American politician
Susan Stanton was the city manager of Largo, Florida, until her termination in 2007. She was city manager of Lake Worth, Florida, from 2009 until her termination in December 2011 by a newly elected City Commission. After serving as City Manager in Greenfield, California for four years, she served as Chief Operating Officer of Administrative Services of the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose, California until her resignation on November 30, 2017. On September 11, 2020, she was ordained to the Priesthood in the Episcopal Church by Bishop Lucinda Ashby in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
She grew up in the Catskill Mountains in New York. Stanton was married to Donna Becker and they have a son named Travis. Stanton became the subject of national and international media attention in February 2007 after disclosing that she is transgender and would be pursuing sex reassignment, leading Largo city commissioners to initiate the process of ending her contract as city manager, a decision which Stanton appealed.
Early life and education.
Susan Stanton grew up in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Her public school years were relatively uneventful. She later recalled being rejected as a drummer in the sixth grade band and, in ninth grade, being told by a coach that at 5 feet 9 she was too short to play on the basketball team. In high school she worked cleaning offices at night for 30 hours a week, and she was a typist for the yearbook, her only extracurricular activity. Stanton earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Career.
Early in her career, Stanton held positions at various times as assistant to the city manager of Newburgh, New York; administrative assistant to the borough manager of Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska; and assistant to the city manager of Champaign, Illinois.
Berea, Kentucky.
As city administrator in Berea, Kentucky, a position she held for about four years, Stanton took part in negotiations which brought four manufacturing companies to Berea, representing a total capital investment in the city of $120 million and annual payrolls of $10 million. The industries included Tokico Ltd., which planned to build a $20 million shock absorber and brake assembly plant that would employ 150 people, and Alcan Aluminum, which built a $50 million aluminum recycling plant. The Alcan plant became the largest used aluminum can recycling facility in the world. Stanton received an honorary award from Kentucky governor Wallace Wilkinson, who named Stanton a Kentucky Colonel.
Largo, Florida.
Stanton was hired away from Berea to become assistant city manager in Largo, Florida in August 1990. Stanton worked under city manager Stephen Bonczek until April 20, 1993, when Bonczek resigned under pressure from city commissioners, who were unhappy with Bonczek's poor relationship with city workers and unions. At that point Stanton became interim city manager, and was formally hired as acting city manager in May 1993 (with a consequent rise in salary). City commissioners cited their confidence in Stanton, as well as the time and cost of recruiting a replacement for Bonczek, as their reason for hiring in-house. City Clerk Henry Schubert was reassigned at the same time to the post of assistant city manager. Both assignments were open-ended, with the commission delaying its decision on a permanent city manager until later that year. Stanton's posting was made permanent in September 1993, with an 18-month contract and another increase in salary.
In total, Stanton had a career spanning 17 years with the City of Largo and as of 2007[ [update]], had spent 14 years as city manager where she reportedly received good reviews for her performance. In September 2006, she was given an $11,000 annual pay raise, bringing her annual salary to over $140,000. She managed a $130-million budget and about 1,200 employees.
Stanton was on paid administrative leave while the City of Largo began the legal process of terminating her contract, pursuant to her confirmation on February 21, 2007, to the "St. Petersburg Times" that she was transgender and was in the process of pursuing sex reassignment.
Continuing her career.
After her termination from the City of Largo, Stanton had her name legally changed to Susan Ashley Stanton. Stanton decided to continue her long professional career in public policy and politics while undergoing gender transition. Stanton appeared in public for the first time as a woman on May 9, 2007. Stanton lobbied Congress on behalf of laws to protect gay and transgender people from employment discrimination. Stanton testified before Congress, appeared on TV with Larry King and Montel Williams and became the somewhat reluctant face of the transgender-equality movement. Susan applied for more than 100 positions in city management, but had interviewed in less than half a dozen cities. Atlanta's Gay Pride Parade asked Stanton to be grand marshal. A Chicago transgender convention invited her to speak. The City of Sarasota named Stanton a finalist for its city manager job. Stanton was eventually named third for the position as city manager in Sarasota, FL, but didn't get the job.
Lake Worth, Florida.
Two years after losing her job as Largo city manager, Susan Stanton was picked to lead Lake Worth, Florida. Stanton was selected as City Manager of Lake Worth, Florida, on April 7, 2009, by a 4–1 vote. Lake Worth City Commissioner Suzanne Mulvehill said she liked Stanton's approach to marketing the city and her ability to work for such a long time in Largo. Commissioner Cara Jennings said she favored Stanton because of her team-building approach to managing city staff. Vice Mayor Jo-Ann Golden stated, "I thought she had the right temperament for our city and, truthfully, I learned a lot from her." Mac Craig, City of Largo's current manager, stated, "I think she'll make an excellent city manager. I personally think they're lucky to have her." Stanton was selected for the job from a group of 50 candidates. Lake Worth, a city of about 37,000 people, near the ocean in Palm Beach County offered Stanton an annual salary of $150,000. Stanton was quoted as saying, "Lake Worth has a very progressive city commission and a staff that wants to improve the quality of life in the community. It's the first place I wanted to work after I left graduate school at the University of Florida."
