THE news that a fireman in Scotland who refused to hand out safety leaflets at a gay pride event had reached an out-of-court settlement with his employers was greeted with outrage yesterday by the National Secular Society.
John Mitchell, a Roman Catholic, was one of nine firemen who disobeyed an instruction to hand out fire safety leaflets at a gay pride event – Pride Scotia – in 2006.
A fireman gets into the spirit of things at a recent gay pride event in Canada
The men, all from Glasgow’s Cowcaddens fire station, were then disciplined by their employers Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. They were given written warnings and ordered to undergo diversity training.
Mitchell chose to fight his punishment. After failing to overturn the disciplinary findings at three internal appeals he took the matter to an Employment Tribunal.
Days before the hearing was due, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue admitted this week that they had failed to take account of his religious beliefs. He was awarded damages and has received an apology from his employers. He told newspapers that a gagging order prevents him from discussing the case.
But, according to the Christian Institute, which is beside itself with glee over the result of the case, a source close to the family told reporters:
This was never about being gay or anti-gay, this was about people being respected for who they are and what they believe. The men were asked to go along and support the rally, not just hand out leaflets.
In line with Catholic teaching, John is opposed to homosexual acts without condemning homosexuals themselves. But he has never sought to foist his views on anyone else and felt that others should have shown him that same respect.
There were marchers dresses as nuns and priests, behaving in a lewd manner to ridicule Christianity. People are free to mock the Catholic faith in unpleasant and rude ways – that’s their right – but it was not John’s duty to join in.
There were times he thought he would lose his job by taking on the top brass and his family received anonymous phone calls threatening violence against them.
The Christian Institute’s Mike Judge said:
I am pleased for John that he has won his case. He is a fireman, so we know he is courageous. It takes courage to seek justice against a tide of political correctness. It tyrannical to punish someone because they will not take part in a public rally on an issue with which they disagree. Shame on Strathclyde Fire and Rescue for doing so.
Tory MSP Bill Aitken added:
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue and others have to recognise that people’s religious beliefs must be considered.
Commenting on the case, Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said:
The Strathclyde fire service should have seen this through. The case would have set an important precedent – that public service workers cannot pick and choose which section of the public they will and won’t serve. This is precisely what the Sexual Orientation Regulations are supposed to protect.
The Islington registrar who refused to perform civil partnerships for same-sex couples lost her case a couple of weeks ago, and the fire service should have ensured that it was made clear that firemen, too, realise that even if they are religious, they have a duty to the whole community, not just the bits that they approve of.
Although no life was threatened because this man refused to hand out safety leaflets, what if he, or his colleagues, now decide that they don’t want to deal with homosexuals at all? Who is to tell them they can’t now? This was a clear breach of the Sexual Orientation Regulations and the fire service’s cowardly backing down in the face of religious bigotry has done society and the law no service at all.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 21st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Barry Duke. Ah!
Does Bob get a finders fee?
January 21st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Alas no, Remigius, I was on top of this one last night, but so many things were happening at once that I was forced stacked this one, timing it for 12.50.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
So these people can pick and choose who they offer safety advice to? That’s nice to know.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
So here we have – what now appears to be – a pseudo macho fireman with god disease, frightened of a few gay men and women; what a wimp and a berk! This is a ridiculous, dangerous judgement and very disturbing because it could support future spurious claims. You could imagine the furore if an atheist public servant refused to do his job for a muslim, xtian et al. Of course us Freethinkers are not bigots so it would never happen.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Spot on Angela K. Would he have qualms about putting out fires at, say, a gay night club or a cinema showing “Beautiful Thing”?
January 21st, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Another example of a persecuted Christian standing up for himself and being vindicated.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Ah yes, a poor wee Roman Catholic would never persecute anyone. That’s irony, Bob. It’s one of the services we offer round here.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Why do christians have a persecution complex?
I mean they’re the ones saying we must repent stuff and accept what they say otherwise we’ll burn for all eternity in hell. To me it’s them persecuting nonbelievers with zero evidence to back up their threats.
