“I’m going to be embarrassed if we throw this man out on the trash heap after he’s worked so hard for the city,” Gerard said before the vote. “We have a choice to make: We can go back to intolerance, or we can be the city of progress.”
…
“I don’t want that man in office,” she said. “I don’t think we should be paying him $150,000 a year when he’s not been truthful. We have to speak up. Of course, we don’t believe in sex changes or lesbianism. They have their rights, but we do, too.”
Steve Stanton walks out of the commission chambers, while commissioner Mary Black,
not pictured, discusses the wording on the amendment to fire him.
Steve Stanton addresses media Wednesday afternoon.
The city of Largo’s city manager has announced he is a transsexual and will be undergoing the process for a sex change.
Steve Stanton, who leads the Pinellas County city of 76,000, held a news conference Wednesday afternoon to discuss his decision.
Stanton said he began the process to become a woman two years ago and that he must dress and live as a woman for a year before undergoing his operation.
Stanton said he may be the first public official to transition from being a man to a woman.
“As far as I know, this has not been done before,” he said. “So from that standpoint we’ll be charting some different territory.”
Stanton is married and has a 13-year-old son. He said he’d like to stay married and plans to change his name to Susan. He has not set a date for his surgery.
“Not tomorrow, not the next day, but in the very near future,” Stanton said about the name change.
Stanton also said Largo mayor Pat Gerard and other city employees are being supportive. He has worked for the city for 17 years, including 14 as city manager, and plans to keep his job. The city is bringing in experts in transgender issues to help address any concerns employees may have.
“I had the opportunity to very quietly leave and do this somewhere else,” he said. “It was a conscious decision not to.”
“When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.”
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson
From sarahs_muse
It’s a long read but I think well worth it. It certainly touched my heart.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/11/17/implants/index.html
Yesterday there was a suicide attempt off the Sunshine Skyway.
The bridge is a popular destination for people to end their
lives around here. Anyway, a dude jumped off the main span,
197ft to the water and survived! That is amazing. It’s the
first time I have heard of this happening since I moved here.
“The plunge to the water lasts about 3.5 seconds. Most people
are killed when they hit the water at 75 mph, breaking their
necks and rupturing their organs. Some live for minutes before
they drown.”
I wonder what will happen to him and if his feelings about
ending his life will change?
For Immediate Release: July 8, 2006
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contact: NTAC Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas
Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com
media@ntac.org
Contact Phone: 832-483-9901
Website: http://www.ntac.org
Transgenders Claim FEMA Sex Change Scandal Was Fabricated, Fraudulent
Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before a House Homeland Security subcommittee to spotlight $1.4 billion fraudulent waste of Emergency Assistance Funds (EAF) to Hurricane Katrina victims. The unprecedented level of Federal Emergency Management Agency fraud was blared over television newscasts and emblazoned on newspaper headlines: “FEMA funds paid for a sex change.”
However, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) is now publicly calling the media and authorities on this claim, demanding proof that this occurred and calling the press on this claim “fabricated” and “fraudulent.”
A group that wants to ban same-sex marriage has until the end of business today to get thousands of petitions verified.
The Florida constitution already has a statute banning same sex marriage, but Florida4marriage.org, which is based in Orlando, wants to add a second layer to the constitution by defining marriage between a man and woman only.
My name is Erin. I was not always named Erin and I was not always a girl. One could argue that I am not a girl, perhaps a boy or both; maybe neither.
