Firefighters snub gay parade and get hauled into court

If this was a voluntary activity in their own time then they could choose if they want to do it or not, but since it's part of their job then I don't see how they can just pick and choose.

Even if they have a strong moral aversion to homosexuality due to religious beliefs or whatever, that is irrelevant. They are firemen, not priests: their job is to save people from getting burnt in this life, not the next one.

They wouldn't refuse to save a gay person from a burning building, so why on earth shouldn't they leaflet them about fire prevention or other relevant subjects?

They should all be made to go to work for a month in pink boas as a punishment.
 
It went on the blink for a while, and I kept getting the old 'no response from server' message. So I kept trying.....
 
I see what you mean about it being part of their actual job. I guess if their contract says they have to do the whole flyering/visiting schools etc. business then they just have to suck it up.
 
Having read all the articles now I would agree that it is part of their job to hand out fire prevention leaflets, in not doing so they deserve disiplinary action but to dismiss them would be an overreaction.
I doubt if anyone would care if the person saving their life was homophobic or not, I know I wouldn't.
 
I have to agree with SLinsday on this one, Sarge. If this type of "public service" is part of their job, then no, they don't get to pick and choose, especially because they're "embarassed" to be seen at such a function. They can also cry "it runs afoul of our religious beliefs", but then the question becomes would they give the same party line if they were required to provide the same service at a Temple or a Mosque? Seems to be a very convenient excuse, IMO. You know what the job is, and if this is part of it, do it or quit. I have clients I don't like, doesn't matter. I have clients who live in a manner to which I am opposed, it doesn't matter. My job doesn't give me the luxury of picking and choosing cases. Same sitch here (if the "IF" is correct).

But I still stand by my other comments... the punishment doesn't really fit the crime. "Dereliction of duty"? It's not like they stood by while someone's home or business was burning down.
 
how far away is it though? What if they get a call out to a gay bar which has caught fire, would a severely homophobic firefighter do his all to rescue a couple of queers or would he hold back, deciding his own life is more valuable.

Yeah its an extreme situation, but would we be having this discussion if they had refused to hand out leaflets to Black people? I dont think so.
 
I would think that is very condisending to firefighters, they risk their lives for all of us regardless of race,creed culture etc.

They refused to hand out leaflets/attend a rally. I would guess through the same macho B/S you find in any predominatly male organization, including M/A
Percived embarrasment rather than homophobia was proberly at play hear.

If they had done this to coloured people they would be sacked by now, eventually the dicrimanation laws, which are relatively new for gay people will
be accepted as common sense by all/most people.
 
its not condescending at all, there is no room for any form of discrimination in organisations like the Fire Service, just because homophobia is more socially accepted than racism doesn't mean its any less wrong.
 
That's just ludicrous. You're talking about people who routinely enter burning buildings to rescue people they've never met.
 
people they've never met, people they have no feelings for either way, but what if they are severely prejudiced towards the people they were being called on to risk their lives for.

Lets drop the gay angle for a minute, would you be happy if a firefighter, policeman or doctor was a member of a race hate group?
 
Why did they need to hand out firesafety leaflets in a parade?

I am with the firefighters on this one. "public service" is part of their job, granted. But I'd see that handing out leaflets is something a 4-year old can do. I dont hate gay people, I dont discriminate them, but there still would be something very wrong if I were forced to hand out leaflets and basically endorse them. The entire idea of this ending up in a court is ludicrous. People are simply so afraid of looking like homophobes that they do anything to avoid such image.

They decided not to do one task which they deemed inappropriate, and end up in court? Ridicilous.
 
There's no evidence these people are part of any gay-hating group.

If anything their reluctance is most probably simply down to the fact that they're walking into a situation where they will likely be sexually harassed.

It's not much different from sending a bunch of nurses to do a blood drive at your average Dagenham factory floor (N.B. My sister in law worked at the Ford plant... the only female employee on the floor out of 2000, and she says it was absolutely HELLISH)

They're going to get hassled, especially in uniform... in a lighthearted way (I presume) but it'd be enough to make a lot of people very uncomfortable.
 
There is no issue here. If the boss tells you to do something, then you have to do it, unless it's illegal. What's next, cops not wanting to cover a political convention becasue they don't agree with the politicians? Good grief.
 
I am just taking the situation to its extreme to show that its not necessarily political correctness gone mad. But I'll reiterate that if they had refused to hand out leaflets to Black people it would be getting taken far more seriously.
 
Sitting in front of a computor no, but if they were dragging me out of a burning building, or cutting me out of a car wreck then I don't care if it's Osama Bin laden or Adolf Hitler.
 
As was stated before, the right/wrong part of this issue depends on what the contents of the fliers were. If they were fire safety fliers, then yes, the firemen are guilty of dereliction of duty. However, if they were fliers supporting the HLBT group, then the firemen didn't do anything wrong. It's not their job to hand out fliers for everyone who wants them to do so.

I don't think they were fire safety fliers; a gay pride parade is an odd place to be doing that. Besides, the guys wouldn't be so pissed about it if it were just a lack of fire safety fliers...

Also, what was said about the bar owner was true. That was seriously wrong.
 
Happy? No, but their profession doesn't eliminate their basic rights as American Citizens.
 
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