Fired Lesbian Police Chief Gets Outpouring Of Support From Tiny South Carolina Town

[ismnotwasm]

WASHINGTON -- It's been a rough week for Crystal Moore. She got fired from her job as the police chief in Latta, S.C., despite a spotless 20-year record with the department, and she's not alone in believing the town's new mayor fired her because she's a lesbian. It's the first time she hasn't had a job since she was 9, her health insurance runs out at the end of the month and she doesn't know where her next paycheck will come from.

But if the firing weren't enough of a shock, something else unexpected happened: Her community -- a tiny conservative town of about 1,410 residents -- is rising to her defense and demanding that she get her job back.

Dozens of people have picketed outside town hall and held prayer vigils. Kids she met while patrolling at a school have told her they support her. Members of the town council voted to take action to go around Mayor Earl Bullard and try to reinstate her job. Her former team of officers calls her every day to lend their support. And teachers, preachers and counselors in town have all approached her to tell her she deserves her job back and that her sexual orientation should have nothing to do with her job.

"People call us the Bible Belt in the South, and to have so much support is awesome. I'm going to tell you, it's amazing," Moore told The Huffington Post. "The good Lord has really blessed me with a lot of family and friends."
Even people that Moore threw in jail say they want her back as the police chief.
"We just had a big case with a firearms place broken into, and even the people we investigated came up and hung their necks and said, 'You did your job. We respect you for that,'" she said. "They're saying, 'I'm helping Ms. Crystal to keep her job and she's the one who locked me up.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/crystal-moore-fired-lesbian-police-chief_n_5187553.html

[iandhr]

1. Stuff like this restores my faith in humanity.

[burrowowl]

2. K&R