Reported on Aug. 1, 2009

The ethnic patchwork of Queens promises residents a society celebrating their diversity. For Leslie Mora and Carmella Etienne, both transgender women who were viciously attacked in recent weeks, that promise has soured.

Community activists and rally participants took turns denouncing the vicious attacks on transgender women.

“It sends a message to transgender New Yorkers that they should be scared to walk the streets,” said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and Mora’s legal counsel.

Mora was beaten with a belt buckle by two men near Roosevelt Avenue and 72nd Street in Jackson Heights on June 19, and Etienne was pelted with rocks and beer bottles in St. Albans on July 8.

The two incidents prompted a rally outside the Jackson Heights post office on July 26 to raise awareness about violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Residents and activists believe that urgent action is needed at the legislative level to avoid future occurrences of hate crimes in the neighborhood.

“One transgender person being attacked is a problem, and when two get attacked in two weeks, it is a serious problem,” said Melissa Sklarz, a transgender rights activist and one of the organizers of the rally.

According to a July 1 news release by the New York City Anti-Violence Project, the overall number of assaults in the city decreased by 12% from 2007 to 2008, but the number of bias-related murders increased 67% during the same period.

The status of the case against Mora’s attackers was a key point of discussion at the rally, which was attended by about 30 people. While hate crime charges have been brought against Etienne’s attackers, the Queens County district attorney’s office has brought the lesser charge of a felony assault against the two men charged with the attack on Mora, a decision Silverman opposes.

Mora’s assailants used several homophobic slurs during the attack and clearly believed she was gay, according to Silverman.

“While Ms. Mora is transgender, the evidence makes it clear that her assailants believed she was gay and attacked her because of that,” wrote Silverman in a letter dated June 29, to Paul Schraeter, senior assistant district attorney for Queens County, adding that this was sufficient to justify hate crime charges.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case, but in a written statement said that they would reexamine the evidence against Mora’s attackers.

Current New York state law affords protection from hate-motivated violence based on race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation and other factors, but none that include the transgender population.

A key piece of legislation, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, was passed by the New York Assembly in April, but has not yet come up for a vote in the state Senate. The bill would provide anti-discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and expression, extending current laws to protect transgender New Yorkers.

Assemblyman Micah Z. Kellner, who represents the 65th District and is a staunch supporter of gay rights, said that lawmakers had failed their constituents. “We’ve sanctioned hate. We’ve said it’s okay to discriminate against a person because of their gender identity and their gender expression and that is not right,” he said.

Other activists feel that regardless of pending legislation, the real change must come from within the community.

Robert Pinter, a community activist, believes that while the police were to be commended for the prompt arrests of Mora’s and Etienne’s assailants, they bore some responsibility for how transgender women were perceived by residents.

“I’ve seen how transgender women are subject to humiliation at the hands of the NYPD,” he said, adding, “This kind of police misconduct sends a legitimizing message to hate-filled perpetrators like those who attacked Carmella and Leslie and it must end.”

Brendan Fay, another rally organizer, closed the rally by pointing out that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Queens had a long history of standing together.

“That’s the beautiful thing about our community–we always remember and never forget.”