McDonalds' Super Sized Hate At Ground Zero

McDonalds and especially some of it's employees strike it big again this time.


" "Where am I supposed to go??"
The plaintive cry of a transwoman in between savage beatings as two teen girls in Baltimore respond to her mere presence with extreme violence. It seems this individual, who is clearly presenting as female, regardless of her personal identity or legal sex, attempted to use the bathroom deemed socially appropriate for her at the time."
From “The Human Eye”
http://smu-humaneye.blogspot.com/2011/04/savage-beating-of-transgender-woman.html



A woman of transsexual or transgender experience, walked into a locally owned and operated franchise of the sprawling McDonalds fast food empire. Her simple intentions were to possibly get some food and use the bathroom, but what transpired next, turned out to be a tragically abusive, inhuman orgy of transphobic esctasy. It would also be an evening where several Mcdonalds employees exposed their base predatory selves, as they facilitated and mocked the merciless beating of Chrissy Lee Polis. One employee, Vernon Hackett, laughing hysterically, recorded the assault for fun, while the other shift employees stood by watching as well. They not only verbally (and by action or inaction) disrespected her gender identity, they egged the 18 year old woman and her 14 year old female companion on! They excitedly exclaimed: "It's a man! Beat it's ass, kill the thing". The shift manager stood by as well... entertained for several minutes, until he made 2 weak attempts to shoo the girls away and sqeaking out the word "stop!" He then joined in the facillitation of violation and humilation of the woman, by encouraging the savages to get away before the police arrived and acting as a look out. By the way, the Baltimore PD was not seriously contacted until 17 minutes after the attack began.

We are then further treated to more wonderful displays of humanity as our ace videographer Vernon, continues to record the suffering of the victim as she goes into a seizure, spitting up the blood from her internal injuries. We can clearly see the shift manager walking around amused and slightly curious, staring down at Chrissy as she helplessly convulses as a result of several kicks and blows to the head. One employee was more concerned about having to clean up her blood and dime store hair extensions and real hairs that were ripped out of her scalp, than about her welfare or her life, yes quite lovely.

Sure, these "human" girls were initially worried about Chrissy speaking 3 - 4 words to one of their boyfriends ("Not now, but thanks"), as she made her way to the womens restroom -but the perpatrators and employees who supported their actions, were angry about that, when they perceived her to be transgender or transsexual, that's what helped to fuel the raging attack upon her.

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun yesterday, Polis says before she was attacked, one of the teens said Polis was a "man" using the women's restroom and accused Polis of "talking to her man."

Our fearless video person decides to upload the crime to UTube, allowing it to go viral. The dilemma here is that on the one hand, we are fortunate that this video exists, because it is almost unimpeachable criminal evidence in and of itself. yet on the other hand, it is a tool of oppression, stigmatization and humilation, created and spread around by an ignorant creep.

Chrissy Lee has been released from the hospital, after she was listed in fair ccondition. But now understandably, she is too terrified to leave her house. Yet, here's where the abuse continues: the police and media have not only disrespected her privacy and especially her identity, by portraying her as a "cross dressing male" in blaring headlines and police statments to the public and media, they have also displayed her past record of minor criminal offenses, including charges of prostitution which of course she had engaged in, in order to simply survive, eat and get beaten at greasy places like the Rosedale, MD Mcdonalds franchise. Of course she worked the street, because no one would hire her, just because she is transsexual/transgender and possibly did not "fit" American society's backward, narrow idea of what is "female" or "male".

The McDonalds franchise where this horrible event occured and the corporation of McDonalds are definitely accountable in this case, because of what's called: "Premise Security Liability" which is a civil action where a landlord or property manager can be legally held liable for injuries inflicted during a violent criminal attack committed on the rental or store property under premises liability law.

Maryland as a state, has an implicitly implied set of codes that specifically addresses this:
‎"Shopping mall owners and operators may be held responsible for the parking lots and common areas such as bathrooms. **Businesses may be held responsible for incidents happening within their stores**. Banks may be held liable for incidents occurring at their ATM machine or lobbies."

Since the McDonalds franchise located in Baltimore (specifically in it's subcommunity of Rosedale), is considered a "satellite" business unit of the main corporation, it is an economic "arm" that represents it. The same code of Premise Security Liability applies to McDonalds Coporate, they had to request permission from the Baltimore city, county and state, to operate. Therefore, McDonalds Coporate is responsible for contributing to the safety of it's customers in that area. Now a legal counsel for McDonalds and relevant franchise can make an argument called: "Comparative Fault" stating that the injured person was partially at fault for what happened. But in this case, there was very clear evidence that the victim did not have that much control over what happened to her. Also, the criminal nature of the documented assault, will help her case as well.

