The community came together Sunday to support two transgender women who say they were attacked near a light rail station in Minneapolis.

The community came together Sunday to support two transgender women who say they were attacked near a light rail station in Minneapolis.

The incident happened Nov. 10 at Hennepin Avenue and Fifth Street in downtown Minneapolis. It’s where community members gathered for a rally Sunday afternoon, one week since the attack.

Amber Muhm, a community leader with Trans Movement for Liberation, said the two trans women were attacked by a group of men at the light rail station after one of the men used transphobic slurs.

“No one came to help them. In fact, they said people were cheering the attackers on while they were getting beaten,” Muhm said.

    • megabat@lemm.ee
      81·
      24 hours ago

      FYI: In MN you have a duty to retreat if you can before you can legally defend yourself. It’s very likely these women would be in jail if they had shot their assailants after confronting them. Unfortunately in MN you can’t claim self defense after confronting someone when you could have retreated. Very sad situation all around.

      After overhearing a group making derogatory remarks toward them at the station at Hennepin Avenue and Fifth Street in downtown Minneapolis, the pair “confronted” the group, which led to a “physical altercation,” Minneapolis Police told The Independent a statement.

      Edit to add a link

      https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/transgender-women-attacked-minneapolis-rail-station-b2649250.html

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        121·
        21 hours ago

        Not really. You only have a duty to retreat if a reasonable person would feel they could do so safely.

        Once an angry mob is surrounding you, you don’t have to make the attempt.

        That said…. Taking up running will ALWAYS be more likely to save your ass than taking up shooting. Even more useful is learning to maintain (reasonable) situational awareness. Avoiding fights winds every time, hands down.

        • megabat@lemm.ee
          1·
          5 hours ago

          Right you can only retreat when it’s safe to do so, but what I’m saying is that if you’re legally carrying a firearm you can’t turn back around and confront people because if things do turn violent that will be used as evidence you were a willing participant, you didn’t retreat when you could have and instead continued the confrontation until it escalated to physical violence. FWIW I’m no expert but I have a permit to carry in MN and I feel like the instructor was very clear about this.