3 Shoppers Get Apology to Go With Ice Cream

It wasn’t the flavor he set out to buy 18 months ago, but Vernon Mitchell finally got his ice cream Friday.

Besides the ice cream, Mitchell, 60, and his friends, Mark Tullai, 27, and John Batchelor, 31, all of Marina del Rey, left Boys Market with an apology and assurances that homosexuals are welcome at all Boys supermarkets.

The three men filed suit against Boys after a shopping trip on Dec. 30, 1985.

During that visit to the store, someone got on the public address system and said: “Faggot, get out of the market and don’t (come) back,” the men alleged in their suit, filed by activist attorney Gloria Allred.

Second Employee Yelled

When Mitchell complained to the store manager, he said another employee shouted, “Faggot, go back to San Francisco.”

“Today we are happy to announce that the case has been successfully settled,” Allred said at a news conference outside the market.

After the news conference, the men, who alleged that the market violated California’s Civil Rights Act, which prohibits businesses from engaging in discrimination because of sexual orientation, resumed their long delayed shopping trip.

“I originally set out to buy walnut fudge mocha,” Mitchell said. “But this will do,” he said, choosing a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream.

Victory for Gay Pride

He called settlement of the case a victory for gay pride.

“As part of the settlement, Boys admits the incident occurred and publicly apologizes to the three men for the distress that they suffered,” Allred said.

She said the market also agreed to a stipulation that the grocery chain add the phrase “sexual orientation” to the non-discrimination clause in its official employee handbook.

The market chain also “agreed to pay our attorneys’ fees and to issue a joint press release, which contains its apology and . . . states that Boys welcomes and encourages the patronage of the gay and lesbian community,” the attorney said.

In a news release, Boys Vice President James L. Fike, said: “The company regrets that the incident occurred and apologizes for any distress Messrs. Mitchell, Tullai and Batchelor suffered.”

The release said the people responsible for the offensive remarks had never been identified.