If for some ca-razy reason you still aren't convinced that certain pockets in the Beltway think homophobia and transphobia are perfectly good excuses for putting our country at risk for attack, here's another charming piece of evidence: the Library of Congress rescinded a job offer for a position as a senior terrorism analyst from a decorated veteran with 25 years of Army service and seemingly endless anti-terrorism and national security experience after finding out that she was in the process of transitioning from male to female. Diane Schroer, the applicant in question, and the ACLU have filed a sex discrimination suit against the Library of Congress in the DC District Court.
Julian Sanchez does a downright stellar job of discussing the issues surrounding the case in his recent article in Reason.
The army doesn't let you join if you've had any major surgeries in the previous six months. I was just curious if their reason was, perhaps, that an individual undergoing massive hormone therapy and surgery might not be 100% on top of their game?
Posted by: Greg | July 27, 2005 at 04:45 PM
I didn't want to go too far off track to address that in the piece, but basically: No. For one, "You're not a good fit" is a strange thing to say if you've got a shorter term performance concern tied specifically to the surgery, and the rational response there is to hold off and investigate whether there's a problem (Schroer had certainly put a lot of thought into scheduling the transition in a way that didn't interfere with work). Anyway, the rationale makes about as much sense for a new hire who's just announced she's pregnant, and I'd love to see LOC use that as a rationale for recinding an offer.
Posted by: Julian Sanchez | July 27, 2005 at 06:39 PM
Fantastic article, Julian. The LOC is full of shit.
Posted by: Liz Liedel | September 04, 2005 at 03:38 PM