Taking diversity too far....
They have a duty to fight fires...and that's all.
Nine firemen have been disciplined after refusing to hand out leaflets at a "gay pride" march, and will be forced to undergo intensive "diversity training".
Senior officers reported the men from the red watch crew at Cowcaddens fire station in Glasgow after the Pride Scotia march in the city in June.
Some refused to attend the event on religious and moral grounds, while others said they would be embarrassed to man a stall in uniform, and did not regard the handing out of leaflets to homosexuals and lesbians as part of their core duties.
One of the men asked his priest to write a letter of explanation.
But after disciplinary hearings they have all been given written warnings and the crew manager has been demoted, with a £5,000 salary cut.
posted by GayandRight @ 9:29 PM
6 Comments:
I have a lot of respect for your views, and you are right on with this one, if they morally or other wise thought it wasn't right for them to do it, they should not be forced. Noone should be forced to do something they do not agree with. Doesn't make them anti-gay, they just have a different prospective.
How could you possibly support homophobes in the Fire Brigade that refused to support a pro-gay rights event?
I can understand, to a point, but don't you think it is pure hatred that the fire fighters refused to do what they were told? As a gay male, how could you be so anti-gay?
No, Toronto Twink, refusing to attend a gay pride event does not equate to spreading hatred. If you refuse to go to a church service, does that mean you indulging in propagation of religious hatred? Of course not. Of course, gays have right to their freedom but that doesn't mean that it's compulsory fore everyone else. let's all respect each other's freedom of conscience.
Martin
Now it has gone from acceptance of gays to being forced to support them. Gays now demand we show active support or else. Talk about things swinging to far the other way. This will only make people hate them more.
This comes down to motivation. Assuming all these reports are accurate, the firemen didn't refuse to go because they thought it wasn't part of their duty. That would have been a valid objection, though there are better means to make it. No, they refused to go because they didn't want to be near the gays. That is *not* a valid reason.
They are in an emergency service, and they refused to provide that service to a group purely on the grounds that said group was homosexual. How can that be acceptable?
As for the arguement about them being made to support homosexuality... They wern't being asked to provide anything for the event that they wouldn't have been asked to do for any other large, public gathering.
suricou raven.
Did you even read the posting?
They were refusing to hand out leaflets. Not offer emergency services. Also the post notes that one of the reasons given was the above mentioned handing out of leaflets did not fall under core duties, which, if I'm not mistaken, are fighting fires and (likely similar to Canada) being part of tiered response for medical emergencies and accidents.
Apparently the "religious and moral grounds" were not deemed satisfactory. Ultimately it's not about acceptance (which most people can line up with) but about affirmation.
How would you feel if you were a firefighter in uniform obliged to hand out leaflets at a Pro-Life event or a Jesus celebration?
Freedom isn't free if it comes from the barrel of a government decree with punishment for not complying. That's tyranny. Unfortunately militant gay activists (not the average gay or lesbian who just wants to live their lives in peace) are about as tolerant as "The Reverend" Fred Phelps. Different sides of the same coin.
een
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