Trans women beaten, stripped on train as passengers cheer

Two women have fled the US state of Georgia as they feel they are not protected by the police

30 May 2014 | By Joe Morgan

Travel police in Atlanta are investigating the attack of two Trans women by several men on a train.
The video of the fight from last week, which shows the two women being verbally harassed before one man threw a kick, has gone viral online.
Other passengers did not help the two women, as one of them was stripped in a further bid to humiliate her, with some even cheering the men on.
Janell Crosby, one of the woman who was attacked, has said she is ‘humiliated’ by the video but hopes it will bring the men to justice. She has left Georgia to move back to New York where she has family.
Her friend, Tyra Woods, who was stripped naked in the attack, is staying with family in Cleveland, Ohio for a few weeks.
‘Nobody tried to help. Everyone was just standing on chairs videotaping,’ Crosby told GA Voice.
‘I don’t feel safe here. We don’t get no protection. There are always troublemakers.’
She said she tried to make a report to an officer after the attack, but claims the officer had no interest in talking to her. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) police have now confirmed they are investigating the videos.
Crosby said on Monday night (19 May), she and her friends were waiting for the train when several men started to harass them. One man began taking pictures of them.
The two main assailants had allegedly wanted to know whether or not they were ‘real’ women.
When Crosby stood up for herself, one of the men threatened her and started to attack her.
‘I really want an apology from them and I really want the law put on them,’ she said.
A local church, Restoration Inclusive Ministries, has scheduled a town hall meeting to discuss the misogynistic and transphobic implications of the attack.
A statement reads, in part:
‘According to the victims, the attack occurred because the two assailants wanted to know whether or not they were "real" women.
‘The two women were bullied, taunted, degraded and finally physically assaulted simply because of who they are.
‘The saddest, and perhaps the most disheartening, aspect of this attack is that onlookers stood idly by. Not one person called 911. Not one person intervened.
‘On a packed train, there was no help provided while these two women fought to protect themselves.’
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