Four Charged in Attack of Cleveland Trans Woman

[William769]

Charges have been brought against four youths in the November attack of a transgender woman in Cleveland.

GayPeoplesChronicle.com reports that Alexis Alison Lancaster, 39, was approached at an RTA Red Line station and verbally harassed with antigay slurs as she excited the train on November 19. According to the story, the suspects — which may include an as-yet unidentified adult — beat and kicked the victim, allegedly stealing her cell phone and leaving her bruised and unconscious.

Lancaster was aided by a passerby on a bicycle and taken for treatment.

The beating, which was reportedly caught on RTA surveillance video, was ruled a hate crime by RTA detectives, who have joined forces with the FBI under the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Act.

http://www.advocate.com/Crime/Four_Charged_in_Attack_of_Cleveland_Trans_Woman/

[MarkCharles]

1. Jail them for a lifetime!

Nothing worse than attacks on other human beings for simply being.

[xchrom]

2. du rec. nt

[ZombieHorde]

3. Scary. Pathetic ignorance has so much power. nt

[Yooperman]

4. It just makes me sick....

Why is our world so full of hate. This person already has been through hell living in a body that she felt trapped in.... she wasn't hurting anyone. Where is the compassion in these thugs.

It makes me sad humans haven't evolved past their animal consciousness.

I hope they try them all as adults and given appropriate sentencing.

YM

[leftyohiolib]

5. (article says she "excited" the train(surely a typo))but thats cleveland its full of

alchohol feuled macho bravado.

[yardwork]

6. Horrible. Thank you for posting. People need to be told.

[Lisa D]

7. Truly awful.

At least they were caught on tape. And I'm so glad the bicyclist came to her aid.

[obamanut2012]

8. Transgendered folks are such a target of so many people

It is just glaringly obvious that people need to be educated, and that sociopathic scum like the attackers need to be locked away for a long time.

[AnOhioan]

9. Never saw a word about this in the local media....guess they did not consider it important enough

Hopefully the perps get caught and do some serious time.

[Initech]

10. It really pisses me off to read stories like this.