News of Transgender Beating Spreads Online

has attracted regional and nationwide media attention as the interconnected LGBT blogging community has been increasingly sharing news articles relating to the incident over the last few days. 

Though coverage has been provided by both the Freelance Star and , coverage by regional television newsrooms have propelled news of the incident far beyond the reach of the local media. 

The story has been picked up by at least two of the big-three Washington D.C. television broadcasters, NBC 4 and Fox 5 each running stories featuring anonymous video interviews with the victim. 

For regional media, especially outlets closer to Maryland and Baltimore, the Fredericksburg attack is being viewed in light of .

LGBT blogs have started to buzz discussing the incident. 

The story is being covered as far west as San Diego, where the San Diego LGBT Weekly ran a synopsis of WNBC's coverage of the incident, and as far north as Alaska, where the LGBT blog Bent Alaska has mentioned the incident. 

The author of the Silly Trans Woman blog could only muster a dismayed "geez" when she related the news to her readers. 

The news is also being spread among Transgender newsgroups, such as this one hosted at Google. 

It has also sparked discussion on this section of a LGBT message board, where users discussed how the victim's sex was being referred to in news coverage, as well as reaction to the assault. 

The issue of how to refer to the victim's sex was also raised in this illuminating post from Freelance Star Editor Laura Moyer's Red Pen blog. 

One common topic which nearly all media and digital commenters are bringing up: Virginia's hate crime laws, which offer no special protection for victims of crimes motivated by gender identity or sexual orientation.