now be out of date for some districts. “It’s an unfortunate fact that we’ve been stymied by what is ultimately frivolous liti- gation for the better part of two Adobe Stock Housing density has been one of the more contentious issues on Marilla Street, but this change to the city’s residential code was approved with little fuss. Cruel Intentions from p6 >> p10
