Catholic school counselor says her career was 'forcibly ended' because of her same-sex marriage
A former employee of a Catholic school in Kentucky is speaking out about discrimination she faced at the hands of the Archdiocese of Louisville after priests were made aware that she is in a same-sex marriage.
According to a first-person piece written by Allison King for the Courier Journal, the school counselor claims that her 11-year career with the archdiocese was “forcibly ended” 10 months ago, once she admitted to being married to her female partner of 15 years. Just four days before the end of the school year, in May 2018, King was called into a meeting with the principal and parish priest at Holy Spirit School, where the principal allegedly read the following statement, according to King’s story:
“It has been reported that you have introduced someone as your wife to some students. We are not here to determine what was said or to judge a lifestyle, but we need to know if it is true that you are married outside of the church and contrary to church teachings. According to the Archdiocesan Catholic Witness policy, such an action is not consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
Although King argued that she hadn’t introduced her wife to any students, she confirmed her marriage to administrators. They then told her that she was in violation of the Archdiocesan Catholic Witness policy, which ensures that staff members “demonstrate a public life consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church.” The policy was presented to all those working for Archdiocesan agencies in 2016, just a year after same-sex marriage was made legal. According to King, the policy “effectively makes the forfeiture of the federal right to marry a condition of employment for LGBTQ staff.” Still, she was shocked to have been personally effected by it.
“First, as an employee, especially a non-Catholic, I never dreamed that my employer would extend its reach that far into my private life. Second, my qualifications as a counselor were the same then as before I married in 2016, and during the first nine years I worked for the archdiocese,” King wrote for the Courier Journal.
She additionally pointed out that administrators within the archdiocese would have to “delve into peoples’ personal lives” in order to enforce the Christian Witness Policy. Ultimately, King felt obliged to make the tough decision to resign from the position that she had served at a number of Catholic schools for over a decade.
The Archdiocese of Louisville didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. However, King wrote that the principal and priest at her school promised that they wouldn’t reveal details of her departure, but would instead say that she left for “personal reasons.” Now, she’s working with LGBTQ advocacy organization the Fairness Campaign to speak out about the real reason she was let go, in order to illustrate the importance of a Fairness Ordinance.
“The church’s official position is that it doesn’t condone aggression of any kind toward homosexual people,” she concluded. “Is it not aggression to fire LGBTQ staff for wanting the same civil liberties as their heterosexual counterparts, thereby shaming and shunning them?”
Similar instances have taken place in different parts of the country, with two notable firings of LGBTQ employees within the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, as well as the recent firing of a beloved pre-kindergarten teacher at a Baptist church in Chapin, South Carolina.
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