Federal Court: Firefighters Don’t Have to Attend Gay Pride Parade

From CitizenlinK:

The rights of conscience and free speech of four San Diego firefighters were upheld today by a California appellate court.

The Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate Division affirmed a jury verdict, which said that four San Diego firefighters should not be forced to attend the city’s annual “Gay Pride Parade” against their will.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed the lawsuit on the behalf of the firefighters after they were sexually harassed, humiliated and emotionally traumatized during a 2007 Pride Parade.

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for CitizenLink, said he is not surprised that the court returned a verdict in less than a week.

“The shockingly sexual and harassing behavior of the gay pride crowd attending the parade easily led the appellate court to find that the sexual harassment suffered by the firefighters was ‘severe and pervasive,’” he said. “The description in the court’s opinion of the bizarre and offensive behavior on display on San Diego’s public streets that day would offend the sensibilities of any decent human being.”

ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco said he hopes the city will stop trying to silence those who don’t comply with the force gay agenda and will finally listen to the voices of the community.

“This has been a concerted effort to say ‘If you have some kind of traditional moral faith, you have the wrong answer. We’re either going to silence you or we’re going to compel you to take part in an activity and approve of it,’” he explained. “We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually charged events against their moral and personal convictions.

“If not, we are prepared to continue to defend the firefighters all the way to the California Supreme Court.”