DMV employee in privacy case suspended
The San Francisco Chronicle reports the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended a clerk who allegedly used a state database to mail a letter to a transgender woman condemning her sex change.
DMV spokesperson Michael Marando said Dec. 10 the unidentified employee was placed on administrative leave with pay in October, shortly after Amber Yust said she received the letter.
The DMV is now investigating the clerk’s alleged misconduct.
Yust says the letter came four days after the clerk processed her application for a new driver’s license with her female name. It identified the writer as the person who handled her application.
Yust filed a claim this week against the state for damages.
School retains anti-bullying curriculum
The San Jose Mercury News reports parents whose children attend classes in the Vallejo City Unified School District cannot opt them out of the anti-bullying curriculum, including short films featuring gay and lesbian families, being presented in the schools.
The district’s board of trustees voted 4-1 last Thursday to retain the “Respect for All” curriculum, which has been the subject of heated debate in recent weeks.
Some parents said they should have been notified about the lessons and be allowed to keep their children out of the classes.
The curriculum stems from a settlement between the district and the ACLU, following complaints of harassment and bullying from a former high-school student.
Damage to Harvard gay books accidental
Advocate.com reports a dean at Harvard University said that what initially appeared to be an act of vandalism in which urine was poured on almost 40 gay and lesbian books was instead an accident.
Dean Evelynn Hammonds said on Dec. 13 that an investigation determined a library worker found a bottle of what appeared to be urine on a shelf in the Lamont Library and accidentally spilled it.
Campus police had been investigating the incident as a hate crime. Some 36 books worth several thousand dollars were ruined in the Nov. 24 incident.
It remains unclear why a bottle of urine was in the library.
— Larry Nichols