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Part of their job is to engage in promotion of fire safety. They refused to do so on the grounds that it was a ‘gay’ march/event. The fact that it was a ‘gay’ event is meaningless, with regard to their refusal to carry out their job. They should be disciplined appropriately for failing to carry out their duties under the terms of their contract.
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I posted the article because my initial thought was ‘This isn’t why I am paying taxes is it? .. and what a complete waste of time and money, my money’
Personally I wouldnt want to go anywhere near a ‘pride event’ or anything of the sort. If they asked me to go and give out leaflets at such a thing I would tell them where to go and if they wanted someone there leafletting, they could do it themselves. I think its unreasonable to expect people to get involved, paid or unpaid, if they dont want to.<br>
:giggle:
No wonder simon, it pisses me off!
<br>Imagine a fire breaks out local to the station and the firemen can’t get to it because they are too busy handing out gay leaflets… :biggrin:
maybe they could fan the flames with the leaflets? :biggrin:
(Edited by Jim JTS at 10:29 pm on Aug. 28, 2006)
However, I do find the notion that these firefighters refused to get involved on ‘religious grounds’, almost as laughable as the fuss that has been kicked-up by their guv’nors.
What about if they had been asked to hand out leaflets at an orange walk?
Would they have the right to object to that?
After all, bigots need to learn about teh importance of fire safety too.
(it’s not all about singing "god save the queen" and bitching to the police about Polish goalkeepers)
Steve
(Edited by stevedvg at 8:14 am on Aug. 29, 2006)
As public sector workers, they would have contracts specifying the range of duties they would be expected to carry out. IF these contracts include a requirement to carry out leafletting and other ‘awareness raising’ activities as and when required and they refused to do so on this occasion, then they would be subject to disciplinary proceedings. IF leafletting is something they are expected to do in addition to their duties, but is not actually in their contracts, then that would be different.
But the bigger picture is that this is a complete non-story. As public sector workers, they will be well-represented by their union and the whole thing will go the way of the tens of thousands of internal industrial proceedings taking place up and down the country every week.
Two groups to blame here – firstly the tabloid hacks who’s idea of ‘news’ is to find something that they know they can use to push the buttons of their readers and secondly the representatives of various gay groups who predictably rise to the bait when contacted by said journalists, allowing newspapers to run ‘Firemen v Gays’ type headlines. Sadly typical of the way modern journalism works. Silly season still has a few weeks to run.
Everyone should turn the other cheek.:biggrin: <br>Davej new this would get us going; nice one.
What about if they had been asked to hand out leaflets at an orange walk?
Would they have the right to object to that?
After all, bigots need to learn about teh importance of fire safety too.
(it’s not all about singing "god save the queen" and bitching to the police about Polish goalkeepers)
<br>way off the mark and nothing to do with this thread!
ps. singing God Save The Queen isn’t bigotry ;)
way off the mark and nothing to do with this thread!
Actually, it has everything to do with this thread.
This thread is about the right to refuse to hand out leaflets at a march which one finds personally offensive.
I’m using this example to question where the boundaries do or don’t exist.
So, it’s on topic!
ps. singing God Save The Queen isn’t bigotry
Never said it was. I used it as an example of a popular past time amongst the Orange order.
Steve
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On the other hand, if the Fire Brigade DONT leaflet the Orange Walk and DO leaflet the Gay Walk then they are discriminating or being bigotted against protestants, or in fact being bigotted against everyone who isnt leafletted ?
Is it wrong for, lets say a "normal man" to be, lets not say offended by gays, but, to feel uncomfortable around gay men?
Jeezz Janet.
Do you ever say………….
YES  or NO ?
And also, you prpbably have never seen a "gay pride" march. I have. And if John Inman was marching in his suit and his tape around his collar, he would be the most conservative man there.
Like it or not Glor, the majority of men I know, find it repulsive.
And guess what. 3 of them are rugby playing firefighters. But it wouldn’t stop them pulling 2 men who are at it, out of a fire. (So are they still homophobic)?
You can’t expect all men to just accept that being gay is normal. It might happen one day, but not in my life time.
Opinions are opinions and cannot be changed. I personally think that opinions should be respected. Plain and simple. But as you know, Your not allowed to have your "own" opinion anymore.:angry:
(Edited by lollys mate at 7:28 pm on Aug. 29, 2006)
For the record, I was taking my young kids to see a west end show at the Dominion theatre. I thought they might like to see the little house in the middle of Soho Square. We walked into Sutton Row, and was subjected to seeing all the gays and lesbians doing their stuff in broad daylight. Wrong. It was completely wrong! <br> Lollys mates girl (who was about 8 at the time) started asking lots of questions about men kissing and why do they wear ladies clothes.<br> I think even she felt uncomfortable about it, like so many other people, including firefighters, do.
You might want to see it before you commit yourself to saying that there is very little reason to feel uncomfortable around them.
<br> Are you gay BTW ?
I think you might be.
<br>looks like the problem has been resolved with the key line from the spokesman being
"Firefighters cannot, and will not, pick and choose to whom they offer fire safety advice."
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