CeCe McDonald

Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald (/ˌsiːˈsiː/; born May 26, 1989) is an American transgender activist convicted of second-degree manslaughter in the 2011 stabbing death of 47-year-old Dean Alvin Schmitz.

Schmitz was killed in an altercation outside Schooner Tavern in South Minneapolis, which began with all three of the group Schmitz was part of shouting racist and transphobic epithets at McDonald (a Black trans woman) and her friends. The confrontation escalated into a fistfight after Schmitz's ex-girlfriend Molly Flaherty smashed a glass in McDonald's face, cutting her. McDonald was pulled away from Flaherty but then took a pair of scissors from her purse and stabbed Schmitz in the chest, killing him.

McDonald was charged with murder, but accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter with a sentence of 41 months. Her conviction outraged some, who considered her actions to be self-defense. McDonald was housed at MCF–St. Cloud, a men's prison. She was released in January 2014 after serving 19 months.

The case gained international attention when an Ebony article about the case won the 2013 GLAAD Media Award for "Outstanding Digital Journalism Article". Following her release, McDonald was profiled in many LGBTQ publications. The Advocate named her on its annual "40 Under 40" list, and the Harvey Milk Club presented her with its Bayard Rustin Civil Rights Award. In 2016, Laverne Cox and Jac Gares released a documentary FREE CeCe about her.

McDonald was born in South Chicago on 26 May 1989. She was drawn to femininity from a young age, and experienced physical abuse from her family and school peers for her femininity and sexuality. She fled her home at 14 after being physically assaulted by her uncle, and survived by dealing drugs, couch surfing and working as a child prostitute in Boystown, Chicago. She remained homeless until the age of 22. At the time of the killing, she was studying fashion design at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Around 11:30 pm on June 5, 2011, McDonald was walking to the Cub Foods on Lake Street to buy groceries, alongside her roommate and three friends. They passed Schooner Tavern, where Dean Schmitz, his girlfriend Jenny Thoreson, and ex-girlfriend Molly Flaherty had stepped out for a cigarette shortly after midnight.

According to McDonald's testimony, Schmitz, Thoreson, and Flaherty shouted racial and transphobic slurs at her group. McDonald's friend, Larry Thomas recalled them saying "faggots" and "nigger lovers"; Thomas responded by approaching Schmitz, who walked off but then remarked, "oh, look at the tranny over there" and "look at that boy dressed like a girl and tucking her dick in". McDonald testified that she and her friends tried to walk away, but Flaherty started a fight, smashing an alcoholic glass in her face, causing a cut that required 11 stitches, and reportedly shouting "I can take on all of you bitches". Thoreson recalled Flaherty throwing the first punch. Flaherty's current boyfriend, David Crandell, stepped out of the bar to find multiple members of McDonald's group attacking her and tried to pull them away.

Gary Gilbert, a security worker at the Schooner Tavern, recalled seeing Schmitz pull McDonald away from Flaherty, and that Schmitz and McDonald then moved into the street: McDonald's defense characterized this as McDonald attempting to leave the scene but being followed by Schmitz. Gilbert recalled McDonald holding a blade (a pair of scissors) while Schmitz had his fists clenched. Schmitz said, "You gonna stab me, you bitch?" and was then stabbed in the chest, piercing his heart in the right ventricle. "You stabbed me," he said. "Yes, I did," McDonald replied. McDonald told police that Schmitz had charged her, and ran into the scissors. Schmitz died during the ambulance ride.^{[citation needed]}