Lake Worth, Florida in Palm Beach County isn’t your typical city. 

It’s a city that welcomes  eco-activists, has drum circle gatherings on the beach during full moons, encourages backyard farming and had no problem two years ago of hiring Susan Stanton (pictured left) to be their City Manger. who had previously lost her manager’s job in Largo, FL after she had a sex change operation.

But what makes Fort Worth and Stanton interesting is that she’s now the center of ant-gay accusations by The Cottage, a restaurant and bar, that says she’s using the city’s noise ordinance to shut down drag-queen-featuring tea dances at the establishment.

“I have never stated to anybody in my office that I’m offended with men in dresses – certainly given the fact that I’m a transsexual,” Stanton told a packed city commission hearing this week.

The Cottage has started an online petition against Stanton that had gathered about 1,400 signatures by Wednesday.  Cottage owner, owner, Loretta Lufty, claims in the petition that Stanton told her “men in dresses, and men dancing with men is offensive,” and asked her to stop the tea dances or “suffer the consequences.”

Stanton has replied that the petition is the result of a misconstrued conversation in which she was trying to keep the peace among downtown restaurants, and certainly not a product of her intolerance. “I have to be sensitive to this issue,” she said. “Often people who are not familiar with transgender expression are uncomfortable.”

Stanton also added that she had never been to The Cottage, and didn’t even know what a tea dance was.

“I thought a tea dance was one where people drank tea,” she said. “Just because I’m a transsexual doesn’t mean that I’m active in that.”
Via – Sun-Sentinel.com