rmmmnews
ed nondiscrimination policy approach used by
every Fortune 500 company that has incorpo
rated sexual orientation into their policies.”
The number of shareholders opposing dis
crimination nearly doubled from last year, when
HRC co-filed the shareholder resolution, which
garnered 13 percent of the vote, representing a
value of $25.8 billion worth of stock. T he effort
was spearheaded by the New York City Employ
ees Retirement System.
Earlier, the resolution received a major boost
when Institutional Shareholder Services recom
mended that people vote in favor of it. “ISS says
most of ExxonMobil’s competitors ban discrimi
nation based on sexual orientation in their equal
employment policies, and ExxonMobil’s failing to
do so puts the company at a disadvantage and
invites possible litigation,” according to a May 29
news report in the Wall Street Journal.
In late March, the Securities and Exchange
Commission denied the company’s request to
delete the question from the ballot. In Decem
ber 1999, when Exxon merged with Mobil, it
became the first U.S. employer ever to rescind a
nondiscrimination policy covering sexual orien
tation. A t the same time, executives closed
Mobil’s domestic partner benefits program to
any additional employees.
O H IO
he O hio Supreme Court ruled May 15 that
the state’s soliciting law, which criminalizes
expressions of sexual interest between people of
the same sex, is unconstitutional. In a unani
mous decision, it ruled that the statute violates
the equal protection clauses of the U.S. and
O hio constitutions.
Under the law, it was a first-degree misde
meanor for someone to make a sexual advance
toward a person of the same sex, should that
advance he found offensive. The penalty could
include up to six months in jail and a fine of up
to $1,000. T he law covered advances that
involve nothing more than words, hut only if the
words arc directed at somebody of the same sex.
“This is a stark rejection of anti-gay discrimi
nation in criminal laws," attorney Heather C.
Sawyer said. “We don’t throw men in jail for mak
ing passes at women, and there can be no double
standard for gay people doing the same thing.”
The case stems from the conviction of a man
who made passes at a male jogger. W hen the
jogger asked to he left alone, the man complied,
hut the jogger then complained to the police.
The man was charged and convicted of vio
lating the soliciting law and sentenced to six
months in jail; he appealed. T he state’s 11th
District C ourt of Appeals found that the law
violates equal protection rights, hut it upheld
the law and the m an’s conviction based on a
prior ruling from the O hio Supreme Court.
T
P E N N S Y L V A N IA
“morally bankrupt” report issued May 10
advises University of Pittsburgh not to
begin providing health benefits to same-sex
partners of lesbian and gay employees, the
American Civil Liberties U nion said.
A
Mark Nordenberg
A special committee was appointed by uni
versity president Mark Nordenberg in May
2001, five years into an ongoing lawsuit by les
bian and gay employees seeking equal benefits.
Both the university and the ACLU agreed to
suspend all litigation so the committee could
weigh whether or how to provide equal benefits.
“The question here has always been whether
gay employees should be compensated the same as
straight employees,” said Witold Walczak, ACLU
of Pennsylvania Greater Pittsburgh Chapter exec
utive director. “Instead of answering that question,
the committee looked around to see which way the
wind is blowing.... It reported on what it thinks
others believe is right and wrong and decided it’s
too risky to provide equal benefits now.”
In a two-page memorandum issued with the
report, Nordenberg thanked the committee for its
work but did not indicate whether he accepts its
recommendation. “We call on President Norden
berg to assume leadership where this committee
failed...and change this policy,” Walczak said.
❖
he Philadelphia
City
Council
voted 15-2 on May 16
to add gender identity
to a city ordinance pro
hibiting discrimination
in housing, public
accommodations and
employment.
“Statewide protec
tions do not exist," said
Stacey Sobel, C enter
for Lesbian and Gay
Civil Rights executive
director. “Therefore, it
is incumbent upon lo
cal jurisdictions to do
the right thing by pro
tecting all of its most
vulnerable inhabitants and visitors.”
Mayor John F. Street has pledged to sign the
updated ordinance into law. Two other major
U.S. cities— Dallas and New York C ity—
recently voted to include trans-specific language
in anti-discrimination ordinances.
T
C A L IF O R N IA
n award-winning high school teacher,
harassed and denied a promotion for being
a lesbian, has settled her discrimination case
against a Southern California school district,
Lambda Legal said May 23.
T he lengthy and expensive battle emphasizes
the consequences for school districts that fail to
take sexual orientation harassment seriously.
The settlement requires the Oceanside Unified
School District in San Diego County to pay
Dawn Murray more than $140,000 and to pro
vide annual sensitivity training to its employees
on issues of sexual orientation discrimination.
A biology teacher hired in 1983, she suf
fered severe harassment that began when co-
workers learned she is gay. Although she had
won state and national awards, she was denied
a promotion.
Murray became the target of vicious anti-gay
remarks, false rumors and obscene graffiti that
was painted repeatedly outside her classroom.
Officials at Oceanside ignored the abuse and
threatened disciplinary action against her when
she complained.
“This lawsuit shows other school districts that
if they respond to harassment in an inappropriate
way, we will stand up, the laws will protect as, and
they will be made to stop," Murray said. “Young
people leam from adult behavior, and it was
important to wage this fight to show students all
people have to he treated fairly.”
A
C ontinued on Page 23
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