TUSTIN, Calif. - A gay man has filed a $2.5 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Trinity Broadcasting Network, which he claims denied him promotions and raises and harassed him with explicit pornography, public taunts and name-calling before severing his 14-year relationship with the company.
Brian Dugger began working as a broadcast engineer for TBN in 1993, when the religious broadcaster was headquartered in Nashville. According to the suit, he enjoyed an "exceedingly close" relationship with the network's founder, Paul Crouch. However, things changed in 2001, when the company relocated to Tustin, Calif., and Crouch's wife Jan and son Paul Jr. assumed control of day-to-day operations. Paul Crouch Jr. immediately began a campaign of discrimination and harassment that included emailing hardcore sexual images, using sexual-identity slurs like "fairy" and making comments like "Brian has a mangina" in front of employees and studio audiences.
As the situation progressed, court documents reveal, Dugger was forced to go from full-time employee to contract labor. TBN declined to renew his employment contract in June 2007.
"We've gathered a considerable amount of evidence, including video footage of Paul Crouch Jr. publicly ridiculing Mr. Dugger after learning Mr. Dugger was gay," his lawyer, Tymothy S. MacLeod, told the Orange County Register. "He was subjected to quite a bit of harassment."
TBN, the largest and one of the most vocal of the anti-gay, hard-right religious networks, has faced "homosexual trouble" before. In 2004, the Los Angeles Times reported the senior Crouch paid $425,000 to silence another gay former employee who claimed to have had an affair with the wealthy televangelist. Paul Crouch Sr. denied the accusation.
Although Dugger's lawsuit makes no similar claim, it does allege Paul Crouch Sr. "persistently" invited Dugger to private dinners and drinks at his home. Just before he relinquished the reins at TBN in 2001, the elder Crouch "insisted" Dugger relocate from his San Antonio home to Tustin so the two men could live closer together, the lawsuit claims. Dugger conceded.
That's when Jan Crouch and another TBN employee, Vice President Danny York, began to pressure Dugger to "act less gay," in part by dressing more conservatively and "acting straight," according to the lawsuit.
"[Dugger] was told not to dress so ‘gay' or to wear jewelry, as it would identify him as a homosexual," court documents state. "Thereafter, throughout his employment, he was continuously harassed, mocked, taunted and told not to look gay."
In addition, Paul Crouch Jr. began to send emails containing close-ups of male and female genitals and couples having sex. According to papers filed with the court, the younger Crouch also told Dugger to "quit being gay and act more straight," to pay attention to "what girls are into" and to "pursue sexual relationships with women instead of men."
One of Paul Crouch Jr.'s final comments to Dugger after his contract expired in 2007 was "TBN is not a place for fairies," the lawsuit avers.
TBN representative John Casoria characterized Dugger's lawsuit as "mainly a work of fiction."
The lawsuit seeks $650,000 in compensation for lost wages, benefits and emotional distress and $1.9 million in punitive damages. In addition, the lawsuit seeks statutory declaration that TBN is subject to California and federal fair-employment rules.
TBN is a "prosperity gospel" ministry, urging adherents - including the poor and debt-ridden - to donate generously because God gives back in kind. The network's broadcasts are available not only in almost every American home, but also in Russia, Spain, Portugal, the Middle East, Central Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, India, Indonesia and Brazil.
According to the Orange County Register, TBN's most recent tax returns indicated annual revenue of $201 million and net assets of $839 million.
