by Euan Bear

     In a case characterized by Vermont attorney Beth Robinson as "a huge step forward for transgender rights," the Hardwick Selectboard voted to accept a settlement on a transgender discrimination claim investigated by the state Attorney General's office. As required by Vermont law, former Hardwick patrolman Tony Barreto-Neto, a female-to-male transsexual, filed with the A.G.'s office his complaint of harassment so severe that he was forced to quit.
      The settlement agreed to by the town specifies that it will pay $90,000 to Barreto-Neto, adopt a formal policy of nondiscrimination against transgender persons, and train its employees on transgender issues.
     The details of the case began to surface in February, when news of the complaint, an investigation by the state Attorney General's office, and a potential settlement broke in local newspapers.
     According to news reports, the complaint alleged that Hardwick Town Manager Dan Hill urged newly hired police chief Gregory Rambo to make Barreto-Neto so uncomfortable that he would quit. Hill allegedly had discovered that the officer is a female-to-male transgender person, and therefore would not accept him on the police force, regardless of his performance. Rambo left after only two weeks, but the harassment went on. Hill was quoted in one news story as declaring that if he was found to have done anything wrong, he would offer his resignation. Barreto-Neto said in a brief comment when the news broke, "I'm offering to buy him a pen."
     GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi described the discrimination as taking several forms: a ranking member of the Hardwick Police directed that Barreto-Neto not be given necessary information, officers were slow to respond or did not respond to Barreto-Neto's calls for backup, and he was not given the same training and required equipment that other officers were given. In addition, he was knowingly "issued a faulty radio and then chastised for not responding to calls." Other officers gave Barreto-Neto the "silent treatment," and he was "written up" for procedural violations he did not commit.
     The impact of the case comes from the fact that the state Attorney General's office found credible Barreto-Neto's complaint of discrimination because of his transgender status. "The Attorney General's investigation found that Tony was qualified for the job and was given different treatment," Levi said, adding that there are no prior cases in Vermont interpreting the nondiscrimination law to cover transgender individuals. The ruling does not preclude the benefits of having "gender identity" explicitly named in the statute, as proposed in H.366, now in the legislature but not expected to see action.
     Transgender individuals are not explicitly named as a protected class in Vermont's anti-discrimination law. However, attorney Beth Robinson has argued that transgender individuals are covered under provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and sexual orientation. According to Robinson, the Attorney General's ruling agrees that "transgenderism is at the intersection of those two categories."
     Details of the Attorney General's November 4, 2003 ruling - that existing Vermont law prohibits discrimination against transgender people in employment, public accommodations, housing and other areas - and the proposed settlement were withheld from newsmedia and the public until the Hardwick Selectboard voted to accept or reject the proposal on Thursday, April 22. OITM had gone to layout on that date.
     The ruling by the Attorney General's office sets precedent, Robinson said, because that office is responsible for administering Vermont's nondiscrimination statute. While no state court is bound by the ruling, she added, a court would give deference to the ruling in considering any similar case.
     Barreto-Neto (born Sheila Maycelle) came to Vermont from Florida, where he had garnered awards for policework at the Hillsboro County sheriff's office. After his transition surgery, the officer formed a national nonprofit organization called Transgender Officers Protect and Serve that was profiled on ABC’s telemagazine 20/20. The move to Vermont was motivated by harassment when Barreto-Neto's home was shot at, endangering his wife and adopted daughter. According to a story on the GLAD website, Florida colleagues who had worked knowingly with the officer as a lesbian became hostile post-transition.
     "I can't say it was a picnic when I transitioned in Florida, but it was so much better than in Hardwick," Barreto-Neto told GLAD. "The treatment I faced at Hardwick made me start to think that I was a bad cop, or worse yet, that I was a bad person."