6/8/13

Danish Transgender Victim Still In Danger Yet Perp Laughs and Smirks in Court

21 year-old denies hate crime was a motive for the attack

Smiling and grinning a 21-year-old trainee chef from Sønderborg in Copenhagen confessed to a magistrate today that he beat the 48-year-old transgender woman Cecillia Mundt down with a hammer in City Hall Square in Copenhagen.

The 21-year-old, who is on parole for assault, met the 48-year-old at the main train station by chance and asked why he (sic) was dressed as a woman. But the perpetrator denied that hatred of transgender people was the cause of the brutal assault.

“I asked why are you like this. I should not have involved myself, and then he (sic) called me a 'møgperker'” explained the 21-year-old to the police magistrate.

He was angry about this and followed the 48-year-old to City Hall:

“I happened to have a rubber mallet in my bag when I moved a few weeks ago, so I hit the back of his head”, the grinning 21-year-old in the told police magistrate.

“You laugh? You think this is funny?” asked senior prosecutor Maria Cingari.

“No, I just got something in my throat”, said the 21-year-old, but continued the rest of the hearing to smile and chuckle as he appeared relaxed in the dock.

Knows gay men
“I want to be accountable for what I've done. It is not acceptable. I have respect for people who dare to be different and I also know some gay men. It's okay that they are as they are”, said the 21-year-old. According to his explanation, he went only crazy because he was called 'møgperker'.
“He spoke rudely to me”, said the 21-year-old of the transsexual.

He beat Cecillia Mundt in the back of the head, so she fell. Then he ran off and threw the hammer away. He went home to Sønderborg, where he goes to the Technical School, and has a room. On Monday he should have been starting two weeks of work experience as a trainee chef at a hotel in Sønderborg.

Yesterday he called police and turned himself in. He was arrested at 10:10 yesterday.
The 21-year-old stayed at a hotel in Copenhagen when the attack happened. He should have gone home to Sønderborg on Sunday, but chose to stay in Copenhagen to 'get some fresh air'.

Victim in danger
At the hearing it emerged that Cecillia Mundt was in potential danger. She had a three-way fracture on the right side of the head and a piece of bone of 2.5 times 2.5 centimeters was pressed into the skull, but luckily without bleeding. Moreover, the 48-year-old had abrasions on the hands, face and scalp probably from the fall.

The 21-year-old denies that he struck the 48-year-old in the head more than once.

Prosecutor Maria Cingari doubts that the damage could have been caused by a rubber hammer, but according to defender Peter Giersing also a witness described the hammer as a rubber mallet.
The 21-year-old, who is heavily tattooed on the left leg and in the neck, sat in the police magistrate in short black pants and gray hoodie.

He has twice previously been convicted for domestic violence. In May 2009, he was sentenced to 60 days imprisonment for violence by a court in Sønderborg. In August 2011, he was given four months in prison for aggravated assault, also in Sønderborg and he is on parole with probation until 27 January 2014 with 42 days remaining to be served.

He was remanded in custody for 16 days until 24 June, both for the risk of new violent crime and the interests of the gravity of the pffence and the sense of justice.

“Can I go now?” asked the 21-year-old and was with a small smile on his face and was led out of the police magistrates court.

Click Here Opens In New Window, Cecillia Mundt Interview In Danish
Cecilia's Response: Attacker is full of lies.

That's just sickening that he comes out with that. I am not a racist and would not dream of calling someone 'møgperker'.

The 48-year-old transgender Cecillia Mundt is shocked by the 21-year-old violent man's explanation in Copenhagen magistrate today.

Here he claimed that the motive for his brutal assault with a hammer on Cecillia Mundt on the square was not due to that she is a transsexual, but that she called the 21-year-old for 'møgperker'.

The 21-year-old trainee chef claims he randomly met Cecillia Mundt at the main train station and asked 'why she looked like that' on the grounds that she was dressed as a woman.

