“ | I was taking pictures on the bridge, when they surrounded me. | „ |
~ Avery describing the attack |
Avery Parker is the hero from the 2015 episode Transgender Bridge from the 1999 American crime drama TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She stands up to bullying for being a transgender teenager in the United States. She becomes severely injured when Darius McCrae pushes her off a bridge. Avery becomes a martyr for transgendered teenagers when she dies from a complication brought on from the fall and her assailant is found guilty of a hate crime. She is portrayed by Christopher Dylan White.
Avery is born male and is mentally female. She is Caucasian and has curly brownish-blond hair. She wears a navy blue V-neck blouse, a decorative choker, a pair of tartan boxer shorts, a white flowing skirt, and black ankle boots. Her makeup features bright blue eye shadow. In addition, she carries a black camera with a rainbow colored neck strap.
Heroics[]
After waking up and going to school, Avery is at a bridge taking pictures with her camera. As she is taking pictures, a group of teenagers see Avery and decide to bully her. They call her slurs such as 'he-she' and 'tranny'. One of the bullies, Darius McCrae takes her camera and plays keep away with it. As this is happening, several spectators are recording the incident with their cameraphones. When Avery attempts to retrieve her camera. Darius pushes her off the bridge. After Avery is seen lying unconcious below the bridge, everyone scatters and flees from the scene except for Darius who just stares at Avery.
After the attack, Avery is recovering at a hospital while the police track down Darius. Although Avery's injuries appear to be healing, she suddenly goes into cardiac arrest and dies. The doctors determine it was due to an embolism because of the fracture caused by the fall. Avery's family is devastated, but they bear no malice towards her assailant. Eventually, the police find Darius and his friends. Based on the video evidence and witness testimonies, they determine that Darius is the main perpetrator of the attack and decide he is the one who can be successfully charged with a crime.
During the bench trial, the district attourney decides to add on a hate crime charge to make an example out of Darius. The DA is tired of these kind of attacks happening repeatedly with no legal actions being taken. He wants to deter these kinds of attacks from happening in the future towards transgendered teens. Although Darius shows remorse for what he has done, the judge also sees this as a vicious attack on a protected class based on ignorance and determines that Darius is guilty and sentences him to the maximum number of years allowed under the law. Meanwhile, Avery is shown in the media as a martyr for transgendered teens in America.