Vanessa’s Continuing Pursuit For Justice

Vanessa is a trans woman of color living with HIV, currently incarcerated at Vaughn Correctional in Delaware. She is hilarious, strong, and an all around beautiful human being. And while struggling through chronic pain and the daily physical and sexual violence she faces from guards, she is doing everything she can to hold a giant pharmaceutical company accountable for destroying her hips.

Vanessa is fighting Gilead Sciences in court over criminally irresponsible production and marketing of the drug, Truvada. Vanessa took Truvada -- now known to cause significant bone density loss in some patients-- for a number of years. Class action suits have been filed against Gilead around Truvada, but due to her incarceration, Vanessa has been excluded from participation in several of them. 

So, Vanessa is taking things into her own hands! But she needs your help. The court recently denied her request for a lawyer so she'll have to find (and pay for) one on her own. She also needs an investigator and expert witnesses on her side. The criminal legal system is heavily prejudiced against her, and Gilead will definitely have a seasoned legal team. We can help Vanessa to level the playing field!!

This is time sensitive- if Vanessa can't meet certain legal deadlines that are coming up in the next two months, the case will be dropped. So if you believe in supporting QTPOC prisoners as they fight for their own liberation, please donate as soon as you can!