A volunteer fireplace chaplain filed a free-speech lawsuit Thursday towards town of Austin, Texas, charging that he was dismissed for expressing his opposition on his private weblog to males who establish as girls competing in feminine athletics.
Andrew Ok. Fox, an ordained minister who holds a Ph.D., was pressured out of the Austin Hearth Division volunteer chaplaincy program final 12 months after refusing to apologize for or recant his stance that “women and men are biologically totally different and males mustn’t compete on girls’s sports activities groups,” in keeping with the grievance.
“Dr. Fox served Austin’s fireplace division — with out pay — for eight years with excellence and integrity, treating everybody equally, together with these within the LGBT neighborhood,” stated Ryan Bangert, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel. “However none of that mattered to metropolis officers when he shared one opinion on his private weblog that they didn’t like.”
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Courtroom for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, seeks to have Mr. Fox reinstated as lead chaplain and a declaration that town “violated Dr. Fox’s rights to free speech, free affiliation, free train and freedom from non secular hostility.”
“Irrespective of your private view on whether or not males ought to be allowed to compete on girls’s sports activities groups, it ought to deeply concern each American that the federal government can fireplace somebody for expressing it,” Mr. Bangert stated.
The grievance stated Mr. Fox was approached in August 2021 by fireplace division officers who stated they’d acquired nameless complaints about posts on his “Dr. Andrew Fox” web site, which promotes his work as a speaker, creator and marriage ceremony chaplain.
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The officers arrange a gathering between Mr. Fox, who helped begin the hearth chaplaincy program, and fireplace specialist Xochitl Chafino, one of many division’s LGBT liaisons.
“Chafino didn’t establish an issue with the weblog posts,” the lawsuit stated. “As a substitute, she talked about different basic considerations — for instance, that many individuals figuring out as transgender expertise bullying and psychological well being challenges — none of which have been associated to or directed towards Dr. Fox.”
He was later proven the nameless complaints, a few of which accused him of “male chauvinism, racism and transphobia,” and informed that Hearth Chief Joel G. Baker “needed him to write down an official apology letter to the LGBT neighborhood on the Hearth Division,” which he did, however his first draft was rejected.
Mr. Fox was then informed that the chief needed him “to incorporate an express apology for expressing his views and the hurt allegedly brought on by doing so,” which he refused to do.
“Dr. Fox was prepared to precise remorse that some individuals have been offended,” the grievance stated. “However he wouldn’t recant his beliefs as a result of he couldn’t with a clear conscience fake to have modified his opinion. Nor would he say that holding his beliefs was dangerous as a result of he genuinely believed that he had not triggered hurt to anybody.”
That is WRONG. https://t.co/gG98N2T7Mt
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 18, 2022
In December, Mr. Fox acquired an e-mail from Chief Baker saying he was being dismissed “to make sure that the entire division’s volunteer chaplains present a comforting and welcoming presence and repair for any and all firefighters and division staff.”
A number of of Mr. Fox’s weblog posts titled “Willy Woke and the Chocolate Manufacturing facility” criticize the fashionable social-justice motion, which he describes as a “Malicious program” for Marxism.
“You see, what’s popping out of Willy Woke and the Chocolate Manufacturing facility is the lunacy of males competing with girls as girls,” he stated in a publish subtitled “Aggressive Bosh.” “The transgender ideology is blatantly hijacking the platform of athletic sport beneath the guise of inclusivism.”
Throughout his eight years with the division, Mr. Fox was by no means accused of discriminating towards or mistreating individuals, the lawsuit stated.
“On the contrary, town lauded him for his integrity and repair,” the grievance stated. “Dr. Fox constantly shared his non secular and philosophical reflections on-line for years with none downside. It was solely when Dr. Fox expressed a selected set of views that officers disliked that town extinguished Dr. Fox’s profession.”
Spokespeople for Austin didn’t return a request for remark.
A vibrant blue blip in red-state Texas, Austin “permits and even celebrates speech selling its personal social-justice agenda,” the lawsuit stated.
“In October 2019, the Hearth Division launched a public security message that includes a drag queen,” the grievance stated. “In summer time 2021, the Hearth Division had its crews put on shirts emblazoned with a rainbow throughout the month of June for Pleasure month.”
A Texas resident who was raised in Nottingham, England, “Dr. Fox respects the federal government’s skill to talk for itself,” the lawsuit stated.
“And he helps the rights of residents and companies to precise their views about marriage and gender,” the grievance stated. “He merely needs to get pleasure from that very same freedom.”