Bearded trans woman beaten in Oregon after using women's bathroom, beater charged with hate crime

[Durgasarrow]

Lauren Jackson, a homeless trans woman who used a woman's bathroom in a state park, was beaten by an Idaho man after his wife complained that Jackson's presence made her uncomfortable. I think we can all agree that an assault charge is reasonable. Is it reasonable to call this a hate crime?

twitter.com/CNN/status/1223340439081824263

Yes it's a hate crime

Read this elsewhere -

Jackson said Constanza approached her, yelling something about her being a woman. She said nothing in response.
He "blindsided" her, she said, repeatedly punching her until someone in the park heard her screams and tackled Constanza, who fled in a car.

Yes it’s a hate crime, it’s violent crime. We should never blame the victim. This person simply used the toilet, they didn’t assault anyone in there. This man is probably also the exact type that would’ve assaulted her, had she used the gents, also.

Third spaces are vital.

Oregon is a determinate sentencing of violent crime state so the designation hate crime means the judge can sentence outside the guidelines without having to document the justification.

The transwoman was beaten by a violent man. A horrible, unnecessary crime. I hope the victim recovers and the perpetrator faces justice.

It’s not a gotcha though. It’s not a reason that transwomen should be in female spaces.

Well I'm glad that he was prosecuted and convicted after a violent attack.

This is the sort of thing that lil oj likes to blame on UK feminists, if my memory is right.

Rather than on the violent men who actually commit the crimes in different countries.

Meanwhile in Oregon...

www.koin.com/news/oregon/transgender-sex-offender-demands-to-move-to-womens-prison-in-lawsuit/

There's implied victim blaming in this post being brought here in the first place, and the implication isn't subtle.

The implication is 'women, when you don't accept transwomen as women, and nicely allow transwomen in all your spaces, you are responsible for inciting the violence of men'.

Take this post, OP, to a forum full of homophobic, violent men, and scold them with it.

The violence of men is not my responsibility, nor does men's choice to be violent have anything at all to do with me.

1st rule of misogyny: Women are responsible for what men do.

TheBewilderness

Oh, amen.
That rule rattles around my head on a daily basis.

That's interesting, TheBewilderness, I had wondered about that. Thank you for giving us some of the missing local context.

NatyoCheese

Jackson said Constanza approached her, yelling something about her being a woman.

I'm old enough to have experienced blokes challenging other blokes about being in female-only spaces yelling this kind of thing long before trans identity came into it. That's why - on the face of what I've seen so far - I don't feel I have enough information to decide whether this was an attack motivated by transphobia. As Barracker points out, it should be relevant whether this was a perp who would have reacted to any male making his wife feel uncomfortable in the exact same way, regardless of identity.

Of course courts can only consider the crime that actually did happen, and only the precise circumstances under which it happened, so it is quite possible to find as the jury did in this case even if this is an equal opportunities offender.

It is definitely wrong, and a serious crime. It is a physical assault by one person against another. The victim had a broken jaw, for heaven's sake.

The man who committed the crime is a loser. He committed the crime after his wife complained to him about Jackson being in the bathroom. What happened in that bathroom, we do not know, but it does not appear to be a reasonable provocation for jaw-breaking. But she clearly felt threatened by the presence of a bearded person in the bathroom in some way (yes, there are photos, and the victim was bearded that day). That in no way excuses the attack, and the victim deserves justice for being assaulted.

But what was the motivation? If the victim was attacked because the perpetrator thought this person was a trans woman, that is definitely a hate crime. Trans women are a protected category. If the victim was attacked because the perpetrator sincerely thought that the victim was a male whose presence might be a danger to women in a bathroom, that is still wrong, but I am not 100 percent sure if it is a hate crime in addition to being a serious crime of assault. After all, trans women also use the women's bathroom in order to be safe from dangerous males. So there needs to be some mechanism by which those who have a legitimate right to use the women's room have a way to signal discomfort or a sense of danger about someone who does not appear to belong there.

So really the TRAs should be working on men being nicer and possibly listen to women instead of shouting us down.

This is exactly it. We warned TRAs that men were violent, they ignored us because we're just hysterical women, and then are surprised and act like this is some huge, unexpectedly terrible surprise when men are violent.

Of course it's a crime. I don't see that it can be a hate crime because as barraker points out, the attacker would have done the same to any male who'd gone in the women's toilets.

Depends on the laws of that state but in the UK it would be assault at minimum or GBH etc. Likely hate crime based on trans status ignoring the bathroom issue. No decent person would condone the assault but it shouldn't be taken that we can't challenge males in female spaces.

If this sort of thing happens often, then maybe trans women will stop thinking of women's toilets as a safe place and demand a third space.
That part of it would only be a good thing, though of course the violent attack was wrong.

The assault was wrong. It was not self defence. So it is right that the perpetrator was convicted of assault.

As a separate issue. I saw this when originally posted on Reddit - it happened a mere two weeks after they decided to live as a woman (no hormonal or other treatment). Of course they would still appear as a man!? And so should use male or mixed sex spaces.

Sorry posted too soon - Their use of the female space does not, and cannot, excuse the physical assault upon them.

Violence is wrong. That assault conviction is right.

Arielle Scarcella wrote about this. I don't 100 percent agree, but I think she's interesting and she also got some interesting mixed responses:

twitter.com/ArielleScarcell/status/1223409854477488128

Arielle Scarcella
@ArielleScarcell
Please for your safety and others, use the bathroom as the gender you PASS as.

I'm increasingly finding I don't think the cocept of hate crimes are particularly useful, outside of circumstances that might be considered political kinds of crimes.

This guy assaulted the victim either because he thought here was a man in the women's toilets, or a transwoman in the women's toilets, and it was pretty hateful either way.

The courts in Oregon have already quite explicitly established that trans people can use the toilets of their transitioned sex. So yes it is a violent assault but also possibly a hate crime.

In this case I can understand that it isn’t necessarily clear the victim identified as a woman from what we can see, but that’s a different matter. The victim was also vulnerable because they were homeless.

How does Oregan define “transitioned”?
Genuine question.

In this case, their decision to transition was very recent (2 weeks I think) - before they’d taken any steps to alter their appearance.

Had they “transitioned” for the purposes of Oregon law?

If an actual, “c*s” man was charged with loitering in girls’ toilets, could he not just say he had “transitioned” and thus had a right to be there.

How are 3rd spaces the answer really?

I can see women using the 3rd toilets, transwoman complaining we are transphobic for not wanting to use the female bathroom, starting to use the 3rd bathroom to make a point...and women then returning to use female bathroom. It then kicks off all again with women returning to use the 3rd bathroom

It will be like a bathroom merry go round

Men's violence towards other people they clock as men is no business of women.

I condemn violence absolutely.

The violence of some people with penises is why no xy people belong in female spaces

I hope the victim heals up soon. I'm glad the violence towards them was taken seriously. Violence towards xx women is often blamed on the victim and rarely successfully and adequately prosecuted.

Wow, that attack looks vicious.

I wonder if there were any women still using / going to use the facilities when this kicked off?

I'd be terrified to be in an enclosed space while this level of violence erupted. I still flinch when men just shout loudly and aggressively near me.