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Clay Greene
By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
CLICK HERE to read a copy of the lawsuit filed by Clay Greene against the county.
Clay Greene flipped through the pages Tuesday of an old photo album, one of the few mementos remaining from the 25 years he spent with his partner, Harold Scull, 88.
Greene, 78, said that as Scull lay dying in a hospital bed two years ago, Sonoma County officials denied visitation for the same-sex couple, contending they were mere “roommates” despite signed wills, medical declarations and powers of attorney naming each as the other’s spouse.
His lawsuit accuses the county’s office of the public guardian/conservator of forcing him into a nursing home, of selling the contents of the men’s Sebastopol home and of carting off choice heirlooms for themselves.
“They stole my furniture, put me in a retirement home and told me to shut up,” said Greene, sitting in his cramped studio apartment in Guerneville, where he lives alone. “They took my cats. They took everything.”
The case has sparked outrage within the gay community, where many believe the men were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.
But a county attorney said the case is “about domestic abuse, not gay rights.”
Gregory Spaulding, who represents county employees named in the lawsuit, said Scull was hospitalized after he was attacked by Greene. Their belongings were sold for about $35,800 to cover expenses for their care, he said.
“When the facts come out, the story that’s being thrown out will be found inaccurate in a number of respects,” Spaulding said. “The case came to the public guardian when Scull reported he had been assaulted by Clay Greene.”
He said the two men were separated for their own protection.
Greene’s lawyer, Anne Dennis, said no violence occurred between the men. Scull was hospitalized after a fall at his home, she said.
“It’s the county’s attempt to deflect the real issues of the case,” said Amy Todd-Gher, an attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, who is assisting in the lawsuit.
Harold Scull, left, and Clay Greene, pictured here in happier times.
A Sheriff’s Office report of the April 27, 2008, incident in which Scull was injured was not made available by either side in the case. The Sheriff’s Office spokesman said Tuesday the report was not immediately available.
According to the suit, filed last summer, Scull was admitted to Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa in April 2008 after being hurt at the couple’s Barnett Valley Road home.
A temporary conservator was appointed for Scull because he showed signs of dementia and reduced mental capacity, and he was placed in a nursing home, the lawsuit says.
That May, the county took possession of Scull’s personal property, including keepsakes from his time as a Hollywood studio artist in the 1950s and 1960s, furniture, Oriental rugs, art and items of monetary and sentimental value. Dennis, Greene’s attorney, said the property may have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to the lawsuit, county employees and agents made comments regarding the desirability of the property, saying “this would look nice in my living room” and “my wife will love this.” In July, the items were sold without the couple’s consent by North Bay Auctions, the lawsuit alleges.
About the same time, the county determined Greene also was unable to care for himself and placed him in a separate nursing home, Agua Caliente Villa in Sonoma, the lawsuit said.
In the weeks leading up to Scull’s death from congestive heart failure on Aug. 13, 2008, Greene was “falsely imprisoned” and prevented from visiting Scull before he died, the lawsuit said.
The suit accuses Deputy Public Guardian Michael Brewster of publicly demeaning Greene about his sexual orientation. It also names as defendants Jo Weber, director of the county Human Services Department, and two other county conservators/public guardians: Sally Liedholm and Karin Stagg-Hourigan.
The nursing home and the auction company are co-defendants.
Weber declined to comment Monday, referring calls to the county’s attorney. Valerie Brown, chairwoman of the county Board of Supervisors, did not return a call Tuesday.
The case is pending before Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert Boyd. A trial date of July 16 has been set.
Dennis said she would seek attorney fees and other damages that could reach millions of dollars. She said her client lost a lifetime of possessions, his cats, Sassy and Tiger, and suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from the experience.
“All he got was a lamp, a hutch and eight photo albums,” Dennis said. “The cats are dead.”
The lawsuit has swept Internet sites over the past week after it was posted online by the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Outrage spilled onto a Facebook page advocating justice for the couple. Organizers urged people to write legislators, TV stations and newspapers. Others vented about the handling by Sonoma County officials or called for a boycott of all local businesses.
“I lived a horrid, short year in Satan Rosa,” posted Kristin Windju. “They are definitely not exactly welcoming to our community.”
Another Facebook commenter, Patrick McRae, said he and his partner would vacation elsewhere this year. “I will not be purchasing wine, dairy products or other goods produced in Sonoma County,” McRae said.
Others said the case is an example of why gay people should have the right to get married.
“This horrific case simply underlines the point that gay people need and deserve marriage — 100 percent equal rights under the law,” David Hoffman wrote. “No exceptions, no exclusions, no excuses.”
