Rachel Levine

Rachel Leland Levine (/ləˈviːn/; born October 28, 1957)[1] is an American pediatrician and a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, who has been the United States assistant secretary for health since March 26, 2021.[2]

She is a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine, and previously served as the Pennsylvania physician general from 2015 to 2017, then as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health from 2017 to 2021.[3] Levine is one of only a few openly transgender government officials in the United States,[4] and is the first to hold an office that requires Senate confirmation.[5][6] On October 19, 2021, Levine became the first openly transgender four-star officer in the nation's eight uniformed services.[7]

Early life and education

Born on October 28, 1957, Levine is originally from Wakefield, Massachusetts.[1][8] Her parents, Melvin and Lillian Levine, were both lawyers.[9] She has a sister, Bonnie Levine, who is four years older.[9] Levine is Jewish and grew up attending Hebrew school.[10] Levine earned a high school diploma from Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts.[11]

Levine graduated from Harvard College and the Tulane University School of Medicine and completed a residency in pediatrics and fellowship in adolescent medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, New York.[12]

Career

Levine had a fellowship at New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital from 1988 to 1993[12] where she trained in pediatrics.[13] After moving from Manhattan to central Pennsylvania in 1993,[12] she joined the staff at Penn State Hershey Medical Center. During her tenure there, she created Penn State Hershey Medical Center's adolescent medicine division and eating disorders clinic. She was in charge of the latter when she was nominated for the position of Pennsylvania Physician General in 2015.[12]

Pennsylvania Department of Health

Levine briefing COVID-19 measures with Gov. Tom Wolf at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in June 2020

In 2015, Levine was nominated by Pennsylvania Governor-elect Tom Wolf to be Pennsylvania's Physician General.[4] In her capacity as Physician General, Levine signed an order that allowed law enforcement officers to carry the anti-overdose medication naloxone. She has credited the drug with saving the lives of almost 1,000 opioid users who had overdosed.[4] She served as Physician General until 2017.

In July 2017, Governor Wolf appointed Levine as Secretary of Health,[14] and she was unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania State Senate.[4]

COVID-19 response

During 2020 and until January 23, 2021, Levine led the public health response on COVID-19 in Pennsylvania as the state secretary of health.[13] She worked closely on a daily basis with the FEMA director and led a daily press briefing.[14] Levine also came in for criticism over her handling of the pandemic, particularly in regard to nursing home patients.[15][16]

On March 18, 2020, Levine directed nursing homes to admit new patients, including "stable patients who have had the COVID-19 virus” despite the warnings of nursing home trade groups that such policies "could unnecessarily cost more lives."[17] Although the stated purpose of this decision was to alleviate overcrowding in "acute care settings”, according to a team of reporters from the USA Today Network and Bucks County Courier Times, hospitals in most Pennsylvania counties were not experiencing overcrowding at the time.[17] Spotlight PA, also noted that, under Levine, Pennsylvania had a "robust and aggressive" plan to protect nursing home residents but it "was never fully implemented".[18] Spotlight PA also repeatedly reported on erroneous reporting of COVID deaths and other data by state officials.[19][20][21][22]

On May 12, 2020, WHTM reported that following the change in nursing home admissions policies, Levine had moved her own mother out of a nursing home.[23] Levine defended the move: " 'My mother requested, and my sister and I as her children complied to move her to another location during the Covid-19 outbreak,' Levine said. 'My mother is 95 years old. She is very intelligent and more than competent to make her own decisions.' "[23] By the summer of 2020, around 70% of COVID deaths in Pennsylvania were in nursing homes, leading to renewed criticism that state officials were "letting infected patients back into nursing homes" and also that the state had stopped health inspections nursing homes.[24][25]

