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Gloria Ngezaho: Seattle official bans workers from displaying Christmas decorations in their own homes

Gloria Ngezaho from King County Human Resources was handed 'Ebenezer Award' after he warned employees not to use overtly Christmas or Hanukkah decorations
UPDATED DEC 26, 2022
Gloria Ngezaho from King County Human Resources warned employees to not use holiday decorations as it can offend colleagues with different beliefs (@Intasunikwa/Twitter)
Gloria Ngezaho from King County Human Resources warned employees to not use holiday decorations as it can offend colleagues with different beliefs (@Intasunikwa/Twitter)

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: In order to prevent offending coworkers who hold different religious beliefs, a Seattle official has been given a sardonic award for prohibiting city employees from putting up Christmas or Hanukkah decorations in their houses while participating in Zoom conversations. Gloria Ngezaho, Seattle King County’s workforce equity manager, received the 'Ebenezer Award' from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

Ngezaho received the honor last week for his stringent ‘Guidelines for Holiday Decorations’ regulations which were initially made public in November. The rules forbade county employees from using religious symbols such as menorahs, crucifixes or nativity scenes as their video backgrounds. According to the guidelines, displaying one's religious convictions in public "may cause disruption to co-workers or members of the public that do not share that particular religion." “Some employees may not share your religion, practice any religion, or share your enthusiasm for holiday decorations. Displays of religious symbols may only be displayed in an employee's personal workspace,” the memo, first obtained by Seattle-based journalist Jason Rantz said, according to Daily Mail

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Previous Ebenezer Award winners include the Department of Veteran Affairs which forbade employees at its Salem, Virginia facility from wishing veterans a Merry Christmas, the American Humanist Association which attempted to stop schools from distributing care packages to needy children and the University of Minnesota which two years ago banned holiday decorations like Santas, bows, dreidels and even wrapped presents from its campus. “Religious employees of King County will likely feel like the ransacked residents of Whoville this Christmas and Hanukkah season,” said Montse Alvarado, COO and executive director of Becket. “The government has no right to rob its employees of holiday cheer by forcing them take down their nativity sets and menorahs, particularly in their own homes,” Alvarado told Daily Mail.

In contrast to his contentious attitude on the holiday season this year, Ngezaho earlier shared a personal and thoughtful piece titled 'Black Lives Matter. What's next?' with King County staff after George Floyd's murder in the summer of 2020. “It was just a couple of weeks ago that I, alongside the world, witnessed the murder of George Floyd at the hands, or should I say knees, of a white police officer. I sat in silence, along with my family, angry and not knowing what to do,” he wrote, while also recalling a time when his four-year-old daughter asked him to be careful while he was on his way out to go job, shortly after Floyd's death, which sparked protests across the US.

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