Readers may recall my comments about Steve Stanton. He was fired from his City Manager job by the Largo FL City Commission when the press reported that he was planning on becoming a woman. Friday, Mr. Stanton was interviewed on the Larry King Show. Larry King did a good job of drawing Mr. Stanton out and asking the sorts of questions that the average viewer, not familiar with the transgendered community might ask. And he did it it without the sort of badgering and sensationalism that Stanton might have received from some other reporters.
The big news was that Mr. Stanton is not planning on suing Largo Fla, something he equated with suing his Mom. Also he plans on living as "Susan" at the end of May. The sad thing about all this is that he apparently was taking the sort of steps recommended for transitioning on the job. He was not going to spring this on an unsuspecting city. Unfortunately the area paper got a hold of this and forced his hand. Since transsexualism and gender identity disorder are considered medical conditions, I hope the paper's editors carefully considered the ethics of disclosing this issue.
A good summary of the interview is here. It will be interesting to see how well Mr. Stanton's transition to Susan goes. I know a number of people that have transitioned, and under the best of conditions it can be stressful given the average person's fears and misunderstandings. I hope the press gives him some space. The one thing he has in his favor, if local polls are accurate, is lots of local support.
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