In Washington, DC, last week, two transmen were allegedly beaten up outside a gay club on lesbian night by several women. One of the men ended up with a concussion.
"They said, 'What the fuck are you? Are you a girl or a boy?'" Graffeo recalled one of the women saying to Jaime inside the club.
Graffeo said another woman, along with a man who was with them, joined the first woman in shouting insults aimed at Jaime's appearance after Jaime asked the first woman to leave him alone.
Jaime told the Blade as many as three women in the bar ran their hands over his chest as they taunted him over his appearance, saying they wanted to find out if he was male or female.
He and Graffeo then left the Fab Lounge, which is located in a second-floor space at 1805 Connecticut Ave., N.W., in an effort to avoid a confrontation with the women, the two men said.
"When we were about 20 feet from the club's entrance, one of the lesbians came up from behind and put [Jaime] in a headlock and again began to question his gender," Graffeo said.
Jaime said that as the woman released him from her grip, another woman punched him repeatedly in the head and body, inflicting injuries that included a concussion, doctors told him later.
As the alleged assault unfolded on the sidewalk near the corner of Connecticut and Florida avenues, Graffeo said he asked the women to leave Jaime alone and announced he was calling the police on his cell phone. At that time, the woman who had held Jaime in a headlock "grabbed my phone out of my hands and hit me in the neck and head a few times," Graffeo said.
Minutes later, Graffeo said, the male friend who had accompanied the women inside the club arrived in a car, which he stopped on Connecticut Avenue in front of the Royal Palace nightclub, which operates below Fab Lounge. He said the two women entered the car, which turned onto Florida Avenue and drove eastbound, Graffeo said.
He said police arrived minutes later after Jaime used his own cell phone to call 911. Graffeo noted that the woman who grabbed his phone never returned it, and the phone has been reported as stolen.
If anyone's still under the impression that everything's fine under the LGBTQ umbrella, this should disabuse them of that notion.
The article says police are still trying to determine if it was a hate crime and to find the women who perpetrated this attack. It's currently classified as an assault and a theft.
I'm going to stress again the word "possible" from the title, though - just because it happened outside a gay club on lesbian night doesn't mean the perpetrators were lesbian. Lots of straight women like to go to gay clubs. Also, police have, as far as I know, not yet classified it as a hate crime.
Share
Like what you read? Subscribe to The Bilerico Project by Email.
Want others to read it too? Use the buttons and links here to share this entry with others. (Move your cursor over a button or link to learn more about it.)
17 Comments
« It's Election Day today! Seriously! | Home | How To Be an Ally To a Bisexual Person »
"In Washington, DC, last week, two transmen were allegedly beaten up outside a gay club on lesbian night by several women. One of the men ended up with a concussion."
Alex if you wrote this you know better it should read one of the women as that is what we are and you know it. Other than that very good article.
Cathy | March 10, 2009 7:01 PM
Reply to this comment
The victims were FTM transmen, so, yeah, I'm going to refer to them with masculine language!
Alex Blaze | March 10, 2009 7:20 PM
Reply to this comment
Since the alleged criminals questioned what the sex of the victim is, I would say that this should immediately classify as a hate crime. Though you took great care to point out that these women might not be lesbians I don't even think that should be a question in the conversation. Transphobia happens in all communities, across race and class lines. We need to stop the hate period, no matter where it originates.
womanistmusings | March 10, 2009 7:38 PM
Reply to this comment
Yeah, it happens more often than is discussed. My ex was harassed and assaulted, presumably by a gay cis man, for being trans. It was at a gay bar on their monthly trans and genderqueer dance night. (Ze guesses that he was a regular that didn't know what night it was)
Gay (and lesbian) bars tend to be a lot more transphobic than straight bars. In my home town, trans people were regularly forced into the wrong bathroom, outed based on their ID, and generally harassed. The straight bars more or less don't know about trans folk, but the gay (and lesbian) bars have just enough knowledge to potentially be really dangerous.
Tobi Hill-Meyer | March 10, 2009 7:58 PM
Reply to this comment
Alex me bad read to me at first as if it was two MTF Trans.But till you have had Gays and Lesbians hate on you for being Trans you have not felt real discrimination yep been there had it happen to me.Another reason I always say im trans online saves a lot of hassles.They can accepet me or ignore me most seem to accept an open Trans more than one in the closet online.
Cathy | March 10, 2009 8:54 PM
Reply to this comment
All to easy to see how this happened...
First of all, Lesbian only space and times in gay clubs routinely gets violated by gay men, some loud few of whom are overtly misogynistic..I've been in a club on ladies nights when some gent made an endless stream of "Do you know what's wrong with Lesbians" jokes that were not at all funny.,,,,
Secondly, add alcohol, too much probably
Thirdly, some of the Butch portion of the community has serious problems with F to M's, seeing them as Butches who cannot adjust and looking for an easier life, just as some gay men see M to F's as gay men who are doing the same...
Forth, add more alcohol.....