The issue of Levine's mother and the high COVID death toll in Pennsylvania nursing homes would momentarily be highlighted nationally after President Biden nominated Levine for the post of US Assistant Secretary for Health.[26][27] As Newsweek reported, "The criticism ... has come from a few Republican leaders ..."[26] Newsweek also fact-checked the claim that Levine put COVID-19 patients into nursing homes, concluding the claim was false and "There is no evidence to support [Representative Marjorie Taylor] Greene's claim that Levine placed coronavirus-positive patients in nursing home facilities, thus likely contributing 'to the thousands of elderly deaths in Pennsylvania.' "[26] Questions about missing nursing home COVID death and case data would also come up again during Levine's confirmation hearings.[21][22]

Biden administration

Levine with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra after being sworn in as assistant secretary for health, March 27, 2021

On February 13, 2021, President Joe Biden formally nominated Levine to be assistant secretary for health.[28] Her confirmation hearing was on February 25 with the Senate HELP Committee.[29] On March 17, the committee voted 13–9 to advance the nomination to a full Senate vote.[30] On March 24, the Senate voted 52–48, with two Republicans joining all members of the Democratic caucus, to confirm her nomination.[31] She is the first openly transgender person to hold an office that requires Senate confirmation;[5][6][32] earlier transgender federal officials like Amanda Simpson held offices which did not require Senate confirmation.[33][34]

On October 19, 2021, Levine was commissioned as a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer in any of the United States uniformed services.[7][32] She is also the first female four-star admiral in the commissioned corps.[35][36][32]

Personal life

Levine has two children.[37] She transitioned in 2011.[38] Levine and her ex-wife, Martha Peaslee Levine,[39][37] married in 1988, during Levine's last year of medical school,[9][4] and divorced in 2013.[40][4] She has served as a board member of Equality Pennsylvania, an LGBT rights organization.[4]

Hannah Mouncey

Hannah Mouncey (born 21 October 1989) is an Australian national squad handball player who also plays Australian rules football. Mouncey represented Australia in men's handball before transitioning. She has been the subject of controversy over her eligibility to participate in women's competitions. Mouncey debuted with the Australia women's national handball team at the 2018 Asian Women's Handball Championship.

Contents

1 Men's handball

2 Transition

3 Women's handball

4 Australian football

5 References

Men's handball

Mouncey commenced her handball career after moving to Canberra in 2009, playing handball for the Canberra Handball Club in the Australian Capital Territory.[2] She is a past president of Handball ACT.[3]

Mouncey played 22 games with the Australian men's national handball team as Callum Mouncey, debuting in the 2012 Oceania Handball Championship against New Zealand,[2] then continuing to represent Australia at the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship[4][5] and in a qualifying tournament preceding the 2016 Summer Olympics.[6]

Transition

Mouncey decided to transition while in Qatar to compete in a 2016 Summer Olympics qualifying tournament,[7] and began hormone therapy in November 2015.[8] She provided news of her decision to her mother while still in Qatar, prior to informing other friends and family, and publicly identified as a woman in May 2016.[8]

Women's handball

International Olympic Committee's guidelines are for 12 months of hormone therapy before a trans woman can compete in women's competition,[8] but Mouncey's testosterone levels were well below the required levels of 10 nmol/L by July 2016.[8] Mouncey hoped to play in women's competition in October 2016, and to be selected in Australia women's national handball team.[8] Her request to play for the ACT representative team in October 2016 was refused by the Australian Handball Federation, citing insurance concerns because she was still three weeks short of the IOC guideline of 12 months of hormone therapy.[6]

On 27 May 2018, Mouncey scored three goals for Melbourne Handball Club in their win over University of Queensland Handball Club for the 2018 Oceanian Open Club Championship.[9]

In April 2018, Mouncey began training with the Australia women's national handball team in anticipation of the International Handball Federation clearing her to play in the 2018 Asian Women's Handball Championship in Kumamoto, Japan.[10][11] Mouncey scored four goals in her first international game with the Australia women's team, a 24–32 loss to Kazakhstan on 30 November 2018.[12][13] Mouncey played all six games and scored 23 goals as the Australians finished fifth, qualifying for the 2019 World Women's Handball Championship.[14] She was not selected to play at World Championships.[15] Mouncey stated that this was due to some of the team being uncomfortable sharing the showers and change room with her, but this was denied by Handball Australia.[16][17]

