Wolfe and his fiancée, who witnessed the alleged assault, believe the attack was related to Wolfe being transgender, according to court documents.
Wolfe and his fiancée, who witnessed the alleged assault, believe the attack was related to Wolfe being transgender, according to court documents.
As an actual trans woman, let me lay out the actual decision you have to make as a trans woman when deciding whether to carry for self defense. (I know the story had a trans guy, but I’ll speak from my perspective.)
I know that first of all, I have had dark times in my life, times I am now very glad I did not have access to a firearm. But beyond that, even using a gun in a true self defense situation is a Faustian bargain.
If I were to use a gun in self defense, I would almost certainly face charges regardless of the actual circumstances involved. The system really doesn’t like it when minorities use lethal force to defend themselves. Self defense situations are never clean. There’s always something they can charge you with if they really want to.
I can hear your objection already, “better judged by twelve than carried by six!” you say. First, juries don’t treat minorities defending themselves either. A third of the jurors will assume I’m a cannibalistic pedophile simply by default. But even if I can miraculously get a fair trial, being judged by twelve may still not be the better outcome.
Look up v-coding. In short, trans women tend to get sent to male prisons, regardless of the state of our identity or anatomy. Like I transitioned physically as far as it is possible for one to do so. I don’t even have male anatomy at all. My legal identity was charged years ago, and random strangers never read me as anything other than a middle aged woman. None of this matters. In many states in the union I would be sent to a men’s prison, simply because of what body I was born with. And once in prison, the norm is daily sexual assault and rape by prisoners and guards alike.
Even if I’m able to beat the charges, I’ll still realistically be looking at months in prison subject to daily sexual assault and rape.
Honestly, I’m not sure being carried by six is the worse option. Sorry, but I would rather take my chances and do everything I can to get away. I think I would prefer death over the consequences of actually using a firearm in even legitimate self defense.
Me an my Trans friend both choose the gun, and she chooses life over death even if the state will rig things against them, the odds you will out running an assailent are slim by odds (running from a a knife wielder actually doesn’t often work out well), to each their own, we choose fight.