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Matthew Barrett, of Dorchester, had argued that Fontbonne Academy had engaged in sex discrimination when it rescinded its job offer after discovering details about his personal life.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.”
A Houthi court in Dhamar, Yemen, has sentenced nine people to death on homosexuality charges, with seven to be executed by stoning and two others by crucifixion, according to the international rights organization Amnesty International.
That same court, located in northern Yemen, has also sentenced 23 other men to prison sentences ranging from six months to 10 years on various charges, including homosexuality, "spreading immorality," and "immoral acts."
Meanwhile, a second court, in the city of Ibb, has sentenced 13 students to death and ordered three others to be flogged for "spreading homosexuality."
A gay airline employee with dual Mexican and British citizenship was jailed in Qatar on charges related to homosexuality. He is being subjected to treatment that amounts to torture, according to his relatives.
Manuel Guerrero was Acting Head of Product Development and Service Design at Qatar Airways. The 44-year-old was detained on February 4 in Qatar's capital, Doha, after falling prey to an entrapment scheme on Grindr.
"Qatar police used a false Grindr profile to contact Manuel and invite him to participate in a meeting with other people from the LGBT community in the city of Doha," Guerrero's brother, Enrique, told the British newspaper The Mirror. "Manuel was supposed to meet a person he thought he had arranged an appointment with on the night of February 4 but instead encountered police officers who were waiting to arrest him."
The founder of a right-wing, anti-LGBTQ website allegedly sent shirtless selfies of himself working out to younger, single male employees before his abrupt resignation last November, according to a recent article in The Washington Post.
Michael Voris, a former local television reporter, founded Real Catholic TV in 2006, setting up the company's website to espouse a return to traditional Catholicism and defend socially conservative views that align with Church doctrine.
The media organization was strongest in its criticism of the Catholic Church's more liberal clergy -- particularly Pope Francis -- and their efforts to appeal to a wider swath of people by refraining from outright condemnation of behaviors or lifestyles that the Church deems "sinful" and speaking out against more extreme anti-LGBTQ laws.
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