Community rallies around 70-year-old transgender actor who lost teeth in attack near 2SLGBTQ+ bar in Hamilton

Lisa Stroud flashes a wide smile when she talks about her burgeoning acting career.

The 70-year-old Hamilton woman has been in 11 film and television productions, alongside stars such as Josh Hartnett (M. Night Shyamalan's film Trap) and Kim Cattrall (TV series Glamorous), since she first responded to a casting call online in 2021. 

These days, the trans actor is thankful not just for her line of work, but also getting back the confidence to smile.

Stroud went without many teeth — and as a result, acting gigs — for seven months following an attack in March after leaving The Well, Hamilton's only bar marketed to the local 2SLGBTQ+ community.

"I was grabbed from behind, swung around and just pummelled in the face, over and over again."

Stroud described blacking out before waking up, picking up her teeth off the ground, getting into her car and driving home.

"Apparently I was bleeding quite a bit on the outside of my driver's door."

Stroud reported the attack to Hamilton police the next day, but so far, no one has been arrested. She said one of the detectives told her that her experience was "definitely a hate crime."

Attack reported to police

Stroud doesn't understand why anyone would want to target her. She said she has led a peaceful life and hasn't harmed anyone. 

"My God, I was married. I have a son," she said. "I worked at Dofasco for 35 years and I'm a law-abiding citizen …. Why is there so much hate out there?" 

Stroud's transition to being an out trans woman took place over decades, an identity she says she's felt inside from her earliest memories. 

She began dressing in feminine clothing at home while a preschooler in the city's west end. After finishing high school at Westdale Secondary, she worked at what's now the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel mill as a tradesperson with tickets in plumbing, pipefitting, gasfitting and steamfitting. She got married and had a son, then got divorced.

Stroud never let on about her trans identity at work — "it was, you know, a redneck place" — but after work, she'd come home, shower and change, spending the evening as Lisa.

"I was happy after work. I couldn't wait to get home to get dressed."

'She showed me her mouth and I was shocked'

She said it has been liberating to live as Lisa full time, which began after she retired, and it has been validating to get acting work based on how she looks now and her true identity.

Stroud, who goes by the stage name Lisa Dee, said she also landed roles in Ripple and Wifi, which are currently being filmed. The gigs, she said, wouldn't have been possible without help paying for her new, artificial teeth.

Her dental work cost $28,000, with $4,000 from the Hamilton police victims services division, $9,400 from a fundraiser held by a casting company she works with and nearly $6,000 from a GoFundMe campaign started by Wolfe Wolfe, a friend from the local 2SLGBTQ+ community. 

Wolfe, 35, said they visit with Stroud regularly and were surprised when they saw she was missing several teeth. 

"She didn't actually tell me about the assault when it happened," said Wolfe, who organizes local queer meetup events. "I went to visit her, and she showed me her mouth and I was shocked. Something radical had happened ...."

"She wasn't telling anybody until the medical bills started coming in and she realized she couldn't handle this," Wolfe added in an interview Thursday with CBC Hamilton.

"I am not a computer person, but I did my best,"  they added, referring to setting up the GoFundMe online.

'It was atrocious, and nothing's changed'

Stroud also considered not telling the police. She said she was left with the impression she may not be their priority after reporting a broad-daylight sexual assault she experienced on a bench near Upper Ottawa Street and Limeridge Road East in 2022.

"I haven't heard a word since," she said.

Hamilton Police spokesperson Jackie Penman declined to share information about the investigations into Stroud's two cases, saying, "While we can't comment on specific investigations, at times, we face challenges related to the timeliness of reporting, lack of evidence, absence of witnesses and victim participation. We can confirm that Victim Services and the Hate Crime Unit have been engaged."

Stroud said the attacks have destroyed her feeling of safety, and the lack of results from the investigations has further fuelled her distrust in police when it comes to protecting 2SLGBTQ+ individuals.

"[They've] lost all respect from our community."

She cited the lack of police response when protesters attacked Hamilton Pride in 2019, sending shockwaves through the community and prompting police to commit to forging better relationships.

"It [the attack at Pride] was atrocious, and nothing's changed."