Andrew Exler

The kid who sued Disneyland has grown up. This week marks 10 years since Andrew Exler was kicked out of the Magic Kingdom for dancing with another man. Exler was 19 then. He won a civil rights battle that made headlines around the world and Disneyland ended up allowing same-sex dancing. As a sort of anniversary party, Exler has invited gay and lesbian friends to join him Saturday at the amusement park and "dance the night away." He wants to celebrate, to relax. It has been a busy decade.

The kid who sued Disneyland has grown up. This week marks 10 years since Andrew Exler was kicked out of the Magic Kingdom for dancing with another man. Exler was 19 then. He won a civil rights battle that made headlines around the world and Disneyland ended up allowing same-sex dancing. As a sort of anniversary party, Exler has invited gay and lesbian friends to join him Saturday at the amusement park and "dance the night away." He wants to celebrate, to relax. It has been a busy decade.

Six years after he forced Disneyland to give up its ban on dancing by same-sex couples, activist Andrew Exler is attacking another form of gender-based exclusion: a diet program for women only.

Andrew Exler, the self-styled anti-discrimination crusader who forced Disneyland to drop its ban on same-sex dancing and won the right for men to attend Chippendale's male stripper shows, decided he would like to lose about 40 pounds. So he opened the newspaper to look for weight-loss program advertisements. Gloria Marshall Figure Salon's ad caught his eye: "Exclusive Program for Women Only," it said. Exler called some of the Orange County salons and a Torrance location listed in the ad.

Hats off to Jones for his well-written column. Although our mayor is often portrayed as the "bonehead" that he is, I am still proud to live in this beautiful city. All that's missing is a mayor and City Council majority who are willing to make a commitment to excellence! ANDREW EXLER Palm Springs

Discrimination Suit Against Nightclub: A $1-million discrimination suit was filed Wednesday in Superior Court against the Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood. Andrew Exler, Dennis Koire and Julie Palasco are suing the nightclub for allowing women free admission if they wear skirts and arrive before 10 p.m., charging that the policy discriminates based on sex. (Filed Feb. 14, 1990 Case No. C752253)

Call me a "bleeding heart," if you like, but I am furious that nearly $750,000 has been spent to gather signatures for Gov. Pete Wilson's so-called welfare reform initiative for the Nov. 3 ballot. With voter approval, this initiative will cut welfare benefits by 15% for most families and deny grants to children born to mothers already on welfare. So, what does Wilson propose we do with the "welfare babies"? Abort them, abuse them or abandon them? How ironic that upwards of $1 million could be spent between now and the November election to take food out of the mouths of the poor!

"AIDS: 1991" (by Neil R. Schram, Aug. 10) was certainly the most powerful, frank and thought-provoking article I have read regarding this terrible health crisis. Many of the predictions will become reality if we continue down this path of ignorance by not making enough resources available for research, education and health care. In my opinion, AIDS research should be as high a priority as the so-called defense budget. Our real enemy right now is AIDS, not Russia. Andrew Exler Los Angeles

Andrew Exler, the self-styled anti-discrimination crusader who forced Disneyland to drop its ban on same-sex dancing and won the right for men to attend Chippendale's male stripper shows, decided he would like to lose about 40 pounds. So he opened the newspaper to look for weight-loss program advertisements. Gloria Marshall Figure Salon's ad caught his eye: "Exclusive Program for Women Only," it said. Exler called some of the Orange County salons and a Torrance location listed in the ad.

Six years after he forced Disneyland to give up its ban on dancing by same-sex couples, activist Andrew Exler is attacking another form of gender-based exclusion: a diet program for women only.

A popular Hollywood nightclub has agreed to end its "skirt night" and all other promotions designed to let women in for free as part of an out-of-court settlement of a sex discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed by two men and a woman who said it was unfair and illegal to allow women in skirts into the Florentine Gardens nightclub for free on certain nights while forcing men and women without skirts to pay a cover charge.

Several articles and editorials have appeared over the past few months in The Times regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, rape, "date rape" and legislation regarding domestic violence. As I recall, all or most of those articles focused exclusively on female victims. I have been a longtime supporter of the feminist movement and am a member of the National Organization for Women; however, feminism is supposed to mean equality of women and men. The fact is that there are male victims of sexual harassment, rape, sexual battery and domestic violence.