Iowa Bishop: Teacher’s Job Offer Not Rescinded Because He’s Gay, But Because He’s Openly-Gay

An Iowa substitute teacher promised a full time teaching position was rescinded, and the Des Moines diocese has a unique way of looking at their actions. 

Tyler McCubbin has been a substitute teacher and  volunteer track coach at Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines, Iowa, since September. By all accounts, he is well-liked and respected. McCubbin says the school’s president offered him a full time teaching position, but quickly rescinded the offer after a background check – including a look at McCubbin’s Facebook page – showed he is gay and engaged to be married.

“We accept everybody, we love everybody. Everybody is always welcome within the context of the Catholic Church,” Bishop Richard Pates (image), head of the Des Moines Diocese, told KCCI news. 

Bishop Pates “said that McCubbin wasn’t denied the job because he’s gay, but due to the openness of his sexual orientation.”

“If they are living within a certain lifestyle, a celibate lifestyle, then that’s fine. The decision was not based on the sexual orientation of the individual, but it was based on the Facebook publicity that he has opened to the world,” Bishop Richard Pates said.

So why was McCubbin hired as a substitute teacher in the first place?

“A substitute teacher comes on in an immediate need, and then as they were going through that whole process of the application, that’s when this surfaced. Based on church doctrine, he should not be a sub,” Pates noted, adding he shouldn’t be a track coach either.

McCubbin says when the school’s leadership confronted him, he responded honestly. 

“I said, ‘Yes it’s true. I’ve been engaged for almost a year now.’ And they said, ‘Because of that, we can’t offer you the contract.’”

“I walk into Dowling every day,” McCubbin says, adding he feels “really blessed to be able to substitute at a school like Dowling. The structure is great, the kids are great.”

The kids are so great they’re planning a walk out in protest on Friday.

Dowling Catholic High School is a private, religious institution, and can fire at will.

 

Image: Screenshot via KCCI