A Painful Pink Slip (Q & A with Stanton)

[LostInTime]

Largo, Fla., city manager Steven Stanton faces firing after it was revealed that he plans to become a woman.


NEWSWEEK: What have you been doing since the meeting Tuesday night?
Steven Stanton: Other than talking to reporters? [Laughs.] I've been talking to citizens, people in Largo suggesting I sue their city. I've had 40 people in the past hour demanding, "You challenge this" ... In the last seven days I probably have gotten seven to eight hours of sleep. I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night.

Were you surprised by the outcome of the meeting?
I never anticipated that I would be fired. In the same sense I understand that the city commissioners are under extreme pressure. The city has almost been held under capture by the most outrageous, meanest e-mails generated primarily by three different churches. When you hear from that many people, whatever it is, you want to get rid of it. The difficult thing is I love my organization. I love my city. I can't believe I'm being fired. I've worked for a lot of cities. Largo is the dream job.