Costco Fires Catholic Who Denied Knights of Columbus Hall for Lesbian "Marriage"

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TheBlackGhost:
Let me get this straight, Cosco fired the Knight because he denied a lesbian couple from useing the facility? How can you guys defend this guy? HE is the one discriminating.
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No.

The Knight managed a Catholic hall.

The Knight also worked for Costco.

Two of his coworkers (also lesbians) from Costco asked to rent the Catholic hall. The Catholic hall approved their request, not knowing that they were lesbians. When they found out they were lesbians, they withdrew their approval and paid to have the invitations reprinted.

The lesbian couple were able to rent another hall quickly and without trouble. And therefore did not suffer any undue hardship. Not content with this, they victimized the Knight and colluded with the Costco manager to have him fired.

The story is that the Knight was accused of violence by Costco at a time when he and his wife were on vacation and could not possibly have committed the violence.

It is exceptionally useful to read people’s posts and the links they provide before leaping to conclusions. It is also useful to find out what the legal definitions of discrimination are.
 
No he didn’t… I stand behind the Knights in this 100%.
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Libero:
Was the person doing this denying people halls stuff during their own time, because I do not like the idea that companies fire people merely because of something they do outside of work, that has no effect during work.

But anyway, cancelling a booking, how childish is that, did they never think to speak to the people, and as if it is going to make a difference anyway, it has just made the Knights of Columbus look a bit silly.
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Two of his coworkers (also lesbians) from Costco asked to rent the Catholic hall. The Catholic hall approved their request, not knowing that they were lesbians. When they found out they were lesbians, they withdrew their approval and paid to have the invitations reprinted.
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Oh, they were his co workers, that makes so much more sense now. Presumably that is why costco got involved, although I still don’t think they should have.
 
There seems to have been some friction between Hauser and his co-workers even before the Knights of Columbus hall controversy.
He related that for months before Smith and her same-sex partner approached his wife for the hall rental, these same individuals had been asking him about his involvement with the hall, and knew that he was in charge of bookings.
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“In retrospect, they picked a time when they knew I would be at work to call my wife Sandra, who shows the hall when I am unavailable,” Hauser said. He is convinced the entire fiasco was orchestrated before the event.
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We don’t know in what manner those frictions increased after the controversy began, but they appear to have played a central role in his firing. He was accused of making violent threats against co-workers; that is the official reason for his firing. Hauser counters that gay managers were constantly trying to lure him into arguments and that they had been trying to get him fired.

I only know what Lifesite has printed about the firing, but it sounds as if Costco was a toxic workplace.
 
The Knights of Columbus was founded on On Oct. 2, 1881 by Father Michael J. McGivney, a 29-year old Catholic priest, for the purpose of defending the Catholic faith, their country and their families. They have done this for over a hundred years. Pope John-Paul II frequently praised the Knights of Columbus during his 27-year pontificate and called them “The Strong Right Arm of The Catholic Church”.

Now, it appears that they are in need of support from fellow Catholics especially since they were standing up for Catholic principles and beliefs. Please contact Costco to voice your disapproval … * Costco General Customer Service: 800-463-3783
Costco E-mail address: service@costco.ca
 
Sir Knight said:
The Knights of Columbus was founded on On Oct. 2, 1881 by Father Michael J. McGivney, a 29-year old Catholic priest, for the purpose of defending the Catholic faith, their country and their families. They have done this for over a hundred years. Pope John-Paul II frequently praised the Knights of Columbus during his 27-year pontificate and called them “The Strong Right Arm of The Catholic Church”.

Now, it appears that they are in need of support from fellow Catholics especially since they were standing up for Catholic principles and beliefs. Please contact Costco to voice your disapproval …
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For those in the US who may want to do this on this side of the border:
  • Costco General Member Service: 800-774-2678
  • Costco’s corporate mailing address is:
    PO Box 34331
    Seattle, WA 98124
  • EMail: E-Mail Us
PF
 
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WanderAimlessly:
For those in the US who may want to do this on this side of the border:
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Thanks! I just sent a note to them over email telling them I’m turning in my Costco card seeing how Costco wants to support people that discriminate against others that don’t agree with their sexual lifestyle.
 
