Gays Say Memo Shows Hiring Bias by Mall Owner

Local gay activists threatened Monday to boycott South Coast Plaza after obtaining an internal, 2-year-old memo from the mall’s owner, C. J. Segerstrom & Sons, that the activists say discourages the hiring and promotion of homosexuals.

In the memo to managing partner Henry T. Segerstrom, operations director Skip Stephenson warned against setting down a formal statement on the hiring of gays at the firm, one of the biggest developers in Orange County.

Legally, he said, “we can refuse to hire a person on the grounds that he or she is gay or lesbian. . . . If we wish to continue to be able to refuse to hire or promote because of sexual preference, I recommend we make no present statement or announcements to curtail that ability.”

The memo applied only to the 250 employees of Segerstrom’s development firm and the mall’s management. The more than 200 shops at the mall maintain their own hiring practices.

Segerstrom officials would not say what effect the memo has had on management practices. But gay activists maintained that the signal sent by the owner of one of the biggest malls in the United States is particularly ominous in the wake of Gov. Pete Wilson’s recent veto of a bill to ban workplace discrimination against gays.

The current policy, Stephenson said, is that Segerstrom has no position on the issue. “We have absolutely no expressed or implied policy against hiring based on sexual preference,” he said.

David Cammack, a member of the group Queer Nation, said activists are considering legal action against Segerstrom.

Cammack said gay groups are considering a boycott against South Coast Plaza.