A Gay, Black Fireman Files Discrimination Lawsuit Against the City of San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN/CBS SF) — A San Francisco firefighter who contends that he was harassed and discriminated against in the workplace because he is gay and Black filed an amended lawsuit last week against the City of San Francisco.
Keith Baraka, a 23-year employee of the San Francisco Fire Department, alleges in the lawsuit filed Jan. 19 that during the nearly 11 years he served at Station 6, a fire station in the Castro District, he experienced “a nightmarish series of events” beginning after he put a rainbow pride sticker on his helmet “to communicate that he was a member of the community that was being served by Station 6.”
He alleges that co-workers and supervisors harassed him and referred to him with derogatory names and racial slurs. His locker was broken into repeatedly and his belongings stolen or destroyed. According to his court filing, when he entered the firehouse kitchen and greeted the “non-black” occupants, “they would all stand up and leave.”
