The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch made a transgender haven. Then the violent threats began

The Tenacious Unicorn Ranch made a transgender haven. Then the violent threats began

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The ranch hand walks along rocky ground, the beam of her flashlight cutting through the moonlit night. She holds a shotgun loosely at her side during her patrol of an alpaca ranch founded as a haven for transgender and non-binary people.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Penny Logue fires her pistol during target practice.

Penny Logue, who grew up on a farm, started the Tenacious Unicorn Ranch in Colorado in 2018. It had been two years since Logue had begun her transition and the U.S. Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group, had just declared 2017 the deadliest documented year so far for members of the trans and gender non-conforming community, with 31 people killed.

Logue says she saw that many in the LGBTQ community had nowhere to feel safe and struggled to find employment, housing, and peace of mind.

"You have people that are brilliant, that just can't interact with society in a normal way," Logue says. "They just get shoved down every time they pop their head up and you watch it over and over and over again."

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Logue initially rented a ranch in northern Colorado to raise alpacas, whose wool is sold as a prized weaving material. In March 2020 the operation moved just outside the small town of Westcliffe in southern Colorado with 86 alpaca, 20 chickens, 40 ducks, several dogs and cats, and nine people.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Logue and Ash Kreis hug Nelson after Nelson gave a particularly difficult on camera interview.

On the ranch, gender is never assumed. Inhabitants are free to love who they love and be who they are. Rainbow and anti-fascist flags adorn the walls, including one featuring the three arrows of the World War II-era German anti-Nazi, anti-fascist Iron Front.

"I got here and I experienced a love and acceptance that I never did before," says ranch co-owner Bonnie Nelson. "I had true family for the first time."

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Ranch members Nelson and Logue get help bringing in items ahead of an incoming storm.

AN UNSETTLING DEMONSTRATION

As they settled into Custer County, the newcomers offered to do odd jobs for neighbors, started a community garden, and helped helm a recycling program.

Logue says that won them a number of residents' support, despite some ideological differences with conservative Custer County, home to about 5,000 people.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Stickers sent to the ranchers can be seen in their living room.

On July 4, 2020, Logue and Nelson headed into town for coffee at their favorite spot. The Westcliffe Independence parade had been canceled because of pandemic restrictions. Logue and Nelson saw a steady stream of protesters, a number of whom were openly carrying guns. Some wore body armor.

Amid American flags, one demonstrator carried a banner bearing the emblem of right-wing militia group the Three Percenters, video of the event shows. Another wore a shirt that declared, 'It's OK to be White.' The phrase, according to the Anti-Defamation League, has become a rallying cry among white supremacists.

Logue said she was the grandchild of Armenian genocide survivors and grew up on stories that taught her to respond to "anything that looks like fascism." She wrote in a tweet that same day: "The Fourth of July parade in #westcliffe was a Nazi propaganda parade, I've never been so unsettled."

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Alpacas are seen lounging near a 50 ft rental tent, which is decorated with trans and anarchist flags for "Shear-A-Palooza".

Messages and calls expressing transphobic hatred and disdain for the ranchers' anti-fascism began then, according to Logue. Reuters has reviewed several hostile and anonymous online messages, two containing death threats. One was an image manipulated to show a gun pointed at the ranch house.

In March, a volunteer escorted two armed men away at gunpoint after they were spotted climbing the hill toward the ranch house, Logue says. The identity of the men is unknown.

The ranchers talked about the hostility in media interviews, hoping increased attention would scare off harassers. Logue says they installed cameras, obtained body armor, began to build a taller fence, and stepped up firearms training.

The ranchers have not reported any of the threats to the Custer County Sheriff's Department. The ranchers said they declined to do so in part because they had seen Custer County Sheriff Shannon Byerly in a video speaking at a 2015 rally held near Westcliffe on the anniversary of the founding of the right-wing Oath Keepers, whose members believe the federal government is encroaching on their rights and who try to recruit, among others, law enforcement officers.

