Man Attacks Transgender Woman in Center City

Police are searching for a man accused of attacking a transgender woman while yelling homophobic slurs in Center City Philadelphia Friday.
Ryannah Quigley, 23, of Seattle, Washington, told NBC10 she was attending the Creating Change conference in Philadelphia. She said she was walking along the 1300 block of Filbert Street at 4:40 p.m. Friday with two of her friends when an unidentified man began staring at her. She greeted the man, but he continued to stare at her.

"I said, 'Is there a reason why you're staring at me up and down?' And he stopped and turned and looked and he said, 'Whatever bro.' So that's when I said, 'Please don't call me bro,'" Quigley told NBC10.
Quigley said the man then started shouting at her and yelling homophobic slurs.

"He started screaming," Quigley said. "He just kept telling me, 'You're a f----t,' and 'You're going to hell.' Then he kept saying, 'You'll never be a real woman.'"
Quigley told NBC10 she then took out her phone and began recording the encounter on Facebook Live. That’s when she says the man threw a bag of food at her and then punched her in the face before running away. Quigley's friend Keyonna Fowler witnessed the incident.

"The slurs were very horrible," Fowler said. "Just because a trans woman speaks to you does not mean that she wants you."
Quigley said she suffered cuts and a bruise but is doing okay. She contacted Philadelphia Police who are currently investigating. Quigley told NBC10 she’s been the victim of violence before and was jumped by a group of people a few years ago.
"Often times we are not believed," Quigley said. "We are often looked at as the problem. Because as trans women people assume that, 'Oh, you must have been hitting on him.'"
Quigley said she posted the video on Facebook Live but it was later taken down by Facebook administrators who claimed it violated their terms of service. Quigley also claimed she was blocked from accessing her Facebook account. Her friends and supporters have posted on her page updating everyone on her recovery.
"Transgender individuals, they are people," Quigley said. "They are living and they will continue to be here."