[extropy-chat] gays can be fired for being gay

[Technotranscendence]

On Wednesday, March 24, 2004 3:31 PM Mike Lorrey mlorrey at yahoo.com
wrote:
> Considering I was once fired by a US
> subsidiary of the French National Railway

Whaa???

> for being Libertarian, I'm asking why you
> are surprised?

You'll have to elaborate on that one.  I've always tried not to let
politics interfere with my work, but the times when it does come up,
it's never gotten me fired.  Then again, I've never worked with the
French National Railway.:)

> One more example of liberals whining when
> their own ox is being gored, but cheering
> along the gestapo when it serves their needs.

I couldn't get to he web site and don't have any other confirmation on
this story, so I'm not even sure it's true.  It's an election year, so
all kinds of stories will be popping up like this.

To respond directly to your comment, yes, people in general -- many
liberals, so called conservatives (liberals who happen to go to church
like the President), etc. -- tend to only feel for their particular
cherished oxes are being gored by not otherwise.  Just human nature.  I
would single out modern liberals in this area.

Even so, the libertarian position -- which I'm saying you're against --
would be freedom of association.  If people want to demote or fire gay
employees for being gay, so be it.  The problem here, however, is these
are government jobs, which makes me wonder if the jobs in themselves are
legitimate functions of the government.  (Okay, under my view, there are
none, but libertarian minarchists would limit government jobs solely to
those involved in rights protection -- courts, police, and maybe
militia.)  Anyhow, if these were legit jobs, then firing someone on a
basis that did not impair his or her ability to do the job would be
wrong.  (In the private jobs, it's ethically wrong, but should not be
illegal.  Employers should be allowed to make stupid mistakes and suffer
the consequences.)

Regards,

Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/MyWorksBySubject.html