Woman in Baltimore McDonald’s beaten and battered for daring to use the women’s restroom like any other human being
The Baltimore Sun has the story:
A video of a vicious beating at a Baltimore County McDonald’srestaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident.
The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee of the Rosedale restaurant and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men appear to be standing idly by.
Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim’s head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man’s voice tells the women to run because police are coming.
Apparently the proper activity (link NSFW – also, the video shows violence and the screencaps show transphobic language) when viewing a trans woman being beaten down and kicked in the head is to make a video to post on youtube:
This morning there was a video of two girls beating up a third in a video taken by a Baltimore McDonald’s employee. It turns out that the reason she was beaten was because they realized she was transgender and they thought it was the proper thing to do. Regardless of their reasoning it was a cold and calculated savage beating of another human being with no provocation. Here as some examples of just how upstanding the folks of Baltimore can be are the actual video as well as screenshots taken from the employee’s Facebook and Twitter.
The link also has pictures of the video-taking employee’s former Facebook and Twitter pages. As well as his rather vicious tweets and status trying to defend the two cis women who attacked the trans woman.
You can contact McDonald’s to let them know how you feel about their employee’s horrific actions here, especially as the guy who videotaped the whole thing is an employee himself.
h/t to Bilerico for posting about this.
Also, if anyone tries to debate whether trans women are too dangerous to be allowed to use women’s restrooms, I will ban you. I have no interest in propagating hate speech here, and especially not Focus on the Family’s “talking points” about trans women. If you argue these points, you are not arguing in good faith. You are simply an asshole.
If anyone tries any racist dogwhistling because the cis women who attacked are black, I will ban you just as quickly. I do not have patience for bullshit, so just don’t do it.
I trust my regular readers, but seeing the treasures that washed up in the Bilerico comment thread, I thought I’d make these things explicit.
Update: This page is perhaps the most thorough assembly of links related to this story that I could find. Thanks to Human Eye for doing this.
Update Again: Diamond Stylz’ video commentary on the attack.
Bilerico is a scum infested hole on the Internet.
Thanks for giving me the deets without having to wade through the transphobic quagmire of the reporting media.
Emily S.
22 Apr 11 at 7:19 pm
The reporting media on this one has been strangely not transphobic at all. Supposedly, the Baltimore Sun reporter who wrote the story knew the woman in question was trans but did not report her:
* Name
* The name her parents gave her
* That she was trans
That she was trans came from the guy who videotaped the thing.
And yeah, the sheer number of deleted comments on Bilerico was pretty awful, plus the stuff that either was not or will not be deleted.
Lisa Harney
22 Apr 11 at 7:27 pm
Cynically, I suspect the reason why the media hasn’t been transphobic about this is because this video presents the media with a dilemma: whether to exploit the “race” angle that best befits White Supremacy or the “queer” angle that supports Straight/Cis supremacy. There is an embarrassment of Jerry Springer riches here…. so their hate machine is like, jammed or something.
I must be having a “numb” day. Usually vids like this trigger me right back to times I was on the receiving ends of such beatdowns. Now all I can think of is, is it good or bad that digital recording technology is so widespread now? On one hand we can easily supply video proof of the unhinged violence transwomen endure in public as a matter of course. (These sorts of attacks used to be anecdotal… now its almost like a whole youtube genre). Which means we also get to see the very violence we endure so regularly minimized to video entertainment for the masses over and over again.
Ultimately its only the trolls who win.
Jane Laplain
22 Apr 11 at 8:59 pm
Yeah, this is very probably the case. I know the article I linked made a deal about it being a hate crime because two black women attacked a white woman, which left me with a “wtf?” response.
And agreed on the videos.
Lisa Harney
22 Apr 11 at 9:04 pm
I think I must be having a numb day too – normally that sort of thing would at least raise bad memories, but today Its more kinda like – “News at 6… Humans still suck”.
There should be a law against filming something like that and sharing it for ‘amusement’ value, it’s about as tasteful as videoing a dogfight.
Em
22 Apr 11 at 9:21 pm
It doesnt matter to me what race ANYONE in the video is, or what gender they are, what concerns me is the fact that someone decided to record the event on their cell phone and post it online, instead of doing the right thing and stopping the senseless beating.
My morals have been and always will be, to help those you can not help themselves. If i were in that resturant and witnessed this, i would have jumped over the counter, tackled the ones doing the crime and held them until police came. If anyone were to record it, it wouldve ONLY been for the police, NOT for the internet. The attackers and the employees should ALL be arrested and charged, and the 14yr old is being charged as a juvenile, that is BS, that means she’ll get a slap on the wrist and maybe community service. I am saddened ANYONE would do such a thing to another person.
My heart goes out to this girl and I hope she able to somehow recover from this traumatic assault.
Dean
22 Apr 11 at 11:20 pm
I watched the entire video, I’m pretty shaken up.
