An ex-Rockwell Collins employing is suing the company for discrimination because they made him take diversity training. Does anybody see the oxymoron in that? Suing for discrimination for having to take diversity training? Well maybe not so much oxy as moron.
Apparently Thomas Meeker is a devout Christian and believes homosexuality is a sin. So when he got an email telling him he was required to take diversity training which, according to his lawsuit, “expected employees to welcome, value and respect differences of others in the workplace” he just couldn’t go there. I guess whatever Christian teachings Mr. Meeker has learned through his childhood taught him he can’t be respectful to other people who are different from him. I’m sure his church will be happy to know he’s following their teachings to the tee.
So Mr. Meeker told HR he refused to take the required the training. He says he went through one of the training courses and found it “offensive.” He told his manager and HR, “it promoted and insisted the employees accept, celebrate and embrace homosexuality.” Apparently his emails to HR were what was really offensive and so Mr. Meeker was fired.
Here lies the problem. In Mr. Meeker’s eyes he was fired because Rockwell Collins forced him to partake in the homosexual lifestyle, which is against his religion. Rockwell believes they fired him because he’s a fucking moron who can’t even make it through a couple of online training courses about not being an asshole in the workplace. Of course, I may be paraphrasing Rockwell’s position there.
Do people really read that online training anyway? I can’t possibly be the only one who quickly clicks “next” on each page until I get to the end where I have to answer the questions. Am I? I mean, unless you’re my boss, then of course I’m reading that training word for word, soaking it all in and taking copious notes.
I think Mr. Meeker completely missed the point. I’ve been through a lot of diversity training. I’ve had some online training. I’ve watched movies that were clearly filmed sometime in the 80s. Never once have I felt like my company was forcing me to accept something I don’t agree with (although I’m pretty liberal so there isn’t much I don’t agree with) unless you disagree with getting along with co-workers and doing your job.
All companies are trying to accomplish with diversity training is to get their employees to be cordial and check their judgmental attitudes at the door during business hours so other employees don’t feel threatened or that they are working in a hostile workplace. Nobody is telling him he can’t be a judgmental asshole if he wants to. They are just asking him to keep it to himself while he’s in the Rockwell offices and representing their company. You know the company who’s name and logo is was at the top of his paychecks. They are just asking him to be nice to people he does business with so they can all do their jobs. They weren’t asking him to kiss a gay man or hold hands and sing Kum by Ya.
I think Mr. Meeker will find it hard to find a company that doesn’t require him to go through diversity training. Especially when they do a Google search during their hiring process and discover he apparently can’t work with gay people without sending nasty emails to HR. Mr. Meeker needs to get off his Christian high horse and get a grip. It’s not homosexuals that are the problem in the workplace. It’s the assholes.