Museum director
files discrimination suit

A former executive director of a Connecticut museum filed a discrimination suit after enduring what she calls a campaign to force her to resign, including problems with gay staffers. The Associated Press reports that Marjorie St. Aubyn of the Lockwood-Matthews Mansion Museum in Norwalk alleges that her car was vandalized, she was threatened with poisoning, and she was shown graphic pictures from a gay Web site.

St. Aubyn alleges that her gay colleagues created a hostile work environment for her and that the museum's board voted not to renew her contract.

"What appears to have happened is that once my client had some problems with one of the gay members of the staff, they all took umbrage at it," Craig Dickinson, St. Aubyn's attorney, told the AP on Monday. "It got very ugly."

Christopher Cooke, the chairman of the museum's board, said he was "stunned" by St. Aubyn's charges. "I have no knowledge of any of this being true," he told the AP. He said St. Aubyn's contract was not renewed because of her lack of experience as a curator.

The alleged incidents also include an assault, with St. Aubyn claiming to have been intentionally poked in the eye. She said she brought a complaint to the board but that no action was taken, prompting her to file a police report three months later. Cook told the AP that the case was dismissed, but Dickinson said the case is currently pending.

St. Aubyn was hired in 2001 as the executive director. In 2003, she allowed film crews to shoot scenes for The Stepford Wives in the mansion. (The Advocate)