This is a general overview of Premises Liability:
http://injury.findlaw.com/personal-injury/personal-injury-a-z/premises-liability.html?DCMP=KNC-Slip-&-Fall&HBX_PK=premise+liability+law&HBX_OU=50

Exactly one week before the hate crime beating, the Maryland Senate effectively killed the Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Bill, also known as HB 235, which would have protected transgender people in housing, banking, and employment. While the bill would have had no direct impact on this incident, the Maryland Senate sent Maryland citizens a strong message by killing the bill. Nontheless, the past bill still had no protections for public accomodations, such as public restrooms.

This is the "Emmett Till" moment or Ground Zero for trans people and allies. Sorry I had to say that, but if you can recall some history involving the civil rights movement, Emmett was a 14 year old boy who went to visit relatives near Money, Mississippi in 1955. He was kidnapped, continously severely beaten throughout the night, eye gouged out and then shot to death, accused of making a pass at a white woman. This crime of Human Rights became a spark for widening and further igniting that movement. The story about Emmett Till rapidly spread across the states (and several places around the world); An image of what happened to him was very clear and available for the world to see, just like this case. The Emmett Till crime woke many people up, illuminating the condition of oppression against a group of people.

McDonalds seriously needs to review, update and sincerely enforce their diversity and antidiscrimination policies right on down to the newest employees.

We hope and pray for Chrissy Lee Polis, we must reach out to her with love and full compassionate support to let her know that she is not alone, people care about her and that all are not darkness personified.


There is a rally and vigil against hate, scheduled for this Monday April 25th, 7:00pm - 10:00pm to be held under the "golden arches" at 6315 Kenwood Ave in Rosedale, MD:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=216999991659946

Also another rally, Stand Up Against Hate! Will be held on Thursday, April 28 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm, to be held at the same McDonalds location on the public side of the sidewalk adjescent to it:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000947503360#!/event.php?eid=110187879067417

To join the boycott:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-McDonalds-for-Bashing-Our-Transgender-Family/181080638606858

This is a Facebook support page for Chrissy Lee Polis, created by well wishers, please post words of comfort, support, warmth and encouragement:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chrissy-Lee-Polis/221297167883667

Please sign the petition:
http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-the-employees-on-duty-at-mcdonalds-be-held-responsible-in-the-beating-of-a-trans-woman

To file a complaint with McDonalds Corporate:
2111 McDonalds Drive, Oak Brook, IL 60523
Phone # 1-800-244-6227
Fax: (630) 623-8843

Deligitimizing The Identity And Rightful Sex Of Transsexual People:

The below is a snapshot of discussion on Ethan St. Perrie's wall regarding the the recent article: "Don't Call Me Transgender" by Transmenace
And my response to one Trans women's act of deligitimizing the identity and rightful sex of TS people:


Janice Josephine Carney:

the reality is some transexual's may see themself,s as Real men or Women, but as soon as they lose there jobs. housing, or have need of legal assitence, they run to transgender friendly organizations for help and surrport. As fo rML, a law that needs aprovement is better then no law.
‎

Arianna ShockAnna-Awe Kitti (Empowered Kitty):

@Janice and others:
Simple: TS women and men ARE women and men. What does "real" mean anyway, even when applied to Cissexual women and men??
Some women who are Cissexual/Cis -Gender (and some men), have been harrassed, discriminiated against, or lost their jobs because they did not fit narrow standards of what is considered a woman and man. There are numerous cases of instances, such as Price v Waterhouse, which did set a legal precedent in the realm of "gender expression".

Take This Label And Like It!

From the article: "Don’t Call Me Transgender!"
Posted on April 2, 2011 at 11:31 am2011-04-02T11:31:59Zg:i a by The Transexual Menace
www.transexualmenace.org

"Hellooooooooo girlfriend!
OMG! You really think that changing your sex is not breaking the cis-gender norms?

We hate to tell you but transsexual people are transgendered. Both of the founders of The Transexual Menace were post-op transsexuals who, before the political popularization of the meme Transgender, saw the need to have an general concept to describe the people who were being disenfranchised by society because of their expression of their gender. They felt that anyone who was marginalized because they failed to conform to society’s expectations of the correct gender expression was naturally a part of the ‘gender community’ as they called it originally. It was this concept of unity, embodied in the Original Charter of the Transexual Menace, that later merged with similar beliefs held by others world-wide giving rise to Transgender as we know it today.

