Nashville paramedic Kevin Kennedy has
been suspended without pay for two months over anti-gay Facebook
posts, The
Tennessean reported.
The 20-year veteran of the Nashville
Fire Department is accused of writing on his Facebook page and on a
Nashville Fire Department Emergency Medical Services page that two
EMS workers should “crawl back into the closet.” He allegedly
referred to his colleagues as “queers” and labeled homosexuality
a “perversion.”
Kennedy faced a departmental hearing
last week, which resulted in Fire Chief Steve Halford making the
decision to suspend him.
Kennedy must also complete an anger
management program and diversity training before returning to work,
said Deputy Chief Kim Lawson, a spokeswoman for the department.
“We have a diverse group of employees
in the fire department who respond to the needs of a diverse
community,” Lawson said. “This disrupts the order of discipline.
We have an important job. These actions in no way are tolerated.”
“We have not faced this issue before,
but as social media expands, it is a concern. In no way did we want
people to think the department was associated with anti-gay
comments,” she added.