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Supersized Trans Equality? McDonalds Hate Crime Underscores Importance of Public Accommodations

Dan Furmansky, a former Executive Director of Equality Maryland, recently wrote in a Washington Blade op-ed:

“Sen. Frosh is from liberal Bethesda, where the vast majority of voters would support a basic anti-discrimination bill that would help people keep their jobs and housing.”

I thought after the defeat of HB235 that Maryland GLBT leaders would come out in support of a strong anti-discrimination bill. I thought that maybe Maryland Equality had to see HB235 to the end, no matter how they personally felt about the lack of public accommodations (PA) protections  I thought that after the loss that the leaders would start working with the transgender community to educate and build pressure for a fully inclusive anti-discrimination bill.

Commenter, Serenity, over at Bilerico’s post on the Maryland McDonalds hate crime said:

“You’re claiming it’s laws that change how people treat each other, I say your wrong about that. Lets take a look back at when Slavery was abolished, lets look at how new laws stating that blacks were to receive equal rights with whites. What did the controlling white populace do about these laws. Segregation.

Technically equal, but should one go into the wrong bathroom, sit at the wrong table, enter a building by the wrong door, or drink from the wrong fountain while having the wrong skin color what would happen to that person? They’d have been lucky if they were only beaten. And no one would come to their aid, not even those sharing that same skin color. It wasn’t that they had committed a crime, segregation while common was not truly legal. It was merely accepted.

No laws do not change society. People do. People who act in the name of humanity, not merely going along with the crowd, not acting due to what is legal, but instead acting because they know it’s the right thing to do, and putting aside whats, popular, legal, or even safe.”

In responding to to Serenity I quoted civil rights icon, Bayard Rustin:

“The fact of the matter is that there is a small percentage of people in America who understand the true nature of the homosexual community. There is another small percentage who will never understand us. Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us. Our aim was to try to create the kind of America, legislatively, morally, and psychologically, such that even though some whites continued to hate us, they could not openly manifest that hate. That’s our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest anti-gay sentiment.” – Time on Two Crosses –The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin

Public accommodations protections wouldn’t have protected the victim of this crime. But it will create an America where anti-transgender sentiment is not openly expressed or condoned. Public accommodation protections aren’t a “super sized” extra that we can do without. They are vital in the fight for trans equality.

Related content:

  1. NCTE:Nothing Under My Sleeve
  2. If You Don’t Like The Word Transgender, Please Don’t Let The Door Hit Ya…
  3. Radical Lesbian Separatism in LGBT Activism: Hyding in Plain Sight?
  4. Press Release from TransMaryland Concerning HB235
  5. HB235, NCTE, ENDA, and the big Reveal
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Transadvocate contributor: Marti Abernathey  (1926 Posts)

Marti Abernathey is Transadvocate.com's blog editor. She's also a podcaster, activist, and radiologic technologist in Madison, Wisconsin. She's been a part of various internet radio ventures such as TSR Live!, The T-Party, and The Radical Trannies, to name a few. As an advocate she's previously been involved with the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance, Rock Indiana Campaign for Equality, and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition. She's taken vital roles as a grass roots community organizer in The Indianapolis Tax Day Protest (2003), The Indy Pride HRC Protest (2004), Transgender Day of Remembrance (2004), Indiana's Witch Hunt (2005), and the Rally At The Statehouse (the largest ever GLBT protest in Indiana - 3/2005). She was a delegate from Indiana to the Democratic National Convention and a member of Barack Obama's LGBT Steering and Policy Committee.


  • Kathleen

    “Public accommodations protections wouldn’t have protected the victim of this crime. ”

    Exactly so – and tacit acceptance of the characterizations of trans woman as predators …..does nothing to protect us from violence predicated on that bigotry.

    Great article.

  • Anonymous

    The civil rights act of 1965 changed public accommodation rights for African Americans. They could no longer be arrested for using white only bathrooms. They were still lynched and still hated, and are still hated by racists today. That does not mean that they should have been allowed to use any bathroom. That’s the dumbest stupidiest argument I have ever heard.We should not have equal rights because people will still hate us.

  • Monicar62

    Lynchings spiked despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 but they eventually dwindled to insignificance. What those laws did do was make it clear that violence and discrimination aimed at African Americans was no longer acceptable behavior in the United States.

