Court records
1954-1991
Scope and Contents
Criminal court records, civil court records, correspondence, law review articles, clippings, reports, state legal codes and
policies, notes, and other legal papers of Thomas F. Coleman and Jay M. Kohorn documenting their work as sexual civil liberty
attorneys from 1973-1991. The records document Coleman's and Kohorn's legal work in Los Angeles and across the nation as litigators,
consultants, and advocates in criminal and civil cases.
Arrangement
California, New York, and military legal cases are listed first, followed by court records listed alphabetically by state.
California
1954-1991
Arrangement
Cases are listed in alphabetical order by the name of the plaintiff.
Box 2, Folder 12
City of Santa Barbara vs. Beverly Adamson et al.
1980
Scope and Contents
This decision invalidated the city's zoning law which defined "family" in a manner that prohibited a group of unrelated adults
from living together in a large mansion. The court found that there was a constitutional right to form and live in an alternate
family relationship.
Box 2, Folder 13-16
Timothy Curran vs. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America
1990-1991
Box 2, Folder 17
Andrew Exler; Shawn Elliott vs. Disneyland
1980
Scope and Contents
Legal pleadings in a case that challenged Disneyland's rule forbidding dancing by same-sex couples.
Box 2, Folder 18-19
Fabian Farnia vs. Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District and People of the State of California
1980
Scope and Contents
Legal briefs in a case that challenged the constitutionality of 647(b), California's anti-prostitution law.
Box 2, Folder 20
Kenneth Eugene Grassi vs. The Superior Court of Santa Clara County and the People of the State of California
circa 1986
Scope and Contents
Also includes People of the State of California vs. The Superior Court of Santa Clara County and Ralph Alexander Caswell et
al.
Box 2, Folder 22
William R. Hubert and Cindy Kelly vs. James L. Williams
1982
Scope and Contents
The case applied the Unruh Civil Rights Act to gay housing discrimination.
Box 3, Folder 1
Baby Lasher, Sophie Lasher, and Roni D. Lasher vs. Stephen Kleinberg
1980
Scope and Contents
The decision denied a father's lawsuit against the mother for wrongful birth. The father sued because he became a parent after
the mother lied that she was using birth control when they had sex.
Box 2, Folder 21, Box 12, Folder 3
Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Committee, Inc., et al. vs. United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, et al. in the matter
of the petition of Carl Hill for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
1982
Scope and Contents
A federal district court decision that it is unconstitutional for the INS to exclude known homosexuals from entry into the
country.
Box 11, Folder 22
Patti Miller vs. Sportscoach Corporation
1984
Box 2, Folder 23-24
Donald W. Odorizzi vs. Bloomfield School District
1967
Box 3, Folder 2
People of the State of California vs. Walter Brown
1984
Box 3, Folder 3
People of the State of California vs. Harlan Delmar Damon
1983-1984
Box 3, Folder 4
People of the State of California vs. Gonzalez, vs. Stinson, vs. Love
1980
Box 12, Folder 4-5
People of the State of California vs. John Arthur McConville
1980-1981
Scope and Contents
Includes a black-and-white group photograph.
Box 3, Folder 5
People of the State of California vs. Phillip B. Mendoza
1980-1981
Scope and Contents
The case involved the constitutionality of sex registration based on a 647(a) conviction.
Box 3, Folder 6
People of the State of California vs. George Mills
1978
Box 3, Folder 7-9
People of the State of California vs. Robert Opel
1974
Scope and Contents
Transcripts of trial court proceedings in which Opel was prosecuted for indecent exposure and disturbing a public meeting
for appearing nude at a meeting of the city council of Los Angeles as they debated whether to prohibit nudity at beaches and
parks.
Box 12, Folder 6
People of the State of California vs. Steve Peter Padilla
1980-1981
Box 12, Folder 9
People of the State of California vs. John Peter Rylaarsdam and Bruce Edward Loman
1980-1982
Box 3, Folder 10
People of the State of California vs. Roger Kenneth Trantham
1984
Box 3, Folder 11-14
People of the State of California vs. Douglas Robert Williams
1975
Scope and Contents
Transcripts of a trial of a defendant who was prosecuted for lewd conduct under 647(a).
