Transphobic Bashing Victim Defends CSULB

Colle Carpenter, the transgender graduate student who was attacked April 15 in a campus bathroom. defended California State University, Long Beach, in a statement released Wednesday.

"I'm aware the university has come under some criticisms regarding communications and response, in general," Carpenter said in a statement released by the school. "But again, I feel that the administration's response has been focused on the investigation and my well-being."

A rally at CSULB is scheduled for tonight at 7.

"It took nearly 8 days for the University to release ANY NEWS regarding the attack," a Gender Justice LA Facebook invite for the rally said. "This silence is deadly and this silence is what our community had grown accustomed to ... but no longer! I hope you will join me in protest of this kind of violence and show CSULB that they cannot forget about our community and they cannot they cannot sweep an attack like this under the rug."

According to the Los Angeles Times, the attacker confronted Carpenter in a bathroom at 9:30 p.m., pulled Carpenter's shirt over his shoulders, and carved "it" into Carpenter's chest.

The attacker fled and has not been arrested.