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Email: "A Call to Action after Public Sector Employee Fired for Speaking out against Homosexuality"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Gudrun Schultz BALTIMORE, Maryland, June 19, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The American Family Association (AFA) is asking supporters to express their concerns after a Metro transit board member was fired for expressing opposition to homosexuality.Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. fired Robert J. Smith of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority last Thursday, after the board member, a Roman Catholic, referred to homosexual behaviour as “deviant” on a talk show interview. One of his colleagues on the transit board, who is openly homosexual, complained about the comment during a board meeting on Thursday and demanded Smith retract his comments or resign from the board, the Baltimore Sun reported. Smith declined, saying he stood by his beliefs as a Roman Catholic, and a few hours later he received notice from the governor that he was fired.“Robert Smith’s comments were highly inappropriate, insensitive and unacceptable,” Gov. Ehrlich said in a statement. “They are in direct conflict to my administrations’ commitment to inclusiveness, tolerance and opportunity.”The governor said he was intolerant to any view that opposes the full social acceptance of homosexual behavior and its promotion in government, the AFA reported. “Gov. Ehrlich contradicted his own statement,” the AFA press release said. “He is promoting tolerance toward homosexual practice while being intolerant to Smith’s Christian beliefs and the teaching of his church.”The AFA has launched an email campaign asking readers to “help preserve the rights of Christians to publicly express their beliefs and the teaching of their church on homosexuality without the fear of being fired,” by challenging Governor Ehrlich to reinstate Robert Smith.“If this firing stands, it means that any Christian who states publicly that homosexual practice is morally wrong does so at the risk of being fired.”Speaking to reporters after the confrontation with Jim Graham, Smith reaffirmed his remarks and said he was “entitled to his opinion.”“The comments I make in public outside of my [Metro board job] I’m entitled to make.” His personal beliefs, he said, have “absolutely nothing to do with running trains and buses and have not affected my actions or decisions on this board.”“The notion that I consider homosexual behavior as deviant behavior is correct,” Smith said. He declined to apologize to Graham, saying, “I didn’t make the comments to Mr. Graham…I’m sorry that he feels that way, but I don’t agree that his lifestyle is an appropriate way to live one’s life.To contact Governor Ehrlich:The AFA email form:https://secure.afa.net/afa/afapetition/takeaction.asp?id=203Phone: 1-800-811-8336  Email: governor@gov.state.md.us  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/a-call-to-action-after-public-sector-employee-fired-for-speaking-out-agains/

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