Kodak fires man over 'gay' stance

WorldNetDaily ^ | Oct 24, 2002 | Joe Kovacs

[Maximilian]

This was posted as a short news item from Rochester TV news, but this WorldNETDaily story has much more detailed information and a complete copy of the emails.

[sonserae]

I work for a Kodak owned and run company in the film/entertainment industry and our president is a lesbian.

[NukeMan]

I dunno...if Kodak is an 'at will' employer the guy probably has no case. He can be fired for any reason (excepting the usual race/religion/etc.), or no reason at all. I don't see his objections being covered under race/religion/gender exceptions. Caveat: I am not a lawyer!

[Maximilian]

Buy Fuji Film!

I recently bought a new camera, and have wondered about the best film to buy. I've leaned towards Kodak simply because of being an American company. But this is not "American," as far as I'm concerned. Fuji is more American than this kind of totalitarianism from Kodak.

Someone pointed out on another thread that Koday should be able to hire whoever they want, only gays if they want. Fine. But then we don't have to buy their products. And to be fair, we should entirely eliminate the EEOC so that it's not only white heterosexual able-bodied males who are discriminated against.

Notice also the complete contempt for normal Americans displayed by the PR Director, Blamphin, when he dismisses any thought of complaints or boycotts. Companies like Kodak just don't care about us.

Remember how Eisner of Disney said they could do without the business of Southern Baptists and Catholics? Turned out he was wrong. Disney has tanked bad, even worse and sooner than the rest of the stock market. Here's a page of Kodak contact info (no emails unfortunately):
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/pressCenter/contactKodak.shtml

[MissMillie]

If he finds Kodak's stance so disgusting, maybe he shouldn't work there.

I get a lot of email from my employer that I choose to take no action on.... I just ignore it. I don't see why this guy didn't just send this email to his "recycle bin" and leave it at that.

[eastsider]

And just this year, Kodak was one of 13 companies that earned a perfect rating of 100 percent in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's first Corporate Equality Index. The index rates large corporations on policies affecting their "gay," lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, investors and consumers. The others sharing top honors were Aetna, American Airlines, Apple Computers, Avaya, Intel, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Lucent Technologies, NCR, Nike, Replacements Ltd., Worldspan and Xerox.

No Disney???!!!

[MetalliDragon]

He probably doesn't want his jub back, but I get the impression that it disgusts him enough that he wants to leave some sort of mark on the company before he disappears for good. That's why he's filing a lawsuit. He wants to get in their face with this, even if he has no case.

[MetalliDragon]

Err, job. Sorry, just woke up after a long sleep. ;)

[reagent]

After reading the article, it seems as though this email was the proverbial 'straw' for Mr. Szabo. I applaud his courage to stick to his beliefs in the face of losing his job.

[taxcontrol]

Anyone have an appropriate email address at Kodak where Freepers can experess their opinions on this?

I will just bet that if Kodak receives 20,000 + emails complaining about Kodak unwillingness to support a person's request to be removed from an offensive mailing list that they just might start changing some policies.

[eastsider]

Respect the individual's privacy. Understand how broadly he/she wishes the information to be shared.

Howzabout respecting Szabo's privacy by understanding how little he wishes to information to be shared?

[eastsider]

to = this

[BlueLancer]

"Caveat: I am not a lawyer!"

But the real question is: But do you play one on TV?

[txzman]

'And while Kodak won't comment now on the potential of any lawsuit, it doesn't appear overly concerned about the possibility of a consumer boycott.'

Here is where the rubber meets the road. I ended my support of ALL things Kodak, Ofoto related (I used both) and will find an alternative.

If you believe that this position is as wrong as I do, you should indeed vote with your wallet and pass on the word. Disney has indeed felt the pinch in losing organized Christian business at its theme parks.

Maybe Kodak wil learn that its customers do indeed react to this bending over backwards for gay tolerance at the expense of simple personal consideration for an employee who had enough.

[Dacus943]

"Here's a page of Kodak contact info (no emails unfortunately):"

A little Digging found the below link!

http://www.kodak.com/cgi-bin/global/en/service/contact/feedback.cgi?conf=/global/include/en/service/contact/contact.conf

[anniegetyourgun]

The PC factor is moving south from Canada.....soon to silence all who disagree using legal mandate.

[Steve_Seattle]

I work for the City of Seattle, and several years ago I replied negatively to a City email promoting employee participation in the city's annual "Gay Pride Parade." I pointed out that for many Christians, such an invitation is equivalent to inviting a Jew to a pig roast. I further pointed out that the parade routinely includes marchers who make a point of mocking the beliefs of religious groups with whom they disagree. (A regular feature of the parade is a group of lesbians dressed up as nuns.) So I basically made the point that the City's invitation to participate in the parade is insensitive to the values and beliefs of many City employees. I was not reprimanded for this email (I sent it only to supervisors in my area), but I'm sure it didn't help my long-term promotional opportunities. But I suympathize with the Kodak employee, because he is given the alternative of being FORCED INTO THE CLOSET (the approach you seem to suggest) or pretending to agree with policies or beliefs which run contrary to his personal religious beliefs.

[Mr. Mojo]

A 23-year veteran of The Eastman Kodak Co. has been fired

How much of a 'veteran' can one be at 23?

[Steve_Seattle]

Blamphin sounds like a smug a**hole and a blooming fascist.

[Steve_Seattle]

"how much of a veteran can one be at 23"

I don't think it is saying he is 23 years old, but that he was worked at Kodak for 23 years. So for this employee, it was a huge risk that he took.