After assault at Raleigh nightclub, trans women urge community to speak up
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Raleigh police charged drag performer Poison with simple affray after nightclub altercation.
- Poison reported physical and sexual assault, raising concerns over self-defense rights.
- LGBTQ+ advocates urge stronger protection and visibility for trans and marginalized people.
A transgender woman who shared her story about trans women being attacked at an LGBTQ+ club in downtown Raleigh has now been charged in the incident.
Poison, a trans woman and drag performer, told her social-media followers that she and a friend, Lotus Lolita, were physically and sexually assaulted at Legends Nightclub on West Hargett Street early Sunday morning.
The News & Observer is referring to Poison and Lotus Lolita by their stage names at their request. The newspaper does not normally publish the names of people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
Now, Poison’s been charged with simple affray, typically defined as a fight between two or more people in a public place that causes fear in others. Poison shared the news via Instagram stories, which disappear after 24 hours.
“I am trying to be strong through this whole situation. Been here before. I’ve spoken on it in my videos where someone does something and I end up here for it,” she said. “With the simple affray with the [bar] video, they saw that I put my hands on him, which I did. I did. He assaulted us. He threw the bottle at us. Yes, yes. I got my [expletive] licks in.”
She’s being charged because she fought back, she said, adding she was told if she hadn’t, the charges would have been more severe for the person who threw the bottle at them.
“That is a [expletive] up message,” she said. “It means that if you’re getting assaulted, that you should be doing nothing to make sure that you get the best outcome.”
Reached Friday morning, Poison said she wanted people to know that she “fought back.”
On Thursday, the Raleigh Police Department said the investigating officer had completed the investigation and “swore out charges on the individuals involved in this case.”
It’s unclear if others involved in the case have been charged as of Friday afternoon, based on public records.
What we know about the assault at Legends Nightclub
Lotus Lolita and Poison were at Legends Nightclub as patrons to watch the club’s nightly drag show.
A man grabbed Lotus Lolita’s hand as she walked down the stairs and wouldn’t let go until she pulled her hand away. Later, the man kept coming up to her, slapping her buttocks, Lotus Lolita said in an interview with The N&O.
“I don’t know how people have that sense of entitlement to my body and to my autonomy and feel like it’s their right to just touch me and grab at me,” she said. “I’ve been very vocal about it. It doesn’t matter if I’m butt naked or if I’m in a parka. My body is not yours. It’s mine. This is my temple. This is something that I’ve worked so hard for, something that I cherish.”
The man “would not accept no for an answer,” Poison said, saying the man made multiple advances toward them. Part of those advances included grabbing Poison’s hand, saying “clearly predatory sexual things” and being “aggressive toward them,” she said. After her friend was slapped, she told the man that wasn’t acceptable.
“He threatened [to] accost me with a bottle, which then my friend stepped in to try and de-escalate the situation and walk away,” she said. “He then threw his beverage at us. I turned around and then things escalated from there.”
The arrest warrant states that Poison and another person “did assault and strike each other” when someone “threw alcohol from bottle onto [Poison], resulting in [Poison] choking [the other person]. Punches and slaps being thrown from both parties.”
The man hit Poison with a glass bottle in the head six times, she said, sending her to the hospital for a CAT scan.
“To most people, I believe they think sexual assault is rape, which is the extremity of what sexual assault is,” Poison said in an interview. “Sexual assault is unwanted physical contact with sexual narratives towards someone’s body. It can be prolonged eye contact. It can be being dismissed and continuously being around someone’s face. It can be a physical slap on someone’s body.”
The Police Department said its preliminary investigation indicates “the assault stemmed from a verbal altercation between three individuals who were attending the club.”
The N&O asked if this incident was being investigated as a hate crime and if additional steps, like contacting the department’s LGBTQ+ liaison, were being taken.
“This incident has no association with the business and has been found to be an isolated incident between customers of the bar,” Officer B.C. Hentz of the department’s public affairs office said Wednesday. “Raleigh Police Officers have responded to many incidents similar to the altercations at a variety of bars throughout the city. There is no information or evidence obtained during the investigation to suggest that the incident is a hate crime, and therefore, standard assault investigation protocol has been followed.”
