Hi all,
I'm on a mailing list of an attorney in the Philly Area that sent me this info - a little more of the story in depth. If i have duplicated any of the links, please let me know. I've already sent a scathing letter to the commission via Equality Florida. This issue really got my ire up and motivated me to start thinking about how i can help. This one hurt me deeply for some reason. Every person that can pick up a pen or keyboard should start blasting away on this to everyone that we know... Could be a good national spearhead type of issue for many i think, and this person needs to keep their job if they so desire - we all can help, i do believe.
As well, attached from the same person is a new study (THIS) published in Virginia about TG resources and research, from the Virginia Commonwealth Univerisity. Hopefully the links will work.
Lovingly always,
ChefAnnagirl
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PHYLLABUSTER: Florida City Fires City Manager for coming OUT
AOL requires that I tell you that if you wish
to get off of the PHYLLABUSTER list, you
need only send me a request at
prfrye@aol.com______________________________________________
#1. Florida City Fires City Manager for coming OUT
#2. Have you been Discriminated Against? Tell Your Story
#3. First ever, statewide (Virginia) Transgender Health Initiative Health Study
now completed. This could have major impact of future health care for
transgenders
#4. Our Nation's Secretary of State (possessing an Ph.D.) deliberately spins
history of World War II to score political points for the current war
Phyllis Randolph Frye
a.k.a. THE PHYLLABUSTER
http://www.nsflaw.us/,
prfrye@aol.com ####################################################
####################################################
#1. Florida City Fires City Manager for coming OUT
####################################################
(Phyllabuster NOTE: After you read this, please raise a stink. Send notes to CNN and MS-NBC. The Tampa Bay "Beach Beacon" covers Largo. It is at www.tbnweekly.com. If someone has better contacts, let me know. How does someone who has been a terrific employee for 14 years suddenly lose their integrity?
To fuss at the Largo City Commission directly, go to Equality Florida at
http://ga4.org/campaign/diversityinlargo.)
In a message dated 2/28/2007 12:12:37 PM Central Standard Time,
dainna@dainna.com writes:
Florida City Fires Manager Who Came Out as Transsexual
by
365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 28, 2007 - 12:01 am ET
(Largo, Florida) Largo city commissioners voted Tuesday night to fire its longtime city administrator less than a week after she disclosed she is embarking on sex reassignment.
For 14 years Steven Stanton was an admired overseer of the Tama Bay community's local government. Last week after a local newspaper acting on a tip began asking questions Stanton sat down with the St. Petersburg Times and divulged her status.
In an interview at Largo City Hall, which also included mayor Pat Gerard, Stanton told the paper she has begun receiving hormone therapy and counseling - a requirement for transitioning.
Stanton, who is married and the father of a teenaged son, said she had not intended to go public until later in the year when her son would be out of town and could not be subjected to the publicity. She said that plan changed when the Times began asking questions.
Stanton has the support of Mayor Gerard. In the interview both said that Stanton would remain as chief executive of the city. "My gender has nothing to do with my capabilities." she told the paper.
Stanton then sent an email to all staff explaining her transition.
Several members of the city commission said Stanton should not remain at her job and circulated a motion that she be terminated.
"I do not feel he has the integrity, nor the trust, nor the respect, nor the confidence to continue as the city manager of the city of Largo," said Commissioner Mary Black, who led the drive to fire Stanton.
In a 5-to-2 vote the commission began the three step process to remove Stanton from her.
Mayor Gerard and Commissioner Rodney Woods cast the dissenting votes. A second vote must be held to confirm the firing once the terms are agreed tow with the city's attorney.
Stanton can appeal the decision. In the meantime she will be placed on paid leave.
"It's just real painful to know that seven days ago I was a good guy and now I have no integrity, I have no trust and most painful, I have no followers," Stanton told the commission. "My challenge here has always been that someday I was going to leave this organization. So I am going to do it with a smile on my face."
In hr interview last week with the Times, Stanton said that she had felt all of her life that she was a woman in a man's body.
She said that she had quietly begun to appear in female clothing earlier this year on trips to the store and to events outside of Largo.
As she continues to transition she said she will change her name to Susan - telling the paper that it is a name her mother would have chosen if she had been born biologically female.
Stanton also told the paper that she decided to seriously consider gender-reassignment surgery after city commissioners refused in 2003 to approve a human rights ordinance that would have protected the transgendered.
©365Gay.com 2007
####################################################
####################################################
#2. Have you been Discriminated Against? Tell Your Story
####################################################
Links are available at
www.nctequality.org and at
www.ngltf.org.
####################################################
####################################################
#3. First ever, statewide (Virginia) Transgender Health Initiative Health Study
now completed. This could have major impact of future health care for
transgenders
####################################################
In a message dated 2/21/2007 3:50:47 PM Central Standard Time,
jessicax@earthlink.net writes:
Dear Friends and Colleagues â€"
The Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study (THIS) is now complete. THIS was the first of its kind multi-phase model Initiative
to improve the health of transgender people at a state level. It was implemented by the Community Health Research Initiative (CHRI)
of Virginia Commonwealth University, under the direction of the Virginia HIV Community Planning Committee and the Virginia
Department of Health. Dr. Judith Bradford, Executive Director of CHRI, was the principal investigator of the project, and I served
as a co-investigator and field manager for the quantitative survey. The components of THIS were qualitative research (focus groups)
capacity building (statewide provider trainings; a clinical risk assessment tool for providers; and a resource/referral database) and
quantitative research (a mixed-methods bilingual quantitative survey).
