change is coming

Jury Agrees with San Diego Firemen on Gay Parade Harrassment. Mistrial Declared

Submitted by David Turney on 7 October 2008 - 6:45am
in

8 - 4 in favor of firemen.

Bad news is this important trial ended with hung jury.  The only good news is that it's pretty obvious the jury's mind on the matter was solidly on the side of these firemen and the facts that they were, indeed, subjected to a kind of sexually revolting behavior that would land a normal office worker like me in lawsuit hell or prison.

Listen to "side show Mike" on this one.  Yeah, sure, Gay Pride parade is the same as the Fourth of July parade.  What's the big diff?

From here: http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/454159.html (bold emphasis mine):

Aguirre told jurors that the men were assigned to the parade after another crew backed out with less than two days' notice due to a death in one member's family. He said the parade is a city-sanctioned event, just like those celebrating the Fourth of July and Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Aguirre, who is in a tough election battle for a second term, said the firefighters were uncomfortable with a city policy that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Fire Chief Tracy Jarman, who marched in the parade ahead of the four firefighters, said she didn't feel sexually harassed but testified at the trial that she could see why some people would find the parade offensive.

For those of you unfamiliar w/ the story, keep in mind that San Diego's fire chief, who ordered these men to march in Gay Pride is a lesbian herself.

Sounds like the firemen will try this again, which is fine with me.  At least they can go in again with some reasonable certainty that the public is generally behind their cause.

Where is the diocese of San Diego on this one?  Are they or are they not opposed to sexual harrassment in the workplace?

 

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David Turney's picture
Submitted by David Turney on 7 October 2008 - 8:59pm.

More indications of the mind of the jury from the Union Tribune:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20081007-9999-1m7verdict.html

If you watched any of the TV interviews of the jury, you got the idea it was an essentially unanimous jury except for the matter of whether some or all of the firefighters were sexually harrassed by being forced to participate in this parade (by their lesbian fire chief).  I really hope this goes to trial again.

“I felt that they were wronged,” said Helene Matthews, a juror from Mira Mesa. “They were put in a situation that you or I in our jobs would not be put in, and then they were forced to do things that went against their morals, and I consider that to be harassment.”

Jury forewoman Susan Wolking of Poway said she felt bad that the jury could not reach a decision, in part because the firefighters “took a significant risk to step out” and say they should not have been forced to participate in the parade.

“They were not making a condemnation of the gay community,” she said. “They were not saying in any way that the fire department shouldn't be in the parade.”

The panel found that Hewitt and Allison were sexually harassed, Wolking said. But the panel was split on the other two and therefore deadlocked on the entire sexual harassment cause of action in the suit.

David Turney
Site Editor