Content warning: Discusses violent knife crime, wounding, attempted murder, and violence against young people and children.
At Trans Pride 2024 we briefly met with Sabah Choudrey, after momentary recognition and a brief hug, they came to me with an urgent warning. "Please", they said, don't show pictures of the kids. His fear was palpable but as a now middle-aged transitioned woman and peer supporter of many years, it wasn't entirely necessary. "Of course", I said, and with both warmth and compassion, I let him get on with his work.
Transitioned people, women and girls especially live their lives with almost constant risk assessment. I abandoned walking anywhere alone almost a decade ago, and recently every visit to the toilet is carefully planned, with a radar key in hand. When I began supporting other trans people I lived in a different world: trans was barely heard of, and I naively hoped that simply raising awareness would help others seek the treatment they urgently need, and live contented lives. I was never prepared for the violence to come. Recently, the reports seem to be increasing.
Trans people will never forget Brianna Ghey, the teenager who was lured to a park and then fatally stabbed by a cisgender boy and girl in a park in 2023. Brianna, 16, was stabbed 28 times in Linear Park in Culcheth, near Warrington, Cheshire, in February 2023, the attack happening somewhere between 2 and 3 pm. The perpetrators were Scarlett Jenkinson, who was sentenced to a minimum term of 22 years imprisonment and Eddie Ratcliffe, who was sentenced to a minimum term of 20 years imprisonment. They were 15 and 16 years old at the time. While there was little made of the significance of transphobia in the trial, her death has signalled a new spate of knife attacks and attempts on the lives of young transgender women.
On February 10th 2024, at 7 pm, an 18-year-old transgender girl was attacked by Summer Betts-Ramsey, 19, Bradley Harris, 18, Shiloh Hindes, 18, two boys aged 17 and 16, and a 16-year-old girl. The victim was attending a rollerskating party with friends when she was attacked by a group and subjected to transphobic slurs, before being stabbed 14 times. The stabbing happened near Harrow Leisure Centre in Wealdstone, northwest London. They are being charged with attempted murder. SummerBetts-Ramsey, a 19-year-old cisgender woman is accused of having a knife in Masons Drive, Harrow, on the same day. One of the 17-year-old boys is charged with disclosing a private sexual photograph or film of the victim on or before January 29 with intent to cause her distress. Prosecutor Bunsri Bhuwa, at the first court hearing in the case, made clear the attack was motivated by transphobia.
“This was, the Crown say, a brutal, unprovoked transphobic hate crime.”
A trial has been set for January 20 next year.
On Tuesday 2nd of July 2024, at 6 pm Cleveland Police sent armed response units to “reports of an assault by a group of teenagers with a bladed weapon” in Norton Road, Stockton. The victim was a transgender woman, in her 20s. She was discovered at the scene with a stab wound to her leg. She was taken to the hospital for surgery, while the three boys – aged 12, 14 and 16 – were taken into custody on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. In the wake of the attack, Assistant Chief Constable Richard Baker said:
"Physical violence against a person, or slurs made regarding a person’s gender identity, race, disability or any other difference, is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in our communities."
On Saturday, July 27, at around 5.20 pm, emergency services were called to reports that an 18-year-old transgender woman had been stabbed inside a property on Albert Road, in Southport. The motivation for the crime has yet to be made public and Police are continuing with their enquiries. Anyone with any information that could help detectives with their inquiries is asked to contact the police social media desk on Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’ quoting the reference number 2400065463.
While violent attacks and attempted murder of transgender women and girls are most common, there is also a disturbing increase in the number of attacks against members of the public in "transphobia by proxy". Transphobia by proxy is where someone is attacked because they are thought to be transgender, or they are in some way related to a transgender person, as a friend or relative.
In May last year, Alex Bailey, 30 in Ireland was jailed for two-and-a-half years after a vicious attack on an 86-year-old woman with dementia, believing she was trans and a “predatory paedophile”. According to the Irish Times, the pair met at about 2am after the victim got lost on her way home, with CCTV footage showing Bailey was with her for more than an hour – sporadically assaulting her for 42 minutes. She suffered blood loss and a fractured nose and required 24-hour care for months afterwards.
And in May this year in Ireland, two toddlers were assaulted by a gang of 10 youths, estimated to be about 12 years old. The Irish Sun stated: “In addition to our social media appeal, enquiries remain ongoing into this report of a transphobic-motivated hate crime.”
Trans woman Adrianne Elson, who lives in Belfast, described the incident as “horrific”. She said the youths taunted the toddlers with laughter and told them: “Your dad’s a girl”. Things “got worse and worse”, she added.
While much is made of the "risks" posed to cisgender girls and adults by transgender women, the reality is quite the opposite. Transgender women, especially young trans women and teenagers are especially at risk, with knife-wielding gangs targetting trans women and girls with increasing frequency and ferocity. Prior to Brianna, the reporting of such attacks was vanishingly rare, but increasingly we are seeing crimes as being planned and executed by groups of youths against young transgender women.
This comes in the light of the politicisation of trans women: a deluge of misinformation and stochastic terrorism by the media, those who align themselves against transgender women and girls in the name of feminism, and far-right groups. Instilling hatred and validating violence against oppressed groups is easy: reversing that is going to be more difficult. We must start by humanising trans women and girls: and this must come in many forms, from governmental policy recognising their specific needs and vulnerabilities, and cracking down on anti-trans propaganda, which more often than not undermines the humanity and vulnerability of transgender women and girls. Further, we urgently need safe spaces for transgender women and girls, away from the omnipresent threat of cisgender men and women.
Although still statistically rare, attempted murder of trans women and girls is on the increase. Transgender women and girls are at a worrying intersection of an increase in knife crime, and an increased intolerance of their existence. More needs to be done to humanise these girls' lives - every death and attempted murder leaves entire families and communities irreparably damaged.
References:
Knife Crime Increases by 4% Over the Last Year, Reaching 50,510 Offences
Teens accused of transphobic stabbing and revenge porn
Two teenagers sentenced following the murder of Brianna Ghey
Trans woman stabbed in hate crime, three boys arrested
Three boys arrested after transgender woman stabbed in alleged Stockton hate crime attack
Boys bailed over trans woman stabbing
Man charged with attempted murder after transgender woman 'stabbed'
https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/24481960.man-charged-attempted-murder-transgender-woman-stabbed/
Southport stabbing of transgender woman - attempted murder arrest
Teenagers deny attempted murder of trans girl in rollerskating party stabbing
Teenager charged with attempted murder after transgender girl stabbed 14 times at party
Toddlers, 3, attacked in ‘transphobic hate crime’ in Belfast
Woman with dementia, 86, beat up by thug and put in wheelie bin because he thought she was trans
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