[ad_1]
This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
No government should use authority ‘to attack other public servants’ over biblical values
A pastor in California has filed a lawsuit against San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria over Gloria’s insistence that he be removed from the San Diego’s Citizens Advisory Board on Police/Community Relations because of his belief in the Bible.
The case is on behalf of Dennis Hodges of the Church of Yeshua Ha Mashiach, and he had served on the commission since 2017.
But when he abstained from a vote condemning “transphobia,” his fellow commissioners told him to leave, and eventually they “influenced” Gloria to veto Hodge’s reappointment.
A report at the Washington Stand said the lawsuit charges, “This is an action for the unlawful discrimination and retaliation against Mr. Dennis Hodges, a devoted Christian pastor and public servant.”
It charges the mayor “under the influence of several of Mr. Hodges’ fellow commissioners, retaliated and discriminated against Mr. Hodges for adhering to his religious beliefs regarding gender identity and transgenderism.”
The report noted the commission voted in November 2021 on “a letter from the city of San Diego Human Relations Commissioner Tootie Thomas Regarding Ending Discrimination and Transphobia by Amplifying the Visibility and Voices of the Transgender Community.”
The idea was to publicize a letter promoting the local government’s plan to end “transphobia,” that claim that those who do not approve of the transgender ideology somehow fear or hate it.
Hodges abstained, explaining, about transgenderism, “I love all people. I love transgenders as well. But to me, it’s an abomination to the eyes of God, so I don’t agree with it.”
Other commissioners, the lawsuit charges, immediate began “a crusade to cancel a man for holding traditional, religious beliefs regarding the biological nature of a man and woman.”
That scheme failed, but then Gloria vetoed Hodges’s reappointment. He claimed the pastor made “repeated concerning public comments about LGBTQ people.”
So the complaint now charges Gloria with making his decision “against Mr. Hodges solely based on his beliefs on human creation and transgenderism — issues that are unrelated to his role on the Advisory Board.”
Hodges released a statement through his lawyers at Advocates for Faith and Freedom and said, “I am standing up for religious people nationwide who have been discriminated against solely because of their faith. What happened to me at the hands of our government should never happen to anyone else.”
The complaint seeks damages and reinstatement.
Lawyer Julianne Fleischer told the Stand, “No government authority should be able to wield their authority to attack other public servants for holding traditional, biblical values.”
Copyright 2023 WND News Center
[ad_2]
Source link