For the Australian Open Club Championships in beach handball, Mouncey strengthened the women's national team of American Samoa, which competed in the tournament as a club team, and took second place with them.[18]

Australian football

Although the 2018 AFL Women's season did not start until well beyond the 12 month IOC guideline, Mouncey's nomination for the 2017 AFL Women's draft was declined based on the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act allowing gender discrimination "if strength, stamina or physique is relevant."[19] Mouncey's testosterone levels had remained far below the IOC limit, and the Australian Football League (AFL) had indicated they would use IOC guidelines on transgender players.[20] Mouncey previously played for the Ainslie Football Club in the 2017 AFL Canberra women's season.[citation needed] The AFL indicated that she could play for Ainslie in 2018, and could nominate for the 2018 AFL Women's draft.[21][20][22] In response, the Ainslie Football Club coach and president both stated to the media that there had been no concerns about Mouncey's strength, stamina and physique in the 2017 AFL Canberra women's competition.[21][23]

The late decision to exclude Mouncey left the AFL open to criticism from the public and the media,[24][25] and the AFL Players Association called for clarification from the AFL on the eligibility of transgender players.[26][27][28] There was confusion about whether the AFL had authority to approve Mouncey to play in other Australian football leagues in 2018, or whether their approval was necessary, contrasting with both the earlier indication that this would be acceptable and Mouncey's participation in 2017.[29] In December 2017, Mouncey decided to move to Melbourne to advance her football career and her public speaking business called Transform Coaching and Speaking.[30][31] Fairfax Media listed the denial of Mouncey's nomination as one of year's top 10 sports stories in Canberra.[32]

In a statement on 13 February 2018, the AFL supported Mouncey's request to play state league Australian rules football, such as VFL Women's (VFLW), and stated that the decision to deny her entry into the AFL Women's draft was only for 2017.[33] AFL Victoria later confirmed, after she began training with Darebin Falcons, that Mouncey would play in the 2018 VFL Women's season.[34][35] This was the first time that the AFL had agreed for an openly transgender woman to play at that level.[36] Mouncey debuted for Darebin in round 1 of the 2018 VFLW season, kicking a goal while playing in the ruck and at full-forward in a lop-sided loss against the Northern Territory Football Club.[37][38] Mouncey ended the season second in VFLW goal-kicking behind Darcy Vescio.[39][40] On 9 September 2018, Mouncey announced that she would not nominate for the 2018 AFL Women's draft, while publicly releasing health and fitness records as evidence that she was eligible under the AFL's policies for nomination of trans women.[41]

Tia Thomas

Lia Catherine Thomas (born 1998/1999)[2] is an American swimmer and student at the University of Pennsylvania. In March 2022, she became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport after winning the women's 500-yard freestyle event. In 2021 and 2022, she became part of the public debate about transgender women in sports.[3][4][5]

Early life and education

Thomas grew up in Austin, Texas, and has an older brother.[3] She began swimming at the age of five,[4] and was sixth in the state high school swimming championships, competing for Westlake High School.[3] In 2017, she started attending the University of Pennsylvania.[2]

Towards the end of high school, Thomas began to question her gender identity.[2][6] After her freshman year at college, during the summer of 2018, she came out as transgender to her family.[2][4] She began using her new name on New Year's Day in 2020. In an interview with Sports Illustrated she said, "In a way, it was sort of a rebirth, for the first time in my life, feeling fully connected to my name and who I am and living who I am. I am Lia."[2]

Swimming career

Thomas began swimming on the men's team at the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, and during her freshman year, recorded a time of 8 minutes and 57.55 seconds in the 1,000-yard freestyle that ranked as the sixth-fastest national men's time, as well as 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle times ranked within the national top 100.[4] On the men's swim team in 2018–2019, Thomas finished second in the men’s 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle at the Ivy League championships as a sophomore in 2019.[4][3][7] During the 2018–2019 season, Thomas recorded the top university men's team times in the 500 free, 1000 free, and 1650 free.[8]

