LARGO – City Manager Steve Stanton sent out an e-mail to employees dated Wednesday, Feb. 21, announcing that he is transgendered and intends to become a woman.
In the e-mail, Stanton wrote that a St. Petersburg Times reporter had come to his office on Tuesday for a weekly meeting and “said the paper had received a tip regarding my plans for the future.
“They had received information that I was contemplating a future announcement regarding a very personal matter that I had only shared with a very small group of confidential advisers and family members,” Stanton wrote.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Times published the story on its Web site and told the public that Stanton, 48, currently is undergoing hormone therapy and counseling and is planning to undergo a sex-change operation.
Stanton’s e-mail said that he had met privately with Mayor Pat Gerard on New Year’s Day and informed her that “I am transgendered and plan to begin the final stages of a gender transition in the coming year. From a medical perspective, I am a transsexual and have had this condition since early childhood.
“Like many transgendered people, I have privately struggled with this very personal matter all of my life and have kept it secret from my family, friends and co-workers. I hoped I could outrun it when I got married, became a father and found a job I love. Unfortunately, I was wrong.”
Stanton said he sought professional help in 2003 to “find some peace and to help overcome my fear of confronting this uninvited dilemma.
“I know that this revelation has caught everyone by surprise since I have taken extraordinary steps to keep this secret from interfering with my career or affecting my family.”
He wrote that despite knowing that many transsexuals are “forced to quietly leave their jobs,” he intends to continue in continue in his job as Largo city manager throughout the sex change process and is “unwilling to just walk away and hide.”
“It is not in my nature to run from difficult challenges,” he wrote. “I take tremendous pride in being your city manager and a part of our Largo family.”’
Largo’s Human Resource Department is charged with answering employee’s and the media’s questions, according to the e-mail; however, Stanton provided two additional pages of “historical information about myself and my plans for the future.”
He wrote that transsexualism can have differing definitions, “but one generally accepted definition of a transsexual is a person who believes that his or her body does not reflect his or her true “inner” gender.”
Stanton wrote that over the past two years, he had begun the process to change his gender, which has included psychological testing, hormonal therapy and electrolysis treatments.
“The final step I must take prior to gender reassignment surgery (also known as a sex change) is to live as a woman for one year,” he told employees. “I know this will be very awkward for all of us and the Human Resource Department will begin providing training to address your concerns and answer your questions.”
Stanton wrote that he had not planned to make an announcement about the “very personal matter” until summer “when my son would be out of school and could be shielded from the media attention.”
Stanton reminded employees that he had “never been a traditional city manager” and referenced some of his activities including training with the fire department that required “absolute trust in the team …
“It is with this same sense of trust in the community and my Largo family that I now begin a new journey in my life,” he wrote. “This will not be an easy path to travel, but I am excited about the future.”
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