Transgender is our word for ourselves. It has been around since the 70s. LGB didn’t assign it to us nor are they pushing it on us (in fact, some of them wish that T would just go away). Before the creation of LGBT in the mid-90s, we were Transgender."



WTF??!!...

One of my responses to the above article is, that I myself have successfully (and continue to do so, that is if I don't share my past with the wrong elements of any communities) lived as a woman for years, in the sense of legal, gender and sex realms. I personally, as a matter of choice, except for a few mature, very accepting, understanding gay, lesbian and bisexual friends and allies who know of my past cross-somatic birth defect, (they do not try to push a culture of "Queerness" on me or anyone else) I do not directly associate with the LGB portion of the population as a group; This is due to past bad experiences with that group as a whole, as I was at the early stage of my medical/physical correction.

For example, I did attend a couple of support groups of Transsexual concerns for a short time. These were located only in a gay area of the city that I have moved from and left behind to authentically live my life. The general mistreatment of the people of Transsexual-experience who spoke up in San Diego, was both horrendous and subtle. The disrespect of our inherent knowledge of which sex/gender we belonged to, the shouting down and silencing of our concerns and point of view, the near obsessive, constant portrayal of TS-experienced and Transgender people as just "drag queens" was bullshit that was nasty to bear.
some of the gay males AND more than one Gender Queer person would spread rumours about TS-experienced and Trans females, saying that they are really "gay males who dress up who desire gay males" if they did not like us individually.

One of those bad experiences included a therapist, whom I saw on a regular basis as I was going throughout my corrective transition. She kept insisting that I was "Transgender", said that "it's ok to be Third Gender" and that I use that term to describe myself. She kept ignoring the fact that I also Intersex, but fully identifying as a female, having been born with an underdeveloped female uterus and right ovary.
Of course, I never came back to see her. After that, it was interesting to note that 3 other therapists, one of whom wrote my letter for SRS, have said that I had an "extreme case of Transsexuality".

Two to three times, I've travelled from the diverse suburban area I lived in in San Diego, to donate brand new books bought with my own money, that provided accurate education about Trans people, to the LGB (--T--) center located in the "Hillcrest" area of that city. Two to three times, the brand new books disappeared from the shelves never to be seen again. I even once found 3 of the new Trans books in a trash recepticle on the side of the center.

Once, there was a woman's fair at that center that I bravely attended, only to be caught by surprise by one of the events at that fair. That event was an "open discussion and expression", some gay, lesbian and other queer people came up on the stage to berate Trans people, to tell them that they are "phony", "gay males and lesbian women with self image issues" and "not to alter their bodies".

(Autumn Sandeen is a member of the Transgender/Queer/Gender-Queer "mafia" in San Diego by the way, I've personally known her for years in San Diego).
As for any discrimination, mistreatment and transphobia that I've experienced, on the job or in a general social environment, that has occurred mostly when I or someone who knows of my past cross-sexed condition, told other people. Other than that, I ("pass" as some would call it) blend in and live as a women (myself) in society very well,
I actually came out of full "stealth", even telling some people where I currently work about my past, in order to contribute to the battle for the Human Rights of Transsexual-experienced and Transgender people as well as even Gender Variant folk.
But, for someone to tell me that my life as woman is just an "illusion", to unquestioningly use a label of "Transgender" for myself and not to argue about it, when in fact I did not change my "gender", I physically aligned my body to the inherent (internal) gender that I have been since birth, is highly ridiculous.

Telling someone that the true blossoming happiness and healing that they've finally achieved, by being able to blend in and live as their rightful sex in womanhood or manhood, is nothing but an "illusion" and to "wake up", sounds very akin to what elements of the LGB community says to and about Trans people, especially people of Transsexual experience.

"We hate to tell you but transsexual people are transgendered."

???-The above statement makes about as much sense as a snail with a turbo-powered engine with only 5 gears in reverse...



**How a good number of gay.inc males portray Trans women**

Uncalled For Directed Attacks

Teresa Ellen Reeves has been one of the long lasting mainstays of the effort to gain rights for people of Transsexual Experience. As well, she has greatly demonstrated the action to help others within the allied spectrums of Transssexual, Transgender, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual an Intersex people. Of course she should not be attacked for her honest perspective and revelations of a significant amount of ill treatment by some people in Gay.inc and individuals under the Trans umbrella.

