Every Picture Tells a Story

by Michael L. Jones

Pedreira, 35, of Louisville, Ky., doesn't remember the photograph being snapped. She didn't believe it existed until she saw it for herself. The black and white photograph captures Pedreira standing by a wall in Old Louisville, in front of another woman who sits close to Pedreira. Both women face the camera. Pedreira's T-shirt reads "Isle of Lesbos," written above a drawing of a map showing Turkey and Greece.

When the picture surfaced in a contest at the Kentucky State Fair in August, it caused enough of a stir that the Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children fired Pedreira from her job at its Spring Meadows Children's Home in Middletown, a Louisville suburb. Because the photograph made KBHC officials aware of something many of her co-workers already knew: Alicia Pedreira is a homosexual.

"I had just gotten back from vacation in August when people started telling me that they saw my picture hanging somewhere," Pedreira said. "Well, I didn't know what they were talking about. The photographer had never asked for my permission to use it. We did some checking around, and found out it was at the state fair. When I saw it the first time, I (said), 'Oh my god, I just lost my job.'"

Last May, Pedreira began working as a therapist at Spring Meadows Children's Home, where, as an art therapist she was responsible for providing care to eight to 10 teenage boys who lived in a cottage together. She supervised a cottage manager and eight to 10 counselors.

Pedreira is of Puerto Rican descent. Her parents, Emelinda and Joseph, emigrated to the United States when they were teenagers. Pedreira was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., but grew up in Tampa, Fla. She graduated from the University of Louisville in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in health promotions. Last year she received a master's degree in art therapy from the University of Louisville. Jack Cox, the Spring Meadows' clinical director, specifically recruited Pedreira from Central State Hospital, where she worked as an art therapist for a year before joining the staff at Spring Meadows.

"I had interviewed for a job there months before," Pedreira said. "But it was for a position where they wanted someone who could be licensed. Art therapists aren't licensed in Kentucky; we receive a certification, so they hired a social worker. Jack tracked me down later when a position came open that he could hire me for." Cox said he told Pedreira before she accepted the job that working at a Baptist-sponsored facility might subject a person to greater personal scrutiny than would be likely under other employers. Pedreira then told him she was a homosexual and asked him how that would affect her employment. Cox said he conferred with his supervisor, regional director Stan Brown, and neither man had a problem hiring her, although they agreed it might become an issue if higher-ups found out. "They told me not to talk about it at work," Pedreira said, "and I agreed, because I'm a therapist. I don't talk about my personal life."

Unbeknownst to Pedreira, however, her personal life would soon be on display at a Kentucky State Fair exhibition. Jeffrey Offutt, a 42-year-old amateur photographer, had taken the photo of Pedreira and her companion, Nance Goodman, almost a year earlier at the September 1997 AIDS Walk in Louisville. To this day, Pedreira said, she doesn't remember posing for the picture. "Anyone that knows me knows I'm a ham," Pedreira said. "If a camera is pointed at me, I'm going to smile. I have no ill will toward the photographer. I've contacted him and he is just someone who takes pretty pictures; he had no idea that it would cause me so much trouble."

She began to worry on Sept. 2, when Cox told her KBHC officials were discussing the matter. But she said Cox told her he believed she would survive the situation. "He said it might get sticky, but he didn't think I would be fired," she said. "He didn't understand why I was so worried." Although he didn't have a problem with Pedreira's sexual orientation and he found her performance "splendid," Cox said he was bound to report a potential public-relations problem to his superiors. When he did, a committee of the agency's president and vice presidents convened to discuss the matter. They decided to terminate Pedreira, and Cox was told to ask for Pedreira's resignation the following day. When Pedreira got the news, she said, she was angry, because no one who had sat in judgment of her actually knew her. She refused to resign. "I kept going to work every day as usual, but I knew I was going to be fired," Pedreira said. "Every day I'm thinking, 'Is the ax going to fall today? Is the guillotine going to fall?' Jack Cox was in tears when he finally told me."

On Sept. 11, Pedreira said, Cox approached her and asked her what day she would like to be her last day. "I told him I couldn't pick a day, because that would be quitting," Pedreira said. "So he picked a day -- Oct. 3." When that day arrived, Pedreira told her staff and the 10 boys she worked with that she was going to be fired. She said she felt it was important that the children learn about it from her because it would be traumatic for them.

"That's how I dealt with those kids," Pedreira said. "I told them the truth and tried to help them make correct choices. I wanted them to be angry about my leaving, to get through it while I was still there to help them. I think firing me was a negative message to send those boys, some of whom identify themselves as gay and bisexual."

On what was supposed to be her last day, Pedreira met with Karen Hamilton, vice president of human resources, to discuss the terms of her termination. Pedreira said she had already asked Hamilton three times for an official letter of termination that included the reason for her termination. "(Hamilton) refused to sign the papers, basically," Pediera said. "They refused to give me an official letter of termination, which is against policy. I was perplexed, (thinking) 'You fired me.' They already had in mind what they wanted. They didn't want to put anything in writing until they figured out a way to do it that would legally protect themselves."

Pedreira said Hamilton continued questioning her about her job prospects and offering employment help, saying KBHC didn't want her to leave without another job. Finally, Pedreira said, Hamilton decided Pedreira could remain employed at KBHC for another four weeks. Pedreira said she was reluctant to refuse because she didn't want to give KBHC any excuse to say she had actually resigned. But she was not allowed to return to her regular job; she was moved to an office where she looked at case files and decided in which of the KBHC's homes the children should be placed.