Amanda in the South Bay
22 Apr 11 at 11:26 pm
“Bilerico is a scum infested hole on the Internet.”
this. and it was reaffirmed when i read that thread, which happens every time i go there.
regarding the attack, this is one of my biggest fears, even now, 10 years full time, 9 years post op. it crosses my mind every single time i use a public restroom. even though at work, i’m “protected” by company policy, and everywhere else, i’m protected by smith & wesson. a sad commentary on our society.
nexyjo
23 Apr 11 at 7:45 am
@Lisa Harney: can i link to this post on my tumblr page?
@Jane Laplain: can i link to your awesome commentary on my tumblr page?
numol
23 Apr 11 at 9:30 am
…also here’s the direct link to the petition about this, via the Brittany St. Jordan post:
http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-the-employees-on-duty-at-mcdonalds-be-held-responsible-in-the-beating-of-a-trans-woman
numol
23 Apr 11 at 10:05 am
How could anyone watching this argue that TRANS women are too dangerous to allow in women’s restrooms? Can they not see what is happening?! What the fuck!
Asher
23 Apr 11 at 10:30 am
God. Bilerico is a troll hole. Is there anything that can be done to directly support this woman?
suspect class
23 Apr 11 at 10:43 am
@numol: thank you for the link to the petition, as mcdonald’s website does not offer any form of online or email contact from what i’ve been able to find, making it blatantly inaccessible for those who cannot send snail mail or call their number. i was expecting a form of some sort to send my complaints (see: large doses of anger), and felt like a door was slammed in my face when i found no such thing.
maybe i should complain about their crappy complaint options while i’m at it.
Static Nonsense
23 Apr 11 at 1:32 pm
@Static Nonsense: McDonalds does have an online comment form, but it’s totally buried and hard to find (probably on purpose). here’s the direct link (should work, hope it does):
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/contact_us/other_topics/other_topics.html
numol
23 Apr 11 at 1:44 pm
@numol
sure thing. :)
@everyone
do we know whats happened to these people since? i’m now hearing net rumors that the girl died from the injuries sustained. what IS the official media reporting on this?
Jane Laplain
23 Apr 11 at 1:47 pm
…oh and the mcdonalds comment form is binarist also (they make you choose a title and the only non-binary options are Dr. and Rev.). big shitfucking surprise.
numol
23 Apr 11 at 1:48 pm
still digging… the only official reports i can find reveal that the two teenage girls are in custody, not much about the woman who was attacked.
and yes, this is awfully odd. so far all the official media reports are being respectful of pro-nouns and being careful to call her a transgender woman. not that i’m complaining, but when DID they get a clue all the sudden??
the forum comments on the stories are a whole other story. if you are already triggered by this video PLEASE don’t read the comments… not even on the official news sites. >:|
Jane Laplain
23 Apr 11 at 1:55 pm
@numol: so it winds up being inaccessible to me anyway! good job there, mcdonalds! thank you for finding that, though it’s a major shame that according to them only binarist folk, holders of phds and/or religious speakers should comment. sigh.
Static Nonsense
23 Apr 11 at 2:04 pm
Sorry about the McDonald’s link fail.
Also, I found this blog post that has several links to stories about this:
http://smu-humaneye.blogspot.com/2011/04/savage-beating-of-transgender-woman.html
I haven’t been able to find any confirmation of rumors regarding the woman’s current condition.
Lisa Harney
23 Apr 11 at 3:27 pm
video of interview with the victim where she describes the attack:
[*WARNING*]
http://www.towleroad.com/2011/04/transgender-woman.html
apparently the comments are really terrible.
numol
26 Apr 11 at 10:12 am
Did it occur to ANY of these creeps who are excusing the employee’s behavior when filming that McDonald’s has SECURITY CAMERAS?!
You know, no need to film it when it’s ALREADY BEING FILMED!
And, you know, posting on the youtubes…
The Untoward Lady
26 Apr 11 at 7:59 pm
I’ve watched both the video that was shamelessly, exploitively, and hatefully taken and quickly posted (in a secondary act of inhumanity) for the presumed entertainment of others, and the video interview in which the victim, some days later, talks about the unprovoked and vicious assult perpetrated against her. Not only does the first video demonstrate the attack’s brutality and persistence, but it also shows the stunning lack of decency of all but one witness who did little or nothing to protect the victimized woman from further assault. All of this evidence of this heinous crime is quite clear and indisputable.
What seems to be unclear from this first video alone is whether or not it is a trans-bigoted “hate crime” in the sense of the legal definition. Watching the interview video sheds some light on this, however, even if not conclusively.
The victim is asked by the interviewer to describe what happened (from her perspective) to set off such a rage-filled battery. The victim talks about being momentarily stopped by an employee who asked about her order or wanted to take her order (I don’t recall which, and that’s not pertinent, anyway) while she was on her way to use the women’s bathroom. She says she indicated her need to use the facilities and her desire to deal with her order when she came out.
So far, nothing unusual.
