Maltese Transgender Showgirl Faced Online Abuse After Ex-Fan Discovered She Had Sex Reassignment Surgery
Transgender showgirl and livestream entertainer Maxine Sophia Attard has spoken out after being intentionally misgendered by a woman who bought Britney Spears CDs from her in 2012.
“I gave that money for nothing, it would have been better if I went on vacation instead of spending it on you,” the unnamed woman told Attard, after discovering that Attard was a trans woman.
“If I had known, I would have bought them from someone else. You’re just a man wanting to become a woman,” she continued, accusing Attard of using the money to fund her sex correcting operation.
Attard, whose showgirl name is Madamemaxx, makes her living as an entertainer and often livestreams with fans, taking phone calls, playing games, sharing music and building her own community of followers.
She warned that despite the welcomeness in the LGBTQ+ scene in Malta, attacks against transgender people are alive and well in society.
“I can’t believe people like this still exist, that discrimination like this still exists in 2020!” she told Lovin Malta, adding that she has faced such abuse since secondary school.
“I’m here minding my own business, and this person comes to me with this confidence, almost as if she knows me and threw these nasty words at me.”
“We are supposed to have laws in place to protect us, but that doesn’t stop people from hurling abuse,” Attard insisted.
This is certainly not the reported first attack against transgender people this year. In June, trans woman Angela Coleiro became victim to horrific attacks of hate speech, after she criticised the government’s recent COVID-19 policy. Despite others in the social media sphere sharing their opinion of its policies, some Labour Party supporters targeted her gender identity in response.
Attard, as Angela Coleiro did, is set to file a report with the Hate Crime and Speech Unit today. Hate speech on the basis of gender identity is enshrined in Malta’s laws and constitution and conviction can lead to a fine ranging between €1,000 and €5,000.
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