Video of the beating of an Alpine High School student in Alpine, Texas – Photo: CBS7/KOSA.
A video from a cell phone that has been making the rounds on social media shows a transgender student at Alpine High School being attacked by a fellow classmate.
In the video, the classmate, who appears to be wearing a sports jersey of some kind, is seen wrestling the student to the ground and repeatedly punching him.
The victim, who spoke with the Odessa, Texas-based CBS affiliate KOSA, says the attack was unprovoked, and began after the attacker cussed at him, and then began shoving and punching him in the face while two of the attacker’s friends laughed.
“[H]e said it’s because he didn’t like me and he didn’t like who I was, that I just pissed him off,” the victim, whose name is being kept confidential for his own safety, said.
Even though the video has been viewed thousands of times, there are no consequences for the aggressor because the attack occurred off school property on a weekend.
Alpine Independent School District Superintendent Becky McCutchen says that, for those reasons, there’s nothing the district can do unless the police make an arrest.
“People need to understand this happened off campus and the school district, we’ve done everything we can to ensure the safety of all our students,” McCutchen said in defense of the school district. “And never would we condone something of that matter.”
But the victim says he’s been bullied and frequently harassed at school, even after the attack.
Two more individuals have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man, in western New York.
New York State Police announced the arrests of 29-year-old Kimberly Sochia, of Canandaigua, N.Y., and 21-year-old Thomas Eaves, of Geneva, N.Y. on February 21.
Police previously arrested five others in connection with Nordquist's death: 38-year-old Precious Arzuaga of Canandaigua; 33-year-old Kyle Sage, of Rochester; 30-year-old Patrick Goodwin, of Canandaigua; 30-year-old Jennifer Quijano, of Geneva; and 19-year-old Emily Motyka, of Lima, N.Y.
Lawmakers in the Montana House of Representatives defeated two anti-LGBTQ bills last week after the chamber's transgender and nonbinary representatives gave impassioned speeches protesting the measures.
State Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-Missoula), the legislature's first out transgender representative, spoke out against House Bill 675, sponsored by Rep. Caleb Hinkle (R-Belgrade), which sought to ban drag performances and Pride parades in Montana.
Hinkle previously sponsored a ban on public performances of a "sexual nature" that was specifically intended to target drag shows and Drag Queen Story Hour-type events (even if they do not contain sexually explicit content).
West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a bill that effectively erases the existence of transgender people from state law.
Surrounded by anti-trans advocates, Morrisey signed the "Riley Gaines Act" -- named after the former collegiate swimmer-turned-anti-LGBTQ activist -- into law.
The law defines the terms "man" and "woman" based on a person's biological anatomy at the time of birth in the state code.
For all legal purposes, the state will not recognize the gender of any person who identifies outside of the gender binary or identifies as a gender that does not align with their assigned sex at birth.
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