Subject: Lambda Asks United States Supreme Court to Review Case of Discrimination
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 15:10:44 -0500

PRESS RELEASE
LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE		

 Press Contact:	Beatrice Dohrn,
		Margie Hanssens
		(212) 995-8585
	
Lambda Asks United States Supreme Court 
To Review Case of Invidious Discrimination

Lambda Petitions High Court For Ruling That State May Not  Act Based On
Anti-Gay Animus 

(NEW YORK, December 11, 1995)  Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund has
filed a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to review a
Pennsylvania State Court's decision to uphold a judgment, in effect,
subjecting Dan Miller to a penalty of over $100,000 for being gay.  The
petition asserts that no court may properly uphold the judgment because it
enforces a provision drafted by Miller's employer that said "homosexuality"
could be a "cause" for firing, and that after being fired for that cause,
Miller was subject to a penalty if any of his former clients with DeMuth took
their business to Miller.

	"It's long been established that courts may not allow themselves to become
the vehicle for enforcing  people's biases," said Beatrice Dohrn, Legal
Director at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Miller's attorney.
 "This case is an invitation to the Supreme Court to clarify that animosity
against gay people is treated no differently under that rule."

	The petition, which Demuth and his lawyers have until January 6, 1996 to
answer, points out that as more lesbians and gay men choose to be open about
who they are, the number of cases concerning sexual orientation
discrimination has risen exponentially.  Thus, the petition argues, it is an
important time  for the Supreme Court to address the question of government
action against lesbian and gay men that is based only on anti-gay animus.

	Daniel Miller is a certified public accountant who was fired abruptly in
1990 from his job with a management consulting firm when his boss, Donald L.
Demuth, found out Miller was gay.  Years earlier he had signed an  employment
contract which included that "homosexuality" was "cause" for discharge.
  Despite five exemplary years at Demuth Management Consultants, Miller had
no recourse under Pennsylvania law, as Pennsylvania is one of 41 states which
still do not prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
 Miller subsequently started up his own  firm in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
 Several months later, Demuth brought a lawsuit against Miller seeking to
invoke a clause in his employment contract that called for hefty penalties
if, after being fired for being gay, Miller got business from any of DeMuth's
clients.