ACLU PUTTING HEAT ON KERN COUNTY PANELIST; GROUP WANTS SUPERVISOR OUT.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer The American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. is demanding the Kern County Board of Supervisors The examples and perspective in this article or section may represent an unduly geographically limited view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. The Board of Supervisors is the body governing counties in the U.S. oust a county human relations human relations npl → relaciones fpl humanas commissioner for making statements against homosexuals at meetings. The ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, wants the Rev. Douglas Hearn, a Baptist minister from Ridgecrest, removed for saying gays are ``sick'' and that he wouldn't want one teaching his children. ``I'm within the bylaws The rules and regulations enacted by an association or a corporation to provide a framework for its operation and management. Bylaws may specify the qualifications, rights, and liabilities of membership, and the powers, duties, and grounds for the dissolution of an . The bylaws do not say anybody on the board can't have opinions,'' said Hearn, the 57-year-old pastor at Union Baptist Church. ``The bylaws are strictly for us to state opinions and try to solve problems if we can.'' The ACLU sent a letter dated June 25 to the five county supervisors, arguing that Hearn's public remarks at commission meetings undermine the ability of the commission to enforce state anti-discrimination laws and the commission's own purpose. ``The commission is a body that is appointed to carry out anti-discrimination laws in the state of California,'' ACLU staff attorney Taylor Flynn said. ``One of the groups that are protected under the law are lesbians and gay men. Mr. Hearn has demonstrated that he is so biased against lesbians and gay men that he can't carry out his duties.'' In its letter to the board, the ACLU maintains that the First Amendment right to free speech does not protect the comments of public officials that counter the expressed purpose of the agencies they serve. ``As the United States Supreme Court United States Supreme Court: see Supreme Court, United States. has long held, when a public official makes statements in his official capacity which are inconsistent with his official duties, those statements are not protected by the First Amendment,'' the letter stated. Hearn said he made his remarks regarding gays at a May 1 meeting on hate crimes in Fresno, which was attended by representatives from the gay and lesbian community. ``I said how can you solve a problem with a person who has a problem. I said these people are sick, spiritually sick,'' said Hearn, who has been on the commission for two years. He also said at the Fresno meeting and one two weeks later in Bakersfield that he did not want gays teaching his children. Hearn said he still stands by his statements and will not step down from the commission. The ACLU went on to say in its letter that Hearn's remarks give a ``green light to discrimination'' and ``create an atmosphere in which intolerance and violence can thrive.'' Numerous studies show that about 44 percent of gays have been threatened with physical violence and that nearly 20 percent have been punched, kicked or beaten because of their sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. , the letter said. The ACLU was made aware of Hearn's remarks by a former commission member, Milton Andrews, Flynn said. |
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