A hairstylist in the Adelaide CBD who allegedly treated a transgender client with “transphobic” and “abhorrent” comments in January 2016 is apologizing to the transgender woman who sued her, saying she was wrong.
Kim Smith, who is currently on the run, is currently in police custody after the woman’s lawyer alleged the barber’s comments had made her feel uncomfortable and unsafe.
“I am very proud of myself for being able to stand up for myself, and I am also very proud that I am able to speak my mind,” Ms Smith told the ABC on Tuesday.
“It is a very difficult time for me.
I am extremely remorseful and very angry at myself for saying the things that I did and to my client, for saying those things.”
The words that I said were absolutely inappropriate, and it was hurtful to the person who I was dealing with.””
It hurt a lot of people, especially transgender people, to be treated that way.
“Ms Smith said the barbershop incident was “one of the most traumatic things I have ever done”.”
It’s not that I was rude or anything like that, I was just trying to make sure that we are going to be able to do our job,” she said.”
There was a trans person that was going to do their hair and there was a transgender person that wasn’t.
“That’s what they wanted to do.
It was just a transphobic comment that they made.”
When you’re talking about people that are just in a transition process, they are very sensitive about things like that.
“Ms. Smith said she was a woman of her word when she approached the barbie to try to change her hair.”
She had already been on hormone therapy and was undergoing some surgery, but she was still a very feminine looking woman.
I just wanted to make her feel comfortable, so I put my hands on her back and started to do some work on her hair.
“Ms, Smith said her client felt uncomfortable because she was “very feminine”.”
I think she was feeling really unsafe,” she told the television station.”
Because of the transition process and all of the surgeries, they didn’t really like her hair, they thought she was going bald.
“They said it wasn’t really her hair that they were interested in.”
“So she told me, ‘I want to do my hair differently, I want to cut it more.'”
She wanted to be really good at her job.”‘
She was like a ghost’: Transgender woman’s ordeal ‘unprecedented’The incident happened in January last year and Ms Smith said it had affected her professionally and emotionally.”
Her body felt so uncomfortable, she felt like she was being violated, like she had just been assaulted,” Ms. Smith told ABC Radio Adelaide.”
So that’s when she went to the bar, I didn’t know what to do and I said ‘I don’t want to go back, it’s too scary’.””
She said ‘What do you mean, I don’t like you anymore?’
She said she wasn’t sure what was happening and I was like ‘No, no, no’.
“She just kept saying ‘I’m not sure what’s happening’.”
Then I started to ask her, ‘Are you sure that’s okay?’
And she said ‘No’, ‘I need to be sure’.”‘
I am still trying to find my way’: Transgender victim ‘still has a lot to learn’The case has raised concerns about the role of transgender people in the workplace and how employers handle gender dysphoria and gender-variant people.”
In the workplace, when you’re a trans employee you’re still in a lot more danger because you’re constantly confronted by other trans employees,” Ms Simeone said.’
It’s still a big issue’Ms Smith is currently appealing the case to the Human Rights Tribunal of Western Australia, and is appealing against a decision to strip her of her Australian citizenship.”
My client is still in the process of trying to come up with an answer to why she is still here,” she wrote on her Facebook page.”
If you are a transgender woman and you’re looking for support, please go to the website of the Human Right Commission and ask for a lawyer.
I will not be able get through to you until I am legally recognised and have the right to my Australian citizenship.
“Ms Simeon said she had been “shocked” by the court case, which was “unprecision” and said she hoped the tribunal would “make a difference”.”
She has had an experience that has been extremely traumatic, and she’s still trying in her own way to find her way,” Ms Himeon told ABC Adelaide.”[It’s] still a huge
