By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist A California appellate court has ruled in favor of four San Diego firefighters who sued the fire department after being forced to participate in the city's Gay Pride Parade, an action which the court believes constituted sexual harrassment. According to a press release by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a legal alliance that works to defend religious freedom and who represented the firefighters, the court upheld an earlier jury verdict which found that the men should not have been forced to participate in the parade. The judge also found that the San Diego Fire Department had disregarded the firefighters’ numerous objections to taking part in the city-sponsored parade which celebrates homosexual behavior. During the 2007 parade, the firefighters were subject to three hours of lewd gestures [and] cat calls, said ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco, who is co-counsel in the case. "They saw people gyrating and pantomiming sex acts, and wearing [sexually graphic] outfits and engaging in behavior...that would be embarrassing to discuss." In its ruling issued last Thursday in Ghiotto v. City of San Diego, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District, Division One, concluded “that the record contains substantial evidence to support a finding that the sexual harassment experienced by the Firefighters during the Pride Parade was severe and pervasive, thus altering the conditions of employment and creating a hostile or abusive work environment.” “We hope this ruling will end the city’s attempts to defend its act of compelling people to participate in sexually-charged events against their moral and personal convictions," Infranco said. "If not, we are prepared to continue to defend the firefighters all the way to the California Supreme Court.” The court awarded damages and attorney fees, but the firefighters say the money is not important. What matters is that firefighters in the future will not be compelled to participate in such events at the expense of their jobs and their moral values. “Government employees should never be forced to participate in events or acts that violate their sincerely held beliefs," said Charles S. LiMandri, West Coast regional director of the Thomas More Law Center and one of more than 1,800 attorneys in the ADF alliance. "The jury saw this, and the court wisely upheld that ruling.”  © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com