Transsexual police officer in Cincinnati wins discrimination case
Friday, February 28, 2003
Associated Press

CINCINNATI (AP) -- A federal court jury has awarded $320,511 to a
transsexual police officer who said the city discriminated against her.

The jury on Wednesday ordered the city to pay back wages and damages to
Philecia Barnes, formerly Phillip Barnes, a police officer for 22 years
and a former Marine Corps sergeant.

Barnes, 43, said yesterday that she will request a court order to force
the city to reinstate her as a police sergeant. She became a
probationary sergeant for six months in 1999, then was demoted to officer.

Police Chief Thomas Streicher said his department didn't discriminate
against Barnes.

Barnes notified the city two years ago that she had changed her name and
considered herself to be a woman, her attorneys said. Barnes said
yesterday that she had begun identifying with the female gender long
before that.

"This process started almost 11 years ago,'' she said at a news
conference. "It doesn't happen overnight.''

Barnes said the city, in denying her promotion to sergeant,
discriminated against her and violated her constitutional right to equal
protection of law.

Her attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott yesterday for an
order to protect her against discrimination by the city.

Barnes is challenging a charter amendment that forbids the city to enact
or enforce any policy or law based on sexual orientation. Her attorneys
say the amendment should not be applied to city employees because it
allows discrimination against employees who don't fit gender stereotypes.

City voters approved the charter amendment in 1993.

Phil Burress, who led a coalition that lobbied voters to approve the
amendment, said the coalition would consider fighting Barnes' challenge.

"It's quite scary to think that a person carrying a gun does not know if
they're a man or a woman,'' he said yesterday.