Unanimous California Supreme Court Rejects Attempt to Limit Discrimination Claims by People with Disabilities
‘The Court’s decision furthers the Unruh Act’s purpose to eradicate arbitrary and invidious discrimination from California’s business establishments.’
(San Francisco, June 11, 2009) — Today the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act does not impose extra legal hurdles for people with disabilities, including people living with HIV who seek damages for discrimination.
Statement from Tara Borelli, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal and a principal author of the friend-of-the court brief Lambda Legal submitted urging today’s legal result in Munson v. Del Taco:
“The Court rightly rejected efforts to misread the Unruh Civil Rights Act to impose extra legal hurdles which would have harmed all disabled Californians who face discrimination in public accommodations, including those living with HIV.
“Real, reliable change for people with disabilities has been painfully slow in coming but the high court’s decision today promises greater fairness in California. The Court’s decision furthers the Unruh Act’s purpose to eradicate arbitrary and invidious discrimination from California’s business establishments.
“Though this case does not directly involve people living with HIV, the application of this decision will be helpful to all people living with disabilities who encounter discrimination, which includes many Californians living with HIV.”
Background on Munson v. Del Taco:
Kenneth Munson, a wheelchair user, filed suit against Del Taco, Inc. alleging violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and California’s Unruh Act. Munson’s suit is based on claims arising from visits he made to one Del Taco restaurant, where he encountered architectural barriers to his use of the parking lot and restroom.
Background on Unruh Civil Rights Act:
California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act requires that public accommodations — businesses such as restaurants, rental housing, and doctors’ offices — are open to everyone, without arbitrary discrimination based on disability (including HIV), sex (including gender identity), sexual orientation, marital status, race or several other personal characteristics. Similarly, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) forbids denying disabled people equal access to public places. In 1992, California revised the Unruh Act to better protect disabled Californians from discrimination by saying that a plaintiff who proves an ADA violation has also proven a state law violation.
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KRXQ Sacramento Radio Hosts Have History of Obscenity Involving Children: FCC Report
In the wake of the media and Internet firestorm which followed a call to action by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and coverage in The Huffington Post, which broke this story nationally, ten major American corporate advertisers have pulled their accounts from Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning on KRXQ 98.55 in Sacramento.
For its part, the station has taken the May 28th broadcast down off the station’s public website and removed its list of advertisers and sponsors.
On the day in question, two of the show’s three hosts, Rob Williams and Arnie States, spent approximately thirty minutes of the segment berating transgender children as “idiots,” “freaks,” and “freaks of nature,” who were “just out for attention.” They compared the children to “fat bastard kids on Maury” who just needed to be put in their places with verbal abuse and even physical punishment if necessary. States said that if he had a male child who put on a pair of high heels, he would discipline him by striking the little boy with his own shoe.
“I’m going to go, ‘You know what? You’re a little idiot! You little dumbass!” he seethed, later addng, “I look forward to the day when [the transgender children] go out into society and society beats them down. And they wind up in therapy.” If the transgender-identified child “gets to eighteen,” States urged, throw them out of the house. “You say, ‘Get out! Go be a freak! And understand, SON, that society will never accept you because we will have some moral judgment.”
Apparently a significant chunk of corporate America also has “some moral judgment,” and, in this case, they decided that Rob, Arnie & Dawn’s in the Morning’s abusive tirade against transgender children, some as young as five, crossed the line.
As of this writing, at least ten national companies have withdrawn, cancelled, or decided not to renew their advertising contracts with KRXQ. They include Chipotle restaurants, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, SONIC, Verizon, the Carl’s Jr. restaurant chain, Wells Fargo, Nissan, AT&T, and McDonalds. Citing the depravity of the content, spokespeople for the various companies were united in their disgust with KRXQ and Rob, Arnie, & Dawn in the Morning.
A statement sent to GLAAD from the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group read, “We found the segment to be offensive, and as a result we are pulling our Snapple advertising from the station.” The sentiment was echoed by SONIC, who asserted flatly that “SONIC in no way condones violence toward children and does not wish to be associated with media content that condones or promotes such activity in any way.” See KRXQ Sacramento Radio Hosts Have History of Obscenity Involving Children: FCC Report
Michael Rowe, 06.06.2009
Award-winning journalist and author of Other Men’s Sons
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A Day For The Holey Spirit
SF Chron says: “You naturally have this marked on your calendar, but we’ll remind you anyway: Today is National Doughnut Day. In celebration, Krispy Kreme is giving away a free doughnut to everybody who comes into a participating location (though there are none in the city proper). We checked in with Mission favorite Dynamo Donuts, who said they aren’t giving anything away for free, but they’ve stocked up on bacon-maple Doughnuts for the occasion. Talk about the breakfast/lunch/dinner of champions”
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Gay Days Expected To Bring In $100 Million
ORLANDO, Fla. — The annual Gay Days event is expected to bring 150,000 people into Orlando. The event caused a lot of controversy when it was first held in Orlando 19 years ago, but now organizers say Orlando’s tourism industry is supporting it like never before.
An estimated $100 million is expected to be generated thanks to the Gay Days event. Gay Days has grown from a one day event to a week long event.
About 3,000 people showed up for the event it’s first year. Now, an estimated 150,000 people are expected to fill Central Florida, bars, theaters, malls, restaurants and theme parks.
