Former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against the city alleging he was wrongfully terminated simply because he holds unpopular religious views.
Cochran wrote a devotional book geared toward Christian men in which he mentioned homosexuality in an unfavorable light. Mayor Muhammad Kasim Reed fired Cochran in January, he says, because of Cochran’s “bad judgment,” alleging that Cochran did not come to him for permission to write the book.
Ironically, the mayor also said that Cochran’s book could have caused a lawsuit against the city, a clear reference to Atlanta’s politically powerful LGBT community, some of whom serve within Reed’s own administration.
“Let’s stop trying to make this about religious freedom, when it’s about making sure we have an environment in government where everyone can come to work,” Reed told WSB-TV in Atlanta.
Cochran and his lawyers say that’s a false argument the city has concocted merely as cover for its own act of intolerance.
“I was fired simply because of what I believe. I could not allow this unjust act toward me to go unchallenged, and I will not be passive and leave this fight for someone else,” Cochran said at a news conference Wednesday at the state Capitol.
Reed fired back with an angry denunciation of his former fire chief.
“It would take the United States Supreme Court, ordering me, for Kelvin Cochran to get his job back, because I know I made the right decision,” Reed told WSB-TV, the local ABC affiliate.
Reed first suspended the fire chief for 30 days in November and announced that Cochran would have to complete “sensitivity training” in diversity and tolerance. After the 30-day suspension Reed fired Cochran, saying it had nothing to do with Cochran’s religious views but rather Cochran’s judgment and lack of permission to write the book. Cochran maintains he did get permission from the city’s ethics department and also sent a copy of the book to Reed but never heard back from him.
Cochran filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last month, a precursor to the federal lawsuit.
“Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live without fear of being fired because of their beliefs and thoughts,” said David Cortman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Cochran in the suit. “The city of Atlanta is not above the Constitution and federal law. In America, a religious or ideological test cannot be used to fire a public servant.”
While Reed has tried to predicate the firing on the technicality that Cochran did not get the proper authorization to write the book, Cochran’s lawyers see that as a sham argument in light of prior comments by Reed and other city officials.
“I respect each individual’s right to have their own thoughts, beliefs and opinions, but when you’re a city employee and those thoughts, beliefs and opinions are different from the city’s, you have to check them at the door,” City Councilman Alex Wan, a leader in the campaign to oust Cochran, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in November.
After an investigation that included interviews with employees, the city’s own investigation concluded that Cochran never discriminated against anyone. But the mayor fired him anyway – citing the need to tolerate “diverse” views.
“I want to be clear that the material in Chief Cochran’s book is not representative of my personal beliefs and is inconsistent with the administration’s work to make Atlanta a more welcoming city for all citizens,” Reed told USA Today last month.
Forced to ‘disown’ his religion?
In a Feb. 10 letter, Georgia’s Republican congressional delegation called upon Reed to reinstate Cochran. The letter states that the city’s action “appears to violate fundamental principles of free speech and religious freedom. … The only way Chief Cochran could avoid his views would be to disown his religion. Indeed, in terminating him, the City of Atlanta itself engaged in an act of discrimination, and worse, did so on the basis of his religious beliefs.”
Cochran spoke briefly at Wednesday’s press conference.
“To actually lose my childhood-dream-come-true profession, where all of my expectations were greatly exceeded, over my faith, is staggering. The very faith that caused me to get my job, ultimately has cost me my job,” Cochran said. “All Americans are guaranteed the freedom of actually believing and thinking in such a way that does not cost them the consequences that I have experienced in this termination.”
He said his Christian faith taught him to essentially abide by the Golden Rule, and he never treated anyone on his job with anything but respect.
“You know those principles that I was taught as a kid, faith in God, education, respect authority and treat other people like you want to be treated, really fed my career success and my life success,” he said.
Watch clip of Chief Cochran’s comments Wednesday and Mayor Reed’s angry response:
[jwplayer oQyeGxSA]
Cochran was named Atlanta’s fire chief in 2008, serving until President Obama appointed him in 2009 as U.S. fire administrator.
In Reed’s 2014 State of the City Address, the mayor recounted that he “begged” Cochran to return to Atlanta in 2010. Cochran agreed, and the city council unanimously confirmed him to serve again as the city’s fire chief. In 2012, Fire Chief magazine named Cochran as Fire Chief of the Year.
“Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live without fear of being fired because of their beliefs or their thoughts. And the city of Atlanta is not above the Constitution or the law,” said Cortman of ADF. “In America, a religious or an ideological test cannot be used to fire a public servant.”
One chapter in Cochran’s book, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” focused on morals and one page dealt with homosexuality, citing it as one of many sexual sins (fornication, adultery, bestiality and pedophilia being the others). The book’s title was taken from a verse in Genesis, and it was about how men can become better fathers, husbands and leaders.
One reviewer of the book on Amazon, Jon Gordon, who described himself as Jewish, wrote that he found it particularly helpful as a thumbnail sketch of basic Christian doctrine.
“(It) is a critically important book that should be read by everybody, particularly those who are considering the authenticity of Christianity; students, scholars, and legal professionals interested in free speech issues; and people like me who are terrified by the cultural totalitarianism that is being wrought by the Progressive Left and institutionalized across the United States,” Gordon wrote in his review.
A government out of control?
Unlike the dozens of other cases in the last two years in which conservative Christians have lost their jobs or business due to their refusal to bow to the cultural totalitarianism described above, Cochran’s case received widespread coverage in the establishment media, with stories on CNN, Fox, the New York Times, Washington Post and all the major TV networks.
Some conservatives referred to it as “a wake-up call,” and a new level of audacity to fire a man over his religious beliefs. Cochran’s lawyers picked up on that theme Wednesday.
“Every American should be concerned about a government that thinks it can fire you for what you believe,” said Kevin Theriot, also on the ADF legal team representing Cochran. “If it can happen to Chief Cochran, a distinguished firefighter who had attained the highest fire service position in the United States, it can happen to anybody.”
“Despite being completely exonerated over concerns related to his conduct and how he treats people, the city fired him anyway,” said Jeremy Tedesco, also with ADF. “And that really goes to show, that they fired him for one thing, and that is, he held the wrong beliefs, according to the city.”
“The reality is that the mayor, when he suspended him without pay for 30 days came out and said that he profoundly disagreed with and was deeply disturbed by what Chief Cochran wrote in his book,” Theriot continued. “And that was the reason given for the initial suspension. Now, sure, the city has come out and said a lot of different things since then. Those are what we call pretexts in the law. Pretexts are things that you say to try to cover up the wrong things that you did, and that’s what the city is doing here.”
The city of Atlanta put out a statement Wednesday saying it would “vigorously defend” the suit and that its actions were “both the right thing to do, and fully legal.”
