Texas Bus Driver Sues For Discrimination; Religious Reasons–For the Suzy ALLCAPSLOCK Files

I always knew the U.S. were known for two things; their litigiousness and their ever growing wingnuttiness. Particularly religious wingnuttiness.  Just when you think the law suit or the religious belief doesn’t get more ridiculous, more stories proving us wrong come up.

Here is the doozy: a bus driver in Texas is suing for discrimination based on his religious beliefs. Why? Get this one, boys n’ girls; because of his religious beliefs. No, I’m not kidding.  He was fired for refusing to take women to Planned Parenthood Centers.

Edwin Graning, who was hired as a driver on April 1, 2009, was “concerned that he might be transporting a client to undergo an abortion” when he was assigned to take two women to Planned Parenthood, according to his lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Austin.

Graning is seeking reinstatement, back pay and undisclosed damages for pain, suffering and emotion distress. He is represented by lawyers from the American Center for Law & Justice, founded by evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson.

Joanna Salinas, an Austin lawyer who represents the Capital Area Rural Transportation System, said, “CARTS denies that it discriminated against Mr. Graning because of his religion, and we are looking forward to responding to the lawsuit in court.”

The system, operated under an agreement among participating counties, offers bus service on fixed routes and through requested pickup for residents in the nonurban areas of Travis and Williamson counties and in all of Bastrop, Burnet, Blanco, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays and Lee counties.

After he was dispatched to take the women to Planned Parenthood in January, Graning called his supervisor “and told her that, in good conscience, he could not take someone to have an abortion,” his lawsuit said. The women’s names, their location and the clinic location were not included in the lawsuit. Planned Parenthood also provides health care services unrelated to abortion.

Graning, a Kyle resident, is “an ordained Christian minister who is opposed to abortion,” the lawsuit said.

His supervisor, who is not named, responded by saying, “Then you are resigning,” the suit said.

Graning denied he was resigning and was later told to drive his bus back to the yard and then was fired, the lawsuit said.

Graning’s suit claims violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Read the rest here.

Yes,  the good Reverend thinks he deserves the keys to the courthouse in addition to a king’s ransome from his former employer from ‘preventing’ women from having abortions. And of course he does! What were his employers thinking? He’s a super hero! He saved the day! Hurrah! Hell! Give him the keys to the city! Never mind all the pap smears, counselling and other female health exams and treatments he may have prevented, but hell, it was all worth it! By Golly Gee! He saved the fetuses!!

Me thinks this wacked out bus driver has prohibited his own employment opportunities by not taking paying customers to where they want and have paid to go just because he doesn’t approve of what the customer may or may not be doing at said destination; in this case, possible abortions at a Planned Parenthood Center. 

In our minds, the Reverend Graning’s law suit should be a no brainer.  The case would and should be thrown out and he should be laughed out of court in much the same way as Orly Taitz, right? Well, we can hope that would happen.  But, let’s be realistic, Texas is the bible belt of the U.S. and folks tend to get more wingnutty as time goes by, and the very fact that a judge seemed to have agreed to keep the case on the docket is, well, disturbing to say the least. Don’t be surprised if  Reverend Bus driver does recover back pay, gets his job back and of course, gets the special privilege of either by passing the Planned Parenthood center entirely or having the route changed to the point he would never even have to pass within view of the building.

This oughta make Suzy ALLCAPSLOCK all warm and tingly inside. A hero after her own heart, right up there after Pope Ratzy, Cardinal Mar Ouellet, Dean Del Mastro and Sharon Angle.

H/T Blag Hag