American Civil Liberties Union

During her 25 years in the United States Army Colonel Diane Schroer had been an Airborne Ranger, Special Forces officer, winner of numerous decorations and medals, and was hand-picked to lead a classified national security operation in which she reported directly to Vice President Cheney. When she retired in 2004, Schroer wanted to put her experience and knowledge of terrorism to good use and found employment as a terrorism and international crime research analyst at the Library of Congress. However, when Schroer told the Library that she was transgender, and wanted to begin work as a female, the job offer was rescinded and Diane found herself unemployed.

Despite Diane’s knowledge, background, and hands-on experience tracking and targeting international terrorist organizations the Library of Congress decided Diane was “no longer a good fit” because, among other reasons, they thought that she would not be taken seriously by her peers or by Congress after her transition. “After risking my life for more than 25 years for my country, I was told that I was not worthy of the freedoms I worked so hard to protect,” Diane said. “All that I want is to be judged by my abilities rather than my gender.” On September 19, 2008 a federal court agreed and ruled that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the Library of Congress had illegally discriminated against Diane because of her sex.

The court’s ruling was ground breaking because it found that discriminating against someone for transitioning from one gender to another is sex discrimination under federal law. On April 28, 2009 the court ordered the Library of Congress to pay Diane $491,190 for back pay, other financial losses and emotional pain and suffering. The Obama administration has decided not to appeal the verdict.

Today Diane is enjoying life with her partner, her dog, and is working for the government once again doing what she knows and loves — protecting her country.

Preliminary findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found:

To learn more about transgender discrimination download the complete survey here.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonpartisan organization devoted to protecting the basic civil liberties of all people in the United States. Founded in 1920, with more than 5 national offices and over 50 state-based affiliates throughout the country, the ACLU is widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier public interest law firms.

Founded in 1986, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project (the Project) is a special division of the ACLU. The Project is committed to creating an America free from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. To achieve this goal, the Project works in five priority areas: fighting for LGBT parents and families; winning marriage and relationship recognition; establishing the rights of youth; working toward freedom of gender identity and expression; and securing basic civil rights.

Transgender Americans face a variety of forms of discrimination — from employment discrimination to healthcare discrimination, to having their gender identity used against them in custody and visitation determinations, to being outed because the gender markers on state and/or federal documents don’t reflect their gender identity. The Project fights for the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people by bringing impact lawsuits to end these types of discrimination, and has given hope to those like Diane Schroer — a retired and highly decorated Colonel in the US Army, whose job offer with the Library of Congress was rescinded when her future boss learned that she was transitioning.

When Diane learned her job offer had been rescinded, she was confused and angry. “After risking my life for more than 25 years for my country, I was told that I was not worthy of the freedoms I worked so hard to protect,” she said. “All that I want is to be judged by my abilities rather than my gender.” The ACLU filed a lawsuit in June 2005 on behalf of Diane, charging that refusing to hire Diane violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects against sex discrimination in the workplace.

The Project scored a groundbreaking victory in September 2008 when a federal court agreed. In a precedent-setting ruling, the court held that discriminating against someone for changing genders constitutes sex discrimination under federal law. The judge likened Diane’s case to that of someone converting from one religion to another, “Imagine that an employee is fired because she converts from Christianity to Judaism. Imagine too that her employer testified that he harbors no bias toward either Christians or Jews but only ‘converts.’ That would be a clear case of discrimination ‘because of religion.’ No court would take seriously the notion that ‘converts’ are not covered by the statute.”

In April 2009 the court ordered the Library of Congress to pay Diane nearly $500,000 in compensation for the discrimination, which was the maximum that could be awarded in the case. The Obama administration has decided not to appeal the ruling.