Re: [UUPoly-L] On coming out Poly

[Cynthia Armistead <cyn@technomom.com>]

David VanHorn wrote:
> > If you got fired for that, did you sue their asses back into the stone
> > age?  Because you could and should have.
>
>
> I think you'd have to bring them up OUT of the stone age first, THEN sue
> them back to it.
>
> But I agree, this sounds like sexual or religious harassment.
> The sort of thing that makes contingency lawyers drool.

Churches are exempt from almost all anti-discrimination and other 
employee-protection laws - even things like COBRA. I spent five years 
working for the foreign missions board of a big Protestant denomination, 
running their health insurance program. We couldn't give our people 
COBRA benefits had we wanted too - since we weren't covered by the law 
requiring it, our health insurance carriers wouldn't allow us to "opt 
in" for it.

Those exemptions were intended to protect little neighborhood churches, 
but they also apply to the huge denominations, which are big businesses. 
And we had the mandatory daily prayer meetings, too, so I can relate to 
the scenario of standing around holding hands every morning.

I just didn't "come out" as anything during my time there. I was 
referred to as one of three "weird ones" who were essentially 
untouchable because we were too competent to fire - and because we all 
worked directly for the CFO, who had retired from the corporate world 
before coming to the mission board, and valued our competence enough to 
protect us from the witchfinders. The gay guy, the big burly SF fan, and 
me, the enigma (I actually "found" paganism during those years and 
realized that no, monogamy wasn't going to work for me).

In any case - no lawyer with any sense would touch such a case. There 
are no grounds, IF it was a church. If it was a private business over 20 
or so employees, there might be a case, in certain jurisdictions. Maybe. 
It wouldn't go anywhere in certain parts of Georgia, even in some metro 
Atlanta counties, just because most of the judges around here would look 
at a bisexual person as something lower than dirt.

Cyn
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