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UK Man Demoted For Non-PC Facebook Post


H.H. Holmes

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A housing manager has been demoted, and his salary slashed, after he criticised a controversial new gay rights law.

Adrian Smith, a Christian, was found guilty of gross misconduct by his publicly funded housing association for saying that allowing gay weddings in churches was ‘an equality too far’.

He posted the comment in his own time, on his personal page on the Facebook website, which could not be read by the general public.

But after a disciplinary hearing, he was downgraded from his £35,000-a-year managerial job to a much less senior £21,000 post – and avoided the sack only because of his long service.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2052319/Demoted-backing-gay-marriage-housing-managers-pay-slashed-criticising-new-law-Facebook.html#ixzz1bZlJKeKA

I'm sorry, but this is just wrong and totally disregards this man's right to express himself, unless such a right doesn't exist in the UK.

His post was most reasonable, it didn't contain any inflammatory language or homophobic slurs, yet he still got demoted and his pay cut because of one private facebook post.

He simply did not agree with gays getting married in churches, which is an understandable view when you consider his religious background. I might not agree with his comment, but it was not in any way out of bounds when it came to language. He was just expressing his opinion through a (supposedly) private forum.

I believe someone who didn't fancy him too much in his circle of acquaintances was the one who brought this up to higher management.

I just think this goes way too far when a certain view is pushed onto a population through force. Losing a major portion of income can be horribly devastating on a person, especially if you have a family to support, like this man.

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I'm sorry, but this is just wrong and totally disregards this man's right to express himself, unless such a right doesn't exist in the UK.

His post was most reasonable, it didn't contain any inflammatory language or homophobic slurs, yet he still got demoted and his pay cut because of one private facebook post.

He simply did not agree with gays getting married in churches, which is an understandable view when you consider his religious background. I might not agree with his comment, but it was not in any way out of bounds when it came to language. He was just expressing his opinion through a (supposedly) private forum.

I believe someone who didn't fancy him too much in his circle of acquaintances was the one who brought this up to higher management.

I just think this goes way too far when a certain view is pushed onto a population through force. Losing a major portion of income can be horribly devastating on a person, especially if you have a family to support, like this man.

I totally agree.

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Wow, that's crazy. Here we have Anthony Bologna pepper spraying women multiple times and losing two weeks vacation, vs. some guy saying something on facebook, (that honestly was pretty mild) and almost losing his job. Ridiculous.

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This is ridiculous, so we are all going to risk our livelihoods because of our personal views on issues in the near future are we? This sets an insane precedent. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.

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I'm not sure how I feel.

Yeah it was on his Facebook which isn't set to public, but at the same time he's made a comment about it out of confusion.

The government are planning on allowing legally recognized faiths in the UK to marry same-sex couples, not forcing them, so his comment is ignorant but, it's his own so he can't be faulted on that.

I think what annoys me the most is the comments on the story tbf.

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In all truth, Churches shouldn't be forced to provide marriage services to gays. It's against the religion. Let them get a state marriage license and hold their own ceremony.

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I'm not sure how I feel.

Yeah it was on his Facebook which isn't set to public, but at the same time he's made a comment about it out of confusion.

The government are planning on allowing legally recognized faiths in the UK to marry same-sex couples, not forcing them, so his comment is ignorant but, it's his own so he can't be faulted on that.

I think what annoys me the most is the comments on the story tbf.

On one hand you say his comment was made out of confusion, then on the other hand you say his comment is ignorant but is his own so cant be faulted. yet you appear to be finding fault with it!

We are all entitled to opinions whether right or wrong, He wrote down his opinion (privately) and has suffered for it in what is supposed to be a free country! It may well be a free country but I'm afraid freedom of speech disappeared from there some time ago.

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Something i saw on another web blog :-

"I seem to have lost my cool this morning after seeing The Independent on Sunday Pink List 2011. I felt an unbearable need to rant in their comments : How about a list for the 'unsung heroes' the middle class, middle age, English white male.

You know the guy that pays most of the taxes. Doesn't mug pensioners. Doesn't want hand-outs. Doesn't break the law. Doesn't stand on the street corner selling drugs. Brings up a family in responsible manner. Doesn't have massive credit card debt and lives within his means. Doesn't have 'parades' that have to be policed.

