Paul Jasperson, First to Test Law in W. Hollywood Barring AIDS Bias

Paul Jasperson, an AIDS victim who two years ago sued a West Hollywood nail salon that refused him a pedicure, died last week, his attorney said Monday.

Gloria Allred said her client was 37 and died May 15 in Los Angeles after battling acquired immune deficiency syndrome for several years.

Jasperson had filed suit against Jessica’s Nail Salon in January, 1987, charging violation of a West Hollywood ordinance that prohibits discrimination against AIDS victims. Jasperson’s case, Allred said, was the first legal test of the ordinance in a civil case. Although a court found that the nail salon did refuse the pedicure, it refused to issue an injunction barring the business from discriminating.

The civil action, which has drawn support from the cities of West Hollywood, Los Angeles, Santa Monica and the American Civil Liberties Union, is being appealed. A settlement in a separate discrimination action filed by West Hollywood was reached in March.

Allred called Jasperson “one of the most courageous people I have ever known” who proceeded with the lawsuit “at great risk to his own health . . . in order to help to win rights for others.” She vowed to pursue the appeal despite his death.

Jasperson was a native of Minneapolis who came to West Hollywood in 1975, where he became a hair stylist and activist for gay causes.

Survivors include his parents and two brothers.

A memorial service will be held Saturday at 1:30 at the Old North Church, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.