Opinion ID: 2973592
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The nature of Akridge’s speech

Text: As an initial matter, Appellant argues that the district court misconceived the nature of his claim in that it misidentified the speech upon which his claims are predicated. Appellant argues that his “refusal to place Inmate Reed in a position of leadership in the Protestant congregant worship service” constitutes speech protected by the First Amendment. (Appellant’s Brief, at 27). The district court’s opinion does address this argument, though it also discusses other speech by Akridge related to the issue, including his written and oral statements in the course of the disciplinary procedures as well as his statements directly to Reed. As to the initial statements by which Akridge denied Reed the opportunity to lead the musical portion of the services, the district court said that Akridge was not commenting on the social or legal ramifications of homosexuality in general. His statements occurred in the limited context of a decision he made 4 within the scope of his employment as chaplain. Plaintiff's personal opinions on whether the Protestant faith condemns homosexuality as a sin, regardless of their validity, do not constitute matters of public concern. Plaintiff's views on whether permitting Reed, a homosexual, to participate in the prison services in a leadership capacity would be sending a message to other inmates of tolerance or accpetance of homosexuality incompatible with the Protestant faith and plaintiff's own beliefs do not involve matters of public concern. The ‘point’ or ‘focus’ of the statements was simply to explain and defend to his superiors his decision not to permit Reed to participate as a choir leader or band member in the services, and to establish the bounds of his authority as chaplain. Plaintiff's statements concerning his views on Reed's participation in the services in a leadership role and his refusal to permit Reed's participation were made to further a private purpose, that being plaintiff's own agenda as to how the services at MCI should be conducted. (J.A. 38-39). With regard to the statements made by Akridge in response to Bogan's order, the district court held that they were “not a comment by Plaintiff as a citizen, but rather a comment made in his role as chaplain ... [P]laintiff was defending his authority as chaplain and arguing that his decision on a matter within the scope of his employment should predominate over the policy decisions of his supervisor on that same matter. These are internal employment matters, not a subject of public concern. (J.A. 39). Similarly, as to Akridge's written response to the insubordination charge, the district court held that it did not address a matter of public concern. (J.A. 40). Therefore, Appellant's assertion that the district court failed to address the speech upon which his claim was based is incorrect. Another of Akridge’s principal arguments before this court is that the district court mischaracterized the nature of the speech that Akridge asserts is protected by the First Amendment. Akridge argues that his complaint is properly read as alleging that the act of refusing to permit Reed to lead the choral group is expressive conduct entitled to First Amendment protection under the Supreme Court’s decisions in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Group of Boston, 515 U.S. 557 (1995) and Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 5 530 U.S. 640 (2000). Before this court, the Defendants concede that “[a]t least in the context in which it occurred ... Akridge’s conduct in refusing to instate Reed ... constituted ‘speech’ within the meaning of the First Amendment.” (Appellee’s Br. at 26). We need not discuss this issue further, however, because we agree with Defendants and the district court that, even if Akridge’s conduct is speech, and even if that speech did address a matter of public concern, the Pickering balancing test weights against Akridge in this case. See infra Part B. Appellant next argues that the district court mistakenly held that the speech in question was not on a matter of public concern. He analogizes his speech, which he argues was on “matters related to homosexuality discrimination” (Appellant's Brief, at 34), to speech on racial discrimination, which he claims was held by the Supreme Court in Connick v. Myers to inherently implicate matters of public concern. 461 U.S. 138, 148, n. 8 (1983). In that footnote, the Connick court was summarizing the holding of Givhan v. Western Line Consol. Sch. Dist., 439 U.S. 410, 99 S.Ct. 693 (1979). (Connick itself did not involve racial discrimination.) Also, he analogizes the speech to that held by this court to be on a matter of public concern in Cockrel v. Shelby County School District. 270 F.3d 1036 (6th Cir. 2001). In Cockrel, a public school teacher was dismissed due in part to her decisions to include in her curriculum lessons about the environmental benefits of industrial hemp. Id. at 1046. There, we said that “so long as the speech relates to matters of ‘political, social, or other concern to the community,’ as opposed to matters ‘only of personal interest,’ it shall be considered as touching upon matters of public concern.” Id. at 1052, quoting Connick, 461 U.S. at 146-49, 103 S.Ct. 1684. A better analogy to Chaplain Akridge’s speech in the case at bar, however, would be the analysis used in a “mixed speech” case, which the Cockrel court describes but rejects for that 6 case. 270 F.3d at 1052, n.5. “In mixed speech cases, the employee at issue speaks not only as both a citizen and an employee, but the content of her speech involves both matters of public and private concern.” Id., citing Bonnell v. Lorenzo, 241 F.3d 800, 811-12 (6th Cir. 2001). Here, Akridge’s speech clearly contains elements of private concern (specifically, arguments about his authority as chaplain to make final decisions about the worship services at MCI) but also contains elements that, according to the reasoning in Cockrel, are of public concern. The Cockrel court, in addition to citing the district court opinion on the question of whether industrial hemp was a matter of public concern, looked to the issue’s appearance in local news and discussion by politicians to support the conclusion that it was. 270 F.3d 1051-52. Similarly, a debate about the propriety of homosexuality has been the subject of news reports and discussion by politicians on the local and national level. Where the speech in question is mixed speech, “if any part of an employee’s speech, which contributes to the [adverse employment action], relates to matters of public concern,” the analysis must proceed to the next step: the balancing analysis required by the Supreme Court’s decision in Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). Rahn v. Drake Center, Inc., 31 F.3d 407, 411 (6th Cir. 1994).