Posted on 08/07/2007 4:17:23 AM PDT by monomaniac
BREAKING NEWS Four San Diego firefighters charge their superiors forced them to ride in San Diego's Gay Pride parade.
“You could not even look at the crowd without getting some kind of sexual gesture. If any crew member were to hang up pictures at the station of what we saw, we would be disciplined.” So said one of four San Diego firefighters who say their superiors forced them, in full uniform and on their city fire truck, to attend the July 21 San Diego “Gay Pride” parade, according to an Aug. 6 press release from the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center.
The Center is representing the firefighters in their legal claims against the city of San Diego.
According to the Center’s press release, the four firefighters’ superiors told them on July 20 that they would have to ride in the parade. In the past, firefighters who attended the parade “generally did so on a volunteer basis,” said the press release. When the four firefighters protested, their superiors told them they must ride in the parade or face disciplinary action.
San Diego Fire Chief Tracy Jarman has said the parade is a “fun event and all employees are encouraged to participate.” San Diego’s Republican mayor, Jerry Sanders, appointed Jarman fire chief in June 2006. According to 365Gay.com, Jarman “lives with her domestic partner” and is “one of only a handful of openly lesbian fire chiefs in the country.”
“What happened to these dedicated public servants was inexcusable,” said Charles LiMandri, the Center’s West Coast director, who is representing the firefighters. “The City should have known from past experience the kind of offensive activities that go on at this event. This was a clear case of sexual harassment in violation of state and federal law as well as the City’s own code of conduct.”
While on parade, the firefighters “were subjected to vile sexual taunts from homosexuals lining the parade route,” said the press release. “Show me your hose,” “you can put out my fire,” “you’re making me hot,” “give me mouth-to-mouth,”“blow my hose,” were some of the comments those along the parade route hurled at the firefighters. When the firefighters did not respond, “some in the crowd turned hostile and started shouting, ‘F—k you firemen’ and others began ‘flipping them off,’” said the press release.
Some bystanders committed lewd acts, directed at the firefighters, such as exposing their genitals, grabbing the crotch, and blowing kisses. The firefighters, however, were not physically assaulted.
Last year, Chief Jarman told Gay and Lesbian Times that she has always kept her personal and private lives separate. She said she told Sanders she wanted to make the department more diverse – but, she said, “it’s not just the Gay community. I think we need to do a better job of recruiting across the board so that we reflect the community.”
Hey I have a novel idea! How about just hiring the best firefighters? I know it's really a stupid and foreign concept, but hey, that's just me.
For police that makes a little bit of sense. Policing is usually easier with a force that mirrors the characteristics of the community.
However that don’t work when it comes to dealing with fires. Will a fire in a sad’s house yield more easily to a sad fireperson?
No way would anyone get me to attend this sort of sick event. I would happily take any disciplinary action the sick boss wench had for me rather than be subjected to what these guys went through.
I agree, and then sue them if they try any punishment. Maybe get enough to buy a fire engine...
So these firemen were forced to endure sexual comments, cat calls and other unwanted advancements? Anyone heard of sexual harassment? Or does that not apply when its homosexual men doing the harassment and homosexual women arranging the opportunity?
So not only do we have to accept that sick-assed behavior, now we gotta ride in the damn parade? I hope they sue.More of the in your face alternative lifestyle nonsense.
How dare you put people’s safety ahead of the promotion of diversity!
Think of the dead as martyrs in the noble cause of Political Correctness!
“You could not even look at the crowd without getting some kind of sexual gesture.”
I hope this lawsuit becomes huge and that the firefighters win big!
That is because participants in a gay parade are generally considered, well.... to be homosexuals.
The proper course of action would have been to deny the order to participate. If you are terminated or written up, you file a formal complaint and/or a lawsuit for violation of your civil rights.
This is where the radical, homosexual agenda is taking us....forced activity.
They should have a STRONG lawsuit on the grounds of hostile working environment.....
When a Gay guy comes on to you you’re supposed to be flattered, or it’s a Hate Crime.
YES!
About time the People realized no entity can FORCE you to do anything, particularly the government.
Lawsuits like this will stop the government-sponsored homosexual agenda in its tracks.
As I understood it from Roger Hedgecock's Monday show they were inside an apparatus and one reported even keeping his headset on and yet he too claimed in his sworn statement to be hearing these comments. Another left the vehicle to hug his homosexual uncle's "life partner" and his friend then claimed to hurriedly returned to the truck in fear of his safety.
Should they have been ordered to participate despite objections? I'd said likely not. What was the specific motivation behind the order(s) and what specific objections were made.
Did the crowd know the participants were not themselves gay firemen? Might they have assumed otherwise?
Had the crowd been women blowing kisses or exposing nipples instead of men, would these fireman have filed such a complaint?
I don't have a particularly sympathetic view towards these firemen filing legal action but do believe the policies and decisions leading to their allegedly compulsory participation warrants an open investigation.
Why don’t you write a check from your personal funds and save the rest of us taxpayers the burden?
I agree, there is little defense for some kind of big cash settlement, just another easy way to squeeze some free cash outta the taxpayers of San Diego. If the forcing is the crux of the issue, the appropriate outcome should be policies that clearly state no one is ever to be forced to participate in activities they feel uncomfortable engaging in, and FIRING the Police Chief. That will send a strong message. Doling out a bunch of cash will do little to nothing.
I wonder if the views of these four firemen were know prior to getting the “assignment”. If so, their superiors probably used it against them to force them into accepting that aborant lifestyle. My .02.
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