A Massachusetts superior court judge on Wednesday ruled in a first-of-its-kind decision that a Catholic all-girls school in Milton, Mass., illegally discriminated against a gay cafeteria worker when school officials fired him after learning he was married to another man.
Matthew Barrett, of Dorchester, had argued that Fontbonne Academy had engaged in sex discrimination when it rescinded its job offer after discovering details about his personal life. Barrett had previously been offered and accepted the position of food services director at the school, a position that did not put him in the classroom or leave him with the ability to influence school curriculum. But Fontbonne insisted it had a right to fire Barrett, citing the Catholic Church’s opposition to homosexuality and same-sex marriage, as well as an exemption within Massachusetts’ LGBT nondiscrimination law for religiously-affiliated institutions.
But Norfolk Superior Court Judge Douglas Wilkins rejected that argument, ruling that the exemption within the nondiscrimination law does not apply, because Fontbonne accepts non-Catholic students and employees, regardless of their faith. According to Wilkins, the religious exemption only applies to organizations that limit membership or admission to members of a certain religion.
Additionally, Wilkins ruled that the First Amendment’s protections for religious expression did not apply to the case, as hiring a food service worker who happened to be married to a same-sex spouse would not interfere with Fontbonne’s ability to express its opposition to same-sex marriages.
“[Fontbonne’s] mission is to provide an education to young women rooted in gospel values and the teachings of the Catholic Church,” Wilkins wrote in his opinion. “It encourages debate, including on issues of same-sex marriage, and does not prohibit students from exploring and even advocating ideas and positions contrary to church teachings. Barrett was hired as a Food Service Director, whose job duties do not include ‘formally presenting the gospel values or the … teachings of the Catholic Church.’ He was not denied employment for any advocacy of same-sex marriage or gay rights; he only listed his husband as an emergency contact on his ‘new hire’ form. Nothing on that form suggested that Barrett claimed his marriage to have sacramental or other religious significance or that it was anything but a civil marriage relationship. Fontbonne presents no evidence of advocacy by Barrett.”
“Religiously-affiliated organizations do not get a free pass to discriminate against gay and lesbian people,” Bennett Klein, a senior attorney with Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), which is representing Barrett, said in a statement. “When Fontbonne fired Matt from a job that has nothing to do with religion, and simply because he is married, they came down on the wrong side of the law.”
Klein told The Patriot Ledgerthat he expects the school to appeal the decision. A spokeswoman for the school told the Ledger that school officials “have received the court’s decision in this matter and are considering our options.”
If the school decides not to appeal, the two sides must determine whether there will be a trial to determine the amount in damages that Fontbonne would owe to Barrett, who has since taken a job with the Milton public school system.
“I’m ecstatic,” Barrett said in a statement. “Whay happened to me was wrong, and I truly hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Under Pope Leo XIV, the Vatican is continuing a friendlier approach to LGBTQ Catholics adopted during Pope Francis's papacy.
While the Church has no intention of changing its doctrine on marriage -- recognizing only unions between a man and a woman -- the Vatican has signaled that it intends to continue Francis's outreach to gay and lesbian Catholics rather than adopt a more condemnatory tone.
Catholic LGBTQ advocates were elated last week after a Vatican working group -- comprised of theologians, bishops, priests, a sister, and a layperson -- released a report featuring testimony from two gay married Catholics who spoke about their sexuality, faith, and the harm caused by the Church's negative teachings on homosexuality.
David Green, the founder of the conservative Christian retailer Hobby Lobby, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Them Before Us, an anti-LGBTQ organization behind the Greater Than Campaign, a national effort seeking to overturn the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling.
Them Before Us, the lead organization behind the Greater Than campaign, was founded in 2018. It advocates against marriage rights for LGBTQ couples based on the presumption that being raised by same-sex parents is harmful to children.
IRS reports show that, for its first few years, Them Before Us had less than $50,000 in revenue. But after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed a national right to abortion, the group's revenue surged. In 2022, it received $200,000, growing to nearly $1 million in 2024, with founder and president Katy Faust collecting a salary of $135,000.
U.S. attitudes toward gay marriage, same-sex relations, and transgender identity have continued to decline after reaching peak levels several years ago, according to recent polling.
The backslide in terms of viewing LGBTQ issues in a favorable light has been driven largely by a decrease in pro-LGBTQ views among Republicans, according to Gallup, which surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults from May 1 to May 17, 2026.
Starting in 1996, Gallup has annually asked, as part of its Values and Beliefs Survey, whether Americans support same-sex marriage. In the first year, only 27% of U.S. adults said they supported it. That number gradually increased, with significant gains each year after 2010, peaking at 71% in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, support fell to 69% and has continued to decline ever since.
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