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Rosario Dawson Sued for Alleged Transphobic Assault: Hate Crimes Rising in America

Rosario Dawson at the Los Angeles premiere of UNFORGETTABLE

By Tinseltown (Shutterstock)

Updated 11/30/2020:

While many fans rejoiced at Rosario Dawson's recent appearance as Ahsoka Tano on The Mandalorian, plenty were dismayed and disappointed that the 41-year-old actress has a lawsuit against her and her family based on their alleged attack of a transperson and "longtime family friend."

Prior to Dawson's anticipated debut on The Mandalorian, LGBTQ+ fans felt that little attention was paid to the pending lawsuit, which felt like added erasure of trans rights in a year when 39 transgender or gender non-conforming people were killed in targeted crimes, often with the added insult of being unreported or misreported. (That's to say nothing of non-fatal violent crimes against transpeople, including a recent attack against Laverne Cox and her friend.)

Initially, the lawsuit against Dawson and her family included battery, assault, trespass, discrimination, civil rights and labor violations. However, recent court documents show that 18 of the 20 claims have been "withdrawn voluntarily without a settlement."

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Dawson was asked directly: "The claim accused you and other family members of anti-trans bias, and you've called the lawsuit false and baseless. But what do you say to those Star Wars fans who hear this and believe the worst—that you are transphobic?"

Dawson replied, "Well, firstly, I just want to say I understand…why people were concerned, and are concerned. I would be, too, if I heard some of those claims. But I mean, as we're seeing right now in these past months, and just recently actually, the truth is coming out. Every single claim of discrimination has been dismissed by the person who made them."

She added, "[T]his is coming from someone I've known since I was a teenager, the better part of my life, and who my family was trying to help as we have many times in the past, it really just makes me sad. But I still have a great empathy for him."

When pressed to make a firmer statement about her position on trans rights, Dawson affirmed, "I was raised in a very inclusive and loving way, and that's how I've lived my entire life. I've always used my voice to fight for, lift up, and empower the LGBTQA community, and use my platform to channel trans voices, in fiction and nonfiction work that I've produced and directed. So I feel the record is really clear."

Originally posted 10/22/2019:

A former employee and family friend of Dawson is suing the actress and her family for battery, assault, trespass, discrimination, civil rights and labor violations. Dedrek Finley, 55, alleges that the 40-year-old actress and three of her family members began discriminating against him after he came out as transgender.

The core assault allegedly took place on April 28, 2018 after their relationship grew increasingly antagonistic after Finley came out. While the Dawson family has yet to comment on the allegations, the details of the assault match the recent rise in violence (including murders) against transgender and nonbinary individuals. Nationally, hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals have reached record highs.

As is common with many hate crimes, Finley's lawsuit details how discrimination and intolerance occurred long before any violence. Finley was reportedly a family friend who only moved from New York to Los Angeles in order to work for Dawson as her handyman in exchange for lodging. Amidst renovating and remodeling the actress' personal home, Finley moved into a residence rented by the Dawson family.

That same year, Finley came out to the family as a transgender man, changing his preferred name and pronouns. "The family misgendered him multiple times each day, with deliberate indifference as to the appropriate way to address Mr. Finley," the lawsuit claims. Rosario Dawson is said to have "acted with deliberate indifference and did nothing to correct the situation."

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In fact, Dawson reportedly dismissed and invalidated Finley's gender, saying, "You're a grown woman." When Finley tried to correct her use of pronouns, Dawson allegedly replied, "Whatever." He's suing for discrimination on the grounds that the Dawson family ordered him to move out of his rented residence without legal grounds for eviction.

Their dispute allegedly escalated until April 28, when Rosario Dawson's mother, Isabel, allegedly ripped out a window screen and dragged him by the arm out of the open window. The lawsuit describes Rosario Dawson helping her mother to attack and beat Finley, allegedly sitting on top of him and "actively restraining him while he was on the ground to ensure that her mother could continue battering him."

