An angry mob allegedly beat them. The police charged them. The municipality voted for one of the most severe anti-trans bathroom ordinances in the country.
Hi. What's the call to action here? What do I do after reading something this terrible? I mean this from a practical standpoint. I almost don't even want to subscribe read these stories if I'm just left feeling even more powerless than before.
Share stories like this so more people are informed of the violence that trans people experience. When the masses get as upset as we are, that will help to effect change.
We can also look into the local groups that are mobilizing to support this couple, and ask those groups how we can help.
In my opinion, moving is the only option for years to come. There is no meaningful chance of reversing the trend in the extreme transmisic red states until there is a dramatic change at the federal level. However, we (and other anti-fascists) have not yet lost control of all states, and it's looking promising for our side to gain control of at least half of Congress in November, thereby preserving hope for a federal government that does not attack its own states. So the trans-friendly states will remain more or less safe (with individual local exceptions, for sure). I think those of us who can have to support organizations that can help people without the means to move to do so.
Protect yourself if these stories are too hurtful. You can detach. You have plenty of supporters out there who can fight the good fight for you if you cannot do it right now. TRANS family support services is amazing. They are online.
Over 20 years after transitioning I was fine. Now, I fight depression and suicide every bloody day. I’m 67, had a good run I guess. I’m thankful I’m in a safe area now, with family (the few that are left). Still in therapy and without my therapist I’d be dead.
Thank you for saying this, Prism. I'm 69, nonbinary, and knowing that I'm needed--even in whatever tiny way I can contribute--keeps me going sometimes.
Even if you do nothing else, your personal call to action is to be situationally aware and to protect yourself. These are terrifying stories, but we must hear them. It is part of how we stay safe.
As the mom of a trans daughter, I am with you. I live in fear for her all the time. Fortunately, she is NOT in the hate-filled deep south. She is safer in Seattle.
I hope that the victims sue the fuck out of every identifiable person in that mob. The police and DA might be find looking the other way when trans people are assaulted but I think it would be worth trying on the civil suit side. Bankrupt some of these people and maybe word gets around.
This is awful and terrifying to read. If you get overwhelmed, take care of yourself and then come back. Helplessness is the point of this kind of terrorizing rhetoric that leads to hate based violence. S baum too is likely traumatized by writing this up and the trans community in reading and staying informed. Im looking in the comments for any link to support this couple. We can also support Southern Poverty Law Center
Let me get this right. They were assigned female at birth. So social conservatives would all say they should use the female bathroom, which they did. And they are still being attacked?
It wasn’t lost on me that the law that was rushed through would have been of no import here.
Meanwhile, any law against assault clearly applies here. Pressure needs to be brought to bear to charge the real crimes here. This is where a functioning DOJ would be doing the job the sheriff refuses to.
Looks like the Deep South has rebranded Jim Crow, as Jenny Crow 2.0. No, I’m not making light of this, or trying to be funny. This is only going to get worse as long as Trump is in power. His rhetoric of hate, has empowered bigots, to be transphobic vigilantes.
I’m fortunate enough to live in a state that has transgender protections. Hopefully that holds out. However. I still get called out from time to time when entering a public restroom. My employer’s HR department currently has an investigation open into an employee that questioned my gender identity in one of our more rural locations. We even had company wide sensitivity training on this very issue last spring. Doesn’t seem to matter to bigots. They don’t believe policy applies to them.
Shae Sanders, who was in the bathroom, is AFAB and nonbinary. Their partner Aurora Rush is a trans woman. Aurora was being heckled and surrounded while waiting outside the bathroom for Shae. It seems like after Shae exited the bathroom and pushed their way into the circle to grab Aurora, the mob attacked. They likely wouldn't have noticed or had a problem with Shae, except for the fact that they were with Aurora.
Until proven otherwise, this mob of maga savages, the local pigs, and the maggots in the Louisiana gov from top to bottom have been planning to do something like this. This typical maga mob KNEW they’d be safe to commit this heinous crime. Maggots deserve no less in return, especially the part where public servants deliberately worsen the situation for the victims.
“Brown shirts" doing what they've always done: committing extrajudicial violence at the behest of the hate-mongering fascists. I refused a company paid trip to NOLA over exactly this fear. The South isn’t safe, period.
Do more. Tell your company they should not even be THINKING of holding company events in such places. And get a few like-minded co-workers to say so -- they don't have to sign onto any strong pro-trans statement, just an acknowledgement that the South, and red states generally, are unsafe for many people for many reasons now.
