If he responds inappropriately, I would politely leave the party and advise my friend never to include me in any social plans that could possibly expose me to similar situations.
Scenario 2- Accepting a Gift:
Chances are there is no actual moral problem since the gift is most likely a genuine expression of gratitude and appreciation in circumstances where there is no obvious ulterior motive on the part of the merchant or potential for a conflict of interest. Such an ethical dilemma would exist where the officer involved had some enforcement responsibility that conflicted with the interests of the merchant (such as parking enforcement responsibility on the street in front of his business).
Even though that criterion of identifying genuine ethical dilemmas is not satisfied, this scenario also raises the issue of avoiding the mere appearance of impropriety and/or of avoiding potentially confusing situations...
Therefore, I would thank the merchant for the fruit and accept it as a token gratuity (much like a cup of coffee) but explain that acceptance of the gift certificate could be misconstrued as inappropriate and ask the merchant to donate it to someone in need.
Scenario 3- Homosexual Partner:
This scenario raises an ethical issue because sexual preference is not a justifiable reason for requesting a change of partner. Exercising discretion and entertaining the request would require undermining the intent of public policy and employment law designed to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. The relevant criterion would simply be whether any objective basis exists justifying the request; to the extent it is predicated on bias against homosexuals, the ethical response would be to refuse the request and refer the officer involved to supplemental sensitivity training.
