Posted on 12/07/2009 3:03:08 PM PST by Fido969
Grard was fired by Bill Thompson, editor of the Sentinel and its sister paper the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, shortly after the Nov. 3 election in which Maine voters repealed a same-sex marriage law approved by the Legislature. Grard said he arrived at work the morning after the vote to find an e-mailed press release from the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., that blamed the outcome of the balloting on hatred of gays.
Grard, who said he’d gotten no sleep the night before, used his own e-mail to send a response. “They said the Yes-on-1 people were haters. I’m a Christian. I take offense at that,” he said. “I e-mailed them back and said basically, ‘We’re not the ones doing the hating. You’re the ones doing the hating.’
One week later, he was summoned to Thompson’s office. He was told that Trevor Thomas, deputy communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, had Googled his name, discovered he was a reporter, and was demanding Grard be fired. According to Grard, Thompson said, “There’s no wiggle room.”
He was immediately dismissed.
The week after Grard was fired, he said, his wife, Lisa, who wrote a biweekly food column for the Sentinel as a freelancer, received an e-mail informing her that her work would no longer be needed.
Sounds like he has a legitimate claim on being discriminated against based on his religion.
This person should sue the pants off of everyone involved in this.
I see a settlement large enough to shut that paper down
This guy should lawyer up. I don’t know if Maine is a employment-at-will state, but firing somebody for what they say in a private email from a personally-owned computer might be actionable.
This is America?!
Hopefully he will soon own the paper and can fire every one of the liberal bastar*s. That will be sweet revenge.
Rico vs HRC using a claim of tortious inference with a labor contract? Rico is a claim magnifier.
“I don’t know if Maine is a employment-at-will state”
I don’t think employment at will applies. If you just fire the person it would. If you tell them its because of a religious belief then you have a problem.
Are you sure that's the outcome you want?
;->
Not only that, but the man used his personal email to respond. He didn’t do it on a work computer. He has a God given right to his opinion. I just don’t understand why the gay movement is so hateful and vindictive!
Sounds like he has a civil case in either federal or state courts.
I agree with you. This guy (and his wife) need to find a lawyer who will bury this sick scumbag Bill Thompson and bankrupt that toilet tissue, the Sentinel.
..This is America?!...
That’s what they keep telling us but I REALLY have been doubting it.
It says he used his own e-mail; but we don’t know if he used a work computer or a computer at home. Either way, firing the guy is way overboard.
So just to clarify... The press who has their own protection in the constitution chooses to ignore that for one of their own ....? got it.
and they got his wife fired, too?????
the management of this rag needs to watch this rag go down
What a complete bunch of crap. The gay mafia owns the media.
..This is America?!...
That’s what they keep telling us but I REALLY have been doubting it.
The rest didn’t post...
At least it is not the America I grew up in!
But who here hasn't sent an email to a leftie reporter complaining about bias, and gotten a rude response on their employer's email system? If you complained to their editor - would they have gotten fired, too?
If he used a work computer, email address or identified himself as an employee of the paper, they have every right to fire him.
No, lookng at this again - it says it was his PERSONAL email account.
It’s kind of like witch hunting, isn’t it?
Regardless of the fired reporter’s email, or its contents, that management also fired his wife is one of those “OH SH*T, OH DEAR!” moments, as management will no doubt be instructed by their lawyers.
The left can’t stand anyone pointing out the truth. The gay agenda is all about hate, and the people pushing it are at the forefront of libtard, hate mongering.
From the article:
He was told that Trevor Thomas, deputy communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, had Googled his name, discovered he was a reporter, and was demanding Grard be fired.
Doesn't sound like Tevor Thomas cared about any of the three 'possible' infractions you noted (i.e., he didn't factor them into his conclusion that Mr. Grard must be fired).
An investors group called Maine Media Investment is acquiring Blethen Maine Newspapers from parent The Seattle Times Company.
Purchase agreement between Blethen, Maine Media announced
Maine Media includes former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Sen. William S. Cohen and two longtime business associates, Robert Baldacci and Michael Liberty.
Good point!
“Grard said he arrived at work the morning after the vote to find an e-mailed press release from the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., that blamed the outcome of the balloting on hatred of gays...Grard, who said he’d gotten no sleep the night before, used his own e-mail to send a response.”
What happened to this guy is outrageous and frankly, chilling. There’s no doubt in my mind he was fired for his religious beliefs, or at least the fact that said beliefs offended an outside pressure group. The fact that his wife is suddenly “no longer needed” makes me doubly sure.
That said...I’m wondering if the company has some legal cover here. Grard sent the message on a private e-mail account, but it’s not clear if he used his own computer or one of the company’s to send it. From a moral perspective, it’s hair-splitting, but from a legal perspective, it might well make a difference.
When every living thing on the planet reminds you that life itself is based on heterosexual design, and your sex life revolves around areas that usually require toilet paper to clean, you would be hateful and vindictive too.
It was a personal email from his personal email address on his work computer in response to a press release sent to his professional email address.
The paper and the HRC will argue that he stepped over the line by sending a personal response to a professional communication.
Used to be.
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Maine is a dead state, has been for many years.
As far as the reporter goes —I don’t know why his firing would be a surprise.
* Newspaper reporters are a dying trade (yes, trade, it is not a profession, though they’ve been told it is). It is a skill that most people who had an education in secondary schools before 1970 can attain with training. No four expensive years of balderdash. It is a trade that has been destroyed by academia. Anybody believing journalism is a professional career has been snookered. Feel bad for your parents if they payed bucks to put you through the snookering.
* If the paper is privately owned or a owned by a private conglomerate, they have the privilege to hire and fire anybody they choose. So far the free-market system allows that — so far.
*(1) Don’t e-mail private opinions/concerns from work. (2) You work with imbeciles.
My comment is based on more than 25 years in the newspaper industry.
Good point! I guess it would be hard to see your life view point smashed at every turn!
I guess I’m confused. As a reporter isn’t he allowed to do that?
This has been happening for at least fifteen years. You speak out against the homosexual lobby, you lose your job. Horrific and without any support. These traditonal people have no giant slush fund to help them continue to speak out and pay their bills when they are attacked by the homosexual lobby. Doesnt seem to be any interst in starting one.
I have always thought that the best way to fight this is to have the retired and fixed income speak out and support.
employment at will
Not only that, but the man used his personal email to respond. He didn’t do it on a work computer. He has a God given right to his opinion. I just don’t understand why the gay movement is so hateful and vindictive!
Because this has been a winning tactic because traditonal people do not fight back out of fear.
This is not a new thing. A woman a few years ago fought the homosexual lobby in her town. The lobby found out who her husband was and got him fired by threatening to picket the business he worked for.
This is business as usual.
When are people going to get mad
Yes, he did. He used his work computer to send a personal email using a personal email account. The distinction? I don't know.
but it’s not clear if he used his own computer or one of the company’s to send it.
Article says the HRC person googled his name, and found him to be employed at the newspaper. So this was more clearly of nasty vindictiveness by the HRC person.
I was hit in a similar manner by some person googling my real name. The person found a reference to someone with a similar name that was a prominent member of Aryan Nation, and proceded to declare that I was that person. The Aryan Nation dude is currently in prison.
I’d say they proved his point about the ownership of hate.
Just as the world hated God’s Son, so they hate His people. I trust the reporter knows this.
So this guys “crime” was having an opinion. He’s fired. His wife is fired. her crime being what? Being married to the guy?! This is insane and definitely lawsuit material.
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