Lawyer For Sonoma Country Says Domestic Violence Suspicion Motivated Separation Of Two Elderly Gay Men

Gregory Spaulding, an attorney representing Sonoma County, California, and the county employees named in a civil lawsuit filed by Clay M. Greene, a 77 year old gay man from Sebastopol, said late Tuesday that the county contended Greene was abusing Harold Scull, his partner of twenty years, and that suspicion was the motivation to separate the two men, placing them in separate nursing homes. The story, which I previously posted, began when Scull was hospitalized after falling down the front steps of the home the two men shared, but according to Spaulding, the fall was an invention of Greene’s, who had, according to Scull, hit him. “Our response was to a domestic violence situation,” Spaulding said, and that’s why he was separated.” Tuesday, reports filed in court show that on “April 27, 2008, Scull was admitted to Kaiser Hospital in Santa Rosa as a result of domestic violence-related injuries which Scull reported were inflicted by Greene.” After the hospitalization, Sonoma County authorities arrived at the home the men shared, and began to remove and sell their possessions. Mr. Greene’s lawsuit alleges he and Mr. Scull legally named one another as executors in case either became incapacitated, but that the country ignored the orders. Spaulding explained that the possessions were sold at auction because Scull indicated that Greene was also financially abusing him, and the county, acting in the best interest of Scull, stepped in to insure financial security for Scull. “The county takes domestic abuse very seriously regardless of who is involved here,” said Spaulding, it has nothing to with gay marriage or that they were gay.”