CRIME
Trans Woman Recalls Subway Attack By Armed Couple
Cops apprehend one of two suspects allegedly responsible for Friday evening assault
BY MATT TRACY
A transgender woman was minding
her own business on a C train subway
platform in Manhattan on January
24 when she said a man walked
up to her and said something unintelligible.
But when the woman asked him to repeat
himself, she said the sound of her voice triggered
him to start calling her a man and spouting
transphobic slurs. The scene quickly got
uglier from there.
In an interview with Gay City News, Serena
Daniari recalled in detail the scary turn
of events that unfolded at around 8 p.m. on
a Friday evening when she was waiting for a
southbound train at the 155th Street station in
Manhattan.
After the man hurled slurs at Daniari, a
woman emerged — seemingly someone associated
with the man — and also piled on with another
round of transphobic rhetoric with statements
like, “She definitely has a dick.”
The initial shock of the verbal attacks quickly
morphed into a potentially life-threatening
situation when, according to Daniari, the man
said that woman who was with him had a knife
and a gun.
“When the dispute happened, I took out my
phone and was debating whether to call 911,”
Daniari told Gay City News. “The train was arriving
just as it happened.”
Daniari wasn’t about to let the duo escape
without holding them accountable. When the
train pulled into the station, she followed the
man and woman onto the train car and, as the
doors were held open, she was able to snap photos
of them. The perpetrators then slapped her
PHOTO COURTESY OF SERENA DANIARI
Serena Daniari.
phone out of her hand and spit on her face, she
said.
But in yet another twist to the horrific story,
Daniari said, passengers on the train were unmoved
by the scene. They refused to assist her
and, according to Daniari, were instead getting
annoyed that the incident was holding up the
train.
The duo subsequently bolted the scene and
Daniari ended up taking the train one stop to
the 145th Street station before exiting the train,
calling the police, and posting an emotional
video on Twitter.
“I swear I wish people would just leave me
alone,” she said in the video as tears streamed
down her face. “I don’t do anything. I just want
to be left alone.”
On the morning of January 27, the NYPD’s
Hate Crimes Task Force announced that the
male allegedly involved in the attack — later
identified as 26-year-old Pablo Valle — was
apprehended. Cops are still searching for the
woman who was allegedly involved in the case.
Daniari received an outpouring of support
in the days following the attack. Mayor Bill de
Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo led a chorus
of elected officials who voiced support for
Daniari and vowed to find justice for her, while
many other folks expressed outrage that such
an attack would happen in New York City.
Daniari responded by issuing a public
statement on Twitter on January 26, writing,
“Thank you everyone for the outpouring of kind
and supportive words. I’m overwhelmed and so,
so grateful…”
On January 27 — three days after the attack
— Daniari said she is physically okay but said
the attack has taken a toll on her emotionally
and mentally.
“I feel rattled and shaken by it because I take
the subway every day,” she explained to Gay
City News. “I’m a working professional. I commute
to home, to work — wherever I’m going.”
In light of the frequent deadly attacks targeting
transgender women — especially trans
women of color — Daniari said she was worried
that the situation could have resulted in a far
more serious outcome. But she is at least glad it
didn’t go that far.
“I feel relief knowing that it didn’t escalate to
anything worse,” she said.
HEALTH
GMAD Now Has No Permanent Home
Effort to launch health center may be last ditch bid to save Black HIV group
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
A Brooklyn agency that
was once at the forefront
of addressing the
health and HIV concerns
of Black gay men has ceased
operations while it raises funds to
open a health clinic that will continue
its mission of serving African
American gay and bisexual
men.
“Gay Men of African Descent
(GMAD) is implementing a plan to
transform the delivery of its health
and education services from a
community-based organization to
a community health center, generating
its primary revenue from
fee-for-service primary health and
social support services,” Kevin
McGruder, GMAD’s board secretary
and treasurer, wrote in a
statement.
Gay City News contacted
McGruder, Vaughn Taylor-Akutagawa,
the agency’s executive director,
and other people who have
some knowledge of GMAD’s operations
after visiting GMAD’s offices
on Atlantic Avenue on January 23
and being told by a building staffer
that GMAD had moved out three
or four months earlier. That staffer,
who is not a GMAD employee, gave
a Flatbush Avenue address for the
agency’s new location. That address
was for a doctor’s office.
In his statement, McGruder said
GMAD left the Atlantic Avenue
building at “the end of 2019, in order
to reduce operating expenses”
➤ GMAD, continued on p.12
January 30 - February 12, 2 8 020 | GayCityNews.com
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