The following story appeared in yesterday's edition of the San Francisco legal community newspaper. I thought the final paragraphs were especially revealing, and might provoke some interesting discussion on this list. --Katharine English Excerpted From THE RECORDER, No. 56, March 23, 1995 "Sex, Lies and S.F. Firefighters" by Bill Kisliuk A pioneering female firefighter's sexual harassment trial comes at an awkward time for the city of San Francisco. --------------------------------------------- San Francisco Fire Lt. Anne Young says it was on Oct. 10, 1990, that an unidentified firefighter tried to shove her off the roof of a three-story Mission District apartment building. The exact date is significant, according to plaintiff's attorneys, because only one day earlier the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected an appeal from the San Francisco FireFighters Union Local 798 that sought to throw out rules that helped Young and other women and minority firefighters break down race and gender barriers in the San Francisco Fire Department. Young's allegation is part of a sexual harassment and discrimination suit gainst the department that comes at an ironic -- and potentially damaging -- time for the city. In the coming weeks, city attorneys and the firefighters union are set to argue that the Fire Departmtne has eliminated its biases and that the city has largely met the integration goals of a seven-year-old federal consent decree governing hiring, promotions and internal investigations of discrimination complaints. The city will ask that the decree be dissolved when its term expires June 10 -- just a month after Young's trial, which began last week, is expected to wrap up. Attorneys representing minority firefighters will argue that the city has not met its obligations, including the development of a system that guarantees swift and thorough investigations of complaints such as Young's. They will likely ask to extend the consent decree for another two or three years. City attorneys are trying to focus attention on Young's allegedly mercurial personality, while trying to keep the history of the decree away from jurors. In pretrial motions, deputy city attorneys moved successfully to block jurors from hearing about racial incidents and allegations that would portray the Fire Department as an intransigent old boys' network that fiercely resisted the changes mandanted by the consent decree. They argued that racial history would have no relevance to Young's specific claims. A RAPID RISE Young, 33, was one of four women to join the department as the result of a 1987 court order. She had worked as a firefighter in Daly City for a year and a half before applying to joing the force in San Francisco, at about the same time civil rights lawyers were battling the city over a department that included no women and only a small percentage of minority firefighters. Young became a named plaintiff in one of the civil rights cases against the department that led to the consent decree compelling the city to integrate the department. Young quickly moved upn in rank, performing extraordinarily well on a promotional exam to become a lieutenant after less than two years in the department and bypassing many firefighters who had been with the department longer. But her tenure was anything but smooth sailing, according to her suit. The complaint, originally filed in 1992, lays out a history of alleged threats, snubs and verbal abuse by fellow firefighers, culminating in Young's taking a leave of absence in June of last year. They range from the discovery of a Playboy magazine centerfold carefully placed on her firehouse bunk to incidents that Young characterizes as threats to her life. Testifying in even tones, Young described to the jury how in early 1990, she walked into a firehouse and saw a lieutenant's promotional list that included her name. Next to her name, handwritten on the typed page, were the words, "Someone is going to get killed." Later that year, Young says an unknown firefighter placed his hands on her back and attempted to push her into a light well while they were mopping up on the roof of a fire site. A 'CHIP ON HER SHOULDER' The city contends that Young spurred many of the incidents set out in her complaint, and that others, including the alleged push from the rooftop, did not happen at all. In her opening statement, Deputy City Attorney Cheryl Adams said Young "carried that chip into every interaction, with men and women firefighters. What is going to come out at trial is that Anne was a confrontational person, and people were afraid that she was going to sue them." Adams also told the jury that the cryptic note on the promotional list was not directed at Young. Instead, she claimed it is an example of an oft-expressed concern among veterans that promoting less experienced firefighters might risk the lives of others. As for the rooftop incident, city attorneys have countered that, based on the physical layout of the rooftop and eyewitness testimony, it could not have happned the way Young recalls it. Adams added in an interview that it is "pretty unlikely" that rank-and-file firefighters would keep as close an eye on the Supreme Court as plantiff's attorneys suggest. In court papers, the city contends that Young did not report many of the incidents alleged at the time they happened, thus undermining her argument that the city responded inadequately. "Young has exaggerated perceived insults into baseless claims for discrimination and harassment," states the city's trial brief. "In many cases, she is guilty of outright lies." While some of Youn'gs claims amount to threats on her life or well-being, other are rather thin reeds. Her first amended complaint states that Young was "offended" because fellow firefighters removed her from the meal rotation and spilled an item to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen that she had refused to buy meat for a firehouse meal. Young is a vegetarian. The city's trial brief acidly notes that "discrimination on the basis of vegetarianism is not actionable." >From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 24 21:18:27 MST 1995 Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 20:16:40 -0800 (PST) From: Dancing Hummingbird /aka Joy Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Idealism/Materialism In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I am very curious how the people who are calling themselves "materialists" came to the conclusion that people who are more spiritually inclined should be called "idealists." I personally think that this is a very strange terminology, and while I am an idealist, I think that that term is still not an accurate one to describe me or those like me. I am a deist, or more precisely a "sheist" ;-), as my mother says. Being an idealist as well as being an optimist are both parts of my nature, but I think that there are many who are aetheists/agnostics who could be regarded as idealists or optimists while still be materialists as well. That term is too narrow for what I believe in and too narrow to accurately describe my perspective. For one thing it is an attempt to classify me into a box by others who don't necessarily know me or understand what it is I really believe in, or what I am. And those who share this terminology will then classify me into the same box due to this shared terminology, and continue to innaccurately understand me. I also feel exceedingly uncomfortable when someone else chooses a label for others. You all are more than welcome to classify yourself with whatever label you wish, but don't presume to impose your label on others. If we wish to adopt that label, that is one thing, but until we do, honor what we wish to be called, and at this point, Neo-Pagan is fine with me. Or a person from a spiritual perspective. Or a Gaianist. Or a Witch. I am also an idealist, but this hardly even begins to define what I am. Joy Williams [EMAIL PROTECTED] Scion in the Church of All Worlds "The Garrulous Grok Flok" Thou Art Goddess!
