In a heartbreaking post and video, Serena Daniari alleges she was attacked by two strangers in a New York City subway train on the evening of Friday, Jan. 24. In the now-viral tweet, Daniari, a journalist, alleges she was hit, spit on, and called transphobic slurs by two people because she is transgender. Now, the NYPD is investigating it as a possible hate crime, as reported by NBC News.
"I swear I wish people would just leave me alone," she says in the video. "I don't do anything. I just want to be left alone." As she explains to Buzzfeed News, Daniari says the couple only became violent after they realized she was transgender. She told the news outlet the pair approached her before speaking to her, which Daniari says she couldn’t hear. She removed her headphones and asked the man to repeat what he’d said, and that, she alleges, is when the situation escalated.
"It only escalated to an aggressive situation after he realized I'm transgender," she explained to the outlet.
Here is the original video.
And another tweet.
And her subsequent statement on Twitter, again stressing that she believes the people did not know she was transgender upon approaching her, but rather upon hearing her voice when she asked the man to repeat whatever he’d said.
In speaking to Buzzfeed News, Daniari says that other people did witness the attack, but did not step in to defend her. "Nobody said anything," she told the news outlet. "As New Yorkers, as Americans, as human beings, we should really have each others' backs."
According to NBC News, Daniari connected with police at around 8 p.m. ET after she reached the West 115th Street platform in Harlem. Daniari says she took a picture of the pair, who she describes as being in their 20s.
"On behalf of the New York family, my message to Serena Daniari is simple: We have zero tolerance for what happened to you," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. "We are sorry for what happened to you. We stand with you in love and respect, and we will catch your attackers and bring them to justice."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio replied to Daniari’s tweets urging the public to come forward with any information on the alleged attack.
"For me as a trans person, it's like you're always walking around knowing something could happen," she continued to Buzzfeed. "You're always vigilant, and it's a scary way to live."
Transgender people, and especially transgender women, are routinely subjected to violence. For example, statistics show that one in ten transgender people report being physically attacked because of their gender identity in the last year, and close to half of respondents report being verbally attacked because of their gender identity. For black trans women, rates of sexual violence and domestic violence are even higher than those of white trans women. Rates of intimate partner violence are also incredibly high. Transgender youth are also more likely to become homeless, leave high school without a diploma, and experience harassment and cyberbullying than their cisgender peers.
Daniari is right—it’s a scary way to live, and it’s deeply unjust. Transgender people need not only more legal protections but more allies and support.