SLTrib.com – By Pamela Manson – The Salt Lake Tribune
Transsexuals fall outside a law that bans employment discrimination based on a worker’s sex, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
The Denver-based court upheld a federal judge’s ruling in favor of Utah Transit Authority, which fired bus driver Krystal Etsitty because she planned to use the women’s restroom despite having male genitalia.
Ruling for the first time on the issue, the 10th Circuit said it is reluctant to expand the traditional definition of “sex” in the federal discrimination law beyond the two starkly defined categories of male and female to allow employees protection from discrimination based solely on their status as transsexuals.