Walker appointee: Workplace harassment of gays is legal | Dane101

Post by stcroix cheesehead on 11/28/2011 10:20am

This article originally appeared in a November 25, 2011 post by StCroix Cheesehead on DailyKos. A portion is reprinted here with permission of the author.

Wisconsin was the first state to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual preference. 1981 Assembly Bill 70 added sexual orientation to the list of legally protected classes, along with gender, race, and religion. This legislation was signed by a Republican governor, Lee Dreyfus.

Laurie McCallum, recently appointed by Scott Walker to our state's Labor and Industry Review Commission, has just gone on record asserting, despite state statute and precedent, that Wisconsin's workplace protections only apply to sexual harassment.

NEPOTISM.

Followers of Wisconsin politics know that Senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald helped get his brother Jeff (now speaker of the assembly) into his Assembly seat. Than they got their father a spot as head of the State Patrol.

You might know that Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (gay marriage is like marrying tables or dogs) is married to Joel Kleefisch, a prominent member of the Assembly. This is Rebecca's first go at public office. Nice, starting out as Lieutenant Governor.

So who's Laurie McCallum? She's the wife of former republican Governor Scott McCallum, who lost re-election in 2002 to Democrat Jim Doyle. McCallum, Governor Tommy Thompson's Lieutenant Governor, became Governor when than President George W. Bush appointed Tommy Thompson to be Secretary of Health and Human Services.

THE CASE.

The full article is in the Wisconsin Gazette. The case involves Chris Bowen, who worked for two decades at Stroh Tool and Die:

The court record showed that a group of Bowen?s co-workers repeatedly called him ?fag,? ?maricon? and ?my little bitch,? among other slurs, over a period of years. Bowen once found a bulls-eye hunting target over which the word ?gay? was written stuck to his toolbox. Someone put a sign that said, ?queer? or ?queen? on his locker. A sticker was put in his workplace that said, ?Honk if you?re gay.?

In a statement that was excluded as evidence at Bowen?s administrative hearing, co-worker Kathryn Corroo said, ?I witnessed the sexual harassment against Chris Bowen, especially during February 2002 through May 2002 by (co-employees) Tom Meier, Rick Hafemeister, David Lepke, Jesse Manhardt and Rose McGee. ? I heard Tom Meier say that Chris was not in a very good mood and that maybe it was because he (Chris) didn?t get a apiece (sic) of ass over the weekend at Pridefest, the day after the weekend of Pridefest. I heard Rick Hafemeister make comments to Chris and myself about how all nigers (sic) and queers, etc. ... (sic) should be put in a big hole and shot. And get rid of them all.?

There's more to this post. To read the entirety please visit StCroix Cheesehead's post at DailyKos.

Source: http://www.dane101.com/current/2011/11/28/walker_appointee_workplace_harassment_of_gays_is_legal

thanksgiving brining a turkey brining a turkey who won dancing with the stars 2011 five iron frenzy wild horses lyrics megyn kelly