"case-when" as part of "where" in a "select" query, i have a problem

Hi everyone,
I'd like to display the email addresses of those who are 'vip's or those who are'nt , depends on a variable. My code goes like:
declare @xxx varchar(20)
set @xxx='vip'
select email
from
fiftyplus..contact1
where department=
case @xxx
when
'vip'
then
'vip'
else
<>'vip'
end

the '<>vip' at the end of the query is wrong of course but i have no idea how to write it correctly.
I wonder if anyone can help me with that.
Thanks a lot

If I understand your question correctly, you dont need the <> because the control will come to the ELSE part of the CASE only if @xxx <> 'vip'. So its kinda redundant.declare
@xxx varchar(20)set
@xxx='vip'select emailfromfiftyplus..contact1where department
= (case @xxx when 'vip' then 'vip' else 'Not vip' end )

Hi mvp,
There is no value such as 'No vip'. There are 'vip', 'member', 'candidate', 'left' etc...
What i want is: If the parameter is 'vip', to show all vip's. If it isnt (e.g: '1', 'ttt', '0' etc..) I want to display each row unless it has 'vip' inside the 'department' column.
Hopefully i gave a better explanation now,

Actually I didnt understand "I want to display each row unless it has 'vip' inside the 'department' column."
Can you show with an example..perhaps a few rows with VIP and without and expected output?

Hi ,
My table in short looks like:
name status email
aaa vip aaa@aaa
bbb memeber bbb@bbb
ccc candidate ccc@ccc
I'm writing a procedure to display memebers using a parameter. if the parameter is 'vip' the sub procedure will show the following row:
name status email
aaa vip aaa@aaa
If the parameter is any but 'vip', the sub procedure will show
name status email
bbb member bbb@bbb
ccc candidate ccc@ccc
So i wrote the following query in the sub procedure:
declare @xxx varchar(20)
set @xxx='vip'

select *
from
fiftyplus..contact1

where
department=
case @xxx
when
'vip'
then
'vip'
else
<>'vip'
end
It should show only the vip member if the parameter is 'vip' or all the members, except the 'vip' member if the parameter is not 'vip'.

oops.. it should be "status" instead of department...

Thanks a lot !