NorthwestJanuary 7, 2004

Associated Press

BOISE -- Hewlett-Packard Co. acted legally when it fired a veteran employee at its Boise facility for posting anti-gay Bible verses in his work cubicle to protest the company's diversity campaign, a federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco held that the constitutional right to freedom of religion did not guarantee Richard D. Peterson the right to post biblical verses condemning homosexuality with the stated purpose of emotionally hurting gay employees so they would change their lifestyle.

He was fired and then sued the company for $1 million claiming religious discrimination. A lower court granted the company's request to throw out the lawsuit, and Peterson appealed to the 9th Circuit.

"Peterson may be correct that the campaign devoted special attention to combating prejudice against homosexuality, but such an emphasis is in no manner unlawful," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the unanimous panel.

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"To the contrary, Hewlett-Packard's efforts to eradicate discrimination against homosexuals in its workplace were entirely consistent with the goals and objectives of our civil rights statutes generally," Reinhardt wrote.

But Christ Troupis, Peterson's attorney, claimed the appeals court unfairly portrayed Peterson as a religious extremist, and he warned that the ruling could silence freedom of religious expression in the workplace.

"While the words used in the scriptures he quoted might be strong, the method he chose to express his beliefs was the least intrusive possible," Troupis said after reviewing the 15-page ruling. "He didn't talk to anybody, he didn't corner anyone, and nobody complained."

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