Anti-discrimination struggle in Kalamazoo turns on gender identity

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Anti-discrimination struggle in Kalamazoo turns on gender identity
The Michigan Messenger
By David Alire Garcia
28 October 2009


http://michiganmessenger.com/28868/in-kalamazoo-anti-discrimination-struggle-turns-on-gender-identity


Even though the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doesn't bother to keep count of those who say they've been fired because they're transgendered, Southfield attorney Denise Brogan-Kator knows the number is greater than zero.

"In my case, I've been fired more than once for my gender identity," she said matter-of-factly in a recent interview. Recalling the final encounter at a Michigan law firm in the late 1990s, Brogan-Kator recites the exchange with her then-boss as if it were yesterday.

"I said I was transitioning," she said, "and I was told I should do that somewhere else."