Cecillia Mundt changed sex when she was 46 years old, and the police magistrate claimed the accused that he was told that “he (sic) hadn’t shaved” and then he was called 'møgperker'. Therefore he followed Cecilla Mundt to City Hall, where he beat her down from behind with a rubber mallet, which he happened to have in his bag.

“I have never spoken to him.”

“It is simply something he has done. I have never met him before or talked to him before. I have no idea what he looks like and no one stopped me or spoke to me before I felt the attack from behind and fell, said Cecillia Mundt to Ekstra Bladet from her sick bed.

She is convinced that the assault is a hate crime due to her sexual orientation, she is upfront about.
If someone asks me, then I explain to them that I am a transsexual. It's not something I hide. My neighbors are of a different ethnic origin and they respect me 100 percent as a woman. I would never call anyone for 'møgperker' says Cecillia Mundt.

Cecillia Mundt had eaten with a friend who is a journalism student and who is writing a thesis about transsexuals when she went to City Hall and sent a text message along the way. Suddenly she felt the attack in her head and it all went black.

According to doctors, she was in potential danger. Amongst other things there was a large piece of bone pressing into herskull.

“The attacker’s explanation was that he "only" used a rubber mallet, I think he did not.”

“I'm missing a piece of the skull for life. A rubber mallet did not do that, said Cecillia Mundt. Doctors have implanted a titanium mesh in her head instead of the broken skull pieces.”

“I do not know when I will be able to go home. There is enough for a while. I still have severe pain and have an increased dose of pain medication. It is slow sending an SMS message for example”, says the 48-year-old.

But Cecillia Mundt has only compassion for the perpetrator.

“I would like to meet him and ask him why he did it. He must be sick and in need of help,” she says.
The 21-year-old has two previous convictions for violence and was released on parole.


Original story at ekstrabladet.dk. Translated by Natacha Kennedy and posted on Uncommon Sense blogspot. Cross posted with full permission.

"møgperker" (possibly meaning Motherfucker or maybe a racial slur targeting Islam?)



6/7/13

Wisconsin man charged with Hate Crime For Brutal Attack on Gender Variant Person

Wisconsin Gazette reports: "Authorities have arrested Tom Pruett of Appleton in connection with the assault. Pruett faces a charge of substantial battery-hate crime, a felony, and disorderly conduct-hate crime."

The Fox Valley & Oshkosh Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Anti-Violence Project (AVP), in a press statement, said, “We applaud the actions of Appleton Police Department and the Outagamie County district’s attorney’s office for their swift and thorough response and their sensitivity to the victim of the crime.”

The defendant, according to the AVP, used slurs, assailing the victim’s perceived sexual orientation and gender identity while committing the physical assault.

Kathy Flores, of both the AVP and Appleton's diversity coordinator, said the individual, who identifies as gender variant, was in the park at about 7:30 p.m. when the assailant began shouting "faggot" and "queer" and began beating the victim.

She said the victim suffered a broken orbital bone and suffered massive bruises, contusions and was bleeding. She also said that the defendant, who was homeless, had punched the victim in the eye the night before.

"We still have so much hate against people just trying to be themselves," said Flores.

Pruett made a court appearance on June 5 and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in court on June 13.



Navy Seal Kristen Beck speaks with Anderson Cooper: Navy SEAL to a feminine woman.

AC: It must have been hard keeping this inside yourself. If it got out that you were transgender during those 20 years, what would have been the outcome?

Beck: I don't know I might have ended up dead.

6/6/13

DC Council set to vote on changing transgender birth certificate requirements

Currently the District of Columbia requires Sexual Reassignment Surgery and three weeks of advertising in local news papers before a transgender person can amend their birth certificate. But that's all about to change.

NBC Washington reports: The D.C. Council Judiciary Committee voted to wipe away a lot of those restrictions on sex identity changes, approving a proposal that would require only a certified statement from a medical doctor and would eliminate the publicity and surgery requirements.