    That is why anti-trans discriminations laws with muscular enforcement teeth are a vital component in the battle to gain trans civil rights and end the violence and open discrimination aimed at trans Americans.

  • http://twitter.com/michichan Michelle A. Eyre

    I really think more is going to come out of this story, especially about the man who was holding the camera. Based on his attitude on FB posts, I personally think that he may have provoked those two girls to do that.

    There’s a major side story that needs to be looked at on this and that is the transphobia that takes place in “hip hop” related publications. He posted the video to a hip hop website and his overall language, attitude and mannerisms can suggest his “hip hop” influence.

    This is not what I would consider necessarily as a POC issue but more of an issue regarding one music/lifestyle community where homophobia and transphobia runs amuck.

    I hope the store had cameras rolling on this and I hope the police are investigating the employee.

    • http://profiles.google.com/dana.larocca Dana LaRocca

      I think it is dangerous to judge people based on their “overall language, attitude and mannerisms.” Your reference to “hip-hop” is not useful either. There is a lot noise here in Baltimore suggesting that this is a black on white crime complete with racial slurs.

      Let’s not feed that mentality.

  • Pingback: Supersized Trans Equality? McDonald’s Hate Crime Underscores Importance of Public Accomodations; Madness: Right Wingers Are Serious About Trying to Undermine Child Labor Laws; New Black Panthers Issue Warning to Truth Wins Out Over Kimberly Daniels

  • brandiparker

    This women is post-op and therefore she shouldn’t need a Public accommodation protections law. The laws that already exist cover and protect her…stop trying to ride post -op coat tails in order to gain legally protections for people who will NEVER have surgery…….I do not want penis in the ladies room and neither does any other women.

    • She’s an idiot

      You’re an idiot – how well did that protect her from being assaulted because of her history?

      • brandiparker

        Your the Idiot ! Nothing would have protected her from her history ! Even if Maryland had a Public Accommodation Law it wouldn’t have protected her. NO LAW would you can’t stop people from expressing their opinions with any law. That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. The point I was making that went over your head is that being that she’s post-op and legally female she does not need a public accommodations law.

        I was also calling out The Equality Maryland rep who stated that this is why they need public accommodations laws to protect trans women and while she may feel thats true using what happen to this women is like comparing apples to oranges since this women has a legal right NOW to use the ladies restroom. She’s trying to ride the coat tails of what happen to this women to gain protections for non-ops

        • Anonymous

          Brandi, First off, it’s “you’re”, not “your”. Secondly, you’re simply wrong. Regardless of her genitals, she has no legal right to “use” anything without public accommodation protections. If you’re not a protected class, you can be legally discriminated against. If they’re throwing her out because of her appearance, REGARDLESS OF SURGERY STATUS.

          • http://translegalhistorian.wordpress.com/ Kat

            Advantage, Barrister Abernathey, Q.C.

          • brandiparker

            mzmartipants do Genetic women need PA laws ? No…… why because they’re women using the womens restroom… Well post-ops are legally recognized as women by the change in their birth certificates and therefore are legally entitled to all rights and privileges afforded any other genetically born women. At least her in Virginia they are and I would think Maryland is quite the same.

          • http://translegalhistorian.wordpress.com/ Kat

            “post-ops are … legally entitled to all rights and privileges afforded any other genetically born women.”

            Statute/case citation please?

          • Marti Abernathey

            Wrong. If said postop is discriminated because they are trans/gender variant/outted, said discrimination is legal, since the discrimination is based on being trans, not being a woman.

          • James

            I’m not sure about Maryland, but there are still some states in the U.S. that do not legally recognise Transmen or Transwomen as being the sex they identify as. The fact that different parts of the country can’t agree is pretty telling of just how fragile the standing of legal recognition and protection for Transpeople is nationwide. In some areas, domesticated animals have more legal rights than a Transperson.

            Where I live, for example, Transpeople still are not allowed to have their birth certificate changed after transition, and changing the Female or Male symbol on a driver’s liscence was only made possible after 2009. The discrepancies left in both of these documents are an automatic ‘outing’, and can, in and of themselves, lead to discrimination.

