Driver says he’ll quit if he’s made to drive rainbow Pride bus
By Will Stroude
A bus driver in Calgary, Canada, says he’ll quit his job if he’s made to drive a rainbow Pride bus.
The city’s transportation department has given the vehicle a colourful makeover in honour of this weekend’s Calgary Pride Festival, but Jesse Rau, who’s worked as a city bus driver for just a year, says that operating the bus would conflict with his Christian views and he’d rather quit his job than be made to drive it.
“I have a family to support and I am very concerned about losing the job, it’s something I’m very proud to be a part of, but when it goes against the most important things I stand for, or if I’m asked to compromise in such a big way for what I believe to be right, then I have to lose my job,” Rau told CTV Calgary.
“I’m a Christian so, as a Christian, there are things like homosexuality that I just can’t condone. Unfortunately, we live in a culture where if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, the accusation is that you hate the person.”
The director of Calgary Transit, Doug Morgan, says drivers can only refuse to work based on safety issues, and that while they will consult with the driver, “the service has to go out”.
“What we would do is open a dialogue with them and chat with them and ask them about their issues and making sure we’re being sensitive to their beliefs, but overall the service has to go out and we would ask them to drive the bus,” Morgan said.
Calgary Pride’s director of government affairs, Craig Sklenar, says the bus is a symbol of progress, but that the city still has further to go towards LGBT acceptance.
“It’s a sign of the change in Calgary,” said Sklenar. “There’s still much to do in as much as LGBTQ rights are concerned but we are excited there is such public displays of pride across the city over the next few weeks.”
Frankly, the idea of a homophobe having to operate what is effectively a 10-tonne mobile rainbow flag sounds like a Pride miracle to us. Have a good one, Calgary.
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