http://www.huliq.com/10178/transgender-violence-dc-sheds-light-nations-transphobia-epidemicThis week in Washington, DC, a 20-year police veteran involved in an off-duty altercation with five people, including three transgender women, fired gunshots into their vehicle. The incident has set off a series of conversations on the shaky relationship between the Washington DC metropolitan police and the LGBT community as well as the broader national community of transgender women looking for solace and a haven as a wave of violent crimes against transgender women has swept liberal areas like New York and DC with violent crimes against transgenders.
The phobia and hatred against the transgender community has taken on a new name: Transphobia.
In the Washington DC area, there have been two incidents of violence against transgenders in the past nine months involving DC police officers. In the first incident, Chloe Moore and a friend approached off duty police officer Raphael Radon. They wanted a light for their cigarette. When Radon discovered Moore and her friend were trans, Radon grew belligerent, uttered transphobic eptithets and threatened violence. Radon also shoved Moore.
In self-defense, Moore sprayed the officer with pepper spray. Radon chased Moore two blocks and beat her on the sidewalk. Soon after, uniformed officers approached the scene and determined that Officer Radon instigated the incident. The officers made their determination based on witness testimony.
There was another murder this weekend (sorry, context: this is in addition to a string of violence against lesbian transwomen and ciswomen* not involving police officers). There have also been a series of beatings in Chinatown and NoMa including two friends of mine. This has got to stop...
* "cissexual": by analogy with Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul, the complement of "transsexual"; I hadn't heard the word before this week
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