AIDS Group Fundraiser Claims He Was Fired For Not Being Gay

 

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

Posted: August 27, 2007 – 1:00 pm ET 

(Los Angeles, California) A man hired to oversee fundraising for a cycling event that raises money for two California AIDS groups says he was fired because is straight according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles.

Jeffrey Shapiro is suing the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

The two groups produce AIDS/LifeCycle, the 545-mile cycling event to that funds the groups and helps in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

In documents submitted to the Los Angeles Superior Court Shapiro claims discrimination based on his sexual orientation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The lawsuit alleges that leads of the LAGLC and SFAF leaders fired Shapiro in June. He claims in the suit that he was told “everybody liked him as a person, but they needed somebody who better fit into the culture.”

The court papers also say that when Shapiro he asked for a further explanation a LAGLC director told him “things like this happen and that they made a mistake to think this could work.”

Shapiro said he was given two weeks severance pay plus money for unused vacation time.

The lawsuit claims that his work generated a record $11 million for the two groups compared to $8 million in the previous year.

Shapiro is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages plus a permanent injunction preventing the two groups “from engaging in further such discrimination.”

Neither the LAGLC nor the SFAF have yet responded to the suit.

Source: Gay News From 365Gay.com