Jul 15, 2005  |  By: VAN GOWE  | COMMENTS     

Former Allstate Corp. employee J. Matt Barber recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurance provider, alleging he was fired as a manager after supervisors discovered an article he wrote that was published on the Internet.

Barber sued May 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, with the aid of the Christian Law Association and attorney David Gibbs III. He claims his freedom of religious expression was violated when he was fired Feb. 3 for opposing same-sex marriage in the article, “Intolerance Will Not Be Tolerated; The Gay Agenda vs. Family Values.”

In his article, Barber “defended the sanctity of marriage, and pointed out what he views as the negative aspects of both same-sex marriage, and the homosexual lifestyle — views deeply rooted in his sincerely held religious beliefs, and supported by clear Biblical principles,” according to the lawsuit.

A version of the article that appeared in December on MensNewsDaily.com named Barber as an employee of Allstate.

Barber’s suit states that after Allstate received a complaint about the article, he was suspended Jan. 31 and fired days later.

“The message is clear: To work for Allstate one must not publicly express their Christian belief in the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality. Barber was fired because he did,” Donald E. Wildmon, chair of the American Family Association, wrote on the anti-gay group’s Web site.

AFA encouraged its followers to e-mail and call Allstate to protest Barber’s termination and to demand his reinstatement with back pay.

ALLSTATE INCLUDES SEXUAL orientation in its employee non-discrimination policy, according to Mike Trevino, a company spokesperson. The company also offers health insurance coverage to domestic partners, according to information compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group.

In a complaint filed Feb. 22 with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Barber said, “[Allstate] denied me my fundamental religious rights guaranteed by the First Amendment by discharging me because my religious beliefs and conduct were different than those publicly expressed by [Allstate].”

Without addressing Barber’s case specifically, Trevino disputed the charge.

“I can tell you that the company would not terminate an employee for expressing their personal religious beliefs on their own time, and any allegation suggesting otherwise is false,” Trevino said.

Gay groups split on how a company should respond to an employee expressing such views.

“If someone were to read [the article] it could have a disastrous impact on Allstate’s reputation as a fair employer and as an employer that is abiding by state anti-discrimination laws in the state of Illinois,” said Daryl Herrschaft, deputy director of HRC’s Workplace Project, which monitors corporate policies on gay employees, consumers and investors.

But free speech remains an important personal freedom, according to a longtime gay activist.

“I would write an amicus brief that says this man should not be fired for some kind of religious-based discrimination,” said Rev. Mel White, founder of Soulforce, a national interfaith gay rights group that holds non-violent demonstrations at anti-gay religious sites. “He has the right to say foul things just as we have the right to confront those foul things with truth.”