http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=9636&sd=08/21/03A gay man has sued United Parcel Service Inc., alleging that his longtime employer discriminated against him by rejecting his request for an out-of-state transfer as he sought to follow his partner to Chicago. Daniel Kline, 47, of San Francisco, sued Atlanta-based UPS in Alameda County, Calif., superior court on Tuesday, alleging that the company's Management Initiated Transfer Policy violates the Federal Employment and Housing Act's prohibitions on marital status discrimination. Kline and his partner, Frank Sories, 51, are seeking damages and a court declaration that the UPS policy is illegal. The suit says married UPS managers and supervisors have been granted transfers to other UPS offices under the company's policy. "If Daniel and Frank could be married, as they would like to do, this lawsuit wouldn't be necessary," said Kline's lawyer, Jon Davidson, of the New York-based Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. "UPS treated Daniel as if he and Frank were strangers."