Protect Grammy's Place: Safe Haven for Trans Women

Grammy's Place is a safe house for Black transgender women located in the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area. We successfully secured our first home and now find ourselves in a precarious position with emergency responders sparking state-sanctioned violence against us. They are utilizing a code that changed, which halts our efforts to house people on part of our property. They are demanding access to my whole property to do some sort of inspection without naming what they are seeking. This is their second time here, and I had to make a decision to move us to a space where we all reside under one roof, eliminating the issue with the garage apartment. As much work that has been done personalizing the space to meet the needs of the program, we have things to undo and prepare the house to sell in order to secure another property that suits our needs. Painting, replacing the broken garage door, fixing the yard where the dogs dug it up, fixing a crack in the ceiling, replacing light fixtures that are broken, hauling trash away, storage unit to declutter the living space, for closing costs and fees, and freshening the curb appeal with mulch and trimmed shrubs and fresh plants for the porch.

The house value is up thanks to gentrification, so we are looking to pretty much do an even trade as far as the sale of this property and the cost of the new one. I don't anticipate the same issues as before due to the housing market slowdown and the current abundance of properties being available. The realtor agrees, and the current house is listed with showings happening this coming weekend. I have some materials to kick off the whirlwind change needed at this house to maximize return in order to get the minimum of 5 bedrooms we need to meet current demand. This is where we need you to help us make the best of this hairy situation, as we do not feel safe and are fearful of dialing 911 again. We never imagined that someone not feeling well would cause the fire department to call in the city inspectors on something that is not a fire code violation. They cherry-picked something out of the air to bring us harm when someone was sick. I cannot in good conscience allow that type of violence and threat to our home and mission to happen. I used my last funds to hire an attorney to be present when they come, so they are not going beyond the scope and sticking to what the code violation is about. He was able to get them to postpone the visit as I was out of town at the time this came about. They will be here on the 17th.

The board of directors approved, and I executed our contingency plan I formulated after their first appearance, stating it was a problem with people living in the garage apartment when the fire department did not see anyone in that building or on the property that morning at all other than the person in the main house who was sick and myself because I opened the door. The thing is, when codes change, it usually does not affect existing structures. They are typically 'grandfathered in' and only apply to new builds. Why they are pushing me like this when we keep our property neater than the majority of neighbors, are generally quiet, especially after 9 pm, don't have a lot of traffic other than deliveries, and we keep to ourselves as the program participants are busy working on themselves. It can only be that we are Black transgender women in a small municipality adjacent to the metropolitan area they want out. Be damned how good of neighbors and property owners we are. But I suppose this is how you have to move to deal with, survive, and be safe in the most conservative state in America. The problem is, this growing pain was expected. I have been reading the mood of the area we live in since we moved here and I opened the program. I knew a time would come that we would need to move, but it seems like it's being fast-forwarded by all the hype from the election. Transgender people have been under attack for existing and wanting to be free to live our truths because Republicans have made us a topic of discussion to keep people from noticing their lack of movement on things that really matter like living wages and the extremely high cost of housing. Me living happy and free should not be a talking point unless we are preaching live and let live. For this to be such a Christian nation, too many seek to harm instead of love one another in the model Jesus left behind as a guide. America went from 'bring me your huddled masses' to mass deportation and bringing harm to those who were born and raised here. Do as I say, but don't you dare do as I do.