Several days ago, Teresa was invited to post as a guest columnist on the site known as TS-Si by Sharon Gaughan, but has been subsequently attacked by Evangelina Carters, Leigh Jane Smith and Rose Ann Miller in a long thread on Facebook - that ganging up was completely uncalled for, wrong and does boggle the mind with the veracity against Teresa that was displayed. If she or others do not want to be labeled as a "T****y, then don't do it. The attack was also about her defense of Ashley Love and other like minded people who do not want TS experience, presence, legimate issues to be buried, dismissed by "othering" them as a 'third gender' without asking them how they need to identified and referred to; The same should not be precipitated upon ANYONE, be they Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, of Transsexual-Experience, Cis-gender, Cis-sexual Experience, Intersex, etc.

As a long time principle hard working representative of WHEEL and a few other organizations in Seattle and one who has stepped up to the plate as president of GIEC, she deserves to be heard and respected for her contributions without an all out blind attack – indeed just as we all deserve that in this fight for our human rights for all.

Anti-Defamation And The Sting Of Truth

Original article we are responding to:
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18349/part-one-ashley-love-and-antidefamation

Of course, the communities of gender have to be especially vigilant about the derision of others of differeing opinons, backgrounds, life circumstances, birth and "life styles" - "calling the kettle black" as it were.
But and that is a big 'but', if any leakage of truth is felt by a common collection of sub communities shoved under a larger political "umbrella" created on paper, without the actual consent of affected people within them, that honest truth will sting.

As such, this is what is happening here, writer and activist Autumn Sandeen and several denizens of the LGB(t) "toe the line club", are feeling that sting in real time; One can tell this in her recent post in a work to derail the views of Ashley Love, also an activist, artist, writer and one of the lead founders of MAGNET (Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Transsexuals & Transgenders) an anti-defamation in the media organization, as well other dissident voices in the newest publishing of "Pam's House Blend" news and editorial magazine online - near baseless mud slinging in the media as a tool of expression as it turns out, is quite accepted these days. Of course, everyone has an absolute right to blog, to write, to express their views, however much based in reality, or however deluded. After reading, nay... after analylzing what has been written in Ashley Love's blogs and stated in other media from several other writers about the near erasure of fair representation of transsexual and intersex people, there are very sharp shreds of truth just screaming to be heard, understood and considered. The forced appropriation and political absorbtion of the diverse, collective voices of transsexual, transgender, intersex, gender variant individuals by a masculine driven side of the gender collective, suspiciously supported by a "subtly" misogynist, affluent white gay male clique is beginning to be pretty hard to overlook - as we are told to do.

One example is, is when we are told to just contribute hard earned cash to drag show events (such as the traveling tripe of a "show" known as: "Shirly Q. Liquor")that are really designed to invalidate, trivialize the female identities of transsexual(and transgender womyn); We are then told to just laugh it off when a larger society picks up the cues that trans womyn, their lives as well as their attempt to live genuine lives according to their inherent internal sex/gender and plights are not to be taken seriously. We are then beaten down like redheaded ignorant stepchildren, when complaints about the afforementioned, are put forth.

How then, is the effort to gain human rights for trans and intersex peoples as a whole, going to be perceived and not treated like just another "Jerry Springer" media stunt??

DSM as Weapon and Tool of Social Control

As we head into what is hoped to be a grand, brand spanking New Year, a lingering question remains in the air, much like the remaining tangy, stale odor of last night's silent pile of empty Don Perione champagne bottles...
Just when is society going to take a hint that we as Trans-experienced people, are not "mentally ill" and are as natural as squirrls and granola?

There is mounting consensus that the damaging and stigmatizing "diagnosis" in the DSM can be replaced by a more somatic (relating to whole treatment of the body) medical diagnosis of physical misalignment from inherent Gender Identity, place that within the ICD9-10 for insurance and theraputic purposes, eliminating the notion that Trans people are "mentally ill" while still being able to access medical treatment. A large number of mental health practioners and physicians are currently supporting an atmosphere of condemming Trans people into the "defective human being" catagory.

The general media, in all of it's glory and predicatable focused concern about the bottom line, seizes upon any opportunity to portray Trans individuals as disordered freaks and "interesting gender imposters with mental afflications" to draw audiences, ratings and earnings.

