ROSENDALE – Angelina Bouros made a grisly discovery when Rambo, her cat, failed to return home June after walking in the woods behind her home.
“He did not come back when I called him,” said Bouros. “And upon looking for him, I found him sliced in half.”
As Bouros was telling her story on Saturday, many people were painting her house the colors of a rainbow after she was harassed for more than two years because of being transgender.
And Rambo’s violent death brought her friends and strangers in the form of community support, with a band playing behind her house and food brought to help feed the gathering.
“What prompted this gathering was the hate mail I started receiving in July, 2017,” she said, “each one getting progressively more hateful and violent.”
A state police investigation could not determine who sent the hate mail, so she tried to let it go and move on after the last letter more than 18 months ago.
But Rambo’s violent death sent her a message that she could not ignore.
“Obviously they are sending me messages. So the painting of my house, the colors of the rainbow, this is my message to them that the hatred and bigotry will not be tolerated,” she said. “I will not be intimated by anybody for any reason. I am going to push back.”
Cheryl Hajjar bought a house in Rosendale about two years ago, but she did not know Bouros until learning about the harassment she has been facing.
“I am here to help build a community. I never met Angelina, but I noticed on Facebook she was really kind of being bullied and persecuted for her lifestyle, especially in regards to her cat,” said Hajjar. “I am a staunch animal rights person. I saw what was happening with her and she was doing this. I felt what a better way to spend a Saturday but to come out and help someone and get to know some new people who felt as strongly as I did about human rights.”
And now with the harassment she has faced, Bouros found that a compassionate community is standing up for her by sending a message of unity with paint brushes and music.
“I don’t know most of these people. I never met them before this incident occurred, but there is such an outpouring of outrage against of what happened to me and my cat,” said Bouros. “There is such an outpouring of love for me because of what’s gone on.”
