Another assault on a transgender student at Hercules High

*Update: ABC is reporting the transgender male student recanted his story and has told police there was no attack or rape.

A male transgender student attending Hercules High school was admitted to the hospital Monday after three boys, 16 to 17 raped and beat him in the boy's bathroom. The condition of the transgender student is unknown. No arrests have been made at the time of this posting.

Last November Jewlyes Gutierrez was the only one charged after defending herself against three girls who had been bullying her.

Source San Jose Mercury News: The school's principal, Jennifer Bender, could not be reached for comment late Monday. Last month, 94 percent of the school's teachers supported a vote of no-confidence in Bender, saying she had created a toxic environment for students and staff.



West Contra Costa Unified School District board president Charles Ramsey said the kind of violence alleged in the attack will not be tolerated, and he hopes the subject will be addressed at next week's board meeting.

"It's a tragedy," Ramsey said. "We ... extend our sympathies and apologies to the victim. You hope that he is feeling better."

"Obviously things are running amok at Hercules," Ramsey added. "We have to do better. This is all escalating and starting to accumulate. Really, it's an unsafe environment at the school and a lot of people are concerned. "

Tiffany Woods, a Pinole native and transgender programs manager at Tri-City Health Center in Fremont, said Contra Costa has long struggled to address issues pertaining to transgender youth.

"I know Contra Costa from the fact that I went to high school there. Contra Costa is just a much more conservative district," Woods said. "I can't imagine this kid has a whole lot of support out there. Where are they going to get it from?"

We're not going to talk about "Dallas Buyers Club" at the 2014 LGBT journalist convening.

Yes we are.

I really tried to get recognized waving my hand to indicate I had input to be considered. However, Matt Foreman moderating the first panel "Understanding and deconstructing the attack lines of the anti LGBT industry" looked past me as if I didn't exist. I finally got his attention, but he just grimaced and looked away.

I wasn't the only one to notice this. Someone commented later about it but I shrugged it off. The convening was just kicking off and I had all day to speak up.

Second panel: "What we don't talk about: Radical methods for greater diversity in Queer Journalism."

The second panel, "What we don't talk about: Radical methods for greater diversity in Queer Journalism." I tried to get the moderator's attention during the Q and A, this time waving my hand a little more vigorously. I had something I really wanted to say, and this panel needed to hear it. Moreover, the journalists in attendance needed to hear what I had to say. However, moderator Erin Rock just ignored my gestures.

Last panel: "Airing our dirty laundry: Best practices in writing about touchy subjects"

The last panel was a flawless fit for my question. As a minority in the greater LGB media and even more so in mainstream media "Airing our dirty laundry: Best practices in writing about touchy subjects" was a perfect fit for my question.

This time, frustrated I raised my hand as soon as the moderator Sara Blazucki began inviting questions. Blazucki wouldn't even look in my direction even as I was ferociously waving both arms in the air. As she began to close the final panel, I shouted "I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY." I knew in my heart if she didn't call on me I was going to stand in front of the panel and have my say anyway. If they were that determined to shut me down completely they would have had to do it with law enforcement.

Looking at me in exasperation she invited me to speak. I made a comment on how GLAAD was giving  "Dallas Buyers Club"  a free pass on its inaccuracies regarding the history of HIV/AIDS and talked briefly about it's transphobic content, hoping others would become engaged in the conversation.

Now totally exasperated at this fucking tranny who had the audacity to demand equal time she inquired condescendingly 'Well, what's your point? Do you have something to say? Do you have a question"? Then totally frustrated she stated "Well, we're not going to talk about that here".

Bad move ace. We sure as fuck were going to talk about it.

So I turned around and looked at all of my fellow LGB bloggers and journalists. I asked them why they had been silent about the problematic content of that movie.

Why did it take Steve Friess who wasn't even in the room to begin the conversation with "Don’t Applaud Jared Leto’s Transgender ‘Mammy" ?

Then looking directly at the ones who had written articles praising "Dallas Buyers Guide" I asked them why had done this. I asked if they understood that they were stomping on the graves of our fallen. Did they understand they were digging holes for transgender people with HIV/AIDS?

Not one person would look up. Not one. The ones who were looking in my general direction averted their eyes as I glanced at them

Yeah have a nice fucking day.

What will they talk about at the LGBT Journalist Convenings in the future? They will talk about understanding and deconstructing the attack lines of the anti LGBT industry, radical methods for greater diversity in Queer Journalism and Airing our dirty laundry: Best practices in writing about touchy subjects. They will talk about a lot of great topics just as long as the question and comments don't come from the fucking tranny kelli Busey.

Rest assured that won't happen again.