When Is A Hate Crime NOT A Hate Crime?

One of the things I get tired of hearing is that full of caca right wing talking point that 'all crimes are hate crimes', or hearing from non persons of color doubts about the effectiveness of hate crimes laws.

That is until one happens to somebody they know, is part of their ethnic group, or is part of their marginalized group a la Chrissy Lee Polis or Matthew Shepard.

Thanks to Mercedes and a post about this case at her blog, I'm following what is happening in Halifax, NS with Elle Noir.    Last month two people posing as police officers knocked on her door.  She began to open it in response to their claim they were officers, but when she noted that one of the two men was wearing a red bandanna and carrying a gun attempted to slam it shut with her roommate's help.   The perps fired multiple shots through the door with one of them striking her in the right arm before they ran off.

Elle believes it was a hate crime.    The Halifax po-po's don't. 

"They were yelling, 'Tranny faggot, open the door, let us in, let us in,' which leads me to believe they knew who I was. I'm in a second-floor apartment. You know, you have to have a security key to get into the building.   "Obviously it was 100 per cent hatred."

Like Mercedes and Elle, I'm not buying what the Halifax po-po's are selling either since many police officers tend to be conservafools who believe the right wing hype for starters.  I am well aware of the fact that Officer Friendly isn't exactly friendly at times to people of color, and that includes transpeople of color as well.  

We transpeople already have less than cordial relations with them as Amnesty International has documented due to the anti-trans attitudes exacerbated by the hypermacho culture embedded in many police departments.

But back to discussing hate crimes.  

Hate crimes are ones that also send a message to the targeted group irregardless of where they physically live.  The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was an example of that.  The killing of Dr. James Tiller was designed to intimidate and dissuade any medical professional across the United States who was considering providing abortion services.

The James Byrd dragging death happened over 110 miles away from me in Jasper, TX on June 7, 1998, but the chilling effect of that brutal killing was felt and talked about not only in the African-American communities of Houston and Dallas, but by African-Americans across the USA

In conversations with my Canadian homegirl, she has told me the Byrd attack was discussed in the African descended community of Toronto and amongst other African descended Canadians.


Renee has also talked about how the December 6, 1989 Ecole Polytechnique mass slaying in Montreal affected and continues to affect her and other Canadian women and girls who grew up during that time. .

One of the excuses I hear about opposition to hate crimes laws is that it privileges some bodies over others. 

Um hello, our legal system already privileges some bodies over others. If you attempt to kill the POTUS, the Prime Minister, a congressmember, an MP, a federal judge, any state or provincial politicians, or a police officer, you will get enhanced criminal penalties for attempting to do so.

Ask Jared Loughner about that.

I also agree that the Bill C-389 passage and the Conservatives using fear tactics to attempt to kill it sowed the seeds that probably led to this and sadly future attacks on Canadian transpeople.  Some of those will unfortunately succeed and add more names to the Remembering our Dead list.

Mercedes is correct in stating that someone shouting a transphobic slur at you is not a hate crime.  But if that transphobic slur is followed up by violent action such as a beatdown, weapons being fired at you, someone trying to hit you with a bat or bottle, attempts to stab you with a knife, or attempts to kill you, it most definitely is a hate crime.  

But the bottom line to me is as long as you have people hating others, or willing to in the name of hating other human beings kill those people they dislike in order to send a message to the group they hate, in order to defend the human rights of the marginalized group, hate crimes laws will be a necessary part of the civil rights toolbox.

Virginia Trans Attack Update 2

When I last reported on this story of the 32 year old trans woman in Fredericksburg, VA that was attacked May 21 by a mob outside a local 7-Eleven in that city, 18 year old Laqueta Webb had already been charged and the po-po's were chit chatting with her boyfriend, 19 year old Farkeem Omar French.

French has now been charged with malicious wounding by mob along with his girlfriend Webb.  He was released on bond while Webb is still being held in custody until she and French appear at their June 23 status hearing at the Fredericksburg General District Court.

In the meantime, the victim is getting support from the neighborhood and community organizations according to the Washington Blade and a statement initiated by the Richmond-based Virginia Anti-Violence Project condemning the attack.
 
“This attack on a member of the transgender community underscores the need for greater awareness of and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Virginians. Ignorance and anger cannot be permitted to negate any person’s human right to safety and security,” said Ashley Marshall, Chair of Virginia Anti-Violence Project’s Board of Directors.


The police are still looking for the third suspect in the attack

Virginia Trans Attack Update

Update in the trans hate attack aimed at a 32 year old transwoman in Fredericksburg, VA outside a local 7-Eleven convenience store.

18 year old Laqueta Webb has already been arrested and charged with malicious wounding by mob.   Her 19 year old boyfriend Farkeem French  hasn't been arrested yet, but he is also facing the same charges once he turns himself in to the Fredericksburg po-po's.  

