From: Riki Anne Wilchins Date: Mon, 20 Nov 1995 20:15:57 -0500 Subject: TRANSEXUAL WOMAN SUES FEDERAL EXPRESS in $5 MM HARASSMENT SUIT PRESS RELEASE: Contact - Riki Anne Wilchins / Riki@Pipeline.Com / (212)645-1753 TRANSEXUAL WOMAN SUES FEDERAL EXPRESS in $5 MM HARASSMENT SUIT (New York City - November 9, 1995) Diane Rousseau today filed a groundbreaking $5,000,000 lawsuit against Federal Express today, alleging on-the-job harassment by staff and employees forced her to leave an 8-year position as a computer technician. Rousseau's suit alleges that following a sex change operation in 1993, coworkers "routinely ridiculed, harassed and abused" her, including one supervisor who called her "an abomination to God." Federal Express allegedly responded an incrasingly hostile work environment by threatening Rousseau with dismissal if she appeared at work as a woman, eventually placing her under a gag order which promised "serious consequences" if she spoke out about her abuse. Under escalating pressure, Rousseau finally quit in November of 1994. Declared New York attorney Hal Weiner, who filed the $5,000,000 suit: "It is not a legal option open to Federal Express to mandate the sex of its employees, or to create a hostile work environment for Diane merely because she isn't the type of stereotypic female it thinks she should be. Employees with Gender Dysphoria owe no apologies or explanations to an employer than those with a heart ailment." The Transexual Menace (NYC chapter) is planning a combined demonstration and press conference on Rousseau's. Said a spokestrans for the Menace: "No one should have to endure threats, ridicule, or workplace abuse simply because they are transexual. This is a woman who had an exemplary record of promotion and service. Transexual employees should be judged like everyone else: on the merits of their job performance, not on Federal Express's opinion of their gender." [END]