What happens when political correctness conflicts with workplace sexual harrassment law?

Firefighters in San Diego were ordered to attend a Gay Pride parade:

In 28 years of responding to fires and saving lives, Fire Capt. John Ghiotto of the San Diego Fire Department never thought his job would require him to attend a Gay Pride parade.

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Ghiotto and three other firefighters filed a sexual harassment complaint against the city’s fire department last week after being forced to attend the parade in uniform despite objections they made to superiors.

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The firefighters claim parade attendees made obscene gestures, uttered inappropriate remarks and displayed lewd behavior that made them uncomfortable. They also demanded a work environment without discrimination and harassment.

The four men allege they were ordered by a battalion chief to attend last month’s parade and feared consequences for failure to do so, since refusing to follow a direct order constitutes disciplinary action.

If the men refused to follow the direct order, they could have been suspended on the spot and stripped of any chance for a promotion, according to their manual, Ghiotto said. It was Ghiotto’s first direct order.

Ghiotto, engineer Jason Hewitt and firefighters Chad Allison and Alex Kane filed the complaint, which includes detailed descriptions of their allegations. Their fire station is along the parade route.

“You could not even look at the crowd without getting some type of sexual gesture,” Ghiotto said in the complaint. “The experience left me feeling humiliated, embarrassed and offended by this event.”

San Diego fire chief Tracy Jarman, an open lesbian, said she apologized to the men, according to a statement. Jarman said any kind of sexual harassment is “unacceptable, and is never tolerated” in the department.

“I am deeply concerned and troubled by the allegations that have been made. I take them seriously,” Jarman said in a statement.

I suspect the sexual harassment argument is being used because it’ll either make the case easier to win or more lucrative. But what’s more troubling than any possible sexual harassment in this case is the complete disregard for the firefighters’ freedom of conscience.

Mandatory participation in an event with political overtones effectively forces someone to publicly endorse beliefs that they may not hold. If the firefighters were forced to go to an Easter Parade, or to a Christmas pageant, groups like the ACLU would rightly recognize that. In a free society, people must not be required to endorse any particular set of beliefs.

Hopefully, the ACLU will see the merits of this case and defend the firefighters in a way that doesn’t have to rely on sexual harassment law.