http://thegavoice.com/trans-women-attacked-atlantas-marta/
Author: Dyana Bagby, Source: The GA Voice

*Trigger Warning, video shows violence, link to uncensored video shows nudity*

MARTA police say they are investigating the attack of two transgender women by several men who were harassing them because of their gender identity.

People on the train did not try to stop the fight and instead many cheered and took videos on their phones.

Her friend, Tyra Woods, who was stripped naked in the attack, is now in Cleveland, Ohio, staying for family for a few weeks, Crosby said.

UPDATE: Two men have been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in the attack on the trans women.

Disorderly conduct is nothing. You can get that by spitting on the sidewalk. They should be charged with assault at the least.

Quote from: LordKAT on May 31, 2014, 11:20:48 PM
Disorderly conduct is nothing. You can get that by spitting on the sidewalk. They should be charged with assault at the least.

Disorderly conduct is a catch-all sort of charge. DC often includes assault and battery within its definition.

WELLL NOW!  Imo everyone on that bus needs to be charged!  Reading how many on the bus cheered them on and even took pictures and how NO ONE bothered to stop this just ticks me off so much! 

Out of curiosity though, how safe is Atlanta for trans people? I ask because, just reading one story like this shouldn't give me a bad perspective of a place/city etc. so I'd like to know more before I say, yup, bad place. lol

This is just disgusting. /: I will never get used to the fact that some people don't view others as having the simple right to take the train home without being harassed, simply due to their own ignorance.

Quote from: Shana-chan on June 03, 2014, 06:41:09 PM
WELLL NOW!  Imo everyone on that bus needs to be charged!  Reading how many on the bus cheered them on and even took pictures and how NO ONE bothered to stop this just ticks me off so much! 

Agreed. There are a handful of states that have "Duty to Rescue" laws, but Georgia is not one of them. From what I've read, police rarely if ever enforce these laws even in states where they are on the books. I hope that will change with the advent of smartphone technology, since essentially all of those people were documenting their own contribution to a violent assault.

Quote from: Klaus on June 03, 2014, 08:17:44 PM
This is just disgusting. /: I will never get used to the fact that some people don't view others as having the simple right to take the train home without being harassed, simply due to their own ignorance.

Agreed. There are a handful of states that have "Duty to Rescue" laws, but Georgia is not one of them. From what I've read, police rarely if ever enforce these laws even in states where they are on the books. I hope that will change with the advent of smartphone technology, since essentially all of those people were documenting their own contribution to a violent assault.

That too. I know I certainly don't go out expecting/looking for trouble and expect to be treated as a human being and not some slab of meat that people can make fun of, ridicule and abuse.

Duty to rescue? I've read some things on police looking the other way but, were you saying GA is one such state?

Honestly, the filming of the act doesn't surprise me. It seems in a LOT of cases, no matter if the people that are involved are trans, cis, etc, the first thing people think about it is filming it with their stupid phones. It's like a lot of people have truly become disconnected from reality and have become victims have what I call "the reality television syndrome". It's not only sickening but utterly bizarre.

SIGH....


Whenever I see a story like this, it disgusts me the most.

I don't care that the victims are trans.
What I care about is if it was anyone of those cheering onlookers or the attackers themselves receiving this kind of treatment from somebody else, they would hope somebody would help them.

My point is
What justice would they exspect if it was
them
their sister
their brother
their mother
their farther
their child
their aunt
their family
their friend?

The its ok as long as its no me mentality grrrrr.

I don't even know these people but I wish I was there to at least say something. I don't care if I was attacked too. Its would be a far greater scare to my ego if I sat and did nothing

The amount of fights filmed by bystanders and then posted on the internet that did nothing is absolutely disgusting.  People ask me all the time how I can be so passive and still so into firearms.  I tell them it is for the same reason a porcupine has quills, don't touch me and the quills are my burden and no one else's.  Scary stuff.  I don't think I could watch the video, not going to try.

Quote from: ButterflyVickster on June 03, 2014, 09:02:10 PM
SIGH....


Whenever I see a story like this, it disgusts me the most.

I don't care that the victims are trans.
What I care about is if it was anyone of those cheering onlookers or the attackers themselves receiving this kind of treatment from somebody else, they would hope somebody would help them.

My point is
What justice would they exspect if it was
them
their sister
their brother
their mother
their farther
their child
their aunt
their family
their friend?

The its ok as long as its no me mentality grrrrr.

I don't even know these people but I wish I was there to at least say something. I don't care if I was attacked too. Its would be a far greater scare to my ego if I sat and did nothing

Exactly. How the hell can people just stand there and do nothing? Or if they do something, it's cheering on the thugs. It's really screwed up. No wonder I'm so cynical and disgusted with humanity.

Quote from: Shana-chan on June 03, 2014, 08:36:09 PM
That too. I know I certainly don't go out expecting/looking for trouble and expect to be treated as a human being and not some slab of meat that people can make fun of, ridicule and abuse.

Duty to rescue? I've read some things on police looking the other way but, were you saying GA is one such state?

Not Georgia specifically, but I wouldn't be surprised. I meant that states which do have laws on the books that require their citizens to help others in danger as long as it's reasonable to do so (as it was in this case) do not necessarily enforce those laws. I've never lived in Georgia, although my limited (and potentially incorrect) impression of Atlanta in particular was that it's LGBT friendly in the sense that there are lot of LGBT spaces, but not so much friendly if you're out and about everywhere else.

If I was a particularly nasty Prosecutor, I'd be angling to have all those that didn't help arrested as accessories, that might make people think twice about allowing such things to happen.

Im not so fussed about, not helping.
its the cheering, seriously, nobody has to be a hero and I really don't expect them to be. but encouraging it grrrr. that why it gets to me. IF they wasn't any cheering this might not have gone on for as long or become as violent in such a public place.