Excuse me???? Do more????? As a trans woman I’m in the fucking battle every single day of my life. Fuck off, you have no idea the hell I’ve fought through.
I am a corporate pilot (retired) and the south is now off limits to me now. I don’t get called out much ( once in 20 years), living stealthily now where I used to be open about it. I’m terrified, been attacked once, and now fearful about traveling in nearly half the states. I hate them, MAGA fucking Fascist morons.
I fled the south too, most likely will never be able to go home. My family has been in the state since before there was a U.S. but such is the story of many of us.
Please. You did not indicate in your comment WHY you're not going to red states, and many of us avoid that for many different reasons. And since only paid subscribers to EITM can comment, you should assume that anyone writing here has at least SOME awareness of the hell that trans people are living through these days.
I understand that you're angry -- hell, I'm furious -- but there's nothing to be gained by attacking your allies.
Your comment was blatantly rude and uninformed. You made assumptions and attacked before thinking. I don’t need or want allies who attack me, a trans woman, or who try to cis-plain a situation to me. An appropriate response from you would have been a simple straightforward apology. I’m angry because an “ally” is trying to admonish me to “do more” when I have to fight everyday just to stay alive. Stop lecturing and do more listening.
Well, as the grandmother and great-aunt of three beautiful trans grandkids, I know I need to "do more" before I die, but it's hard to know what to do, sometimes! The level of hatred in the U.S. is appalling. I don't even recognize my Country anymore. Trump didn't create this hatred; he has merely gave it permission to crawl out in the daylight.
Do more. Go out and fight for a free world instead of telling others to. You can start by doing what you told her to do, demand your own company refuse to do business in states with oppressive laws, and keep them honest about DEI and being a safe space for all. I expect that when you find yourself actually in the fight, you'll understand what was wrong with this comment.
Uninvested bystanders don’t stand up for us because they fear personal repercussions in a country where a bigot management is actively rewarded by the state.
For those wondering what can be done, if you have the means, support ACLU of Louisiana which has been helping these victims, as well as the organization mentioned in the article, Louisiana Trans Advocates. Even low amounts can add up and be helpful. And since both are on disability, they need financial help. Here's a link to the Go Fund Me started for them: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-trans-couple-recover-from-hate-crime?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
What the hell, she followed their law and they still won't help her? It was never about protecting anyone, they just want to hurt anyone who doesn't look like them
What happened in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, was nothing less than a hate crime carried out by Bigoted, Racist people who believed they could attack two innocent individuals simply because they belonged to a minority community. These attackers acted with the confidence that, in a state where discrimination and intolerance have too often been ignored, they would face no consequences for their actions.
Adding insult to injury, law enforcement chose to arrest the victims rather than the perpetrators, even though the victims' only "offense" was being who they are. That decision sends a chilling message to every minority community: that prejudice can prevail over justice.
I applaud these individuals for refusing to remain silent and for choosing to fight back against this injustice. They deserve accountability, fairness, and the full protection of the law. Yet, given Louisiana's troubling history of tolerating such abuses, I cannot help but question whether they will receive the justice they so clearly deserve.
Justice cannot depend on who you are, where you live, or whether those in power approve of your identity. If the rule of law means anything, those responsible for this outrage must be held accountable.
I am utterly appalled by the Bossier Parish Police and Ordinance 22 that instructs anyone to monitor bathrooms and report those they feel do not belong.
There are SO many states I won't travel to or support in any way financially. My world is getting smaller and smaller by the day. Going to one of these places (or even on a flight with a connection in one of them) is more of a risk than I'm willing to take.
Indeed, even a stopover in a red state can be very dangerous -- all you need is to have your connecting flight be delayed, and now you're stuck there. People are already telling airlines not to route them through the new Donald Trump airport (formerly Palm Beach Int'l), but a general red-state travel boycott would REALLY get their attention.
Not only should companies take this shit into account when planning corporate events, groups of all kinds should do the same and publicize it everywhere. Louisiana depends very much on tourism ...
This is exactly what the Nazis did. They whipped up the ignorant masses into a rage against a tiny, powerless minority, blamed the victims of the inevitable mob violence, and then used that lie to justify further crackdowns on the victims' rights, while letting the mobs roam free. There is 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰 daylight between that happening then, and this happening now. Line by line, play by play. Those cops are Nazis. Every person who joined in that mob, whether they threw hands or not, is a Nazi. There is no more room for nuance in this conversation.
The sheriff is fully complicit in the crime and conspiracy to commit the crime (his prior actions were at least partly to blame for the attack.
