Luis Padilla was reportedly terminated from his employment at a Cargill Foods plant in Harrisonburg because of a written message on the rear window of his pickup truck that read: "Please, vote for marriage on Nov. 7." That is the day when voters in Virginia will be considering a proposed amendment to the state constitution protecting traditional marriage.
The article goes on to complain that this is example of PC run amok. Obviously, there is more to this story than meets the eye, and I am not going to pretend to have all of the facts. Read the story if you can; it's a tough read because the reporting style of Apgape Press oozes bigotry. I have read numerous accounts of this story and all but a few miss the real story entirely.
The story is not about Mr. Padilla's free speech rights; he has none in this case. The story is not about political correctness. The story is not about a company defending itself from lawsuits, although all these things add to the drama. This is about blatant hypocrisy on the part religious conservatives.
This is the bottom line;
The folks at Apgape Press believe that they should be protected when then speak out for their values, but they won't give the other side the same protection. The religious conservative believes that a company reserves the right to fire gay employees just because they are gay, but expects their bigotted views to be protected by law.
That is hypocrisy, and we should call it out.
5 comments:
I've read about this on other blogs. My first reaction is that I wouldn't want the same thing to happen to me (I have had it happen to me). I do have pro-gay stickers on my car. I wouldn't want to be told to take them off or else be fired. However, unless the playing ground is going to be level, where I, as a gay employee, is just as protected for my political opinions as a hyper-religious person is for theirs, then the company is right, I guess. That is their way of leveling the playing field, so to speak, or at least it should be.
Callie, I don't think your job would necessarily be in jeopardy unless like this man your job involved representing the company. We also don't know the other side of the story. This man claims that he was fired for the sign, but the company claims he was fired for insubordination. We may find later that he told them off or something, this can't be the whole story, just consider how many times we find the radical right lying.
We may find later that he told them off or something, this can't be the whole story,
This is very true.
But, I guess by the same token I could be fired for insubordination if I refused to remove my pro-gay stickers from my car. What if they did make someone uncomfortable?
"W '04" stickers make me uncomfortable too, but it shouldn't be enough to get someone fired.
If the message is threatening or they've put the message on a company car, then yes, they deserve to be fired.
Unfortunately, I do hire others within my position. Should I be fired for having a pro-gay sticker on my car because someone might think it has influenced my decision not to hire them? I hope not. I've hired plenty of Christians and straight people. I haven't used my position to hurt another.
Maybe Padilla did and maybe he made terrible comments that were unfitting for an HR person.
Maybe...but we'll probably never know because we weren't there. It just makes me nervous to see people fired for an opinion (IF that's all it was) because that could very well be me.
John,
I hate to change your topic, but PLEASE take a look at that October 20, 2006 "Favorite Ex-Gay" page again on exgaywatch.com. I don't suggest that you contribute to the discussion; in fact, I'd advise you not to. But just look at what direction the conversation has gone in! I find it absolutely appalling. The blogmasters at exgaywatch.com obviously have no concept of how damaging anti-Gay brainwashing is. At least, that's what I'd prefer to believe. I'd rather not believe the worst about them. What do you think?
Surveys indicate that public attitude toward gay marriage changes based on question wording and whether the word "marriage" is used. Results (click to see the results - http://publicagenda.org/issues/red_flags.cfm?issue_type=gay_rights) like these suggest that many people are still wrestling with the implications of same-sex marriage, so surveys on this issue should be interpreted cautiously. Want to know more about what the public thinks about same-sex marriage and other issues surrounding gay rights? Check out Public Agenda’s Issue Guide on Gay Rights (http://publicagenda.org/issues/frontdoor.cfm?issue_type=gay_rights).
Public Agenda is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group devoted to public opinion and public policy. For more information, go to http://www.publicagenda.org.
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