Flordia
The National Center for Lesbian Rights
announced Friday that it will represent Steve Stanton,
who was recently terminated from his long-held position
as the city manager of Largo, Fla., after he told his
employers that he is transgender and will be undergoing
sex-reassignment.
NCLR is working with
Stanton in his efforts to educate the city commissioners
and retract their termination procedures. NCLR will
represent Stanton in legal proceedings, if necessary, to
help him regain the position as city manager that he has
held for 14 years.
Senior counsel for NCLR,
Karen Doering, has worked with Largo city officials to
educate them about transgender issues: "Being transgender
is not a legitimate reason to fire a highly competent,
dedicated public employee. We are hopeful the commisssion
will reconsider its hasty decision, do the right thing,
and let Steve get back to work."