(Photo from Aimee Stephens’ Facebook)
UPDATE: The Detroit News is reporting that Aimee Stephens passed away May 12. She was 59.
GARDEN CITY, Mich. (AP) | A Detroit-area woman at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case about transgender rights is in hospice care while awaiting a decision.
Aimee Stephens has kidney disease and was in a wheelchair when the court heard arguments in October, The Detroit News reported May 11.
“Aimee is now in hospice care at home. It is truly heartbreaking,” said Dana Chicklas, spokeswoman at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
Stephens worked as an embalmer and funeral home director at R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Home in Garden City. She was fired in 2013 when she told her boss that she wanted to be known as Aimee, not Anthony, and would report to work wearing a conservative skirt suit or dress.
Thomas Rost said Stephens’ dress would be a distraction for grieving families.
The issue for the Supreme Court is whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars job discrimination on the basis of sex, protects transgender people. A decision is expected by late June.
“Sadly it appears that Aimee will never see the result of her valiant and difficult fight for transgender rights,” according to a GoFundMe page set up to help Stephens and her wife pay for her care.
