You are the jury, you decide

[Fabbs]

4 San Diego firemen were forced to drive a truck as part of the parade. The annual gay pride parade. Their boss is a gay woman. Previous years the city asked for volunteers only. This year the woman boss forced them to.

Will you award damages? I think 4 million is a joke but i certainly give them some amount for damages.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080930-1851-bn30parade.html
Here is a picture of the boss and more on how it unfolded. Sounds like it was a gay male underboss who initially ordered the 4 to the parade. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080919/news_1m19parade.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080919/images/parade140.jpg

[ORION]

I would of wore a ski mask

[Anti.Hero]

I thought that was a requirement for citizenship in Cali?

[fatsack]

at least the music was probably good.

[I. Hustle]

That is retarded. I would say they deserve the money. I guarantee that if it was flipped and it was a straight pride parade not only would they get that money but the one who made them would never work in any fire dept again and rally’s and crap would be going on all over the place. They deserve the money not because it was a gay thing but because they were forced to participate.
I don’t want to get started on the whole gay pride parade stuff and how dumb I think it is but this case is really really stupid.

[BacktoBasics]

Setting gay rights back 20 years.

[I. Hustle]

.

[Blake]

Crushing straight guy rights bit by bit for the new millenium

there, fixed.

[I. Hustle]

:lol

[Extra Stout]

I'm not a fan of large punitive damages being awarded to plantiffs. The more appropriate response would be immediate termination of the assistant chiefs. That San Diego has not already taken that step tells me that the city ranks political pandering to interest groups over the treatment of its employees. I guess that's not surprising.

[Slydragon]

Governor Arnold told them to...

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i196/Slydrag0n/gifs/StopWhining.jpg

[ChumpDumper]

All four said they were subjected to catcalls and forced to watch simulated sex acts. They said the three-hour parade left them with multiple ailments, including headaches and anxiety. The horror.

Probably a good idea to reprimand or fire the chiefs who ordered this, but a parade is not a workplace, and the parade spectators aren't coworkers. I'm surprised the case got this far.

[FromWayDowntown]

If they had been ordered to respond to a frivolous call at a home in which a party was going on and most of the partygoers had been gay (and just wanted some firefighters to show up, provoking the call) and the same thing had happened, would anyone think the City would be liable?

[Blake]

All four said they were subjected to catcalls and forced to watch simulated sex acts. They said the three-hour parade left them with multiple ailments, including headaches and anxiety.

"It was worse than being in a 4 alarm fire, your Honor. We couldn't take watching all the guys dressed in Village People outfits while we saw girls that were manlier than Jack Palance.

Our job is to put out flames, your Honor.......not join them. I have a massive $2million headache and I'm getting another $2 million anxiety attack right now just thinking about it......"

[JoeChalupa]

Pay them double-time and move on.

[I. Hustle]

If they had been ordered to respond to a frivolous call at a home in which a party was going on and most of the partygoers had been gay (and just wanted some firefighters to show up, provoking the call) and the same thing had happened, would anyone think the City would be liable?

WOW your name suits you. That is by far not the same thing.

[bus driver]

Pay them double-time and move on.

+1 :wakeup

[ChumpDumper]

As part of any settlement, the plaintiffs are no longer allowed to use their jobs to pick up women.

[baseline bum]

$4 million for driving a truck in a parade they disagreed with? Fire the boss for forcing them into it, but they don't deserve a cent.

[Flight3107]

If they had been ordered to respond to a frivolous call at a home in which a party was going on and most of the partygoers had been gay (and just wanted some firefighters to show up, provoking the call) and the same thing had happened, would anyone think the City would be liable?


WTF? How is this and what happened even close to being comparable?

[Brutalis]

Fire the dike, double the pay of the guys, ez pz.

Seriously as manly as a fireman is how fucked up is it your boss is dike? Jesus fucking Christ how lame.

[ChumpDumper]

Seriously as manly as a fireman is how fucked up is it your boss is dike? Jesus fucking Christ how lame.Dikes are pretty manly. One would think manly men would be able to get through this horrible ordeal without suffering $4 million worth of gay-induced headaches.

[I. Hustle]

The horror.

Probably a good idea to reprimand or fire the chiefs who ordered this, but a parade is not a workplace, and the parade spectators aren't coworkers. I'm surprised the case got this far.

