Rape and death: two transgender women post hateful Facebook comments they receive

The gay rights lobby Allied Rainbow Communities has called on Facebook users to report hate comments against trans people, after two users posted images of the toxic messages they receive.

The messages were sent to Raquel Richards and Charlotte May Crane, two Facebook users who posted images of the hateful and violent language from two separate men.

Richard posted an image of Francesco Balzan, of Pietà, in what was a veiled threat of anal rape, while mercilessly mocking Richard’s trans identity by insisting she could never change her gender from male to female.

The same Balzan had posted similar comments in a previous incident in which Richard posted the photo of a pastizzi seller giving her the middle finger. Once again, the same threat of rape was made to her – identical comments to the one he later sent to her message inbox.

The Malta Gay Rights Movement had then condemned the act of hate saying, “It is unacceptable that in this day and age, now that everyone is aware of the realities of the LGBTIQ+, and in this case, trans people, we still come across shameless acts of abuse in broad daylight, right in front of everybody”.

In another post, Allied Rainbow Communities posted another message sent from Patrick Cini to Charlotte May Crane, again with a violent threat hoping for her death: “I don’t know how people like you can be alive. You ruin other people’s lives and you should be ashamed of living… I would be ashamed of not knowing what I have between my legs. Making yourself out to be a woman still makes you a faggot. You’re better off in God’s hands than living.”

The message was posted in badly written Maltese: the toxicity only multiplied when Crane replied in English, to which Cini insisted that she “speak in Maltese… your place is in prison where you can get f***ed up the ass.”

Crane posted the image of the message on her Facebook profile. “So this is the world we are currently living in! Whether he or a she is hiding behind a screen trying to make someone else’s life a misery! Well I’m sorry for you, but you are playing tricks with the wrong person! And above all, yes I love myself and I am damn proud of where I stand today…”