Laurels for Leif

Leif.

Leif is a trans man who this spring faced off against gun-toting, full-on neo-nazis and other assorted armed transphobes trying to assault the audience at a Drag Queen Story Time in Wadsworth, Ohio.  Of course the police were there – to protect the nazis! When the transphobes tried to physically assault a group of children leaving the event, Leif (who was escorting the children) was bludgeoned in the attack and responded in self-defense, successfully repelling the attackers and protecting the children from physical harm. But of course, the cops decided to slap Leif and only Leif with multiple assault charges!

The evidence, including multiple videos taken of the attack, was obviously in Leif’s favor. He clearly acted in self-defense. Yet the police and prosecutors forced him to hire a lawyer and fight the charges in court. Leif had to set up a crowdfunder to help pay for his legal defense and after reaching out to us, The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund stepped in to make a contribution.

Last week, we got the good news that this was money well spent! Leif beat the assault charges in court earlier this week and happily accepted a plea deal and took a misdemeanor with zero jail time for reasons he explains here. We’re as happy as the fascists are mad that the assault charges got tossed and Leif gets to continue to live his best life, IN NO SMALL PART THANKS TO US!!!

BTW, Leif still has outstanding legal expenses to pay off, so if you feel like kicking in a bit to help him with that, you can do that right here. 

San Diego: Stakes Is High

Just three days after the 2021 attempted insurrection on Capitol Hill, a mob of MAGA extremists, full-on neo-nazis, and assorted white supremacists ran wild in San Diego, beating a veteran wearing a George Floyd t-shirt, pulling knives on people, and attacking anyone showing any sort of resistance to their message of hate. That included a group of anti-fascists counter-protestors that did more to keep people in the community safe from violence than the police there that day.

In fact, the SDPD seemed there to enable the far-right goons to do as they pleased and only intervened when they could arrest someone unwilling to be victimized by the bigots. To-date, the only people charged for anything that day were anti-fascist counter-protestors.

This seems to be the doing of Summer Stephan, San Diego’s far-right District Attorney. Stephan has launched a witch hunt against “antifa” – charging 11 alleged anti-fascists with a litany of felonies while ignoring the overwhelming evidence of far worse violence being committed by the other side (who she no doubt counts as votes for her next term). Many of the defendants, facing bizarre conspiracy charges one would normally see in mafia trials, took plea deals. Some are currently serving prison sentences.

But not JW.

JW refused to bow down in fear to the overwhelming force of the state and their attempt to criminalize the self-defense of a community from hardcore bigots and extremists. He’s going to trial and he’s ready to fight and beat the charges. But his lawyer needed some help with some of the expenses involved in fighting the case. The Defence Fund was honor-bound to help out in any way we could and we look forward to JW’s press conference on the courthouse steps, after he beats the case.

Respect Existence Or Expect Resistance

Another week, another person out there defending the right of trans people to simply exist has to confront a mob of transphobic shitlords and winds up with charges from the transphobic shitlord-protecting police. This time in Sacramento, which some of you will recall was the place where police let nazis stab seven people and drop guns as they ran away, didn’t manage to charge a single nazi, but worked overtime to try to frame the antifascists targeted by the nazis, in collusion with the nazis themselves. So, no big surprise that this was the outcome of the policing efforts this time.

Still, that left our friend facing serious prison time. Given that he his the sole source of support for his disabled mom, he took a plea deal instead and will be doing about six months in prison. He reached out to ask for help paying off his court fees and providing for his mom while he’s locked up and, of course, we said “absolutely!”

Trans people shouldn’t face public hate rallies calling for their elimination.
People defending the rights of trans people to exist should wind up harmed or arrested for doing so.
We all need to stand with the people putting themselves in harm’s way to defend trans rights and answer their call when they need help.

Justice for Leif

Unless you’ve been in a coma for the last two years, you may have noticed that far right extremists have shifted their apoplectic rage towards drag queens and trans people as of late. There have been hundreds of violent attacks on events featuring drag queens and events supporting trans people’s right to simply exist.

Case in point: a drag queen story time event in Wadsworth, Ohio this past spring. That event attracted heavily-armed bigots who happily implied to the media that their end goal was the lynching the “degenerates,” along with swastika-flag waving, gun toting, seig heiling nazis (pro tip to transphobes: when nazis are on your side, you’re definitely on the wrong side of history).

Most of us would stay home and let the event organizers, performers, and attendees fend for themselves. But not Leif. Leif put his body on the line defending people from the bigots’ physical violence, crucially intervening when the armed goons attacked people as they left the event.

Of course, the dozens of police on the scene doing nothing to protect people eventually stepped in to the altercation to make an arrest OF LEIF! Incredibly, despite the overwhelming evidence showing Leif acting in self-defense and in the defense of others, he’s the one now going on trial this month.

Defending people against murderous, bigoted thugs shouldn’t mean you end up facing prison time and thousands of dollars in legal fees. We’ve stepped in to help Leif defray those costs. You can too by contributing to Leif’s crowdfunder. You’re also always welcome to help us get emergency support to the people defending drag shows and countering transphobic hate by making a contribution to the Defence Fund.