ARKANSAS, USA — The only transgender-focused resource center in Arkansas, Intransitive, is closed this week after someone allegedly vandalized their office, cutting off their water supply.
However, they explained how this is far from the first time that something like this has happened.
The non-profit's executive director Rumba Yambu said it's the fifth time their pipes have been tampered with, and close to the tenth attack overall in the last year.
"Usually the pipes are just vandalized. It's just they're just hidden in specific areas. But this time, they just took everything," Yambu said, "It keeps happening, cameras [were] stolen before, plants stolen. It always happens whenever we are either out of town for work, or we are holding a big event that is keeping us away from the center."
Yambu admits he's never reported any attack to police.
"There has been the narrative created by representatives that we are dangerous that we are like, all these horrible things... It just doesn't make us feel safe to then go and ask them for help," he added.
The water shut-off is expected to keep the center closed for a while as Intransitive raises funds for new pipes.
"The money that we use for supporting people with housing and groceries and medical needs, that's the only place we can pull money from to fix things that are being vandalized," said Yambu.
Though Yambu explained how they're still planning to open again as soon as they can.
"We are building this basis because they're hard to find the space to be able to breathe and feel like you can actually just be human today and not have to be on guard," he said. "We're still gonna be here, you know, we're here. Our light is not dim."
The center said they've installed security cameras in the area but due to their budget, the video quality is too low to see what happened.
Intransitive AR plans to share the latest information on re-opening and where anyone interested can donate on their social platforms.