A Perfect Storm
The horrifying attack on Chrissy Polis may be the moment when the call for equality is heard
by Dana Beyer
Published on April 28, 2011, 4:47am
http://www.metroweekly.com/news/opinion/?ak=6207The event at the Rosedale, Md., McDonald's on Monday evening, April 25, was both a vigil in support of Chrissy Lee Polis – a trans woman brutally beaten there a week earlier as she exited the women's room – and a sizeable community rally to declare to our neighbors that we demand equal treatment under the law and will no longer tolerate violence or discrimination. This diptych was mirrored by events this month that showcased the community's political power in moving a gender identity antidiscrimination bill through five votes, including a rebirth in the Rules Committee graveyard, only to see it die by being tabled on the last day of session.
The Senate president, who had first declared the bill dead and then explained that he considered it ''anti-family,'' had those beliefs challenged in Rosedale by not only the victim's mother and grandmother, but by her extensive transgender family. This was a teachable moment for our legislators, born of tragedy but serving to galvanize a movement.
In a profound irony, the assault on Polis occurred exactly one week after the end of the legislative session, the day the gender identity bill, shorn of its usual public accommodations protections, died.