She was terminated abruptly from her position at Lake Worth on December 6, 2011. In reflecting upon Stanton's dismissal, the Palm Beach Post noted that during her tenure "she dismissed low-performing employees and brought in smart, eager wonks. She revised union contracts that were stacked against the city. She prodded cities that owed Lake Worth for contracted services. She saved Lake Worth $2 million a year on its police and fire contracts."
Greenfield, California.
In October 2012, the Greenfield City Council appointed Stanton City Manager. As Greenfield's City Manager, Stanton had oversight responsibilities for sanitary sewer and water utility systems, police, streets, drainage, parks, recreation, planning, zoning, building, community development and finance. In 2016, Greenfield became one of the most progressive communities in Monterey County to regulate dispensing, cultivation and the manufacture of medical marijuana.
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.
On September 11, 2020, The Rt. Rev. Lucinda Ashby ordained Stanton to the Priesthood in the Episcopal Church. In May 2021, Rev. Stanton was appointed as Director of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. 
Largo human rights debate.
In 2003, a contentious debate took place in Largo over a proposed human rights ordinance that would prohibit discrimination in the municipality based on race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. More than 100 people packed a five-hour public hearing on the proposed ordinance at Largo's City Hall on August 5, 2003, hearing testimony from over 40 people on both sides of the question. Had the ordinance passed, it would have made Largo the 64th municipality in the United States to extend equal rights protection to transgender people through the inclusion of gender identity. However, the proposed ordinance failed by a 4 to 3 vote of the City Commission, leaving both gender identity and sexual orientation as permissible reasons for Largo residents to be discriminated against in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
City workers did, however, receive protection three months later on October 7, 2003, when the City Commission unanimously approved the Discrimination and Harassment Prohibition policy, an internal antidiscrimination policy, that applied to all city employees. In contrast with the city-wide August debate, not even one individual opposing the internal policy attended the commission meeting.
The city employee policy prohibited discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, religion, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. The policy applied to city employees and prohibited discriminatory conduct both in the workplace and in any work-related setting, such as during business trips. The policy included definitions of harassment and retaliation, and explained that sexual harassment could involve individuals of the same or different gender. Extensive training for all city employees was set to take place in November and December 2003, under Stanton's direction in her role as city manager. The policy was passed partly in reaction to two incidents in which a fire department lieutenant and a police officer made racial slurs.
Transgender issues.
Struggle with being transgender.
Stanton reports having had thoughts of transitioning since she was a child, and recalls wearing her sister's clogs when she was age 6 or 7 to walk to the candy store. In adolescence, she tried on her mother's tennis dress, and while in college she went to the library to read about cross-dressing. After graduation, she threw away all her "girl clothes" after deciding that cross-dressing was incompatible with a career in municipal government. She continued to collect women's items, but purged them with each new job.
In 1990, Stanton married her wife Donna, and thought she had closed the "cross-dressing" chapter of her life. She and her wife had a son, Travis, in 1993, shortly after she became acting city manager of Largo. However, in 1997 she became involved in an Internet chat group for cross-dressers.
Decision to pursue sex reassignment.
Stanton supported the proposed city-wide ordinance, though she did not take a prominent role in the debate that surrounded it. Afterwards, she began to discuss her feelings with a therapist who had testified in support of the ordinance, and ultimately made the decision along with her wife to pursue sex reassignment. Since then, Stanton underwent counseling, with clinical psychologist and gender therapist Kathleen Farrell, and hormone replacement therapy in preparation for sex reassignment surgery at some future date.
Preparing to go public.
Stanton met privately with Largo City Mayor Pat Gerard on January 1, 2007, to inform her that she was transgender and intended to begin the final stages of gender transition in the coming year. Stanton shared her plans only with a very small group of confidential advisers, including her wife, a medical team and a few top officials at City Hall. Stanton and Gerard worked together to write an eight-page plan to help make her decision public in June, a time chosen because Stanton's 13-year-old son could be out of town and be shielded from the attendant publicity.
"Outed".
An unidentified source leaked Stanton's intentions to the "St. Petersburg Times", and on February 20, 2007, a reporter went to Stanton's office for a regular weekly meeting and informed her that the paper had received a tip. Stanton had little choice but to sit for an interview even though she had not yet discussed the situation with her son. An interview was scheduled for the following morning to give Stanton time to talk with her family. Stanton was accompanied by Largo Mayor Pat Gerard during the interview. Stanton informed her son that she was transgender that night.
On February 21, 2007, the "St. Petersburg Times" published a news article on the Internet regarding Stanton's intentions. A press conference was held at City Hall the same day. Stanton and Mayor Pat Gerard explained the plans and events they had developed to make Stanton's transgender identity public in June. Stanton disclosed that she would begin wearing dresses to work on April 2 and would be known from that day forward as Susan Stanton.
Also on February 21, 2007, Stanton sent an email to city employees explaining the situation. "Like many transgendered people," Stanton wrote, "I have privately struggled with this very personal matter all of my life and have kept it secret from