Two transgender women were brutally attacked at a Minneapolis light rail station, but no one offered help as onlookers cheered the attackers on.
On Nov. 10, Dahlia and Jess (whose last names are withheld for safety reasons) were getting off the light rail station near Hennepin Street and Fifth Avenue in the warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis when a man approached them. I started shouting frightening slurs.
Amber Moom, a local transgender advocate with the Trans Liberation Movement, told the British newspaper that when Jess asked the man to stop, he punched her. independent person.
Dahlia hit the man with a cane, knocking him unconscious. At least five other men then ran up and began beating the two women.
Mummu said. CBS affiliate station WCCO Both women lost consciousness, Dahlia suffered a broken nose and Jess suffered “multiple bruises” to her ribs.
“No one came to help them,” Mumu said. “In fact, people were reportedly cheering for the attackers while they were being beaten.”
Mumumu and other community activists held a rally on November 17 to protest the violent attack and support injured women. According to Instagram post The attack from Smitten Kitten, a local sex-positive adult gift shop, marks the third similar attack on a transgender woman on the light rail system in the past two years.
Dahlia and Jess reportedly moved to Minnesota from Iowa under the state’s 2023 “trans refugee” law, which prevents out-of-state laws from interfering with the practice of gender-affirming medicine. .
“A lot of people are moving to Minnesota, and they’ve been moving since the trans refugee bill was passed, and I think we’re going to see a real spike after the election results,” said state Rep. Lee Finke (DFL, St. Paul). . The state’s first transgender elected official told WCCO.
Mumu said she was concerned that the frequency of attacks against transgender people would increase following the rightward turn in this year’s elections.
“People are so encouraged right now,” she says. “There is a lot of false data and false narratives about transgender people.”
Mann said opponents of the rally accused those who had gathered of “performing surgery on a 10-year-old child,” which is “medically far from the truth.”
President Trump’s victory has left many transgender people worried about their future, and advocates are urging individuals to stock up on hormones and medications, maintain important documents and identification documents, and maintain their identity. It urges people to take other precautions to ensure that the virus continues to be checked.
Others in Minneapolis are taking precautions to protect themselves from future attacks by taking self-defense classes and seeking permission to carry handguns in public.
“People are talking to me about erasing their social media presence and going back into the closet,” one of the speakers at the rally said, according to CBS News..
Mummu said. independent person There is a sense of urgency among some in the Minneapolis community to arm themselves and learn how to fight off attackers.
“People are trying to make transphobia even more hostile and emboldening,” she says. “So how can we protect ourselves when we go out?”
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com