TRANS=ACTION

CALL TO ACTION

We need your help and support In January 2000 Peter Oiler was fired from his job as a Truck Driver with Winn-Dixie in Louisianna after it was learned that he wore women's clothes away from work. Peter, who had worked for Winn-Dixie for over twenty years was alledgedly told by his supervisors that his cross-dressing could "harm the company image, and therefore the company was asking him to resign." He was told to look for another job. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Louisiana in October claiming that Oiler, who admitted to his supervisors that he cross-dressed in private, was unlawfully terminated. The case is now in pre-trial proceedings and groups around the country have organized a series of direct and indirect action campaigns against the 75-year-old Grocery giant that has more than 1,100 stores in 14 states and the Bahamas and 116 stores in Georgia.

NOW ITS OUR TURN TO SHOW OUR DISGUST AT THIS UN-AMERICAN BEHAVIOUR

TRANS=ACTION and the ACLU are planning a rally to show our support for Peter Oiler at Winn-Dixie's Distribution Center at 5400 Fulton Industrial Boulevard on April 11, between 11.00 am and 3.00 pm.

WE NEED ALL THE SUPPORT WE CAN GET FROM GROUPS IN GEORGIA WHO BELIEVE IN THE FUNDAMENTAL CIVIL RIGHTS OF PEOPLE LIKE PETER OILER - TO EXPRESS HIMSELF AS HE WANTS WITHOUT VIOLATING ANYONE ELSE'S RIGHT TO LIFE LIBERTY AND PROPERTY.

Please join us for the rally!! We have sent the following Press Release to local and national media and are expecting to get coverage. We need to show America that people do care about bigotry and discrimination. Please post this message to everyone you know and plan to join us. For more information please call

Monica Helms: Director, TRANS=ACTION: (678) 525-5235, monica@trans-action.org

Kim Bourne - Communication Director TRANS=ACTION

www.trans-action.org

Directions to the Rally via Mapquest - from Downtown click here

NEWS RELEASE

3/28/01 – Atlanta GA - For Immediate Release

GEORGIA TRANSGENDER CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP PLANS FURTHER ACTION AGAINST WINN-DIXIE

14 months after Winn-Dixie fired Peter Oiler, an employee with 21 years of service, Transgender and Civil Rights groups across the country are refusing to let the case be forgotten.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Louisiana in October claiming that Oiler, who admitted to his supervisors that he cross-dressed in private, was unlawfully terminated. The case is now in pre-trial proceedings and groups around the country have organized a series of direct and indirect action campaigns against the 75-year-old Grocery giant that has more than 1,100 stores in 14 states and the Bahamas and 116 stores in Georgia.

On April 11 TRANS-ACTION, the Georgia based Transgender Advocacy and Action group will organize a rally at the Winn-Dixie Distribution Center on Fulton Industrial Boulevard in Metro Atlanta.

“Winn Dixie management has yet to explain publicly why they fired an employee who worked nearly his entire adult life at the company, showed up on time, followed all company policies and earned several raises," said the ACLU's Eric Ferrero. "They're silent because it's hard to explain the unlawful and un-American bigotry of firing Peter Oiler because away from work he didn't look or act the way they thought a man should."

Civil Rights campaigners claim that actions by companies against employees for private legal behavior have broad reaching consequences for all American workers.

“Peter is a good employee who simply did not conform to one company’s stereo-typical view of gender and this represents the kind of bigotry that our country is committed to fighting,” said Monica Helms, Executive Director of TRANS=ACTION. “Many people do things in private which may not be understood or condoned but that do not infringe on others’ rights to life, liberty and property. Their right to do so is enshrined by our Bill of Rights.”

In December, 2000 Atlanta, in line with over 20 other major US cities including New Orleans, passed an ordinance requiring companies operating within its city limits to follow non-discriminatory policies, that include a person’s freedom of gender-expression, in their employment policies.The Winn-Dixie distribution facility being targeted, like the one outside of New Orleans where Oiler worked, is outside of the City Limits of Atlanta.Activists are looking to use this protest to highlight the importance of broadening these laws to State and Federal levels.

The rally being planned on April 11 by TRANS=ACTION will take place between 11.00 AM and 3 PM, and will be a peaceful show of support for Oiler and all others whose employment is threatened by the absence of protective legislation.

TRANS=ACTION is the Atlanta based transgender advocacy and action group that provides information and support for and about all transgendered people in Georgia. It lobbies on behalf of the transgendered community of Georgia to State and local political representatives and its chief goal is to preserve the civil rights of transgendered people, allowing them to enjoy the same protection as their fellow American citizens.

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For more information:

Monica Helms: Director, TRANS=ACTION: (678) 525-5235, monica@trans-action.org

Media: Kim Bourne, Communication Director, TRANS=ACTION: (404) 522-2602 kim@trans-action.org