Personally I think bob and his friends need to shit or get off the pot. Either prove your claims of a ‘lake of fire’ or shut the fuck up telling us what’s acceptable to your ‘god’.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:17 pm
As talked about months ago in a great article on Butterflies and Wheels, people like Bob use the classic ‘what are you looking at?’ mentality to feed a persecution complex. Seek out the ‘offence’ – in this case posting about a million messages on a site that celebrates atheism – then bathe in the inevitable responses challenging their bigotry and asking awkward questions as supposed proof of victimization (and ignoring the paradox of being free to shout about being stifled).
January 21st, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Just ignore the twat and he may go away!
January 21st, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Right on, Stuart. Freedom of speech for all means we all run the daily risk of being offended. Trouble is, with religion, there’s an in-built refusal to accept criticism. This is because, deep down, they all know that faith is not enough to deal with doubt. Intimidation and censorship are needed to bolster faith, or it withers and dies.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Your title accuses Mr Mitchell of being a homophobe. Surely it is not “homophobic” to disagree with Gay behavior. Surely it is only homophobic to hate gays. Just because we disagree with what they are doing doesn’t mean we hate them.
Masked grappler accuses Christians of having no evidence. There is plenty of evidence for the resurrection of Christ – eye witnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death
January 21st, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Stuart W: It is not a “persecution complex” when you get dismissed from a job for refusing to compromise your beliefs by lying. Also I was once ejected from a train station by a porter because he objected to my leaving Jesus leaflets about, a clear case of persecution.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
The time has come, guys, for me to restore a measure of sanity, good humour and a semblance of politeness to this blog (honestly, some of the language would make a parrot blush!) So ALL Bob’s comments from now on will be deleted. If some slip through, please don’t rise to the bait, and just ignore them. They will be expunged as and when I have the time.
It’s clear from his comments that when one puts 21st-century technology in the hands of people who cannot grasp the concept of internet etiquette, and who possess the mentality of bronze age goat-herds, a great deal of annoyance and disruption is bound to follow.
Goodbye Bob – shame I cannot say it was a pleasure to meet you.
January 21st, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I was once politely asked by a uniformed man to stop handing out leaflets in a shopping centre (for a windows company I worked for as a kid) as I had no permission; a simple mistake, which he realized.
Sounds like my teenage self could have explained a thing or two to our dear departed chum…
January 21st, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Without wanting to get into too much of a theological debate. There are no eye-witness accounts. The first gospel was written either in or just after 70AD as it mentions the destruction of the Temple of Jeruselum (sp?) which occured in 70AD. Before that all we have is letters by Paul which Scholars (i.e people much more qualified than you to debate the subject Bob) date it about about 49CE. Paul never met Jesus, he only talks about his crucifition, journey into hell and ressurection (never mentions his previous life) as taking place on a spiritual realm, not on Earth. Both of which written way after his death, and neither author met him. Not exactly eye-witnesses.
January 21st, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I think this case highlights a breathtaking set of double standards.
Barney McGrew was rewarded because Strathclyde Fire & Rescue had failed to take into account his religious beliefs. And yet at any recruitment stage we are told it is wrong to do just that. If they had taken those very same beliefs into account then, and refused him the job on the reasonable grounds that his beliefs would compromise his ability to carry that job, they would have still been sued.
This is happening more and more. The cases referred to above; last weeks hero – retarded bus pilot Ron Heather; all those moon-worshippers who get a job in Threshers then complain cos they have to serve beer.
I don’t believe that these people are genuinely offended. I think they are just taking the piss.
We should be allowed to discriminate at the recruitment stage. Not on grounds of race, sexual orientation or disability, but in areas where a persons fictive morality is in conflict with their ability to do the job at hand.
January 21st, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Can you imagine the furore if a Protestant fire officer in Glasgow refused to put out a fire in a Catholic school?
Doesn’t seem to be far off what this bigot was allowed to do. If he won’t give out safety advice to people his idiot faith doesn’t approve of, how can he be trusted in an emergency.
He’s a disgrace to the service. Come to think of it, so are his employers for apologising to the biscuit-munching throwback.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Cool, so can I legally refuse to serve RRRW Christians because they offend me?
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
As they say over on barryboys.co.uk, “bloody trumpton”.