According to SouthFloridaGayNews.com, a 61-year-old gay man who has been a licensed practical nurse in South Florida for 40 years, recently lost his job at an assisted living facility after a routine background check turned up a misdemeanor lewdness charge against him in 1976.
Ray Fetcho used to perform as drag queen “Tiny Tina.” On March 31, 1976, Fetcho was arrested on misdemeanor lewd act charges in connection with a “Wet Jockey Shorts” contest he was emceeing — as “Tiny Tina” — at a local bar. Apparently, his lewd act was throwing a bucket of water on the line of contestants standing their in their tighty-whities.
So now, 36 years later, the state has decided that he is unworthy of working as a nurse because of that. In fact, SouthFloridaGayNews.com reports, unless he gets an exemption, the Florida Department of Health can keep him from working anywhere in the state as a nurse.
Fetcho had worked at the assisted living facility for the past 15 years, and had been honored for his “compassionate service to the elderly.” His former employer and supervisors there had nothing but good things to say about him, as did relatives of many of the patients he has helped through the years.
John Castelli, former co-owner of The Copa — the bar where Tiny Tina worked — sold the news site: “Oh my God! What century are we living in? It was such an innocent situation. The boys always wore briefs. No one was exposed. That was during the Anita Bryant era, a lifetime ago.”
Fetcho has retained a law firm to help him appeal the decision and get the necessary exemption so he can go back to work, and his attorney, Norm Kent (who also happens to be SFGN publisher) has promised that the situation will be remedied and Fetcho will be able to work as a nurse again.
But even if that happens, Fetcho’s story serves as proof positive that no matter how far we as LGBT people have come, we still have a long way to go. And our past can come back to haunt us.
6 Comments
Florida? This actually happened in Florida? Jeez…do some people have too much time on their hands or what?
Really, Tammye, do you think this is discriminatory? He didn’t lose his job because he’s gay, he lost it because a routine background check turned up a misdemeanor conviction. It’s possible that he never underwent a background check before. It’s possible that he was asked about prior convictions and he lied. I agree that the original offense was ludicrous, but unless you can prove that the employer displayed a pattern of discrimination against gay workers, you really can’t assume this action was taken because Fetcho is gay.
Hi Jon:
I didn’t say the employer fired him because he was gay. In fact, the story pointed out that that his employer and coworkers were upset that it had happened.
From my perspective, it is the original arrest that is the problem. I believe that anti-gay sentiment and discrimination that was commonplace at that time probably had everything to do with him being arrested in 1976, and although “times have changed” now, discriminatory practices from 30 and 40 years ago can still come back to bite us in the butt.
From what I read, Fetcho’s employers had no choice in the matter; they had to follow health department policies. Even the policies are not necessarily at fault. The problem, again, is that 36 years ago this man was arrested under pretext of a public lewdness law that was used to target him as a gay man and the gay bar he worked in.
WOW! It’s amazing how small the minds of Americans are. Go get ’em Tiny Tina!!!
For real? I mean, that was way back when? I guess he should get exemption.
This makes me very sad. I just hope that Fetcho gets his job back and measures are taken to ensure that this cannot happen again. Is it possible to remove charges that are obviously due to discrimination? There needs to be laws put into place to protect people who have been targeted by bigits and charged for bogus crimes!!!!!!!!!