A trans woman was beaten and stripped during a horrifying assault outside a bar in Palm Springs, California.
The victim, Skyy Perez, says the incident, which was caught on camera, occurred on the evening of July 29, when her phone was reportedly stolen inside The Village, a bar in downtown Palm Springs. Perez approached a nearby woman to check her bag, but security escorted Perez out of the bar.
Perez was then attacked in the alleyway by the woman she had accused of taking her phone.
“She hit me with a sandal in the back of my head, and I fell to the floor, I kind of lost consciousness,” Perez told Palm Springs ABC affiliate KESQ. “And then the other two girls that were with her came and they were like basically jumping me and tore my clothes. I was in disbelief and a rage that I got hit for simply existing.”
Perez, who had been stripped down to her undergarments, spat at the women, only to be sucker-punched by an unidentified man.
The clip of the assault is circulating on social media, with many of those sharing it mocking trans women.
KESQ obtained security video from a nearby business showing multiple people involved in a much longer dispute. During the altercation, one woman can be seen throwing Perez’s wig onto the second story of a parking structure.
Perez’s friend, Daniella Pinea, who was with her that night, claims she’s been traumatized by the experience.
“I haven’t slept, I can’t even eat sometimes. Because it’s very traumatic that we have to go through this,” Pineda said. “Those people were hating because we were trans. And they couldn’t just wrap their brains around us being able to live our lives out authentically.”
Palm Springs police have confirmed the incident and are investigating it as a hate crime. However, no suspects have been identified or arrests made in the case.
David Mariner, the general manager of The Village, lamented the attack.
“For this to happen near our establishment makes us truly upset as we strive to be a leader in forward-thinking,” Mariner said in a statement. “We are all-inclusive. We don’t stand for anything that is hateful.”
Trans people are four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime, according to a 2021 analysis by the Williams Institute and published in the American Journal of Public Health. The analysis collected data on the gender identity and assigned sex at birth of crime victims, which was taken from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 and 2018 National Crime Victimization Survey.
Despite the brutal attack, Perez is determined to live her life openly as a trans woman.
“It’s gonna make me want to live my truth even more,” she said.
Watch KESQ’s coverage of the videotaped assault below:
Sheriff's deputies accused Kalaya Morton of being a "man" due to her gender expression, demonstrating how cis women can be targeted by anti-trans restroom laws.
A Black 19-year-old cisgender lesbian from Phoenix says she was humiliated after Pima County Sheriff's deputies barged into a Walmart women's restroom in Tucson that she was using last month.
Kalaya Morton, who describes herself as a "stud," and is a masculine-presenting woman, says she believes the deputies were called by a store employee who assumed she was transgender.
Speaking with The Advocate, Morton said she had entered the store restroom on February 19, along with her ex-girlfriend, who had handed her a tampon, when two male deputies stormed in, shining flashlights into the stall where she was using the toilet. They demanded that she exit the restroom.
President Donald Trump used his address to Congress on Tuesday, March 4, to attack transgender individuals, calling transgender identity a "lie" and railing against transgender athletes, gender-affirming care, and trans visibility in the military and more broadly within society.
At one point during the speech, Trump switched from speaking about a child who was diagnosed with cancer to claim his administration was protecting children from "toxic ideologies" in schools.
He brought up the story of January Littlejohn, a Florida anti-transgender activist who sued the Leon County School District in Tallahassee, Flordia, in 2021, alleging that her child's school had discussed restrooms and name change requests with the child, assisting her in "socially transitioning" without informing Littlejohn or her husband of their efforts.
Put on your ruby slippers to strut down the red carpet as we ask what queerness means for Academy Awards voters past and present.
By Paul Klein
March 1, 2025
On March 2, Hollywood's elite will gather at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles for the glitziest night of the year -- The 97th Academy Awards. When the Oscar-cast goes live on ABC Sunday evening -- and, for the first time ever, simultaneously streams on Hulu -- seven LGBTQ individuals will sit in hushed anticipation at the possibility of winning Hollywood's highest honors.
For a body often criticized for its lack of diversity and inclusivity, and with the arts under a prolonged political attack from far-right politicians, Sunday night offers a number of potentially groundbreaking moments for queer representation in front of and behind the screen.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.