According to the Website for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), the organization is now representing Lorri Sulpizio, former Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Mesa College in San Diego, and Cathy Bass, who was the school’s Director of Basketball Operations, in a discrimination case against the college.
At the end of the 2007 academic year, Sulpizio and Bass, who are domestic partners, were fired after a photo of them appeared in a local newspaper and indentified them as a same-sex couple.
The suit, which claims the women were unlawfully fired despite their measurable successes at the school, also cites Sulpizio’s repeated calls for equal treatment among the school’s female athletes and women’s coaches as an unlawful reason for their dismissal.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that, during their tenure at the school, the coaches held a 31-31 record in their conference (Pacific Coast Conference), and in 2001 the went 10-0. During the past season they fell to 6-6.
Still, the website InsideHigherEd.com reports that Sulpizio says she and Bass were never warned they weren’t performing up to par and that they were given no reason for their contracts not being renewed.
This suit is reminiscent of a 2007 incident against Rene Portland, who resigned as the Head Coach of Women’s Basketball at Penn State amid accusations that she discriminated against players due to their sexual orientation.
A similar case came up in 2005 at another California School, Cal State – Fresno. There, the former women’s volleyball coach, who claimed she was let go for voicing her concerns about gender biases at the school, was awarded a $5.85 million settlement.
Sulpizio and Bass are represented by the NCLR and the law firms of Boxer & Gerson, LLP and Stock Stephens, LLP. The suit is filed against Mesa Athletic Director Dave Evans, San Diego Mesa College and the San Diego Community College District.
