That media coverage of the subject was so rare demonstrates, of course, how backward things were not so long ago and, though there's still far to go, how far society has come since then.

I vividly recall sitting on the arm of a couch in Harvey's Castro camera shop (now, of course, an official Historic Landmark), to deliver the report. Here's acopy of my script (note I used the word "gay" only once, it not being common mainstream usage in those days):

We talk lots about employment discrimination based on race, religion, age. But not many people outside the gay community itself seem much concerned with job discrimination against homosexuals. It's impossible to come up with specific figures. No one has been studying the problem long enough for that, or to a great enough extent.

But organizations that are devoted to the problems of homosexuals say the discrimination is widespread, even in San Francisco, which is supposedly liberal about such things. These organizations, in fact, say it is a "fairly commomn" practice for San Francisco employers to discriminate against homosexual workers -- male and female alike.

They say the worst offenders are the larger corporations and retail stores. Some -- Pacific Telephone is one -- have had a flat prohibition against hiring homosexuals. And some -- large department stores, for example -- will hire known homosexuals, but never promote them to management positions.

The Federal Government is considered to be probably the worst offender, since it has traditionally excluded known homosexuals from civil service jobs, and commonly engaged in undercover investigations to discover homosexuals on government payrolls and then force them out for "immoral conduct."

Recent court cases have forced the government to ease its restrictions, by holding that a person's sex life is not a legitimate concern of the government unless it actually interferes with his particular job.

The discrimination, by government and private employers alike, takes all sorts of forms. Some companies, for instance, prohibit any single males over 30 from entering their management training programs, on the theory that anyone who is over 30 and not married is probably a homosexual.

Other employers let it be known to employment agencies and others who supply them help that "homosexuals need not apply."

Many homosexuals "can pass," as it were, and not be identified to their employers as homosexuals. But once this is found out -- as it often is -- there also are not so subtle acts of discrimination practiced against them on the job. Denying them promotions, for one thing.

Again: It's impossible to be specific about the situation. But the problem obviously exists, and obviously is widespread, although not many outside of a few homosexual organizations are trying to do much about it. Not the government, which has passed laws against just about every other form of job discrimination. Not employers, certainly. And not unions, either.

Copyright © 2008 Dick Meister, a San Francisco writer. Contact him through his website, www.dickmeister.com.