Gay Teacher Sacked Over Marriage Plans

[Jazzy]

A gay teacher at a Catholic high school in Philadelphia has been fired after he applied for a marriage license.

Michael Griffin lost his job at the Holy Ghost Preparatory School after administrators said his obtaining a license to marry his same-sex partner was a violation of his contract.

Father James McCloskey, the school's headmaster, said in a statement that staff members at the school are required to follow church teachings, NBC Philadelphia has reported.

He said in the statement that Mr Griffin's decision "contradicts the terms of his teaching contract at our school, which requires all faculty and staff to follow the teachings of the Church as a condition of their employment".

"In discussion with Mr Griffin, he acknowledged that he was aware of this provision, yet he said that he intended to go ahead with the ceremony," he added.

Mr Griffin, who graduated from the school and has taught French and Spanish there for 12 years, said that his relationship with his partner of 12 years was not kept secret from the school.

He said that his partner had even visited Father McCloskey's house in the past.

In a Facebook post, Mr Griffin said he felt "hurt, saddened, betrayed" by the school's decision.

"After 12 years together I was excited to finally be able to marry my partner. Because of that, I was fired from Holy Ghost Preparatory School today," he wrote.

Source

This thread was not created to cause a religious debate, so please let's not go there. With that in mind:

Do you agree that he should have been fired? Why / Why not?

 

[Nebulous]

Catholic school teachers should be role models and uphold all aspects of their religion?
Had this been a public school teacher, he probably wouldn't have had any problems.

 

[Evil Eye]

Huh, a religious school that actually cares that it is religious. We don't have those around here

I suppose, maybe they should've the right to fire him... but honestly, I wouldn't want to send my kids to a school that fires its teachers for being gay.

 

[Sinon]

Kind of. Considering how heavily Catholicism is against homosexuality, it's really no surprise. And honestly, being a Catholic himself (I assume?) he should have expected it.

 

[Evil Eye]

he should have expected it.

Probably, though it's a bit odd that they were all right with everything except the marriage part.

 

[Bluezone777]

If you sign a contract stating you won't do something if employed then turn around and violate it then what would you expect them to do besides fire you? It's a private organization and no laws are getting violated by firing him as he willingly signed the agreement upon employment regardless if he bothered to actually read any of it.

My guess is they played dumb as long as they could have till he blurted it out to everyone which is probably why they fired him then instead of simply not letting him be employed in the first place at the school.