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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1986)
V ti i $5 Million gay class action suit OK'd A San Francisco S uperior C ourt Judge re cently ruled that a lawsuit filed against Pacific B ell by lesbians and gay men w ill proceed to tria l as a class action. The trial is expected to last several m onths. The case, originally know n as Gay Law Students V. Pacific Tele phone & Telegraph, was filed in June, 1975 by rejected applicants and em ployees o f the phone com pany and tw o gay organizations. The plantiffs are being represented by the San Francisco law office o f Heller, Ehrm an, W hite 6- M cAuliffe and National Gay Right Advocates, a public interest law firm . Charles N. Freiberg, a partner with Heller, E hrm an, hailed the co u rt’s ruling as “a m ajor step forw ard in this years-long battle against discrim ination by C alifornia’s third largest em ployer. C ertification o f the suit as a class action has greatly enhanced our position go ing into trial next week." The ruling cam e on the heels o f new evi dence uncovered ju st days ago. Pacific Bell and its lawyers had concealed this in crim i nating evidence for years, waiting to turn it over un til ju st days before trial. O ne such docum ent shows that Pacific Bell had a w ritten policy in the 1970s, ap proved by its highest level managem ent, fo r biddin g the em ploym ent o f "m anifest hom o sexuals." In another long-hidden docum ent, an interview er’s notes show that gay job applicants were labelled "C O D E 48 — HOMOSEXUAL," and rejected w ithout further consideration. The interviewer wrote that she and her supervisor explained to the applicant ‘‘the com pany’s policy o f not hiring hom o sexuals knowingly." A lthough Pacific Bell “ cleaned up" its w ritten policy after 1979, plaintiffs intend to prove at trial that d iscrim i nating practices still persist. Vowing not to allow this type o f bias, Leonard Graff, NGRA Legal Director, said, “ We are putting em ployers on notice in this state. If they discrim inate against lesbians and gay m en or other m inorities, it’s going to hurt them on the bottom line." Graff estimated th a t the claim s against Pacific Bell w ill far exceed $5 m illion. W hen the suit was first filed, the plaintiffs alleged that Pacific Bell had a written policy prohib itin g the hiring o f gay men and wo men. Pacific argued, all the way to the C alifornia Suprem e Court, that they had no such policy, but in any event the law did not prevent them from discrim inating. They lo s t In a landm ark decision, the C ourt held in 1979 that no em ployer in C alifornia could discrim inate against openly gay people in em ploym ent opportunities. And now, from the same people who brought you the mandatory HTLV-3 test A U.S. Navy officer is currently serving a year at hard labor in a federal prison for hav ing engaged in hom osexual acts with two different seamen at separate tim es in his off base ap artm ent Navy lieutenant, Daniel M il ler, was convicted o f charges of "behavior unbecom ing an officer and a gentlem an" brought by the Naval Investigative Services, and subsequently court-m artialed, given a dishonorable discharge, and sentenced to isolation and hard labor. The action against M iller resulted from in vestigations aboard the U.S.S. San Jose, in w hich a seaman, while being interrogated, reported the names o f other personnel he had heard were gay. When M iller heard he was under investigation, he confessed because he was given the im pression he w ou ldn't get a dishonorable discharge. “ The only reason I was convicted," claims M iller, “was that I was an officer. There was no harm done to the Navy or the Command. There is nothing to be gained in putting me away. I’ve already been dishonorably dis charged and have lost all pay. awards, and services. Now I’m to be confined to hard labor. No one was injured. It was purely con sensual and occurred off base. The convic tio n may have been based on the judge's own opinions. It may be because the other men were black and I am white." Currently, M iller is allowed as reading m aterial only a Bible, a copy o f the rules and regulations o f the brig, and a copy o f Stars an d Stripes, a m ilitary newspaper. Brief filed in