Damn - here's a story to make you question the value of honesty.

[brandic]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902953_pf.html


Diane Schroer, a 52-year-old former Army Special Forces commander, testified yesterday in federal court that she was "disappointed and dismayed" when an official at the Library of Congress rescinded a job offer even though she was the star candidate.

The offer, for a job as a terrorism research analyst, was pulled the day after Schroer told her future boss that she was making the medical transition from being a man, David, to being a woman, Diane.

20 years denying her true identity to serve in special forces, and this is our country's thanks. I hope she sticks it to da man.

[DanaR]

That's why sometimes it is better not to say anything until later. Once she had the job, then it would have been more difficult to remove her.

[brandic]

Yeah, but dishonest. If it could be proved she knew but didn't say anything during the recruitment process for a sensitive government job, she could easily have been dismissed for lying on her application. After all, there are potential pitfalls for a TS in a job dealing with the military, particularly when one has personal relationships in the field.

In the end, this is plain discrimination though. They offered her the job, and rescinded the offer when she told them. They didn't consider that closets, not transsexualism are what makes a person a security risk.

[deja true]

Diane's sex-discrimination case is to be heard in the Supreme Court!

Meanwhile, this has happened again at the Library of Congress within the last month or so.

Google her to read a lot about her case and the work of ACLU lawyers on her behalf.

You might also search for NCTE, the National Center for Transgender Equality, a Washington DC lobbying organization that is also working on our behalf.

Support them both!

[vivian33]

what a shame....their loss

[KeriB]

What scares me about this is the DOJ opinion that she has not been discriminated against because they feel the Civil Rights Act - which "protects" all Federal employees - does not cover gender identity or transgendered people. I'm curious what HRC has to say about this - this is exactly why we need an all-inclusive ENDA law.

[Priss]

I thought Keith Olberman had a decent comment on this story last night...

Personally, I prefer to not tell anything that I absolutely don't have to. I don't lie, but I do not volunteer the information. If someone is doing a back ground check or picks up on something, let them ask the question. If the door to discrimination is going to be opened up, let them do it. If it happens, it'll usually be near the end of the process, when it should be obvious what they are doing. Sometime around asking for a copy of the DD-214 or something...

[Valeria]

I thought Keith Olberman had a decent comment on this story last night...
Which was...?


Personally, I prefer to not tell anything that I absolutely don't have to.
So do I, but if you are still presenting as the sex you were assigned at birth, and you want to correct that, it's eventually going to become a topic of discussion.

[Priss]

Well you kinda have to watch Keith. I don't copy everything down as he says it. He had it during his Bushed segment though... Here's a link to the video on MSNBC... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#26319726

Yes, it will become a topic of discussion if you're transitioning on the job. There's really no getting away from it. It happened to me, it's happened to many others, and it'll probably happen to everyone else who tries to do it OTJ... It's the nature of people, they talk about things that are weird to them. I don't say this here everyday, as you can see by the number of posts I've made to this site, but I recommend if at all possible that anyone make a fresh start when they transition. That may present a lot of problems in it's self, but there are also a lot of benefits to doing it. Like less problems with names and pronouns for example. Or an absence of questions like which bathroom will you be using... From my own experiences, people who know us from before and then after, are the ones who have the most problems. When it comes to family and close friends, we may just deal with it. For the work place though, it can make things a whole lot easier for us to cope.

[gagirl1]

i hope she wins in court. from what it sounds like she followed all the protocols and didn't violate any ethic or moral codes (the military has tons of these) in the process, most importantly, honesty. i've never seen that show before, but he does make some good points. i especially liked the bear on rollerskates smoking a cigar analogy. hope everything works out for her.