Senior CrossFit employee, Russell Berger, was fired after defending CrossFit Infiltrate’s decision to cancel an Indy Pride event organised by coaches.

In an email to gym members, the owners said, “We believe that true health forever can only be found within humility, not pride. As a business we will choose to deploy our resources towards those efforts and causes that line up with our own values and beliefs.”

The decision to cancel the event sparked backlash and as a result, the gym was forced to permanently closed their doors.

Responding to the criticism, Russell Berger, chief knowledge officer and head trainer at CrossFit, defended the gym’s decision:

The tactics of some in the LGBTQ movement toward dissent is an existential threat to freedom of expression. The lack of tolerance for disagreement, which has been replaced with bullying Twitter mobs promising ‘consequences’, should be a concern regardless of your political stance.

As someone who personally believes “pride” is a sin, I’d like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfiltrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout. The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative view is mind-blowing.

Allow me to double-down, I believe @indypride is a celebration of sin, as do most Christians. I deleted this and reposted a different version to make sure it’s clear these are my personal beliefs, you know, since the Twitter mobs are hard at work trying to get me fired.

In response to increasing public outrage, chief executive Greg Glassman posted a message from CrossFit’s official Twitter account saying, “I am crazy proud of the gay community in CrossFit.” A few hours later it was announced that Berger had been placed on unpaid leave, effective immediately.

On Thursday Berger revealed he had now been “officially terminated.”

As Berger said in one of the Tweets that got him fired, “The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative view is mind-blowing.” And they most certainly proved his point.