Rep. Chip Roy calls termination of Austin Fire Department chaplain ‘cowardly,’ ‘unconstitutional’

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas called the termination of the Austin Fire Department’s chaplain “cowardly” and “likely unconstitutional” on Tuesday after the chaplain caused controversy over beliefs about gender theory.

Dr. Andrew Fox, former chaplain for the AFD, has filed a lawsuit claiming he was unfairly fired for offering theological opposition to gender theory and transgenderism in sports.

Roy’s office spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, giving a statement in support of Cox. In the statement, Roy accuses the Texas city of leading a “leftist inquisition to bar Christians” from public service.

“The Austin Fire Department’s firing of lead chaplain Dr. Andrew Fox for expressing his beliefs in the face of anonymous criticism is wrong, cowardly, and likely unconstitutional,” Roy said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. “The city of Austin is effectively leading a leftist inquisition to bar Christians — or anyone with the sincere and simple belief that boys aren’t girls — from serving the City.”

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The representative continued, “But blessed are the persecuted, and great is their reward. I applaud Dr. Andrew Fox and Alliance Defending Freedom for fighting this egregious wrong in the courts, and I pray for a just and righteous outcome.”

Fox wrote an opinion column for Fox News on Monday detailing his termination from the chaplaincy.

“I’m an ordained minister who served as the city’s lead chaplain in a volunteer capacity for eight years, providing support to the 1,400 uniformed and civilian members of Austin’s fire department. My role was to show up for them—anytime, anywhere: a 24-7 resource firefighters could call upon when they were struggling,” Fox wrote. 

The Austin chaplain was fired from his position after posting theological viewpoints about sex and gender to his personal blog.

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“Unfortunately, I’m writing in the past tense because I’m no longer a chaplain for the Austin Fire Department,” Fox wrote. “I was fired from my volunteer role because I shared my religious views on my personal blog — views which city officials could not tolerate. The controversial viewpoint that extinguished my career? Writing about my religious and commonsense view that men and women are biologically different, and men should not compete on women’s sports teams.”

Austin officials demanded Fox make an apology for his blog post and take back his statement. 
 
“When city officials demanded that I recant and apologize for the harm my blog post allegedly caused, I explained that my intent was to foster discussion, not cause offense. And I apologized if anyone was offended,” the minister said. “I could not, however, recant my beliefs or apologize for my faith.”

Austin officials say they are aware of Fox’s intentions to file a lawsuit, but that they had not received one yet.

“The City of Austin heard of the lawsuit through the news media but has not received a lawsuit yet,” the city said in a statement. “When we do, we’ll follow our regular process to respond to a lawsuit brought against the City.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Austin Fire Department for comment and did not receive a response.