"Once Mr. Finley was lying helpless on the ground outside, Isabel, who is substantially larger than Mr. Finley, got on top of Mr. Finley's body and began punching him," the suit states. "While beating Mr. Finley, Isabel screamed, 'You're not so much of a man now,' which was a clear and denigrating reference to Mr. Finley's gender identity." Rosalia Dawson allegedly said, "Mom, stop being petty" before holding Finley down.

Other details in the allegations include Isabel threatening to kill Finley's cat if he didn't leave the residence, Isabel stomping on his hand, and one of the Dawson women taking away his phone, which allegedly held video evidence of Isabel threatening his cat.

After the (alleged) attack, Finley called the police, received hospital treatment, and was granted a temporary restraining order against Isabel Dawson. He continued to stay at the residence in dispute until September, at which point he says the Dawsons shut off the gas, forcing him to leave the premises.

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Finley is suing both Rosario and Isabel Dawson for the assault, as well as Dawson's uncle and stepfather, who are accused parties to the discrimination and assault. Finley's lawyer, Tasha Alyssa Hill, told NBC News that Finley decided to sue after the Dawson family refused to communicate with him.

"Mr. Finley had a good relationship with the family, did work with them in New York and had a good enough relationship that they invited him to California and offered him a living situation and a full time working situation for the family," Hill said. "When they did that, they knew him as a lesbian woman. When he came out to California and decided to come out to them as a transgender man, that's when things started going south."

According to Hill, Finley is seeking "some sort of compensation" so he can "get back on track with his life [and] put this incident behind him." The Dawson family has yet to comment on the allegations.

Of course, part of the shock surrounding the lawsuit is that Rosario Dawson has been lauded for her activism in the Latinx community and other social causes. Washington Post has called her "the young Jane Fonda of the Afro-Latinx world" for her outspokenness about voting rights and environmental sustainability.

Just last month, Dawson described hateful anti-immigration rhetoric and legislation as America "suffering a crisis of our humanity." As the girlfriend of a presidential candidate (however behind in the polls Corey Booker might be), committing a hate crime in 2018 clearly propagates the kind of intolerance and hate culture that most Americans are trying to combat.

NOTE: Includes hate crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming and mixed group victimsSource: FBI, Chart: Nigel Chiwaya at NBC News

To put this incident in context, Finley's lawsuit was filed within one week of the 21st anniversary of Matthew Shepherd's murder, a 1998 violent hate crime that forced America to become more aware of hate crimes and inspired The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Still, in 2018, at least 26 transgender people were violently murdered, with the FBI reporting that the number of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes has steadily risen since 2014. While the LGBTQ+ community makes up at least 4.5% of the America population, the FBI finds that queer individuals account for more than 16% of the nation's reported hate crimes. Of course, an untold number of assaults go unreported every year.

J.K. Rowling Is a TERF (and Hatsune Miku Wrote Harry Potter)

#IStandWithVoldemort

Photo by Jessica Fadel on Unsplash

A few months ago, in one single, incredibly disappointing tweet, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling outed herself as a TERF.

The acronym TERF stands for "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist" and is reserved for people who seem to stand for liberal feminist ideologies in regards to women's rights while simultaneously espousing transphobic sentiments.

Rowling's Tweet under the hashtag #IStandWithMaya is in reference to the case of Maya Forstater, a London-based tax expert who sued the charitable organization she worked for after they decided not to renew her contract over transphobic tweets. The case hinged on whether or not Forstater's Tweets, which included trans-exclusionary and absolutist sentiments like "men cannot change into women," were protected under the 2010 Equality Act.

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Why Is Ricky Gervais Hosting the Golden Globes Again?

No Host Would Actually Be a Lot Better

People

Last January, Ricky Gervais—who has hosted the Golden Globes four times before—claimed that if he had hosted the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards, "it would have been the end of [my] career."

