
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 5, 1990                   TAG: 9006050436
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 DIDN'T COVER EVERYONE

I READ your May article on the "Americans with Disabilities Act" with shouts of hallelujah. While there is really no hope that we can legislate sensitivity, we can at least feel a degree of satisfaction in punishing insensitivity.

I would, however, like to correct one error. The writer states that this act "exends to them [the handicapped] the legal protections granted racial minorities and women 26 years ago . . . "

In reality, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. Nowhere did it mention sex. The struggles of individual women during the ensuing years on issues dealing with women in the work force (maternity leave, equal opportunity for advancement, etc., etc., etc.) attest to the fact that the law was never meant to include everyone. As further proof of the limitations of the act of 1964, may I remind you that it was necessary to write into law additional provisions for the handicapped. BARBARA C. PETERS HUDDLESTON

by CNB