Irvine : Panel Rules Gays’ Photo Belongs in Class Book

A photograph of a graduate and his gay lover should be included in Irvine’s University High School reunion memory book, a reunion committee decided Tuesday night.

Valerie Smith, co-chairwoman of the committee, said the committee agreed that a picture of actor David Engel with housemate Eric Underwood should be part of the book. She said six of the committee’s 13 members attended the meeting.

However, Dan Worthington, owner of the publishing firm, Worthington Reunion Photographers in Costa Mesa, who refused to publish the couple’s photo in the book because of Engel’s and Underwood’s relationship, declined to comment about the committee’s decision.

Earlier in the day, Worthington said the decision to publish was up to the committee, which had hired him.

Worthington had refused to publish the couple’s photo because he said that as a publisher, he “must maintain his own standards.”

“I didn’t ever want to answer to anyone as to why these guys had their arms around each other,” he had said.

Worthington was named in an Orange County Superior Court lawsuit filed by Engel, who alleged that Worthington had violated Engel’s civil rights.

In court Tuesday, Worthington and Gloria Allred, Engel’s attorney, both agreed that the book would not be published until the issue could be discussed at a Sept. 21 court hearing.