Maine Reporter: I Was Fired Over Anti-Same-Sex Marriage E-mail
Larry Grard admits he had “a lapse in judgment.” But Grard – who’s been a reporter for thirty-five years, the last eighteen of them at the Morning Sentinel in Waterville – says the e-mail he sent from his personal account to a national gay rights group shouldn’t have been grounds for his dismissal.
Grard was fired by Bill Thompson, editor of the Sentinel and its sister paper the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, shortly after the Nov. 3 election in which Maine voters repealed a same-sex marriage law approved by the Legislature. Grard said he arrived at work the morning after the vote to find an e-mailed press release from the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., that blamed the outcome of the balloting on hatred of gays.
Grard, who said he’d gotten no sleep the night before, used his own e-mail to send a response. “They said the Yes-on-1 people were haters. I’m a Christian. I take offense at that,” he said. “I e-mailed them back and said basically, ‘We’re not the ones doing the hating. You’re the ones doing the hating.’
“I sent the same message in his face he sent in mine.”
Grard thought his response was anonymous, but it turned out to be anything but. One week later, he was summoned to Thompson’s office. He was told that Trevor Thomas, deputy communications director of the Human Rights Campaign, had Googled his name and discovered he was a reporter. According to Grard, Thompson said he was firing him because, “There’s no wiggle room.” [Editor's note: This paragraph has been corrected from an earlier version; see comment below.]
He was immediately dismissed.
Thomas did not return a phone message left at his office. Neither Thompson nor Scott Wasser, executive editor of the Sentinel and the other MaineToday Media papers, responded to phone calls and e-mails seeking comment on the incident.
Grard hadn’t covered the marriage issue or other gay-rights controversies for the Sentinel. He said that wasn’t because he was opposed to doing so, but “other people grabbed those assignments.”
According to Grard and his union, the Portland Newspaper Guild, he has never before had any disciplinary issues. Guild president Tom Bell said in an e-mail that a grievance has been filed on Grard’s behalf, and the Guild is awaiting a date for an arbitration hearing, which will probably take place in three or four months. “The Guild is defending the contract,” Bell said, “which requires that there be progressive discipline in situations like this.”
Grard said he wouldn’t be complaining if he’d been subjected to a lesser penalty, such as a reprimand or a suspension without pay, for his first offence. He said reporters frequently send personal e-mails from their own accounts during working hours without incurring management’s wrath.
Grard said he thinks his religious beliefs were a factor in his firing, calling it “anti-Christian bias.” “A lawyer said to me, ‘What if you’d agreed with [the Human Rights Campaign]? Would the company fire you for that? Of course they wouldn’t have,’” he said.
The Sentinel and the other MaineToday papers editorialized in favor of same-sex marriage.
The week after Grard was fired, he said, his wife, Lisa, who wrote a biweekly food column for the Sentinel as a freelancer, received an e-mail informing her that her work would no longer be needed.
(Disclosure: In my weekly political column, I’ve written several pieces supporting same-sex marriage.)
Al Diamon can be e-mailed ataldiamon@herniahill.net.
The views expressed on this Web site are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Down East Enterprise or its employees.
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Corrections
Larry Grard now says that that when he originally told me Trevor Thomas of the Human Rights Campaign had demanded his firing, Grard was engaging in "conjecture." He also said Morning Sentinel editor Bill Thompson did not tell him he had been pressured by anyone at the HRC to dismiss Grard. The above story has been edited to reflect these changes. For Thomas' version of what occured, see my follow-up story at: www.downeast.com/media-mutt/2009/december/maine-reporter-reactions Al Diamon
Christian Acknowledges Making Up "Facts"
So Mr. Grard now admits that he was engaging in "conjecture". Something that should have been obvious to any reporter looking at the story. The problems is the readers have now gotten the facts wrong, and most will never see the numerous holes in his story. Like why would a paper fire someone at the whim of an organization that isn't likely to buy ads anytime soon.
But that isn't stopping the manufactured martyrs of Christianity from claiming they are being persecuted, when they are not.
