Man Fired By American Red Cross For Not Celebrating Homosexuality

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8652/CFI/family/index.htm ^ | 8/16/05 | Lindsey Douthit

[RnMomof7]

The American Red Cross fired an employee, Michael Hartman, for expressing his disagreement with homosexuality.

Hartman had been a volunteer and donor for the Red Cross for over 30 years when he became an employee at the San Diego, California, center. He had been there for about eight months when, in the latter part of May 2005, a mass e-mail was sent to employees reminding everyone that June was Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and employees were encouraged to "observe" the celebration.

The e-mail, distributed by Chief Diversity Officer David Wilkins, stated, "It is my pleasure to announce that June will be recognized as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month at national headquarters…It is only fitting that we reinforce our organization's commitment to inclusion…by recognizing this important group and celebrating the many accomplishments they have made to our organization…I'd like to take this opportunity during the month of June to encourage field units to extend their reach into gay and lesbian communities."

As a Christian, Hartman was concerned by the e-mail and expressed his sentiments to his female supervisor, "who did not care." He then e-mailed several head administrators, who immediately called him into the Red Cross regional center in Pomona, California. Hartman was reprimanded and told that his e-mail was "not appropriate."

The "inappropriate" e-mail that Hartman sent contained the following statements:

"I would like to start by stating that I am a Christian not willing to compromise my beliefs to promote the agenda of the homosexual community. I would also like to say that I think it's disgraceful that while most of us [at the Red Cross] are trying to save lives, a select few are using this organization to promote their own lifestyles which in my opinion are unacceptable."

[Aliska]

When I saw the name on the pings, I thought, "Not you again, what's he going to hit me with now?"

Quelle surprise. Thank you for the nice comment.

[Senior Chief]

The officer in question was "Zampolit". The military arm of the politburo.

[Responsibility1st]

bump

[MEGoody]

I stopped giving to the Red Cross some years ago. I give to the Salvation Army instead.

[HouTom]

As a gay man I find this kind of behavior pretty appalling. I do not need or want my employer or fellow employees to "celebrate" my lifestyle nor do I need them to acknowledge it in any way. While at the same time, I would not want an employer or fellow employee to tell me that I am going to burn in Hell for the lifestyle that I lead.

[cowtowney]

that's the gd truth!!!

[wardaddy]

I pinged you to this because recently you expressed disbelief in the "homosexual agenda".

In fact, it is much more that public agenda that folks here rile over than homosexuals themselves....who mind their business.

At least that's how I feel.

[George W. Bush]

I do not need or want my employer or fellow employees to "celebrate" my lifestyle nor do I need them to acknowledge it in any way.

Well, that's ruined our plans to have a FreeRepublic.com Gay Pride Month. And now you've blown your chance to be our poster boy. Some people are so selfish...

Just kiddin'. I often wondered how many feel as you do, that it was a bit odd to celebrate someone's sex life. Seems like a hackneyed liberal cliche to me. In the era of the metrosexual male, isn't celebrating Gay Pride merely celebrating sex acts since the metrosexual is also interested in fashion, grooming, literature, shopping, and all the other things once considered the province of gay males? Once we have substantial numbers of hetero men (meaning more than 10% of straight men) doing the same things, then gay culture is reduced to only gay sex. Well, I always did think that the whole gay crusade would ruin things altogether. It's been clear since at least the Eighties that straight American male culture was a desolate wasteland so now they're turning metro and ruining things for gays.

While at the same time, I would not want an employer or fellow employee to tell me that I am going to burn in Hell for the lifestyle that I lead.

By no means should you tolerate or be expected to tolerate abusive or denigrating behavior toward you in the workplace or in public organizations. However, I do take exception to trying to overturn the stance of Christian churches and organizations like the Boy Scouts. In the case of the Boy Scouts, I do think they should go entirely to private funding and terminate some of their freebie arrangements with local government unless those same freebies are available to all youth organizations. Once you take government money or sweetheart deals, you start to become a public entity and are probably going to be subject to the same kinds of rules as any other public institution, much like the public schools or colleges.

FRegards.

[Windsong]

Looks like its from the "Concerned Women for America" site, which (thankfully) doesnt have a link to the Y2K/Bigfoot/UFO site known as worldnetdaily.

Good for them. I'll send them a donation.

[Windsong]

"Any organization with a Chief Diversity Officer is suspect right out of the chute.

Ack..a different word perhaps? (blech)

[George W. Bush]

When I saw the name on the pings, I thought, "Not you again, what's he going to hit me with now?"

We've both been here long enough to know that, sooner or later, we end up on the same side with someone or with groups we never expected. I also liked how you fleshed out your opinion with your personal experiences and wrote at enough length to get your point across. So often, you look at threads and find 200 one-liners. Brevity may be the soul of wit but it doesn't communicate the substance of thought or personal experience.

Not to worry though, we'll probably find something to disagree about on some future thread.

[Aliska]

Not to worry though, we'll probably find something to disagree about on some future thread.

I hope not, but if it comes to that, I hope we can be civil.

Beaucoup thanks for not calling me on my terrible misspellings. Spell checker should be my friend. I could have corrected them all without spell checker and gotten about 98% of my boo boos.

I think my thoughts go faster than my fingers or chalk it up to I'm getting older.

[kinsman redeemer]

You asked how to give "direcly."

I decided not to give through the Red Cross long before this nut came on. I gave to:
Samaritan's Purse.

Their overhead is around 10-percent. That's pretty direct giving.

[kinsman redeemer]

(slaps self on head)

That's "Directly."

[Semper Vigilantis]

Thank you very much.