Gayes, according to court documents we obtained, actress Rosario Dawson and her family are being sued by their former handyman Dedrek Finley. Finley is a transgender man who worked for the family two years ago and alleges that he was discriminated against and assaulted because of his gender.
Dedrek Finley said that he came out to the family as transgender in December of 2017. He claims that the family was dismissive of using male pronouns to refer to him, and he claimed that Dawson’s stepfather told him, “you’re not a man,” and "you only think you’re a man," according to court documents filed.
During his time working for the family, Finley, was living in Dawson’s mother’s former apartment in exchange for his work. The court documents also state that Dawson and her mother, Isabel, dragged him through the window of a bedroom after they told him to move out.
Court documents state, “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. 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.”
Finley had been in contact with the family in some capacity, on and off for at least twenty years. According to the complaint, upon moving to LA he “incurred substantial debt in reliance on the family's promises to provide him steady employment and housing.”
Finley’s attorney, Tasha Alyssa Hills, told the LA Times, “The aggression that was shown to him by members of the Dawson family, and the nature of that aggression leads one to think that motivations were transphobic. He just wants to get some sort of compensation, so he can get back on track with his life so he can put this incident behind him,” she said.
Not only are the claims upsetting, this whole story is even more shocking because Dawson is the girlfriend of presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker who has spoken out against transphobia. A spokesperson for his campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment.
View the court docs here!
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