Trans Women Who Beat Up Harasser Now Say: Walk Away

Two of the three transgender women who were captured on cell phone video beating a man who harassed them at London's Leicester Square subway station say they were driven by fear in a transphobic climate - but they also advise other trans people to walk away if they find themselves in similar situations, reports UK newspaper the Daily Mail.

29-year-old Tamzin Lush and 24-year-old Tylah Bryan were given light sentences last month for the 2018 incident, in which they - together with a third transgender woman, Amarnih Lewis-Daniel - took down 19-year-old Al Shabeeb when the teen persisted in verbally attacking them. Among his harassing remarks: "You're not a woman. You need a fanny [British slang for female genitalia] to be a woman."

Lush and Bryan now say, in essence, that they were in fear for their lives when the teen began verbally abusing them. Still, at the same time, they also acknowledge that they went "too far" in taking the initiative from the aggressor and responding with force.

"There's been times before where people have been quite physical towards me," Bryan told UK newspaper the Mirror.

Bryan referenced Britain's rate of anti-LGBTQ violence, which, mirroring that in the United States, has skyrocketed. "Hate crimes towards trans people have quadrupled in the last five years, which is just unreal," Bryan said.

She went on to note, "It makes you feel a little bit nervous and worried you could be on the receiving end of things. You have to be very alert."

All the same, Bryan opined that the best response when confronted by anti-LGBTQ bullying is to refuse to engage. Rather than getting drawn into an altercation, Bryan advised anyone being targeted with such aggression to "report it, pick up your phone and dial for help.

"Don't try and argue, you don't know what that other person is going to do," Bryan added. "Just try and walk away from the situation."

Media reports said that Lush "drop-kicked" the teenager and that the three trans women "beat and stamped" him while "laughing" onlookers took cell phone video.

"I didn't think I was capable of something so vile," Lush told the media. But, she went on to explain, the aggressor had triggered a fight-or-flight reflex: "My body just went into overdrive and I just couldn't stop," she recalled, adding: "It was too far."

Judge Nigel Seed acknowledged that the teenager provoked the response, telling the women at their sentencing last month, "Had it not been for the victim in this case, there probably would have been no incident."

Added the judge: "You are being punished for your overreaction to someone who has escaped punishment altogether."

The judge sentenced the women to community service and a curfew. Bryan's sister Hannah, who is not transgender, was also part of the fray and received a "conditional discharge," media reports said.

Watch the video from the 2018 incident below.