She began transitioning using hormone replacement therapy in May 2019, and came out as a trans woman during her junior year to her coaches, friends, and the women's and men's swim teams at the University of Pennsylvania.[2][4] She was required to swim for the men's team in the 2019–2020 academic year as a junior while undergoing hormone therapy and then swam on the women's team in 2021–2022 after taking a year off school to maintain her eligibility to compete while competitive swimming was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3][4][9] Thomas has followed all of the gender-related policies to be eligible to compete as a woman in NCAA swimming.[10][11][2]

Thomas lost muscle mass and strength through testosterone suppression and hormone replacement therapy. Her time for the 500 freestyle is over 15 seconds slower than her personal bests before medically transitioning.[12][13] Thomas's event progression peaked in 2019 for distance swimming, with a drop in times during the 2021–22 season. Her event progression for sprint swimming reflected a dip at the start of 2021–22 season before returning to near-lifetime bests in the 100 free and a lifetime personal best in the 50 free in 2021.[14]

In the 2018–2019 season she was, when competing in the men's team, ranked 554 in the 200 freestyle, 65 in the 500 freestyle, and 32 in the 1650 freestyle. In the 2021–2022 season, those ranks are now, when competing in the women's team, 5 in the 200 freestyle, first in the 500 freestyle, and eight in the 1650 freestyle.[15][16]

In a race during January 2022 at a meet against UPenn's Ivy league rival Yale, Thomas finished in 6th place in the 100m freestyle race, losing to four cisgender women and Iszac Henig, a transgender man (transitioning without hormone therapy).[17][18]

In March 2022, Thomas became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship in any sport, after winning the women's 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:33.24; Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant was second with a time 1.75 seconds behind Thomas.[19][20][21] Thomas did not break any records at the NCAA event, while Kate Douglass broke 18 NCAA records.[22] Thomas was 9.18 seconds short of Katie Ledecky's NCAA record of 4:24.06.[23] In the preliminaries for the 200 freestyle, Thomas finished second. In the final for the 200 freestyle, Thomas placed fifth with a time of 1:43.50. In the preliminaries for the 100 freestyle, Thomas finished tenth. In the finals for the 100 freestyle, Thomas placed eighth out of eight competitors in 48.18 seconds, finishing last.[24]

The March 2022 NCAA championship was Thomas's last college swimming event.[25] According to Swimming World, by the conclusion of Thomas's swimming career at UPenn in 2022, her rank had moved from 65th on the men's team to 1st on the women's team in the 500-yard freestyle, and 554th on the men's team to 5th on the women's team in the 200-yard freestyle.[15] According to the swimming data website Swimcloud, Thomas is ranked 36th among female college swimmers in the United States for the 2021-2022 season,[26] and 46th among women swimmers nationally.[27] According to Sports Illustrated, she has applied for law school and plans to swim at the 2024 Summer Olympics trials.[2]

Public debate

In 2021, predominantly conservative media started widely covering Thomas, including Fox News.[2][4][28][29][30] In early December, anonymous parents of University of Pennsylvania swim team members wrote to the NCAA, seeking for Thomas to be declared ineligible to compete.[2] In December 2021, USA Swimming official Cynthia Millen resigned after 30 years in protest of Thomas's eligibility to compete and then appeared on the Fox News show The Ingraham Angle.[31] In a January 10, 2022 article, The Washington Post wrote, "Thomas has shattered school records and has posted the fastest times of any female college swimmer in two events this season. She'll probably be a favorite at the NCAA championships in March, even as people inside and outside the sport debate her place on the pool deck."[32]

In January 2022, The University of Pennsylvania, multiple organizations affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and the Ivy League issued statements supporting Thomas.[32][33] In February 2022, sixteen anonymous members of the University of Pennsylvania women's swimming team sent a letter to the university and Ivy League officials asking them not to take legal action against the NCAA's proposed transgender athlete policy that could prevent Thomas from competing in the NCAA championships, and said that Thomas's rank "bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female".[34][35][note 1] Another group of swimmers from Thomas's swim team made a separate statement supporting her competing on the women's team.[35] The anonymous letter also led to another letter in response, organized by Schuyler Bailar and signed by more than 300 current and former collegiate swimmers, stating their "support for Lia Thomas, and all transgender college athletes, who deserve to be able to participate in safe and welcoming athletic environments".[4]

