FLAMING MAD

Atlanta’s Fire Chief In Hot Water For Self-Publishing Creepy Antigay Book Online

Atlanta-Fire-Chief-Kelvin-Cochran-598x400
Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran

In his book Who Told You That You Were Naked? Atlanta’s Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran defines uncleanliness as “whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality, all other forms of sexual perversion.”

The 162-page magnum opus, which Cochran self-published last November, was discovered by retired Atlanta Fire Department Captain Cindy Thompson, who is openly gay. After finding it on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, she alerted the local media outlet, the GA Voice.

“This is highly disturbing,” she said. “I can’t quite believe it, especially since he attached his name and his job to it. That pretty much says how the department thinks.”

Cochran describes himself as a “devout Christian man” whose top priority as fire chief is “to cultivate its culture to the glory of God.” He also calls homosexuality “vile,” “vulgar,” and “inappropriate,” among other things.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was quick to issue a statement distancing himself from the fire chief’s views.

“I was surprised and disappointed to learn of this book on Friday,” he said. “I profoundly disagree with and am deeply disturbed by the sentiments expressed in the paperback regarding the LGBT community. I will not tolerate discrimination of any kind within my administration.”

The city requires employees to first seek permission and obtain approval before publishing a book, which officials say Cochran did not do.

“One of the most alarming things is that we did not know about the book when it was published,” city spokeswoman Anne Torres said.

As a result, he has been suspended for one month without pay from the Atlanta Fire Department.

Who Told You That You Were Naked? remains for sale for the bargain price of $13 on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s websites. We won’t include any links to it, however, because that would just be crazy.

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Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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