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Transgender Activist Beaten in Possible Hate Crime Plans Rally on 125th St

By Gustavo Solis | February 11, 2016 3:42pm
 Lopez was attacked in the subway station on January 30. Police are investigating the attack as a bias incident and Lopez is hosting a rally to find her attacker.
Lopez was attacked in the subway station on January 30. Police are investigating the attack as a bias incident and Lopez is hosting a rally to find her attacker.
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ETNYC/Jennifer Louise Lopez

HARLEM — A transgender activist who police say was attacked in a possible hate crime on the D train last month is hosting a rally to bring attention to the incident and find the woman who sent her to the hospital.

“I want to find who attacked me so we can bring them to justice,” said Jennifer Louise Lopez, founder of Everything Transgender in NYC.

Lopez was riding a northbound D train from 59th Street when she got into an argument with a woman sitting next to her about 9:25 p.m. on January 30, according to the NYPD.

According to Lopez, she sat down next to the woman because it was the only empty seat on the train. As soon as she sat down, the woman said, ‘Get the f--k up,” she said.

After a small exchange, the woman became violent.

“She got up and said, ‘You’re a man,’” Lopez said.

The woman took a swing at Lopez before three men on the train grabbed her and forced her to sit down. But when the train reached 125th Street and both women exited the rain, the attack continued, Lopez said.

“She grabbed me, she started hitting me,” Lopez said. “My glasses are completely smashed. She pushed me down and kept hitting me all over the place.”

Paramedics transported Lopez to Saint Luke’s Hospital, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Police are investigating the attack as a bias incident, officials said.

Lopez has organized a rally Friday at 5:30 p.m. in front of the subway station on 125th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue to draw attention to the incident. Unfortunately attacks on transgender individuals — whether they are verbal or physical — are not isolated incidents, she said.

“Every three months to six months there might be an incident where somebody is yelling at me,” Lopez said. “When you’re a trans person and you don’t pass that well, there’s an increased chance that this kind of thing will happen.”