A trans politician in New York City was harassed by a constituent who probed her about her genitals.
Émilia Decaudin, an elected Democratic District Leader and State Committee Member in Queens, wrote on Twitter that a woman approached her and her fiancée at a bar and began harassing her for being the woman-elected District Leader, as every district has one man and woman elected to represent it.
Decaudin said the woman was “asking me ‘what I knew about vaginas'” and even pointed to her own daughters and asked, “How are you able to represent these vaginas?”
“Transphobia is a disease,” Decaudin added, “and it hurts so much to experience it first hand in my home, in my community.”
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Transphobia is a disease, and it hurts so much to experience it first hand in my home, in my community.
— Émilia “Boo!” Decaudin 🌹🎃🚰 (@EmiliaDecaudin) October 10, 2022
Decaudin told Pink News that the experience was “really scary” and that she had never before dealt with such direct hate in real life – only online.
It also felt “really violating,” she said to be confronted while out with her partner, rather than at a political event where she may have felt more prepared to deal with hostility.
She said she responded to the woman by saying, “Well, how do you know what’s in my pants? It’s kind of a weird question to ask,” and also reminding her that she got about 8,000 votes when she first ran two years ago.
“I won this election pretty handily,” she said, “so I’m pretty sure I do represent you, and I like to think I’m doing a good job at it.”
Decaudin also offered advice on what to do if you see a trans person being harassed like this.
“In very concrete terms, record the interaction. Because it’s helpful to be able to reflect on what was said, especially if stuff gets threatening to the point of needing a restraining order.”
Decaudin actually co-authored a bill that is now law that made the roles more inclusive and accessible to nonbinary people by stating each representative should be a different gender, rather than opposite sexes.
