Nation

Violence erupts again at Los Angeles spa over trans rights

By Brody Levesque of the Los Angeles Blade, Courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association
(Photo courtesy The Los Angeles Police Department)

For the second time in less than a month violent protests over transgender rights erupted outside the Wi Spa in Los Angeles July 17.

Captain Alfonso Lopez from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division said that in Saturday’s protests more than 30 people had been arrested and that numerous weapons — including knives and mace — were found on the ground in the area where the arrests were made, a fact that was also tweeted out by the LAPD’s public information office.

The area was cleared of protesters, Lopez said, after numerous clashes with police, some that involved smoke bombs and projectiles which were lobbed at LAPD officers and between the opposing groups. Many people chose to leave although several dozen refused and were arrested for failure to disperse, he noted.

The protests erupted earlier this month after a transphobic video was posted on Instagram regarding an incident at the spa which allows its patrons to use its facilities according to their gender identity. Instagram user Cubana Angel posted a video using transphobic terms as she complained to staffers about a trans female patron.

In an emailed statement, Wi Spa defended its policy to Los Angeles Magazine about the first incident. Wi Spa points to California Civil Code 51 (b), which makes discriminating against trans and other gender non-conforming people in business establishments illegal in the state.

“Like many other metropolitan areas, Los Angeles contains a transgender population, some of whom enjoy visiting a spa,” the statement goes on. “Wi Spa strives to meet the needs of all its customers.”

The spa’s trans-inclusive policy was defended by activists from the far left which led to a clash that resulted in several assaults with far right groups including the white nationalist group The Proud Boys and adherents of the QAnon with T-shirts that mention the term ‘Pedowood,’ a baseless theory about a secret cabal of Satanist child abusers in government, entertainment and the media.

Some fought with counter-protesters, and the event was declared an unlawful assembly by the LAPD. According to the LAPD five separate criminal incidents from that first clash are currently under investigation.

There is increasing doubt among law enforcement and staff at the Wi Spa whether there was ever was a transgender person there to begin with. Anonymous sources within the LAPD tell the Blade they have been unable to find any corroborating evidence that there was a transgender person present on that day.

Prior to the protest, a Los Angeles trans woman was falsely accused by anti-trans feminists of being the alleged transgender person in the video. She received multiple death threats and harassment, including a picture of a masked man brandishing an assault weapon threatening to shoot her.

Both anti-trans protests were a mix of religious fundamentalist street preachers, QAnon conspiracy theorists chanting “save our children” and Proud Boys. Black-bloc (like Antifa) and trans activists engaged in a counter protest at the same time, and violence erupted. Right wing personality Andy Ngo, who coordinates with far right groups when they’re looking to engage in violence on camera, was also there during the first clash.

Editor’s note: The following Twitter videos were made during the course of Saturday’s protests.

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