Transgender comedian Rye Silverman was attacked Saturday on her way to the LA Pride festivities in West Hollywood.
Silverman explained the attack on her blog, ChickLikeMe:
“I was just getting on the train to go down to Dyke Day as part of Pride weekend. As I was coming down the steps into the station I overheard a guy on the escalator yell ‘why the f–k are you wearing a skirt?!’ I ignored it and just kept walking to buy my ticket.
“As I’m standing there waiting in line this piece of shit puts his arm on my shoulder and says ‘Hey women wear skirts.’ Because he’d put his hands on me I reacted out of instinct and grabbed him in case he was planning on doing any thing else. He must have only intended to walk away because instead what happened was I ripped his tank top (because of course this —wad was wearing a wife-beater) and then he started swinging at me.
“From here on it’s kind of a blue but it basically turned into a fight. My glasses got flung across the room and we both hit each other a few times before both backed away from each other. He kept putting his fist out like he was planning to hit me again and he started yelling that I started it, that I came after him and that for someone who wears skirts I was ‘acting like a man,’ which he said over and over again. I told him to get the f–k away from me and then some other guy coming off the escalator heard me and stepped in and told him to get away from me too and then a Metro employee showed up so I’m sure someone had gone to get him.
“I almost went home but I decided I couldn’t let him ruin my day or my pride weekend. I got my train pass and leaned against a wall to compose myself for a few moments. And then get ready to go down for the train and he’s right there at the bottom of the escalator. I took a wide path around him and got in a car on the other side of the train.
“This all just happened less than an hour ago. I typed most of this in the notepad on my phone on the train trying to process it. Mostly I’m still shaken up that it happened at all, that it happened in broad daylight with a group of people around. But at the same time, I’m feeling super proud of myself for having stood my ground. I am not a victim. Not this time. Not ever.”
The attacker went public with his reasons for attacking Silverman in an interview with Randal Gros, a former porn star whose “Nasty” video series is featured on “Funny or Die,” a web video show.
The attacker, whose identity hasn’t been made public but Silverman says she has learned, told Gros he attacked Silverman because she was wearing a skirt (see that comment at 1:40 minutes into the video). He then went on to attack gay men in general (2.13 minutes into the video), blaming them for HIV and AIDS — all at the intersection of San Vicente and Santa Monica boulevards during Saturday’s LA Pride festivities.
Silverman thanked her friends for their support on her Facebook page and asked them to give her time to get some distance from the attack.
“So I don’t know how to phrase this without sound like an unappreciative ass so let me just start by saying, I appreciate so much all the support that’s come my way the last couple of days so thank you so much to everyone who helped put the word out to find the guy yesterday and reached out to me,” Silverman wrote.
“For the most part I’m doing fine with it and I’ve done all I can do for now, it’s sort of out of my hands justice-wise at the moment, so, while I know your texts and emails are meant with love and support, I could sort of use a break from it all at this point. Oddly enough it’s not an experience I feel like reliving over and over again… so thank you but… yeah I need to be focusing on literally anything else now.”
These is the reason why PRIDE is still important.
It’s sad that this happens, but people who are vulnerable should carry pepper spray and use it. It’s legal if you can prove it was justified and it would have shown that is was justified on the cameras on the platform. After the attacker is down on the ground or struggling he could be kicked in the nuts while the victim either flees or yells for help.