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A Georgia cop, Jacob Kersey, resigned from his job as authorities investigated him for posting “there’s no such thing as gay marriage” on social media.
The 19-year-old cop was placed in the department in Port Wentworth before he left the forces. However, the cop has now stated that he believes that he was pressurized into quitting his job because of his Facebook post on gay marriage.
All of this happened after, in a Facebook post, Jacob Kersey wrote:
“God designed marriage. Marriage refers to Christ and the church. That's why there's no such thing as homosexual marriage.”
He then claimed that his superiors flagged his post, after an “anonymous complaint” reached them, which further led to a warning. After that, Kersey was placed on paid administrative leave. All of this was a result of Jacob not deleting the Facebook post.
However, as soon as he learned that he could face termination, he was quick to hand over his resignation. At the moment, Jacob is consulting a law firm and is reportedly contemplating taking legal action against the concerned people.
Maj. Bradwick Sherrod sent out a letter to Jacob Kersey explaining the law for same-sex marriage
After the whole fiasco, Maj. Bradwick Sherrod sent out a letter to Jacob Kersey, in which he addressed the department’s allegations against him, and how the force “did not find sufficient evidence to establish a violation of any policies.”
However, he also said that his posts could raise “reasonable concerns” for the LGBTQ+ community.
In the letter, Maj. Bradwich said:
“As we have discussed previously, please be reminded that if any post on any of your social media platforms, or any other statement or action, renders you unable to perform, and to be seen as able to perform, your job in a fair and equitable manner, you could be terminated.”
Maj. Bradwich also explained to Kersey that same-sex marriages are legal in Georgia, and the entire USA, since 2015. While in a meeting with the department, Jacob Kersey clarified that he did not want to resign, as he felt that he did nothing wrong. He said:
“I did nothing wrong, and they told me that. That’s the reason they did not fire me. They wanted me to come back to work, but they were trying to create a new department policy that would prevent me from saying anything that someone somewhere could consider offensive.”
This is not the first time that Jacob Kersey has expressed his views candidly on social media, as he has posted views of similar nature in the past. However, at the time, he claimed that the authorities warned him that if he kept posting such content, he would be fired. Hence, he eventually chose to quit.
Jacob Kersey also mentioned that there were several members of the department who came up to him and told him that he did nothing wrong.