Box 3, Folder 15
People of the State of California vs. Robert Allen Wolf and Fabian Farnia
1982
Box 3, Folder 16
People of the State of California vs. John Edwin Wyatt
1980
Scope and Contents
Legal briefs and court ruling that sex registration of 647(a) defendants is unconstitutional.
Box 3, Folder 17-20, Box 12, Folder 7-8
Don Barry Pryor vs. Municipal Court of the Los Angeles Judicial District and the People of the State of California
1978-1980
Scope and Contents
A state supreme court case that reduced the ability of police and prosecutors to use disorderly conduct laws against gay men.
Box 11, Folder 23
Sanyo Business Systems Corporation vs. Personal Support Computer
1984
Box 3, Folder 21
Michael Randall, William Randall, and Valerie Sue Randall vs. Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council, Inc.
1991
Box 3, Folder 22-24, Box 12, Folder 10-12
In the matter of application of Allen Eugene Reed for a Writ of Habeas Corpus
1980-1982
Scope and Contents
Petition for a writ of habeas corpus and exhibits in a California Supreme Court case challenging the requirements of registration
as a sex offender for a defendant's conviction of misdemeanor lewd conduct under 647(a).
Box 4, Folder 1, Box 3, Folder 25
Vicki Lou Richards vs. Walter Arthur Richards
1980-1982
Scope and Contents
Includes reference materials regarding child custody cases.
Box 12, Folder 13
Lewis A. Wenzell vs. Commission on Judicial Performance
1981-1982
Box 12, Folder 14
Penelope Woodside vs. Leason Leeds
1982-1983
Box 4, Folder 2-9
647(a) and 647(d) cases and reference material
1976-1982
Scope and Contents
Includes the draft of an opening brief in appeal for California v. Ripley regarding the entitlement of a defendant to an evidentiary
hearing if he challenges the constitutionality of sex registration based on the facts of his case. Also includes court records
for California v. Prior, California v. Meza, California v. Steve P., California v. Rylaarsdam, California v. Lohman, and California
v. Mitchell et al.
Box 12, Folder 1-2
California cases, assorted
1975-1984
Scope and Contents
Includes California v. Meza, California v. Dag, California v. Turnbull, California vs. Uhte, California v. Jones, California
v. Johnson, Curran v. Mt. Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Hinman and Advocates for Gay and Lesbian State Employees
v. Department of Personnel Administration, Kolender v. Lawson, and a Petition for Leave to File Brief Amici Curiae in Support
of Petitions for Hearing in the Matter of the Application of Gay Law Students Association.
Box 4, Folder 10
California cases regarding picture arcades
1984-1985
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for California v. B & I, Inc, California v. NFM Corp., California v. Demott, California v. Blank, California
v. Parr and Taylor, California v. Louis, and California v. Wyszomirski.
Box 4, Folder 11
California legal reference material
1954, 1966
Box 1, Folder 1-17, Box 2, Folder 1-11
San Francisco bathhouse closure
1969-1984
Scope and Contents
Materials used by Jay Kohorn in his work with bathhouse owners to oppose closure orders from city and county officials.
Box 4, Folder 33
Dennis Bellanca vs. New York State Liquor Authority
1980
Box 4, Folder 34
Hudson View Properties vs. Julia M. Weiss and "John Doe"
1980
Scope and Contents
Includes an American Civil Liberties Union of New York press release about a landlord who was denied from evicting an unmarried
woman because she was living in an apartment with an unmarried man.
Box 4, Folder 35
In the matter of adoption of adult anonymous
1981
Scope and Contents
A judge's opinion that one adult may adopt another adult even though the parties are two gay men with an intimate relationship.
Box 6, Folder 1
The New York State Society of Surgeons vs. David M. Axelrod
1991
Box 6, Folder 2
People of the State of New York vs. Timothy Bulzing
1981
Box 5, Folder 1-9
People of the State of New York vs. Conde J. Peoples, III and Phillip S. Goss and People of the State of New York vs. Ronald
Onofre
1979-1981
Scope and Contents
Court records of a decision that New York's sodomy laws were unconstitutional.
Box 5, Folder 10-18, Box 12, Folder 16
People of the State of New York vs. Robert Uplinger and Susan Butler
1980-1984
Scope and Contents
Court records of a United States Supreme Court case involving the constitutionality of a New York statute criminalizing loitering
for the purposes of soliciting a sex act.