Brooke Forde, an Olympic silver medalist, said of Thomas that: "I believe that treating people with respect and dignity is more important than any trophy or record will ever be, which is why I will not have a problem racing against Lia at NCAAs this year".[10][36] Another swimmer, Olympic silver medalist Erica Sullivan, spoke in support of Thomas in an opinion piece for Newsweek: "like anyone else in this sport, Lia has trained diligently to get to where she is and has followed all of the rules and guidelines put before her... she doesn't win every time. And when she does, she deserves, like anyone else in this sport, to be celebrated for her hard-won success, not labeled a cheater simply because of her identity."[37] 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps said that "I believe that we all should feel comfortable with who we are in our own skin, but I think sports should all be played on an even playing field" and "I don't know what that looks like in the future. But it's -- it's -- it's -- it's hard. It's a really ... honestly ... I don't know what to say."[4][38]

In February 2022, Vicky Hartzler, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri, featured Thomas in a campaign advertisement asserting that "Women's sports are for women, not men pretending to be women", which was described by CNN as "a transphobic trope belittling trans women".[4] In March, roughly 50 protesters and counter-protesters gathered outside the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center when Thomas swam in the NCAA Division I national championship.[39] Some in the stands carried banners saying "Save Women's Sports".[40] On day 2 of the championships, around 10 protesters from the group "Save Women's Sports" protested during the preliminaries of the women's 500 freestyle.[41] Reka Gyorgy finished in 17th-place in the 500-yard freestyle event which Thomas won, one place short of qualifying for finals, and complained to the NCAA.[42] On March 22, Florida governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation declaring second-place finisher Emma Weyant the "rightful winner" of the 2022 NCAA Division 1 Women's 500-yard Freestyle,[43] although he does not have the authority to select the winner of the NCAA championship.[11] In March, Colorado representative Lauren Boebert introduced a bill co-sponsored by 20 other Republicans that honors Weyant.[44] Caitlyn Jenner said that Thomas was not the "rightful winner", adding "It's not transphobic or anti-trans, it's common sense!", while social media users responded by pointing out Jenner has previously expressed support for transgender athletes and has competed in women's golf.[45][46]

In February 2022, CNN described Thomas as "the face of the debate on transgender women in sports", and in March 2022, Sports Illustrated described her as "the most controversial athlete in America".[2][4] On March 23, after Indiana governor Eric Holcomb vetoed a legislative ban on the participation of transgender girls in school sports for girls, The New York Times wrote, "Sports participation by transgender girls and women has become an increasingly divisive topic among political leaders and sports sanctioning groups, which have struggled with the issue in a way that respects transgender athletes and addresses concerns some critics have raised about competitive fairness" and reported that Utah governor Spencer Cox, at a press conference before his veto of similar legislation, stated to the transgender community, "We care about you. We love you. It's going to be OK. We're going to get through this together."[47] As of March 2022, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have laws prohibiting public schools from allowing the participation of transgender girls in school sports for girls.[47]

In a report about the issue of gender identity being raised during the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, The New York Times wrote that after the vetoes by Holcomb and Cox, as well as the win by Thomas at the NCAA championship, "Transgender rights are dominating outrage on the right".[48] On March 31, The Hill described the debate over the participation of transgender athletes in sports as "the latest flashpoint in the country's culture wars" and wrote "Lia Thomas became the latest transgender athlete caught in the debate's crosshairs" after her NCAA win.[49] The National Women's Law Center, a non-profit organization, defended Thomas, saying that she "deserves all the celebration for her success this season, but instead is being met with nationwide misogyny and transphobia".[50]

