Jan 11, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

Less than one year after being fired from her job as city manager of Largo, Fla., because of her status as a transgender woman, Susan Stanton has come under fire from transgender activists, who have called her a sell-out to their cause.

In a series of developments that would have been unthinkable just months ago, Stanton’s perceived status as a positive role model for the transgender community has soured, with transgender activists expressing outrage over a recent newspaper article quoting her as calling trans people “men in dresses.” Stanton says the article misrepresented her views.

But Stanton remains firm in her support for gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and the Human Rights Campaign, over their controversial decision to back an employment non-discrimination bill (ENDA) for gays that excludes protections for trans people. Frank and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have said there weren’t enough votes to pass a trans-inclusive bill and that moving ahead with a gay-only version would make it easier to pass a trans-inclusive bill sometime later.

“I think we need to do a whole lot more educating before we’re going to be able to realistically have the support on the national level to get this passed,” Stanton said of a trans-inclusive measure. “I personally don’t feel denying the rights of one group should be perpetuated unless everybody has those rights,” she told the Blade.

Stanton became the subject of international news coverage last February when then Steve Stanton, 48, a husband and father of a teenage boy, announced he was transitioning into a woman. At the time, Stanton presided over 1,000 employees as city manager of Largo, a conservative, Republican-leaning town of 76,000 on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Stanton had held the position for 14 years.

The announcement came after Stanton learned that the St. Petersburg Times was about to publish a story exposing him as a transgender person. His announcement prompted the Largo City Council to fire him last March from his $140,000 a year job for “cause,” saying his secret plans to change his gender represented a breach in trust and would prevent Stanton from being able to carry out his duties.

Stanton began appearing in public in women’s clothes shortly after the firing. The newly emerged Susan Stanton became an instant face for the transgender community, appearing on television talk shows and network news broadcasts as an advocate for transgender rights.

She insisted her change in gender would not hinder her ability to continue to work as a city manager and argued that she and other transgender people should not be targeted for discrimination.

Stanton upset transgender activists and nearly all of the nation’s transgender rights groups by siding with Pelosi and Frank, saying she believed passing a gay-only version of ENDA as a “first step” would help open the way for passing a trans-inclusive bill. The House passed the gay-only measure in November by a vote of 235 to 184.

Stanton’s association with HRC fueled criticism against her by many trans activists, who accused HRC of betraying the trans community by failing to oppose a non-trans-inclusive ENDA.

HRC spokesperson Brad Luna said Stanton spoke before HRC functions, including a board meeting, but that she has “no formal role” with the group.

In an interview with the Blade this week, Stanton said she understands the frustration and anger many trans activists have toward HRC. She said she, too, believes HRC made a mistake by committing itself to oppose a gay-only version of the bill and to later back down from that commitment.

“The politics changed,” she said. “I know people want to take their ball and bat off the ball field. I think that’s a mistake. I do understand the anger with the Human Rights Campaign. But I also understand that, as someone who used to have to be responsible for making those types of decisions, sometimes you’ve got to be pragmatic and sometimes the importance of being at the table is in conflict with the need to have a sense of community.”

Stanton said her years as a city manager, where she had to juggle competing political interests, made her acutely aware of the need for achieving objectives on an incremental basis rather than taking an “all-or-nothing” approach.

She said that while she was stung over her position on ENDA, she was startled and hurt over the attacks that came after the St. Petersburg Times published a Dec. ...