          • Jessica Britton

            Not all states allow a change of birth certificate. Does that make the person in question any less a woman (or man, since the HBS crowd tends to conveniently forget that transmen exist)? No, it doesn’t. What if the victim had been cis-gendered, yet had had masculine traits? The only thing that matters is that the victim was a human being who didn’t deserve this and only one person stood up for her. God help us all.

        • http://translegalhistorian.wordpress.com/ Kat

          ” The point I was making that went over your head is that being that she’s post-op and legally female she does not need a public accommodations law.”

          Statute/case citation please?

        • http://translegalhistorian.wordpress.com/ Kat

          “Nothing would have protected her from her history !”

          Now, this statement, I agree with. Its why I’m not a fan of hate-crime laws.

          Employment anti-discrimination laws don’t truly protect us from discrimination; if someone really wants to not hire trans people, no trans people will be hired. (I’m looking at you NGLTF.)

          ” Even if Maryland had a Public Accommodation Law it wouldn’t have protected her.”

          Here’s where you went off the tracks (well, in addition to your other legal observation), and my response is one that I’ve put up at ENDABlog a couple of times over the last two days: We don’t know what effect Maryland having a trans-inclusive, public accommodations-inclusive civil rights law for the last ten years might possibly have had on the attitudinal development of people who, ten years ago, were respectively four and eight years old, now do we?

          But we can make an educated guess.

      • Anonymous

        Please, no personal invectives.

    • http://translegalhistorian.wordpress.com/ Kat

      “This women is post-op and therefore she shouldn’t need a Public accommodation protections law. The laws that already exist cover and protect her”

      Statute/case citation please?

    • Putergurl

      Brandiparker, are you trying to say you are a post-op transwoman who actually begrudges pre-op transpeople being able to safely use a bathroom that applies to their identified gender? If so, let me ask you this:
      If a train starts it’s journey in Chicago, and ends it’s journey in Los Angeles, it certainly has travelled quite a way and everyone should certainly be very happy and proud that it completed the journey safely. You could even say it stopped being a Chicago train and became a Los Angeles train. But does it stop being a train?

      If instead you are a genetic woman who begrudges pre-op transpeople being able to safely use a bathroom that applies to their identified gender, then let me ask you this:
      If a man lost his penis, would he stop being a man? Of course not, because that doesn’t make him a man. Mine doesn’t make me one either. It doesn’t even work any longer, and I can assure you that you will NEVER see it, either in or out of a bathroom.

      What transpeople are dealing with is an encultured attitude of acceptance for deadly violence and prejudice towards them, based on who they are, not what is in their pants. Even though this woman may be post-op, she WAS falsely singled out by her attackers for being a man.

      It’s a valid observation to say that neither a public accommodations law nor a hate-crime law passed last month or even last year, would have necessarily prevented this attack. But it would most certainly be a first step towards changing our cultures attitude that it’s okay to murder, maim, beat senseless, deny housing, deny jobs and basically subjugate a human being based on the very subjective judgment of whether they look like a man or a woman.

      • brandiparker

        @ Putergurl Well I guess to begin with we should clear up that Transgender people aren’t GID…Transsexuals are..yes ! its that same old argument. For all of the studies that have been done were Involving Transsexuals not transgender. As for whether transsexuals are really women I’d say yes and I agree that they were misgendered at birth…… Science has shown they have female brain genders, But I wouldn’t agree that all those who fly the transgender flag are misgendered or are truly women. since they self diagnosis, self medicate, and self mutilate their bodies with silicone and most of them don’t ever have a diagnosis from a trained gender therapist theres no telling if they are truly TS or not some I suspect some may be but the vast majority of them aren’t they’re just living out a fantasy

        As for this women in the Mcdonalds beating she’s not Transgender she a post-op and doesn’t claim to be Trans anything in any of her Interviews nor does her family see her as trans her brother calls her his sister. Based on the fact she’s only 22 I’d suspect she was diagnosis as TS at a young age and has since had surgery and moved on with her life. She’s just a women and nothing more not a transwomen. Once one goes through the transition process and has surgery to correct the birth defect and blends back into society they aren’t trans anything any longer. Transition is a process with a destination not a stopping point one doesn’t transition into trans. It has a beginning a middle and an end once the process is done the person is suppose to be to the point were they can blend back into society only in the opposite gender.

