A Brazilan woman’s recent facial feminization surgery (FFS), not fully healed was torn apart in the attack.
Melissa Hudson is a young events promoter and makeup artist. She is 22 years old. She is also transgender. Last Sunday (13), about 4,30 am, she was walking with some friends when suddenly a group of about 20 men attacked them. Her friends manage to escape. She didn’t. As a result, Melissa got bruises on her face and body that include the breakdown of stitches of a facial feminization surgery she underwent last December. In addition, the criminals stole two cell phones from her.
According to Melissa, the assault began when one of them throw a bottle that hit her in the neck. Then the group surrounded her and started hitting her with punches, kicks and more bottles, while shouting several transphobic slogans as “disgusting traveco” (offensive slur meaning transvestite) and, every time someone tried to intercede to stop them, they shouted ‘it’s not a woman, it’s a traveco’. After managing to escape, Melissa found a police car (Military Police), which took her to an emergency room, where she was treated and later released.
The case was almost was not included in the violence against transvestites and transsexuals statistics of the São Paulo state government. This because the complaint filed the 78th DP (Jardins), on Monday afternoon, only listed robbery, without any mention of the fact that the victim was transgender and the suspicion that the crime was motivated by prejudice because of her transgender condition. Melissa was taken to the Legal Medical Institute (IML) to carry out a medical examination and collect evidence. In addition to her treatment at the police station, always as male, the police report made no mention of her social name or to the fact that she is transgender.
For the secretary general of the State Council for the Defense of the Human Rights (Conselho Estadual de Defesa dos Direitos da Pessoa Humana – Condepe) of São Paulo, the Attorney Ariel de Castro Alves, how the crime was recorded causes two problems: impoverishes data on violence against LGBT population in the State and omits a line of research that could lead to the clarification of the perpetrators. “As it stands, it seems it was meant to be filed without even facing an inquiry,” he said, claiming that the case should be referred to Decradi (Delegacia de Crimes Raciais e Delitos de Intolerância – Bureau of Racial Crimes and Crimes of Intolerance), a specialized division established in 2006.
The way the record was made also contradicts a determination presented with fanfare by Governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB – Social democratic Brazilian party) on 5th November. Accompanied by the Secretaries Alexandre de Moraes (Public Safety) and Floriano Pesaro and the Policy Coordinator for Sexual Diversity, Soninha Francine, the governor announced that from that day on, the police reports of the complaints would have “spaces to be filled with the chosen name and the suspected crime motivation, if due to the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. “
On the occasion, the Governor pointed out that the measure met a request from the LGBT community and intended to contribute to the clarification of homophobic crimes. “It is an important step on the issue of respect for diversity that is the hallmark of our state,” he said. At the ceremony, with the presence of several leaders of LGBT movements, Alckmin also announced that the police would have training in the discipline of Human Rights extended to address sexual diversity. According to the text of the official website of the state government, the classes would be mandatory and would count with lectures by movement militants.
The lawyer Dimitri Sales, former policy coordinator for Sexual Diversity of the Department of Justice and Defense of Citizenship of the State of São Paulo, said that the state government had already announced this change at the time that the prosecutor Eloísa Arruda was secretary of Justice. “The government of São Paulo does not prioritize human rights issues and cases like this only reinforce a need, whose difficulty also exists in the federal government, which is to produce data on such violence,” he said. For Sales, the lack of specific records only increases the invisibility of this population.
In a note sent by the press office of the Secretary of Public Security, Civil Police informs that the occurrence was recorded as a theft, “because this is the crime more committed in the case. In addition, the assault is reported in the police report. A victim’s forensic examination was ordered. ” It further reported that the case is being investigated by the 4th SD (Consolação). The Civil Police explained that the lack of social name of the victim in the police report will be investigated.
Via: Planet Transgender