Wander:

Some things which might ramp up this important protest:

Start a petition. Here is a website that lets you start a free petition.

Start a blog to support the petition. Here is a website that lets you start a free website. You are allowed seven pages. On the blog you can have daily commentary: your own, prominent people in the community, news links. You can even encourage folks from Catholic Answers to send in submissions for your blog.

Send weekly press releases to a media list.

Send the petition link to pro-life websites across North America.

If you need any email addresses then pm me. I can’t start this, because I am busy with the election. Ani
 
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soulspeak23:
I could say the EXACT same thing about the Catholic Church.
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The Catholic Church has a right to believe what they want to believe, as does any other faith group. They do not have the right to create faulty reports about people, fire them, and destroy their reputation. I don’t recall seeing any news stories about Catholics being nasty and forcing people out of jobs at Costco or any other business. The only stories you will hear are of secular people trying to infiltrate Catholic organizations and force them to change who get fired because of violations of rules they promised to uphold contractually, i.e. teachers having babies out of wedlock getting fired from Catholic schools. There are individuals in any group who are less than virtuous. At least if they are Catholic, we know they’re hypocrites.
 
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soulspeak23:
so, just a question here. But would you deny that same woman the right to rent the hall if she wanted to have a borthday party, lets say? Should lesbians not be allowed to celebrate anything?
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A lesbian can rent any number of nonCatholic venues for any celebration she chooses. The only lesbian who would attempt to rent a Catholic place is one who is trying to provoke people who disagree with her lifestyle. She is the intolerant one who will not leave people to their own views in peace and deserves to be rebuked for it. A Catholic trying to rent a gay bar for an anti-gay demonstration would be guilty of the same thing. Don’t let emotion get in the way of reason in your arguments. That’s a straw man if i ever saw one. :rolleyes:
 
I wrote Costco with this:
I just read the story of a Knights of Columbus man which was fired. The way the story reads is that two lesbians scouted out his hall, knowing full well that the hall is Catholic and knowing the Catholic religion doesn’t agree with same sex marriage, it seems as if they were forcing their agenda and lifestyle onto another person and religion. And now they are suing him because stood up to these women in defence of his religion. Regardless if the “Law of the Land” supports gay marriage, it is reprehensible to force that “Law” onto a person that doesn’t agree with it from a moral standpoint.

Due to this horrible standard, Costco has chosen to support the bashing and discrimination of a Catholic. I am hereby cancelling my membership
to Costco and encouraging my friends and family members to cancel theirs. I can’t support a company that chooses to support people that
want to force their way of life onto others and call it enlightenment and tolerance.

And this is how they replied: (I put in my screen name as my real name was originally used)

Dear tamccrackine,

The article regarding our former employee in Canada repeats a totally false accusation against our company. Honoring the confidentiality of
our employee relationships, we cannot disclose the basis of this employee’s termination. However, we can state categorically that we would never terminate any employee for reasons not directly related to his or her workplace performance, and would never be influenced in that decision by any activity outside the course of employment.

In short, I believe that you can continue to shop with us in complete confidence that we do not tolerate or condone bigotry of any kind.

Sincerely,

Anna Johnston
Member Services
Costco Wholesale

I’m still turning in my Costco card.
 
i like their response…

“didn’t happen like that… we can’t tell what happened… keep giving us money”

I bet they have a stack to send out to anyone who mails in 👍
 
Least they wrote ya back LOL!

Think I’ll be going to Sams Club anyway.

tamccrackine said:
I wrote Costco with this:
I just read the story of a Knights of Columbus man which was fired. The way the story reads is that two lesbians scouted out his hall, knowing full well that the hall is Catholic and knowing the Catholic religion doesn’t agree with same sex marriage, it seems as if they were forcing their agenda and lifestyle onto another person and religion. And now they are suing him because stood up to these women in defence of his religion. Regardless if the “Law of the Land” supports gay marriage, it is reprehensible to force that “Law” onto a person that doesn’t agree with it from a moral standpoint.

Due to this horrible standard, Costco has chosen to support the bashing and discrimination of a Catholic. I am hereby cancelling my membership
to Costco and encouraging my friends and family members to cancel theirs. I can’t support a company that chooses to support people that
want to force their way of life onto others and call it enlightenment and tolerance.

