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Transgender drag queen raped, attacked by man wielding hammer

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) – An icon on the drag queen stage in Austin says she was attacked Sunday by a man who used a hammer to beat her, after she says he raped her at her south Austin home.

“Just because you’re turned down by a transsexual woman, does not give you reason to beat her in the back of the head with a hammer,” said Christi Long, a transgender woman who performs as a drag queen known as Christi Foxx Paris.

Long says on Sunday her attacker – a man she thought was a friend – took things too far.

“I said ‘no.’ I pushed him off of me,” explained Long, who said she became angry. “I raised my voice. I got really loud and I got deep with my voice. I wanted to have a powerful voice because I wanted to scare him out of my house.”

Long told KXAN News he wouldn’t leave.

“I asked him to leave several times. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t leave my house, and he told me he wouldn’t leave until he was done,” she said.

Her injuries required 12 staples to the back of her head.

“I started to get up and whenever I started to get up, he goes, ‘If you get up, I’m going to smash your face in,’ and he’s holding that hammer,” said Long. She says it’s not clear how many times her attacker struck the back of her head with the hammer.

In and out of consciousness, Long says she was somehow able to escape and run down the stairs.

“I started waking up and I started realizing all these things that just happened to me,” said Long. She told herself, “I gotta get out of here or else I’m gonna die.”

Long says the first thing she did was grab a knife in the kitchen, in case she needed to defend herself. When the man didn’t follow her immediately, Long says she realized she had to get out of the house to get away from him.

“I just ran out the door, just naked,” she explained. “I was holding the knife still and then I was going to run to my neighbor’s house two doors down.”

But she didn’t make it there. Long says she saw her attacker’s vehicle still parked outside her house. She feared then that the man was going to get away.

“‘I’m not going to let this happen,’ she thought to herself. “I ran up to his car and I slashed his tire, and then I was like, ‘he’s coming. I need to hide.’”

At that point, Long says she ran to her backyard and hid behind her fence until she saw him leave. She says her attacker got away, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is a survivor.

“All he’s done is empowered me,” said Long. “He’s going to make me stop him from doing this to someone else… and that’s the important thing.”

Long says she wants something positive to come out of this experience, especially in the transgender community. She’s encouraging other survivors of sexual crimes to report them without hesitation.

“No matter what you identify as, you need to come forward if somebody sexually assaults you. You need to contact law enforcement,” she said. “Whenever you say ‘no,’ no means no and it should always mean no.”

A police report was filed with the Austin Police Department for offenses of rape and aggravated assault. However, at last report, it’s not clear the status of the case; whether Long’s attacker has been arrested or charged with any crime.

Long’s supporters have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for her medical, legal and living expenses, as she recovers. If you’re interested in donating, click here.

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