Transgender woman tells of street abuse
A transgender woman from Carlisle has told how she was subjected to transphobic abuse as she walked through the city centre.
Kim Oakland was giving evidence against four people accused of threatening and abusing her on June 3rd, the Cumberland News reports.
Gary Davidson, 44, Roberto Diblasio, 27 and Gemma Louise Murphy, also 27, admitted the offences. Susan Welsh, 28, was cleared of the same offence after a trial.
Ms Oakland said: “They were saying ‘that’s a man; that’s a fella’. All four of them were giving me abuse. They were ridiculing me and laughing at me. I told them I was a transsexual, not a man.”
She continued: “I’ve spent a lot of money and gone through a lot of emotions and sacrifices to look feminine so that when people see me in the street they don’t take a second glance.
“When this happens, everybody stands and stares and says: ‘There’s a transsexual’ and that opens you up to more abuse.”
Ms Welsh denied taking part in the abuse and said she told the others to stop.
Diblasio was given a 12-month community order with a six-month curfew.
Murphy, who also admitted assaulting Ms Oakland by knocking her phone out of her hand, and Davidson, will be sentenced later this month.
