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Matthew Barrett (image, right) says after three interviews he was offered a job as the food services director for Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic girls’ prep school in Massachusetts. But after filling out paperwork and naming his husband as his emergency contact, the school contacted him and rescinded the offer.
“She said the Catholic religion doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage, and that was her excuse. She said, ‘We cannot hire you,’ †Barrett said, according to an interview he gave to the Boston Globe. “It just ate me up.”
Barrett is filing a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
“School administrators have been fired from Catholic schools and universities in Arkansas, California, New York, and Washington, among other states, after marrying their same-sex partners or announcing plans to do so,” the Globe reports:
In many cases, the administrators had signed contracts saying they agreed to live their lives according to the schools’ respective religious practices.
Barrett, a Dorchester resident who was raised Catholic, said he was never asked to sign such a contract.
He said he was told by school officials that employees recognize church doctrine, but he believed that meant participating in prayers.
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“There is a balance between important values, which are religious liberties, and discriminatory practices,†said Bennett Klein, a senior GLAD attorney. “This is a job that has nothing to do with religion . . . and this weighs toward discrimination.â€Massachusetts lists sexual orientation among other characteristics such as race and gender under the state’s antidiscrimination laws. Klein said the state law grants certain exceptions for things like “ministerial†duties, but he argued that it would cross the line to include the position of food services director.
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“We’re seeing religion-affiliated entities more and more trying to push the line toward discriminating against gay, lesbian, and transgendered people,†he said.
In December, Bensalem, Pennsylvania high school teacher Michael Griffin was fired by a Catholic school after filing paperwork to obtain a marriage license.
In October, Tippi McCullough was fired by a Catholic high school 45 minutes after marrying another woman.
In July, a California Catholic high school fired Ken Bencomo, a gay man who chaired their English Department, after 17 years of service, because he married his same-sex partner.
In April, Carla Hale, who for 19 years was the physical-education teacher at Bishop Watterson High School in Clintonville, Ohio, was fired for being gay after the fact she has a same-sex partner was revealed in her mother’s obituary.
So, should religious institutions, like Catholic schools, have the right to fire anyone for being gay, or for marrying their same-sex partner?
Image via Facebook