Tristan Brousard is a 21-year-old native of Hathaway, LA, in Jefferson Davis Parrish. The transgender man has filed a sex disrimination lawsuit against his former employer, First Tower Loan LLC, which is based in Flowood, Mississippi and has offices in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois.
Broussard says that he was forced out of his job in Lake Charles, LA, after a company executive discovered he was born female. Tower was hired in February of 2013 as a sales representative and in March a supervisor was going over his employment papers and noticed that his driver's license listed him as female. Broussard told the supervisor that he was transgender.
Most people that don't know me from before can't tell.
--Broussard
The suit claims that a few days later a Tower Loans Vice President, David Morgan, took Broussard aside and asked him to sign a document promising that he would dress as female and that when out of town on business travel would stay in rooms with other female employees.
The statement he was asked to sign also included language saying that his "preference to act and dress as male, despite having been born a female, is not something that will be in compliance with Tower Loan's personnel policies," the suit contends.
He said, 'If another guy who worked here came to work with a dress on, how would that look?' I told him that it's not the same thing.
--Broussard
Broussard, the lawsuit states, tried to explain that his gender identity was male, and he couldn't agree to Tower Loan's terms. Morgan told Broussard he was fired, but said if Broussard "had some surgeries and we can see some results," he might consider rehiring him.
Broussard refused to sign away his identity and left the job.
I mean, how could Broussard lay it on the table so they could measure if he doesn't have one?
Broussard is seeking damages against the company and a ruling that states Tower Loan's actions and practices were unlawful.
His legal case is being supported by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Broussard says he is hoping that the case will send a message to other employers.
It takes one person at a time to take a stand.
--Broussard
I want justice. What happened to me was not a good thing. But I would like to see some progress.
--Broussard
The EEOC reviewed the case and ruled last December that discrimination had occurred, but declined to pursue a case against Tower Loan.
His lawyer, SPLC staff attorney Sam Wolfe, said Monday the Civil Rights Act prohibits employers from discriminating against workers based on their gender, and that recent interpretations of the 1964 law have protected the rights of transgender people.
Wolfe added that the U.S. Department of Justice has recently filed lawsuits against companies in Oklahoma, Michigan and Florida, accusing them of discriminating against transgender employees.
Attorneys for Tower Loan have refrained from speaking to the press.
Meanwhile, in another case, a central Florida eye clinic has agreed to pay $150,000 to resolve a discrimination lawsuit brought on behalf of a transgender employee who was terminated.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit which alleges the Lakeland Eye Clinic fired the employee, Brandi Branson, after she started dressing as a woman and told her bosses she was transitioning from male to female.
The company terminated Branson in 2010 from her new position as director of hearing services, claiming the position was being eliminated, after Branson began appearing to work wearing makeup and women's clothing.
But Lakeland Eye Clinic then hired a replacement for Branson two weeks later.
The commission says the termination violates the Civil Rights Act.
The settlement was approved in the US District Court in Tampa on Thursday.
The eye clinic also agreed to institute a new gender discrimination policy and to provide training for its management and employees regarding transgender and gender stereotype discrimination.