The following THIS reports are now available as downloadable PDF files on the Virginia Department of Health’s website:
Transgender Health Access in Virginia: Focus Group Report (54 pages)
Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Focus Group Study Research Highlight (4 pages)
The Health, Health-related Needs, and Lifecourse Experiences of Transgender Virginians (74 pages)
The Virginia Transgender Resource and Referral List is a consumer’s guide to trans-friendly providers and support groups
throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Happy reading !
Jessica
What's At Stake?
Support Workplace Diversity in Largo
Stanton job may hang in balance
Largo will discuss if the manager, who is changing his sex, will stay employed.
By LORRI HELFAND Saint Petersburg Times, Published February 27, 2007
LARGO - Three undecided Largo city commissioners could determine the fate of City Manager Steve Stanton tonight. Last week, Stanton's announcement that he plans to have a sex-change operation roiled this city of 76,000, with its mobile home parks full of retirees and its feed store in the middle of downtown.
By Monday, Mayor Pat Gerard was the only member of the seven-member City Commission to say she still stands by Stanton, 48. Three other commissioners say they intend to fire the 14-year city manager or are likely do so. That leaves three commissioners - Gigi Arntzen, Gay Gentry and Rodney Woods - as the deciding votes.
Largo's city charter requires a vote of five out of seven city commissioners to fire the city manager. At a special meeting called to discuss Stanton, commissioners expect to face more than 500 people. City Hall has received more than 250 e-mails about Stanton, more than 40 percent from people who identified themselves as Largo residents. Those e-mails called for his removal by a 7-to-1 ratio.
The first 520 people to arrive will be permitted to enter City Hall, with about 100 in commission chambers and the rest in the community room, staff break room and City Hall lobby. Extra police officers will be on duty, but Chief Lester Aradi said he's not expecting an unruly crowd.
"This is a controversial issue, but we have faith that people will act accordingly," he said.
Both Stanton supporters and opponents say they plan to pack the chambers. Charlie Martin, senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks, said he encouraged parishioners to attend because it's the "biggest issue facing Largo" in his 36-year tenure as pastor of the church, one of the largest in Pinellas County.
Stanton's continued employment will be devastating to Largo's reputation and future business interests, Martin said. Moreover, he said, it would trample on the rights of religious employees to force them to call the city manager Susan, the name Stanton plans to use when he comes to work as a woman this spring. "Do we want what's controversial or do we want what's best for Largo?" said Martin, whose church includes many members from Largo.
Brian Winfield, communications director for Equality Florida, an organization that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, said his group will urge members to attend the meeting as well. The discussion of Stanton's future employment is discriminatory because the topic only came up after Stanton announced plans for gender reassignment surgery, he said.
"As long as he continues to do the excellent job he's doing, there isn't any reason for his termination whatsoever," Winfield said.
A large group from the Pinellas chapter of the National Organization for Women plans to come tonight as well, Winfield said.
Tonight's meeting was called by Commissioner Mary Gray Black and could echo a bitter 2003 debate over an ordinance that would have protected gay and transgender residents and city employees. Black was recruited to run for the commission by a leading opponent of the antidiscrimination ordinance. On Monday, she proposed placing Stanton on paid leave while the city prepares to fire him. Black didn't return calls for comments, but in an e-mail accompanying the proposed resolution, she said, Stanton's situation "has caused stress, turmoil, distraction and work disruption" to city employees. City staff members also are "stressed by comments, questions, and jokes made during the employees' nonworking hours," she said.
Vice Mayor Harriet Crozier said she supports Black's resolution, which is the first phase of a three-step process required by the city charter to fire Stanton. Commissioner Andy Guyette said he may vote to fire Stanton as well.
The rest of the commission is on the fence. "We need to determine the best course of direction for the city and our employees," Commissioner Gigi Arntzen said. Commissioner Gay Gentry said she wanted to see how Stanton's choice will affect staffers before making a decision. "I don't like to make my decisions in haste," Gentry said.
Meanwhile, Stanton sent an e-mail to commissioners asking them for more time. "After 17 years with the city, I feel I should be given the courtesy to show I can still do my job and be an effective manager," wrote Stanton, who came to the city as assistant city manager in 1990 and makes $140,234 annually.
Stanton asked commissioners, before taking a public vote on whether he should be fired, to discuss the effects of a workplace transition with qualified experts, give him six months to show he can still do the job and postpone his evaluation until August.
Several commissioners initially voiced support for Stanton's personal decision, but their support for his continued employment waned after the city was flooded by negative e-mails. The mayor said she won't be swayed by e-mails, especially since many include incorrect assumptions, including that the city is funding his sex change operation. Human Resources director Susan Sinz said the city's health insurance policy doesn't cover surgery, hormone treatments, electrolysis or anything else regarding the gender transition process.
"I'll be making this decision on what I know about this person and what he's done for the city, not on assumptions based on misinformation," Gerard said. Times staff writer Lane DeGregory contributed to this report. Lorri Helfand can be reached at
lorri@sptimes.com or 727 445-4155.
