When a friend sent me a message that a transgender woman was being held in a men’s jail, I thought it was a mistake. As far as I had ever seen, Pinellas County, especially the St. Petersburg area, was a very LGBTQ-friendly place to be.
The entire story seemed suspect to me. Why would the police go to a person’s house to arrest them for failure to appear for court on two red-light camera violations? I’ve known people who have had far worse pending charges and the police really didn’t seem to care unless they happened to cross paths with them.
Then I found out that she was being held on bail of only $513. I arranged to meet her the next day. Even though I’m a lawyer, I wasn’t yet her lawyer, so I had to meet her on civilian terms, electronically. I spoke to Karla for quite some time, who at that point had been there for about 11 days. She was as defeated and depressed as any person could be.
Often, people (including the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s attorney) make light of it being “only” 11 days, as if anyone should spend that amount of time in jail for her extremely minor offenses.
Much less the fact that she had been thrown to the wolves in the men’s jail, where as a transgender woman she was in severe danger, both from other inmates and from the severe withdrawal complications that she faced from their refusal to allow her any access to her medications.
However, think about how you would feel after 11 days of the kind of treatment she faced, where the guards openly mocked her health concerns and refused to even show the tiniest shred of common decency and refer to her as “her.” It would not take very long to make even most hardened people suicidal.
Many people would be utterly destroyed by this kind of treatment, and Karla has by no means been left unscathed. After helping to get her out of jail, she became not just my client, but a friend.
I’ve seen her grow this year as she’s sought accountability from that frightened and defeated victim of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department to a fierce advocate for transgender rights.
Her strength reminds us that while we cannot undo the damage done to us, we can grab onto that hurt and turn it into something beautiful and powerful.
The greatest heroes are not those who have never been knocked down or defeated, but those who wiped the blood from their lips and refused to let it be the end of their fight. That’s Karla, and she should inspire you as much as she inspires me.
To view the full list of Watermark’s Most Remarkable People of 2020, click here.
