An employee fired over an anti-gay
posting has sued his employer and Ford, claiming that he was
wrongfully terminated.
Thomas Banks of Ypsilanti, Michigan
lost his job with Rapid Global Business Solution last year when he
criticized Ford's support of the LGBT community. Banks, a contract
engineer, had been on assignment at a Ford plant in Dearborn for more
than three years.
Banks responded in July, 2014 to an
article about Ford's commitment to the LGBT community on the
automaker's intranet, according to the Detroit
Free Press.
“For this Ford Motor should be
thoroughly ashamed,” Banks wrote in the story's comments.
“Endorsing and promoting sodomy is of benefit to no one. This
topic is disruptive to the workplace and is an assault on Christians
and morality, as well as antithetical to our design and our survival.
Immoral sexual conduct should not be a topic for an automotive
manufacturer to endorse or promote. And yes-this is historic-but not
in a good way. Never in the history of mankind has a culture
survived that promotes sodomy. Heterosexual behavior creates life –
homosexual behavior leads to death.”
In terminating Banks, Ford said that he
had violated the company's anti-harassment policy. Rapid Global
followed suit.
At the time, Banks, a Christian, said
that he had simply expressed his faith.
In his federal lawsuit, Banks accuses
his former employers of violating his civil rights.