She then goes on to describe how she was immediately accousted by the fourteen-year-old assailant as she came out of the washroom. Her assailant spit in her face and demanded she stay away from her boyfriend. The victim tried to explain that she didn’t know (or didn’t know who) her boyfriend was, and the battery commenced from there.
Now, it’s possible, I suppose, though there’s no real evidence to support this, that the two assailants had somehow “read” the victim as being transgendered and conspired to use a ploy of “girlfriend jealousy” as an excuse to commit a hate crime without it looking like one. But even if we give this rather dubious take a huge benefit of the doubt, I would’ve thought that the victim would’ve spoken of anti-trans slurs, etc., during the attack. Of course these could’ve been very clever girls, who purposefully refrained from using such slurs during their obviously rage-filled out-of-control violence.
I’m not claiming that this cruel attack was any less heinous or reprehensible than any of the very similar beatings hatefully perpetrated against transgendered people, just because of who we are, that occur on an unacceptably frequent scale. I’m not saying we, all of us, trans and cis alike, shouldn’t be outraged by this senseless and potentially crippling attack (PTSD and/or other possible trauma-induced damage could yet manifest, later). I am saying that, as a vulnerable community, we need to be careful about labeling this particular crime as a legally-defined hate crime when we don’t yet have all the facts at our disposal and since the facts that we do have seem to point to the apparent jealous-rage of an apparently narcissistic thug and her equally callous, older accomplice.
Should these girls go to jail? Should the fourteen year old be tried as an adult? The brutal nature of this crime would certainly indicate that this would serve justice. But don’t let us, of the LGBT…etc. community, try to politicize what is likely to be rulled as a civil crime, a feloneous assault with the intent to do great bodily harm, but not a hate crime, once all the evidence is in. We can’t afford to take such a stand on such weak evidence that the crime was motivated by knowledge of and hatred of the victim as a trans-woman. There are far too many real instances of hate crimes being perpetrated against our sisters, brothers, and genderqueer siblings to cheapen those assults in equating this ordinary (in the legal sense alone) assult and battery as being the same.
I feel for the victim. She’s just as injured as if she had been the victim of an actual hate crim, but by her own words, she quite apparently wasn’t beaten because of being transgendered.
Now was the many witnesses’ callous disregard a hate crime? That will have to meet the same standard of evidence, which is to say: did any of them fail to act appropriately on the victims behalf because they knew or assumed she was transgendered? Or were they just ordinary heartless and cruel voyeurs?
Christina Shannon
26 Apr 11 at 10:11 pm
At least a couple of the ‘voyeurs’ did know that she was trans – as evidenced by the twitter etc posts after the fact.
As for whether or not this was a hate crime – that’s for the police to consider – and frankly very few ‘real’ hate crimes are charged as such due to a lack of evidence available to the police. Calling against it being labelled a hate crime makes me a little uncomfortable as it plays into the hands of those who hate up – it’ll come out in the wash as it were.
My opinion is that posting the video online should qualify as a hate crime.
Em
27 Apr 11 at 12:24 am
… those who hate ‘us’…
Em
27 Apr 11 at 12:25 am
Hi Em. Thanks for the clarification about some of the voyeurs’ prior knowledge. IMHO this makes a huge and critical difference.
I hadn’t read the twitter, etc., posts. If these do indicate that some voyeurs knew the victim is trans, it meets the most important criteria for establishing their callous participation as an actual hate crime, regardless of whether the assailants acted according to the same knowledge or not. So I enthusiastically agree that the poster and other voyeurs who allowed the attacks to continue (because they knew she is a transwoman) should be charged with a hate crime.
I also agree that all the facts will eventually come out in the wash; yet mislabelling anything (no matter how seemingly expedient) based on a lack of facts is never a good idea. It tends to come back and bite the mislabler if and when the facts surface to give a different picture. I don’t think such opportunistic gambits are worth the risk, and I’m not really sure how not drawing conclusions out of too little info is going to play into trans-bigots’ hands.
I’m not at all suggesting we should declare this a non-hate crime anymore than I’m in favor of calling it a hate crime. That would be equally presumptuous, and (in that case) would be slinging the haters’ mud for them. I’m suggesting we simply not rush to label this heinous crime as a hate crime until or unless the evidence arises that it is, no matter how much that might momentarily feel like acquiescence.
We can still express our outrage and our compassion, even if this doesn’t meet the standard for defining a hate crime. Not having that label doesn’t make the attack and the voueurs’ response any less heinous and reprehensible. And since it’s already hard enough to get civil authorities to recognize and prosecute real hate crimes for what they are, as you pointed out, is it really wise to start crying wolf so that when we point to the real deal our voices are discounted all the more? I understand your gut reaction discomfort over not snatching what seems like an opportunity to declare this one more in a long line of brutal crimes committed against transwomen, but lets make sure it is, first, and not more random insane violence that could’ve just as easily been perpetrated against a ciswoman as one of us.
Christina Shannon
27 Apr 11 at 12:05 pm