He said this in the context of expressing his jealousy of Seth Meyers, who hosted that year. In a time of cultural shift and increased sensitivity to various issues, the "comedian" seemed to be suggesting that his particular brand of offensive and insensitive material would both flourish in that context and invite a harsh backlash. It's unclear what, if anything, has changed since then, but it has just been announced that the Hollywood Foreign Press is having Gervais reprise his hosting duties for a fifth time. Why?

Gervais despair "After Life"

Remember when Kevin Hart was bumped from hosting the Oscars because his apology for old homophobic jokes wasn't good enough? Well Gervais has never apologized for his bad jokes. In fact, he continues making them. He is proudly behind the times. He has made an ongoing point of expressing his passionate ignorance of trans issues as crassly and as often as possible. In his Netflix stand-up special, he "jokes" that he has "always felt like a chimp," and he's claimed in various tweets to identify as thin, black, a poor green lesbian, and a comedian. That last one is particularly galling. Can you really be a comedian if you just keep repeating one joke?

It wasn't that long ago that holding transphobic views was the accepted norm, and perhaps it's too much to expect boomers to adjust to new expectations so quickly, but if they want to hang on to their outdated ideas, they could at least do so quietly. Gervais refuses to shut up about his tired politics. Take this brilliant insight into the existence of trans women who haven't opted for—or haven't yet received—gender confirmation surgery:

Gervais c*ck tweet Hilarious...

And all the other times he's made basically the same joke (clearly I was wrong about him having only one joke that he keeps repeating—he has two). Ricky Gervais has made some great television and become a pioneer in early podcasting when he figured out that he could be mean to his friend for an audience. It's unsettling that someone who has contributed so much to culture, who is pretty clever in a lot of what he does, and who seems to have empathy in some matters could think such lame observations count as comedy.

He seems to revel in the suggestion that trans identities are perverse and that trans women who still have the genitals they were born with are fundamentally predatory. Maybe he thinks of his own p-nis as fundamentally predatory? Maybe he thinks that conflating homosexuality and pedophilia is still cool too. He's definitely not as comfortable with homosexuality as he likes to pretend.

Gervais in "Derek" He's also really cool and thoughtful when portraying a character with a developmental disability...NME

So why? Why is anyone involved agreeing to this? I suppose Ricky wants people to pay attention to his Netflix show After Life, and thinks his edgy, recalcitrant ignorance will really shake things up by reasserting a lot of old and tired ideas. And maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press thinks that this will get them the kind of loud, negative attention that they didn't get until after they announced Green Book as the winner last year. After all, there's no such thing as bad press…except the Hollywood Foreign Press. They suck.

Best case scenario: Gervais is right, and this last hosting gig will end his career. Still, it just seems like there must be a better solution. Hmm…

gervais host tweet

From Your Site Articles

Unpacking Mario Lopez's Transphobic Propaganda

Mario Lopez has some bad takes on transgender identity.

Candace Owens and Mario Lopez, Candace Owens Show

Apparently, Saved by the Bell's Mario Lopez has some opinions on parents who support their transgender kids. He should probably keep them to himself, though.

"...If you're 3 years old and you're saying you're feeling a certain way or you think you're a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think it's dangerous as a parent to make this determination then, well, OK, then you're going to a boy or a girl..." Lopez said on Candace Owen's conservative talk show. This talking point—along with many other common transphobic arguments—is disinformation at best and propaganda at worst.

The notion of transgender identity is incredibly contentious for many people. They don't understand the psychology behind transgender identity or the fact that transitioning (accompanied with proper medical/psychiatric oversight) is oftentimes the only "cure" for gender dysphoria. These same people probably wouldn't have a problem with someone taking medication to combat depression, so perhaps their pushback against proper medical solutions to gender dysphoria simply stems from ignorance.

