Susan Stanton tells Montel Williams today that she didn’t think the transformation would affect her job. “I’ve been with the city for 17 years,” Stanton says. “I did not assume I would be terminated.”

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Steven Stanton was hired as a man for the people, this man just because he wants to wear a dress, he needs to stay out of the ladies room!

He needs to either be fired or resign asap!  I feel so sorry that he can get on TV and tell the Florida Public, but yet leaves his son in the dark that Dad is about to be no longer Dad! If he truly loves his son, then he would wait until his son was of age!

What Steven Stanton is doing is a selfish motive on his part, he has no regard for the hurt his wife is going through, he has no regard for what his dear son is abut to go through and the belittlement he will face in school. Mr. Stanton, you have only yourself to blame then!

I’m sorry a Boy needs his Dad, not a Dad who has no clue as to who he is! He can think he was female all he wants, when he went out wearing his Sisters shoes, his own father should have been there to correct him.

If Steven Stanton does not know who he is now… Then how can he run a city government? He is placing pressure upon all of his fellow employee’s to have to see a man coming in with a skirt and blouse and wig!  Hellooooooo!!!

Is this now going to be his excuse to have a wife at home, a son who will be left in the dark… And Dad is going to dress like a woman for an excuse to go out with men!

I feel sorry for his wife and son!  Largo needs to wake up and demand this mans resignation ASAP!

Steven Stanton… As my Dad used to say to me… “You better wake up and die right!” Mr. Stanton, you have an obligation first… To your Wife & Son, then after you raise the boy, then you go do what you want to! Shame on you for dragging them through the mud with your selfish desires! Your wife & son come first!!

Citizen Man!
Florida

I feel horrible for the children & the wife!  I hope God finds a way to help them get through this.  As for the Freak Stanton, he should be fired asap from the City.  You see, this is what happens in the PC world when you give Freaks like gays-lesbians rights.  What is this guy wanted to marry a goat, then have a sex change operation to be a Goat, or a Dog, or a Cow??

Just when I think I have seen/heard everything. I wake up and read this nonsense.
There have been articles about firemen/policemen..or whatever getting these operations.
Now, it’s the City Manager. I wonder which group of public servants is next.

The world has gone mad

He’s getting a sex change, not a brain transplant. What he wears and how he looks have nothing at all to do with how well or competently he does his job. If people would just open their minds to the possibility that different doesn’t always mean evil or bad maybe then the world could start to get along. I congratulate this man on his courage to do what he feels is best for him, his bravery is amazing! Pass judgement and hide behind whatever makes you feel better if you must, or grow up and be a bigger person and accept those who are different. He’s been doing his job for 14 years, and just because he wants to wear a dress to work you people are asking for his job, get real.

EQUALITY and FREEDOM for all, not just the few you agree with.

I agree with the sentiments of the posts here.  This man is truly a disturbed person and should not be given a platform to force his deviant behavior onto the rest of the world.  His wife and children will have to live with his decisions forever.  What about his young boy?  Wow alot of therapy w/o the person who is he father, no matter what he wants to be.  He will always be a man.  That is how he was born.

I liked the post above regarding, what if he wanted to become a goat or a cow?  lol
The reasoning for such a change, be it from man to woman or man to goat.  He still needs professional help.  And NOT the kind that says “go ahead, you should wear womens clothes, and become a woman.”

WOW!!!!  While this is a shock to many of us I think many of you are freaking out for no reason.  How is his becoming a woman going to affect your life?  And what is all of this anti-gay sentiment about? 

With today’s technology you can choose your sex but you still can’t choose your sexulaity.  Being gay and being a transexual are really not the same thing!!!  You do not choose your sexuality any more than you choose to be born a male or female, black or white, Indian or Chineese.  Why can’t the world understand this!!!!  Being gay isn’t a choice!

I had a college professor who went through the same process before my eyes several years ago.  He became a woman and at the time had a wife and kids.  Needless to say the wife left him but the kids are doing just fine today and he and his no ex-wife continue to be friends.  Believe it or not even the evangelical christians accepted him.  Once you know the person and what is in their heart it’s hard to critisize someone for what will truly make them happy.  Why not let this man be happy...even if that means going through a sex change operation. 

