SOUNDBITES — “If it were a straight porn, I wouldn’t have been fired. The fact that it was bondage and gay freaked them out.” —Michael Verdugo, star of 1996’s Rope Rituals and HGTV’s Design Star, insisting there’s a homophobic bias behind his January 2009 firing (via)
delurker
That’s kind of hard to prove, isn’t it?
Wayne
This is a comment on the headline.
A possessive plural does not require the use of a second “s.”
“If Rope Rituals’s Michael Verdugo…” should be “If Rope Rituals’ Michael Verdugo…”
AlwaysGay
No and all the heterosexual male cops would ask him about his experience in porn.
Michael should win this case. He was discriminated about because he is gay.
drewbrown
can i just mention that he is smoking hot?
alex
@AlwaysGay: I agree that he was discriminated against because he was gay. Unfortunately, that’s legal here in Florida, save for a few cities with progressive laws. I did a search of the City of Hollywood (FL) anti-discrimination rules and it appears that sexual orientation is not included.
If Verdugo wins, it’s because he was assigned a progressive judge. But, if it happens, the City will appeal and it will most likely get overturned. (I’m not a legal scholar, so that’s just my take on things.)
terrwill
You would have thought they would have wanted to keep him on the force, being that he is so well versed in using restraints and all……… : p
Steve
Hollywood, Florida is in Broward County, Florida.
Broward County does have a human rights act, which does prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
http://www.broward.org/Intergovernmental/Pages/CivilRights.aspx
NativeNYker
Life is full of double standards…
xo
Rants, Thoughts & Merde
http://rantsthoughtsmerde.com/2010/03/11/micheal-verdugo-nsfw-rope-rituals/