[Denver Post] A former member of Denver’s LGBTQ Commission says his civil rights were violated last year when a security guard at an Aurora hospital tackled him in anger as the activist was leaving the premises.JaxZion Justice Deak, a Denver gender activist, also is accusing The Medical Center of Aurora and its contracted security firm HSS of failing to train employees and adopt policies on how to interact with transgender patients and their visitors, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 22 in Denver District Court.
Deak, who recorded the incident on his cellphone, named the hospital, the security firm and the security guard, Yamada Garner, as defendants. The lawsuit was filed under Deak’s legal name, Elizabeth Erin Deak. Deak identifies as gender noncomforming and prefers male pronouns.
Deak, an activist who volunteers with transgender homeless people in Denver, is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.
A phone call to a spokeswoman at HSS’s Denver headquarters was not returned. A spokesman for The Medical Center of Aurora took a message from a reporter but did not follow up with a response.
Last December, one of Deak’s clients asked him to come for a visit in the behavioral health unit at the Aurora medical center because he was in crisis, the lawsuit said. The client had given Deak his patient identification number.