Injustices

“I get no respect at all” might be funny when Rodney Dangerfield said it but if you are a victim of an assault and the no one does anything about it, it is not funny. It can be deadly.

The Dangers of Being Transgender -- The Attack On Jacie Leopold
Huffington Queer Voices
By Charlize Veritas
February 10, 2016

On Dec. 21st, 2014, the Back Porch Grill in Hot springs Arkansas was having their annual Christmas party. For the employees It was cause for celebration, but for Jacie Leopold the night was about to become a fight for her life and eventually, justice.

Jacie had been working as a full-time chef there when she began her transition to female in mid-2014. She was open about it to her friends and family, but she was afraid to tell her coworkers.

"I was working with a group of people who worked hard and liked to relieve stress through humor," Jacie told me. LBGT people were commonly the butt of their jokes.
[…]
On the night of the company Christmas party, Jacie was struck in the face by a coworker who will remain unnamed at this time. She was knocked unconscious.

Jacie told me,

I woke up on the floor lying on my back. There was a lot going on around me. A lot of shouting. People being moved back and told to get away from me. There was quite a bit of blood. I did not know what happened. I was in shock. I was embarrassed and scared. I remember all I wanted was to get out of there and get away as quick as possible. I went straight to my car as two of my coworkers kept everyone away from me. That's where I remained. Terrified and in shock. With my doors locked.

The police did not immediately take a statement. Jacie was taken to CHI St. Vincent Hospital where the doctor told her that her eye socket and cheekbone had both been fractured. Her nose was broken in two places and her teeth were chipped. Her mouth had been cut, her head swelling from all sides.

Her father went to the police and found that they did nothing past taking the report and when the father went to a lawyer…

Jacie and her father met with an attorney.
"He said he did not have enough evidence to support a hate crime," said Jacie.
He told me the reality of the situation was that this is the south and any jury here would tell me the same thing they told any woman; that I should not have put myself into a situation where alcohol was being served. They would tell me that it is my fault.

He said because I am transgender, they are going to be scratching their heads going, 'what is that?' He said I would not get a fair trial, even if he could get it to trial. So I shut back down. The police didn't want to help. The attorney didn't want to help. And I was scared of going public about transitioning. So I shut down. I tried not to talk about it to anyone.

Then to add salt to the wounds,

Seven months after the incident, she received a cease and desist letter from The Back Porch Grill claiming she had fabricated the whole assault.

"I felt like they had broken a huge piece of me and crippled my reputation." said Jacie.

But her troubles didn’t end there; she was in an auto accident last December and guess what the police did with the driver that had no insurance and went through a stop sign? She was given a ticket for no insurance while Ms. Leopold was taken away in an ambulance. She had to fight to get the other person arrested and then when the court date came…

When Jacie showed up for the court date, they were not expecting her.

When I was standing in the court room and the judge told me there was not even a record of an accident and nothing he could do to help me, I felt really small in the community. Like there was just nothing that I can do to get help or justice. When the police department will not even do their job for you; you have a sense of fear that anybody can do anything to you and nobody will care. 

When you live in a small town in the south and you’re trans it is a lot different than living in a small town here in Connecticut.

A couple of months ago I had to call 911 and the officer who arrived we professional and respectful, me being trans was not an issue.