Should You Be Forced to Attend a Gay Pride Parade?
Maybe you’re a person of a particular religious faith that sees homosexuality as a “mortal sin.” So should you be forced to attend a parade that goes against your religious or philosophical beliefs?
Well, a group of firefighters in San Diego were recently forced to participate in a Gay Pride Parade, despite religious objections:
The firefighters claim parade attendees made obscene gestures, uttered inappropriate remarks and displayed lewd behavior that made them uncomfortable. They also demanded a work environment without discrimination and harassment.
“While I was sitting there waiting for the parade to start, I felt that I was forced against my will to be at the Gay Pride Parade and forced to see men in tight shorts dancing provocatively and other men kissing and hugging wearing sexually suggestive material on T-shirts with writing ‘Girth and Mirth,’ ‘Suit Up Before You Dive In,’ according to the complaint.
“I was forced into a situation that would compromise what I hold true and what I believe in, my reputation, my character, my integrity, my morals, and my religion,” the complaint says.
I’m siding with the firefighters on this one; no one should be forced to attend a rally or parade that they don’t agree with. Your work should provide the opportunity to opt out of such activity due to religious reasons. Hey, I’d complain if a company I worked for made me attend a Catholic Pride event. Why should this be any different?
Note: Special thanks to Rob for passing along this article!
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Although I agree that no employee should be forced to attend any function when off duty, I don’t see your analogy applicable to the firefighters’ situation.
It’s more akin to people stating that they won’t attend a African-American or Latino Pride Festival due to religious reasons (as in, “they” are morally inferior based on the person’s religious belief system).
Again I support any employee’s right not to be forced to do anything outside of their regular job duties. But, I find the fire fighter’ reasoning to be offensive and even abhorrent. And that last adjective is not hyperbole given that many people now feel the same when someone uses religion (or any other ideology) to claim that a particular other group is morally inferior or repugnant (i.e. Jews, African-Americans, Catholics, etc).
Well, I certainly don’t agree with people who would refuse to attend an African-American or Latino Pride Parade due to religious reasons, but who am I to force them to participate in something they considered “wrong”? Everyone has a right to believe what they want to believe, even if you or I think it’s completely wrong and offensive.
The firefighters’ reasoning behind avoiding the parade is irrelevant. If it makes them feel uncomfortable, for whatever reason, they should have the ability to opt-out if they wish.
Forced to attend a parade? Forced to attend a Gay Parade? This sounds to me like a frustrated bigoted minority man looking for pseudo-sympathetic thugs who will allow him to justify his homophobia, his repressed violence and possibly repressed homosexuality. Hard to comment on this kind of tat. Perhaps that’s because I live in a country that tolerates “fags”. When it’s disguised as legitamate commentary on a humanist blog, you’ve got to ask, “who’s running this gig?”
Sarah, I agree with you 100% that it’s difficult to tolerate this man’s lame excuse. However, I stand firm on the belief that you do have the freedom in this country to be a bigot, no matter how difficult it is to accept.
And I should reiterate that my blog posts are my own and not the opinions of the AHA, the Humanist, the other R&R bloggers, and certainly not all Humanists.
hi i enjoyed the read
Maggie, you are right and I’m embarrassed reading back on my comment that it sounds so accusatory and bigoted itself. We do all have the freedom to express our opinions and my commect conveys the emotional response of one who has blindly reacted in anger (which I think I did!). I ranted without reason and disqualified any intelligent argument I had because of that. Apologies to anyone I may have offended.
No offense taken! We hold healthy dialogue on our blog, and we respect everyone’s opinion despite disagreements. And you do bring up a good point that the firefighters’ reasoning behind avoiding the parade is pretty weak and extremely bigoted. It’s sad that people like them can’t be tolerant of others.
dont i have a right of opinion?
You have a right to an opinion. If you look back at the other comments on this Blog post, I allow lots of opinions, even if they differ from my own. But hate-filled mongering that attacks homosexuals as “an abomination” is not welcomed on this Blog. As the writer of this Blog post, I reserve the right to delete comments that I feel are inappropriate. There’s a difference between voicing a well-thought out opinion vs. insulting human beings. You were doing the latter.
well, you know that homosexuality is an abomination