You know. The guy that lives with a normal woman and maybe a couple of kids. Goes out to work everyday and is expected to tolerate and hand-out money to all the weird groups who never seem to be able to earn their own money. The guy you can count on when there is a problem.........and usually doesn't complain until now.

We seem to have 'lists' for Feminists, blacks, gays, animals, religious fanatics etc. etc. etc.: the list goes on forever. There seem to be any number of 'special' cases all with their hands out for 'grants' from the local council and government"

Edited by itsnotoutthere
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It was his personal blog or wall on facebook. Nothing to do with his work. =/

It is odd though that as a christian he's so against homosexuals when Jesus and John would probably have gotten married in a church if they were alive today.

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According to the reported story this sounds very wrong. However, I am willing to bet that there is much more to this that isn't being reported.

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According to the reported story this sounds very wrong. However, I am willing to bet that there is much more to this that isn't being reported.

Agreed. It does seem a bit of an overreaction unless there was something deeper there, which of course would be kept out of the headlines to cause a negative reaction.

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I'm sorry, but this is just wrong and totally disregards this man's right to express himself, unless such a right doesn't exist in the UK.

Such a right doesn't exist in the UK anymore.

The only people in the UK who can be attacked are whites, males, heterosexuals and Christians, but especially white, male, heterosexual Christians.

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In all truth, Churches shouldn't be forced to provide marriage services to gays. It's against the religion. Let them get a state marriage license and hold their own ceremony.

I wonder if mosques are going to be forced to perform gay marriages, too.

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I wonder if mosques are going to be forced to perform gay marriages, too.

Wow! That'd be grounds for WW3, or martial law if that were ever to happen. Terrorist activity would hit new a high.

Edited by Spid3rCyd3
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Something i saw on another web blog :-

"I seem to have lost my cool this morning after seeing The Independent on Sunday Pink List 2011. I felt an unbearable need to rant in their comments : How about a list for the 'unsung heroes' the middle class, middle age, English white male.

You know the guy that pays most of the taxes. Doesn't mug pensioners. Doesn't want hand-outs. Doesn't break the law. Doesn't stand on the street corner selling drugs. Brings up a family in responsible manner. Doesn't have massive credit card debt and lives within his means. Doesn't have 'parades' that have to be policed.

You know. The guy that lives with a normal woman and maybe a couple of kids. Goes out to work everyday and is expected to tolerate and hand-out money to all the weird groups who never seem to be able to earn their own money. The guy you can count on when there is a problem.........and usually doesn't complain until now.

We seem to have 'lists' for Feminists, blacks, gays, animals, religious fanatics etc. etc. etc.: the list goes on forever. There seem to be any number of 'special' cases all with their hands out for 'grants' from the local council and government"

Awesome, awesome post, completely agree! :tu:

I am that guy, if I can get out there and bust my ass every morning, 10-12 hours per day, sometimes even 6 days per week, why can't they?

Edited by Spid3rCyd3
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I'm sure Marxists and multi-cult-ists cheer at what happened to this poor man. Ridiculous events such as this are excellent fodder for the "non-mainstream right" because they raise awareness among ordinary Britons [and other Europeans] about how far society has strayed towards totalitarian Marxism. These unelected bureaucrats who decide what is "acceptable" and what is a "Thoughtcrime" are running wild. Due to their ever expanding list of rules, and their far reaching impact on our everyday lives they will also be the first to go when the pendulum swings.

.

Edited by make me believe
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I wonder if mosques are going to be forced to perform gay marriages, too.

The newly weds would prolly receive rocks instead of rice (sharia law states stoning for homosexual relations).

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In all truth, Churches shouldn't be forced to provide marriage services to gays. It's against the religion. Let them get a state marriage license and hold their own ceremony.

I wonder if mosques are going to be forced to perform gay marriages, too.

I do wish people would stop acting like religious places would be 'forced' to do anything (which is exactly what they want you to believe). Quite the opposite is true in fact. People are requesting that the government provides an 'opt-in' for the full gay marriage laws. At the momement the laws being discussed would not force church/mosques etc to do anything... but at the same time it would deny them the choice to do so as well. Some churches can (and do) accept gay relationships and would like the option of having marriage services available when the laws come into place.

So is it ok for them to be forced NOT to perform gay marriages if the church would wish to?

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Well it would seem this article has achieved it's goal: that is to make people angry by focussing on the wrong thing.

The Trust have actually posted a statement saying why.

