In this Florida city, sex change a firing offense - News of bureaucrat's impending switch from Steve to Susan proves too much for City Hall
In this Florida city, sex change a firing offense - News of bureaucrat's impending switch from Steve to Susan proves too much for City Hall
By Tere Figueras Negrete, McClatchy
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published March 12, 2007
LARGO, Fla. -- For months, Steve Stanton, the longtime city manager of this small Gulf Coast Florida town, scripted his plans to tell his employees, city commissioners and his own child of a major change in his life.
Stanton was preparing to have a sex-change operation. He was to be called Susan, no longer Steve. True to his bureaucratic temperament, he drafted an eight-page transition plan.
Then came questions from a local newspaper reporter.
What he hoped would be a low-key affair within City Hall became national news.
His life and that of his family would never be the same.
Stanton, 48, thought that, besides his new name, little else would change in the day-to-day operations of a city he had managed for 14 years.
What Stanton didn't know was that someone in his selected circle of confidants leaked his plans to a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times.
The story appeared Feb. 21 on the newspaper's Web site.
Soon after, all of Largo, population 76,000, learned that their top bureaucrat was undergoing hormone treatments and therapy in preparation for a sex-change operation.
Within hours, City Hall was besieged by television cameras.
Stanton hadn't told his father, who lives in the small Panhandle city of DeFuniak Springs, or his son, who was still in school.
He called his dad less than 20 minutes before a televised news conference that day.
His reaction: "Stunned," Stanton said.
He waited until later that evening to call a family meeting with his wife, Donna, who had known for years, and their son, Travis, 13. Stanton said he's not attracted to men and that he and his wife have no plans to divorce. "But who knows what the future holds?"
He chose the name Susan because that was what his late mother would have named him had he been a girl.
The story quickly spread far beyond Largo.
Stanton fielded calls from CNN, USA Today and The New York Times.
Most Largo city commissioners were aghast.
Faced with a barrage of calls and e-mails--many from the city's close-knit religious community--they voted 5-2 last month to fire Stanton, saying they doubted his integrity and ability to lead the city and its 1,200 employees.
He's on paid leave until the termination, which requires a second commission vote to become final. He plans to fight his dismissal.
When people think of transsexuals, they typically think of people on shows like Jerry Springer. It conjures up all kinds of scary images," Stanton said.
"I was never going to come in to work in a pink miniskirt and pumps."
At the City Hall meeting, more than 400 people turned out, some voicing their support while others passionately called for his immediate ouster.
"I think he was unprepared for the magnitude of what has happened," said Largo Mayor Pat Gerard, one of Stanton's most vocal allies and one of two commission members to vote in his favor.
Since the vote, national advocacy groups have rallied around Stanton, holding up his firing as a case for anti-discrimination laws intended to protect transgendered people.
Largo itself remains polarized.
"If this had been Los Angeles or San Francisco, maybe it wouldn't have been a big deal," said James Melton, a 35-year-old construction worker who supports Stanton's firing.
Stanton himself got a mixed reaction. He got a pornographic greeting card, and his car was pelted with eggs. He also got calls from well-wishers and bouquets of flowers from anonymous supporters.
"There certainly was a rush to judgment," Stanton said of his firing.
Stanton, careful to keep his family out of the public eye, said his son has taken the firestorm in stride.
The day after the news broke, Travis insisted on going to school.
By Tere Figueras Negrete, McClatchy
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published March 12, 2007
LARGO, Fla. -- For months, Steve Stanton, the longtime city manager of this small Gulf Coast Florida town, scripted his plans to tell his employees, city commissioners and his own child of a major change in his life.
Stanton was preparing to have a sex-change operation. He was to be called Susan, no longer Steve. True to his bureaucratic temperament, he drafted an eight-page transition plan.
Then came questions from a local newspaper reporter.
What he hoped would be a low-key affair within City Hall became national news.
His life and that of his family would never be the same.
Stanton, 48, thought that, besides his new name, little else would change in the day-to-day operations of a city he had managed for 14 years.
What Stanton didn't know was that someone in his selected circle of confidants leaked his plans to a reporter at the St. Petersburg Times.
The story appeared Feb. 21 on the newspaper's Web site.
Soon after, all of Largo, population 76,000, learned that their top bureaucrat was undergoing hormone treatments and therapy in preparation for a sex-change operation.
Within hours, City Hall was besieged by television cameras.
Stanton hadn't told his father, who lives in the small Panhandle city of DeFuniak Springs, or his son, who was still in school.
He called his dad less than 20 minutes before a televised news conference that day.
His reaction: "Stunned," Stanton said.
He waited until later that evening to call a family meeting with his wife, Donna, who had known for years, and their son, Travis, 13. Stanton said he's not attracted to men and that he and his wife have no plans to divorce. "But who knows what the future holds?"
He chose the name Susan because that was what his late mother would have named him had he been a girl.
The story quickly spread far beyond Largo.
Stanton fielded calls from CNN, USA Today and The New York Times.
Most Largo city commissioners were aghast.
Faced with a barrage of calls and e-mails--many from the city's close-knit religious community--they voted 5-2 last month to fire Stanton, saying they doubted his integrity and ability to lead the city and its 1,200 employees.
He's on paid leave until the termination, which requires a second commission vote to become final. He plans to fight his dismissal.
When people think of transsexuals, they typically think of people on shows like Jerry Springer. It conjures up all kinds of scary images," Stanton said.
"I was never going to come in to work in a pink miniskirt and pumps."
At the City Hall meeting, more than 400 people turned out, some voicing their support while others passionately called for his immediate ouster.
"I think he was unprepared for the magnitude of what has happened," said Largo Mayor Pat Gerard, one of Stanton's most vocal allies and one of two commission members to vote in his favor.
Since the vote, national advocacy groups have rallied around Stanton, holding up his firing as a case for anti-discrimination laws intended to protect transgendered people.
Largo itself remains polarized.
"If this had been Los Angeles or San Francisco, maybe it wouldn't have been a big deal," said James Melton, a 35-year-old construction worker who supports Stanton's firing.
Stanton himself got a mixed reaction. He got a pornographic greeting card, and his car was pelted with eggs. He also got calls from well-wishers and bouquets of flowers from anonymous supporters.
"There certainly was a rush to judgment," Stanton said of his firing.
Stanton, careful to keep his family out of the public eye, said his son has taken the firestorm in stride.
The day after the news broke, Travis insisted on going to school.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 9:54 AM
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