NY firefighters say U.S. flags removed from lockers
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York firefighters have been forced to strip their lockers American flags, stickers expressing support for U.S. troops in Iraq and cards commemorating firefighters who died in the September 11, attacks, the firefighters’ union said on Wednesday. The Uniformed Firefighters Association threatened to sue the New York Fire Department, claiming it violated the free speech rights of New York’s 8,800 firefighters and 2,500 fire officers. The action comes under an old policy more strictly enforced since early last month.
The other side of the story:
A fire department spokesman said flags and commemorative cards were allowed but offensive material was not.
“Over the past 18 months, the New York City Fire Department has made a concerted effort to eliminate offensive material from firehouses,” said spokesman Anthony Sclafani. “However, American flags and mass cards of firefighters killed on September 11, 2001, are certainly permitted.”
Hmmm… so stickers supporting the troops are not permitted? They fall under the heading of “offensive material?” A little clarification from Reuters would be nice, because based on this story, it’s unclear what was actually removed from lockers, by whom, and what will be permitted to go back up. Who decided to begin strictly enforcing this policy, and what is that policy exactly? What brought on the change?
And by the way – if Reuters can’t get it right in NYC, why should I trust their reporting in a war zone? This story is pitiful; high school students do better in school newspapers. Are they using stringers in NYC? Thankfully, Googling on the this topic cleared things up:
Apparently a firefighter posted something sexist on his locker. So instead of dealing with that one firefighter, they enforced a blanket ban on everyone for everything. People will yell for a while, but it will be cleared up, and the flags and other (non-sexist) material will be put back up. A tempest in a teapot, brought on by some idiot bureaucrat who didn’t want to confront a single offender so he treated them all like offenders. As seen in offices everywhere – like when some idiot wears flip-flops on casual Friday and gets the whole thing cancelled. Move along, people… nothing to see here.
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