Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Two former North Carolina deputies are alleging that they were fired by a sheriff in retaliation for reporting his friend's racist and homophobic comments, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. Wake County deputies Steven Williamson and Alvis Speight say they lost their jobs one month after Sheriff Gerald Baker's election in 2018 because they told supervisors about Lt. Teddy Patrick's behavior during a training session one year earlier, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Patrick "told the deputies present that he 'didn't believe in being gay,' did not like 'gay people,' and made statements that were derogatory toward homosexuals," according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. The lawsuit said Patrick outed one deputy at the session for being gay, adding "words to the effect of that if a man came to his home dressed as a woman, he would not permit that man to enter his home."