 Give us your opinion here 
 
 CHAMPAIGN — A Social Security Administration employee who believes he shouldn't have to watch a workplace diversity video about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, because it violates his religious beliefs, fears he may lose his job because of it. David Hall, 42, of Tolono has worked for the federal agency for 14 years, based in the Champaign office as an area systems coordinator, an information technology position. In late April, Hall said, employees nationwide received an email from the agency about a 17-minute LGBT diversity and inclusion training video that they were told to watch at their work stations. As a result, an official reprimand was placed in his file — the first he has ever received, he says — and he was suspended without pay for two days, Aug. 15-16. "If that's the case," says Skora, "Then he shouldn't have any problem watching the video, knowing that, as much as he may be disagreeing with its content, he will be treating everybody equitably at the end of the video as he did at the beginning of the video." So, he asked his supervisors for a religious accommodation to abstain from the training, which was denied. "I think this is an issue they are prepared to go to the mat with, but I'm not going to give up my faith or compromise my beliefs just to go along and get along. Responding to questions from The News-Gazette on Wednesday, Doug Nguyen, communications director for the SSA's Chicago region, wrote in an emailed statement that "in support of an inclusive work environment, as well as exemplary customer service, the Social Security Administration recently announced a diversity and inclusion training on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community to our employees. "This mandatory video training reminds our employees of their responsibility, as representatives of the agency, to provide the highest levels of service to our customers," Nguyen went on to say. "The training includes a brief session on tips for increasing cultural awareness in a diverse and inclusive environment. We are unable to comment on specific personnel matters." We sat down with him to let him explain his position, but that's something LGBT community leaders say makes no sense. Hall replied, "How do YOU know that it's not, that it's prompting awareness? Hall says despite his position, he has LGBT friends and family members, and supports their right to fight him on this issue. Craddock also recently represented the owner of Ford County's Timber Creek Bed and Breakfast, who objected to hosting same-sex weddings for religious reasons. Earlier this year, the B&B near Paxton that turned down a same-sex couple's request to hold a civil-union ceremony there in 2011 was ordered by an administrative law judge to pay $30,000 in damages to the couple and $50,000 to their attorneys and to stop violating the Illinois Human Rights Act by denying couples access to the facility based on their sexual orientation.
– David Hall would rather lose a job he's held for 14 years than watch a 17-minute video. The 42-year-old Social Security Administration employee is making headlines over his months-long refusal to watch a training video about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender diversity as part of an initiative "in support of an inclusive work environment, as well as exemplary customer service," per an SSA rep for the Chicago region. The Illinois man tells the News-Gazette and WCIA that all SSA employees were informed by email in April that they'd need to individually watch the video and then sign a paper verifying they had done so; Hall, who says the video clashes with his Christian belief that homosexuality is a sin, didn't, even after his supervisor instructed him to do so on June 2 and 24. Hall didn't budge after that either, but he did ask for a religious accommodation. It was denied, and so he ended up with a two-day suspension without pay in August. "My complaint is more with the fact that it was mandatory," he tells WCIA, explaining that he can't recall any previous obligatory videos "for veterans, the disabled, blacks, Hispanics, or anything else." The site notes that his IT job in the Champaign office is one that doesn't involve interaction with Social Security recipients. Hall says he's been told that the consequences will keep coming until he watches the video, and his expectation is that he'll eventually lose his job, though he's enlisted the help of a Chicago attorney. (This worker was fired for smoking pot; then Connecticut's Supreme Court stepped in.)