        But with the invent of the Internet it opened a whole new world to those out there who’d always dreamed of being the opposite sex, but knew they’d never make it passed the SOC gate keepers they began self diagnosing and taking Internet hormones flying to Thailand and other places for surgeries cutting out the therapist all together. Most never being truly prepared or meant to transition in the first place got stuck somewhere in the middle out of money and without a official diagnosis of Ts they weren’t able to get surgery to change official documents like birth certificates. Making it almost impossible for them to find work. This women wouldn’t have mis labeled if it weren’t for the horn blowing from EQ Maryland but now he’s branded with the scarlet letter “ Transgender.” Something I’m sure she’s not grateful for. Having had surgery and changed all her documentation she’s legally a female and thus entitled to all the rights and privileges that come with being a women in society. PA Laws would do her NO Good as she already has every legal right to be in the womens restroom. EQ Maryland is just trying to co-op her situation for its own political gain and so they can use it to gain rights for non-ops. Trying to make political points off this womens pain is totally discussing and sad. what most who fly that Transgender flag forget is their is a segment of the population made up of TS women of history who after transition melt back into society not wanting to be under their umbrella. Their Identities aren’t found in being Trans like so many in the Transgender community their Identities are their own.

        • Marti Abernathey

          Ohhhhhh! I get it now. You are talking about how you think the law works, over how it actually does. You might want to inform Julienne Goins of your profound pontifications.

        • James

          1. Applying the necessity of a GID diagnosis – or any diagnosis – by a “professional” is wrong. Yes, it may screen out some disillusioned folk who aren’t meant to transition, but treating the condition like a mental disorder adds to the stigma that leads to hate that leads to crimes like the one in the article.

          2. ” For all of the studies that have been done were Involving Transsexuals not transgender.”
          Which studies are you referring to? There have been numerous done regarding both terms, not that everyone makes a distinction in meaning between the terms.
          Please cite your references, otherwise the rest of us have no clue what the hell you’re talking about.

          3.” She’s just a woman, and nothing more, not a transwoman.”
          Though the victim did happen to be well into transition already at 22, the fact is that SHE STILL GOT BEATEN UP FOR THE RESIDUAL CUES HER BODY GAVE. Even if she was born with a fully female body and was simply MISTAKEN for being transgender, this would still be a hate crime against Transgender/Transsexual people, because that was the MOTIVE FOR THE VIOLENCE against her.

          A terrible thing has happened, and changes in legislature need to follow. (Hell, changes should have happened long ago.) Laws against discrimination are not about “Hey, now we can finally prosecute everyone who hates us,” it’s about making sure there is a price to pay for committing these kinds of atrocities against other human beings. Legal prosecution is, sadly, the most effective deterrent for public displays of prejudice.
          If the attackers and bystanding cajolers in this case are prosecuted (hopefully to the fullest extent of the law), it will send a message that may, God willing, prevent another such incident that would have otherwise taken place in the future.

    • Anonymous

      Damn, that’s bullshit.

      Everyone deserves to be able to use the bathroom in safety and with respect for their personhood.

      You are so caught up in your holier than thou HBS mindfuckery that you are guarding the gate while the bigots burn down your house.

      … just wow.

    • Anonymous

      Damn, that’s bullshit.

      Everyone deserves to be able to use the bathroom in safety and with respect for their personhood.

      You are so caught up in your holier than thou HBS mindfuckery that you are guarding the gate while the bigots burn down your house.

      … just wow.

  • NixiePixie

    The argument of abolishing slavery still resulted in segregation so it’s pointless to have strong anti-discrimination policies is ridiculous. Yes, it started off bad. yes, it started of with racism. But it’s not anymore!

    In that case, whites had centuries of being told that they’re better than those of other skin colours. So they had to get use to and accept that this is not the case. The laws came in to make racism illegal, so people had to follow suit. This resulted with children being educated that it’s wrong to be nasty to someone because they have a different skin colour, and thus change occurs. yes, there are still racists out there, but they’re a minority now.

