WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court has ruled that a Catholic high school in Indianapolis was free to fire a gay guidance counselor because she performed at least some religious duties, the latest legal setback for LGBTQ rights when they conflict with religion.
Shelly Fitzgerald had worked for 14 years as a guidance counselor at Roncalli High School when school officials discovered she was married to another woman. She was soon fired – both sides agree – because of that marriage.
But a three-judge panel on Thursday ruled Fitzgerald was not subject to anti-discrimination protections because of something known as the “ministerial exception,” which allows religious organizations to fire certain workers if they disagree with their beliefs. The Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit decided the case.
Fitzgerald’s case is one of several percolating in federal courts that test the boundaries of the exception. The stakes are potentially enormous, affecting not only support staff at religious schools but possibly nurses at religious hospitals.
Guidance counselor argued her work had nothing to do with religion
Fitzgerald had argued that, as a guidance counselor, her work was focused on helping students with college admissions not directing their spiritual growth. But the unanimous court noted Fitzgerald had served on an administrative council at the school that “participated in at least some religious planning and discussion.”
Joseph Davis, counsel at Becket, the religious legal firm that represented the school, applauded the opinion.
“Religious schools exist to pass on the faith to the next generation, and to do that, they need the freedom to choose leaders who are fully committed to their religious mission,” he said. “The precedent keeps piling up: Catholic schools can ask Catholic school teachers and administrators to be fully supportive of Catholic teaching.”
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, part of Fitzgerald’s legal team, described the case as “another line of attack” on “basic civil rights.”
“These religious extremists are trying to expand a narrow, commonsense rule — meant to allow houses of worship to select their own clergy according to their own faith — into a broad license to circumvent civil rights laws and to discriminate,” Laser said.
It was not immediately clear if the group will appeal.
The Supreme Court first recognized the ministerial exemption in a unanimous 2012 decision involving a teacher at a Lutheran church and school in Michigan fired after taking leave to deal with illness. Eight years later, the high court expanded the scope of the exemption to include lay teachers who taught secular subjects and had no leadership role. One teacher claimed age discrimination, and another claimed she was fired after requesting a leave of absence for cancer treatment.
