‘I’m not the Right Kind of Catholic’: First-Grade Teacher Fired for Marrying Love of her Life

“They Treated her Like a Criminal”

After nearly seven years in her position, a lesbian teacher at a Miami Catholic school was fired this week for marrying her wife.

“First-grade teacher Jocelyn Morffi lost her job at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School on Thursday, the day after she returned from her wedding in the Florida Keys,” The Miami Herald reported. Parents were notified via a letter that evening.

The letter, shared by parents, can be seen below:

“This weekend I married the love of my life and unfortunately I was terminated from my job as a result,” the newspaper reported Morffi shared on social media. “In their eyes I’m not the right kind of Catholic for my choice in partner.”

Photos and support for the couple quickly hit the web:

The firing also prompted 20 parents to gather in protest at the school, demanding an explanation from the school principal. “We were extremely livid. They treated her like a criminal, they didn’t even let her get her things out of her classroom,” Cintia Cini, one of the children’s parents in Morffi’s class told the Herald.

Cini further advised that while the parents hadn’t known that Morffi was a lesbian, they didn’t care. “Our only concern was the way she was with our children,” she said, “the way she taught our children, and this woman by far was one of the best teachers out there.”

The principal reportedly refused to confirm the reasoning behind the firing, and Sts. Peter and Paul didn’t respond to requests for comment. Miami Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta confirmed Morffi lost her job, but only advised that she “violated her contract.”

“As a teacher in a Catholic school their responsibility is partly for the spiritual growth of the children,” Agosta told the Herald. “One has to understand that in any corporation, institution or organization there are policies and procedures and teachings and traditions that are adhered to. If something along the way does not continue to stay within that contract, then we have no other choice.”

Florida currently has no statewide law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.