Why must we always let the Bible dictate human happiness.  Live and let live.  Your form of religion is not everyones form of religion.  No one tells you how to live your life so don’t tell other people how they should live their life or try to influence others.  Your “morals” are not eveyone elses. 

What the hell is with this comment about goats and chickens...my god some of you are really not logical at all....LOL.

This man’s decission is not about what “He feels is best for him....” He married his wife first under vows, to honor her, this is far from honoring his “Wife!” This is far from honoring his “Son!”

He made a choice to be a Husband to the woman he supposedly loved!  She is devistated, I’m sure by now the Son has heard the news, where is concern for the boy’s emotional factors?  So his wife is supposed to allow room now in the closet for his dresses, room on the dresser for his wigs, room in the drawers for his panties & nylons? An extra cosmetic case with his Make-up & Lee Press-On Nails.

Dad comes down to the breakfast table with his son setting across from him, trying to figure out why?  Again… This is not about what is best for him!  He needs to either get some serious help and get off of this kick in his life, or in that he needs to get out of city government and get out of the house to allow his wife and son to get on with their lives.

The dude should have thought about all of this before he ever decided to date a woman, then ask her to marry him, then move into becoming a Father.

He is a sick & twisted man who is very selfish in now seeking to be whom he thinks he is!  He better think whom his son thinks he is first!  When a boy says..."But you’re my Father”, then that answers whom he wonders he is or not!  He is a Dad aka Father!  He is a Man aka Husband!  He knew he was a man when he dated that girl, he knew he was a man, when he asked that special girl to marry him!  He knew he was a man when he engaged in consecrating his marriage!  He knew he was a man, when he was conradulated in becoming a “Father”.

He knew he was a man when he heard the first time his “Son” called him “Da’da” He knew he was still a father of his Son, when the boy matured to call him “DAD”.  You don’t trsip a boy’s mind when he all his life has known and called you either (Dad, Pop, Father....) The reason he calls him by those names, cause it is natural!

What this man has now chosen to do and doing in a cowardly way… By going before the press, before even talking to his very own Son!  Is un-natural behavior!

Mr. Stanton, you better wake up and then sue the therapist who has agreed with you to the point in that you went to find out who you were, and now you tell the world, you’re a woman!!  Get your money back, cause you apparently still do not know who or what you are!  Maybe you now need to try going to either your Priest, Rabbi or Pastor and get some serious spiritual help!

Cause of your doing what feels best to you, is not the answer! In any public out-cry in as much as we hear right now even for Anna Nicole’s baby, the public out-cry is… “What is in the best interest for the child!” Mr. Stanton, you better wake up and decide what is in the best interest of your Son and not what is in the best interest for you!  What is in the best interest for your lovely wife!

Your choice and decissions in the long run, will destroy your family unit, in which you chose in the first place to assemble!  Your Son needs a role model, not a Dad beoming a model! 

My Dog has more sense in who she is, than you Mr. Stanton!

What you fail to mention is the controversy surrounding the study and un-scientific approach McHugh used; the “report” is not creditable. McHugh is the Vatican’s “advisor” on sexual matters - not exactly someone who is bias-free. I would advise citing sources that come from organizations that represents the profession’s conclusions on the matter, like the Amercian Psychological Association or American Medical Association. Transgenderism is not an illness or error or evolutionary mistake.

I applaude the city of Largo for its enlightened view on this matter. The City Manager is, above all else, a human being who deserves compassion. This is a highly personal matter that now has everyone’s attention. I wish her the best in her transition and hope that the impact of this going public will be minimal.

This is crazy, look what tax payers have to pay to deal with someone who’s not happy with the sex god bless him with. We have to pay for counseling for many people to tolerate this along with his $143,000 a year salary. I have nothing against homosexual, but we can find a lot of ways to spend this kind of money. Now you are going to ask ladies to share a restroom with someone they know as a man. We as American continue to try and satisfy a few at the expense of many. And we want to tell other countries how they should be living. No other country in the world would allow this to happend. Sorry, but this is wrong. He was hire as a man and if he want to change his sex and name he should start all over as Susan and not remain in his current position. His Choice! This is not about accepting his sexual preference, but at what cost to the public.