Or maybe I just hope it wouldn't have.

Well, I think the problem with arresting/charging any of the bystanders is that you don't know who most of them are. Also, even if there was a law that said bystanders need to come to the aid of another person enacted in GA, those types of laws wouldn't obligate someone to come to another's need if it would put the rescuer in harm's way. Those laws are for situations like: you see someone walking in front of you has suddenly fainted on the sidewalk and is now lying down face first in a puddle, you might be obligated to call an ambulance on your cell phone or maybe turn their head so they don't drown. Here, once the fight started, any jury would say that it was reasonable not to get physically involved since the bystander would be at risk of getting hurt too. Generally, nonfeasance isn't a tort or crime.

Quote from: ButterflyVickster on June 04, 2014, 06:44:52 AM
Im not so fussed about, not helping.
its the cheering, seriously, nobody has to be a hero and I really don't expect them to be. but encouraging it grrrr. that why it gets to me. IF they wasn't any cheering this might not have gone on for as long or become as violent in such a public place.

Or maybe I just hope it wouldn't have.

I agree that the cheering is the biggest problem. Group mentality is a powerful thing, and I think it did help to escalate the situation.

Quote from: Michaela Whimsy on June 03, 2014, 09:04:18 PM
The amount of fights filmed by bystanders and then posted on the internet that did nothing is absolutely disgusting.  People ask me all the time how I can be so passive and still so into firearms.  I tell them it is for the same reason a porcupine has quills, don't touch me and the quills are my burden and no one else's.  Scary stuff.  I don't think I could watch the video, not going to try.

I get you hon!

But yeah it was a particularly nasty event and though my heart is with the trans women I get the feeling that it could have been averted had the heavy set gal not been mouthing off and shaking her fist at the two perpetrators. Although the men may have hurled insults at them initially, she would have been better off not responding rather then shaking her fist and yammering back at them, her body language tells the real story. Even so, the two men deserved to go to jail for assault and the rest of the passengers in that rail car should have been ticketed as accessories to an assault.

Quote from: Shantel on June 04, 2014, 09:21:37 AM
I get the feeling that it could have been averted had the heavy set gal not been mouthing off and shaking her fist at the two perpetrators. Although the men may have hurled insults at them initially, she would have been better off not responding rather then shaking her fist and yammering back at them, her body language tells the real story.

Yes, my general rule is to ignore a-holes because fueling them isn't always going to bring about the best results. I've never been on MARTA but here on some of the green line trains in Boston you're able to go from one coach to another. Sometimes it's safer to just get away.

Quote from: Shantel on June 04, 2014, 09:21:37 AM
I get you hon!

But yeah it was a particularly nasty event and though my heart is with the trans women I get the feeling that it could have been averted had the heavy set gal not been mouthing off and shaking her fist at the two perpetrators. Although the men may have hurled insults at them initially, she would have been better off not responding rather then shaking her fist and yammering back at them, her body language tells the real story. Even so, the two men deserved to go to jail for assault and the rest of the passengers in that rail car should have been ticketed as accessories to an assault.

Yeah sad truth that, still even if somebody was their to point out that, that kind of behaviour was only making things worse. Could still of diffused the situation. "That can be looked at as provoking the situation" and can work against them. (and the rest of us) still I don't think it that the retaliation is proportioned to the provoke. You know well I wasn't their and that what gets to me the most.

Some times theirs just nothing you can do, but their is always things you can "not do". Not cheering was one of them, not provoking was another. Even if the people on the bus though these people deserved a slap, did they really think they deserved being stripped? Would they allow it to happen to their sister, for what, "being mouthy" "chatting back".

That what gets to me about it.
sighs.. im going to leave this thread alone now.. its one of those situations wear part of the blame can be placed on the victim. And i'm not justifying their treatment, but pointing out that, it might not of happened if as some would say, they kept their mouths shut. I mean im not saying a person cant stand up for themselves but, sometimes its not what you say, but how you say it.

sorry if I offend anyone

Quote from: Shantel on June 04, 2014, 09:21:37 AM
I get you hon!

But yeah it was a particularly nasty event and though my heart is with the trans women I get the feeling that it could have been averted had the heavy set gal not been mouthing off and shaking her fist at the two perpetrators. Although the men may have hurled insults at them initially, she would have been better off not responding rather then shaking her fist and yammering back at them, her body language tells the real story. Even so, the two men deserved to go to jail for assault and the rest of the passengers in that rail car should have been ticketed as accessories to an assault.

I agree.  What purpose did it really serve to tell those guys that she had money, a car, etc. and asking them what they had?  I know she was just trying to stand her ground, but it would have been better if she had just walked away.  I'm glad the guys are in jail though.

WATCH: Suspect in Atlanta Beating Invokes 'Trans Panic' Defense
http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/06/03/watch-suspect-atlanta-beating-invokes-trans-panic-defense
Parker Marie Malloy, The Advocate

In an interview with Atlanta's WSB-TV, Thomas seems to be invoking a "gay panic" or "trans panic" defense in his explanation of the night's events, saying the two women were hitting on Thomas and his friend, leading them to lash out physically.

Last year, the American Bar Association passed a resolution asking lawmakers to reject "gay panic" and "trans panic" defenses, [. . . ]

Quote from: CandiceSkirvin on June 04, 2014, 03:00:06 PM
I don't understand the whole gay/trans panic thing. I am a pansexual cisgender woman, but even if I were straight I would never beat the hell out of a woman because she came on to me. Not a chance. Even if she didn't stop hitting on me I'd still not beat the hell out of her. What a stupid reaction to have to someone being attracted to you!! WTF is wrong with people?

My thoughts exactly Haruhi.