2 librarians were fired after the board mistook an autism symbol for a Pride display. They’re suing.
The display featured two rainbow images that were actually about disabilities...
You're viewing a single thread.
They're suing.
I hope they win. If the basis for their firing was the presumption that they were gay (hint: being gay is a protected class, you can't fire someone for being gay), this would be an open-and-shut case of employment discrimination.
But if it's all a big dumb misunderstanding and they're not gay (and not part of that particular protected class) but they're still fired over it, let me remind you that being autistic is a never-ending ordeal of being misunderstood, often mixed with a sense of justice that could be characterized as white-hot.
...or at least, my sense of justice about this might be in the range of over-wrought, or just blazing.
Shit, is firing someone because they're autistic not also an open-an-shut case of employment discrimination?
If not, I think we need some reform.
Being autistic is a protected class
They just don't hire you for not being charismatic or some other stupid reason.
They could argue it was over the displaying of "political" symbology, and not for the perceived sexuality of the employees.
They could argue it was over the displaying of “political” symbology, and not for the perceived sexuality of the employees.
They could, but the article quotes text messages from the lawsuit that very strongly indicate it was explicitly about perceived 'gay pride' being the kind of "political" they don't want:
On June 22, Splitter, a temporary summer library employee, complained about the display to Lancaster, saying she found the “gay Pride” symbol offensive and going into “an anti-LGBT diatribe” even though Lancaster explained that the infinity symbol represented neurodiversity and autism.
Splitter then complained about the display to Michelle Miller, vice chair of the library board. Miller reportedly told Lancaster that she could get her fellow board members to have Lancaster take down the display.
“I am totally fine with diversity of skin color display, just not represented with rainbow colors,” Miller texted Wheeler, the director, according to the lawsuit. “I do not want any kind of rainbow display especially in this month. We have a conservative town and as a library do not need to make political statements (see Target and Budlight as negative examples). I certainly do not want the library to promote LGBTQ agendas.”
From context, not only did the plaintiffs explain that the rainbow-infinity is an autism symbol, they also went so far as to take down the display to seek guidance on how to change it- and even after those accommodations they were fired. But at least they put their intent to discriminate in text messages that would be discoverable at trial
It seems like the person afraid of a little knowledge is the one unfit for a library
