RantCrush Top 5: March 17, 2017

A group fighting against equal bathroom access for trans children used the story of a woman who was attacked in a restroom on a running trail to raise money for its cause. However, the woman in question, Kelly Herron, has responded and said, “To the people behind I-1552, I say ‘not today, motherf*ckers.” Herron was referring to a group called “Just Want Privacy,” which is pushing I-1552, a “school-specific ballot initiative that would prevent transgender children from using the restrooms that correspond with their gender identities.”

Kelly Herron slams group using her attack in anti-transgender bathroom campaign https://t.co/xTSoKpgzkg pic.twitter.com/JZEUcPboTF

— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) March 17, 2017

Herron used the bathroom in a public park in Seattle and was attacked by a man who had hidden in the stalls. But he didn’t know that Herron had recently taken a self-defense class and she fought back viciously. She said she clawed him in the face, punched him, and yelled, “Not today, motherf*cker!” before locking him in the bathroom until police arrived. When she found out that Just Want Privacy used her story to fundraise money for their initiative, she said she was more upset than she had been all week and that the initiative “deliberately targets and harms transgender people–including friends whom I respect.” She demanded that the group make a public retraction and refund any money that had been donated through the email campaign that used her story. Way to go, Kelly!

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Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.