Apparently, there was just a rally in Atlanta in support of Kelvin Cochran, the former Atlanta Fire Chief fired for distributing a homophobic book to colleagues at work against their will, and then undermining his boss' authority by publicly announcing his intention to keep on doing it while he was suspended.
Now, the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina has fired a gay teacher who publicly announced his intention to get married. From LGBTQ Nation:
Lonnie Billard, a retired drama and English teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School, was told just before the new year that he would no longer be employed as a longterm substitute teacher. Billard, 68, had worked for 15 years as a full-time teacher at Charlotte Catholic, retiring in 2012 and substituting ever since.
But officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte made the decision to terminate him after he said he intended to marry his partner this May. Billard’s announcement was made on Facebook earlier in the fall, and he says the decision came directly from the diocese, not the school.
As much as I wish that the church would not fire him, they have the legal right to do so, and they should have that legal right. It's fair enough that they can fire people who publicly oppose their teachings. But I really wish that they would have some tolerance and respect of gay employees and of the reality of their lives.
In light of what's going on in Atlanta, this is very interesting. Right-wing victim complex Christian conservative crybabies are claiming to be in favor of "tolerance" and "diversity" for people who hate LGBT people. Now, I understand that there is a key factor distinguishing the Atlanta case and the Charlotte case. The former involved a firing by a government, while the latter involved a firing by a private, religious organization. So I am going to adapt my call for how the RWVCCCCs should react accordingly.
They appear to be alleging that Cochran has been unlawfully discriminated against, or that Atlanta has violated the First Amendment. (For reasons I explain here, neither are true.) Because the Diocese of Charlotte is a religious organization, I will not request that they make a similar allegation. However, if they claim to be advocating for tolerance, diversity and acceptance, then they should be expressing their opposition to, and disapproval of, the diocese's actions, which are so blatantly and fundamentally inconsistent with those values.
Of course, I don't exactly see that coming.
Finally, an explanation of my position so I don't get accused of hypocrisy by RWVCCCCs for supporting what happened in Atlanta while not supporting what happened in Charlotte. I am for tolerance and diversity of people for who they are. I do not believe that you should be fired for being gay, or for being a Christian, even a conservative one. However, this does not extend to mean that I will be tolerant of people who create a hostile environment for their employees. If a conservative Christian distributes a homophobic book at work against the will of his/her employees, s/he should be disciplined. Similarly, if an LGBT person distributes a book full of anti-Christian hatred at work against the will of his/her employees, s/he should be disciplined.
See, conservatives? Consistency isn't hard. All you really need is to actually want to be consistent.