And EVERY employee of his department from this dispatcher to the parking enforcement person who did NOT report this upward and insist on an investigation is also guilty of attempting to cover up a crime.
This is where ACAB comes from. It's not just him, it's every single one of his employees who did NOT stand up to support their rights. The 'thin blue line' attitude has got to go.
I don’t think the couple broke any law, despite how hostile the laws are toward trans people. Rush, the trans woman, DID NOT use any bathroom. Sanders, the nonbinary AFAB person, used the female bathroom. So they acted completely legally. What was blatantly illegal was how they were attacked. So the attackers must be prosecuted. Am I missing anything?
Twatzi Nazi brown shirts doing the Orange Miscreant bidding terrorizing us for political gain and for the brown shirts for fun knowing there will be no consequences. Law doesn’t matter, even being trans isn’t necessary just the “suspicion” of being trans.
Hi. What's the call to action here? What do I do after reading something this terrible? I mean this from a practical standpoint. I almost don't even want to subscribe read these stories if I'm just left feeling even more powerless than before.
Share stories like this so more people are informed of the violence that trans people experience. When the masses get as upset as we are, that will help to effect change.
We can also look into the local groups that are mobilizing to support this couple, and ask those groups how we can help.
Thank you. Do you know any local groups that I could support remotely? (either financially or through awareness)
Same to anyone who reads this comment. Direction of any kind is genuinely appreciated
In my opinion, moving is the only option for years to come. There is no meaningful chance of reversing the trend in the extreme transmisic red states until there is a dramatic change at the federal level. However, we (and other anti-fascists) have not yet lost control of all states, and it's looking promising for our side to gain control of at least half of Congress in November, thereby preserving hope for a federal government that does not attack its own states. So the trans-friendly states will remain more or less safe (with individual local exceptions, for sure). I think those of us who can have to support organizations that can help people without the means to move to do so.
Please keep subscribing -- it's very important for such news to be published, and no-one does that better that EITM.
Bossier Parish, Louisiana-Town of assault hate crime
Cypress Black Bayou Park-Park where assault hate crime took place
Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office-
Aurora Rush and Shae Sanders-The victims names
Address Details
Here are some key details about the Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office address.
Location — The office is situated at 204 Burt Boulevard, Benton, LA 71006.
Phone Number — You can contact them at (318) 965-2203.
Email Contact —Do not be silent email your complaints
I just called the phone number above. After calling I know that an email will have much more impact and be hard copy documentation than a phone call.
Do you have an email address?
Info@bossiersheriff.com
Emailed and email shared on FB. Overwhelm them.
YES! I love having action items.
Info@bossiersheriff.com
Protect yourself if these stories are too hurtful. You can detach. You have plenty of supporters out there who can fight the good fight for you if you cannot do it right now. TRANS family support services is amazing. They are online.
Over 20 years after transitioning I was fine. Now, I fight depression and suicide every bloody day. I’m 67, had a good run I guess. I’m thankful I’m in a safe area now, with family (the few that are left). Still in therapy and without my therapist I’d be dead.
Please keep holding on. It's knowing that there are trans folks older than me that keeps me holding on, in part. Thank you for just being.
Thank you for saying this, Prism. I'm 69, nonbinary, and knowing that I'm needed--even in whatever tiny way I can contribute--keeps me going sometimes.
Even if you do nothing else, your personal call to action is to be situationally aware and to protect yourself. These are terrifying stories, but we must hear them. It is part of how we stay safe.
As the mom of a trans daughter, I am with you. I live in fear for her all the time. Fortunately, she is NOT in the hate-filled deep south. She is safer in Seattle.
See the "GoFundMe", and also the address and phone number of that Sheriff's office. Give, and make "good trouble"!
I hope that the victims sue the fuck out of every identifiable person in that mob. The police and DA might be find looking the other way when trans people are assaulted but I think it would be worth trying on the civil suit side. Bankrupt some of these people and maybe word gets around.
This is awful and terrifying to read. If you get overwhelmed, take care of yourself and then come back. Helplessness is the point of this kind of terrorizing rhetoric that leads to hate based violence. S baum too is likely traumatized by writing this up and the trans community in reading and staying informed. Im looking in the comments for any link to support this couple. We can also support Southern Poverty Law Center
Let me get this right. They were assigned female at birth. So social conservatives would all say they should use the female bathroom, which they did. And they are still being attacked?
That's their goal. They know what they're doing makes no sense. The goal is to make it impossible for trans people to exist in public.
It wasn’t lost on me that the law that was rushed through would have been of no import here.
