LGBTs won a victory on Tuesday that flew under the radar. The White House has decided it won't appeal a federal court's finding that a Library of Congress hiree was discriminated against for having sex change surgery.
Diane Schroer, a retired Army Special Forces commander from Alexandria, Va., had been offered a job at the Library of Congress when he was a man, David Schroer. The job was rescinded the day after Schroer told a library official he was going to have an operation to become a woman.
Schroer sued in 2005, and won over $490,000 in back pay and damages after a judge ruled this was sex discriminiation. The Justice Department had until Tuesday to appeal--but let it pass.
This reversal by the Obama administration is pretty dramatic, considering the line the Bush Justice Department took in arguing the case.
The Obama administration’s decision whether to appeal the final ruling in the case has been closely watched in part because the Bush administration defended the case so vigorously, arguing that transgender Americans are not protected by any existing federal laws. The decision not to appeal the verdict is consistent with the Obama administration’s campaign promises to protect transgender workers against discrimination and his administration’s recent order taking steps to bar gender identity discrimination in federal employment.
You'd think this ruling would make the fundies' heads explode. However, so far I haven't found anything on this yet at OneNewsNow, WorldNutDaily or CBN News.
Update: rserven posted a great summary of the case back in September, when the court initially ruled in favor of Schroer.