SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A man has been charged with hate crimes after prosecutors say he stabbed a transgender woman who fled a San Francisco bus to escape his taunts about her gender preference.
Brodes Wayne Joynes was scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 7 in San Francisco Superior Court. He is charged with attempted murder and related counts that include hate crime allegations after Samantha Hulsey was stabbed in the chest on a sidewalk Jan. 3 night.
She received 10 stitches at a hospital and was released.
Authorities say Joynes, 54, accosted Hulsey and another transgender woman aboard a public bus. The women got off the bus to escape Joynes, who is accused of flashing a knife while verbally abusing them.
Joynes pleaded not guilty Jan. 7 and remained in jail, with bail set at $2 million.
“A hate crime is not just an attack on the victim, it’s also an attack on our community and the values we embrace as San Franciscans,” city District Attorney George Gascon said. “This is malicious and spiteful behavior that will be prosecuted aggressively.”
Activists say transgender women are the victims of a disproportionate number of violent crimes.
“Very simply, there remains a large fear of transgender people,” said Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York Anti-Violence Project, which tracks violent crime against the lesbian, gay and transgender communities nationally.
In 2013, the project reported 2,001 violent incidents directed at the community compared with 2,016 incidents reported in 2012.
The transgender women accosted in San Francisco on Jan. 3 night said their assailant expressed anger with their gender preference, telling them he felt “defrauded” by them because they were “pretending” to be women.
