Support me in Duncan v Lett Defamation Defense

Hello all:

I am reaching out to request support in my defense in a lawsuit filed against me by Dustin Duncan for Defamation and Intention Infliction of Emotional Distress last November. (In the course of my defense thus far the second claim has been dropped).

Summary: I am being sued by Dr. Dustin Duncan after sharing the gofundme of a trans man who alleged that Dr. Duncan had harassed and stalked him. Dr. Duncan has a concurrent lawsuit against the alleged victim, however he has chosen to sue me as well. In his lawsuit, he cites the investigation by his institution, his 3-hour detainment by the police, his medical leave during the investigation, and the loss of two full-time employees, claiming damages "not less than $1,000,000". I never contacted the police or his institution and in the lawsuit, Dustin specifically cites that the alleged victim contacted those entities. The unnamed full-time employees are likely the two employees who reached out to me to inform me of these allegations with their already existing plans to leave. Lastly, there is evidence that some of the information provided in the alleged alleged victim's gofundme is fabricated. While unfortunate—no one should be falsely accused—this information came out during the concurrent lawsuit, months after my original posts on twitter wherein I only shared the alleged victim's firsthand accounts of what he claim to have experienced. The investigation into Dr. Duncan has concluded and he was found without fault, and to my knowledge he has faced no other actions. Still, I am being sued for an exorbitant amount of money, and have had to spend in excess of $13,000 on my defense. As a medical student and first-generation trainee, from a low-income background without substantial financial resources, this is money that I cannot afford to spend. This money was saved for my medical and surgical transition and I hope you can support me in recouping these costs.

The story begins in June of last year when two of Dr. Duncan’s employees reached out to me to make me aware of allegations about Dr. Duncan made by a transgender man and retail worker in New York City. Part of the rationale the employees cited for reaching out to me is that, as a transgender woman and notable transgender health researcher, they wanted me to be made aware of the allegations against a colleague who was beginning to build out a program in transgender health research and had solicited an affiliation with me in that process. Those two employees provided me a link to the alleged victim's fundraiser, which contained images that were reported to be communications between Dr. Duncan and the alleged victim, as well as a video of an interaction between Dr. Duncan and the alleged victim at a retailer. At the time, I saw fit to support the alleged victim’s efforts to obtain financial support in his own actions against who he claimed was his harasser, and I shared his gofundme on my twitter page. I shared the victim’s firsthand account of his experiences because of the information contained in the account, the concern shared by employees who work regularly with Duncan, and the verifiable statistics on how frequently trans people are the victims of harassment and violence. In that process I did not expand the allegations; I only shared the alleged victim’s firsthand account and encouraged people to donate to support them.

At this point, I have spent more than $13,000 on this case. If it goes to trial, my lawyer says these costs may balloon to more than $100,000. I'm a medical student from humble beginnings—I’m a first-generation college student, and I grew up in a mobile home. No one in my family can support me in this, and I am using money I had saved for my medical transition to fight this lawsuit. Therefore, I ask for your support to help me recoup these costs. I am starting at $50,000 in anticipation of future costs and will go up if necessary. I will also post pictures of each invoice. Every cent that exceeds the cost of my lawsuit will be donated to The Okra Project, a Black trans mutual aid fund.

Thank you for your consideration. This process has been a significant drain on my time and well-being while completing medical school, and I am trying to spend as little time on it as possible.

Yours in solidarity,

Elle Lett