Four firefighters are suing the City of
San Diego, California over claims they were sexually harassed while
participating in the city's 2007 gay pride parade, reports the San
Diego Union-Tribune.
Jury selection for the trial started
Monday.
Fire Capt. John Ghiotto, engineer Jason
Hewitt and firefighters Chad Allison and Alex Kane allege they were
subjected to catcalls from people on the sidelines of San Diego's
2007 gay pride parade as they drove past in their firetruck. The
four men, none of whom is gay, say superiors forced their
participation in the annual gay event.
The Thomas More Law Center is
representing the firefighters in their fight.
“In one regard, forcing these
firefighters to participate in this parade has removed the artificial
veneer of legitimacy from this event to expose it for what it truly
is – a temporary suspension of decency laws in the name of
inclusion and diversity,” said Brian Rooney, a spokesman for the
Law Center.
In their complaint, the firefighters
claim they were forced to witness “men kissing and hugging each
other and dancing provocatively, including some wearing nothing more
than bikini briefs,” at the “sexually charged” gay pride parade
staging area.
Throughout the gay pride parade the
firefighters say they were subjected to “crude and obscene”
comments, such as: “Oooh, look at the big firemen!” “You're
making me hot!” “You can put out my fire!” and “Pull out
your hose!”
The men also claim they were humiliated
by gay pride paradegoers who blew kisses at them, wagged their
tongues, rubbed their nipples or groped their penises, at the
three-hour long gay pride parade.
“These guys were bombarded with
hundreds of sexual advances,” said Law Center Attorney Charles
LiMandri.
LiMandri recently said that the case
raised some freedom of religion issues. “They are all Christians,
and three of them were raised Catholic,” he told told the National
Catholic Register. “They would have been disciplined if they
didn't obey the order. ... We want people to see how mean-spirited
and committed to violating anyone's rights [gay groups are] to
promote their own radical agenda.”
San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre
has said he'll personally represent the city at the trial. “[The
gay pride parade] is a positive, joyous event, and not inherently
sexual,” he told the San Diego Gay & Lesbian Times,
adding that the conduct objected to by the firefighters was “isolated
and minimal.”