A transgender man and his wife were slashed on the subway after a perpetrator allegedly hurled anti-LGBTQ slurs at the couple.
Khleo Finnie, 23, and his partner, who has not been named, were on a 2 train from Times Square at 2 a.m. on June 4 when Troy Tyrell, 54, repeatedly called the individuals “f—-t” and said “God don’t like this,” according to the New York Daily News. Finnie allegedly revealed a knife to the perpetrator during the hateful rant, and a fight began over the weapon, the NYPD said. Once the assailant had the knife, he allegedly slashed Finnie in the arm and Finnie’s wife above the eyebrow.
“He was saying these things, and he was coming towards us,” Finnie’s wife, 23, told the New York Daily News. “He kicked my husband in the face.”
As Finnie’s wife tried to break up the fight, she was slashed in the eye, the NYPD said. Finnie was arrested and charged with menacing in the second degree, while Tyrell has been charged with a hate crime and criminal possession of a deadly weapon.
In the hours leading up to the attack, Finnie had returned from visiting transphobic family members in South Carolina, according to the New York Daily News. Finnie intended to work for his brother’s construction company, but his family rejected him from the position because he is trans.
“He was going to save up some money, and I was going to go down there with him,” Finnie’s partner told the New York Daily News. “It didn’t work out. His family still doesn’t accept his lifestyle. His brother said he wouldn’t even be able to go outside the way he is because he’s trans.”
This incident comes against a wave of anti-trans legislation and deadly violence targeting transgender individuals in the US. Last month, organizers of the Stonewall protests returned to the streets to demand justice to mark the anniversary of the death of Tony McDade, a Black transgender man from Florida who was killed by a police officer last year. This year, there have been at least 28 violent killings of transgender individuals. Most recently, Poe Black, a trans man of “mixed indigenous” descent, was stabbed to death in California, and Oliver “Ollie” Taylor was shot to death in Oregon.
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