Congressional Hearing on Transgender Discrimination

http://blog.aclu.org/2008/06/26/congressional-hearing-on-transgender-discrimination/

Today the House Education and Labor Committee's Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on discrimination against transgender employees. Retired U.S. Army Colonel Diane Schroer, a highly-decorated veteran who transitioned from male to female after 25 years of distinguished service in the Army, testified before the committee. Diane interviewed for a job as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress and accepted the position, but the job offer was rescinded when she told her future supervisor that she was in the process of gender transition. The ACLU is now representing her in a Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress. This is her testimony.

My name is Diane Schroer, Colonel, U.S. Army, Retired, and I am a transgender woman. I grew up in Chicago as David Schroer with two older brothers in the most normal of loving families. I entered the U.S. Army through ROTC as a 2nd Lieutenant immediately following graduation from Northern Illinois University. I completed Ranger and Airborne School and served four years on the East-West German Border, completing three company command tours along the way. In 1987, I was an honor graduate of the U.S. Army Special Forces Qualification Course.