"At that point I didn't want anyone to go into a KBHC home," Pedreira said. "I had never done this work before. It seemed to me to be a transfer and a demotion, even though I was paid the same. Transfers are also against company policy. The whole thing implied to me that they thought I was dangerous -- that in some way or form, I was not good for (the kids)."

During the next few weeks, Pedreira said, KBHC officials made several offers to help Pedreira find other work. They jousted back and forth until Nov. 6, which turned out to be her last day. Pedreira said the second meeting with human resources representatives occurred in the office of KBHC President William Smithwick, who sat in with them. Pedreira said Smithwick expressed regret over the situation, but she found him insincere because she had heard him make disparaging remarks about homosexuals. Once again the HR reps refused to sign her a letter of termination. Instead, they gave her an employee separation form that said she was being fired because she admitted to KBHC officials that she was a homosexual. The form also said Pedreira had been given nine weeks to find other employment and that she had refused outplacement help.

"The nine weeks was a lie," Pedreira said. "And I never told them that I was gay, Jack Cox did. What really bothers me about the whole situation is that the whole time it went on, none of those people ever talked to me. Not one of them came to look me in the eye; they made Jack or Karen Hamilton do it."

The firing caused an outcry at Spring Meadows. Cox, Pedreira's supervisor, resigned shortly after Pedreira left. So did a social worker, as well as two residential supervisors who worked under Pedreira. The resignations wee at least in part because of what happened to Pedriera, Cox said. Representatives from Spalding University in Louisville have also lodged a letter of complaint, noting that discrimination because of sexual orientation is against the social workers code of ethics. Spalding, which operates a noted school of social work, has said it won't place students in jobs with KBHC. The University of Louisville's Kent School of Social Work has taken a similar stand, Cox said, as has U of L's undergraduate art therapy program.

Pedreira said KBHC tried to put its own spin on the matter. "They went on a campaign of misinformation," Pedreira said. "They said I resigned. That I wanted to resign so that I could sue them." But, unfortunately for Pedreira, KBHC violated no laws. Cary Willis, a spokesman for the Cabinet for Children and Family, said KBHC's firing of Pedreira for her sexual orientation won't even threaten its state funding. "There are no state or federal laws that prohibit discrimination against people based on sexual orientation," Willis said. "Since there is no violation, there is nothing we can do as far as ending funding to KBHC."

Dan Farrell, co-coordinator of the Fairness Campaign, said the case is a prime example of why he and other civil rights advocates are lobbying to have homosexuals included in hate crime ordinances around the country. And he said Pedreira's situation is a textbook example of the type of discrimination homosexuals experience regularly, but rarely report because they have no legal recourse. "This seems to be the most blatant situation of discrimination I've ever heard," Farrell said. "A lot of times discrimination is subtle or subterfuge. But they just came out and told her why she was being fired. Any company that wants can do the same thing."

The Fairness Amendment, which would include homosexuals among the groups protected by the city's civil rights laws, has already failed to pass three times in the Louisville Board of Alderman. Outgoing Mayor Jerry Abramson never got behind the issue, but Mayor-elect Dave Armstrong, while saying the ordinance would not be a high priority, has said he will sign the ordinance if it passes. Farrell said he believes the new Board of Alderman will pass the Fairness Ordinance if it is placed on the agenda a fourth time.

"We will have more support than we have with the current board," he said. "From some of the statements (the aldermen) have made in the paper it seems there has been some movement on the issue." But even if the ordinance should pass locally, Farrell said Pedreira's case points to a chillier reality for the country as a whole. "There is a lot of talk, especially from conservatives like (Rep.) Anne Northup (R-Ky.), about giving more money to faith-based institutions instead of government agencies," Farrell said. "Who says if we give them money that everyone will be served? What's to stop them from discriminating in the same way that KBHC has?"

KBHC has an unlikely ally in their cause against Pedreira -- her own mother. "My mother said I shouldn't have been wearing the T-shirt," Pedreira said. "She thinks this is what happens when you live outside God's law. It's one of those cases where you love the sinner, but hate the sin. Basically, she's on their side."

Pedreira does leave a sad legacy of sorts at KBHC. In the Oct. 23 issue of its online newsletter, Site Bytes, KBHC issued its own version of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy: "Homosexuality is a lifestyle that would prohibit employment with Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children," it said. "The Board does not encourage or intend for staff to seek out people within the organization who may live an alternate lifestyle. We will, however, act according to Board policy if a situation is brought to our attention.

"There have been questions about how this will affect the children we serve," it continued. "We will continue to serve the needs of each child in need of our services. This agency exists to care for children; therefore, the institution's policies are established to that end. Everything we do is done to serve the children's best interest."

Goodman, Pedreira's companion, said she is flabbergasted by the whole situation and the way KBHC officials cling to the religious mantle. "I thought Christian values were love, tolerance and respect," Goodman said. "This is really a clear-cut case of discrimination."

Cox, a social worker for 20 years, including the past three at KBHC, said quitting his job was difficult. He'd just been promoted and said he had a great working relationship with his co-workers. Although he wasn't completely surprised by Pedreira's termination, he characterized it as a "white-collar hate crime." And he said he is astounded that an agency that is largely state-funded can base decisions on religious beliefs. "Basically, our tax money is paying for that kind of treatment," he said. "It's obviously not a separation of church and state. It would be different if they weren't making church-related decisions using taxpayer money."