And this is how they replied: (I put in my screen name as my real name was originally used)

Dear tamccrackine,

The article regarding our former employee in Canada repeats a totally false accusation against our company. Honoring the confidentiality of
our employee relationships, we cannot disclose the basis of this employee’s termination. However, we can state categorically that we would never terminate any employee for reasons not directly related to his or her workplace performance, and would never be influenced in that decision by any activity outside the course of employment.

In short, I believe that you can continue to shop with us in complete confidence that we do not tolerate or condone bigotry of any kind.

Sincerely,

Anna Johnston
Member Services
Costco Wholesale

I’m still turning in my Costco card.
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CatholicCid:
i like their response…

“didn’t happen like that… we can’t tell what happened… keep giving us money”

I bet they have a stack to send out to anyone who mails in 👍
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Respectfully, why is it that the only response must be that Costco is trying to cover something up? Is it not even in the realm of possibility that this man may have done something else to warrant his termination? Costco claims that he had a violent altercation with another coworker in the workplace. I know if that was my company, I would have fired him for that as well.
 
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soulspeak23:
Is it not even in the realm of possibility that this man may have done something else to warrant his termination?
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The man in question may very well have done something to warrant his termination. According to his version of events, he didn’t get along with a lesbian co-worker so she tried to rent the KC hall just to tweak his nose.
“In retrospect, they picked a time when they knew I would be at work to call my wife Sandra, who shows the hall when I am unavailable,” Hauser said. He is convinced the entire fiasco was orchestrated before the event.
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He goes on to claim a homosexual conspiracy to get him fired from Costco.

From the Lifesite article, I got the impression that Hauser has a hot-tempered, abrasive personality. And that him making a violent threat was well within the realm of possibility.
 
Some extremely disturbing developments have occured. The Catholic Civil Rights League published this letter on their website:
The Catholic Civil Rights League (www.ccrl.ca) is pleased that a BC Human Rights Tribunal has upheld a Knights of Columbus council’s right to cancel a hall rental when the council learned the rental was for a lesbian “wedding” reception. The League notes, however, that the tribunal’s award of some costs to the women could itself be precedent-setting, and illustrates the extreme caution with which Church groups now must approach the exercise of their religious rights in similar circumstances.

In a decision issued November 29, 2005, the tribunal noted that while the council was entitled to cancel a rental that would be inconsistent with core teachings of the Catholic Church, the Knights were required to do so in way that would minimize hardship to the complainants, who, in the panel’s view, had also suffered an affront to their “dignity, feelings and self-respect.” The women were therefore awarded $1,000 each, plus $444.59 to cover costs incurred for reprinting and mailing new invitations and renting a new hall.
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This is a vexatious interpretion of undue hardship. Undue hardship would have been if no other halls were available. The fact of the matter is that the lesbian couple deliberately hired the hall, knowing the guy was a KofC. When they were turned down they called the media. This was planned from the start. :mad: So they ended up getting their hall for free, courtesy of the Catholic Church. At this rate we should be out of business in no time at all.
 
This is a warning to the KofC, and the Catholic community, that contracts for services (hall rentals, etc.) need to be carefully worded explaining the purpose and reason for the rental. These reasons need to be carefully reviewed before a legal contract is entered into. Finally, a clause needs to be included that any false statements or misrepresentations automaticly voids the contract.
 
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soulspeak23:
I could say the EXACT same thing about the Catholic Church.
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Or the Broccoli Haters, or the Carnies, or even the elderly. What’s your point?

I believe the judge cited the lesbian couple’s ignorance of the Knights’ affliation with the Catholic Church as due case for awarding them their pithy financial demand. Lifesite gathered several pictures of the hall (which the couple toured before renting) showing it to be clearly on Church property, have a large cross over the entrance and most doorways within, several photos of priests who work(ed) with KofC and finally, numerous large 2 fx 4 ft photos of Pope Benedict! We got seriously shafted and several ‘pro-gay’ newspapers have even lambasted the judge’s decision. Disconcerting, but nothing out of the ordinary for Canada.

I think a boycott is in order and this employee’s Bishop must speak to the media and to his congregation. Im going to spread the word to my family, avid Costco shoppers we are.
 
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