First of all, no child, not a single one, is transitioning without intense medical scrutiny. When a transgender youth transitions, they do so under the supervision of and in conjunction with doctors and psychiatric professionals who have confirmed their gender dysphoria and deemed transitioning the best course of action for their future best interest. The decision comes down to the child's own wishes and the advice of multiple experts, not the parent's "determination."

There is no such thing as a parent pushing transgender identity on a child. When a child says they are a different gender than the one they were biologically assigned, a parent either accepts it or they do not. If the parent does not accept their child's identity, the child grows up with a higher risk of depression, suicide, and myriad other issues.

In contrast, accepting a child's gender identity allows them to grow up in a safe environment with a proper support network and ultimately find the best path for their happiest future. If it really is "just a phase" (and it's probably not), they'll realize that on their own terms, whether they're supported or not. In other words, parents supporting their child's gender identity can only help.

Moreover, by the earliest age a child can legally start to medically transition (14), their gender identity is already clearly established. Their being a "child" does not mean they don't understand their own gender identity, and transitioning is much easier before puberty than afterwards. That's what puberty blockers are for, and there is a big difference between taking puberty blockers and taking hormones to actually begin transitioning.

As their name suggests, puberty blockers stave off puberty. This allows transgender children around two extra years to solidify their own identity and, if they so choose, ultimately have an easier time transitioning. The effects of puberty blockers are reversible at any time. As soon as the child stops taking them, puberty will start back up––just a little bit later than their peers. And while potential negative side-effects are still being studied, most medical experts agree that puberty blockers are safe.

If a child begins to medically transition at age 14, they have likely already been on puberty blockers for two years. That's two full years to actively solidify their decision under the watchful eye of medical professionals. To suggest that "children shouldn't be transitioning" is to reject science, psychology, and fact––it is an assertion that you know more than experts, and it is based entirely on ignorance, "feelings," or worse.

A lot of people who vocally push against pro-transgender causes are not coming from a place of good intent. They don't actually care what is or is not in transgender people's best interests. They don't try to understand the science (if they did, they'd understand that parental support of transgender youth is overwhelmingly supported by the medical community). Some of them don't even recognize transgender identity as "real."

What Mario Lopez said on Candace Owen's hate-mongering show isn't just a bad take; it's a dangerous one. Parents supporting the gender identity of their children is the single-best support network for transgender kids. As one mother of a transgender daughter told NBC, "I would rather have a trans daughter than a dead son."

Lopez has apologized for his comments, so let's hope he and others can take this as an opportunity to educate themselves before speaking about something they don't understand.

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Rosario Dawson Sued for Alleged Transphobic Assault: Hate Crimes Rising in America

J.K. Rowling Is a TERF (and Hatsune Miku Wrote Harry Potter)

#IStandWithVoldemort

A few months ago, in one single, incredibly disappointing tweet, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling outed herself as a TERF.

Why Is Ricky Gervais Hosting the Golden Globes Again?

No Host Would Actually Be a Lot Better

Last January, Ricky Gervais—who has hosted the Golden Globes four times before—claimed that if he had hosted the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards, "it would have been the end of [my] career."

Unpacking Mario Lopez's Transphobic Propaganda

Mario Lopez has some bad takes on transgender identity.

Apparently, Saved by the Bell's Mario Lopez has some opinions on parents who support their transgender kids. He should probably keep them to himself, though.

"Orange Is the New Black" and Sympathy for Men of #MeToo

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As Netflix's third original series and one of its most outstanding successes, Orange Is the New Black (OITNB) was a landmark series for diverse female representation in TV.

Jordan Peterson and the Myth of the Modern Man

Critics frame him as "the stupid man's smart person." For millions of fans, Peterson whitewashes ultra-conservative beliefs with academic-sounding bluster, framing disaffected young men as mythic-grade heroes who have been undermined by modern liberalism and its loose moral structure.

Take Sisyphus as an icon of masculine identity: see the stalwart, self-sacrificing, Adonic man on his hill, the hulking burden of his rock, and his never-ending tread.