I Faced Homophobic & Transphobic Street Harassment in Petworth
Location: Kansas Ave. between Blair Rd. and 3rd St., NW (Petworth)
Time: Evening Rush Hour (3:30P-7:30P)
Around 6pm on Saturday, June 25, I was riding my bike in the bike lane along Kansas Avenue on my way to Columbia Heights from Takoma. As I passed through the intersection of Kansas Ave. and Blair Rd., NW, a car full of young men passed me, and one of the passengers screamed at me out the car window. I didn’t catch everything he said, but I definitely heard “kill” and “f***ing fag.” I shook it off and kept riding, only to end up next to the same car at the intersection of Kansas and 3rd.
I avoided eye contact and hung back a bit, but one of the men screamed out the window again, “I thought I told you to get off the road, faggot!” The light turned green, and the car sped off and turned onto 3rd St. I continued on Kansas, shaken and furious, wondering why these men felt compelled to lash out at me. The incident was particularly upsetting because I am transgender (FTM), and although people generally read me as a straight man, I do identify as queer.
Submitted by Anonymous
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