This kind of stuff makes me weary:
Michael Griffin taught French and Spanish at Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem, Pennsylvania for twelve years. During that entire time, he’s been in a relationship with his same-sex partner. Indeed, according to Griffin, his partner’s “been to numerous school functions with me, he’s even been to [the headmaster’s] house.”
On Friday, Griffin applied for a marriage license with his partner — saying he was “excited to finally be able to marry” him after the state’s courts made marriage equality a reality in nearby New Jersey. Shortly thereafter, Griffin was called into his boss’ office.“At a meeting in my office yesterday, teacher Michael Griffin made clear that he obtained a license to marry his same sex partner,” the school’s headmaster Fr. James McCloskey wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, this decision contradicts the terms of his teaching contract at our school, which requires all faculty and staff to follow the teachings of the Church as a condition of their employment. In discussion with Mr. Griffin, he acknowledged that he was aware of this provision, yet he said that he intended to go ahead with the ceremony. Regretfully, we informed Mr. Griffin that we have no choice but to terminate his contract effective immediately.”
Mr. Griffin lives in New Jersey where gay marriage is legal and there are some workplace non-discrimination protections, but he works in Pennsylvania where gays do not have the same rights and protections. The real complicating factor here, however, is that Mr. Griffin worked for a religious institution.
We can argue about whether or not Jesus of Nazareth taught against gay marriage, but that is basically irrelevant because the principle involved is that a religious institution can fire someone for violating what they believe Jesus (or any other prophet) taught. If they think Jesus taught that you shouldn’t eat chocolate on Thursdays, they could fire you for eating a Peppermint Patty on Thursday.
Mr. Griffin taught foreign languages, not theology. I don’t know how to precisely balance the rights of religious institutions and the rights of Mr. Griffin, but there can be no doubt that a great wrong has been done in this case.
Too bad the first commandment wasn’t something more along the lines of, thou shalt exercise the brain I gave you intelligently for the betterment of mankind.
Unfortunately, due to the overwhelming deference we have opted to give religious institutions in this country, we have constructed a system that allows them to ignore even the most basic rights accorded everyone else. And I just don’t seeing that changing. In fact, it seems that we are headed more and more toward not only religious institutions dictating the rights of their employees, but religious people in charge of private companies telling employees what they can and cannot expect in their benefit packages because of something that does not comport with the personal religious beliefs of the company’s CEO.
This is simply another extension of the overarching effort by fundamentalists and Dominionists to fulfill god’s will and take back their Christian nation from the evil secularists and atheists.
The sanctified power of religious organizations: would the RCC be able to fire him in N.J. because of their rejection of same-sex marriage? If so, the grip of bigots on the US is completely out of hand (well it is anyway, the organizations are tax exempt). If not, this is just another example of the national inequalty that results from the abhorrent system of states’ rights (see Obamacare too and so much more). The Constitution is oudated and needs to be rewritten. The so-called founders were just everyday infallible people. When is the last time a Constitutional amendment was adopted? All the European constitutiions have been rewritten, repeatedly. Only in the U.K. has this not happened because that benighted country doesn’t even have a constition!
This is a travesty, and in a sane society, would not be allowed.
Unfortunately, Mr. Griffin’s living in sin was acceptable, but his marriage is not. I don’t understand why he was hired and/or not fired long before this. Probably because he is not the only non-celibate gay/lesbian person on staff.
At any rate, unless you can prove that the conditional clause makes it a yellow dog contract, you’re stuck with it.
I teach at a private school (we have no contracts, no collective bargaining, but the size of the school necessitates cordial relationships between the faculty and the administration). If Mr. Griffin is a good teacher, he should have no problem finding work. The school I work at (and maybe it’s an outlier) actively works to find, recruit and retain LGBT teachers. The idea is simply to model respect for LGBT people by including them in the faculty. And – I should add – we’re a boarding school and have a same sex couple working in a dorm of the same gender. Amazingly the world has not stopped turning.
I understand that this is traumatic for Mr. Griffin and broadly speaking wrong on the part of Pennsylvania and the Catholic Church. But my guess is that any of the many private schools in the Princeton area will jump at the chance to do the right thing by him.
You take the king’s shilling, you fight the king’s wars.
You’re not getting it. Here is how it goes. There are two syllogisms being worked out right under our eyes.
The first syllogism:
Major premise: Faith-based nullification.
Minor premise: Corporate personhood.
Conclusion: Corporate nullification.
The second syllogism:
Major premise: Corporate nullification.
Minor premise: Corporate personhood.
Conclusion: Individual nullification.
One of the more wearying things about this, is that it was totally okay with the school UNTIL he got married. So suddenly when he attempts to make his relationship more acceptable to God and Man, then he goes?
I actually am fine with an explicitly religious school not hiring people who are not in line with their religion if they don’t get direct money from the gov. But once they hired the guy when it was so obvious he was gay, they lost their right to boot him out over it later.
I can see a church forbidding egregious defiance of its teachings from those who teach at its schools.
But but other employees are not in a like case, and anyway this should have no bearing on what health insurance covers.
Whenever I think I’m finally ready to forgive the Roman Catholic Church for its 1700 years of crimes against humanity, the church pulls another astoundingly bone-headed move.