Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran — the subject of recent controversy over inflammatory remarks made in a self-published religious book — has been fired from the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, Mayor Kasim Reed announced today.
Cochran returned to work today following a month-long suspension for inflammatory comments in his 2013 book “Who Told You That You Are Naked?” Many criticized the book as promoting discriminatory and anti-gay views, while Cochran’s suspension has become the focus of a fight over religious liberty.
Cochran could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday.
Among what city leaders said were troubling remarks in the fire chief’s book was a description of homosexuality as a “perversion” akin to bestiality and pederasty. Reed said in November that such writings were inconsistent with the city’s employment policies and opened an investigation into potential discrimination within the fire department. The findings of that investigation have not yet been released.
Religious groups have rallied around Cochran, a church deacon at Elizabeth Baptist Church, decrying his punishment as an impingement on religious freedom.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition, a Duluth-based grass-roots conservative group launched by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, called for Cochran’s return to work last month.
In an “action alert” email sent in December, the coalition’s executive director, Tim Head, said Cochran “has as much right to speak and write about his beliefs as any Atlanta politician does.”
The fire chief also received support from the Georgia Baptist Convention. The organization is asking its members to sign an online petition calling on Reed to apologize to the fire chief, restore lost pay and “acknowledge Chief Cochran’s First Amendment Rights.”
Cochran served as Atlanta’s fire chief under former mayor Shirley Franklin in 2008 and later as President Barack Obama’s U.S. fire administrator.
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