Can I sue my mother for making me wash the dishes because isn't that womans work.

John, doesn't count. Children are made for slave labour. :)

This is the tip of the tip of the iceberg. As an ex-military type, let me allude to the general topic of women in the military. For office jobs, no problem. But put them in the field, on a ship or on a flight line and suddenly all sort of special provisions have to be made, because most women are physically weaker than most men. We won't even mention the "accidental" pregnancies that tend to happen just as a unit is due for deployment. For the original Fred article, google "women in combat fredoneverything".

For jobs that require physical strength, the requirements should be set by the job and the tests should be gender neutral. For the women than pass, more power to them. The fact that most won't is not a sign of discrimination, but a sign of "vive la difference".

Why is this hard for liberals and "feminists" to understand?

I can barely open some water bottles without assistance. I shouldn't be a cop, a fireman, or do anything on a construction site that requires more physical strength than serving lunch. If I were a man with my physical strength, the same would be true. All careers are not open to all people.

Equal pay for equal work. Does that mean we can use only women on the front lines of the military until we have as many women killed protecting our country in combat as we have had men? I think the guys on the front lines could use a break and after all we want to be equal don't we?

Amy, to understand, you have to repeat over and over, "Women are more equal than men, Women are more equal than men, Women are more equal than men..."

Of course, the contradictions in that could possibly make your head explode, so do that at your own risk.

I agree women should have to pass the same physical tests as men to get a given job. Some women could. Some men could not. Which means, those people that don't should not be in that job. Why si that hard for people to understand? I'll never be a research scientist-I don't have that sort of brain. Should I be given the job anyway?

Stick a fork in feminism. It's done.

All Animals are equal, but some are more equal then others.

I was surprised to see that part of her lawsuit was for being forced to do manual labor meant for men, but I am trying to reserve judment. Some lawsuits throw everything in as a means of getting some things to stick. Its not that I agree with that, just wondering if that's the reasoning. She filed a lawsuit because she had been singled out for unfair treatment because she was gay. Unfortunately there are other factors that make this a messy case and the manual labor part doesn't help much.
On a different note, I knew many female cops when I was married to my ex. I can honestly say that there wasn't one that was unable to perform any of the requirements of her job. In fact, my former sister-in-law saved the life of her partner when she wrestled a suspect to the ground who was carrying a weapon. Her male partner would have been dead if not for her actions, so again, I hesitate to declare being a police officer as a job women should not have. If they can do the job, I have no problem with it.

Kristen, I'm not so sure... reading the article, I see that the incident that set all of this up apparently had nothing to do with her job -- she was arrested due to a dispute with a friend that turned violent. Somehow that morphs into the department discriminating against her because she's gay. Boo frikin' hoo. If it had been a male cop arrested in an off-duty violent dispute, he would have gotten a suspension as a minimum (assuming a non-corrupt department). Instead, she gets $80K for being insulted, and now everyone else has to walk on eggshells around her because she's Special. As you point out yourself, the suit as reported was a laundry list that doesn't appear to have anything to do with the actual charges. The whole thing just reeks of special privilege.

Some lawsuits throw everything in as a means of getting some things to stick.

How is being treated the same as any other employee a 'thing' that might 'stick' in a lawsuit?

Cousin Dave, normally I'd be inclined to degree. The arresting officer wrote in the report, "its a gay thing," which shows a bias right there. And as someone who was married to a cop who was an abuser, I can tell you that getting a police report was next to impossible let alone getting a cop to arrest my ex husband. I'm only speaking from my own experience and from what I witnessed but for a cop to get arrested for domestic violence, it would have to be something that was pretty brutal. I knew of a few cops that were beating their wives. It was an open secret in the precinct. It was considered, "their business." I also heard many times, "she's such a bitch. I can see why he'd slap her around." There are a great deal of good cops in the NYPD but it is a culture that breeds abusive behavior in many ways. The cop Amy blogged about happened to luck out in the fact that a responding officer was stupid enough to write, "its a gay thing." Anything after that was "proof" of the singling out of this officer. If she assaulted her Scrabble partner, that should be charges whether they were intimately involved or not.

It sounds like both sides were wrong in this.

I look at giving her $80K and being done with it is a blessing to both sides. Hopefully she is another PD or another line of work.