About a week ago in Toledo, Candice Rose Milligan was assaulted in the street. Ms. Milligan is a 33 year old transgender woman who was found bleeding from the mouth with a large bump on her forehead after being punched and beaten by three men who had been shouting derogatory remarks at her.
This event has lead to a slightly stronger push for a revision of hate crime laws:
This event has lead to a slightly stronger push for a revision of hate crime laws:
“Assaults like this go very underreported if not unreported,” Mr. Crafts said. “We know there’s stuff like this going on all the time. Victims are afraid to report because they’re not sure what type of response they’ll receive.”Thursday afternoon, the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund announced, in the response to the attack on Ms. Milligan, the need for statewide nondiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.
Currently, Sergeant Heffernan has said “This doesn’t fit in the definition of [a race, religion, or ethnic intimidation enhancement] exactly because, if it’s anything, it may have been done because of his sexual orientation, but we haven’t proven that either.”
On Thursday, Candice was released from the Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center after undergoing two surgeries and having her jaw wired shut due to a broken mandible.
The sergeant's response to the attack made it sound like he was bigoted, as well. I think there does need to be a change to the writing of the law. There are hate crimes against woman, and there should also be hate crimes against anyone of any sex, gender, or self-identity. Discrimination is discrimination. Just because a person doesn't fall into a category written in the law, word for word, doesn't mean that that person wasn't attacked because of who they are.
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