Transgender band 'lady' to issue debut album

				March 17, 2022	Advanced Search

		Home>News Center>Life

			Transgender band 'lady' to issue debut album (Reuters) Updated: 2005-03-24 16:09 Members of transgender group 'Lady' (L-R) Yoona, Sine, Sahara and Binu pose while making a music video for their first album in Seoul March 24, 2005. The first South Korean transgender music group comprising of four transsexuals is making its debut in the local entertainment industry on March 31. [Reuters] Members of transgender group 'lady', Sine (L) and Yoona, read a magazine during a break from making a music video for their first album in Seoul March 24, 2005. The first South Korean transgender music group comprising four transsexuals who changed their sex to female is making it's debut on March 31. [Reuters] Binu, a member of the transgender group 'Lady', uses her mobile phone during a break from making a music video for the group's first album in Seoul March 24, 2005. The first South Korean transgender music group comprising four transsexuals is making its debut in the local entertainment industry on March 31. [Reuters]

Transgender woman hopes suit against former employer will help others

Thursday March 17, 2022

Updated: 12:00 a.m.

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Transgender woman hopes suit against former employer will help others

Fighting for Change: Part One, A New Life

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

By L.A. Johnson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

First of a two-part series

Dannylee Mitchell was reborn on a Tuesday in April at the not-so-tender age of 40.

John Beale, Post-Gazette Dannylee Mitchell stands in the foyer of her lawyer's Downtown office in March, before her surgery. "I think a lot of employers will see this and think twice, and it will make a difference," she said of her sex discrimination lawsuit. "They need to establish some policy." Click photo for larger image. Chat online about this story Chat online with Post-Gazette staff writer L.A. Johnson about Dannylee Mitchell's journey tomorrow at noon. Go to www.post-gazette.com/chat.

Her journey to her authentic self took a long and circuitous route that was neither pretty nor smooth.

Four days after Christmas 2003, she crashed the Dodge Intrepid she was driving into the rear of a Ford Explorer parked on North Main Street in downtown Washington, Pa.

Stressed and depressed, she'd fallen asleep at the wheel in a company rental car. Police found her partially ejected from the car.

About two months earlier, she'd told her employer that she had a gender-identity disorder and would be transitioning from being a man to a woman.

"You don't know from the day you tell them you're transitioning whether you're going to have a job," says Dannylee, a Washington, Pa., native. "It weighs on you. You don't sleep. I was going on two and three hours of sleep a night."

Estrogen therapy was wreaking havoc with her emotions. Her family wasn't terribly supportive. She felt alone.

"I'd wake up at 2 in the morning, crying," she says. "I was just overwhelmed. Anxiety was at its peak."

Two days after the accident, on New Year's Eve 2003, she checked herself into Washington Hospital's psychiatric unit.

"I didn't want to go on anymore -- not a suicide attempt -- just exhausted," she says. "I was just burned out. Cooked. Done."

Severely depressed, she says she was having suicidal thoughts and spent a few days there under observation.

"It wasn't too long after I got out of the hospital that they fired me."

Dismissal of a salesman

Axcan Scandipharm Inc., a Birmingham, Ala.-based pharmaceutical company specializing in gastroenterology products, cited poor sales and inconsistencies in her reporting of the accident as reasons for her dismissal, she says.

Because she lost consciousness in the crash, she says she didn't realize there were two teenage boys in the Ford Explorer her car struck. All involved suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital from the scene. No one was charged in the accident, police said.

She believes she was fired because she told her employer she was going to become a transgender female. She filed a sex discrimination lawsuit against her former employer under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

In court records, Axcan Scandipharm maintains it did fire her in January 2004 for alleged willful misconduct but denies she was harassed by the company because of her sex and disability or suffered lost wages, emotional distress, embarrassment or humiliation.

The corporation's initial request to have the case dismissed -- arguing that Title VII protections don't extend to transsexuals -- was denied in February. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing the corporation's request for an interlocutory appeal. That means the 3rd Circuit could grant the appeal, taking up the case itself, or deny the appeal, sending it back to federal court for trial.

