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Transgender Sydney Musician bashed at Newtown Hotel

Locals protested in Sydney this week, after transgender musician Stephanie McCarthy was bashed at a concert at Newtown’s Town Hall Hotel on Friday. The protest against violence and transphobia was held at the Hub on King Street, before moving to the Town Hall Hotel.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, McCarthy said that she was waiting to perform with her band Love Maul, when she was assaulted in an unprovoked attack involving five men. McCarthy took to twitter with shocking images of her face after the bashing, and has been deeply critical of the venue’s management of the incident, stating that they did not do enough to prevent the attack or detain the assailants. Considering that Newtown has traditionally been one of the most LGBT-friendly areas in the city, it’s a surprising and disappointing event for many reasons.

In an offhand twitter response that strikes a chord, McCarthy says: “No Vanity Fair cover for me!” Over recent weeks, the media has been rife with coverage of the transformation of Caitlyn Jenner, with a general outpouring of support for the transgender community. However, acceptance is clearly not yet all pervading. Recently we published an article about the ignorance of prominent rap musicians in regards to transgender issues when Snoop Dogg repulsively referred to Ms. Jenner as a “science experiment.” It is disheartening to see this brand of hate also pervading our local music community – and to see it within our very own society, in our very own country.

The suburb of Newtown is known for it’s diverse and vibrant community, and acts of this nature are becoming too common according to locals. McCarthy says lockout laws are to blame and that “there are people coming out on Friday and Saturday nights that never used to go out in Newtown, and they’re just here to bash people. They’re just here to get loaded on drinks and drugs and fight.”

We wish Stephanie all the best in her recovery and hope that the support across social media and the wider community continues to flood in. The search for the offenders is ongoing and anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Watch this short interview with McCarthy courtesy of Fairfax Media.