Catholic School Hit With Barrage of Legal Complaints After Firing Lesbian Counselors
Last
August, Roncalli High School fired former guidance counselor Shelly
Fitzgerald after the archbishop reviewed her same-sex marriage license.
She had been working at the school for 15 years. Fitzgerald filed a
federal lawsuit earlier this month. Lynn Starkey, also in a same-sex
marriage, was fired in May after working at the school for 39 years. She
filed a lawsuit alleging the school was hostile toward homosexual
students, faculty, and staff.
Most
recently, Kelley Fisher, a social worker with Catholic Charities, who
worked at Roncalli for 15 years, condemned the firings of Fitzgerald and
Starkey on Facebook. The school fired her this past spring. She filed a
discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) claiming that the school and Archdiocese of
Indianapolis retaliated against her for publicly supporting her former
coworkers.
"Catholic schools exist to communicate the Catholic faith to the next generation," the archdiocese said in a statement
last Thursday. "To accomplish their mission, Catholic schools ask all
teachers, administrators, and guidance counselors to uphold the Catholic
faith by word and action, both inside and outside the classroom."
While
Fisher is not herself lesbian or in a same-sex marriage, her public
statements opposed the Catholic Church's position on marriage and
sexuality. She posted her support for Fitzgerald and Starkey on Facebook
and advocated for a change in the language of employment contracts,
which the archdiocese claims prohibits the employment of people who
violate church teachings. Fisher had the audacity to publicly post a
letter she had sent to leadership within the archdiocese and Roncalli,
requesting the contract alteration.
According to
Fisher, her bosses at Catholic charities called her into a meeting with
Roncalli Principal Chuck Weisenbach. The principal asked her if she
could adhere to Catholic teachings on marriage and sexuality. Fischer
responded that "she'd spoken to students on both sides of the
archdiocese's position on employees in same-sex marriages, which had
divided both Roncalli and broader Catholic community," The Indianapolis Star reported.
"Our job is, as a counselor or social worker, that we don't bring our values or judgment into a session," Fisher told The Indianapolis Star. "And I feel very strongly about that."
As for the public statements, she said she felt compelled to speak out.
"As
an advocate for social justice and against discrimination, I really
felt, you know, propelled to make that public statement," Fisher
said. "If you publicly support, you know, (being) against
discrimination… you too, can be a victim of losing your job."
Beneath
Fisher's spin, it seems clear the diocese, Catholic Charities, and
Roncalli got the clear message that this social worker was not willing
to follow Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality. Given her
outspoken statements against the school and her unwillingness to defend
Catholic doctrine, it seems quite natural for Catholic Charities to fire
her and for Roncalli to distance itself from her.
Americans
should be able to speak out on controversial issues without losing
their jobs. But an employee who publicly criticizes the actions of her
employer and who refuses to uphold the moral commitments of the
religious group she works for should not expect to keep her job.
Furthermore,
Fisher's demand that the school change the language in its contract is
telling. She seems to have acknowledged that same-sex marriage is
incompatible with the contract that Fitzgerald and Starkey signed.
These
former staffers are using the legal argument of discrimination to
prevent a Catholic institution from hiring only people who agree with
and live by Catholic doctrine on sexuality. This is yet one more example
of LGBT activists fighting against religious freedom and free
association rights of religious organizations to hold staff to their own
standards.
This strategy has backfired in the past. The University of Iowa
deregistered student groups that sought to restrict their leadership to
people who follow the moral standards of the organizations. A judge not
only found the university's policy a violation of the First Amendment
rights of the Christian group InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, but she
also held university officials personally liable, requiring that they
pay damages to the student group from their own pockets.
The
Archdiocese of Indianapolis defended its employment decisions by noting
that the Supreme Court "has repeatedly recognized that religious
schools have a constitutional right to hire leaders who support the
schools’ religious mission." The Court has indeed recognized a
"ministerial exemption" from anti-discrimination laws. LGBT activists
argue that the exemption should be extremely limited, but requiring
Catholic schools to hire openly LGBT staff arguably undercuts the
schools' ability to uphold Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality.
LGBT
counselors should not seek employment at Catholic schools in the first
place. There is a fundamental mismatch between LGBT "pride" and Catholic
teaching, and both sides should respect the other enough to acknowledge
it. Yet it seems LGBT activists are bent on forcing Christian
institutions to celebrate LGBT "pride." Indeed, former Rep. Beto
O'Rourke (D-Texas) has openly advocated for removing tax-exempt status
from religious churches and charities that oppose same-sex marriage.
For many activists, religious freedom and free association are no
defense — people must be made to agree, and celebrate, views they
disagree with.
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