A 23-year-old man has been arrested and charged over the bashing of a transgender woman at a venue in the Sydney suburb of Newtown. Musician Stephanie McCarthy, 43, says she was preparing to perform with her band at the Town Hall on Hotel on Friday night when a group of men began intimidating her. "There was four or five of them following me around, yelling 'faggot' at me," she told Fairfax Media. "One of them kept deliberately bumping into me. I had my ponytail pulled a couple of times." About an hour later she says she was held down and repeatedly punched in the face. She later tweeted a photograph of her bruised and swollen face, saying she "got bashed for being trans". A 23-year-old man has been charged with affray. He’s been released on bail to appear in court in July. Members of the lgbti community held a rally across the road from the hotel on Monday night.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 10th June 2015 - 11:50am