Chrissy Lee Polis is a transgender woman who was beaten in an anti-transgender motivated hate crime on April 18, 2011, at a McDonald's in Rosedale, Maryland, just northeast of the city limits of Baltimore.
The case heightened awareness of violence against transgender people in Maryland and protests were conducted.
A state law that had protections for transgender people failed to pass shortly before the attack.
Martin O'Malley said he intended to work with the legislature on a bill to provide more protections for transgender people.
Weijia Jiang of CBS Baltimore said, "Then after a powerful blow to the head, the victim appears to have a violent seizure, and as she bleeds from the mouth, spectators warn the attackers to flee before cops arrive.
[2] After the attack, a pro-transgender advocacy group, Equality Maryland,[8] asked the county officials to consider investigating the case to determine if it was a hate crime.
[10] Scott D. Shellenberger, an attorney for the state of Maryland, said that hate crime charges may result from the attack; at the time he was not aware of the gender identity of the victim.
[14] Shortly before the beating had occurred, a proposed Maryland law that would have added protections for transgender people failed to pass the legislature.
[15] By November 2011 a bill to add protections for transgender people began circulating in the government of Howard County, Maryland.