[Sca-cooks] RE:harassment was Male vs. female cooks

[Randy Goldberg MD]

> >>Just a point of information, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a few years
ago
> >>that there is no such thing as same sex sexual harassment.  As far as I
know
> >>they haven't changed their minds.
>
> Alright folks, I just looked it up, and you have it backwards. This is
what
> happened:
>
> >In a recent decision, the Supreme Court confirmed the expansive scope of
> sexual harassment law by ruling that same-sex sexual
> >harassment constitutes illegal discrimination. Three other sexual
> harassment cases dealing with questions of employer liability will
> >also be decided before the justices' session concludes this summer. In
> March, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Oncale v.
> >Offshore Sundowner that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which
> makes it illegal for employers to discriminate on the
> >basis of sex, is applicable to same-sex harassment. The sexual
orientation
> of the parties was deemed irrelevant.

'Lainie is absolutely correct. The misinterpretation arises in the
distinction between "same-sex sexual harassament" and "homosexual advances".
While the latter is undeniably a subset of the former, the former may not
always be the latter - and the latter has no independent legal standing.
Nevertheless, sexual harassment by persons of the same gender IS illegal
under Title VII. (As an example, when I was in medical school, I was gifted
by a photographer friend with a gorgeous poster-sized photo of a very
handsome model leaping up from a pool of water. The model was seen from
forehead to about the navel, with water cascading off him. I put this up in
the living room of my dorm suite. One of my very homophobic roommates
complained to the Dean, and I was advised that, if I did not remove the
piece to my room, I would be subject to sexual harrassment charges, on the
grounds that hanging it in the public space "made him uncomfortable".
Regrettably, Lambda Legal Defense advised me that the charge would have
stuck.)

Avraham

****************************************
Avraham haRofeh of Northpass
     (mka Randy Goldberg MD)
OBTag: Bank error in your favor.  Collect $200.