Wow. Guess freedom of speech just doesn't exist anymore.

Originally Posted by Jason Tate

How ignorant are you?




Oh god. No they don't.


This is about gay rights.


Source?


Because this isn't protesting, and should be acceptable.


Based upon what? The assumption that all Christian centered companies hate gay marriage?

Have you ever worked in a professional office environment? As for my "source", look in any companies policies and procedures, everything is clearly laid out regarding religion or politics in the workplace.

And yes, you can get in trouble for celebrating Christmas at certain companies. At one of my last engineering jobs, Christmas was coming around, and every year we have a "Holiday Party". Well, one of the department leads decided that he wanted to make flyers promoting the "Christmas Party", he was warned to replace Christmas with Holiday because the Christian holiday could offend some people.

If you don't work first hand in these types of places, don't speak on anything.

This makes me so incredibly angry I could punch a donkey. But I know that wouldn't help anything.

I hate religion.

I hate saying it but it is completely his own fault.
Wearing anything political or religious always has the potential to offend people, and in doing so you have to be held responsible for the potential consequences. If you want to wear something like that at work, ask permission first.

Trust me, I don't like it, I wish I could wear my lip/nose ring in my office and not have to cover my tatoos, but unfortunately western society is not there yet (I am not sure it will ever be). I am completely pro expressing your beliefs and views in whatever which way you want to, but if your going to do it at work, be responsible enough to ask someone first.

If he was fired because he was seen wearing this shirt on his own time, than that is a serious problem.

Reading through all of these posts is INCREDIBLY disheartening. I'm not just a guy who "read up on the issue." Wes is a dear friend of mine and Rocketown has been the FIRST venue my band has sought out to book all of our hometown shows here in Nashville for nearly 4 years. The reason for that was the venues seemingly endless connection to the youth of Nashville and what I thought was a cohesive mission to broaden the next generations possibilities as human beings.

It doesn't matter what Rocketown is allowed to do legally. It doesn't matter what Wes did wrong or right (in terms of ethics, workplace logic or otherwise.) It doesn't matter if bands stop playing at the venue (including mine). It doesn't matter if the venue offers an apology.

What matters is that the actions of the venue and what we as a public have guided the issue to be will cause irreparable damage to the development of the kids who go to Rocketown every day after school. The kids who identify as LGBT will feel unguided and confused and the kids who identify as "straight" will be more likely to regard them as unwelcome in a world built on what their parents choose to explain as "the way god intended things."

Ask the two guys who killed Matthew Shepard if they had a youth organization like Rocketown helping to guide their understanding of human ethics as children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

Originally Posted by KenFleet

Reading through all of these posts is INCREDIBLY disheartening. I'm not just a guy who "read up on the issue." Wes is a dear friend of mine and Rocketown has been the FIRST venue my band has sought out to book all of our hometown shows here in Nashville for nearly 4 years. The reason for that was the venues seemingly endless connection to the youth of Nashville and what I thought was a cohesive mission to broaden the next generations possibilities as human beings.

It doesn't matter what Rocketown is allowed to do legally. It doesn't matter what Wes did wrong or right (in terms of ethics, workplace logic or otherwise.) It doesn't matter if bands stop playing at the venue (including mine). It doesn't matter if the venue offers an apology.

What matters is that the actions of the venue and what we as a public have guided the issue to be will cause irreparable damage to the development of the kids who go to Rocketown every day after school. The kids who identify as LGBT will feel unguided and confused and the kids who identify as "straight" will be more likely to regard them as unwelcome in a world built on what their parents choose to explain as "the way god intended things."

Ask the two guys who killed Matthew Shepard if they had a youth organization like Rocketown helping to guide their understanding of human ethics as children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

Exactly. Situations like this are about much more than one instance. It sends a damaging message.

Jason was making that argument when the For Today tweets were first posted, and it stands here

Originally Posted by NotEmo.JustMe

I'm actually a regular attendee at Rocketown functions and shows...so I think I have a much better understanding of this venue than *almost* everyone else here.

Rocketown is very open about their viewpoints concerning religion. Their employees do have a rulebook (literally) and the man that was let go knew he wasn't supposed to wear the shirt. He actually wore this shirt seeeeeveral months ago, not last week or anything so recent.

Rocketown is way more than a music venue, they have numerous community/support groups and I attend several of them. There is such an effort to let kids who come here know that they are loved, supported, and appreciated for being who they are. There are openly gay kids who come here because they know it's a place they won't be judged--I know many of them. A close friend of mine who chooses to look differently than her peers gets little love or respect at her school so I invited her to a group I go to at Rocketown and she now regularly attends with me because, as she told me, it's a place she feels accepted for being who she is.

Bottom line here is that this guy knew he wasn't supposed to wear the shirt and he did. The rules have been in place before he ever worked there. I'd love to know why Wes decided to wear the shirt, but I know none of the other liberal-leaning people working here (which are quite a fair few) have made the decision to do the same.

Also, I feel like Wes wasn't even the one making a big deal about this. All he did was post a photo and this band was the one that kicked up all the dust. Does anyone know of him saying anything else about this? (honestly just curious here, not trying to sound facetious...)

He released a statement afterwords including the line "please respect my privacy". I got the impression he didn't want it to blow up to the point it did.