A news item tonight caught my attention. A jury in Raleigh, North Carolina has found the founder of Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ liable in a sexual harassment suit filed by his male former assistant. The former employee said he was fired after refusing his boss' sexual advances. Other employees testified to similar firings.
Here's what interesting . . . . the award is noted by the media as being high for a community known for being conservative when handing out awards. Also, the founder of the restaurant chain testified that he is bisexual on the stand. And, we have male to male harassment.
I wonder if the "unusual" factor of the case being male to male harassment led the jury to be more sympathetic to the former employee? If the fired employee had been a young, attractive woman, would the jury have believed her? Would they have found anything "wrong" in the founder's behavior? Also, we don't often hear about homosexual or bi-sexual men and women being involved in sex related crimes. I don't know if they have a difficult time fitting into larger society -- or they aren't wired that way -- or are they willing to settle cases and not go to court?
We have a smithfield's in our town. I'll have to think twice now before I zip by for a bag of hush puppies.
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