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| April 23, 2002 |
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Posted on 04/23/2002 5:34:16 AM PDT by StriperSniper
| Man says he was fired for being straight |
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| By TONY WILSON |
| Staff Writer Claiming he was fired because he is heterosexual, a Hightstown man has filed a discrimination lawsuit against his former employer, the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation of New Brunswick. The lawsuit of Michael Campbell, of the 300 block of South Main Street, also names the Mercer County HIV Consortium and St. Francis Medical Center, as co-defendants. Claiming he was a victim of "internal politics" between the agencies, his state Superior Court lawsuit further asserts that Campbell was told by a supervisor that he was looked upon as "a breeder, which is a derogatory term used by homosexuals for heterosexual males with children." Campbell is identified in the lawsuit as "a Caucasian, heterosexual male, married with children and is HIV-negative." It says he took the position on Nov. 30, 1998 as the Mercer County Treatment Advocate for the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation at its Trenton office on South Broad Street. He took the job after losing two brothers to AIDS and "gave up substantial employment in the financial industry" to do so, according to the lawsuit. It says his position was funded through a state grant administered by the MCHC and St. Francis. During his tenure, Campbell "was held to a higher standard of performance as opposed to homosexual and/or HIV-positive employees," the lawsuit says. It claims his "qualifications were questioned" on an on-going basis in spite of his respective bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from Rutgers University and Columbia University. "Homosexual and/or HIV-positive employees with lesser qualifications were never challenged as to their qualifications," it says. He was terminated in April 2000 in "retaliation" for filing a grievance alleging he was the victim of discriminatory treatment by his employer. After he was fired, the lawsuit says Campbell's attempts to interview officials at St. Francis for employment were "thwarted by MCHC and Hyacinth's input." Mary Lou Freund, president of the board at MCHC, said she could not comment directly on the lawsuit. She added, however, that Campbell "was not an employee" of the MCHC, and "we do not discriminate against anybody." There was no immediate response from Hyacinth or St. Francis officials reached for comment. In his lawsuit, Campbell seeks unspecified monetary damages for pain, suffering and wage losses. |
| ©The Trentonian 2002 |
A G. Gordon Liddy says, "AIDS is a federally protected disease."
So get the hell out while you still can, go back to your "substantial employment in the financial industry", and donate a few bucks in your brothers' memory.
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