Fire Chief Fired for Writing Religious Book that Addressed Homosexuality Files Lawsuit

Kelvin Cochran, the
Atlanta fire chief who
made national headlines
after being fired for
writing a religious book that addressed
homosexuality, has filed a lawsuit against the city
and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
Fox News reports that the lawsuit asks for
Cochran to be reinstated and financially compensated
for the previous loss of his job.
Cochran’s book, entitled “Who Told You That You
Were Naked?” was written for a Bible study that
he was leading. It mentions homosexuality on six
pages; still, an unidentified person showed some of
the book’s passages to city Councilman Alex Wan
who called it discrimination.
“I respect each individual’s rights to have their own
thoughts, beliefs, and opinions, but when you’re a
city employee and those thoughts, beliefs and
opinions are different from the city’s, you have to
check them at the door,” Wan said in an interview
last November.
Cochran is represented by Alliance Defending
Freedom (ADF) attorneys. ADF senior counsel
Kevin Theriot said, “Every American should be
concerned about a government that thinks it can fire
you because of what you believe.”
The ADF is calling Cochran’s dismissal
unconstitutional, arguing that the fire chief lost his
job because of his religious beliefs.
“Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live
without fear of being fired because of their beliefs
and thoughts. The city of Atlanta is not above the
Constitution and federal law. In America, a
religious or ideological test cannot be used to fire a
public servant,” ADF senior counsel David
Cortman said.