A prominent Philadelphia trans activist named Kendall Stephens has been accused of sex crimes against two young boys under 13 years old.
The 37-year-old was arrested on Dec. 18 and charged with rape, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, multiple counts of indecent assault, corruption of minors, and endangering children, Daily Mail reported. Her bail is currently set at $250,000, with her next scheduled court hearing on Dec. 29. Stephens hasn’t made any public statements addressing the criminal charges against her.
The allegations came to light after police received reports in September of Stephens allegedly sexually assaulting the two minors on previous occasions. Following a “comprehensive investigation,” authorities took Stephens into custody on Dec. 18, and she appeared in court the same day.
Ironically, Stephens is an outspoken trans activist and advocate for greater legal protections and rights for LGBTQ+ people, especially considering her own traumatic history as the
victim of a brutal 2020 hate crime. The Black trans activist was subjected to a vicious home invasion assault by a group targeting her identity, the outlet noted. One attacker, Tymesha Wearing, was eventually convicted of aggravated assault and hate crimes and sentenced to 23 months house arrest.Stephens used the experience to speak out against violence and discrimination targeting transgender and queer individuals. In a 2021 statement to CBS, she criticized Pennsylvania’s hate crime laws for failing to explicitly protect gender identity
. “Although Philadelphia County recognizes what happened to me as a hate crime, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s hate crime statute doesn’t recognize me as a person worthy of protection because I’m transgender,” she said.She pushed state lawmakers on the issue and aligned herself with Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner in launching an advisory board to support LGBTQ+ victims in 2021. Authorities are now handling her criminal case at the state level, given Krasner’s potential conflict of interest.
While maintaining her activist identity on social media and calling herself a “human rights advocate,” Stephens now faces extremely serious allegations of child sexual abuse in her community.
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