Police have arrested two women in Raleigh, NC for allegedly assaulting a transgender woman in a bathroom.
The incident took place at Milk Bar, a local cocktail and music venue, on December 9. According to police reports, two women, Amber Harrell, 38, and Jessica Fowler, 31, entered the ladies’ room and struck up a conversation with another woman there.
Though at first the conversation seemed affable, it turned violent, apparently after Fowler and Harrell realized the other woman was transgender. Fowler & Harrell then grabbed at the woman’s genitals and asked if she had a penis. One even tried to pull the victim’s shirt off to examine her breasts.
Related:North Carolina Republicans are targeting transgender people again
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The harassment continued outside the bathroom where Harrell and Fowler continued to grope the woman’s buttocks and stomach. Bar staff reportedly had to ask the two women to stop a number of times. The day after the incident, a friend of the victim alerted law enforcement. Both Harrell and Fowler eventually turned themselves over to police. The former posted $50,000 bond for release. Fowler remains in jail under a $30,000.
The attack comes on the heels of several proposed “bathroom bills” aimed at targeting transgender individuals. The most recent, HB 142, prevents cities from passing their own non-discrimination bathroom policies in the state.
MarathonBoy
It’s odd how Queerty will cover every offense against a transgender but never cover violence by transgenders against women. The mainstream news and the internet have all covered recent acts of trans violence, from the cringe-worthy rage of a transgender in Game Stop last week to a videotaped assault by an ax-wielding transgender last year to the triple murder by white trans activist Dana Rivers of two African-American lesbian mothers and their son in Oakland to the murder of a woman in Berkeley, CA by a “non-binary” trans student.
But you won’t read one word about any of those stories here on Queerty. Gee, I wonder why.
JAWIWA
Uh… because Queerty is not a “Crime Beat” site. LGBTQ people commit violent crimes just like straight, cis people commit violent crimes. You would need a dedicated site to cover every single violent crime committed by an LGBTQ person. Queerty covers crimes committed against LGBTQ people due to their identity. That is directly related to the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights. Random crimes committed by LGBTQ people are not directly related to the struggle.
GetOffMyInternets
@MarathonBoy
Golly you’re a divisive jackass!
MarathonBoy
@JAWIWA – There’s no such thing as “LGBTQ” people. That refers to at least 2 and arguably 3 different groups of people, not one.
As for your “crime beat” point, you’re wrong. Queerty publishes plenty of stories about crimes committed by gay people. For example, it recently published several articles about the creeper in the US who pretended to be a woman and tried to lure straight guys in for sex and it published more articles about a somewhat similar case in the UK. Lots of other examples. But can you think of even a single example of Queerty covering transgender criminality? No. It won’t do so.
msfrost
Marathpon Boy. they can’t report on things that never occur.
Polaro
Trans women are not known for confronting and attacking women. Whereas the opposite is very true, unfortunately. The problem with bathrooms is people not minding their own business.
Bob LaBlah
My god. I had no idea the fracas at GameStop occurred but I say to all of you reading this you should do a google search and see this for yourself. We do have a few disturbed people in our midst and that girl surely is one of them.
Juanjo
MarathonBiotch has a long history of attacking trans people and shaming gay victims of hate crimes. He has never met a logical fallacy that he did not embrace and use repeatedly.
Hence her use of the false equivalency here. Gay people, trans people, bisexual people, and straight people commit crimes. They suffer from drug and alcohol abuse. They behave abominably. No one denies that. Can you, oh troll of no substances, show that in any of these alleged attacks, the motivation for the act by the trans person was a racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, or other hate crime motivation as opposed to the fact a mentally disturbed person committed a crime or a garden variety low life committing a crime for some personal gain.
This article is about two women who assaulted a trans woman based solely on their hatred of trans people. Let’s see your verified proof that these other alleged crimes were similarly motivated. Then explain to us why we should discount this story because the same level of coverage was not given to another such crime?
ShowMeGuy
Sounds like sexual assault and sexual harassment to me. The D.A. could have a field day with a list of charges against those two women.
Dyana B
Personally speaking, as a proud trans woman, the idea of a stranger touching me in a bathroom is in for a rude awakening. If you want to know, all you have to do is ask and I’ll tell you it’s none of your business. I don’t owe anyone an explanation or an answer to anyone’s question regarding who I am. All you have to know is that I am a human being whose living her life, so go on and live yours and we’ll be OK…
MarathonBoy
So do you still have your D? You said we could ask and you would tell, so I am asking.
aaparker
MarathonBoy…you are a sick troll.
Juanjo
MarathonBiotch – do you? Is it a mushroom head like your beloved president?
cynicalsteve
@marathonboy is a troll farm bot. Ignore the little boy.
Bob LaBlah
Its just too hard to believe these two haven’t gone down on each other at least once. The one on the right looks the type who prefers the hole to the pole with the other looking more like a drugged tagalong for the ride (or high, which ever the case may be).
Magiqua
Vile, lesbophobic…
… and pretty rich coming from a gay dude.
Doug
Pretty ironic considering the jerks who rallied against the bathroom bill claiming it would be the transgendered person who would be the attacker…
Bob LaBlah
Too bad they didn’t encounter the one in that Game Stop fracas. They would have some well whupped rear ends had that been her they pulled that on. lol