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Medic: I was fired for being gay

He filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city, saying he was harassed based on his sexual orientation and fired for “not being a good fit”

FEDERAL HEIGHTS, Colo. — A paramedic filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city of Federal Heights, saying he was fired for being gay.

Cory, who did want his last name used, said he told his supervisors he was gay six months after starting work as a paramedic with the Federal Heights Fire Department in 2012, CBS4 reports.

Soon after, he said his colleagues began to harass him with gay slurs, telling him to “act like a man,” and “put down your purse,” and playing pornographic movies and asking if he’d ever seen female sexual organs before.

He filed a complaint with a supervisor after an employee confronted him and threatened violence.

Federal Heights released a statement: “We have not officially received the lawsuit. We cannot comment because it’s a personnel issue.”

“I was labeled a rat,” Cory said. “Workers were told, ‘Don’t talk to him, he’ll get you in trouble.’”

He said a supervisor then placed him on probation and stepped up his workload. In February 2014, his supervisor called him into his office and fired him.

“I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong so I asked him to clarify,” Cory said. “He just said, ‘You’re not a good fit here.’”

He filed a discrimination lawsuit, saying he wants to send a message.

“This is not the 1950s anymore,” he said.

He’s since been hired at a local hospital.

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