The outcome was simply abominable. The men did not deserve what occured, the women should be tried for hate cimes....
That said, if you identify as male, you probably ought to avoid Lesbian night at a gay club...
MauraHennessey | March 10, 2009 9:52 PM
Reply to this comment
Based on the article, it seems unlikely that they were too concerned about men- at least, of the cisgendered variety- being present at lesbian night:
But then again, maybe they're hypocritical as well as transphobic.
DysPerDis | March 11, 2009 12:56 AM
Reply to this comment
Good summation, Maura.
Bil Browning | March 11, 2009 1:01 PM
Reply to this comment
There's a difference between a 'good summation' and victim blaming. You're just looking for an excuse to pretend that cis queer violence against trans people isn't endemic/doesn't represent overarching power dynamics.
"Too much alcohol" are you kidding? So every time this happens it's just a matter of the alcohol? Not power dynamics, not privilege/oppression, just women trying to defend their space from male encroachment? I hear that rapists just drank too much too. So clearly if straight drunk people assaulted you and called you homophobic slurs, you'd just write it down to the alcohol. You should've known not to go to a sports bar/straight bar/baseball game, really.
Seriously, Bil, how many times do we have to call you out?
-Trans female spectrum white queer person who's been assaulted/trans bashed on trans night at a gay bar by both cissexual, white, LGB women and men, and has heard many similar stories from trans women of color.
Cedar | March 12, 2009 1:00 AM
Reply to this comment
There are assholes in every group, that includes transgender. I wish people would stop using one or two examples to condemn another social group, isn't that what the conservative religious right does to all of us?
If someone commits harassment, violence or terror
on another, the that person should be persecuted, NOT the whole group that they may belong to.
Yes, I am a transsexual and proud, and I believe that we, all LGBTQ need to stick together and always take the high road against violence of any kind.n
We all want equality, we need to treat each other as equals first!
"Be Nice To ALL the Lives You Touch!"
Tammie Huber | March 11, 2009 1:12 AM
Reply to this comment
I'm confused...
I didn't think anyone was calling the assaulted transguys assholes, or condemning all of any one group.
At least not in the original post.
A couple of (presumably) ciswomen and a (presumably) cisman assaulted transmen. If anyone deserves the asshole titles, it's the cisfolks doing the assaulting, right?
Or am I missing something?
Jo | March 12, 2009 11:06 AM
Reply to this comment
I think Maura probably summed this up best. Way too much alcohol. That, and like Tammie said, there are assholes everywhere doing there best to make their particular "group" look bad.
We can't fall into that trap.
Taylor Siluwé | March 11, 2009 9:43 AM
Reply to this comment
Real classy. Sign them up for a Jerry Springer show. Jerry Jerry Jerry !
Charles Merrill | March 11, 2009 12:41 PM
Reply to this comment
I feel that the first sentence would be more accurate if it read as follows:
"In Washington, DC, last week, two transmen were beaten up outside a gay club on lesbian night by several women, who were allegedly lesbian-identified."
The transmen were not allegedly beaten up. They really and truly were victims of violence. Framing it in any other way devalues the seriousness of this incident.
Meaghan | March 11, 2009 2:24 PM
Reply to this comment
I am speechless. There is NO excuse for this violence. This absolutely is a hate crime; and trans- men should not have to " stay away" from lesbian clubs! "T" is part of LGBT for a reason! -- we are supposed to support each other in community. Any dyke who thinks that being trans is easier because they can afford the priveleges of being male are missing the point. If the perpetrators are indeed lesbians, am ashamed of our community.
Michelle Schreiber | March 11, 2009 10:29 PM
Reply to this comment
I don't care how much a person drinks, they choose to pour the beverage and fill and lift and drain the glass, and they should be held responsible for the results. I am sick and tired of people blaming the evil they do on drug or alcohol use, and on people explaining away/asking to be let off for their stupidity by entering rehab. If alcohol was involved in this crime, no matter, punish the perps anyway.
Likewise, a hate crime committed by a GLBT person against any other person, is just as odious as a redneck beating a glbt person. Throw the girls in jail already, if all is as it is written here.
You either believe in human rights, and in equality, or you don't. A GLBT person who rapes, assaults, murders, or robs, is just as much a criminal as anyone else. The victim of such a crime deserves justice, period.
Polar | March 12, 2009 2:50 AM
Reply to this comment
I wanna clarify: I agreed 'yes' this may be in part to too much alcohol etc., but it IS ABSOLUTELY a hate crime (if all is as said in this piece).
But I disagree with you Polar, its not "as odious as a redneck beating a glbt person" -- its much worse. One would expect, and least I do, a little more open-mindedness to the differences in our fellow man from a member of a such an oppessed minority as ours.
Of course, its not always the case. That's where Tammie's comment about "assholes" comes into play. These particular ones should be thrown under the prison and left there to rot.
Sorry if I came off as dismissive of the seriousness before.
Taylor Siluwé | March 12, 2009 10:14 AM
Reply to this comment