Court Orders NYU To Pay
Gay Composer's Widower $2 Million
by Doug Windsor 365Gay.com from the web February 1, 2005
New York City, Jan.31 -- Composer Leonard Bernstein's surviving partner has won a $2 million dollar wrongful dismissal suit from New York University Medical Center.
A Manhattan jury deliberated less than 30 minutes before finding that Mark Taylor had been the subject of discrimination because he is gay.
Taylor had been the center's director of external affairs before being fired in 1997.
Among his duties was writing speeches for NYU's president and then medical department chair Saul Farber.
On the witness stand Taylor had described the atmosphere once his colleagues learned he was gay.
Taylor met Bernstein in 1989. When the composer of "West Side Story" fell ill it was Taylor who cared for him.
Bernstein died in 1990. All the time Taylor remained closeted at work
But, in 1994 he was publicly outed as Bernstein's lover in a biography. The book also mentioned Farber, who was Bernstein's doctor.
It circulated around the office, with references to Taylor highlighted.
After that point, he told the jury, he subjected to taunts and insults, mainly from his coworker, Peter Ferrara.
When Ferrara was promoted to department head Taylor was fired.
He filed his suit shortly after that.
NYU, which also faces possible punitive damages, plans to appeal. Ferrara, who now works at Yeshiva University, denies Taylor's charges.
|
