NEWSBYADRIAN LEIGH

When I first saw the video, I was brought to tears.

A young woman in her early 20s, beaten as she tries to use a restroom at a McDonald's in my home state of Maryland. Several assailants punch her, knock her to the ground, drag her across the floor by her hair, and kick her in the face until it appears she experiences a seizure.

As the video spread over the Internet on Friday – first through the blogosphere and then to mainstream press outlets – the facts on the ground became even more troubling. We learned that the video was filmed by McDonald's employees, several of whom seemed to cheer the assault on from behind the camera. And we learned that the victim was a 22-year-old transgender woman, later identified as Chrissy Lee Polis.

That’s when it hit me: yes, this was a disturbing attack, appalling on a sheer human level for its heinous nature. But this was also a hate crime, and representative of the violence and harassment that too many transgender people face in this country when they try to access public accommodations like restrooms.