Many (if not most) of Rhode Island's residents are Catholic. And, of course, Rhode Island's largest city, Providence, has a Gay Pride Parade. It seems that back in 2001, two anti-gay fire fighters were required to drive the fire truck in the Pride Parade. The fire fighters felt that their constitutional (religious liberty) rights had been violated, and filed suit. The state Supreme Court has ruled that their constitutional rights had not been violated.
From The New Civil Rights Movement:
Back in June of 2001, two firefighters were ordered to drive a firetruck in the Providence gay pride parade. Citing their Catholic faith, they claim they expressed that they were uncomfortable driving in the parade, but were ordered to do so anyway.
Three years later they sued. And now they have lost, with the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruling they have no case.
In their suit, the two men, Theodore Fabrizio Jr. and Stephen Deninno, claim they had to endure "sexual harassment" and "sexual propositions and other offensive remarks," during the parade, and later, "at least 60 profanity-laced anonymous phone calls," and "sexual harassment at the hands of their coworkers."
From the opinion:
No pertinent legal authority exists to support "the proposition that, in such specific circumstances, employees' rights are violated if they happen to possess religious objections to the beliefs of the group with which an otherwise legitimate work assignment requires brief interaction," according to the ruling.
"The respondents' appearance in the parade, solely as members of the Providence Fire Department, did not constitute a form of expression on their part," Robinson wrote. "Rather, it was simply the accomplishing of a task assigned to an engine company of the Providence Fire Department, and the individuals chosen to carry out that assignment cannot be said to have engaged in personal speech by carrying out their work as public servants."
via
Courthouse News Service
While this is only a state ruling, it could mean that we will be able to thwart some of the more onerous "license to discriminate" laws ... at least in some states.