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“Dortf disappears Into the
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S e e k in g justice
• Stephen Farter, MOVIELINE
“With amazing style by
Stephen Dorff as
flamboyant transvestite
Candy Darling.”
Tacoma lesbian journalist Sandy Nelson’s case is heard by
the Washington state Supreme Court
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by Inga Sorensen
- Bruce Williamson, PLAYBOY
breathy feline pathos
worthy of Kim Novak.”
- David Ansen. NEWSW EEK
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emotional warmth and
langour in a blond wig and heels.
• Peter Travers. ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
I SHOT AN D Y WARHOL
Lili Taylor
Stephen Dorff
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ashington state’s highest court
heard arguments June 11 involv
ing an openly lesbian copy edi
tor for The News Tribune of
Tacoma.
“I think things went well. The justices seemed
to ask good questions,” Sandy Nelson, the figure
at the center of this high-profile case, told Just
Out the day after the hearing. ‘‘They seemed to be
asking for guidance and obviously had read the
[numerous amicus briefs that were submitted on
behalf of Nelson]. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Nelson’s case has been entangled in the court
system for more than two-and-a-half years. It is
an intriguing one which pits the rights of the
employer to dictate an employee’s off-duty ac
tivities against the right of an employee to freely
participate in the political
process.
Dozens o f N elson’s
supporters packed into the
Temple of Justice court
chambers in Olympia for
the hearing. Some stood
against the wall due to lim
ited seating, and others
were turned away.
‘‘It’s really moving to
see that I have so much
support,” says Nelson, who
was removed from her re
porting position in 1990
by her editors at The News
Tribune, a m ainstream
daily newspaper, because
she was actively involved
in political causes, specifi
cally lesbian and gay rights.
The aw ard-w inning
education reporter was Sandy Nelson
subsequently transferred to the copy desk, a job
she “absolutely deplores.”
Nelson is seeking reinstatement to her report
ing job, and her lawsuit argues that her banish
ment from reporting unduly restricts her freedom
of speech and right to participate in the initiative
and referendum process.
It also claims that management breached an
employment contract by terminating Nelson’s
job as a reporter without just cause, and violated
the Fair Campaign Practices Act, a 1992 Wash
ington state law that prohibits employers from
discriminating against workers for “in any way
supporting or opposing a candidate, ballot propo
sition, political party or political committee.”
When Nelson joined the paper in 1983, news
room employees were represented by the Pacific
Northwest Newspaper Guild Local 82, and their
contract included a clause that protected workers
from retribution for their off-duty activities.
Nelson was involved in many community
causes. She was active in the socialist-feminist
movement and had been a longtime member of
Radical Women, an organization dedicated to
women’s full equality. She defended abortion
clinics and Native American treaty rights.
In 1986, a California corporation, McClatchy
Inc., purchased The News Tribune, abrogated its
union contracts and forced workers to reapply for
their jobs.
The new management rehired Nelson, know
ing she was a local political activist. The follow
ing year the new owners proposed a “code of
ethics” for newsroom workers that included a
blanket prohibition against all off-duty political
W
“Stephen Dortf with a
Free ride to MAX
Gerard Lillie
Todd Connelly
activity on the grounds that such a prohibition was
needed to ensure the paper protected its "appear
ance of neutrality.”
Nelson, other reporters and their union de
nounced the proposal as a violation of newsroom
workers’ free speech and associational rights,
saying management had committed an unfair
labor practice by unilaterally imposing an
unratified ethics code— one that interfered with
the political and personal rights of newsroom
employees.
Nelson remained active in human rights causes,
and in 1989 helped form the Committee to Protect
Tacoma Human Rights, which sought to stop the
repeal of a Tacoma law barring discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
When the law was rescinded by voters, Nelson
was among the gay and
lesbian rights supporters
who launched an initiative
campaign to get the law
back on the books.
She continued to re
ceive excellent ratings
from her employer until
1990, when she was invol
untarily transferred to a
night copy desk job by
management.
Even though her po
litical activism never ovei -
lapped with her work as an
education reporter, she was
told she must discontinue
all political activities in
5 order to work as a reporter.
Nelson refused and
filed a lawsuit against The
News Tribune in 1993. The
American Civil Liberties
Union of Washington is backing Nelson’s case
and considers it to be a groundbreaking case for
the political rights of Washington workers.
During the recent high court hearing, attor
neys for the Tribune argued that it was imperative
that newspaper reporters be prohibited from po
litical activism. Reporters, they argued, must re
main impartial on all political issues in order to
stay credible in the eye of the public.
“What’s at stake is credibility,” attorney P.
Cameron DeVore told the nine-member state Su
preme Court. “[Consumers will] say, ‘Well, that’s
the kind of newspaper that hires people like that.’
They vote with their feet, walk right past The News
Tribune rack and buy another newspaper.”
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki
Hogan previously sided with the Tribune. Last
May, Hogan ruled that the campaign reform law,
passed after Nelson was actually transferred, could
not be applied “retroactively,” even though the
paper’s refusal to reinstate her is ongoing.
Additionally, Hogan had earlier rejected argu
ments that the newspaper’s transfer of Nelson
violated state constitutional guarantees of free
dom of speech, assembly and participation in
ballot initiative campaigns. Hogan said the Tri
bune was entitled to prohibit its reporters from
political involvement in order for it to protect its
“appearance of neutrality.”
Nelson says: “I’ve come so far that there’s no
turning back. I’m committed to this. I think the
biggest contribution that I will make to the field of
journalism is this case, which will determine
whether or not we can exercise fundamental
rights.”