Hi, my name is Bambi. Most of you should already know me, I’m a transgender female.
Currently, I’m still being held in the Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield, Kentucky. I have current federal pending charges and I’m going through the court process. A lot of things that I have been noticing a lot, more and more, is that the jail system itself, and the prison system, doesn’t want to recognize a transgender as being a female. One of the prime examples is just the other day I was taken to somewhere to go see a mental health therapist for mental health evaluation.
And the officers that took me, they wasn’t really, they wasn’t fond, and did not like the fact that the mental health people kept referring to me as a female. And they was like, “That’s not, that’s not a woman. That’s a man. He was born man. That’s a man. He’s in a man’s jail.” And it’s sad. It is. I see a lot on the news. I live in a cell by myself. I have my own TV because I am currently placed in administrative seg.
I watch the news a lot and I see that a lot of the Republican Party does not want to see anything good come out of transgender people, and especially the LGBT community itself. It makes a lot of things hard. Especially for like the state of Indiana where I was in a state facility. Just not long ago, their legislators had passed a bill, a Senate bill that bans transgender inmates in state prisons, just in Indiana, from receiving or even asking and requesting for gender reassignment surgery. And that’s sad. It’s, I can’t help it, and I’m sure the next person can’t help it, that they were born this way. This is this is who I am. This is who they are. And it’s sad that we have to be the ones that get the treatment, the worst, of being referred to as very strong, anti hate crime derogatory remarks.
Since me being in this jail, I, in the last eight months, I’ve already had several deputies that have said, the most god awful things to me. I’ve even had one that no longer works here. They called me a quote, “effing queer.” Nothing was done about it. They didn’t take it seriously. They just spoke with them. And that was all. That was that. And they said, just speaking with him, there was not nothing sufficient for them to do anything about it. It’s sad, as the LGBT and not just trans women, but trans men as well, and the whole LGBT itself. We are a family. We need Congress to make these changes. We need Congress and the senators and legislators to say, ‘Hey, maybe there isn’t anything wrong with these people living their lives the way they want to. They’re not harming nobody. They are not trying to harm themselves. They’re living their way. It’s a way of life.’ This is, this is who they are. We need Congress to act on this. I have been watching the upcoming elections. And I, God forbid for me saying this, but I hope Donald Trump does not make office again. Because if he does, there is going to be a lot of bad things change in the negative for the LGBT community. And for those of you who can be an advocate, who can do anything to help me and that’s such a way as for being that voice that I can’t be alone because I am incarcerated. You can write to me and contact me at the Grayson County Detention Center, Leitchfield, Kentucky. The ZIP Code is 42754 and my contact information is Roger King, Bambi, my jail number is 27774. Once again, you can contact me at that address, you can write me letters, if you choose to.
Like I said it this is a lot of things need to change for the better. This Republican Party, for many years has tried to put a damper, has tried to put negativity, and has tried to change things for the worse for us. And something needs to give, something needs to change. Myself I have gone through so much things that are just so god awful. That it, it would make a person probably sick to their stomach, just the thought of the things that I’ve gone through as a transgender woman. I want to thank everybody that has attempted to reach out to me and I do appreciate it. I do want to give a shout out to a very good friend of mine that I haven’t seen in eight months. He is a political prisoner, and he is well known to be a part of the Pendleton Two with the Indiana Department of Corrections and his name is Christopher “Naeem” Trotter. Thank you, Chris, for always being my friend and for being a mentor and guiding me in the right direction and being able to listen and to try to understand me as much as possible. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody.
These commentaries are recorded by Prison Radio