Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation

[James Maule]

Some of the threads (including but not limited to the Boy Scout thread) have involved discussions in which some have asserted that discrimination on the basis of race and gender discrimination is different than discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The first few paragraphs from http://www.lawnewsnetwork.com/stories/A14963-2000Feb1.html

                 In a ruling sure to spark national debate, an
                 Orange County, Calif., based appellate court said
                 Tuesday that gays and lesbians enjoy the same
                 protection as minorities and women in serving on
                 juries.

                 Homosexuals "cannot be discriminated against in
                 jury selection," 4th District Court of Appeal Justice
                 William Bedsworth wrote for a unanimous panel.

                 "For such discrimination will send an intolerable
                 message" that because of their sexual orientation
                 gays and lesbians are unfit to serve on juries,
                 Bedsworth concluded. "We will not send that
                 message."

Is the law evolving to elimination of the alleged distinction? To its elimination under certain but not all circumstances?

[For example, does this mean if parents are not permitted to pull their children as students from a class taught by a person of another race or of the "wrong" gender that they cannot do so with respect to someone of the "wrong" sexual orientation?]



Jim Maule
Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law
Villanova, PA 19085
610-519-7135
maule at law.villanova.edu
http://vls.law.vill.edu/prof/maule/home

"Vision is the ability to see what is possible before it is obvious."