DENVER — Friends of Jax Gratton, the Denver hairstylist whose body was discovered in a Lakewood alley nearly two months after she was first reported missing, gathered outside the Ralph L. Carr Judicial building in downtown Denver calling for the creation of an independent oversight task force to look into the handling of her death investigation.
"Jax wasn't like most people that you would meet nowadays, like her heart was truly pure. She cared about everybody," said Brandy Carey, a friend of Gratton who was part of the demonstration Thursday. "It didn't matter to how long she knew you, if she just met you, she held a space in her heart for you."
Carey told Denver7 she knew Gratton through work, as she is one of the managers with the salon suite concept where Gratton ran her hair styling business.
"She was one of my first members that I signed to that location," Carey said.
Carey told Denver7 the reason the group decided to demonstrate outside of the Ralph L. Carr building Thursday is because that's where Attorney General Phil Weiser's office is located. Carey said, ultimately, they want an independent oversight task force formed to investigate Gratton's death, which was classified "suspicious" by Lakewood police last moth.
"We are here today to continue our demand in us receiving an independent oversight task force to oversee the investigation into her disappearance and her death, into her murder," Carey said. "We have come here today because we have gone up against the city council in Lakewood twice."
Carey was the first to address the Lakewood City Council on Monday immediately after Lakewood Chief of Police Philip Smith.
Chief Smith referenced a previous apology made for deadnaming Jax, and spoke about what his department is now working to implement.
"Here is what we have done and what we have in progress, and this is going to be in a timely fashion towards the upcoming months to achieve these meaningful goals and objectives," the chief said. "The first thing we've established, and we actually haven't established it, but we've got it in place, is the Lakewood Police Department Community Advisory Group, and that will consist of members within the agency, as well as members from in the community that want to pursue these objectives, to work together. The second is, we're going to make sure that the Kelly Loving Act is made to be common knowledge amongst the agency."
Chief Smith went on to say the department does have other objectives already in place.
"We also have a training video, which is called 'Respect and reporting'," he said. "It's about 11 minutes long. It goes through the salient definitions that we need with our diverse members of our community. Also goes into a very nice way to walk into a contact so we don't hurt anybody's feelings."
Though, moments later, tempers flared during the city council meeting when Chief Smith said "his policy is treatment of the transgender...", which members of the audience didn't take fondly.
The chief said "I'm sorry," and a member of the city council followed with "come on, you guys. We need to give the chief the respect. Listen. We're gonna listen to everybody. We need to each give each other respect."
Z Williams, who also took part in Thursday's demonstration, told Denver7 they weren't pleased with the Lakewood Police Department and simply didn't trust it.
"We believe that the police in Lakewood cannot police themselves," they said.
Denver7 reached out the Lakewood Police Department twice this week, requesting an interview with Chief Smith or another representative of their department. A spokesperson for the department responded with the following.
We are going to pass on this interview. Thank you for reaching out.
Denver7 then followed up with questions over the Community Advisory Group, and a spokesperson said the following.
The Community Advisory Group is going to be created in the fall. We are looking to identify LGBTQ+ police liaisons from existing staff, including both sworn and civilian ranks. We will also seek other law enforcement and non-profit experts to be part of this committee. Finally, and most importantly, we will seek to engage members of the Lakewood community who want to contribute to this important cause and help their police department in shaping our future as a department and as a community. Our goal always has been, and will continue to be to get justice for Jax and her family.
However, Gratton's friends said they want more oversight.
"We're here for Jax, and we're here for all trans people, and we're here for all marginalized communities," Carey said.
Digging deeper into the data
While the community continues to rally around the family and loved ones of Jax Gratton, the most recent data from the FBI shows an increase in reported hate crimes against LGBTQ+ community members.
Denver7 anchor Micah Smith spoke with Jax Gonzalez, the political director for One Colorado, to learn more:
Gonzalez said the most recent data, for 2023, showed the 2,800 recorded anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes accounted for almost one-quarter of hate crimes reported at the federal level that year. Gonzalez also said there was a 93% increase in tracked homicides of transgender and gender-non-conforming people between 2017 and 2021.
Gonzalez said while transgender Coloradans have more legislative protections in the state compared to other states, laws are not translating to physical safety.
“So while we know that this violence is increasing, what we also know is that it's not about individual actors. The increase in violence has, is clearly related to the increase of anti trans conversation bills leadership across our country and a dehumanization of the trans community, we know that that is what is causing this violence, and that individual actors are not the actual problem."
Gonzalez said in their opinion solutions to addressing the issue include teaching young people about different identities and how to respect those identities. Gonzalez also suggests marginalized community stand in solidarity with one another.