It’s a brazen act of homophobia and it’s completely legal. I am actually pleased the bigoted owner of the ARTE’ Hotel dispensed with any other reasons for firing David Hill. It brings into stark relief how essential it is to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), since states where there are no discrimination protections leave LGBT employees at the mercy of people like the vile Tarun Surti.
A Tennessee man said Thursday that he was weighing his legal options after being fired from a Nashville-area hotel specifically for being gay.
“They literally said to me that because of my orientation and my ‘alternative lifestyle’ that I was not a fit for the hotel,” said David Hill, formerly the director of human resources for the former Brentwood Holiday Inn (currently doing business as ARTE’ Hotel, with no connection to the Holiday Inn chain). “[Tarun Surti, the hotel’s owner] said, ‘I don’t give a damn. They can sue me. I will not have any of ‘the gay leadership role’ in my hotel.’ And that’s a quote.”
Mr. Hill has filed complaints with the EEOC and Department of Labor, and is currently in talks with the ACLU, Tennessee Equality Project and the Tennessee Labor Board about pursuing legal action.
“The owner, Mr. Surti, comes from a culture that is not very tolerant to the gay lifestyle,” added assistant general manager Leonard Stoddard, who was ordered to dismiss Hill, “and therefore he felt it necessary to have him removed from the workforce at the property.”
Stoddard said that he disagreed with the decision to fire Hill because the company’s handbook specifically says it doesn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation. Of course that’s not legally binding or enforceable in Tennessee should the powers that be at any company decides the homo must go. Below is video from WSMV-TV, via PageOneQ:
BONUS: Freeper reaction is below the fold.