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Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
May 5, 2011
Chrissy Lee Polis – Photo: Courtesy
Tens of thousands of cyber activists have petitioned Baltimore County authorities and McDonald’s executives for justice in the beating of a transgender woman in a restaurant dining room.
The attack took place April 18 in a Rosedale, Md., McDonald’s and was captured on video by a restaurant employee with a mobile phone. On the video, two women can be seen repeatedly attacking another. The assault began outside a bathroom door, continued in the dining room and ended near the restaurant exit.
There, after being punched, kicked and dragged, Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, suffered a seizure. She can be seen in the video lying on the floor, convulsing, as restaurant employees stand by, some of them mocking her.
One employee can be seen in the video attempting to persuade Polis’ assailants to leave. And a customer, later identified as Vicky Thoms, can be seen trying to stop the attack.
Thoms attended a rally at the McDonald’s on April 25, where she was embraced as a hero by many of the more than 200 anti-violence advocates who attended.
She told the press and ralliers that she had feared the teenage assailants would kill Polis, so she tried to stop the beating.
Authorities have arrested two people in connection with the assault – 18-year-old Teonna Monae Brown, who faces charges of first- and second-degree assault, and a 14-year-old who may be prosecuted as a juvenile.
Prosecutors are still reviewing the case to determine whether hate-crime charges will be pursued. A police report said the 14-year-old confessed that she and Brown fought with Polis over her using the women’s rest room.
Prosecutors also have not decided whether to pursue any charges against employees or the owner of the franchise restaurant.
Thoms said employees didn’t help Polis and delayed calls to the police. She also said one employee implied Polis deserved the beating because she had “a smart mouth.”
Franchise owner Mitchell McPherson said the employee who took the video “is no longer employed with my organization” and others may be disciplined.
The video of the assault, posted to YouTube and on other websites, was viewed by tens of thousands.
Widespread viewing fueled online petitions to Baltimore County police and McDonald’s corporate office. One petition circulated by Change.org gathered more than 30,000 signatures in three days and observed, “Not surprisingly, McDonald’s lacks standard policies for protecting transgender individuals, despite a decent record of workplace discrimination protections for gays and lesbians. And while the company has pledged to ‘take appropriate action’ against all employees involved in this heinous event, just one has been punished.”
LGBT civil rights groups also pressed for corporate action.
“Ensure that your corporate leadership, your franchise owners and your 1.7 million employees feel a sense of shared responsibility for the safety of each and every one of your millions and millions of customers,” National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director Rea Carey wrote to McDonald’s CEO.
