On October 22, a 16-year-old high school student from Bellingham was attacked by a group of eight other students because they were Trans. The victim, Adrian Ruben, was rushed to the emergency room with a concussion.
The attack was filmed by one of the eight other students, and depicts Ruben being verbally and physically abused. They were shoved to the ground, kicked, and punched, while onlookers told the attacker to "beat his ass." The videos were then posted to Instagram and shared around the school.
"They threw my child against a tree, kicked them in the head, all while screaming 'kill the tranny,'" said mother Alyssa Ruben in a video posted to TikTok. "They are still continuing to have severe concussion symptoms."
The group of students that attacked Ruben attend Bellingham High School and Options High School. At this time, neither of the schools have made a comment about the attack, and Alyssa Ruben says that there has been no disciplinary action.
The Ruben family is currently working with a detective from the Bellingham Police Department, as well as a lawyer from the Rainbow Youth Project.
"I really want to bring attention to the fact that Transgender kids are not safe, at least in my town," Alyssa Ruben said.
According to a survey taken in 2015, one in ten Transgender people have been physically attacked because they were Transgender. The Human Rights Campaign has reported that at least 27 people were killed because they were Transgender in 2024 alone.
Man arrested for tying noose around Queer child's neck
Joseph Sweeney, a 38-year-old Bremerton man, was arrested on Oct. 21 for allegedly tying a noose around the neck of a 14-year-old for saying he was Gay. Sweeney is charged with a hate crime and is facing two counts of assault in the second degree: for putting the noose around the child's throat and for allegedly assaulting his own 13-year-old son during the crime.
Sweeney apparently overheard the two boys talking and approached them, asking if his son's friend is Gay. When he responded yes, Sweeney wrapped a rope around his throat, but the teen managed to escape before Sweeney was able to carry out further action, according to FOX13. Sweeney also allegedly lassoed his son in the rope after, but his son also escaped.
After making it home safely, the 14-year-old boy told his mother, who reported the hate crime to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. Video footage obtained by FOX 13 following a residency search of Sweeney's home showed the rope used during the attacks and a black and silver semiautomatic handgun with bullets. Sweeney is barred from possessing a firearm, due to a previous domestic violence protection order that from 2023 in Kansas City, according to KIRO 7.
Charging documents received by KIRO 7 said that Sweeney allegedly used his cell phone to record the children while telling them to kiss each other as a humiliation tactic; Sweeney also cracked jokes about the Queer child being a princess.
Sweeney was arraigned on October 22 and his bail is set at $50,000. His court hearing is scheduled for November 13.
The SGN reached out to the Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney's Office numerous times to receive the case's charging documents and a headshot of Sweeney but did not receive a response.
These are developing stories; for the latest details go to https://www.SGN.org
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