u/Impressive_Owl_1974

I don't even know where to start this, so here goes nothing.

I spent nearly five years working for a state agency. I was bullied from the first week by my supervisors and colleagues. I was belittled in front of people, called an idiot on speakerphone, and put in an 8x4 storage closet for "punishment." I was called gay by coworkers, and a supervisor told me I resembled someone who would be arrested for child pornography. I told HR several times. Nothing happened, so I filed a federal discrimination complaint.

Filing that complaint changed nothing. They never cut me off from the people I'd reported. The harassment continued. I was diagnosed with depression in 2023, and in 2024 I was diagnosed with major depression and anxiety. My therapist recorded that the diagnosis was from that work environment.

After I reported another incident in December 2025, they put me on “mandatory leave.” They put me in a room with two investigators who had no medical credentials and asked me if I was gay and demanded my entire medical record. Then they wrote a letter saying that I said things that I never said. The leave was unpaid. My health insurance was dropped without warning. Then came months of contradictory letters and impossible deadlines, and they canned me in March 2026.

Since then:

My unemployment was denied, and I found out later that my former employer claimed I had an illness or physical disability and thats why I could not work.

A lawyer I trusted let my right-to-sue deadline expire and then dropped me.

I have written to the Governor, my legislators, the Attorney General, and virtually every oversight office in the state. Mostly I’ve heard “not our jurisdiction” or nothing.

I still have a complaint with the EEOC. One lawyer is talking with me next week to see if they will take the case on contingency.

I can't afford my depression meds, my blood pressure meds, or a doctor without insurance. I have debts for therapy I had when I thought I was still covered, among other things.

The legal battle is exhausting, but that’s not the hard part. The worst part is waking up every day knowing the people that did this still have their jobs, while I’m the one that lost everything.” It is having to relive the worst years of my life every time I write another letter and feel like I am shouting into a void.

I was building something on the side around one idea. If you keep getting back up, you've won. I believe that, too. But some days all I have in me is to get back up, and I don't know how much longer I can do this alone.

I really don’t know what else to do. What part of this is fair? How can people like us struggle every single day, while the people who did this never once have to face what they did? Sorry for dumping all this. I'm just down tonight, tired of carrying all this weight.

I don't even know where to start this, so here goes nothing.

I spent nearly five years working for a state agency. I was bullied from the first week by my supervisors and colleagues. I was belittled in front of people, called an idiot on speakerphone, and put in an 8x4 storage closet for "punishment." I was called gay by coworkers, and a supervisor told me I resembled someone who would be arrested for child pornography. I told HR several times. Nothing happened, so I filed a federal discrimination complaint.

Filing that complaint changed nothing. They never cut me off from the people I'd reported. The harassment continued. I was diagnosed with depression in 2023, and in 2024 I was diagnosed with major depression and anxiety. My therapist recorded that the diagnosis was from that work environment.

After I reported another incident in December 2025, they put me on “mandatory leave.” They put me in a room with two investigators who had no medical credentials and asked me if I was gay and demanded my entire medical record. Then they wrote a letter saying that I said things that I never said. The leave was unpaid. My health insurance was dropped without warning. Then came months of contradictory letters and impossible deadlines, and they canned me in March 2026.

Since then:

My unemployment was denied, and I found out later that my former employer claimed I had an illness or physical disability and thats why I could not work.

A lawyer I trusted let my right-to-sue deadline expire and then dropped me.

I have written to the Governor, my legislators, the Attorney General, and virtually every oversight office in the state. Mostly I’ve heard “not our jurisdiction” or nothing.

I still have a complaint with the EEOC. One lawyer is talking with me next week to see if they will take the case on contingency.

I can't afford my depression meds, my blood pressure meds, or a doctor without insurance. I have debts for therapy I had when I thought I was still covered, among other things.

The legal battle is exhausting, but that’s not the hard part. The worst part is waking up every day knowing the people that did this still have their jobs, while I’m the one that lost everything.” It is having to relive the worst years of my life every time I write another letter and feel like I am shouting into a void.

I was building something on the side around one idea. If you keep getting back up, you've won. I believe that, too. But some days all I have in me is to get back up, and I don't know how much longer I can do this alone.

I really don’t know what else to do. What part of this is fair? How can people like us struggle every single day, while the people who did this never once have to face what they did? Sorry for dumping all this. I'm just down tonight, tired of carrying all this weight.