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DC Cicuit: Disability protections ordered for sexually incapacitated

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by basso, Jul 23, 2008.

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  1. basso

    basso Member
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    it can be long until hot and sweaty gay sex is constitutionally protected as well.
    [rquoter]By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

    WASHINGTON — A South Carolina breast-cancer survivor has beaten the State Department and convinced judges in Washington that the inability to have sex is a disability protected under federal anti-discrimination laws.

    The new appellate-court ruling gives Piedmont, S.C., resident Kathy E. Adams another potential shot at serving overseas. More broadly, the ruling cracks open the courtroom door for additional legal challenges by those who are sexually incapacitated.

    "I think it's a major victory for former cancer patients, and for anyone who has had their sex life disrupted," Adams' attorney David H. Shapiro said Tuesday.

    Adams, herself a practicing lawyer, wants to compel the State Department to hire her as a foreign service officer and provide back pay. She'll now go before a jury and trial judge, unless the State Department relents first.

    "I think their goose may be cooked," Shapiro said.

    In its 2-1 decision, issued Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Adams has a case against the State Department. Most significantly, the influential D.C. circuit court ruled for its first time that laws that protect people with disabilities from discrimination cover "sexual relations."

    The ruling overturns a trial judge who'd dismissed Adams' case.

    "At the risk of stating the obvious, sex is unquestionably a significant human activity, one our species has been engaging in at least since the biblical injunction to 'be fruitful and multiply,' " appellate Judge David Tatel wrote, adding a citation to the Book of Genesis.

    Tatel concluded that sex is the kind of "major life activity" that Congress considered when it passed the Rehabilitation Act in 1973. The law, like the better-known Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

    Lawmakers defined a disability as an impairment that "substantially limits" a major life activity. Courts still struggle to explain what that means. Last week, for instance, the D.C. appellate court determined that "sleeping" is a protected major life activity.

    Walking, seeing and hearing, among many other activities, likewise have been identified as "major."

    The new ruling comes from what's sometimes called the nation's second-highest court, meaning that many lawyers will be parsing its words.

    "As a basic physiological act practiced regularly by a vast portion of the population, a cornerstone of family and marital life, a conduit to emotional and spiritual fulfillment, and a crucial element in intimate relationships, sex easily qualifies as a major life activity," Tatel wrote.

    A State Department spokeswoman said the department was still reviewing the decision.

    Adams couldn't be reached to comment Tuesday.

    The Russian-speaking Adams aced the State Department's Foreign Service written and oral exams in 2002, ranking seventh out of 200 candidates. Living about 15 miles south of Greenville, she was in line to start training in January 2004.

    Before her training started, doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, but the State Department subsequently denied her entry into the Foreign Service.

    "The department could not guarantee (her) access to the required medical follow-up and surveillance at all overseas assignments," a State Department nurse testified.

    State Department officials added, and the dissenting appellate judge agreed, that the department didn't know about Adams' sexual disability when it declined to hire her. The court majority, however, reasoned that "it makes no difference whether an employer has precise knowledge of an employee's substantial limitation" so long as the employer knows about the impairment.

    In this case, the State Department knew about Adams' breast cancer but didn't know how the cancer treatments impaired her sex life.

    Adams underwent a mastectomy, had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, gained weight and felt her libido wither.

    "I now find that the prospect of dating and developing an intimate relationship is just too painful and frightening," Adams, who is single, stated in a declaration.[/rquoter]
     
    #1 basso, Jul 23, 2008
  2. DaFingerWag

    DaFingerWag Member

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    This is another example of our country's moral decline. Most of the blame can be attributed to the liberal media. They have desensitized people to abnormal behavior like homosexuality. The liberals have made these types of behavior acceptable, but it's not. They have incrementally dissolved our moral tradition. This ruling is a perfect example of that.

    Several of the Supreme Court Justices are approaching retirement or are reaching the point where they will not be able to serve. Fortunately, the good Justices like Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas are still young. It's imperative that John McCain is elected. He will appoint the right people to the Supreme Court. Otherwise, our country's moral decline will continue. We don't need Justices like Ginsburg or Breyer who have and will continue to erode the foundation upon which our great nation was founded. Rulings like Roe V. Wade need to be overturn, and in order to do that, we need good Justices.



