In June 2014, the Salt Lake City Motorcycle Squad was assigned to participate in the Utah Pride Parade, performing choreographed maneuvers as they led the parade route. Eric Moutsos, a member of the exclusive unit, was scheduled to ride but requested to swap assignments because he felt uncomfortable in the role at the front of the parade.

A former Salt Lake City police officer who was put on leave and later resigned after he objected to riding in the motorcycle brigade at the front of a gay-pride parade spoke out for his religious rights last week.

“I felt that by being an actual participant in the parade, I would be perceived to be supporting certain messages that were contrary to who I am,” Eric Moutsos told the Deseret News. “I will protect their parade. But I just don’t want to be in the parade.”

In June 2014, the Salt Lake City Motorcycle Squad was assigned to participate in the Utah Pride Parade, performing choreographed maneuvers as they led the parade route. Eric Moutsos, a member of the exclusive unit, was scheduled to ride but requested to swap assignments because he felt uncomfortable in the role at the front of the parade.

Moutsos, a 33-year-old Mormon, sent an internal email asking to be reassigned to traffic duty, but his request was denied. Moutsos said he then conceded that he would ride in the parade, but two days later was put on leave. The story became public after police issued a news release stating an unnamed officer had been put on leave for refusing the gay-pride parade assignment. Gay rights supporters immediately labeled the officer a bigot, and the story became worldwide news. Moutsos quit a short time later, believing he could no longer work in Salt Lake City.

At first, Moutsos wanted to remain anonymous. But he recently changed his mind due to the Utah legislature’s debate over a bill to balance anti-discrimination rights with religious freedoms.

Source: Police Officer, Suspended over Gay Pride Parade, Defends Religious Liberty