Rep. Frank urges Library of Congress not to appeal discrimination lawsuit

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) denounced the Library of Congress (LOC) in a letter Tuesday and asked it not to appeal a recent court decision that found the national library guilty of sexual discrimination.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Friday that the LOC discriminated against Diane Schroer when it did not hire the former Army Special Forces commander, who is a transsexual.

Schroer, formerly David, was offered the job as a terrorism research analyst with the LOC’s Congressional Research Service but was later denied the position when she announced her plans to live as a woman and go by the name Diane.

The LOC has the opportunity now to appeal the court’s decision. Frank’s letter was written to the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, who heads the library and initially announced its decision not to hire Schroer in 2005.

“I strongly urge you not to appeal,” wrote Frank. “I will be working with my congressional colleagues because it would be a great source of stress to us if you were to — as an institution that bears our name — appeal a decision that is plainly in the interest of fairness.”

The library said that while it would not discuss the details of Frank’s letter, it was still considering its next, if any, course of action.

“At this point our legal counsel is continuing to weigh options and the Department of Justice will likely have a say in that,” said Jennifer Gavin, spokeswoman for the LOC.

Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said that steps were needed to ensure that such discriminatory practices did not happen again and that he would be rallying support against a possible appeal by the LOC.