Austin is accused by a fire chaplain of being axed after he wrote opposition to transgender athletes in blog

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A volunteer firefighter chaplain sued the city of Austin (Texas) for free speech Thursday. He claimed that his blog was used to express his disapproval at men who identified as female athletes and posted his objections.

Andrew K. Fox, an ordained minister who holds a Ph.D., was forced out of the Austin Fire Department volunteer chaplaincy program last year after refusing to apologize for or recant his stance that “men and women are biologically different and men should not compete on women’s sports teams,” according to the complaint.

“Dr.

“Dr. City officials didn’t care about that when Fox posted one comment on his blog that they dislike .”

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The lawsuit was filed at U.S. District Court for Texas, Austin Division. It seeks Mr. Fox to be reinstated as lead Chaplain, and to declare that Dr. Fox has been violated in his rights to freedom speech, free association and freedom from religious hostility .”

” No matter what your opinion is on men being allowed to participate on women’s sporting teams, Americans should be concerned that someone can get fired for saying it,” Mr. Bangert stated.

The complaint said Mr. Fox was approached in August 2021 by fire department officials who said they had received anonymous complaints about posts on his “Dr. Andrew Fox’s website promotes his work in the areas of author, speaker and wedding minister.

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The officials convened a meeting with Mr. Fox who was instrumental in the creation of the fire chaplancy program and fire specialist Xochitl Chafino (one of the department’s LGBT liaisons).

“Chafino didn’t identify any problem with the blog post,” said the lawsuit. She instead mentioned general concerns, such as the fact that transgender people often experience bullying or mental health problems — none of these were directly related to Dr. Fox .

He later saw the anonymous complaints which accuse him of “male-chauvinism”, racism, and transphobia. He was told by Fire Chief Joel G. Baker that he wanted him to “write an official apology letter for the LGBT community at Fire Department.” This he did but the first draft was rejected.

Mr. Fox then was told by the chief that he wanted to “include an explicit apology for expressing himself and the harm it allegedly caused,” which he declined.

“Dr. The complaint stated that Fox had expressed regret at being offended. He would not change his views because it was impossible for him to with good conscience claim that he had changed. He would not say his belief was detrimental because he truly believed that it had caused no harm .

This is wrong. https://t.co/gG98N2T7Mt

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 18, 2022

Chief Baker sent Mr. Fox an email in December stating that he would be being fired “to make sure all the volunteer chaplains of the department provide comforting and welcoming presences and services for all department employees .”

Several of Mr. Fox’s blog posts titled “Willy Woke and the Chocolate Factory” criticize the modern social-justice movement, which he describes as a “Trojan horse” for Marxism.

“You’ll see that what comes out of Willy Woke and the Chocolate Factory, is the lunacy men compete with women as they are women,” he stated in a blog post titled “Competitive Bosh.” He said: “The transgender ideology has blatantly taken over the athletic platform under the pretense of inclusivivism .”

During his eight-year tenure with the department Mr. Fox wasn’t accused of mistreating or discriminating anyone, according to the lawsuit.

“To be exact, the city applauded him because of his integrity and services,” the complaint stated. “Dr. “Dr. Only when Fox expressed views officials did not like, Dr. Fox was expelled .”

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Spokespeople in Austin didn’t respond to a request for comments.

A bright blue blip located in Texas’ red-state Texas. Austin “permits, and even celebrates speech that promotes its social-justice agenda,” according to the suit.

“In October 2019, the Fire Department released a public safety message featuring a drag queen,” the complaint said. “In summer 2021, the Fire Department had its crews wear shirts emblazoned with a rainbow during the month of June for Pride month.”

A Texas resident, who was born in Nottingham, England. According to the lawsuit, Fox “respects the government’s right to speak for itself.”

” He supports citizens’ and business rights to voice their opinions about marriage and gender,” said the complaint. He merely wants to have the same freedom .”

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