Staff Editorial

Evil is the indifference of good men and women

The cruel and brutal beating suffered by a transgender woman in a suburb of Baltimore last week proves that protection and resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals are still very much necessary in our country.

The April 18 incident occurred inside a McDonald’s in Rosedale, Md. A 3-minute video, taken by an employee, captured most of the attack.

In it, the two women, later identified as an 18- and 14-year-old, can be seen repeatedly punching and kicking the victim, Crissy Lee Polis, 22, in the head and torso area.

A manager is seen at various points trying to intervene, and his first attempt is successful, but he offers neither support nor sanctuary to the victim once the attackers have been fended off. The manager simply walks away, leaving Polis lying there like a wounded animal.

Throughout the video, McDonald’s employees can be seen standing around, doing nothing to help Polis, sometimes even laughing.

The cameraman can be heard giving a play-by-play account of the attack and towards the end of the video, when Polis is apparently suffering from a seizure, he can be heard saying, “She having a seizure, yo.”

Still, all but one person, an elderly woman, failed to offer assistance or compassion to Polis as she convulsed near a trash can.

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Polis recounted what led up to the attack, saying, “They said, ‘That’s a dude, that’s a dude and she’s in the female bathroom.’” Polis, who, according to the article, had “gone to the restaurant to use the restroom,” said that the women spit in her face.

Such a simple, necessary act that is taken for granted by everyone is one of the hardest issues that transgender people have to deal with. All too often male-to-female or female-to-male persons are forced to choose between comfort and safety when needing to use a public restroom.

UH’s Student Government Association worked with GLOBAL, the LGBT student group, to draft and pass a resolution in support of full funding for UH’s nascent LGBT Resource Center. Though this does nothing to tackle the issue of single-person restrooms on campus, it’s heartening to know that UH student representatives see the need for such resources for LGBT Cougars.

4 Comments

  • from the victim's own testimony it sounds like they beat her up because they thought she was flirting with one of girls' boyfriend not because she is transgendered. however, the employee's indifference was undeniably the result of her being a transwoman.

  • how does one incident involving a handful of people prove anything?

    there's a single person restroom on the 2nd floor of the ad bruce religious center for any trannies reading this.

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