A controversy has exploded in the state of Massachussets over gay acceptance in society and how far employers should go to protect gay workers.
One of the primary debates around gay marriage is the law of “mission creep,” which states that nothing is capable of remaining neutral because the liberal agenda will creep into anything that is not inherently conservative.
In other words, any issue, group, or legal precedent will end up belonging to the right or the left. Liberals are incapable of allowing anything to remain neutral and nonpartisan. Either conservatives are proactive in protecting something, or liberals will creep their way in.
Gay marriage provides a perfect example. Liberals would have us believe that it’s about nothing more than letting gays have the right to legal protection. They work hard to spread the mantra that conservatives will see no differece in their own lives and that everyone can live happily together in a blissful age of legal neutrality.
In states like Massachussets, this argument succeeded in legalizing gay marriage. Conservative groups reacted with predictions that gay marriage was not the ultimate goal, it was the beginning of mission creep.
President Obama signed a bill on October 28 that legally protected gays under “hate crime” legislation. Christians argued that it was a partisan and lopsided mandate: persecution of gays could be treated as a crime, but many other people who suffer actual persecution would have no legal course.
The end goal of all this is to create a class system of citizens. Those who are politically connected will have legal power to punish anyone they find annoying, while other citizens who are not lucky enough to be “special” will have to deal with unfair setbacks as a normal part of life.
Enter one Peter Vadala, a retail employee from Boston. He was fired by the Brookstone chain of stores over an incident with a lesbian coworker.
August 10, 2009, Vadala claims that he was at work when a female coworker got to chatting about the fact that she was planning a wedding. Somehow it was mentioned that she was engaged to a woman.
What happened next is the part under dispute. The woman claims that Vadala offended her with a comment about gay marriage being deviant. Vadala says he tried to change the subject at first, but the woman sensed that he was uncomfortable and prodded him for a reaction.
Either way, the worst of Vadala’s alleged crime was telling a coworker that his religion did not accept gay lifestyles. Vadala was not her surpervisor, had no power to affect her career, and made the remark only because the woman had first brought it up.
That was enough for the Brookstone Corp. to react. That very afternoon he was suspended and told to go home immediately. 48 hours later he was fired.
It must be nice to destroy the career of a random coworker just because they get on your nerves.
Vadala has been kind enough to provide public viewing of his termination letter, which can be read here.
Legal mandates in America are now apparently applied thusly: gays have full permission to talk about their lovelife but Christians are banned from speaking their personal opinion on the subject in public.
It looks like “what goes on behind closed doors” only applies to closing the door of a church.
Brookstone can be contacted here.
Marie Ryan
