The transgender woman who was assaulted
in a North Carolina bathroom has called the incident “traumatic.”
Kai, 29, said that she was assaulted by
two other women inside the women's bathroom at Milk Bar in Raleigh on
December 9.
The women, Amber Harrell, 38, and
Jessica Fowler, 31, face second-degree kidnapping and sexual battery
charges. If convicted, the women, who have been released on bail,
will have to register as sex offenders. Harrell and Fowler are
expected to return to court at the end of January.
Speaking with Raleigh-based television
station WRAL, Kai said that she had gone into the bathroom at Milk
Bar to fix her hair and makeup when Harrell and Fowler began exposing
themselves and touching her.
“It became a very uncomfortable
situation, something I just did not expect to happen,” Kai
told the outlet. “It was just a very, very scary, very
claustrophobic, traumatic situation that happened, just being groped
and taken advantage of.”
The behavior continued once she
returned to the bar. A bartender even asked the women to stop. Kai
returned to the bathroom, where she says she had a panic attack.
“It felt hateful. It felt like
you're different from us and we want to make fun of the fact that
you're different from us,” she continued. “I feel degraded. I
feel confused. I feel hurt. The lewd comments and lewd actions that
were said and done, I just felt like I was a target.”
Kai said that she didn't initially
report the incident because she worried she would not be taken
seriously as a transgender woman. She called 911 about 12 hours later.
(Related: Netflix
refusing to film series in North Carolina over law prohibiting LGBT
protections.)