A former high school guidance counselor has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, claiming she was terminated solely because of her sexual orientation.
Lynn Starkey has become the second gay former faculty member to accuse the archdiocese of discrimination. Starkey had worked at Roncalli High School for more than four decades. That ended this May when the archdiocese fired her from her job, allegedly because it discovered she is married to another woman.
In her lawsuit, the counselor says school administrators behaved with open hostility toward her and queer students, created a hostile work environment and personally retaliated against her after she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Related: Parents are boycotting a Christian camp that fired a gay teen counselor
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“Starkey has suffered damages as a result of Defendants’ retaliatory actions, including but not limited to lost back pay, lost front pay, loss of future earning capacity, lost employer-provided benefits, and emotional distress damages,” Starkey’s lawsuit states.
For its part, the school claims it has a right to hire teachers based on its own religious standards, despite receiving federal taxpayer funds for its schools.
“Catholic schools exist to communicate the Catholic faith to the next generation,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “To accomplish their mission, Catholic schools ask all teachers, administrators, and guidance counselors to uphold the Catholic faith by word and action, both inside and outside the classroom,” except of course if they are abusing the students. Then they just get transferred to another school.
Jesus is turning in his tomb.
LostMyClothesAgain
Catholic priests should storm Area 51 so it would be Aliens vs. Predators.
Terrycloth
Article says she was fired because she is married to another woman…more than one ? Why not say they found out she was married to A woman .
Kangol2
Either way of stating this fact is fine. She is a woman and is married to another woman.
OR, she is a woman and is married to a woman.
Both are semantically correct and clear enough.
JessPH
If it is a 100% privately funded religious school then it has the right to fire anyone. If it gets taxpayers’ money then this kind of discrimination should not be allowed. Moreover, does the school also fire employees who are divorced, remarried, or use contraceptives? Last time I checked, the Catholic Church vehemently opposes those too.
kevininbuffalo
Divorce and remarriage are covered by the RCC fiction of an annulment. Someone can be married for 40 years and the church, for a fee, will say the marriage was invalid all along. Once you have the annulment in hand you can marry freely, so long as your intended is the opposite sex. Nice little racket for everyone.
jcoberkrom
Was reading a book about the Vatican’s attitude toward Jews a hundred years ago.
Not much different then their attitude towards gays today. Condescending bigotry
MikeM
I feel for this woman, as I would for anyone losing an income and employment. However, I’m always amazed at gay people who work at catholic or other religious schools who are fired and they are shocked that they have been. You work for an organization that actively works against your existence, and preaches against it. One word from a colleague about your true self would cause you to lose your job. What did you think was eventually going to happen? Has the Catholic Church suddenly changed its philosophy regarding homosexuality? Until it does, why are people shocked? It’s not right, but the Catholic Church has shown its true colors for over a thousand years.
Aires the Ram
Well, If she’s been teaching at this school for 40 years, that means she’s probably in her early 60’s. Yes, the Catholic Church is like this, and they are a private non-government funded employer, so the statement above about them being able to do whatever they want, is true. The fact that the school fires folks upon learning they are gay, and not when they are a divorcee or pedophile, is the height of hypocrisy, but it hasn’t, and isn’t about change anytime soon. All of that being said, during her first 3 decades of teaching there, it just wasn’t the Catholic Church that was like that, it was that way ANYWHERE you might have worked. You HAD to stay in the closet at work because you could be fired for it, or whatever reason they trumped up to get rid of homosexuals. So stop this bulls*&i(t of blaming her, at her age her whole life involved living a double life, out of necessity. So many of you today, who are under about 35 years old, have no concept of this.