It's the workplace when you are FORCED to drive the truck. The people out there may not have been co-workers but the people responsible for making them do that are. They subjected them to that.
It would be the same if the captain or whatever was christian and forced them to participate in a church related event.

[ChumpDumper]

It's the workplace when you are FORCED to drive the truck. The people out there may not have been co-workers but the people responsible for making them do that are. They subjected them to that.
It would be the same if the captain or whatever was christian and forced them to participate in a church related event.So the workplace is a public street?

The horror.


I got a headache reading this thread. Give me a million dollars.

[Biernutz]

Because of the nature of the parade the crew of the truck should have been volunteers from the start.

[I. Hustle]

So the workplace is a public street?

The horror.


I got a headache reading this thread. Give me a million dollars.

They got a portable workplace. They are in uniform and driving a city issued vehicle.

[Spurminator]

They should be paid overtime and the chiefs should be reprimanded.

[ChumpDumper]

Because of the nature of the parade the crew of the truck should have been volunteers from the start.I agree. I can't see why this should cost anybody $4 million though.

[ChumpDumper]

They got a portable workplace. They are in uniform and driving a city issued vehicle.And?

[I. Hustle]

And?

You said they weren't in the workplace. Well since they did not volunteer and were forced to do it that is your and.

[FromWayDowntown]

WOW your name suits you. That is by far not the same thing.

It's not? In each case, they're directed to perform an act in furtherance of their work (in one case, responding to a call; in the other, driving a truck in a parade). In each case, when they arrive at the location, they're harassed by those who are in that location. In each case, the people doing the harassing are not within the control of the City. How, exactly, are the situations different?

I'd agree that it seems odd to have ordered the firefighters to attend the parade and I'd agree that such an order might reasonably expose the person giving the order to some sort of punishment.

[I. Hustle]

It's not? In each case, they're directed to perform an act in furtherance of their work (in one case, responding to a call; in the other, driving a truck in a parade). In each case, when they arrive at the location, they're harassed by those who are in that location. In each case, the people doing the harassing are not within the control of the City. How, exactly, are the situations different?

.

you really reached out for that one. Still doesn't play though. Their job is to save lives. In the case where they went to your house to put out the fire, that was job related. They might not have wanted to see what y'all were doing but the fire needed to be put out in order to keep the fire from endangering lives.
As far as the parade goes that is a flame that no fire dept can put out. You go girl.

[ChumpDumper]

You said they weren't in the workplace. Well since they did not volunteer and were forced to do it that is your and.So the workplace is the truck and the gays were outside the workplace.

Fair enough.

[RashoFan]

I have seen the San Diego Gay Rights Parade and there was some crazy shit there.
Any parades were are invited to and that we attend are on a voluntary basis. The Chief should be reprimanded for an abuse of position and the Fire Fighters, give them OT pay. $4 million Dollars??? C'mon guys...ya giving the rest of us a bad name and that can negatively effect how the publics views us.

[Fabbs]

Can you hear Johny Cockroach now? "Just give me 4 gay jurors, that's all I'm asking for."

Jury in gay-pride parade suit indicates trouble reaching consensus
UNION-TRIBUNE

2:14 p.m. October 2, 2008

SAN DIEGO – A jury deliberating whether four San Diego city firefighters were sexually harassed during last year's gay pride parade asked the judge Thursday morning about the amount of jurors needed to reach a verdict.
The question, submitted to the judge about 10 a.m., was quickly answered: at least nine jurors need to agree on a count in order to reach a verdict in a civil trial.

The panel, which heard two weeks of testimony, started deliberations at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
The plaintiffs – firefighters Alex Kane, Chad Allison, Capt. Jason Hewitt and Capt. John Ghiotto – said they were subjected to sexually charged scenes and lewd comments while riding a fire engine during the parade, then mistreated at work after filing complaints.

The attorney representing the firefighters has said his clients each deserve $500,000 to $1 million from the city of San Diego.

Other firefighters testified they were not offended by the crowd's behavior and did not see any spectators approach the fire department vehicles.

The jury continued deliberations Thursday afternoon after returning from a lunch break.

[MrChug]

They SUED??? How gay!!!!