NATIONAL NEWS

ORS Penalizes Discrimination

(Richmond, Va.)-One woman's complaint of sexual harassment on the job has placed Henrico County, Virginia, under federal scrutiny to insure that she and other county employees will not be subject to harassment or other forms of sex discrimination in the future. If the county refuses or fails to comply with remedies proposed by the federal Office of Revenue Sharing, ORS is mandated to terminate nearly two million dollars in revenue sharing funds now allocated annually to the county.

The ORS Civil Rights Division conducted a lengthy investigation in response to a complaint filed by the ACLU Southern Women's Rights Project on behalf of Margaret James, a county employee whose job assignment was abruptly and adversely changed after she refused the sexual advances of her supervisor.

Although several county officials interviewed Ms. James and her supervisor when she first complained of the harassment, ORS investigators found that the county "reached conclusions in favor of the complainant's supervisor" despite the fact that "even the most elementary investigation would have uncovered grossly disparate, and otherwise inexplainable, work assignments before and after the incident". ORS found that the county's attempts to remedy the situation"""were always directed at changing the complainant's job....In contrast, there were no attempts to make any changes regarding the 'supervisor in this _matter".

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In order to avoid the cutoff of federal revenue sharing funds, Henrico County has been directed to purge Ms. James' personnel file of any material related to the harassment which might be prejudicial to her future employment, and to advise all county personnel that sexual harassment is a prohibited personnel practice which will be subject to disciplinary action. The county must supply ORS with documentation of its efforts to comply with both remedies, and ORS has authority to reject any efforts which are not in full.compliance with civil rights mandates. In

Equality Voted Down

(HerSay)-A commission of citizens drafting a new charter for the city of San Francisco recently reversed itself and voted down a controversial measure which would have guaranteed women equal representation on the city's powerful governing commissions. The measure, which would have gone before the city's voters in November, would have required that no more than a simple majority of the membership of any city commission be of the same sex, race or religion. Under that provision, a 5-member commission could have no more than 3 men, 3 whites, 3 Latins, 3 Asians or 3 women, as commissioners.

The measure was adopted by an 8-5 margin. However, after the San Francisco Examiner dubbed the proposal "the Charter Commission's folly" and predicted its passage would lead to incumbent commissioners being thrown out of work, and the city attorney questioned the measure's constitutionality, charter commissioners hastily gathered and scuttled the equality clause.

Women, who are 52 percent of the city's popula tion, hold only 29 percent of the seats on the city's 14 major commmissions, while no women at all sit on the powerful Public Utilities Commission.

The defeated measure had been supported by local representatives of the National Women's Political Caucus, the Coalition of Labor Union Women,. and by a number of feminist and political groups in San Francisco...

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addition, the County is required to report all allegations of sex discrimination it receives in the next year to ORS to insure that the County deals with such complaints in strict compliance with the law.

The ORS civil rights provisions may be one of the most important tools available for fighting discrimination in state, county or municipal government. Under those provisions, any government agency which receives revenue sharing funds (most county and municipal governments do) is prohibited from discriminating in employment, as well as allocation of federal funds, on the basis of race, sex, national origin, religion, age or handicapped status. If ORS receives a charge of discrimination against a recipient agency or government, it is mandated by Congressional authority to conduct an on-site investigation of the charges, to make a determination of whether the discrimination did take place or is occurring, to

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propose remedial action if discrimination was found. and to secure compliance or to suspend funding--all within relatively short timetables.

The complaint procedure is informal: a letter detailing the nature of the discrimination is sufficient to initiate an ORS investigation. The letter need not be written in legal terminology, nor is it necessary for an attorney to file the complaint. However, it is advisable for those who wish to file ORS civil rights complaints to consult with an attorney or advocacy group such as the ACLU which is experienced in dealing with ORS complaint procedures and policies in order to insure that the complaint is sufficiently detailed and that irrelevant material is excluded. Because ORS is now receiving more civil rights complaints than it can handle, it is also necessary to monitor their progress on individual complaints lest they become "lost in the shuffle".

Homosexuals are Taxpayers

(National Gay Task Force)-On July 22, the House of Representatives passed an anti-gay amendment to the Legal Services Corporation appropriation bill on a motion by Larry McDonald (D-Ga). The amendment reads: "That no part of this appropriation shall be used by the Legal Services Corporation to provide legal assistance in promoting, defending or protecting homosexuality.”

Explaining this amendment, McDonald said, "It is my feeling that the Congress of the United States should not spend a penny of the taxpayer's dollar to

...We, your elected representatives, will defend and protect American freedom even if we have to dismantle the Constitution to do it... a free America is a SECURE America...everybody in bed. and lights out by 9:30...

ply crull Peoples Alliance

UDERATION NEWS SERVICE

support, defend, protect or legitimize the practice or acts of homosexuality....Individuals in their personal lives may be at times solely a matter of their own concern. This is not to say, however, that the Congress...should venerate certain conduct by spending money to defend wholly unaceptable behavior"

John Burton (D-CA) and S. William Green

Planned Parenthood Pays

(HerSay)-Planned Parenthood says it will raise money for poor women seeking aportions, in the wake of the June 30 Supreme Court decision that federal funds will no longer be provided to poor women for abortions. Faye Wattleton, President of Planned Parenthood, says that the money raised will go to the group's Justice Fund, which provides loans to needy women for abortion expenses. Planned Parenthood has already received $185,000 from two foundations to start its campaign.

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(R-NY) spoke against the amendment, stating that gay people pay as much taxes as anyone and do not receive a waiver from taxes due to their sexual orientation (Burton) and that to discriminate against any class of citizens is contrary to the spirit of a bill designed to provide legal services for those Americans who cannot afford them (Green).

On voice vote the amendment was defeated, but McDonald called for a recorded vote. The outcome was reversed, with 290 voting in favor of the amendment and 113 against. 30 members did not vote.

Ohio legislators voting for the amendment (against gays) were Reps. Applegate, Ashbrook, Brown, Devine, Gradison, Guyer, Harsha, Kindness, Latta, Luken, Miller, Mottl, Pease, Regula, Stanton, Symms and Vanik. Voting against the amendment were Reps. Ashley, Hall and Seiberling. Reps. Mary Rose Oakar and Louis Stokes did not vote on the amendment.

New Facts on Cancer

(HerSay)-The director of the National Women's Health Network has taken considerable exception to a report issued by a panel of experts at the close of the National Institutes of Health conference in late July. At the conference, a panel of gynecologists and rescarchers gave their findings on the causes of cancer, particularly cervical cancer, in women. Those panelists concluded that the more sexual partners a woman has, the higher her risk of developing cancer. One physician, Dr. Anthony Miller, said that cervical cancer behaved "very much like a venereal disease". He added that nuns virtually never get it, while one study found that up to eight percent of prostitutes become victims.

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Belita Cowan, Executive Director of the Women's Health Network, said that the reports, given by some eminent gynecologists, appeared to be statistically correct. Cowan added, however, that the statistics can be interpreted in many different ways, and that what was distressing about the reports is the underlying sexist assumption that physicians and federal officials are making, which links cervical cancer to promiscuity". She said that instead of warning women about the number of sexual partners. they have, perhaps some attention should be "given to the men who are carriers" of these viruses, and that they too should undergo screening processes. The NIH panel had recommended that women, as soon as they lose their virginity, should begin to get Pap smears every one to three years_until they are in their sixties.

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