Trans woman attacked on Amsterdam street
A trans woman was attacked on Admiraal de Ruijterweg in Amsterdam West on Tuesday. Seven men first shouted insults at her and then physically attacked her. "Being attacked by 7 cis men because you are trans, it's just an ordinary event in our lifetime," victim Mala Badi wrote on Instagram.
Badi told AT5 that she was cycling along Admiraal de Ruijterweg when three young men started yelling at her at a traffic light. She ignored them, but moments later was pushed from her bike. The group of attackers grew to seven men. "They called me 'kankerhomo' and someone wanted to hit me. I cried, but nobody helped."
The slur directly translates to "cancer gays." Using a disease as part of a swear word is often considered extremely offensive in the Dutch language.
The police were called, but the attackers had fled by the time they arrived. Badi is pressing charges. "I want to speak out, also for other trans people. These kinds of things are happening more and more, but a lot of people don't want to speak out."
Badi was left with minor physical injuries, but the attack made her more afraid. "I'm afraid I'll be attacked again. I already only go out to go to therapy and nothing else. My door is locked all the time, also when I'm home. All because I dress differently."
A recently published study by Amsterdam UMC showed that trans people who underwent gender reassignment surgery are twice as likely to die prematurely than the rest of the population. Trans people are more at risk of cardiovascular disease, HIV-related diseases, lung cancer, but also unnatural causes of death including suicide.
