Florida city preaches tolerance, but officials fire the city manager after
news of his planned sex change surfaces
Even though he was fired after word got out that he was planning to have a sex-change
operation, the city manager of Largo, Florida, still defends the city’s diversity
program.
On February 21, the St. Petersburg Times reported that Steven Stanton, who had
been Largo’s city manager for 14 years, was undergoing hormone therapy and was
planning to have a sex-change operation. Six days later, the city commissioners
voted 5-2 to terminate his employment, saying that they were concerned about his
ability to lead the city.
Stanton’s termination comes just seven months after Largo trumpeted its diversity
program in an application for the Workforce Management Optimas Awards, which are
given to organizations for exemplary workforce initiatives.
Largo, whose motto is "The City of Progress," created the program three years
ago after a small number of employees were terminated for making racial slurs or
using derogatory remarks, says Susan Sinz, the city’s human resources director.
The program didn’t focus on specific issues, like those around transgender employees,
but it did focus on employees assessing one another based on their knowledge, skills
and abilities, Sinz says.
And the program was effective, Stanton insists.
"There is substantive tolerance for diversity among the employees of the city
of Largo," he says. "This wasn’t a Largo issue as much as it was the result of a
very active group of churches hijacking the process."
In the four days following the media reports about Stanton’s planned operation,
the city received 800 e-mails insisting that Stanton be fired, he says.
In many cases, Largo employees were prevented from working, Sinz says. For example,
one employee who was driving in a city vehicle was afraid to leave her car because
of protesters, she says.
Largo tried to address the issue with its 900 full-time employees in the days
following the media reports by hosting voluntary educational meetings, says Karen
Doering, senior counsel for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which held the
sessions. Doering also is Stanton’s attorney. "It was Transgender 101, and it was
designed to answer any questions they might have," she says.
About 40 employees in total attended the pair of two-hour sessions.
A few employees expressed discontent over Stanton’s planned sex change, Sinz
says. "Some employees have had a difficult time with this, asking, ‘If he can dress
like a woman, why can’t I wear an earring?’ "
Experts say that Largo might have prevented some of the outcry if it had included
diversity training about transgender issues sooner.
"Transgender issues are still on the periphery of most diversity initiatives,"
says Billy Vaughn, managing partner and chief learning officer of Diversity Training
University, a San Francisco-based provider. "It’s a very hard thing for people to
understand and talk about because people have very strong feelings about it."
Stanton and Sinz had developed an education and communications program to address
concerns employees might have about his upcoming operation. But they ended up not
having time to execute the program because a reporter broke the story before Stanton
had informed the commissioners. At press time, Stanton was "leaning toward" appealing
the commissioners’ decision, Doering said.
Stanton still believes that if the education plan had been put into place, it
would have been successful. Sinz, meanwhile, isn’t sure that any diversity program
could have prevented the firestorm in Largo.
"The potential is out there for the public to trump any efforts because they
are the ones that allow us to work in the community," she says.
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