    The same applies to this. make this sort of discrimination illegal and it will die out. Yes, the immediate reaction of those who strongly disagree with transgenders will be negitive, but it will go eventually.

    Personally, part of me feels that the majority of Americans aren’t quite ready to accept anything from the “norm”. A rather large part of America is strongly christian, and I feel that until that dilutes a bit more there isn’t really a hope for anyone one of different sexual orientation. Although the UK main religion is also Christian, it’s now such a mixture of other faiths. the UK stopped black slavery rather quickly, viewing that we should help them instead (yes, we were still racist thinking that they were confused instead). America needs a bit longer to think about it… Excluding the native american history, America is a very young country. So it’s to be expected. Exspecially since there is little in America in sympathy of what actually happened to the Native Americans.

    Sorry if my last paragraph upset/offended anyone. It’s purely on a personal opinion level.

  • brandiparker

    James yours was a clear and very well thought out reply as such I’ll endeavor to give you worthy response. As to the Studies I was referring to, I should have been more clear. I meant studies that show that brain gender is different then body gender and prove that the brains of Transsexuals are truly that of the sex they have or are in the process of transitioning to. As for which study take your pick as I known of none done of Transgendered Individuals. I can provide examples if you like. I also agree that people mis use terms, but I feel that was the direct Intent of Virginia Prince from the moment he coined the term “transgender”. See Prince hated transsexuals unable to get a Gender Identity Dysphoria Diagnosis himself he then decided to create his own term and invented the term “Transgender” meaning

    Prince seems to have been the first to use the term transgender, which she used to mean a person who lives full time in a gender other than the one identified at birth but without surgical body modification,

    James HBS Transsexuals are totally different then run of the mill transgender. Transsexuals have the brain gender of the opposite gender transgenders don’t they are merely playing out a fantasy, and using the “Gender Identity” gust which none of them have a diagnosis to prove they have. Yes people continue to misuse terms and confuse who’s what the fact is without the GID diagnosis which truly is meant to cover only Transsexuals the transgender would have no other means to vilify their existence to society and would be shunned back into their houses to play dress up.

    Now as to the Incident at Mcdonalds first your incorrect the argument and beating that in suited did not start over this womens use of the bathroom nor did it start over her once being a man. It started because the black womens boyfriend who was waiting outside the ladies room is a dog and couldn’t keep his libido under control for even two second. He was hitting on the victim as she walked to the ladies room. The black girl jumped to conclusions started an argument over the fact that she thought the white girl was trying to steal her man it was only upon closer inspection that she began to pick up clues and realized that the white girl use to be a man.

    So James the motivation for this attack was jealousy not hate the hate and bias was secondary.

    • Jessica Britton

      Nice little dig at Virgina Prince, but based on the rest of your response, it’s to be expected. Simple fact is a woman was viciously beaten while people stood by and did nothing, worse, they taped it for their own amusement. “HBS transsexual” means nothing in a case like this. The victim was a human being. It wouldn’t have mattered if the person being beaten was M2F, F2M, CD, TG or any other variation of the human condition. Sorry to burst your bubble, but pseudo-medical terms like “HBS” don’t even enter into it here, except in an attempt to trivialize anyone who doesn’t match your criteria for what a transsexual (or transgendered) person is.

      • Anonymous

        Jessica, I stopped commenting. Apparently Brandi is in her own little made up world. Facts don’t matter to her.

        • Jessica Britton

          Are you really surprised? I knew that as soon as I saw the “HBS”.

      • Anonymous

        Her legal position gender wise isn’t relevant if she was beat BECAUSE she didn’t have cis-privilege and was outed.

      • Anonymous

        Most “HBS” transwomen I’ve known don’t have cis-priv. I think that’s where a lot of this nonsense comes from. They have this notion that vagina=cis-privilege. #transgender

        • Anonymous

          Woohoo I never have to worry about someone being an asshole to me about being trans again!

          .. or wait. I do, cuz TN is in the process of passing a law saying that re: discrimination, “gender” is what is marked on your birth certificate.

          UGH.

        • Anonymous

          Woohoo I never have to worry about someone being an asshole to me about being trans again!

          .. or wait. I do, cuz TN is in the process of passing a law saying that re: discrimination, “gender” is what is marked on your birth certificate.

          UGH.