“I'm proud that we are doing this during pride week,” Councilmember Tommy Wells said. “It's a time when we recognize equality among all District residents.”

If passed, the new law also would issue a new birth certificate rather than simply amending the old one. Amended birth certificates are clear tipoffs for more discrimination.


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



Does Clear Channel Approve of Lex And Terry's Rant Promoting Transpanic Murders? They Haven't said Otherwise.

Update 6/7/13Today, Cristan Williams over at the TransAdvocate was notified by the SiriusXM Senior Vice President of Communications, Patrick Reilly that Lex and Terry show had been pulled from the SiriusXM network. “As you may already be aware, the Lex and Terry show is no longer on XM. The show was dropped yesterday, Thursday, from the Extreme Talk channel on XM. That’s the channel under the control of Clear Channel.”
Cristan also reports that Glaad has been in contact with the Lex and Terry show and have been promised an official apology is forthcoming. Clear Channel has yet to respond.

+++++++++
posted 6/6/2013
Yesterday I was alerted via a tweet by TransAdvocate about a conversation heard on SiriusXM advocating for and approving of a recent hate crime against a local transgender woman.

On Friday (06/03/2013), the Lex and Terry show began discussing the shooting of a Tampa transgender woman that is being investigated as a hate crime by police saying, "There’s a teen that shot a tranny after finding out that it was a man after they had a little sexual encounter. A co-host responded, I don’t blame him. I would have shot his ass too."



Lex and Terry were offering encouragement to others to commit a criminal act. Not just any criminal act but a hate crime targeting transgender people so I retweeted TransAdvocate.

Much to SiriusXM credit they apologized immediately to me via a tweet for the content of the Lex and Terry segment but let it be known they are only the messenger, one obligated by contract.


Followed by this:


But we havem't heard back from the company responsable for the content of the Lex and Terry Show, Clear Channel.

On Twitter: @clearchannel

On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clearchannel

Email: wendygoldberg@clearchannel.com

Please sign the Gender Justice League petition Clear Channel: Issue Formal Apology For Radio Hosts Who Advocated Murdering Trans People

We seriously need to address this being Pride Month and all.



AZ Rep. John Kavanagh's Bathroom Bill Flushed Until Next Year

The Arizona transgender community is sighing in relief as they can continue using the bathroom peacefully until such a time that Rep. John Kavanagh should reintroduce a bill making these ongoing bodily functions illegal. Pee in Peace Arizona. (or at least until the next legislative session anyways)

(AP) The sponsor of an Arizona bill targeting transgender people who want to use bathrooms of the gender they identify with says he's giving up on the issue this Legislative session.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh said Wednesday there's concern in his caucus about some of his proposal's definitions, so it will have to be shelved until next year.

Kavanagh caused a national uproar in March when he proposed the bathroom privacy language.

The original bill would have made it a crime for a transgendered person to use a bathroom other than the one designated for his or her birth sex

After an outcry from advocacy groups, Kavanagh changed the measure to instead shield businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don't match their birth sex.

6/5/13

Over Half of LGBT homicide victims in 2012 were transgender woman: NCAVP Reports

The National Coaltion on Anti Violence Programs report on hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and HIV-Affected Communities was released today.

The 2012 report found that 73.1% of all anti-LGBTQ homicide victims in 2012 were people of color. Of the 25 known homicide victims in 2012 whose race/ethnicity was disclosed, 54% were Black/African American, 15% Latin@, 12% White and 4% Native American.

The report also found that 53.8% of anti-LGBTQ homicide victims in 2012 were transgender women. This is a considerable increase from 2011 (40%) and continues a three-year trend toward disproportionate and severe violence experienced by transgender women.

Anyone who reads planetransgender with any regularity has seen the seemingly endless cascade of posts about the horrific violence being suffered by transgender woman of color, like the preceding article.

