Trans women say they were attacked by man shouting transphobic slurs at Sacramento bar
SACRAMENTO - Four members of the trans community are calling out a fight that occurred at a Sacramento bar at the end of March.
They say the attack and fight were motivated by prejudices against transgender individuals. A disheartening feeling, they say, as it happened four days after the city declared itself a safe haven for members of the community.
"For Sacramento to be listed as a sanctuary space for trans people, we need to be better and that was not better," said Kimora.
It started with a disagreement inside Golden Bear Bar.
"As I'm spreading out my hands because I'm focusing on the girls to make sure that they're spread apart, I get punched," said Ayo.
Ayo said she was punched by a man who started shouting transphobic slurs.
"He said, 'Y'all are not boys. I mean y'all are not girls. Y'all are trannies,'" Ayo said.
"He was yelling out slurs, saying we were all the f-word," S'vonn said.
And then a brawl broke out outside the bar.
"I haven't been in one myself in Sacramento but I have witnessed in other spaces queer people being attacked," Jenasis said.
Which concerns Sabrina Naves, a trans-Sacramento woman.
"That's not enough," Naves said. "Stickers are not enough. You have to understand where this violence comes from...The attitudes where it comes from and have to fight it when it's in front of you."
The four women say that safety in their own spaces is still lacking.
"They will protect around but they won't protect while we're there," Kimora said.
Naves said the struggle is in feeling steps have been made but that there is still more to go as their story is not unique to others within their community.
"We want to be visible but at the same time we can still be attacked for being visible," Naves said.
"I have countless screenshots of other LBGT people telling me this is not new," Jenasis said.
They ask for introspection and help from a city proclaiming itself as a trans sanctuary city.
"One thing that we need is more of our own spaces. So we don't have to go out and ask for other people to do so," Ayo said.
Jenesis, who goes by @j3n3sisjad3 on social media, suggests that tangible solutions can be found in funding specific venues and community organizations. Part of the GoFundMe the women have set up, she says, would go towards funding self-defense programs for trans community members and community programs that have needed city and county funding that they haven't received.
"The first thing that came to mind was the Washington Neighborhood Center," she says. "It's a nonprofit organization in Midtown and they host events that cater to Black and Brown and LGBT people. It's really a community led center. And they offer a wide array of things with a limited budget. So even self defense training sessions for LGBT people and the youth. We need more funding to be able to do things like that. That stuff isn't cheap and if the city really wanted to put their money where their mouth is so to speak they could definitely fund those kinds of programs and that center specifically."
The Golden Bear said that they have no comment on the situation.