As a result, a number of big-time attractions are looking to get a piece of the pie. Universal Studios Blue Man group and Sea World’s Discovery Cove are now sponsors of the event for the first time. Organizers say they know why.
“With the economy stalling, you go after the market that has disposable income. More disposable income for vacation,” said VP of Gay Days Inc. Chris Alexander-Manley. See Gay Days Expected To Bring In $100 Million
WFtv.com
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The pageantry of Thailand’s”Third Gender”
PATTAYA, Thailand — They’re known as the “katoey,” or transgender people, and they are an important part of Thai culture.
Katoeys are found across Thailand — in urban areas, in rural villages, in cabarets and restaurants, in films, newspapers and, yes, on the stages of beauty pageants.
Here’s a look at the “Miss Tiffiny Unlimited Sexy Star Contest,” in the beach resort of Pattaya, which drew an television audience of some 15 million people. See The pageantry of the “Third Gender”
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McDonald’s Agrees To Training and Settlement After Staff Called Gay Customers “Faggots,” Super-Size Training For Management Offered After Kentucky Incident
LOUISVILLE, KY – Nine months after an employee at a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Louisville called a group of gay customers a series of anti-gay slurs, the American Civil Liberties Union announced today that McDonald’s has agreed to a cash settlement and diversity training for management at 30 of its Louisville-area restaurants.
Ryan Marlatt, Teddy Eggers, and three other friends had stopped for lunch at a McDonald’s restaurant on East Market Street on July 26, 2008 while visiting Louisville for the weekend. While they waited for their food to be prepared, an employee behind the counter referred to them as “faggots” to another employee. When Marlatt and Eggers objected to the slur and asked to speak with a manager, the employee who had called them “faggots” started arguing with them, repeatedly calling them “faggots” in front of other customers and calling one of them a “cocksucker” and “bitch.”
“The reason we made such a big deal out of this to begin with was because we didn’t want it happening to anyone else, so I’m very glad McDonald’s management is going to be having these trainings,” said Eggers of Indianapolis, Indiana. “We were hurt and upset, but at least we’re adults and can handle being called names. We hated thinking that this kind of harassment might also happen to someone young and vulnerable who would really take it to heart.”
The supervisor on duty refused to refund the group’s purchase, so Marlatt attempted several times in the following weeks to contact both the general manager of the McDonald’s and the corporate offices, with no results. Louisville law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, so the ACLU filed a complaint in September on behalf of Marlatt and Eggers with the Louisville Human Relations Commission. In October, representatives of a variety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups as well as other civil rights organizations protested at the downtown Louisville McDonald’s where the incident took place.
Although Marlatt and Eggers only asked for $28, McDonald’s offered them $2000 each on its own, which they accepted, Sun said. The Louisville Human Relations Commission has been thoroughly investigating Eggers and Marlatt’s complaint since it was filed last September and helped negotiate the settlement between the parties.
“We’re really grateful to the Louisville Metro Human Relations Commission for its investigation, as well as to our friends at the Fairness Campaign, and commonGround at the University of Louisville, for keeping the pressure on McDonald’s to do the right thing,” said Michael Aldridge, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kentucky. “While we’re fortunate to have a law banning sexual orientation discrimination in Louisville, this goes to show that it’s still important to speak out and do something about it when your rights are violated.”
“McDonald’s could have saved itself a lot of embarrassment if they’d just done the right thing from the start and done something about this, but it’s great that so many people stood up for us and came forward to say treating people the way we were treated is wrong,” said Marlatt. “We just hope the trainings keep McDonald’s from letting this happen to any of their customers from now on.”
When their Louisville Human Relations Commission complaint was filed, Marlatt and Eggers asked for a refund of the money they spent on the McDonald’s meal, and asked that one employee – the cashier who objected to the other employee’s name-calling – be commended. “She was the only employee in the whole place who tried to help us,” said Eggers. “I hope she hears about this and knows how much we appreciated her sticking up for us.”
“While we wish Ryan, Teddy, and their friends hadn’t had to go through this whole experience to begin with, we’re glad that at least McDonald’s is taking steps to prevent anything like this from happening again in the future,” said Christine Sun, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project who is representing Marlatt and Eggers. “Businesses should treat all of their customers with respect regardless of their sexual orientation.”
A video of Marlatt and Eggers telling the story of what happened to them as well as their complaint to the Human Relations Commission can be found at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/discrim/36781res20080916.html.
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ACC reluctant to acknowledge lesbian fans
GREENSBORO – Donna George waited until the final day of spring break before sitting her parents down in the kitchen to reveal her secret. “Mom, Dad,” she said, “I’m gay.”
It’s been 11 years since George, a devoted follower of women’s basketball, came out. She hopes it’s not as long before the ACC women’s tournament does the same.
“If you look at it from a strictly business view, it makes perfect sense,” said George, who lives in Columbia, S.C., and is attending this year’s ACC women’s tournament — her fourth in as many years — with her partner. “Anyone who thinks (lesbians) aren’t a big asset to this (tournament) needs to check out all the bars this week and the restaurants we give our money to. It just makes sense that the league would want to see more of us at the games.”
And, in fact, ACC officials want to see much more of basketball fans like George. Just don’t expect the league to court them directly — not any time soon, at least.
See ACC reluctant to acknowledge lesbian fans
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/acc-reluctant…
