After Forced Mozilla CEO Resignation, Christian Lawyers Vow to Defend Proposition 8 Boosters
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund are jointly offering free legal analysis and possible pro bono representation to anyone losing his or her job or suffering other job-related consequences because of past support for California’s constitutional amendment affirming marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
ADF organized the effort in the wake of the recent forced resignation of Brendan Eich as CEO of Mozilla simply because he had contributed $1,000 to the Proposition 8 campaign. In addition to Eich, others have also been pressured out of their jobs since voters adopted the amendment in 2008.
“People who exercise their First Amendment freedoms should not be bullied into silence and forced out of their livelihood,” says ADF senior counsel Joseph Infranco. “We will consider representing Californians or citizens in other states who have suffered job consequences for their support of marriage through the most American of activities: participating in the political process—a legal activity that is not disruptive to the mission of the employer.”
“California employers should not give in to a handful of intolerant activists who would seek to blacklist their fellow Americans for doing nothing more than exercise their constitutionally protected freedom to support various causes,” adds Charles LiMandri, president and chief counsel of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund and one of more than 2,300 attorneys allied with ADF. “No employer should be allowed to ignore their employees’ First Amendment freedoms or their employees’ freedoms under state law.”
Those who believe their employer has terminated their employment or retaliated against them in some other form based solely on their support for Proposition 8 or any other state’s marriage amendment or law can contact ADF through its website or by phone at (800) 835-5233.