 Two other men who participated in the attack on the unidentified transwoman are still at large and one has been tentatively identified due to eyewitness accounts .

In case you're wondering about Virginia's hate crime law, it doesn't cover sexual orientation or gender identity.  It only covers hate crimes motivated by the victim's race, religious conviction, color or national origin.

And since both houses of the Virginia General Assembly are under GOP control with a GOP neo confederate governor and a right wing fundie attorney general in Ken Cuccinelli II, good luck in seeing any changes to the hate crimes law in favor of our community any time soon.

Elections matter, people.

Will keep y'all apprised on any new developments in this case.

Another Day, Another Trans Assault

We haven't even reached Memorial Day yet and the signs are accumulating that it's going to be a long, uncomfortable summer for transpeople.

If it isn't the po-po's jacking with us, it's some fool who has self esteem issues that wants to take them out on us to make themselves feel more like a man or woman.

As the legal process continues to move forward in the wake of the Chrissy Polis McBeatdown in the Baltimore burbs, word of another transperson being attacked in Fredericksburg, VA is racing across the Transophere.

The 32 year old victim was leaving a convenience store near her home at 3:30 PM on May 21 when she was surrounded by two cis males and a cis female, taunted, and then assaulted.   The attackers fled in two vehicles  and the victim was able to get the license plate numbers of both vehicles.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

The victim suffered numerous facial injuries and bruising of the hands and knees during the assault

18 year old Laqueta Webb was later arrested for malicious wounding by mob and is in jail without bond.   The two male suspects involved in the attack have yet to be arrested, but have been identified..

Virginia does have a hate crimes law on the books, but it doesn't cover sexual orientation or gender identity.

It figures.

But long story short, this bull feces is getting old.   I'm just waiting for the day when these wastes of DNA who get their jollies beating on transpeople runs into the wrong one.  

One who is more than prepared to defend themselves with either boxing or martial arts training or simply busts a cap in them.

More Maryland Mickey D's Bathroom Transphobia

Here we go again.    Another Maryland transwoman who is getting transphobia served with her Big Mac.

A security guard is caught on tape at a McDonalds in Langley Park, MD denying use of the facilities to a transwoman.   This incident according to Denise LeClair of IFGE happened in January.



Address of the latest McDonald's with transphobia on the menu is 7911 New Hampshire Ave in Langley  Park, MD

 Ba ba ba ba ba, not lovin' it..

Think it's time to seriously consider coordinating a nationwide (or worldwide) trans pee-in at McDonald's.

Maine Anti-Trans Madness

If you're questioning why I've been part of the team fighting that jacked up HB 235 bill in Maryland, peep this unjust bill that is percolating in Maine.

It's a bill written by freshman Republican Rep. Ken Fredette (big shock) in reaction to a Maine Commission on Human Rights decision favoring a transchild.     This LD 1046 bill seeks to amend the Maine Human Rights Act by adding this paragraph at the end of it.


It is not unlawful public accommodations discrimination, in violation of this Act, for a public or private entity to restrict rest room or shower facilities that are part of a public accommodation to the use of singlesex facilities to members of a biological sex regardless of sexual orientation. Unless otherwise indicated, a rest room or shower facility designated for one biological sex is presumed to be restricted to that biological sex.

Note to EQMD, Morgan Meneses Sheets and all you trans sellouts taking shots at me and the folks pointing out the fatal flaw in your moldy trans half a civil rights loaf in various net venues.   This kind of crap is fracking why public accomodations language in a civil rights bill matters.   Without P/A language, it's a waste of time, money and energy to even pursue penalties against someone who discrimates against you.

But if you were a POC who has had to deal with being in a marginalized body from birth and at times has to use the court system to enforce their civil rights, you would know that.

Okay, now that I'm done venting at the Civil Rights Clueless Clique for now, back to the more important 'bidness' of pimp slapping this proposed Maine Madness.

We do have some Maine based transpeople planning to testify at the Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled next week against this flawed bathroom bill that needs to die. 

You know the TransGriot will keep you posted on this unjust bill as well. 

Pam's Ponderings-Gays,Lesbians And Transsexuals

TransGriot Note:  More musings and words from author Pamela Hayes

Yesterday, a poster, who is a trans woman, sorrowfully said that she wished gays and lesbians were more supportive of her.

Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune of knowing some wonderful gay and lesbian people. A very dear friend of mine, whom I trust implicitly is a gay man.

But for the most part, gay and lesbians have not been terribly supportive of me. Some have been hostile, nasty and insulting. In the writing workshop where I’m a student and openly trans, there is a gay man, who sucks up to straight (or he’s assuming they’re straight) people, but totally ignores me. I don't care, but I notice it.

In the past, a number of gay men joined forces with straights and sabotaged me. Now, how ignorant is such a gay person?