Meanwhile, any law against assault clearly applies here. Pressure needs to be brought to bear to charge the real crimes here. This is where a functioning DOJ would be doing the job the sheriff refuses to.
Looks like the Deep South has rebranded Jim Crow, as Jenny Crow 2.0. No, I’m not making light of this, or trying to be funny. This is only going to get worse as long as Trump is in power. His rhetoric of hate, has empowered bigots, to be transphobic vigilantes.
I’m fortunate enough to live in a state that has transgender protections. Hopefully that holds out. However. I still get called out from time to time when entering a public restroom. My employer’s HR department currently has an investigation open into an employee that questioned my gender identity in one of our more rural locations. We even had company wide sensitivity training on this very issue last spring. Doesn’t seem to matter to bigots. They don’t believe policy applies to them.
Shae Sanders, who was in the bathroom, is AFAB and nonbinary. Their partner Aurora Rush is a trans woman. Aurora was being heckled and surrounded while waiting outside the bathroom for Shae. It seems like after Shae exited the bathroom and pushed their way into the circle to grab Aurora, the mob attacked. They likely wouldn't have noticed or had a problem with Shae, except for the fact that they were with Aurora.
Until proven otherwise, this mob of maga savages, the local pigs, and the maggots in the Louisiana gov from top to bottom have been planning to do something like this. This typical maga mob KNEW they’d be safe to commit this heinous crime. Maggots deserve no less in return, especially the part where public servants deliberately worsen the situation for the victims.
“Brown shirts" doing what they've always done: committing extrajudicial violence at the behest of the hate-mongering fascists. I refused a company paid trip to NOLA over exactly this fear. The South isn’t safe, period.
Do more. Tell your company they should not even be THINKING of holding company events in such places. And get a few like-minded co-workers to say so -- they don't have to sign onto any strong pro-trans statement, just an acknowledgement that the South, and red states generally, are unsafe for many people for many reasons now.
Excuse me???? Do more????? As a trans woman I’m in the fucking battle every single day of my life. Fuck off, you have no idea the hell I’ve fought through.
I am a corporate pilot (retired) and the south is now off limits to me now. I don’t get called out much ( once in 20 years), living stealthily now where I used to be open about it. I’m terrified, been attacked once, and now fearful about traveling in nearly half the states. I hate them, MAGA fucking Fascist morons.
I fled the south too, most likely will never be able to go home. My family has been in the state since before there was a U.S. but such is the story of many of us.
Please. You did not indicate in your comment WHY you're not going to red states, and many of us avoid that for many different reasons. And since only paid subscribers to EITM can comment, you should assume that anyone writing here has at least SOME awareness of the hell that trans people are living through these days.
I understand that you're angry -- hell, I'm furious -- but there's nothing to be gained by attacking your allies.
Your comment was blatantly rude and uninformed. You made assumptions and attacked before thinking. I don’t need or want allies who attack me, a trans woman, or who try to cis-plain a situation to me. An appropriate response from you would have been a simple straightforward apology. I’m angry because an “ally” is trying to admonish me to “do more” when I have to fight everyday just to stay alive. Stop lecturing and do more listening.
Exactly.
"Do more" is for those of us who are sitting on the sidelines, not for YOU!
It is absolutely crazy to jump into the comments and tell a stranger "do more." Your comment sucked ass and your reply was defensive. Do better.
Well, as the grandmother and great-aunt of three beautiful trans grandkids, I know I need to "do more" before I die, but it's hard to know what to do, sometimes! The level of hatred in the U.S. is appalling. I don't even recognize my Country anymore. Trump didn't create this hatred; he has merely gave it permission to crawl out in the daylight.
Do more. Go out and fight for a free world instead of telling others to. You can start by doing what you told her to do, demand your own company refuse to do business in states with oppressive laws, and keep them honest about DEI and being a safe space for all. I expect that when you find yourself actually in the fight, you'll understand what was wrong with this comment.
Uninvested bystanders don’t stand up for us because they fear personal repercussions in a country where a bigot management is actively rewarded by the state.
The South totally sucks. I was nearly killed in Mississipi 60-some years ago, after I expressed deep disdain for their "colored" bathrooms.
I am a "white" Californian.
Totally agree! I fled the south a year ago. It breaks my heart, but going home again probably isn’t an option
For those wondering what can be done, if you have the means, support ACLU of Louisiana which has been helping these victims, as well as the organization mentioned in the article, Louisiana Trans Advocates. Even low amounts can add up and be helpful. And since both are on disability, they need financial help. Here's a link to the Go Fund Me started for them: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-trans-couple-recover-from-hate-crime?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thank you for sharing this. I have no idea why it isn’t linked in the article, or why your comment isn’t higher up.
