Posted on: 06/22/2017
By
Brett Wharff
A Columbus City School employee may be losing his job following posts he made to the Columbus Pride Festival as well as their official FaceBook page.
Chris Dodds is a garage supervisor for Columbus City Schools and he reportedly was posting homophobic messages saying that gay people "Should be killed or at least relocated." He also posted "I hope this event turns out like the Boston Marathon a few years back."
Elizabeth Bonham with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has said that it hurts to see hate like this during pride month. She went on to say that this is a month of joy and celebration for the community. Bonham then said that a government employer cannot censor their employees no matter the content.
The press release from the ACLU stated that: Although Dodds posted his comment to the Pride event's page, he did not identify or make threats to any particular individual, nor did he indicate that he planned to take any action based on his beliefs. The commetns were made from a personal account and he is protected by the first amendment.
Bonham concluded her statements saying "We will continue our work to ensure the community is free from prejudice and be vigilant against threats to free speech."
