Editors Note: The editorial has been passed unanimously by the PSBoard with a 9-0 vote after quorum has been met by 4:00 p.m.today. Pittsburgh Standard is not responsible for ad content from Google ads which we do not always agree with.

We are shocked to find out that a black woman named Crystal Dixon, an employee at the University of Toledo was fired from her job because of a column she wrote in the Toledo Free Press questioning whether homosexuality is a civil rights issue.

As a citizen of the United States of America, she is covered under the Constitution of the United States’ Bill of Rights that includes the First Amendment dealing with Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion.

The University of Toledo had no right to fire her justifiably but they did, infringing on her free speech and free religious rights. It is saddening to know that no black civil rights activists such as Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, etc have come to her rescue. Not even presidential Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama did not address the issue.

Usually when a black person’s rights are violated, there is a frenzy in the media and we cannot turn a channel without seeing Rev. Al Sharpton or Rev. Jesse Jackson speaking about the injustice. Where were Rev. Al Sharpton or Rev. Jesse Jackson, when this black woman’s rights were violated.

Is not Crystal Dixon anymore important than other blacks whose rights they believe have been violated?

We believe Dixon’s rights are as important and it is a shame that there has not been an outcry over her firing in the media or among many people.

University of Toledo should be held responsible for her firing and they owe her reinstatement and back pay.

We are saddened Black organizations have not come to her rescue, but glad the Thomas More Law Center, an Ann Arbor, Michigan based legal-defense group is representing her as they have filed litigation against the University of Toledo for their actions.

We are behind Dixon and give her our full support because she was fired unjustly for expressing her views as a private citizen in the Toledo Free Press as a response to one of their own columnists.

If anyone can speak on what is a civil rights issue, she can because she is black and her ancestors have faced injustice after injustice due to their color and race. Her ancestors had to deal with slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, the Jim Crow laws, and everything else that was thrown at them because of their skin color. She knows what is a civil rights issue and when she wrote homosexuality is not a civil rights issue, she was speaking from experience of dealing with civil rights.

Dixon wrote, “As a Black woman who happens to be an alumnus of the University of Toledo's Graduate School, an employee and business owner, I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are "civil rights victims." Here's why. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a Black woman. I am genetically and biologically a Black woman and very pleased to be so as my Creator intended. Daily, thousands of homosexuals make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle evidenced by the growing population of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex Gays) and Exodus International just to name a few.”

Dixon ended her column with, “My final and most important point. There is a divine order. God created human kind male and female (Genesis 1:27). God created humans with an inalienable right to choose. There are consequences for each of our choices, including those who violate God's divine order. It is base human nature to revolt and become indignant when the world or even God Himself, disagrees with our choice that violates His divine order. Jesus Christ loves the sinner but hates the sin (John 8:1-11.) Daily, Jesus Christ is radically transforming the lives of both straight and gay folks and bringing them into a life of wholeness: spiritually, psychologically, physically and even economically. That is the ultimate right.”

She was fired for expressing her views as a guest columnist towards the paper’s editor who supported homosexuality being a civil rights issue. She is absolutely right in that she cannot get up the next day and have her color changed but she knows of people who have been homosexual and have had a transformative change for the better.

Greg Quinlan, a former homosexual who now serves as the president of the Ohio Pro-Family network said, “Today, if you speak out against homosexuality on a college campus, you are considered a criminal. I have been out of the homosexual lifestyle for 16 years. And if you speak out as an ex-gay, you are always under attack….”

It is so true because Quinlan has been slapped in the face among other things and Dixon has been attacked with a loss of her job for writing on her own time in the Toledo Free Press.

Brian Rooney, a spokesperson for the law firm said, "She was speaking as a private citizen when she wrote her column and, clearly, our Constitution protects speech, and there shouldn't be a consequence to that free speech as far as discriminating against somebody based on their speech and the content of that speech."

We think this is wrong and putting fear in people to express their views in their own timing especially if those views are evangelical in nature.

Matt Barber, a policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America agrees with our view too.

Barber said, “This is classic viewpoint discrimination. The First Amendment and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act make it illegal for an employer to discriminate against an individual based on that individual’s sincerely held religious belief. I think the University of Toledo has really portrayed their anti-Christian bigotry and intolerance. Just because many Christians have a viewpoint that is unpopular in leftist circles, does not mean those leftists have a right to violate the law and discriminate against Christians”

Pittsburgh Standard stands with Dixon and all those whose freedom is violated because they write or speak as a Christian based on the rights given to them by the Bill of Rights. This case needs to be resolved soon and Dixon needs to be reinstated as an employee with back-pay. We speak out for her in her defense and against the University of Toledo president Lloyd Jacob’s who agreed to have her fired and then goes to the same newspaper and writes an op-ed in which he condemned Dixon.

We wish none of this kind of action will ever happen at the University of Pittsburgh or any other university or work place again!

All of our quote sources are taken from http://www.cnsnews.com except the quotes for Dixon’s column which are taken from her column.

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