This is absolutely horrifying on every level. I too would like to know what action can we take here that would be effective?
What IS THE "E-mail contact"?
info@bossiersheriff.com
What the hell, she followed their law and they still won't help her? It was never about protecting anyone, they just want to hurt anyone who doesn't look like them
You expected logic? Next you'll want compassion... Or empathy. This problem runs far far deeper than what we see on the surface.
It's interesting how the states with the longest history of lynching are also the worst for trans violence.
Is their lawyer good? Do they have a go-fund me?
This is an important question as theirs may become a test case establishing case law beyond landing them in prison.
I found the go-fund me for their medical expenses under community in the article
Where is this? I don’t see a community tab or button?
Towards the end of the article, highlighted in green, community groups are mobilizing- it sends you to the go fund me
I am so empathically sad and angry about this beautiful couple being assaulted. This grief is so ubiquitous right now across our community.
It’s hard to even find words for the strong emotions this conjures up in us.
What happened in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, was nothing less than a hate crime carried out by Bigoted, Racist people who believed they could attack two innocent individuals simply because they belonged to a minority community. These attackers acted with the confidence that, in a state where discrimination and intolerance have too often been ignored, they would face no consequences for their actions.
Adding insult to injury, law enforcement chose to arrest the victims rather than the perpetrators, even though the victims' only "offense" was being who they are. That decision sends a chilling message to every minority community: that prejudice can prevail over justice.
I applaud these individuals for refusing to remain silent and for choosing to fight back against this injustice. They deserve accountability, fairness, and the full protection of the law. Yet, given Louisiana's troubling history of tolerating such abuses, I cannot help but question whether they will receive the justice they so clearly deserve.
Justice cannot depend on who you are, where you live, or whether those in power approve of your identity. If the rule of law means anything, those responsible for this outrage must be held accountable.
I am utterly appalled by the Bossier Parish Police and Ordinance 22 that instructs anyone to monitor bathrooms and report those they feel do not belong.
And this is why I do not travel to red states or purchase anything made there if I can avoid it. They don't deserve to have my queer dollars.
There are SO many states I won't travel to or support in any way financially. My world is getting smaller and smaller by the day. Going to one of these places (or even on a flight with a connection in one of them) is more of a risk than I'm willing to take.
Indeed, even a stopover in a red state can be very dangerous -- all you need is to have your connecting flight be delayed, and now you're stuck there. People are already telling airlines not to route them through the new Donald Trump airport (formerly Palm Beach Int'l), but a general red-state travel boycott would REALLY get their attention.
Not only should companies take this shit into account when planning corporate events, groups of all kinds should do the same and publicize it everywhere. Louisiana depends very much on tourism ...
This is exactly what the Nazis did. They whipped up the ignorant masses into a rage against a tiny, powerless minority, blamed the victims of the inevitable mob violence, and then used that lie to justify further crackdowns on the victims' rights, while letting the mobs roam free. There is 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰 daylight between that happening then, and this happening now. Line by line, play by play. Those cops are Nazis. Every person who joined in that mob, whether they threw hands or not, is a Nazi. There is no more room for nuance in this conversation.
YES! I have read where they are LITERALLY following Hitler and Mussolini. LITERALLY, READING their "playbooks"!!
The sheriff is fully complicit in the crime and conspiracy to commit the crime (his prior actions were at least partly to blame for the attack.
And EVERY employee of his department from this dispatcher to the parking enforcement person who did NOT report this upward and insist on an investigation is also guilty of attempting to cover up a crime.
This is where ACAB comes from. It's not just him, it's every single one of his employees who did NOT stand up to support their rights. The 'thin blue line' attitude has got to go.
I don’t think the couple broke any law, despite how hostile the laws are toward trans people. Rush, the trans woman, DID NOT use any bathroom. Sanders, the nonbinary AFAB person, used the female bathroom. So they acted completely legally. What was blatantly illegal was how they were attacked. So the attackers must be prosecuted. Am I missing anything?
Twatzi Nazi brown shirts doing the Orange Miscreant bidding terrorizing us for political gain and for the brown shirts for fun knowing there will be no consequences. Law doesn’t matter, even being trans isn’t necessary just the “suspicion” of being trans.
This is the FSA - Fascist States of America.
I don’t even know what to say about that-it’s so horrifying…I’m sure they all went to church on Sunday because they are such wonderful christians…