Hey, Library of Congress. Cut that shit out.
h hello Library of Congress. I didn’t see you there. Nice running into you like this!
You know, I’ve always admired your electronic resources and open-minded collections policies. My undergraduate university and career have both profited from your generous grantmaking, and your reading room sure is fun to visit when I’m in town!
Being a big organization sucks, doesn’t it? You do your best but, well, you can’t keep track of everything. Sometimes you just end up with people in charge of the Congressional Research Service, who for whatever reason, act like complete dumbfucks.
You must be very embarrassed. I mean, rescinding a job offer because you thought the candidate’s upcoming gender reassignment was…what? Icky?
You had better be fucking embarrassed. The federal court recently fined you $500,000 for your treatment of former Army Special Forces Commander Diane Schroer, who, I suspect, has better things to do than get jerked around by library staff.
I mean, career damage and humiliation aside, it seems like an anti-terrorism analyst’s time might be better spent out of court FIGHTING TERRORISM. A subject you DC dwellers seem to get pretty excited about under normal circumstances.
What’s going on here Library of Congress? Couldn’t think of anything better to do with 500 grand?
What’s going on here Library of Congress? Couldn’t think of anything better to do with 500 grand? I wonder how many smaller libraries out there could say the same.
Are there really adults in this world who have never met a transwoman and are ALL AFLUTTER by the idea?
So tell me, is it really easier to house decisionmakers capable of grossly immoral and illegal actions than it is to cull employees who show these traits? Are Library jobs really so stable that a hiring manager feels comfortable acting on overt prejudice?
And who is this legacy codger you’ve been harboring anyway? A political appointee from the 1880s? Are there really adults in this world who have never met a transwoman and are ALL AFLUTTER by the idea?
If so, perhaps it might help to read a book or two on the subject. You might enjoy this one from your own extensive archives:
An examination of discrimination against transgender Americans in the workplace: hearing before the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives.
Anyway Library of Congress, It’s a brand new administration and I’m sure you’ve learned your lesson. I expect your excellent reference staff will happily direct anyone who has experienced this kind of hiring discrimination to the ACLU.
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May 4th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
[...] Hey, Library of Congress. Cut that shit out. | Librarian Avengers [...]
May 4th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
This is excellent. Definitely the kind of thing that needs to be said.
May 5th, 2009 at 7:53 am
I don’t mean this to be snarky and mean, but truthful: I guess its possible that bad judgment in one area (“she [he, really] was becoming a woman”) does not necessarily translate to bad judgment in another.
Of course, sadly, I know that this will be seen as being mean, insensitive, and uninformed.
May 6th, 2009 at 3:03 am
[...] This post was Twitted by gwen17 – Real-url.org [...]
May 8th, 2009 at 5:23 am
I am *shocked* SHOCKED that LOC would lose 500k over antiquated worldviews or would harm someone’s feelings by clinging to convention. Oh no wait, strike that whole shocked part…
May 9th, 2009 at 8:25 am
[...] Hey, Library of Congress. Cut that shit out. | Librarian Avengers [...]
May 11th, 2009 at 11:15 am
hey, it’s not like they knew it would cost $500,000 of our tax dollars to not hire her. (hope avengers love, love, love paying $500,000 in federal taxes for this, btw, ’cause what happens when government pays is that WE pay in our taxes. plus interest on account of the deficit).
May 13th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
This could’ve happened anywhere.
May 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Elisa said it could’ve happened anywhere, but, ya know, it didn’t. It happened at the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, damn it.
Erica, your essay is brilliant and enlightening. Thank you for bringing this to the attention of librarians across the U.S.
Sometimes it seems that people have forgotten about those documents in the National Archives in which the “Founding Fathers” discussed “equality” and “justice for all”. At any rate, who ever it was that decided against hiring Diane Schroer, well, I hope that person (or persons) is no longer in a decision-making position at LC. Obviously retraining is necessary for someone.
May 21st, 2009 at 1:59 am
Wow. While I am sure there are plenty of people who have never (knowingly) met a transgendered person, I clearly remember my dad telling me about the guy he worked with going through the entire gender reassignment process, starting with telling all his co-workers he would begin living as a woman. This was in the 1980s. And my mother, who was an HR specialist, knew back then that any discrimination based on gender reassignment would be illegal. And there was none.
How the hell does this happen nearly 30 years later in a public institution? This is horrible evidence of terribly poor judgement on the part of the prospective supervisor. Anyone with true concerns over ’security’ would obviously go directly to HR, who would promptly tell them to STFU about the issue. Especially after the job offer had been made. Sooooo clearly illegal.
But hell, if we can afford to toss arabic translation experts out of the military, who are coincidentally gay, why would we need a transgendered woman at the LOC working on terrorism? That would be icky! :\
June 11th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
[...] from a hired applicant who disclosed that he was transitioning into becoming a woman — “Hey, Library of Congress. Cut that shit out.” Thanks to the wonders of YouTube you can hear Diane Schroer herself talking about [...]
June 18th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Sowing Season…
On January 24, 2006, 9 demos recorded in preparation of the new album were spread over the Internet. All 9 tracks were without a title and were of unknown origin. It was said by an unknown user that these demo records “probably won’t be on “Fight Of…