Posted on 05/02/2006 9:15:06 AM PDT by george wythe
A federal appeals court has delivered a major victory to the gay-rights movement by ruling that Ohio officials can discipline public employees who discriminate, even if the workers say they are following religious beliefs.
The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is an important legal development because it means employers can enforce workplace policies that forbid bias based on sexual orientation.
Had the ruling gone the other way, those workplace policies could have been in jeopardy. It appears to be the first case of its kind from Ohio and it may yet be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case involves a lengthy dispute between a Protestant prison chaplain and his bosses in the state prison system. They clashed over the chaplain's refusal to let an openly homosexual inmate direct a penitentiary choir in 2002.
(Excerpt) Read more at cleveland.com ...
Too bad the judges couldn't recognize that the law of the state violates the U.S. Constitution. I guess judicial review only helps the favored few. Anyway, the guy doesn't work there any longer so the state is free to warp Christianity into anything it likes. (Yes, the end result is, the guy must deny his beliefs or lose his job. Clearly there is a state approved version and and a state unapproved version of Christianity.) You should note, however, that Christians make Christ their Lord, not government. We will obey God rather than men whatever the cost. We had it good for awhile and got doctrinally fat and lazy. Now the costs are going up. It's going to get very interesting. May I be found faithful until the end.
Is he working for a private outfit now?
This is perfect, I've maintained all along that being gay is a belief system, the same as being protestant or catholic, democrat or republican, vegetarian or a meat&potatoes guy.
Funny, but isn't prison all about behavior discrimination?
In the case of the Chaplains in the military being forced to pray a certain way without the name of Jesus, the military backed off because they knew it to be inappropriate for them to be requiring government-written, neutral prayers over those that actually exist in real denominations.
In this case of the homosexual choir leader, the government is requiring a government-approved church structure and morality be overlaid on what is supposed to be a REAL example of a Christian religion. They are equally as wrong in this case, and I would appeal it to those who think more clearly about the government being prohibited from creating religions that suit them.
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