Morehouse College President Fires Employee Over Homophobic Use Of Work Email |

Morehouse College President Fires Employee Over Homophobic Use Of Work Email
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October 5th, 2009www.blackgaygossip.comCulture, Politics

Morehouse College President Robert Franklin made good on his promise to “take appropriate and prompt action” when he fired an employee who used her work email to spread anti-gay rhetoric.

It all started when Franklin’s administrative assistant, Sandra Bradley, had received a chain email which contained photos of a gay wedding and used her work email to forward the email on, along with her personal comments. Bradley stated:

I can’t believe this wedding. It’s 2 men. They don’t smile in a lot of pictures and they look like a few brothers I’ve seen in the streets looking STRAGHT. Black women can’t get a break, either our men want another man, a white woman (or other nationality that’s light with straight hair), they are locked up in jail or have a “use to be” fatal disease. I’m beginning to believe Eve was a black woman and we Black women are paying for all the world’s sins through her actions (eating the apple).

The email was brought to Franklin’s attention by a non-Morehouse employee, Vanessa Crites, who received the letter from her partner, a Fulton County government employee and was disturbed by what she read. “I almost started to cry. I almost could not believe what I was looking at, and I thought that Dr. Franklin needed to know,” said Crites. That thinking is what prompted Crites to forward the email on to Franklin, who she discovered gave a speech earlier in the year to his student body on inclusion of gays and lesbians.

Aside from firing Bradley, Franklin also released the following statement apologizing to the couple in the photos and the gay community in general:

It is my sincere hope that the gay and lesbian community, and most specifically Michael Cole Smith and Jamil Smith Cole—whose wedding photographs became the subject of an unkind and intolerant email sent and forwarded by a Morehouse College employee—will accept my official apology on behalf of the College community.

Morehouse College—the institution where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of our nation’s premier champions of human and civil rights, was nurtured—has a history of promoting tolerance and inclusion for all people. Remarks such as the ones made in the e-mail were counter to Dr. King’s—and the College’s—core values and will not be tolerated from any Morehouse employee or student. Effective September 30, the employee who made the offensive comments is no longer working for the College.

I will continue to emphasize to the Morehouse community the message that was shared during an April town hall meeting: On the matter of diversity, Morehouse is committed to being a respectful campus that balances personal liberty with the responsibility of membership in a moral community. This has been and always will be a community dedicated to promoting respect and tolerance between heterosexuals and homosexuals. We encourage everyone to aspire to high ethical standards and we demand responsible community behavior. Those who cannot embrace the Morehouse code of ethics will be sanctioned accordingly.

Neither Bradley nor Crites knew the unidentified couple whose wedding photos now became the source of such public ridicule, even appearing on some popular blogs as a joke. Southern Voice newspaper had uncovered the identity of the couple - Michael Cole Smith and Jamil Smith Cole – who were married on September 13th in Minneapolis. The newspaper discovered they had posted their wedding pictures on their Facebook page and believe someone downloaded the photos to start this chain email. Jamil told the paper, “I don’t get how so many people took it as a personal attack, because it was our wedding, it was something personal to us.”

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9 Responses to “Morehouse College President Fires Employee Over Homophobic Use Of Work Email”

Brandi October 5th, 2009 at 10:30 am

I’m thrilled to see people taking action, not just offering lip service.
Hopefully, others will follow suit.
Jerrod October 5th, 2009 at 11:34 am

STRAIGHT?!?! Maybe that’s the problem with black women right there…they don’t want to see what’s so obviously in front their face. Glad her bitter ass got fired.
boyfish October 5th, 2009 at 11:52 am

Morehouse, a famous Black college, fires a homophobic employee. This is another milestone for Black GLBT community. I’m anxious to get the black (straight) community feedback on this topic.
mz lexi October 7th, 2009 at 1:58 am

im black,female and staight…. so here’s my thoughts… she got what she deserved… honestly i cant say that i never shared in her thought… cuz i said it b4… ” where r the single black men they either…yadayadayada” but she was totally wrong for publishing that in an email…xspecially 1 that is for work… thats somethin u save for girl talk on a friday night wit a pint of hagen daaz,period sweats and ur bff… u dont know who will see that and who u will offened… and last time i checked it was 2009 not 1909… y r we still shocked and fascinated by gay lifestyle [ like lgbt ppl are a sideshow act... get over it] i saw the pics [via a blog] other than homeboys train i thought it was a lovely wedding… i thought they were public cuz he was well known atl stylist [per tha blog] i didnt kno that someone leaked tha pics in an effort to spread homophobia… and to poke fun at their private moment… thats just wrong… it shouldnt matter who a person mess wit thats they business… its funny tho ppl always want to turn a nose up at the committed gay couple but the straight ppl professing the hate be the nastiest, trifling mfers around…
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[...] conflict with the school’s message of tolerance and inclusion of gays. Earlier this month, a Morehouse employee was fired after using work email to spread a homophobic email. Morehouse President Robert Franklin spoke of [...]
Kendall December 16th, 2009 at 6:56 pm

“Sigh”…please pray for me. I’m sorry, but when it comes to homosexuality, I have a hard time accepting this when it comes to black men. i don’t think this lifestyle was meant for our race.
Bilal December 16th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

I don’t quite get it Kendall. Homosexuality only affects ONE race… the human race. Clearly only a percentage of the human race ata all anyway. Oh.. and other species as well.

It is naturally recurring in nature, humans included, for centuries or longer. In history it was even celebrated and accepted.

Nobody has to agree with it. Or even accept it. We do have to be LOVE to one another, whether i sit on your side of the pew or in another church altogether. Respect.
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