ACLU BACKS GAY OFFICER\Woman won't give city list of partners.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The American Civil Liberties Union wants to block the city from asking a lesbian police officer about her past sexual partners.

Virginia Acevedo, an openly gay police officer who claims she has been harassed because of her sexual orientation and says she is suffering from stress, is suing the city of Los Angeles for workers' compensation benefits.

Attorneys for the city have asked her to name all of her past sexual partners, friends and associates, according to ACLU attorney Taylor Flynn.

When Acevedo refused to provide names, the city filed a motion to terminate her workers' compensation benefits.

In a "friend of the court" brief filed Tuesday with the state Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the ACLU of Southern California said questions about sexual partners violate constitutional rights of those partners.

The ACLU filing is on behalf of the unnamed persons who would be affected by the disclosure of the information requested by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

"By demanding that this officer reveal the names of her friends and associates, the city of Los Angeles is blatantly violating her individual constitutional rights to freedom of association and privacy," Flynn said.

"The LAPD has, in effect, held Ms. Acevedo's benefits hostage on the condition that she 'out' others," Flynn said.

An LAPD spokesman, declined comment on the filing.

Attorneys in workers' compensation cases involving stress often try to identify persons with whom the claimant is having relationships. The goal is to determine if that relationship, not the job, is the primary cause of stress.