Breaking: Judge Rules Catholic School Illegally Discriminated By Firing Gay Man It Had Just Hired

A Massachusetts judge finds a Catholic school is required to obey the state’s nondiscrimination laws.

Two years ago, after three interviews with the Fontbonne Academy, Matthew Barrett (photo, right) was offered a job as the Catholic all-girls school’s food services director. But after completing paperwork listing his husband as his emergency contact, the school called him and rescinded their job offer.

Wednesday, a state judge ruled that Fontbonne Academy is not exempt from the state’s nondiscrimination laws because it accepts students and employees regardless of faith. The school was found guilty of practicing anti-gay discrimination. In its summary judgment, the court “rejected the school’s argument that it expects all employees to model Catholic teaching and values, including an opposition to same-sex marriage,” The Patriot Ledger reports.

The Ledger adds that Judge Douglas Wilkins found “that the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religious expression, did not apply in the case, writing that the hiring of a food service worker married to a same-sex spouse would not interfere with Fontebonne’s ability to express its opposition to such marriages.”

The school has not decided if it will appeal.

The case is significant because religious organizations increasingly have been attempting to bar LGBT people from them, citing First Amendment religious expression. This case narrows that claim and might be used to establish precedence elsewhere.

CBS Boston reports the school’s attorney claimed “that Barrett’s presence at the school would have been inconsistent with the school’s catholic message.”

“Simply, we request of this court to render a decision in support of our client’s statutory right to make an employment decision based on sincerely held religious beliefs,” attorney John Bagley told the court.

In an interview with the Boston Globe last year, Barrett explained when he received the call from the school, essentially firing him, “It just ate me up.”

“She said the Catholic religion doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage, and that was her excuse. She said, ‘We cannot hire you,’ ”

GLAD represent Barrett in Massachusetts Superior Court. He told them, “I have never been an activist of any kind. And in my heart, I’m still not. But once I saw how wrong it was, what had happened to me, I felt like I had to do something to make it right.”

 

Image via Facebook