NARRAGANSETT — A former manager at the Town Beach has filed a lawsuit that accuses town officials of firing him last year based on false charges of sexual harassment and then publicly ridiculing him because he is gay.

Steven R. Storti, 51, a Narragansett resident, alleges he was fired on Aug. 5, 2006, by then Town Manager Maurice J. Loontjens and Parks and Recreation Director Barry S. Fontaine, who publicly confronted him at the beach and accused him of sexually harassing “a male subordinate employee.”

According to the lawsuit, the allegations were later shared with other town employees, who sang a “sexually explicit, hateful, homophobic and outrageous” song over town radio equipment.

Storti also alleges that the town later made false statements to the police that he had stolen or was suspected of stealing money collected for the beach when in fact there was “no theft or loss of beach revenues.”

The suit names the town, Fontaine and estate of Loontjens, who died last October, as defendants. Storti is seeking lost wages, punitive damages, legal fees and other relief that the court “deems necessary and proper.”

Storti’s lawyer, Lynette Labinger, declined to comment on the case, saying the lawsuit should “speak for itself.”

The town’s lawyer, Marc DeSisto, also declined to comment, saying it his policy “not to make any statements” about ongoing cases.

Town Council President T. Brian Handrigan said he had not seen the lawsuit but described the allegations as completely out of character for Loontjens, who served 18 years on the Town Council and then served 10 years as town manager before succumbing to cancer last year.

“Accusing Maury of being a racist or of being against gays, that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I mean the guy never even swore,” Handrigan said. “In all the years that I knew him I never heard him utter a bad word about anybody.”

Fontaine, chosen by Loontjens in 2004 to head the town’s Parks and Recreation Department, said he has not hired his own lawyer because DeSisto is handling the case. He declined to comment further.

“I can’t say too much right now,” he said.

The lawsuit, filed July 30 in Providence County Superior Court, says Storti suffered “substantial injuries,” including economic loss, loss of earning capacity, severe emotional injury, injury to his reputation and personal humiliation.

Storti worked for the town on and off from 2004 to 2006, serving last summer as beach manager until he was fired, according to the lawsuit. He won a claim against the town for unpaid overtime wages this year after going to the state Labor Relations Board, Labinger said.

redgar@projo.com