Here's some more of the latest on this story - This information was provided by Transequality Maryland.
Spread it around.
What i would like to know from anyone in this entire country (or the world for that matter) - is how in God's name (quite literally), can someone, as noted in the following statement, ever make such a claim in this life to presuppose what Jesus himself would do in this life. These people assume the right and the authority to speak for God him/herself and all of the prophets, without having ever met them or known them personally, yet make the claim, and get people to follow based on a platform of such surety as what follows in the next line from the attached update -
``If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he'd want him
terminated,'' said Pastor Ron Saunders of Largo's Lighthouse Baptist
Church. ``Make no mistake about it.''
Would an educated religious scholar please tell me how one makes such a guarantee - a secondhand personal guarantee, given by none other than a fellow member of the human family (no matter how hateful or ignorant), that essentially states that the greatest proponent of peace, love, and forgiveness that the world has ever known in human form, would so assuredly advocate the deprivement of the most basic essential equal human rights from another human being...
This is the truly frightening end of such hatred, such lies of religion and bigotry used to advance the cause of discrimination - absolutely unbelieveable and horrificly untrue - I think if Jesus were here now he might ask someone like this to please sit down and shut up and stop telling lies on behalf of his name and beliefs. He did'nt tell the masses to condemn the prostitute and take away her rights to live or work in society, then did he ? He didnt rain down hatred and destruction on the people that had him killed, although by their standards he could have - did he ? - he asked for forgiveness and understanding.
How such a word of love has been perverted into such hatred and bigotry is mind-boggling beyond my ability to mentally or emotionally encompass.
Sincerely,
Annagirl
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Activists Warn Fired Largo City Manager Could End Up Transgender
Champion
By PHIL DAVIS
Associated Press
Posted February 28 2007, 3:45 PM EST
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-228sexchange,0,2877155.story?track=rss
LARGO -- Steve Stanton loved this city he ran for 14 years. This
week, he asked the city to love him back -- to accept his plans to
pursue sex-change operation and let him keep his $140,000 job as city
manager.
It didn't.
Almost 500 people packed into City Hall Tuesday night for a special
meeting to decide if they would accept Susan instead of Steve as
their top official.
And while many spoke eloquently in his defense, more called for his
ouster.
``If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he'd want him
terminated,'' said Pastor Ron Saunders of Largo's Lighthouse Baptist
Church. ``Make no mistake about it.''
At the end of the 3-½ hour meeting, the City Commission voted 5-2 to
begin the legal process of firing Stanton, only a week after he was
forced to reveal his secret by a local newspaper. He is on paid leave
while the city begins the legal process to end his contract. He can
appeal and the commission must vote again to formally fire him.
Transgender activists on Wednesday called Stanton's firing a
``shameful display of ignorance and bias.'' But they suggested
Largo's quick decision to fire a respected government official may be
the anecdote they need to convince Congress to extend employment
protections to gays, lesbians and transsexuals.
``We think this is a really clear example of the type of employment
discrimination that transgendered people face every day,'' said Simon
Aronoff, deputy director of the National Center for Transgender
Equality in Washington, D.C. ``By all accounts, he was doing a good
job. The only reason he was fired is because he made the brave
decision to live openly.''
Mathew Staver, founder of the conservative Liberty Counsel legal
group, said the city had a duty to reconsider the employment of a top
official planning such a drastic change.
``The city hasn't changed the work environment. He has changed the
work environment,'' Staver said. ``He has to take into consideration
the consequences of that personal decision. I think it would be more
difficult for the city to retain this person because of how it might
undermine the representation of the city in the eyes of the
community. It could become very awkward.''
The vote to oust Stanton came only a day after a Christian university
in Michigan fired a male professor living as a woman only days after
she legally changed her name to something more feminine. The
university claims the former John Nemecek did not honor the terms of
her contract.
``I think they decided to terminate me rather than call me Julie,''
said Nemecek, an ordained Baptist minister who worked for 16 years on
the faculty of Spring Arbor University. Both sides are scheduled to
be in court ordered mediation in March. Despite such high-profile
setbacks, Aronoff said the transgender movement is gaining ground.
``We think this is our year,'' he said.
Last summer, a judge ruled a Westchester, N.Y., cook who claims he
was fired from an upscale restaurant because he was a woman living as
a man was covered by the state's human rights law, even though it
doesn't mention sexual orientation. The ruling cleared the way for a
$3 million discrimination lawsuit to proceed.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which also lobbies for gay,
lesbian and transgendered rights, estimates 10 states and more than
90 local governments have included gender identity in their
nondiscrimination policies.
Stanton supported a similar ordinance in Largo in 2003, but the fact
he kept his personal life a secret then intensified the anger
directed at him Tuesday night. Many in the crowd accused him of
harboring a hidden agenda.
``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 Gray Black, who introduced a
resolution to fire Stanton.
Stanton listened with hands clasped throughout the 3½ hour meeting.
``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 crowd before the commission voted.
``Hopefully after all this is behind us, we'll be better for it.''
The surprise announcement stunned this city of 76,000 near St.
Petersburg. Stanton said he had planned to reveal his secret this
summer when his 13-year-old son was out of school.
Stanton, who is married, said he struggled with his secret desire to
be a woman since childhood and hoped to ``outrun it.'' In 2003, he
began counseling to deal with his feelings and ultimately decided to
pursue a sex-change operation. He has not yet scheduled the surgery,
but is undergoing counseling and hormone replacement therapy in
preparation for the operation.
``I'm going to be embarrassed if we throw this man out on the trash
heap after he's worked so hard for the city,'' said Mayor Patricia
Gerard, one of a few Stanton chose to share his secret with before
last week. ``We have a choice to make: We can go back to intolerance,
or we can be the city of progress.''
Commissioner Gay Gentry praised Stanton, but supported his firing.
``I sense that he has lost his standing as a leader among the
employees of the city,'' Gentry said. ``We have need of an
organizational leader that employees will follow.''
Stanton left the room before the votes were cast, head down.
Gerard and Commissioner Rodney J. Woods _ the first black
commissioner in the city's 102-year history _ cast the only votes in
his favor.
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