Axcan Scandipharm's lawyer, Philip R. Voluck, had "no comment" on the case when reached by telephone last week.

John G. Burt, Dannylee's attorney, believes the case has parallels to other historic civil rights battles.

"Once upon a time we said black folks were three-fifths a person. Once upon a time we said women weren't smart enough to vote," says Mr. Burt, who took the case on a contingency-fee basis. "People like Dannylee are civil rights pioneers. They didn't want to be, but they are -- like the pioneers that wouldn't move to the back of the bus, the pioneers who said women have a right to vote. Just ordinary folk trying to live their lives."

Daniel Mitchell joined Axcan Scandipharm in February 1999 as a salesman. His performance evaluations consistently indicated he met or exceeded expectations, according to the complaint. In 2002, he was promoted to the position of photodynamic therapy specialist, marketing a photodynamic therapy drug (activated by light) to hospitals in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

While his professional life was fine, his personal life was in turmoil. In August 2003, he found himself in the throes of a waning romance. His girlfriend at the time questioned his commitment to their relationship.

"She asked why did I have so much female attire in my travel gear?" Dannylee says. "She thought I was having an affair."

He wasn't. At that time, he simply felt free and safe to wear women's clothing only in hotel rooms when he was out of town on business. Her questions forced him to take serious stock of his life.

"It was a culmination of things, another failed relationship, my masculinity wasn't there in the relationship, always the question of whether I was gay," Dannylee says.

Right brain, wrong body

In September 2003, he went to the Persad Center, a licensed counseling center in Bloomfield serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. There he was diagnosed as having a gender-identity disorder, specifically gender dysphoria. As cliched as it sounds, all of his life he had felt like a woman trapped in a man's body.

A month later, his girlfriend moved out while he was away at a business meeting. And Dannylee continued looking for answers.

"This was not about anything sexual or getting some sort of sexual pleasure," she says. "This is about gender identity and who you are. What your computer program is. What your brain is. You have your internal program, but it doesn't always run the peripheral equipment properly."

People with gender dysphoria feel "in their head and between their ears that they are the opposite gender," says Judith DiPerna, a clinical therapist and transgender specialist at the Persad Center. "That person feels comfortable and at peace when they're dressed as the gender they believe they are between the ears."

Dannylee participated in the center's gender clinic, which is designed to help people sort through their gender-identity issues. She participated in group and individual counseling, received estrogen hormone therapy under a physician's care and began living, working and dressing as a woman full time -- which all is standard protocol for someone planning to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

In mid-October 2003, Dannylee began presenting herself as female to her business accounts after having first informed them and her employer of her plans.

"I told them what was going to happen, had to talk to the vice president of the company, had to tell my workforce of about 15 to 20 people," she says. "They called some of the hospitals to see if they were OK with me coming in as a female."

She worried whether she'd lose her job if one of her accounts objected, though none did.

She says one supervisor essentially asked: "Wouldn't it be easier to go work somewhere nobody knew you? Wouldn't it be easier to just leave?"

According to the complaint, a manager also told her not to discuss her sex change plans with co-workers and to be low-key and to use a separate bathroom at a national sales meeting.

She legally changed her name in November 2003. By mid-month, her supervisor told her she'd have more frequent job performance reviews because of her disorder, according to the complaint.

She doesn't dispute that her sales volume was poor around that time, but says the sales of everyone in her division were poor. Up to that point, her sales record had been commendable. She says a manager suggested her sales volume was down because of her disorder.

In court records, the corporation denies these allegations.

After Axcan Scandipharm fired her on Jan. 12, 2004, she filed for unemployment and initially was denied benefits. She appealed the ruling.

Her personal problems continued to mount.

In February 2004, after going to retrieve her dog from an ex-girlfriend's house, she was arrested and held in jail for two days on breaking and entering and theft charges. Dannylee claimed her ex-girlfriend's son gave her the dog when she asked for it.