Notice how they have inserted even Intersex people into the DSM via the "diagnoses" related to the rejection of "assigned" (forced upon) sex and gender role after Intersex birth and the forceful introduction of the concept of Intersex as "abnormal condition"; Re: GIDNOS ("Gender Identity Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified") and DSD ("Development of Sex Disorder"): http://ts-si.org/guest-columns/27504-dsm-5-disordering-intersex-disobedience
http://intersexnews.blogspot.com/2010/03/oiis-objections-to-apa-dsm-v-committees.html

Herstory (yes, a feminist reform of the word: history) has recorded the use of the DSM as weapon and a tool of social control and stigmatization, against women, gays and minorities in the past as well: http://books.google.com/books?id=T5zs0VVWmCAC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=African+Americans+in+the+dsm&source=bl&ots=2Y3nb2UiKj&sig=gvls18an4NDb0-M4y4Mcs0Zn_iA&hl=en&ei=IWAeTdn_OcWt8AaCntiFDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&sqi=2&ved=0CFgQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=African%20Americans%20in%20the%20dsm&f=false

An elightening read!:
DSM: Diagnosing for Money and Power, Summary of the Critique of the DSM
By: Ofer Zur, Ph.D., and Nola Nordmarken, MFT: http://www.zurinstitute.com/dsmcritique.html

I re-interate that the DSM is used as a weapon and tool of control - I point out the socially encouraged images of Transsexual/Transgender people as being individuals who are "insane", "abnormal", "sick", "things to be pitied" and the general stigmatization that the need to outwardly express inherent internal gender (which includes identity), which runs counter to an "assigned" gender role and presentation, is just about equal to committing a criminal act - are results of that being presented within the DSM as a "disorder".

Even the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) strongly argue that there is a need to eliminate Inherent Internal Gender as a "disorder" from the Diagnostic Statitical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM): http://www.socialworkers.org/diversity/new/lgbtq/51810.asp

Rain of Change (at Cal State University Long Beach's April 29th Rally for Trans Man Who Was Carved With a Knife)

Rain of Change

As Trans people, we have an authentic self that drives one to endure and largely overcome the incredible task of connecting… courageously crossing the rift between our true inner being with that of the outer shell; We were put on this earth to teach the aforementioned and to teach that a nerve… a nerve exists which prompts one to rise up, against mass selfish control of who we really are by a status quo inundated with a dinosaur-like sense of reality, an astounding and ...beautiful gift!

Because of that and other reasons, we are different, that difference causes fear which turns to hate, which then morphs into a self - assigned license to hurt us, to kill us… US.. as a valid sector of human society whose only crime if you will, is to have the audacity to align our brains with our body… to live an authentic life as much as possible, rather than sink into a smothering socially mandated existence. This infuriates a plethora of people, particularly the ones who have no compunction about not only beating and mutilating us… but to want to take our lives as well!
This attack did not happen because of theft, this did not happen due to a personal fight over a lover, nor was it RANDOM! We all know that the person who carried out this horrible assault.. called the victim over, a kind Trans man who only wanted to attend class.. by his NAME!

I know the man who was attacked; I’ve worked side by side with him, educating people just like you in a musty, box of a lecture hall. When I found who was assaulted, with the word "IT" sliced into his chest, I cried…

Whenever a Trans person is hurt, killed or beaten in a hate driven attack I feel it deeply, whenever a Trans person is unjustly discriminated against on a job she had fought sooo hard to get, it's like a bat to my stomach... whenever a young Trans child is brutally bullied and assaulted in any way, my bosom and soul cry out in immense agony - I feel like a mother and close sister to all of them... just as I feel for anyone else, woman, straight, gay or lesbian… who would suffer if it were visited upon them…

This attack was designed to send a message, to try to teach us to hide, run back inside and live our lives according to a rigid, inhuman status quo that ignores our cries when we are beaten and our flesh carved into, with one syllable messages. A deaf ear of that status quo, is turned to our pleas for support and equal protection when it is politically advantageous to do so…

BUT do you know what? A Trans Storm is coming; the clouds have been forming, billowing above a prairie-plain of hate, ignorance and indifference… No more, no more… NO MORE… can we just sit by and take an abuse that should have been addressed long ago. Oppressors, those who sit on the sidelines in some type of wide eyed neutral curiosity, those who support us as Trans people, only in times of political need…

guess what..

An awakening rain storm of education, of our collective Trans voices, our irresistible, justified call for change is now cascading down upon this world. NO MORE… no more… no more, no! Disrespect, Transgender phobia, oppression of us and our identities must NOT stand – IT CAN NOT STAND, IT WILL NOT STAND FOR LONG.

We as Trans people have more than grown tired over the years, bombarded with empty promises of equality and safety extended to us in the hope that we are lulled to sleep like so much hypnotized sheep being shoved off of a steep cliff. But we are still here! Heaven said almighty, we are STILL here. With hearts filled with determination, with a courage that cannot bend to any Misogynist, Trans phobic, Homo phobic bullies will.

We can begin to stimulate change, even if it’s in baby steps – at least with a truly sincere alliance among ourselves here, that is possible.