Firefighters Forced to Attend Gay Pride Parade Claim Sexual Harassment

Firefighters filed a sexual harassment complaint against San Diego's fire department last week, after being forced to attend a Gay Pride Parade in uniform:

The firefighters claim parade attendees made obscene gestures, uttered inappropriate remarks and displayed lewd behavior that made them uncomfortable. They also demanded a work environment without discrimination and harassment.

The four men allege they were ordered by a battalion chief to attend last month's parade and feared consequences for failure to do so, since refusing to follow a direct order constitutes disciplinary action.

If the men refused to follow the direct order, they could have been suspended on the spot and stripped of any chance for a promotion.

According to FoxNews, San Diego fire chief Tracy Jarman, an open lesbian, apologized to the firefighters:

Jarman said any kind of sexual harassment is "unacceptable, and is never tolerated" in the department.

Really?

The complaint is available here [pdf file].

UPDATE: At The HILL Chronicles, LaylaElizabeth Gonzalez has more.

Comments

[SparkFlyer]

And worse yet, in a late breaking development, it appears that Chief Jarman's memory is as bad as her judgement. While claiming to the media that there has never been a crew complaint about the parade before, a memo has surfaced which reveals the contrary.

It seems that a FEMALE fire captain COMPLAINED ABOUT LAST YEAR'S PRIDE PARADE through the official channels that she had received not only complaints from her crew about harrassment, but also received "harrassing sexually explicit material" on the doorstep of the fire station as a result of being in the gay pride parade.

So she suggested to the department LAST YEAR that in the future they use off duty or volunteer personnel with out of service vehicles in order to avoid unwanted attention or sexually explicit brochures sent to the workplace.

The actual document is linked below.
The reporting source is http://www.voiceofsandiego.com/articles/2007/08/11/this_just_in/182complainttwo080907.txt

So even though this exact situation has happened before, the fire chief chose to ignore the female captain's written complaint and announce to the media that there had never been a complaint before and that those firemen could have 'stepped up to the plate' for this 'really fun event'.

So really these firemen have no choice but to sue. If the City is smart, they will not only apologize and pay up, they will replace this idiot chief immediately.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.com/pdf/firecomplaint.pdf

[Layla Elizabeth]

Did you see Layla's [pretend] Court? Check it out it deals with this matter and more. That Fire Chief is a real piece of work!