The Patriot Post® · CrossFit Fires Christian Employee for Calling Gay Pride a Sin

A controversy over gay pride and religious beliefs has resulted in the closure of an Indianapolis CrossFit gym and the firing of a CrossFit “spokesman” who called gay pride a “sin.”

Crossfit Infiltrate coaches had organized a special workout program in honor of Pride Month without the permission of the local gym’s owner.

Brandon Lowe canceled the event and explained the reason why in a note, Buzzfeed News reports.

“We believe that true health forever can only be found within humility, not pride,” he wrote. “Humility is seeing oneself as they truly are, and as God truly defines them to be. As a business we will choose to deploy our resources towards those efforts and causes that line up with our values and beliefs.”

Russell Berger, the company’s self-described chief knowledge officer, was given the boot after he posted a series of Twitter messages defending the local owner’s decision.

“As someone who personally beliefs celebrating ‘pride’ is a sin, I’d like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfilitrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout,” Berger wrote. “The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative views is mind-blowing.”

Those words turned out to be prophetic, and in a matter of hours a hell storm descended upon the Indy gym and Mr. Berger.

The gym shut down and Mr. Berger was fired.

The company said the statements of its former chief knowledge officer did not reflect its values.

“He needs to take a big dose of ‘shut the f—k up’ and hide out for a while,” CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman told Buzzfeed News, referring to Mr. Berger. He went on to call Berger’s tweets “appalling.”

“We do so much good work with such pure hearts — to have some zealot in his off-time do something this stupid, we’re all upset. The whole company is upset,” Glassman ranted.

As for the Indianapolis gym, well, the owner released a statement to our Fox television affiliate.

“The unfortunate line that is being read about the gym grossly misrepresents what CrossFit Infiltrate stands for and what it believes. The majority of the reviews and statements being read about the gym largely point out that Infiltrate’s community has been incredible and welcoming and that the decision not to host an Indy Pride event is the reason we are called bigots or discriminative. However, let the history of the gym speak for itself and for the position we take in this divisive atmosphere. CrossFit Infiltrate welcomes, serves, and prioritizes training people to be fit and functional in body, mind, and spirit. It never has and never will be anything but welcoming to all human beings who live, move, and breathe in God’s world.”

So let’s break this down.

The owner of the Indianapolis CrossFit has every right to determine what kind of programs and events will be conducted in his gym. The coaches should’ve gotten permission.

Second, CrossFit had a right to fire Mr. Berger. He was its spokesman and his tweets could have been construed as the company’s opinion, not his. Mr. Berger admitted that to Buzzfeed and said he regretted how his tweets were interpreted.

“It became way too difficult to discern between me making statements of personal opinion and me speaking as a voice for CrossFit,” he said.

Regardless, what he said about intolerance is 100 percent accurate and was perfectly illustrated in the aftermath of this shameless display of anti-Christian bigotry.

“The tactics of some in the LGBTQ movement toward dissent is an existential threat to freedom of expression,” he wrote on Twitter in response to a critic. “The lack of tolerance for disagreement, which has been replaced with bullying Twitter mobs promising ‘consequences,’ should be a concern regardless of your political stance.”

It’s true. The Left wants to bully Christians into submission. Silence is the rule of the day. And woe be to anyone who dares utter a word of objection to its radical agenda.

I believe CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman, the intolerant, foul-mouthed, anti-Christian bully, spoke for many when he said, “Shut the f—k up.”