Atlanta mayor: Fire chief not axed for writing anti-gay book

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta's mayor says the city's former fire chief was not axed because he wrote a book containing anti-gay statements, but because he didn't get permission to publish it.

Kelvin Cochran has said he did get approval from city officials to publish the book, in which he describes homosexuality as a perversion.

His termination has prompted an outcry from several local and national religious groups, including the Washington-based Family Research Council and the Georgia-based Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Mayor Kasim Reed suspended Cochran in November and then announced last week that he had fired him after he said an investigative report concluded the chief did not have clearance to publish the book, which he gave to several subordinates at work.

Reed says he and Cochran are both men of faith.