Fire Chief Fired for Faith Awarded $1.2 Million

In a huge victory for religious freedom, former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who was fired for writing a men’s devotional book containing biblical views of marriage, received $1.2 million from the city after a court found that it had violated his constitutional rights.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a non-profit Christian organization dedicated to defending religious freedom, Cochran had served for 30 years as a firefighter, as well as serving as the U.S. Fire Administrator under President Barack Obama. Under his leadership, he led the City of Atlanta to attain its highest level of fire and rescue preparedness in its history.

But Cochran ran afoul of the City in 2015 when he was fired for writing a men’s devotional book that mentioned his views on the biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality. Entitled, Who Told You That You Are Naked, Cochran presented a biblical view of homosexuality and marriage.

The City, which has a “pre-clearance policy” that allows it to restrict non-work related speech, did not approve of these views. Because Cochran did not obtain the proper clearance to write the book and its contents could compromise his ability to oversee homosexual employees, the City decided he was putting them at risk of discrimination claims.

As a result, Cochran was given a 30-day suspension without pay, ordered to complete “sensitivity training,” was the subject of an investigation into his conduct (which showed he had never discriminated against anyone in the fire department), and was ultimately fired.

Cochran sued and a federal district court determined that the policy established by the City for restricting non-work speech, such as the book Cochran wrote, is so broad as to allow city officials to unconstitutionally discriminate against any view with which they disagreed.

The court wrote: “This policy would prevent an employee from writing and selling a book on golf or badminton on his own time and, without prior approval, would subject him to firing. It is unclear to the Court how such an outside employment would ever affect the City’s ability to function, and the City provides no evidence to justify it…. The potential for stifled speech far outweighs an unsupported assertion of harm.”

The court added: “This does not pass constitutional muster.”

As a result of this decision, the city of Atlanta agreed this week to pay a settlement of $1.2 million to Cochran while recognizing that he had suffered unconstitutional harm.

“The government can’t force its employees to get its permission before engaging in free speech,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot, who argued before the court on behalf of Cochran last month. “In addition, as the court found, the city can’t leave such decisions to the whims of government officials. This ruling benefits not only Chief Cochran, but also other employees who want to write books or speak about matters unrelated to work. Atlanta can no longer force them to get permission or deny them permission just because certain officials disagree with the views expressed.”

As the ADF concludes, this selfless public servant “stood for all government employees, who now benefit from this win. They no longer have to worry about losing their jobs if they choose to engage in their First Amendment rights outside of work – even if the government does not approve of their viewpoints.”

“Though Chief Cochran’s career as a firefighter suffered a significant setback, he is still a hero. His courageous stand and victory against the City of Atlanta shows he can still protect others, even if he is no longer fighting fires.”

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