From:  The Los Angeles Times, February 10, 1993

	LAWSUIT MOVES L.A. TO PROTECT GAY COPS AND CITY WORKERS

	By Bettina Boxall and Vicki Torres

	LOS ANGELES - In a sweeping lawsuit settlement, Los Angeles city
officials have agreed to far-reaching changes in hiring and personnel
practices to ensure that gay and lesbian police officers and other city
workers are not harassed or discriminated against.
	Approved Wednesday by the City Council in closed session, the
settlement also calls for the reinstatement of former Los Angeles police
sergeant Mitchell Grobeson and the payment of $770,000 in damages to
Grobeson and two other officers who joined him in filing the suit against
the city.
	"This is an historic moment representing a radical change in the
ongoing practices of the LAPD," said Dan Stormer, one of Grobeson's
attorneys. "It signifies the end of the homophobia that existed under LAPD
leadership under (former Chief Daryl) Gates."

	The final language of the settlement still has to be adopted in
court, but attorneys on both sides said they have agreed to a broad range
of policy revisions covering recruitment, hiring and training that will be
written into law governing all city departments.
	As outlined in a 15-page blueprint, they include:

	- Police department recruitment at gay community events and through
the placement of advertisements in gay-oriented publications.

	- Expanded training of police recruits and officers regarding the
city's anti-discrimination and harassment policies; appropriate ways of
dealing with the gay and lesbian community, hate crime reports, and people
with HIV or AIDS, and how to behave with gay co-workers.

	- Prohibition of slurs, intimidation or comments that would create
a hostile working environment for gay men and lesbians or people with HIV.

	- Statements that violation of the city's anti-discrimination
policy amounts to serious misconduct that will be swiftly investigated and
disciplined, including possible suspension or discharge.

	- Elimination of any recruitment questions or tests that would
reveal a person's sexual orientation.

	- Screening of anti-gay applicants so that they are either dropped
from the recruitment pool or required to participate in special sensitivity
training.

	"It's very exciting," said gay-rights attorney Jon Davidson of the
American Civil Liberties Union, which helped represent Grobeson in the
early phases of the 1988 lawsuit. "The entire employment picture for both
applicants and current employees who are lesbian and gay is being very
significantly improved."
	Stormer credited Police Chief Willie L. Williams and City
Councilman Michael Woo with clearing the way for the settlement - which he
and others maintained never would have been possible under Gates.
	"I believe that Chief Williams was willing to recognize that this
lawsuit presented an opportunity for extending a hand of friendship to the
gay and lesbian community," said Woo, who has gained broad gay support in
his run for mayor in this spring's city elections. "A settlement was a way
to show that the old guard had departed from the scene and that new
leadership is open to defining a more visible role for gay and lesbian
officers in the police department."