Christian Fired for Biblical Stand on Homosexuality Wins Lawsuit
by Allie Martin
May 7, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Denver man has been awarded more than $140,000 in a civil rights lawsuit he filed against communications giant AT&T over its diversity policy.
Albert Buonanno was described as a model employee by his supervisors at AT&T Broadband, where he held several positions from January 1999 to February 2001. Nevertheless, the exemplary worker was fired after he refused to sign off on portions of the company's diversity policy that dealt with homosexuality.
Buonanno is a Christian who felt that he could not agree to value and respect a lifestyle the Bible condemns as an abomination. Although he averred that he had no intention of discriminating against homosexuals, he told his employer he could not in good conscience sign anything indicating his agreement with the wording of the diversity policy.
As a result, the company fired Buonanno. He later sued his former employers, arguing that they had discriminated against him for his religious beliefs. A federal judge recently decided in his favor, ruling that AT&T had indeed discriminated against the Christian worker.
John Whitehead is president of the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated. The Institute represented Buonanno in the lawsuit, and Whitehead believes his client's victory was largely due to his integrity -- the very quality that made it impossible for him to sign off on the diversity policy in the first place.
"He never said anything derogatory; he just could not agree with it," the attorney says, "but he was told, 'You agree or be fired.' It wasn't based on job performance, and that's why the case was won, I believe."
And the head of Rutherford Institute says such cases of religious discrimination -- and people of faith standing up to it -- are becoming more and more common.
"We're getting increasing e-mails from people saying that they're not going to buckle under these kind of things," Whitehead says, "and so I think this Buonanno case sends a message to Christians -- and to conservative Jewish people who have contacted us -- that they can stand up and fight these kind of policies."
The lawyer points out that forcing employees to sign such politically correct statements of compliance or agreement actually negates the very ideal they are supposed to be supporting. He says such policies are oppressive "because what they really say is that everybody has to be the same, and we live in a country that supposedly promotes diversity."
AT&T's broadband division has since been bought out by Comcast, which has changed its diversity policy. Albert Buonanno has found a job elsewhere as a mental health counselor.
