Alcatraz Deckhand Fired for “Acting Too Gay”: Charge

Efforts to organize an employee union may have also played a role

Vincent Atos got a show of support today with a rally at Pier 33 led by the Harvey Milk LGBT Club and Pride at Work after Atos was fired as a deckhand serving the Alcatraz ferry operated by Hornblower Cruises.

Atos alleges that he was fired last year for "acting too gay," and has brought the matter up with the City's Human Rights Commission.

Milk Club co-president David Waggoner told the San Francisco Weekly that Atos was alleged to have made inappropriate sexual comments but in the context of a workplace that was routinely sexualized by coworkers, one of whom even brought porn to work.

Might not have helped Atos that he was also working to organize a union. Which, like acting gay, is not actually a crime or reasonable grounds for dismissal in any San Francisco workplace.

Jackson West wonders how anyone could be too gay for an organization named "Hornblower."

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