Mr.

S

C's

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FOOD & SPIRITS

Kitchen open until 1 a.m. GUARDED PARKING

537-4073

requests for security clearance, but not limited to such cases. Reliance on this argument to support the exclusion of gays from sensitive positions is clearly unjustified in cases involving acknowledged homosexuals to whom there exists no threat of disclosure. To the extent that it has any validity, the susceptabilityto blackmail notion draws its strength largely from a legal system and society that have historically subjected exposed homosexuals to discrimination. The potential for blackmail would surely dissipate if gays were afforded more civil rights protection.

Starting in 1969, federal courts ordered that the policy of the United States Civil Service Commission was overly broad and a denial of individuals due process. The courts held that an otherwise competent civil servant could not be dismissed solely on the basis of off-duty sexual conduct.

In 1978, the Civil Service Reform Act was passed which established as a prohibitted personnel practice, discrimination on basis of conduct which does not adversely affect the performance of employees or e plicants for employment.

To implement this provision of law, on May 12, 1980, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (which replaced the Civil Service Commission), issued a policy statement to all federal agencies which provides:

"The privacy and constitutional rights of applicants and employees are to be protected. Thus, applicants and employees are to be protected against inquiries into, or actions based upon, non-job related conduct, such as religious, community or social affiliations, or sexual orientation."

At the state level, three states, by executive order, have forbidden state employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Pennsylvania adopted that policy in April 1976, California adopted Executive Order 54-79 in April of

1979, and Michigan by letter to the Michigan House of Representatives February 1981.

In Michigan, at the local government level, 4 cities and 4 counties provide employment protection on the basis of sexual orientation in municipal employment. These governmental units include the cities of Detroit and East Lansing, and the County of Ingham..

Sexual orientation discrimination in the areas of private employment as well as public accommodations, housing, education, real estate practices, credit or union practices is prohibited to some degree in 20 cities including Detroit, Ann Arbor, and East Lansing, and in 2 counties.

Lastly, many businessess have issued personnel policies which prohibit employment discrimination. A survey of the "Fortune 500" businesses was conducted in 1978 and showed that at least 121 of the largest industrial corporations, employing over seven million workers, stated that they do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring and promotion. The list includes American Telephone & Telegraph, Bethlehem Steel, DuPont, Exxon, Firestone, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, Gulf Oil, Gulf & Western, IBM, Mobil Oil, Rockwell International, Union Carbide, Western Electric, and Xerox.

NEXT ISSUE: PRIDE-POWERPOLITICS

Part Two:

Present and proposed gay/lesbian rights protection and what you can do

"Gay men and women are an often abused group in our culture. This is born of ignorance and misunderstanding. Those of us who are committed to human dignity have an obligation to do all that we can to put an end to it."'

-Margaret Mead

WAMPLERS LAKE RESORT

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