Box 6, Folder 20
Dennis R. Beller vs. J. William Middendorf, James Lee Miller vs. Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Mary Roseann Saal vs. J. William
Middendorf
1978-1980
Scope and Contents
A federal appellate court ruling that the Navy's policy to discharge known homosexuals was not unconstitutional.
Box 6, Folder 21
Miriam benShalom vs. Clifford Alexander
1980
Scope and Contents
A decision ordering the Army to reinstate a lesbian service member who was discharged because of her sexual orientation.
Box 6, Folder 22-23
James L. Dronenburg vs. Department of the Navy and James L. Dronenburg vs. Lando Zech
1984
Box 6, Folder 24
Dusty Pruitt vs. Dick Cheney and Dusty Pruitt vs. Frank Carlucci
1989-1991
Box 6, Folder 25
Gays and lesbians in the military, reference material
1966-1991
Box 7, Folder 1
Gays and lesbians in the military, assorted court records
1980-1983
Scope and Contents
Includes Dusty Pruitt vs. Caspar Weinberger and James L. Dronenburg vs. Lando Zech
Box 4, Folder 14, Box 12, Folder 15
Arkansas
1982
Scope and Contents
Comprises court records for United States of America vs. Charles Loyd Lemons, Jr. regarding a conviction of consensual sodomy.
The arrest occurred in a federal park, but the criminality was based on an Arkansas statute which prohibited only same-sex
sodomy. Jay Kohorn filed an amicus curiae brief in the 8th circuit court of appeal on behalf of the American Association for
Personal Privacy. The case challenged the Arkansas statute on equal protection grounds.
Box 4, Folder 15
Delaware
1980
Scope and Contents
Comprises the court records of G.D. and B.D. vs. P.R. regarding the court decision to grant custody of a child to the natural
mother, who was a lesbian, over the objections of the maternal granparents who were devout Christians and who had been raising
the child for several years.
Box 4, Folder 16-17
Florida
1978-1981
Scope and Contents
Includes the Club Bath chain litigation records over police raids on their bathhouses in Jacksonville, Miami, and Dallas,
Texas. Also includes court records for Harris Kimball vs. The Florida Bar regarding the Florida Supreme Court's decision to
allow an admitted homosexual to practice law.
Box 4, Folder 18
Georgia
1983
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for the Michael Hardwick vs. Michael Bowers sodomy case.
Box 4, Folder 19
Hawaii
1978-1979
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Arnold A. Sciullo vs. Sanae Moikeha regarding a complaint for damages against the University of
Hawaii for sexual orientation discrimination in employment.
Box 4, Folder 20
Idaho
1978-1979
Scope and Contents
Comprises court records for Lavonne R. Woody vs. John R. Church and Judith Baker vs. John R. Church regarding two women who
were fired from the Boise Police Department because they were suspected to be lesbians. The judge granted an award of damages
for a violation of due process rights.
Box 4, Folder 21
Illinois
1982
Scope and Contents
Comprises court records for Horst Kraus vs. Village of Barrington Hills regarding a municipality's attempt to use a zoning
law to evict the owner of a house who had "swinging" parties of consenting adults at the house, including some who were married.
Box 4, Folder 22-23
Maryland
1979-1980
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Howard Chester Kelly, Jr. vs. State of Maryland and Gary Earl Neville vs. State of Maryland.
Box 4, Folder 24-26
Massachusetts
1980-1991
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Brenda A. Bezio vs. Magdalena Patenaude regarding the ruling that homosexual orientation is not
sufficient grounds to deny child custody to a natural parent. Also includes court records for Commonwealth of Massachusetts
vs. Edward J. Sefranka regarding the court's decision that the lewd conduct law was unconstitutionally vague. Also includes
court records for Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Jeffrey A. Smith and Scott Godfrey, Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs.
Jeffrey Nelson and Jonathan Miller, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. Paul E. Silva.
