Home / Sexuality / Gay Rights / Lesbian Coach Fired for Threatening to Burn Down Memories Pizza Because of their Stance on Gay Marriage

Lesbian Coach Fired for Threatening to Burn Down Memories Pizza Because of their Stance on Gay Marriage

crystal-o-connor

Jess Dooley

When it was exposed that Memories Pizza would become the first business in Indiana to say they would never serve their food at a gay wedding, thousands of people posted angry messages on social media.  [6] But one of them less subtle than other apparently crossed the line. An Elkhart County high school has fired a former assistant softball coach who created a stir when she suggested on Twitter that a Walkerton pizzeria should be “burned down” for its stance against catering a hypothetical same-sex wedding.  [2] Jess Dooley, an assistant coach at Concord High School, posted the tweet last month after the owners of Memories Pizza said they would never discriminate against a gay person who wanted to eat at their restaurant, but would object to catering same-sex unions. [2]  Dooley is not a licensed teacher, but she worked as a teacher’s aide at Concord Intermediate School under the employment of Goshen Community Schools through the Elkhart County Special Education Cooperative. [2] Concord Community Schools issued a statement condemning Ms. Dooley’s tweet, saying “the active promotion of illegal violence cannot be permitted.” [9] Ms. Dooley admitted making this statement and she was suspended without pay pending the completion of Concord Community Schools’ investigation. [9] Later on, Concord Community Schools Superintendent Wayne Stubbs confirmed to The Goshen News that Jessica Dooley was terminated. [1] Dooley had been suspended since April 1 after she suggested burning down Memories Pizza in Walkerton over the owners’ support for a new religious objects law that critics called anti-gay. [1]  The district’s board of directors finalized the move Monday. “The promotion of harmful, illegal activity…by a lay coach is unacceptable,” Stubbs said in the statement. ” [2] She has learned a difficult lesson concerning the incorrect use of electronic communications.” [2]  ‘Perhaps these events will serve as a valuable example of the care and caution that one must exercise before hastily sending an ill-crafted, electronic message that can reach literally millions of readers.’  [6] Dooley’s Twitter post came at the height of the volatile debate over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In the tweet, Dooley said, “Who’s going to Walkerton, IN to burn down #memoriespizza w me?” [2]  The tweet was among the threats against Memories Pizza that prompted local police to increase patrols in downtown Walkerton, and the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office is weighing possible criminal charges over the tweet. [2] Jessica McBrier, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said in an email that a charging decision could come by the end of the week. [2]

dooley--tweet

Fallout over the law sparked boycotts of Indiana and led lawmakers to revise its language to address concerns that it could be used as a legal defense for discrimination.  St. Joseph County prosecutors are reviewing Dooley’s case. The prosecutor’s office has asked the St. Joseph County Cyber Crimes Unit to be involved in the investigation. [11]  A phone listing for Dooley wasn’t available Tuesday, Breitbart reported. [1]

As the Inquisitr previously reported, since coming forward on its stance on gay marriage, Memories Pizza has temporarily shut its doors due to the overwhelming amount of death threats and negative Yelp reviews it has received. [7] A GoFundMe page has launched for the pizza place, and at the time of this post, $299,260 has been raised.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

————————————————
[2] Jess Dooley, Concord fires assistant softball coach over Memories Pizza tweet, South Bend Tribune, Wednesday, April 22, 2015 7:00 am
[3] Kylee Wierks, Coach fired over Twitter threat to Indiana pizza shop, FOX59, 1:39 PM, April 21, 2015
[5] Randy DeSoto, Lesbian Coach Who Called For Burning Down ‘Memories Pizza’ Fired, Western Journalism, April 23, 2015 at 4:44pm
[9] Jessica Chasmar, Ind. high school golf coach suspended for threat to torch ‘no gay marriage’ pizzeria, The Washington Times, Thursday, April 2, 2015
[10] Coach Fired Over Threat To Indiana Pizzeria, Weazel Zippers, April 22, 2015 7:21 pm

 

About Bill Wallace

Bill Wallace is a self-fashioned writter, a computer programmer and cybermarketer from Quebec City, Canada who decided to enter the political arena after his disillusionment with the socialist system under which he was living in the French Canadian province of Quebec.

Leave a Reply