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PAGE 14
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 28, 1984
Two women who were denied access to intimate curtained dining
booths reserved for "romantic evenings" because they are of the
same sex won $250 each Monday in a court ruling ending their dis
crimination case against the Papa Choux restaurant.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Charles E. Jones issued the sum
mary judgment (a decision made without trial and based on law
rather than disputed facts) on behalf of Zandra Rolon and Deborah
Johnson four months after the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled
that barring same-sex couples was illegally discriminatory.
The higher court enjoined the downtown restaurant from excluding
such couples from the booths while the suit was pending, and
Jones' ruling Monday made the ban permanent. Restaurant owner
Seymour Jacoby, unable to persuade the Supreme Court to hear the
case, closed the six booths last March after the Court of Appeal
issued its decision rather than abandon his policy of seating
only heterosexual couples.
Judge Jones also indicated Monday
that he plans to order Jacoby to pay nearly all the $27,767 fee
billed by the women's attorney, Gloria Allred, plus $600 for Mon
day's court hearing•••• He refused a request by restaurant attor
ney Arnold Barry Gold to divide the total into monthly payments
so that it would not become a hardship for the restaurant.
"We were never in this for the damages. We wanted to prove a
point," Allred said. "We would have settled for no damages and
no attorney fees if they had simply changed their policy. But
they chose to fight, so � they will �-
11 • • •
Johnson said she
was "just delighted" with the finale of the case Monday and that
their efforts, which publicly e�posed their "lesbian life-mate"
relationship, were "more than worth it."
When they started to "come out," gay/lesbian activists appealed for "under
standing" from the community at large. But now, utilizing the muscle of the
courts, gay activists--just like the men of Sodom--are displaying an intol
erant "get out of my way" attitude.
Meanwhile, the mainline churches, as noted in this column in the September
14, 1984 PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, are wilting under the pressure of the gay
rights onslaught. The reason for this mainly lies in their own approach to
the Bible. To them, the Bible is no longer an inerrant guide to life. As a
result, the churches have no "Biblical comeback" to the shifty arguments of
the moral relativists and gay rights exponents. Here, in the article "Ho
mosexual Weddings Stir Dispute," published in the September 5 NEW YORK
TIMES, is a good example of this.
For nearly a year, the two dozen parishioners of the Ray of Hope
Metropolitan Community Church worshiped in undisturbed tranquil
lity on Sunday. But that solitude was shattered after the Metro
politan Community Church conducted several marriages for homosex
ual couples•.•.
Too tiny to have its own building, the nondenominational church,
which reaches primarily into Syracuse's homosexual community for
parishioners, has held services since last October at the 108-
year-old, gray, stone Grace Episcopal Church. The Metropolitan