Box 4, Folder 27-28
Michigan
1980-1983
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Richard Briggs vs. North Muskegon Police Department, People of the City of Detroit vs. Henry Davis
Messer, People of the State of Michigan vs. John Coulter and Ruben LaVictor, People of the State of Michigan vs. Jeffrey Scott
Masten, and People of the State of Michigan vs. Van Tyris Mabry regarding a decision that a man who asks another man to have
sex with him cannot be convicted of procuring an act of gross indecency. Also includes the Cohabitation Decriminalization
report by the House of Representatives Civil Rights Committee Cohabitation Workgroup recommending that the crime of cohabitation
by an unmarried man and woman be repealed.
Box 4, Folder 29
Minnesota
1980
Scope and Contents
Includes court records of State of Minnesota vs. Douglas Victor and State of Minnesota vs. Fredrick Jerome Dean, Neil Erickson,
Patrick James Schwartz, and James Curtis Vosika.
Box 4, Folder 31
Nebraska
1981-1982
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Reginald Country vs. Robert Parratt and Willie Franklin vs. State of Nebraska and Robert F. Parratt.
Box 4, Folder 32
New Jersey
1974-1972
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Rosemary Dempsey Belmont vs. Edward Belmont regarding the decision to deny a father's request to
transfer child custody from the mother to the father because the mother is in a lesbian relationship.
Box 6, Folder 4-8
Oklahoma
1980
Scope and Contents
Includes court records from M.J.P. vs J.G.P. Also includes court records from an appeal of the The City of Tulsa vs. Carl
Leroy Carmack decision that the city's ordinance on lewd conduct was unconstitutionally vague. Also includes court records
and legal review articles from The National Gay Task Force vs. The Board of Education of the City of Oklahoma City regarding
the decision that a teacher could not be fired for being publicly gay or lesbian.
Box 6, Folder 9-11
Oregon
1976-1981
Scope and Contents
Includes court records from State of Oregon vs. Mark John Tusek, including an amicus curiae brief as to why Oregon's sexual
solicitation statute was unconstitutional.
Box 6, Folder 12-14
Pennsylvania
1979-1980
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Patrick Gagliano, Michael Bonadio, and Dawn Delight (aka Mildred
I. Kannitz and Shanne Wimbel), and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Cindy Lou Dodge (aka Cindy Williams).
Box 6, Folder 15
Rhode Island
1980
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Aaron Fricke vs. Richard B. Lynch regarding a judge's order to allow Fricke to attend a dance with
another boy.
Box 6, Folder 17-18
Texas
1973-1984
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Henry Wade vs. Danny E. Hill and Gay Student Services vs. Texas A&M University.
Box 6, Folder 19
Virginia
1975-1979
Scope and Contents
Includes court records for Kenneth M. Pedersen, Jr. vs. City of Richmond and Bonnie C. Cord vs. Duncan C. Gibb.
Box 12, Folder 17
Washington
1983
Scope and Contents
Comprises court records for State of Washington vs. Evan K. Kelly.
Administrative records
1932-1991, 2011
Scope and Contents
Criminal court records, civil court records, correspondence, law review articles, clippings, reports, state bills and laws,
notes, meeting minutes, grant applications, biographical information, and other professional papers of Thomas F. Coleman and
Jay M. Kohorn documenting their work as sexual civil liberties attorneys and advocates from 1972-1991. The records document
Coleman’s and Kohorn’s legal work and research, publications, participation in government and non-profit commissions and committees,
and involvement in sexual civil liberty issues on behalf of the LGBT community.
Arrangement
The series is arranged in alphabetical order.
Box 10, Folder 1-4
Administrative files
1973-1987
Scope and Contents
Primarily comprises notes, court records, correspondence, and other administrative records of Coleman's professional work
prior to 1979.
Box 10, Folder 5
Alternative Sentencing
1983
Box 10, Folder 6-7
Anti-discrimination sexual orientation ordinance, Los Angeles
1976-1979
Scope and Contents
Includes a draft of the ordinance to prohibit sexual orientation discrimnation by private businesses, largely based on Berkeley's
ordinance.
Box 9, Folder 1-4
Board of Rights and Police Commission, Los Angeles Police Department
1979-1981
Scope and Contents
The Board of Rights transcripts document a hearing at which an administrative board found a police officer guilty of having
engaged in a lewd act in a restroom (off duty) and finding that he should be removed from office.
