Cross-dressing stylist sues salon

A hair stylist has filed a federal suit contending that he was fired from his salon job because he wears high heels and women's clothes and does not "conform to stereotypes regarding how males should appear and behave."

Daniel Brant worked at the Chop Shop on the Temple University campus and the salon's South Street branch. The sex-discrimination suit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed last week in U.S. District Court.

Chop Shop owner Kathy Thomas described the suit as "unfair."

"I can't believe he's going through with this," Thomas said.

Brant was hired full-time at the Chop Shop's Temple salon in February 2008.

That May, according to the suit, a female supervisor complained that Brant was "too flamboyant" for the Temple salon's male clientele. Brant said his income fell when the supervisor stopped sending him male customers.

Thomas, who described Brant as "very talented with a nice look and flair," acknowledged that his wardrobe made some Temple University customers "uncomfortable."

"If he had wanted to wear a dress, that would have been fine," she said. "But at one point, he was wearing Daisy Dukes shorts. He was basically uncovered."

Later that month, the supervisor transferred him to the salon's South Street branch and reduced his hours to one shift per week, the suit says.

In July 2008, he called Thomas and registered a sex-discrimination complaint.

On Aug. 3, 2008, Thomas fired Brant.

Brant said that he was terminated because he referred a client to another salon - a common practice, he said - and that Thomas used the referral as a pretext to fire him.

Thomas disputed Brant's account.

"I fired him because he was working at another salon and telling his clients to go over there," Thomas said. "I did not fire him because he was a cross-dresser."