Where He/She Belongs

LEE/LISA IACUZZI and his/her three-legged dog, Rowdy, aren’t
interested in fitting in.

A bigendered person who was born a woman but now identifies as a
“he” and a “she” simultaneously, Iacuzzi has won two gender
discrimination claims against different Portland women’s shelters in
the last six months. And Iacuzzi isn’t stopping there.

Now, in a move that could have far-reaching implications across the
country, Iacuzzi is vowing to pursue costly legal action against the
shelters and use the proceeds to set up a queer shelter for similar
people, unless they change the way they are implementing the city and
county’s housing gender-discrimination policies for bigendered
people.

There’s been no room at the inn for Iacuzzi, here in Portland. S/he
was asked to leave the Bradley-Angle House women’s domestic violence
shelter in October 2006, allegedly for smoking marijuana. But the
Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) found that Iacuzzi had been
treated differently there on the basis of her/his gender identity since
arriving in August of 2006, when they ruled on Iacuzzi’s case on May
20, 2008.

Among Iacuzzi’s substantiated BOLI claims: That s/he was shouted at,
offered money to stay in a hotel, and given the names of men’s shelters
after confessing to confusion about her/his gender identity. Iacuzzi
says s/he’d have been in danger at a men’s shelter and that her
treatment was discriminatory—BOLI agrees.

“The way the policies are in effect at Bradley-Angle House right
now,” says Matthew Ellis, an attorney with Kell, Alterman, and
Runstein, who is handling Iacuzzi’s BOLI complaint about the shelter,
“they may as well have a sign on the door saying, ‘No bigendered people
allowed.'”

After being thrown out of the Bradley-Angle House, Iacuzzi applied
for housing at the Rose Apartments on SE 6th and Taylor, a single-room
occupancy apartment building run by Reach Community Development.
S/he eventually got a room there in March 2007, but alleges s/he
was subject to ongoing harassment by her fellow tenants and the
apartments’ live-in manager, Jamie Barton.

Rose tenants called Iacuzzi “dyke, butch, gender freak, dildo,
bitch, and faggot,” s/he alleges, and posted notes on her/his door
saying things like, “Why don’t you move, no one likes you.”

On October 17, 2007, Rose resident Glenda Meyers submitted a
petition for a stalking protective order against Iacuzzi, documenting
two alleged incidents of threatening, one of which was documented by
Barton.

Iacuzzi says Meyers and Barton lied about her/his alleged
threatening behavior. Iacuzzi also obtained a stalking order against
Meyers on October 31, after Meyers and a group of tenants allegedly
threatened to beat her/him. Reach declined comment.

On November 12, 2007, Meyers reported Iacuzzi to the police for
“being in the building” where she lived, and Portland Police Officer
Andrew Kofoed arrested Iacuzzi for violation of the protective order.
Kofoed allegedly told Iacuzzi, “All you want is money, you will never
get any press, you’re a nobody.”

Iacuzzi then spent 29 days in jail, where s/he attempted suicide on
Thanksgiving 2007. Kofoed declined comment on his alleged remarks
through the cops’ Public Information Officer Brian Schmautz.

“Everyone’s thing is to try to discredit Lee/Lisa and try to suggest
that s/he’s causing these problems her/himself,” says Scott Leonard, an
independent attorney who is handling Iacuzzi’s BOLI claim and lawsuit
against Reach Community Development. “But BOLI has looked into these
complaints, and independent investigators have found them to be
substantiated not once, but twice.”

Iacuzzi’s suit against Reach, for housing discrimination under
county and city code, is seeking $350,000 in compensatory damages. S/he
may also sue the Bradley-Angle House, s/he says.

“At this time, we are unable to comment on the specific facts of
this matter, especially given that the allegations
against Bradley-Angle House may impact a larger scope than
just our organization,” says Karla McFarland, executive director of
Bradley-Angle House. “However, we maintain that there is no merit to
Lee/Lisa Iacuzzi’s allegations that Bradley-Angle House discriminated
against her/him in any way.”