A transgender woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Dallas County alleging jailers ordered her to show her genitalia to them so they could determine her sex.

Valerie Jackson, 32, had been arrested in November 2016 after she left a gun in her purse when she went through security at Dallas Love Field. A grand jury has since declined to indict her on the weapons charge.

Her lawsuit, filed Friday, alleges that she was harassed and humiliated at the jail and that her constitutional rights were violated.

Dallas County placed her in danger by housing her with men, the lawsuit says. Jackson was male at birth but legally changed her gender to female and is identified in court records as a woman.

"Ms. Jackson has suffered trauma, felt demoralized, anxious, stressed, a loss of dignity, and fear," the lawsuit says.

A spokesman for Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown, who is named in the lawsuit, said the sheriff would not comment.

"Sorry, but since it is in litigation, under advice of attorney, the Sheriff's Department does not comment on lawsuits," Raul Reyna said Monday.

The lawsuit says the county violated the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, which says that jails "shall not search or physically examine a transgender or intersex detainee for the sole purpose of determining the detainee's genital status."

The county's policy for housing transgender inmates requires that a decision be made after medical, psychological and medication needs are assessed.

Instead, the suit states, a county employee told Jackson she needed to show her genitals because if she had a penis, she needed to be housed with men.

"We need to know if you've had a sex change or not. We need to see if you have a penis or a vagina," an officer in the jail told Jackson, according to the lawsuit. "We have to protect you. We can't put you with men if you have a vagina."

Jackson was subsequently arrested twice on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and interfering with an emergency call. She was housed with men in the county jail and was required to shower with them. Both times, according to the lawsuit, a male inmate masturbated while he looked at her in the shower. Those misdemeanor cases are still pending.

Among the defendants included in the lawsuit is Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez, who was the Dallas County sheriff when Jackson was in jail the first time. Several named and unnamed county employees are also included in the suit.

The lawsuit, filed by Jackson's attorney, Scott Palmer, asks for unspecified damages for "emotional distress, torment and mental anguish," financial expenses and attorney fees. Jackson requested a jury trial.

Valerie Jackson poses for a photograph at her lawyers' office in Addison on Tuesday. Jackson, 32, a transgender woman, filled a lawsuit against Dallas County alleging jailers ordered her to show her genitalia to them so they could determine her gender. Her lawsuit alleges that she was harassed and humiliated at the jail and that her constitutional rights were violated when she was housed with men.( (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

"Dallas County has failed to properly train and supervise jail staff to treat transgender inmates humanely, such that jail staff refer to transgender inmates by the improper gender pronouns, refer to transgender inmates' genitals and private body parts in offensive manners, alert and announce the fact that transgender inmates are transgender to other inmates and jail staff, force transgender inmates to expose their genitals for the purpose of determining their gender, and place transgender inmates based solely on genital characteristics rather than gender identity," the lawsuit says.

'Have you had everything done down there?'

On Nov. 4, 2016, Jackson left a .22-caliber Black Walther P22 semiautomatic handgun in her purse when she went through security at Love Field, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. She was arrested on a charge of possessing a prohibited weapon and taken to the Dallas County Jail.

Guns are not allowed in carry-on luggage. Jackson also did not have a concealed handgun license, according to court records. A Dallas County grand jury no-billed her on the weapons charge in February 2017.

Jailers initially classified Jackson as a woman. She was taken to an enclosed area and asked to expose her breasts, which she did, according to the lawsuit.

Then a nurse asked her about her last menstrual cycle. Jackson said that she does not have a period because she doesn't have a uterus and, eventually, that she is transgender. An unknown Dallas County male employee "had a look of shock on his face and asked why her paperwork says female on it," according to the suit.

Jackson responded that she is female. The unknown male employee asked, "Did you have a sex change or something?" Jackson said she had.

"Have you had everything done down there?" the man asked, according to the lawsuit.

Then Jackson "hesitantly and falsely told him that she had because she wanted this unnecessary humiliating harassment to end."

