Queens Tribune
 
....July 8, 8:39 PM
 
 
 
Not A Hate Crime?: Attack Victim, Transgender Advocates Seek Higher Charges For Assailants

A resident of Carmen’s Place waits for a city bus, after speaking of facing ridicule in public.
By Marvin Anderson

For the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population of Queens, being different often comes with threats.
It’s a life where they are constantly on the defense and pay for their self-expression.

The price was paid when residents at the shelter Carmen’s Place were disowned by family, when activist Pauline Park was harassed and, most recently, when Leslie Mora was attacked and beaten while walking home.

Mora’s Nightmare
Mora, 30, a transgender woman from Jackson Heights, left Florida for Queens because she perceived it as an accepting neighborhood, bustling with opportunities, eclectic community and a growing night life.

But on June 19 her life forever changed when she left the gay club Lucho’s for home and was randomly attacked by two men on the street.

The two, Trinidad Tapia and Gilberto Ortiz, tugged at her dress and pulled her before they began to throw a barrage of punches that left her motionless on the street.

When she attempted to locate a cell phone to call for help, the two returned and continued the attack while calling her “faggot” in Spanish. Tapia later removed his belt to beat her on the head with the buckle.

The assault only ended after a driver stopped and threatened to call police, but the moment has left Mora in a state of disbelief.

“I have dreams, and in my dreams I see these guys,” she said. “In my nightmares, I see these guys’ faces.”

The traumatic event caused Mora to suffer from anxiety. She said she now can no longer walk in public without moments of paranoia when she looks behind her back fearful of an attack.

“It affects me emotionally,” she said, “more than you can think.”

Police apprehended Tapia and Ortiz, but to Mora’s surprise, the act wasn’t charged as a hate crime. Rather, the two were charged with felonious assault with intent to cause physical injury with a weapon and released.

That’s when Mora contacted the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Pressure To Upgrade Charges
To gain help with her case, Mora sought the aid of Michael Silverman, executive director of TLDEF, a legal aid organization for transgender individuals.

“We could tell this wasn’t taken seriously and we decided to get involved,” Silverman said. “Attacks like this, when they’re targeted at a person, are an attack on a group of people.

Silverman contacted the Queens County District Attorney’s office to push for additional hate crime charges. He is also reaching out for support from city legislators.

After galvanizing the officials for solidarity and support for Mora, Silverman said the DA’s office is reviewing the file.

Kevin Ryan, a spokesman for Queens DA Richard Brown, said Brown met with Mora to gather more information and the court is reviewing documents to add charges.

Mora’s assault is among many against LGBT individuals in the city.

In Queens, Edgar Garzon was murdered outside of the gay club Friend’s Tavern on 2001. The attack was 11 years after Julio Rivera, a gay male, was murdered one block away.

Not all transgender females are as successful in prosecuting their attackers, said Father Louis Braxton, the facilitator of Carmen’s Place, a shelter for LGBT youth.

The physical attacks are common for transgender females and the incidents aren’t a new problem, said Michelle, a transgender female and resident at Carmen’s Place.

A Place For Hope
Michelle, who didn’t want her last name revealed for safety reasons, said she relocated to New York from Georgia three years ago to transition and grow as a person. In that time, she said she has been physically attacked five times.

“Every day I get ridiculed, and it’s not about how I carry myself,” Michelle said. “It’s that people see targets and they attack because they need some type of power.”

Michelle and Father Braxton were most recently attacked in July 2008 in front of the Queens based shelter by a group of teenagers.

Michelle said she was listening to music when the assault began and never saw the faces of the teenagers. Father Braxton saw the attack and after trying to intervene was physically injured when more teenagers joined the assault.

“I’m always a target and I’m just trying to be myself,” Michelle said. “Should I be beat for that? Should I be punched in the back of my head or my jaw? I’m a human being.”

 
 

Leslie Mora, a transgender woman in Jackson Heights, is rallying support for her case against two men who attacked her.

The assailants involved in the attack were found and appeared in court. Father Braxton received a letter from the Queens DA last week stating the sentence was probation and they were all released.

Father Braxton said that after several attacks, Michelle is wary of riding the subway or even a bus. He attributes the vicious attacks to complacency in American culture.

“There’s evidence that something in our culture allows people to hate, ridicule and torture transgender,” he said. “And if it’s okay to ridicule, it’s okay to attack.”

People often misunderstand the lifestyle of LGBT individuals, Father Braxton said. The ignorance only feeds into an existing unexplained hate, he said.

“Being transgender doesn’t necessarily decide one’s sexual preference,” he said. “Transgender is about one’s identity and who you perceive yourself to be. Some are heterosexual and some are homosexual.”

A Voice In The Fight
For Queens resident Pauline Park, the gruesome attacks on transgender, bisexual and gay individuals fed into her urgent fight in activism. She, along with Silverman, has worked with legislators in improving civil rights laws for LGBT individuals.

Their strides have paved way for an era in prosecution that incorporates assaults on the LGBT as hate crimes including the most recent murder of Lateisha Green, a transgender female in Syracuse.

The TLDEF, which Park helped organize, is hosting a rally this Saturday in Syracuse in addition to spearheading legal support for the victim. Park said she’s unable to attend the event and hasn’t met the organization’s current client Mora, but is constantly surprised when assailants are released with few charges.

In Mora’s case, Park said the attack was obviously based on Mora being transgender when her attackers followed her from a gay club and later called her “faggot” as they brutally beat her.

“If that’s not a hate-crime, what is?” she asked. “Do you need a signed letter saying ‘we attacked her motivated by hate’?”

Park said she too was a victim of a random harassment on the street. While walking home, she, along with a gay friend, was attacked by men on the street. The attackers threw beer bottles at them before they jumped in a cab and quickly left.

Afterwards, Park said she and her friend were reluctant to contact police out of fear of harassment from other authorities. Previously, she said, LGBT have reported altercations to police and have been met officers who act nonchalant or even hostile about their claims.

Not all authorities are hostile, she said, but she sees a pervasive mentality that tends to ignore LGBT and other minorities.

“We’re the most likely to be brutalized and the least likely to go to the police and the least likely to seek prosecution,” she said.

But what happens in the future with court cases such as Mora’s and Green’s will pave the way for civil liberties in the community only if assailants are fully prosecuted, she said.

“This is a really crucial point,” she said. “Why do people commit hate crimes? Because of prejudice but also because they think they can get away with it. The sad reality is this is true and [DA] Richard Brown’s reaction proves the point.”

Despite the assaults, ridicules and taunts, each said they would never change because they are who they feel destined to be. What’s more shocking and frightening is a neighborhood where residents are harassed as individuals, Mora said.

“I don’t think anyone has that right,” she said. “You can have your own opinion but we have our rights. We can’t have our community look like this.”