hdroadglide
BoM x 2, BoY 2011
not that there's anything wrong with that!!!
Lake Worth might not be the most impressive city in Palm Beach County, but it's the most entertaining one.
Whether it's drum circle gatherings on the beach during full moons, city commission proposals to encourage backyard chicken farming, or becoming a welcoming hub for radical eco-activists, Lake Worth is your go-to city for outside-the-box thinking.
So it made sense that when it came time to hire a new city manager two years ago, Lake Worth opted for Susan Stanton, who lost her manager's job in another Florida city after she had a sex change operation that transformed her from Steve to Susan.
Hooray for Lake Worth!
And it also makes sense that after two years on the job, Stanton is being accused of being too narrow-minded when it comes to men in dresses.
Hooray for Lake Worth again! It's not every city that allows itself to consider whether its city manager, who has actual man-in-a-dress experience, is sufficiently open-minded when it comes to the city's cross-dressing community.
"I have never stated to anybody in my office that I'm offended with men in dresses - certainly given the fact that I'm a transsexual," Stanton told a packed city commission hearing this week.
Unnecessary show of equality
Nevertheless, the city commission, which includes a gay member, felt it necessary in the face of these allegations to pass a resolution this week that reaffirmed its support of equal rights to all residents, "regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."
Is this really necessary? Isn't hiring a transsexual to the top spot in government a pretty good indicator of your equal rights philosophy?
This led resident Barbara Jean Weber to express her befuddlement over the idea that Lake Worth might be considered somehow as too straight.
"Our very own commissioner is gay," Weber told commissioners. "Our city manager had parts removed."
Mayor Rene Varela chocked this episode up to a local business "pulling out the gay card."
That business would be The Cottage, a downtown restaurant and bar that started an online petition against Stanton that had gathered about 1,400 signatures by Wednesday .
It accuses Stanton of being homophobic, and using the city's noise ordinance as a way to shut down the drag-queen-featuring tea dances at The Cottage.
The restaurant's owner, Loretta Lufty, claims in the petition that Stanton told her "men in dresses, and men dancing with men is offensive," and asked her to stop the tea dances or "suffer the consequences."
But the city has yet to fine The Cottage for a violation under its new noise ordinance, while it has fined another downtown bar offering more traditional live entertainment.
Stanton said Wednesday that the petition is the result of a misconstrued conversation in which she was trying to keep the peace among downtown restaurants, and certainly not a product of her intolerance.
"I have to be sensitive to this issue," she said. "Often people who are not familiar with transgender expression are uncomfortable."
Stanton said she has never been to The Cottage, and didn't even know what a tea dance was until this cropped up.
"I thought a tea dance was one where people drank tea," she said. "Just because I'm a transsexual doesn't mean that I'm active in that."
The real problem here
What also may be going on here is something much more mundane: Stanton's running a city that, like other cities, has made painful budget cuts, including pending layoffs of workers. It hasn't made her popular. And now she's up for a performance review, and for some, it's payback time.
But to address that in a blunt, head-on fashion is no fun at all.
It's much more entertaining accusing your transsexual city manager of being biased against people with alternative lifestyles.
Now, that's Lake Worth.
Lake Worth might not be the most impressive city in Palm Beach County, but it's the most entertaining one.
Whether it's drum circle gatherings on the beach during full moons, city commission proposals to encourage backyard chicken farming, or becoming a welcoming hub for radical eco-activists, Lake Worth is your go-to city for outside-the-box thinking.
So it made sense that when it came time to hire a new city manager two years ago, Lake Worth opted for Susan Stanton, who lost her manager's job in another Florida city after she had a sex change operation that transformed her from Steve to Susan.
Hooray for Lake Worth!
And it also makes sense that after two years on the job, Stanton is being accused of being too narrow-minded when it comes to men in dresses.
Hooray for Lake Worth again! It's not every city that allows itself to consider whether its city manager, who has actual man-in-a-dress experience, is sufficiently open-minded when it comes to the city's cross-dressing community.
"I have never stated to anybody in my office that I'm offended with men in dresses - certainly given the fact that I'm a transsexual," Stanton told a packed city commission hearing this week.
Unnecessary show of equality
Nevertheless, the city commission, which includes a gay member, felt it necessary in the face of these allegations to pass a resolution this week that reaffirmed its support of equal rights to all residents, "regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."
Is this really necessary? Isn't hiring a transsexual to the top spot in government a pretty good indicator of your equal rights philosophy?
This led resident Barbara Jean Weber to express her befuddlement over the idea that Lake Worth might be considered somehow as too straight.
"Our very own commissioner is gay," Weber told commissioners. "Our city manager had parts removed."
Mayor Rene Varela chocked this episode up to a local business "pulling out the gay card."
That business would be The Cottage, a downtown restaurant and bar that started an online petition against Stanton that had gathered about 1,400 signatures by Wednesday .
It accuses Stanton of being homophobic, and using the city's noise ordinance as a way to shut down the drag-queen-featuring tea dances at The Cottage.
The restaurant's owner, Loretta Lufty, claims in the petition that Stanton told her "men in dresses, and men dancing with men is offensive," and asked her to stop the tea dances or "suffer the consequences."
But the city has yet to fine The Cottage for a violation under its new noise ordinance, while it has fined another downtown bar offering more traditional live entertainment.
Stanton said Wednesday that the petition is the result of a misconstrued conversation in which she was trying to keep the peace among downtown restaurants, and certainly not a product of her intolerance.
"I have to be sensitive to this issue," she said. "Often people who are not familiar with transgender expression are uncomfortable."
Stanton said she has never been to The Cottage, and didn't even know what a tea dance was until this cropped up.
"I thought a tea dance was one where people drank tea," she said. "Just because I'm a transsexual doesn't mean that I'm active in that."
The real problem here
What also may be going on here is something much more mundane: Stanton's running a city that, like other cities, has made painful budget cuts, including pending layoffs of workers. It hasn't made her popular. And now she's up for a performance review, and for some, it's payback time.
But to address that in a blunt, head-on fashion is no fun at all.
It's much more entertaining accusing your transsexual city manager of being biased against people with alternative lifestyles.
Now, that's Lake Worth.
