|| News ||
Page 1 of 1

County: Gay Elders Separated Over Domestic Violence


SENIOR ELDERLY X390 (PHOTOS.COM) | ADVOCATE.COM

The lawyer representing Sonoma County, Calif. and its employees in a civil lawsuit filed by Clay M. Greene, who suffered unimaginable indignities after being forcibly separated from his partner of 20 years, says the county took action because it believed that Greene was abusing Harold Scull.

Sonoma County lawyer Gregory G. Spaulding made the domestic violence claim in an interview Tuesday, according to The New York Times.

“That, Mr. Spaulding said, was the motivation behind the decision to separate the two elderly men, who were placed in separate nursing care facilities. The separation and subsequent auction of the partners’ possessions, as described in the lawsuit Mr. Greene’s filed in March, has drawn strong condemnation on Web sites reporting the allegations,” reports the Times.

Spaulding has referred to records from April 2008 that show Scull was admitted to a Santa Rosa hospital as a result of injuries Scull said were inflicted by Greene.

Greene, 78, filed a lawsuit alleging that he and Scull were each other’s legal executors, but that the county disregarded the documents. More than $500,000 of their belongings were disposed of by the state, and Greene, moved involuntarily to a nursing home, was not allowed to see Scull, who died in August 2008 at age 88.

Shannon Minter, a lawyer for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is representing Greene, told the Times that no evidence of abuse existed.

“The county was certainly right to take initial measures to investigate and determine whether there was abuse, which is a serious issue for many elders,” said Minter. “But they did not treat this case as they would have for a heterosexual couple.”

Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Facebook. Page 1 of 1
Reader Comments
  • Name: MandT
    Date posted: 5/7/2010 9:06:19 PM
    Hometown: Sebastopol

    Comment:

    We are two seniors who live in Sonoma County and here is our take on Greene vs. Sonoma County: http://adgitadiaries.blog-city.com/stasi_in_america_green_vs_sonoma_county_et_al.htm

  • Name: coyote moon
    Date posted: 4/22/2010 11:45:24 PM
    Hometown: San Diego

    Comment:

    Please send your opinion to Sonoma County http://www.sonoma-county.org/main/feedback.asp?ID=1

  • Name: coyote moon
    Date posted: 4/22/2010 11:43:16 PM
    Hometown: San Diego

    Comment:

    Without any police record or any history of arrest for domestic violence, and no restraining orders on record, I hope Mr. Greene adds slander to his complaint.

  • Name: Kelli Williams
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 11:23:07 PM
    Hometown: Brooklyn

    Comment:

    More from the Press Democrat. Poor, poor Sonoma County. And what a cute story about a heterosexual couple and how they met in the same article. Is Sonoma County going to kick them out of their house, sell their stuff and dispose of their pets? Probably not. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100421/NEWS/100429874?p=2&tc=pg

  • Name: Doug
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 6:36:58 PM
    Hometown: vb

    Comment:

    this is fishy- if he committed abuse, he should be arrested, not stuck in a nursing home....and even if he abused this man- does that give the state the right to sell all his belongings?????

  • Name: Dave
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 2:53:34 PM
    Hometown: Austin

    Comment:

    If there really was a history of abuse a neighbor, friend, or relative should be able to corroborate it if any did in fact occur. My suspicion is they'll try and bring a neighbor or an estranged family member to support their abuse claim though it sounds like they can't even produce a witness let alone one that actually knew the couple.

  • Name: Keith
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 12:48:52 PM
    Hometown: Foster City

    Comment:

    This is just a defense lawyer trying to build public PR for the defense their going to bring before the judge, even though there was absolutely no evidence or history of domestic violence within this couple's relationship for over 20 years. There have been many articles written about this case since it first came to public light, and not one has ever mentioned or hinted at domestic violence as a reason for the separation. This smells of desperation by the defense in its attempt to defend Sonoma County officials who oversaw this debacle, and I hope the judge and jury don't buy it for one second.

  • Name: David
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 12:36:37 PM
    Hometown: Houston

    Comment:

    That's mighty convenient. I call BS.

  • Name: Jim
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 12:29:01 PM
    Hometown: Santa Rosa

    Comment:

    This recent development makes the folks at Sonoma County look even worse. If they were so concerned about domestic violence, why didn't they pursue it? It doesn't seem like they took it all that seriously outside of using it as a justification for selling off all of Clay and Harold's stuff and isolating them from one another. Makes you wonder if Clay and Harold were straight or married, would things turned out differently or would the county ignored the legal documents just the same?

  • Name: Jay
    Date posted: 4/21/2010 9:33:59 AM
    Hometown: Santa Monica

    Comment:

    This is yet another version of the "homosexual panic" defense: "blame the victim." The explanation makes no sense, and certainly cannot explain the perjury, disregard of legal documents, selling property without permission, and other outrages perpetrated against this couple.



Don't Miss
  • Best of Broadway Smash: Why You Will Love It

    Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, two of the producers of NBC’s new critically acclaimed musical series, explain why the backstage drama of creating a musical about Marilyn Monroe has mass appeal and why big stars like Anjelica Huston, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Nick Jonas were eager to appear in it.

  • Best of Broadway How Broadway Does a Flea Market

    Find out why actress Kathleen Chalfant calls the annual Flea Market and Grand Auction in Times Square "the most glamorous flea market you've ever seen." It raised half a million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS.

  • Travel Slideshow Flag Gayest Cities in America, 2012

    It's no secret that megalopolises New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles have robust LGBT life — and we've even heard tell of little queer hoods like the Castro and P-Town. This isn't that list.

 
 
Advocate Subscribe Promo Banner 300x50
 
Follow Us Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterSubscribe to our RSS feedsDownload our app
Facebook Activity
 
1056 COVER X135 | ADVOCATE.COM
Today's Headlines