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Gay pride snub fireman receives damages

by mudricky | January 21, 2009 at 10:45 am

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A firemen who disobeyed orders to attend a Gay pride march called Pride Scotia in Glasgow, Scotland in 2006 to hand out fire safety leaflets has accepted an out-of-court settlement after he took his employer to court.

Firemen John Mitchell, a Catholic refused to work at the event and was later reprimanded by his bosses.

Unhappy at this Mr Mitchell took his case to an employment tribunal but has reached an out-of-court settlement.

He is not allowed to speak about the case or reveal how much money he accepted. Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service also appoligised.

There was nine firemen who didn't turn up for the march, they claimed that their reasons for not attending were that they would be caused embarrassed to attend in uniform, while others claimed it would contradict their moral beliefs.

One of the men, a watch manger, was demoted and has lost up to £5000 in wages, the others received written warnings from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service as well as diversity training.

A Christian fireman who was disciplined for refusing to hand out leaflets at a gay pride march has received damages from his employers.

John Mitchell was one of nine Glasgow firefighters who disobeyed orders to work at the Pride Scotia rally in 2006.