Adriel and Monae looked at each other for the first time in the room. Pennsylvania prison (United States) while doing their job in the correctional center’s laundry. After a short dialogue, they fall in love.
In order to spend a moment alone, away from the judgmental eyes of their gangmates, the couple fled to the library or the gym, but as their bond grew stronger, their relationship came to light.
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“I was a gang leader, so a lot of people didn’t like that I was with Monae. A lot of my old gang friends didn’t like it, jail officials didn’t like it, nobody liked it, nobody. Nobody really had anything good to say about my relationship,” the 53-year-old told the YouTube channel “Truly”.
Adriel says he faced verbal and physical rejection for his decision: “My gang members attacked me twice, stabbed me, and I got into a lot of fights. People I grew up with in the prison system, people I knew from my childhood, gang members, they didn’t expect me to start dating a transgender person, they didn’t expect that at all.”
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He adds that even his family didn’t look at their relationship with good eyes, having to face criticism and, worse, his indifference: “They thought it was something temporary that he was joking. But when they found out the truth, they rejected me too. Some have stopped talking to me, for example I haven’t spoken to my brother in two years. I have a couple of cousins who still think I’m crazy.”
Adriel had been convicted of violating the probation he was given for a Third degree murder in which he interfered. A harsh image exposed to those around her because she had formed a relationship with Monae, who had fought since she was 16 to have her body conform to the gender she identified with.
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Speaking of the time she spent in prison for robbery, she said: “Back then there wasn’t a policy of giving options to trans women who wanted to be sent to a women’s or men’s prison, so there wasn’t one I had one.” choice when I was convicted.”
Amidst this hostile context and after dating Adriel for months, they both decided to get married. When both gained their freedom, they married and moved in together.
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Monae described, “Our memories were in prison and we didn’t have anything that wasn’t there. Now we’re working on all of this, it’s like it’s the first time for everything for us, it’s like a fresh start.”