aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Fired for sex change. Update.
I’d rather if he had been able to keep his job. But in our modern world, his best option is to write a book. And sue.
LARGO - The door closed Friday night for Steve Stanton.
Largo’s city commission voted 5-2 to uphold its Feb. 27 decision to begin the firing process for its city manager. After listening to six hours of presentations and public comment during Stanton’s appeal, all seven commissioners repeated their earlier votes.
Stanton said he was fired because he revealed his plans to become a transgendered woman named Susan.
He would not say, though, whether he planned to file a lawsuit against the city. Stanton was asked if he was disappointed.
“I am,” he said. “But it shows the difficulty of evaluating this type of situation. I was optimistic, but realistic that it would be hard to slow down the train. It is closure. And it was an opportunity to inform and educate people. They listened to information they did not have the first time.”
He had served well for 14 years. This is modern bigotry pure and simple. It’s tragic and sad.
