WASHINGTON (June 11, 2021) FLUX, an affinity group of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) dedicated to creating safe spaces for trans* and gender non-conforming individuals through advocacy and outreach, and AHF today condemn in the strongest terms the recent unprovoked violent attack on a member of the community in the Trinidad neighborhood in Washington, D.C. On Sunday, June 6 at a laundromat on Benning Road in northeast Washington, three people attacked a transgender woman who was doing her laundry.
According to Metropolitan Police Department report, one of the suspects brandished a knife and stabbed the victim. The suspects fled the scene in a vehicle. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
According to Taylor Chandler president of the FLUX DC chapter, “When police arrived, they found her in a corner holding her head, bleeding profusely. She received 37 stitches in her arm and 14 staples in her head from this brutal hate crime, where video shows two women, and one man attacking her. She told police they kept calling her anti-gay slurs the whole time. There is graphic video that shows the entire attack. MPD currently has arrested no one in connection with this crime. We get a sense in the Trans community here in DC that Black Trans attacks, murders, and overdoses are not a priority to solve.”
Chandler further stated, “In 2020, there were 65 gender and sexual orientation crimes reported in Washington, DC. This number pales in comparison to the true number of actual crimes that occur and go unreported. I personally know of three Black, Trans women that were attacked in the last year that would never think of contacting local law enforcement based on how they are treated often times by local law enforcement. Washington, DC is no different than any other major city in the US when it comes to these kinds of attacks. We still rank human life according to color, bodies, and identities. Black Trans women are the most targeted because of their social standing and being the furthest from societal privileges.”
AHF Regional Director Mike McVicker said, “We stand in solidarity with the Trans community today. AHF condemns this violent and vicious attack. We stand against hate. We stand against this outrageous hate crime and will not stop working until all trans persons are free from discrimination and violent attacks.”
FLUX is a national division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation dedicated to creating safe spaces for trans and gender non-conforming individuals. See