Box 10, Folder 8
Tom Bradley, gay and lesbian community outreach
1976
Box 10, Folder 9-15
California assembly bills, senate bills, and executive orders regarding sexual civil liberties
1972-1984
Box 10, Folder 16
California Jury Instructions--Criminal (CALJIC)
1982
Box 10, Folder 17
Certified Public Accountant (CPA), new information
1982
Box 10, Folder 18
Clarenbach, David
1983-1984
Box 10, Folder 21
Coleman biographical information
1979-2011
Scope and Contents
Includes a photograph of Coleman.
Box 10, Folder 22
Constitutional law overbreadth
1977
Box 7, Folder 5
Commission on Crime Control and Violence Prevention, State of California
1981
Box 11, Folder 24
Commission on Personal Privacy documents
1983
Scope and Contents
Includes California Privacy Reports numbers 1-3.
Box 8, Folder 10-11
Commission on Racial, Ethnic, Religious and Minority Violence, State of California, Attorney General
1986-1990
Box 10, Folder 23
Correspondence, Art Agnos
1977-1979
Box 10, Folder 24
Correspondence, bar association
1977-1978
Box 10, Folder 25
Criminal records, security of
1977-1982
Box 10, Folder 26
Disability conference
1983
Box 10, Folder 27
Discovery motions, Southern California
1983
Box 10, Folder 28
Discriminatory enforcement brief
undated
Box 8, Folder 12-18
Family diversity, domestic partnership, and youth suicide
1982-1991
Scope and Contents
Includes records from the Los Angeles City Council's Task Force on Family Diversity, the California Legislature's Joint Select
Task Force on the Changing Family; and the City Attorney of Los Angeles' Consumer Task Force on Marital Status Discrimination.
Box 10, Folder 30
Gay Law Students Association
1972
Scope and Contents
Includes two photographs of Coleman with Michael Miller and Rick Angel.
Box 10, Folder 33
Jury instruction
1978-1980
Box 10, Folder 34
Kohorn personal files and honors
1989, undated
Box 11, Folder 1
Legal ethics and judicial performance
1979-1982
Box 10, Folder 37-38
Legal referral and support servaces
1978-1982
Box 11, Folder 2
Morals offenses and the model penal code
1982
Box 7, Folder 6-18, Box 8, Folder 1-9
Commission on Personal Privacy, State of California
1967-1982
Scope and Contents
Comprises the commission's records and final report recommending changes in the policy and law regarding sexual orientation
discrimination and gay rights.
Box 11, Folder 3
New cases to be read
1980-1981
Box 9, Folder 5-8
National Committee for Sexual Civil Liberties
1971-1983
Box 9, Folder 9-13
National Lawyers Guild Project
1983-1985
Box 11, Folder 5
Pacific Professional Associates
1981
Box 11, Folder 6
Pimping and pandering
1932-1978
Box 11, Folder 7
Playboy Foundation, funding application
1983
Box 11, Folder 8
Political, Kohorn files
1981
Box 11, Folder 9
Political functions, mailing lists
1977-1982
Box 11, Folder 11
Sex law news: cases, articles, etc.
1980-1981
Box 9, Folder 17-20
Reference, assorted publications and clippings
1977-1991
Box 9, Folder 14-16
Reference, law review articles
1957-1986
Box 11, Folder 12
Sexual Law Reporter, administrative records
1981-1982, undated
Box 11, Folder 13
Sexual Law Reporter, correspondence
1981-1982
Box 11, Folder 14
Sexual Law Reporter, fundraising
1979-1982
Box 11, Folder 15
Sexual Law Reporter, loose notes
1982
Box 11, Folder 16
Sexual Law Reporter, office notes
1974-1981
Box 11, Folder 17
South Bay Lesbian and Gay Community Organization grant application
1990
Box 11, Folder 26
Testimony regarding pill parties of Los Angeles juveniles
undated
Box 11, Folder 18
Trial preparation, [Sealings?]
1983
Box 11, Folder 19-20
Warner, Arthur
1981
Scope and Contents
Includes records of the National Committee for Sexual Civil Liberties (Warner served as co-chair).
Box 11, Folder 25
Women's Rights Law Reporter, v.2, no.4
June 1975
Box 11, Folder 21
Writings, Coleman
1991
Scope and Contents
Includes "Enforcement of Section 647(b) of the California Penal Code by the Los Angeles Police Department" which was written
while Coleman was a law student at Loyola University.