Supreme Court sodomy case National Gay Rights Advocates filed a brief recently with the United States Supreme C ourt in the m ost im portant case of the century for gay men and women. The Court is expected to rule this spring in the case o f Bowers v. Hardwick as to whether a state may crim inalize private adult -exual con duct Laurence Tribe, the widely respected Harvard Law School professor and constitu tional scholar is representing Michael Hard wick. Hardwick was arrested in his own bed room in Atlanta, Georgia and charged with sodomy, a felony carrying a m axim um pen alty o f 20 years in prison. Leonard Graff, NGRA Legal Director, said, "The state o f Georgia exceeds its inherent Woman In the Year 2000 calls for study groups The 1985 Nairobi Conference concluded the United Nations' Decade for Women and m arked the beginning o f the Women in the Year 2000 pro je ct This is a unique, statewide project designed to identify and study the future relative to issues im portant to women. Twenty-seven sponsoring organizations have joined to provide the training, structure and resources necessary to conduct a study. The project’s goals are to focus attention on com m unity concerns, increase under standing and support am ong organizations, and share inform ation and skills to construct the future. Amazonian Indians found with HTLV antibody Am erican and Venezuelan scientists have found 4 percent of 224 aboriginal Indians in the Amazon rainforest test positive to the anti- body o f the HTLV-III virus, according to 1 ‘i Ç police pow er when it crim inalizes private sex ual co n d u ct by adults. The constitution does not p e rm it such far reaching regulation of A m erican citizens' lives." G raff noted that the statute m akes virtually all sexual conduct il legal w hether the participants are gay, heterosexual, m arried o r single. Jean O ’Leary, NGRA Executive Director said, “ The C ou rt’s decision in this case will affect the future o f the gay rights movement well in to the next century. It is fundam ental to c u r system o f lim ited governm ent that the State not be allowed to im pose its concept of m orality on people in th e ir own homes. The G eorgia attorney general has stated that the sodom y law is necessary to prom ote the “ tra ditiona l m oral values o f society.’’ Jo in in g w ith NGRA in this am icus curiae brie f are the Bay Area Lawyers fo r Individual Freedom , Los Angeles Lawyers fo r Human Rights, and C alifornia Lawyers fo r Individual Freedom . Issues to be investigated could include: How w ill today’s co u rt decisions shape the future?; W ill m inority w om en receive ade quate Social Security benefits to support the cost o f living?;W ill the business success form ula include the needs o f the fam ily unit?; How w ill social services budget cuts affect the needy in the future?; Does woman-authored literature provide alternative visions, and if so, how w ill it affect the future?; How w ill wo m en's issues com m and balanced reporting in the news media? W Y2000 is calling fo r organizations and groups o f individuals to support the project by developing a study. G roups will present th e ir study at the W om en in the Year 2000 conference, in Portland, Septem ber 19,20, 21,1986. C ontact the project and become involved w ith your future. W rite W omen in the Year 2000, P.O. Box 14936, Portland, OR 97214. Philadelphia G a y Hews. O f the nine positive results, five were wom en, and all appeared to oe healthy. W riting in The Lancet, a British m edical journal, the researchers speculate the results m ig ht be from a virus that is cross- reactive with HTLV-II, a "non-pathogenic an cestor" o f the virus, o r the HTLV-III infections are “ benign until influenced by co-factors." W indy City Times A N C IN A C L IN IC C h iro p ra c tic and Naturopatic Healthcare B ru ce D. C h a se r, D.C. D.K. W on, N.D., D .C. 40 YEARS IN PRACTICE A n o n -p re s s u re h e a lin g e n v iro n m e n t in w h ic h th e p a tie n t is e n c o u ra g e d to p a rtic ip a te in the re s to ra tio n an d m a in te n a n ce o f th e ir he alth . W e tre a t ch ild re n , g e ria tric p a tie n ts , an d p e o p le o f any life s ty le o r p e rs u a s io n . 3343 S .E . 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