View Full Version : Should transgender individual's jobs security be covered by law?
Activists warn fired Largo city manager could end up transgender champion
By PHIL DAVIS
Associated Press
Posted February 28 2007, 3:45 PM EST
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.
article (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-228sexchange,0,2877155.story?track=rss)
This is absolutely appalling. I can understand firing someone who wasn't doing their job? But this? Claiming that someone who is being open about themselves all of a sudden has lost all integrity and shouldn't be able to keep their job? I can't begin to articulate my outrage.
So from this, I guess my answer is that yes, transgendered people should absolutely have their job rights enshrined in law.
Provided it isn't effecting an individuals standard of work then absolutely their rights should be effected as i really don't see how what a person does with their private life (as long as it is legal and not contravening any laws) effects the people they work with or interact with daily.
I have no idea of the sexual orientation of a person i deal with at a council office, i have no idea of the manner of childhood a person who serves me in a store had- what counts is how they interact with me during that transaction and therefore their rights to employment should be respected.
In England we recently saw a similar case of a top Gynaecologist Mr Bone- he wished to become a woman and had full support of his family and the community around him whom he had treated were incredibly supportive of his choice- it had been expected to cause contraversy but in the end there was overwhelming support for her choice - why? Because whether Mr Bone or Miss Mcleod the fact remained that person was fabulous at their job, had saved many a life and deserved to be happy.
I think my main point with this is anyone can lead a life that is viewed as contraversial by some (despite being legal) and when people are unaware of those tendancies everyone is happy with them going about their job but because someone has the strength in conviction to stand up and admit how they live their life despite knowing many will find it wrong and contraversial they should not have to endure discrimination for being open about who they are
``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.''
I love this. Because Jesus was all about pushing for people to be fired from their jobs. "Make no mistake about it"? Talk about creating God in your own image.
No, I don't think someone should be fired for getting a sex change operation. You shouldn't be able to fire someone for getting any sort of cosmetic surgery, assuming it doesn't affect their job performance.
Erika
03-01-2007, 05:37 AM
I haven't read the article (yet) but the answer to the main question if:
Of course job security should be covered by law, regardless of gender, sexuality, sex, colour of skin, race or any other criteria. All that should matter is that someone can do their job right and aren't being discrimminated in any way shape or form. It truly makes me ill to think that there is still so much discrimmination today. No one should have the right to deny another work or job security based on such flimsy reasons.
Erika
03-01-2007, 05:41 AM
And after reading the article I still go by what I said.
I wanted to add that I do think there's a difference between the main case in the article and the case of the teacher at the Christian college. When you go to work for a private employer, particularly a religously-affiliated one, and you sign a contract, you do have to abide by the terms of it. So, if the teacher having a sex change did break with the terms set in the contract, the school is fully within their rights to terminate their employment. In that case, the teacher did need to take the implications of having a sex change on their employment into consideration.
But, the other person didn't have to do any such thing. No contract was signed that made any sort of stipulations about personal behavior. So I don't think there's any basis for arguing that he should have thought about the impact it would have on his job, because it wasn't a part of his job.
People should be allowed to make unpopular choices without having to worry about being fired. If the idea that it's okay to fire someone because they do something that is legal but somehow in conflict with community values were to take hold, people could be fired for all sorts of things. That would be a very dangerous trend. I have to admit that, personally, I think most if not all sex change operations are very sad, and a mistake. I've known some transgendered people, and in every single case, they were raised in extremely conservative, rigid environments where there were very strict gender roles and the idea of being gay was absolutely unthinkable. It seemed to me that they chose a sex change because they had so internalized the ideas about what a man is and what a woman is that they were raised with. I'm glad they were able to do what they needed to do to be comfortable as a person, but I think if they had been raised to know that being a man and being a woman can mean a whole range of things, and that being gay is an acceptable way to be, then they wouldn't have had to go through a sex change and the social stigma that goes with it. So I do tend to think there are underlying problems in most cases of people seeking a sex change, but that doesn't mean they should be discriminated against. Everybody has problems, and as long as they don't affect job performance, they absolutely should not be a basis for firing someone.
I'm so appalled and saddened that any religious leader or community would be in support of the firing, and push for it. Whether you agree with someone's choice to have a sex change or not, these are people who deserve compassion, and not public campaigns to leave them without an income.
Desirae
03-01-2007, 09:11 PM
I don't see any reason he/she should be fired.
Kristi
03-01-2007, 09:23 PM
I don't see what that has to do with their job. As long as they are performing the tasks they are susposed to do at work then them being transgender should not have anything to do with whether they get to keep their job or not unless they sign a contract that states that it will.