Nearly all of these murdered transgender woman worldwide were 'in the wrong place at the wrong time' meaning at a place of risk because of the prevalence of crime in that particular area. I am not victim blaming but I am skating on the proverbial controversial thin ice, being white and having the good fortune of being employed and having decent housing.

Socio economic conditions have forced our sisters and brothers into these situations, enforced by overwhelming daily stigmatization. They are told ever day by people outside the LGBT community they are 'less than', with glances, stares, shouts and violence. What can we do as a community to raise up the most marginalized of our community?

Be creative. This is a project for myself too. Think about this. What can I do. Myself. Personally? Then take action. I'm a poor blogger, but even that feels like a cop out sometimes. I cry every time I post another heart wrenching tale, but my tears won't solve anything. I need to do more. Now.




6/4/13

LA Transgender Woman Victor Diego Savagely Beaten And Left For Dead

According to family members Ms. Victor Diego 'dressed up' meaning she put on feminine attire before leaving work at Beso—a Hollywood hotspot co-owned by Desperate Housewives actress & Obama ally Eva Longoria. The attack is being investigated as a hate crime according to family members.

Editors note: During the KCal9 interview Ms. Deigo's family uses male pronouns to describe Ms. Diego who presents as female when she is able. They also unwittingly revictimized her indicating her gender expression misleads people and could have been a contributing factor for the attack. This blog will identify her as female until such a time that we learn differently.



LAPD Crime Stoppers On Line

TEXT-A-TIP
To provide anonymous tips, text CRIMES (274637) on your cell phone and begin the message with the letters LAPD.

You may submit an anonymous tip anytime, anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by phone 800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477)



6/2/13

SheZow Transforming Saturday Morning Super heroines !GO GIRL!

OK so a boy finds a a belt tries it on and he suddenly has super hero powers except one thing. He becomes a girl externally, when he says 'Go Girl', but he retains all the bumbling innocent endearing ineptitude of a adolescent boy regarding all things female.

So is this child's superhero identity really a metaphor for transsexuality? Creator Obie Scott Wade tells Zap2it no.
"SheZow is not transgender. He's a boy, his gender never changes, he's just trapped in a silly costume."

Sounds like great harmless fun and a unique learning tool as boys come to respect and understand girls.



Not everyone feels the way I do though like the Christian Post which is pushing the Million bigot Mom petition calling for a end to the 'transgender' show saying "This appears to be a not-so subtle indoctrination attempt by the gay, lesbian and transgender community—this time with impressionable children."


Note to the Christian Post. This advertisement was on top of your website when I visited. It shows a hot young girl in an extremely short mini skirt on top of a pool table on her knees in what is inevitably construed as a sexual position by men. Is this what you want your impressionable children who visit your site to emulate? Really? Get off your high self righteous preposterous patriarchal bigoted 'christian' horse.

And so what if some kids assume SheZow is transgender? Your own bible tells you three times to love and accept transgender people. Open it for once would you?






Transgender Pole dancer Natasha Payne is representing Great Britain in the Masters Championship in London.

Natasha Payne's road to the World Pole Sports Championship 2013 wasn't a easy one however the difficulties she has had to overcome have all have centered around the physical challenges of the sport. Being able to concentrate on competing has allowed her a chance at the championship. Natasha told Sky : "The girls have been so welcoming. I've come across no barriers, they've been so accommodating it's unbelievable, even down to things like changing rooms.

"It can be hard, many people like me can end up just at home isolated. I'm so lucky, I've met so many friends through pole dancing."

"I'm really excited about the competition and I'm just looking forward to taking part. I've not met any other transgender pole dancers yet."


There's reasons for that Natasha! Many trans peeps including myself, haven't the physical abilities that you have and would be extremely uncomfortable being judged and scrutinized so carefully in phosphorescent lighting! A fact not lost on other competitors, I'm sure. You are our heroine! Go Natasha!



Watch Sky Tyne and Wear reporter Joe Daunt try out male pole fitness...



