US court upholds firing for anti-gay Bible quotes

Reuters via forbes ^ | 1/6/04 | Reuters

[machman]

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Hewlett-Packard Co. did not violate the rights of a devout Christian employee when it fired him for posting Biblical scriptures on his cubicle that were critical of homosexuality.

The San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that HP did not discriminate against Richard Peterson when it fired him after he posted quotes from the Bible in his cubicle in response to company posters featuring gay employees.

The HP posters, which carried the slogan "Diversity is Our Strength," were part of an effort to promote the computer and printer maker's bid to hire and retain a diverse work force.

Peterson was fired for insubordination after refusing to remove the biblical postings, which managers determined could be viewed as offensive.

Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote that Peterson, a veteran HP employee who worked in HP's Boise, Idaho office, had failed to provide evidence he was sacked for his religious beliefs.

Instead, Reinhardt held Peterson was fired for repeatedly disregarding instructions to remove his biblical postings, including one from Leviticus explicitly addressing homosexuality.

A passage, which Peterson had conceded was "intended to be hurtful," reads: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

Judge Reinhardt said it would have been an "undue hardship" for HP to have accommodated Peterson's demands that he be allowed to post scriptures in response to the posters, or that he remove his postings in exchange for HP taking down its posters promoting diversity.

Either option would have also hurt the company's efforts to "attract and retain a qualified, diverse work force, which the company reasonably views as vital to its commercial success," Reinhardt wrote.

Lawyers for Peterson and Palo Alto, California-based HP could not be immediately reached for comment.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

[george wythe]

Peterson was fired for insubordination

Private employers have the right to tell their employees what to display in their cubicles.

I have a Bible quote displayed on my desk, done in a beautiful marble plaque by one of my customers.

No body has ever complained about it, but of course, it's not a controversial quote from Leviticus.

[King Black Robe]

You want the courts to tell you that your local religious book store has to hire a cross dressing Satanist?

I believe California already passed that one last year. I'm serious.

[tubavil]

It was an evil masterstroke for the militant homos to FORCE fudgepacking down everyone's throat through their employer, under threat of litigation.

FORCED indoctrination through HR.

FORCED MANDATORY classes.

FORCED 'compliance' agreement signing.

FORCED not to talk about 'certain subjects' that anyone can complain *anonymously* about and is guaranteed an 'investigation'.

3% of the country controlling the rest in order to support their abomination - all under threat.

Lovely.

[Dave S]

how is your electronics company enhanced by hiring folks that like odd sex?

Look at where HP is headquartered in Silicon Valley. They probably have a relatively high level of gays on their staff and they want peace among all employees regardless of orientation. You dont have to like the practice but you cant be stirring up trouble or you get the axe like this fella did.

[Dave S]

I believe California already passed that one last year. I'm serious.

Yes but it will be overturned by the court.

[tubavil]

You want the courts to tell you that your local religious book store has to hire a cross dressing Satanist?

They already have.

City employees in San Fran Sicko who decide they want to lop off their dicks and 'become' women, will have it paid for through their health plan.

[King Black Robe]

Yes but it will be overturned by the court.

Really? You mean the same court that forbids its justices to have any association with the Boy Scouts? I seriously doubt it.

[taxcontrol]

Shame - I liked HP's products. Guess I wont be sending my money there way.

[TheCookMan]

Initially, I didn't buy HP computers because they're slow, unreliable, built using substandard internals, and components are welded into the case making it very difficult to upgrade. Now I have one more reason not to buy HP.

[Thinkin' Gal]

A passage, which Peterson had conceded was "intended to be hurtful," reads: "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

He could have been much more clever, and chosen this one, using a color printer:

Ezekiel 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, PRIDE!, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

[Dave S]

City employees in San Fran Sicko who decide they want to lop off their dicks and 'become' women, will have it paid for through their health plan

As sick as it is, San Francisco can decide what benefits are covered under their health plan.

[Dave S]

Really? You mean the same court that forbids its justices to have any association with the Boy Scouts? I seriously doubt it.

I mean the Supremes. The 9th Circuit never gets anything right.

[Happy2BMe]

Who knows the passage from Leviticus that cost him his job?

[Happy2BMe]

Wasn't it the 9th Circus that wanted to take "God" out of our pledge of allegiance?

They are most certainly anti-God.

Hell is wide open.

[Natural Law]

Since when did Christians get so damned thin skinned?Should HP also take down posters that are offensive to Muslims and Taliban? Should they be required to remove beef from the cafeteria because it might offend Hindus?

[joesnuffy]

You are correct...thats why I said they'd make good ones....it was the bad ones that
did bad things....hehehehe

[yankeedame]

The HP posters, which carried the slogan "Diversity is Our Strength," were part of an effort to promote the computer and printer maker's bid to hire and retain a diverse work force.

Hey, I got it! Instead of a "diverse work force", why doesn't HP make an effort to promote, and hire, and retain the most highly qualified work force? Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but it's so crazy it just might work!

[10mm]

It was an evil masterstroke for the militant homos to FORCE fudgepacking down everyone's throat...

Ugh. Thanks for THAT visual.

[inquest]

HP is a private company and it can have whatever objectives its shareholders allow it to have.

If only that were the case. But this person was undoubtedly bringing suit under the so-called Civil Rights Act, which, among other hideous things, attempts to prohibit emloyers from discriminating on the basis of religious views. And as one may surmise, it becomes totally impractical to enforce it to its full extent, so instead it gets enforced selectively, with the un-PC views getting the short shrift.

I've been saying a number of times on this forum that this unconstitutional abomination needs to be repealed post-haste.

[PattonReincarnated]

I don't want to see the government get involved in HP's employment practices - I don't care who is involved. I bet you one thing though, if the employee was a black female, she would not be fired. This is political correctness gone wild. It actually stems from the government getting involved in business. If the courts would have started throwing out these types of discrimination cases years ago, just on the principle it was not the governments business to be involved in private employment, we wouldn’t have PC crap to begin with. Whatever happened to having good manners and etiquette in the work place – now we need laws, lawyers, courts, and tax dollars being consumed over a bunch of thin-skinned wimps. Now that we have PC, the question is how can we stop it?