A Muslim-American Brooklyn man is suing the New York Police Department for rejecting his application to be a cop due to his religious beliefs. According to the New York Post, the man — who is going by the alias “Farhan Doe” (we wish that were a joke) — is filing a religious discrimination lawsuit because he believes homosexuality is a sin, and that gays should go to jail.
Doe deserves to be in the NYPD, despite checking the “yes” box next to the question, “Do you believe that homosexuals should be locked up,” in 2009, when he applied, said his lawyer, Jerold Levine.
When Doe — who works as an auxiliary cop in Brooklyn — applied to the Police Academy the next year, he’d softened his views, still believing homosexuality is a sin, but no longer believing gays should be arrested, Levine said.
Gee, how very “evolved” of him.
Since Doe was outright rejected, his lawyer is crying foul: “The First Amendment is very clear, saying that you can’t discriminate against someone because they have a view you do not like.”
The NYPD declined to comment, but we know you won’t! Have at it!
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calvin
As a cop, it is your duty to protect EVERYBODY. I wouldn’t want to have an emergency and had that guy show up to help me.
calvin
As a cop, it is your duty to protect EVERYBODY. I wouldn’t want to have an emergency and have that guy show up to help me.
Justin
Exactly. This guy can’t be trusted to enforce the law fairly because of his anti-gay views.
Nugoyxi
I wouldn’t trust him to protect me. People like him shouldn’t be allowed to be cops. It’s your job to protect people no matter your beliefs. It’s like allowing open racists to serve.
Michael DeSelms
his lawyer is right. SSo, lets have him become a policeman. See how he reacts to his first encounter with a homosexual. If he fails then he’s fired. But more to the idea…how does New York handle Muslim cops after 9/11? Most Fundemental Christians think we should be put to death according to the Bible. Do we stop them from being cops? Should they lie on their application {another sin}? How do Christian cops handle everyday Muslim encounters? Its a vicious cirle we live in, huh?
Belize
I’m sure they’ll let him be a policeman with such archaic beliefs in the Middle East. Perhaps he should try applying there instead. 🙂
Peter papallo
This religious exemption issue is sooo out of hand – if they want the right to pick and choose, I say “no more tax exemptions”
Clockwork
This is an interesting case:
I suppose if the man was saying he thought gays should be arrested, but his job is to enforce the laws of the city and state of New York and America, maybe he could claim freedom of religion and thus discrimination.
After all if someone asked a person if they thought people engaged in say: flag burning, marijuana possession, escort prostitution, should be arrested and they said, Yes, No, No, but they would enforce the laws as part of their job; maybe they would actually be a good cop.
What did you expect?
So long as he would be willing to work with a cop who believes “all Muslims should be locked up,” he should be allowed on the force. Of course, he would object.
The problem with these sorts is that they wouldn’t be willing to accord to others the rights that they demand for themselves.
mk ultra
Iwould say the police dept. shouldn’t even take the chance.
The city will end up paying millions in damages for the cases he mishandles.
He already admitted he thinks gays should be locked up. He only changed hisnanswer because he knew it could impact his application.
This is te type of guy, who if he came across a group of men, gaybashing a gay man, he would arrest te gay man.
Sorry, with a position of power and authority, there is always te chance of abuse.
We jave to screen our police officers carefully.
Having an obvious and open bigotry should disqualify you.
Allen D.
I wonder if that question is even the reason he was rejected. It’s a pretty damn thorough process. Any number of things could have disqualified him.
MJ
the main question here is would he be trusted when having to make a rational decision when regarding homosexuals in any situation? what if he has an assigned partner who is gay? to me, they were right not to hire him when he put that down because he would’ve done something that could have put someone’s safety at risk.
duncan
The surprising parts of this story are that A) he wasn’t disqualified for being a muslim then framed for terrorism and B) that anyone gave a shit that he was so blatantly homophobic.
Mark
He’s definitly one of the people that would die if we removed all the warning labels off everything.
B
I wouldn’t have a problem if he merely believed that homosexuality was a taboo in his religion, so he couldn’t engage in any homosexual acts, even if he were gay (the sexual repression is his problem, after all). If he thinks homosexuals should be locked up, however, that could interfere with him doing his job, and if there were ever a complaint about him falsely arresting gays, whether the complaint is justified or not, a lawyer would definitely use that item on his questionnaire against the department.
He might have a legitimate complaint if the questions were poorly worded – if someone says, “do you think gays should be locked up,” one interpretation of “yes” is that you should just do it and other is that the law should be changed so that happens. Other questions might, however, have shed some light on whether he can distinguish personal beliefs about what the law should be from what he’d do if he became a police officer.
The Real Mike in Asheville
@Michael DeSelms: Well lets hope that you are not an attorney, because Doe’s attorney is an idiot. The First Amendment does not say anything like what the attorney quotes. Specifically, the First Amendment does state: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Denying someone a police officer position because that person fails to understand the interpersonal interactions that police officers face in their daily duties is not discrimination. By Doe’s attorney’s words describing Doe’s views, Doe believes homosexuality is a sin but, he would no longer arrest us for it. Clearly, Doe does not understand how laws and law enforcement work. Police officers DO NOT WRITE the law; Doe has no basis for making ANY remark, regarding his potential police officer duties, whether homosexuality is a CRIME, that police officers DO NOT get to decide what crimes are worthy of arrest, that patrolmen have great latitude of determining to issue an arrest or warning — but all that presupposes that the officer is following the mandates of law and police policy, not their personal prejudices.
My also very gay cousin is a beat police officer in Manhattan; Doe clearly fails to demonstrate an ability to work with gay fellow officers and work for gay citizens. There are many NYPD officers who have all sorts of prejudices and phobias. And when those prejudices and phobias prevent them from effective police work, they are fired. And, in the many psychological evaluations, the NYPD dismisses MANY police candidates because the candidate does not APPEAR capable of distinguishing personal beliefs and public policy.
Marc
If he answered yes to these questions against african americans, this wouldnt even be debated. I have this problem at work still to this day- where there is a fine line of tolerance against us. Quite Frankly im tired of it.
The truth
Yep. If he’d answered “yes” to “Most black men are criminals” or “Jews are felons who should be locked up,” it wouldn’t even be credibly considered (even if “his religion” considered those to be true statements.)
Cam
So would this guy support the hiring of a conservative Christian who says that their religious beliefs are that Muslims should be deported?
yeah, didn’t think so
Andy Humm
Anti-gay views are already welcomed in the Police Department. Police Commisioner Kelly, Mayor Bloomberg and thousands of cops march in the annual anti-gay St. Patrick’s Day Parade–an openly anti-gay fest that pointedly excludes LGBT Irish groups and has termed us “perverts.”
Derek
How would he feel if they were letting in cops who believed all Muslims should be locked up?
B
No. 20 · Derek asked, “How would he feel if they were letting in cops who believed all Muslims should be locked up?”
… the word “jihad” comes to mind.
Gregg A. Gold
During my stint in the British Army, homosexuals were barred from service. If they were found out, they were court martialled and thrown out. The same went for the police service. Now, queers are encouraged to join. The problem with having fruits in the military or police, is that those of us who are heterosexual (i.e., normal), do not feel comfortable having you people around us. We are all put in a position of trust, and that means not having to worry about showering or sharing a bunk room with one or more people who might look upon you as some kind of sex object.
The answer is, stop all queers from joining the military or any of the services. Who cares if a Muslim candidate is rejected because of “homophobia” (a meanigless term). He is not alone in his opinion.