COLUMBUS – The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio says a Columbus City Schools employee should not lose his job over an anti-LGBTQ Facebook post.
A spokesman told The Columbus Dispatch Friday that the district was “working toward” the firing of Chris Dodds, a garage assistant supervisor, following posts he made to the Columbus Pride Festival and Parade’s official Facebook page saying he believed that gay people, “should be killed or at least relocated,” and, “I hope this event turns out like the Boston Marathon a few year’s (sic) back.”
“Such vile words are hard to stomach, but those words are also protected speech [under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution],” said ACLU of Ohio staff attorney Elizabeth Bonham. “It hurts to see hate like this, especially during PRIDE month…But a government employer cannot censor its employees’ protected statements, no matter the content.”
“The LGBTQ community’s own history is rich with examples of the government silencing us. When we allow the government to pick and choose what speech is acceptable and what is not, it is inevitable that censorship will increase—including censorship of LGBTQ voices.” -Elizabeth Bonham, ACLU of Ohio
Bonham says that, while Dodds posted his comment to the Pride event’s page, “he did not identify or make threats to any particular individual” or indicate he planned to take any action.
The comments were apparently made from Dodd’s personal account, unrelated to his employment at the district and were not posted during work hours, Bonham said.
Courts have routinely held that such speech is protected by the First Amendment, she said.
“Suppressing speech is not the way to fight discrimination,” he said.
The newspaper reported that Dodds, 48, has worked for the district since 2004.
The Columbus Pride Festival and Parade drew an estimated 500,000 people to downtown Columbus over the weekend.