In a follow-up email Thursday, the department said it was not investigating this case as a sexual assault, nor was it referring the case to a detective.
“The investigating officer developed enough probable cause to charge the individuals involved,” said Lt. David Davis on Thursday. “We would suggest that anyone directly involved that has questions in this incident please go to your local Police District front desk or contact RPD.”
‘Protect The Dolls’
In interviews and in social media posts both Poison and Lotus Lolita have mentioned “Protect The Dolls.”
The phrase went mainstream after a London-based fashion designer put it on a white shirt as a fundraiser for Trans Lifeline in response to “increasing political hostility faced” by the transgender community in the United States and United Kingdom, according to Trans Lifeline. The shirt has since been worn by celebrities, musicians and fashion designers.
“Trans women, trans people, period, shouldn’t have to be beat and shouldn’t have to be assaulted,” Lotus Lolita said. “We shouldn’t have to have any type of hardship for you to show us love and show us affection. Because at the end of the day, we’re humans, we’re not deities, we’re not these extraterrestrial beings. We’re humans. We are worthy of love. We are worthy of care. And we are worthy of basic human rights and interactions.”
The phrase “Protect The Dolls” should be more than words, Poison said in a video. It means voting against legislation that targets trans- and LGBTQ people and voting during elections, she said. It should also be about protecting and supporting transgender women, in particular Black and brown trans women, in the community, she said.
“When you see something happening to a person who is trans, a person of color, anyone, anyone, say something,” Poison said. “Speak up and say something.”
Both Poison and Lotus Lolita said they were disappointed that no one helped them.
Speaking up and saying something is one of the things that Alexandria Webb encourages as the LBGTQ+ advocate at the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.
“It’s using that privilege that you have as a person who is not going through an assault at the moment ... to step in,” she said. “Especially when you see a woman — you may not know if they’re trans or not — but when you see women, people of marginalized communities being targeted and hurt.
On its social media Legends said it is in contact with all parties involved and the police, and “will continue to support a full and fair investigation.”
“Legends has always been, and will always be, a safe place,” according to the statement. “Trans lives matter, and we stand in full solidarity with our trans and LGBTQ+ community.”
An email and phone call to the bar were not returned Thursday.
The LGBT Center of Raleigh, its staff and board of trustees also released a statement Wednesday morning.
“There was an attack on the lives of a few transgender community members recently at a Raleigh gay bar,” according to the statement. “If you are reading this, and have been under the belief that the Triangle is an exception to the violence that transgender folks experience every day, this should be your jolt into reality.”
Violence against transgender people
The FBI released data this month showing 10,873 hate crimes in 2024 reported by agencies that send it data.
The Human Rights Campaign reported that at least 32 transgender and gender-expansive people were killed through violent means in 2024.
GLAAD, the LGBTQ advocacy group, tracks anti-LGBTQ extremism through its Alert Desk. It showed 52% out of almost 940 reported incidents in the United States between May 2024 and May 2025 were against transgender and gender non-conforming people, according to the LGBT Center’s statement.
“However, these are just reported incidents,” according to the LGBT Center statement. “There are many more that go unreported every single day.”
Poison wanted to speak publicly because so many transgender people and people of color “suffer in silence.”
In her first video after the incident, Poison appeared on camera with a black eye and bruises, and then covered it up with makeup, giving viewers a tutorial.
“Finished. That is how easy it is to cover a bruise,” she said. “That is how easy it is for someone to walk around in the world unseen, for their voice not to be heard, for their trauma and sexual assault to be dismissed. That is how easy it is for someone to hide from struggle.”
Poison is a makeup artist, and wanted to use makeup to show how “easy it is for someone to hide their struggle.”
“Makeup and performance art have saved my life,” she said. “It’s the only way that I am able to express myself and to be able to be the exact representation of who I want to be.”
NC Reality Check is an N&O series holding those in power accountable and shining a light on public issues that affect the Triangle or North Carolina. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email realitycheck@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 12:03 PM.
