http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040608/ap_on_re_us/transsexual_lawsuit_1
Tue Jun 8, 7:23 PM ET
BY RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa - A transsexual worker at an Iowa tractor dealership has sued her former employer, claiming she was fired solely because she was changing her gender identity from male to female.
Lauren Jansen, formerly Larry Jansen, claims in the lawsuit filed Monday that the Murphy Tractor and Equipment Co. and its president violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
Jansen was undergoing gradual physical changes as part of the transition to becoming a woman when she was fired from the Sioux City dealership in January, the lawsuit said.
Courts historically have ruled that transsexuals are not a protected class under federal and states' civil rights laws, but transgender advocates say that is changing.
Last week, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in Cincinnati became the first federal appeals court to extend the Civil Rights Act to protect people who change their sex against workplace discrimination.