Fired gay Ohio teacher: Union won’t back complaint
Source: AP
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) A gay teacher challenging her firing by an Ohio Catholic school says the local union for Catholic educators has decided not to proceed with her complaint.
Carla Hale said Monday the grievance committee for the Central Ohio Association of Catholic Educators isnt supporting her efforts to get back her job as a physical-education teacher. The association hasnt returned telephone calls seeking comment.
Hale also filed a complaint with the city of Columbus, which prohibits firings based on sexual orientation. Hale says she was fired from Bishop Watterson High School after her partners name was revealed in her mothers published obituary and someone complained.
Bishop Frederick Campbell says Hale was fired not because of her sexual orientation but because she violated the churchs moral teaching by having what he describes as a quasi-spousal relationship with a woman.
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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/05/13/fired_gay_ohio_teacher_union_wont_back_complaint/
Lenomsky
(340 posts)My partner is a Female Teacher and dates a European .. should we be worried? *quivers* Maybe if I was Latin American it would be a sure thing or even black or ....
mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)why public schools need tenure laws?
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)It is a Catholic school.
mainstreetonce
(4,178 posts)but this could happen in any school without legal protection.
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)It just seemed odd to interject in a conversation about termination by a Catholic school.
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)If not, then not to worry...
Response to DonViejo (Original post)
monmouth3 This message was self-deleted by its author.
msongs
(67,193 posts)Ash_F
(5,861 posts)Oh wait, I get it.
MJJP21
(329 posts)has the right to sue the union for failing to defend her job rights.
Omaha Steve
(99,071 posts)Lousy decision by the local union though.
SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)What is the NEA's stance is on same sex couples & LGTB's as teachers?
Arkana
(24,347 posts)and you can come into your classroom dressed as Osama bin Laden and fire a few AK-47 rounds into the ceiling, and the union will STILL defend you when you get fired.
Omaha Steve
(99,071 posts)Botany
(70,291 posts)..... keep digging thmselves into a deeper and deeper hole. In the short run they are
losing the P.R. battle and in the long run they will lose in both criminal and a civil courts.
BTW Despite all the B.S. Ms. Hale keeps saying she just wants her job and to work
with her students.
MADem
(135,425 posts)How does he know their relationship is "quasi-spousal" and what does he mean by "quasi," anyway?
Unless this woman and her partner are describing, in excruciating detail, the specific parameters of their relationship, the Bishop "knows" nothing. He is assuming details about their partnership that are not in evidence, and he's being a nosy Parker as well as being an asshole about it, too.
I hope she finds a way to win against this bullshit...and I think the union was a bunch of chickenshitz.
Botany
(70,291 posts)1) Ms. Hale's #1 goal is to go back to being a teacher @ Watterson and as such she has
not started any sort of legal action against the School or the Catholic Church.
2) Ms. Hale's union did not stand up for her rights.
*********************
BTW Everybody in and around the school knew she was gay for years and that the
current and former students @ the school have her back in this case. This whole thing
was kicked off by one anonymous letter to the school's principal.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I really wish this teacher would take that school to "church," as it were, and sue them blue and win. The fact that people knew of her circumstances and they didn't care or didn't take action is a point, legally, in her favor. They can't play a "plausible deniability" game up to, and until, they get a poison pen letter--it makes them (surprise, surprise) HYPOCRITES!
I wonder how the Bishop would feel if someone sent the new Pope a letter about how he frequents the (insert name of gay or straight bar here) for purposes of meeting a nice lady/fellow to date. I'm sure the Pope would get right on that, because anonymous letters should be handled like dispatches from the most senior authorities on the planet...apparently!
I'm just not clear why that letter didn't end up in the round file...?
mrmpa
(4,033 posts)when I received my Masters Degree in Education, they asked if I would like to teach in their high school. They know me quite well, and didn't blink an eye, when I said "I would like to, but I can't do the Church thing."
I'm not gay, but if any of my co-teachers were, if I taught in a Catholic or Public School, I would back them to the hilt.
cstanleytech
(26,080 posts)It is after a private school being run by the church so isnt the governments ability to regulate who they hire and fire somewhat limited due to the whole "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" thing in the constitution?
MADem
(135,425 posts)ANYTHING--"free" parking lot plowing in winter, federal school lunch subsidies, state textbook aid...anything that creates a hook between the government and the school...and hang the case on that.
Worth a shot, anyway.
Pelican
(1,156 posts)RainbowSuperfund
(110 posts)DonViejo
(60,536 posts)or the Union. The Church maintains she wasn't fired for her sexual orientation, but rather, violating her contract by publicly discussing her relationship.
If you think about it, this "don't discuss your relationship" contract appears to be a way the Church gets around NOT hiring (and/or outright firing) gay teachers. I haven't seen this type tactic used in years but, there it is (still).
District Says Teacher Was Not Fired For Sexual Orientation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022748463
Thatlesbianteacher
(4 posts)I'm scared of this each time I consider coming out to my students. I have recently decided I can't move on with my life and stay closeted. Follow my journey here:
http://thatlesbianteacher.com/2013/10/05/inspired-scared-courageous-scared/
uppityperson
(115,674 posts)It is good to see some of the writing and makes it look less like you are just flogging your blog. A lot of us will be interested. Thanks.