LARGO, FLA. ? Steve Stanton professed his love for the city and asked the people of Largo to support his decision to undergo a sex change and allow him to keep his $140,000-a-year job as city manager.

To his sorrow, the answer came back no.

Almost 500 people packed City Hall on Tuesday night for a special meeting to decide if they would accept someone named Susan instead of Steve as their top official. And while many spoke eloquently in his defense, more called for his ouster.

“If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he’d want him terminated,” said the Rev. Ron Saunders of Largo’s Lighthouse Baptist Church. “Make no mistake about it.”

At the end of the 3 1/2-hour meeting, the City Commission voted 5-2 to begin the legal process of firing Stanton, who went public about his sex-change plans after learning that a local newspaper was about to reveal his secret. The 48-year-old married man and father of a teenage boy can appeal his dismissal, and commissioners must vote again to formally fire him from the job he has had for 14 years.

Transgender advocates Wednesday called Stanton’s firing a “shameful display of ignorance and bias.” But they suggested Largo’s dismissal of the respected government official might be the example they need to persuade Congress to extend employment protections to gays and transsexuals.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation estimates 10 states and more than 90 local governments have included gender identity in their nondiscrimination policies.

Stanton supported a similar ordinance in Largo that failed to pass in 2003, and the fact he kept his personal life to himself then intensified the anger directed at him Tuesday night.

“I do not feel he has the integrity, nor the trust, nor the respect, nor the confidence to continue as the city manager of the city of Largo,” said Commissioner Mary Gray Black, who introduced the resolution to fire Stanton.

Stanton listened with hands clasped throughout the meeting.

“It’s just real painful to know that seven days ago I was a good guy and now I have no integrity, I have no trust and, most painful, I have no followers,” Stanton told the crowd before the vote.

His announcement stunned this city of 76,000 near St. Petersburg. Stanton said he had planned to reveal his secret this summer.