Lawsuit: 'I was fired for no other reason than that I am gay'

A description of one of the allegations in the suit concerning an incident at Churchill Downs has been corrected.

A woman who worked 15 years for Park Community Credit Union says she was harassed and ultimately fired because she is a lesbian.

Penelope Hudson alleges when she worked at the credit union's offices in Louisville and Southern Indiana she was told she looked “too butch” to deal with customers, was called “unprofessional” because she wore her hair short, and was told by a supervisor “because you’re gay, you don’t believe in God," according to the suit filed Friday in Jefferson Circuit Court.

She also says she was grilled about her reasons for taking time off under the Family Leave Act by a supervisor who said, “We wanted to make sure it’s not because you’re gay.”

Jim Spradlin, the credit union’s CEO, said the financial institution “vehemently denies the allegations made against us and will defend our position through all legal means,” in a statement released by Boxcar PR.

More:Judge says he won't hear gay adoptions because it could never be in child's best interest

More:Kim Davis avoids legal fees in gay marriage suit

Spradlin also said: “We take great pride in the diversity of our workforce and embrace each employee as a part of our family. We look forward to the public learning the truth about our organization, which is that our incredible employees are a treasure that we value.”

Her lawyer, Shannon Fauver, said “what happened to Penelope is wrong – and there is a growing consensus in federal courts … that this kind of employment discrimination based on sexual orientation is clearly illegal under existing law," according to a news release about the case issued by Freedom for All Americans, a bipartisan group that campaigns for protection for LGBT people nationwide.

Freedom for All Americans says that Kentucky is one of 31 states that offer no explicit protections from discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

The suit, however, seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages under the Louisville Fairness Ordinance as well as the U.S. and Kentucky Civil Rights Act.

More:New Kentucky law may let school clubs bar LGBT students, group says

More:Activists protesting torture of gay men in Chechnya detained

Hudson alleges in the suit that she was fired last September despite receiving a positive performance review not long before she lost her job.

She concedes that she “did make some mistakes” in the 15 years she worked for the credit union but that similar mistakes were made by others, "who were not gay or perceived to be gay, and they were not terminated for those mistakes.”

“I’m heartbroken that this happened – I loved my job, and I was good at my job, and I loved the members that I dealt with every day,” Hudson is quoted in the news release from Freedom for All Americans. "I gave my heart and soul to this company, and then I was fired for no other reason than that I am gay.”

Hudson alleges that when she complained to the credit union’s vice president for human resources that a customer had harassed and tried to kiss her at a company event at Churchill Downs, a woman in human resources said, “If the gay thing doesn't work out, you can also go the other way."

Park Community was established in 1965 to serve the employees of General Electric’s Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, hence the “Park” in its name. In 2003, it became a community-charted credit union, opening its doors to anyone who lives, works, worships, goes to school or volunteers in the nine-county Louisville metro area and selected other counties in Kentucky.

Fauver was the attorney in one of the successful lawsuits that established the right for same-sex couples to marry in Kentucky, and ultimately, nationwide.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at 502-582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com.