Charlotte Diocese Under Fire for Terminating Gay Teacher
January 13, 2015 by HRC staff
HRC today condemned another Catholic school firing of an LGBT employee as evidence of the church’s continuing efforts to keep workers in the closet.
Charlotte-area teacher Lonnie Billiard was fired from Charlotte Catholic High School after announcing on his personal Facebook page last fall that he planned to marry his partner. Billiard had been a teacher at the school for 15 years, and continued working there as a long-term substitute after he retired in 2012.
Billiard’s firing was reported this week by the North Carolina LGBT community newspaper QNotes, which noted that the Diocese of Charlotte in 2012 fired music teacher Steav Congdon after he married his same-sex partner.
“Firings like this send a message to LGBT people – and LGBT Catholics in particular – that there is no place in the church for us,” said Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera, HRC Foundation’s Director of Latino/a and Catholic Initiatives. “And think of what LGBT students at his school must hear when something like this happens. The Diocese is sending these children and their student allies a message that they are less-than, that they are second-class Catholics and citizens.”
http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/charlotte-diocese-under-fire-for-terminating-gay-teacher
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