People are saying where is the tolerance. Don't gay organizations have the right to complain about unprofessional behavior on the part of newspaper staff? Are gay people supposed to accept unprofessional behavior because, well, they're gay, they deserve anything they get? What the newspaper chooses to do with it is their choice.
A few days later this column cites some of the cost cutting moves Mr. Grard's former employer is taking, by moving the printing function to Portland, etc. This is happening all over the newspaper industry, particularly when new owners buy properties.
Also in the Media Mutt column of December 9 is the comment that Mr. Grard's former coworkers are less enthusiatic about signing the petition protesting his dismissal. Perhaps his coworkers fully understand why the new owners would want to drop Mr. Grard from the payroll. Maybe the old owners weren't actively managing Mr. Grard, but his shortcomings become evident to a new supervisor.
If all the facts come out, I doubt any fair minded person will conclude Mr. Grard was a victim of any gay witchhunt at all. I've seen a few of these, and the Christian martyrdom theme has never proven true once all the facts are known.
The Pink Mafia
The Pink Mafia Strikes Again!
The AMA has backed off the theory of a "gay gene", so now all you've got is behavior. And behavior is not a protected category. This is behavior that has been forbidden in all decent societies. Add to that the militant attempts to force other people's children to embrace this behavior on the taxpayer dime, the harassment and intimidation of whole state legislatures ("We know where you live") and the rabid destruction of average joes who simply voice their disagreement, and you've got a recipe for some serious backlash!
Let's all stand up and support the Grards and their family just like decent people are showing their support for Mr. Mendell - the schoolteacher who was fired for supporting traditional marriage by an administration with no qualms about allowing political activity on the other side. Decent people of all beliefs need to put a stop to this organized thuggery before it's too late! "When they came for the Christians, I wasn't a Christian, so I didn't speak up......."
And lastly, these power-mad mobsters shouldn't get to dictate who are considered victims or martyrs. Just remember, these are the folks who won't even follow the natural law, let alone moral, civil or religious laws. But the sufferings of these Christians has value, don't let anyone fool you. Standing up for Christ in a wicked world is a powerful thing. Especially when it prompts the rest of us to show courage and respond to the dictates of our well-formed consciences.
Another view
From Al Diamon:
The following e-mail is posted with the permission of the author:
"Grard said he thinks his religious beliefs were a factor in his firing, calling it 'anti-Christian bias.'”
There's nothing wrong with "anti-Christian bias" when religion is used to oppose equal civil rights. Bigotry masquerading as righteousness ought to be opposed in the strongest terms. Larry Grard got exactly what he deserved. Fired.
I am sick and tired of people who want to take away my rights playing the "victim" card and calling me "intolerant" of Christianity. This is turning reality on its head. Along with women, Jews and African Americans, increasing numbers of gays will no longer tolerate the antigay hate.
Bob Schwartz
Gay Liberation Network, Chicago
Christians Falsely Claim Martyrdom Again
Let’s take this point by point.
You accept everything Mr. Grard says as gospel, apparently without even doing so much as asking to see a copy of the email he sent out. I wonder what the full content of that email was, and since he sent it from his personal account, Mr. Grard would be able to readily supply you with a copy of it if he chose to. Did you ask him?
Reporters get news releases all of the time. Is it professional of him to respond back with insulting emails? He knows he may well have to deal with the sender as a source for future articles. After 35 years in newspapers, is it unreasonable for his employer to expect him to know this? Your readers might not have thought of this, but certainly you knew about it. Why didn’t you inform them of how the system works?
Mr. Grard says his supervisor told him the Human Rights Campaign demanded he be fired. In court, that would be called hearsay and would be inadmissible as evidence, it is the only link you have to gay people at all, and yet that is good enough proof for you.
According to Trevor Thomas, he sent one email to the editor which said, "I received the below email this morning after our national media release was sent to your team. ... It's frankly, just not acceptable coming from a news organization the morning after our defeat." According to Trevor Thomas, he had no further contact with the editor, although the management team let Mr. Thomas know they were looking into the matter.
