Anti-Trans Violence

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A transgender woman and several friends were harassed and assaulted in Austin, Texas last weekend, and one bystander who stepped in to defend them was hospitalized, in an incident police are investigating as a possible hate crime.

On July 26, the trans woman — who has requested anonymity during the ongoing investigation — and several friends visited Barton Springs, a public swimming hole in Austin’s Zilker Park, as Chron reported Wednesday. During their visit, three men they didn’t know flirted heavily with members of the group, the woman told Chron, but soon began harassing and pointing at her, making remarks about not “support[ing] that lifestyle.”

The three men then reportedly began shoving members of the group and poking the women “near their breasts,” according to a Reddit user who posted about the incident on Monday, claiming to be a friend of one of the victims. At that point, a bystander — identified as Jarod — intervened, and was attacked himself.

“The three men then proceeded to get violent and aggressive, yelling at us and getting in our faces until one of them decided to start swinging and punched Jarod in the jaw, knocking him unconscious,” the anonymous trans woman told Chron. “I quickly ran over to him in an attempt to help Jarod out but was then punched in the face by the assailant in the orange shorts.” The men then shoved another of the women to the ground and left the scene soon after, according to video footage of the incident posted to social media.

The Austin Police Department (APD) released a statement on Tuesday stating that the alleged assault was under investigation and could be declared a hate crime by the city’s Hate Crime Review Committee. “APD remains unwavering in its commitment to fostering a secure and inclusive Austin community,” the department stated. (Community leaders called for APD to be investigated for excessive force in March this year, after videos circulated online that appeared to show officers throwing a trans woman onto the ground during an arrest.)

Austin-area drag performer Brigitte Bandit posted about the assault on Instagram Monday, asking locals for help identifying the attackers. In a follow-up post the next day, Bandit stated that the men had been identified and the information had been shared privately with the victims. “I will not be posting their information without consent of the people involved in the attack,” Bandit wrote, adding, “[l]et’s let them decide which routes they decide [are] best.”

Jarod was treated by EMS personnel at the scene and taken to a hospital, KXAN reported. Per a GoFundMe campaign started by Jarod’s family, he suffered “gashes to his head, a bleeding ear, a broken jaw, and a concussion,” requiring surgery. The fundraiser drew more than $64,000 in donations at time of writing, more than triple its original goal.

“I just wanted to stand up for a nice person that I had just met,” Jarod wrote in a message shared by Bandit on Instagram, “but the outpouring of support from y’all’s community has been overwhelming, so thank you with all of my heart.”

In her comments to Chron, the anonymous trans woman said that she did not know Jarod prior to the assault, but called him “an absolute angel,” saying she was grateful he stepped in.

“I had never known him before that day, but he stood up for me when I was being harassed and he took the most of the assault,” the woman told Chron. “He deserves every penny to help pay for his surgery and his time off work to care of himself and his kid.” The amount of community support she received after the attack, she added, “truly helps my moral and emotional well-being, and makes me believe that this city really is a safe space for people like me.”

This blog is originally appeared at LGBTQ Nation

“No one stepped in to help,” one witness said, describing how people cheered as the women were assaulted.

LGBTQ+ advocates say bystanders cheered as two transgender women were brutally attacked in Minneapolis earlier this month.

According to a statement from Minneapolis Police to The Independent, the two women were confronted by a group making derogatory comments at a downtown light rail station on November 10, which escalated into a “physical altercation.”

Amber Muhm, one of the organizers of a rally supporting the victims of the attack at the station, spoke with The Independent about the incident. She identified the two women only as Dahlia and Jess. They told her that as they were leaving the station, a man yelled anti-trans slurs at them. When Jess asked him to stop, he “sucker punched” her. In response, Dahlia struck the man with her cane, which prompted four or five other men to join in and violently assault the pair.

Both women were knocked unconscious, with Dahlia suffering a broken nose and Jess left with multiple rib contusions.

“No one came to help them,” Muhm told CBS News, recounting that bystanders cheered on the attackers while the women were being beaten. “It was a traumatic event, and they’re still dealing with the physical consequences, but the community is what’s keeping them grounded right now,” Muhm added.

Minneapolis police confirmed to CBS News that they were investigating the incident, but no arrests had been made as of Sunday night. Muhm called for more urgent action from the police. “They need to step up because this keeps happening, and it’s ridiculous and unacceptable at this point,” she said.

Dahlia and Jess had moved to Minnesota from Iowa specifically because of the state’s Trans Refuge law, which was introduced by state Rep. Leigh Finke (D), Minnesota’s first openly trans legislator. The law, passed in March 2023, protects access to gender-affirming care in the state, regardless of laws in other states.

At the rally, Rep. Finke predicted that more trans people would likely relocate to Minnesota following the re-election campaign of former President Donald Trump, whose political ads during the 2024 election cycle fueled anti-trans rhetoric. “People are so emboldened now. There’s so much false data, so many false narratives about trans people,” Muhm said, referencing claims made by rally bystanders that gender-affirming surgeries were being performed “on 10-year-olds.”

One speaker at the rally told CBS News that Trump’s re-election is instilling fear in the trans community. “People are talking to me about erasing their social media presence, going back in the closet,” they said.

Despite the mounting fear, Muhm encouraged the community to remain strong. “The community here is beautiful. We’re building a movement, we’re going to get through this, and we’re going to be stronger for it. Minneapolis is going to be such a beautiful place for trans people to live,” she said.

However, with rising concerns about anti-trans violence, Muhm acknowledged that many trans people in the city are preparing for a possible surge in hostility. “People are about to get a lot more hostile and emboldened in their transphobia,” she said. “So, what do we do to protect ourselves when we’re out?” Many in the community are enrolling in self-defense classes and looking into acquiring handgun permits to safeguard themselves.

Tag: Anti-Trans Violence

Trans Woman and Her Friends Were Violently Assaulted at Austin Swimming Hole

Two trans women attacked at train station as bystanders cheered