Virginia Woman Says KFC Hired Her, Then Fired Her, Because She's Trans

Georgia Carter, 27, says the manager of the fast food joint in her town fired her within an hour of hiring her after learning she's transgender.

A transgender woman from Virginia says she was hired by a Richmond KFC franchise, only to be let go an hour later after the store manager realized she's transgender. Georgia Carter, 27, says her driver's license still identifies her as male.

"He was like, 'You have got the job. I am going to start you out at $7.50 an hour. It's yours. We are going to start you training on the computer tomorrow.' It was like 11 to 4," Carter told Richmond TV station WRIC.

When Carter returned home after the interview, she says she told her boyfriend how excited she was to have a job again. But within minutes, the store manager called back to rescind the offer.

"He was like, 'My supervisor and I have a problem because on your license it says 'male,' but you're...' and I was like, 'I'm transgender,'" Carter says. "'Oh, we can't hire you because we don't know which bathroom you can use.'."

According to the report, the manager claims that he didn't offer Carter the job, but then added that if she changed her gender on her driver's license, he would reconsider her for the position. KFC did not respond to WRIC's request for comment.

Equality Virginia notes on its website that gender identity is not protected from discrimination in hiring by state law. Governor Terry McAuliffe did extend those protections to state workers, however, with Executive Order Number 1 in 2014. It outlaws discrimination of state employees based upon both their sexual orientation and gender identity. Carter's situation is just one reason why Congressional lawmakers are fighting for passage of the federal Equality Act, which would include gender identity protections nationwide.

Watch tbe WRIC report, below.