Transsexual wins $500,000 lawsuit

[The Straight Story]

Transsexual wins $500,000 lawsuit
By Nedra Pickler, Associated Press April 29, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge has awarded a former Army Special Forces commander nearly $500,000 because she was rejected from a job at the Library of Congress while transitioning from a man to a woman.

Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., applied for the terrorism analyst job while she was still a man named David Schroer. He was offered the job, but the offer was pulled after he told a library official that he was having surgery to change his gender.

U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled Tuesday that Schroer was entitled to $491,190 in back pay and damages because of sex discrimination.

The Library of Congress and the Justice Department argued unsuccessfully that discrimination because of transsexuality was not illegal sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.

The American Civil Liberties Union had argued the case on Schroer's behalf. Paul Cates with the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project said the ruling was significant because a federal judge said that discriminating against someone for changing genders is sex discrimination under federal law.

Schroer is a former U.S. Army colonel who directed a classified group that tracked and targeted terrorists. Schroer retired in 2004 and worked briefly in the private sector before applying for the Congressional Research Service job at the Library of Congress.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42606&dcn=todaysnews

[Tiggeroshii]

1. should've been more

in my opinion, I think it should've been more, in order to make a bigger point. This case might not be enough to the right message to (non unionized) employers and stop these things from happening more often.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Right up there with firing all the Arabic translaters because they were gay..

:crazy: :silly: :wtf:

[Orrex]

3. Good for her!

I agree with Tiggeroshii's comment above, but this is still a terrific victory for Ms. Schroer.

[UndertheOcean]

4. Cool !

[Poll_Blind]

5. Our discrimination against homosexuals/transgender is a threat to our natn'l security.

This is good news. It really saddens me how our discrimination against gays/transsexuals in certain positions in the government, to qualified or over-qualified individuals, hurts us greatly. Biases like this are archaic and a clear and present danger to the security of the United States government.

Someone mentioned the gay translators issue. Exactly.

Besides, I'd rather have a person doing a job like this who is happy rather than frustrated. That frustration is just going to come out in some inappropriate way, Re: The Entire Goddamned Republican Party.

PB

[ooglymoogly]

6. It is time for all good men, no matter what planet they are living on

to come down to earth and live in reality and live with things as they are. Men and women who have been born in the wrong bodies have every right to redress and to be accepted as such without interference from anyone who is not directly involved in that change.

on edit; And a big kudos to the judge.

[Lisa0825]

7. I wish it was more, but I am glad she won! nt