Toronto-- On the same day Canada's historic same-sex marriage bill passed through the House of Commons, thousands of emails were pouring into allstate Insurance Company over conservative columnist J. Matt Barber.
allstate may have unwittingly spawned an anti-same-sex-marriage martyr in the spunky J. Matt Barber.
Barber, a former employee of the insurance giant was fired--allegedly terminated, all for writing a column posted on several websites that was critical of same sex marriage and espousing his signature Christian beliefs.
as WorldNetDaily first reported, J. Matt Barber was a manager in allstate's Corporate Security Division, its investigative arm, at the Fortune 100 company headquarters in Northbrook, Ill.
That was Barber's five-year long day job. In addition to beating the drums as a Chicago jazz musician, Barber writes columns published on the Internet, on his own time. Canadafreepress.com has been proud to carry Barber's columns since November 2004.
The kind of guy who throws as much punch into his columns as he does in the ring as a professional heavyweight boxer, Barber takes his job as a web commentator seriously. He always meets his deadlines, and judging from the flood of letters we receive, Barber has attracted an impressive readership both here and in the U.S.
Our american columnist was pleased when one of his columns posted to the CFP site was picked up by the popular WorldNetDaily.
"Didn't know if you saw over the weekend or not…my latest article on your site made it to WorldNetDaily's commentary page. Below is the cached link. Scroll down to "Changing of the Guard". Thanks again for putting it up. I love your website by the way! It's nice to know we have such steadfast Conservative partners in the Great White North," Barber wrote CFP on Nov. 22.
In December, Barber wrote a column against same sex marriage and posted on the Internet that apparently offended insurance peddling Pooh-bahs at the mighty allstate. The Pooh-bahs, reportedly tipped off by gay activists, didn't spring into action until long after the annual Christmas staff party was a wrap.
at work at the office on Jan. 31, Barber was called into a meeting with two human resources types, one of whom Barber says "slapped down" a printed copy of the offending column in front of him, demanding to know if he had written it.
In typical style, Barber immediately owned up to the crime, (a) having written the column on his own time, (b) in the privacy of his own abode, and (c) on his own personal computer.
Besides, columnists have opinions.
The motto for allstate, which in recent years has become a biggie in the financial support of homosexual advocacy groups, is: "You're in good hands with allstate."
Barber, as it turns out, was not.
In politically correct lockstep, allstate have officials every bit as good at mouthing platitudes as they are at selling insurance.
Once admitting to having written the column, Barber claims he was icily told: "Here at allstate we have a very diverse community."
allstate's human resources assistant vice president concluded that the column did not reflect allstate's view and told Barber that he could consider himself suspended with pay. Like a petty thief, he was then escorted off company grounds–"which was humiliating" the former employee said.
This is the timeline of Barber's dismissal after five years as an allstate employee, written by CFP fellow columnist Nathan Tabor: Just two weeks before being pink-slipped (no pun intended), Matt's wife gave birth to their third child in four years, following a highly-stressful, high-risk pregnancy. She was still in recovery from C-section surgery when allstate callously snatched away both their medical insurance and their means of providing for their young family. additionally, the Barbers are losing their home, and may have to declare bankruptcy due to allstate's allegedly illegal actions.
according to Tabor, "in recent years allstate has aligned itself with several activist homosexual organizations, in addition to contributing large sums of money to the most militant of these organizations, including LaMBDa (www.lambda.org) and GLaaD (www.glaad.org)."
all allstate employees must undergo "diversity training" in recognition of the homosexual lifestyle. Within the work environment, the insurance giant prohibits any vocalized opposition of either homosexuality or same-sex marriage.
The same "diverse community" at allstate does not cover the protection of Christians in the workplace.
Barber decided to sue the insurance giant. David won't be facing Goliath alone in the battle, as some 15,000 emails flooded allstate brass after the american Family association informed its supporters of the lawsuit.
"David Gibbs III, Terri Schiavo's former attorney, is preparing for a new foray into america's intense Culture War. This time the battle will take place on the same-sex marriage front, and his adversary will be Chicago-based allstate Insurance Company," wrote Tabor.
Meanwhile, as he's done many times in the boxing ring, Barber may be down, but he'll never be out for the count.
"all of this notwithstanding, my personal faith and optimism remain intact. I always knew that people were persecuted in the workplace for their religious beliefs, but I never imagined it would happen to my family and me. We're losing our home, and we may be forced into bankruptcy; but I know that somehow, God will provide. I believe it's crucial to take a stand for truth, even if that stand results in suffering in the long term."
Those are the words of J. Matt Barber, a prizefighter both in and out of the ring.
Meanwhile, as Nathan Tabor would put it, "You're not in good hands with allstate."
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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