Austin Settles for $78,000 With Fire Chaplain Axed Over Post on Men in Women's Sports

The city of Austin, Texas, has reached a $78,000 settlement with Andrew Fox, a fire department chaplain who was fired for a social media post stating that men should not compete in women's sports. The settlement represents a vindication for Fox and a costly lesson for the city, which effectively acknowledged that terminating an employee over a privately held religious and moral conviction about biological sex was indefensible. The case joins a growing body of settlements and court rulings that have pushed back against employers who fire workers for expressing mainstream religious views on gender and sexuality outside the workplace.