Florida ? In the most closely watched hearing of this small city’s 102-year history, supporters made emotional pleas late into the night Friday to convince Largo commissioners that City Manager Steve Stanton, who has announced he is having a sex change, deserves to keep his job.

It didn’t work.

After six hours of testimony and discussion, Largo commissioners voted 5-2 to reaffirm their earlier decision that Stanton had to go. Those who supported his firing insisted he was being dismissed not because he was a transsexual but because they questioned his judgment, integrity and ability to lead.

Mayor Pat Gerard, Stanton’s most vocal proponent, said she didn’t know why her fellow commissioners thought the longtime city manager had misled them. He had wrestled with the issue privately for most of his life.

The vote came after Stanton and his attorney had offered up a parade of experts and supporters who insisted that he would remain an effective leader even after he changes his gender and becomes “Susan.”