Byerly confirmed to Reuters that he spoke at the rally, but said that he does not belong to the Oath Keepers. In the speech, a video of which was reviewed by Reuters, he spoke about gun rights and his feeling that some unnamed U.S. leaders were showing signs of "tyranny." The Oath Keepers did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Bonnie Nelson puts up a warning sign on the front gate of the ranch.

Byerly said his deputies checked out media reports of threats against the ranch and found no evidence. He said ranchers were not contacted for the informal investigation because his deputies did not feel welcome at the ranch.

In an initial interview with Reuters, he described a "confrontational" exchange between armed ranchers and one of his deputies, who he said was barred from entering the ranch when he went to investigate an April 22 car accident involving a ranch hand.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Kallen Ondrejkovics, Hand, Logue, and Sky Nelson tie down an alpaca so it can be sheared.

Footage from the deputy's body cam video during his visit the day of the accident, obtained through a public records request, shows a single ranch hand, not visibly carrying weapons. The ranch hand told Reuters she was unarmed. The video shows the ranch hand greeting the deputy at the gate, being questioned about the accident, and offering contact information. Asked about the discrepancies, the sheriff acknowledged in a subsequent interview he had been mistaken in his account.

ALWAYS ON GUARD

On a recent day in late June, ranchers and volunteers formed a semi-circle, spreading their arms wide and corralling a few dozen fuzzy alpaca into a holding pen for shearing.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
May Quinty Dynamic and Jamie snuggle on the couch after a morning of volunteering during "Shear-A-Palooza” event.

May Quinty Dynamic, a transgender woman from Denver, was among the volunteers. Dynamic said she was thrilled to be surrounded by so many other transgender people. She met Logue, who, like her, also began to transition at the age of 35.

"I've been able to talk to everybody and tell my little story over and over," Dynamic said.

. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis
Logue glances outside as she works in the kitchen.

After a long day, Logue made her way back to her room as the sun began to sink, sending shafts of light through thick indigo storm clouds above the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Sore from a day of wrangling alpaca, Logue collapsed onto her mattress and closed her eyes. Outside her door, the sounds of warm chatter and dinner prep filtered down the hallway from the kitchen.

As she began to drift off to sleep, she rolled toward the edge of the bed. Logue's hand fell off the side of the mattress and came to rest, instinctively, on her rifle.

(Photo editing Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson; Text editing Donna Bryson and Rosalba O'Brien; Layout Kezia Levitas)

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Slideshow

Nelson helps sort sheared and un-sheared alpaca before starting another day of "Shear-a-Palooza”.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

Nelson helps sort sheared and un-sheared alpaca before starting another day of "Shear-a-Palooza”.

Nelson sits with Nelson’s rifle, nicknamed 'Yoko', in the living room.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

Nelson sits with Nelson’s rifle, nicknamed 'Yoko', in the living room.

Several patches on Logue's gear pouch inform strangers or medical personnel of her blood type and no known drug allergies as well as her pronouns.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

Several patches on Logue's gear pouch inform strangers or medical personnel of her blood type and no known drug allergies as well as her pronouns.

Jamie tries to keep an alpaca calm as it waits to have its hair cut.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

Jamie tries to keep an alpaca calm as it waits to have its hair cut.

A group of alpaca watch as Nelson drives past.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

A group of alpaca watch as Nelson drives past.

Ranch members Nelson and Logue get help bringing in items ahead of an incoming storm.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

Ranch members Nelson and Logue get help bringing in items ahead of an incoming storm.

Logue lays down cover fire during a live drill at their range.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

Logue lays down cover fire during a live drill at their range.

J Stanley talks to Logue about troubles with Stanley’s family as Logue prepares dinner.
. Westcliffe, United States. Reuters/Leah Millis

J Stanley talks to Logue about troubles with Stanley’s family as Logue prepares dinner.