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- Newsgroups: soc.motss
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!mimbres.cs.unm.edu!nmt.edu!news
- From: jefu@akbar.nmt.edu (Jeff Putnam)
- Subject: Re: Private antidiscrimination policies in CO (was Re: Attention...)
- Message-ID: <1992Dec31.141841.25930@nmt.edu>
- Sender: news@nmt.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: akbar
- Organization: New Mexico Tech
- References: <22@bbx.basis.com>
- Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 14:18:41 GMT
- Lines: 44
-
- In article <22@bbx.basis.com> scott@bbx.basis.com (Scott Amspoker)
- writes:
-
- > Actually, CO2 states that you cannot make a claim of discrimination
- > based on a homosexual orientation. It prevents someone from sueing
- > if they were discriminated against for being homosexual (or even
- > suspected of being homosexual). Please note that you can sue if
- > you were fired for being heterosexual. I can't tell you if
- > private contracts are affected by this. I just wanted to point out
- > that there is more to CO2 than you realize.
-
- > Side note: I'm not sure if the person's *actual* orientation is
- considered
- > relevent with CO2 - only the *reason* for discrimination. In other
- words,
- > an employer can fire a heterosexual employee and simply say "I
- think
- > you're a fag". Since the heterosexual employee was fired "for
- being
- > gay" he/she would have no ability to sue - even if to prove that
- they
- > weren't gay.
-
- It is probably worth noting that this hole - that you can be
- denied employment/housing/.... on the basis of appearing gay
- (just think how hard it would be to do if you had to _prove_
- someone gay) can be used to discriminate arbitrarily. For
- example, suppose I dont want to rent to anyone of a certain
- race. All I need to do is to claim that I'm not renting to them
- because they are gay - or appear gay to me. Granted, a history
- of this kind of thing might be used in court to establish a
- pattern of discrimination, but I think that would be rather
- harder to prove - especially if I (as the landlord) am a bit
- canny and refuse to rent to a few people of other races on
- the same basis.
-
- I dont know if this could be used for a legal challenge or
- not.
-
- --
- jefu <=> Jeff Putnam - New Mexico Tech <=> jefu@nmt.edu
- "Daffodils go Ping! and Oink! // They Really are alarming
- I'm scared of big geraniums // And I'm sure that Lilac's harming"
- (Dr. Bertram X. Fegg)
-