Gay man claims school
was biased against him
Newsday.com on the
Web, January 26, 2006
MILFORD, Conn. -- A gay man
from Milford is suing the University of Bridgeport, claiming sexual
discrimination.
The lawsuit filed in Superior Court by Paul Lewis, 55, claims that the school
barred him from campus and ordered him to undergo psychiatric care because of
his homosexuality.
Lewis said that university officials held a disciplinary hearing last spring and
charged him with making other students uncomfortable because of his homosexual
behavior.
Lewis had been studying chiropractic medicine.
"The University of Bridgeport had the perception that Paul had psychiatric
issues and discriminated against him based on that perceived disability," Lewis'
attorney, John Williams said Wednesday.
Lewis believes the discrimination against him stems in part from the
university's alleged ties to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
"Rev. Moon still has a major influence on the University of Bridgeport and his
understanding of human sexuality is extremely limited," Lewis said.
UB has received some $110 million from the Professors World Peace Academy, a
branch of the Unification Church, over 12 years.
John Daley, a spokesman for the university, denied that the university tolerates
or practices discrimination.
"The allegations in a lawsuit claiming that the University of Bridgeport
discriminates against homosexuals are absolutely untrue," he said. "Those
allegations are wrong and vicious. People's private lives are their own
business."
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