No civil rights violation in firing of Iowa rainbow flag critic

[Lori Dee]

No civil rights violation in firing of Iowa rainbow flag critic, appellate court says
The fired employee called the rainbow a "Judeo-Christian symbol of the scriptural covenant between God and His people" and its use as a symbol of LGBTQ+ support sacrilegious.
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Courthouse News Service - ROX LAIRD
August 14, 2024

An Iowa man fired for posting a comment on his employer's intranet site condemning the rainbow pride flag as an "abomination to God" was not illegally fired based on his religion, a federal appeals court said in a ruling Wednesday.

Daniel Snyder was fired from Arconic Corp., an aluminum company with tens of thousands of employees worldwide, after his comment on the company's internal site opposing the Arconic's use of the rainbow flag to symbolize support for LGBTQ+ rights. Based on his religion, he says in his lawsuit against the company, he sees the rainbow as a symbol of God's covenant with man and the company's use of it sacrilegious.

A three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court's summary judgment ruling in Arconic's favor. The circuit judges agreed with Arconic that Snyder was fired not because of his faith, but because he violated the company's anti-harassment policy. The rule prohibits employees from circulating on workplace-connected social media material that "denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward a person or group because of any characteristic protected by law."

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