Man fired after wearing Bible verse T-shirts during Pride Month settles lawsuit

An Iowa man who claimed he was fired from his job for wearing Bible verse t-shirts during Pride Month has settled his lawsuit with his former employer

Cosby Corey Cunningham says he's a born-again Christian, and in June 2023, his then-employer, Eaton Corporation, held a Pride Month ceremony in which company officials raised a pride flag in front of its main building

encouraged employees to wear specific colors that represent LGBTQ pride, and sent emails to employees offering pride-themed T-shirts that they could buy

In response, Cunningham began wearing Bible-themed shirts to work, showing his religious beliefs

According to his lawsuit, one of his shirts read, Pride goes before destruction, an arrogant spirit before a fall, Proverbs 16, 18

Another shirt read, Taking Back the Rainbow, Genesis 9-13. And a third read, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, James 4-6

Then in July 2023 the Human Resources Department asked Cunningham to attend a meeting in which HR told him that his religious t were making some employees feel uncomfortable and were inflammatory toward the LGBTQ plus community according to his lawsuit Cunningham had asked HR to show him in writing which company policy he was supposedly violating by wearing those shirts He also asked for

religious accommodation to wear the t-shirts, which the company denied. According to his lawsuit

Eaton threatened to fire him over the issue and sent him home twice for wearing the shirts

After a few meetings, Eaton fired Cunningham in August 2023, citing the company's harassment-free

policy. Cunningham filed two formal complaints, one with the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission and another with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. In August 2024, after going through

the EEOC and Iowa process, Cunningham filed a lawsuit in federal court. Cunningham accused

Eaton of religious discrimination by not accommodating his religious beliefs and treating him unfairly because of those beliefs. In response to Cunningham's claims of religious

discrimination, Eaton's legal team argued that Cunningham was not entitled to any damages

as reported by KCRG News. Court documents show the case was dismissed on May 20th. However

the specifics of the settlement remain unclear. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan

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