Do you think the newspaper fires someone every time an angry reader demands it? They are not even going to be a significant advertiser in the future. Firing the reporter was the newspaper’s choice.
You are well aware that the newspaper had been acquired recently and was engaged in cost cutting, typical of media takeovers these days. An employee missteps at the wrong time, and you can only think it is the gays going after him that caused him to lose his job?
Knowing that Mr. Grard’s union is taking this to arbitration, you can not think that might be the reason the newspaper management are unwilling to comment on this? Haven’t you ever been instructed by the legal staff to make no comment, particularly with an unresolved matter?
Given that there was no corroborating evidence, and Mr. Grard’s clear intent to get as much publicity for himself as possible, didn’t you feel any responsibility at all to try getting at least something other than Mr. Grard’s version of things?
Mr. Grard isn’t the only one who journalistic skills are lacking.
The Firing of Larry Grard
Congratulations to Al Diamon for writing about this incident. Perhaps the "Gay Lobby" in Washington is googling his name too. It's obvious that the Sentinel/Kennebec Journal would not have fired Mr. Grard had he been on the other side of the SSM issue. But the Gay Lobby is out to destroy anyone who opposes their radical agenda to repeal Western Civilization and institute the oxymoronic notion of "Gay Marriage". It smacks of the attempted firing of the Newport social worker who publicly supported a "Yes" on Question 1 in that local school system. The only realistic way to deal with such unfair practices is for subscribers to the MS/KJ to vote with their check books. Liberals are rank hypocrites but they understand the power of money. Central Maine needs a new newspaper or a new, more balanced management team. Their editiorial page reads like a Keith Olbermann rant. Where's the "diversity" when you really need it?
Grard's friend
From Al Diamon:
The following e-mail was sent to me and is posted by permission:
Disclosure: I am biased for Larry Grard. I graduated from Winslow High with him in 1969 and he is one of my best friends. I also know and like his wife Lisa and I know his daughter. They are very nice, emotionally rich and honest Maine people They are human in every context of that beautiful word.
I am absolutely outraged by his treatment by the Morning Sentinel, a newspaper that I have read and respected since I was a small boy. I know several journalists including a couple who have reached national and international status. I often receive e-mails from them, while they are at work, from their business computers but within the context of their personal opinions. These opinions range from whether or not aliens exist to whether or not there is a God and everything in between. Gee, guess what, journalists are human beings with personal opinions. So are judges, attorneys, priests, rabbis, grammar school teachers, cops and my garbage man.
I think, as far as I understand the journalistic creed, like the Hypocrates Oath for medical doctors (oops, did I forget to say that doctors also had personal opinions and some are Democrats and some are Repulicans and a few even are apolitical), Larry made a mistake and got his dandruff up on the same sex marriage issue in Maine. I do not think Larry personally is against the 15% (or what ever the heck it is) or so of the population who are gay, lesbian or other. Gee, that would be a stretch for a 60s liberal wouldn’t it! I think Larry (nickname in high school Hookie (boy, you sure don’t want to know that story unless over a Friday evening cocktail), was exercising his free speech. Poor judgment, according the journalists I know, yes. Human, yes. Worthy of his being fired with no escalating aspect to his reprimand? No.
Let me see, don’t we Americans have something about that in our most basic rights which forms the foundation for our personal freedoms? It’s on the tip of my tongue. What is that darn thing called again?
Hat’s off Al. Thank you for finally bringing some attention to this.
I am sure hoping, personally, that the media picks up on this story. It’s not about gays, lesbians and same sex marriage. It’s about freedom of speech and due process and a person's fundamental right to express their personal opionions and by so doing, we all are a freer, richer people.
Roger Hutchison
Honest? Larry Grard's Distortion
Here's more information on Larry Grard.
It appears that Larry Grard fabricated his version of events.
Read more details at:
Reporter Fired for Private Anti-Gay Marriage Email
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=99903
Nate Barton
Where is the tolerance?
I thought the pro SSM movement was supposed to be about tolerance? I too see much more bigotry coming from that side of the debate.