Peter Vidala of stands firm when it comes to his Christian beliefs. On occasion, he even has the nerve to express them. Now, it’s cost him his job.
Vidala worked at Brookstone, a specialty retailer located in the Boston Logan Airport. That was until after repeatedly hearing from one of his cow-orkers about her upcoming wedding to another woman, he expressed he thought it was wrong.
Vidala claims the woman, whom he declined to identify, mentioned four times that she had married her partner. He said he then left the store briefly to visit the airport’s chapel before returning.
“I found it offensive that she repeatedly brought it up,” Vidala said. “By the fourth time she mentioned it, I felt God wanted me to express how I felt about the matter, so I did. But my tone was downright apologetic. I said, ‘Regarding your homosexuality, I think that’s bad stuff.’”
The woman, according to Vidala, then said, “Human resources, buddy — keep your opinions to yourself,” before exiting the store.
You see, in the liberal state of Massachusetts, the state anti-discrimination law provides special protection for homosexuals, and that results in silencing any opposition. Same-sex marriages are also legal. Free speech, apparently, is not. Then again, if the lesbian had kept her mouth shut, she wouldn’t have been subjected to Vadala’s opinion.
Two days later, Vidala, who had been employed for just a matter of weeks, received a termination letter citing the company’s zero-tolerance policy regarding “harassment” and “inappropriate and unprofessional” comments.
So.. in dystopian Massachusetts, if you’re intolerant of someone else’s social behavior, behavior they continually get in your face about, and you express your intolerance, you should be prepared to lose your job.
Now all you Proles get back to work! And keep your mouths shut.
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You are making the statement that free speech is no longer legal in Massachusetts when that is obviously not the case. Free speech is perfectly legal in Massachusetts, just that inappropriate speech, free or not, isnt tolerated in the airport Brookstone. This isnt the Orwellian crisis you are making it out to be.
If the guy was offended by the continual mention of the lady’s homsexual partner, then he should have gone to HR himself. If someone who worked for me decided to fly a swastika over his cube, I would fire him.
Nothing in the First Amendment guarantees the right of someone to tell a coworker that their personal beliefs are wrong based on one’s own personal religious sentiment. It guarantees the right to not be persecuted for one’s religious beliefs, the ability to assemble publicly for their expression, etc. It doesn’t give you the free reign to run around at work saying that your coworkers are going to hell.
Also, I would be literally floored to find that this guy actually said, “regarding your homosexuality, I think that’s bad stuff.” I would love to find a recording of him actually saying that, because I don’t buy it, not at all, not one bit. This is just another hearsay case where the other side isn’t depicted at all. Odds are he was far less “apologetic” in his tone than he makes it out to sound.
“Sensationalist” would be too mild a term to describe this post.
My question is if this had been a black man that the manager was engaged to and this “Christian” employee had commented that interracial marriage was “bad stuff” because that was his religious view would that too have been OK? This guy is very simply a religious bigot, which is why he was fired. We all have opinions about all kinds of subjects, but most of us know that the work place is not the place to express those views that are offensive to others. I’m sure the visiting manager was excited about her upcoming marriage, as anyone would be, and her talking about it is a very natural thing to do. Most companies have policies in place that specifically forbid, discriminatory comments of any kind even toward religious organizations.