Two Trans Women Allegedly Attacked With Pepper Spray In Jackson Heights

A rally in support of two trans women of color who were attacked in Jackson Heights this weekend

Two transgender women of color were allegedly attacked in Queens this weekend by a pair of bigots wielding pepper-spray and shouting transphobic slurs.

Bianey Garcia and Norma Ureiro—both trans activists and organizers with Make The Road NY—say they were were filming a documentary in Jackson Heights about harassment faced by the transgender community when they became the latest victims of an anti-trans hate crime.

According to police, the filmmakers were approached by an irate woman on Roosevelt Avenue near 82nd Street at around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, making transphobic remarks before spraying them in the chest with an unknown liquid. The alleged perpetrator, 24-year-old Paula Custodio, was subsequently arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime and harassment.

During a rally in Queens on Monday, Garcia said that Custodio was only arrested because she was being aggressive with the police, and that officers refused to take action against a man at the scene who took part in the violent confrontation. The man allegedly profiled the two women as sex workers and threatened to "make [them] pay" if they came back. In response, police officers advised the filmmakers to shoot on a different block, according to Make The Road organizers.

Less than an hour later, the same man allegedly pepper-sprayed Garcia in the face. She was hospitalized for the attack—which she says was much more severe than the initial assault.

"We were ignored by the police," recalled Ureiro. "When I told the police they threatened us, the police ignored us."

The attacks occurred at the height of citywide LGBTQ Pride celebrations, and amid sometimes fraught discussions about whether the community's progress has extended to transgender people. Estimates suggest that one in four trans people are assaulted because of their identity, with trans women of color being far more likely to experience violence than any other group.

Meanwhile, as anti-trans violence continues to climb nationally, the Trump administration has intensified its campaign to roll back rights for non-cisgender Americans. Most recently, the president announced a proposal that would effectively allow health-care providers to discriminate against the country's trans population—an estimated 1.4 million people.

"It’s been fifty years of struggle since Stonewall, and the trans community continues to suffer violence from the police and the community," Garcia said on Monday. "But a pepper-spray attack will not stop me and our members from continuing this struggle and creating visibility and raising awareness about the lives of trans women. We are working to create a world free of transphobia.”