Public School Employee Who Says All LGBTQ People Should Be Killed May Be Able to Keep His Job

ACLU Weighs In, Argues Against Censorship by a Government Agency

Just days before Columbus, Ohio’s Pride weekend a public school employee’s call via a Facebook post for the death by terrorists of all LGBTQ people drew local concern and upset – and nationwide outrage. 

“I hope this event turns out like the Boston Marathon a few year’s [sic] back,” the post sent to the organizing group of Columbus Pride read. “All f*** should be killed or at least relocated,” it also said, referring to LGBTQ people, and the 2013 bombing by terrorists.

According to multiple news reports, Chris Dodds, who serves as a garage assistant supervisor with Columbus City Schools is responsible for the post.

A petition to fire Dodds has garnered over 50,000 signatures. The school board met Friday, stating it would take up the issue with the intention of firing Dodds. A spokesperson told NBC News the board was “working toward the termination of Mr. Dodds for these highly inappropriate comments.”

But before Tuesday night’s meeting, the ACLU weighed in, stating that while Dodds’ remarks are “vile” and “reprehensible,” a government agency firing Dodds would be tantamount to censorship. In other words, because Dodds works for the government, his offensive attack on LGBTQ people is protected by his First Amendment rights.

“It was vile; it was reprehensible from my perspective,”  staff attorney Elizabeth Bonham of the ACLU of Ohio, told The Columbus Dispatch.

But she said courts have upheld that employees of the government, which includes school districts, have a right to speak on matters of public concern such as civil rights. Anti-gay statements made in a public forum are considered part of a belief system, she said.

She said Dodds didn’t make threats against a particular individual or indicate that he planned to take action on his words. His posting was made from his own personal Facebook account on his own personal time. 

Further, Bonham said in the ACLU’s written statement, censorship begets censorship. “When we allow the government to pick and choose what speech is acceptable and what is not, it is inevitable that censorship will increase — including censorship of LGBTQ voices,” said the statement.

Bonham also spoke with WOSU (audio here,) saying: “What we shouldn’t do is give a power that we own over to the state and say, ‘You censor people that we don’t like now,’ because what we’ll see inevitable, time and again, is that later on that power that we’ve given away to the state is going to come back and be used against the most vulnerable people.” 

The Columbus Dispatch notes “Dodds’ name was not on the agenda for Tuesday’s Columbus Board of Education meeting, but the board did go into closed executive session ‘to consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee or official.’ When the board returned, the meeting resumed without comment.”

Dodds’ employment status is not known, but there are no reports to date suggesting he has been terminated.

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Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr and a CC license