    <b>Vote McCain 2008. Say "NO" to the liberals' agenda of moral decline.</b>
     
    #2 DaFingerWag, Jul 23, 2008
  3. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Member

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    The law needs to be revised obviously - i don't think has anything to do with liberal vs conservative view points - it's just stupid. An employer shouldn't even know whether or not an employee is sexually functional or not. The disability act is meant to prevent discrimination against people who are different in some APPARENT way that may cause them to be judged negatively.

    Don't think that applies here - not being able to have a sex might be a disability, but if it is not observable by anyone than it shouldn't be protected.
     
    #3 Sweet Lou 4 2, Jul 23, 2008
  4. leroy

    leroy Member
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    Oh that's cute. Did you get that straight from Rush Limbaugh or some chain letter?

    "Our country's moral decline" as you put it has been happening under the watch of Republicans.

    By the way, why is it that you think "liberals" want moral decline? What purpose does that serve? I believe that what the people that you label "liberals" want is better country for everybody...not just the select few.

    I'm not saying this ruling from the OP is right. I think the justices got it wrong since the State Department couldn't have known about an future problem. Then again, I don't see what this has to do with the liberal media or anything or any one liberal. You just speak in neocon cliches...blaming anything you deem wrong on the "liberal media".
     
    #4 leroy, Jul 23, 2008
  5. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    I had the same initial reaction -- how could they blame the State Department when they didn't know? -- but I see the sense in it. The State Department can't guarantee the same access to medical care everywhere, which means people with disabilities who need that access can't work for them. They are discriminating by not hiring people (in general) to whom they cannot guarantee access to care, not by saying no to particular people. The particular woman and her particular affliction isn't very important to the principle.

    DaFingerWag, did you post in the thread you meant to post in?
     
    #5 JuanValdez, Jul 23, 2008
  6. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    Blame everything on "liberals". Oh yeah. The favorite sport of the right-wing since eternity past.
     
    #6 A_3PO, Jul 23, 2008
  7. lpbman

    lpbman Member

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    Lois: We have intelligence that suggests that...Hitler...is plotting with...with the Legion of Doom...to take over the world & kill Jesus...using the lake as a base. [crowd at the town hall meeting murmurs]
    [Cutaway to the evil headquarters]
    Super Friends Narrator: Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom...
    Lex Luthor: How did she discover our plan?
    Solomon Grundy: Me, Solomon Grundy...Kinda dropped the ball on that one.
    [Back at the town hall meeting]
    Lois: And we also have evidence that...Darth Vader...tried to buy Yellow Cake Uranium...from unwed teenage mothers!
    Guy in Crowd: Those things all sound scary!
     
    #7 lpbman, Jul 23, 2008
  8. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Member

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    This is hysterical!
     
    #8 Lil Pun, Jul 23, 2008
  9. surrender

    surrender Member

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    I love this post so much that I want to have sex with it
     
    #9 surrender, Jul 23, 2008
  10. Bandwagoner

    Bandwagoner Member

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    well liberals just blame everything on Bush, christians or china.
     
    #10 Bandwagoner, Jul 23, 2008
  11. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    Ooooh kaaay. If that suits you, be just like them. That way intelligent discussion will never happen.

    William F. Buckley said a long long time ago that liberals will insult your character when you disagree with them while conservatives will simply call you dense (by questioning your reasoning). That day is far gone as demagoguery and exaggeration reign on both ends.
     
    #11 A_3PO, Jul 23, 2008
  12. thumbs

    thumbs Member

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    WASHINGTON — A South Carolina breast-cancer survivor has beaten the State Department and convinced judges in Washington that the inability to have sex is a disability protected under federal anti-discrimination laws.

    Does this mean that some of us older guys qualify for disability if we need a little "Viva Viagra" or "Cialus Chacha Cha" boost? When all goes limp, will it be hard to get the government to compensate us for loss of one of life's greatest pleasures? :D
     
    #12 thumbs, Jul 23, 2008
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