Students and LGBTQ activists rallied outside Hopkins High School on Wednesday, seeking justice and accountability in the assault of a transgender student outside a bathroom there last week. Minnetonka police are investigating the incident as a "possible hate crime," city officials said in a statement.
The victim's brother, speaking to reporters after advocates slammed the school district, said his sister had been "sucker punched" by a fellow student who used a homophobic slur. The 17-year-old junior suffered a broken jaw and requires dental surgery, the brother said.
Hannah Edwards, director of Transforming Families Minnesota, an organizer of the event, told the crowd that the school failed to call an ambulance or file a police report that day, and that it wasn't until after the rally was publicized Tuesday that it informed the school community of the incident. "Our trans youth deserve protection," Edwards said. "They deserve love, they deserve safety and an equal opportunity to learn at their public schools."