Gay Twins Win Sexual Harassment Lawsuit
Jed and Wyatt Lorenzen, openly gay twins who were hired as servers by Los Feliz restaurant Vermont in 2005, today won their sexual harassment suit against the eatery's owners, another pair of openly gay men, Manuel Mesta and Michael Gelzhiser. Following a nine-day trial, each of the twins was awarded a paltry $1,000 for damages, begging the question of whether anyone really came out of the suit a winner.
In interviews the twins have claimed that Jed was fired from his waitstaff position for turning down sexual advances, while Wyatt was forced to abandon his job when the instances of sexual harassment had gone too far. They claim that the harassment went on repeatedly for more than a year, consisting of not only sexually explicit language but inappropriate touching during a restaurant Halloween party. MORE
posted by Tom Jackson @ 3/04/2009 05:00:00 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Gay Newsnet should be ashamed for posting this misleading press release from the twins' attorney without verifying the accuracy of its contents with the court system.
While the twins are touting this in the media and over the internet as a big "victory" for gay rights, the jury, in fact, decided that this case was "much to do about nothing".
Although the twins intechnically "won” 2 charges, they also lost 9 other charges and the jury awarded them a whooping $1,000 (yes, $1,000 total) while awarding Vermont Restaurant $900 in damages. So the twins netted a grand total of $100 for this big "victory" for gay rights - what a joke!
And how can this be a "victory for gay rights" when both the plantiffs and the defendants are gay men?
This was about money - plain and simple! If it wasn't about the money, like the twins now say, why did they sue for over a $1 million dollars? Of course it was about money!!
The twins did what is seemingly becoming the American way - they found a lawyer to take their case for free to sue a small business owner with the goal of extracting a monetary settlement from the accused business. Because most small businesses can't afford a protracted legal battle, they often just settle rather than running up a lot of legal bills fighting false charges. But the owners of Vermont Restaurant, highly respected members of our community, respected decided to fight back against the slander of their name and character!
Of course, the twins conveniently fail to mention in their press releases they've also been ordered to pay $50,000+ in court costs (for wasting our taxpayer dollars on this frivolous lawsuit) as well an additional $6,000+ in court sanctions for failing to produce credible evidence to substantiate their case! So it was a "big victory" indeed – for us, the taxpayers, if the twins actually pay the court costs as ordered!
And next time Gay Newsnet, please do basic Journalism 101 and check facts before posting false rubbish from a press release!
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