Local gay marriage advocates said the case is an example of what can happen to long-term couples who don’t have the protections under the law that heterosexual couples enjoy.
Bill Gardner of the Sonoma County chapter of Marriage Equality USA, said equal treatment can become an issue despite the state’s domestic partnership laws. Gay partners continue to report they have been prevented from visiting a loved one in the hospital or are otherwise denied rights normally given to spouses.
“We spend decades together and denied those last crucial moments, holding their hand in a hospital,” Gardner said. “So, we’re not only discriminated against in marriage and housing but at the time of death. It’s a tragedy.”
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This is not the entire story. The reason the man was hospitalized in the first place was due to domestic violence. Do not believe sensationalized media. If you got angry, you just got taken advantage of by an overzealous reporter looking to make that promotion.
Letter from the counsel handling the case: http://i.imgur.com/TeK9Z.png
I am totally embarrassed by the actions of the public workers in my county. There is a large population of gay and lesbian people here. This to me is a human rights issue-not gay or straight, just the idea that people should be treated with dignity and kindness always.
Perhaps the laws need to be changed in many areas, because it seems to me that the arbitrary actions of officials in Sonoma County represent a form of domestic abuse. The arbitrary possession of the property of these men, the sale of their belongings, the forced relocation of each of them, apparently without the permission of either one, sounds like a pretty abusive situation to me.
If Spaulding is so certain that the “facts” in this case, which I assume in his mind rests exclusively with the “professionals” who made the assessment of Scull’s mental condition and determined physical abuse, then he needs to be more transparent about how the County reaches their apparently unquestionable conclusion. Moreover, the qualifications of each person involved in making this determination should be open for scrutiny, from the investigators to the social workers and county officials and to the court system. I suspect it is often far too easy for vulnerable members of our society to be abused by government officials who are never held accountable for their own behavior.
If you felt upset by the allegations as I did, please consider sending a letter to the editor. Here’s mine:
Dear Editor
In Paul Payne’s story “Lawsuit ignites firestorm in gay community against Sonoma County,” the County’s lawyer, Mr. Spaulding, is quoted as saying that Harold Scull was hospitalized after Clay Greene, his partner of 25 years, attacked him. However, this allegation simply doesn’t make sense. If Mr. Greene had attacked and seriously injured his partner, why wasn’t Mr. Greene charged and arrested? Why wasn’t a restraining order in place? Why wasn’t Mr. Greene arrested for murder after his partner died in the hospital while recovering from his injuries?
County employees may very well have initially suspected abuse, but that is not what Mr. Spaulding stated. Unless Mr. Payne misquoted him, Mr. Spaulding stated that Mr. Greene had in fact committed a serious violent crime. If that accusation held any merit whatsoever, Mr. Spaulding certainly would have mentioned a criminal investigation and charges, an arrest, a restraining order, etc. Instead Mr. Spaulding appears to be utilizing an ancient and very unpleasant tactic — blame Mr. Greene, attempt to undermine his character, and use highly charged insinuations to draw our focus from the heart of the matter.
For those who wish to become familiar with case lodged against the County, the docket submitted to the court lists the complaints in great detail. It’s a sobering and at times chilling read. The docket is available free online at the National Center for Lesbian Rights web page (www.nclrights.org).
I also want to clarify that this isn’t simply a gay rights issue. This is about all of us, our vulnerability as citizens and the particular vulnerability we face as we age. It isn’t only the gay community that is deeply disturbed by this case. I will continue to closely monitor how this plays out, as will many of my friends. I don’t know Mr. Greene, and I’m not gay, but I know wrong when I see it.
I was in tears after reading the 78 page complaint. It’s difficult to comprehend the cruelty some people are capable of.
It seems that the county is trying to cover this up by claiming that there was a history of domestic abuse by Clay against his deceased partner. IF the reason they were separated was DV, then that should be well documented as THE reason. Instead, it sounds like the county was intentionally misleading the judge to believe they were roommates as a way to invalidate the legal rights the two men put into place. So now they want to put the surviving partner through yet another hell of DV accusations, knowing that his deceased partner can’t defend him. Blaming the victim as a cover up! This story of discrimination and abuse of powers is an embarassment and an outrage. If our public servants are not representing us, we want to know about it. Thank you Paul Payne and Press Democrat for covering it.
better wake up So.Co., if you think our economy is bad now…just wait until this gets around…
(as it should)
…or the people who travel to this area from far and wide WILL retaliate by spending their hard earned dollars elsewhere and worse.
i am proud to live in this county and want to keep it that way.
something must be done to serve justice for this poor couple and for all of us!
we cannot stand by and let the ignorant actions of a few represent us all.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=78860658848&topic=14676