Local
Teen pleads guilty in ‘McDonald’s’ trans beating case
Prosecutor asks for 5-year jail term
A 19-year-old woman who was charged with the April 18 beating of a transgender woman inside a McDonald’s restaurant in a Baltimore suburb pleaded guilty Thursday to one count each of first-degree assault and a hate crime.
The incident drew international attention after a bystander captured the attack on video and posted it online, where it went viral.
The video shows Teonna Monae Brown and a 14-year-old female, whom authorities have not identified, repeatedly punching an kicking Chrissy Polis, 22, in the head and body while dragging her by her hair across the floor of the restaurant.
Police said the incident started when Brown got angry after seeing Polis enter the woman’s bathroom at the restaurant and began shouting derogatory remarks about Polis’ gender identity. Police and witnesses said Brown and the juvenile then started the assault.
In a statement released on Thursday, Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said his office will ask for a “sentence of ten years, with five years suspended, and five years to serve in jail.”
A sentencing date had not been announced as of late this week.
“On July 1, 2011, a juvenile co-defendant who participated in this crime admitted responsibility to a first-degree assault and a hate crime,” the statement says. “The juvenile was found delinquent and has been committed to a secure juvenile facility.”
Shellenberger didn’t disclose how long the juvenile would be required to stay at the juvenile facility.
The incident drew expressions of shock and outrage in the LGBT community and the community at large, both in Maryland and throughout the country. Transgender activists in Maryland have said they are hopeful that the incident would prompt the Maryland State Legislature to pass a transgender non-discrimination bill next year. The legislature deliberated over the bill earlier this year but did not pass it.
Dana Beyer, executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, a statewide transgender advocacy group, noted that the group expressed faith in the Maryland justice system and in State’s Attorney Shellenberger shortly after incident.
“We feel that faith has now been vindicated, and that justice has been obtained,” she said. “We hope this gives Ms. Polis some comfort and peace. We also trust that her experience has helped the residents of Maryland come to a deeper understanding of the problems facing the state’s transgender community, so that such incidents never happen again.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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