ACLU TO MAKE SOFTBALL SUIT CITYWIDE; GROUP SAYS L.A. DISCRIMINATES AGAINST GIRLS' TEAMS.Byline: Alex Roth Daily News Staff Writer Accusing Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. city officials of sexism sex·ism n. 1. Discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women. 2. Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender. , 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. announced plans Tuesday to expand citywide a lawsuit charging girls' softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' is treated as a second-class sport. The ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. , which originally sued on behalf the West Valley Girls' Softball League, claims that girls do not have the same access to other city-sponsored sports as do boys, in violation of federal law. Parks department officials responded Tuesday that the ACLU was making unreasonable demands. ``The department has been working in good faith,'' Recreation and Parks Commission President Steve Soboroff Steve Soboroff (born August 31, 1948) is a real estate developer and president of Playa Vista. Mr. Soboroff is the Chairperson of the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. said, adding that ``there have been numerous packages offered'' to settle the suit. The ACLU said it will ask a judge to grant class-action status for a lawsuit it filed in April on behalf of the West Valley girls. Officials said they want to expand the suit because the city refused to address the league's complaint that it doesn't have a permanent field despite years of asking. If allowed, the lawsuit would include all girls who want to play softball or other sports in city leagues. ``We have given the City Council six months to resolve this litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. and they have spit in our face,'' said ACLU Legal Director Mark Rosenbaum. City officials insisted they treat boys' and girls' sports equally and have been working hard to settle the suit. Councilwoman Laura Chick said the girls' league rejected several city offers to find a place to play. ``They have been offered a whole laundry list laundry list A popular term for a long list of Sx, diseases, or etiologies that share something in common–eg, differential diagnosis of acute abdomen of locations,'' Chick said. ACLU officials said discrimination in sport programs is a citywide problem. ACLU officials said that 22,511 youths play in city baseball leagues while 1,905 girls play in softball leagues. In the Valley, city baseball leagues have 6,948 participants compared to 540 in girls' softball. Roughly 10 percent of the baseball participants are girls. City-sponsored girls' leagues ``typically are small in number and represent only a tiny fraction of those of city-sponsored baseball,'' ACLU staff attorney Rocio Cordoba cor·do·ba n. See Table at currency. [American Spanish córdoba, after Francisco Fernández de Córdoba (1475?-1526?), Spanish explorer.] Noun 1. said. City officials said the numbers reflect more interest in baseball than softball. ``There are a lot of socioeconomic issues,'' said Jan Zatorski, acting assistant general manager of the Recreation and Parks department's Valley region. ``Some families direct their girls to dance or drawing. Maybe it's what their mother did and that's what they continue to do.'' Zatorski said local park directors have wide discretion to offer programs based on demand. At Reseda Park, Recreation Director Jason Shepherd said he tried to form a softball league last winter but not enough girls signed up. ACLU officials said girls should have access to facilities used by private baseball leagues that lease city fields at nominal fees. The private leagues play on facilities fixed up with their own money. West Valley should be given a similar field or the right to share these fields, Rosenbaum said. West Valley rejected an offer to share a local school field with a soccer league. It would cost $500,000 to $1 million in private money to fix up the field with use guaranteed for only five years. The California Women's Law Center has joined the ACLU in the lawsuit. |
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