Largo City Manager, and Sex-Change Candidate, Fired from Job

"If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he'd want him terminated," said Pastor Ron Saunders, of Largo's Lighthouse Baptist Church. He may have speaking for more than just Jesus. In Largo, Florida, nearly 500 people attended a City Hall meeting last Tuesday to decide if their City Manager, Steve Stanton, should be allowed to keep his job after undergoing a sex-change operation to become Susan Stanton.

The decision was no.

The 3 ½ hour meeting involved the City Manager disclosing his future sex-change plans, followed by many citizens speaking out either for his continued employment or his dismissal. By the end of the meeting, the City Commission voted 5-2 in favor of firing Stanton, who has held this job for the last 14 years. Largo is a city of 76,000, located near St. Petersburg.

The 48-year-old married man, and father of a 13-year-old boy, was understandably devastated. "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 said before the crowd assembled at City Hall. Stanton mentioned that he was planning to reveal his secret this summer. However, a local newspaper caught wind of the news and was about to publish the story, leaving him no choice but to disclose the information now.

Mathew Staver, founder of the conservative legal group Liberty Counsel, defended City Hall's decision, stating that "The city hasn't changed the work environment. He has changed the work environment," and "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."

Other groups disagree, such as the National Center for Transgender Equality, based in Washington. "By all accounts, he was doing a good job," stated Simon Aronoff. "The only reason he was fired is because he made the brave decision to live openly."