Ngole, like many others, just saw Davis being arrested for standing up for her religious beliefs. They didn't see her disobeying the law and unilaterally shutting down one of her county's basic services. And keep in mind that she had just been elected to this position. She should have known that it was likely that marriage equality was spreading across the nation and that she would eventually be forced to deal with same-sex couples -- just like she was forced to deal with anyone else within her county.
Anyway, Ngole got into a Facebook debate and the privacy settings on that debate were public enough that people within his social work program saw it and believed that his public beliefs violated the standards and values of professional social workers. He was eventually expelled from the program. He took the program to count and they eventually upheld the university's decision. He appealed that ruling, but it was ultimately denied. He had argued that he wouldn't allow his personal religious beliefs to negatively impact clients (or "service users," as they seem to call them over there).
So Felix Ngole didn't earn his master's degree in social work because he essentially called homosexuality a sin on Facebook, "no matter how you want to dress it up."
There was a lot of controversy in online social work circles about this case. And it would flare up every time Ngole filed an appeal or got knocked down. Frankly, it was hard to find many details in the news about this case. I eventually posted this on the Social Work Tutor: Group FB page, particularly after someone questioned my assertion that LGBTQ people don't face discrimination in school or in the workplace and then asked me me about how many states allowed gay marriage:
Gay marriage has been legally recognized nationwide since 2015. But frankly, there's a bit of privilege to assuming that anti-gay discrimination doesn't take place in our country and in our educational system because we can get married. Most states still permit anti-gay discrimination. Our federal government is now trying to knock out the teeth of existing gay-inclusive antidiscrimination laws in the states that actually do protect us by challenging those decisions in the newly stacked SCOTUS and by backing anti-gay religious liberty legislation. I'm a gay man in my mid-40s who had to fight hard to get married and to become a parent. I'm keenly aware that there's a pendulum to our society and much more history against us than for us. I'm also aware that opinions change over time. Knocking this guy out of his program won't do anything to change his opinions about some of the stuff that he posted online (I'm thinking of his praise for Kim Davis, who ordered her entire staff to stop issuing marriage licenses altogether to prevent any gay couples -- ie, her constituents who'd just voted her into office -- from getting married in her county). I've never been quite sure what kind of feedback he received on this subject prior to somebody noting his online comments and before he was reported. I guess I'm just curious how many of the entirety of active social workers that exist with gay-affirming beliefs actually started out that way? And how did they make that shift? Through punitive action or through relational dialogue?I subsequently wrote this on the Social Work Tutor FB page:
I still don't know what Felix actually wrote. I'm not sure that it taught him anything or promoted professional growth or empathy to kick him out of the program. That said, social workers and human service workers really need to be honest when it comes to working with LGBT populations, when they say that their beliefs wouldn't affect their practices. I've known gay adoptive parents who couldn't get kids placed with them because of the religious beliefs of the worker and agency. I've known homeless gay families who've been split up in shelters because the shelter didn't believe that their family was morally correct. I've known gay clients who've had trust shattered when the therapist who they came out to immediately referred them elsewhere because they don't handle this type of issue. I could go on. Just be mindful and genuine when you state your personal objections to homosexuality don't affect your professional actions. Because perception isn't always reality.I've remained torn about this case for nearly two years. He's obviously problematic when it comes to LGBTQ people. You look at this FB page (which isn't his, but it contains cross-posted articles from his personal FB page and it appears to be run by him or people close to him) and it's filled with post after critical post about gay families and trans people. There are also anti-abortion posts. But most of it contains anti-gay and anti-trans materials.
I cannot help but wonder if his anti-gay and anti-trans beliefs were always that prevalent, or if they got ratcheted up because of his expulsion from Sheffield University's social work program? It appears that he was summarily kicked out of the program with no real effort to work through the issue, or to help him learn more about this population of potential service users. I just worry that he and his allies have been forever blocked from evolving on the issue of LGBTQ affirmation by how this was handled.
Anyway, Ngole has a book about his experiences titled Felix Ngole: Behind the Scenes: The Story of One Social Worker's Battle with His University. It was written by his wife, Pepsy Ngole. I haven't read it, so I don't know if it's good or bad. But you can follow the link and order a copy.