Aerial photograph of the Lew Sterrett Justice Center - including the Dallas County criminal courts (foreground) and the Dallas County Jail (background). (FILE PHOTO)

Jackson was then asked to pull down her pants and underwear by two other county employees, according to the lawsuit.

After trying to avoid exposing her genitals, Jackson eventually did so.

One county employee told Jackson, "You're going with the men because that's what you are. You're a man," the suit says.

Inside the jail, male inmates asked Jackson "if she was a 'tranny' or a 'real girl,' telling her all the sexual things they wanted to do to her, grabbing themselves, calling her a 'he/she' and calling her many other derogatory words," according to the lawsuit.

At one point, a male officer tried to take Jackson to a solitary cell in the women's section of the jail. But another county employee ordered him to take her to the men's holding area. She was held alone in a cell but next to a cell with men.

"During court, Ms. Jackson was referred to as 'Mr. Jackson' by the male bailiff and was required to sit with the males," the lawsuit says. "Ms. Jackson was humiliated every time she encountered a new officer. Each time, they would see her and reference her as a woman, only to be told by whichever officer was escorting her in front of everyone that she was a man."

The lawsuit says she was then taken to the men's locker room and told to strip and shower by a male officer. She asked to skip the shower because she would soon be posting bond. Her attorney was sending the money electronically.

"Two male officers that were present ignored her pleas," the lawsuit says. A female officer said she would check to see whether Jackson's bond was posted and then took her out of the locker room, telling Jackson she had "dodged a bullet."

Jackson was then placed in another holding cell while she waited for the paperwork, the suit says. As she waited, she was given a replacement wristband that showed her gender as male.

Two more arrests

Jackson was also arrested in April and in June, court records show. Both times, according to the lawsuit, she was housed with male inmates and harassed. On both occasions she was required to shower with men and a man masturbated as he stared at her, the lawsuit says.

An acquaintance of Jackson's called police because Jackson was acting erratically in Dealey Plaza on the afternoon of April 17, according to court records. She then entered a downtown Dallas apartment by climbing onto a balcony on the 17th floor and entering through an unlocked door. She left through the front door. There are photos of Jackson entering the apartment, court records show.

She was detained by police without a warrant because of her mental state and taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The lawsuit says she was jailed and housed in the psychiatric unit "due to being deemed suicidal as a result of the continuous harassment she was experiencing," the lawsuit says. "Ms. Jackson was the only woman in the psychiatric unit with all of the male inmates."

Because Jackson was considered to be a danger to herself she was not allowed clothing and was given a "thin paper suit to wear," the lawsuit says.

Then, on June 18, Jackson was jailed on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with an emergency call when she and another woman had an argument over the dosage of a friend's medication, court records show. Jackson took the woman's phone when she was trying to call 911 and grabbed her right forearm, "offending her," according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Jackson grabbed the cellphone "from her hand while she was speaking to a Dallas 911 operator" and told the call taker "that everything was OK," court records show. The woman grabbed the phone back and ran away.

She was also arrested on a warrant for a criminal trespass case from the April incident. Jackson was again housed in the psychiatric unit but was allowed to wear clothes, the lawsuit says.

No trial date is pending for either case.

Policy not followed

The lawsuit says Dallas County sheriff's Capt. Shelley Knight told the Dallas Voice, an LGBT news outlet, that some procedures were not followed while Jackson was in the jail the first time. The suit says the policy violations were not properly investigated.

The sheriff's policy states that after "a transgender, intersex or gender nonconforming individual completes all of the book-in and change out process, he/she will be escorted to the Medical Assessment Program to determine medical, psychological, or medication needs."

How to classify an individual is determined after the medical assessment, according to the policy. Housing, according to the policy, will be determined based on factors including medical staff recommendations, the severity of current offenses and convictions, any history of serious crimes or escapes, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Transgender inmates are given the same clothing as other prisoners in the areas where they're housed, the policy says. When possible, clothing changes are made before inmates are moved.

When Jackson was taken to the jail after the first time, she asked the staff to inquire with Knight, "who could explain that she should be classified and placed with females — but they refused her request."