"They threw Danny in jail, and the cops were yukking it up," says Joan Hoop, a friend who initially started out as her electrologist in Washington, Pa., and agreed to the interview only with Dannylee's consent.

"She was starting to dress as a woman and didn't have her polish then, and they made the big scene about her now dressing as a woman. Put [her] in an orange jumpsuit, took [her] clothes and put her in a holding cell up there."

Dannylee lost custody of the dog and the charges were dropped on the condition that she pay court costs and not have further contact with her ex-girlfriend or her ex-girlfriend's children.

In March 2004, she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which initially said it didn't investigate claims related to transsexualism.

Extremely depressed during this period, she did try to commit suicide this time: She attempted to drown herself in a bathtub and later spent more time in a hospital psychiatric ward.

"You don't have a family. You have no money. Not sure how you're going to get through this transition," she says.

Around this same time, she won her appeal and started getting unemployment benefits.

In November 2004, the EEOC reconsidered the case and still found a transgender person was not protected under existing law, thus clearing the way for the federal lawsuit, which was filed in February 2005.

"First, it started off as me being [ticked] off at the world," she says. "But now when I look at it, it could do a lot of good for other people," she says. "If someone doesn't follow the perception of what [someone thinks] male or female should be, you can't discriminate."

Daniel Mitchell, shown in high school yearbook photo, always felt there was something wrong in his life. It took years of heartache, depression and courage to make it right. Click photo for larger image.

Portrait of a woman as a young man

Dannylee first realized she was different when she was 5 or 6 years old.

"I didn't feel like a boy. I didn't act like a boy," she says. "A lot of people said I had feminine features. My gestures were feminine. A lot of people assumed I was going to be a gay man."

Elsa Edwards, a kindergarten and high school friend, remembers Dannylee as being hysterically funny. The two, who were both witty and involved in theater, were voted "Most Unique" by their senior class.

"We defied categorization. Still do," says Ms. Edwards, 40, of Washington, Pa. "Danny always had such a sweet nature, always very kind, considerate, un-guy like, not aggressive, not pushy, didn't bully anybody, but got bullied a lot."

They lost touch a few years after high school graduation.

Dannylee earned a bachelor's degree in biology at Thiel College and considered going into nursing. She worked in medical research for several years, managed a pet store for a national chain, worked for a national pet supply company, sold eyeglass frames in Philadelphia and New Jersey, then moved back to Pennsylvania in 1997, landing the job with Axcan in 1999.

Twice married -- in 1989 and 1996 -- when she was still living as a man, she tried being macho in relationships.

"That led to disaster after disaster in relationships, relationship failure and divorce because I 'wasn't man enough,'" she says. "I thought something was wrong with me and that love would cure me."

She now believes the only thing "wrong" with her was that she spent the majority of her life trying to be someone she wasn't.

Dannylee reconnected with her old friend, Elsa Edwards, in August 2004 at their 20th high school reunion.

Ms. Edwards remembers seeing a very attractive woman in a red dress and heels across the banquet hall. It took her a few seconds to realize that woman was the Danny she knew in high school.

"A lot of people didn't have a clue. They'd say 'Hi' to me and then they'd look over and say, 'Who is this?' and I'd say, 'Oh, you remember Danny,' and the jaws would drop," Ms. Edwards says.

After people got over the initial shock, they actually were very sweet, she says.

Ms. Edwards doesn't believe Dannylee's desire to transition was some flight of fancy, because Dannylee was always very deliberate.

"When I remembered Danny from high school, I could tell there was a lot of hurt there but a really courageous kind of sense of trying to do things that would work, trying to make things work," Ms. Edwards says. "I think Danny must have tried really hard to fit in to what people expected, but couldn't because it wasn't right for her."

Near broke and still emotionally fragile in the late fall of 2004, all Dannylee could do was continue to concentrate on becoming the woman she'd always felt she truly was.

It was time to correct what she called a "birth defect," that "deformity" between her legs.

TOMORROW: Making the transition from male to female.

First published on October 3, 2006 at 12:00 am

L.A. Johnson can be reached at ljohnson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3903.