Post No. 1,416 - homophobia/transphobia and remorse

There is a controversy here over the conduct of a sports player who posted homophobic and transphobic comments and was sacked in response. As he is (was?) a public person whose comments have the power to influence and harm many people, I supported the taking of some action. Whether being sacked was the best move has always been debatable, but it did raise the issue of the invasive control that businesses now exert over their employees' personal lives - and the issue of social media posts has been growing ever since social media came into existence.

Going back to the player, his sacking for breaching his employers' Code of Conduct is now in court, and it turns out that he

(a) admitted he had caused offence;and
(b) offered to publicly apologise. 

In my opinion, this changes everything.

Yes, he is still a religious bigot; yes, he has harmed and is still likely to harm the health and wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ people - but he has shown an inch of remorse,and, for the sake of his soul, that needs to be encouraged.

Acting too harshly now is like trying to nurture a flicker of flame in kindling to a fire by exposing it to a massive blast of air, rather than gently breathing on it.

From my point of view, which is different to that of the employer (who is also looking at past incidents), that flicker of light in this damaged soul needs to be nurtured, as it is the start of healing the soul - which is, as the souls of all bigots are, scarred and in need of healing. This admission changes everything.

The court, of course, will judge the situation purely from the point of view of the law. As I support the principle of the rule of law, I must support that . . . but I can pray and hope for mercy, and for his remorse to be given its due consideration in setting the outcomes of whatever decision is reached.

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Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).

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