An Indiana Court has sided with a Catholic school in a case brought about a teacher who was fired for entering a same-sex union.
A trial court in Indiana has upheld a Catholic school's right to religious freedom after a former teacher who was dismissed for entering a same-sex union filed a case against the educational institution.
Joshua Payne-Elliott, a gay man and world language and social studies teacher at Cathedral High School worked at the Catholic school since 2006 and was fired in June 2019. His same-sex partner, Layton Payne-Elliott was a teacher at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School. Both have been embroiled in an argument between their schools and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, which directed the schools to dismiss the teachers.
According to the Indy Star, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School did not dismiss Layton, forcing the Archdiocese to remove the school's Catholic status. The school appealed and is still waiting for a final decision.
Meanwhile, Joshua Payne-Elliott was fired by Cathedral for fear that they too would be stripped of their Catholic status. Payne-Elliott accused the Archdiocese of illegally interfering with his contractual and employment relationship with Cathedral, causing them to dismiss him, as indicated in a lawsuit that was filed in August 2019 in Marion County.
The lawsuit also recounted how Cathedral renewed Payne-Elliott's annual teaching contract in May 2019 and just one month later, was told that the Archdiocese "directed" Cathedral to terminate his employment. Kathleen DeLaney, a lawyer representing Payne-Elliott, explained that the Archdiocese "instructed" the Catholic school to "terminate the employment of highly-respected and long-serving teacher because of who he is and who he loves."
"Cathedral caved to that pressure and terminated him. That's what the case is about," DeLaney explained. The Archdiocese countered that the lawsuit was prohibited under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. But Luke Goodrich of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the Archdiocese, believes otherwise.
"The government can't punish the Catholic Church for asking Catholic educators to support Catholic teaching," Goodrich argued. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the freedom of religious schools to choose teachers who support their religious faith."
According to the Daily Caller, the trial court had at first decided to let the case proceed, but the Indiana Supreme Court sent the lawsuit back to the trial court for reconsideration. On Friday, the Indiana Marion Superior Court threw out the case, thereby ensuring that the Catholic school that fired its teacher for entering a same-ex union can continue to uphold its religious freedom.
"Every Catholic school teacher in the Archdiocese signs an agreement to uphold the Church's teachings in word and deed. The teacher here was dismissed after he entered a same-sex union in knowing violation of this agreement and of millennia of Catholic teaching," Goodrich said, as per the Catholic Telegraph.
"It is important that courts consistently uphold the right of religious groups to operate by their religious principles. Choosing who teaches in a religious school is a religious decision. Today's order ensures that those decisions will be made by churches, not governments."
