After Pride Event, Trans Man Attacked inside Philadelphia 7-Eleven
A transgender man was attacked by two assailants Sunday night inside a Philadelphia 7-Eleven, according to his family.
The man stopped in the store around 9 p.m. after OutFest, an annual block party celebrating the city’s LGBTQ community.
Video surveillance footage from inside the gas station shows the 30-year-old being repeatedly punched and thrown onto the ground. Two of the victim’s sisters, who did not want to be identified, told WCAU, NBC’s local Philadelphia affiliate, that their brother was kicked in the head multiple times.
The victim was wearing a “Trans Lives Matter” sweatshirt, which his family believes may have caused the ambush.
“I’m very hurt that my brother is sitting very hurt with a broken jaw, eyes messed up and nobody helped him,” one sister said. “I just want the people to get caught.”
One worker who claimed he was at the store at the time of the incident told WCAU that he wasn’t sure how the altercation began.
The family said they reported the incident to the police, however the Philadelphia Police Department denied NBC News’ request for information regarding whether it planned to open an investigation into the incident.
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Since 2014, the total number of hate crimes motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias has increased every year, rising 3 percent in 2017, according to the FBI. A separate survey from Gallup found that almost 17 percent of all reported hate crime victims are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Trans people of color remain an especially vulnerable population. Since the beginning of 2019, at least 19 trans people have been killed, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
“What hope do we have to be ourselves if we can’t be out here and be ourselves?” the victim’s other sister told WCAU.
The U.S. isn’t the only country plagued by anti-trans attacks. According to a Home Office report released Tuesday, over the past year hate crimes against transgender people in England and Wales have risen by 37 percent. From April 2018 to March 2019, there were 2,333 reported hate crimes against transgender people, up from 1,703 the previous year.