From the Wool-sack
| Publication year | 1987 |
| Pages | 2004 |
1987, November, Pg. 2004. From the Wool-Sack
The Olympian is a difficult foe to oppose.
Homer, The Iliad
My faithful readers will immediately recognize the introductory quote. They will probably quickly say to themselves that I am writing on something I wrote about in 1984.(fn1) They will be correct.
That is not the only thing my long-time readers know. They also know something that my gay readers wish they had known a long time ago. Here is what it is. A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is not evidence of the fact that discrimination against gays exists. That discrimination exists is not disputed---it is just that proof of it is not found in this particular opinion. The opinion is familiar to all Supreme Court watchers. The rest of you may not have noticed it.
The case is San Francisco Arts and Athletics Inc. v. U.S. Olympic Committee.(fn2) In that case, the Court ruled that the United States Olympic Committee ("USOC") had the legal authority to bar a homosexual group from sponsoring an athletic competition called the "Gay Olympics."
Those of you who pay attention to these columns and do not let the information contained herein go in one ear and out the other (as most court opinions seem to) should quit reading at this point because you know what I am about to say. What I am about to do is give you a bit of history about this lawsuit. I gave it to you in 1984, but some of you have forgotten it. For the benefit of my forgetful readers, therefore, I repeat it.
The United States Code is full of wondrous things. It contains, inter alia, a chapter entitled "Patriotic Societies." One of the patriotic societies is the USOC. 36 U.S.C. § 380 provides as follows:
Without the consent of the Corporation [USOC] any person who uses for the purpose of trade, to induce the sale of any goods or services, or to promote any theatrical exhibition, athletic performance, or competition--- . . .(4) the words "Olympic," "Olympiad," "Citius Altius Fortius," or any combination or simulation thereof tending to cause confusion, to cause mistake, to deceive or to falsely suggest a connection with the Corporation or any Olympic activity;
shall be subject to suit in a civil action by the Corporation for the remedies provided in the . . . Trademark Act.
That bit of...
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