Politics
Monday August 13, 2007
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
Victory for San Diego Firefighters: No Longer Forced to Drive in Gay Parade
By Elizabeth O'Brien
SAN DIEGO, August 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The San Diego Fire Department has dropped its requirement for on-duty firefighters to drive the gay parade routes after firemen complained of sexual harassment this summer. Now only volunteers will drive the route, the San Diego Tribune reports.
Early this August, four firefighters were forced by their superior to drive in the parade in the Hillcrest neighborhood of the city on July 21. On August 1 they filed complaints of sexual harassment with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing after receiving sexually explicit taunts and gestures as they drove in the parade. They complained against the fire department that had forced them to be exposed to the harassment by requiring them to participate in the parade.
As a result, the Fire Chief Tracy Jarman and San Diego Firefighters Local 145 revised their policy to ensure that only volunteers will drive in the parade. Going into effect immediately, the Fire Department will offer four hours of overtime pay to anyone who volunteers to drive in the parade. In this way, officials hope that enough firefighters will step forward, ensuring that unwilling drivers will not have to participate.
Fire department spokesperson Maurice Luque was confident that the department will find enough volunteers, saying, "Someone is going to step up and want four hours of overtime."
The four firefighters' lawyer, Charles LiMandri of Michigan's Thomas More Law Center, however, still has reservations about the new policy, questioning whether it actually provides sufficient protection for firefighters' right to freedom of conscience as well as their own personal safety in the parade.
Pointing out the weakness in the new policy, LiMandri stated, "It doesn't say clearly that no one will be ordered to participate." Nevertheless, the San Diego Fire Department has claimed that they are not going to force anyone to participate.
This new policy is a victory for those who fight to defend heterosexual marriage within the city. Especially in recent years, San Diego has relentlessly worked to bring itself up to step with other liberal Californian cities. On July 17, for example, despite the protests of numerous city residents, the city council voted unanimously in favor of proclaiming July official "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Month in the City of San Diego."
The firefighters' victory is not the first time that homosexual supporters and activists have been required to step back. Two years ago it was discovered that a number of sex offenders were volunteering in the Gay Pride Week festivities. San Diego residents were outraged by this discovery, particularly when it was found that a molester, "Marty the Clown", was set to entertain in the San Diego Gay Pride Children's Garden, as he had done in past years. Pride organizers were hit with a wave of criticism and complaints until the offenders were taken off the list of volunteer staff (see http://www.10news.com/news/4776599/detail.html).
Read previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
San Diego City Council Gay Pride Month Vote to be Protested by Former Gay Activist
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07071303.html
Padres Baseball Team Holds Gay Pride and Free Hats for Kids Events on Same Day
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07070909.html
Court: San Diego Veteran Memorial Cross Must Come Down by August 1
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062302.html
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Fr. Neuhaus 1936-2009 - Like The Star of Bethlehem, Dies After Leading So Many to Christ
- Canadian Law Prohibiting Polygamy Faces Challenge
- Pope: "Today More Than in the Past, Our Future is at Stake"
- Co-Creator of the Pill Laments Resulting Demographic "Horror Scenario"
- 23-Week Old British Premie Spared Abortion, Goes Home with Family
- Spanish Judge Convicted of "Homophobia" for Not Approving Adoption by Lesbian Partner
- Announcement of Fr. Neuhaus' Death This Morning
- Campbell's Soup Runs Ads Depicting Homosexual “Family”
- Only 19% of Catholic Students in Calgary Receive Controversial HPV Vaccine
- Porn Moguls Seek Bailout Cash
- Doctors Who Refuse Assisted Suicide “Genuinely Wicked” says UK Bioethics “Philosopher Queen”
- President Bush Urges Republicans to Defend Culture of Life
- Terri Schiavo’s Brother Responds after Obama Appoints Lawyer Who Helped Kill Terri to High Position
- By the Numbers: The Ten Most Popular LifeSiteNews.com Stories of 2008
Most Read this Week
- Vatican Newspaper Publishes Article Detailing Birth Control Pill as Cause of Abortion and Cancer
- Obama Selects Yet another Pro-Abortion "Catholic" for Leading Office
- Abortion Group Ipas Defends Abortion Targeting Unborn Girls
- NBC Boots Top Conservative Pundit Ann Coulter from Today Show, Quickly Rebooks Following Uproar
- Medical Expert Says that Contraceptive Pill is Causing Global Rise in Male Infertility
- Mother Refuses All Further "Parental" Visits with Daughter by Former Lesbian Partner as Trial Looms
- New Jersey Rules against Christian Group that Declined to Host Lesbian Civil Union Ceremony
- Outspokenly Orthodox, Pro-life Archbishop Takes Over in Vancouver Diocese
- Kissinger on Obama: "The Reception of Him is So Extraordinary Around The World ... a New World Order Can Be Created"
- New Survey Finds Only 9% of Americans Support Unrestricted Abortion
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.