What Joe so bravely attempted is is captured here in this video clip of the 2012 championships.



Be inspired by our international athletes. Join us at the World Pole Sports Championships 2013 at York Hall Bethnal Green London. The IPSF is a not-for-profit organization run by dedicated members of the Pole Sports Industry, who donate their time and energy for the promotion of Pole Sports.



6/1/13

Puerto Rico's New Anti Discrimination Law Is A Transgender Screw Job

Monica Roberts post WTF Just Happened In Puerto Rico With SB 238? piqued my curiosity. Didn't Puerto Rico just pass a anti discrimination bill including public accommodations provisions for transgender people.

Monica wrote:
"Who the hell LGBT activist wise was watching the Puerto Rican legislature and the governor's office to ensure the tougher bill was the one that received Governor Garcia Padilla's signature? Instead of doing the civil rights job right the first time you'll now have to (like Massachusetts is painfully doing right now) go back to the Puerto Rican Legislature and refight the pitched battle you just fought to have those categories the Senate just stripped out added back into the law."

"A human rights law without public accommodations language in it is not only unjust, it's a worthless law."

It was all over the Internet via Gay media and the NGLTF saying they passed a inclusive law. Heck, even Mara Keisling said they did....Or did they?

It was really difficult to find out. The Puerto Rican Legislature website has no direct links to bills and nether does the Puerto Rican governments. So I had to trace the bill through both houses using multiple media reports.

I found out what happened not by what was announced, but what was not talked about. We were quietly thrown under the bus.

Apparently the House bill was stripped of public accommodation provisions in a deal with right wing politicans and fanatical religious zealots to get Bill 488 passed, amending the "Law of Prevention and Intervention in Domestic Violence" providing equal protection to all couples regardless of marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.

To answer Monica's question, Pedro Julio Serrano a native of Puerto Rico and communications director for the NGLTF was the one we trusted to watch over the bill.

Serrano's May 16th video recorded his reaction when the Puerto Rican Senate on Thursday approved the non-discrimination bill that would ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and government services in the U.S. territory.



But there was little fanfare when the house passed the legislature and subsequently signed by the Governor,  only this announcement and this press release on May 24th making no mention of what was sacrificed:
Statement by Pedro Julio Serrano
Founder, Puerto Rico Para Tod@s
Communications Manager, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"Today is a thrilling day in Puerto Rican history. A decade ago, LGBT Puerto Ricans were criminals under the sodomy law, today we're second-class citizens and when this bill is signed into law, we will be closer to achieving the first-class citizenship that we deserve. Equality is inevitable. Puerto Rico will be for all."

Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"We celebrate with the Puerto Rican LGBT community this amazing milestone. The nondiscrimination bill that will become law with the signature of Gov. García Padilla is a testament to the resiliency and steadfastness of the Puerto Rican LGBT community and its allies.

"The Puerto Rican LGBT community has endured an epidemic of anti-LGBT violence that has taken more than 35 lives in the past three years. Nonetheless, this community has continued to stand strong in the face of adversity and today can celebrate this glorious victory. We thank all the activists that have been part of this effort, especially our own Pedro Julio Serrano, who has been a steadfast and uncompromising leader in this struggle."
The question then becomes "who is watching the NGLTF? We did it it in 2010 when the NGLTF and HRC tried to trade a non discrimination bill sans public accommodations for gay marriage in Maryland.

Equality Maryland left that battle with their tail between their legs, their lies exposed, humiliated with members deserting them by the hundreds. They learned the hard way not to fuck openly with the trans community. A lesson evidently not lost to Gay.com this year in Puerto Rico. Do it quietly. Keep it hushed, trans people will wake up under the bus not knowing what hit them.

It's a sad state of affairs when we as poor trans people without the resources that these behemoth gay.coms have must fight, scratch and claw, THEM for our most basic rights.

Like Monica said. What the fuck.