Years ago, I was networking and I met a super cool lesbian, who gave me some advice on bringing attention to my self-published books. I really liked this girl. Like me, she was nuts about food. But largely, she got her fix from restaurants. She said she had at least twenty menus from various eateries atop her refrigerator. If she lived nearby, I would have whipped her up a few meals.

She praised my writing and more than once, even suggested I try my hand at writing a book about lesbians. She also bluntly told me not to expect much support from gays and lesbians while I tried to make it as a novelist. “You’re a transsexual and most of them wouldn’t lift a hand to help you. GLBT groups should be pushing your books because they are a positive portrait of transsexuals. And that positive information should be promoted. And if you make it, they’re gonna try and claim you as one of their own.”

She said as a black lesbian, who penned a novel and wrote essays about womyn like her, she contacted some of the organizations which are run by whites and they showed no interest in what she had to say or made no attempt to help her. She said they tried to claim the late novelist E Lynn Harris as one of them because he was a New York Times bestselling author and they wanted him in their camp and felt he could be used to promote their agenda.

I wonder what their agenda is.

It is unfortunate, but SOME (a large number) of gay and lesbians aren’t supportive of trans women. Admittedly, I get funky vibes when I’m around some of them. Now that is something I’d love to discuss if I were a successful writer who had the clout to set up interviews. I’d publicly ask why do gays and lesbians dislike trans women. When the sad truth is, those who hate us don't discriminate. Gay, lesbian, trans (pre and post-op), bisexual. Our haters don't like none of us.

Utah Transwoman Humiliated At DMV, Ciswoman Stands Up For Her

If you want to know why many of us have been going straight the hell off about the unjust HB 235 law being pimped in Maryland by our 'allies', this news coming out of Utah will add more gasoline to the fires of our discontent.

On Thursday Amber Anderton entered a branch of the Utah DMV in Salt Lake City simply wishing to get her Utah drivers license renewed.   Instead of courteous service by the civil servants employed there, she watched as a trans citizen of the Beehive State ran into disrespect, transphobic ignorance and bigotry.

Anderton watched as the 29 year old anonymous transwoman was subjected to being mocked by DMV employees, have transphobic slurs hurled at her, and was forced to scrub her face of her makeup and pull her hair back before she was allowed to take her license photo.

Appalled at what she'd just witnessed, she went to the abused transwoman to comfort her and asked her if she was going to file a complaint.  Even though the transwoman was livid, she replied to Anderton she didn't want to cause a scene.

Homegirl's better than me.   

Anderton decided to file the complaint over what she had witnessed and marched up to the DMV branch supervisor who only gave his first name as John.    When Anderton said to him, “How dare you treat people this way! Would you make any other woman take off her makeup to get her licensed removed?” The supervisor coldly responded that “That is not a real woman, it’s a man."

I hope that the Utah transwoman who endured that harassment will channel that anger into action against the Utah DMV branch like Amber Yust did in California.   The employees who dehumanized her need to pay for their actions.   Iinaction will only ensure that the next transperson who enters that branch or even some cis person with ambiguous gender characteristics will get disrestected in the same manner..  

But at the same time, kudos to Amber Anderton for standing up for one of our sisters.    You've done more to stand up for a transperson's dignity, human rights and self respect in one day that gay advocacy orgs have done in decades.  

Trans Murder Rocks Brazil

Brazil is the largest country on the South American continent.  It is not only one that is fast becoming an emerging economic powerhouse, they hope the upcoming 2014 World Cup soccer tournament and the 2016 Olympics will demonstrate that fact to the world.

Brazil is also one of the largest nations to have a female president in Dilma Roussef.

Brazil has another distinction it's not proud of.  It is a very dangerous place to live if you're a transwoman.


Brazil is Roman Catholic, and thanks to the hate speech against transpeople implanted into the Vatican by its former advisor Paul McHugh and disseminated from Pope Benedict XVI, hate crimes and violence against transpeople in Catholic countries such as Brazil has spiked up.

According to local TBLG rights groups in the country, there were over 250 murders in Brazil last year involving TBLG people.   One of the names we'll probably be reciting later this year at the Transgender Day of Remembrance is Priscila Brandao. 

Priscila's mother wanted her trans child to have a better life than pursuing sex work in the mean streets of Belo Horizonte, so a year ago she asked her brother in law to give her a job.     

Just eight months earlier before her life was cut short the 22 year old transwoman was interviewed with her mother expressing a bold hope for the future and a determination that she would succeed at her job as a mattress store manager in Belo Horizonte.

Now she's dead, shot seven times by three men as the crime was caught on surveillance tape.   One of the men has been arrested..

(trigger alert for violence)



A hate crimes law has been proposed in Brazil, and activists in the country are pushing President Rousseff to support its passage.

It won't bring Priscila back, but it's a step in reminding Brazilians that all its citizens are valuable, including its trans ones.