Supreme Court upholds anti-homosexual ruling

From wire reports

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WASHINGTON The Supreme Court, in a busy first day of its fall term, let stand yesterday the ruling of a state court in Washington that homosexuals are immoral and may be fired from their jobs.

The court refused to hear the appeal of James Gaylord, fired in 1972

when his homosexuality was discovered by officials at the Tacoma high school where he had taught for 13 years.

Gaylord contended his constitutional rights were violated., The Washington Supreme Court ruled that homosexuality is immoral and Gaylord could be fired even though he

was accused of no homosexual act.

Civil liberties attorneys, who had hoped to use the case to have the Supreme Court review the rights of homosexuals, were outraged.

"The case presented the Supreme Court with an opportunity to say that discrimination against people by government because of their status

as homosexuals is impermissible," the American Civil Liberties Union said. "This Supreme Court maintains its record of gross insensitivity to individual rights."

In the 40 pages of orders handed down yesterday, the justices:

Agreed to decide the legality of pension plans requiring women to

contribute a greater portion of their salaries than men based on studies showing that women on the average live longer to collect benefits. At the same time, the justices let stand a state court's decision outlawing pension plans which pay smaller monthly retirement benefits to women based on the same life-expectancy tables.

• Let stand a lower court's order

requiring the busing of students throughout 11 school districts in the Wilmington, Del., area.

·

Agreed to decide if a newspaper, the Stanford Daily on the California university's campus, enjoys greater protection than other non-criminal suspects against police searches. The Continued on Page 16-A