TransAdvocate

In a way, I feel pity for Susan Stanton. If you’ve read my post, Confessions of an Ex-Ex Transgender : you’d know that I’m a former Christian Conservative. What I hadn’t known before today is that so was Steve Stanton. A commenter over at Pam’s House Blend put Steve Stanton into perspective:

Let me preface this statement by pointing out that I attended and spoke on the record in favor of Steve Stanton being retained as city manager for the city of Largo. However, my speaking in favor of his retention was completely due to the fact that he was being fired for all the wrong reasons, when in fact there may have been more than a couple of legitimate ones that I would not have objected to. They weren’t firing Steve because of poor job performance but simply because he had revealed that he was a transgender person. I spoke on the record, on behalf of my United Church of Christ congregation in support of transgender rights and fairness. This IN SPITE of the fact that I knew for a fact that Steve was a COMPLETE asshole, right-wing conservative and homophobe. I have two very close personal friends, who are openly gay, who had the misfortune of working under him. Gay people were denied advancement opportunities and were treated very poorly as were others who didn’t fit into his very narrow world view.Because of what I know about Stanton this latest revelation is not at all surprising.

The journey that is gender transition is a personal evolution in so many ways. I understand the point of view that Susan expressed in the St. Petersburg Times. Many transgender women (me included) have had those same feelings at one time in their transition. The difference is that our transitions weren’t plastered in the paper or on the internet. Our immaturity was not reported in the pages of a newspaper.

What really bothers me most is how national organizations have rushed in to try and capitalize on Susan Stanton’s unfortunate situation. I think it’s become clear that being fired for transitioning shouldn’t be the only prerequisite to to lead the community.
*FYI: I had a brief email exchange with Susan Stanton. She said that she was not going to play a “I said … they said….. I said” game. She said she would release a statement soon.*