A belligerent GOP congressional candidate whipped out her selfie stick at a Los Angeles Denny’s and declared herself Sheriff of the Potty Police this week, and she’s not the least bit sorry. Jazmina Saavedra, a Republican longshot in June’s nonpartisan “top-two” primary in Los Angeles’ 44th district, took it upon herself to accost a transgender woman in a closed stall Tuesday, while posting every second of it to Facebook Live.
Saavedra has removed the video since going viral, though her Facebook page continues to focus on her transphobic fifteen minutes of fame, with such dazzling works of graphic design as the one below.
Deleted or not, the disturbing video (and Saavedra’s double-down) illustrates the constant challenges and threats that transgender people face in the United States today in public spaces, even in a city as supposedly liberal as Los Angeles. A 2016 survey really drives home just how dangerous meeting a universal biological need can be.
Almost 60 percent of transgender Americans have avoided using public restrooms for fear of confrontation, saying they have been harassed and assaulted, according to the largest survey taken of transgender people in the United States.
Thirty-two percent of transgender people said they limited the amount they ate or drank at least once in the previous year so they did not need to use a public restroom. Eight percent reported having a kidney or urinary tract infection, or another kidney-related medical issue, because they avoided restrooms.
Yet to Saavedra, clad in a Trump sweatshirt, she’s the one who was in danger. The video begins with the would-be congresswoman strolling through the restaurant, complaining about (and misgendering) the unnamed transgender woman.
“I’m trying to use the ladies’ room and there is a man here claiming that he is a lady.”
By the time the ranting wannabe politician gets to the bathroom, a male Denny’s employee is already standing outside the unnamed woman’s stall. The employee repeatedly asks Saavedra to “give (them) a second, please,” but she keeps screaming about how her right to privacy is being invaded, even as she is undeniably invading another person’s privacy.
When she finally leaves the restroom, she proceeds to camp outside the door, lying in wait for the transgender woman to leave, camera still rolling. Saavedra then follows the woman through the restaurant, shouting transphobic and Trumpian nonsense about protecting women and families from some unnamed threat posed by those outside the gender binary. Whenever the woman responds, Saavedra cleverly tells her to “shut up” and repeatedly calls her “stupid,” misgendering her all the while.
It’s worth taking a moment here to mention that California’s Peeping Tom laws forbid filming people in bathrooms, California law requires both parties’ consent when recording, and additional statutes are in place to protect bathroom access for all, regardless of gender identity.
Nonetheless, Saavedra’s nasty little transphobic video crusade goes uninterrupted—by both staff and a diner full of silent bystanders slamming short stacks.
This woman wants to be in Congress, y’all. Check out the campaign “promise” (and solicitation for funding) that she attached to her heinous Facebook Live clip!
A man in a ladies room saying He is a woman.
( Obama legacy)
As your next Congress woman I will fight to get our right to have a ladies room just for us back . Vote for Jazmina for U.S. Congress 44 District. California June 5th
Guys I need you donate to our campaign
What a platform.
After the trans woman is escorted from the restaurant by staff (more on that in a minute), Saavedra returns to her table and continues to film for several more minutes, raging about how “stupid” California is for having protections in place for people of all genders. Saavedra then flaunts her pastel pepper spray and stun gun, and demands that everyone join her in protecting families and women from those evil people in power.
None of this is surprising, when considering her previous political activity.
Saavedra, a Bell Gardens resident, is a founding member of the Latinos for Trump political group. She is also the Spanish-speaking spokeswoman for the Christian Coalition and Make America Great Again Inc.
Essentially, the video is seven minutes of madness and hate. Yet since the video went viral, Saavedra has been lapping up all the press, even bringing back her selfie stick to film her interviews with local outlets, including one held at yet another Denny’s, because, hey, the Grand Slam is a great deal, and apparently the restaurant is super welcoming to transphobic politicians who livestream.
Calls to the Vermont-Wilshire Denny’s location on Friday morning were met with refusals to comment once I identified myself as a reporter; I was then ordered to call corporate. Upon calling Denny’s corporate media inquiry line, the phone rang nearly fifty times before automatically disconnecting with a busy signal.
The diner chain did offer the following statement Friday, wherein they claim that the unnamed woman was only asked to leave after being caught with drug paraphenalia. The statement mildly and vaguely reproaches Saavedra’s deplorable behavior, and completely fails to address the fact that staff allowed her to livestream from a bathroom.
Skepticism about the “paraphernalia” abounds on social media. Could it have been estrogen?
Also...knowing what we know about the dangers transgender folks face in public, would the unnamed woman really just toss her drug stuff all over a Denny’s bathroom floor? Besides, anyone who’s ever encountered a drug user in a bathroom knows they usually use their laps or the toilet tank, right?
Meanwhile, Right Wing Watch reports that, despite claiming “this isn’t political” in an interview with ABC7, Saavedra is using her time in the hatred limelight to solicit more money for her congressional campaign. Their assessment is worth a read, for anyone who has any doubts about her deplorable bonafides.
After her gross harassment made news, Saavedra shared news stories about the incident on Facebook accompanied with links to her campaign donation page and statements that she would “defend our rights to have a women (sic) room.” Saavedra also used the news story to claim she would “defend the integretaty (sic) of every little girl or woman to use public restrooms.”
Saavedra has a history of anti-LGBTQ comments, despite her campaign claim to “truly represent all Californians with their needs and rights.”
Saavedra’s incumbent opponent was quick to speak out against her as well.
Saavedra is challenging the Democratic incumbent Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragan.
Barragan issued a statement about the incident: "I was appalled by the treatment that this woman received for simply trying to use the restroom. Everyone has the right to their own identity, and the right not to be discriminated against for who they are."
Here’s hoping Saavedra pays for her hatred by losing by a huge margin on June 5, since she sure doesn’t seem to be getting punished for it so far. Barragan is technically her only active opponent, since actress and Fox News pundit Stacey Dash and Compton Mayor Aja Brown both “unofficially” withdrew this spring; however, both Dash and Brown remain on the ballot, and thus could technically, and reluctantly, eliminate Saavedra in this highly democratic district, leaving the November ballot wide open for Barragan.