Job-Seeker Who Changed Her Gender Goes to Court

Washington Post ^ | 8/20/08 | Del Quentin Wilber

[SilvieWaldorfMD]

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yesterday in federal court that she was "disappointed and dismayed" when an official at the Library of Congress rescinded a job offer even though she was the star candidate.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.

"I honestly felt a little surprised and shocked," Schroer testified during the first day of the trial in her discrimination lawsuit against the Library of Congress. Choking back tears, Schroer added that "every day, I wish the phone rang and they said, 'We made a mistake.' "

Schroer, who has completed the medical process of becoming a woman, is pursuing a sex discrimination case against the Library of Congress under the Civil Rights Act. The bench trial before U.S. District Judge James Robertson is expected to last about a week, and a ruling might not come until well after that, while the judge considers the facts of the case, as well as arguments over the reach of the law.

Schroer, of Alexandria, had a prestigious military career that ended in retirement in 2004 after seven years in the Army's Special Forces command. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Schroer became director of a 120-member classified organization that tracked and targeted international terrorists. She routinely briefed the country's top officials, including Vice President Cheney.

[steve-b]

Well, shooting the idiot who revoked the job offer won’t help recoup the losses to the LoC (and they’ll be out the cost of a bullet as well). As I said, dismissal and revocation of pension is the best that can be done.

[ohioman]

Any man that purposely gets his pecker whacked off has some serious mental issues. I would certainly NOT want this type of unstable personality working for me.

[icwhatudo]

Yes, lets punish the person who thought it might be a bad idea to hire a guy who says

"Hey Im getting my d**k cut off, check out some photos of me in drag!"

[ohioman]

What’s scary is the amount of people popping up to support the self-mutilator.

[jjm2111]

Schroer, of Alexandria, had a prestigious military career that ended in retirement in 2004 after seven years in the Army's Special Forces command.

The above sentence leads me to believe Schroer had an average career and he never earned an SF tab. No rank was given and the he seems to be quite weaselly on his service w/ SF.

Lastly, why do people who believe they are Jesus, Napoleon, or a fish, get medication, counseling, or a padded room while people who believe they are the opposite gender get surgery and hormone treatments? I CAN understand rare cases of hermaphroditism causing people to perhaps have the physical characteristics of one gender, but the emotional/mental of another that may require them to get surgery, etc. But I cannot take seriously anyone who is unabiguously one gender for decades and then wants to switch. They're just crazy.

[Slicksadick]

Guilty, be reason of insanity.

[Slicksadick]

Hands are a dead giveaway, well at least one of many.

[Cementjungle]

If a company can decline to hire someone because they smoke cigarrettes (on their own time even) then certainly they should be able to decline based on someone doing such a radical self-mutilation. This person will have all sorts of potential medical (not to mention psychological) issues in the future, which is the excuse given for not hiring smokers.