Court rules on Christian firefighters’ ‘gay-pride’ suit

After more than 10 years of litigation, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island has thrown out lawsuits by two Christian firefighters who were forced to drive a Providence fire truck in a “gay”-pride parade despite their religious objections.

 

The firefighters, Theodore Fabrizio and Stephen Deninno, both of whom are Roman Catholic, argued they should not be mandated to participate in such an event since their personal faith neither supports nor condones homosexuality.

 

Writing for all five members of the high court this month, Justice William Robinson called it a legitimate work assignment, saying their appearance in the 2001 parade as public servants was “relatively anonymous.”

 

“The respondents’ appearance in the parade, solely as members of the Providence Fire Department, did not constitute a form of expression on their part. Rather, it was simply the accomplishing of a task assigned to an engine company of the Providence Fire Department,” Robinson wrote.

 

The two lawsuits were originally filed in 2004 against former Mayor Buddy Cianci and James Rattigan, the fire chief of Providence in 2001.

 

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