I am appaled at the ignorance of some people…

“then have a sex change operation to be a Goat, or a Dog, or a Cow” lets see...not sure what you were taught in science class, but there are two sexes male and female—so you cant have a “sex change” operation from a male to a goat—thats not a change of sex, its a change of species.

Secondly, what Mr/s Stanton decides to do with his personal life is his business—he didn’t go to the press, but the press came to him.  Would you rather make an announcement like this yourself, or let it come out as a scandal in the papers? 

Thirdly, why is it assumed that taxpayers are footing the bill for Mr/s Stanton’s therapy and/or operation? 

Mr/s Stanton probably has health insurance like every other city employee—and relies on what ever that covers.  Just like we wouldn’t be expected to foot the bill if he had heart surgery, or broke a limb.  This is probably coming out of his pocket.  And if you say, well we pay a portion of his health insurance, yes, thats correct—you do as city employees foot the bill for some of the insurance.  But you can’t regulate what can and can’t be treated. 

There could an employee who has an STD—which is being treated under the health care plan.  Are we to not treat them for being promiscuous?

What if someone has lung cancer caused by smoking?  Should we not treat them, because they did not “treat their body as a temple?”

And as for the the “we hired him as a man and not a woman"… hello? are you saying that women can’t do as good of a job? that if Mr/s Stanton was a “Susan” from the getgo, that he wouldn’t have been hired?  Think of it as getting a paint job.  Mr/s Stanton is just different on the outside, nothing is changing on the inside. 

Its none of our business what Mr/s Stanton does—the fact that this is a news story at all appals me. 

Its 2007—lets start living our own lives, instead of controlling everyone elses.

The GLBT community is here to stay, and there are about 50,000 people who show up to St. Pete Pride every year that prove that.

What a mess to have dumped on Largo by an obviously confused public servant.  He is concerned about his family? What about those he serves? If he discussed this with the mayor prior to discussing with family, which is inferred in the article, then that says plenty regarding his family values.  I am guessing he will take extended paid leave to pursue this sex change, which of course means the tax payer pays.

What happens when the next public servant decides they wish to change into an ape?  Be a freak if you wish, but get out of public service before going through with it.  We have enough real issues facing us today, we certainly don’t appreciate or need this type.

People here say he should be fired or resign. Fired? Why? Based on what? Resign? Why should he voluntarily give up his income. Now, if the city can somehow prove that his presence is having some deleterious effect on the performance of the people who work for him, then they might have something; but that would be a stretch. Unfortunately, as unusual as this is, nothing can be done about it. I really feel for his family, especially his son. Imagine how he’ll be teased at school.

These people aren’t “freaks”.  All they are is different, and everyone has something different about them.  Geez people, a teen wears a lot of black clothes or get’s piercings, they are called a freak, someone is extremely conscious about the environment or saving animals, they are called a freak, someone is gay, lesbian, transgender, whatever, they are called a freak.  The are not freaks, they are humans.  Thankfully as free citizens of America we are (supposedly) allowed the freedom to follow our dreams.  This is not something that happened to her overnight, it’s what she has always been.  She is still completely capable of doing her job.  As for her family life, that is none of our business and it is between her, the wife and the son.  And for those of you who chose to hide your opinion behind your god, church, or bible, it isn’t your place to judge “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven”, or “Judge not according to appearance” or “Let him among us without sin cast the first stone”...all from the bible...all trying to tell people to live, love, accept the differences of others without passing your own judgement...all majorly ingnored by bible thumpers worldwide.  Sad.

Don’t be so quick to judge.  I am not a bible thumper.  I am a citizen opposed to this type of behavior when it effects public policy.  He needs to move into private sector if he wishes to pursue this new identity.  There is no place in government for this type of distraction.  That is my point, nothing to do with religion.  I find it ironic you quote a bible passage regarding judging, yet make a judgemental comment regarding “bible thumpers”.  Just find that interesting.

This behavior “effects public policy”? How? “He needs to move into private sector if he wishes to pursue this new identity.  There is no place in government for this type of distraction.” He needs to do nothing of the sort. There’s no law against what he’s doing that I know of. I would say it would be treated the same in the private sector as the public.