At the end of 2010, we updated our Code of Conduct for Employees and provided it to all staff. This version of the Code clearly set out what use employees can make of social networking sites such as Facebook.

Some three months after this new code was issued, Mr Smith, without our authority or knowledge and on a Facebook page that identified him as a manager at Trafford Housing Trust, made comments that were found, by a full disciplinary investigation in which he had Trade Union representation, to be in breach of the company's code of conduct and other policies.

Mr Smith was disciplined for his breach of company policy. The Trust made no comment about any personal beliefs that he holds.

So there. He recieved the action not due to free speech (which the article impled) but due to violating a clause in the code of conduct. A code that most buisnesses have. So why don't we focus on the real reason he got demoted (violating the code of conduct) rather then the one that everyone assumed (free speech).

After all 'man gets demoted for his opinions' is a much better headline then 'man gets demoted for code of conduct breech'

Edited by shadowhive
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Well it would seem this article has achieved it's goal: that is to make people angry by focussing on the wrong thing.

The Trust have actually posted a statement saying why.

So there. He recieved the action not due to free speech (which the article impled) but due to violating a clause in the code of conduct. A code that most buisnesses have. So why don't we focus on the real reason he got demoted (violating the code of conduct) rather then the one that everyone assumed (free speech).

After all 'man gets demoted for his opinions' is a much better headline then 'man gets demoted for code of conduct breech'

That code of conduct is ridiculously draconian. A company has the right to police what it's employees do during working hours only! In their freetime, if the employee orchestrates plans for global domination, they should be able to do so, because it is during non working, non paid hours! It would've been better to not list where he works on his page, these days it's common sense to know that many are wet blanket pansy types who can't take any shred of criticism, no matter how tough, or mild it is. It probably cost his company more money just wasting time in even dealing with this, than it would have to just let it all go and not give a damn, because untimately no harm was done. Typical mis-management at it's finest, idiots. The manager who raised the red flag on this deserves a salary decrease because he or she is unnecessarily costing the company more money than the guy who made the comment! On the other hand, said company could've seen things positively and declared that they are one of the few companies who actually support individual rights and freedom of speech! That would get them accolades by the masses. Common sense exams should have to be given to anyone who wants a management position. This company should've included, "We only hire mindless automatons" in their code of conduct.

Edited by Spid3rCyd3
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I do wish people would stop acting like religious places would be 'forced' to do anything (which is exactly what they want you to believe). Quite the opposite is true in fact. People are requesting that the government provides an 'opt-in' for the full gay marriage laws. At the momement the laws being discussed would not force church/mosques etc to do anything... but at the same time it would deny them the choice to do so as well. Some churches can (and do) accept gay relationships and would like the option of having marriage services available when the laws come into place.

So is it ok for them to be forced NOT to perform gay marriages if the church would wish to?

If the churches are never forced, but then decide to, allow gay marriage that's fine. It's unlikely, but fine. It was my understanding that the government already have an equivalent to religious marriages.

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If the churches are never forced, but then decide to, allow gay marriage that's fine. It's unlikely, but fine. It was my understanding that the government already have an equivalent to religious marriages.

As I said,several churches actually WANT to (and a group representing them met with the government awhile back to say as such).

What we have now is civil partnerships, not marriage. There IS a difference between the two, even though some act like there's not.

Another thing of note is that religion doesn't dictate or control hetrosexual marriage. People of any faith (or none) are free to marry and religions don't seem terribly keen on voicing opposition to that (even though their faith often says they should) so I always find it curious that they want such a great level of control and say when it comes to homosexual marriage. The opinion of religion doesn't matter when it comes to hetrosexual marriage, why should it be the case for homosexual marriage?

Edited by shadowhive
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Signing something like the Official Secrets Act. or a Company code of practice that denies you the right to sell company secrets or some information that would be of value to somebody else is totally understandable and in my opinion acceptable. Telling an empoyee that they cant use facebook, whether privately or publicly to voice their own opinions is totally out of order.

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I'm not really sure what everyone's getting so worked up about. A little research shows that a huge chunk of his company's budget is government funded, and the awards it has been granted imply that at least part of that is coming from pots designated to combat homophobia. It would be pretty damaging, I imagine, for the company to be seen as employing someone who exhibited a religious-based opinion on sexuality, particularly if complaints had been made. It's got nothing to do with free speech, and it's not the result of a draconian government policing our every word and thought. It's PR, plain and simple.

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